The Holy Women at the Sepulchre
Ferdinand Bol (Dutch, 1616–1680)
1644
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 278.5 cm, width 357 cm, height 318.5 cm, width 395.8 cm
- Culture
- Dutch
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
With their theatrical gestures, the four women embody a full range of reactions that join up to form a cohesive sequence over time. Their agitation is contrasted by the calmness of the angels. Ferdinand Bol based his monumental painting on the biblical narrative (Luke 24: 1-10) about the women who had travelled with Christ from Galilee arriving at the tomb on the Sunday following Good Friday. The tomb had been sealed with a large stone, and soldiers guarded it to prevent anyone from removing the body and claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead as prophesied. Ferdinand Bol depicts the shock felt by the women when they discovered an open tomb and, instead of a dead Jesus, found two men in shimmering, luminous garb.
