Risen Christ with Soldiers at the Tomb Easter Card

Rock-cut tombs of the type used in ancient Palestine were unfamiliar in Mediaeval Europe. As the iconography of the Resurrection developed in the Gothic Era, the more familiar above-ground Roman-style sarcophagus was used to represent Christ’s tomb. In this late 19th-century NeoGothic devotional print, an angel is shown having lifted up the lid from the rectangular stone sarcophagus instead of rolling away the stone from the tomb’s cliff-side entrance at dawn. The tomb is surrounded by four Roman soldiers. Two of the soldiers are still asleep but a third reacts with amazement at the scene unfolding above them while the fourth runs away in terror. Clad in a blood-red robe that alludes to His Passion, Jesus hovers above them with his bare feet on a cloud not yet completely free of the tomb. He carries a “Resurrection Banner” in his left hand. The banner is suspended from a tall, thin cruciform staff and bears a red cross on a white field. The banner represents Christ’s victory over death. His right hand is raised in blessing. The wounds endured by the Crucifixion—the nail holes in his hands and feet as well as the gash in his side where he was pierced with a lance—are clearly in evidence. The image is bounded by a Gothic architectural framework in simulated wood. + Inside (Left Panel): A quote from the Gospel of St. Matthew 28.6 + Image Credit: Antique NeoGothic image in chromolithography original German publisher unknown, late 19th century, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera. + Quote (Matthew 28.6): ASV [American Standard Version], which is in the Public Domain.