ILLUSTRATING THE BIBLE

The Blake Archive has recently announced the addition of a series of Blake's paintings produced for Thomas Butts and identified as Paintings Illustrating the Bible. There are nineteen subjects for the Old and New Testaments.

Although I cannot post images from the Blake Archive, I can post this image of The Circumcision from the site named William Blake: The Complete Works which does not restrict the use of the images (which are obviously beyond the period for which copyright protection applies.) .

The final picture of the group in the Archive is particularly appealing : "Christ The Mediator": Christ Pleading Before the Father for St. Mary Magdalene. In this picture Blake portrays the theme of forgiveness. Christ acting as the advocate for the sinner intervenes with Jehovah on the part of Magdalene who was said to have been a harlot.

Mark 16
[9] Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

On this the eighth day after the celebration of the birth of Jesus (the first day of the new year), the day on which circumcision is performed according to the Law of Moses, it is appropriate to observe Christ intervening in the exercise of the Law before the Father on the part of the woman who both was forgiven and discovered the empty grave.