During the season of Lent, I will be presenting new cross images from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. The first work in the series is a cast bronze bas-relief panel by French Art Deco Sculptor Max Le Verrier, inspired by a Crucifixion scene on a 9th century carved ivory diptych from the Rambona Abbey in Central Italy, now in the Vatican Museum. The panel is composed of three sections. At the top, God the Father offers a blessing from a medallion held by two angels. In the central scene, the Triumphant Christ (with eyes wide open) hangs on the Cross under the Latin sign: "I am Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." The Virgin Mary and the Apostle John keep vigil at the foot of the Cross, while a personified sun and moon hover above. At the bottom of the panel, we see a she-wolf nursing twins, recalling the legend of the founding of Rome. The inscription in Latin underneath reads: "Romulus and Remus fed by the wolf." The incorporation of this unusual pre-Christian image beneath the Cross may represent the ascendency of the new faith in the old pagan empire. Le Verrier's sculpted piece is slightly larger than the original. It joins a cast bronze cross by the French Sculptor already on view in the Crosses & Crucifixes page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)