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The Greatest Easter Painting Ever Made
Crisis Magazine ^
| APRIL 18, 2014
| Elise Ehrhard
Posted on 04/18/2014 7:38:53 AM PDT by NYer
Tucked away in a central Parisian museum that was once a railway station, there hangs an Easter painting quite unlike any Gospel masterpiece created before or after it. It is not painted by a Rembrandt or a Rubens or the patron saint of artists, Fra Angelico. The painting is the work of a little-known Swiss painter. For those who make a trip to see it, viewing the canvas is a special spiritual experience in their lives.
The work does not even show the risen Jesus. It merely portrays two witnesses, Jesus oldest and youngest apostle. The youngest who was the only man brave enough to stay by Jesus cross and the only one who did not die a martyrs death as a result of it. The oldest apostle who first denied Jesus in fear, yet ultimately chose to be crucified upside down by the Roman authorities rather than deny Christs resurrection.
In The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection by Eugène Burnand, John clasps his hand in prayer while Peter holds his hand over his heart. The viewer feels the rush as their hair and cloaks fly back with the wind. They are sprinting towards discovery of the moment that forever altered heaven and earth. As you look at it, engage for a moment in what the Catholic blogger Bill Donaghy calls the visual equivalent of Lectio Divina. As Donaghy notes, This Resurrection scene does not put us before still figures near a stagnant stone, or figures standing with stony faces in a contrived, plastic posture, pointing to an empty tomb. This scene is dynamic; we are in motion.
During his time, Burnand was fascinated by the possibilities of the emerging art of photography. Ironically, he would later be dismissed in the twentieth century as too bourgeois and anti-modernist when in fact he was merging his love of tradition with his interest in new technological ways of capturing the human person. His painting feels cinematic long before cinema existed as a major art form.
Through the movement and immediacy of the scene, the preceding minutes with Mary Magdalene are palpable. In a sense, she is in the painting too. You can almost hear her voice in the background, can you not, a few minutes earlier, as she burst into their house
writes the Episcopal Bishop Dorsey McConnell in an Easter sermon meditating on the painting.
Apart from Jesus mother, no other three participants capture the closeness of Jesus encounter with humankind quite like John, Peter and Mary of Magdala. Their interactions with Christ embody a relationship to God previously unimaginable to mankind. Jesus turning to Peter as they sit by the fire and asking three times, Do you love me?, thereby washing away the sin of the three denials past; Christ turning to John in the midst of his suffering and saying, Behold, your mother, giving her to the Church entire. And, of course, the beautiful moment about to transpire in which Jesus merely says Marys name and she recognizes Him with a cry of Rabbouni! They are the moments which cause one to wonder how those who truly hate Christianity (not merely disbelief it) can remain so hostile to its narrative beauty.
Burnands work was part of a late nineteenth century version of the new evangelization. The public, particularly in the United States, desired original religious imagery. Burnand lived in an era in which a revived spiritual hunger fought against the push of emerging atheistic philosophies, philosophies that would eventually consume a continent and leave only a struggling remnant of European Christendom in its wake.
He was an illustrator of popular working types: collectors of coal, sowers in the field and even penitent woodsmen praying at a roadside cross, writes Gabriel P. Weisberg, a professor of art history at the University of Minnesota. For him the image of two fishermen racing toward a supernatural realization about the death of a carpenter would be instinctive.
Look into Peters wide open eyes and Johns intense gaze. Their eyes contain a mix of anxiousness and hope, the way a parent or grandparents eyes look at the news of an impending birth. A new life is about to emerge, but there is still uncertainty because it is a mystery beyond full human comprehension or control. Peter and Johns faces capture the same sense of anticipation.
Burnand created a sparse, simple painting capturing two of the most important players in the greatest story ever told. Meditate upon their faces as Burnand intended you to do and through them discover the empty tomb.
TOPICS: Catholic; History; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: arkwork; artwork; burnand; resurrection
1
posted on
04/18/2014 7:38:53 AM PDT
by
NYer
To: Tax-chick; GregB; Berlin_Freeper; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; ...
2
posted on
04/18/2014 7:39:11 AM PDT
by
NYer
("You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears." James 4:14)
To: NYer
WOW! Never seen this painting.
3
posted on
04/18/2014 7:41:56 AM PDT
by
Dr. Ursus
To: NYer
4
posted on
04/18/2014 7:45:20 AM PDT
by
bonfire
To: NYer
Beautiful. Thanks for posting.
