The Passion in Art

Harries, Bishop of Oxford, surveys the Crucifixion of Christ from its earliest depiction in Christian art to the present, exploring how the art in each age reflected the Christian understanding at the time. In order to keep his account focused, he does not deal with any part of the Passion cycle except the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. He describes one image from each century, beginning with the second, except that he considers several from the 20th century. Among the stages of his journey are a sixth-century Gospel book, a Byzantine mosaic, an Ottonian crucifix of the 10th century, a 13th-century illuminated Gospel, and Marc Chagall's The White Crucifixion. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR