A small white dove flies at the top of the beam of light.
Bible in art · Acts
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
The engraver Jonnard signed this plate of the 1866 Bible at the lower right; this print comes from the Polish edition of 1873–1874 in the National Library of Poland.
A broad beam of light falls from the top of a dark hall, and in it flies a small white dove. Little white flames hang in the air above the heads of the gathered people. In the middle a hooded man stands with his hands clasped; a veiled woman kneels at the front, and the others bow or kneel around them.
From the text
- “they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1)
- “They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” (Acts 2:3)
The artist’s own
- The dove in the beam of light — a custom of painters taken from the baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:22), not from this chapter
- A veiled woman among the apostles, as painters often showed Mary, following Acts 1:14
- Gothic arches in the shadows of the hall
Details
The dove
Flames
Small white flames hang in the air over the heads.
The veiled woman
She kneels at the front with her hands folded.
Arches
Pointed arches show faintly in the dark.
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.