Paolo Veronese, “The Resurrection of Christ,” c.1570
In the Old Testament, light was often used as a metaphor for truth. Christ referred to Himself as the light of the World (John 12:8).
Paolo Veronese, a lover of color and pagentry, is in full command of his subject. Here, Christ appears not unlike a superhero with his ‘cape’ wrapped around him as he ascends to Heaven. Light wreaths his body setting him apart from the early morning’s sunrise. Unlike the biblical story, Christ is laid in a sarcophagus-like tomb that rests flat against the horizon line. Also deviating from Scripture, we see the women greeted by an angel at a different tomb in the distance. (You can learn a lot about history when you double check the original sources. Artists have to please patrons and their own artistic sensibilities…sometimes to the detriment of historical record, though!)
For those with an interest in Biblical studies, I found this article harmonizing the resurrection accounts to be an interesting read. Of course, there are also many book-length investigations into this Christian holiday.
The Poetry of Seeing 