Crucifixion Iconography

[mwc]

Interesting blog article on early crucifixion imagery here (includes pictures obviously). Might help to visualize how the early xians thought about the crucifixion with pictures instead of words.

 

mwc

[Overcame Faith]

Thanks for the link, MWC. I found it very interesting. I found this one to be quite surprising. It depicts a smiling Jesus as he hangs on the cross with no apparent suffering:

 

 

And as the very talented writer says about it, the contrast between Judas (obviously depicted hanging by the neck with the bag of silver coins beneath his feet) and Jesus is quite striking. I never thought of it that way. This is what the author says:

 

This box was a probably a private commission, and not necessarily shown in public. It is interesting as it shows also the suicide of Judas and the centurion Longinus. Jesus is shown neither dead nor in pain, and this seems to be a key point of early iconography - Judas is dead, but Jesus is not.