The Risen Christ (recto)

The Risen Christ, painted on the recto of a Bowes Museum panel by the Master of the View of Saint Gudula around 1467, depicts Christ after the Resurrection displaying his wounds — the nail marks in hands and feet, the lance wound in his side. In a Passion altarpiece cycle, the Risen Christ served as the concluding triumphal image after the suffering and death panels, moving viewers from grief to hope. The Flemish tradition gave such images quiet solemnity: Christ half-length or standing, wounds visible for devotional contemplation, set against a plain gold ground or early morning landscape.

Oil on panel with the Flemish devotional precision applied to the triumphal Resurrection figure. The 'recto' designation paired with a verso saint image confirms these panels functioned as the inside leaves of a portable altarpiece, with the Risen Christ serving as the culminating sacred image visible when the altarpiece was open.