Part 7 (2/2)

To lovers of dogs the greyhound is no unimportant part of our picture.

The painter has expressed with much insight the character of this beautiful and high-bred creature. The muzzle is pressed affectionately to the master's side, and the eyes are fixed upon the beloved face with an expression of intense devotion. There is a tradition that this animal once saved the duke's life by rousing him from sleep at the approach of an a.s.sa.s.sin.

In the making up of the composition, the dog's figure describes a diagonal line on the left, which balances a similar diagonal on the other side made by the duke's placing his arm akimbo. Thus the general diagram of a pyramid is suggested as the basis of the grouping.

AUTHORITIES.--Robert Vaughn: _The History of England under the House of Stuarts_; L. von Ranke: _The History of England in the Seventeenth Century_; Warwick's _Memoirs_; Doyle's _Official Baronage of England_.

XIII

CHRIST AND THE PARALYTIC

It was a part of our Lord's ministry among men to restore to health the body as well as the soul. He was often moved with compa.s.sion by the disease and suffering which he saw as he went about Galilee or pa.s.sed through the streets of Jerusalem. St. John, the evangelist (chapter v.), relates an incident which took place at a pool called Bethesda near a sheep market in Jerusalem.

There were here five porches in which lay ”a great mult.i.tude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.” It seems that at certain intervals the waters of the pool were troubled, as if moved by some unseen agency. It was believed that the first person stepping in thereafter would be healed of any disease he might have.

”And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.”[20]

[Footnote 20: There was another case of Christ's healing a paralytic, but as on that occasion the sick man's bed was let down through the roof into a house, the incident does not fit the picture so well as that of Bethesda.]

This is the incident ill.u.s.trated by our picture. Jesus has already brought the paralytic to his feet, and now sends him on his way. Two other men complete the group, but take no part in the conversation.

One is a disciple, perhaps John, who accompanies the Master, the other is a spectator peering curiously over the paralytic's shoulder.

The restored paralytic carries under one arm a rug, which has been clumsily rolled into a bundle. This is the sort of ”bed” used among the poor of Eastern countries. He is but half clad in a garment which slips from his shoulders, showing his emaciated form. The face is sharpened by suffering; he is altogether a strange and repulsive figure. Like the beggar who lay in St. Martin's path he represents a degraded cla.s.s of humanity.

He leans now towards his unknown friend in a pitiable effort to express his grat.i.tude. The eyes have a look of dumb devotion like those of a faithful dog. He lays one hand humbly upon his breast.

Jesus turns to the poor creature with an expression of infinite compa.s.sion. He reads the man's heart with his searching glance. Thanks he does not need; his first care is to send the man forth to begin life anew.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHRIST AND THE PARALYTIC _Buckingham Palace_]

The head of the Saviour is painted after the ideal portrait which has been handed down from generation to generation since the early days of Christianity. The oval face with cla.s.sical features, the full beard, the long hair parted in the middle, such are the familiar features which we have all come to a.s.sociate with the person of Jesus. Yet notwithstanding this general similarity in the many pictures of Christ, every great artist has brought out something different in the face.

It was t.i.tian's peculiar glory to show the intellectual side of our Lord's character as no other Italian had done. Van Dyck, with characteristic admiration for the great Venetian, followed his example. If we compare our ill.u.s.tration with t.i.tian's Christ of the Tribute Money[21] we shall see how closely the former imitates the latter. Yet, as no man of imagination can copy exactly another's work, Van Dyck's ideal of Christ is less ascetic than t.i.tian's and somewhat more benign. In both pictures the pure countenance of the Saviour is sharply contrasted with the coa.r.s.e face beside him.

[Footnote 21: See Chapter VIII. of the volume on _t.i.tian_ in the Riverside Art Series.]

We are interested to read on in St. John's narrative the sequel of the story ill.u.s.trated in our picture. It happened to be the Sabbath day, and, as the restored paralytic pa.s.sed through the city, the Jews said unto him: ”It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.”

”He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a mult.i.tude being in that place.

”Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.”

XIV

PHILIP, LORD WHARTON

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