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THE ESOTERIC CONTENT OF THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS

(P.P. RUBENS 1612; OUR LADY’S CATHEDRAL, ANTWERP) - PART I -

- Jos Verhulst (Dec.2014) -

Summary - Pieter Pauwel Rubens (June 291,1577 - May 30, 1640) used the image of the spear wound on the Shroud of Turin as a template for his masterpiece The Descent from the Cross (1612). He did so in considerable detail, implying that he had access to very precise information on the Shroud. In the same painting, Rubens also encoded the horoscope for the event that he depicted. According to Rubens, Jesus Christ was descended from the Cross on Friday, April 3, 33 AD (Julian calendar), around 04:15 p.m. (Jerusalem, local time). The Descent from the Cross is one of four paintings by Rubens on view in Our Lady’s Cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. It is a triptych which was commissioned in 1611 by the Guild of Arquebusiers. Within the cathedral, guilds used to have their own altars, and the arquebusiers had theirs at a prominent place in the southern transept. The altar is long since lost, but the painting is still to be seen at its original location. In this paper, we will restrict our discussion to the central panel (421 cm x 311 cm; figure 1), which was finished in 1612. In the course of the seventeenth century, Rubens’ depiction of the Descent from the Cross became immensely popular. It was multiplied on engravings, and painted copies2 were made, as well as threedimensional woodwork reproductions3. The painting shows Christ’s pallid body, just detached from the Cross, and getting retrieved on a white shroud. Except for the head, the body shows no traces of the flagellation that, according to the gospels, occurred prior to the crucifixion. The wounds of the crucifixion are depicted. On the backside of the right hand, the nail wound is shown, at about the conventional location in the middle of the hand (figure 2). The left foot has a similar lesion.

1 Usually, Rubens’ birthday is said to be July 28, and not July 29, although the feast of the saints Peter and Paul is observed on the latter date. No documents or testimonies are known that confirm July 28 being Rubens’ day of birth. The only source for July 28 seems to be an engraved portrait of Rubens, made by Jan Meyssens in 1649 (nine years after the Rubens’ death), and bearing an inscription in French: ‘Anvers est la ville de ceste heureuse nativité, le 28. de Juin 1577‘ (note the wrong place of birth; it is not known with certainty where Rubens was born, but it certainly wasn’t in Antwerp). Fortunately, in at least two paintings, the master encoded his own birth constellation in his artwork. According to this unusual source, Rubens was born on July 29,1577 (julian calendar), around 6:20 a.m. 2 One such copy can be seen in the église abbatiale Saint-Pierre, Hastière-par-delà, Belgium. It has left and right reversed, supposedly because it was painted from a gravure. Similar copies can be found at the Sint-Gertrudiskerk, Vorst, Belgium, and other places. From Rubens’ workshop, some more depictions of the Descent from the Cross went out in later years, but none became as popular as the Antwerp version (for an overview, see: Jan Bialostocki The descent from the Cross in works by Peter Paul Rubens and his studio The Art Bulletin, 46 (4), p.511-524, 1964). 3 A curious example can be seen in the Musée Municipal de Laon, Laon, France.

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Figure 1: The Descent from the Cross (Rubens 1612; Our Lady’s Cathedral, Antwerp).

http://barokinvlaanderen.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/en/collection/descent-from-the-cross The spear wound shows a seeming anomaly, as if it has been depicted twice (figure 2). The almost bloodless lesion is located at the lower part of the right thorax, at the spot that is to be expected on scriptural and anatomical grounds. Four very faint streamlets of blood appear below this wound. Lower on, the blood is depicted as collecting in a skin fold, with four conspicuous

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streamlets of blood emerging. This creates the impression of a very conspicious and bloody wound, below the level of the navel (blue in figure 2).

Figure 2: The spear wound on Rubens’ Descent from the Cross. The purple line follows the rim of the thorax, and the blue line indicates a skin fold running over the navel. At the right side of the lower thorax4, an almost bloodless spear wound shows up (orange arrow). Underneath the level of the navel (blue line), a blood-filled skin fold looks as if it were a second wound (red arrow). The green arrow shows the nail wound at the back of the right hand. The disciple whom Jesus loved (John 19:26), dressed in red and hereafter called ‘the Disciple’, bears the greater part of the body’s weight. Mary 4 An oil sketch is preserved at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, that is considered by many as a modello for Rubens’ Descent from the Cross, and that shows the spear wound at the left side of the thorax (see discussion in Bialostocki 1964, p.513). As we will see, the spear wound plays a central role in Rubens’ Descent from the Cross. From the early days of Christianity, special significance was attributed to this wound (John 19:34-37). The fourth evangelist (19:34; 20:20,25,27) uses the word πλευρά, that in a general sense refers to ‘the side of the body’, but that is also strongly connoted with the concept of ‘rib’. For instance, in the Septuagint, that closely follows the Hebrew original, it is said that Eve was created from “... one of Adam’s ribs” (‘µίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ’). The underlying idea seems to be, that Adam and Eve relate as Sun and Moon. Just as the heart is surrounded by 12 pairs of ribs, so the solar year encompasses 12 synodic months, with each of these producing both one crescent and one waning moon, that compare to one pair of ribs. Because one solar year has about 365 days, whereas 12 synodic months count up to about 354 days, the solar year encompasses a surplus of about 11 days. These 11 days seem to correspond to the rib that was taken away from Adam for God to create Eve, leaving Adam with precisely 12 pairs of ribs (most humans have just 12 pairs, but some individuals have one or more additional ribs). Christ has been called the ‘second Adam’ (cfr. Rom.5:12-21; 1 Cor.15:22).

