Christ (Beau Dieu)

French Sculptor, August Gerber (cast maker)

Artist: French Sculptor

August Gerber
(cast maker)
Köln
Dated: ca. 1230 (original), 1909 (cast)
Classification: sculpture, plaster cast
Medium: plaster cast
Dimensions: 280 × 86 × 88 cm, 240 kg base: 82 × 84 × 74 cm, 160 kg
Inv.no.: Rg.119
Department: Sculpture
Current Location of the Original Artwork: France, Amiens, Cathedral
Location: National Museum Conservation and Storage Centre (Budapest), Building A, Ground Floor. European Architectural Sculpture. Selection from the Cast Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts. Visible Storage

The central portal (Last Judgement) of the west façade of Amiens Cathedral, built since the 1220s, is decorated with a full-length trumeau statue – i.e., a sculpture on the pillar dividing the portal into two – depicting Christ. His right hand is raised in the gesture of blessing and he is holding a closed gospel book in his left, while the lion and dragon under his foot symbolise his victory over sin and Satan. The Christ of Amiens is one of the most emblematic examples of the type of depiction in Gothic art known as the beau Dieu, i.e., Beautiful God, which emphasises Christ’s physical beauty and human nature. Commissioned by the museum in 1909, the cast was made by August Gerber in Cologne. It was exhibited in the Roman Hall in 1910.