by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 19, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Christ and the two Marys
Christ stands with his arms extended beneath a wide arc of colour. Strips of burial cloth hang from his shoulders and raised hands, while two women bend low at his feet. The vivid red sky and cooler green-blue landscape make the scene feel both physical and visionary. William Holman Hunt's Christ and the two Marys is unusual in his career because the same painting was worked on in 1847 and again in 1897. The Art Gallery of South Australia gives those two dates, identifies the medium as oil on canvas over wood panel, and holds the work as accession 0.2044. [1]
The painting belongs to the story of the Resurrection. Christ has left the tomb, but lengths of the linen in which he was buried still surround his body. The women kneel or fall forward before him. Hunt does not show a calm portrait of a teacher meeting followers; he makes the encounter a sudden revelation. Christ's skin, the heavy cloth and the stony ground are described as material things, while the bright arc and fiery sky stretch the scene beyond ordinary daylight. Looking between those effects is central to the experience of the picture.
At a Glance
- ArtistWilliam Holman Hunt (1827–1910)
- TraditionBritish Pre-Raphaelite art
- Work or subjectChrist and the two Marys
- ContextIllustrated paintings guide
- Further readingArtist biography
Who are the two Marys?
The gallery titles the painting Christ and the two Marys but does not identify each woman in its short object record. The Gospel of Matthew 28:1–10 describes Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” visiting the tomb and meeting the risen Christ. The text does not identify that second visitor as Jesus's mother. The available collection record does not settle Hunt's precise intention. For this page, the safest description is the two Marys of the title, with Matthew's resurrection account as a close narrative parallel. [1] [2]
Matthew says the women approach the tomb at dawn, hear the news of the Resurrection and encounter Jesus on their way to tell the disciples. They take hold of his feet in worship. Hunt's women are similarly low before the standing Christ, although the painting is not an exact diagram of every detail in one Gospel. John's account focuses on Mary Magdalene alone; Matthew's two-woman episode more closely explains the title. The distinction matters because the work combines a recognisable biblical moment with Hunt's own invented setting and visual language. [2] [3]
The two women do not respond in quite the same pose. One, draped in pink and purple, bends her head and draws her hands towards her face. The other, in darker green, reaches the ground in front of Christ. Their different movements give the encounter a human range: astonishment, recognition and worship are visible without Hunt assigning a label to each face. The low figures also create a strong triangle with Christ above them. His open arms and the arc of colour dominate the upper half, while their bodies and the discarded cloth gather the foreground.
Watch: William Holman Hunt
Begin with Hunt’s paintings, then place his work alongside two fellow Pre-Raphaelite founders.
William Holman Hunt Paintings
An overview of Hunt’s paintings from TheHistoryOfArt video archive.
Watch on YouTubeBurial cloths, wounds and colour
Hunt makes the burial wrappings conspicuous. They fall in pale, curling bands across Christ's shoulders, arms and waist and lie in heaps by his feet. The cloths link the living figure to the body that was laid in the tomb. Their loosening invites a reading of death left behind, but the painting does not ask a viewer to forget the Crucifixion: small wound marks remain visible on Christ's body. This combination of bodily trace and release gives the image its tension. The Resurrection is shown as a transformation of a wounded person, not as an abstract burst of light.
A broad band of yellow, blue and red curves over Christ against crimson clouds. It resembles a rainbow as well as a halo. The effect brings a promise-like shape into the composition, while the saturated background makes the foreground earth seem unusually solid. It is possible to interpret the arc as a sign of hope or covenant, but the collection record does not supply a fixed key to each colour. The strongest observation is visual: the luminous curve frames Christ and separates him from the dark red sky. [1]
The ground includes rough stones, soil and a jar near the lower edge. These ordinary surfaces keep the women's encounter in a place that can be imagined underfoot. The landscape beyond Christ opens toward distant hills, yet its colours are far more intense than a neutral topographical view. The painting holds both impulses together: close description of fabric, skin and earth, and a deliberately heightened atmosphere around the risen figure. That balance helps explain why an image begun before the Brotherhood's formation could remain meaningful to Hunt five decades later.
Begun in 1847, returned to in 1897
The gallery's two dates are the clearest fact of the work's chronology. They do not mean there are two separate paintings. The early start places its conception before the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in 1848; the 1897 date places its completion among Hunt's late religious projects. George P. Landow's study of Hunt says he put aside the early picture because its religious subject did not yet correspond to his beliefs. This is a useful account of the interruption, though the gallery record alone does not show precisely which passages of paint belong to which decade. [1] [4]
Between those dates Hunt made The Light of the World, The Scapegoat and The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple. Each posed a different problem of how to make a sacred subject visible through observed people, places and objects. In returning to the two Marys, Hunt revisited an idea from his youth with decades of experience in religious painting behind him. That long arc is more informative than assigning the finished appearance to either 1847 or 1897 alone.
The Art Gallery of South Australia acquired the painting in 1964 through the d'Auvergne Boxall Bequest Fund. Its dimensions are 117.5 × 94.0 cm without the frame, so the figure of Christ has a substantial presence rather than the scale of a small private sketch. The museum's current object page gives the title, materials, two dates and accession together. Those details anchor the work while leaving open the interpretive questions that make its imagery compelling. For more on Hunt's religious and literary range, see the paintings guide. [1]
Discussion
Look closely at Christ and the two Marys, then compare your reading with the documented history.
Reader Insights
Which detail in Christ and the two Marys most affects your reading?
How do the date, medium and collection records shape that interpretation?
What remains uncertain about this work or its history?
Join the Conversation
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References
- Art Gallery of South Australia collection record. View source.
- Matthew 28:1–10. View source.
- John 20:11–18. View source.
- Landow, The Light of the World and Hunt's religious development. View source.
