Lot 235: George William Joy (1844-1925)

Mary of Bethany, 'She hath done what she could' - St.Mark, XIV, 8.
signed 'George Joy' (lower right) and further signed and inscribed 'Exposition Annuelle 1900 vieux Salon 'Marie de Bethanie' George W. Joy Red Lodge 51 Palace Court Paddington Londres' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
47 x 28 1/4 in. (119.4 x 71.8 cm.)

London, Royal Academy, 1899, no.373.
Paris, Exposition Annuelle, 1900.

Royal Academy Pictures, 1899, p.67, illustrated.
The Work of George Joy, 1904, illustrated.

Irish born, Joy is best remembered for his painting of The Bayswater Omnibus, now in the Museum of London, in which different social types are contrasted in their journey along the north of the park. His Death of General Gordon at Khartoum, poised at the top of a flight of steps and about to receive a fatal blow from the raised spear of a native, is another enduring image.

In the present picture he has depicted his daughter in the role of Mary Magdelene. With hair loose, and wearing robes especially created for the painting, she is holding the Magdelene's attribute, a jar of ointment. The painting was exhibited with a quotation from St Mark's Gospel. When Jesus was at supper with Simon the Pharisee, a penitent courtesan entered and washed Christ's feet with her tears. She then dried them with her hair before annointing him. Judas Iscariot criticised the waste of expensive perfume which could have been sold to feed the poor. But Jesus told the company that her action proved her love. 'You will have the poor among you always, but you will not always have me: she has done what she could'.

In the Gospels the woman who did the annointing is unnamed and it is only tradition that identifies her with the person named Mary Magdelene, from whom Christ exorcised seven devils (Luke VIII:2). In St John's Gospel (XI:2), the evangelist identifies her with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. Previously, in St Luke's Gospel (X: 38-42), it was described how Mary sat at Jesus's feet, listening to his words while Martha busied herself with housework. When Martha complained and asked for Mary's help, Jesus replied that 'The part Mary has chosen is best'. In Christian iconography the two sisters were thereafter chosen to personify the active and contemplative Christian life.

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