A gift from James Tissot himself with a note of dedication written personally by him to a dignitary, a Monsieur Gladstone on 15th October 1897
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James Tissot, (1836–1902), French Bible illustrator, was a painter of fashionable women in Paris before he fled to England in 1871. Here he became known by his caricatures for Vanity Fair and as a portrait and genre painter. Later he returned to Paris, where his art underwent a complete change owing to an experience of conversion, and henceforth he devoted himself to the illustration of the Life of Christ, for which purpose he made comprehensive studies in Palestine. His Vie de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ (1896) is a series of some 350 watercolours, representing the scenes of the Gospel in a fresh and unconventional style which abandons the traditional types.
 
Though extremely popular in his day, in our time James Tissot has been largely relegated to a footnote in nineteenth-century art history. But when his carefully researched collection of 350 watercolors depicting the life of Jesus was first published as a book in 1896, it found a large and enthusiastic audience. No one who had followed his previous career could have anticipated that this painter of urban life in Paris and London would undertake the project of painting virtually every event in the Gospels.
The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ project took nearly ten years to complete. When it was done, it chronicled the entire life of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament in a series of 350 watercolors. To research the project Tissot traveled to Egypt, Syria, and Palestine in 1886–87, and again in 1890. While in the Holy Land he closely observed the landscape, the vegetation, the architecture, and the manner of dress, and filled sketchbooks with what he saw. He talked with rabbis and studied Talmudic literature as well as theological and historical volumes. He believed that there was still a remaining “aura” in the places where the Gospel events took place, and he spoke of having mystical experiences that added to his careful research. What he wanted to create was something as close as possible to an eyewitness account of the life of Jesus.
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Vintage  : hardcover
 1897
2 volumes
each 32/24 cm  
Condition
some of the waxed dividing/protective  paper slightly damaged. The ink of a few of the prints have attached itself slightly  to the waxed paper so there are some smudges- very slight- see image. edges of some pages brown with age as is consistent with antique books-some pages loosed- unrestored yet "excellent for it's age" condition.