Jesu s' resurrection is the central event of the narrative of the Gospels and other New Testament texts: according to these scriptures, the third day since his death on the cross Jesus resources leaving the tomb empty and initially appearing to some disciples and therefore also to other apostles and disciples. For Christianity, the event is the principle and foundation of faith, remembered annually in Santa Easter and weekly on Sunday.
The Descent to UnderworldIn Byzantine art, starting in the th-th centuries, resurrection is associated with Jesu s' descent to the underworld. In a white dress, the Risen descends to release the progenitors of humanity Adam and Eve. The Son moves into the depths of the earth, faces darkness, to bring forth man, every man, without ruling out the righteous of antiquity that did not know him. It's an act, sings the Byzantine liturgy of Holy Saturday, that ′′ shakes hell from the foundation ′′ and ′′ empties it ". And gives men their dignity as God's children. ′′ Like a pearl seeker you have immersed yourself in the underworld, to look for your image engulfed by death ", says Efrem the Syrus, the ′′ stone of the Holy Spirit ′′ (th century). ′′ Like a poor and a miserable person you came down and probed the abyss of the dead; and your mercy was rewarded, because he saw Adam traced back to the fold ". From some brief notes of the New Testament (Acts of the Apostles 2,29-32; Peter's first letter of 3,18-20), church fathers and spiritual authors inspire the model that would become canonical among Christians in the East: An ástasis, or Resurrection, understood as a whole with descent into Hades. So we see it in the oldest icons, mosaics and frescoes. As in the Holy Savior church in Chora, in Istanbul (1321). Here, a dancing Jesus, even more majestic because he is framed from below, grabs Adam and Eve by the hand bringing them back to life. Under his feet, the gates of underworld and the instruments of captivity, keys, locks, chains, now useless, sink into darkness, where only the devil remains, chained and helpless. The theme will also be revived in the West, from Duccio (in the Majesty of the Cathedral of Siena, th century) to the Blessed Angelico.
The man of glorified pain
′′ Behold, my servant will be successful, he will be honored, exalted and greatly elevated... He has no appearance nor beauty to attract our looks... Despised and rejected by men, a man of pain who knows well to suffer... Afterwards His intimate torment will see the light ′′ (Isaiah 52,13-53,12).
The winner of deathGiotto chooses, instead, another path depicting in the same scene the angels sitting on the empty tomb, the knockout guards and the meeting of Mary of Magdala with the risen Lord (John 20,11-18). In Padova, in the Scrovegni Chapel (1303-1305 ), we see Mary leaning towards Jesus who with her hand sign not to come closer: it's the Noli me tangere of many paintings, in which the Lord is represented with the spade or the gardener's hoe (so Tiziano, in the canvas now at the National Gallery of London, 1514). Giotto, however, doesn't dwell on the misunderstanding of Mary, who thought he had the garden keeper and not the risen Jesus. Gardener tools replace a banner on which it says: ′′ Victor mortis ". Every misunderstanding is dissipated: here is the Lord of life, the winner of death, who, like angels, wears a white dress with gold edges. Already appeared in art history, the reason for the banner, often associated with the victorious cross, will become a topos, a frequent emblem of resurrection, from the end of the Middle Ages onwards.
