Second Sunday of Lent - Christ Taken Prisoner

Title: Christ Taken Prisoner
Artist: Giuseppe Cesari
Medium: Oil on walnut panel
Size: 89 x 62 cm
Date: c. 1597
Location: Staatliche Museen, Kassel.

Mark 14:43-52 - Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. The men seized Jesus and arrested him. Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” Then everyone deserted him and fled. A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

As the armed mob takes Jesus captive, in a futile gesture, one of the disciples draws a sword and severs the ear of the high priest's servant. In Matthew's account this becomes an opportunity for Jesus to teach. He warns the disciple not to return violence for violence, for those who live by the sword die by the sword. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had urged his disciples not to turn to violence; a child of God must love even the enemy. If it were a simple matter of displays of power, God could overwhelm Jesus' attackers with legions of angels. But God's reign revealed in the scriptures would not be imposed by violence. Jesus' fidelity would take him into the valley of death but, ultimately, the scriptures would be fulfilled and love would defeat violence and death.

Giuseppe Cesari (1568 – July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino. Christ Taken Prisoner is one of Cesari's most important works, its popularity attested by the existence of a somewhat smaller version in the Galleria Borghese and of numerous copies. Cesari bathes the scene in a pale moonlight that gives the colors an almost metallic coolness. His rendering of the form of the moon, and of the stars shining with varying degrees of brightness, testifies to a growing interest in the realistic representation of the night sky. The picture must have been painted in Rome in 1596/97, when Cesari was working on one of his most important commissions, the fresco cycle for the Palazzo dei Conservatori.

First Sunday of Lent - Gethsemane

Title: Gethsemane
Artist: J. Kirk Richards
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 104 x 249 cm
Date: 2006
Location: Private Collection.

Mark 14:32-36 - They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. "Abba, Father," he said, "Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

Like many who face death, Jesus would like to avoid dying now. If he were considering only his personal preference, he would rather not experience the pain of mortality and the horror of paying for sin. But Jesus has a more fundamental concern: "Yet not what I will, but what you will." Here Jesus submits to God's plan and will. If it is time and this is the way to accomplish your desire, he says, then, Lord, take me. Jesus is committed to God's will, even above his own desires. If that means suffering, so be it. If that means death, so be it. By relying on prayer and communion with God, Jesus faces his dark hour as a shining light.

Figurative artist J. Kirk Richards is becoming increasingly known for his accomplishments as a painter of Judeo-Christian themes. Richards was born near Brigham Young University. As a teen he took private lesson from artist Clayton Williams to supplement his public school studies, and upon graduation was accepted into the BYU art program, studying with artists such as Bruce Smith and Hagen Haltern. In the subsequent years his artwork has been featured in various shows and publications, including the BYU Museum of Art Beholding Salvation: The Life of Christ in Word and Image show and accompanying book, and been the recipient and many honors and awards. More of his work is featured on his website http://www.jkirkrichards.com/.

Arrest of Jesus

Title: Arrest of Jesus

Artist: Unknown

Medium: Tempera on parchment

Size: tbd.

Date: 17th-century

Location: British Library, London.

Mark 14:50-52 Then everyone deserted him and fled.

A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

This miniature shows the capture of Jesus by two soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane. His serene expression and crossed wrists eloquently convey his resignation to what must happen, and contrast with the threatening stance of the man with a sword. Jesus is depicted alone, as described in the gospel account "everyone deserted him”.

The young man mentioned in 14:51-52 is an enigma. Scholars lack a consensus as to why Mark would record this odd incident at all. One argument is that the passage reiterates that in the face of adversity even the disciples were so eager to abandon Jesus that one of them was willing to run away naked. Consider, however, that he escapes leaving his linen cloth (sindon in Greek) which is mentioned twice, and later the dead Jesus is wrapped only in a linen cloth (another sindon), which also mentioned twice (15:46), only to “escape” death.

This illustration is from a lavishly illustrated 17th-century manuscript written in a small elegant script with decorative borders and devices. At the time this was produced, Ethiopia was undergoing a religious and artistic revival. The volume is a faithful copy of a 15th-century manuscript, and was probably commissioned by Emperor Iyasu (ruled 1682-1706) for the church of Debra Berhan Selassie, which remains one of Ethiopia's most well-known churches.

The Betrayal of Christ

Title: The Betrayal of Christ

Artist: Jacopo Bassano

Medium: Pastel over charcoal on faded blue paper

Size: 41 x 55 cm

Date: 1568

Location: Musée du Louvre, Paris

Mark 14:43-49 Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard." Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him. The men seized Jesus and arrested him. Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

"Am I leading a rebellion," said Jesus, "that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled."

This drawing covers the largest format possible at the time for rag-pulp paper. The colored highlights of the pastel crayons are perfectly preserved and contrast the quickly sketched figures of the traitor Judas identifying Jesus to the armed band with a kiss.

As local collaborators, the temple authorities were permitted by the Romans to have a small paramilitary force. That these men, sent by the chief priests and teachers of the law, come prepared for armed resistance demonstrates they had been expecting a messianic revolutionary.

