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STATIONS OF THE CROSS

as from the Eyes of Jesus

The London Set

The Moleskine Sketchbook

November 2006 - January 2007

on this page

on Other pages

Stations of the Cross — Home Page

London

Note that this sketchbook was started in late November 2006 and is here reproduced page by page; the sketches were done with no regard at this stage to the actual order of the Stations.  Other workings and jottings elsewhere have not been given here.

Note also that on 7th January, when the final decision was taken to make these pictures hanging scrolls 2 metres tall, 83 cms wide, a new set of preliminary drawings was started at the back of the sketchbook working in from the end!  [Hence the backward numbering at that point!]

This book was bought in Paris in September 2004; I had kept it all this time for some special project.

pp.2/3 [Station XII]: On the Cross...

This was the first sketch at all and all the subsequent sketches were executed in their page order.  They are not in the order of the Stations themselves, though at certain points smaller sets appear in order, to assemble the various rhythms and proportions in the sequence, away from the composition of each picture...

pp.4/5 [Station III/VII/IX]:

Fallen to the ground, Christ's gaze falls upon his hand, his knee, a corner of the Cross, and the flowers and strands of the grass...  Later I have come to see that each of the three Stations involving Jesus falling to the ground tell of a progression and I shall give them upon ever less stoney ground; as the torture increases the vision of wonder and delight increases...

pp.6/7 [Station VI]:

Veronica leans forward to towel His brow...

pp.8/9: Carrying the Cross...

The closeness of the wood will be an important element in the pictures.  This sketch is not associated with any particular Station.

pp.10/11 & 12/13 [to come]:

A first set of 'miniatures' shows small planning versions of the sequence...

pp.14/15 [Station XII]:

On the Cross, Christ receives the sponge of refreshing, or at any rate relieving potion...

pp.16/17 [Station IV]:

The Mother of Christ appears; she clasps His forearm that steadies the Cross...

  pp.18/19 [Station V]:

Simon of Cyrene takes the load of carrying the Cross a while...

  pp.20/21 [Station I]:

Jesus, His head held low, or not, hears Pilate's pronouncement...

pp.22/23 & 24/25 [Station I]:

Further ideas for the pronouncement by Pilate... attempts to cope with an extreme of perspective amidst an extreme of drama... Does Jesus, taller than the Roman, look his forgiving accuser in the eyes or down, head low, at his feet?

  pp.26/27 [Station XI]:

Looking down from the Cross... (The ink stain up the central stitching has leaked from other pages.)

  pp.28/29 [Station VIII]:

Women weep...

  pp.30/31 [added Station]:

The Flagellation...

pp.32/33 & 34/35:

I debate afresh the format, lured by the notion of round or even oval canvases... and the practical as well as poetic aptness of simply hanging canvases in the manner of Chinese scrolls. 

The image on the bottom right of p.35 makes me incline to give the views from the eyes of Christ a simple pattern that reflects the two geometries from two eyes - resulting in something like an oval.

1.i.MMVII

The temptation to make the images oval results in the following sketches:

  p.36 [Station IV]:

Jesus meets His Mother...

 p.37 [Station V]:

Simon takes the load...

   p.38 [Station VIII]:

Women Weep...

  p.39 [Station XI]:

Nailed to the Cross...

The sketchbook continues...

pp.42/43 [Station VI or VIII]:

Veronica, perhaps, or the women who weep on the journey to Golgotha, the place named after skulls...

pp.44/45 [Station XI]:

Jesus sees He is nailed to the Cross...

7/8th January:

The format is decided: hanging scrolls 200 x 80 cms

Starting the sketchbook afresh at the back...

pp.105/104

pp.103/102; 101/100 [Stations I, II, III, IV]:

I: Pilate   II: Carpenter   III: Stumbles   IV: His Mother

pp.99/98; 97/96 [Stations V, VI, VII, VIII]:

V: Simon   VI: Veronica   VII: Crown of Thorns   VIII: Stumbles

pp.95/94; 93/92 [Stations IX, X, XI, XII]:

IX: Women weep    X: Stumbles    XI: Stripped    XII: Whipped

pp.91/90; 89/88 [Stations XIII, XIV, XV, XVI]:

XIII: Nailed    XIV: Vinegar    XV: Speared    XVI: Dies

pp.87/86; [Stations XVII, XVIII]:

I: Deposition   II: Resurrection

9th January:

Final preparatory studies...

pp.85/84 & 83/82

pp.81/80 & 79/78

pp.77/76 & 75/74; [p.74 is reproduced below the right way round.]

pp.74 & 73

A CRISS-CROSS Story Line...

The images below are arranged horizontally across the page by their sequence but, in their vertical order, follow the creative progress from the first Moleskine sketches through to the finished paintings... 

NOTE: All images have been presented already chronologically above on this page; there is no new material here.

This chart is repeated in the page devoted to the work-in-progress too.

I Pilate

II the cross

III stumbles

IV his mother

V simon

VI veronica

VII Crown

VII falls

VIII women weep

IX falls

X stripped

VII whipped

VII nailed

XI offered vinegar

XII speared

XVI dies

XVII taken down

XVIII Magdalene

XIx Emmaus

Xx by the sea

XxI Thomas

small sketch

moleskine 30.xi.VI, 8.xii.VI 28.xii.VI

oval? 1.i.VII

canvas 10.i.VII

canvas 18.i.VII 21.i.VII

canvas 22.i.VII

(detail)

canvas 23.i.VII   finished state to 95%

finished canvas, only very small differences from above

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