Sunday, March 31, 2024

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--The Last Supper and the Appearance to Mary Magdalene

 

A hand-colored stereograph shows Jesus washing the disciples' feet.


Happy Easter! Today I thought it would be fun share a few more of the Life of Christ stereograph cards from my collection. I've already shown the full set of twenty-four that were printed in color, but it's interesting to see the difference between those and the hand-colored ones. Those twenty-four pictures can be found in both versions (as well as in black and white), but there are also a number of pictures that don't seem to have been reprinted in color. The hand coloring is a bit garish to the modern eye, but some of the scenes are quite interesting. Among these are cards showing Jesus washing the disciples' feet, the Last Supper, and the post-resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene. It is easier to tell on the hand-colored cards that they were originally photographed from beautifully detailed dioramas. Unfortunately, they also seem to fade more easily. These have been color-corrected to be less yellow, but there's nothing I can do for the fading. They do look better in 3D, though.


A hand-colored stereograph shows the scene of The Last Supper.

A hand-colored stereograph shows Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene in the garden. Behind Mary is a cave with two angels sitting in it.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--Between Christmas and Easter

 

An old stereograph shows the twelve-year-old Jesus speaking with the teachers in the Temple.


Since it's almost Easter, I thought it would be a good time to share the last three of the twenty-four colorful Life of Christ stereograph cards I posted a while ago. These are the ones that didn't fit easily into either an Easter or a Christmas post. I used Photoshop to remove a couple of blotches that I found distracting, but otherwise these didn't need a lot of alteration. One shows Jesus at age twelve, talking to the teachers in the temple, and the other two show the wedding at Cana and the Sermon on the Mount. Earlier posts about this set are related to ChristmasPalm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3), and Easter. These cards appear to have been generally sold in a set of twenty-five (the box advertises twenty-five, and many different-themed sets of twenty-five cards were available in identical boxes) but the twenty-fifth card could be any of a fairly wide variety with some relevance to Jesus or the holy land. I think that means that these twenty-four were a proper set, but an additional card was added to give the original purchasers their money's worth; that would be easier than printing separate boxes for a set with one less card. These same views can also be found in black and white, sometimes colored by hand. There are actually several more scenes in the black and white set that I wish had been printed in color!


An old stereograph shows Jesus turning water into wine.


An old stereograph shows Jesus preaching the Sermon on the Mount.