How the Old Masters Saw Easter

 

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The picture at the beginning of this post was painted by Carl Heinrich Bloch in 1881. It is a very typical Easter image, showing Jesus emerging from the tomb and being worshiped by angels. This is a logical depiction since Revelation makes it clear that angels worship the risen Christ.

There were many witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection after the fact, meaning that they saw the living Christ in the flesh. There is no record of human witnesses to the actual resurrection, however. The closest we come to that is in Matthew 28:1-6, but even there it appears that the soldiers guarding the tomb and women who came to give Him a proper burial saw an angel of the Lord rather than THE angel of the Lord (which is the term used to refer to Christ himself).

Here is the Matthew passage, quoted from the ESV.

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay.”

This painting (circa 1700) by Noël Coypel is probably meant to depict the Matthew account. As mentioned above, there is no evidence that human eyes actually witnessed Jesus rise from the dead, but I like the way the painting shows the power of Jesus’ resurrection.

I’ll end this series with “Three Marys at the Tomb,” painted by Peter von Cornelius sometime in the early 1800s.

Both Mark and Luke mention that three women came to the tomb, but only two of them were named Mary. Regardless of their names, however, women were the first to hear the good news, and they hurried off to tell the others.

I want to be that kind of witness.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

__________

These works of art are all in the public domain because of their age.

 

How the Old Masters Saw Maundy Thursday and Good Friday

 

Da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper” is well known. He painted it on the wall of a church in the 1490s, and it has deteriorated and been restored several times since. It’s possible that nobody has a full knowledge of the original details, especially around the edges. If you don’t know what I mean, compare the one above with this one.

Regardless of its accuracy, the painting shows Jesus celebrating the Passover with His disciples on the day we now call Maundy Thursday. If you want to be a fly on the wall and listen in to what Jesus said during the meal, read John Chapters 13–17. He clearly knew what was to come even if his disciples didn’t get it at the time.

Jesus’ heart was heavy, and after the meal He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:39-46 all tell us that He asked His Father to take away the cup (the painful crucifixion) that God had planned for Him. Yet every time He prayed He ended with, “Yet not my will but thine be done.” In spite of His agony, He was willing to sacrifice Himself for us.

The next image is a 1465 painting by Giovanni Bellini titled “The Agony in the Garden.”

That agony didn’t last forever. The final piece of art showcased this week is by an apparently unknown painter from the Antwerp School in the early 17^th Century. I like this depiction of the crucifixion because the two thieves appear to be writhing in pain while Jesus is at peace. When He died, the battle was over and Satan had been defeated.

The evidence of that would come three days later, at Easter. That’s the subject of next week’s post to end this series.

__________

These works of art are all in the public domain because of their age.

How the Old Masters Saw Palm Sunday

 

With Holy Week coming up, I decided to do a series on how the Old Masters saw those events. I’m starting this week with Palm Sunday.

The image at the top of this post is how we usually picture what we refer to as the triumphal entry, with Jesus surrounded by people spreading cloaks and palm branches before Him. The 1860 woodcut for Des Bibel in Bildern (The Bible in Pictures) is by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

The next photo shows a 1305 fresco by Giotto and is a typical Medieval portrayal of those events. Notice that Jesus is richly dressed and looks much more like a nobleman than a humble rabbi.

This final image shows the Spanish influence. It is attributed to Master of San Baudelio de Berlanga, circa 1125.

No matter how Jesus is portrayed in visual art, the best pictures are in words and come from the Bible. Here is the account of his entry into Jerusalem taken from Mark 11:8-10 (ESV):

And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Although He came as a king, He rode on a donkey because He came in peace. The battle for salvation was still to come. We’ll see images about that battle next week.

__________

These works of art are all in the public domain because of their age.