Art of James Tissot

I recently came cross the artwork of James Tissot, (1836-1902) and his conversion story is interesting. It's amazing the way God puts His hand out and says "Follow Me." James Tissot was a very successful secular artist who had been raised Catholic, but fell away from the faith, and traveled in the high society circles of England, his adopted home. While working on a series of fifteen paintings, La Femme a Paris, he had a religious experience that drew him back to the Catholic faith.

He was painting a beautifully dressed lady of high social standing alongside a simple nun in a choir loft as they were attending Mass, and James had to visit the Church to paint its interior. He hadn't been inside a church for many years, and he experienced a vision of Jesus comforting the poor. This was enough to convert him from his worldly life, and he started using his talents to bring others to Christ. He spent the next (and last) sixteen years of his life painting biblical scenes. It is told that Tissot even destroyed one of his newly completed religious paintings when a woman called it a masterpiece. On his third attempt at painting it, the woman dropped to her knees in prayer, and Tissot was satisfied that the painting did justice to God.


The Farewell


The Picnic


Moses destroys the tablets of the Ten Commandments


Christ stilling the Tempest


Jacob's Ladder