The Flemish painter Deric Bouts (1400 ca.- 1475) offers us an interpretation of intense spirituality in a painting now at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (tempera on linen, 1455 ca. ). Jesus, fresh out of the grave, holds with his left hand a cross to which a banner is tied, red like his dress. With the right there is a gesture of blessing, the slightly melancholy face: death is won, but the sores suffered are not erased or hidden. An angel dressed in white points the finger to the Risen, in the gesture art usually reserves to John the Baptist: ′′ Behold the Lamb of God ". Two guards lie down knocked out, while a third seems to protect themselves from that vision. In a landscape just cleared by dawn light, you can see the three women who go to the tomb with aromas in the background. Even here the contemplation of the mystery prevails over every emphasis on the wonderfull or spectacular. In the climate of modern devotio, the movement in Flemish land focused on imitation of Christ in the simplest things in everyday life, Bouts invites prayer and inner gathering, proposing a pattern that will be taken back by many others. Giovanni Bellini, who probably admired the Flemish canvas in Venice, will be inspired by it in a small board of great charms but small board, now at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (Blessing Risen Christ, 1500 ca. ). A close-up ′′ cinematographic ", splendid synthesis of theology and spirituality, in which everything is suggested, without the need to be shouted or flagged. Even the plagues seem scarred and by the face of Christ, from less severe traits than the Flemish, a soft supernatural light radiates, to form three ends of a cross with a halo. It is the Lord who won evil and death, symbolized from the magpie on the tree to the left, and raised a banner out of our field of vision. The colors of the sky, striated by clouds illuminated by the first rays of the sun, make the landscape - the Veneto countryside with a beautiful bell tower in the background - daily and supernatural at the same time. With a na ïf trait, represented by the two different colored rabbits playing in the foreground.
Giotto chooses, instead, another path depicting in the same scene the angels sitting on the empty tomb, the knockout guards and the meeting of Mary of Magdala with the risen Lord (John 20,11-18). In Padova, in the Scrovegni Chapel (1303-1305 ), we see Mary leaning towards Jesus who with her hand sign not to come closer: it's the Noli me tangere of many paintings, in which the Lord is represented with the spade or the gardener's hoe (so Tiziano, in the canvas now at the National Gallery of London, 1514). Giotto, however, doesn't dwell on the misunderstanding of Mary, who thought he had the garden keeper and not the risen Jesus. Gardener tools replace a banner on which it says: ′′ Victor mortis ". Every misunderstanding is dissipated: here is the Lord of life, the winner of death, who, like angels, wears a white dress with gold edges. Already appeared in art history, the reason for the banner, often associated with the victorious cross, will become a topos, a frequent emblem of resurrection, from the end of the Middle Ages onwards. The Flemish painter Deric Bouts (1400 ca.- 1475) offers us an interpretation of intense spirituality in a painting now at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (tempera on linen, 1455 ca. ). Jesus, fresh out of the grave, holds with his left hand a cross to which a banner is tied, red like his dress. With the right there is a gesture of blessing, the slightly melancholy face: death is won, but the sores suffered are not erased or hidden. An angel dressed in white points the finger to the Risen, in the gesture art usually reserves to John the Baptist: ′′ Behold the Lamb of God ". Two guards lie down knocked out, while a third seems to protect themselves from that vision. In a landscape just cleared by dawn light, you can see the three women who go to the tomb with aromas in the background. Even here the contemplation of the mystery prevails over every emphasis on the wonderfull or spectacular. In the climate of modern devotio, the movement in Flemish land focused on imitation of Christ in the simplest things in everyday life, Bouts invites prayer and inner gathering, proposing a pattern that will be taken back by many others. Giovanni Bellini, who probably admired the Flemish canvas in Venice, will be inspired by it in a small board of great charms but small board, now at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (Blessing Risen Christ, 1500 ca. ). A close-up ′′ cinematographic ", splendid synthesis of theology and spirituality, in which everything is suggested, without the need to be shouted or flagged. Even the plagues seem scarred and by the face of Christ, from less severe traits than the Flemish, a soft supernatural light radiates, to form three ends of a cross with a halo. It is the Lord who won evil and death, symbolized from the magpie on the tree to the left, and raised a banner out of our field of vision. The colors of the sky, striated by clouds illuminated by the first rays of the sun, make the landscape - the Veneto countryside with a beautiful bell tower in the background - daily and supernatural at the same time. With a na ïf trait, represented by the two different colored rabbits playing in the foreground.
Club President for UNESCO of Genoa
Italy Department President of
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