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Rise Of A Star. Scenes From The Life Of Jesus Christ. Paintings Of James Tissot Part 1
P. S. Remesh Chandran
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
Article Title Image By Angeleses. Graphics: Adobe SP.First published: 28th Dec 2012
In the modern day world, tracing the life of a great man is not difficult, for there would be photographs of his taken by contemporaries in his time. But what would we do to observe the life of a great man who lived among us before 2000 years? We have the only option of searching for paintings that may exist in castles, caves, churches, monasteries or archives. Luckily, to view the like of Jesus, we have a unique collection of paintings done by a single person, saved at a single repository.
Holy Virgin Mary in her early life, a maiden.
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| The Holy Virgin in her youth. |
There
have been thousands of paintings based on Jesus Christ’s life, done by
hundreds of gifted painters in all countries, done in all centuries.
These paintings include those done by such talented and gifted ones as
Andrea del Castagno, Andrea del Verrocchio, Boticelli, Caravaggio,
Dieric Bouts, El Greco, Filippino Lippi, Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini,
Hieronymus Bosch, Leonardo da Vinci, Ligier Richier, Lotto, Mark
Antokolski, Nicolas Poussin, Perugino, Peter Paul Rubens, Piero della
Francesca, Piero di Cosimo, Pieter Brueghel, Raffaello Sanzio, Rogier
van der Weyden, Signorelli, Tintoret, and Titian. Most of them are lost,
some of them are in public museums and churches and not a few of them
are in private collections. Not one can see them all even if he is
blessed with so many lives. There have been artists who attempted
picturizing scenes which he liked and admired, and also there have been
other artists who attempted painting all the important scenes like a
historian whether he liked and admired those scenes or not. There have
been much differences in drawing the face of Christ. There have also
been much differences in the artists’ research and learning the
costumes, backgrounds and body postures in Jesus’ times. There have been
excellently bright pictures done in vibrant colours by artists who
could afford costly materials. And there also have been equally
brilliant pictures done by poor artists on cheap materials who could not
afford even the buying of their daily bread. They all shared one thing
in common- exhilaration at the simplicity and humbleness of that divine
life. If you want to follow the life of Jesus with your eyes, without
straining unnecessarily to read printed words, your choice of artists
are very limited for the brightness of the picture and the likeness of
the face of Jesus changes with each artist. The author’s selection is
James Tissot, and the readers can have the privilege of reconstructing
the life of Christ with other painters. Anyway it would be a worthwhile
attempt for we would be going through everything man was born with,
passing through anger, darkness, tears and sunshine, especially learning
the meaning and purpose of tears.
Testing of the suitors of the Holy Virgin.
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| Testing the suitors of the holy virgin. James Tissot. |
A
fine collection of scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, done by a 19th
century painter named James Tissot is saved and collected at one place,
the Brooklyn Museum. He did these paintings in water colour over a
charcoal base on woven paper, all four hundred of them, probably
commissioned by a church, taking only six years from 1886 to 1894 to
finish them. We cannot all go there and see these pictures and go
through the life of Jesus Christ once again, but they magnanimously
shared those magnificent paintings with Wikimedia Commons, a few of
which are reintroduced here in the order of their happening in the real
life of that great revolutionary. We are greatly indebted to both these
great institutions for making this endeavor possible. Links to both
these institutions are provided at the end of this article to lead
readers to these two repositories which made this great service of
storing safe the scenes from the eventful life of the saviour of this
world, a saviour spiritually and physically.
It is the early life of Jesus Christ that is pictured here, from the
girlhood of the Blessed Mother, her betrothal to Saint Joseph, the
anointment, the birth of infant Jesus among sheep and cows in a manger,
the visit of the three magician priests from the East, the slaughter of
all infants who might become a challenge to king Herodes, the flight of
this holy family to Egypt, their sojourn in Egypt and their return from
Egypt, the presentation of Jesus in the temple and the last picture of
Jesus Christ carrying a wooden plank, before he vanished at the age of
twelve years. There would be three more articles that would be published
here, if circumstances permit. They are Jesus- The Healer, The Story Of
A Crucifixion and What Happened After The Cross.
