Raising of Lazarus
7:00 AM |
| Duccio, Raising of Lazarus, 1310 |
Lazarus has been dead for four days, but now he stands in his burial shroud leaving the tomb with his eyes wide open. The smell must have been pretty bad because the onlooker in black dress socks covers his nose from the smell. Lazarus somehow defies physics by hopping to an upright position with his hands and feet tightly wrapped in linen cloth, sort of like a winning a two-legged burlap bag race at a family picnic without falling over. All we see of Lazarus is his ashen face, while the rest of the painting jumps out in vivid colors. Clearly, this guy was once dead.
Maybe when Duccio painted The Raising of Lazarus in 1310 people were accustomed to seeing this scene. The crowd on hand does not look particularly happy or eager to see poor Lazarus. Jesus, however, with his outstretched arm and a large decorative plate around his head, looks determined and compassionate. Duccio portrays Jesus as sure of himself, understanding the future meaning and significance of this miracle. The only person in the painting, a woman in a bright red robe, understands what has just happened. She, alone, directs her attention to Jesus, not to the smelly, wrapped, former corpse in the tomb.
Here, dozens of witnesses who had come to mourn the death of Lazarus instead witness the dude standing and breathing. How could this be anything but the awesome power and divine intervention of a benevolent God trying to make a point?
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