Christ Carrying the Cross c. 1480

This image shows a page from a medieval manuscript, probably made in a monastery in Western Europe. Although the artist is anonymous, their role in the production of religious imagery was clearly shaped by the church. The central image is quite degraded but the image would have been part of a series of illustrations of the Gospels, focusing on the moment when Christ carries the cross to his crucifixion, an especially important part of Christian iconography. Manuscripts like this were luxury objects intended for private devotion and the artist would have used a symbolic visual language to represent spiritual values. The borders of the page, with their decorative patterns, frame the central image and set it apart from the text, implying the importance of visual images in devotion. We can learn much about the social role of this image through historical research into the institutions that commissioned it, the audience that consumed it, and the visual conventions that it embodies.