Good Friday in the Louvre
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This is part of Louvre Photo Safaris, a series that focuses on details found in Louvre artworks around various themes, with the aim of looking at everything differently.
Easter is here this Sunday!
Many Christians consider Easter to be the most important holiday in the Church calendar. It commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, that key moment of the Christian faith: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). Celebrated in springtime, it is a joyous celebration of life over death and light over darkness.
But the week before Easter, known as Holy Week, is a time of solemn reflection for Christians to contemplate both the death of Christ and the suffering in the world today. Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, commemorates the Crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary.
In honor of Good Friday, I wandered through the Salle des Sept-Mètres of the Musée du Louvre, looking at paintings of the Crucifixion from Northern Italy from the 13th to the 15th centuries. (This is one of my favorite rooms in the Louvre; it takes me right back to the Tuscan churches where I first fell in love with Art History.) Some of the paintings focused on the drama of the Crucifixion, while others depicted meditative and serene Stabat Maters.
The Crucifixion, as found in late-Gothic, early-Renaissance northern Italian art:
And then comes Easter!
Musée du Louvre (Denon wing, first floor)
Address: Palais du Louvre 75001 Paris ∣ Métro: Palais-Royal Musée du Louvre (line 1 or 7) ∣ Opening hours: Wednesday to Monday from 9am to 6pm, open until 9:45pm on Wednesday and Friday
