A bearded young man in a yellow shirt wades ashore.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Calling of Saint James and Saint John (Vocation de Saint Jacques et de Saint Jean)
James Tissot · 1886–1894
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Here the call comes as a sudden movement. Two young men splash through the shallows between dark boulders, away from the boat where their father and the hired men stay behind with the nets.
Tissot painted the lake water silver-grey and the shore in pebbles of many colours. The first brother, bearded, in a yellow shirt, strides towards the shore; the second, in green, looks back over his shoulder at the boat.
From the text
- James and John in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets (Matthew 4:21)
- “immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him” (Matthew 4:22)
The artist’s own
- The brothers wading ashore through the rocks
- Jesus left out of the picture — the brothers walk towards him, off the page
Details
The first brother
The second brother
In green, he hurries on but looks back.
The boat
The father and the others stay on board.
The shore
A beach of round pebbles in grey, white and brown.
James Tissot, French, 1836–1902. Brooklyn Museum, New York (Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.58) · 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".