‘The Parable of the Boiling Pot’, by Edward Burne-Jones

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The Parable of the Boiling Pot

Edward Burne-Jones

Wood-engraving, engraved by the Dalziels

7 x 5¼ inches

Dalziels’ Bible Gallery (1880–81): unnumbered page.

The illustration depicts Ezekiel 24, in which the boiling pot symbolizes the burning of sin and the destruction of Jerusalem. [Commentary continues below.]

Edward Burne-Jones as an Illustrator

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Burne-Jones suggests the wickedness of those about to be punished by contrasting the indolent characters (the flesh to be burned in expurgation) in the background, with the vigorous action of the burning vessel in the foreground. The idiom is painterly and like many wood engravings of the Sixties could easily be translated into watercolour or oil.

Bibliography

Dalziels’ Bible Gallery (1880–81).

Created 14 November 2020