RESURRECTION OF CHRIST Triptych Peter Paul Rubens 3 Silver Coin Set 1$ 2$ Tokelau 2012

This coin depicts "The Resurrection of Christ", a masterpiece of painter "Rubens". The work shows the clear influence of Italian Renaissance and Baroque artists such as Caravaggio, Tintoretto, and Michelangelo. The central panel shows Christ, to the alarm of the soldiers shrinking back in the darkness, strong and radiantly rising from his rocky tomb. The influence of Italian art is immediately recognizable in Ruben's Michelangelesque, heroically strong, muscular bodies. His figures release tremendous power, pulling, lifting and straining to the edge of their ability raising the cross. Dramatic tension rises with the immediacy of the moment. High contrast lighting dramatically focuses on the central figure of Jesus. On the side panels, Rubens has portrayed John the Baptist and St Martina, the patron saints of Jan and Martina Moretus. John stands on the bank of the Jordan; the sword on the ground refers to his beheading. St Martina holds a palm branch in her hand as a sign of her martyrdom. Behind her, one can see the broken fragments of the temple of the sun god Apollo, which is supposed to have collapsed when Martina made the sign of the cross. The reverse of each coin depicts Queen Elizabeth II profile. The three coins are housed in an elegant wooden box with an illustrative book.