Piero della Francesca’s ‘Resurrection’
(Museo Civico, Sanspolcro)
The eyes of Piero’s risen Jesus gaze with the compelling blankness of a man who, just this very moment, has walked out of hell. It is a face that even atheists have found they recognize. Its gaze reminds us of Auschwitz, Srebrenica, Hiroshima, Burma and Tibet, Libya, Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire; recall Akhmátova in frozen prison queues, and the nameless Kenyan mother who, helpless, saw the child , wrenched from her arms by jeering soldiers, hurled, still alive, into the furnace of a church.
You need to login to read subscriber-only content and/or comment on articles.