hands, but with outstretched fingers, while Mathilde grips it with a tightly closed fist. Her other hand is raised up, which is ambiguous. This could be taken as a greeting or acceptance gesture directed at Otto or as pointing up out of the image to the crucifixion, as a mediation gesture. The donor portrait, especially the positioning of the siblings' hands, was earlier interpreted as indicating that Otto donated the cross to the abbey which his sister oversaw as abbess. But this makes it odd that Mathilde is not depicted as abbess and that Otto is depicted without ducal insignia. The common hypothesis, advocated by von Pothmann among others, that it was a combined donation of both siblings, may not fit with the fact that the cross depicted on the donor portrait does not match the appearance of the Cross of Otto and Mathilde. This was typically the case in medieval donation pictures. According to newer literature the depiction of the cross being handed from Otto to Mathilde must therefore be seen symbolically with attention to the family history of the Liudolfing dynasty: with the death of Duke Otto on the 31 October 982, there were no further male descendants of Queen Eadgyth, the first wife of Emperor Otto I. Mathilde, who had a strong sense of family, became manager of the household with his death. As the last member of this branch of the family, she was especially committed to maintaining the memory of the family for her brother. The donor portrait can be seen in this context, symbolising Mathilde's wish to maintain a legacy for the childless Otto. On this basis it is believed that Mathilde donated the cross to the memory of her brother after his death in Otto II's Italian campaign of 982. The donation might have occurred shortly after his death, in 983 or 984, probably contemporaneously with the donation of the more than life size triumphal cross to the collegiate church of St. Peter und Alexander in Aschaffenburg, in which Otto was buried. The painted frame of this cross matches to the edging of the Cross of Otto and Mathilde. History The cross has been located in Essen since its creation, excepting some evacuations during wars and other crises. The Inventarium reliquiarum Essendiensium of 12 July 1627, the earliest inventory of the Abbey's treasury, allows no certain identification, since it only recorded "two crucifixes