Sculpture: The Betrayal and Arrest of Christ

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This is an extremely high relief sculpture made of limestone. It is to be viewed from a frontal standpoint. It however does have a potential for movement. There seems to be a great deal going on in such a close space. It is very crowded, but dramatic. The figures are intertwining with each other all at once even though there are different things happening. It reminds me of a play with scenes. You can actually step in to it and feel as though you are a part of what is happening because of all the different directions each individual is facing.

If you look closely, you can see the scrapings of lines made from the tool used to sculpt the stone. In addition, if you look close, you can see that at one time this sculpture was completely covered vibrant colors. At first, I was not aware of what polychrome or gilding was, but apparently, it is in reference to the color or painting of a piece and the technique used. I only realized this while looking under the soldier's clothing. This tells me that the soldiers were dressed in blue uniforms. The reason for the loss of color of the sculpture is unknown to me, but I could figure that since it was created in the thirteenth century, that time has taken its toll, or maybe at one point someone had stripped it of its color.

This sculpture is quite spectacular. According to the display plaque, the sculpture shows four events happening all at once. On the far left is St. Peter who has just cut off the ear of Malchus (the servant of the high priest and seated in front of St. Peter) is "sheathing" his sword. He seems to be very content with what he has just done, but then if you look closely at the right side of Malchus' head, you can see a hand holding his ear. That seems to be Ch...

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...The uniform like clothing and helmets tells these are Roman soldiers.

There is one figure in the sculpture that is unknown to me. The individual that is standing next to St. Peter and has his right hand on Judas' back. He can be portrayed as two things. He might be there along side Judas helping him. His hand may be to help Judas along in his betrayal. He could be pushing him towards Christ as if to say, "You can do it, go ahead." He can also be portrayed as against Judas. His hand might represent a type of concern as if to say, "What are you doing?" and "Why are you doing this?" Furthermore, there is some object in his left hand, which seems to be right next to Christ's head. It may be something to hurt Christ, or it may be something to stop Judas. Unless I can find out more about this individual, I cannot fully understand his significance in this sculpture.

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