Cross is a well-known symbol of Christianity because of Jesus’ passion on it is one of the most important events in his life and the very purpose of his worldly existence. Throughout centuries, many artists have been expressing their unique perspectives of the crucifixion’s message. Most of the artworks symbolize the crucifixion as the forgiveness of mankind’s original sin. Because the crucifixion serves as a symbol of salvation in Christian theology, its artistic representations focus on themes of sacrifice as well as building a unified community through church while also allowing individuals to feel the immense gravity of the crucifixion through a visual representation.
The doctrine behind crucifixion is a central point of Christian dogma because Jesus’ Passion provides a path of salvation to all mankind. Countless verses throughout the Bible mentions the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Apostle Peter extensively wrote on the significance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. He states, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). An integral element of the crucifixion is that Jesus was born immaculate and blessed with the Holy Spirit: he did not deserve such a painful death but still managed to endure such excruciating (the word itself is derived from crucifixion) pain to absolve the mankind’s sin. Humanity is slowly crumbling from the inside “because death and corruption were gaining ever firmer hold on them, the human race was in process of destruction”.
As a result, God sacrifices Jesus to save humanity from their devastation of sin. His sacrifice is compared to the traditional sin-offering, where only unblemished animals could be accepted (Leviticus 4:32). The event of Jesus’s crucifixion is a sin-offering on a much larger scale because it absolves all mankind’s past, present and future sins. Only a sinless being was capable of saving everyone by absolving their sins, and Jesus was the only candidate to carry out God’s gracious mission. Humanity became incapable of saving themselves so “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:2).
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To save mortals from the unbearable weight of their sins, God sent Jesus into humanity to carry out the burden through the most painful form of capital punishment in the history. While Jesus gave his life on the cross, he showed the mercy of God to forgive everyone’s sins. Some of his last words include his appeal to God to “forgive [soldiers and crowds], for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:43). Jesus’s forgiveness reminded people of God’s benevolent and merciful nature. The image of Jesus nailed to a cross symbolizes his ultimate altruism to give up his life for our sins. Through his crucifixion, Jesus atoned for the sins of humanity and absolution was granted to the people despite their wrongdoings.
In the end, overcoming original sin allowed humanity to restore the lost relationship with God, and Jesus’ sacrifice still connects people with God today. But artists also wanted to deliver more than just the cordial teaching of Jesus’ unconditional love for us.
Despite the timeless abundance of various artworks depicting Jesus’s crucifixion, artists expressed a common set of similar themes through Jesus’s crucifixion and his surroundings. Many artworks depict the image of “a soldier piercing his side with a spear” or the following scar. The puncture wound near his ribs is reminiscent of the birth of Eve from Adam’s rib. Furthermore, death of Jesus is analogous to the first man’s deep sleep. Jesus was resurrected and ascended back to Heaven, and his disciples started to spread his teachings to other people.
The Book of Acts considers them the first followers of Jesus, which later became known as Christians. Lee, a Korean art critic, notices Jesus’ side injury as a commonly present element in several artworks of crucifixion and further expands its symbolism to the church’s formation following Jesus’s death by comparing it to the creation of Eve through from Adam’s rib. The spatial relationships between Jesus and other people in paintings also reflect their nature as well. In Mantegna’s Crucifixion, an angel and mourners are on the right, while soldiers gambling for Jesus’ cloth are on left. Additionally, two criminals were also crucified on both sides of Jesus Christ. While one thief mocks him to save himself, the other calmly accepts their painful death as a deserved consequence for their sins as he recognizes that Jesus is innocent.
In response, Jesus forgives the penitent thief with an assurance that he “will be (with me) in Paradise”. In Catholic tradition, the thief’s redemption is considered worthy of bestowing him the title of Saint Dismas. In order to show the light of salvation, the thief on Jesus’ right side with a brighter coloration than the one on the right side. While Giotto di Bondone’s work was less realistic, there were more details for the contrast between thieves: the right one has halo over his head and his soul is embraced by an angel, while the other thief’s soul is dragged away from his body by a black figure with bat-like wings. The thief on the right proves that it is never too late to seek forgiveness because God is always willing to absolve any sin if people truly repent for their transgressions. “For Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might might bring us to God, being put to death in flesh but made alive in the spirit”.
Artists continually try to communicate certain messages with the audience through their works. Many artists use the crucifixion as a topic to deliver a message to public through visible media. Since there are many artworks with Christian themes throughout history, the church heavily relied on art to teach people about the religion. The crucifixion contain several symbols that ultimately show God’s forgiving grace toward people. First, an artist must analyze the events of the crucifixion and then use multiple artistic methods to express the symbolic nature of the event through their art. One similarity between much of the crucifixion art is that it often uses religious imagery such as halos, angels, and crosses.
In addition, the crucifixion art usually includes a communal aspect similar to that of church which shows how the crucifixion is an integral part to the church’s beliefs. Some artists present Jesus as an all powerful mortal and a champion for humanity. To achieve an all powerful effect, Jesus is often depicted as an unequivocally strong being who will never lose to anyone despite hardships of the current situation. In contrast, some artists depict Jesus as a Godly figure not of this world. Often, Jesus’s figure will be surrounded in a glorious light as he floats about the people. It draws an allusion to being an angel of God which perfectly fits the Christian interpretation of Jesus being sent by God for us.
The events of crucifixion shows some of the most important parts of Christianity, and it remains one of the most depicted events in history. All of its iterations are equally impressive because each artist expresses a different perspective of what the crucifixion could have symbolized. The artworks relating to the crucifixion usually symbolize the crucifixion as a representation of salvage from humanity’s sin. The crucifixion acts as a multi-layered symbol in Christian theology, and its thousands of artistic representations share the common focus of depicting the themes of sacrifice, forgiveness, and goodness in the world which proves the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.
