Author Archives: rpfjacques

Many scenes showing the crowning of thorns were inspired by a famous version by Caravaggio. Yet in this tragic scene the youthful Ribera appropriated this prototype and reinvented it. Among the executioners, we find the famous bald model once again, as well as a grimacing young man, who with his thumb placed between his indexContinue reading “Ribera’s Crowing of Thorns and the underworld of Baroque Rome”

Christ stands at the top of the stairs and is mocked by a Roman soldier, while the Roman governor Pontius Pilate gestures to the crowd, declaring, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him” (John 19:4). The Spanish painter Orrente’s use of dark silhouettesContinue reading “Pedro Orrente’s Venetian style”

Conventional representations of the Crucifixion highlight Jesus’s suffering by showing an emaciated figure hanging limply with downcast eyes. However, in this image by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens we see a radical departure from this tradition. Rather than a tortured martyr, this Christ is heroically alive. He raised his eyes trustingly toward the heavens.Continue reading “Christ is heroically alive”

The Florentine Bartolomé Carducho was one of the founders of the Madrid school of painting. His work deploys a masterly use of drawing, an ordered sense of composition and a warm palette toned by a carefully controlled light. Rather than the more traditional image of the consecration of the Eucharist, in this Last Supper CarduchoContinue reading “A Madrid Last Supper”

In the older rites of the Church on the Wednesday of Holy Week it is the tradition to read the Passion from the Gospel of Saint Luke. One of the most beautiful passages from this account are the words that passed between Jesus and Saint Dismas, the penitent thief who was crucified with him: ‘andContinue reading “Dismas and Gestas”

On the Tuesday of Holy Week the readings at today’s Mass focus on the Jesus predicting the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Saint Peter.  The iconography of the image expresses the idea of the value of repentance personified in the example of Saint Peter who, at a crucial moment of the Passion, deniesContinue reading “Peter’s Tears”

On the Monday of Holy Week the Gospel at today’s Mass recalls that six days before the Passover Jesus ‘came to Bethania, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life. And they made him a supper there: and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that were at table with him. MaryContinue reading “Three Friends of Jesus”

Many Christians around the world today will be celebrating Palm Sunday, Christ’s final entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of that last journey to his death and resurrection. A week that sees Jesus welcomed as an earthly King with shouts of Hosanna before his murder with common criminals, a testament to the worst traits ofContinue reading “Hosanna”

This portrait of Mulay Ahmad, the ruler of Tunis, is a rare 17th-century portrayal of an African sovereign. But it’s not a portrait from life. Rubens based the painting on an earlier work by Jan Vermeyen, who traveled to North Africa in 1535 on a military campaign led by the Holy Roman Emperor.  Rubens clearlyContinue reading “Ruben’s African King”

Baltasar Carlos, two-year-old heir to the Spanish throne, was the son of Philip IV. As official painter to the king, Velázquez created countless portraits of Philip and his family. Here, despite his young age, the prince is posed as an adult, standing at attention next to a person with dwarfism, who may be a jester.Continue reading “The boy who would be King”