Resurrection

Giovanni Baglione, first rival and then biographer of Caravaggio, is one of the protagonists of the Roman Baroque. In 1603 he made for the Roman church of Jesus a gigantic altarpiece depicting the Resurrection, replaced twenty years later with a different author when the altar was named after the newly canonized Saint Francis Xavier. Two paintings with angels are the surviving parts of the Baglione altarpiece, which may have been brought to Mantua by the same artist, who maintained frequent relations with Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga, known when he was cardinal in Rome.

The subject of the great mutilated composition was precisely the resurrection of Jesus, depicted wrapped in a purple mantle, while holding the traditional Crusader banner. In the lower part was to be represented the tomb with soldiers on guard, while the two angels in greater evidence hold respectively a palm branch, symbol of martyrdom (Christ is recognized as the "king of martyrs"), and an olive wreath, of more complex symbolism. In the ancient world an olive (or laurel) wreath was offered to the winners of sports competitions and to those who celebrated military triumph; in this sense here he can celebrate the victory of Christ over death. In Christian times the olive tree was taken as a sign of peace: here, peace between God and men, which Christ realized with his redeeming sacrifice.