The Globe-republican., 1896-01-02

NS\ SOt, III lluSIIdUu&
&EIS The Life Of
&N Christ" The work
H& is shortly to be
%~ published in Tours
x France, in the most
expensive form, $1,000 each for
the first twenty-one copies, and
$500 each for the remainder Of the
edition of 1000 copies. The Century
has acquired the right of reproducing
dozen of the finest of Tissot's pic
lures. and these accompany Miss
Coues' article. The writer says: In
the Paris of to-day a great religious
work has been slowly accomplished, un-
touched by the insidious influences
about it. In the production Of this
work, which externalizes his full de-
velopment as man and artist, NJ. Tis-
sot has been impelled by desire to use
his art for the purpose of presenting q
truthful idea of the figure of Christ and
the personages of his time-to disen-
gage the whole, as far as possible, from
the mass Of Conventional legend and
inaccuracy which surrounds that Pc
rfod, and through which we are accus-
toned to view its events. With this
idea he made, in 1886, the first of two
journeys to Palestine, beginning q
serious study Of its topography, and of
the various races which have from time
to time taken root there-their man
ners. customs, dress, gestures, archi-
lecture, g0vernment-endeavoring to
sift through the overlying mass of
foreign influences (Arab, Turkish, Per-
sian and Latin) the true elements Of the
old Jewish civilization, and essaying. as
far as possible, to enter into the mental
and moral attitudes of that race of
Judea, so unique in its design and des-
tiny. With this end in mind it was
necessary to reproduce with some de-
gree Of exactitude the external setting
Of the events recorded in the Gospels,
and he has thus reconstructed the
architecture Of that period with great
minuteness, proportioned after dimen-
sions and descriptions given in old his
toric and religious works. He rebuilds
for us the ornate temples and houses of
the Herods, and the simpler and more
harmonious lines Of older structures.
We see, too, the little Syrian villages,
with their narrow, winding streets and
square, low dwellings, lighted through
the door; and faithfully pictured are
the varying types of the Syrian land
scape, the smiling hillsides of Galilee,
the severe beauty of Samaria, and the
barren and melancholy wastes of Judea.
A devout Catholic, M. Tissot had,
among other opportunities for study,
the privilege Of entering old monas-
teries and churches, generally inacces-
sible, where, jealousy guarded from
pr0fane eyes. are to be found ancient
and curious manuscripts, carvings, and
relics which throw new light on the
history of that time and the early CEN
turies of the Christian era. Apart from
what would seem almost special powers
of intuition where his work is con-
cerned, M. Tissot has been greatly
aided by study of the Taimud, Joseph
US, the early fathers of the church,
and the works of the celebrated &C.
states, among the last those marvellous
volumes of Katrine Emmerich, almost
unknown and now out of print, which
are among the most curious revelations
Of the human mind. In connection with
his work NJ. Tissot has made a new
translation of the Latin text Of the
Vulgate. To those occupying them
selves with the history of that period,
and specially to the student of mystic
lore, the detailed catalogue of the pic
lures, accompanied by explanatory
notes, will prove Of the highest inter-
est, as M. Tissot is deeply versed in that
symbolism which made the smallest of
the Jewish rites and customs pregnant
with meaning. He has thus a signifi-
canoe for everything, from the jewel on
the breast of the high priest to the
color and shape of the garments Of the
participant at feast. It would be
difficult to overestimate the docu-
mentary value Of NJ. Tissot's great work
apart from its high esthetic merit.
Scene after scene is restored with what
would seem almost the power Of q seer.
Each act is set in its peculiar and
fitting environment of place and con-
dition, and the great drama unrolls
itself before us with strange reality.
In the minute exactitude of the por-
trayal one may follow the events with
something of the intensity Of an eye
witness. The diversity Of types repre-
sented is most interesting in its ethno-
LOGICAL and historic fidelity, being
drawn directly after those found there
to-day, and which are presumably the
same now as then, enduring through
tho inevitable changes Of governments
and customs the centuries have brought
in their train. One sees the Jew, the
Pharisee, the scribe, the Greek, the
Egyptian. the Arab. the Roman, the
aristocrat. the slave, each type made
familiar by the Gospels, standing out
distinct. unmistakable even to the
casual observer. The Syrian woman,
too. has been faithfully pictured In her