The Resurrection

Albrecht Dürer · 1510
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Dated 1510 on the tomb, this is one of the four scenes Dürer added when he completed the Large Passion; it is the last scene of the book of 1511.

Jesus rises in a blaze of light above the closed tomb, holding a staff with a banner, while small angel heads crowd the clouds. Round the tomb the guards sleep or sprawl in their armour, one with a quiver of arrows.

From the text

The tomb sealed and guarded (Matthew 27:66)

The guards becoming like dead men (Matthew 28:4)

The artist’s own

The rising itself, which no Gospel describes: painters showed Jesus above the closed tomb

The banner on a staff, as painters of the time often showed it

Soldiers in German armour of 1510

Details

Rising

Jesus rises in a burst of light, holding a staff with a banner.

Still sealed

The slab of the tomb is still closed, with its seal and an iron ring.

Asleep

A guard sleeps with his bow and a quiver of arrows.

In the clouds

Little angel heads crowd the clouds.

Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland in memory of Ralph King, 1926.122) · Woodcut · Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: Collection API record "share_license_status": "CC0" (Creative Commons Zero, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).

The verses

Matt 27:65–66“You have a guard,” Pilate said. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.

Matt 28:2–6Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards trembled in fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay.