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Pictures Of Dead Crucified Bodies

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Most of mine are still alive. The following examples show no obvious signs of postmortem discolouration, so they may be merely unconscious.

(b archive) East of Eden 8.jpg (d archive) Seditio Sicarii 16.jpg (d archive) Seditio Sicarii 18.jpg (d archive) Seditio Sicarii 18a.jpg (d archive) Seditio Sicarii 18b colour.jpg
Via Appia 12 etude 2a sepia -8-19.jpg Via Appia 1a sepia -7-20.jpg Via Appia 2a sepia -7-20 50%.jpg Via Appia 3c sepia -6-18.jpg Via Appia 4b sepia -6-18.jpg
 
I'm no expert on art, but isn't Jesus dead on the cross one of the most common images in Western art at least up until the Enlightenment? I could swear that I've seen dozens in churches and museums, not to mention books and web sites. Now Tree may argue he wasn't a victim but that decision is way above my pay grade.
 
I'm no expert on art, but isn't Jesus dead on the cross one of the most common images in Western art at least up until the Enlightenment? I could swear that I've seen dozens in churches and museums, not to mention books and web sites. Now Tree may argue he wasn't a victim but that decision is way above my pay grade.
He wasn't crucified at CF!!!
 
I always stopped short of showing my crucifixion victims dead on the cross, other than maybe in the distant background. I did give it some thought, up to the point of wondering about the level of rigor lividity for a body hanging like that. I have had the unfortunate experience of seeing what that looks like for a body lying face down; there is a distinct line between the area where the blood has settled and the pale area above. In a crucifixion victim the legs would probably be a dark purple to brown color up to the knee or maybe mid-thigh or so, pale above.

Anyway, it didn't appeal to me so I didn't go any further with it.
 
I always stopped short of showing my crucifixion victims dead on the cross, other than maybe in the distant background. I did give it some thought, up to the point of wondering about the level of rigor lividity for a body hanging like that. I have had the unfortunate experience of seeing what that looks like for a body lying face down; there is a distinct line between the area where the blood has settled and the pale area above. In a crucifixion victim the legs would probably be a dark purple to brown color up to the knee or maybe mid-thigh or so, pale above.

Anyway, it didn't appeal to me so I didn't go any further with it.
I think that is a very accurate description, Jedakk. A corpse displaying such postmortem discolouration tends to lose out on erotic appeal in my opinion. Most artists seem to have avoided the issue of realism in their depictions of Pietas and Descents from the Cross, although they may have been thinking in terms of the immaculate preservation phenomenon.
 
I think that is a very accurate description, Jedakk. A corpse displaying such postmortem discolouration tends to lose out on erotic appeal in my opinion. Most artists seem to have avoided the issue of realism in their depictions of Pietas and Descents from the Cross, although they may have been thinking in terms of the immaculate preservation phenomenon.

None of the artists actually witnessed a real crucifixion, so they were painting strictly from imagination.

Anyway, the OP simply said "dead" and I don't think any picture could distinguish between 2 minutes before death vs 2 minutes after. All of those post-mortem phenomena are matters of hours at the gross level of a whole body painting.
 
Most artists seem to have avoided the issue of realism in their depictions of Pietas and Descents from the Cross
A few from the Renaissance - when emphasis on the suffering humanity of Christ was a strong motive for realism
(the first two are Grunewald, from the Isenheim Altarpiece - the crucifixion is of course the well-known centrepiece,
but the triptych also has these scenes of the descent from the Cross and Christ in the tomb) - others are Carracci,
El Greco, Holbein, Jordaans:

Grunewald.jpg matthiasgrunewald_lamentationofchrist.jpg Carracci.jpg El Greco.jpg Holbein.jpg Jordaens.jpg

On the Forums we quite often see images of women's breasts swollen till they're purple,
and of course a lot of other bleeding, bruising etc. I think the majority of members,
including me, don't find such images erotic, and would feel the same about
realistic images of bodies at or after death. On the other hand, I must admit I find
quite a lot of crucified women here look a bit too healthy, rosy-cheeked -
I look for realism in facial expressions, bodily contortions,
and even in the first few minutes on the cross (perhaps the most erotic time
to portray us?) we'd already be looking very pale and showing visible signs of stress and shock.
 
