Cristo della Minerva
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The Cristo della Minerva, also known as Christ the Redeemer or Christ Carrying the Cross, is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti, finished in 1521. The work is in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in Rome, to left to the main altar.
Commissioned in 1514, Michelangelo was working on a first version of this statue around 1515, abandoned when he discovered to a black vein in the white marble (though this may have been a convenient excuse). A new version was hurriedly substituted in 1519-1520 to fulfil the terms of the contract. Michelangelo worked on it in Florence and the final touches were entrusted to an apprentice, Pietro Urbano: the latter, however, damaged the work and had to be quickly replaced by Federico Frizzi after a suggestion from Sebastiano del Piombo. [1]
Despite all these problems, the work impressed the contemporaries. Sebastiano del Piombo declared that the knees alone were worthy of more than the whole Rome. [2]
Christ is shown by Michelangelo unclothed in a standing pose. During the Baroque period a girdle was added. A leg is flexed and the head turned back, according to the principle of contrapposto. He is clasping the cross and the instruments of his martyrdom as if they were his most precious things, expressing in this his voluntary decision to be executed.[2]
Another spurious element is the footwear added to the right foot, in order to protect it from wear, as it was frequently kissed by the devout.[2]
