Interactive Images Depositions of Christ in Italy, 1200–1700

Italy has more than 400 articulated statues of the crucified Christ dating from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Contemporary written sources show that these figures were used for preaching, public and private devotion, lay ceremonies, and sacred drama. This essay aims to reconstruct the forms of contamination between the liturgical Depositio and the devotional, paraliturgical and dramatic celebrations promoted by the laity, particularly by confraternal associations.