Resurrection

This Resurrection by Pietro Lorenzetti is part of his monumental Passion fresco cycle in the left transept of the Lower Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, painted around 1310-1319. The Resurrection scene, depicting Christ triumphant over death, formed the theological climax of the cycle and was positioned to greet pilgrims approaching the altar of the lower church. Pietro's work at Assisi represents one of the supreme achievements of Italian Gothic mural painting, demonstrating an emotional intensity and spatial sophistication that matched and sometimes surpassed Giotto's nearby frescoes.

Executed in fresco rather than tempera on panel, the scene displays Pietro's dramatic sense of composition and his mastery of large-scale mural painting. The sleeping soldiers and the risen Christ are rendered with powerful three-dimensional modeling and expressive gesture, using the mineral pigment palette dictated by the fresco technique.