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Magdalene and Mary Cleophas, with greenish and purple dresses, are looking up in tears at the corpse. Jesus’ mother, with blue dress, in an expression of grief extends her left arm toward the Crucified, touching Him slightly. At the middle level, two characters standing on scales at either side of Christ, are commonly identified as Joseph of Arimathea (left side of the painting) and Nicodemus (at right). In the present paper, we will follow these conventional identifications5. At the upper level of the scene, two men bending over the crossbar complete the setting6. The man at the left side balances on his belly over the crossbar, while gently touching Christ’s left shoulder. The man at the right side clamps a tip of the shroud between his teeth, while holding grip on Christ’s left arm. Usually, these two characters remain unnamed, and their presence on the scene is mostly considered an artistic whim. In this article, we will leave them unnamed. Four ladders can be seen on the painting. Nicodemus descends along the first one, with the Disciple having his right feet placed on the second lowermost rung. The second ladder bears the man at the upper right. Only a small part of this ladder is visible, right above Nicodemus. The third ladder, bearing the man usually identified as Joseph from Arimathea, is placed sidewise against the cross, making an angle of about 30° with its vertical beam. The upper part of a fourth ladder can be seen below the man that balances over the crossbeam.

Figure 3: The objects below the first ladder.

5 These identifications of Nicodemus and Joseph from Arimathea are given in Bialostocki (1964; p.512). Inverted identifications are suggested by Richard Judson (Corpus Rubenianum Part VI; Harvey Miller Publ., Turnhout, 2000; p.166). Max Rooses (L’Oeuvre de P.P.Rubens. Second Volume Antwerp: Jos Maes Ed., 1888; p.105-109) identifies both characters as Nicodemus and Joseph from Arimathea, without further specification. 6 Rubens was acquainted with a wall painting by Daniele da Volterra, where a similar pair of men is depicted: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiesa_della_Trinità_dei_Monti

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The first ladder shows two anomalies: the upper part of the left rail, that should be visible above Christ’s left arm, is lacking, and the upper part of the right rail shows a shift toward the right (figure 12, grey lines7). Right below the left feet of this ladder, we see the trilingual titulus crucis (held in place by an object mostly identified as the sponge; cfr John 19:29), and a yellow metallic plate containing the crown of thorns, two nails, and some blood and water wherein strangely, out of the shadow underneath the crown of thorns, a reddish eye seems to lurk (figure 3). The sky is very dark, and notably more so at the right side of the scene. The Shroud of Turin and Rubens’ Descent from the Cross Rubens depicts the retrievement of Christ’s body from the cross upon a white shroud. A shroud is mentioned in the gospels, but only in connection with Christ’s tomb (John 19:40; 20:5-8). The scene of the descent of the cross is not described in the New Testament. Rubens was a devote christian. He knew his bible. The question arises why he so conspicuously placed a shroud at the core of his Descent from the Cross. Contemplating the overall stage set on the painting, we notice that the outline of the shroud with the lifeless Christ seems to extend along the second diagonal of the painting (from top right to bottom left). The eight characters surrounding the shroud appear to be disposed along some oval or ellipse-like loop. The ellipse that seems to waver within the scene can indeed be drawn (figure 4) and it possesses some surprising properties. Firstly, the emerging ellipse turns out to precisely encompass the body of Christ. The curve is tangent to the head of Christ, tangent to his left wrist, and tangent to his left leg (the outline of the latter is partly hidden by the mantle of the Disciple, but can be reconstructed with ease). We can think of this conic as being precisely determined, or perhaps even overdetermined by the outline of Christ’s body8. Moreover, the head of Christ seems to rest on the short axis of the ellipse, whereas his right hand seems to subtly establish the position of the long axis. The seemingly erratic body position of Christ turns out to be intimately connected to this ellipse and its axes. Therefore, we will refer to this conic as the ‘Christ ellipse’.

7 The shift of the upper part of the right rail has been interpreted as Rubens having compensated for the Poggendorff-effect (see: David R.Topper “The Poggendorff illusion in Descent from the Cross by Rubens” Perception 13, p.655-658, 1984). 8 Generally, a conic in a plane is uniquely determined by five points on that conic. In the limiting case of two of these points coalescing, the pair of merging points can be thought of as replaced by one point plus the tangent through that point. For instance, a conic is also determined by one point plus two other points together with their two adjoint tangents. With three points and their three adjoint tangents given, the conic becomes overdetermined. After leaving out one of the three given points or one of the three given tangents, the conic would still be uniquely defined.

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Secondly, the ellipse is also determined (or even surdetermined) from the outside, where it skims the faces of Jesus’ Mother, of Mary Cleophas, and of the character commonly identified as ‘Nicodemus’.

Figure 4: Rubens’ Descent from the Cross: the ellipse enclosing Christ and the shroud

(the ‘Christ ellipse’).

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Thirdly, within the very narrow latitudes of the conic’s determinedness, the midpoint of the ellipse precisely coincides with the location of the spear wound on Christ’s thorax (compare figures 2 and 4). Fourthly, the ellipse also closely (but not completely) envelops the depicted shroud. All eight characters around the shroud are touching the shroud. All eight also have a hand extending within the ellipse. Two among the eight people involved in the descent from the cross, namely the Disciple and Mary Magdalene, have their faces enclosed within the ellipse, on the short axis and the long axis respectively. This observation, together with other Johannine aspects of the Descent from the Cross, will be discussed in a subsequent paper. Clearly, the ‘Christ ellipse’ has been used by Rubens as an underlying frame for the setting of his painting. Not only are there many surprising and precise details connected with this geometrical curve. More important still, the properties of the ellipse are also coherent from a semantic point of view. The ellipse embedded in Rubens’ Descent from the Cross connects three elements: (a) the body of Christ; (b) the shroud; (c) the spear wound. The ellipse seems to tell us a tale: by its very structure, it refers to the trace of the spear wound on the Shroud of Turin (figure 5).

a. b. Figure 5: (a) the spear wound on the Shroud of Turin (ShroudScope; Durante 2002;

enhanced contrast); (b) the spear wound, with ellipse superposed. The long axis of the ellipse shown here is tilted 38° with respect to the horizontal.

The Shroud of Turin shows the bloody trace of an elongated spear wound, with a few bloody rivulets below it. As measured on the Shroud, the darker parts of the wound imprint measures approximately 42 mm x 14 mm (figure 5). Notice however, that considerable latitude remains when tracing an ellipse around the ‘spear wound’ on the Shroud, because of its irregular outline, and

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the impossibility to sharply distinguish between the imprint of the presumed wound and the imprint of the blood rivulets emerging from that wound9. Rubens’ life and times certainly could have permitted him to acquire advanced knowledge on the Shroud of Turin. We already know that Michelangelo (1475-1564; note 13) used the Shroud of Turin as an underlying template for his Last Judgement. For eight years (1600-1608), young Rubens lived in Italy. He spoke and wrote Italian very well, and he acquired profound knowledge of Italian art and culture. Moreover, the first ever book on the Shroud of Turin, by bishop Alfonso Paleotto, had appeared in 1598, just two years before Rubens’ arrival in Italy. Paleotto’s work became very popular, went through five editions with translations in Latin and German10, and chances are good that Rubens learned about it at some time11. More generally, there is clear evidence that Rubens was already in contact with esoteric christian teaching when in Italy12. 9 See for instance: Barbara Faccini, Emmanuel M. Carreira, Giulio Fanti, Jose de Palacios, and Jose Delfin Villalain “The death of the Shroud Man: an improved review” International Conference on the Shroud of Turin, Columbus (Ohio, August 14-17, 2008). The authors describe the wound as “...an oval, elongated mark (4 x 1.5 cm ...)”. Exactly the same dimensions were given by Pierre Barbet (“Les cinq plaies du Christ”, 1937, p.43). Frederick Zugibe (“The crucifixion of Jesus. A forensic inquiry”, 2005, p.196; see also p.138) locates the “..oval-shaped wound” at the right side, between the fifth and sixth ribs, as did Barbet. 10 See the very informative article by Dorothy Crispino:https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/ssi23part4.pdf According to this paper, the bishop’s book has a somewhat mysterious side in that, according to his Autobiography, Paleotto declared that “...the secrets of many wounds were made known to him by revelations granted by the Blessed Virgin to Paleotto’s constant companion, whom he calls the ‘Seer’ [Vidente, in Italian]”. With respect to the nailing of the hands, the bishop refers to “...a revelation made to St.Bridget (...) to whom the Holy Virgin spoke. At one time the Virgin said: The hands of my Son were pierced in that part where the bone is more solid. These are her words: Perforatae fuerunt Filio meo manus in ea parte, in qua os solidius erat”. In 1624, royal physician Jean-Jacques Chifflet published his De Linteis Sepulchralibus Christi Servaotoris crisis historica, at Plantijn, Antwerp. This work contains a discussion of the Turin Shroud. Rubens certainly knew this work, as he sent a copy of the book to Valavez (letter written by Rubens in Antwerp, dated January 10, 1625). 11 According to Alfonso Paleotto, the nails were driven through Christ’s hands obliquely, so that the back of the hand remained intact and the exit wound appeared on the wrist, as can be seen on the Shroud of Turin. At the inner side of the hand, the nail wound would have been placed higher up, in the lower part of the hand palm. And indeed this is how Rubens often depicted the nails, in his ‘Christ pierced by the Spear’ (KMSKA, Antwerp), ‘Christ on the Cross’ (ibid.), ‘The Elevation of the Cross’ (Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp), and other paintings. Rubens’ pupil Anton Van Dyck followed his example (see for instance his ‘Elevation of the Cross’ at Our Lady’s Church, Kortrijk, Belgium). However, on the Descent from the Cross, as on many other of Rubens’ paintings, the nail wounds are depicted in accordance with iconographic tradition, close to the middle of the hand palm. It is our contention that Rubens, on his Descent from the Cross, for reasons involving sociability and religious regulation, had to depict Christ conform the iconographic uses of his time. But upon this conventional representation, he superposed a more realistic image of the spear wound, blatantly out of place, in order to direct the attention of the initiated to the esoteric content of his painting, and to its relationship with the Shroud of Turin. 12 See J.Verhulst “De Rubens Code” 2011 (in Dutch; German edition forthcoming), especially the section on Rubens ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’ (Pinacoteca civica di Fermo), that Rubens produced at the end of his stay in Italy (1608). This is an esoteric work, wherein the birth constellation is encoded for the Jesus child represented in the painting. When back in Antwerp, Rubens produced a much improved version, that can be seen at Saint Paul’s Church, Antwerp (1609). Later still, Rubens organized the acquisition for that same church, of an esoteric work by Caravaggio, that again encodes for exactly the same date (the Madonna del Rosario). Unfortunately, the latter painting was stolen by the Austrian king Joseph II and is now in Vienna. At Saint Paul’s church, it is replaced by an (extremely accurate) painted copy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:La_adorazione_dei_pastori_(Rubens,_Fermo).jpg

http://www.wikiart.org/en/peter-paul-rubens/adoration-of-the-shepherds-2 http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo_Caravaggio_066.jpg

