The Passion in Art

Richard Harries

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780754650119
• eBook ISBN: 9781351884419
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Jesus was not depicted on the cross until the early fifth century. Since then this scene has been painted or carved in sharply differing ways. With the aid of over thirty full-page plates, The Passion in Art explores the historical contexts and theologies that led to such differing depictions. Because the first Christians saw the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus as different aspects of a unified victory over sin and death, scenes of the Passion are juxtaposed with some of the Resurrection, which again are highly varied in what they do and do not show. This is the first book to consider the Passion as portrayed in the whole sweep of Christian history. Each picture is considered both from the point of view of its context and its theological standpoint. Spanning the centuries, the images reproduced and discussed include: scenes from the Passion of Christ in the Catacombs of Domitilla, mosaics in Ravenna, the Rabbula Crucifixion and Resurrection, the Crucifixion Plaque from Metz, the Gero Crucifix, Cimabue's Crucifix, Giotto's Noli me Tangere, Piero della Francesca's Resurrection, the Isenheim altarpiece, Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus, Rembrandt's Christ on the Cross, Chagall's White Crucifixion, contemporary paintings by Stanley Spencer, Graham Sutherland, Nicholas Mynheer, and many more works of great acclaim.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction
• Symbols in the Catacombs – Second and Third Centuries
• The Victory of the Passion – A Fourth-Century Sarcophagus
• The First Depiction of Christ on the Cross – A Fifth-Century Ivory
• The Women Discover the Empty Tomb – A Sixth-Century Mosaic
• Christ in a Long Tunic – A Sixth-Century Gospel Book
• On the Edges of Empire – Signs in Stone from the Seventh Century
• Christ Dead on the Cross – An Eleventh-Century Mosaic
• Doubting Thomas – A Byzantine Mosaic
• The Anastasis – An Eleventh-Century Mosaic
• Classical and Cosmic – A Carolingian Bookcover of the Crucifixion from the Ninth Century
• A Sense of the Poignant – An Ottonian Crucifix of the Tenth Century
• Christ Reigns from the Cross as Priest and King – A Romanesque Carving of the Eleventh Century
• On the Road to Emmaus – A Romanesque Relief of the Twelfth Century
• The Chairete – A Venetian Mosaic of the Twelfth Century
• The Influence of the Theologians – A Thirteenth-Century Illuminated Gospel
• The Sublime Cimabue (1240–1302)
• Noli Me Tangere – Giotto’s Masterpiece of the Early Fourteenth Century
• A Lily Crucifix of the Late Fourteenth Century
• The Anastasis – A Fourteenth-Century Fresco
• The Man of Sorrows (c. 1490)
• Christ Rises from the Grave – Piero della Francesca’s Humanist Vision of the Fifteenth Century
• Extreme Agony – The Isenheim Altarpiece
• The Supper at Emmaus – By Caravaggio in the Seventeenth Century
• Jesus Alone – Rembrandt
• Caspar David Friedrich and the Cross in Landscape
• The White Crucifixion – Marc Chagall
• Christ on the Cross – Georges Rouault
• The Crucifixion – Stanley Spencer
• The Noli Me Tangere – Graham Sutherland
• The Supper at Emmaus – Ceri Richards
• ‘A Sword Shall Pierce through Thy Own Soul’ – Crucifixion by Helen Meyer
• Menorah – Roger Wagner
• The Incredulity of Thomas – Nicholas Mynheer
• Notes
• Index