What Our Lord Saw from the Cross (Ce que voyait Notre-Seigneur sur la Croix)

Following a career spent painting fashionable society, James Tissot shifted his artistic focus in the 1880s from worldly to spiritual concerns after experiencing a religious vision. The painter embarked on an ambitious project to illustrate the New Testament. When Tissot debuted the majority of his series of 350 gouaches at the 1894 Paris Salon, these works were greeted with great interest. Completed in 1896, the series soon traveled to England and later toured several cities in the United States. In 1900, the complete set was purchased for the Brooklyn Museum by public subscription and counts among the institution's first important acquisitions.

In this highly innovative image, Tissot presents Jesus' elevated viewpoint from the Cross, as he looks down toward those gathered as witnesses to the event—including Mary Magdalene, who stands at his bloodied feet (visible at the bottom of the image); the Virgin Mary, her hands crossed over her heart; and Saint John the Evangelist, garbed in white robes.