Full-sized wooden images of Christ on his humble steed were popular centuries ago.
Full-sized wooden images of Christ on his humble steed were popular centuries ago.
A series that looks at the visual arts for signs of the universal Church in sometimes unexpected places.
These days, Palm Sunday is very much about palms and very little about donkeys. Going back a few centuries, full-size wooden images of Christ on His humble steed were a much-loved part of the story. With wheels attached, they could move along to provide a processional accompaniment to all those palm fronds. These sculptures were popular in many parts of central and western Europe before the Reformation. A bronze version, without wheels, stands outside the Oberammagau Passion Play Theatre in Bavaria. Few donkeys got to have a coiffure as stylish as the one featured here from the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Lucien de Guise is on Instagram @crossxcultural. As a Catholic writer, editor, curator and former museum director, his aim is to build bridges through art.
