The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2025

Christ and Saint John the Evangelist

1300–1320
(Lake Constance)
polychromed and gilded oak
Overall: 92.7 x 64.5 x 28.8 cm (36 1/2 x 25 3/8 x 11 5/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1928.753
Location: not on view

Description

This sculptural group featuring Saint John the Evangelist resting on the shoulder of Christ was a prolific subject in Swabia, the region on the Swiss border. The subject appears to be unique to this region, where it became popular in the years following 1300. Many of these devotional sculptures adorned the chapels of Dominican convents; this is artistically among the finest to survive. It captures the pathos of the moment, based on the Gospel of John (13:23), which states that during the Last Supper one of Christ’s disciples, namely "whom Jesus loved," was resting on his shoulder. As a focus for devotion and contemplation, this sculpture reflects the fundamental religious beliefs rooted in the mysticism that dominated the period. Mysticism was a movement that intended to stimulate the contemplation of Christ’s Passion and suffering. Mysticism encouraged private devotion and religious images, called andachtsbilder (devotional images), appeared in large numbers in late medieval Germany.
  • Chapel in Southwest Wurttemberg, Germany
    Castle of Schulzburg, Germany
    Hofrat Rohrer Collection, Munich, Germany
    Benoit Oppenheim Collection, Berlin, Germany
    -1928
    (A.S. Drey, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1928-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Oppenheim, Benoit. Original Bildwerke in Holz, Stein, Elfenbein u.s.w. der sammlung Benoit Oppenheim: nachtrag. Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann, 1911. no. 117
    W. M. M. "A German Wood Carving." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 2 (1929) pp. 23-35 www.jstor.org
    Herausgegeben von Robert Schmidt, Pantheon XXXII (Munchen, 1944) pp. 24-29
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 140 archive.org
    Wentzel, Hans. Die Christus-Johannes-Gruppen des XIV. Jahrhunderts. Stuttgart: P. Reclam Jun, 1960. pp. 11-12, 16-17, 29-30; repr. cover, abb. 2,4
    Busch, Harald, and Bernd Lohse. Gotische Plastik in Europa. Frankfurt am Main: Umschau Verlag, 1962. p. 166
    Walzer, Albert. Schwäbische Plastik im Württembergischen Landesmuseum, Stuttgart. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1964.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 52 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 53 archive.org
    Mark, Alexandra. Astrology for the Aquarian Age. New York: Essandess Special Edition, 1970. p. 4
    Didier, Robert. Les sculptures médiévales allemandes dans les collections belges: [Bruxelles 6 octobre - 30 novembre 1977, Société Générale de Banque]. 1977.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 60 archive.org
    Snyder, James. Medieval Art: Painting-Sculpture-Architecture, 4-14th Century. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1989. p. 437, fig. 557
    Gillerman, Dorothy. Gothic Sculpture in America. 2 2. Turnhout: Brepols, 2001. pp. 326-329, Cat. No. 240
    Lang, Justin. Herzens Anliegen: die Mystik mittelalterlicher Christus-Johannes-Gruppen. Ostfildern: Schwabenverlag, 1994. pp. 25, 30-31, 45, 48, fig. 1.
    Bergeron, David M. King James & Letters of Homoerotic Desire. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999. p. 105
    Jirousek, Carolyn S., "Christ and St. John the Evangelist as a Model of Medieval Mysticism" Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 6 (2001) pp. 6-27
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. no. 21, pp. 25-6, repr. color p. 26; listed p. 116
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. p. 230, Cat. No. 84
    Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550. München: Hirmer, 2007. p. 250, repr. p. 251, no. 93
    Blick, Sarah, and Laura Deborah Gelfand. Push Me, Pull You. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
    Fliegel, Stephen N., A Higher Contemplation: Sacred Meaning in the Christian Art of the Middle Ages. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2012. p. 34, fig. 25
    Muir, Carolyn Diskant. Saintly Brides and Bridegrooms: The Mystic Marriage in Northern Renaissance Art. London: Harvey Miller, 2012. p. 75, fig. 47
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 267
    Gertsman, Elina. Worlds Within: Opening the Medieval Shrine Madonna. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press2015. Reproduced: p. 171, fig. 131
    Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Mentioned: p. 38-41; Reproduced: p. 39
    Lyon, J. Vanessa. Figuring Faith and Female Power in the Art of Rubens. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 84-85, fig 2.2
    Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg. Kloster Heiligkreuztal: geistliche Frauen im Mittelalter. 2020. Reproduced and mentioned; pp. 167-168, fig 5.
    Becherer, Joseph Antenucci, and Henry Luttikhuizen. Christ Among Us: Sculptures of Jesus Across the History of Art. Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2022. Mentioned: p. 43; reproduced: p. 42, 126, no.13
  • Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
    Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
    Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
    The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
    Representative Art Through the Ages, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (11/8/1928 - 12/2/1928).
    A.S. Drey Sr. showed in his gallery on Maximilianplatz (opposite The Regina Hotel) in Munich (Summer Before 1928).
    Original Bildwerke in Holz, Stein, Elfenbein u.s.w der Sammlung Benoit Oppenheim, Berlin Museum, Germany, (1911).
  • {{cite web|title=Christ and Saint John the Evangelist|url=false|author=|year=1300–1320|access-date=22 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1928.753