Nave Crucifix

Gothic period
Cathedral of St. Lawrence, Trogir, Croatia

Above the inri plaque a pelican revives its young with its own blood, a conventional symbol of Christ's salvific death, which is also symbolized by the way his blood flows down onto the skull below the cross.

The four Evangelists are pictured symbolically at the four ends of the cross by their respective beasts. Following Revelation 4:8 they are winged.

The date of the work may be estimated by the fact that Christ is dead and bleeding, as in crucifixes from the 13th century onward, and possibly also from the cloth around his waist, which is more full and decorated than is the case in later medieval examples.

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Read more about images of crosses and crucifixes, of the Evangelists, and of the pelican symbol.

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Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.