Saint John the Baptist and the Pharisees (Saint Jean-Baptiste et les pharisiens)

James Tissot · 1886–1894
Brooklyn Museum, New York

John stands on a rock ledge above a stony slope, barefoot in a short brown tunic, and points down at the men who have come to hear him. Tissot painted the scene in bright daylight with pale grey-green stones.

Below him a crowd sits and stands: men in turbans and long mantles, a pair of Roman soldiers in red cloaks, people resting on the rocks. On the ledge at the right two men in white sit apart and watch.

From the text

Pharisees and Sadducees come to John’s place of baptism (Matthew 3:7)

“You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (Matthew 3:7)

The artist’s own

Roman soldiers among the listeners

The steep rocky setting with a cave below John

Details

John

He stands barefoot on the ledge and points at the crowd.

The listeners

Men in mantles and turbans stand with their backs to us.

Soldiers

Two men in red cloaks and armour stand among the crowd.

Watching

Two men in white sit on the rocks at the right.

James Tissot, French, 1836–1902. Brooklyn Museum, New York (Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.47) · Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper · Brooklyn Museum (Commons file page, «Permission»): "This image was uploaded by the Brooklyn Museum as a content partnership, and is considered to have no known copyright restrictions by the institutions of the Brooklyn Museum." — "No known copyright restrictions".

The verses

Matt 3:7–10But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.