To the Holy Sepulcher
Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum
The Frick Collection
1 East 70th Street, New York
Through January 5
The Kimbell Art Museum
3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, Texas
March 15–June 28
Since its reopening last April after a nearly five-year wait amid renovations, the Frick Collection has kept visitors busy reconnecting with much-loved works, such as Hans Holbein the Younger’s masterful portrait of Sir Thomas More, Bellini’s numinous St. Francis in the Desert, and the glorious indoor garden court and fountain.
There have also been new and outstanding exhibitions, notably Flora Yukhnovich’s Four Seasons, which pays coloristic homage to François Boucher’s eponymous series, and Vermeer’s Love Letters, a first-time installation that united the Frick’s Mistress and Maid with the special loan of Love Letter from the Rijksmuseum, and the National Gallery of Ireland’s Woman Writing a Letter with Her Maid.
Presenting more than 40 rare objects from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (known as the “Latin Treasure”), this exhibition adds another shimmering jewel to the Frick Collection’s crown. These works, which have been unknown to the public until their recent rediscovery, are outstanding examples of European goldsmithing and textile design, ranging from liturgical objects rendered in gem-studded gold and silver to exquisitely decorated vestments in velvet, damask, and other fine materials that seem to have hardly aged since they left the hands that made them.
They were donated by European Catholic monarchs (especially those in France, marked by omnipresent fleurs-de-lis) and Holy Roman Emperors in the 17th and 18th centuries to the church in Jerusalem, at that time the religious center of the Christian faith. Known as the Custody of the Holy Land (Custodia di Terra Sancta), the objects have been safeguarded and used during liturgies ever since by Franciscan friars who have been taking care of Catholic holy sites in the Middle East since the 14th century.
The Custodia operated out of sites all over Europe, known as commissariats, in cities such as Paris and Vienna. These sites would raise funds for the Holy Sepulcher and the Franciscans, and would organize shipments of money, food, and objects to the Holy Land. Details about these were recorded in large books in Jerusalem known as condotte, which ensured precision about when the objects arrived. It is known, therefore, that certain items were sent from Paris to the Sepulcher on a specific date.
Construction began in 2018 on a new museum at the Monastery of St. Saviour in Jerusalem’s Old City to house the institution’s artistic collections, complementing the impressive archaeological holdings at the Church of the Flagellation. Until the new Terra Sancta Museum opens in 2027, some of its treasures are traveling to several institutions in Europe and North America. The Frick is its first stop in the United States. “Displayed for the first time in the United States, the exquisite objects in this show are rare survivalists, as similar objects were often severely damaged, melted down, or otherwise lost—nothing like them survives in the countries in which they were created,” said Xavier F. Salomon, the Frick’s deputy director.
Shared by the Catholic Church and several Eastern churches, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher stands where it is believed that two key events took place: the crucifixion of Christ at Calvary, and his resurrection from the tomb, which is located in the middle of the rotunda of the Sepulcher.
Travel to the Holy Land was difficult before the 19th century. The solution was the construction of small models representing the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, often made of precious materials like olive and pistachio wood, camel bone, and mother-of-pearl. Accurate in their details, even to the interiors, these models (made by Palestinian craftsmen based in Bethlehem) were sent all over the world to enable people to understand what this revered place looked like. One such model is shown in a vitrine in the show’s introductory room, and a photo of today’s complex is nearby.
The Sepulcher model is the foretaste of the glorious objects that follow. A humeral veil, used to cover a priest’s hands when he is holding a monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament, is an interesting example of Muslim-Christian cultural exchange. The silk, gold, and silver threads still shimmer in this veil, which likely hails from Islamic Spain or the Middle East.
Two chasubles are prominent in this exhibition. One shows the symbol of the five crosses of Jerusalem, signifying the five wounds Christ suffered during his Passion. Other symbols and creatures are incorporated in many of the pieces, such as the hammer, pliers, lance, sponge, and rooster, establishing links between these objects and the Passion narratives.
Since Empress Helena (c. 248-328) rediscovered the relics of the Passion of Christ, fragments of the wooden cross on which Christ was crucified have been precious relics. Reliquaries were created throughout Europe to protect and display relics of the True Cross, such as the gleaming gilt silver, glass, and bejeweled example made in France in the 1620s. Flanked by two angels holding palm fronds, the cross all but hides the minuscule wooden fragment at its center. These relics are usually exhibited in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on two feast days: May 6 (the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross) and September 14 (the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross).
At the heart of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the tomb in which Christ was buried and from which he was resurrected three days later. Sculpted by an anonymous Neapolitan craftsman in 1736, a monumental silver relief representing Christ’s triumphant Resurrection, as the Roman soldiers assigned to guard the tomb sleep, is a breathtaking examples of European metal work. Perhaps the piece was intended to be placed inside the tomb, as its dimensions are an almost perfect match for one of the structure’s walls.
French monarchs bestowed numerous gifts to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, including an elegant crozier (or pastoral staff) created in Paris and given to the Custody of the Holy Land by the Sun King himself, Louis XIV (1638-1715). The gilt silver and glass with semi-precious stones staff is decorated with lilies of France (fleurs-de-lis) and two statuettes of St. Louis (Louis IX), king of France, and his nephew, the Franciscan Bishop St. Louis of Toulouse, both ancestors of Louis XIV.
A gilt silver ciborium with scenes of the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Supper at Emmaus—given by the French ambassador to Constantinople, who had visited Jerusalem—are among the show’s liturgical treasures. The figure of the resurrected Christ holding his cross and appearing to stride off the ciborium’s domed cover at any moment, makes a powerful visual statement on this superb vessel.
In the room devoted to gifts from important Catholic countries in the Western world is an altar over which is a spectacular garniture, which was given to the Holy Sepulcher by King Philip IV of Spain, whose well-known portrait by Velázquez is part of the Frick’s permanent collection. A throne for Eucharistic exposition with parts in silver, gilt metal, and semi-precious stones, and topped with angels, is the garniture’s central piece. It was completed in 1665, the same year as the deeply Catholic king’s death.
To The Holy Sepulcher explores connections between the exhibition’s various objects and builds on the Frick’s previous shows on metal and goldsmith work. It informs visitors about the important contributions of unknown artists and craftsmen, and highlights the importance of the religious and secular symbols that they wove and hammered into the objects. The exhibition reminds us the powerful figures behind these gifts, while pointing indirectly to the deep devotion that inspired such lavish generosity.
Pamela A. Lewis is a member of Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, in New York City. She writes on topics of faith.
