Analysing the Measure of Christ in the Cathedral of Valencia and its genuine Italian pictorial technique

Abstract

[EN] This paper reports the studies carried out on the mid-14th century polychrome cloth known as the Measure of Christ (¿La Mida¿ or ¿Longitud de Cristo¿) currently stored in the Chapel of Saint Michel in the Cathedral of Valencia. This odd sendal depicts the image of Salvador Mundi, in a merciful and blessing but distant and somewhat inexpressive attitude. He is holding an open book in his left hand and stays above the terrestrial globe. The importance of this study relies in the knowledge of the pictorial material of the cloth, in understanding the technology used for the pictorial execution and the detection and dating of previous restoration interventions. The purpose is to confirm or reject the hypothesis that the artwork could be made by a foreign artist, probably an Italian, or at least by someone who was very familiar to the Italian pictorial tradition. In fact, the results allow us to certify that the painter mastered some specific cloth painting techniques described by Cennino Cennini.