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From these observations and considerations, we derive our hypothesis: we suspect that Rubens, just as Michelangelo before him, had access to detailed knowledge concerning the Shroud of Turin. Apparently, he used the outline of the spear wound on the Shroud to dress up the template for his Descent from the Cross. In order to encode for this, he centered the ‘Christ ellipse’ (figure 4) upon the exact location of the spear wound. Checking the hypothesis According to our hypothesis, Rubens used the spear wound on the Shroud of Turin as a template for his painting The Descent from the Cross. The Christ ellipse (figure 4) is suspected to correspond to the ellipse that on the Shroud of Turin, can be traced around the spear wound (figure 5).

a. b. Figure 6: (a) Below the spear wound as seen on the Shroud (compare to figure 4), four rivulets of blood have left their trace. These four rivulets are separated by three bleaker, bloodless areas. The two medial rivulets form a close pair; (b) scheme of the wound and the four rivulets, as given by Faccini and others (see note 9). Notice close correspondence with Rubens’ depiction of the four rivulets (figure 2), especially the two medial rivulets merging after a short distance of separate flow. In order to test this hypothesis, we have to identify on the Shroud the most prominent pictorial element13 or characteristic of the spear wound as yet

13 We should not indulge in cherry-picking pictorial elements, prominent or not, that seemingly have a counterpart on the painting. We have no choice but to pick the single most prominent element that is available. For instance, when examining the hypothesis of a correspondence between the face on the Shroud and the face outlined in Michelangelo’s Last

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unconsidered. If this characteristic has a signifiant counterpart on the painting, then the hypothesis is corroborated. What is the most typifying aspect of the spear wound that has not yet been taken into account? Looking at the image on the Shroud, there can be no doubt that the bloody streamlets emerging from the wound are the dominating characteristic. More precisely, the spear wound is characterized by 4 separate rivulets of blood running downwards from the wound. A priori, any number of streamlets, say from 1 to 5, could have been present. On the Shroud, there are exactly 4 such rivulets. Moreover, the two rivulets at the left side (i.e. medially placed with respect to the body) form a close pair (figure 6). Comparison of the position of the ellipse and the four rivulets in figure 5, with the part of the painting underneath the ‘Christ ellipse’ in figure 4, produces a striking result. Placed underneath our ellipse we find 4 characters, namely Mary Cleophas and Mary Magdalene (who are very close together, just as the two corresponding rivulets), the Disciple, and Joseph of Arimathea. The probability of there being a fourfold in both cases can be set at 1:5. The probability of a further clustering of the two leftmost elements (II-I-I; the other possible patterns being I-I-I-I or IIII, I-II-I, I-I-II, II-II, III-I, and I-III) can be set at 1:7. So the probability of the correspondence can be set at 1:35. Additionally, we notice a striking congruity between the four rivulets on the Shroud and the four rivulets painted by Rubens in his second, pseudo-depiction of the spear wound (figure 2). Noteworthy, Rubens painted the two rivulets on the medial side as a close and quickly merging pair (compare figures 2 and 6). The hypothesis is corroborated. Among the four persons seemingly corresponding to the four blood rivulets, the Disciple stands out, because of the colour of his dress (that now starts to look as a disguised streamlet of blood) and because of his very special pose. Could it be that a more detailed relationship exists between the Disciple and the corresponding third blood rivulet on the Shroud of Turin? Examination of the precise shape of the blood rivulet leads to a surprising observation. The blood marks that compose this rivulet are clearly suggestive of a human head and torso strongly leaning backward, as if bearing what looks like a large puppet or mummy (figure 7). Clearly, Rubens has used the pareidolic image emanating from the third blood rivulet as a template for his depiction of the Disciple bearing Christ’s body. This surprising correspondence between the painting and the Shroud invites for deeper examination. Two observations can be made. Firstly, the Christ ellipse (figure 4) is more oblique (about 54° with respect to the horizontal)

Judgement, we had to take the set of injuries (on the nose and the cheek) caused by the blow that the man on the Shroud apparently received, because this was the most prominent characteristic of the face on the Shroud that had not yet been taken into account. See also methodological remarks in: https://www.academia.edu/8972988/THE_EMBEDMENT_OF_THE_FACE_ON_THE_SHROUD_OF_TURIN_IN_MICHELANGELOS_LAST_JUDGEMENT

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than the ellipse drawn around the spear wound (about 38° with respect to the horizontal; see figures 5 and 6). Whereas on the painting, Christ is completely enclosed by the Christ ellipse, his shadowy pendant on the Shroud is placed much lower (green in figure 7) and partially underneath the ellipse.

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b. c. Figure 7: The humanlike outlines suggested by the third blood rivulet, that corresponds to the Disciple on Rubens’ painting: (a) contrast-enhanced image (Durante 2002; ShroudScope); (b) outlines of two figurines on the blood rivulet; (c) position of the same two figurines, as compared to the ellipse shown in figures 5 and 6. Green and red figurines are supposed to correspond to Christ and the Disciple, respectively. The yellow arrow points to a weaving defect that runs horizontally underneath the spear wound, connecting the 4 streamlets.

