BBC - Seeing Salvation (2000) Part 4 The Promise

Christianity has produced some of the greatest works of art of all time, in which believers and non-believers alike can explore the great themes of life and death. It is the language in which Leonardo and Michelangelo, Dali and Rembrandt speak to us all about love and suffering, loss and hope. To mark the year 2000, these four programmes, written and presented by Neil MacGregor, Director of the National Gallery, London, consider how artists over two millennia have tackled the extraordinarily difficult task of representing Christ. Without contemporary accounts of Jesus' appearance, artists through the ages have been free to create many images of him - images that sometimes reflect the spiritual world of the artist and other times the desires of the patron or the needs of the spectator. Seeing Salvation is a four part series surveying the historical representations of Jesus Christ in Western European art and sculpture over the centuries since Roman Times.

Part 4: The Promise

On Christmas Eve, as the Christian world prepares to celebrate the 2000th birthday of Jesus of Nazareth, this episode takes a final tour through some of the greatest works of Christian art. Seeing Salvation Part 4 “The Promise” - looks at the historical variations in the images of Christ after his crucifixion, death, and resurrection, with its implications for Christian societies over the ages. Neil MacGregor looks beyond the death of Jesus towards images of resurrection and redemption, and the glorious visions of the Second Coming. In the story of Christs triumph over death, artists have found an eloquent language of hope and promise which continues to inspire humanity 2000 years on.

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