Description
William Holman Hunt’s The Finding of Jesus in the Temple contrasts the light of Christ with the darkness of ritual without faith. The breathtaking intricacy of the temple interior is a feast for the eyes, with each golden column decorated differently; fine wooden tracery screens the space, and the ceiling forms a pattern of jewel-like glass. To the left, the crowd of scribes and Pharisees sit am dim opulence. An old blind priest clutches the scrolls of the Torah, perhaps indicating those who could not see that the Messiah was among them. In the background, people file into the temple bearing gifts, but the elders remain huddled in their luxurious surroundings, a sharp contrast to the disheveled beggar sitting outside.
