Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. (Matthew 26:36)

2. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
(Matthew 26:36)

4. The Passion of Christ
in Renaissance paintings

5. Christ prays before a group of cherubs who hold up the instruments
of his torture and death.
His disciple Judas, who has betrayed him, leads a large band of soldiers
down from Jerusalem to arrest him.
Three other disciples, Peter, James and John, fell asleep.
Two egrets stand in the stream, symbolic of the purification of baptism,
the beginning of the Christian life.
The fig may represent Judas’s betrayal: when Judas heard of Jesus’s fate,
he hanged himself; early legends told that he chose the fig tree as his gallows.
Andrea Mantegna
The Agony in the Garden
L'Agonie dans le jardin
1455-1456
National Gallery, London

7. Christ’s disciple Judas – visible just beyond the river,
leading a group of soldiers to Christ – has betrayed him.
Aware of his imminent arrest and death, Christ prays;
a cherub appears and presents him with a chalice.
The chalice refers to the words of his prayer:
‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;
nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt’ (Matthew 26: 39).
Giovanni Bellini
Agony in the Garden
L'Agonie dans le jardin
1458-1460
National Gallery, London

10. The light from the torches throws up a night scene in a forest
covered by a somberly glowing night sky …
And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.
And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come?
Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus and took him. (Matthew 26:49,50)
Albrecht Altdorfer
The Arrest of Christ
Arrestation du Christ
1509-1516
Augustiner Chorherrenstift, Sankt Florian bei Linz, St. Florian

12. The next morning, Jesus is taken away and tried before the prefect Pontius Pilate ...
calm and beauty of Christ
and
the howling mob, gruesome figures with distorted features
Hieronymus Bosch, Jérôme Bosch Follower of, Suiveur de
Christ before Pilate
Le Christ devant Pilate
1520
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey

15. the portico of Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem …
Pilate observes the torture from a throne.
Piero della Francesca
Flagellation of Christ
La Flagellation du Christ
1459-1460
Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino

19. an architectural background ...
Jesus had been sentenced to death on the Cross by Pilate.
But first he was to be flagellated.
Soldiers tied him to a pillar and then scourged him.
Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
(John 19:1)
Luca Signorelli
The Flagellation of Christ
La flagellation du Christ
1482-1485
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

22. the serenity of Christ contrasts to the brutality of his executioners …
one of the soldiers ready to place the crown of thorns on Christ's head,
two men kneel in mock homage
And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns,
and put it about his head (Mark15:17)
Hieronymus Bosch Jérôme Bosch
Christ Mocked (The Crowning with Thorns)
Le Christ moqué (Le Couronnement d'épines)
1510
National Gallery, London

24. The somber atmosphere underlines the brutality of the torture scene.
With dignity Christ endures the abuse by the henchmen,
who press the crown of thorns onto his head with sticks.
Titian Titien
The Crowning with Thorns
Le Couronnement d'épines
1576
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

26. The head of Christ is silhouetted against a dense mass of grimacing soldiers and ill-wishers,
one of them bearing the toad on his shield.
Christ's physical agony is heightened by the spike-studded wooden blocks which dangle fore
and aft from his waist.
In the foreground, soldiers torment the bad thief while the good thief kneels before a priest.
The almost frantic intensity of his confession, contrasts with the passive response
of the priest who seems to suppress a yawn.
Hieronymus Bosch Jérôme Bosch
Christ Carrying the Cross
Christ portant la croix
1490-1510
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

29. Christ with the cross beset by violent figures ...
The composition was inspired by Dürer.
The painting is signed and dated on the cross.
Lorenzo Lotto
Le Portement de croix
The Carrying of the Cross
1526
Musée du Louvre, Paris

32. Jesus’ pale exhausted face …
Simon of Cyrene, helps Christ to carry the cross.
Titian Titien
Carrying of the Cross
Portement de croix
1565
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

34. A demon emerges from the bowels of the earth, terrifying onlookers …
In the background, the city of Jerusalem.
Paolo Veronese
Crucifixion
La Crucifixion
1580-1582
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

38. The terrifying, dim stormy sky is ready to burst into a violent thunderstorm
that will tell all people about the approaching catastrophe.
The figure of Christ in a unusual perspective, in profile, gives the viewer to see
and feel the unnaturalness of the pose of Jesus and the breaks of unbearable pain.
The shrouded figure in the yellow robe, is often identified as Mary Magdalene,
but is more probably Synagoga, the personification of Judaism.
Paolo Veronese
La Crucifixion
Crucifixion
1580-1588
Musée du Louvre, Paris

