So here is our final painting in our countdown to Easter. Last year for Good Friday I chose Peter Paul Reubens’ Elevation of the Cross, which showed placing Jesus on the cross. The year before I chose Masaccio’s Holy Trinity which depicted Jesus on the cross. This year I decided to do something different and chose a painting that takes place after Jesus has been hanging on the cross.
The painting I chose is by Mantegna Andrea and is called The Lamentation of Christ, but more commonly known as the Foreshortened Christ.
In this image, Jesus has been taken off the cross and his body has been laid out to be prepared for entombment. Andrea places the viewer at the foot of Christ, taking the position as one of the mourning. As we are at the foot of Christ, the perspective is different, giving our eye a shortened Christ.
Here we see a pale, unidealized Jesus, showing the life completely gone from him. We also see the wounds on his hands and feet, the wounds that were given to him to take away our sins. This Jesus also has a sparse beard, alluding to scripture in which it talks about how the centurions ripped his beard out before he was crucified.
To the far left we have two women mourning Jesus. One is Mary, his mother, who we can see the full face and anguish as she has lost her child. The other we can only see part of them, but it is John, also coming to grieve.
“Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed…one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”–Luke 23: 32-34
“Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” …Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”–John 19: 19-27
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”–Luke 23: 39-43
“At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)…Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.”–Mark 15: 33-36
“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”–John 19: 30
“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks splitand the tombs broke open…When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”–Matthew 27:51-54
“So as evening approached,Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body…Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.”–Mark 15: 42-46
It’s time for our year in review! This is a time to reflect on what the past year held for us, the big posts, what’s new, and what you all seemed to like the most. 😀 Something I did this year that I have never done before is post every single day, in fact I have reached my 300th and 400th post in this year.
So even though what I have listed below may seem like a lot, especially compared to the previous year’s reviews, this post is actually only covering a few things. You really should check out the year yourself. To start at the beginning go here.
1) The Views
This year I had 31000 views!!!! Isn’t that amazing! I had only 9,542 views last year, which means this blog has widely grown! I have all of you to thank along with twitter and the good people at Buzzfeed who have been using my pics and linking them back to me. The top viewed day was October 11, in which I posted my review of Scream 2, It’s Happening Again, Isn’t It?: Scream 2.
2) The Number One Post
The number one post this year came during my 30 Days of Disney (see #17) in which I wrote about my favorite Disney princess. Since Disney has acquired Lucasfilm that makes Princess Leia a Disney Princess, and, in my opinion, the ultimate one. To read more go to A True Princess.
So this community has really grown in numbers and I can not describe how pleased I am about that. We have gone from 14 followers in 2012 to 42 followers in 2013, and are now at 169. That’s amazing!
So enough about the statistics and numbers! Let’s move on to what was covered this year and what changes I have made to the blog!
4) Quotable Quotes
I started a new category this year called Quotable Quotes. These are different quotes from books or sayings that I just absolute adore. Since I’ve added it, I’ve had a gazillion of them posted. In fact, almost every post has a quote or saying now incorporated in it. Be sure that 2015 will bring many more!
This year I have expanded myself throughout social media! I am on facebook, twitter, and tumblr. Follow me for extra goodies, including my #ManCandyMondays and #FilmFridays.
Another new category I added this year was quizzes. Everyone loves personality quizzes, right? Well I’ve decided since I love to take them, that I might as well incorporate them in my posts. They are fun, and I always include the link so you can take your own.
With 2014 we saw a return of the Chinese New Year post, but it being a bit different. Because there are so many lovable Horse characters, I decided to list 14 of my favorite fictional horses from books and movies; instead of favorite moments involving horses. To read the post, go to A Horse’s Tale.
2014 saw the conclusion of the Verne Saga. Some of you may have read my Verne Saga, but for those of you who have never heard of it before, Verne was a guy who kept hitting on me and never leaving me alone. Everytime I thought it was over, he’d pop up again. Although this last sighting was the very last one…I hope.
