Vitale da Bologna, Jesus Cures the Daughter of Jairus

Circa 1351-60
Fresco
Pomposa Abbey, Codigoro, Italy

The child's father gestures to the girl as Jesus enters. He is identified as a "ruler of the synagogue" named Jairus in Mark 5:22-24,35-42 and Luke 8:41-42,49-56. In both those accounts after Jesus revives the girl he bids the parents to give her something to eat, so our artist has provided some food on the platform beside the bed.

Matthew recounts the episode more briefly (9:18-19,23-26). He refers to the father simply as "a certain ruler" and does not mention food.

In Matthew and Mark the house is full of "a tumult, and people weeping and wailing much." This image is closer to Luke, where the only ones with the girl are her parents, Jesus, and three of his disciples. (The face of the third is barely visible behind two of the halos. The disciple on the far left has the square beard characteristic of St. Peter.)

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Photographed at the abbey by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.