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Object Details
Title:
The Women at the Tomb
Artist/Maker:
Unknown
Culture:
Byzantine
Place:
Nicomedia (or) Turkey Nicaea Turkey (Place created)
Date:
late 13th century
Medium:
Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment
Object Number:
Ms. Ludwig II 5, fol. 74v
Dimensions:
Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.)
According to the Gospels, Christ rose from his tomb on the third day after his death. This image shows the moment when holy women--who had come to Christ's grave to anoint his body in keeping with funeral rites--are greeted by a magnificent angel who points to the tomb, telling them that Christ is no longer there. For the medieval viewer, Christ's missing body was a sign of his triumph over death. Here, rather than simply depicting an empty tomb, the artist articulated the shocking absence of a body through a gap in the shroud between the head and neck area, graphically demonstrating the emptiness within.
Related Works
Exhibitions
Imagining Christ (May 6 to July 27, 2008)
- The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), May 6 to July 27, 2008