There are many mysteries, revelations, and miracles in the universe, in history, in our lives and in the Bible.

The most powerful one, the center of the Christian faith, is the Resurrection of Jesus and yet it was the last of the events of Jesus’ life to be represented in art – almost 1000 years after depictions of the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Journey of the Magi, or even the Crucifixion and the Marys at the tomb.

Why?

No one witnessed the Resurrection. There is no literal accounting. What did it look like? There is no recorded description of the rising in the Bible, even from the “two men” (Luke), a young man dressed in white (Mark), and an angel in white (Matthew). It just happened. Jesus is not there. The rising, the ascension, the “disappearance”, was foretold, alluded to, by Jesus but remained mostly a misunderstood and confusing phenomena. If no one saw it, there was no oral accounting until Mary Magdalene reported the empty tomb. So how do you describe the actual event in a drawing, painting or sculpture? Artists for centuries were hesitant to portray the mystery. There was no prerequisite or reference for representing a spiritual event that was real.

What Mary Magdalene and the other Marys encountered when they returned to anoint the body of Jesus was an empty tomb.

If you can, spend a minute thinking about your vision of the Resurrection. Most likely it is from an illustration in a book or a well-known painting that you remember.

The Resurrection was hinted at in the catacombs of the third century, using Old Testament precedents of salvation like “Daniel in the Lion’s Den” and “Jonah and the Whale” as symbolic references to the Resurrection. But artists were hesitant to portray the likeness of Jesus as a theological divine miracle. 

What form does a risen Christ take? 

An early symbol, appearing in the 4^th century was the wreathed Chi Rho, Christ’s initials – Chi (X) and Rho (P), that are the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek –  the Alpha and the Omega. Constantine and his soldiers carried the wreath on their labarums and it proved victorious for Constantine at the battle of Milvian Bridge and thus became a well-known symbol in Christianity – a conquering image of salvation, good over evil, as celebrated in the Resurrection in early Christianity.

By the 12^th century in the West, Christ was shown as a figure emerging from a Roman style sarcophagus, sometimes stepping out with a foot on a Roman soldier. 

A late 14^th century illustration is the “Resurrection” from the Breviary of King Martin of Aragon. 

This was a peaceful period in Spanish history that allowed the King to devote his energies to consolidating his kingdom and gave him the time to assemble an impressive library. This Breviary was copied around 1398 in a Cistercian monastery and is modeled on the Book of Hours of the de Berrys.

One of the most powerful representations of the resurrected Christ is Piero della Francesca’s Resurrection from the Palazzo Comunale in Borgo San Sepulcro, Piero’s home town. This is a fresco, 7’5” x 6’6”. Piero continues the accepted portrayal of Christ with one foot on the tomb. What is most outstanding in this fresco is the triumphant posture and power of Christ, overpowering death while the Roman soldiers ordered to guard the tomb, pagans and unaware, sleep.

There is a solidity and simplicity in Christ’s solemn yet serene expression, a frontality and balance that is the hallmark of early Renaissance painting. Only Matthew mentions the guards, ordered by Pilot, stationed to keep the disciples from removing the body. Christ holds the flag of victory, with death on his right and life on his left and his wounds fully exposed.

By the end of the fifteenth century, Italian artists were starting to portray Christ hovering above the tomb. This was also popular in the Northern Renaissance (Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands).

This “resurrection” is a detail from the back panel of the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunwald, a massive 15’polypych, front and back, oil on panel, painted for the monastic church of the Order of St. Anthony. Grunwald’s shocking and physically alive Christ is therapy for the suffering of patients in the adjacent hospital. Grunwald takes a giant step to portray what cannot be seen by man – Christ as the divine rising to be seated at the right hand of God. The shocked and fearful guards retreat. Unlike Piero’s sculptural and weighty Christ, Grunwald’s is weightless, dissolving in the light, spiritual medicine that reminds one of the promises of heaven and salvation. As he lifts, the shroud falls to reveal the wounds, intended to create an emotional response from those suffering.

Would you ever attempt to draw or paint Christ, and how he would look, especially if He was the risen Christ? It takes faith, courage and vision.

Not all of the images created of the Resurrection were acceptable to the Catholic Church.

At the Council of Trent (1545-63), in an attempt of the Church to tighten the reigns on artists and other aspects of the Church reform, members voted to repress “hovering” and decreed that one foot of Christ’s had to be firmly planted on the tomb. This was somewhat observed among Catholic artists and commissions for the Church until the 19^th century.

But if you were a Protestant artist, you paid little attention.

One of the most powerful paintings of The Resurrection is by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), oil on canvas, 1635-39, Bavarian State Painting Collection, Munich, Germany.

This is the Baroque period – a movement that focused on tenebrism, drama, emotion, and animated figures. The deeply religious Rembrandt was a master of light and drama. The light radiates energy and heat when the top of the sarcophagus is literally blown off as Christ rises, a shadow, behind the assisting angel. He is no longer a recognizable portrait. This is a theological statement from Rembrandt. The other humans, assumed to be Roman soldiers, tumble into a confused group of feet and hands.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, with the advent of scientific discoveries and the Enlightenment, religious images declined in popularity. There was more focus on historical paintings, portraits, landscapes and MAN.

However in the 20^th century there was a revival of Biblical art, likely stimulated by the two World Wars, continuing wars, racial conflict, financial hardships and anxiety.

Christ Rising: Frederick Hart (1943-99), bronze, 1998 is a recent example as we see Christ as weightless, transcending humanity, slim and vulnerable.

Resurrection comes form the Latin “resurgere” or to rise again, and from the Greek “anastasis” or raising up, resurrection.

The Resurrection is the centerpiece of the Christian faith.