We haven’t met this scrawny child before. We saw the boy in the improbable hat yesterday, having first seen him over a week ago (Lent 7), but this is the first time we have seen his companion, who is possibly his baby brother. As I said when we first met the elder boy, ‘one ofContinue reading “Lent 18”
Category Archives: Lent
Lent 17
In the words of comedian, actor and writer Arabella Weir, ‘Does my bum look big in this?’ Not only does this man bend over to give us a chance to contemplate an answer, but he also turns round to look us in the eye – indeed, he is, I suspect, one of the very fewContinue reading “Lent 17”
Lent 16
We’ve seen enough of the painting now to start meeting people again, and to put them into context – the woman weeping, and the improbable hat of the child next to her (Lent 7) can be seen in the bottom right – and now we know why she is weeping. Whoever she is – andContinue reading “Lent 16”
Lent 15
Jesus has been arrested, interrogated, tried and condemned. His hands are tied, and he is being led away. How do we know this? Well, he is wearing the crown of thorns. This follows on from the verse I quoted from the Gospel of Mark yesterday, in which he was taken to Pilate first thing onContinue reading “Lent 15”
Lent 14
The lofty arches and deep, dark recesses of the arcade tell us that we have returned to the palace we have seen before – and indeed, the long, slim staff held by the man on the left of this detail creeps into the bottom of Lent 5. This is the very palace from which theContinue reading “Lent 14”
Lent 13
Thirteen has always been considered an unlucky number – unless you’re a baker, of course, in which case a baker’s dozen is a good thing – and quite lucky: thirteen buns for the price of twelve. I’m certainly looking forward to my hot cross buns when this Lenten blog is all over, not that I’llContinue reading “Lent 13”
Lent 12
So this is it, the ‘great multitude’ that Matthew describes, who came ‘from the chief priests and elders of the people,’ bearing ‘swords and staves.’ They look like an unlikely bunch of losers and reprobates to me. It might be as well to see what the other gospels say about them. Mark says almost exactlyContinue reading “Lent 12”
Lent 11
So we come back a day later, and Peter, James and John are still asleep. We are now outside the Garden of Gethsemane, looking in through a gate. This gate – or equivalent – is a common feature of depictions of the Garden, as you will see if you have another look at the reliefContinue reading “Lent 11”
Lent 10
I said yesterday that today I would start to tell the story – so – are you sitting comfortably? Good. However, I have to come clean and say that this isn’t a Lent painting at all. By the time ‘the story’ starts Lent is over by several days, and we are well into Holy WeekContinue reading “Lent 10”
Lent 9
The National Gallery website says that the tool in this detail is ‘a pick’. It is not a pick. It is an auger, used by carpenters to make holes in wood, and as there is a plank of wood in the detail that would make perfect sense. The line at the bottom is the frameContinue reading “Lent 9”
dr richard stemp 