
This painting of the Raising of Lazarus composed by Duccio di Buoninsegna is based from the biblocial story of where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. This has raised many questions throughout the history of time. The first thing I noticed from this painting was the time period it was created. It has it listed as it was created 1310-11 which is in the Renaissance period. The pieces go together because Renaissance means “rebirth” and this picture is supposedly showing the rebirth of Lazarus. 

The painter in my opinion created this piece of work to show a piece of art that lives on forever. This painting could make readers interpret different perspectives. In my opinion the author wanted to show the great miracle as recorded in the bible of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Many people might question and doubt the truth of this miracle because it seems so unbelievable many might argue there is no way Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The assumption may be did this really happen? It appears the authors believes in the raising of Lazarus and the painting depicts his feeling. 

There are two ways that people may view this painting. People who believe in the Christian theology may be spiritually and emotionally moved after seeing this painting. Non-believers may look at this painting and just see another painting that does not have any effect on them. The painting itself depicts Jesus as an ordinary man, but with a halo of gold surrounding his head. This shows his significance in the painting as nobody else has that around their head. His outstretched hand is in a upward motion with his palm facing up as to if he is acting like he is raising Lazarus up. His clothes are royal blue and red as red represents blood and blue represents the sky and the sea. The color red is associated with strength and love and blue represents faith and loyalty. Another observation is that Jesus other arm is faced to towards the crowd implying that he is saying follow and trust me because it would appear that there were probably doubters in the crowd as there are doubters today of this miracle. The last observation of Jesus is that he is not wearing any shoes I am not sure why he painted him this way. My assumption is that he was trying to make him appear like a common person but, with the halo on his head everybody knows that he is special. 

According to the bible Mary and Martha were Lazarus sisters and they were the ones who called for Jesus to come over after their brother was four days dead. I am not exactly sure why they called for him as if it was for a funeral or just come and help with the grieving process as their brother had just passed away. According to the bible verse Luke chapter 10 verse 38-42 Martha and Mary were sisters who invited Jesus to come to their house. Mary was the sister who sat and listened to what Jesus was saying and Martha was the sisters who was always scurrying preparing food and doing choirs to make sure that everything was presentable. When Martha asked Jesus for Mary to help her Jesus responded Mary is doing the right thing by listening to me and you need to stop worrying about the choirs so much and also listen to me. This occurred prior to Lazarus being raised from the dead. Going back to the painting I interpret that it is Mary kneeling at Jesus feet as she was the one who was always with him. Mary facial expression in the painting looks peaceful and in awe of Jesus. Mary is also in the color red which is similar to Jesus except he has blue on as well she is in all red. Martha appears to be standing next to Jesus but, does not look nearly as peaceful as Mary she looks much more concerned. She even has a furrow in her forehead. Martha is dressed in a reddish type of garment. The rest of the onlookers have varied facial expressions they are all staring at Lazarus except for three staring at Jesus. Only one of those people has there face fully visible I interpret that as the three doubters who do not believe in the miracle of what Jesus has performed. They are confused if this is for real or not. There is also only person in the crowd shown wearing leg and foot covering this may mean that he is of higher wealth that the other people in the crowd. 

The setting of this painting seems to be in a mountainous area with a few trees but no blue skies which represents heaven so why did the artist not paint a blue sky? I believe there is no blue sky because Jesus had been resurrected yet so, there was no heaven yet according to the bible everybody was in hell. The tomb that Lazarus is coming out of is vertical and as we know most tombs are horizontal. In the lower right hand corner of this painting it appears there is a horizontal tomb which could mean that it belonged to another person perhaps and he only chose to help Lazarus because of his connection with Martha and Mary. Or it could just be a coffin laying around nobody knows for sure. Lazarus is wrapped up a white shroud again showing that he was dead because shroud’s are cloths used to wrap a dead body. His body even appears dead except looking at his facial features the author shows him eyes open and with some facial expression. 

In conclusion, many may interpret that no way this actually happened or might be amazed what happened. This is same feeling that may have occurred that when the miracle took place and when the author constructed this painting. It has been same sentiment for different people since in the beginning of time. The years ahead will probably never change either there will always be the believers and non-believers. It was an interesting painting to interpret because of how many different opinions one could have on it.