Crucifixion 

Basic Info

Matthew 27:33–56, Mark 15:22–41, Luke 23:32–49, John 19:17–37

Some depictions of the Crucifixion stick close to the biblical narratives, though some conflate the differences in the four accounts into one grand narrative with the artists’ or patrons’ picking and choosing which Biblical details to include and which to exclude. Other depictions integrate the Crucifixion with other theological issues and other Bible stories.

The differences in the Gospel accounts tend to be about who was there and the details of who said what. John includes a story about Jesus’ telling Mary that John is now her son and telling John that Mary is now his mother. Luke includes a story about one of the criminal’s repenting and Jesus’ promising him eternal life. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say it got dark from noon to three o’clock. Jesus’ last words are reported differently: Matthew and Mark say that he recited the first line of Psalm 22 (which is a psalm of hope, even though the first line sounds like a despairing cry that God has forsaken him), Luke reports that Jesus gave his spirit over to God, and John describes Jesus as simply announcing that it was finished, presumably meaning his mission, though possibly meaning his life. In the various accounts, there are also reports of a sponge with sour wine when Jesus was thirsty, words from passersby, words from a soldier or a Centurion, an earthquake, and the veil of the Temple being torn in two.

Artworks often depict the physical implements related to the Crucifixion, even if the moment illustrated is not the moment in which an implement was used. The traditional symbols include the nails, a hammer, the reed with the sponge on the end, the spear with which Jesus’ side was pierced, the ladder used to remove Jesus from the cross, and the tongs used to remove the nails. A skull is often depicted at the foot of the cross, because the name of the place, Golgotha, means “place of the skull.” The unexplained period of darkness is sometimes symbolized with an eclipse.

Jesus was accused of the heresy of claiming that he was the king of the Jews. In Latin the J is written as an I. The abbreviation INRI stands for "Jesus of Nazareth, King (Rex) of the Jews." John’s Gospel includes a political reference to a verbal spat between what Pilate wrote and what the chief priests wanted the charge to say.

Though the chief meaning of the event of the Crucifixion is Jesus’ dying to free human beings from sin, artworks also focus on nuances and shades of detail in this meaning. The Gospels were written over the span of about 20 or 30 years. With each year, Christian thinking about the significance of the event grew and developed. These developments are reflected in the differences in the Scripture accounts. Over the next 2,000 years, that thinking has continued to develop and these ongoing developments also get reflected in artworks. For example, the Paschal Mystery is understood as being also a metaphor for the cycles of life; we often must die to our old selves in order to have a new life.

Historical Notes

Although biblical narratives were common in early Christian art, artists did not, for the most part, depict the Crucifixion until the 7th century, and it did not become common until the 10th century. From the high Middle Ages through the 17th century, the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ was a widely popular theme in European Christian art.

What to Look For

• The cross itself
• Tree to a roughhewn cross to a finely crafted cross
• The shape of the cross
• Additional features like a platform for Jesus’ feet
• Whether and how an inscription is attached to the cross
• INRI inscription
• Abbreviated or spelled out
• One language or multiple languages (Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or the language of the artist’s time and place)
• Words coming from Jesus, either Psalm 22 (“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani”) or “it is finished”
• Symbols of the Crucifixion (nails, hammer, reed with sponge, spear, ladder, tongs, skull, etc.)
• Number of crosses
• Jesus alone or with the other two
• Jesus’ interaction with either of the other two being executed
• Attitudes depicted in the other two men being executed
• People present at the Crucifixion (their expressions and gestures)
• The Centurion, sometimes with words coming from his mouth
• Mary, Jesus’ mother, with the Apostle John in keeping with the story in John's Gospel
• Mary, Jesus’ mother, with other women, including Mary Magdalene
• Mary Magdalene with her arms around the foot of the cross
• A crowd of followers
• Soldiers
• Other biblical scenes in the background (consider how the artist / patron thinks they relate to the Crucifixion)
• Other saints, leaders, or faithful people not mentioned in the Gospel narratives but who are understood as being close to the crucified Christ in their faith or their lives
• Angels either simply present or actively doing something like collecting Jesus’ blood in chalices

Questions to Focus a General Interpretation

What is the effect of depicting Jesus with or without the other two in this artwork? Does it emphasize his uniqueness, or does it emphasize that to the Romans he was just one more criminal revolutionary?

If you didn’t know anything about the Christian story, what would this artwork tell you? Would the point that this had to happen to Jesus Christ for the benefit of all human beings come across to you?

Is there any other kind of death being referenced in the artwork? death of a nation, a way of life, a paradigm, an innocence, etc.?

In what context does the artist place the Crucifixion? Is it isolated? Is it an event in the midst of the community’s life together? Is it an event that shakes the heavens and the earth?

What is the reaction of the other people depicted in the artwork (notice especially Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Mary of Magdala)? Are they mourning the loss of someone who was incredibly present and charismatic when he was with them? Do they think that their only hope for a new King to free them from Roman oppression has just been executed? Do they get the spiritual significance (freedom from sin) of what has happened? Are they afraid that they too will be arrested and tested? Are they sorry for all the pain Jesus had to suffer, or is something else reflected in their faces and gestures? 

Questions to Guide a Personal Interpretation

Does this artwork move you to appreciate Jesus’ death in any new way? You have probably had a mental image of the Crucifixion in your head for years. What is new for you in this? How does it invite you to think of the story in new ways?

Is there anything you could learn from the other people depicted in this artwork about how one might approach or respond to the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Are you in a transition? Does the artwork call to mind some aspect of your life that is ending (bachelorhood, youth, career, parenting, an addiction, etc.)? Does the artwork offer any insight on the letting go process?

Anyone who loses a child suffers both the pain the child experienced and the pain of the lost potential, the lost life. What, if anything, does the artist’s depiction of the Blessed Mother, Mary, offer to such parents?

Questions to Suggest a Historical Interpretation



In each generation, Christians focus on different aspects of the Crucifixion. What in this artwork might reflect the important issues of the day for the people of the artist’s time and place?

Does the artist include anything (clothes, buildings, people of his own time) to make the scene seem real, present, and accessible to the people of his or her time and place, or does the artist depict a Crucifixion that seems remote and far away from human lives?

What transitions were going on in the artist’s time and place—endings of the old and beginnings of the new—that might be reflected in the artwork?