The Crucifixion - Styles and Influences
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The Crucifixion with the Virgin and St John
Germany; 16th c. Sebastian Loscher
(Augsburg, died ca. 1548)
The Crucifixion was one of the most important Christian themes, and artists stopped following the strict rules of iconography after the Renaissance and numerous versions of Christ were created as a result of individual artistic approaches. The Augsburg sculptor Sebastian Loscher managed to express not only a diversity of characters, postures and movements but also states of mind: the Virgin calm in her pain and active in prayer, St John in dramatic movement. The elaborate drapery of their clothes and various degrees of plasticity provide a certain vivacity to this high quality relief from the mid-16th c.