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These observations suggest that Rubens, on his painting, could have derived the Christ ellipse (figure 4) by rotating counterclockwise a ‘primary ellipse’ that corresponds directly to the ellipse outlined on the Shroud around the spear wound (blue in figure 7). The setting on Rubens’ Descent from the Cross is strongly suggestive of such a pivoting descent. From a purely mechanical point of view, the descent seems to be steered by the unnamed man depicted above the right part of the crossbeam (figure 4), who is holding Christ’s left arm. On the one hand, this man exerts on the corpse a force directed toward the upper right. On the other hand, by fixing his own position with respect to the cross, he establishes a pivotal point. Under these conditions, the body is expected to rotate counterclockwise, from the upper left towards the lower right. So we suspect that the Christ ellipse (figure 4) must have been derived, by counterclockwise rotation, from some primary ellipse that directly corresponds to the ellipse-shaped outline of the spear wound on the Shroud of Turin. As shown in figure 8 (red ellipse), such a primary ellipse can indeed be identified on Rubens’ Descent from the Cross. The long axis of this second ellipse runs through the ‘self-point’ or ‘tilaka’14 of both Christ and his mother. Moreover, the viewing line of Our Lady also runs along that axis. The axes of the primary ellipse (red) and the Christ ellipse (orange) almost meet at the upper right corner of the painting. Both ellipses share a number of characteristics. Among the most striking ones, we notice that: - both ellipses have a Christ-centered midpoint (self-point of Christ for the primary ellipse, and spear wound for the Christ ellipse); - the long axes of both ellipses are touched by the fingertips of either hand of Christ (the seemingly haphazard body position of Christ turns out to be highly structured, and deeply connected with both ellipses); - both ellipses encompass the bust of a woman (Christ’s mother resp. Mary Magdalene); - both ellipses skim the head of Mary Cleophas (it is gratifying to contemplate how the three women together, in a very graceful way, seem to define to lower ends of both ellipses); - both ellipses taken together exactly circumscribe the totality of the shroud; - each ellipse runs over the nose of either Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea, with the viewlines of both characters running tangent to the skimming ellipse; - each ellipse runs over an additional self-point (of the Disciple and the man at the upper right, respectively); - the long axes of both ellipses are connected to respectively the right hand and the left hand of the man supposed to steer the descent (this detail strongly supports our contention that Rubens had indeed in mind the pivoting movement suggested by the relative position of the two ellipses). 14 The self-point is a point located a few centimeters behind the midpoint of the forehead. When awake and in a state of normal consciousness, the human being seems to spatially locate his sense of ‘I’ or ‘self’ at this point. In christian art, the self-point is amply used for encodement of esoteric content.

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Figure 8: the ‘Christ ellipse’ from figure 4 (orange), together with the ‘primary ellipse’ (red) that corresponds to the spear wound not yet rotated or ‘descended’. Both ellipses

are of equal dimensions. Notice how the character usually identified as ‘Nicodemus’, who moves down along the scale at right, seems to recede before the ‘descending’

ellipse. The yellow lines indicate the tilt of about 7° with respect to the vertical, shared by the first ladder and the 4 characters on the foreground.

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When comparing figures 7 and 8, a curious correspondence can be noticed connecting the ellipse drawn on the Shroud, and the primary (red) ellipse drawn over the painting. The latter ellipse has its long axis related to the horizon, that over a short strech is visible at the lower left of the painting. This horizon seems to have a rough equivalent on the Shroud, in the shape of a horizontally running weaving defect15 (pointed at by yellow arrow in figure 7). It seems that Rubens has located the horizon on his painting in accordance with the position of this particularity seen on the Shroud. Whereas the long axis of the Christ ellipse (figure 8; orange) is tilted over 54°, the primary (red) ellipse is tilted over about 45° with respect to the horizontal. Clearly, this tilt still exceeds (by about 7°) the tilt of roughly 38° shown by the spear wound on the Shroud. One could suspect that Rubens had access to only an approximate estimate of the spear wound’s orientation on the Shroud, and that lack of accuracy accounts for the remaining difference of about 7°. However, it turns out that this gap of 7° has a surprising explanation, that at the same time reveals a set of additional correspondences connecting Rubens’ Descent from the Cross to the Shroud of Turin. As a first approximation, the 4 rivulets of blood can be supposed to have run vertically downward, due to the force of gravitation. However, the 4 characters on the bottom part of the scene (who correspond to the 4 rivulets), are depicted with a strange overall tilt of about 7° (figure 8, yellow lines). This is especially clear in the case of Mary Magdalene, whereas both the Disciple (with one foot) and Nicodemus (with both feet) stand on a scale that is tilted over 7°. After rotating the scene over 7° (so that the yellow lines in figure 8 become vertical), the four characters in the foreground acquire a natural upright pose, with the exception of the torso of the Disciple that bends backward excessively (just as his pareidolic counterpart in the third streamlet; see figure 7). Of course, such a rotation over 7° also puts the ladder in a vertical position. Figure 9 shows the effects that concur when the same rotation of 7° is applied to the image of the spear wound on the Shroud. The caption reviews the additional correspondences between the Shroud image and Rubens’ painting, that come into view by performing that rotation. Summarizing, Rubens derived the core structure for his Descent from the Cross from the image of the spear wound on the Shroud of Turin. The four characters on the bottom of the painting correspond to the four blood rivulets emerging from the spear wound. Rubens represented the oval outline of the spear wound as the ‘Christ ellipse’ (the ellipse that can be drawn around Christ). The descent as such he encoded dynamically, by embedding into his painting the outline of yet another ellipse. This primary ellipse corresponds to the location of the spear wound on the Shroud. The ‘Christ ellipse’ is derived from the primary ellipse by pivotal descent (cfr two spear wounds in figure 2).

