Lee Jefferson: Perspectives on the Nude Youth in Fourth-Century Sarcophagi Representations of the Raising of Lazarus

On several fourth-century sarcophagi that reside in the Vatican’s Museo Pio Cristiano, the miracles of Christ are on prominent display.  Carved in stone, the typical miracles of Christ are presented, including Jesus healing the blind, the paralytic, and the woman with the blood issue, as well as the scene of Jesus raising Lazarus.  Christ raising the dead to life is a popular motif in early Christian funerary art; however, on certain examples housed at the Vatican, the raising of Lazarus is curiously depicted.  On the sarcophagus frontal, Jesus approaches the burial house of Lazarus bearing the wand or staff that is generally included in the performance of the miracle.  At Christ’s feet is a representation of a naked boy.  This peculiar inclusion of a nude youth could possibly recall other examples of Jesus raising the dead, or the naked boy epitomizes the Christian adaptation of popular non-Christian images, in this case Prometheus shaping man.  But these explanations are not entirely satisfying.  This short paper will attempt to identify the naked boy at the feet of Jesus featured in these Roman sarcophagi, and will argue that the nude youth is an illustration of the newly re-born Lazarus.  The iconographic inclusion of the naked boy specifically reflects the pivotal role of baptism in early Christianity, and reveals an intense devotion in fourth-century Christianity to the Johannine gospel.