The Resurrection of Christ

This watercolor for The Resurrection of Christ is a late work by La Farge, made when he was in his late sixties and still working at full creative power. The Resurrection was a subject that La Farge had treated in stained glass throughout his career, and this watercolor design — with its partial framing lines in graphite suggesting the boundaries of a glass panel — shows his continued engagement with the most challenging subject in Christian iconography: the moment when divine power overcomes death. The combination of watercolor and gouache allows La Farge to study the effects of both transparent and opaque passages, the same contrast that distinguishes opalescent glass from cathedral glass.

La Farge's religious subjects are among his most personal works, reflecting his lifelong engagement with Catholic art and theology. The Resurrection was the ultimate test of his theory that color could carry spiritual meaning — that the experience of looking at transmitted light through colored glass could approximate the experience of spiritual transcendence. This watercolor design tests that theory at its most demanding subject.

The Resurrection of Christ is La Farge's ultimate stained glass subject — the moment when light overcomes darkness — and this watercolor design is his attempt to solve the problem on paper before committing it to glass. The partial framing lines remind us that this is not a finished painting but a study for a more luminous medium.