Christ the Redeemer (Salvator Mundi) (c. 1490–1500): Art, History and Details

Christ the Redeemer (Salvator Mundi) (c. 1490–1500) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Israhel van Meckenem (German, c. 1440–1503).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Trained as a goldsmith, Meckenem displayed the decorative potential of his art by engraving a glimmering burst of sword-like rays around Christ’s head and a variety of patterns on Christ’s robe, his jeweled sash, and the tapestries draping the gothic pulpit. The presentation of Christ within ecclesiastic architecture symbolically connects Christ’s authority as Salvator Mundi—Savior of the World—with the Church.

Object facts

• Title: Christ the Redeemer (Salvator Mundi)
• Date: c. 1490–1500
• Creator attribution: Israhel van Meckenem (German, c. 1440–1503)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Image: 20.3 x 14.3 cm (8 x 5 5/8 in.); Sheet: 20.3 x 14.3 cm (8 x 5 5/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1949.563

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "New in the Galleries.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 3 (May/June 2017): Back cover.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.