Holy Week Illustrated by James Tissot: Spy Wednesday
Six illustrations for Wednesday in Holy Week, also called Spy Wednesday.
+ Judas Bargains with the Chief Priests to Betray Jesus
+ Jerusalem, Jerusalem
+ The Widow's Mite
+ The Disciples Admire the Buildings of the Temple
+ Jesus Foretells the Destruction of the Temple
+ The Meal in the House of the Pharisee and the Alabaster Box
Judas
Spy Wednesday gets its name because on this day Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin. The gospels all include an account of the betrayal -- Matthew 26:12-14, Mark 14:10-12, Luke 22:3-6.
This is how the Gospel of Mark recounts the events as quoted in Tissot’s commentary from the Douay Bible:
And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests, to betray him to them.
Who hearing it were glad; and they promised him they would give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
With his suspicious backward glance at the exchange between Judas and the priests, the unidentified foreground figure draws the viewer’s attention to the proceedings.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem
Matthew 23:37-39: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
The Widow's Mite
Mark 12:41-44: "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on.'"
The Disciples Admire the Buildings of the Temple
Jesus Foretells the Destruction of the Temple
Mark 13:1-2: "As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, 'Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!'"'Do you see all these great buildings?' replied Jesus. 'Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.'"
The Meal in the House of the Pharisee and the Alabaster Box
Mark 14:3-9 (also Luke 7:36-50): "While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, 'Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor.' And they rebuked her harshly."'Leave her alone,' said Jesus. 'Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.'"
This is one of a series of posts for Holy Week.
Holy Week Illustrated by James Tissot: Palm Sunday
Holy Week Illustrated by James Tissot: Monday
Holy Illustrated by James Tissot: Tuesday
Holy Week Illustrated by James Tissot: Holy Thursday
Holy Week Illustrated by James Tissot: Good Friday
Holy Week Illustrated by James Tissot: Holy Saturday
Holy Week Illustrated by James Tissot: Easter Sunday
fter his conversion back to the faith of his childhood, James Jacques Tissot, French realist painter of worldly scenes, took three arduous trips to the Holy Land to seek out and record authentic details about the people, the landscape, the architecture, and the way of life. On his return he created a series of goache (opaque watercolor) illustrations that he later published with great success with the title, The Life of Our Saviour Jesus Christ: Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Compositions from the Four Gospels with Notes and Explanatory Drawings.
In 1896, the illustrations went on a trans-Atlantic tour to be displayed in London, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, and they attracted throngs wherever they were shown. In 1900, the illustrations along with Tissot's preliminary drawings and notes were purchased on the advice of John Singer Sargent to be the centerpiece collection of the newly formed Brooklyn Museum of Art—with the help of thousands of subscriptions from average citizens. The images on this page are from the Brooklyn Museum www.brooklynmuseum.org.
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