A Comparison of Resurrection Images in the East and West
The Harrowing of Hell icon (16th century?) and Resurrection by Piero della Francesca (1463, Early Renaissance)
On my adventures about the web I came to notice that one could not find a Resurrection icon of a similar nature to the paintings of the Resurrection in the West. The Resurrection icons, more aptly called the Harrowing of Hell, lack the typical Western pose of Christ stepping forth from the tomb. All of the Resurrection or Anastasis icons I found were of a similar form. While in the East there is one form of the image, in the West there are many different images in different forms. Perhaps it is not fair to take but one of the many images in the West for comparison, but in the interest of time I chose an image that the West finds to be the "most awe-inspiring picture of the resurrection". I hope that was fair enough. But why such a stark difference in the portrayal of the Resurrection from East to West? Surely there are theological reasons and not merely decorative standards why the Eastern church focuses on the harrowing of hell and the Western church focuses on Christ stepping out of the grave. I will allow others to fully enlighten the theological aspects (please, do). I am first interested in what these two differing images, the Harrowing of Hell and the typical Western Resurrection painting, may communicate on their own behalves to a mere Christian.
The Harrowing of Hell
The central figures in this image are Christ and Adam and Eve. A host of secondary figures no less dominant, King David, Saint John the Baptist and several Old Testament prophets, surround them. Their solemn faces turn toward each other and toward Christ, their hands all pointing to Him. Their eyes gaze at Christ, at each other, and some look out of the icon at the viewer. Christ, robed in a golden garment, strides with a wide, solid stance upon the gates of hell which fallen and broken form the sign of the cross. He is the only person actively moving; all others stand or kneel. The cross traverses a black field dotted with instruments of the crucifixion and an open lock. Our Lord lifts Adam by the wrist from the open coffin which is tilted toward the viewer. Eve's robe-covered hands cup together in a supplication. In the background jagged rocks reach up to almost encapsulate the scene, their dominance broken by the golden field that supports the entire image. The whole image is bright with jewel tones and rich with gold and bronze metallic.
The first impressions of this icon are ones of Christ's actions and of the community of the faithful for whom the actions of Christ are done. The icon clearly shows that our Lord is the only one moving and active while all else stand or kneel. Christ takes Adam by the wrist to gently and firmly lift him from the grave. Indeed Adam literally has no hand in this. While being raised, Adam lifts his hand unto the Lord. The action between the two calls to mind the verse, "What shall I render to the Lord? I will take the cup of salvation." Adam receives and praises. Eve being of one flesh with Adam also kneels but the other saints are all standing in the presence of Christ, their standing being representative of truly being called sons of God. The modern depiction of hell is one of darkness and fire and brimstone and at first glance this picture of hell hardly holds to that image - and for good reason. Christ, our Light, dispels the darkness. The rocks, the golden background and even the faces of the saints seem transfigured in this Light while the darkness desperately recedes into the cracks in the rocks. The icon speaks of the great works of Christ and about who these were for. It depicts the faithful gathered around Christ, a multitude of them so great that they are crowded off the edges of the icon. But the community of the faithful shown in the icon is not a static one of solely historical persons - it extends to the very person of the viewer. The open coffin tilts toward the viewer making it familiar and personal; the grave of Adam is also our grave without exception. The viewer is further pulled into participation by the gazes of the saints. The saints look back and forth at each other and Christ but they also gaze at the viewer, recognizing the viewer also as a partaker of Christ. One might imagine the viewer standing inside this icon to witness with all the faithful the first Adam being lifted out of the grave at the last by the second Adam. (And surely Adam is the last, it seems, as all the others are already risen by the hand of Christ.) As the saints look upon Christ and each other, so the viewer in a mirror image looks upon Christ and the saints with hands upraised in prayer to our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ. It is an image of, in, and for The Church.
