The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb by Hans Holbein the Younger
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6 comments
PZ says:
Apr 10, 2009
John Zahl and his Dad stood right up in front of that painting in the Summer of 1990, in the exact footsteps of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, in the Ammerbach Kabinett in the Basle City Museum.
I think it is absolutely the essence of Good Friday (late in the day) and Easter Eve.
Thank you, O triumphal procession one, for posting this.
David Browder says:
Apr 11, 2009
Wow. I would love to see this painting in person. I think it is the essence of Good Friday and Easter Eve as well.
Those stories Dostoevsky tells in The Idiot (inspired by this painting) still puzzle me though.
solarblogger says:
Apr 13, 2009
Thanks for posting this.
I like asking what the artist was trying to do. He clearly had great talent and knew how to render realistically. The body is believably a body. Yet this is not like what I would imagine a photograph to look like after a gory crucifixion. Nor do I think this is because of the artist being ignorant. Some medieval paintings were quite gory. He chose to render this as he did for a purpose. He wanted us to focus on something. What is it?
I’m guessing it’s in the open eye. It does appear lifeless. But not expressionless.
Perhaps the open mouth awaits the return of the Spirit.
DZ says:
Apr 13, 2009
Rick-
Thanks for commenting! I’m glad to know you’re reading. I’m embarrassed that it took so long, but I finally added Old Solar (Rick’s amazing magazine/blog) to our links.
DZ
Michael Cooper says:
Apr 13, 2009
Unsentimentalized dead. Just dead, dead, dead. Any other dead, any glimmer of “transcendence” in dead, and you got no real Easter. That is the genius here.
David Browder says:
Apr 14, 2009
Exactly, Michael. Holbein actually used a Jewish man who had drowned as the model for the painting. Dead, dead, dead, and unflatteringly so.