To: NYer
Beautiful, thanks for sharing. :)
6
posted on
04/18/2014 7:47:01 AM PDT
by
MissTed
( Private Tagline - Do Not Read!)
To: NYer
7
posted on
04/18/2014 7:47:20 AM PDT
by
E. Pluribus Unum
("The best way to control opposition is to lead it ourselves." -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin)
To: NYer
This simple painting is to Easter as the famous Henry Ossawa Tanner painting of “ The Annunciation” is to Christmas.
8
posted on
04/18/2014 7:48:36 AM PDT
by
Biggirl
(“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
To: NYer
9
posted on
04/18/2014 7:49:16 AM PDT
by
Biggirl
(“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
To: NYer
10
posted on
04/18/2014 7:49:32 AM PDT
by
LostInBayport
(When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
To: NYer
Thank you, I too had never heard of this painting. Just so happens that I am listening to the ‘Resurrection’ part of the Messiah Oratorio, “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth!”, when I saw this and the blend is ever so FINE!
11
posted on
04/18/2014 7:53:55 AM PDT
by
SES1066
(Quality, Speed or Economical - Any 2 of 3 except in government - 1 at best but never #3!)
To: NYer
From Scripture:
John, chapter 20
Scripture
View all books of the Bible
CHAPTER 20*
The Empty Tomb.*
1On the first day of the week,a Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark,* and saw the stone removed from the tomb. b
2So she ran* and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”
3* So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
4They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first;
5he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
6c When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths* there,
7and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.d
8Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.
9* e For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned home.
12
posted on
04/18/2014 10:59:29 AM PDT
by
Salvation
("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
To: NYer
Interesting that there aren't so many paintings of Peter and John at the empty tomb, beside this one. The
canonical icon is Myrrh-bearing women; this shows the empty wrappings, but not the two Apostles.
There are three other paintings in various Western traditions:
St. John and St. Peter at Christ's Tomb
Giovanni Francesco Romanelli
ca. 1640
Los Angeles Museum of Art
The Empty Tomb
Mikhail Nesterov
1889
Saint Peter and Saint John Run to the Sepulchre
James Tissot
1886-1894
Brooklyn Museum
13
posted on
04/18/2014 11:21:54 AM PDT
by
annalex
(fear them not)
To: NYer
The perfect painting for the meaning of “He is Risen”.
To: NYer
Thank you for posting, I never tire of looking at magnificent religious art. Comparing and contrasting the styles of masters. Studying what they chose to include or leave out. It really serves to focus one on the events of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.
15
posted on
04/18/2014 12:43:30 PM PDT
by
verga
(Poor spiritual health is often manifested with poor physical health.)
To: NYer
Notice that John is wearing white linen in this (incredible) painting? It got me thinking about why the artist did that, since it's early morning and cold and Peter threw on his cloak over an actual robe, while John is just running in his shift - but his shift is also something that reminded me of the burial linen that Jesus was wrapped in at the time, and which these two disciples found abandoned in the tomb.
So I did some research, and found this link: The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved, which contains a fascinating biblical analysis and theory that the Book of John was actually written by Lazarus, who Jesus raised from the dead, and that this same Lazarus is in fact "the other disciple whom Jesus loved" instead of "John."
I know, sounds wild, but the above-linked biblical study is extremely impressive and I recommend you give it a look. In addition, examine the painting again - if this was Lazarus, it would explain why the painter dressed "John" in linen, which was only referenced for burials in the New Testament, specifically to draw attention to something secret he knew. Also Jesus plus the Twelve would make thirteen, while the addition of one more "whom Jesus loved" would make fourteen - and look at Peter's fingers: one on one hand, four on the other: fourteen, while also pointing to "John." So these things could be secret codings from the painter about this subject.
As well "John" looks concerned (as he would be if told Jesus's body had apparently been "stolen" from the tomb but not seen for himself yet), but Peter looks astonished - yet they haven't reached the tomb yet. But when they get to the tomb, only "the disciple Jesus loved" believes - Peter does not, yet. So what is Peter astonished about here? Maybe the painter is indicating a raising from the dead Peter already knows about, i.e. Lazarus running beside him, as an indicator to the viewer?
The above link also points out that the title of the Fourth Gospel referencing John is never made IN that Gospel - it was added much later.
16
posted on
04/18/2014 2:22:44 PM PDT
by
Talisker
(One who commands, must obey.)
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