Francesco Buoneri, called Cecco del Caravaggio
Italian, active second decade of 17th century
The Resurrection
1619­20
Oil on canvas
339.1 x 199.5 cm
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection, 1934.390

Buoneri’s dramatic light illuminates this scene of the awakening and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb where he was laid to rest after his crucifixion. Both the radiant angel who has come to push away the stone door of the tomb and Christ point toward the heavens. 

Surprisingly, one of the guards, whom the artist shows in seventeenth-century armor rather than clothing from the time of Jesus, sleeps through the commotion. How do the other guards react?