Andrea Mantegna, Lamentation Over the Dead Christ Italian, ca. 1483 Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera |
From the late afternoon of Good Friday until the evening of Holy Saturday the Church keeps prayerful, quiet vigil. The tabernacles are empty, the altars are bare, no Mass is celebrated. We remember the second day (from sundown to sundown) of the Passion, the day on which Jesus’ body lies in the tomb. We ponder the sacrifice and await what we know is the joyful outcome.
Artists have done this also. They have wondered, as we do, about what was happening on that second day. Taking their guide from the phrase in the Apostles Creed “He descended into Hell” some have imagined Jesus freeing Adam, Eve and the righteous ancestors from their bondage in Limbo. Others have imagined the Body of Jesus simply lying in the tomb. Still others have imagined the Body of Jesus tended by angels, who console and prepare Him for the Resurrection. Last year we looked at the first of these.1 This year we will look at the second and third images.
This image, not idealized, detailed, even brutal, became a model for other artists to follow. And, although it was never a popular image, there were followers. Among them were other artists with a realistic, almost scientific bent: Carpaccio, Hans Holbein the Younger, Philippe de Champaigne, Giuseppe Sammartino and others.
In these images we are presented with “just the facts”, a dead body, a cadaver.
Carpaccio Dead Christ Italian, c.1520 Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berliln |
Hans Holbein the Younger, The Dead Christ in the Tomb
German, 1521
Basel, Kunstmuseum
|
Zacharias Hegewald, The Dead Christ in the Tomb German, c. 1630 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum |
Philippe de Champaigne, The Dead Christ
French, Prior to 1654
Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Giuseppe Sammartino, Dead Christ in a Shroud
Italian, 1753
Naples, Church of Santa Maria della Pieta dei Sangro
|
Eduard Adrian Dusssek. The Dead Christ in the Tomb Slovak, 1873 Vienna, Belvedere Museum |
Wilhelm Truebner, Christ in the Tomb German, 1874 Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle |
Jean-Jacques Henner, Jesus in the Tomb French, 1879 Paris, Musée d'Orsay |
James Tissot, Jesus in the Sepulchre French, 1886-1894 New York, Brooklyn Museum |
Henri Levi, Dead Christ French, c. 1893 Villefranche-sur-Saone, Musée Paul Din |
Alexandre Charpentier, Covered Christ French, 1895 Paris, Musée d'Orsay |
Girolamo da Treviso, Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels Italian, c. 1475-1485 Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera |
Girolamo da Treviso, Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels Italian, c. 1475-1485 Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera |
Pedro Berruguete, Dead Christ with Two Angels Spanish, 1480 Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera |
Dead Christ Mourned by Angels Italian, 16th Century Rome, Pinacoteca della Basilica di San Paolo fuori le mura |
Leandro Bassano, Dead Christ Mourned by Angels Italian, c. 1580 Rome, Galleria Colonna |
Tintorett, The Dead Christ Adored by Doges Pietro Lando and Marcantonio Trevisan Italian, c. 1580s Venice, Palazzo Ducale |
Veronese, Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels Italian, c. 1587-1589 Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
Dead Christ Supported by Angels German, c. 1600-1625 London, Victoria and Albert Museum |
Abraham Janssen van Nuyssen, Dead Christ in the Tomb with Two Angels Flemish, c. 1610 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
Alonso Cano, The Dead Christ Supported by an Angel Spanish, 1646-1652 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
Edouard Manet, Dead Christ With Angels French, 1864 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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1. See also "O Key of David! Come, break down the walls of death" at http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2011/12/o-key-of-david.html
© M. Duffy, 2012, 2018
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