Heretofore Matt Morgan has been known only as a painter of admirable theatre scenery; but now he comes before the world with a big Scriptural picture, thirty or forty feet wide, and as high as two or three men. In it are hundreds of people.
In the rear, on the right, we see the Mount of Olives, over which Jesus has journeyed hither. He has dismounted, and stands by the side of the ass upon which he has been riding. The beast's nose disturbs the face of a woman, who is helping a mother who presents her dead child to Jesus to be raised to life. This gives the keynote of the picture, for which Morgan is partly indebted to the highly colored descriptions, not wholly accurate, in Wallace's story of Ben Hur, in which the biography of Jesus is retold, with many details and additions. The Master touches the child with his right hand, while his left is raised towards Heaven in invocation. He is clad in white, as are many others. Indeed, white is a common hue in Oriental crowds, both for robe and turban. Near Jesus, or coming towards him, are old and young invalids, demoniacs, cripples, epileptics, lepers, paralytics, the deformed, the blind, the deaf, the dumb. In fact many, if not all, of the recorded miracles are here pictured or suggested.
Fronded palm-branches lie on the ground, and the distant crowd are bringing others from the wooded hills, whence they were later uprooted by the Roman conquerors, when Jerusalem was destroyed. The populace are shouting their friendliness, and some are beckoning their friends to come nearer. In the midst are negroes, who seek a blessing from him who knew no distinction of race or creed.
