Series - Easter in art
The representation of Easter in the history of art.
Giotto, Mantegna, Vinci, but also Derain, Dali or Chagall.
Giotto, Mantegna, Vinci, but also Derain, Dali or Chagall.
“The Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem”, by Giotto, 1303. Phew! stunning. Giotto's blues and greens are eternal, I find that they have a vibration that no fresco of the period achieves.
Hans Memling, "Angel holding an olive branch", circa 1480. The gesture seems uninterrupted, the movement continues. It really is a beauty! And what serenity, looking at this angel and everything seems to calm down.
Another "Entry of Christ into Jerusalem", this one painted by Antoon Van Dyck in 1617. More than 2m20 long, visible at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Considered by Rubens as the best of his students, Van Dyck was only eighteen years old when he painted this painting.
The work conforms to the biblical account. The painter placed Christ in the center of the canvas, dressed in a blue robe and a red cloak whose drapes almost completely envelop the donkey he is riding. Jesus' bare foot comes out of the robe. The light falling on it highlights the painter's talent in rendering the bones and veins of this foot which appears very human.
The importance of the moment is given to Jesus and his disciples who, illuminated by an overhanging light and occupying almost the entire surface of the canvas, let us guess their state of mind. The agitation of the characters, the drapery, the bright colors and the naturalism of the scene attest to the baroque style.
The work conforms to the biblical account. The painter placed Christ in the center of the canvas, dressed in a blue robe and a red cloak whose drapes almost completely envelop the donkey he is riding. Jesus' bare foot comes out of the robe. The light falling on it highlights the painter's talent in rendering the bones and veins of this foot which appears very human.
The importance of the moment is given to Jesus and his disciples who, illuminated by an overhanging light and occupying almost the entire surface of the canvas, let us guess their state of mind. The agitation of the characters, the drapery, the bright colors and the naturalism of the scene attest to the baroque style.
"The Last Supper", Jesus' meal, on Thursday. An oil on wood by van Kampen Albert Jacobzoon Maler painted in the 16th century. This painting is very strange, with the twisted and almost caricatured faces.
Very little known, this painting by André Derain, "The Last Supper". Jesus takes his last meal with the twelve Apostles in the room called the “Cenacle”. The Last Supper, from Latin cena, "evening meal, dinner" is the name given in the Christian religion to the last meal that Jesus Christ took with the twelve apostles on Thursday Jewish Passover, shortly before his arrest, the day before his crucifixion and three days before his resurrection. After celebrating Easter with them, he instituted the Eucharist “This is my body, this is my blood”.
Marc Chagall, "The Israelites eat the Passover Lamb", 1931. Marc Chagall left us on March 28, 1985, peacefully, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence at the age of 98. While in 1931, Chagall did not know Saint-Paul, I find that the white roof looks incredibly similar to the ramparts of the village topped with its tightly packed houses. Well, everyone sees a little bit of their story there.
Undoubtedly one of the most sublime "Last Supper" in the history of art is that of Leonardo da Vinci painted between 1494 and 1498 on the walls of the convent of Sainte-Marie-des-Grâces, in Milan. There are represented, from left to right, Bartholomew, James the Less, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, Jesus, Thomas, James the Greater, Philip, Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon.
Here Vinci seeks to renew the subject by giving a lot of animation to the characters. How modern, the table, the walls, the ceiling, it's disturbing!
The fresco adorns the refectory of the convent, it is very degraded because Leonardo did not use the traditional technique of creating frescoes, but a personal technique which proved very sensitive to humidity.
Holy Thursday. “The Holy Supper” by Juan de Juanes, 1556.
Jesus takes his last meal with the twelve Apostles in the room called the “Cenacle”. This last meal of Christ, before his arrest, is considered the founder of the Christian Church, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant. According to the Gospels, it is during this meal that Christ, as the son of God, taking bread and wine, consecrates them as his body and blood. He distributes them to his disciples both as spiritual “food” but also as a sign of the new alliance between God and men. He asks them to do this in memory of him and forever.
Christians commemorate this meal with the Eucharist.
Jesus takes his last meal with the twelve Apostles in the room called the “Cenacle”. This last meal of Christ, before his arrest, is considered the founder of the Christian Church, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant. According to the Gospels, it is during this meal that Christ, as the son of God, taking bread and wine, consecrates them as his body and blood. He distributes them to his disciples both as spiritual “food” but also as a sign of the new alliance between God and men. He asks them to do this in memory of him and forever.
Christians commemorate this meal with the Eucharist.
The Flagellation of Christ, by Guido de Siena, circa 1280.
Philippe de Champaigne, “Christ died on the Cross”, 1655.
