Pentecost Art Series: El Greco

 Here is a very different portrayal of Pentecost by El Greco, completed about 1600 and located in the Prado in Madrid, Spain.  It is oil on canvas and measures roughly 4 feet by 9 feet.  The elongation is meant to draw the viewer's eye up toward heaven.

El Greco's portrayal includes not only Our Lady but two other women. There is an enlarged version of the painting on the Prado website where one can see the figures very clearly.

Our Lady is presented as central and very serene.  Commentators agree that the woman looking upward at the descent of the Holy Ghost is Mary Magdalene.  The other woman - the one with the gray head covering - is thought by many to be Martha.  Others speculate that she is perhaps Mary of Clopas (who was at the foot of the Cross) or Mary Salome, the mother of James and John (who was with Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb).

Pentecost Art Series: Duccio

 

 

This is Pentecost by Duccio.  It is a panel from his magnificent 14th century many-paneled Maesta altarpiece.  The artistic medium is egg tempera on poplar wood with extensive use of gold gilding.  The dimensions are about 14.8 by 16.7 inches. 

At the above link for the Maesta altarpiece, one can read about how this masterwork was dismantled in the 18th century as part of a remodeling project. The altarpiece was split up with some panels lost and others now in various locations around the world.  This one is permanently housed in the Cathedral Museum in Siena, Italy and is on display there.

I find it interesting that Duccio depicted a tongue of fire coming down on Our Lady's head, just as they come down on the heads of each of the Apostles.  The explanation for this is that scripture expressly states that Mary was present at the Pentecost events and also states that the fire came down on all who were present so Our Lady must have been included:  Acts 1:14 and 2:1-4.

Pentecost Art Series: Giotto

 

As described in Acts 2:

1 And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place:  2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  3 And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them:  4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak

This is Giotto's 14th century portrayal of Pentecost in his series on the Life of Christ in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.  It is a life-sized fresco (78.7 by 72.8" - in other words more or less 6 feet by 6 feet).  

I think it is interesting to try to identify each of the apostles oneself based on what one knows about each from scripture.