The Great Painters' Gospel

Gospel paintings provide Henry Turner Bailey with a practical way to teach close observation alongside Bible study. Following the life of Jesus, he brings together pictures, scriptural quotations and references for comparison. The opening explains how photographs of places, clothing and household objects help pupils understand unfamiliar details. It also considers how an artist's interpretation can give a familiar passage a more definite shape in the viewer's mind.

The discussion moves from teaching methods to particular choices made by painters. In scenes of preaching from a boat, a storm on the lake and the raising of Jairus's daughter, Bailey examines faces, gestures, costumes and the people present. He compares works by Hofmann, Doré, Richter and Keller with the scriptural accounts, sometimes preferring one painter's accuracy in a specific detail. Readers interested in religious art or classroom teaching can use these examples to explore how a written scene becomes a picture.