He stands in white with gold rays around him.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Transfiguration (Ms. 101, fol. 55v, from the Illustrated Vita Christi, with devotional supplements)
Unknown English painter · about 1480–1490
Getty Center, Los Angeles
Another picture of the English life of Christ made in East Anglia about 1480–1490. The painter laid gold leaf behind the figures and drew rays on it in brown lines.
Jesus stands in a white robe on a hilltop, ringed with gold rays and a white cloud. Two bearded men stand on red clouds at either side. Below, three disciples tumble to the ground and shield their eyes.
From the text
- His clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:2)
- Moses and Elijah appear, talking with Jesus (Matthew 17:3)
- The disciples fall facedown in terror (Matthew 17:6)
The artist’s own
- The brightness shown as gold rays and a scalloped cloud
- Moses holding a book
Details
Jesus
Left figure
A bearded man with a book — Moses, by the story.
Right figure
A second bearded man — Elijah, by the story.
The disciples
Three men fallen on the grass.
Unknown illuminator, English (East Anglia). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Ms. 101 (2008.3), fol. 55v) · Tempera colors and gold leaf, on parchment · Images provided here are believed to be in the public domain and are available under CC0 through Getty’s Open Content Program. (Getty record: "No Copyright", http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)