Crucifixion in the arts
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Crucifixions and crucifixes have appeared in the arts and popular culture from before the era of the pagan Roman Empire. The crucifixion of Jesus has been depicted in a wide range of religious art since the 4th century CE, frequently including the appearance of mournful onlookers such as the Virgin Mary, Pontius Pilate, and angels, as well as antisemitic depictions portraying Jews as responsible for Christ's death. In more modern times, crucifixion has appeared in film and television as well as in fine art, and depictions of other historical crucifixions have appeared as well as the crucifixion of Christ. Modern art and culture have also seen the rise of images of crucifixion being used to make statements unconnected with Christian iconography, or even just used for shock value.
Art
Late Antiquity
The earliest known artistic representations of crucifixion predate the Christian era, including
The Alexamenos graffito, currently in the museum in the Palatine Hill, Rome, is a Roman graffito from the 2nd century CE which depicts a man worshiping a crucified donkey. This graffito, though apparently meant as an insult,[2] is the earliest known pictorial representation of the crucifixion of Jesus.[2][3][4][5][6] The text scrawled around the image reads in Greek Αλεξαμενος ϲεβετε θεον, which approximately translates to "Alexamenos worships God".[7][8][9][10]
In the first three centuries of Early Christian art, the crucifixion was rarely depicted. Some engraved gems thought to be 2nd or 3rd century have survived, but the subject does not appear in the art of the Catacombs of Rome, and it is thought that at this period the image was restricted to heretical groups of Christians. The earliest Western images clearly originating in the mainstream of the church are 5th-century, including the scene on the doors of Santa Sabina, Rome.[11] Constantine I forbade crucifixion as a method of execution, and early church leaders regarded crucifixion with horror, and thus, as an unfit subject for artistic portrayal.[12]
The purported discovery of the
Eastern church
Early depictions showed a living Christ, and tended to minimize the appearance of suffering, so as to draw attention to the positive message of resurrection and faith, rather than to the physical realities of execution.
Early Byzantine depictions such as that in the
Greek painters from Constantinople heavily influenced Italian Byzantine art. Nikolaos Philanthropinos, Theophanes of Constantinople, and Apollonios were active in the Venetian Empire and taught painting. Philanthropinos painted St Mark's Basilica after the fire in the 1430s.[19][20][21][22]
Crete became the epicenter of Greek painting during the Renaissance and Baroque eras the style became known as the Cretan School of painting. Countless painters depicted the Crucifixion. Their work was heavily influenced by Venetian painting but followed the Greek mannerism prevalent at the time known as the Maniera Greca. Andreas Pavias uniquely depicted the Crucifixion following a gothic style and the painter depicted the impenitent thief turned around with his back facing the viewers to denote the difference between the two historical biblical figures.[23][24]
Other Cretan painters followed his style Theophanes the Cretan depicted the reversed figure in his Crucifixion fresco at Stavronikita Monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. Emmanuel Lambardos also continued the style in his Crucifixion.[25]
By the mid-1600s,
Western church
The earliest Western images of a dead Christ may be in the Utrecht Psalter, probably before 835.[28] Other early Western examples include the Gero Cross and the reverse of the Cross of Lothair, both from the end of the 10th century. The first of these is the earliest near life-size sculpted cross to survive, and in its large scale represents "suffering in its extreme physical consequences", a trend that was to continue in the West.[29] Such figures, especially as roods, large painted or sculpted crucifixes hung high in front of the chancel of churches, became very important in Western art, providing a sharp contrast with Eastern Orthodox traditions, where the subject was never depicted in monumental sculpture, and increasingly rarely even in small Byzantine ivories. By contrast, an altar cross, almost always a crucifix, became compulsory in Western churches in the Middle Ages. That it should be a crucifix was first specified in the Roman Missal of 1570 and small wall-mounted crucifixes were increasingly popular in Catholic homes from the Counter-Reformation, if not before. The image of a crucifix that bled when mocked and struck by Jews also gained popularity during this time.[30]
As a broad generalization, the earliest depictions, before about 900, tended to show all three crosses (those of Jesus, the
