Imitator of Andrea Mantegna, 'The Resurrection', perhaps 1460-1550

None of the Gospel writers describe Christ standing triumphantly upon his tomb as he is shown here. He holds the banner of the Resurrection, the white flag with a red cross. Although he appeared to his followers in the days after his death, these were in more personal moments – such as his appearance to Mary Magdalene which is part of this series.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate set a guard of soldiers at Christ’s tomb to prevent anyone from stealing his body; they did not expect Christ to rise from the dead. Here we see that the soldiers have fallen asleep and are completely unaware of Christ’s resurrection.

This scene was popular in Renaissance painting as it provided visual affirmation of the Christian belief in Christ’s bodily resurrection. The tomb – a classical-style marble sarcophagus – is set upon the same rocky mound as in The Maries at the Sepulchre, providing visual continuity across the series of three pictures. Unlike in that picture we do not see dead tree stumps, but rather a large and graceful tree with small fresh leaves, a symbol of life and hope which, in its height and grace, echoes Christ’s pose upon his tomb.

The soldiers asleep at the bottom of the rocky mount recall the disciples who fell asleep while keeping watch in the Garden of Gethsemane, moments before Christ’s arrest. The motif of the sleeping soldiers unaware of the resurrected Christ also reflects the traditional design of Byzantine icons of the Transfiguration. This was the moment Christ climbed to the top of a mountain and his face and clothes suddenly shone with a bright light; God spoke, affirming that Christ was his son. The disciples were so in awe that ‘they fell on their face, and were sore afraid’ (Matthew 17: 6). The Transfiguration was seen as a foreshadowing of the Resurrection. In the Gospel of Matthew, the angel who rolls away the stone enclosing Christ’s tomb, revealing that it is empty, is described in a similar way to Christ at the Transfiguration: ‘his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow’ (Matthew 28: 3). In the Gospel of Mark, the figure is described as a man and not an angel, ‘clothed in a long white garment’ – making it unclear whether it was in fact Christ himself (Mark 16: 1–8).

As with the other pictures in the series – The Maries at the Sepulchre and Noli me Tangere – the painting is in the style of Mantegna, but the quality is not comparable and the contours of the hills beyond reflect the style of a slightly later period.