The Light of the World (painting)

Painting by William Holman Hunt

The Light of the World (1851–1854) is an allegorical painting by the English Pre Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) representing the figure of Jesus preparing to knock on an overgrown and long unopened door, illustrating Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me". According to Hunt: "I painted the picture with what I thought, unworthy though I was, to be divine command, and not simply a good subject." The door in the painting has no handle, and can therefore be opened only from the inside, representing "the obstinately shut mind". The painting was considered by many to be the most important and culturally influential rendering of Christ of its time.

Many speculated about the identity of the model. In January 1898, Edward Clodd sent Hunt a copy of a newspaper article on the subject, asking for Hunt's verification. Hunt had earlier told Clodd of my having used a cast from a clay model made by me, with a variety of male sitters, my father, Millais, John Capper and, in person, furtively from Carlyle, also from many departed heroes in effigy – the best I could get serving as my model for different parts of the head Hunt replied that "What [the author of the article] says about Miss Christina Rossetti sitting for the head . is true," which Rossetti did after Hunt felt he had "secured the male character in the head."

The original is variously said to have been painted at night in a makeshift hut at Worcester Park Farm in Surrey, and in the garden of the Oxford University Press, while it is suggested that Hunt found the dawn light he needed outside Bethlehem on one of his visits to the Holy Land. In oil on canvas, it was begun around 1849 or 1850 The painting was donated to the college by Martha Combe, the widow of Thomas Combe, Printer to the University of Oxford, Tractarian, and a patron of the Pre Raphaelites, in the year following his death in 1872,

A second, smaller version of the work, painted by Hunt between 1851 and 1856, is on display at Manchester City Art Gallery, England, which purchased it in 1912. There are small differences between that and the first version, such as the angle of the gaze, and the drape of the corner of the red cloak. The fact that, at the time, Keble College charged a fee to view the picture, It was claimed that four fifths of Australia's population viewed it. Due to Hunt's increasing infirmity and glaucoma, he was assisted in the completion of this version by English painter Edward Robert Hughes (who also assisted with Hunt's version of The Lady of Shalott). The third version diverges more from the original than the second one.

The painting gave rise to much popular devotion in the late Victorian period and inspired several musical works, including Arthur Sullivan's 1873 oratorio The Light of the World. Engraved reproductions were widely hung in nurseries, schools and church buildings.