"The Dream of Pilate'S Wife."

OIL PAINTING. SIZE 6 FT., 4 IN. HIGH, 9 FT., 7 IN. WIDE. TIME 1873-'74. DORE.

This picture is illustrative of St. Matt. xxvii., 19: "His wife sent unto him saying, 'Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.'"

The entire picture partakes of the character of a dream. Pilate's wife, whose name by tradition is Claudia Procula, is represented as a beautiful young woman, with sleep-dazed eyes. She is descending a broad staircase leading from her bed chamber at the extreme left of the picture. The appearance of the bed is such as to leave the spectator in doubt whether the Roman matron is really there, while she imagines herself walking down to the hall, or whether she is actually wandering forth in sleep. An angel with outstretched wings attends her, and seems to call up the vision which we, instructed by the history of eighteen centuries, are able to interpret as the triumph of Christianity.

The Saviour Himself is, of course, the grand central figure of the vision.

Those who so cruelly and brutally put Him to death are on their knees at His feet, begging for mercy and forgiveness.

The prisoners in the fortress near by stretch forth their hands to Him, as the chains fall from them.

The Apostles press near to their Lord, while behind, a long procession of saints, martyrs, conquerors, royal converts, bishops, monks, knights and crusaders, stretches on and on to the far end of time. The famous doctors, St. Ambrose of the West, and St. Athanasius of the East; the Empress Helena; the first Christian Emperor, Constantine; the restorer of Palestine to the Christians--Godfrey of Bouillon; the brightest pattern of the Middle Ages, Louis IX. of France, both saint and king, may each be recognized there with the vividness and disorder of a dream. The three lights of the picture should be noted: one from the sleeping apartment, which falls upon Claudia and illumines the wings of the angel; one emanating from the figure of Christ; and a third, in the far distance, indicating the future triumph of Christianity. This last light is a cross, shedding a radiance which reveals the sky thronged by a host of angels. A perfect tone of color pervades the whole picture, while the proportions are faultless.

Paul Gustave Dore, a French artist, was born at Strasburg in 1833, and died in 1883.

He was at first celebrated chiefly for his book illustrations, or drawings on wood for engraving; but in later years he became preeminent for his many large and striking oil paintings on religious subjects. "The Triumph of Christianity" embodies pictorially the same idea of the overthrow of Heathenism by Christianity which Milton poetically developed in his "Ode to the Nativity." Some passages in the poem serve without alteration as descriptions of parts of the picture, though Dore, when he painted the picture, had never read the poem.