Temptation of Christ

Two gospel episodes that are interesting to me are the story of Christ’s temptation and the story of his defense of the adulterous woman. The common interest of these two stories is that in both Christ is presented as debating the holy books. The admission made in these passages is that scripture can be misrepresented. It’s an interesting thing to me that scripture admits this use, or misuse, of itself. The selfish tyrant beating on a Bible to defend his evil intent is himself already addressed by the same. This observation inspired both this painting as well as “Christ and the Adulterous Woman.”

In this, as in the gospel account, the temptation of Christ by the Devil takes on the form of a scriptural debate, admitting that sometimes the scriptures are in the hands of it’s very adversary. The depiction of the Devil, with the goat skull tied to his head, is the same that I had used previously in other paintings.

 

Return to "Temptation of Christ."

 

(Paintings featuring the Devil as a man with a goat skull tied to his head are "Death and the Devil," "Witches' Sabbath," "Temptation of Christ," and "San Simon, with Rey Pascual and Lucifer.")