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Imagine Christ not as a picture of perfection in human form, but as a batch of disembodied wounds. Sixteenth century Flemish illuminator Simon Bening did so in a richly illustrated prayer book commissioned by Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg.
“The Worship of the Five Wounds” depicts a crowd enthralled by a vision of Christ’s punctured hands, feet and heart, beamed up to the heavens in a circle of light.
“It’s a striking image, a distillation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross,” says Kristen Collins, a manuscripts curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. It sparked “Imagining Christ,” a small, idea-packed exhibition of 22 medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and related objects at the Getty Center through July 27th.
The curator organized a three-part show intended to give visitors a sense of how Christ’s image evolved – from an imperial judge at the end of time too a suffering human who felt the pain of his flock – and to celebrate the artists’ imaginations.
The first section, “Invoking Christ in Word and Ritual,” offers an illumination of a majestic Christ surrounded by the four beasts of the Apocalypse and a gilded metal sculpture that once reflected candlelight on an alter. Next, “Demonstrating Christ’s Divinity,” includes an image of an airborne arbiter, seated on a globe, who separates the saved from the damned. Among manuscripts in the third segment, “Experiencing Christ’s Humanity,” is a rare portrayal of Christ as a 12 year-old, walking to Jerusalem with his parents.
A new computer kiosk with a touch screen and zoom-in capabilities offers 11 additional images from the Brandenburg prayer book.
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