Good Friday

I would love to see this picture, which thrills me even as a small b/w photograph. I remember sitting with Dad following the score of Bach’s St John Passion when it was on the radio once. He pointed out the dramatic moment when the Temple Curtain was rent as Christ gave up his ghost. I can’t help feeling there is something of that portentous happening reflected in this painting. The fence wire is broken and a man wields a sledge hammer to repair a post. Three birds flap about, a horse is startled and water is surging…. The unexplained puzzle to me represents the extraordinary within the ordinary.