Wings at Golgotha

Wings at Golgotha Commentary by Torben Hanhart Cite Share Show Bible Passage At the very left of this painting by the Flemish artist Frans Floris, Jesus and his disciples are shown reaching Jerusalem. Upon seeing their destination, Jesus addresses the city. The banderole in his hand reads: ‘QVOTIES VOLVI CONGREGARE FILIOS TVOS SICVT GALLINA’ (‘how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen’). The painting transplants the act of gathering that Jesus imagines in Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34 to the central Crucifixion scene, which dazzles with a rich array of both visual and textual references to Scripture. The most prominent is the wide pair of wings unfolding from Christ’s back. On a plateau in front of him, a group of chicks surround their mother. Through this vertical arrangement, the painting draws an analogy between the winged one and the mother hen. Those gathered around Christ appear to be ‘nestled beneath [him]’ (Wouk 2018: 381). The intimate protection his wings grant them is countered by dangers outside. To the left, a bird of prey flies over Jerusalem. In the opposite corner, a man—identified by his garb as a pope—leads people astray into a land overshadowed by a flying devil. The group under the wings is formed by believers who are not confounded by this attack. With Christ at its centre, their community is presented as that of the true faithful. In light of such uncommon imagery, many sources have been connected with this painting (Lombard-Jourdan 1981: 28–30; Bruyn 1988: 106–08; Berns 2000: 444–46; Wouk 2018: 381–415). Among them, a sermon published in Luther’s Kirchenpostille stands out. Its urge to seek protection ‘under the wings and shoulders of Christ’ against ‘all dangers … of wrong doctrine, attacks of the devils, … from both sides’ (Luther 1522: 282–83; Steiger 2018: 166–75) reads almost like a description of Floris’s painting. A Dutch translation of Luther’s text was printed and circulated in Antwerp, suggesting the possibility that it inspired this image of Christ’s benevolence (ibid. 169). References Berns, Jörg J. 2000. ‘Aquila Biceps’, in Seelenmaschinen. Gattungstraditionen, Funktionen und Leistungsgrenzen der Mnemotechniken vom späten Mittelalter bis zum Beginn der Moderne, ed. by Jörg J. Berns and Wolfgang Neuber (Wien: Böhlau), pp. 407–61 Bruyn, Josua. 1988. ‘Old and New Elements in 16th-Century Imagery’, Oud Holland, 102.2: 90–113 Lombard-Jourdan, Anne. 1981. ‘Le Christ ailé: un tableau inédit, au thème iconographique exceptionnel, monogrammé et daté 1562’, Gazette des beaux-arts, 98: 28–32 Luther, Martin. ed. 1910 [1522]. ‘Kirchenpostille. Das Evangelium an sanct Stephans tage. Matt.’, in Weimarer Ausgabe, vol. 10.1.1 (Weimar: Böhlau), pp. 270–89 Steiger, Johann A. 2018. ‘Trinität, Gnadenstuhl und Henne. zu Intermedialität und bildtheologischer Konzeption eines Meisterwerkes von Frans Floris’, in Bibelauslegung durch Bilder: zur sakralen Intermedialität im 16. bis 18. Jahrhundert (Regensburg: Schnell + Steiner), pp. 155–75