White-bearded, he looks up into the light as he speaks.
Bible in art · Jeremiah
Baruch Writes Jeremiah's Prophecies
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
The engraving workshop of Pannemaker and Doms signed this plate at the lower right; Doré’s own signature is at the lower left. In his Bible such quiet scenes of one or two figures alternate with crowded spectacles, and they depend wholly on the fall of light.
Old Jeremiah stands in a cave, his face turned up into a beam of light, one hand on his chest. With the other he touches the head of young Baruch, who kneels beside him barefoot and writes with a quill. Everything else sinks into the dark rock.
From the text
- Baruch writes “at the dictation of Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 36:4)
- He wrote “on a scroll all the words that the LORD had spoken to Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 36:4)
- Jeremiah could not go to the temple himself: “I am restricted” (Jeremiah 36:5)
The artist’s own
- A flat writing board instead of the scroll of the text
- A cave and a beam of light; the text does not say where they were
- Jeremiah’s hand resting on Baruch’s head as he speaks
Details
Jeremiah
The beam
A shaft of light falls through the darkness of the cave.
Board and quill
Baruch writes on a flat board, not a scroll.
A hand
Jeremiah’s hand rests on the young scribe’s head.
Gustave Doré, French, 1832–1883. National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw — «Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu», vol. 2, Warsaw: M. Glücksberg, 1874 (acc. 75.267 A) · Wood engraving after Gustave Doré’s design · National Library of Poland (Polona): the record of the volume gives the licence «Domena Publiczna» (Public Domain), «copyrightProtected»: false; the scan was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the library itself («Polona Upload», GLAM-Wiki partnership: “This file was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership between the National Library of Poland and Wikimedia Polska”), linking its Polona record.