HOLY WEEK

Hans Memling ca. 1430 – 1494
Scenes from the Passion of Christ
oil on panel (57 × 92 cm) — 1470-71
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

With Palm Sunday yesterday we began the remembrance of Holy Week. On my iGoogle page I subscribe to a gadget that shows me "Art of the Day." Today was the painting above with the description below. Click on the painting to see a larger size.

Memling combined all passages from the Passion into one painting, adding the Resurrection. There are 23 scenes in total on the rather small panel. The praying figures in the lower corners are probably Tommaso Portinari and his wife, who ordered the painting.

The story starts in the top left, with the entry into Jerusalem, follows its way through town to the Garden of Gethsemane (in the lower left), continues in the central part (before Pilate, flagellation), and leaves town on its way to the hill behind the city.

Read more on the Stations of the Cross, the final stages of the Passion, by clicking here: http://www.artbible.info/art/way-of-the-cross.html