Crucifixion Scene: The Two Thieves

The scene of crucifixion which shows up this week in the "Cross Scenes" widget is an amazing work by Jan van Eyck. It dates to around 1430, and thus represents one of the earlier works by this master artist of the Flemish school. The crucifixion scene is part of a diptych (two-painting panel), paired with a scene of the Last Judgment (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). You can click on the image for a larger view:



Overall, this painting is an amazing composition, especially with the activity in the foreground and the haunting appearance of the sky in the background. In terms of the crucifixion scene itself, there are a number of characteristic elements, such as the titulus above Jesus (see my previous post about that), and the dramatic piercing of Jesus's side, as recounted in the Gospel of John. You can click on the image for a larger view:



What I wanted to comment on here, however, are not the details that are based in the Biblical text. Instead, I want to comment on a striking detail not found in the Bible: the two thieves are blindfolded.

This is the kind of detail which can become part of the iconographic tradition, not in violation of the Biblical text, but simply by filling in the silence of the text on this issue. The motivation to do this is not the quest for some kind of literalistic or a historical truth. Rather, the impulse is to add a depth of meaning to the painting, to increase its symbolic expression.

The thieves are "blinded" spiritually, unlike Jesus, who sees (and understands) fully what is happening around him. The thieves are sinners, blinded by their sin. The darkness they are experiencing now anticipates the darkness that is about to unfold over the world at the moment of Jesus's death (Luke 23:44, "there was darkness over all the earth").

Both of the thieves are blindfolded, yet the two men are not identical in every respect, as you can see from the other physical details which distinguish the two men one from the other. This distinction between the two thieves is something found in only one of the Gospels; only Luke makes a distinction between the two thieves. Matthew does not make a distinction between the two thieves, nor does Mark. In John, they are not even called thieves, and no distinction is made between them, although John does note that the soldiers came and broke the legs of these two men, but not the legs of Jesus. In Luke, however, one robber insults Jesus, while the other robber rebukes him, saying that they are being executed rightly, for their deeds, while Jesus is innocent. He then speaks to Jesus and asks to be remembered, whereupon Jesus says to him: "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise."

The story told in Luke took on a life of its own beyond the Gospel. The thief later became known as Saint Dismas, or the "Good Thief" or the "Penitent Thief." Saint Dismas later became the patron saint of those condemned to death, and also of undertakers. In the Arabic Infancy Gospel (in which the good thief is named Titus), the two thieves are said to have first encountered Jesus as an infant, when Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled into Egypt. The good thief bribes the bad thief so that he will let the family go free. When Mary realizes what has happened, she prays that God will grant him a remission of his sins. The infant Jesus then prophesies that these two thieves will be crucified together with him, and that the good thief will be on his right.

Following in the tradition of Luke, van Eyck also distinguishes between the two thieves, using physical details of their outward appearance in order to indicate the different in their inner, spiritual situations. In van Eyck's painting, the thief who is shown to Jesus's right (our left) is depicted in a tranquil state, bound tightly to the cross, subdued. The bad thief, to Jesus's left, is twisting and writhing, dangling at a distance from the cross. You can also see a kind of indication in the clothing worn by the three: the bad thief wears a longer garment around his waist, the good thief wears almost nothing while it is Jesus who is completely uncovered. So, in the symbolic equation which van Eyck has established, the Good Thief is closer to an imitation of Jesus than the Bad Thief is.

So, as you can see here with van Eyck's painting, based on the remarkable distinction made between the two thieves in the Gospel of Luke, other narrative and iconographic traditions emerged, taking up the theme presented by Luke and exploring it more fully. This is the kind of larger cultural awareness of the Biblical tradition that I would like to promote in this blog, not just limited to the text of the Bible alone, but to the rich and creative engagement with the Bible that has taken shape over the centuries.

On a side note, this painting is also famous for its realistic rendering of the moon in the background! Crucifixion scenes sometimes feature a stylized sun and a stylized moon in the background, but van Eyck has drawn here a recognizably realistic moon - making it the first such rendering in European art history. You can read more about that at this BBC article.

