Art's Last Bow

When they hear ‘Biblical Easter art’ many people imagine yawn-worthy saccharine angels or moralizing pictures out of a children’s Bible. If that’s how you imagine Easter art, think again. Throughout many hundreds of years, the Easter story, as told in the New Testament, has been an inspiration and an artistic challenge for numerous painters. In fact, most of the great painters from the Renaissance up to the Post-Impressionists have painted at least one version of the Crucifixion during their careers. If one Biblical painting looks much like any other in your eyes, here’s a selection of Easter paintings that are different. Together with the stories that inspired them, these paintings focus on the human elements in the Biblical account of Christ’s death and resurrection. Not on chubby little angels playing lutes. Baroque Graveyard Scene by Rembrandt's Friend Why did the Jewish religious leaders resent Jesus so much that they had him arrested for blasphemy and crucified? Accor...