The Passover

The Passover in the Holy Family, Dante Gabriel Rossetti

About the Artwork
To celebrate Passover, every Jewish household slaughtered a lamb and marked the doorposts with its blood. This was a sign for the Lord to pass over and not visit the plague on them. The Passover meal of roast lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread was to be eaten in haste, with shoes on the feet ready for quick departure. In his watercolor, Rossetti shows Jesus and his parents preparing for the ritual. This stresses the continuity between Judaism and Christianity, linking Christ's sacrifice with that of the Passover lamb. Rossetti shows Zachariah marking the door with blood from a bowl held by Jesus. John kneels to fasten Jesus's sandal and Mary stoops to gather bitter herbs

Scriptural reference-Exodus 12: 1-11
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head, legs and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD's Passover.

Looking at The Passover in the Holy Family

• Are there any patterns in or on the artwork? What are they?
• What do the colors in this painting remind you of? Or, what feeling does it give you?
• Do the people in this artwork remind you of anyone you know?
• What does the artwork tell you about the subject?