un-orthodox easter and why I think people paint crucifixions (part 2)

Quentin METSYS (Louvain, 1465/1466-Anvers, 1530)
The Moneylender and His Wife 1514

Finally.

So with the time lapse I've lost some of my thoughts, but maybe it will be good. I can give the main points without all the cluttery extra thoughts!

Easter morning found us in the Louvre. Not exactly church, but I went in knowing that I could very easily seek out and find images that would draw me in to both considering great Truth and worshiping God for His love for us - that He generously made us able to produce such beauty!

Samuel van HOOGSTRATEN - Dordrecht, 1626 - Dordrecht, 1678

View of an Interior, or The Slippers

I was at the Louvre one other time more than 10 years ago. That time I had researched online before going to select a few key pieces to see. I love Rembrandt, and so the Dutch Masters had been on my list. However, after spending quite a bit of time (and getting lost) trying to get to the Dutch Masters, I finally realized that whatever day of the week it was that we were there was they day of the week that particular wing is regularly closed. Bummer. Though along the way I had spotted some Near Easter work that caught my attention...

This time, I was determined to get to the Dutch and Flemish wing. So determined, ironically, that I missed the fact that there was a big special exhibit of Rembrandt's images of Christ. Sunday is a particularly busy day at the Louvre, but since we came in as it opened (skipping the line by using the Museum Pass) and bee-lined to the Dutch Masters, we were virtually alone in gallery after gallery. Bliss!

Abraham van DIEPENBEECK (Bois-le-Duc, 1596-Antwerp, 1675)
Christ on the Cross Adored by Eight Saints of the Dominican Order

Keenly aware of it being Easter, I tuned in specifically to the Crucifixion paintings. So interesting. I can think of so many Crucifixion images and so few Resurrection images. There are notable exceptions, and Ascension images aren't uncommon, but Crucifixion images take the lead. Why? Why does an artist chose a particular theme? Why out of all the moments in the Bible is the Crucifixion portrayed?

Lots of reasons and answers. Lots of them I learned in Art history classes that are really quite practical - like considering how many were made for Catholic churches or in monasteries where artists were commissioned to make images for the stations of the cross, or images to place at the altar for people to consider Christ's "body broken for you" as they partook of bread and wine.

Dieric BOUTS Haarlem, c. 1415 – Louvain, 1475
The Lamentation of Christ

As I was looking at the images, I also had this little phrase running through my head I've heard so many times as people have been offended by Crucifixes: "They left Him on the cross!" It's been used to say that somehow the triumph of Christ's resurrection and His grace have been overlooked. But somehow to me, debating over whether it's more "appropriate" to show the cross with Christ on it or empty is about as profitable as debating whether Christ's birth or His death and resurrection are more important. Each piece is critical to the whole story of God's redemptive work.

But back to Easter in the Louvre. It occurred to me that artists have leaned towards pictures of the Crucifixion because fundamentally we understand suffering. We grieve and we struggle. We feel the limits of our flesh and humanity, the frustrations and failures of it. And we watch death happen all around us. Artists have known how to paint pain. It makes me think of Chaim Potok's My Name is Asher Lev, where the key character, a Hassidic Jew, uses a Crucifix in one of his images because he can find no other suitable symbol of ultimate human suffering. This pain is so universal.

Attributed to the Master of the Expulsion of Hagar active in Leiden c. 1510-20

Christ Carrying the Cross

And don't we find such comfort and solace knowing that Christ had flesh like we do, suffered like we do, died like we will? I've definitely seen Crucifixion paintings that look like Hollywood versions - staged, romanticized, executed to achieve a formal goal without any consideration of the meaning. But I think most have been born from identifying with suffering and longing for God who knows us.

On the flip side, the resurrection is so fabulous - and so surreal. We don't really get that part all the way yet. We see and experience new life, triumph, glimpses of redemption - but not yet quite enough to really envision it in all it's profound complexity. Grunewald painted a Resurrection panel in his Isenheim altarpiece. It's a striking contrast to all the other panels - like something out of modern science fiction - clearly drawn from his imagination. How could it be otherwise?
Someday. Someday we'll see that part a bit better.

Mathias GRUNEWALD
Resurrection from the Isenheim Altarpiece

We did, by the way, get to see Rembrandts (a whole other stream of thoughts on that one!). A few were down in the special exhibit, but Bathsheba and a fabulous self-portrait were there for us to sit down on a bench and quietly enjoy at length. Just before we walked in to that particular gallery, a gentleman was enthusiastically explaining why this particular self-portrait was "the best" to the museum guard. So fun to watch him enjoy it, and equally fun to consider these museum guards who spend hours in front of these artworks. I wonder what they think?

Rembrandt
Self Portrait at an Easel 1669

un-orthodox easter and why I think people paint crucifixions (part 1)

I love Easter so much...

I love all the traditions that have been attached to it over the years for me (spending about 2/3rds of the day in church, family dinners, Easter clothes).

I love that it's been on my birthday sometimes.

I love the special events I've had attached to it: I was baptized on an Easter Sunday, we were engaged on an Easter weekend, I remember sitting on wooden benches and a dirt floor the first Easter Sunday we used our partially constructed church when I was a kid.

And I REALLY love what it's all about! Christ rising, conquering death, bringing life and hope...the triumph and celebration of it all pretty much consumes me.

So this year was a bit weird for me. We weren't in church on Easter Sunday morning.

We had a 4-day weekend break from language school, and combined with a variety of factors, it provided a good opportunity to take a break for the weekend and travel someplace just to travel (something we haven't done in about 4 years). We headed to Paris. It sounds like a huge destination, but it's really accessible from here. (a couple hours by train, and inexpensive tickets aren't too hard to find)


My first thought for Easter Sunday had been how fascinating it would be to be in Notre Dame on Easter Sunday - but then I read someone else's experience of the CRAZY crowds. We did, however, stop by on Good Friday to catch part of "Organ Auditions". I was thinking it would be like a free concert as the organist prepared for Sunday or something, and anticipated this amazing sound inside this beautiful old space. Not exactly.

We came early, sat down and watched these families all dressed up for a service seated around us, and then noticed a huge procession of people coming as a bell was ringing. The veneration of the crown of thorns. I had noticed something on-line about it, but hadn't imagined a processional. Since the 1200's, this particular relic has resided in Paris and is brought out during Lent and Easter to be venerated by the public. People bowed as it came past. I don't think I've been quite so close to an experience anything like it before.


It stirred lots of thoughts in by brain - thoughts about how easily we worship "the created rather than the Creator", but in the same breath, the Holiness of God and how we physically demonstrate reverence and humility before Him - like Moses having to take his shoes off before the burning bush, or people dying when they touched the Ark of the Covenant. Hmm. That could turn into quite a discussion, but I'll leave it alone at the moment. I will just say this: there's some healthy awareness and reflection that can come from observing people worship in varying traditions.


The organ started to play after the procession. In all honesty, terrifying horrible sounds. Even with the less discordant notes, the organ sounded muffled, and disappointed our hopes of this full, resonant sound. The organist played a few notes; the priest read something in French; the organist played more; the priest read more. Not exactly a concert. I'm guessing it was about Good Friday and Christ's death. More accurately, I'm hoping it was as an explanation for the kinds of sounds coming from the organ. I felt like I suddenly understood things I've read where people describe their really morbid and scary associations with organs. We didn't stay very long.

Before we left altogether, we walked back around past the various places designated for prayer. This nun caught our eye. She seemed to tune all the crowds out, sit for awhile to pray, then exit just as quietly and directly. I just wanted to know her stories.