“Christ on the Cross,” by the French painter Philippe de Champaigne, was painted around 1655. By the Baroque era, the more grotesque, realistic portrayals of Christ’s body had largely given way to a more idealized style. But Champaigne’s work still includes blood flowing onto the ground.

A panel from an altarpiece by Goncal Peris de Sarria, a Spanish artist, painted around 1420 to 1430. The overall piece, at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., shows scenes from the life of Mary, including the resurrection.

“Deposition,” an altarpiece work in the collection at the Spencer Museum of Art, was created by an unknown German artist around 1515 to 1518. The three panels show different moments in the Holy Week story — Christ carrying the cross, Christ down from the cross and Christ’s resurrection.

Today’s Easter celebration marks one of the two most joyous moments in the Christian year.

Centuries of artists might not have picked up on that.

Though the Easter story ends with Christ rising from the grave, artists have focused much more on the events that led up to him being in that tomb to begin with — his crucifixion.

“It kind of makes you wonder,” says Susan Earle, curator of European and American art at Kansas University’s Spencer Museum of Art. “I’m not sure why there are more images of the deposition (Christ’s body taken down from the cross) or the crucifixion instead of the resurrection.”

But she has a theory.

“There’s so much more drama,” she says of the crucifixion. “And you can have more people in your painting. There’s more people around, and more iconography.”

That iconography is evident in what is probably the Spencer’s best-known artwork depicting the Passion, “Deposition,” by an unknown German artist. It’s an altarpiece — probably used in a home chapel — that includes panels depicting Christ carrying the cross, Christ after his death and then Christ after the resurrection.

Among the small details: a seal on the tomb that Jesus is standing atop, emphasizing the miraculous nature of the resurrection.

Earle says the evolution of Passion artwork generally followed the trends in overall artwork through time periods. When the “Deposition” piece was painted (around 1515-1518), the emphasis was put on lifelike — almost grotesque, in some senses — human figures and detailed work.

By the Baroque era, the Christ figure looks fuller, and those paintings typically had more dramatic lighting.

But in most pieces at the Spencer — and, really, in all Passion artwork — there are more similarities than differences. For instance, Jesus typically has a beard and long hair. And his mother, Mary, shows up wearing blue, probably because she is associated with heaven (as in blue skies).

Steve Goddard, the Spencer’s curator of prints and drawings, says artists had a practical reason for not bucking tradition in their works.

“I think you didn’t want to be accused of blasphemy by altering anything,” he says.

Adds Earle of the crucifixion scene: “It’s an interesting tension between similar and different.”

Simon Kelly, associate curator for European painting and sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., agrees that artists have tended to favor the crucifixion over the resurrection because it’s more dramatic.

But he adds another wrinkle.

“The whole idea of religious imagery is that art should be some sort of stimulus to piety and devotion,” he says. “And probably more than any image, the image (of the crucifixion) does lead to that.”

He does note, though, that the Nelson’s collections contain more than just crucifixion art. They also have art of the flagellation (Christ being beaten), the entombment and the resurrection.

Earle, the Spencer curator, says she thinks another set of artists decided to run with the idea of depicting the resurrection — music composers.

Paul Laird, a KU professor of musicology, agrees — to a certain extent.

Handel’s “Messiah,” with its resurrection-themed “Hallelujah Chorus” the most famed work of the piece, probably gets the most focus for Easter-themed music. But Laird notes that Bach’s “Easter Oratorio” and “St. Matthew Passion” are well-known works that depict the entirety of Passion Week. They just don’t get performed as often as the “Messiah” because they’re more difficult.

“They both happen,” he says of music depicting both the positive and negative aspects of Holy Week. “The happy stuff is more famous.”