A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools: Including by Special Permission Notes Collected from the Works of John Ruskin
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A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools: Including by Special Permission Notes Collected from the Works of John Ruskin
National Gallery (Great Britain); Painting -- England -- London -- Catalogs
This famous picture is especially remarkable for its dramatic unity.
It is crowded with figures, but all combine to concentrate attention
on the central subject. The time chosen by the painter is after the
completion of the miracle: "He that was dead came forth, bound hand and
foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin."
Jesus in the middle of the picture is uttering the words, "Loose him,
and let him go;" with his right hand Jesus points to heaven, as if he
said, "I have raised thee by the power of him who sent me." The three
men, who have already removed the lid of the sepulchre, are fulfilling
Christ's command. The grave-clothes, by which the face of Lazarus is
thrown into deep shade, express the idea of the night of the grave
which but just before enveloped him; and the eye looking eagerly
from beneath the shade upon Christ shows the new life in its most
intellectual organ. To the left, behind Christ, is St. John, answering
objections raised against the credibility of the miracle. Farther off,
behind this group, is one of the Pharisees, whose unbelief is combated
by the man who points in evidence to the raised Lazarus. Behind Lazarus
is his sister Martha, sickening now at what she most desired; behind
her are other women--holding their noses.[38] At the foot of Jesus is
the other sister, Mary, full of faith and gratitude--
Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,
Nor other thought her mind admits
But, he was dead, and there he sits,
And he that brought him back is there.
Then one deep love doth supersede
All other, when her ardent gaze
Roves from the living brother's face,
And rests upon the Life indeed.
TENNYSON: _In Memoriam_, xxxii.
2. CEPHALUS AND PROCRIS.
_Claude Lorraine_ (French: 1600-1682).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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