Little is known about the artist Matthias Grunewald except
that he apprenticed under Albrecht Durer who was a famous
illustrator of books during the printing revolution of the Renaissance. Grunewald painted this altarpiece for a
monastery in Germany 5 years before the Protestant Reformation was torched off
by his fellow countryman Martin Luther.
Today the altarpiece resides at an art museum in France.
Significant about the picture is the
realism and extreme emotion. First of
all, note how low the cross is. Jesus is
barely above the ground. This was how
crucifixion was done because it was about pain and humiliation. The reason it was written ‘cursed is him who
hangs on a tree’ is because it was so terrible a death that the Jews could come
to no other conclusion that the victim was utterly bereft of the God’s
grace. Also see the contortions of the
hands. Although they seem to express
Jesus’ agony before his heavenly father, they would have also looked like this
because the crucifixion nails were put through the wrist destroying the system
of tendons and contorting the hands.
On the right we see John the Baptist at
the crucifixion. The artist knew that
John preceded Jesus in death and was not mixed up on his details. He has the scriptures in one hand with the
other hand pointing to the Lord. John is
the last of the Old Testament prophets and he is pointing to Jesus as the
fulfillment of prophecy. In John chapter
1 as Jesus approaches John the Baptist for baptism he declares to the crowd
“behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” At John’s feet there is a sacrificial lamb
with a cross. There is a hole in its
chest and blood is being poured out into a chalice. A reminder that the covenant cup we share is
one sealed by the pouring out of Jesus’ blood.
To the left Mary the mother of Jesus is
dressed in a white habit. She could be
seen in no other way by this point in history.
She was model for all nuns and therefore was dressed as one. John the apostle looks like a European adolescent
of the day with the page boy haircut. John was likely a teenager
at the time of this event and so an accurate rendering here. Kneeling in
prayer is Mary Magdalene. She is not in
a gown of white and has long, long hair that has been let down. She has an alabaster jar of ointment. Grunewald had the typical assumption that the
woman of ill-repute who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her
hair and anointed his feet with expensive nard was Mary Magdalene. Nowhere in scripture
is Mary Magdalene declared to be a reformed prostitute, but the idea has had a
lot of sticking power through the centuries.
Mary is showing us what all sinners must do, we must come to the foot of
the cross and pray that Christ will forgive us of our sins.
Last of all we look at Jesus. His body is not bleeding here, but his body
is covered in dark pock marks all over his skin. This is very purposeful. The altarpiece was created for the chapel of
a hospital that was run by the brothers of St. Anthony. Their hospital was for treating people with
skin diseases. One of the common
maladies of the day was caused by eating rye grain that was tainted with a
fungus. The disease was quite painful
and frequently the victims suffered from hallucinations as one of the elements
of the rye fungus is a direct precursor to the drug we know as LSD. The message of this crucifixion of Jesus
covered in skin sores is for the patients.
Jesus understands your particular suffering and has borne your pain upon
the cross, therefore hope in him.
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