The soldiers were less likely to be shown, but others of the party with Mary and John might be. Angels were often shown in the sky, and the Hand of God in some early depictions gave way to a small figure of God the Father in the heavens in some later ones, those these were always in the minority. Other elements that might be included were the sun and moon (evoking the darkening of the heavens at the moment of Christ's death), and Ecclesia and Synagoga. There were also representations of the alleged aggressors, including depictions of Jews mocking, glaring, slapping, and ultimately crucifying Jesus.[31] Although according to the Gospel accounts his clothing was removed from Jesus before his crucifixion, most artists have thought it proper to represent his lower body as draped in some way. In one type of sculpted crucifix, of which the Volto Santo in Lucca is the classic example, Christ continued to wear the long collobium robe of the Rabbula Gospels. The motif of the Pelican in her Piety – a mother pelican plucking flesh from her breast to feed her chicks – appears at the top of the cross in many medieval crucifixion scenes. The mother pelican signifies Jesus, sacrificing his flesh for man's (the chicks') salvation.[32]
In the Gothic period more elaborate narrative depictions developed, including many extra figures of
Related scenes such as the
The scene always formed part of a cycle of images of the
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Russian Orthodox depiction of crucifixion by a painter of the Novgorod School, 1360
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14th-century wood crucifix, Milan
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Christ on the Cross by Fra Carnevale, circa 1445–1467
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Crucifix on the pulpit of Strasbourg Cathedral, 1485
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Cristo de La Laguna, Flemish-Brabanzon origin, 1510–14. Real Santuario del Cristo de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna
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The tympanum of the Thesis Door at the Castle Church in Wittenberg depicts Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon kneeling in prayer, facing the crucified Christ.
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Crucifixion by Albrecht Altdorfer, circa 1514–1516, with tiny donor couple among the feet of the main figures
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Cristo crucificado by Diego Velázquez, 1632, showing a Baroque return to realism and emotion in the depiction
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Seventeenth-century copper alloy crucifix, Democratic Republic of the Congo
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18th-century Russian Orthodox brass crucifix
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Crucified by José Luján Pérez, 1793,Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
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Crucifixion, seen from the Cross by the French painter James Tissot, 1886–1894, shows the view from the perspective of the crucified, and is regarded as an early example of the transition to modern art.[36]
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Mural of the Crucifixion in the Rosary Basilica (Berlin), 1906
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Crucifix at the Church of St Mary of the Angels, Singapore, 2004
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Crucifix at the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, late 2010s
Modern art
Crucifixion has appeared repeatedly as a theme in many forms of modern art.
The surrealist Salvador Dalí painted Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus), representing the cross as a hypercube. Fiona Macdonald describes the 1954 painting as showing a classical pose of Christ superimposed on a mathematical representation of the fourth dimension that is both unseeable and spiritual;[37] Gary Bolyer assesses it as "one of the most beautiful works of the modern era."[38] The sculpture Construction (Crucifixion): Homage to Mondrian, by Barbara Hepworth, stands on the grounds of Winchester Cathedral. Porfirio DiDonna's abstract Crucifixion is one of a number of religious works he painted in the 1960s, "blending the artist's devotion to the liturgy and his commitment to painting".[39] The "Welsh Window", given to the 16th Street Baptist Church after it was bombed by four Ku Klux Klansmen in 1963, is a work of support and solidarity. The stained glass window depicts a black man, arms outstretched, reminiscent of the crucifixion of Jesus; it was sculpted by John Petts, who also initiated a campaign in Wales to raise money to help rebuild the church.[40]
Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's 1975 self-portrait shows the artist, nude and smiling, posed as if crucified.[41][42] The 1983 painting Crucifixion, by Nabil Kanso, employs a perspective that places the viewer behind Christ's cross. In 1987 photographer Andres Serrano created Piss Christ, a controversial photograph that shows a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine, in which Serrano intended to depict sympathetically the abuse of Jesus by his executioners.[43] In the 1990s, Marcus Reichert painted a series of crucifixions, though he did not identify the figure as Christ, but as a representation of human suffering.[44]
