The Greatest Story Ever Told: Easter in Renaissance Art

What does Easter mean to you? What images and memories does it bring to mind? For many people, it is bound up with long bank holiday weekends, chocolate eggs, and time with family and friends. The religious significance of Easter is increasingly overlooked in popular culture yet the belief in the resurrection of Jesus and the events that led up to it is the keystone of Christianity. Today, 2,000 years after it occurred, there remains something about the Easter story which captivates believer and skeptic alike. The culmination of the “greatest story ever told” unfolds across the pages of time like the climax of a great novel.  If Christmas is the season of angels, stables and wise men bearing gifts, Easter in art is the time of suffering, death, and resurrection.  The story of Christ's passion has inspired some of the greatest artists to create their most serious works. Join art historian, Elaine Ruffolo on a special journey using Renaissance art as a guide through the Easter story.