Attributed to Aertgen Claesz van Leyden, Raising of Lazarus Dutch, c. 1530-1535 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
“Now a man was ill,
Lazarus from Bethany,
Lazarus from Bethany,
the village of Mary and her
sister Martha.
sister Martha.
Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord
with perfumed oil
and dried his feet with her hair;
it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.
So the sisters sent word to him saying,
"Master, the one you love is ill."
When Jesus heard this he said,
"This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through
it."
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and
Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where
he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
"Let us go back to Judea."
The disciples said to him,
"Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to
stone you,
and you want to go back there?"
Jesus answered,
"Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If one walks during the day, he does not
stumble,
because he sees the light of this world.
But if one walks at night, he stumbles,
because the light is not in him."
He said this, and then told them,
"Our friend Lazarus is asleep,
but I am going to awaken him."
So the disciples said to him,
"Master, if he is asleep, he will be
saved."
But Jesus was talking about his death,
while they thought that he meant ordinary
sleep.
So then Jesus said to them clearly,
"Lazarus has died.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
Let us go to him."
So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his
fellow disciples,
"Let us also go to die with him."
Possibly Jacopino da Reggio, Raising of Lazarus From a Psalter Italian (Bologna), End of the 13th Century Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Smith-Lesouef 21, fol. 16r |
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about
two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and
Mary
to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
"Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of
God,
God will give you."
Jesus said to her,
"Your brother will rise."
Martha said to him,
"I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day."
Jesus told her,
"I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies,
will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me
will never die.
Do you believe this?"
She said to him, "Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the
Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world."
The Raising of Lazarus From Vies de la Vierge et du Christ Italian (Naples), c. 1350 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 9561, fol. 159r |
When she had said this,
she went and called her sister Mary
secretly, saying,
"The teacher is here and is asking for
you."
As soon as she heard this,
she rose quickly and went to him.
For Jesus had not yet come into the village,
but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the
house comforting her
saw Mary get up quickly and go out,
they followed her,
presuming that she was going to the tomb to
weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw
him,
she fell at his feet and said to him,
"Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died."
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who
had come with her weeping,
he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and
said,
"Where have you laid him?"
They said to him, "Sir, come and
see."
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, "See how he loved
him."
But some of them said,
"Could not the one who opened the eyes
of the blind man
have done something so that this man would
not have died?"
Follower of Guillaume Vrelant, Raising of Lazarus From a Book of Hours, Office of the Dead Flemish (Bruges), c. 1475-1485 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 493, fol. 93v |
So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, "Take away the stone."
Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him,
"Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days."
Jesus said to her,
"Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?"
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
"Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said
this,
that they may believe that you sent
me."
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
"Lazarus, come out!"
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
"Untie him and let him go."
Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe
in him.”
John
11:1-45, Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A
The story of
the raising of Lazarus, read as the Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Lent in
Year,1 is a manifestation of the power of Jesus, as God, the Second
Person of the Holy Trinity, over life and death. It also foreshadows the Resurrection of
Jesus, which is to be celebrated in two weeks, and which is the supreme
manifestation of the power of God the Father who raises Jesus, not just to a
renewed earthly life, but to a bodily life that is outside the bounds of space
and time. It is also a reminder of the
forthcoming resurrection through Baptism of those preparing for it, as well as
a reminder to the already baptized of their own Baptism into Christ’s death and
resurrection. At all times it is also a
promise that, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die" so that, in God’s time, we will also be raised from the dead, not just to
this earthly bodily life, but through Jesus, to an eternal one (John 11:25-26). Lazarus raised is a token of the greater Resurrections
to come, that of Jesus and of all of us at the end of time.
The Raising
of Lazarus has a very long iconographic history, beginning almost at the
beginning of Christian art. Among the
early images are those found in the catacombs, such as the Catacomb of Saint
Callixtus on the Via Appia.
The Raising of Lazarus Roman, 3rd Century Rome, Catacomb of Saint Callixtus |
Once it
became legal for Christians to worship openly and to bury their dead openly,
the raising of Lazarus was one of the most common pictures used to decorate the
marble sarcophagi that wealthier Christians began to commission.2
Sarcophagus frontal, Scenes from the Life of Christ and Saint Peter Roman, 300-330 Vatican, Pio-Cristiano Museum The Raising of Lazarus can be seen at the far right, including the image of Martha. |
But it was
also used by those of lesser means, as the famous and touching memorial stone
to a young man shows.