Betrothal of the Holy Virgin and Saint Joseph.
 |
| Betrothal of the holy virgin and Saint Joseph. |
James
Tissot, the French painter who lived in Paris and London during the
years 1836 to 1902 abandoned all his other subjects when he was moved by
the pictorial scopes of the New Testament. He painted nearly 400 of
them within the six years between 1886 and 1894, all in the simplest of
mediums, opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper. In Brooklyn
Museum’s words, these paintings were hall marks of ‘archaeological
exactitude and historical authenticity’. To learn the customs, costumes,
architecture and landscape of the Holy Land, he travelled through the
Middle East and took countless number of photographs and made
innumerable number of drawings. These paintings were purchased by public
subscription. The people of Brooklyn at the turn of the 20th century
took a public collection called out by the newspaper Brooklyn Daily
Eagle, purchased the paintings and made them available on public display
at the Brooklyn Museum. The world has to thank them three for this
great act of theirs which kept these pictures in public custody instead
of reaching private archives.
 |
| The Annunciation. James Tissot. |
Like
all mothers in the world, Mary also was a lovely young girl, attending
dutifully the chores of a community life. Like all mothers, she also was
betrothed to a person. The only difference was, since it was destined
to give birth to a saviour of the world whom she will have to loose at
an early age which was known to eastern sages, and also since she will
have to undergo the hardest and severest trials in her life which would
be shared by a man, her husband had to be carefully chosen to help
facilitate the completion of the mission. So, her suitors were tested.
Birth of Jesus Christ in a humble cattle shed.
 |
| The birth of Jesus in a humble cattle shed. |
Annunciation,
reincarnation, etc are alien to many communities and sects in the world
but it was not so with the ancient Egyptians and Indians. Egyptian and
Indian beliefs and faith are confident about the truth of both. Are we
not all annunciations of our creator irrespective of our parents’ bodily
relations? Are we not reincarnations of our ancestors, imitating them
in speech, gesture, look, walk, conduct, and nature, everything, made
possible by the mysterious messengers whom we call genes?
The adoration of the shepherds.
 |
| The adoration of the shepherds. |
Population
census in old times was different from now in that now enumerators come
to our house but then people travelled to the city for their count and
details to be taken. Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to take part in
the census but did not get a place for Mary to give birth to her child.
They knocked on every door but could not find a place. Every house and
public place been occupied, she got shelter in somebody’s cattle shed.
There was none to attend Mary in her pains. God had chosen his son to
have the lowliest and most humble place for his birth. The most innocent
and worthy beings in the world, sheep and cows, witnessed the birth.
Apart from the incessant snow and cold, it was the most stainless birth
for a human. It was the simplest of people, belonging to the most
ancient of professions, shepherds, who first came to see the baby, with
presents of course. Great things start simple.
Three Magician Priests from the East, guided by a star, journeying to see the child.
 |
| Three magician priests journeying from the east. |
Three
magician priests in the east, probably in India, Tibet and Afghanistan,
glimpsed the appearance of a new star in the sky and sensed that a
divine birth has happened somewhere in the world. Star watching had been
developed by then as a full fledged science among the ancient Indians
and the Babylonians. These three magician priests from the east, or Magi
in the short form decided to trace the child who would be very divine
for his birth to be announced by the appearance of a new star. They
decided to follow the path guided by the lonely star, the lode-star,
wherever in the world that child might be. Bearing eastern presents like
camphor and saffron, suffering hardships all the way, they travelled
thousands of miles through snow-clad mountains and parching deserts,
accompanied by their people, staff and spies, and finally reached where
the star led.
The adoration of the three Magician Priests from the East.
 |
| Adoration of the three magician priests from the east. |
The
presence of so large a group of persons from the east cannot be hidden
from the city authorities. They certainly had to pay a visit to Herodes.