15 Apparently, this defect has interfered with the downward flow of the blood rivulets. When reaching the defect, the blood has tended to permeate sideward, directed by capillarity, thereby following the defect and producing an horizontal strip of blood below the spear wound.

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a. b. Figure 9: Counterclockwise rotation over 7° produces additional correspondences between Rubens’ Descent from the Cross and the Shroud of Turin. (1) After rotation, the carbonized rim at the right of the spear wound stands vertically. This dark rim corresponds to the black zone along the right border of the painting. (2) On the unrotated shroud, the uppermost point or top of the spear wound stands right above the red-colored figurine (figure 7); after rotation, this top is positioned right above the midst of both figurines. On the painting, this corresponds to the position of the top of the Cross, above and between Christ and the Disciple. (3) The tilt of the ellipse drawn around the spear wound becomes equal to the tilt of the primary ellipse on the painting (figure 8; red ellipse; tilt of about 45°). (4) The axes of the fishbone weaving pattern on the Shroud acquire the same orientation as the first ladder on the painting; a template for the ladder can therefore be drawn over these axes (figure 9b; magenta). (5) The dark uppermost part of the fourth blood rivulet can be interpreted as the outline of a figurine on a scale tilted over 7° (see figure 9b; dark blue and magenta). With respect to the ellipse, that dark blood trace on the Shroud is positioned higher than the corresponding location of Nicodemus on the painting. However, while the other seven characters on the painting are depicted as standing, kneeling or balancing at a fixed spot, Rubens represented Nicodemus as stepping down along the scale. (6) Of course, the counterclock rotation over 7° is itself represented on the painting, by the tilt of the characters on the foreground (figure 8, yellow lines). Additionally, the pivoting descent is also suggested by Nicodemus stepping down along the ladder, as if receeding before the lowering ellipse (figures 8 and 9b). Ingeniously, Rubens tilted the painted image counterclockwise over 7° with respect to the horizontal on the Shroud. This maneuver made possible the creation of still more congruences connecting the painting and the Shroud of Turin (such as the black border at the right side of the painting representing the carbonized rim at the right side of the spear wound; the direction of the first ladder representing the direction of the warp threads; the top of the cross corresponding to the top of the spear wound on the Shroud; the short stretch of skyline corresponding to the weaving defect below the spear wound...; see figure 9). In order to alert the attentive viewer to the esoteric content of the work, Rubens added a dislocated pseudo-representation of the spear wound, that shows the four blood rivulets identifiable on the Shroud (figure 2). Rubens’ imaginative representation of the Shroud’s spear wound can be considered a showcase example of esoteric encodement in Christian art.

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The constellation encoded in Rubens’ Descent from the Cross Horoscopes are embedded in many of Rubens’ religious paintings16. He was acquainted with a rather elaborated Christian chronology that, apparently, was transmitted throughout the ages and that goes back to the gospels (especially the gospel of John). As infuriating as the idea might seem, a current of underground teaching did indeed exist in Christianity from its very beginning17 and it played a major role in the history of Christianity and in Christian art18. Chronological data are encoded in the gospels19, especially in John. According to esoteric tradition, Christ’s death and resurrection happened on Friday, April 3, 33 AD, and Sunday, April 5, 33 AD (Julian calendar), respectively20. According to Rubens, the descent from the Cross took place on Friday, April 3, 33 AD, around 4:15 pm (Jerusalem, local time). Figure 11 shows a modern21 version of the corresponding horoscope (produced with Astrodienst). In The Descent from the Cross, Rubens encoded for the ecliptical longtitudes of the seven traditional planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) and the two lunar nodes. Whereas the image of the spear wound on the Shroud of Turin was used as an overall template for the painting, the encodement of the horoscope was a factor that guided Rubens while elaborating further pictorial details. What follows is an outline, that documents Rubens’ technique of astrological encodement without being exhaustive. Encodement of ecliptic longitude for Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Mercury In many cases, Rubens develops the encodement from one horoscopic element that characterizes the constellation as a whole. This first element is then represented in the painting by some unusual and attention-grabbing pictorial detail that sets the tone and invites the attentive spectator to delve deeper. Subsequently, Rubens builds up the horoscope, by embedding angular distances or astrological aspects in the work which connect further

16 Cfr.note 10. Just as his contemporary Johannes Kepler, Rubens was mainly concerned with ecliptical longitudes and with astrological aspects between planets. Only on rare occassions did he also encode for zodiacal signs. He often encoded for astrological elements such as ascendant, descendant, midheaven and lunar nodes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_aspect 17 Cfr. Mat.7:6; 2 Joh.12; 3 Joh.13. 18 As examples of well-known paintings with surprising esoteric content, we can mention Raphael’s “Madonna di Foligno” (Pinacoteca Vaticana), Holbeins “The Ambassadors” (National Gallery, London), or Grünewald’s “Annunciation” (Musée Unterlinden, Colmar). Discussed in the forthcoming German version of ‘De Rubens Code’. 19 See for instance: Jos Verhulst “Unbearable beauty, unfathomable depth: the encodement of the date of birth of Jesus, descendant of Solomon, in the gospel of Matthew” Academia: upcoming. 20 An excellent discussion of calendrical issues can be found in: Colin J.Humphreys “The mystery of the Last Supper: reconstructing the final days of Jesus” Cambridge U.P., 2011. 21 In the 16 th and 17th centuries, horoscopes for Christ’s time could be calculated, but errors of about 1°-3° often occurred. Clearly, Christ horoscopes in public circulation did not reflect the dates that were accepted by those involved in esoteric Christianity. See also: James Holden “Early horoscopes of Jesus” http://cura.free.fr/xxv/24hold2.html

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astrological points (longitudes of planets, lunar nodes, ascendant, descendant, midheaven...) to the initial element.