Other artists have used crucifixion imagery as a form of protest. In 1974, Chris Burden had himself crucified to a Volkswagen in Trans-Fixed. Robert Cenedella painted a crucified Santa Claus as a protest against Christmas commercialization,[45] displayed in the window of New York's Art Students League in December 1997. In August 2000, performance artist Sebastian Horsley had himself crucified without the use of any analgesics.[46]
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Crucifixion by Porfirio DiDonna, 1964, oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches
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Construction (Crucifixion): Homage to Mondrian, 1966, by Barbara Hepworth
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Chris Burden's 1974 performance piece Trans-Fixed, in which he is crucified on a Volkswagen
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Marcus Reichert, Crucifixion VII (1991), oil and charcoal on linen with newsprint collage, 74" x 62"
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Gabriel von Max's 1866 painting Martyress depicts a crucified young woman and a young man laying flowers at her feet – a scene not corresponding to any of the female martyrs attested in formal Christian hagiography
Popular art
Crucifixion in popular art, as with modern art, is sometimes used for its shock value. For example, a World War I
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Liberty Bond poster by Fernando Amorsolo
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Postcard protesting German occupation of Poland. Sergey Solomko, circa 1915–17
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A crucified skinhead, an identifying symbol of the skinhead subculture
Graphic novels
Crucifixion figures prominently in graphic novels from many cultures throughout the world.
Crucifixions and crucifixes have appeared repeatedly in Japanese
Passion plays
Passion plays are dramatic presentations of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. They originated as expressions of devotion in the Middle Ages. In modern times, critics have said that some performances are antisemitic, portraying Jews as Jesus's murderous and hateful antagonist.[64]
Film and television
Film
Numerous movies have been produced which depict the crucifixion of Jesus. Some of these movies depict the crucifixion in its traditional sectarian form, while others intend to show a more historically accurate account. For example, Ben-Hur (1959), was probably the first movie to depict the nails being driven through Jesus' wrists, rather than his palms. Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ (2004) depicted an extreme level of violence, but showed the nails being driven into Jesus' palms, as is traditional, with ropes supporting the wrists.
Although crucifixion imagery is common, few films depict actual crucifixion outside of a Christian context. Spartacus (1960) depicts the mass crucifixions of rebellious slaves along the Appian Way after the Third Servile War. The character Big Bob is crucified by cannibals in Wes Craven's horror exploitation film The Hills Have Eyes (1977) as well as its 2006 remake. Conan the Barbarian (1982) depicts the protagonist being crucified on the Tree of Woe.
The 1979 British comedy film Monty Python's Life of Brian ends with a comical sequence in which several of the cast, including Brian, are crucified by the Romans. The film ends with them all singing the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". In this sequence, the characters are not nailed to the crosses, but tied at the wrists to the crossbar, and are standing on smaller crosspieces at foot level.
In the 2010 film Legion, one of the diner patrons is found crucified upside down and covered with huge boils.
Television
Simulated crucifixions have been performed in professional wrestling. On the December 7, 1998, edition of WWF Monday Night Raw, professional wrestling character The Undertaker crucified Steve Austin.[65] On October 26, 1996, in Extreme Championship Wrestling, Raven, during a feud with The Sandman, instructed his Raven's Nest to crucify Sandman.[66]
Other television performers have used crucifixion to make a point. The Australian comedian John Safran had himself crucified in the Philippines as part of a Good Friday crucifixion ritual for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation show, John Safran's Race Relations (2009).[67] Singer Robbie Williams performed a stunt on an April 2006 Easter Sunday show shown on the UK television channel Channel 4, in which he was affixed to a cross and pierced with needles.[68]
The HBO television series Rome (2005–2007) contained several depictions of crucifixion, as it was a common torture method during the historical period the show takes place in.
In the 2010
Crucifixion has been depicted in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001), where its depiction has been cited in feminist studies as illustrating violent and misogynist tendencies within a messianic paradigm.[69]
In the
The Japanese science fiction series Neon Genesis Evangelion features crucifixion as a recurring motif.
During the Pilot episode of Smallville, Clark Kent was tied up (only his underwear and a red S painted on his chest) on a scarecrow pole, resembling very much like a cross, and subdued with a Kryptonite necklace.
