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Master Henri, The Three Women at the Tomb From Livre d'image du Christ et des saincts Flemish (Hainaut), c. 1285-1290 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS NAF 16251, fol. 43v |
"When the sabbath was over,
Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome
bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.
Very early when the sun had risen,
on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb.
They were saying to one another,
“Who will roll back the stone for us
from the entrance to the tomb?”
When they looked up,
they saw that the stone had been rolled back;
it was very large.
bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.
Very early when the sun had risen,
on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb.
They were saying to one another,
“Who will roll back the stone for us
from the entrance to the tomb?”
When they looked up,
they saw that the stone had been rolled back;
it was very large.
On entering the tomb they saw a young man
sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe,
and they were utterly amazed.
He said to them, “Do not be amazed!
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.
He has been raised; he is not here.
Behold the place where they laid him.
But go and tell his disciples and Peter,
‘He is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him, as he told you.’”
sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe,
and they were utterly amazed.
He said to them, “Do not be amazed!
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.
He has been raised; he is not here.
Behold the place where they laid him.
But go and tell his disciples and Peter,
‘He is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him, as he told you.’”
Mark 16:1-7 (Gospel for the Easter Vigil)
To quote from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, iconography is “1: pictorial material relating to or illustrating a subject; 2: the traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject and especially a religious or legendary subject; 3: the imagery or symbolism of a work of art, an artist, or a body of art”.
For the most part, the early Church and its artists chose not to try to represent the Resurrection. It was alluded to symbolically, but not pictured, as for example by the wreathed Chi Ro, shown here on a sarcophagus from ca. 350 AD, now in the Vatican Museo Pio-Christiano, where the presence of the sleeping guards is a clear reference to the Resurrection.
The iconography of any subject develops and changes over time. Christian iconography develops and changes too, as reflection on the Gospels and Tradition develops over time.
The iconography of the Resurrection was very slow to evolve. Unlike the Crucifixion which, because it deals with a fact of human life, the death of an individual, can be readily grasped by the human imagination and converted into images, the Resurrection is outside of human experience and, therefore, more difficult to imagine. What ought the Resurrection of Jesus to look like? How can it be graphically represented? Can it be represented at all? These are some of the questions that must have been in the minds of artists and their patrons from the time of the first Christian images.
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| Chi Rho from Early Christian Roman Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Life of Christ Roman, c. 350 AD Vatican City, Musei Vaticani, Museo Pio-Christiano |
Early Images of the Women at the Tomb
The earliest images that directly reference the Resurrection are those that represent the Three Marys at the Tomb. This iconography visualizes the account, found in the three synoptic Gospels, of women (two in Matthew (Matthew 28:1-7), three in Mark (Mark 16:1-8) and Luke (Luke 14:1-11), who go to the tomb early on the morning after the Passover Sabbath to complete the anointing of Jesus’ body. There they find an empty tomb and an angel messenger (or messengers in Luke) who tells them that Jesus is not there, that He has risen.
These images first appear in the Rabbula Gospels, produced in Syria in the sixth century. Shown underneath the scene of the Crucifixion are two scenes from the Resurrection. On the left two women receive the message of the angel, while on the right the Risen Lord appears to one of them, presumably to Mary Magdalene. In between is the empty tomb, represented as a small, temple-like classical building.
Similar images seem to begin appearing in western Europe around the year 900 AD.
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| Crucifixion, Women at the Tomb and Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene From the Rabbula Gospels Syrian, c. 586 Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana MS Cod. Plut. I, 56, fol.13r |
These images first appear in the Rabbula Gospels, produced in Syria in the sixth century. Shown underneath the scene of the Crucifixion are two scenes from the Resurrection. On the left two women receive the message of the angel, while on the right the Risen Lord appears to one of them, presumably to Mary Magdalene. In between is the empty tomb, represented as a small, temple-like classical building.
Similar images seem to begin appearing in western Europe around the year 900 AD.
Two beautiful manuscript examples come from the Ottonian imperial scriptoria at Reichenau and a third from Fulda or Mainz.
,%201000-1020_Bamberg,%20Bamberg%20State%20Library,%20Msc.B%20140,%20fol.%2069v_1.jpg) |
| The Women at the Tomb From the Bamberg Apocalypse German (Reichenau), c. 1000-1020 Bamberg, Bamberg State Library, MS Msc. B 140, fol. 69v |
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The Three Women and the Angel at the Tomb From the Book of Pericopes of Heinrich II German (Reichenau), c. 1007-1012 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 4452, fol. 116v-117r |
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The Women at the Tomb From a Sacramentary German (Mainz or Fulda), c. 1025-1050 Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum MS Ludwig V 2, fol. 19v |
All were painted during the first half of the eleventh century. Here two (LA) or three (Bamberg and Munich) women, holding pots of ointments and incense, are shown listening to the message of the angel, who is seated on the door slab. In the background is the tomb, shown as a small domed building. Inside the tomb, silhouetted against the background in the Bamberg Apocalypse and the Sacramentary is the burial cloth. In the same two manuscripts the tomb guards are shown as sleeping figures.
Similar images appeared in the sculpture of the Carolingian and Ottonian periods. Among these are ivory carvings and the famous bronze column commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim at the beginning of the 11th Century.
Similar images appeared in the sculpture of the Carolingian and Ottonian periods. Among these are ivory carvings and the famous bronze column commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim at the beginning of the 11th Century.
