Portuguese school, Porto; second half of the 18th century.

Portuguese school, Porto; second half of the 18th century.
"Crucified Christ".
Carved and polychrome wood, eyes of vitreous paste and silver punched nineteenth century.
It presents Repainting.
Measurements: 31 x 21 cm; 105 x 45 cm (frame).
The work belongs to the Portuguese school of Oporto, in the second half of the XVIII century, and represents a crucified Christ of remarkable expressive force. It is a polychrome wood carving, enriched with the incorporation of vitreous paste eyes, a frequent resource in Baroque sculpture to intensify the naturalness of the figure and give it a deep emotional charge. The cross is adorned with 19th century punched silver details, suggesting a devotional update of the piece and confirming its long use in cult contexts.
The Porto school, active in a period of great artistic flourishing, was characterized by the production of sculptures of intense expressiveness, with a marked attention to anatomical realism and the transmission of piety. In this context, images of the crucified Christ occupied a central place in Portuguese Baroque spirituality, conceived to arouse devotion through a controlled dramatism and a formal language close to popular sensibility.
The present crucifix testifies to the richness of Portuguese sacred art of the seventeenth century, in which the Baroque tradition is combined with an early opening towards Rococo in the decorative details. The work not only responds to the liturgical and devotional function, but also embodies the refinement of religious sculpture produced in Porto, a key center in the diffusion of processional and altar images that spread throughout the Portuguese territory and overseas.