Continuing with the Jesus-themed, Easter weekend posts is the much-anticipated Resurrection Erection. Today, we return to another important type of painting dealing with Christ’s humanity, aka sexuality (aka his sex/genitals) à la Leo Steinberg. If the dead Christ returns to an embryonic state pre-gender formation, then the resurrected Christ is fully human and totally erect. The images I’ve chosen are of a type known as the Man of Sorrows, so to be honest Christ is not really resurrected but caught somewhere between death and resurrection (so go with it, it’s Easter after all). According to Steinberg, “The humanation of God entails, along with mortality, his assumption of sexuality.” Enjoy the works by Martin van Heemskerck and Ludwig Krug (yes, the drapery could just be bunched up like drapery does, but it could also be bulging from an erection… it is rather conspicuously placed). Get into it, get over it, or get erect!

Sitting Erect (left to right): Maerten van Heemskerck, Man of Sorrows, c. 1550, oil on panel. Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina; Ludwig Krug, Man of Sorrows, 1510-1532, engraving. British Museum, London

Check out another great Resurrection Erection here.