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| Ivory Plaque with the Holy Women at the Sepulchre Italian, Early 10th Century New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection |
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| Relief, The Three Women at the Tomb German, c. 1000-1050 Dole, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
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| Bronze Relief, The Women at the Tomb From the Column of Bishop Bernward German, 1015 Hildesheim, Church of St. Mary |
The image of the three women has continued to be popular in Western art ever since. Some notable examples from the history of Western art are:
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| The Three Women at the Tomb From the Psalter of Christina of Markyate English (St. Alban's), c. 1124-1145 Hildesheim, Dombibliothek, Page 50 |
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| The Three Women at the Tomb From the Book of Pericopes of Saint Erentrud in Salzburg German (Salzburg), 11th-12th Century Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 15903, fol. 37r |
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| Ivory Relief, The Women at the Tomb German, c. 1150-1170 Cologne, Schnütgen Museum |
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| The Women at the tomb French (Languedoc), c. 1150-1175 Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Sculptures du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes |
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| The Three Women at the Tomb From the Munich Golden Psalter English (Oxford), c. 1190 Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 835, fol. 26v |
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| The Three Women at the Tomb From the Psalter of Queen Ingeborg French, c. 1195 Chantilly, Musée Condé MS 9, fol. 28v |
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The Beginnings of the Renaissance
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| The Holy Women at the Tomb Italian, 14th Century Rodez, Musée des Beaux-Arts Denys Puech |
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| Duccio, The Three Marys at the Tomb Italian, c. 1308-1311 Siena, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo |
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| Tino di Camaino, The Holy Women at the Tomb Italian, 1319 Florence, Church of Santa Croce |
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| Jeanne de Montbaston, The Three Women at the Tomb From a Vies de saints French (Paris), c. 1325-1350 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 185, fol. 25r |
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| Ferrer Bassa, The Three Women at the Tomb Catalan, c. 1346 Barcelona, Monastery of Pedralbes |
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| The Women at the Tomb From Vies de la Vierge et du Christ Italian (Naples), c. 1350 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 9561, fol. 184v |
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| Master of the Trinity, The Three Women at the Tomb From the Petites Heures of Jean de Berry French (Bourges), c. 1385-1390 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 18014, fol. 163r |
The Renaissance in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
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| Lorenzo Monaco, The Holy Women at the Tomb Italian, 1408 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Fra Angelico and Assistants, The Women at the Tomb Italian, c. 1440-1442 Florence, Museo di San Marco, Cell # 8 |
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| Imitator of Andrea Mantegna, The Women at the Tomb Italian, c. 1460-1555 London, National Gallery |
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| Wood Carving, The Resurrection and theWomen at the Tomb Flemish, c. 1460 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
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| Girolamo dai Libri, The Holy Women at the Tomb Single page From an Antiphonary Italian, c. 1490-1500 New York, Metropolitan Museum Accession No 62.122.17 |
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| Master of 1477, The Holy Women at Christ's Tomb German, c. 1490 Esztergom (HU), Christian Museum |
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| Johann Schoensperger, The Women at the Tomb From a Printed Copy of the Speculum humanae salvationis German (Augsburg), 1492 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Incunabula Call Nu 2 Inc.c.a. 2768 |
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| The Three Women at the Tomb From a Mirouer de la redemption de l'human lignage French, c. 1493-1494 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS VELINS-906, fol. 117v |
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| Reliquary, Women at the Tomb Flemish, 16th Century Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse |
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| The Women at the Tomb and the Noli Me Tangere English, c. 1515-1547 Cambridge (UK), King's College Chapel |
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| Workshop of Jan Gillisz Wrage. The Women at the Tomb From an Altarpiece with Scenes from the Life of Christ Flemish, 1521 Dortmund, Church of Saint Peter |
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| Matthias Gerung, The Three Women at the Tomb From the Ottheinrich Bible, Vol. 2 German (Ingoldstadt), c. 1530-1532 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Cgm 8010(2), fol. 69v |
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| Gerhard Remisch, The Women at the Tomb German, c. 1540-1542 London, Victoria and Albert Museum |
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Annibale Carraci, The Three Women at the Tomb Italian, 1590s Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Jacques Bellange, The Three Marys at the Tomb French, c. 1620s London, Trustees of the British Museum |
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| Francesco Albani, The Holy Women at the Tomb Italian, c. 1640-1645 Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Collection |
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| Circle of Luca Giordano, The Women at the Tomb Italian, Late 17th Century Private Collection |
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| Johann Georg Trautmann, The Holy Women at Christ's Tomb German, c. 1760 Esztergom (HU), Christian Museum |
And Into the Nineteenth Century and Beyond
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| Benjamin West, The Women at the Tomb American, 1805 New York, Brooklyn Museum |
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| Oscar Gue, The Three Women at the Tomb French, c. 1842 Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
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| Max Ritter von Widnmann, The Women at the Tomb German, 1863 Munich, Cathedral of Our Lady |
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William Adolphe Bougereau, The Three Women at the Tomb French, 1876 Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts |
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| James Tissot, Mary Magdalene and the Holy Women at the Tomb French, c. 1886-1894 New York, Brooklyn Museum |
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| Clement John Heston, The Three Marys English, 1910 Berne, Church of the Schüpfen |
© M. Duffy, 2011. Images refreshed and new material added 2024.
Excerpts
from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of
the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001,
1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington,
DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be
reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.