Video games
In Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, one of the women gets ultimately crucified on a cross with screws as Monokuma plays with the marionette strings.
Music
Classical music
Famous depictions of crucifixion in classical music include the
Crucifixion has figured prominently in Easter
The seven utterances of Jesus while on the Cross, gathered from the four gospels, have inspired many musical compositions, from Heinrich Schütz in 1645 to Ruth Zechlin in 1996, with the best known being Joseph Haydn's ''composition, written in 1787.
Depictions of crucifixion outside the Christian context are rare. One of the few examples is in Ernest Reyer's opera Salammbô (1890).
Popular music
The 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber ends with Jesus' crucifixion.
The cover art of
Novels
Sue Monk Kidd's 2020 novel The Book of Longings, tells the fictional story of Ana, an educated woman who marries Jesus. D. G. Martin says the novel "reconstructs the crucifixion experience in a way more horrible and poignant than any of the four Gospels."[75]
Sports
The
See also
- Christian symbolism
- Depiction of Jesus
- Descent from the Cross
- Stations of the Cross
- Religious images in Christian theology
Notes
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- ^ Walter Lowrie, Monuments of the Early Church, Macmillan, 1901, p. 238
- ^ Dom Dunstan Adams, What is Prayer?, Gracewing Publishing, 1999, p. 48
- ^ Father John J Pasquini, John J. Pasquini, True Christianity: The Catholic Way, iUniverse, 2003, p. 105
- ^ Augustus John Cuthbert Hare, Walks in Rome, Volume 1, Adamant Media Corporation, 2005, p. 201
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, The Ass (in Caricature of Christian Beliefs and Practices)
- ^ The Crucifixion and Docetic Christology Archived July 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ A Sociological Analysis of Graffiti Archived October 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Charles William King, Gnostics and their Remains, 1887, p. 433 note 12
- ^ Schiller, 89–91, fig. 321
- ^ a b Elizabeth A. Dreyer, The Cross in Christian Tradition: From Paul to Bonaventure, Paulist Press, 2001, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Schiller, 89–90, figs. 322–326
- JSTOR 3728859.
- ^ R. Kevin Seasoltz ,A Sense Of The Sacred: Theological Foundations Of Christian Architecture And Art, 2005, Continuum International Publishing Group, pp. 99–110.
- ^ Adomnan of Iona. Life of St Columba, Penguin books, 1995.
- ^ Schiller, 93
- ^ Schiller, 99 quoted, 94–99
- ^ Dalton, Ormonde Maddock (1911). Byzantine Art and Archaeology. New York, NY: Dove Publications Inc. pp. 263–264, 399, 412.
- ^ Hatzidakis & Drakopoulou 1997, pp. 442–443.
- ISBN 9781317880516.
- ISBN 9781409442912.
- ^ Hatzidakis & Drakopoulou 1997, pp. 259–263.
- ^ Staff Writers (July 11, 2021). "The Crucifixion, second half of the 15th century". National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. Archived from the original on September 21, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
- ^ Hatzidakis & Drakopoulou 1997, pp. 141–149.
- ISBN 960-214-221-9.
- ^ Hatzidakis & Drakopoulou 1997, pp. 203–205.
- ^ Schiller, 99 quoted, 94–99, 105–106
- ^ Schiller, 141 quoted, 105–106, 141–142
- ^ Sara Lipton, "“Images and their Uses” in The Cambridge History of Christianity: Christianity in Western Europe c. 1000 - c.1500, ed. Miri Rubin and Walter Simons (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 254-283
- ^ Sara Lipton, "“Images and their Uses” in The Cambridge History of Christianity: Christianity in Western Europe c. 1000 – c.1500, ed. Miri Rubin and Walter Simons (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 254–283
- ^ Stracke, Richard. "The Pelican Symbol in Christian Iconography". www.christianiconography.info. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
- ^ Schiller, 151–158
- ^ Schiller, 151–152
- ^ Irene Earls, Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary, 1987, Greenwood Press, p. 73.
- ISBN 978-0-89107-799-2.
- ^ Macdonald, Fiona (May 11, 2016). "The painter who entered the fourth dimension". BBC Culture.
