Christ as Salvator Mundi - Technique and Styles
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Christ as Salvator Mundi
1618-1620 Follower of Anthonis Van Dyck
This is an iconographic convention that began in the 15th c. and was very popular in the 17th - Christ as Lord of all that exists. The globe symbolises His power while on Earth and its perfect circular shape His absolute, universal power, since by the will of God the Father the fullness of things exist in Christ.
With His hand raised in blessing, Christ through the blood of His Passion redeemed the sins of mankind, and was Saviour of the world. The picture is similar in style to Van Dyck's Saviour of the World which he painted in two versions (1618-1619), the whereabouts of one is unknown, the other is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.