A wide grin under a yellow cap.
Bible in art · Matthew
Barabbas
James Tissot · 1886–1894
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Tissot made Barabbas a single face filling the sheet: a weathered man in a yellow cap, with dark curls, a gold earring and a broad grin full of crooked teeth.
Behind him press the faces of the crowd that has just chosen him — laughing, shouting, staring. It is one of the few portraits in the series, painted close up like a scene glimpsed in the street.
From the text
- “a notorious prisoner named Barabbas” (Matthew 27:16)
- “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” … “Barabbas,” they replied (Matthew 27:21)
The artist’s own
- Barabbas grinning, with an earring and a yellow cap
- The crowd’s faces packed behind him
Details
Barabbas
The earring
A gold ring hangs from his ear.
Laughing
A man at the left laughs with his mouth open.
The crowd
Faces crowd together behind him.
James Tissot, French, 1836–1902. Brooklyn Museum, New York (Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.269) · 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".