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Tissot - Jesus Goes up Alone Onto a Mountain to Pray
Identifier
019323
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Artist as Believer – Art, April 5, 2010 Issue by Karen Sue Smith
Tissot’s people are dynamic and lifelike. In “Procession in the Streets of Jerusalem”, young boys in sidelocks sing and clap their hands as Jesus triumphantly enters the city by donkey. One of these young boys appears in an ominous scene just a few days later when Jesus, now a prisoner, is led from Caiaphas to Pilate. Tissot’s cast of characters extends beyond the leading roles to include townspeople whom viewers can recognize throughout the series.
The way Tissot presents Jesus, however, is often disappointing, especially in comparison with Rouault’s powerful images. At times Tissot’s Jesus appears as an expressionless, pale, blond man in a sea of energetic, gesturing, swarthy Jews. Some of this has to do with the small scale, where Jesus’ white robe and blond hair and beard become a cliché.
Fortunately, there are exceptions. “The Good Shepherd” Jesus, for example, his head covered, carries an errant lamb on his shoulders as he descends a mountain of boulders. He looks directly at the viewer as if caught in the act of doing his job. In “The Sower” (p. 26), Jesus is portrayed in a classic pose: a barefoot, vigorous man is casting seed by hand as the sun sets behind him. “Jesus Goes up Alone Onto a Mountain to Pray” shows a backlit Jesus viewed from below, standing atop a pinnacle, the dark blue sky behind him speckled with stars and illumined by a crescent moon.
A description of the experience
