The Androgyny of Christ

The androgyne (from the Greek andros, “man”, and gune, “woman”) is a creature that is half male and female.The Museum of Notre-Dame à la Rose, in Belgium, has among its collections an astonishing and unique work of its kind. The painting, from the end of the sixteenth century, represents “the Lamentation around the remains of Christ” and shows an androgyne Christ. The reasons and posible explanations of this peculiar representation are discussed in the paper