1. The Passion of Christ
Matthew 26-28

2. The Passion
The events and suffering of Jesus before and including his trial and execution
Physical
Spiritual
Mental
The Crucifixion is central to Christian belief
From the Greek pascho = to suffer

3. Holy Week Begins on Palm Sunday Ends on Easter Sunday
When Jesus enters Jerusalem
Ends on Easter Sunday
When Jesus rises from the tomb

4. Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem, 1308-1311
Duccio di Buoninsegna, c
Panel from the reverse of the Maesta, 100 x 57 cm
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena
Arrives on a donkey, accompanied by the disciples. Welcomed by a multitude of people, spreading their garments before him and strewing his path with palm branches. Matthew speaks of a donkey and her foal. Other evangelists mention only a foal that has not been ridden yet. This is Palm Sunday.
Duccio made a point of including men as well as women, young and old. The fact that children, not adults, offer him palm branches is a detail from an apocryphal gospel.
We see Christ in profile, raising his hand in benediction. His halo is rendered in gold leaf, like the background of the panel.
Duccio enlived the painting with narrative details like the two men climbing trees to break off branches.

5. The Last Supper/Passover Meal
New covenant replaces the old covenant
Based on death and resurrection
Eucharist/Communion
“Take, eat; this is my body…this is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt )
Consubstantiation
Symbolically the body and blood of Christ
Transubstantiation
Literally the body and blood of Christ
Hocus Pocus – parody of the consecration of the Catholic Mass
hoc es corpus = this is my body

6. Video Clip “The Last Supper” scene from Jesus of Nazareth
movie-the-last-supper/

7. The Last Supper, 1464-1467 Dirk Bouts, c. 1410-1475
Innovative – repressents Christ solemnly blessing the bread and wine instead of the revelation of the betrayal or the communion. In blessing the bread/wine, Christ instituted the Eucharist, one of the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. Takes place in broad daylight.
Christ in the center. To his right is peter (old and silver-haired) and to his left is John (hands clasped in prayer). Judas usually sits or stands alone and is easy to recognize, but here he is in the midst of his companions, though he has his hand behind his back. Usually Judas is depicted with red hair and a yellow robe, which were associated with evil. This is a departure, but he is given a ruthless expression and harsh features to show his identity.
This is a scene suspended in time. The disciples are impassive and uncommunicative.
The Last Supper,
Dirk Bouts, c
Panel, 180 x 150 cm
Sint-Pieterskerk, Leuven

8. The Last Supper, 1495-1498 Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519
Concentrated on the disciples’ reactions to Christ’s revelation that someone would betray him. The painting shows a group of distressed and troubled men – good attention to detail and psychological insight.
John is seated to the right of Christ. Peter is gray haired and leaning to John. Judas’ pose betrays his identity. His face is in shadow. In his hand we can make out the purse containing the thirty pieces of silver that he received in exchange for delivering Christ to his executioners.
The Last Supper,
Leonardo da Vinci,
Fresco, 460 x 856 cm
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

9. The Last Supper, 1562 Juan de Juanes, 1510-1579
Juan de Juanes – regarded as the most important Spanish Renaissance painter
Inspired by Leonardo’s Last Supper, but Juanes represents Christ raising the Host at the moment of its consecration
On the table is the chalice (preserved in the Valencia Cathedral) said by legend to be the Holy Grail, the vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper
The Last Supper, 1562
Juan de Juanes,
Oil on panel, 116 x 191 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

10. The Last Supper, 1547 Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665 Canvas, 117 x 178 cm
Sensitive to historical accuracy, he portrayed some of the disciples reclining, as was the custom in the days of the Roman Empire. Christ holds a chalice and has raised his right hand in a gesture of blessing. He is seated in the center. John sits beside him. The room is gloomy and the mood oppressive. The man who is leaving the room is Judas. It is not clear from the gospels whether or not Judas remained until the end of the meal. The theological implication is that if he did stay until after the institution of the Eucharist, he made a sacrilegious communion.
The Last Supper, 1547
Nicolas Poussin,
Canvas, 117 x 178 cm
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

11. Agony in the Garden In the Garden of Gethsemane
Displays the human side of Jesus
Internal Conflict
“My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want” (Matt. 26:39)
Predicts the disciples’ desertion
Failed three times
“Could you not stay awake with me one hour?...the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26: 40-41)

