WALKS AND TALKS WITH TOLSTOI-MARCH, 1894 79 



first representing the meeting of Jesus and Pilate, when 

 the latter asked, &quot;What is truth f &quot; Pilate was depicted 

 as a rotund, jocose, cynical man of the world; Jesus, as a 

 street preacher in sordid garments, with unkempt hair 

 flowing over his haggard face, a peasant fanatic brought 

 in by the police. Tolstoi showed an especial interest in 

 this picture ; it seemed to reveal to him the real secret of 

 that famous question and its answer ; the question coming 

 from the mighty of the earth, and the answer from the 

 poor and oppressed. 



The other picture represented the Crucifixion. It was 

 painted in the most realistic manner possible ; nothing was 

 idealized; it was even more vividly realistic than Geb- 

 hardt s picture of the Lord s Supper, at Berlin; so that 

 it at first repelled me, though it afterward exercised a 

 certain fascination. That Tolstoi was deeply interested 

 was clear. He stood for a time in silence, as if musing 

 upon all that the sacrifice on Calvary had brought to 

 the world. Other representations of similar scenes, in the 

 conventional style of the older masters, he had passed 

 without a glance ; but this spectacle of the young Galilean 

 peasant, with unattractive features, sordid garb, poverty- 

 stricken companions, and repulsive surroundings, tortured 

 to death for preaching the &quot;kingdom of God&quot; to the poor 

 and down-trodden, seemed to hold him fast, and as he 

 pointed out various features in the picture it became even 

 more clear to me that sympathy with the peasant class, 

 and a yearning to enter into their cares and sorrows, form 

 the real groundwork of his life. 



He then took me to a small picture of Jesus and his dis 

 ciples leaving the upper room at Jerusalem after the Last 

 Supper. This, too, was painted in the most realistic man 

 ner. The disciples, simple-minded fishermen, rude in 

 features and dress, were plodding homeward, while 

 Christ himself gazed at the stars and drew the attention of 

 his nearest companions to some of the brightest. Tolstoi 

 expressed especial admiration for this picture, saying that 

 at times it affected him like beautiful music, like music 



