Stations of the Cross VIII: Jesus Speaks to the Women of Jerusalem

Category: Paintings

Artist: Chris Gollon

Subject: Installation

Year of Work: 2006

Media: acrylic on canvas

Size: 48" x 48"

This painting belongs to the series of Stations of the Cross Chris Gollon has been commissioned to paint by the Church of England for a grade-one listed church in London, designed by Sir John Soane. See Commissions page for further details on the whole series of works, and a critique by art critic Laura Gascoigne.

In this painting, the sun has moved around further, having fallen a second time, Jesus is upright again and bearing his Cross. It is the moment in the way of the Cross when Jesus speaks to the Women of Jerusalem, instructing them not to cry or mourn for him, but for his executioners. We are caught by his gaze at us, as though we are the executioners, and the Women seem to descend toward us.

The Magdalene is introduced by Gollon here for a first time, her head on the same level as Jesus and to the right. Chris Gollon has used Canadian former fashion model and art collector Patte Griffith as model for The Magdalene, and like Mary below the head of Jesus, she too looks out at us as though we are the executioners for whom they must now cry. In the absence of the disciples on the way of the Cross, the Women of Jerusalem braved the Roman soldiery to stay with Jesus, and this painting brings us into their midst and the bottomless grief of their suffering.

'Women of Jerusalem'

This is one of the largest paintings in Gollon's series of Stations. Laura Gascoigne writes well on Gollon's portrayal of women in the Stations, (on the Commissions page). This painting was funded by novelist Sara Maitland, whose novel Daughters of Jerusalem won the Somerset Maughm Prize. (pictured here is a silk-screen study for the finished work).