Abstract
From the late Middle Ages, over the long fifteenth century, the appearance of
grief shown through tears, gesticulation and bodily postures was a subtle and nuanced
element in religious art. This thesis explores the depiction of tears in artworks relating
to the Crucifixion of Christ during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in northern
Europe. By drawing on a scope of panel paintings (both public altarpieces and private
diptychs), print media, and illuminations I shall firstly explore, in greater depth than has
been previously acknowledged by scholars, the presence of tears as a signifier of
emotion, particularly grief, in the visual art of northern Europe in the late medieval
period. Second, I shall argue that this emotional part to medieval artworks was part of a
larger conversation occurring during this time period. Such a conversation involved a
greater-than-seen-before interface between medieval spirituality and medieval
understandings of emotion. I ask whether there were there reasons for this in the
medieval socio-cultural and religious context. I would argue that the presence of tears in
medieval religious art is part of a broader context in which weeping transcends the
physical signifier of tears into a personal response of a devotee.