April 6, 2012
ST. JOHN and Mary Magdalene as depicted in Raphael’s Deposition.
— Comments —
Steve T. writes:
You erroneously identified the detail as “St. John and Mary Magdalene as depicted in Raphael’s Deposition.” According to the details of the Gospels and thus icongraphical tradition, that is clearly Saint Peter: an older, bearded man who is clearly accustomed to manual labor.
Laura writes:
Thank you for the correction. That makes sense.
Kristor writes:
The commentary at Wikipedia indicates that the older man in the painting is Nicodemus, and wonders what he might be doing. Looks to me like he’s carrying about a hundredweight of myrrh and aloes to anoint Jesus’ body. There is also an easy answer to the Wiki commentator’s confusion about what he might be looking at: Nicodemus is looking about for spies from the Sanhedrin, all of whom would have recognized him and his co-conspirator, St. Joseph of Arimathea, because they were both members of the council and secret disciples of Jesus. We must remember that by the time Jesus’ body had been deposed, those who were known as his followers had almost all gone into hiding, rightly afraid for their lives. Nicodemus took a huge risk in helping St. Joseph with the body of the Lord.
Laura writes:
Ah, so that explains the expression on his face.
