Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Christ Healing the Paralytic

John 5:1-15 New King James Version (NKJV)

A Man Healed at the Pool of Bethesda

1 After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.

3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

10 The Jews, therefore, said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”

11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’”

12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

14 Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

This pigment analysis is based on the work of the scientists at the National Gallery London (1).

1 Red robe of St John: Red glaze of carmine cochineal.
2 The yellow drapery of St Peter: several layers consisting of yellow ochre and orange ochre overpainted by a fine glaze.
3 Dark blue-green edging of St Peter’s inner robe: azurite and smalt.

4 Christ’s mauve-pink undergarment: underlayer consisting of carmine lake with lead white, carbon black, and a trace of yellow ochre. This layer is overglazed with a red lake and smalt. The red carmine lake has faded slightly and the smalt is partially degraded.
5 Christ’s dark blue mantle: crimson underlayer overpainted with a layer consisting of smalt, red lake, and carbon black and a little ultramarine. The smalt is even more degraded in these areas.
6 Flesh paint of Christ’s hand: pigment mixture containing a high proportion of calcite (chalk) and gypsum.

7 Green draperies of some of the figures in the background: azurite mixed with yellow ochre.

8 Blue sky: smalt combined with lead white. The smalt is highly degraded in these areas.

References

(1) Ackroyd, Paul; Carr, Dawson; Howard, Helen; Peggie, David; Tomlinson, Hayley, Murillo, ‘Christ healing the Paralytic at the pool of Bethesda’, in Studying Old Master Paintings: Technology and Practice. The National Gallery Technical Bulletin 30th Anniversary Conference, Postprints of the Conference (London, 16-18 September 2009), edited by M. Spring, London 2011, pp 173 -179.

(1) Ackroyd, Paul; Carr, Dawson; Howard, Helen; Peggie, David; Tomlinson, Hayley, Murillo, ‘Christ healing the Paralytic at the pool of Bethesda’, in Studying Old Master Paintings: Technology and Practice. The National Gallery Technical Bulletin 30th Anniversary Conference, Postprints of the Conference (London, 16-18 September 2009), edited by M. Spring, London 2011, pp 173 -179.