The Shadow of Death

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The Shadow of Death
William holman hunt-the shadow of death.jpg
Artist William Holman Hunt
Year1873
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions214.2 cm× 168.2 cm(84.3 in× 66.2 in)
Location Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

The Shadow of Death is a religious painting by William Holman Hunt, on which he worked from 1870 to 1873, during his second trip to the Holy Land. [1] It depicts Jesus as a young man prior to his ministry, working as a carpenter. He is shown stretching his arms after sawing wood. The shadow of his outstretched arms falls on a wooden spar on which carpentry tools hang, creating a "shadow of death" prefiguring the crucifixion. His mother Mary is depicted from behind, gazing up at the shadow, having been looking into a box in which she has kept the gifts given by the Magi.

Contents

Background and interpretation

In 1850 Hunt's colleague John Everett Millais had already portrayed Jesus as a budding carpenter, helping his father as a young boy. Millais' painting, Christ in the House of his Parents , had been viciously attacked by critics because of the alleged squalour of the workshop. Hunt repeats many features of Millais's painting, but emphasises Jesus' physical health and muscularity.

Hunt's portrayal of Jesus as a hard-working adult craftsman and labourer was also probably influenced by Thomas Carlyle who repeatedly emphasised the spiritual value of honest labour. [2] It also corresponds to the emergence of Muscular Christianity, the view of writers Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hughes and others, who promoted physical strength and health as well as a vigorous pursuit of Christian ideals in personal and political life. Carlyle had strongly criticised Hunt's earlier depiction of Jesus in The Light of the World , identifying it as a "papistical" picture because it showed Jesus in regal clothing. [3] The portrayal of Mary's thriftiness (by carefully "saving" the gifts) also fits the emphasis on working class financial responsibility promoted by contemporary evangelical publications such as The British Workman.

The painting contains detailed typological symbolism, referring to the theological significance of Christ's role and identity. This may be related to Millais's contemporaneous Victory O Lord! . [4]

Exhibition

The painting was a popular success and was widely reproduced as an engraving. The profits made possible the donation of the original to the city of Manchester in 1883. It is now held by the Art Institute of Chicago. [5]

Diarist Francis Kilvert describes a visit to see the painting on display in 1874, the year after its completion. His entry for 27 June 1874 reads, "I regret to say that against good advice and wise warning I went to see Holman Hunt's picture of the Shadow of Death. It was a waste of a good shilling. I thought the picture theatrical and detestable and wished I had never seen it." [6]

In 1913 Lillian Williamson led an attack on the Manchester Art Gallery. She, Evelyn Manesta and Annie Briggs waited until the gallery was closing and then proceeded to break the glass on many of the most valuable paintings in including the "Shadow of Death", two by John Everett Millais and two by George Frederick Watts. Staff were alerted by the sound of broken glass and the three were apprehended. Williamson was sentenced to three months in prison. [7]

Versions

Hunt also painted a small-scale version of the composition in 1873. Hunt expert Judith Bronkhurst describes it as "harder and crisper in appearance than the Manchester painting". It was sold for £1.8 million in 1994, which at that time was the highest price paid for a Pre-Raphaelite painting. [8] It is held in Leeds Art Gallery.

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<i>A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomews Day</i> Painting by John Everet Millais

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<i>The Miracle of the Holy Fire</i> (painting) Painting by William Holman Hunt

The Miracle of the Holy Fire (1892–1899) is a painting by William Holman Hunt which depicts the Greek Orthodox rite of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem. Hunt believed the fire to be a pious fraud which brought Christianity into disrepute. He intended the painting to be a satire in the manner of William Hogarth. Hunt published an elaborate keyplate explaining the identity of the various characters depicted.

<i>The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple</i> Painting by William Holman Hunt

The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple (1854–1860) is a painting by William Holman Hunt intended as an ethnographically accurate version of the subject traditionally known as "Christ Among the Doctors", an illustration of the child Jesus debating the interpretation of the scripture with learned rabbis. The passage illustrated is from the Gospel of Luke, 2:41, which states:

Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

<i>Victory O Lord!</i> Painting by John Everet Millais

Victory O Lord! is an 1871 painting by John Everett Millais depicting Moses, Aaron and Hur during the Battle of Rephidim against the Amalekites. Along with his landscape Chill October it represented a major turning point in Millais career.

<i>Mariana</i> (Millais) Painting by John Everett Millais

Mariana is an 1851 oil-on-panel painting by John Everett Millais. The image depicts the solitary Mariana from William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, as retold in Tennyson's 1830 poem "Mariana". The painting is regarded as an example of Millais's "precision, attention to detail, and stellar ability as a colorist". It has been held by Tate Britain since 1999.

<i>A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids</i> Painting by William Holman Hunt

A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids is a painting by the English artist William Holman Hunt that was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1850 and is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It was a companion to John Everett Millais's Christ in the House of His Parents. Both artists sought to depict similar episodes from very early Christian history, portraying families helping an injured individual. Both also stressed the primitivism of the scene.

<i>Rienzi vowing to obtain justice for the death of his young brother, slain in a skirmish between the Colonna and the Orsini factions</i> Painting by William Holman Hunt

Rienzi vowing to obtain justice for the death of his young brother, slain in a skirmish between the Colonna and the Orsini factions is an oil-on-canvas painting by the English artist William Holman Hunt, produced in 1849 and currently in a private collection.

<i>The Lady of Shalott</i> (William Holman Hunt) Painting by William Holman Hunt

The Lady of Shalott is an oil painting by William Holman Hunt, made c. 1888-1905, and depicting a scene from Tennyson's 1833 poem, "The Lady of Shalott". The painting is held by the Wadsworth Atheneum, in Hartford, Connecticut. A smaller version is held by the Manchester Art Gallery.

References

  1. Stott, John (2006). The Cross of Christ. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. p. 23. ISBN   083083320X. He spent 1870-1873 in the Holy Land, and painted The Shadow of Death in Jerusalem, as he sat on the roof of his house.
  2. Bronkhurt, J., William Holman Hunt: A Catalogue Raisonné, 2006, p. 226.
  3. Hunt, W.H. Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, 1905
  4. typological symbolism in The Shadow of Death
  5. Bronkhurst, J. pp. 225-7.
  6. Kilvert, Francis, A Wiltshire Diary, Penguin UK, 2009
  7. "Manchester Art Gallery Outrage | Manchester Art Gallery". Manchester Art Gallery. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  8. Bronkhurst, Judith, William Holman Hunt: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 232.