Jacopo Bassano (also known as Jacopo da Ponte, c. 1510 - 13 February 1592) was an Italian painter active in the Republic of Venice. He was born and died in Bassano del Grappa near Venice, from which he adopted the name. His father Francesco Bassano the Elder was a "peasant artist" and Jacopo adopted some of his style as he created religious paintings with novel features including animals, farmhouses, and landscapes. From around 1560 his work became vested with a more exaggerated search for novel effects of light, taking on something of the iridescent coloring reminiscent of Tintoretto.

The Agony in the Garden

Title: The Agony in the Garden

Artist: Hans Leonhard Schaufelein

Medium: Lime panel

Size: tbd.

Date: 1516

Location: Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Mark 14:37-42 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

Returning the third time, he said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

Jesus’ exhortation that “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” is not meant in the later Gnostic or Neo-Platonic sense (the soul is intrinsically good and the body is evil), but rather that though one means well, the body is susceptible to exhaustion. In fact, there are allusions here to the servants left in charge by their master in the parable told by Jesus in Mark 13:34-37: "...keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!' "

Hans Leonhard Schäufelein (c. 1480 – 1540) was a German painter, designer, and wood engraver. As a painter he was much influenced by Dürer, his master, but his woodcuts are generally considered more original and more important than his pictures. He often signed his works HS with a little shovel (Schäuffelein).

Christ Comforted by an Angel

Title: Christ Comforted by an Angel

Artist: Paul Troger

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: tbd.

Date: c. 1730

Location: Museo Diocesano, Camerino, Italy.

Mark 14:32-36 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch."

Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

The Cup of which Jesus speaks echoes the statement he made to James and John, the sons of Zebedee, when they asked that they sit next to him in his glory (Mark 10:37). Jesus replied "Can you drink the cup I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" Jesus often used the symbolism of the cup when referring to his fate, and may allude to the Cup of Judgment that appears often in the Old Testament.

Paul Troger (October 30, 1698 – July 20, 1762) was an Austrian painter, draughtsman and printmaker of the late Baroque period. Troger settled in Vienna in 1728 and became one of the best representatives of the Viennese Rococo painting. He alloyed successfully the Italian (Venetian and Neapolitan) traditions with the ideas of contemporary Austrian painting. He became director of the Academy of Art in Vienna, and influenced significant artists of the next generation, notably Franz Anton Maulbertsch, Josef Ignaz Mildorfer, Johann Wenzel Bergl.

The Agony in the Garden

Title: The Agony in the Garden

Artist: Francisco Goya

Medium: Oil on panel

Size: 47 x 35 cm

Date: 1819

Location: Escuelas Pías de San Antón, Madrid.

As recorded in Luke 22:39-43: Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

This dramatic painting is a pendant to the large altarpiece ‘The Last Communion of St Joseph of Calasanz’, a commission the artist received May 1819. When the altarpiece was finished Goya wrote to the Rector returning most of the payment he had received saying: 'D. Francisco Goya has to do something in homage to his countryman.” And a few days later presented the Pious School with a gift of ‘The Agony in the Garden’ depicting Christ alone and wracked with doubt shortly before his arrest. Both this small panel and the altarpiece are outstanding in Goya's oeuvre for the intensity of the religious devotion they reflect. Goya may well have felt a personal involvement with the saint who was the founder of the religious schools that are said to have given him his education in Saragossa.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists.

The Taking of Christ

Title: The Taking of Christ

Artist: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Medium: oil on canvas

Size: 133.5 cm × 169.5 cm

Date: c. 1602

Location: National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.

This painting represents Jesus Christ being captured in the Garden of Gethsemane by soldiers who were led to him by one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot. Tempted by the promise of financial reward, Judas agreed to identify his master by kissing him: "Arrest the man I greet with a kiss. Tie him up tight and lead him away." (Mark 14:44). Caravaggio focuses on the culminating moment of Judas’ betrayal, as he grasps Christ and delivers his treacherous kiss.

At the center of the composition, the soldier’s cold armor contrasts with the vulnerability of the defenseless Christ who accepts his fate with humility. He offers no resistance while the soldiers move in to capture him. Caravaggio presents the scene as if it were a frozen moment, to which the over-crowded composition and violent gestures contribute dramatic impact. This is further intensified by the strong lighting, which focuses attention on the contrasting faces of Jesus and Judas. Both are presented against the blood-red drapery of the background, reinforcing the paintings great psychological depth. Likewise, the terrorized expression and gesture of the fleeing man, perhaps another of Christ’s disciples, convey the emotional intensity of the moment.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, (29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610) was an Italian artist active between 1593 and 1610. He was the first great representative of the Baroque school of painting, noted for his intensely emotional canvases and dramatic use of lighting. Famous and extremely influential while he lived, Caravaggio was almost entirely forgotten in the centuries after his death. Only in the 20th century was his importance to the development of Western art rediscovered.