Crucifixion

Description This delicately painted icon shows Christ's Crucifixion before the walls of Jerusalem. A detail rarely included in Crucifixion scenes is the resurrection of the dead, portrayed here as tightly wrapped corpses, after Matthew 27:52: "The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised." According to tradition, this resurrection occurred immediately after the blood of Christ had dripped onto Adam's skull which had been buried at Calvary. The back of the panel carries an image of the instruments of the Passion (cross, spear, and reed), surrounded by inscriptions.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/15/1948	Treatment	varnish removed or reduced
5/10/1960	Treatment	repaired; coated
6/01/1960	Treatment	coated; other
9/21/1965	Examination	examined for exhibition
1/18/1982	Examination	examined for condition
5/01/1982	Treatment	repaired; other
2/07/2000	Treatment	cleaned; loss compensation; coated

Exhibitions

• Russian Art: Icons and Decorative Arts from the Origin to the Twentieth Century. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1959-1960.
• A Millennium of Christianity: Russian Art from The Walters Art Gallery. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1988-1989.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Transcription] Кр(ес)ту твоемоу покланяемся, / [Владыко, и святое воскресение τвое славим] / Кр(ес)тъ ц(а)ремъ держава, кр(ес)тъ ωружïе на враги, / кр(ес)тъ бѣсомъ язва и прогонител(ь) Ц(а)рь сл(а)вы. Ic Xc ника. Копïя. Тростъ. М(есто) л(обное) р(ай) б(ысть). Г(лава) А(дама); [Translation] We venerate Thy cross, O Lord, and we glorify Thy holy Resurrection [from the Liturgy of the third Sunday of Lent] / The cross is the power of [our] kings, the cross is a weapon against [our] enemies, the cross is a plague and banisher of the demons. The King of Glory. Jesus Christ conquers. the lance. the reed. The Place of the Skull became Paradise. Adam’s head

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters