Her hand drops a coin into a bowl on the wall.
Bible in art · Mark
The Widow's Mite
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
The engraver’s signature is at the lower right, Doré’s at the lower left. This is a plate in which architecture carries the story: a sunlit wall, a column with a carved capital and a flight of steps divide the woman from the men.
The widow, head bowed, drops a coin into an offering bowl fixed to the wall. Behind her Jesus comes down the steps with his disciples, a halo around his head, pointing her out. Nearer stands a rich man with tassels at his belt, his hands at his chest.
From the text
- “Jesus was sitting opposite the treasury” (Mark 12:41)
- “one poor widow came and put in two small copper coins” (Mark 12:42)
- “this poor widow has put more than all the others into the treasury” (Mark 12:43)
The artist’s own
- Jesus walking down the steps; the text has him sitting
- The treasury as a single bowl on the wall
- A richly dressed man standing close to her
Details
The offering bowl
The widow
She keeps her head bowed.
Jesus
With a halo, he points her out to his disciples.
The rich man
Tassels and a fringed sash hang from his robe.
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.