Jesse
Medium
Limewood, polychromed
Dimensions
38.5 × 98 × 26.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
2023.156
Tags
male
About this artwork
The figure shows the sleeping Jesse, the father of David from the Old Testament. As the ancestor of the family tree of Christ, he was depicted in the Middle Ages sleeping as the starting point of the tree, on whose branches the ancestors of Christ are depicted. Mary with the Christ child is always shown at the top. The figure comes from a wooden altarpiece from an unknown church, possibly in Nuremberg, which is now lost. Veit Stoss is one of the most prominent German sculptors around 1500 who wa...