The Resurrection of Christ Stained Glass Window

Paolo Uccello created this exceptional piece of art between 1443 and 1445, about 30 years before his death in 1475.

The Ressurection of Christ is one of three windows created in a series. The Annunciation and The Birth of Christ were the other two created by Paolo Uccello. His work was commissioned by Opera del Duomo a little while after the Monument of Sir John Hawkwood. The Resurrection of Christ Stained Glass Window was later to be destroyed and used, in 1828, for the oculi of the drum of the dome and the decoration of the clockface on the inner facade of the cathedral. It is still there to this day.

From Paolo's work, we can clearly see just how much the works of Donatello and Ghiberti influenced him and his style. However, he shows a lot of originality in The Resurrection of Christ. This can be seen in his brave usage of pure, bright colours to bring out a clear picture of this dramatic event, which is quite historic for him. When you observe this piece, Christ is at the centre of everything. This makes him the most dominant subject, grabbing all the attention of the audience. Below the image of Christ is an empty tomb where Paolo uses perspective foreshortening to bring out an illusion of depth. Paolo is well credited for this technique because he was the first known artist to experiment with it on glass.

When you look at both Christ's sides, you can see The Roman soldiers with their heads adorned in mazzocchio, which is a traditional Florentine headdress. Paolo was also known for portraying his figures with mazzocchios consistently. It was so common to find characters in Paolo's work with such articles of clothing, mostly on the angels he did.

Paolo Uccello used his mathematical skills to do well-planned pieces. In this piece, he does his characters in different angles and in the very intricate perspective views. The way he uses glass is so delicate, refined and yet achieving an old-fashioned pattern. In this piece, he has managed to encase his composition in a sophisticated geometric motif which not only gives it a beautiful finishing but also an illusion of depth and volume. This is brought about by the way Christ's head is seen to pop out of the boundary and how it relates to the overall composition.