Contini’s work is a faithful pictorial reproduction of the venerated wooden Crucifix by Nicodemus, kept in the Church of San Francesco in Oristano. Christ is depicted on the cross, with his head bowed forward, now lifeless. The body, collapsed downwards as suggested by the outstretched arms and bent legs, is livid and skeletal, torn by suffering. The last breath is indicated by the abdomen contracted in the last spasm, with the ribs highlighting the wound on the side. The gaze is inscrutable, the lips barely parted. The Cross is also faithful in its representation to that of the sculptural work, with knots, wood grain and swellings to indicate the new buds, of great symbolic value. Behind the Cross, at the point where the two wooden beams that compose it intersect, a disk (or circle) in pale yellow can be seen, representing the Host, the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. The Cross is inserted in a timeless space pervaded by a golden light, to indicate the divine presence, and underlined by beams of light that descend from the lower part of the Host.
