This is a frontispiece to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uta_Codex" class="extiw" title="w:Uta Codex">Uta Codex</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangeliary" class="extiw" title="w:Evangeliary">evangeliary</a>. Jesus on the Cross occupies the top of the design. Eight other images present the Christian significance of the Crucifixion: the triumph of life over death. Below the Crucifixion are personifications of Life (<i>Vita</i>) on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_hand_of_God" class="extiw" title="w:Right hand of God">right-hand side of Jesus</a> and Death (<i>Mors</i>) on the other side. A crowned Life looks up to a crowned Jesus, who returns the gaze. Life's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orans" class="extiw" title="w:Orans">orant</a> posture also echoes that of Christ. Death is bent, falling away from God, his face shrouded and his spear broken. He is attacked by a branch sprouting from the Cross, suggesting the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_life_(biblical)" class="extiw" title="w:Tree of life (biblical)">Tree of Life</a>. In the left-hand semicircle is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesia_and_Synagoga" class="extiw" title="w:Ecclesia and Synagoga"><i>Ecclesia</i></a>, also crowned with raised hand and facing the Cross, while the right-hand semicircle shows <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesia_and_Synagoga" class="extiw" title="w:Ecclesia and Synagoga"><i>Synagoga</i></a>, with a scroll (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah" class="extiw" title="w:Torah">Law</a>) and knife (of circumcision), turned away from God and blinded by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompe-l%27%C5%93il" class="extiw" title="w:Trompe-l'œil">border</a>. The corner images are events <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_of_Jesus#Reported_extraordinary_occurrences" class="extiw" title="w:Crucifixion of Jesus">connected with the Crucifixion</a>: The upper-left has a personification of the sun (Sol), while the upper-right shows the moon (Luna). The lower-left shows resurrected saints, (who echo Life's posture), while in the lower-right the Temple veil is torn. Their significance is explained by the surrounding text: The Sun of Justice suffers on the cross; the Church mourns the death of Christ; Gentiles converted through faith began to live; the darkness of the Law was removed. As with the other elements of the schematic composition, the new life made possible by the Crucifixion is on the right-hand side of Christ and the Cross, while opposing but complementary subjects are on His left.
The artist is unknown.
Munich Digital Library: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00075075/image_10">http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00075075/image_10</a>