Lazarus in art: the miracle that smells of death

The resurrection of Lazarus, a masterpiece of bad smell

Christian art painted it for centuries as a spotless miracle. But the masters never forgot that Lazarus had been dead four days and stinking. From Duccio to Geertgen tot Sint Jans, the detail that repeats is not the glory, but the witnesses holding their noses.

Visual theology, not journalism

Anyone looking for historical accuracy in these panels is out of luck. Duccio, in 1310, remains anchored in the Byzantine icon: golden background, Bethlehem rocks, figures floating in a space that does not exist. Giotto, five years earlier, had already made the leap to volume and weight. And yet both agree on the same thing: the dead man smells. Even in a miracle, four days in the sun weigh more than the glory.

From shrouded corpse to family portrait

Fra Angelico, in 1453, dresses Lazarus in bandages until he looks like a fillet ready for the fryer. Michael Pacher, in 1479, paints him with the greenish skin of a morgue customer. And Geertgen tot Sint Jans, in 1480, turns the sacred scene into a commissioned portrait: he slips in the donor, his vvife, the daughter in miniature and even a dog into the resurrection. The client got himself into the Bible, and that is what he paid for.

Behind it all remains the awkward question: was it a historical event? Tradition adds that there were 40 or 50 witnesses, a wanted order from the Sanhedrin and thousands of onlookers arriving from Jerusalem. The numbers do not match the archaeology. The miracle, like the dead man, still smells of an unanswered question.