- ^ Bolyer, Gary (January 21, 2013). "Review of Crucifixion Corpus Hypercubus by Salvador Dali". Retrieved July 7, 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-940396-01-9.
- ^ Gary Younge. "The Wales Window of Alabama". Produced by Nicola Swords. BBC Radio 4.
- ^ "Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait 1975, The Masters' Gallery". cegur.com. Archived from the original on 2020-02-23. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
- ISBN 978-0-415-07733-0.
- ^ Heartney, Eleanor (July 1998). "A consecrated critic – profile of popular television art critic Sister Wendy Beckett". Art in America. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
- ISBN 978-0-9546656-5-4.
- ^ RCenedella Gallery Online Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The agony and the ecstasy. The Observer, 26 May 2002
- ^ "Crucified Skinhead, Hate Symbols Database". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on 2019-09-08. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- .
- ^ Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth pg. 51
- ^ "1989 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award". hahnlibrary.net.
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- ISBN 978-0-664-23191-0. Retrieved 2011-06-04.
- ^ "Is the new Superman meant to be Jesus?". BBC News. July 28, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
- ^ Batman: Holy Terror, pg. 39
- ^ a b "Viz Edits Fullmetal Alchemist". Anime News Network. September 11, 2006. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
- OCLC 50898281.
- ^ Drazen 2003, p. 149
- ^ Broderick, Michael (2007). "Superflat Eschatology: Renewal and Religion in Anime" (PDF). Animation Studies—Animated Dialogues: 29–45. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-04-29.
- ISBN 978-1-4196-0814-8.
- ^ EvaOtaku.com FAQ Kazuya Tsurumaki; see also an interview with Tsurumaki which contains the same quote [1] (Archive link)
- ^ "Viz Responds to 'FMA' Edit". ICv2. September 16, 2006. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
- ^ Drazen 2003, pp. 142–43
- ^ Referring to Western suppression of these images, Patrick Drazen wrote: "It's ironic that a symbol as potent as crucifixion should be edited out precisely because of that potency. After all, the way it's generally used in anime—when it's used at all—is in a manner Westerners can understand. It becomes a form of torture for someone who doesn't deserve it."(Drazen 2003, pp. 142–43)
- ^ Sennott, Charles M. "In Poland, new 'Passion' plays on old hatreds", The Boston Globe, April 10, 2004.
- ^ "Stone Cold gets crucified by Undertaker on Taker's symbol". flickr.com. 2007-09-14.
- ^ "Wrestlinggonewrong.com".
- ^ Philippines villagers bewildered by John Safran comedy stunt[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Church Slams Williams Crucifixion Stunt". premiere.com.[permanent dead link]
- S2CID 143461262.
- ^ Huizenga, Tom (December 27, 2009). "The Decade In Classical Recordings". NPR. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- ^ "Osvaldo Golijov's Musical "Passion"". wbur.org. April 2, 2010. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- ^ Jonathan Tisdall. "Norwegian black metal band shocks Poland – Aftenposten.no". Aftenposten.no. Archived from the original on 2009-03-09. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
- ^ Smith, Liz (May 25, 2006). "Madonna's 'Confessions' concert: good, if over the top". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on June 18, 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- ^ Bellafante, Ginia (November 23, 2006). "A tribute to Madonna's current and former selves". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- D.G. Martin (May 27, 2020). "The wife of Jesus: the North Carolina connection". Independent Tribune.
- ^ "Skate legend finds redemption in new memoir". Orange County Register. 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
- ^ Zahl, John (2010-08-26). "Rising Son: Christian Hosoi's Thrashing Story of Redemption". Mockingbird. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
References
- ISBN 0-85331-324-5
- Hatzidakis, Manolis; Drakopoulou, Evgenia (1997). Έλληνες Ζωγράφοι μετά την Άλωση (1450-1830). Τόμος 2: Καβαλλάρος - Ψαθόπουλος [Greek Painters after the Fall of Constantinople (1450-1830). Volume 2: Kavallaros - Psathopoulos]. Athens: Center for Modern Greek Studies, National Research Foundation. ISBN 960-7916-00-X.
External links
- Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century from The Metropolitan Museum of Art