Image: Jean-Léon Gérôme, self-portrait (1886), oil on canvas, dimensions 40.6 cm x 30.5 cm, currently located at Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland.
Jean-Léon Gérôme (May 11, 1824 to January 10, 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax.
Image: La Maja Vestida (The Clothed Maja, painted between 1800-1805) by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, oil on canvas, dimensions 97 cm x 190 cm, located in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. It is a clothed version of La Maja Desnuda, exhibited next to it in the same room at the Prado Museum in Madrid. The painting was originally owned by Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy.
The Lament For Icarus, painting by British painter Herbert Draper
The Kelpie (1913) painting by British painter Herbert James Draper (1863-1920)
Clyties of the Mist (1912) painting by British painter Herbert James Draper.
Image: Image: Flying Fish (1910) by Herbert James Draper, oil on canvas, 94 cm x 61 cm
During the Passover festival Jesus Christ came with his followers to Jerusalem where a large crowd came to meet him. Jesus cleansed the Herod's Temple by overturning the tables of the moneychangers who set up shop there. Following this, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal, the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples before his death. It is an event that was later known as The Last Supper, in which he prophesied that he would be betrayed by one of his disciples and he would then be executed. In this ritual supper, Jesus took bread and wine in hand saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you’ and ‘this cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood’, and instructed them to ‘do this in remembrance of me’ (Luke 22:7-20).
In The Last Supper, Jesus washes his disciples' feet and gives his farewell discourses, discussing the persecution of his followers, the coming of the Holy Spirit, etc. He says a long final prayer with his disciples before heading to a garden where he knows Judas will show up.
According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus institutes a new covenant of his blood and body, the wine and bread. Some Christians describe this as the ‘Institution of the Eucharist’. Others view the Last Supper as later derived from first century Eucharistic practice.
The vessel which was used to serve the wine is sometimes called the Holy Chalice, and has been one of the supposed subjects of Holy Grail literature in Christian mythology. Also The Last Supper has been the subject of many literary works and paintings, of which the painting, The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps the best known.
Image: Christ Driving the Moneychangers from the Temple (1626), oil painting on oak panel by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), dimensions 43.1 cm x 32 cm, currently located at Pushkin Museum, Moscow.
The incident of ‘Cleansing of the Temple’ occurs in all four Gospels in the New Testament. It occurs near the end of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 11:15-19, 11:27-33; Matthew 21:12-17, 21:23-27; Luke 19:45-48, 20:1-8; and John 2:13-16). Jesus visited the Temple in Jerusalem, Herod's Temple, where the courtyard was filled with livestock and the tables of the moneychangers, who changed the Greek and Roman money for Jewish and Tyrian money, which were the only coinage used in Temple ceremonies. Creating a whip from some cords, ‘he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. But he said to those who sold doves, ‘Get these out of here! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!’ (John 2:13-16).
“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” - Matthew 21:12-13
Image: John the Baptist baptizing Christ (1723), painting by Italian painter Francesco Trevisani (1656-1746)
According to Gospels the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist marked the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Jesus came to the Jordan River where John the Baptist had been preaching and baptizing people. After Jesus was baptized, Mark states, “Jesus saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven saying, ‘You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Mk. 1:10-11).
Matthew describes John as initially hesitant to comply with Jesus' request for John to baptize him, stating that it was Jesus who should baptize him. Jesus persisted, "It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness" (Mt. 3:15). In Matthew, God's public dedication informs the reader that Jesus has become God's anointed (‘Christ’).
Image: Infant Jesus offering a drink of water to John the Baptist, a painting of 1600's by Spanish painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682).