Resurrection by Piero della Francesca
Christ stand in the center of the painting in an almost military pose of arrested movement. His foot is upon the grave, thought it could as easily be a low wall for all we see of its depth or dimensions. In one hand He holds a banner, also of military style, with a red cross on a white field. The other hand, closed, rests on his knee. The opened robe reveals not only the pierced side but a muscular, strong body. The expression painted on his face is almost a blank stare, void of emotion but with large, penetrating eyes. The stare is in the direction of the viewer but instead looks past the viewer. The eyes that look beyond the viewer also take no notice of the four people directly in front and below him. In the foreground a semicircle of soldiers overlap each other in tangled poses. Only one of the four figures is awake but his face is covered and is as equally inaccessible to the viewer as the other three. Behind them Christ seems poised to step up and over these unknowing characters. The background shows the scene to be happening on the open countryside of a tamed yet odd landscape. The rows of trees pointing to Christ are on the left side in the grip of Autumn bearing little is any leaves and on the right side the full, green trees seem to enjoy the Summer. The sky is also ambiguous in it's lack of a direct light source. The colors are palid, mostly soft greens and reds and pale skin tones.
A weird calm pervades this image with nearly everything and everyone in a frozen pose. The soldiers in the foreground are largely unaware and uninvolved in the event. The Christ in this painting looks not at the people nearest to him or even at the viewer. (This fresco was painted so that the viewer is eye level with the coffin, thus the Christ's forward stare, which may seem to the online viewer to be looking at the viewer, was actually a stare above the heads of the viewer seeing it in person.) This Christ seems detached or contemplative and rather unconcerned by people in general. Another art critic, Arthur Danto, describes it as such:
"Piero has shown us what it must have felt like to be the subject of a resurrection, and expressed it in a way that each of us, whatever our religious convictions, can understand. Christ recognizes that something undeniable has taken place, which nonetheless strains the limits of credibility. He is shown at an instant of stunned triumph. His is the expression of someone who accepts, and is even awed by, what he has no way of doubting but cannot altogether believe. To be sure, he had predicted that it would happen, and his followers were enough convinced of its inevitability that the Romans were obliged to take precautions, sealing the tomb and stationing soldiers there to prevent the body's being stolen and resurrection falsely claimed. The guard at the extreme right seems to have awakened, even to have seen the miracle that he must have interpreted as a dream, for such is the torpor of his body that he seems to be sinking back into sleep, having raised himself on one arm. Only Christ is awake, but in a sense of "awake" that contrasts not so much with "asleep" as with "dead." He is alive in a new dawn, and in a barely imaginable way."
The fresco heavily relies on the feeling of being resurrected, as though it were an isolated event that can be barely imagined (and even more so barely believed) - a thing of fancy to be pondered over with bare emotion. The blank look on the depicted Christ is that of a stunned man, himself unbelieving. Indeed there is very little that is divine in this Christ. His body is realistic and earthy, his facial expression un-inspired. This Christ is militaristic, planting his banner as if on an undiscovered land. His foot is placed firmly on a coffin that remains hidden and unshared with the viewer. Francesca took artistic license by putting the coffin not in the cave but in an open countryside. The reason must be for allegorical purposes, such as the attempt to say something symbolic in the barren trees on the left and the fruitful trees on the right. The use of allegory tries to make up for a lack of a clear statement in the foreground action. One can gather that Christ rose from the grave, but for who? Not the soldiers as he doesn't even bother to wake them with the Good News, and not for the viewers as he doesn't even look at them. It seems as though he has risen for his own purposes - that of staking territory rather than for any interaction with humankind.
"The mood felt by the painter and instilled into our souls makes this by far the grandest, most poetic, and most awe-inspiring picture of the resurrection," wrote John Addington Symonds, an English scholar, about Francesca's Resurrection. I find it to be perhaps the most putrid and detestable picture of the Resurrection.
