Journey of the Magi

Tissot's reputation has so firmly come to rest on the artist's depictions of the stylish leisured class of the late-nineteenth century that the religious works of his late career - illustrations of the life of Christ - are little known. However, at the turn of the century, these biblical images were considered his greatest achievement due, on one hand, to the popularity of images from the Near East and, on the other hand, to the sense of immediacy Tissot gave to an age-old tale through uncompromising attention to detail. The Journey of the Magi was created after the second of three trips that the artist made to Palestine between 1886 and 1896 to gather sketches and photographs of the people, costumes, topography, and light of the region.