Annibale Carracci: Holy Women at Christ’s Tomb
Annibale Carracci’s “Holy Women at the Tomb of Christ,” serves as the background to The Noontimes this Eastertide as we experience the joy and mystery of Christ’s presence among us.
When we take in the information below, and spend time with John 20, we open ourselves to Christ, The Word who walks with us today. This image encourages us to share the sense of wonder the women feel when they come to the empty tomb.
From the Hermitage Museum website: “Italy, Late 16th century – Annibale Carracci was one of the founders of the Academy in Bologna, which opposed the distortions of the Mannerist style and sought to revive the art of drawing from life. This was to contribute greatly to 17th-century Classicism. The masters of the academy were the first in the history of European art to create an ordered system for the training of artists, including the study of nature and the use of the artistic devices of Classical Antiquity and the High Renaissance. The Holy Women is one of the master’s great late works, a canvas well known to his contemporaries. The subject derives from the Gospel According to Matthew (xxviii: 1-7). On the first day of the new week, the three holy women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary the Wife of Zebedee, came to Christ’s tomb. There they were faced with the open tomb and an angel who told them of the Saviour’s resurrection. The simple, easily readable composition, the faces without any strongly individual features, the theatrical gestures and Classical attire, these are all devices of the artist of the Academy, who perceived his central task as the rational reworking of the Classical ideal”. (Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia)
For a four-part reflection and prayer for the women who accompanied Jesus, enter the words Ministering Women into the blog search bar and discover who might be Christ’s ministering women today.
To visit the Hermitage, go to: https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/01.+Paintings/31678
For another reflection, visit: http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-appearances-of-the-risen-christ-3
For a commentary, visit: https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/2014/04/11/women-empty-tomb/
