The Resurrection

Albrecht Dürer.
Passio domini nostri Jesu, ex Hieronymo Paduano, Dominico Mancino, Sedulio, et Baptista Mantuano, per fratrem Chelidonium collecta, cum figuris Alberti Dureri Norici Pictoris.
Nuremberg: Albrecht Dürer, 1511. (11011)

In the final image of the Large Passion, one of the most accomplished of all of Dürer’s woodcuts, we see (as the sleeping guards cannot) the miracle of the Resurrection. Standing in a glory of radiant light in a posture reminiscent of Classical statues of Apollo, the Risen Christ ascends from his tomb, which is still sealed in the Roman method with a wax insignia on parchment. So convincing is the depiction of clothing, weapons, stones, clouds, and faces that we easily forget that this all has been accomplished by the transfer of black ink from a carved block of wood onto paper.