Judas leans close to Jesus’s face.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Kiss of Judas
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
The Pannemaker and Doms workshop signed this plate at the lower right. It is a night scene lit from several sources at once: a lantern on a pole, torches among the trees and a faint glow around Jesus’s head.
Judas, bearded, leans in to kiss Jesus, gripping his hand and laying an arm on his shoulder. Jesus stands still in a pale robe and does not pull away. Around them crowd soldiers in armor and helmets, men in turbans and a man holding a club.
From the text
- “a large crowd armed with swords and clubs” (Matthew 26:47)
- “The One I kiss is the man; arrest Him” (Matthew 26:48)
- “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him (Matthew 26:49)
The artist’s own
- Roman soldiers in armor among the crowd; Matthew speaks of a crowd sent by the chief priests and elders
- A lantern on a tall pole and torches among the trees
- Judas holding Jesus’s hand as he kisses him
Details
The kiss
The hands
Judas grips Jesus’s hand.
The lantern
A lantern on a pole lights the scene.
Armor
A soldier wears a breastplate and holds a weapon.
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.