Crucifixion Scene: Titulus Crucis

Although I am really getting crunched by the calendar trying to finish up my Latin Bible sayings book (my goal is 4000 sayings, and I'm not even halfway there yet, gulp!), I did want to try to post something in the blog today and since I have not posted about a crucifixion scene in a while, that is what I have chosen to do!

The crucifixion scene of the week this week is actually a deposition scene, in which the body of Christ is shown being taken down ("deposed") from on the cross. The deposition was an especially popular scene with artists and, like the crucifixion, the deposition has a range of motifs which are usually featured.

This deposition by Fra Angelico was painted in the early 15th century (and is on view these days in the lovely church of San Marco in Florence). Although the colors and composition are radiantly beautiful, there are traces of the violence of the crucifixion, with blood visible from the crown of thorns and from the wound in Christ's side. You can see Mary Magdalene (hair unbound) and Mary, the other of Jesus, along with the other female followers of Jesus, waiting to receive the body as it is lowered down by Joseph of Arimathea and other men using a ladder, which is a typical element in deposition scenes. (You can read more about ladder symbolism.)

What I wanted to focus on here in Fra Angelico's painting is the Titulus Crucis, the sign put at the head of the cross. Although it is a bit difficult to make out here in the painting, it is shown in three languages, following the text of the Gospel of John: "And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin."

In Fra Angelico's painting, reflecting the new learning of the Renaissance, you can indeed see the working written out in three languages: Latin, Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum; Greek, Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ Bασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων; and even in Hebrew:
ישוע (Yeshua) הנצרי (HaNotsri) ומלך (U'Melech) היהודים (HaYehudim). Apologies for the Hebrew: I am not an expert in the right-to-left style for HTML, alas.



Now the Latin and Greek texts come from the Biblical text itself, but the Hebrew is more of a puzzle. Historically, the language that would have been used would have been Aramaic, rather than Hebrew. For Christian scholars during the Renaissance, however, the historical factor is not what intrigued them. Instead, they were more interested in the mystical properties of the Hebrew inscription itself, which is how they ended up including a vav, "and" ("Jesus the Nazarene AND King of the Jews"). The result is the four-lettered name of God, the tetragrammaton, yod-he-vav-he: Yeshua` HaNotsri U'Melech HaYehudim. Fascinating! You can find out more about this topic in the extremely detailed article at wikipedia.

An anagram of the Latin inscription, INRI (Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum), is commonly found in Catholic art, and you might also note the inscription here on Jesus's halo, which reads: CORONA GLORIE, which would be in classical Latin, corona gloriae, "crown of glory."

You can see the halo here in a detail from Fra Angelico's painting which shows the location of the sign at the top of the cross; you can visit the Web Gallery of Art for more views of the entire triptych.

Crucifixion Scene: St. Francis and the Stigmata

The crucifixion image for this week is not exactly a crucifixion scene; instead, it is a famous scene in which a winged seraph, risen aloft on the cross, appeared to Saint Francis of Assisi, causing him to bear the stigmata, the marks of the wounds of the crucified Jesus (the Greek word stigma is singular, and stigmata is the Greek plural form of the word). To find out more about stigmata in general, you can read this article at wikipedia.

There are many paintings of Francis receiving the stigmata, and the image I selected here is by Giotto, and can be seen in the Chapel of Santa Croce in Florence (a truly amazing church, a bit off the beaten path - but definitely worth visiting!).

I studied in Italy when I was in graduate school, and I spent a lot of time in churches and museums, gazing at religious art, and also vicariously observing the art through the experiences of the tourists around me - a great way to learn about religious literacy, or the lack of it. In general, American tourists are not able to recognize the saints by their attributes, and they are often baffled to find depictions of stories outside the Bible that they know (such as paintings inspired by the story of Susannah and the Elders or the Book of Tobit, which are not included in Protestant Bibles).

So too with Saint Francis. A friend of mine in Italy told me that when he was looking at this same painting by Giotto of Francis receiving the stigmata, the American tourist standing next to him said loudly, "Oh look, the man is flying a Jesus kite!"