Figuur 11: Classical horoscope (with seven traditional planets and lunar nodes), corresponding to time and location of the Descent from the Cross (Friday, April 3, 33 AD, at 4:15 p.m.; Julian calendar; local time Jerusalem; main aspects indicated, with orb values set at 30%. Made with Astrodienst). Sun: 11°33’46” Aries; Moon: 11°5’7” Libra; Mercury: 17°12’27” Pisces; Venus: 21°59’56”R Pisces; Mars: 7°35’31” Gemini; Jupiter: 14°38’16” Gemini; Saturn: 16°9’6” Cancer; ascendant (AC, as opposed to DC, or descendant): 15°57’ Virgo; midheaven (MC or Medium Coeli, as opposed to IC or Imum Coeli): 14°56’ Gemini; ascending lunar node: 4°50’24” Aries. A partial lunar eclipse is developing, invisible from Jerusalem, as the Moon still stands below the horizon. Jupiter and Pluto (14°39’38”R Sagittarius; not shown) are in very close opposition. Remarkably, in this horoscope, when starting from the ascendant and proceeding counterclockwise along the ecliptic, the seven planets are encountered in classical sequence: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.

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Figure 12: the kernel of the astrological encodement in The Descent from the Cross

(see text). The grey lines show that the upper part of right ladder rail is displaced with respect to the upper part.

In the horoscope at hand, midheaven stands at 89° from the ascendant, with Jupiter culminating. Because midheaven stands about midway ascendant and

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descendant, Rubens used the vertical beam of the Cross as representation of the ecliptic direction that points to midheaven. The transit of Jupiter over midheaven is depicted in an attention-grabbing way by the man who strangely balances over the left part of crossbeam, as if floating bow-wise through a point of maximal height (compare figures 11 and 12). The ladder belonging to this character has a more or less vertical position, making an angle of about 0° with the vertical beam of the Cross (blue line in figure 12). So if the spectator is somewhat knowledgable in matters of astrological encodement, he can grasp the hint and come to understand that some planet must be culminating, and that Rubens seems to use scales for indicating angular distances with respect to midheaven. Which planet is culminating? Already at this point, an educated guess can be made, based on a few pictorial conventions that are in general use. Christ is expected to represent the Sun. The eight characters surrounding Christ can be expected to represent the other six classical planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and (probably) the lunar nodes. The Disciple, dressed in conspicuous red, can be expected to stand for Mars. Invariably, the oldest character on the painting, either male or female, is used as representation for Saturn. In our case, this seems to be the character usually identified as Joseph from Arimathea. Venus and Moon are expected to be represented by female characters. Therefore, the man balancing over the crossbeam represents either Jupiter or Mercury. But Mercury is out of the question, because the descent from the Cross must have happened in the late afternoon. Therefore, the man balancing over the crossbeam seems to represent Jupiter culminating. As a corollary, we conclude that the man usually identified as Nicodemus (descending from the ladder) very probably stands for Mercury sinking toward the descendant. Because the scale corresponding to Jupiter seems to indicate the angular distance of that planet with respect to the MC-IC-axis, we expect other scales to have comparable meaning. The character usually identified as Joseph from Arimathea is placed on a scale, that makes an angle of about 30° with respect to the Cross (figure 12, yellow). This 30° angle corresponds to the angular distance of about 30° that separates Saturn from midheaven. The date of the Crucifixion is disputed, but there are only a handful of possibilities (see note 20). Scanning these, it turns out that Friday, April 3, 33 AD must have been the date that Rubens had in mind. At that day, the ecliptical posititions of the slow-moving planets Jupiter and Saturn were separated by about 31°-32°. Conspicuously, both legs of the balancing ‘Jupiter man’ make an angle of around 30°-32°, right above the head of Joseph from Arimathea (figure 13). This angle seems to represent the angular distance separating Jupiter and Saturn, which is of course very close to the previously mentioned value of 30°, since Jupiter culminates. So we conclude that the man with the reddish hat, commonly identified as Joseph from Arimathea, very probably represents Saturn.

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Figure 13: The indication of the + 31° angle separating Jupiter and midheaven from Saturn, and of the 63° separating Sun and Jupiter. The Disciple, dressed in red, can be expected to represent Mars. This planet stands high in the sky, at 7° from both midheaven and Jupiter. Its position has been encoded by Rubens in a quite ingenious way (figure 12, orange lines). With his left foot, the Disciple stands exactly before the Cross. With his right foot, he rests upon the first ladder, close to the left rail, which is inclined over 7° with respect to the vertical. Lines through both feet (heels), running along the cross and the ladder rail respectively, meet in top of the cross, creating there the angle of about 7°- 8° that separates Mars from midheaven (orange in figure 12). Of course, this corresponds to the angle of 7° whereover Rubens tilted his scene with respect to the template derived from the Shroud, and that in an extremely intelligent way is recycled here for indicating the ecliptic longitude of Mars (see figures 8 and 9). Nicodemus, descending from the first scale at the rightmost part of the painting, can be expected to represent a planet that, in the western part of the sky, dives toward the horizon. And indeed, the horoscope shows that Mercury stands very low above the descendant. Black-dressed Nicodemus stepping down the ladder must therefore depict Mercury ready to dive below the horizon. The angular distance separating midheaven from Mercury is about 87° to 88°. Clearly, the main direction associable with Nicodemus is that of the ladder rungs whereon he stands. These rungs make an angle of about 87° with the vertical (figure 12, blue line).

