iChrist Expiring on the Cross Pierre-Simon Jaillot, attributed c. 1660 Ivory 36.6 cm Provenance: Private Spanish collection With its head raised and tilted slightly to the right, this beautifully carved figure of the Crucified Christ presents a high forehead, with v-shaped arches over the eyebrows accentuating the pained expression manifested by the knitted eyebrows. The eyes are raised heavenward as depicted by the barely visible curves of the pupils etched in the ivory on the upper part of the cornea, under eyelids that have been reduced to a line. A slender, straight nose, somewhat short, features above a half-open mouth that reveals the teeth and tongue, with a moustache with long wavy ends whose tips merge into a short beard cleft into two large curls. The hair frames an oval face of classical proportions and falls to the right over the chest in an ornate cascade of curls arranged into regular locks of prominent undulations, being likewise arranged, albeit drawn further back from the face, on the left-hand side. There is a fault in the material on a level with the left eye. The anatomy of very precise proportions presents, under a neck of pronounced muscles under stress, a long broad torso that does not feature the classical spear wound. The nether regions of the narrow hips are covered by a loincloth with small, sharply profiled folds tucked into the cord that holds it, although the knot that may have featured over the right hip is missing. Another unusual feature is a row of small red dots on the loincloth whose purpose or meaning is unknown. The slender legs of elongated muscles with the protuberant muscles on the calves taper down to the feet, with large gaps between the big toes, which are traversed by two nails. The arms, raised slightly above shoulder level and carved with great care, testify to the same expertise in the artist’s anatomical understanding of muscles subject to the strain of holding up the body of the Crucified Christ. The index and middle fingers on the left hand are extended and unusually crossed, with the other fingers half-clasped around the nail wound, while the right hand, from which the thumb is missing, has the fingers arranged in the same way, although without the detail described on the other hand. The back of the hair lying flat against the head falls down onto the shoulders in an arrangement of short, regular curls, similar to those depicted on the front, A further surprise is the quality of the carving on the muscles straining under the effort of supporting the body of the Crucified Christ, while the texture of the folds on the loincloth, arranged in gentle diagonal undulations, is simplified. The carving on the back of the arms and legs is merely adequate. The model for this Crucified Christ responds to those of Christ Expiring on the Cross that are referred to in Italy as Cristos Vivos, such as those that decorate the altars in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Commissioned by Pope Alexander VII between 1657 and 1661, they comprise a series of bronze Crucifixions of the Dying and Expiring Christ by Bernini, executed by the great master himself, by Algardi, and of the former’s models by Ercole Ferrataii. Their dissemination in the Baroque became more widespread because the subject in some way responded to the new aesthetic taste for greater realism in religious art depictions fostered by the doctrines of Trent. The classification of these pieces according to what in German is referred to as kleinplastik, or small-scale sculpture, is not always straightforward, but the quality in this case has helped toward its stylistic categorisation. Following a review of the most outstanding examples of ivory sculpting in Europe at that time, and of potential relevance to the Christ under analysis here, an analogy was found with an ivory Crucifixion attributed to Pierre Simon Jaillot that was kept in the church at Ailles (France)iii. The text that accompanies the illustration is somewhat confusing, as it states that this piece was destroyed during the war in 1914, but it was identical to the one presented by the artist for his induction into the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. It was sent to the hospital of “Petites Maisons” in Paris, from where it was moved to the Chapel of the Hospital of the Incurables, in the town of Ivry-sur-Seine. An article published in 1904 on the Christ of Aillesiv that accompanied the illustration seen in 1967 corrects the errors made in this latter text, adding that it was signed P.Jaillot and dated in 1664. Further known publications on the artist have been summarily reviewed in an attempt to locate any other ivory sculptures by his hand. He is known to have hailed from Sainte Claude, in the Franche-Comté or Jura, a region governed by the Spanish crown until 1678. Like Dieppe, it was an extremely important centre for ivory sculpting in France, with some of the local artists emigrating to Spain, possibly seeking to pass on from there to Italyv although in those years others, such as Jaillot, preferred the Court of Louis XIV, whose major art projects were supervised by the renowned Charles Le Brun. A final study on the artist that deals with the interesting subject of engraved reproductions of some of his Crucifixions completes and clarifies the information provided in prior publicationsvi. The known details of the artist’s life place his birth in 1631 in the Franche-Comté, in a house belonging to the parish of Sainte Claude, a major centre of ivory sculpting. He moved to Paris in 1657, and in 1661 he was inducted as a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture directed by Le Brun, being the only member in his specialism. As such, he was involved in the drafting of the inventory of the estate left by the death of the Flemish ivory sculptor, Van Opstal, who was likewise in the service of the French Courtvii. The piece presented for the award of the title was an ivory Christ whose description is known because in 1673 it was sent to the Hospital of the Incurables in Paris called Les Petites Maisons, following the artist’s expulsion from the famous institution due to his dispute with Le Brun and the libellous slander he published against the painter, which led to his imprisonment in the Bastille. He died in 1681, and his brother Hubert oversaw the publication of a series of engravings of a number of pictures by painters such as Louis de Licherie, who copied his ivory Crucifixionsviii. Making its first appearance on the art market in 1983, there is major group of the Calvary of great beauty consisting of the Crucified Christ and the figures of St. John, the Blessed Virgin, Mary Magdalene, the two thieves and two pairs of cherubs, signed by Jaillot on the loincloth and dated in 1664. Acquired by London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, its entry in the catalogue states that it was described in 1787 in the Mémoires Sécrets, and its provenance was the parish of Saint Germain d´Auxerresix. The side of the loincloth on the Crucified Christ bore the inscription PS IALLOT (the J appears to be transcribed as an I) and below it is the date of 1664. The quality of the figures has allowed a definition to be made of the more noteworthy characteristics of his art. This group was believed to be the sculptor’s only surviving documented work, but the Internetx has provided news on other Crucifixes dated at around the same time and signed with his name. His reproductions initially confirm the identification, but without seeing the actual pieces this cannot be guaranteed with any certainty. Of particular interest was an extremely similar example to the one reproduced and lost from the parish of Ailles, with the only difference to be found in the arms, less raised above shoulder level and in the signature that reads PS.Jaillot faciebat, but also dated in 1664, now in a private collection in Italy. There is apparently another model, with almost vertical arms, which is said to bear the signature PS JAILLOT, although the arrangement of the loincloth seems to be the same as the one on the Crucified Christ in the group at the Victoria & Albert. Based on these data and the reproductions of the pieces mentioned, the Crucifixion in question here has been studied, with several details being identified that point to Jaillot’s authorship. As noted earlier, overall it bears a great likeness to the reproduction of the one in the church at Ailles and, for the same reasons, to the one that appeared on Google, with the differences being the position of the fingers and the composition of the loincloth. The anatomy features the same raising of the torso, the small curvature at hip level, the legs with extended muscles and the minor detail of the wide gaps on the big toes. Another similarity is the musculature on the back, although the carving of the loincloth is different. The head is thinner than the one featured on the preceding examples, with which it has been compared. Tilted somewhat further back, it is closer to the head on the Christ of Calvary to be found in London. As in this latter case, the eyes raised heavenward barely reveal the pupils carved into the ivory, and the oval face is framed by an ornate and detailed arrangement, with the clearly defined locks falling onto the shoulders.