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Michele Giambono, Man of Sorrows Adored By Saint Francis of Assisi
Italian, ca. 1430
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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“See, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at him—
so marred were his features,
beyond that of mortals
his appearance, beyond that of human beings—
So shall he startle many nations,
kings shall stand speechless;
For those who have not been told shall see,
those who have not heard shall ponder it.”
(Isaiah 52:13-15)
Excerpt from the First Reading for Good Friday Liturgy of the Passion of the Lord
Among the many images that evoke the Passion the one that is probably the most shocking to our modern eyes is that of the Man of Sorrows. In fact, even among Catholics it is now little known, having been supplanted long ago by other images, such as the Sacred Heart, or more recently, by the Divine Mercy. I confess that I, myself, had never seen it prior to my second year in graduate school and, at first sight, I found it extremely shocking. Yet, it was once one of the best known and most wide spread of all visual meditations on the Passion.
The Man of Sorrows image has many variations and relationships to other images. Interpretation of these relationships is extraordinarily complex, far too complex to deal with in one article. Consequently, I will limit myself to merely describing the most common and simplest variation.
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| Imago pietatis Icon (similar to those which entered Italy in the 13th Century) Byzantine (Mount Sinai, St. Catherine's Monastery), c. 1300 (Casing Italian, c. 1380) Rome, Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme |
The image of the Man of Sorrows appears to have developed first in Byzantine art, entering Western art by about 1300, probably via Rome and Venice. 1 From that point it spread throughout the West, so that there are examples readily available from nearly every country in Europe by 1500. And it is in the West that the tremendous development in the theme took place.
At its most basic the image of the Man of Sorrows is: a half-length image of the crucified Jesus, showing His wounds. He may be shown as crowned with thorns or with the crown removed. His arms may be folded over His torso or they may be extended at His sides. Sometimes He seems to be sitting upright on his own power, sometimes His body is supported by others. In every case His wounds are visible. His head is inclined to His right. And, most importantly, in the original image He is shown as dead, with closed eyes.
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| Master of the Borgo Crucifix Italian, c. 1255-1260 London, National Gallery |
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| Man of Sorrows Italian, 14th Century Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and Fondation Corboud |
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| Pietro Lorenzetti, Man of Sorrows Italian, c. 1340-1345 Altenburg, Lindenau-Museum Gemäldesammlung |
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Naddo Ceccarelli, Man of Sorrows
Italian, ca. 1347
Vienna, Liechtenstein Museum |
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| Sano di Pietro, Man of Sorrows Italian, c. 1440 Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister |
Among the earliest variations on the image are those works that include the Cross or sometimes just a crossbeam behind the image of the Crucified.
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| Niccolo di Tommasso, Man of Sorrows with the Cross Italian, c. 1370 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection |
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| Jacobello del Bonomo, Man of Sorrows with the Cross Italian, c. 1385-1400 London, National Gallery |
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Lorenzo Monaco, Man of Sorrows
Italian, c. 1415-17
Private Collection |
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Bartolomeo Caporali, Man of Sorrows with the Cross and Whips
Italian, c. 1475-1500
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology |
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| Man of Sorrows with the Cross From an Illustrated Vita Christi English (Norfolk), c. 1480-1490 Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum MS 101, fol. 95v |
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| Cristoforo Mayorana, Man of Sorrows with the Cross From a Book of Hours Italian (Naples), 1483 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 1052, fol. 102r |
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| Follower of Perugino, Man of Sorrows with the Cross Italian, c. 1500 Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museum zu Berlin |
But the most frequent image during the 14th and 15th centuries was that of the half-length figure or a bust, sometimes seen as dead, with closed eyes, but sometimes rather disturbingly awake and making eye contact with the viewer, even showing us his wounded hands and side. These were, above all, devotional images and they appeared in every kind of medium imaginable, including illumination, wall and panel painting, sculpture, goldsmith’s work, lapidary. In addition, the image can now be demonstrated to have spread throughout Europe.
Initially, the image of Jesus was naked above the waist, as time went on draperies were added, evoking the mocking by the Roman soldiers at the time the Crown of Thorns was pressed on His head.
Initially, the image of Jesus was naked above the waist, as time went on draperies were added, evoking the mocking by the Roman soldiers at the time the Crown of Thorns was pressed on His head.
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| Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy, Life Size Wound and Man of Sorrows From a Book of Hours French (Paris), c. 1370-1380 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 90, fol. 130r
This rather startling image combines what was believed to be a life size representation of the spear wound in Christ's side with the image of the Man of Sorrows. |
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| Giovanni Bellini, Man of Sorrows Italian, c. 1460-1469 Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli |
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| Master of Mary of Burgundy, Man of Sorrows Flemish, c. 1480 Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
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| Simon Marmion, Man of Sorrows French, 1480 Strasbourg, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
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| Anonymous Lombard Artist, Man of Sorrows Italian, c. 1490-1500 Milan, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e Tochnologia Leonardo da Vinci |
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| Giovanni Santi, Man of Sorrows Italian, c. 1490 Private Collection |
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| Israhel van Meckenem the Younger, Man of Sorrows German, c. 1490 Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
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| Hans Memling, Man of Sorrows Flemish, After 1490 Esztergom, Christian Museum |
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| Albrecht Bouts, Man of Sorrows Dutch, c. 1500 Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
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| Colijn de Coter, Man of Sorrows Flemish, c. 1500 Private Collection |
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| Jan Mostaert, Man of Sorrows Dutch, c. 1500 Moscow, Pushkin Museum, Collection Dmitry Ivanovich Shchukin |
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| Cristoforo Solari, Man of Sorrows Italian, ca. 1500 Dayton (OH), Art Institute |
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| Man of Sorrows German, c. 1500 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Workshop of Giovanni Bellini, Man of Sorrows Italian, c. 1510-1515 Besancon, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
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| Simon Bening, Man of Sorrows From the Da Costa Hours Flemish (Bruges), c. 1510-1520 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 399, fol. 42r |
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| Workshop of Aelbert Bouts, Man of Sorrows Dutch, c. 1525 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Lucas Cranach the Younger, Man of Sorrows German, c. 1540 Bremen, Museum im Roselius-Haus |
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| Bernardo de Mora, Man of Sorrows Spanish, 1659 Granada, Capilla Real |
However presented, The Man of Sorrows image causes us to ponder the sufferings of Jesus and evokes in us a sense of pity. Indeed, in Latin it is known as the “Imago Pietatis”, in French, it is the “Christ du pitié”, in German the “Schmerzensmann”. This fits into what we know of some emotional forms of medieval piety and it enjoyed a long life from its introduction till around 1600, when its basic form faded. However, it had a strong influence on other images, which have continued, even into the modern world. It affected, among others: the Ecce Homo, Deposition, Lamentation and Burial images, and other images that are no longer so much with us, such as the Dead Christ supported by saints and angels and images of the Holy Face.
© M.
Duffy, 2012 and 2018
Scripture texts in this
work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986,
1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by
permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New
American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from
the copyright owner.
1. Passion in Venice: Crivelli to Tintoretto and Veronese, The Man of Sorrows in Venetian Art, edited by Catherine Puglisi and William Barcham, New York and London, Museum of Biblical Art in association with D. Giles Limited, p. 10. This book is the exhibition catalog for the exhibition “Passion in Venice: Crivelli to Tintoretto and Veronese” at the Museum of Biblical Art, New York from February 11 to June 12, 2011. In addition to the catalog entries for the works in the exhibition, the book includes informative essays on the Man of Sorrows image, primarily in Venice and the Veneto (the area of mainland Italy traditionally controlled by Venice). This is, however, merely a minute slice of the enormous diversity and geographic spread of the image.
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