Well, you can see why someone would think that - but that is not what is being depicted in the painting. What the tourist thought were the strings of the kite are instead the visible signs of the "connection" between the cross and the stigmata that marked St. Francis. Giotto, in fact, has taken great care to pose Francis in such a way that we are able to see all five places where Francis was "pricked" (the literal meaning of the word "stigma"), in a symbolic re-creation of the wounds of Jesus, the "Five Holy Wounds," in his hands, feet and side (more about the Holy Wounds at wikipedia).

St. Francis is the first person officially recognized by the Catholic Church to have received the stigmata. After Francis, many other saints and holy people were reported to have received stigmata, including such contemporary figures as "Padre Pio," who is widely revered in Italy today (more about Padre Pio at wikipedia).

One thing that is very intriguing about the vision of Francis is that what he saw was one of the seraphim, the six-winged celestial creatures which became known as the highest order of angels in the Christian hierarchy. Here is another painting by Giotto of this scene which beautifully shows the six-winged seraph (you can read more about the seraphim at wikipedia and at the Jewish Encyclopedia online). You can see that, just as described in the prophet Isaiah's vision of the seraphim, they have two wings to cover their faces, two wings to cover their feet, and two wings with which to fly:



It's worth comparing the vision of Isaiah to the experience of Saint Francis in his visionary encounter with the seraph, since Isaiah, too, was marked by his encounter: "Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

Looking at the beautiful seraph here in Giotto's fresco might give us an idea, too, of how to visualize something of the extraordinary vision experienced by Isaiah.

Crucifixion Scene: Raphael

This week's crucifixion scene is by Sanzio Raffaello, better known as Raphael. This beautiful painting dates to 1502-3, when Raphael was barely twenty years old. Amazing!

You can see here Jesus on the cross, with the Mary Magdalene and Saint Jerome kneeling at the foot of the cross, together with the Virgin Mary and the apostle John standing behind them. Saint Jerome is included anachronistically; it is not unusual to see later saints, as well as patrons of art, depicted amidst the followers of Jesus attending the crucifixion.

The particular feature that I wanted to emphasize in writing about this painting is the role played by the angels here. You can see two angels, beautifully depicted hovering in the air to the right and to the left of Jesus on the cross (it almost looks as if they are standing on the clouds). As they hover there, one angel gazing upwards and the other angel gazing downards, they hold up chalices to catch the blood from Jesus's wounded hands and also from the wound in his side.

Blood is often an important element in crucifixion scenes, and in this style of depiction, that blood is being caught in a chalice, anticipating the sacrament of the Eucharist, the bread and the wine as the body and the blood of Christ.

The "most precious blood" has a prominent place in the Laudes Divinae, or "Divine Praises," as you can see in the opening lines:

Benedictus Deus. Benedictum Nomen Sanctum eius. Benedictus Iesus Christus, verus Deus et verus homo. Benedictum Nomen Iesu. Benedictum Cor eius sacratissimum. Benedictus Sanguis eius pretiosissimus. Benedictus Iesus in sanctissimo altaris Sacramento. [...]

Blessed be God. Blessed be His Holy Name. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Blessed be the name of Jesus. Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart. Blessed be His Most Precious Blood. Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. [...]

There is also a Litany of the Most Precious Blood. In this litany, the blood of Christ is invoked again and again. Here is an excerpt:

Sanguis Christi, in agonia decurrens in terram, salva nos.
Sanguis Christi, in flagellatione profluens, salva nos.
Sanguis Christi, in coronatione spinarum emanans, salva nos.
Sanguis Christi, in Cruce effusus, salva nos.
Sanguis Christi, pretium nostrae salutis, salva nos.
Sanguis Christi, sine quo non fit remissio, salva nos.
Sanguis Christi, in Eucharistia potus et lavacrum animarum, salva nos.
Sanguis Christi, flumen misericordiae, salva nos.

Blood of Christ, running down upon the earth in agony, save us.
Blood of Christ, pouring forth in the scourging, save us.
Blood of Christ, dripping down in the crowning with thorns, save us.
Blood of Christ, poured out on the cross, save us.
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation, save us.
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.
Blood of Christ, in the Eucharist drink and refreshment of souls, save us.
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.