Either they might have been successful in revealing not the actual
purpose of their journey or the exact place of their visit. A king can
guess many things in his intelligence or his courtiers can. He already
knew there would be challenges to his throne and that the challenge in
only newly born. He ordered the killing of all newly borns. Why the
story of Christ is linked with the story of Christna we can guess now.
Lord Krishna when he was born, was prophesied to have born to kill his
uncle, the king Kamsa. He knew about the prophecy but did not know
which child. Therefore he ordered killing of all newly borns. Krishna’s
father folded him in a shawl and in heavy rains, while a huge snake
provided umbrella protection, took him secretly to safety and hiding.
Scholars believed, the names Christ and Jesus were given by the Hindus
of India coining from Sanskrit which infuriated the Sanskrit-studied
European Max Muller who attempted vainly to disprove this belief.
The massacre of the innocent childen by King Herodes.
 |
| Massacre of the innocent children by soldiers. |
Countless
number of newborns were slaughtered by the king's soldiers to prevent
one among them growing up and de-throning him some day.
The flight of Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and Infant Jesus into Egypt.
 |
| The flight into Egypt. |
Look,
the bent head of Mary, tilted down by the burden of the world's sins
and crimes, is what the author of this painting wanted the world to
note. To save one's child, to save the world, to rescue humanity, what
persecutions and hardships will a mother have to undergo during her
life? Since the birth of the child, never had she got a moment of solace
or relief, except when looking at its tiny face.
The sojourn of a Holy Family in Egypt.
 |
| The sojourn in Egypt. |
It
is not the only time in world's history that holy persons have had to
flee. Lord Krishna and Prophet Muhammad Nabi also had to flee from
pursuers at one time in their lives. Many have lived in exile, before
returning to teach the world goodness. Sree Rama, Pandtava Princes in
Mahabharatha and King Nala had to live in hiding for many years. They
had to make their living at those times, obeying the customs of the land
which gave them hiding, engaging in what occupations were available
there.
The return from Egypt.
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| The return from Egypt. |
Now
the boy is grown up, nearly twelve years old. Watchful eyes of spies of
the Magi might be following them from a distance. They know the boy
would be recognized, and are prepared to take him with them to safety.
 |
| Jesus lost and found in the temple. |
Presenting
a child at the temple was a custom, not only in Jerusalem but in every
ancient community. Jesus also was presented so soon as he was returned
from Egypt. No sooner than he entered the temple than he was lost. The father and mother who searched for him everywhere at last happened to hear a serious discourse made by a little voice to a large group of listeners inside one part of the temple. It was little Jesus giving a lecture on theology to a very attentive audience. We know how authorities will become suspicious when a child
12 years old appears from nowhere all of a sudden, that too 12 years
after the massacre of all new born babies in Jerusalem who might grow up
as a threat to King Herodes’ throne. We have to assume that there were
spies from the east, looking for any threats to the child and report
back to the three magician priests.
The last picture of Jesus before the time of his vanishing.
 |
| The youth of Jesus before vanishing. |
There
has been debates on where Jesus had been during the years he vanished.
It is only logical to assume that the three magician priests from the
east took him back considering the child’s safety and the importance of
his mission. They trained him in the north eastern kingdoms in India,
moved him through Ladakh to Tibet and returned him to his place of
mission after 18 years of education. It is not strange to note that most
of the people in these north eastern states are now Christian and their
native language is now English.