On my adventures about the web I came to notice that one could not find a Resurrection icon of a similar nature to the paintings of the Resurrection in the West. The Resurrection icons, more aptly called the Harrowing of Hell, lack the typical Western pose of Christ stepping forth from the tomb. All of the Resurrection or Anastasis icons I found were of a similar form. While in the East there is one form of the image, in the West there are many different images in different forms. Perhaps it is not fair to take but one of the many images in the West for comparison, but in the interest of time I chose an image that the West finds to be the "most awe-inspiring picture of the resurrection". I hope that was fair enough. But why such a stark difference in the portrayal of the Resurrection from East to West? Surely there are theological reasons and not merely decorative standards why the Eastern church focuses on the harrowing of hell and the Western church focuses on Christ stepping out of the grave. I will allow others to fully enlighten the theological aspects (please, do). I am first interested in what these two differing images, the Harrowing of Hell and the typical Western Resurrection painting, may communicate on their own behalves to a mere Christian.
The Harrowing of Hell
The central figures in this image are Christ and Adam and Eve. A host of secondary figures no less dominant, King David, Saint John the Baptist and several Old Testament prophets, surround them. Their solemn faces turn toward each other and toward Christ, their hands all pointing to Him. Their eyes gaze at Christ, at each other, and some look out of the icon at the viewer. Christ, robed in a golden garment, strides with a wide, solid stance upon the gates of hell which fallen and broken form the sign of the cross. He is the only person actively moving; all others stand or kneel. The cross traverses a black field dotted with instruments of the crucifixion and an open lock. Our Lord lifts Adam by the wrist from the open coffin which is tilted toward the viewer. Eve's robe-covered hands cup together in a supplication. In the background jagged rocks reach up to almost encapsulate the scene, their dominance broken by the golden field that supports the entire image. The whole image is bright with jewel tones and rich with gold and bronze metallic.
The first impressions of this icon are ones of Christ's actions and of the community of the faithful for whom the actions of Christ are done. The icon clearly shows that our Lord is the only one moving and active while all else stand or kneel. Christ takes Adam by the wrist to gently and firmly lift him from the grave. Indeed Adam literally has no hand in this. While being raised, Adam lifts his hand unto the Lord. The action between the two calls to mind the verse, "What shall I render to the Lord? I will take the cup of salvation." Adam receives and praises. Eve being of one flesh with Adam also kneels but the other saints are all standing in the presence of Christ, their standing being representative of truly being called sons of God. The modern depiction of hell is one of darkness and fire and brimstone and at first glance this picture of hell hardly holds to that image - and for good reason. Christ, our Light, dispels the darkness. The rocks, the golden background and even the faces of the saints seem transfigured in this Light while the darkness desperately recedes into the cracks in the rocks. The icon speaks of the great works of Christ and about who these were for. It depicts the faithful gathered around Christ, a multitude of them so great that they are crowded off the edges of the icon. But the community of the faithful shown in the icon is not a static one of solely historical persons - it extends to the very person of the viewer. The open coffin tilts toward the viewer making it familiar and personal; the grave of Adam is also our grave without exception. The viewer is further pulled into participation by the gazes of the saints. The saints look back and forth at each other and Christ but they also gaze at the viewer, recognizing the viewer also as a partaker of Christ. One might imagine the viewer standing inside this icon to witness with all the faithful the first Adam being lifted out of the grave at the last by the second Adam. (And surely Adam is the last, it seems, as all the others are already risen by the hand of Christ.) As the saints look upon Christ and each other, so the viewer in a mirror image looks upon Christ and the saints with hands upraised in prayer to our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ. It is an image of, in, and for The Church.
