The Risen Christ with Butterflies Easter Card

Wish your family and friends a “Happy Easter” with this gorgeous card in vibrant spring colours and a traditional religious style! In this detail from an antique devotional print, the risen Christ is portrayed clad in white raiment with yellow highlights and a pink lining. In his left hand, he holds a “Resurrection Banner”. Typically, such banners are suspended from a standard or from a tall, thin cross and bear a red cross on a white field. Here, however, the cross is more a dark pink than the usual bright crimson red in keeping with the palette of the print. Jesus raises his other hand, his right, in blessing with three fingers—the thumb and first two digits--pointing heavenwards and two fingers folded down. The three fingers pointing upward are an obvious reference to the Trinity; the two pointing downward, a less obvious reference to Christ’s dual natures—human and divine. + We have added three butterflies to the image. In Christian iconography, the butterfly’s meaning is twofold: it stands for the soul and for Christ. As Christians, we are called upon to embark on a spiritual journey and to transform our lives from being earthbound and preoccupied with worldly concerns to being orientated heavenwards and concerned with spiritual matters. The butterfly emerging from its chrysalis is also a traditional metaphor for Christ rising from the grave on Easter Sunday and, by extension, for the resurrection of all the dead. + Image Credit (VVP 08): Detail of an antique image in chromolithography entitled Ecce vicit Leo de Tribu Juda, radix David. Alleluia! [Behold the lion of the tribe of Juda[h], the root of David, has conquered. Alleluia!] originally published by K[arel] v[an] d[e] Vyvere-Petyt, Bruges, Belgium, late 19th century, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera. + Image Credit: The three butterflies are from the licensed package Watercolor Butterflies 2 by BrushArtDesigns on TheHungryJPEG.