The Great Painters' Gospel Part 2

Plate 22. _Adoration of the Magi._ Bonifazio Veronese. 1494-1563.

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.

_Crespi, Plate 24,_ has pictured Joseph's dream. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. (Matt. 2:13.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Joseph's Dream.]

Plate 24. _Joseph's Dream._ Daniele Crespi.

_Furst, Plate 26,_ ill.u.s.trates the words "And he arose and took the young child and his mother, and departed." (Matt. 2:14.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Flight into Egypt.]

Plate 26. _Flight into Egypt._ M. Furst.

_Plockhorst, Plate 27,_ shows the holy family pa.s.sing through southern Judea, accompanied by cherubs, but unconscious of their presence.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Flight into Egypt.]

Plate 27. _Flight into Egypt._ B. Plockhorst. 1825-

_Hofmann, Plate 25,_ shows them pa.s.sing through the Wilderness of Shur, Joseph with his broad axe for protection, unconscious of the guardian angel who accompanied them, to keep them in all their ways.

(Ps. 91:11.) "That old serpent" is already in the wilderness, waiting! His time has not yet come.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Flight into Egypt.]

Plate 25. _Flight into Egypt._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

_Benz, Plate 28,_ has taken as his subject the first moment of rest in a place "even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as thou comest into Zoar." (Gen. 13:10.) Joseph has a typical Egyptian water-jar upon his arm. The little child is pleased with the flowers, after his long journey through the desert, and holds a bunch of them in his hand. The place of rest seems to be just at the edge of the desert,--a secluded, well-watered spot, out of Herod's reach.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Repose in Egypt.]

Plate 28. _Repose in Egypt._ S. Benz.

_Merson, Plate 29,_ is a poetic seer as well as an artist. The sphinx riddle was "What is man?" Merson has placed the answer before the sphinx at last. He who was himself the answer to the world-old question, propounded a new question which all must answer, "What think ye of Christ" (Matt. 22:42).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Repose in Egypt.]

Plate 29. _Repose in Egypt._ Olivier L. Merson.

_Morris, Plate 30,_ gives us a glimpse of the life of the Holy Family during the sojourn in Egypt. Joseph is resting in the tent after his day's work, and Mary is teaching the child to walk. All are unconscious of the ominous shadow so evident now to us. The hatred which threatened the child, would not spare the man. The exile in Egypt is but the prophetic shadow of the coming event--crucifixion.

The child's hands extend towards the cactus and the palm, symbols of suffering and of victory.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Shadow of the Cross.]

Plate 30. _Shadow of the Cross._ P. R. Morris.

THE RETURN TO NAZARETH.

When Herod was dead, Joseph, instructed by an angel, brought Mary and Jesus into the land of Israel, and made them a home in Nazareth. The mother with her divine child in this Nazareth home has ever been the favorite subject with painters. "Madonna" pictures have been multiplied into the thousands. The most famous are those which were painted by Raphael,--the Sistine Madonna, Madonna of the Chair, Madonna da Tempi, Madonna of the Goldfinch, etc.,--reproductions of which are familiar to everybody. Among other famous painters of the Madonna is _Murillo,_ who, in _Plate 32,_ represents the mother and child as the neighbors might have seen them in their humble home. The child is of course beautiful. (Luke 2:40.) In _Plate 33,_ the artist has emphasized the last phrase of Luke 2:40, "The grace of G.o.d was upon him." The Father in heaven is visibly present, and the grace descends upon the child in the form of a dove, as suggested by Luke 3:22. The action of all the accessory figures, the arrangement of the light, everything in the picture, is calculated to focus the attention upon the face of the child Christ.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Madonna and Child.]

Plate 32. _Madonna and Child._ Murillo. 1618-1682.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Holy Family.]

Plate 33. Louvre. _Holy Family._ Murillo. 1618-1682.

