Veiled Christ, Marble sculpture in Cappella Sansevero, Naples, Italy
The Veiled Christ is a marble sculpture by Giuseppe Sanmartino, displayed in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples, showing the body of Jesus lying beneath a stone shroud. The shroud and the figure beneath it were carved from the same single block of marble, and the fabric appears thin enough to reveal the face, hands, and wounds of the figure.
Sanmartino finished the sculpture in 1753 on commission from Prince Raimondo di Sangro, who wanted it for his family chapel in Naples. The prince gave the sculptor specific instructions about combining the body and the shroud in a single block of marble.
The chapel draws people of all backgrounds, and many visitors stand in silence when they first see the figure up close. The shroud seems to invite a kind of focused looking that is rare in front of a sculpture.
The sculpture sits at the center of the chapel floor and can be viewed from all sides, so it is worth walking slowly around it. The chapel itself is small, which means it can feel crowded on busy days, and visiting early tends to give a calmer experience.
Antonio Corradini, the sculptor originally chosen for this work, died before he could start it, and Sanmartino was brought in to take over from a preparatory clay model Corradini had already made. The final marble differs enough from that model to show how much Sanmartino shaped the finished work himself.
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