Although the Litany in this form is modern (20th century), you can see that the reverence for the blood of Christ expressed here resonates with the scene depicted here by Raphael:

Crucifixion Scene: Duccio di Buoninsegna, Deposition

My goal in creating the Cross and Crucifixion Scene of the Week widget was to collect a set of 53 cross and crucifixion scenes which, taken as a whole, could illustrate the range of iconographic traditions, as artists attempted to provide a visual depiction of the cross which has become so central to the Christian tradition. So, each week here at the blog I will post a few comments about the particular image which is being featured that week.

This week's image has been a Deposition scene by Duccio di Buoninsegna, an Italian painter who was born in 1255 and died in 1319. His work is closely associated with the town of Siena, his birthplace. You can read a biography of Duccio and see more of his paintings at the Web Gallery of Art website.

The "deposition" refers to the removal of Christ from the cross, and it has a detailed iconographic tradition of its own. Here you can see Joseph of Arimathea (standing on the ladder) and John (standing on the ground) as they lower the body of Jesus, while Nicodemus is shown below, who has been assigned the task of removing the nails in order to lower the body. There are women at the scene, and Duccio has chosen to focus on Mary as the primary figure among the women in attendance, as she reaches out and embraces the body of her son as it is being lowered down by the two men, while Mary Magdalene kisses Jesus's hand. These are all typical elements in the iconography of the deposition scene, as we will see when we compare other deposition scenes in coming weeks.

The reason I chose this image, aside from its sheer power and beauty, is because of the attention paid here to Nicodemus removing the nails. This is a distinctive feature of the iconographical tradition, even though it does not form part of the Biblical text. One of my own personal interests in studying iconography is this back and forth between the Biblical text, extra-Biblical narratives, and the narratives represented in visual form.

Nicodemus is a character in the Gospel of John. The gospel text tells us that Nicodemus participated in the preparation Jesus's body for burial: "Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight." There is no mention of the nails, however.

There are actually only three references to the nails in the New Testament. In the Gospel of John, "Doubting" Thomas wants to see "in his hands the imprint of the nails" so that he can put his "finger into the place of the nails," so that he might believe. In Acts, Peter preaches about the crucifixion: "you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death." There is a vivid image in Colossians, when Paul writes that God "brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross."

The tradition of the crucifixion has also been linked with the Psalm in the Hebrew Bible which reads, "They pierced my hands and my feet." There is a similar passage in Zechariah: "They will look on me whom they have pierced."

Yet while there is little discussion of the nails in the Biblical text, the tradition of the "Holy Nails" became extremely important in the Catholic Church, as you can read in this article in the Catholic Encyclopedia. For example, one of the debates concerned whether there were four nails, or just three, with only one nail being used for the feet. In addition to the question that artists faced in depicting the scene, there was also the question of the many nails (thirty of more) which were venerated in various places in Europe as being true nails from the cross. One legend even reports that Saint Helena had one of the holy nails melted down and shaped into a bridle for Constantine's horse, while another one was used in the making of Constantine's crown.

I am not sure where the tradition of showing Nicodemus removing the nails begins. I checked the extra-Biblical Gospel of Nicodemus, and did not find anything there. If anyone has some suggestions about how to pursue the link between Nicodemus and the nails any further, I would be grateful!

Meanwhile, here is the Deposition scene by Duccio di Buoninsegna; you can see an even larger version at Web Gallery of Art:

Widget: Cross and Crucifixion Images

This weekend I created a new widget that shows a range of Crucifixion scenes. This was a really fascinating project for me, as I actually learned a lot about Crucifixion iconography in the process of building the widget.

I worked with materials from the Web Gallery of Art, so each item in the widget contains an image, a link to Web Gallery of Art (to see a larger version of the image plus additional information), along with a comment about some distinctive feature of that particular image.

As with the Hindu gods and goddesses, this Cross and Crucifixion widget is available in both a week-by-week and a random form. You can see the "Cross of the Week" widget displayed here in the blog in the right-hand column.

I really enjoyed this project because it is a good example to me both of "religious literacy" but also "visual literacy," helping people learn how to identify specific, distinctive features in this important Christian iconographical tradition. I'll be writing blog posts here week by week to explore more in depth each of the images featured for the week. So... stay tuned for more - and please feel free to take and use this widget in your own website or blog!