During
this last meditation on Grünewald’s depiction of the crucifixion of Christ, we
focus today on the body of Jesus, wrapped in a loincloth. Most of the crucified
were nailed naked to intensify the shame. Here we see the body lacerated by the
previous flogging, leaving many marks which bled profusely. Some splinters are
still stuck to his body. Even the cloth is ripped, showing that the flogging
soldiers showed no mercy at all, and lashed him all over his body. To the
casual observer, Grünewald’s Crucifixion evokes empathy in the face of
another’s torment. Through the eyes of faith the Christian disciple is led a
step further. For in pondering this image we can be moved through beauty to
enter into the redemptive meaning of Christ’s suffering. For through this
visual homily, Grünewald, the painter, encourages us along the Lenten journey
to persevere in our own daily patterns of dying and rising to new life.
This
painting was commissioned for the Antoinite monastery at Isenheim, painted
between 1510 and 1515 and was intended to give support to patients in the
monastic hospital. Christ appears hideous, his skin swollen and torn as a
result of the flagellation and torture that He endured. Even the horizontal
beam of the cross looks tired as it sags with the weight of Christ’s body
adding to the mood of the moment. This was understandably a powerful image in a
hospital that specialized in caring for those suffering from skin complaints.
In this painting, we are hemmed in by the immensities of darkness, alone with
pain, forced to face the truth. The Old Testament often talks of a “suffering
servant”, and obviously Grünewald's Crucifixion comes to mind when we think of
this metaphor. Gothic art had reached an electrifying greatness in this
particular heart-wrenching painting.
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