Images of the Passion
Meditation Gallery
For your meditation this Holy Week, a small curated gallery1 of Passion imagery.
Agony in the Garden
Oil on canvas, Ludovico Carracci, early 17th c.
And going a little further, he fell upon his face, praying, and saying: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
(Matthew 26:39)
The Betrayal of Christ
Bronze plaquette, Il Vicentino, early 16th c.
And [Judas] that betrayed him, gave them a sign, saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he, hold him fast. And forthwith coming to Jesus, he said: Hail, Rabbi. And he kissed him.
(Matthew 26:48-49)
Christ before Pilate, and before Herod; angels in border
Illuminated manuscript, Vaux Passional (Peniarth Manuscripts), 15th-16th c.
Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice.
(John 18: 37)
Man of Sorrows
Painting, Geertgen tot Sint Jans, c. 1486
And as they led him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country; and they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
(Luke 23: 26-29)
The Isenheim Altarpiece
Oil painting on panel, Matthias Grünewald, c. 1512
[T]hey crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
(John 19: 18-19)
Christ crucified between the two thieves;
the three Marys at the foot of the cross
Bartsch Print, Etching by Antonio Tempesta, c. 1612
When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own. (John 19: 26-27)
Man of Sorrows
Tempura on oak wood painting, Master Francke, c. 1420
And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And Jesus crying out with a loud voice, said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost.
(Luke 23: 44-46)
Pietà
attr. Fidel Sporer, c. 1770
Consider how, after the death of our Lord, two of His disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, took Him down from the Cross, and placed Him in the arms of His afflicted Mother, who received Him with unutterable tenderness, and pressed Him to her bosom.
(Thirteenth Station of the Cross, St. Alphonsus Liguori)
The Burial Lamentations
Icon, attr. Theophanes the Cretan, mid 16th century
[Joseph of Arimathea] went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And taking him down, he wrapped him in fine linen, and laid him in a sepulchre that was hewed in stone, wherein never yet any man had been laid.
(Luke 23: 52-53)
Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death? For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ: Knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
(Romans 6: 3-10)