The Resurrection

Frauenkirche, Munich

Christ's resurrection is pictured as a victory over sin and death, symbolized by the demon and skeleton that he pushes into the abyss with his staff and foot. The demon's horrid visage is no longer concealed by the mask he now holds in his left hand. The theme of victory is further expressed by the concentric circles that replace the usual nimbus and symbolize the Trinity, as in Dante, Paradiso, 33:

Three orbs of triple hue clipt in one bound:
And, from another, one reflected seem'd,
As rainbow is from rainbow: and the third
Seem'd fire, breath'd equally from both.

Also consistent with the theme is the presentation of Christ's body as a model of classical perfection, with the wounds de-emphasized as little red marks.

This painting is part of a triptych with left and right wings picturing the St. Paul's revelation on the road to Damascus and St. Martin's encounter with the beggar. The wings are not available on this website. Because of the naturalistic rendering of Christ's body the work is clearly not medieval. As in early Baroque the staff extends past the top of the image and the abyss extends past the bottom, so the image may be from the first part of the 16th century.

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.