Tissot and the Change

Tissot and the Change



(Jesus wept. (John 11) Painting by James Tissot)



I have become fascinated with the story and the painting of James Tissot.

For years he captured with great realism the gaiety and dissipation of higher society in Paris and in London. The pictures were exquisite but the messages were all fleeting.

Late in life the man experienced a sincere conversion to Christianity and came under the compulsion to dedicate his significant talents to telling the story of Jesus. He delighted in several trips to the Holy Land. His work became more impressionistic with rather drab and sketchy representations of landscape and village, of heat and dust. But his characters, Jesus and following, and his story suggestions were brilliant.

Clearly the man was in a hurry to tell the Old Story. More than 400 paintings on display at one time in New York (1899)!

Perhaps the following poem will fill in some more blanks:


Tissot Comes Alive


So little time,
So much to paint
Of lasting worth.
The years mis-spent.
The social rave.
The treats of earth.
Those cities gay
Where I would play
With earl and wench.
My shame today.
Take them away.
Their swirl, their stench!

For I have found
Much richer ground
From which to paint.
The Life of Christ
Pearl of Great Price
For every saint.
Let canvas fly!
Be quick to dry!
Scenes of the King.
Of those He blessed
The poor, distressed.
Let my brush sing.

Now I have to go Google him...:-)

I looked him up and I liked his work! Thanks for sharing him via your poem and story.