41. This painting is an expression of the fears that arose as the new century came closer.
In the 1490s, the Dominican preacher Girolamo Savonarola warned that
the Judgment Day was imminent and that Florence would be punished for its sins.
…
A dark black cloud it is filled with devilish beings hurling flames down upon the earth.
An angel of justice raises his sword to slay the marzocco, the small lion that is
the emblem of Florence.
The purified city is bathed in the light emanating from God the Father.
Repentance is necessary for salvation, as is made clear by the figure of Mary Magdalene
at the bottom of the Cross.
A wolf, symbolizing vice, flees from under her robe.
Sandro Botticelli
Mystic Crucifixion
Crucifixion mystique
1500
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge

44. The melancholy calm between death an resurrection ...
Christ stretched out on the shiny marble slab,
the crosses of Golgotha,
graves opened and violated,
broken and shattered tombstones, columns and slabs,
Christ's mourning followers,
the Virgin, supported by Mary Magdalene in front of St John,
Job in meditation, humble before his God, and a archetype for the suffering Christ
and
the trumpeter playing in the middle of this desolate scene.
Vittore Carpaccio
Preparation of Christ's Tomb
La Préparation du Tombeau du Christ
1505
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

47. Held by two angels, Jesus sits at the edge of his open tomb,
showing his wounds as a Man of Sorrows.
Neither Mary nor Mary Magdalene are nearby.
Carlo Crivelli
Le Christ mort au tombeau soutenu par deux anges
The Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels
1477
Musée du Louvre, Paris

49. The minute and contracted body of the Christ
and
the mourners, each enclosed within its own intimate manifestation of pain.
Mary's desperate gesture
the pious woman tearing her hair,
Mary of Clopas weeping as she walks away,
Magdalene's cry stagnates in her throat
John's clenched fists of rebellion,
the resignation of old Peter with the nails in his hand, like an ominous inheritance,
the devotion of Joseph of Arimathea
and
Nicodemus accompanying the lifeless body of Jesus to the sarcophagus.
Lorenzo Lotto
The Deposition
Descente de croix
1512
Pinacoteca Civica, Palazzo Pianetti, Jesi

51. A beautiful landscape with the city of Jerusalem on the the lakeshore, flooded with light.
and
nine figures under the cross.
The dead Jesus, held by Joseph of Arimathea
and surrounded by the Pious Women, including an aged and distraught Mary.
St. John the Evangelist,
Mary Magdalene, and Nicodemus, the last two holding vases which contained balms
used to prepare the corpse for the burial.
Albrecht Dürer
Lamentation of Christ
Déploration du Christ
1500-1503
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

53. A composition with great emotional impact,
accentuated by the extreme foreshortening:
Christ’s body, the members stiffened in rigor mortis, the wounds,
the living receding towards the edge of the frame,
weeping the sorrows of their Passion.
Andrea Mantegna
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ
La Lamentation sur le Christ mort
1480
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

56. the lamentation, the great sorrow, the deep sadness over Christ's death ...
The Virgin Mary sits with the dead Christ on her lap, the positioning of the two bodies
creates the Pietà.
St. John sits above The Virgin Mary and cradles her head in an attempt to soothe her.
The Three Maries expressing despair.
Joseph of Arimathea, holding up the crown of thorns and the nails of the cross.
Sandro Botticelli
Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saints
Lamentation sur le Christ mort avec les saints
1495
Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

58. Five figures accompanying the body of Christ ...
Mary Magdelene in a white robe with red hair,
John the Evangelist with hands clasped,
Joseph of Arimathea is at Christ's feet
the Virgin Mary with her blue robe is holding one of Christ's arms
and
holding Christ's body is Nicodemus.
Nicodemus bears the traits of the artist himself.
The unusual depiction of the Virgin, assisting with the entombment,
is not mentioned in the Gospel accounts.
Titian Titien
The Entombment
Mise au tombeau
1559
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

61. Scenes from the Passion of Christ:
Agony in the Garden, Capture of Christ,
Christ before Kaiphas, Flagellation,
Crowning with Thorus, Christ Carrying the Cross,
Crucifixion, Entombment
Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein le Jeune
The Passion of Christ
La Passion du Christ
1524-1526
Kunstmuseum, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel

63. The Passion of Christ in Renaissance paintings
La Passion du Christ dans les peintures de la Renaissance
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