12. The Agony in the Garden, c. 1460
Christ kneels on a rock and prays in a desolate, craggy landscape. The city in the background is meant to be Jerusalem, with walls, as Mantegna imagined it. Angels show Christ the instruments of the Passion, or arma Christi, which will be used to torture him in the coming hours. They hold the column where he will be bound and scourged; the cross on which he will be crucified, the sponge dipped in vinegar that will be offered to quench his thirst, and the spear that will pierce his side. The scene illustrated here took place at night and the three disciples have fallen asleep. This episode of the Passion, when Christ, in a moment of human weakness, was torn between fear and resignation, was not widely represented in art before the 15th century.
The dead tree and the vulture are harbingers of death. Pelicans, on the other hand, were believed to nourish their young with their own blood. They symbolized Christ and the ‘new life’ he brought to humankind.
Mantegna’s Jerusalem includes an equestrian statue, a building that resembles the Colosseum, and a triumphal column like the column of the Roman emperor Trajan. All were inspired by monuments that the artist would have seen in Rome.
A group of soldiers led by the disciple Judsas have come to arrest Christ. Judas had betrayed Christ for ‘thirty pieces of silver’.
The Agony in the Garden, c. 1460
Andrea Mantegna, c
Panel, 63 x 80 cm
The National Gallery, London

13. The Betrayal Judas Iscariot 30 pieces of silver
Arrived with “a large crowd with swords and clubs, from chief priests and the elders of the people” (Matt. 26:47)
Betrayed with a kiss
“The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him” (Matt. 26:48)
Shows Jesus’ acceptance/forgiveness
“Friend, do what you are here to do” (Matt. 26:50)
Hanged himself

14. The Betrayal of Christ, 1602 Caravaggio, 1573-1610
Most artists depicted this biblical scene with numerous figures. Caravaggio shows only six, and even they are not all clearly visible. The absence of any décor, a hallmark of many of his works, makes the composition more forceful. To the left of centre, Judas embraces Christ – for once we are not shown the actual kiss of Judas – while at the same time a solder wearing a helmet and armour seizes Christ by the throat. Although Caravaggio incorporated components from each of the slightly different versions contained in the four gospels, his work most closely represents the account given by Luke, the most compassionate of the four and chronicler with a keen eye for detail.
Only John refers to a man holding a lantern. John, however, says nothing about the kiss of Judas.
A young man flees in terror, his robe billowing in an arc over the heads of Christ and Judas. Only Mark refers to this character.
Judas is not actually kissing Christ, though he may yet do so, and Christ seems to be talking to him. It would therefore seem that Caravaggio based his work on Luke’s account. Or is this the moment after the kiss when, according to Matthew, Christ spoke to Judas.
Caravaggio,
Canvas, x cm
The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
The Betrayal of Christ, 1602

15. The Arrest of Christ, 1618-1620 Anthony van Dyck, 1599-1641
The low viewpoint and use of a single source of light give the painting considerable dramatic intensity. In the darkness of the Mount of Olives, Jesus receives from Judas the kiss that betrays his identity. In the foreground, as described in the Gospel account, Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, the High Priest’s servant, during the violence unleashed by the taunting Roman soldiers.
The Arrest of Christ,
Anthony van Dyck,
Oil on canvas, 344 x 249 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

16. Jewish Trial Caiaphas Looked for testimony against Jesus
High priest
Looked for testimony against Jesus
“Tell us if you are the Messiah”
“You have said so” (Matt. 26:63-64)
Blasphemy
“He deserves death” (Matt. 26:66)

17. Christ before the High Priest, c. 1618
We can deduce from the gospels that Christ’s interrogation by Caiaphas took place at night. Caiaphas tried Christ under Jewish law and found him guilty of blasphemy. It was a capital offence, but only the governor Pontius Pilate, representing the authorities of the Roman occupying forces in Palestine, could pronounce and execute the death sentence. The final verdict was given later.
Several onlookers have gathered around Christ and Caiaphas waiting to see what happens. Most are in shadow, which heightens the tension of the scene.
Caiaphas raises an accusing finger at Christ. The book on the table in front of him sets out the laws of Moses on the basis of which Christ will be convicted. Caiaphas is sometimes shown melodramatically tearing his garments when Christ announces that he is the son of God. This gesture is consistent with the account in the gospels and traditionally signifies anger or sorrow.
Christ stands handcuffed, looking down on the high priest seated before him. He waits impassively. According to the gospels, Christ remained silent throughout most of the interrogation; his responses were brief and laconic.
Christ before the High Priest, c. 1618
Gerard van Honthorst,
Canvas, 272 x 183 cm
The National Gallery, London

