A copper-alloy crucified Christ from the Mullion Pin Wreck (1667), off Cornwall, England
The crucified Christ from the Mullion Pin Wreck (photo: David Gibbins).
The crucified Christ a few minutes after discovery at the Mullion Pin Wreck in the shingle visible in the background, below the cascabel of the cannon (photo: David Gibbins).
I discovered this figure in 2019 while diving on the Mullion ‘Pin Wreck’, a mid-17th century merchantman off Cornwall so-named for the abundance of brass clothing pins found at the site. The wreck is almost certainly the Santo Christo de Castello, a Genoese-owned ship built in Amsterdam in 1666 and wrecked on her maiden voyage the following year from Holland via London towards Iberia. Documentary sources show that she was carrying a rich cargo of cloth and spices as well as iron and lead ingots, and archaeological investigations have revealed that she was also transporting a consignment of scrap copper-alloy objects. The first period of investigation at the wreck following its discovery in 1969 was described in a series of interim reports (McBride et al. 1972, 1974, 1975); this blog is one of several reporting on renewed excavations carried out since 2018 under my direction (see also Gibbins 2019a and 2019b).
This figure of a crucified Christ is a unique find at the wreck and one of our most important discoveries. It is made from cast copper-alloy and may originally have been gilt. The surviving height of the figure is 7.8 cm and the width across the arms 5.3 cm, with the original estimated height about 12.5-14 cm. The arms and legs appear to have been deliberately sheared off, with the right arm bent perhaps in that process. Despite being eroded by 351 years underwater – the figure was discovered loose in shingle – it is still possible to see the quality of the afterwork in the chiselling of the hair and the hammering of the drapery, as well as the excellence of the anatomical study in the musculature and emaciation of the torso, the facial features – executed according to the precepts of the Counter-Reformation, showing Christ without pain or suffering – and the wound on the right side of the chest where the spear was thrust in after death, according to the Gospels.
Three view of the crucified Christ from the Mullion Pin Wreck. The red line points to the spear wound. Click to enlarge (photos: David Gibbins).
This figure was created after a larger original of circa 1569-77 by the Italian artist Guglielmo della Porto (died 1577), who based his design on Michelangelo’s Christ the Redeemer of 1519-20 (Coppel 2012a, b; Avery 2012; Gramberg 1981; Middledorf 1977). Guglielmo was greatly influenced by Michelangelo’s anatomical studies as well as by the art of classical antiquity, both of which can be seen in this figure. He was drawn in his later years to creating figures of Christ in this manner as a result of the religious iconography dictated by the Council of Trent (1545-63), which set out the terms of the Counter-Reformation. Their edicts also emphasised private devotional exercises and personal communion, resulting in an interest in small portable figures such as ours. This design with its idealised, athletic body, the strong torsion of the figure and the particular lay of the loincloth is matched by several larger crucifixes attributed to Guglielmo, including the one illustrated here in the Convent of Porta Coeli in Valladolid, Spain. These larger figures, mostly in the 35-40 cm range, would have been the templates from which the workshops created smaller copies. Whether our figure was made in the workshops of Guglielmo himself during his lifetime, or in those of his pupils such as Gentili or Giambologna – or elsewhere, for example in Holland – is unknown, but it is most likely to date from the final quarter of the 16th century. Despite the popularity of these small crucifixion figures in Catholic Europe at the time, few have survived and ours is the only one known to have come from an archaeological excavation.
Like the Santo Christo de Castello, Guglielmo was Genoese, a coincidence that exemplifies the world at the time in which cities such as Genoa and Amsterdam acted as hubs not only for commerce but also for artistic production. Our figure could have been the belongings of a passenger or crew member, but is more likely to have been part of the scrap metal consignment – the arms and legs look as if they have been cut away to make the piece smaller, as can be seen on other scrap items from the site. At a time when Holland was violently anti-Catholic, it would be no great surprise to find old religious artefacts among a scrap metal consignment on a ship bound from Amsterdam in 1667, even one owned by a Genoese and destined for Spain and the Mediterranean as was the case with the Santo Christo de Castello.
Copyright © 2019 David Gibbins
A full report on our investigations at the Mullion Pin Wreck in 2018-19 is currently in preparation. For the latest finds and research follow www.facebook.com/CornwallMaritimeArchaeology. Two other blogs on artefacts from the site are Gibbins 2019a and 2019b.
References
Crucified Christ attributed to Guglielmo della Porta in the Convento de Porta Coeli, Valladolid, Spain, showing the cross as well as the Crown of Thorns that may originally have formed part of the Pin Wreck figure (reproduced from Coppel, R., 2012b. Christ crucified. In Guglielmo della Porta: A Counter-Reformation Sculptor. Madrid, Coll & Cortés Fine Art, p. 70).
Avery, C., 2012. Christ crucified. In Guglielmo della Porta: A Counter-Reformation Sculptor. Madrid, Coll & Cortés Fine Art, 126-7.
Coppel, R., 2012a. Preface. In Guglielmo della Porta: A Counter-Reformation Sculptor. Madrid, Coll & Cortés Fine Art, 10-11.
Coppel, R., 2012b. Christ crucified. In Guglielmo della Porta: A Counter-Reformation Sculptor. Madrid, Coll & Cortés Fine Art, 62-73.
Gibbins, David, 2019a. A two-pound Amsterdam blokgewicht (block weight) from the Mullion Pin Wreck (1667), off Cornwall, England. http://davidgibbins.com/journal/2019/10/14/a-two-pound-amsterdam-blokgewicht-block-weight-from-the-mullion-pin-wreck-a-mid-17th-century-merchantman-off-cornwall-england
Gibbins, David, 2019b, three more marked merchants’ weights from the Mullion Pin Wreck (1667), off Cornwall, England. http://davidgibbins.com/journal/2019/10/29/three-more-marked-merchants-weights-from-the-mullion-pin-wreck-1667-cornwall-england
Gramberg, W., 1981. Notizien zu den Kruzifixen des Guglielmo della Porta under zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Hochaltarkreuzes in S. Pietro in Vaticano. Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 32, 1981: 95-113
McBride, P., Larn, R. and Davis, R., 1972. A mid-17th century merchant ship found near Mullion Cove, Cornwall. An interim report. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 1.1: 135-42
McBride, P., Larn, R. and Davis, R., 1974. A mid-17th century merchant ship found near Mullion Cove, Cornwall. Second interim report. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 3.1: 67-79
McBride, P., Larn, R. and Davis, R., 1975. A mid-17th century merchant ship found near Mullion Cove: 3rd interim report on the Santo Christo de Castello, 1667. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 4.2: 237-52
Middledorf, U., 1977. In the wake of Guglielmo della Porta. The Connoisseur 194, 780: 82-4.
