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In the Ackland Art Museum,
located on
the campus of
the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill,
a variety of works makes up the collection of masterpieces that
represent
artists and cultures from several eras throughout the world. One piece, created in 1660 by Flemish artist
Johann Boeckhorst, using oil on canvas, is entitled The
Triumphant Christ Forgiving Penitent Sinners. Using
religious symbolism, meaningful
images, contrasting colors, and manipulated light, Johann Boeckhorst,
imitating
the style of his mentors, created a painting that accurately depicts
the
conflict about religion in the seventeenth century.
The many
symbolic figures in the
painting mostly relate to the Christian Church and Christianity. Jesus is the most obvious and meaningful
symbol in Boeckhorst’s work. In the
painting, he is dressed in a white loin cloth. There
is a crown of light around his head, and rays of
sunshine that
shine down on him. The light color of
his clothing contrasts with the clothing of most of the characters
around him,
and the light that shines on him contrasts with the gray color of the
sky. The light is used to
accentuate
Jesus’ presence in the painting and make him stand out more. He represents forgiveness and goodness. The downcast look on his face gives him a
forgiving expression. He is looking down
on all of the repentant sinners that he is absolving of their sins. As the focal point of all of Christianity, as
well as the painting, the picture of him holding the cross makes it
obvious to
the viewer that religion, and Jesus’ role in Christianity, is the topic
of the
painting.
Following
the counter-clockwise flow of the piece, the next
symbols
that catch the eye, and add meaning to the painting are the globe,
serpent, and
skull that Jesus rests his feet on. The
globe represents the world, of which, according to Christianity, Jesus
is the
savior. In this piece, the serpent
represents sin, and the skull represents death (European). They are fitting in the piece because Jesus
is able to absolve those who have sinned and are now repentant.
Those
sinners represent a variety of people from the tales in the Bible who
have sinned and wish to
be
forgiven. On the far left, only halfway
in the piece, are the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist.
These two figures are not penitent sinners, but are there
to “share in
Jesus’ triumph” (European). However,
continuing to the right, next to Mary and St. John, King David stands and begs
Jesus for
forgiveness. He repents the wrongs he
had done to his people and his family. Next
to King David is the repentant thief, one whose story is
self-explanatory (European). In
front and on the right side of the Repentant Thief is Mary Magdalen. Mary Magdalen was a sinner, who then turned
to follow Jesus and was very sorry for her sins. In
the painting, she is the only character,
other than Jesus, who wears white. This
is the symbol of purity, and it suits her because, after losing her
innocence,
she repented and was absolved. Next to
Mary Magdalen is the Prodigal Son, who left his family, and then
returned and
was penitent. On the far right of the
painting is St. Peter. St. Peter is
“weeping
in the background,” (European)
because he wishes to be forgiven for his
sins. In the upper left hand corner
of
the painting are two cherubs that are watching the entire scene. These cherubs, who are angelic creatures, are
attempting to hand Jesus palm branches and laurel crowns, which are
symbolic of
sacrifice and triumph (Johann). All of
these characters and symbols support the idea that Jesus is the epitome
of
forgiveness and love.
In the
seventeenth
century, religion was the topic of choice for many authors (Flemish).
One
reason might be that most art was funded by the church, but another is
that, at
the time, in Flanders, as well as all of Europe,
religion was a popular and controversial topic (Johann). In a time when Catholics and Protestants were
disagreeing on many aspects of their religions, Boeckhorst chose to
depict one
issue that was very controversial: repentance and the forgiveness of
sins. Catholics thought that with
repentance and
certain penitent acts, one could be absolved, while Protestants
believed that forgiveness
of sins was not that easy (Johann).
Which of those is the truth is a non-issue because
regardless of the interpretation of Jesus’ power, Johann Boeckhorst
decided to
paint a picture of many different biblical characters from several
different
times repenting their sins and possibly being forgiven.
He painted a picture of the love and power of
Jesus and religion.
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