18. Peter
“Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you”
“Truly I tell you…before the cock crows, you will deny me three times” (Matt. 26:33-34)

19. The Denial of Peter, 1646 David Teniers the Younger, 1610-1690
Meant to be set in the familiar Spanish Netherlands in the 17th century, all wear 17th-century costumes and bear arms, except for Peter, who is led away by a man and a woman on the left. Other artists portrayed Peter as a solitary figure weeping in remorse for denying Christ three times.
This devastating moment for Peter is apparently of little interest to anyone else. The card players barely look up from their game.
The extinguished candle symbolizes the flame of faith which, at this point, is burning low. When Peter heard the rooster crow, he remembered the prophetic words Christ had spoken a few hours before.
The Denial of Peter, 1646
David Teniers the Younger,
Canvas, 37 x 52 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris

20. Roman Trial Pilate – Roman governor
Examines Jesus and decides he is innocent
The Jewish leaders and crowd demand death
Pilate’s wife warns him of her dream
“Have nothing to do with that innocent man” (Matt. 27:19)
Pilate gives them a choice
Save Barabbas (a criminal) or save Jesus
The crowd screams for Jesus to be crucified
“He took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves” (27:25)
Jesus is flogged and handed over to be crucified

21. Video Clip
“Jesus is Condemned before Pilate” scene from The Life and Mission of Jesus Christ

22. Ecce Homo, 1470-1476 Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1450-1516 Panel, 75 x 61 cm
Stadelsches Kunstinstitut und Stadtische Galerie, Frankfurt
With his wrists bound, defenceless and bleeding, Christ is brought before the hostile crowd. The soldiers have already placed the crown of thorns on his head and the mantle over his shoulders. This corresponds to the accounts in the gospels of Luke and John, though Matthew and Mark say they did so only after this scene. And only John mentions that the event took place outdoors.
In the distance we see a subtly rendered scene from everyday life in a city of Bosch’s time. Against this background, Christ, in shackles, is brought before the people. The onlookers are depicted with Bosch’s famously caricatural faces. In his day, ugliness was associated with intrinsic evil. Civic dignitaries and religious leaders mingle in the crowd.
The words that were spoken, according to the inscription, show that this is Pilate. “ecce homo,” he said in Latin “Behold the man.” To which the people replied, “Crucifige eum” – “Crucify him.”

23. Christ before Pilate, 1308-1311 Duccio di Buoninsegna, c. 1255-1319
The crowd has taken over Pilate’s loggia. Soldiers guard Christ, who remains silent. They also protect him from the crowd and the gesticulating priests outside, who have already condemned Christ.
The physical threat expressed by the crowd pressing into Pilate’s loggia is Duccio’s visual translation of the gospel text.
Pilate has sentenced Christ to death and will ‘was his hands’ of guilt, absolving himself of responsibility for his actions. He yields to the pressure of the crowd before him, though he sees no reason to convict Christ. Duccio’s painting highlights that travesty of justice.
Christ before Pilate,
Duccio di Buoninsegna, c
Panel from the reverse of the Maesta, 51 x 53 cm
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena

24. The Flagellation, c. 1508 Alejo Fernandez, 1496-1545/56
Partly in ruins, it provides a setting for action involving characters from a very different tradition, that of the expressive world of Flemish artists. This is clearly seen in Christ’s executioners, who are anatomically correct but whose faces and expressions are caracaturesque.
The Flagellation, c. 1508
Alejo Fernandez, /56
Oil on panel, 49 x 35.4 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