All of these
images present virtually the same image.
A beardless Jesus stands in front of a typical aediculum, a classically constructed doorway which represents the
entrance to a tomb. And in the doorway
stands what is easily recognizable as a mummy.
One can clearly see the edges of the wrappings, as they cross over the
body.
And, from the fourth century on,
one can also see another thing, the figure of a small, kneeling woman. Martha has made her appearance in the scene.
Glass Bowl with Raising of Lazarus Roman (Cologne area), Second half of 4th Century New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
Another item
in these images might strike us as odd.
Jesus appears to use a stick or pointer of some kind to gesture toward
the body in the doorway. This is a
feature of the earliest images and is, I think, added to focus attention on the
action, which has such significance for all of us.
Ivory Pyx, Raising of Lazarus Byzantine, 6th Century Cleveland, Museum of Art |
By the sixth
century the pointer had become a cross, reminding us that the reason Jesus
could raise Lazarus from the dead was through the power given Him by the Father
through His sufferings on the Cross.
Book Cover with Biblical Scenes Byzantine, 6th Century Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 9384, Cover The Raising of Lazarus can be seen at the bottom right. |
Eventually,
even the cross was abandoned and Jesus is shown simply gesturing with His
hand.
Ivory Panel, Raising of Lazarus Byzantine (Italian), c. 900-1100 London, British Museum |
Frequently, in the Middle Ages, the image of the Raising of Lazarus was accompanied by other scenes from the life of Jesus, especially those that lead up to the climax of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Raising of Lazarus from the Gospel Book of Otto III German (Reichenau), c. 1000 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 4453, fol. 92 |
And, as time passed, the image of Lazarus standing in the doorway of his tomb was replaced by other images of horizontal burial in a sarcophagus or in the ground.
Raising of Lazarus Spanish, First half of 12th Century New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters |
In this same period, the tightly bound mummiform figure of Lazarus is replaced by a figure in a loose shroud, who is able to react to his resuscitation.
Raising of Lazaaarus from a Picture Bible French (St. Omer, Abbey of St. Bertin), c. 1190-1200 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 76 F 5, fol. 9r |
Raising of Lazarus from the Vita Christi English (East Anglia), c. 1190 Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum MS 101, fol. 61 |
Raising of Lazarus and Entry into Jerusalem from a Psalter English (London), c. 1200-1225 London, British Library MS Landsdowne 420, fol. 10v |
Raising of Lazarus and Entry into Jerusalem from the Psalter of St. Louis and Blanche of Castille French, c. 1225 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Arsenal 1186, fol. 21v |
Transfiguration and Raising of Lazarus from a Psalter English (Oxford), c. 1200-1220 London, British Library MS Royal 1 D X, fol. 4 |
Matthew Paris, Raising of Lazarus and Woman Washing the Feet of Jesus from a Psalter English (St. Albans), c. 1240 London, British Library MS Arundel 157, fol. 8 |
Raising of Lazarus from a Book of Hours Belgian (Liege), c. 1250-1300 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 76 G 17, fol. 69v |
Raising of Lazarus from the Grosbois Psalter French or Flemish (Mosan), 1261 New York, Pierpoint Morgan Library MS M 440, fol. 81r |
Ivory Panel with Scenes from the Life and Passion of Christ French, 14th Century Paris, Musée de Cluny, Musée national du Moyen Age |
Ivory Diptych with Scenes from the Life and Passion of Christ German, c. 1350-1375 Cleveland, Museum of Art |
Raising of Lazarus from the "Queen Mary Psalter" English (London), c, 1310-1320 London, British Library MS Royal 2 B VII, fol. 211 |
From the twelfth century on the artists of northwestern Europe universally depicted the grave of Lazarus as a horizontal sarcophagus, a hole in the ground or a crypt burial. Only artists working in Italy and in other countries near the Mediterranean, such as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or Christian Armenia, and the Greek Byzantine artists continued to use the upright formula.