_Hofmann, Plate 31,_ tells of the quiet days at Nazareth, when Joseph worked at his trade, and Mary sat near spinning and watching the wondrous lad who in his child-way could help Joseph by fetching a needed tool. It was a peaceful, happy life, like that of the chickens and the doves. The memories of those days furnished Jesus with the wonderful figure of speech recorded in Matt. 23:37, 38. Hofmann, like other artists, is fond of symbolism, hence the square and the measuring stick are upon the shoulder of the child (Is. 9:6) who was to lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet (Is.

28:17); and the tools take the form of the cross. Jesus was subject unto his parents (Luke 2:51), and, in a sense, took up his cross daily, as all his disciples must ever do (Matt. 16:24). Such service is healthful and profitable (Luke 2:52).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Infancy of Christ.]

Plate 31. _Infancy of Christ._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

THE VISIT TO JERUSALEM.

Joseph and Mary probably went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the pa.s.sover. (Deut. 16:16.) And when Jesus was twelve years old they went up as usual taking him with them. (Luke 2:41-42.)

_Mengelberg, Plate 34,_ represents the holy family approaching the city. The temple with its smoking altars is seen in the distance. The artist has suggested the great company who went up every year to wors.h.i.+p, and with which, returning, Joseph and Mary supposed Jesus to be.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Jesus, Twelve Years Old, on his way to Jerusalem.]

Plate 34. _Jesus, Twelve Years Old, on his Way to Jerusalem._ O.

Mengelberg.

_Hofmann, Plates 38 and 39,_ ill.u.s.trates (Luke 2:46). Plate 38 is from the drawing in the artist's Life of Christ. Plate 39, from the famous painting in Dresden, is the more carefully finished. Hofmann has shown the seal of Solomon upon the "chair of philosophy," he has introduced the scroll of the prophets and suggested the rich stones of the temple, but the interest of all is upon the Boy, who came to fulfill the law and the prophets, and who was greater than the temple and greater than Solomon. (Matt. 5:17, John 2:19-20, Matt. 12:42).

This picture has become a cla.s.sic already, though Hofmann is still living.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christ Disputing with the Doctors.]

Plate 38. _Christ Disputing with the Doctors._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

[Ill.u.s.tration: In The Temple.]

Plate 39. _In The Temple._ H. Hofmann. 1824-

_Lafon, Plate 36,_ has idealized his subject. He has placed Jesus "in Moses' seat" (Matt. 23:2), conferring upon him a distinction amply justified by subsequent events especially by the Sermon on the Mount.

"It hath been said ... but I say unto you ..." these are the words which give Jesus a unique position as a teacher.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christ Among the Doctors.]

Plate 36. _Christ Among the Doctors._ emile J. Lafon.

_Hunt, Plate 35,_ adds that truthfulness of detail, that literalness of statement made possible by the antiquarian and the archaeologist.

It is the moment described in Luke 2:48, when his mother speaks to Jesus, "Son, why hast thou dealt thus with us?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Finding of Christ in the Temple.]

Plate 35. _Finding of Christ in the Temple._ Holman Hunt. 1827-

_Dobson, Plate 37,_ shows the moment of discovery, the moment just before Mary speaks. Some of the kinsfolk and acquaintances have evidently returned with Joseph and Mary. A rabbi is telling them about this wondrous child. (Luke 2:47.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christ Disputing in the Temple.]

Plate 37. _Christ Disputing in the Temple._ W. C. T. Dobson.

THE SILENT YEARS AT HOME.

Tradition says that Joseph soon died, and that Jesus supported the family by working at his trade.

_Hunt, Plate 40_, has invented an occasion to emphasize the prophetic words often applied to Mary, "Is any sorrow like unto my sorrow?"

(Lam. 1:12.) Simeon had said "Yea and a sword shall pierce through thine own soul," and Mary, "pondering all these things in her heart,"

is startled, at the close of the day, by seeing the shadow of her son cast upon the wall, like the form of one upon a cross.