I completed this drawing of the Crucifixion on Holy Saturday, after having worked on it intermittently for several months. I attempted to be especially faithful to the iconography of high mediaeval art, which is, for the occidental Church, the most complete and satisfactory expression of the artistic tradition that reaches back to the Apostles. (As the Second Nicene Council stated: The composition of religious imagery is not left to the initative of artists, but is formed upon principles laid down by the Catholic Church and by religious tradition... The execution alone belongs to the painter, the selection and arrangement of subject belongs to the Fathers.) My greatest assistance in this task came from the art historian Emile Mâle, whose books on religious art in France of the 12th and 13th centuries proved, as always, invaluable.
This is one of the first drawings in which I determined the proportions of the figures and frames according to the method of mediaeval artisans, deriving all of the dimensions from a single geometrical figure (in this case, a square eight inches wide). This method was a trade secret of the cathedral masons for centuries, but was explained in writing in a 15th century treatise by the Regensberger Matthaüs Roriczer. A more detailed explanation of the method and its significance can be found in Otto Georg von Simson's book The Gothic Cathedral, which is where I first learned about it.
The text around the borders of the drawing is written in the (inaccurately named) Lombardic script, which was popular from the 11th to the 16th century, and again during the Gothic Revival, due to the influence of A.W.N. Pugin. Verses from two sequences by Adam of St. Victor are written: one from the sequence SALVE CRUX ARBOR VITA PRAECLARA (sung on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross) and one from the sequence LAUDES CRUCIS ATTOLLAMUS (sung on the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross). Several verses of the familiar hymn VEXILLA REGIS are written around the outer border. The silliest mistake that I made in this drawing was accidentally using the text of the hymn as revised by Urban VIII (as it appears in my Liber Usualis) rather than the original by Venantius Fortunatus (which I obviously prefer).
An icon of the Crucifixion is traditionally divided into two sides; the one to Christ's right hand represents the New Covenant and includes the Virgin Mary, and the one to the left represents the Old Covenant and includes St. John (who, in allowing St. Peter to pass before him when entering the vacated sepulcher, became a type of the Old Covenant). Many Crucifixion icons include only these three figures, but sometimes the crucified thieves Dismas and Gesmas appear as well (as in this drawing), as do Longinus and Stephaton, Mary Magdalene and others (omitted here).
In a mediaeval iconographic type sometimes called the Living Cross, the ends of the Cross are extended to include symbolic emblems. At Christ's right hand is a lily or a hand raised in benediction, representing the Law of Mercy; at his left is a weapon or another symbol of the Law of Justice (here, a plumb line). At the top of the crosss, the keys of heaven sometimes appear and below the foot of the cross is a skull or corpse being crushed. Many people seeing this skull assume it to be the skull of Adam, which was buried at Golgotha. The skull of Adam is shown in most icons of the Crucifixion, but in the type of the Living Cross, the skull is actually a different symbol, representing Death being defeated by the power of the Cross. The Cross crushing a skull is also a traditional symbol of the theological virtue of Faith, so I placed symbols of Hope (the anchor) and Charity (the pious pelican) beside it.
In the corners of the drawing on the side of the Old Covenant are two miniatures, depicting prefigurements of the Sacrifice of Calvary: Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, and Moses lifting up the brazen serpent in the desert.
The allegorical significance of the brazen serpent was explained by Christ Himself: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish; but may have life everlasting. The arrangement of the miniature was taken from the base of an altar cross made by Godfrey of Huy (a disciple of Suger of St. Denis), which Emile Mâle believed to be a faithful copy, in miniature, of the long-destroyed Golden Cross of St. Denis. In it, the horned Moses holds the tablets of the Law, and directs the attention of snake-bitten Israelites to the brazen serpent; this elegantly communicates the theological message that the fulfillment of the Written Law is found in Christ.
The miniatures on the other side depict two feasts of the Holy Cross: above, its Exaltation (taken from the Very Rick Hours of John, Duke of Berry); and below, its Invention, in which St. Helen witnesses a woman raised from the dead by one of the three crosses she discovered.
At the very top and bottom of the drawing are depicted the Archangel Uriel sheathing his fiery sword at the gates of Eden, and Adam and Eve waiting in Limbo for the descent of Christ to the dead. Leviathan is shown behind the gates of Hades. These scenes are flanked by the four evangelical beasts.
On the sides of the drawing are four figures - Peter and Paul representing the priests of the Church, opposite Melchizedek and Aaron, representing priests of the Natural Law and of the Written Law. The juxtaposition of Peter and Melchizedek (both offering chalices and wearing crowns) was made in the statuary on the porch of Chartres Cathedral. The juxtaposition of Paul and Aaron (both known for their eloquence) is in this drawing emphasized by their wearing similar episcopal garb. (The tradition of depicting Aaron in the dress of a bishop dates back to at least the 12th century.)
Four small figures represent the elements, and thus the entirety of creation mourning the death of the Creator. Their inclusion was directly inspired the aforementioned altar cross by Godfrey of Huy. They are identified by the animals they hold: a fish (water), a bird (air), a mole (earth), and an unburning salamander (fire).
Two zoomorphic knots also appear in the borders, a tribute to the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells.
The detailed fill in the backgrounds is my most personal contribution to the work. This signature ornament has the same effect as millefleur in a mediaeval tapestry, flattening perspective (which is, in iconography, a desired effect). The ornament contains easily understood religious symbols (crosses, orbs, fleurys, dice, skulls &c), as well as less-easily understood but nonetheless established symbols (starfish for the Maris Stella, chambered nautili for perfection) and elements that are merely part of my personal decorative vocabulary.
The use of such motifs as cell organelles is obviously without precedent in mediaeval art, but the decorative elements of sacred art have never been precisely defined (being considered a part of the execution belonging the the artist, rather than the the Fathers), and a few other sacred artists have experimented with similar ideas. For example, Felix Granda wrote in 1911: Through the microscope we can see the infinitely varied microorganisms; more powerful images have never come to the imagination of the artist. Should we not take advantage of this immense arsenal of scientific data that they provide to us, to make richer and more varied our decorations, and to teach the truth contained in the verse of the Kingly Prophet: Nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes tuae Domine!?
Some of these elements, I think, have a latent symbolism that could be developed more fully. Mitochondria seem especially appropriate to be associated with the life-giving Cross. Fossilized dinosaur eggs might represent mortification - dragons, which for my purposes are the same as dinosaurs, represent sin; here be dragons destroyed before opportunity to hatch. Planarian worms might represent the Holy Eucharist, due to their ability to be divided into parts no less complete than the whole, and due to the hypothesis (based on a since-discredited 1953 study by James McConell) that they are able to pass their intelligence on to other planarian worms that eat them.