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Ecliptic longitude of the Sun Jesus Christ represents the Sun. Clearly, Rubens has used the conspicuous representation of Jupiter as the root or point of departure for his encodement. In a gesture of gentleness, ‘Jupiter man’ touches Christ’s shoulder with his middle finger and ring finger (notice that both this man and the deceased Christ, with the same two fingers, touch the main axis of the primary ellipse; see figure 8). The two fingers, together with the index finger form an angle of about 63° (figure 13), which conforms to the ecliptic angle separating Jupiter and Sun in the horoscope. Ecliptic longitude of Venus On the Descent from the Cross, Venus is represented by Mary, the mother of Jesus. In the horoscope, an angle of about 83° separates Jupiter and Venus. Notice that Jesus’ mother touches the body with exactly the same gesture as the ‘Jupiter man’. Here too, this gesture has an astronomical meaning. As shown in figure 12 (purple line), the line segment connecting the self-point of Christ’s mother and Christ’s navel also bears the point where Mary touches the arm. This line is inclined over 83° with respect to the vertical, thereby representing the angular distance separating Venus and Jupiter. Notice that Mary’s self-point, as the self-point of Christ, lies on the axis that is also also touched by the Jupiter man (figure 8). The whole representation is extremely close-knit. Mary is placed at the ‘wrong’ side of the Cross. She stands at the left side, which, in the horoscope, corresponds to the rising side around the ascendant whereas, in the constellation, Venus stands in the West, close to the descendant. There can be no doubt that Rubens placed Jesus’ mother at the left side for reasons of composition. On the one hand, he wanted the three women to be depicted as one cluster (Joh.19:25) and the other Maria’s, who represent (as we shall see) the eclipsing Moon and the descending node, should appear at the left side of the scene. On the other hand, in the horoscope Venus stands in close conjunction to Mercury. This circumstance tends to render depiction cumbersome. Moreover, the four characters on the front row of the scene correspond to the four blood rivulets emanating from the spear wound, so no fifth character can be added. Rubens opted for a surprising solution. Notice how Mary’s left hand is directed towards Christ’s awkwardly reversed left hand. It looks as if both hands are ready to grab each other (figure 12, purple box). Rubens’ surprising and witty idea seems to have been that both hands should indeed grasp one another around the wrist, and that afterwards Christ’s hand should relax back into its natural stance, thereby transposing Mary from left below to upper right. At the same time, the postures of both hands suggest mutual care and tenderness, as if overarching the threshold of death. The connectedness of the two hands is a pictorial element that highly adds to the scene’s poetry and power of expression. Nevertheless, from an esoteric viewpoint, this pictorial detail also bears a second meaning, of an almost mechanical or geometrical nature.

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Ecliptical longitude of Moon and lunar nodes During the descent from the Cross, a partial lunar eclipse was beginning. With the Moon still standing below the horizon, this eclipse could not be seen from Jerusalem. The occurrence of the eclipse prompted Rubens to represent the longitudes of Moon and lunar nodes in unison. We already know that Mary Magdalene and Mary Cleophas, who on the painting are very close together, stand for the two medial blood rivulets, that form a close and interconnected pair. In the horoscope, the Moon and the descending lunar node also form a close and interconnected pair, because it is their conjunction that causes the eclipse. The midpoint of this conjunction is separated from the MC-FC-axis by about 68°. This corresponds to the line connecting the self-points of Mary Magdalene and Mary of Cleophas forming an angle of about 68° with the vertical (figure 12, green line). In the horoscope, the Moon and its nodal axis stand apart by about 6°. This is reflected by the angle22 of about 6° that is formed by the lines connecting the self-points of both women with the self point of the man at the upper right, who stands for the ascending lunar node (figure 12, fine green lines). In retrospect, we notice that the encodement is quite coherent. Christ represents the Sun (John 8:12). Other characters all show some particularity referring to their associated planet. Nicodemus going down corresponds to Mercury descending toward the western horizon; the red dressed Disciple corresponds to Mars; old Joseph from Arimathea corresponds to Saturn; the character representing Jupiter directly depicts, by his unusual body position, the transit of that planet through midheaven; the female characters depict, as is to be expected, Venus and Moon. The upcoming Moon eclipse is suggested by the illuminated torso’s of both Mary’s, that contrast with their dark-toned dresses, and also by Mary Magdalene casting some shadow on Mary of Cleophas. The longitudes are also represented with consistency. The four male characters, representing Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Mercury, are all connected with a ladder that in all four cases is indicative for the ecliptic longitude of the planet involved. Moon, Venus, and the lunar nodes, have ecliptic longitudes expressed by means of the self-points of the corresponding characters. There can be little doubt that, by the encodement of both the spear wound and the horoscope in his painting, Rubens wanted to achieve some spiritual purpose. He wanted a depiction of the scene that summed up to more than mere human imagination. He wanted his painting to be deeply rooted into the facts and figures of Golgotha. He brought this about by incorporating into his artwork what he had learned, from his Christian esoteric sources, concerning that reality. In a follow-up paper, we will see that he had indeed learned a lot, and that still more esoteric content is embedded in his Descent from the Cross.

- END OF PART I -

22 This angle is not to be interpreted as an angle inscribed in the horoscopic circle, as the latter has no encoded counterpart in the painting.