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This painting was my answer to a challenge set by Derrick Guild to “do something contemporary with a Sundarium or Veronica".

On the way to Calvary, Christ accepted a cloth to wipe his face. The miracle of the appearance of the countenance on the cloth is a metaphor for resurrection and is a popular subject in Italian and Spanish painting. Zurburan made six paintings of the Sundarium.

I extended the painting to accommodate the purist symbols and of course the cloth is empty. The 20th century cannot countenance miracles of a metaphysical kind – more's the pity.