2-735-568 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Mourning Saint John, c. 1240-1260. These traditional devotional figures at one time formed a Crucifixion group with a Crucified Christ (now lost). The ensemble may have been mounted high above the entrance to the sanctuary of a church on a barrier called a rood beam, beyond which lay people were not allowed. Crucifixion groups were common in medieval churches where they symbolized the sacrifice and real presence of Christ in the Mass.