The Veiled Christ between history and legend

Il Veiled Christ it is one of those creations that leaves us breathless, attracting travelers, admirers and tourists from all over the world. The most famous sculpture in the world has fueled numerous legends for centuries.

The Veiled Christ, since 700 'is kept in the San Severo Chapel of Naples. Since 2006 this work has been declared as the Monument symbol of the Neapolitan city. The sculptor managed to give life to a life-size statue. To make the sculpture unique of its kind is the veil transparent marble covering the lifeless body of Jesus Christ. The mysterious Prince of Sansevero, Rimondo di Sangro, was an admirer of art and it was he who commissioned the creation of the Veiled Christ.

According to a legend, he taught the sculptor Saint martin the calcification of the tissue in marble crystals. For years it has been wrongly believed that the transparency of the shroud was fruit alchemical of marbling made by the Prince. He would have placed a real veil on the statue which over time would have been marbled through a chemical process, giving life to the work of art as we know it today.

Mysteries on the authorship of the masterpiece

However, numerous studies have revealed the mystery: Giuseppe Sanmartino would actually have worked on a single one block of marble. In a document, kept in the Banco di Napoli Historical Archive, there is an advance of fifty ducats in favor of the Neapolitan artist, signed by Raimondo di Sangro. In the contract, the prince writes: "And for me you will pay the aforementioned fifty ducats to the Magnificent Giuseppe Sanmartino on account of the statue of Our Lord dead covered by a veil still of marble ". Also in the letters sent to the physicist Jean-Antoine Nollet the prince describes the transparent shroud as "made from the same block as the statue".

The Veiled Christ is a jewel that we owe only to the very inspired chisel di Sanmartino and to confidence granted to him by his client. We are therefore faced with a work in some ways divine that is as realistic as it is so intangible.