Books in Brief
022
An Illustrated Life of Jesus from the National Gallery of Art Collection
Richard I. Abrams and Warner A. Hutchinson
(Abingdon, Nashville 1982) 159 pp., 94 illustrations, $40.00 (regular edition) $75.00 (deluxe edition)
At a time when most books on religion and art provide few color plates and offer only postage size black and white prints, An Illustrated Life of Jesus is impressive for its profusion of color and full-page reproductions. All the illustrations in this volume are drawn from the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gallery of Art. Ninety-four art works from Duccio and Giotto through Rembrandt to Dali proclaim the events of Jesus’s life. Sixty-one of those works are reproduced in full color and 31 as full-page (11 inch × 9 inch) reproductions.
The text, by Richard I. Abrams, executive Vice President of Esquire, Inc., and Warner A. Hutchinson, formerly general secretary of the American Bible Society, succinctly retells the events of Jesus’s life. The art and text are organized in chapters on “Birth and Childhood,” “The Ministry,” “The Last Week,” and “Resurrection and Ascension.” Alongside each work of art a boxed panel contains details about the artist, the historical setting in which he worked, and the piece of art itself. The placement of these texts sharing the same page or facing the art work they describe enhances the value of this volume for both unbroken meditation and study or for teaching with a small church school class. As the authors stress, visual art has the power to communicate profoundly to people for whom words carry little weight.
Most of the art dates from the 15th through the 17th centuries with a heavy concentration of Italian art. Forty-two of the works are Italian, 17 German, 12 Flemish, ten Dutch (and seven of those are Rembrandts), six French, two American, two Spanish, two Swabian (Swabia was a medieval duchy in southwest Germany), and one British. Only two works date from the last two centuries: William Blake’s “The Last Supper” and Salvador Dali’s “The Sacrament of the Last Supper.” In the sections on Jesus’s ministry, the last week of his life, his resurrection and ascension, there is a wider range of historic periods and national origins represented by the art works than in the section on Jesus’s birth and childhood in which we see works primarily by 15th century Italian artists.
While the majority of plates show paintings regularly on view at the Smithsonian’s National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the book also contains a fair number of rarely exhibited engravings, bronzes, sculptures, and tapestries, including an engaging 16th century bronze plaque, “Christ and Nicodemus” (p. 59). The two figures in this small medallion, by an artist known only as Master P.G., look as if they could converse on equal terms long into the night. The round plaque only slightly exceeds two inches in diameter but it is reproduced here more than twice that size.
Close examination of the color quality of many plates is both rewarding and disappointing. One rarely sees a more faithful color reproduction of Mathias Grunewald’s “The Small Crucifixion” (p. 119). Grunewald’s unsettling greenish cast to Jesus’s skin is preserved. In other books, flesh tones often replace the green tone, thereby brightening the whole work and diminishing the appropriate agonizing effect. Care has also been taken with Rembrandt’s etching “Christ Between Two Thieves” (p. 121). The reproduction preserves the translucent darkness surrounding the central shaft of light that illumines Jesus and the thief who cried for mercy. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
Some other reproductions are not as successful. Translucence is largely lost in the reproduction of Rembrandt’s “The Descent from the Cross” (p. 126) where the foreground is too dark and subtle details disappear in the dark areas. The color quality in Botticelli’s “Adoration of the Magi” (p. 30) is similarly disappointing.
Nine works have been enlarged to cross two pages. The clear advantage to the reader of large size reproductions is somewhat diminished by the interruption of the center fold of the book. This is particularly damaging for Tintoretto’s “Christ at the Sea of Galilee” (p. 150–151) where the crease separates the risen Christ from the disciples.
Frequently, portions of full-page reproductions of paintings or engravings are cut off at the top or bottom or side. No notice is given that one is looking at a detail (albeit a large detail) of the original and not the full painting. This cropping is evident in Botticelli’s “Adoration of the Magi,” in Rembrandt’s 024“The Descent from the Cross,” in Rembrandt’s “Christ at Emmaus,” and in Georges de La Tour’s “The Repentent Magdalen.” In the latter, the top of the Magdalen’s head is cut off.
The subtle problems identified here, although important to point out, do not detract from the overall visual beauty of An Illustrated Life of Jesus nor from its clear readable text in large-size type. The volume will be widely appreciated by those who buy it either in its deluxe limited leather bound edition for $300, in the $75 slip-case deluxe edition, or in the $40 regular hardcover edition.
An Illustrated Life of Jesus from the National Gallery of Art Collection
Richard I. Abrams and Warner A. Hutchinson
(Abingdon, Nashville 1982) 159 pp., 94 illustrations, $40.00 (regular edition) $75.00 (deluxe edition)
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