Basilius, Raising of Lazarus From The Melisende Psalter Crusader (Jerusalem), c. 1131-1143 London, British Library MS Egerton 1139, fol. 5r |
Giotto, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1304-1306 Padua, Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel |
Duccio, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1308-1311 Fort Worth, Kimball Art Museum |
Luca di Tomme, Raising of Lazarus Italian, Before 1362 Vatican, Pinacoteca Vaticana |
Raising of Lazarus from a New Testament Armenian, 1456 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Armenien 18, fol. 15 |
Benozzo Gozzoli, Raising of Lazarus Italian, Mid-1490s Washington, National Gallery of Art |
By the end of the fifteenth century Italian artists had also abandoned the upright burial in favor of a horizontal one.
Giovanni da Milano, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1365 Florence, Church of Santa Croce, Rinuccini Chapel |
Limbourg Brothers (Jean, Pol and Herman), The Raising of Lazarus from the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry Dutch, 1412-1416 Chantilly, Musée Conde MS 65, fol. 171r |
Raising of Lazarus from a Book of Hours Belgian (Hainaut), c. 1450-1475 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 76 G 21, fol. 96v |
Raising of Lazarus from Fleur des histoires by Jean Mansel French, c. 1450-1475 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 56, fol. 36 |
Mary and Martha continue to be included, by the majority of artists. Sometimes they are shown kneeling in prayerful supplication, sometimes they are shown standing as they plea for their brother. Often they are shown making signs of grief: holding their veils to their faces, or shown with open mouths.
Albert van Ouwater, Raising of Lazarus Dutch, c. 1455 Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin |
Master of Jacques de Luxembourg, Raising of Lazarus from a Book of Hours French (Paris), 1460-1470 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 1003, fol. 153v |
Maitre de Coetivy, Raising of Lazarus French, c. 1460 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Jean Colombe, Raising of Lazarus from the Vita Jesu Christi by Ludolphe de Saxe French (Bourges), c. 1475-1500 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 178, fol. 72v |
Geertgen tot Sint Jans, Raising of Lazaarus Dutch, c. 1480-1484 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Simon von Taisten, Raising of Lazarus German, c. 1484 Virgen, Obermauern, Zu Unserer Lieben Frau Maria-Schnee
This German image is a bit unusual in showing Lazarus reaching up to grasp Christ's hand.
|
Juan de Flandres, Raising of Lazarus Flemish, 1514-1519 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
Palma il Vecchio, Raising of Lazarus Italian, c. 1514 Philadelphia, Museum of Art |
The subject of the raising of Lazarus became a popular image for the Office of the Dead, which was often included in the Book of Hours, the prayer book used by most lay Christians in the later part of the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, before the printed prayer book became the norm. Often shown surrounded by images that reminded the viewer of the decay of death, the raising of Lazarus was a reminder of the Christian hope for the final resurrection.
Simon Marmion, Raising of Lazarus
from a Book of Hours, Office of the Dead
Flemish, 1475-1485
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 6, fol.100r
|
Master of Sir George Talbot, Raising of Lazarus from a Book of Hours, Office of the Dead Flemish (Bruges), 1495-1505 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 390, fol.133v |
Jean Bourdichon, Raising of Lazarus from Grandes heures d'Anne de Bretagne French (Tours), c. 1503-1508 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 9474, fol. 111v |
Simon Bening, Raising of Laarus from the Da Costa Hours, Office of the Dead Flemish (Bruges), 1510-1520 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 399, fol. 226v |
Guilio Clovio, Empire of Death and Raising of Lazarus from the Farnese Hours Italian (Rome), 1546 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 69, fol. 79v-80r |
By the late
Renaissance period we call Mannerism images of the raising of Lazarus had
become very crowded with subsidiary figures and activity. However, unlike in some pictures of Biblical
actions (for instance, Moses striking the rock, which we looked at recently),
the actual subject was never lost in all the clutter. It was always at the center.
