Flayed Crucifixtion
Posted by Ross Rosenberg
Behold, the corpse of one James Legg, hanged in 1801 and crucified in order to settle an artistic debate. Legg, a captain at Chelsea Hospital, was executed for the murder of a co-worker. It seems that, after a particularly heated argument, Legg burst into the man’s room with two pistols, demanding a duel. When the gentleman refused Legg shot him in the chest.
This was excellent news for surgeon Joseph Constantine Carpue, as he had been approached by three artists, sculptor Thomas Banks and painters Sir Benjamin West and Richard Cosway, in order to help them settle a contentious issue. It was the opinion of these three that most depictions of the Crucifixion were anatomically incorrect. So it was with great anticipation, I suppose, that on October 2nd the four gentleman attended Mr. Legg’s execution.
“Carpue described the occasion; ‘a building was erected near the place of the execution; a cross provided. The subject was nailed on the cross; the cross suspended…the body, being warm, fell into the position that a dead body must fall into…When cool, a cast was made, under the direction of Mr Banks, and when the mob was dispersed it was removed to my theatre’. Carpue then proceeded to flay the cadaver and Banks made this cast.”
Though damaged by a Zeppelin bomb during World War I, the plaster figure of the flayed and crucified James Legg still hangs in the Royal Academy Schools.
Object of the Month [Royal Academy of Arts Collection] : mutantsloth : Morbid Anatomy
Categories: Science, Medicine, Artists, Body Modification, Religion, Sculpture, Art
Posted at 11:01 am on October 12, 2007
5 Comments -
Interesting. It is obvious that the body is suspended by nails through the palms of the hands rather than through the wrists; the Shroud enthusiasts claim that suspention by the palms is impossible because nails through the palms would rip through the hands.
Comment by King Eddie IV — October 12, 2007 @ 6:16 pm
evidently this proves them wrong, too.
Comment by Arielle — October 12, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
It probably shouldn’t surprise me that there are communities engaged in heated debate over impossibly trivial nerd trivia related to the exact mechanics of the crucifixion; and I won’t say surprised is the word. ‘Infinitely amused’, maybe. Tell me, do the palmists and pro-wristers have community forums? Their own respective IRC channels for debating the relative merits of palm- or wrist- based impalement and suspension of saviors? Please say yes.
Comment by Some Internet Guy — October 13, 2007 @ 3:20 am
I have always wondered about the hand vs wrist debate. But the artile fails to state who won. I tend to think that if the body had been left up for a period of time, the nails would tear through, but maybe not…
Comment by Eliza Gauger — October 13, 2007 @ 6:44 am
It suckered you into it, buddy.
Actually the study of “shroudology” leads to many fascinating aspects beside the actual study of the shroud–anatomy, medieval and classical history and histoigraphy, mythology and religion, physical chemistry and biochemistry, polen studies, optical and SEM/EDX microanalysis, the psychology of the True Believer, and many other topics that are not obvious to the sneering of a shallow minded and superficially educated pseudosophisticate.
Why don’t you go marvel at the cartoons and the pictures of stuffed kittens? Perhaps you will find them more suitable to your intellectual pretentions.
Comment by King Eddie IV — October 13, 2007 @ 10:17 am