Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Betrayal of Jesus
A dense company gathers around a central robed figure as another man approaches his face, with raised arms and watchful heads pressing in from either side. Doré keeps the bodies close together, allowing the identifying gesture to occur within a crowd rather than in an isolated meeting. The surrounding faces and hands give the scene a sense of immediate collective action. The printed caption identifies the betrayal. The illustration selects the moment at which an intimate sign becomes part of an arrest, connecting closeness between two people with the force of the assembled company around them.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The Betrayal of Jesus" [editorial title]. In The Bible Gallery, Gustave Dore; Talbot W. Chambers. Undated Cassell & Company edition; one hundred illustrations with supplied descriptive letterpress, undated edition, Cassell & Company, Limited. Source scan leaf 353. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/bible-dore-352
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Complete plate reviewed against the scan; printed caption supplies subject. Crop excludes surrounding paper and separate caption without changing scan tone. Letterpress theology is not adopted as historical proof.
Sources
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The Bible GalleryGustave Dore; Talbot W. ChambersUndated editionMore from this book
All 98 illustrations
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Cite this illustration
Gustave Doré (design). The Betrayal of Jesus. The Bible Gallery. Scan leaf 353. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/bible-dore-352