Resurrection by Piero della Francesca
Christ stand in the center of the painting in an almost military pose of arrested movement. His foot is upon the grave, thought it could as easily be a low wall for all we see of its depth or dimensions. In one hand He holds a banner, also of military style, with a red cross on a white field. The other hand, closed, rests on his knee. The opened robe reveals not only the pierced side but a muscular, strong body. The expression painted on his face is almost a blank stare, void of emotion but with large, penetrating eyes. The stare is in the direction of the viewer but instead looks past the viewer. The eyes that look beyond the viewer also take no notice of the four people directly in front and below him. In the foreground a semicircle of soldiers overlap each other in tangled poses. Only one of the four figures is awake but his face is covered and is as equally inaccessible to the viewer as the other three. Behind them Christ seems poised to step up and over these unknowing characters. The background shows the scene to be happening on the open countryside of a tamed yet odd landscape. The rows of trees pointing to Christ are on the left side in the grip of Autumn bearing little is any leaves and on the right side the full, green trees seem to enjoy the Summer. The sky is also ambiguous in it's lack of a direct light source. The colors are palid, mostly soft greens and reds and pale skin tones.
A weird calm pervades this image with nearly everything and everyone in a frozen pose. The soldiers in the foreground are largely unaware and uninvolved in the event. The Christ in this painting looks not at the people nearest to him or even at the viewer. (This fresco was painted so that the viewer is eye level with the coffin, thus the Christ's forward stare, which may seem to the online viewer to be looking at the viewer, was actually a stare above the heads of the viewer seeing it in person.) This Christ seems detached or contemplative and rather unconcerned by people in general. Another art critic, Arthur Danto, describes it as such:
"Piero has shown us what it must have felt like to be the subject of a resurrection, and expressed it in a way that each of us, whatever our religious convictions, can understand. Christ recognizes that something undeniable has taken place, which nonetheless strains the limits of credibility. He is shown at an instant of stunned triumph. His is the expression of someone who accepts, and is even awed by, what he has no way of doubting but cannot altogether believe. To be sure, he had predicted that it would happen, and his followers were enough convinced of its inevitability that the Romans were obliged to take precautions, sealing the tomb and stationing soldiers there to prevent the body's being stolen and resurrection falsely claimed. The guard at the extreme right seems to have awakened, even to have seen the miracle that he must have interpreted as a dream, for such is the torpor of his body that he seems to be sinking back into sleep, having raised himself on one arm. Only Christ is awake, but in a sense of "awake" that contrasts not so much with "asleep" as with "dead." He is alive in a new dawn, and in a barely imaginable way."
The fresco heavily relies on the feeling of being resurrected, as though it were an isolated event that can be barely imagined (and even more so barely believed) - a thing of fancy to be pondered over with bare emotion. The blank look on the depicted Christ is that of a stunned man, himself unbelieving. Indeed there is very little that is divine in this Christ. His body is realistic and earthy, his facial expression un-inspired. This Christ is militaristic, planting his banner as if on an undiscovered land. His foot is placed firmly on a coffin that remains hidden and unshared with the viewer. Francesca took artistic license by putting the coffin not in the cave but in an open countryside. The reason must be for allegorical purposes, such as the attempt to say something symbolic in the barren trees on the left and the fruitful trees on the right. The use of allegory tries to make up for a lack of a clear statement in the foreground action. One can gather that Christ rose from the grave, but for who? Not the soldiers as he doesn't even bother to wake them with the Good News, and not for the viewers as he doesn't even look at them. It seems as though he has risen for his own purposes - that of staking territory rather than for any interaction with humankind.
"The mood felt by the painter and instilled into our souls makes this by far the grandest, most poetic, and most awe-inspiring picture of the resurrection," wrote John Addington Symonds, an English scholar, about Francesca's Resurrection. I find it to be perhaps the most putrid and detestable picture of the Resurrection.
Comments
He just broke out into a huge, belly laugh.
That's what I had done, too.
When I get back to Richmond, I'll scan and send you an Italian Madonna and Child enjoying an afternoon in the Tuscan countryside, painting in this same (or a similar) style. Nobody in the picture is actually looking any anybody else, not even at the Infant Christ!
The theology may be destable, but the painting is a hoot! So enjoy it and thanks for making my day!
Anastasia
I can't wait to see it. When are you coming back?
I will definitely remember to send it to you. Like the picture you've posted of the Resurrection, it's a hoot!
Anastasia