He rides in white in the middle of the road.
Bible in art · Luke
The Procession on the Mount of Olives (Le cortège sur le mont des Oliviers)
James Tissot · 1886–1894
Brooklyn Museum, New York
The road comes down the Mount of Olives in a long zigzag, and the whole slope is full of people. Tissot painted the procession from below: young men run ahead waving palm branches, others spread their cloaks.
In the middle, small among the crowd, Jesus rides the donkey in white. Above him the road climbs back up the hill, lined with people carrying tall palm branches.
From the text
- “the people spread their cloaks on the road” (Luke 19:36)
- “as He approached the descent from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully” (Luke 19:37)
- Palm branches, which John mentions (John 12:13)
The artist’s own
- The zigzag road down the hill, seen from below
- A young man carrying a bundle of cloaks
Details
Jesus
Palm branches
A young man runs downhill with an armful of palm leaves.
Cloaks
A man carries a bundle of cloaks to lay on the road.
The road above
The crowd stretches back up the hill.
James Tissot, French, 1836–1902. Brooklyn Museum, New York (Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.192) · 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".