The Great Painters' Gospel Part 9

Then the soldiers took Jesus into the Pretorium, and stripped him, and scourged him, and plaited a crown of thorns, and gave him a scarlet robe, and put a reed in his hand. Smiting him again and again on the head, they offered him mock reverence.

_Guido, Plate 142,_ portrays Jesus at this time (Matt. 27:27-30).

Afterwards Pilate brings Jesus forth to the crowd and says, "Behold the Man." (John 19:5.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ecce h.o.m.o.]

Plate 142. _Ecce h.o.m.o._ Guido Reni. 1575-1642.

_Ciseri, Plate 143,_ takes us upon the colonnade with Pilate and Jesus, and gives us a sense of the mad crowd below--immense, implacable--shouting "Crucify him! Crucify him!" (John 19:6.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ecce h.o.m.o.]

Plate 143. _Ecce h.o.m.o._ Antonio Ciseri. 1825-

_Hofmann, Plate 144,_ shows "the man" to us, and says, Behold him!

Hofmann too, suggests the angry crowd, and in the distance introduces the three Marys. Both these artists include Pilate's wife in the picture because of Matt. 27:19.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ecce h.o.m.o.]

Plate 144. _Ecce h.o.m.o._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

_Dore, Plate 145,_ with his love of the extraordinary, has objectified such a dream as he supposes might have caused a Roman matron to 'suffer many things.' She sees the living and the dead, all heaven and h.e.l.l attendant upon the Christ, and because of this fears for the welfare of her husband if he does not protect so august a person as this mysterious King, whose Kingdom is not of this world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pilate's Wife's Dream.]

Plate 145. _Pilate's Wife's Dream._ Gustave Dore. 1833-1883.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

Pilate at last delivered Jesus over to be crucified. "And he went out bearing the cross for himself." Through loss of sleep and loss of blood, worn out with the long agony, Jesus fainted, and fell beneath the load of the cross. They compelled a man whom they met coming in from the country, Simon the Cyrenean, to bear the cross for Jesus, and thus, accompanied by a crowd of people, they came at last to Calvary. The scene which followed has been painted hundreds of times, as a whole, and in detail, sometimes with almost revolting realism, sometimes with fascinating power.

_Hofmann, Plate 146,_ represents Jesus carrying the cross to Calvary (John 19:17), and the women who bewailed and lamented him. (Luke 23:27.) The company is just going through the Damascus gate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bearing the Cross.]

Plate 146. _Bearing the Cross._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

_Thiersch, Plate 147,_ gives the tragic incident which occurred just outside the gate. Jesus has fallen. He is speaking to the women the words recorded in Luke 23:28-31. Calvary is seen in the distance where the crosses for the two thieves have already been placed. There they crucified him between the two thieves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bearing the Cross.]

Plate 147. _Bearing the Cross._ Ludwig Thiersch.

_Munkacsy, Plate 149,_ gives us a picture of the retreating soldiers after the awful deed has been done. "The people stood beholding ...

the rulers scoffed at him, the chief priests mocked, the scribes said, He saved others; himself he cannot save." (Luke 23:35, Mark 15:31.) Darkness is coming upon the earth. In _Plate 150,_ John and the three Marys are at the foot of the cross. (John 19:25.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Crucifixion.]

Plate 149. _The Crucifixion._ M. Munkacsy. 1844-

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christ on the Cross and the Three Marys.]

Plate 150. _Christ on the Cross and the Three Marys._ M. Munkacsy.

1844-

_Hofmann, Plate 148,_ has chosen a later moment. Jesus has committed his mother to the care of John (John 19:26-27), and with the word, "It is finished," has given up his spirit into his Father's hands.

(Luke 23:46.) Amid rending rocks and opening tombs the Centurion is saying, "Truly this was the Son of G.o.d." (Matt. 27:54.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Crucifixion.]

Plate 148. _The Crucifixion._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

_Rubens, Plate 151,_ ill.u.s.trates most graphically Mark 15:42-47.

Joseph of Arimathaea went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. His request being granted, "he brought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth." (Mark 15:46.) "And there came also Nicodemus, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes." So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. (John 19:39-40.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Descent from the Cross.]

Plate 151. _Descent from the Cross._ Rubens. 1577-1640.

_Gerome, Plate 153,_ has given the most weird and graphic representation of the deserted hill and the doomed city. The supernatural darkness is pa.s.sing. A flood of lurid light pours upon Calvary, casting the ominous shadows of the crosses towards the retreating mult.i.tude. In the distance the livid temple marks the place of the rending veil. (Mark 15:38.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Golgotha.]

Plate 153. _Golgotha._ J. L. Gerome. 1824-

_Morris, Plate 152,_ has drawn the deserted cross. An unknown woman lifts her little boy that he may see that which was written above the head of Christ. "And there was written, Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews ... in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek." (John 19:19-22.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Whereon They Crucified Him.]

Plate 152. _Whereon They Crucified Him._ P. R. Morris.

THE BURIAL.

_Ciseri, Plate 156,_ portrays, if not "The grandest funeral that ever pa.s.sed on earth," certainly the greatest. Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus, and John the beloved carry the dead Christ. His mother, Mary, the Wonderful, walks by his side. "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pa.s.s by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me."

(Lam. 1:12.) Mary, the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and probably Mary of Bethany, are the other mourners. "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man yet laid." (John 19:41.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christ Borne to the Tomb.]

Plate 156. _Christ Borne to the Tomb._ Antonio Ciseri.

_Hofmann, Plate 155,_ represents the company entering the rock-hewn tomb. He composes his company differently. The four women are present in the background, but now two of Joseph's servants have arrived to a.s.sist the three men who had been carrying the body. There, in the tomb, the body of Jesus was laid (John 19:42).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Entombment.]

Plate 155. _Entombment._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

_Hofmann, Plate 154,_ adds a human touch not found in the records of the evangelists. The last to leave the body are John and the Lord's mother, Mary.

[Ill.u.s.tration: In the Sepulchre.]

Plate 154. _In the Sepulchre._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

_Dyce, Plate 158,_ shows John and Mary with the crown of thorns, on their way to John's own home. (John 19:27.) Joseph and Nicodemus are just leaving the garden, while Mary Magdalene and another Mary watch at the tomb. (Mark 15:47.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: John and the Mother of Jesus.]

Plate 158. _John and the Mother of Jesus._ Wm. Dyce.

_Dobson, Plate 157,_ has attempted to express the sorrow of Mary and the solicitude of John as they continue the walk homeward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: John and the Mother of Jesus.]

Plate 157. _John and the Mother of Jesus._ W. C. T. Dobson.

THE RESURRECTION.