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A few from the Renaissance - when emphasis on the suffering humanity of Christ was a strong motive for realism
(the first two are Grunewald, from the Isenheim Altarpiece - the crucifixion is of course the well-known centrepiece,
but the triptych also has these scenes of the descent from the Cross and Christ in the tomb) - others are Carracci,
El Greco, Holbein, Jordeans:

View attachment 485638 View attachment 485641 View attachment 485643 View attachment 485648 View attachment 485649 View attachment 485650

On the Forums we quite often see images of women's breasts swollen till they're purple,
and of course a lot of other bleeding, bruising etc. I think the majority of members,
including me, don't find such images erotic, and would feel the same about
realistic images of bodies at or after death. On the other hand, I must admit I find
quite a lot of crucified women here look a bit too healthy, rosy-cheeked -
I look for realism in facial expressions, bodily contortions,
and even in the first few minutes on the cross (perhaps the most erotic time
to portray us?) we'd already be looking very pale and showing visible signs of stress and shock.

I agree, it's hard to capture the mixture of terror, agony and panic that a victim would almost certainly feel, and get that into her expression. Nobody would be prepared for that kind of pain, and the fear of death, fear that death will not come swiftly enough, the horror as she realizes that there is agonizing pain no matter how she moves, that all she can do is trade one kind of agony for another. And then the panic at not being able to get enough air, and learning the price in pain she'll have to pay for just a few minutes or maybe seconds of breath.

I've never been able to really capture that adequately, not well enough to portray what I imagine that it would be like.
 
A few from the Renaissance - when emphasis on the suffering humanity of Christ was a strong motive for realism
(the first two are Grunewald, from the Isenheim Altarpiece - the crucifixion is of course the well-known centrepiece,
but the triptych also has these scenes of the descent from the Cross and Christ in the tomb) - others are Carracci,
El Greco, Holbein, Jordeans:

View attachment 485638 View attachment 485641 View attachment 485643 View attachment 485648 View attachment 485649 View attachment 485650

On the Forums we quite often see images of women's breasts swollen till they're purple,
and of course a lot of other bleeding, bruising etc. I think the majority of members,
including me, don't find such images erotic, and would feel the same about
realistic images of bodies at or after death. On the other hand, I must admit I find
quite a lot of crucified women here look a bit too healthy, rosy-cheeked -
I look for realism in facial expressions, bodily contortions,
and even in the first few minutes on the cross (perhaps the most erotic time
to portray us?) we'd already be looking very pale and showing visible signs of stress and shock.
Precisely the examples I've just been searching for, thanks Eul. Sorry, I meant to say they avoided showing the less attractive effects of blood-sinking postmortem discolouration in dead bodies.

Obviously they did observe corpses, various public executions and anatomical dissections. Many of them (notably Da Vinci) made detailed anatomical studies of corpses in the pursuit of realism. Rembrandt painted dissections in anatomy classes and Gericault famously made his figure studies for 'The Raft of the Medusa' in the morgue.
http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/theodore-gericaults-morgue-based.html
https://hyperallergic.com/331446/corpse-models-raft-medusa-gericault/
 
My interest fades away when my fantasies get to the dying part.
I agree, it's hard to capture the mixture of terror, agony and panic that a victim would almost certainly feel, and get that into her expression. Nobody would be prepared for that kind of pain, and the fear of death, fear that death will not come swiftly enough, the horror as she realizes that there is agonizing pain no matter how she moves, that all she can do is trade one kind of agony for another. And then the panic at not being able to get enough air, and learning the price in pain she'll have to pay for just a few minutes or maybe seconds of breath.

I've never been able to really capture that adequately, not well enough to portray what I imagine that it would be like.

I agree that my interest is in what comes before death, the living experience of crucifixion in all it's forms. That is where the interest is, the living moving body, the struggling subject, the fight for life and dignty.
There are a few post mortem pics around, let me have a quick look around my folders and see what I can find. Ok, a mix of real and fantasy, male and female.

This one is an anatomical study based on a flayed corpse, and a study of crucifixion using a corpse
anatomical_crucifixion.jpg barbet-crucifix.png

This one looks fairly dead
crucifixion_by_sausagehand.jpg

This one by Drtikol could easily be seen as post mortem
tumblr_m3tktf8o1M1rsbgdbo1_500.jpg

Assisted in the moment of death
132718408771.jpg ph149a.jpg

Taken from the cross
FORGIVEN-finally-ds.jpg

a couple more possibles (incl one for the Evanescence fans)
My_God_My_Tourniquet.jpg thessela 06_1.jpg

This is a real crucifixion photo - maybe a bit too real?
Japanese_Crucifixion.jpg
 
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