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The Saint John's Bible: Virtual Tour

Copyright ©  Crucifixion, Donald Jackson, Copyright 2002, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota USA. Used by permission.  All rights reserved

Crucifixion

Luke 23
Primary artist: Donald Jackson


In this image, Donald Jackson used the Gero Crucifix as an iconographic representation of Christ on the Cross (Hauser, 2019). "The crucified figure of Christ dominates this composition" (Crucifixion, 2019) and reveals a "contrast of pain with the glory of gold" (Hauser, 2019, para. 4). Throughout The Saint John's Bible gold leaf is used as a representation of Christ revealing His divinity (Sink, 2013). 

Other elements of the crucifixion story are represented within this illumination. In the bottom left of the image, the three hours of darkness is symbolized with dark colours and multiple moons, indicating how the crucifixion brought about an end to time (Sink, 2013). To the bottom right of the image, we glimpse a procession, which is representative of either the procession of the cross to Golgotha or the procession of those who were saved by Christ's death and resurrection  (Sink, 2013).

 

References

Crucifixion. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/Products/GA077000NF/the-crucifixion.aspx

Hauser, N. (2019). Poster Notes for The Crucifixion from The Saint John’s Bible. Retrieved from                        https://www.saintjohnsbible.org/promotions/assets/images/programing/crucifixion.pdf

Sink, S. (2013). The art of The Saint John's Bible: The complete reader's guide. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.