Sebastiano del Piombo (incorporating designs by Michelangelo), Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1517-1519 London, National Gallery |
Giuseppe Salviati, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1540-1542 Venice, Fondazione Querini Stampalia |
Girolamo Muziano, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1555 Vatican, Pinacoteca Vaticana |
Girolamo Sicciolante, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1550-1560 Fontainebleau, Chateau |
Tintoretto, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1579-1581 Venice, Scuola Grande di San Rocco |
Veronese, Raising Lazarus Italian, End of the 16th Century Poggio a Caiano, Villa Medicea |
Joachim Wtewael, Raising of Lazarus Czech, 1590-1600 Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts |
Giuseppe Cesari, Cavaliere d'Arpino, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1592 Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica |
Abraham Bloemaert, Raising of Lazarus Dutch, c. 1600-1605 Manchester (UK), Manchester Art Gallery |
Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, called Il Morazzone Raising of Lazarus Italian, c. 1600 Beauvais, MUDO, Musée de l'Oise |
Hans Rottenhammer, Raising of Lazarus German, before 1607 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum |
Caravaggio, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1608-1609 Messina, Museo Regionale |
Jose de Ribera, Raising of Lazarus Spanish, c. 1616 Madrid, Museo del Prado |
Alessandro Turchi, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1617 Rome, Galleria Borghese |
Jan Symonszoon Pynas, Raising of Lazarus Dutch, c. 1620 Philadelphia, Museum of Art |
Guercino, Raising of Lazaarus Italian, c. 1619 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Salvatore Rosa, Raising of Lazarus Italian, after 1622 Chantilly, Musée Conde |
Benjamin Cuyp Dutch, c. 1630s St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
Rembrandt, Raising of Lazarus Dutch, c. 1630 Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
Pietro Novelli, Raising of Lazarus Italian, c. 1635-1640 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
Cornelis de Vos, Raising of Lazarus Dutch, c. 1640-1651 Belfast, Ulster Museum |
Carel Fabritius, Raising Lazarus Dutch, c. 1642 Warsaw, Muzeum Narodow |
Rembrandt, Raising of Lazaaarus (Small Plate) Dutch, 1642 Cleveland, Museum of Art |
Mattia Preti, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1650s Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Art Antica |
Sebastien Bourdon, Raising of Lazarus French, c. 1650 Dijon, Musée Magnin |
Luca Giordano, Raising of Lazarus Italian, c. 1675 Private Collection |
Jean Jouvenet, Raising of Lazarus French, c. 1700 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Alessandro Magnasco, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1715-1740 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
Antonio Balestra, Raising of Lazarus Italian, 1733 Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery |
Benjamin West, Raising of Lazarus American, 1788 Glasgow, Museums Resource Centre (GMRC) |
Felix Auvraym Raising of Lazaarus French, 1825-1830 Valenciennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
Eugene Deveria, Raising of Lazarus Center of Five Panels of the Life of Christ French, 1835 Pau, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
In 1857 the subject set for entrants in the French Academy’s competition, the Prix de Rome, was the Raising of Lazarus. It elicited some very divergent images, some of them still wedded to the light/dark contrasts so common since Caravaggio. Some shared in the simplified approach to design and storytelling that was emerging in England and Germany in groups like the Pre-Raphaelites and the Nazarenes. Others pointed the way toward a more naturalistic and/or a more archaeological imagination.
Charles Francois Sellier, Raising of Lazarus French, 1857 Paris, Ëcole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts |
Hector Leroux, Raising of Lazarus French, 1857 Paris, Musée d'Orsay |
Leon Joseph Florentin Bonnat, Raising of Lazarus French, 1857 Bayonne, Musée Bonnat-Helleu |
James Tissot, Raising of Lazarus French, 1886-1894 New York, Brooklyn Museum |
Carl Heinrich Bloch, Raising of Lazarus Danish, c. 1890 Copenhagen, Frederiksborg Castle |
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Raising of Lazarus American, 1896 Paris, Musée d'Orsay |
© M. Duffy, 2017
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.
- Also read at Masses in other cycle years if those preparing for Baptism at Easter Vigil are attending the Mass as part of their group RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) preparation.
- Evans, Helen. “An Early Christian Sarcophagus from Rome Lost and Found.” Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 28, 1993, pp. 77–84
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