Introduction of Christianity into Britain: Christian Missionaries Interrupting a Human Sacrifice, from "Illustrated London News"

James Elder Christie|Henry Whitmore Cutts and Company

June 1, 1878 · Wood engraving · Drawings and Prints

Introduction of Christianity into Britain: Christian Missionaries Interrupting a Human Sacrifice, from "Illustrated London News" — James Elder Christie|Henry Whitmore Cutts and Company

Based on a painting by Christie now at the Paisley Museum and Art Gallery in Scotland, this image represents Catholic missionaries intervening in a Bardic rite of human sacrifice. An 1843 competition for frescoes to decorate the new Palace of Westminster had encouraged British artists to explore national history and Christie's imagery builds on that foundation, dramatically suggesting the obstacles that Christians of the late Roman period encountered as they sought to establish their faith to Britain. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1878, the painting was engraved in wood and published in "The Illustrated London News."

Artist: James Elder Christie|Henry Whitmore Cutts and Company
Date: June 1, 1878
Medium: Wood engraving
Department: Drawings and Prints
Credit line: Gift of Donato Esposito, 2015