The intimacy of Jesus and “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is tenderly depicted in this 3-foot-tall sculpture, carved from a single piece of oak sometime around 1300 in the Duchy of Swabia, in what is now southern Germany. Jesus’ arm encircles the younger man, who rests calmly on his master’s breast and touches his hand. The peacefulness of the scene belies the tension of the moment it depicts. In the Gospel of John, the beloved disciple reclines beside Jesus at the Last Supper. When Jesus says, “One of you is going to betray me,” Simon Peter motions to the […]
