As It Began To Dawn

by Elspeth Young

As It Began To Dawn
Original Oil Painting

As It Began To Dawn
14 x 20 canvas print

As It Began To Dawn
11 x 17

As It Began To Dawn
8 x 10

As It Began To Dawn
5 x 7

Mary Magdalene

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre…He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead…And as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them…And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

Matthew 28:1, 6-7, 9

THE STORY IN THE PAINTING

In this image, the viewer sees Mary as she gathers spikenard and rue (visible on the table) into her basket. The morning light is shining into the room where she stands, symbolic not only of the dawn itself but also of the hope of the Savior’s Ressurection, of which she will soon be a witness (John 20).

SYMBOLISM OR SIGNIFICANT ELEMENTS IN THE PAINTING

Mary stands in a room with stone arches and stucco, a characteristic of Roman architecture (Curl 560). The pomegranate shrub behind the figure is native to Palestine (Numbers 13:23 and Hepper 116) and was also a popular motif in Solomon’s temple (2 Kings 25:17).

The linens strewn on the table represent the burial linens and the small cruses are for holding ointment. The flowering plants represent spikenard (Mark 14:3 or John 12:3) and rue (Luke 11:42), both aromatic plants (see Hepper 133 and 143).

Scissors such as the pair painted here date by to ancient Rome (Brittanica 24) and represent the preparation involved in Mary’s work for preparing ointments and spices.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

James Freeman’s Manners and Customs of the Bible explains the Jewish method of burial: “This was not embalmbing according to the Egyptian method…The Jews simply anointed the body, and wrapped it in fine linen, putting spices and ointments in the folds” (Freeman 437).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. E. Ha. “Scissors and Shears.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. N.p.: 1967.

Curl, James Stevens. Oxford Dictionary of Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Freeman, James M. Manners and Customs of the Bible Revised Edition. Plainfield, New Jersey: Logos International, 1972.

Hepper, F. Nigel. Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1992.

Robinson, Stuart. A History of Dyed Textiles. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The M.I.T. Press, 1969.

Talmage, James E. Jesus The Christ. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1963.