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