The Crucified Christ

This crucifix, exhibiting the body of Christ flanked by the sun and the moon, joins a long tradition of painted crosses that proliferated across Europe from the middle ages through the early modern period. Little is known about Sánchez, other than a handful of stylistically consistent painted crosses that bear her signature, most of which have been found in churches in central Spain, where she may have originated. The object’s small size and simplicity in style and technique suggest that she produced these for personal use within a monastic or domestic setting. There is some speculation that her manner of signature—here located below the skull onto which Christ’s blood falls—indicates she was a nun or a novice herself.