25. Wearing the crown of thorns and holding the reed in his right hand, Christ meekly endures the taunts of his ruthless executioners in this stark, compelling scene. The Passion of Christ occupies an important place in Bosch’s oeuvre. The underlying message of many of the master’s paintings is that Christ suffered to redeem the world. He set an example that Christians should follow, regardless of the evils they may encounter on life’s journey. Bosch represented those evils in many of his imaginative and often cryptic works. Her, they are personified by the malevolent villains around Christ.
The figure with the arrow in his hat raises a lot of questions. What does the arrow symbolize? Why is the heraldic double eagle of Habsburg displayed on his chest? Why is his leg so long, and why is he shown in such a strange pose?
The man in the strange red hat represents a Jewish dignitary, as we may deduce from the image of Moses and the tablets of the law on the crystal knob of his staff.
Christ looks straight out at us and by doing so involves us in the event. The scarlet or purple robe he was said to be wearing is pictured here as a green and white cloth. One of Christ’s tormentors prods the crown with a stick to drive the thorns deeper into his head.
The Mocking of Christ, c. 1530?
Follower of Hieronymus Bosch, c
Panel, 165 x 195 cm
Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid

26. Calvary Simon (man from Cyrene) carries his cross Golgotha INRI
Place of a Skull
Offered wine mixed with gall
Refused it
INRI
“This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:37)
Jesus dies
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46)
Curtain of the temple is torn in two, from top to bottom
Separation of God and the people
The earth shook, the rocks split
Tombs opened and bodies of saints were raised
“Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Matt. 27:54)

27. Video Clip “It is Finished” scene from Jesus of Nazareth
movie-it-is-finished/
5:54 – 5:58

28. Christ on the Road to Calvary, c. 1516
Raphael,
Oil on panel, 318 x 229 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado
Expresses official doctrine regarding the Virgin’s swoon during Christ’s Passion, and she is consequently depicted as suffering but conscious rather than to have fainted. The scene is organized around a cross-shaped composition whose spiritual and formal tension converges around Christ. Christ has fallen under the weight of the cross and announces the destruction of Jerusalem to the holy women, saying, “Do not weep for me, weep for yourselves and your children”.

29. The Crucifixion, 1457-1460 Andrea Mantegna, c. 1431-1506
The setting is a barren, rocky and accurately rendered site of execution. Christ is no longer alive: the spear has already been thrust and the onlookers start to disperse. Mantegna visualizes Luke’s distinction between the ‘good thief’ and the ‘bad thief’ by depicting one in the light and the other in shadow. Mantegna also follows the conventional disposition of the figures, with Christ’s loved ones and followers grouped on his ‘good side’ (the right, or from our point of view, the left) opposite the ‘wicked’ Romans and Jews.
Christ was crucified on Golgotha, literally “the Place of Skulls” where, in the Middle Ages, Adam was also said to be buried: hence the heap of skulls and the single skull at the foot of the cross. They imply a direct relationship between original sin and the crucifixion: Christ’s death redeemed humankind from the original sin, the result of Adam and Eve’s transgression.
Roman soldiers throw dice for Christ’s garments.
The Crucifixion,
Andrea Mantegna, c
Panel, 67 x 93 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris

30. The Crucifixion, c. 1510-1515 Mathias Grunewald, c. 1470-1528
Panel of the Isenheim Alterpiece, 269 x 307 cm
Musee d’Unterlinden, Colmar

31. The Crucifixion, c. 1631-1632 Diego Velazquez, 1599-1660
Canvas, 250 x 170 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

32. Death by Crucifixion What happened? Tau cross (shaped like a T)
Patibulum (cross-arm)
110 lbs – forced to carry from the prison to the place of execution
Stipes (upright portion)
Titulus (small sign) stating the victim’s crime
Carried at the front of the procession
Nails driven into the palms would have stripped out between the fingers when made to support the weight of the human body

33. Bloody Sweat Hematidrosis (bloody sweat) Very rare phenomenon
Occurs under great emotional stress
Tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, misxing blood with sweat

34. Walk to Calvary Experienced extreme blood loss during flagellation
Causes Jesus to fall
Simon of Cyrene (not the disciple) carries the patibulum the rest of the way
650 yards from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha

35. Golgotha Offered wine mixed with myrrh (mild painkiller)
Jesus refuses
Nails driven through small bones of the wrists (radial and ulna), not through the palms
Heavy, square, wrought-iron nail
Nail driven through the arches of both feet
Knees moderately flexed
Slowly sags down putting weight on wrists and the median nerve; alternating with weight on the metatarsal bones of the feet

