Resurrection

The Resurrection of Christ was the culminating event of Christian theology and the pivot of the entire altarpiece narrative cycle — the moment that redeemed the suffering depicted in the Passion panels that preceded it. The Master of the Beighem Altarpiece's Resurrection panel, around 1520 and at Beighem, would have provided the triumphant conclusion to the Passion sequence including the Flagellation, Calvary, and Ecce Homo panels from the same hand. The risen Christ emerging from the tomb before astonished soldiers required the artist to balance supernatural luminosity with the physical drama of sleeping guards awakened to miracle.

Christ is shown rising from the tomb in an aureole of divine light, the guards below in poses of shock and collapse. The contrast between the luminous risen figure and the darker earthly setting is the central compositional and theological device.