Christ stands in the tomb doorway, his right hand raised.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Resurrection
Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Benvenuto di Giovanni of Siena painted this small tempera panel, probably in 1491. It is one of five scenes from the Passion that the National Gallery shows together in one frame; they probably stood below the main panel of an altarpiece.
Christ steps out of a rock-cut tomb, holding a banner with a red cross. The heavy lid has fallen across the guards, who lie sprawled in bright Renaissance armour, and a fence, cypress trees and a calm lake landscape stretch behind.
From the text
- The tomb sealed and the guard posted (Matthew 27:66)
- The stone rolled away (Matthew 28:2)
- “The guards trembled in fear of him and became like dead men” (Matthew 28:4)
- A garden around the tomb (John 19:41)
The artist’s own
- Christ shown stepping out of the tomb, a moment no gospel describes
- A white banner with a red cross, the usual sign painters gave the risen Christ
- No angel: the stone lid lies on top of the guards
- Soldiers in the armour and coloured hose of 15th-century Italy
Details
Rising
The banner
A white banner with a red cross on a long staff.
The lid
The heavy stone slab has fallen across the soldiers.
The guards
Soldiers lie tumbled on the ground.
The fence
A wooden fence closes in a garden beside the tomb.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, Sienese, 1436 – after 1509. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.55) · Tempera on panel · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)