He kneels and reaches up toward Jesus.
Bible in art · Matthew
Jesus Heals a Man Who Could Not Speak
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
Only a small letter P marks the engraver at the lower right of this plate. The design is simple and frieze-like: a row of standing men across the sheet, a city wall and palms behind, and bright, empty ground in front.
The healed man kneels before Jesus, one hand on his robe and the other raised, his staff fallen on the ground. Jesus, in a pale robe with a soft halo, turns toward a group of bearded men at the right; one of them points and argues.
From the text
- “a demon-possessed man who was mute was brought to Jesus” (Matthew 9:32)
- “the man began to speak” (Matthew 9:33)
- The Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons” (Matthew 9:34)
The artist’s own
- The man kneeling, his staff dropped, just after the healing
- A walled town with palm trees behind the figures
- The amazed crowd and the objecting Pharisees drawn as one group of arguing men
Details
The healed man
The staff
His walking stick lies forgotten on the ground.
Jesus
A soft glow surrounds his head as he turns to the men.
The argument
A bearded man raises a finger as he speaks.
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.