Holman Hunt's Light of the World
Given to the College by the widow of Thomas Combe after his death in 1873. A small side chapel was built to house the painting.
In Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Hunt explained the other points of symbolism in The Light of the World :
The closed door was the obstinately shut mind, the weeds the cumber of daily neglect, the accumulated hindrances of sloth; the orchard the garden of delectable fruit for the dainty feast of the soul. The music of the still small voice was the summons to the sluggard to awaken and become a zealous labourer under the Divine Master; the bat flitting about only in darkness was a natural symbol of ignorance; the kingly and priestly dress of Christ, the sign of His reign over the body and the soul, to them who could give their allegiance to Him and acknowledge God's overrule. In making it a night scene, lit mainly by the lantern carried by Christ, I had followed metaphorical explanation in the Psalms, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,' with also the accordant allusions by St. Paul to the sleeping soul, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." (I.350-51)
For the painter it was a matter of great importance that the iconography of the picture "was not based upon ecclesiastical or archaic symbolism, but derived from obvious reflectiveness." According to Hunt, his symbols "were of natural figures such as language had originally employed to express transcendental ideas" (I.350). In other words, he believed that The Light of the World created its symbolic language in precisely the same way that men had formed language to express abstract and spiritual ideas. The important point is that, since the symbolism derives from what he takes to be essential habits of mind, it would be immediately comprehensible to any audience, because such "natural" symbolism does not require any knowledge of iconographic traditions. Nonetheless, since his method was unusual, he had worked "with no confidence" that his symbols would interest anyone else. The fact that The Light of the World has "in the main been interpreted truly" without any additional assistance from him convinced Hunt that his method had been successful (I.351).
The almost astonishing popularity of this picture in nineteenth-century England and America appears not only in the fact that many took it to be the single most important contemporary portrayal of Christ but also in its influence upon popular poetry and book illustration. Like Tennyson's In Memoriam ,The Light of the World succeeded in reaching a large audience, eventually becoming an element of popular culture. The picture became known beyond the narrow confines of the art world by means of its engraved version, and it was popularized even farther by sermons and devotional poetry (See, for example, Richard Glover, The Light of the World;" or, Holman Hunt's Great Allegorical Picture Translated into Words, which, according to Fredeman, saw editions of 1862, 1863, and 1871.). Because John L. Tupper was a close friend of the painter, one obviously cannot claim that his poem entitled "The Light of the World" exemplifies the picture's popularity; but its appearance in the 1855 Crayon suggests that many became aware of Hunt's subject, and the very fact that Tupper was moved enough by his friend's painting to write a poem about it suggests the effect it had upon many Victorians. The poem, which the editors accompanied by an extract from Ruskin's letter to The Times, astutely takes the form of a dream vision.
Holman Hunt's Light of the World
Given to the College by the widow of Thomas Combe after his death in 1873. A small side chapel was built to house the painting.
In Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Hunt explained the other points of symbolism in The Light of the World :
The closed door was the obstinately shut mind, the weeds the cumber of daily neglect, the accumulated hindrances of sloth; the orchard the garden of delectable fruit for the dainty feast of the soul. The music of the still small voice was the summons to the sluggard to awaken and become a zealous labourer under the Divine Master; the bat flitting about only in darkness was a natural symbol of ignorance; the kingly and priestly dress of Christ, the sign of His reign over the body and the soul, to them who could give their allegiance to Him and acknowledge God's overrule. In making it a night scene, lit mainly by the lantern carried by Christ, I had followed metaphorical explanation in the Psalms, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,' with also the accordant allusions by St. Paul to the sleeping soul, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." (I.350-51)
For the painter it was a matter of great importance that the iconography of the picture "was not based upon ecclesiastical or archaic symbolism, but derived from obvious reflectiveness." According to Hunt, his symbols "were of natural figures such as language had originally employed to express transcendental ideas" (I.350). In other words, he believed that The Light of the World created its symbolic language in precisely the same way that men had formed language to express abstract and spiritual ideas. The important point is that, since the symbolism derives from what he takes to be essential habits of mind, it would be immediately comprehensible to any audience, because such "natural" symbolism does not require any knowledge of iconographic traditions. Nonetheless, since his method was unusual, he had worked "with no confidence" that his symbols would interest anyone else. The fact that The Light of the World has "in the main been interpreted truly" without any additional assistance from him convinced Hunt that his method had been successful (I.351).
The almost astonishing popularity of this picture in nineteenth-century England and America appears not only in the fact that many took it to be the single most important contemporary portrayal of Christ but also in its influence upon popular poetry and book illustration. Like Tennyson's In Memoriam ,The Light of the World succeeded in reaching a large audience, eventually becoming an element of popular culture. The picture became known beyond the narrow confines of the art world by means of its engraved version, and it was popularized even farther by sermons and devotional poetry (See, for example, Richard Glover, The Light of the World;" or, Holman Hunt's Great Allegorical Picture Translated into Words, which, according to Fredeman, saw editions of 1862, 1863, and 1871.). Because John L. Tupper was a close friend of the painter, one obviously cannot claim that his poem entitled "The Light of the World" exemplifies the picture's popularity; but its appearance in the 1855 Crayon suggests that many became aware of Hunt's subject, and the very fact that Tupper was moved enough by his friend's painting to write a poem about it suggests the effect it had upon many Victorians. The poem, which the editors accompanied by an extract from Ruskin's letter to The Times, astutely takes the form of a dream vision.