JESUS # 11 - April 30th


"Leiden Christi"
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I got this at an indoor flea market in Stuttgart, Bad Cannstatt, at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle, to be exact.

I walked around for a quite a while and then I saw this one. I just picked it up and looked at it from all sides. Then the woman selling it came by. She started talking to me and I just nodded to whatever she was saying or putting my head to one side. She then took the imag from me and looked at it, too.

She started to talk about the wood worm and how to get rid of it. Here is her recommendation:

- Put the painting into platic bag.
- Put the platic bag with the painting into thre freezer.
- Take it out after a few days and the worm is dead.

I put into a plastic bag and put it outside for a night when it was still below zero. Don't know if it worked. Anyway, she gave me a 10,- Euro discount and I didn't even say anything.

The list of objects on the image:

A sword: probably as a symbol for jurisdiction

A spear: Used to injure Jesus; John 19:34, "Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." Note that Jesus does not have this injury in the image, yet.

A stick with sponge and a jar: John 19:29 "A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips."

A skull: Vanitas-symbol for the transience of worldly things and life itself. Also see: "The word Calvary (Latin Calvaria) means "a skull". Calvaria and the Gr. Kranion are equivalents for the original Golgotha. The ingenious conjecture that Golgotha may be a contraction for Gol Goatha and may accordingly have signified "mount of execution", and been related to Goatha in Jer., xxxi, 39, has found scarcely any supporters. The diminutive monticulus (little mount) was coupled with the name A.D. 333 by the "Pilgrim of Bordeaux"." Towards the beginning of the fifth century Rufinus spoke of "the rock of Golgotha". Since the sixth century the usage has been to designate Calvary as a mountain. The Gospel styles it merely a "place", (Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; Luke 23:33; John 19:17). (from newadvent.org)

A piece of cloth with Jesus' image on it. See: "St. Veronica In several regions of Christendom there is honored under this name a pious matron of Jerusalem who, during the Passion of Christ, as one of the holy women who accompanied Him to Calvary, offered Him a towel on which he left the imprint of His face." (from newadvent.org)

An apple: Obvious. I mistook it for an orange in the beginning, though.

A hammer: probably the one they put the nails in with.

Pliers: To take the nails out later?

A bag of something: nails, maybe

A torch: not sure about this symbol.

A lantern: not sure about this symbol.

A rooster: Matthew 26:34 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."

A snake: probably as a symbol for the devil or for betrayal

A cornstalk: John 12:24 "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

A birch and something like a cat-o'-nine-tails: probably as symbols for punishment.

The grass is on fire: which might be a hint on Samson who attached a torch to foxes' tails to burn down the crops. (Judges 15)