Note:
It is not irrelevant here to include a note of comment by the author, published elsewhere:
‘2000 years back, when this famous carpenter of Jerusalem, fleeing from
the traitors and aggressors and wormy authorities of his land to secure
his life and save his philosophy till his mission is completed, found
safety, security, hospitality, solace and moral fighting powers in the
far northern native kingdoms of India. That is how the missing years in
the life of Christ is explained. When he was born in a cattle shed,
again due to haughty abuse of authority, three magician priests from the
east, that is from India, read the stars and found their way through
thousands of miles to the west to bless the newborn babe, all this
journey guided by a lonely star. In those times star watching had
developed as a full practical science only among the Indians and the
ancient Babylonians. The spices they brought to the child as presents
also denote the land where they came from. In ancient Greece, when the
great teacher Socrates succumbed to death in an evening in a prison cell
in Athens, Plato wept and decided he would take revenge upon the
authorities for the death of his master. When advised by friends to flee
from Greece before authorities found and executed him too, he fled,
travelled the route Alexander later took and reached India. His missing
years were spent in India, learning the philosophies and fighting
talents, which he when returned, displayed brilliantly and became the
master of kings. We see in history, after the execution of Socrates for
criticizing state, after just three generations in the time of
Aristotle, Socratic philosophies became the ruling principles of the
state when King Phillip of Macedonia appointed Aristotle as Alexander’s
master. Many anti-religious people in Asia, especially in countries like
communist China do not know India became home to how many thousands of
Jews who lost homes during the mad military maneuvers of the two world
wars. They do not even know how many millions of Nepalis, Burmese,
Tibetans, Kashmiris, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis refugees India received
and protected during international power turmoils. During these
turmoils, countries like these closed their borders. The Hindus,
Christians and Muslims of India, with traditional true Indian
hospitality, receive anyone who has lost a home. The honourable Dalai
Lama was not the last. He has been living in India with his people for
half a century, happily accepting India as their second home. He was not
a citizen of China, but he lost his home in Tibet, the most un-Chinese
act in the past century from the un-Chinese rulers of China. He will
return to his free nation. The people of India will see to it. India can
shelter, protect and train every lone bird which has lost its sky and
nest. It is a generations- old tradition of India. Every returning bird
will capture the world, and India will smile inwardly and go on as
before’.
A great people, city and institutions who preserved the pictures.
Pictures Courtesy: First and foremost we are to thank those citizens of
Brooklyn City who took a public collection and kept these pictures in
public custody. We are immensely indebted to those two prestigious
Institutions Wikimedia Commons and Brooklyn Museum for magnanimously
making available these pictures to the public. And our thanks and
respect goes to James Tissot for rendering these paintings beautifully
for posterity.
Link to Brooklyn Museum: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/
Link to Wikimedia Commons page:
'http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:The_Life_of_Jesus_Christ_by_James_Tissot'
Dear Reader,
If you cannot access all pages of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum, kindly access them via this link provided here:
https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/wiki-nut-articles
To read about the life and people of Kerala, the author’s native land, visit KERALA COMMENTARY here.
For more articles of this kind, visit SAHYADRI BOOKS here or BLOOM BOOKS, TRIVANDRUM.
Comments
Sivaramakrishnan A31st Dec 2012 (#)
Very
thought provoking, passionately written. Lots of events of history and
interpretation of religious texts have to be deduced and derived from
various sources. I believe nothing are cast in stone as those who record
are human too lending themselves to own interpretations. They can be
carried away too - siva
PSRemeshChandra1st Jan 2013 (#)
The
changes happening in our being causes us write. And our writing causes
us change. I do not know which force is stronger. You would know better.
Since I became familiar with the paintings of James Tissot, I had this
feeling they had to be reintroduced before a very good reading public.
After publishing and seeing them for the first time in the form of a web
page, I also discovered one new thing: seeing them by scrolling from
down to up provides a new experience, that of going to the past of
Christ, he becoming tinier and tinier till he becomes a lovely tiny
little baby.
Buzz31st Dec 2012 (#)
Fabulous Star article on the life of Jesus, dear friend, with beautiful images to boot. Happy New Year!
PSRemeshChandra1st Jan 2013 (#)
The time draws near the birth of Christ,
The moon is hid, the night is chill,
And Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist.
Happy New Year to Dear Buzz, and all by Wikinut Friends.
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