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Monday
Sep242018

The Harrowing of Hell

DateMonday, September 24, 2018 at 8:00AM

Anastasis (Harrowing of Hell) - c. 1310-20 - Fresco - Church of the Holy Savior of Chora/Kariye Museum, Istanbul, Turkey (click photo for larger image)The “Anastasis” (or “Harrowing of Hell”) was a subject frequently depicted in the Late Byzantine era. It drew upon the Christian tradition contending that on Holy Saturday, between his Crucifixion and his Resurrection, Christ rescued Adam and Eve from hell. Here, Christ, dressed in white and surrounded by a luminous full body halo, grasps Adam's and Eve's wrists as he pulls them from their tombs on either side of him.

About the work, art historians H.W. Janson and Anthony F. Janson described it as, “…a magnificently expressive image of divine triumph. Such dynamism had been unknown in the earlier Byzantine tradition. This style, which was related to slightly earlier developments in manuscript painting, was indeed revolutionary.” It was also an outcome of humanism's influence that had begun in the Middle Byzantine period.

Poet and scholar Theodore Metochites (also Emperor Andronicus II's prime minster), restored the church and commissioned the paintings to reflect religious narrative and "the growing Byzantine fascination with storytelling."

AuthorJill | CommentPost a Comment |

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