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The Dead Christ with Angels is an 1864 oil painting by French painter Édouard Manet. It is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. There are also etchings of the work, held by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The Dead Christ with Angels (1866–1867), etching and aquatint. Cleveland Museum of Art

The Dead Christ with Angels (1866-1867), copperplate etching and aquatint. Art Institute of Chicago.

Background

Manet seldom chose to paint images with religious meaning. This work was not a contemporary subject, but Manet wanted to display a religious theme in the 1864 Salon partially because of the negative feedback he had received for more shocking paintings. Manet hoped that the more traditional topic, with a contemporary twist, would please his supporters and critics alike.

Content

The painting depicts the biblical story (John 20:12) of Mary Magdalene entering the tomb of Jesus and seeing two angels but finding Jesus' body missing. Most notably, Manet shows the two angels with the body of the dead Jesus still visible. The Bible verses referenced describe the angels dressed in white, however Manet's stylistic choice was to depict them using bright red and orange colors.

A stone in the lower right section of the painting is inscribed with the chapter in the Gospel of John that the work is based on. The direct verse reference is debated due to the style that the lowercase v is written in: it either refers to the Roman numeral V, or as an abbreviation for vers ("verse"). Depending on this interpretation, the painting is a depiction of either John 20:5-12 or John 20:12.

Jesus' spear wound is shown on the wrong side of his body, which Manet realized only after he had submitted the painting to the Salon. Art historians have drawn attention to the shifted wound as a mirrored image of Christ, however historical accounts note that this change was completely unintentional on the artist's part.

Related Works

The Dead Christ with Angels is often associated with the book Vie de Jésus by Ernest Renan, published in 1863, a year before Manet's painting was first exhibited. Renan mainly denies Christ's resurrection from the dead, and emphasizes the idea that miracles do not exist. Renan's work is credited as a potential influence for Manet because the inscribed verse, John 20:12, served as Renan's main argument in the denial of the resurrection of Christ. The painting also shows the angels grieving over death instead of happily announcing a resurrection, which is used to show potential alignment in production.

Critical Reaction

Critics and many of Manet's supporters were confused by the new artistic direction displayed by the painting. Components of The Dead Christ with Angels are characteristic of Manet's earlier works: the brightly colored angels contrast the neutral background, the placement difference between the angels, and the use of cloth both as a garment and an imagined entity. The technique used to paint Jesus, most notably the blurring seen in his hand and feet, also shows movement typical to Manet's stylistic character. However, this is not considered one of Manet's characteristic works, so the public did not dwell too much on the change in artistic subject.