From 1655, Philippe de Champaigne worked on commissions for the contemplative order of the Carthusians in Paris, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon or Bordeaux. The paintings created for this congregation are bathed in a spare atmosphere. The symbolic elements fade in the face of archaeological precision and a feeling of deep solitude and humility inhabits the figures. It is undoubtedly in this Christ Dead on the Cross , produced in 1655 for the Grande Chartreuse, mother house of the order, located not far from Grenoble, that this simplicity and this erudition are expressed with the most intensity. . In the distance, the walls of Jerusalem are plunged into the light of twilight or sudden night, as Saint Luke relates: “The sun being eclipsed, darkness fell over the entire land. » At the foot of the cross, a skull reminds us that the event takes place at Golgotha, or “place of the skull”. By his death, Christ therefore comes to redeem the sins of Humanity since the Fall of Adam. The artist focuses his attention on the pale body of the tortured victim, of which he does not omit any of the wounds, the crucified limbs and the bloody wound on the right side. But this suffering has not diminished the beauty and grace of Christ, whose every muscle is defined and whose skin collects the reflections of a cold light. The work was seized during the Revolution at the Grande Chartreuse and is today in the Grenoble Museum.
In Paul Gauguin's painting, "The Yellow Christ", painted in 1889 in Pont Aven, Christ is stylized and the painting leaves a large place in the countryside. Yellow seems to unite Christ and nature.
Jean Fouquet, Pietà de Nouans, circa 1450-1465.
A work little known to the general public, it is a work that must be earned. It is not discovered by chance during a visit to a major museum in Antwerp or Berlin. To see her, you have to travel the small country roads and go religiously to visit her in the church of Noauns-les-Fontaines, a small village of less than 800 souls on the borders of Touraine!
The painting is distinguished, as always with Fouquet, by an exceptional geometry and purity for a 15th century painter. When we observe the painting for a long time, we are struck by the calm, the silence and the total absence of violence that emanates from it. Everything in this scene is extremely sweet. Not a drop of blood escapes from Christ's wounds and his face is free from any mark of suffering. Virgo's pain is also very contained. Only his knotted hands and his eyes reddened by tears evoke his pain. The work invites the viewer into a long silent meditation.
A work little known to the general public, it is a work that must be earned. It is not discovered by chance during a visit to a major museum in Antwerp or Berlin. To see her, you have to travel the small country roads and go religiously to visit her in the church of Noauns-les-Fontaines, a small village of less than 800 souls on the borders of Touraine!
The painting is distinguished, as always with Fouquet, by an exceptional geometry and purity for a 15th century painter. When we observe the painting for a long time, we are struck by the calm, the silence and the total absence of violence that emanates from it. Everything in this scene is extremely sweet. Not a drop of blood escapes from Christ's wounds and his face is free from any mark of suffering. Virgo's pain is also very contained. Only his knotted hands and his eyes reddened by tears evoke his pain. The work invites the viewer into a long silent meditation.
"The Resurrection of Christ" by di Tommaso da Foligno Bartolomeo (1408 - 1454), Ohlala how beautiful it is! This masterpiece is kept in the Louvre.
Johan Koerbecke, "Resurrection of Christ", 1456-1457.
This Resurrection of Christ is one of the eight painted panels from the Passion cycle which constituted the altarpiece of the old high altar of the church of the Cistercian abbey of Marienfeld, near Münster in Westphalia. On either side of a statue of the Virgin and Child were two shutters painted on both sides. Outside (closed altarpiece), the cycle of the Passion of Christ took place, while inside (open altarpiece) that of the life of the Virgin appeared.
Commissioned from the painter by Abbot Arnold von Bevern shortly before 1456, the altarpiece was installed in the church in 1457. Moved at the end of the 17th century, it was dispersed during a sale around 1804. The Marienfeld altarpiece is considered the major work of Johann Koerbecke, the most important painter in Westphalia in the second half of the 15th century. Very few of his works have come down to us. The Calvet museum in Avignon can pride itself on being the only one in France to have one.
Commissioned from the painter by Abbot Arnold von Bevern shortly before 1456, the altarpiece was installed in the church in 1457. Moved at the end of the 17th century, it was dispersed during a sale around 1804. The Marienfeld altarpiece is considered the major work of Johann Koerbecke, the most important painter in Westphalia in the second half of the 15th century. Very few of his works have come down to us. The Calvet museum in Avignon can pride itself on being the only one in France to have one.
Andrea Mantegna, "The Resurrection", 1459. The feast of Easter is the oldest Christian feast and the central feast of the liturgical year. It celebrates the resurrection of Christ, his victory over death which is the central element of the Christian faith. At the same time she makes us participate in her resurrection by celebrating our passage from death to life. This is the good news of the victory of life.
Easter is supposed to be a holiday that we celebrate with infectious joy.
Piero della Francesca, c. 1460, Easter is the oldest Christian feast and the central feast of the liturgical year. It celebrates the resurrection of Christ, his victory over death which is the central element of the Christian faith. At the same time she makes us participate in her resurrection by celebrating our passage from death to life. This is the good news of the victory of life.
“Noli me tangere”, circa 1506, by Fra Bartolomeo.
The resurrection of Christ has been represented so many times in the history of art, in painting, tapestry, ceramics, sculpture, so difficult to choose, but my heart goes to this very special moment when the resurrected Jesus said to Mary Magdalene “Noli me tangere” (don't touch me) which, in the greatest number of pictorial representations, gives rise to a remarkable play of hands, this is the case here. On the left, the resurrection of Christ; on the right, the holy women going towards the tomb.
