The Healing of the Paralytic

Netherlandish painter · c. 1560/1590
National Gallery of Art, Washington

An unknown Netherlandish painter made this oil panel around 1560–90; it was long attributed to Jan van Hemessen. One huge figure fills it: the healed man striding barefoot down a hill, bent under the weight of his bedding.

The earlier part of the story is told small, in the background at the left. Men kneel on a roof and pull away the tiles, and in the doorway below the sick man lies on his stretcher in front of Jesus, surrounded by a crowd.

From the text

So many people that “there was no more room, not even outside the door” (Mark 2:2)

Men who “uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening” (Mark 2:4)

“The man got up, picked up his mat, and walked out in front of them all” (Mark 2:12)

The artist’s own

The mat turned into a whole Flemish bed — striped mattress, pillow and green blanket

The house in Capernaum as a wooden barn with a tiled roof in a Northern landscape

The healed man in the red tunic and white shirt of the painter’s own day

Before and after in one picture: the small scene behind, the big figure in front

Details

The healed man

His head bowed under the load, he grips his bedding with both hands.

The bed

A rolled striped mattress and a green blanket — a whole bed on his back.

On the roof

Men kneel on the roof and pull away tiles to make an opening.

At the door

Below, the sick man lies on his stretcher in front of Jesus, with the crowd around them.

Travellers

Far off on the road, two small figures walk towards a farmhouse.

Netherlandish 16th Century. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Chester Dale Collection, 1943.7.7) · Oil on panel · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)

The verses

Mark 2:1–12A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum. And when the people heard that He was home, they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room, not even outside the door, as Jesus spoke the word to them. Then a paralytic was brought to Him, carried by four men. Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus knew in His spirit that they were thinking this way within themselves. “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?” He asked. “Which is easier: to say to a paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.” And immediately the man got up, picked up his mat, and walked out in front of them all. As a result, they were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”