She lies on the pillows, her hands folded, and her eyes are opening.
Bible in art · Luke
The Raising of Jairus's Daughter
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
Doré set this miracle in a quiet room rather than a crowd. The design was cut in wood for the Bible of 1866.
A heavy curtain hangs over the bed, where the girl lies propped on pillows, her eyes just opening. Jesus, with a halo, stands beside her and touches her head. Her mother kneels with her face pressed into the covers. Across a bare stone floor three men watch, one with his hand at his chin; the light gathers on the bed.
From the text
- Only Peter, John, James and the child’s father and mother went in with Him (Luke 8:51)
- “she is not dead but asleep” (Luke 8:52)
- Jesus took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up!” (Luke 8:54)
The artist’s own
- His hand rests on her head, while the text says He took her by the hand
- The mother hiding her face on the bed, not yet seeing what happens
- A tall room with a canopy bed, wooden beams and a stone floor
Details
The girl
Jesus
With a halo, He stands by the bed and lays His hand on her head.
The mother
She kneels and buries her face in the bedclothes.
Those who watch
Three men stand back on the stone floor; one raises his hand to his chin.
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.