DOI chapter:
Plate 1-XCIII
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62036#0098
42
PLATE XX.
THE PASSION.
Fig. 8. This subject forms a part of the same window, of the 13th century, in the Cathedral of
Bourges, as the group illustrating the Resurrection, PL xxn., and represents in the same
manner the typical mode of placing the events of the Old and New Testament side by
side. The central subject of the Passion, or Sacrifice of Christ, in which He appears
carrying His Cross, assisted by Simon of Cyrene, and followed by the women, is
surrounded by the principal events which typified it in the Old Testament, some of
which are alluded to in the “ Subjects of the Old and New Testament.” The first
is of Elijah and the Woman of Sarepta, whom he found gathering sticks; these are
fancifully placed in the form of the Cross, which it was imagined could be traced through
almost all the occurrences of the Old Testament. We see it again in the second
typical illustration, in the wood which is being prepared for the Sacrifice of Isaac,
and which is one of the instances alluded to by Bede *; these Crosses are of a bright
green colour, which was frequently the case when it was intended to represent the
actual Tree on which Christ was crucified, and not the ideal Cross. The marking of
the doors of the Israelites with the blood of the Paschal Lamb, in the form of the
Cross, bore an obvious allusion to the Passion, and so is fitly introduced here; the other
subject is the Sacrifice of Isaac, one of the clearest and most perfect of all the Old
Testament types of the Redeemer. (12.)
* See p. 88.
PLATE XX.
THE PASSION.
Fig. 8. This subject forms a part of the same window, of the 13th century, in the Cathedral of
Bourges, as the group illustrating the Resurrection, PL xxn., and represents in the same
manner the typical mode of placing the events of the Old and New Testament side by
side. The central subject of the Passion, or Sacrifice of Christ, in which He appears
carrying His Cross, assisted by Simon of Cyrene, and followed by the women, is
surrounded by the principal events which typified it in the Old Testament, some of
which are alluded to in the “ Subjects of the Old and New Testament.” The first
is of Elijah and the Woman of Sarepta, whom he found gathering sticks; these are
fancifully placed in the form of the Cross, which it was imagined could be traced through
almost all the occurrences of the Old Testament. We see it again in the second
typical illustration, in the wood which is being prepared for the Sacrifice of Isaac,
and which is one of the instances alluded to by Bede *; these Crosses are of a bright
green colour, which was frequently the case when it was intended to represent the
actual Tree on which Christ was crucified, and not the ideal Cross. The marking of
the doors of the Israelites with the blood of the Paschal Lamb, in the form of the
Cross, bore an obvious allusion to the Passion, and so is fitly introduced here; the other
subject is the Sacrifice of Isaac, one of the clearest and most perfect of all the Old
Testament types of the Redeemer. (12.)
* See p. 88.