This marvel is visible at the Louvre and thanks to whom? To an exceptional king, nicknamed the “Father of the People”, Louis XII, who had the painting purchased in 1507, as a contemporary work.
“The Incredulity of Saint Thomas” by Peter Paul Rubens, painted around 1613.
Jesus returns from the dead and says to ten of the twelve apostles “Peace to you” he has a wound in his side and sores in his palms. Jesus blesses them, transmits the Holy Spirit to them, gives them a mission, and leaves. Thomas, not being present, his ten friends told him about the miracle. But Thomas refuses to believe it: “If I do not see the mark of the nails in his hands, if I do not put my finger in the mark of the nails, and if I do not put my hand in his side, I will not believe not." A week after this first appearance, Jesus returns and accedes to Thomas's desire and says to him “Put your finger here: here are my hands; put forth your hand and place it in my side, and be no more unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas replied: “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him: “Because you see me, you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Francesco Guardi, "The Procession of the Doge of Venice to San Zaccaria on Easter Day", 1775. On the afternoon of Easter Day, the doge went to the San Zaccaria church, surrounded by ecclesiastical and civil authorities. He is preceded by dignitaries wearing the dogal crown. Guardi, Canaletto and Bellotto, painters of the 18th century, are the most significant representatives of Italian Vedutism, that is to say the art of painting urban views and not bucolic landscapes.
“Easter morning in the big trees”, 1928 by Maurice Denis. Few modern artists have illustrated the Catholic religion, Maurice Denis devoted part of his life to it, he, among other things, decorated the chapel of his priory, frescoes, stained glass windows, furniture, on the theme of Saint Martha.
Pablo Picasso, "The Crucifixion", 1930.
In this painting, the sacred motif is linked to the expression of human suffering and to Picasso's personal obsessions. We find as in a hallucinatory vision all the characters of the Passion: Christ and Virgin pale against a background of darkness, Mary Magdalene suppliant, the spear bearer similar to a picador piercing Jesus, while two centurions play his tunic with dice near the two lying thieves. But other forms from Picasso's imagination mingle with Christian iconography: a blue head of a praying mantis, the face and profile inscribed in a yellow triangle reminiscent of Marie-Thérèse, a solar figure with a red mask and green hair, possible images of Mary Salomé and the apostle John. A green mass, a sponge soaked in vinegar, a stone or the obscured sun of the Gospels, scares away a bird.
“Hypercube Crucifixion” by Salvador Dalí, 1954.
Good Friday commemorates the day of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. It is part of the Easter triduum, which extends from Maundy Thursday (commemoration of Christ's last meal with his apostles) to vespers on Easter Sunday.
Jesus is brought before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. We are looking for reasons to condemn him, false witnesses come forward and testify against him. Accused of blasphemy, Jesus is condemned to death. As the Roman authority had deprived the Sanhedrin of the right to execute capital sentences, Jesus was taken before Pilate who, learning that Jesus came from the jurisdiction of Galilee, sent him to Herod who sent him back to Pilate. The latter, convinced of Jesus' innocence, made several attempts to have him acquitted, proposing to the crowd that they free him. The crowd shouts at Jesus: “Let him be crucified!” Then begins the flagellation, the crowning with thorns, the stations of the cross then the crucifixion and death of Jesus on Mount Golgotha.
It was in an interview given to the Italian Jesuit newspaper La Civiltà Cattolica that Pope Francis spoke of his taste for art. Thus, we learned that he particularly appreciated Caravaggio. In the interview, he also spoke of his affection for Marc Chagall's painting "The White Crucifixion". This canvas was painted in 1938, the year of the tragic Kristallnacht (November 9 to 10, 1938). The painting already foreshadowed the horror that the Jewish people would experience during the Second World War. The symbolism of this painting is very strong and there are numerous references to the Jewish religion. For example, let us cite the loincloth of Christ replaced by a “tallit”, a shawl used for Jewish prayer. Likewise, on the right of the painting, a German synagogue is on fire. On the left, we glimpse the persecution suffered by Jews during the Russian Civil War (1917-1923).
Extraordinary photograph of the Pope's blessing for Easter, circa 1880.
Traffic jam of carriages, cabs, trinqueballes and other horse-drawn carriages.
Jackson Pollock (Attributed to), Crucifixion , circa 1940.
Huge painting by Bernard Buffet, "The Passion of the Christ", 1951
"At Easter, the egg hunt in Grandpa and Mamy's garden is of unparalleled splendor. My grandparents have eggs eighty centimeters high, made of nougatine according to the tradition of the South, and scatter them in the garden. With our gang, we share three or four wheelbarrows of sweets, everything is in abundance. Grandpa even had the idea of slipping ceramic eggs made by Miró among the sweets.
How can you give a work of art to your grandchildren more elegantly?”
(Excerpt from The Maeght Saga).