He sits on a rock and stretches out his hand.
Bible in art · Matthew
Jesus Teaches the People by the Sea (Jésus enseigne le peuple près de la mer)
James Tissot · 1886–1894
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Jesus sits on a boulder at the edge of the lake in a white mantle, with a striped cloth beneath him, and speaks with an open hand. Behind him the calm water and a long dark mountain stretch across the sheet.
Tissot shows the moment before the boat: people of every age crowd round on the stony shore, sitting and standing, wrapped in mantles of many colours.
From the text
- “Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea” (Matthew 13:1)
- “Such large crowds gathered around Him” (Matthew 13:2)
The artist’s own
- The steep mountain across the lake
- A striped cloth spread on the rock
Details
Jesus
The mountain
A long dark ridge rises across the lake.
Listening
People crowd on the shore in bright mantles.
An old man
A white-bearded listener stands at the right.
James Tissot, French, 1836–1902. Brooklyn Museum, New York (Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.90) · 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".