A MODERN SACRED PICTURE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 44, 7 August 1891, Page 11

A MODERN SACRED PICTURE.

Sacbbd art in Italy ig not dead, the fai'h still animates the painter. Antoniu Ciaeri, who died at the age of 69, about a month since in Florence, wa<j a real Catholic, and, being an artist, was able to show on his canvas his religion. One of his pictures, " The Machabeea," is in the Church of Bt. Felicita, in Florence ; another, " The carrying of Our Lord to the Tomb," is at Locarns, in the Church of the Madonna del Basso. His last work '• Ecce Homo," finished Bhortly before his death, is on view in Florence. A wonderful picture it is The presenta'ion of the subject is unusual. The spectator is suppoaed to be standing on the ba'cony where Jesus w»s presented to the people, and behind those engaged in the terrible scene. It is early morning in spring ; the sun has risen and colours the walls of the houses, on tops of which there are a few spectators, with a golden light. From the far end of the street, which leads to the Palace of the Roman Procurator, and up to the very palace itself, there is a surging, yelling crowd, whose faces, all of a Jewish type, show thirst for blood. On the left (the right of tbe picture) are the guards, five in number — two in helmets with colonred feather plumes ; one of the soldiers carries the Roman eagle, which glistens like gold. Another guard stands behind the chair of Pilate, which ia white and gilt, over which is thrown a leopard's skin ; another holds in bis right hand the crimson cloak which has been stripped from tbe ahoulders of tha Divine Sufferer, and in his left the cord which binds His hands. Oa the right of the balcony are two courtiers, one of whom cranes his head to look at the populace over the shoulder of the man in front of him. A little more to the centre stands a female attendant, who is clasping one hand of Pilate's wife, who lays her other hand on tbe ltft shoulder of the slave. The wife of Pilate has turned away ; her face evidences great anxiety and thought. Before Ciseri was satisfied with this faca he repainted it a dozen time 9. On tha left of this group, and almost in the ceatre of the picture, is Pontius Pilate. Dressed ia a white toga, he bends over the balcony towards the crowd beneath him ; his left hand points to our Lord. In his attitude onecaa see contempt and scorn, coupled with a weak desire to please the populace. Jesua Onrist standu a little back on the left of Pilate, HU bands bound behind Him. He is bare to the waist, an! thence down to the feet covered with a Bcarlet cloth. In this poßition the spectator get 9 rather less than a profile of our Lord's face, and it is marvellous hotr the painter has contrived to invest His figure with so much dignity, patience, silence, and, indeed, all the Divine virtues.— Exchange.