36. Cramping causes it to be impossible to push up
Pectoral muscles are paralyzed and intercostal muscles are unable to act
Air can be drawn in but cannot be exhaled
Carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and the blood stream
This causes the cramping to stop for a short bit, which allows him to push up and breathe
“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)
“To the “good” thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43)
To John, “Here is your mother.” To Mary, “Woman here is your son” (John 19:26-27)
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

37. Back tissue is torn as his back moves up and down
Pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart
Struggles to pump blood
Breathing in small gulps of air
Dehydrated
“I am thirsty” (John 19:28)
A sponge soaked in posca (cheap, sour wine) is lifted to his lips, but he doesn’t drink
“It is finished…Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit” (John 19:30; Luke 23:46)

38. Removal of the Body
Commonly the legs were broken to keep the victim from pushing himself upward
Jesus was already dead
For assurance, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart
“And immediately there came out blood and water” (John 19:34)
From the sac surrounding the heart
Did not die of suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium

39. Entombment Joseph from Arimathea Covers the tomb with a large stone
Asks for Jesus’ body (from Pilate)
Covers the tomb with a large stone
Mary and Mary Magdalene sit opposite the tomb
Tomb is guarded by Pilate’s soldiers

40. The Entombment of Christ, c. 1464
Rogier van der Weyden, c /
Panel, 111 x 95 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

41. Christ’s Descent into Limbo, c. 1516
The subject of the painting – the triumph of Christ over death – was fundamental for Catholic dogma, and the painting was commissioned by Vallterra when he was in Rome as ambassador. The vertical format of the painting, with its notably harmonious and highly meditated composition, is due to the fact ath it was the laterarl wing of a triptych whose central panel showed the Lamentation of the Body of Christ.
Christ’s Descent into Limbo, c. 1516
Sebastiano del Piombo,
Oil on canvas, 226 x 114 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

42. 3 Days Later Angel rolls back rock from tomb
Guards are afraid and become like dead men
Speaks to Mary and Mary Magdalene
“He is not here; fore he has been raised…Come, see the place where he lay” (Matt. 28:6)
Priests say his body has been stolen by the disciples

43. The Three Marys at the Tomb, c. 1425-1435
Jan and Hubert van Eyck, c and 1366/
Panel, 71.5 x 90 cm
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

44. Doubting Thomas
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25)

45. The Incredulity of Thomas, 1603
Christ pulls back his clothes and guides Thomas’ finger towards the spear wound in his right side. Thomas’ dirty fingernails heighten the harsh naturalism of the scene. The wound on Christ’s hand is another of the stigmata that Thomas demanded to see.
Thomas‘ eyes widen, he raises his eyebrows and frowns. His taut left hand is another sign of his apprehension.
Most paintings of this subject include tow of Christ’s disciples. They are identified as Peter and John
The Incredulity of Thomas, 1603
Caravaggio,
Vanvas, 107 x 148 cm
Neues Palais, Potsdam

46. The Ascension of Christ, 1304-1306
Giotto, c
Fresco, cm
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Book of Acts: cloud that shrouded Christ, apostles gazing up to heaven, two men in white robes with the wings of angels. According to Christian doctrine, Christ’s triumphant return to his Father was the ultimate proof of his divinity.
Choirs of angels venerate Christ as he ascends to heaven. The flowing lines of Christ’s body and his hands extend beyond the upper edge of the fresco, suggesting upward movement.
The reported number of witnesses to the Ascension ranges from eleven to fourteen: the apostles (-Judas), Paul, and the Virgin.

47. Pentecost, c. 1306-1312 Attributed to Giotto, c. 1267-1337
Panel, 45 x 44 cm
The National Gallery, London
The disciples are gathered indoors, and tongues of fire have descended upon each o f them. Twleve disciples are present: Judas is replaced by Matthias. The descent of the Holy Spirit initiated the preaching of Christ’s Word and thus the birth of the Church. These events occurred through divine intervention.
The Holy Spirit is represented in the form of a dove. Three figures standing outside the house represent the multitude – contemplating the apostles’ words and eavesdropping.
Peter is the center. He was associated with the foundation of the Church, assigned by Christ.