The Bob Jones U. Religious Art Collection– Part Four

The oft painted scene of Christ before Pilate here gets an interesting rendering, depicting Pilate as an Oriental potentate rather than as a Roman governor….In so many of these sorts of European paintings (this one is Dutch and attributed to an artist know as Constantine Daniel, 17th century) Christ looks like a pale and frail white man…. which of course he was not. The artist strives for proximity to his audience, rather than cultural distance from them.

Here is a fetching painting of Jesus, and his mother and father in the carpenter’s shop by Gerrit von Honthorst (Dutch 16th century). Alas, tecton means artisan, and the main material an artisan had to work with in Nazareth was not wood but limestone. Good wood was scarce, remembering even Jewish Kings imported the cedars of Lebanon for their building projects, not the scrubby pines of Galilee.

A very favorite scene of artists to paint is the adoration of the Magi… and here is one such painting by the 17th century Dutch artist known as Lange Jan (not to be confused with Long John Silver!).
Again the artist renders thing striving for familiarity of clothes etc of his audience, not historical authenticity.

Here is a quite famous painting from Gustave Dore (18th century) of Christ leaving the Praetorium after Pilate’s verdict. Notice the rendering of Simon of Cyrene in the lower left quadrant of the painting.