Two years ago marked the 100th birthday of Pride and Prejudice and I was hoping to do extensive posts on the book; going over the novel, reviewing books based on it, movies, TV series, etc. Unfortunately, things happened and I was unable to continue. However, I did pick it up this year, and here are the posts I did on it. In Flu Season I talk about how Kitty is treated unfairly. InJust Can’t Get a Break I discussed how worse off Mary has it. In First Impressions, I talked about all the wrong things Mr. Darcy did when he was introduced to everyone. In Oh NO YOU DIDN’T I wrote on Elizabeth’s reaction to Darcy calling her “tolerable.” In The After Party, I wrote on how one always discuses what went on during a dance when it has ended. In An Assembly Such As This, I reviewed Pamela Aidan’s first novel in the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series. Be assured there are plenty more to come.
Now when I was working on going through the novel, I decided it was unfair to the rest of the works to ignore them all. So what I have decided is that I am going to try and do all at the same time. Reading so many chapters in one, and matching that in all the others. Of course, along with doing books based on, films, etc. I have already started on Sense and Sensibility.
I have so far done only one post on it, A Family Affair, but there are plenty more coming. I also will be doing something on Emma as December 25th marks her 100th birthday as well.
Since my love of Supernatural is extremely strong and I include stuff from them all the time (i mean they have a gif for everything), I have also included a Supernatural category this year. There is plenty in the past and even more of Supernatural in the future.
So this year I read all the Harry Potter books and saw all the movies. I am planning on doing a post on my thoughts of them soon. (I just have so many ideas and never enough time!) But because of that, I included a new category on Harry Potter and have mentioned it in many posts. And, yes I am a Slithryn, just like my favorite character Snape.
For more on the Harry Potter Series, go to When in Doubt
20) Horrorfest III
So this was the third installment of my horrorfest series, that is 31 days of horror films or Halloween episodes.
This year I started a series of posts on things I am a huge fan of or fandoms I am in. It was supposed to just be one post, but instead has become very many. I post every Sunday, with each post covering six of the things I fan over. So far I have covered: Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, Anne of Green Gables, Archie Comics, The Avengers, Avenged Sevenfold, Awkward, Back to the Future, Batman, Bones, Boy Meets World, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Captain America, The Chronicles of Narnia, Copper, Criminal Minds, CSI, DanisNotOnFire/Dan Howell, Deadwood, Diagnosis Murder, Disney, Downton Abbey, Frank Peretti, The 4400, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friday Night Lights, Game of Thrones, Garfield, Gilmore Girls, The Godfather, and Jane Austen
So last year I decided to do something different to celebrate Easter, that is by choosing art to represent and celebrate.
So the image I wanted to focus on today is The Elevation of the Cross by Reubens.
What is really interesting in this image is that it is a marriage between Northern and Southern styles. Now Rueben was a very big fan of Michelangelo, so if you look at his bodies you can see the similarities between the works. Both were deeply interested in the muscles and showing strength in the human form. Reubens also mimics Carvaggio in his use of the art form tenebrism and Leonardo’s chiaroscuro. The important bodies are highlighted to show that they are the focus, with the background in shadow in order to show darkness and add drama.
It utilizes the styles of the North as it is extremely detailed, you can see all the leaves and individual pieces of hair, etc. On the right side panel you can see the horses and how exact they are. It is also similar to how earlier paintings in the Renaissance used a triptych or three panels to tell the story. As for the South, it has the afore mentioned characteristics of Michelangelo, Carvaggio, and Leonardo.
“They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means ‘the place of the skull’). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.”–Mark 15: 21-23
“Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed…one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”–Luke 23: 32-34
“Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” …Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he lovedstanding nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”–John 19: 19-27
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”–Luke 23: 39-43
“At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)…Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.”–Mark 15: 33-36
“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”–John 19: 30
“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks splitand the tombs broke open…When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”–Matthew 27:51-54
“So as evening approached,Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body…Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.”–Mark 15: 42-46
“The chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.”–Matthew 27:62-66
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