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| Jacopo di Cione and Workshop, The Resurrection Italian, 1370-1371 London, National Gallery |
The image of Jesus climbing out of the tomb represents a first step in imagining the Resurrection. However, it is a rather primitive step and does not really capture the sense of the event hinted at, though never described, by the Gospels.
The first step toward a more dynamic rendering of the Resurrection event is the "type" in which the Risen Jesus hovers over the tomb. Most commonly Jesus is shown "standing" in the sky above the tomb while the guards below sleep, cower or gesticulate in wonder.
The type would appear to have developed around the end of the fourteenth century. I have found no earlier traces, though they may exist. Its greatest popularity occurred during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By 1625 it had virtually disappeared.
Among the most important examples of this type are those by some famous Quattrocento artists.
Fra Angelico – Here the Risen Jesus appears in a mandorla above the tomb as the women listen to the angel announce the Resurrection. The presence at the far left of the picture of a Dominican friar in prayer suggests that this image should be understood more as vision for meditation than a narrative of the actual Resurrection event.
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| Fra Angelico, Resurrection, the Three Women at the Tomb Italian, 1440-1442 Florence, Museo di San Marco |
Master of the Osservanza - This master sets the scene in a garden area at dawn. The Risen Jesus hovers in a golden mandorla above the still sealed tomb, while the guards cower. One looks up in wonder.
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| Master of the Osservanza, The Resurrection Italian, ca. 1440-1445 Detroit, Institute of Arts |
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| Luca della Robbia, Resurrection Italian, 1442-1445 Florence, Cathedral |
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| Francesco Botticini, Resurrection Italian, c. 1465-1470 New York, The Frick Collection |
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Giovanni Bellini, Resurrection
Italian, 1475-1479
Berlin, Staatliche Museen
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Pinturicchio – Like Fra Angelico’s this image suggests that it is to be read as a meditation on the Resurrection, due to the presence at the far left of a portrait of Pope Alexander VII, the notorious Rodrigo Borgia.
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Pinturicchio, The Risen Christ Adored by Alexander VII
Italian, 1492-1494
Vatican City, Vatican Museums, Borgia Apartments
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Many other artists also used the hovering iconography for manuscript illuminations and panel, canvas and wall paintings. The Risen Jesus is sometimes shown in a mandorla, or supported by angels or simply floating in the air without support.
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| Jean Poyer, Resurrection from a Missal French (Tours), c. 1495-1520 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 495, fol. 50v |
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| Master of the Older Prayerbook of Maximilian, Resurrection from the Breviary of Eleanor of Portugal Flemish, c. 1495 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 52, fol. 146v |
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| Benedetto di Silvestro, Resurrection from Vita Christi Italian (Lombardy), c. 1500-1550 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 508, fol. 39r |
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| Giovanni Busi, aka Cariani, Resurrection of Christ between Saints Jerome and John the Baptist and the Donors Ottaviano and Domitilla Italian, 1520s Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera |
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| Titian, The Resurrection Italian, 1542-1544 Urbino, Palazzo Ducale |
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| Anonymous, Resurrection Dutch, c. 1600 Alcester (Warwickshire, UK), Coughton Court |
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| Giovanni Baglione, Resurrection Italian, c. 1601 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Fray Juan Bautista Maino, Resurrection Spanish, c. 1612-1614 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Francesco Buoneri called Cecco del Caravaggio, Resurrection Italian, 1619-1620 Chicago, Art Institiute |
More to come.
© M. Duffy, 2011, revised 2017
