"Christ'S Entry Into Jerusalem."

OIL PAINTING. HEIGHT, 30 FEET; WIDTH, 30 FEET. YEAR 1876 (NISAN, A. U. C. 783).

MATTHEW XXI., 1 TO 11, 14 TO 17; MARK XI., 7 TO 11; LUKE XIX., 39 TO 44; JOHN XII., 12 TO 19.

The subject of this picture is one of the very few events in the history of our Lord of which the exact dates have been accurately determined. According to Jewish law under the Herodian dynasty, there were only two occasions in the year when palms were cut and borne by the people as part of a solemn festival. These occasions were the first day of the religious year (being the first day of the month Nisan), and the Feast of Tabernacles. Subsequent events prove that the first of these festivals was the one in question. In the year of the Crucifixion, it fell on the sixth day of the week (that day corresponding in our calendar to the twenty-second day of March), a fortnight before the Crucifixion. The painting is of vast size,--two hundred personages are represented; an enthusiastic crowd of both sexes, and of all ages, races, and classes. The curious diversity of costume gives scope to a variety of hues, so that the picture is said to flash with color. The central figure is the Redeemer, draped in blue, riding upon an ass's colt. He has just passed under one of those gateways which, according to Josephus, were built by Herod the Great, in the Corinthian style of architecture. Two boys are leading the colt; the group immediately following consists of the Apostles, the Virgin, and the seventy disciples. At the left of the picture may be recognized St. Peter, St. James and St. John. At the right the beautiful face of the Virgin, watching only her son, is recognized behind St. Peter, and in a somewhat more elevated position. The city stretches out in the background, full of thronging crowds who fill the streets, cover the roofs, and hang on every coigne of vantage and available projecting point. In the blue sky are fleecy clouds which suggest to the imagination the vision of a double glory of angels. A group of Roman ladies occupy a sort of tribune on the right, which is guarded by armed soldiers. On the left are Jewish women, distinguishable by their veils. To the left of these are members of the Sanhedrim, conversing eagerly about the honorary procession. Women and children are strewing the path of the Redeemer with palm branches. The figure on the left which appears to be that of a blind man just restored to sight, is startling in its life-like reality. Some spectators evidently struggle between doubt and faith, while apart is a moody and envious band of Pharisees. Especial attention has been given to the forms of the children,--but there is hardly a figure in the picture which will not bear the closet examination and repay it well.