Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary or Christ in the House of Martha and other variants is an episode in the life of Jesus that appears only in the Gospel of Luke, after the Parable of the Good Samaritan:. Jesus visits the home of the sisters of Lazarus of Bethany, Martha of Bethany and Mary of Bethany, the latter typically conflated in Catholic medieval tradition with Mary Magdalene.
According to the Gospel of Luke:
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."<ref>Bible gateway</ref>
Depictions in art
The episode is mostly found in art from the Counter-Reformation onwards, especially in the 17th century, when the domestic setting is usually given a realistic depiction, and the subject appears as a single work rather than in cycles of the Life of Christ, or the life of Mary Magdalene. However it appears in some Ottonian manuscript cycles, including the one in the Pericopes of Henry II (c. 1002-1012), where it is given a hieratic architectural setting. Many paintings reflect the typical medieval Catholic conflation of Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene, and Mary is often shown as washing, or having just washed, Christ's feet. Artists depicting the subject include Diego Velázquez, Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, Caravaggio and Rubens.
Individual works with articles include:
- Christ in the House of Martha and Mary - an early work by the Spanish painter Velázquez.
- Christ in the House of Martha and Mary - by Johannes Vermeer
- Martha and Mary Magdalene (Caravaggio)
- Christ in the House of Mary and Martha (Pieter Aertsen)
See also
