The Release of Barabbas
George Tinworth (London 1843 - London 1913)
Category
Ceramics
Date
circa 1875 - circa 1881
Materials
Terracotta with salt and vitreous glaze
Measurements
140 mm (H); 310 mm (W); 30 mm (D)
Place of origin
H Doulton Pottery, Lambeth, London
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 433587
Summary
Terracotta, salt and enamel-glazed relief panel, the Release of Barabbas, George Tinworth (1843-1913), Doulton & Co., Lambeth, London. c.1875-81, Signed ‘H. DOULTON & CO | LAMBETH’, ‘G. TINWORTH’ | ‘[monogram] SC.’
Full description
A glazed terracotta relief panel by George Tinworth depicting the release of Barabbas (recounted in Matthew 27). To fulfil the Passover tradition Pilate, the governor of Judea, is obliged to release a captive from prison. He asks the crowd to choose whether Barabbas, the insurrectionary at left, or Christ, right, should be freed. To his regret the crowd choose Barabbas, condemning Christ to be crucified. Pilate, depicted at centre surrounded by Roman soldiers, stretches out his right arm towards Jesus, marking the decision made. An attendant holds a bowl of water with which Pilate will wash his hands, illustrating Matthew 27:24: ‘When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.’ The scene, directly modelled in terracotta, is glazed with a clear salt glaze and a blue vitreous glaze for the background, the helmets of the Roman soldiers, the robes of Pilate’s attendants, Pilate’s cloak, Barabbas’ sash and Christ’s robes. Inscribed in Tinworth’s hand is a verse from Mark 15:15: ‘AND SO PILATE (left) | WILLING TO CONTENT THE PEOPLE, RELEASED BARABBAS UNTO THEM, AND DELIVERED (top) | JESUS, WHEN HE HAD SCOURGED HIM TO BE CRUCIFIED’ (bottom). Inscribed by Tinworth on the step under Barabbas is ‘ACCEPTED OF MEN’ and on the step left of the foot of Christ, ‘REJECTED’. Tinworth was initially trained at the Lambeth School of Art, attending evening classes to learn modelling and technique under John Sparks and Edwin Bale. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1864 and joined the Royal Doulton Potteries, Lambeth, three years later, remaining there until his death in 1913. Tinworth exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1866 to 1885. This is one of a series of biblical terracotta reliefs, called Scripture Panels, Tinworth produced at Doulton & Co between 1875 and 1891. Those he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1875 gained him critical acclaim from John Ruskin and a commission to produce the Crucifixion reredos at York Minster. Of The Release of Barabbas Ruskin wrote ‘…after all the labours of past art on the Life of Christ, here is an English workman fastening, with more decision than I can recollect in any of them…making the physical fact of contrast between the man released and the man condemned clearly visible’ (Ruskin quoted in Gosse 1883, pp.39-40). The critic saw the preference of the mob for Barabbas as illustrative of the ills of populism, Tinworth’s scene ‘a flash of … prophetic intelligence on the question of Universal Suffrage’ (Ruskin quoted in Gosse 1883, p.40). A version with alternative scripture quoting Luke 23:25 and Acts 5:28 is recorded in Gosse 1883 (p.58). Tinworth also went on to produce a much giant version in 1882, measuring 12ft by 5ft 8in (Gosse 1883, p.77, plate unnumbered). Although no archival evidence exists for its acquisition, it is conceivable that the panel was bought by Lady Marian Alford (1817-88), the wife of Viscount Alford (1812–1851), heir to Belton. Lady Marian was a great patron of the arts, particularly of the sculptors John Gibson (1790-1866) and his protégée Harriet Hosmer (1830-1909). A cultured woman, she was well-known in the London art world. Along with this panel she also acquired three further Tinworth panels: unglazed terracotta maquettes each depicting scenes from the life of Christ (NT 436779). The panels may have been acquired to decorate Lady Marian’s London residence, Alford House, built to her designs in 1872, and noted for its ‘moulded red brick’, ‘terracotta ornaments’ and conservatory housing Hosmer’s fountain, Siren (Surtees 2004). Alice Rylance-Watson October 2018
Provenance
Probably acquired c.1875-81 by Lady Marian Alford (1817-88). Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984.
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1994)
Marks and inscriptions
Bottom left under step: H DOULTON & CO | LAMBETH Bottom left: AND SO PILATE Top: WILLING TO CONTENT THE PEOPLE, RELEASED BARABBAS UNTO THEM, AND DELIVERED Bottom: JESUS, WHEN HE HAD SCOURGED HIM TO BE CRUCIFIED Bottom left on step, under foot of Barabbas: ACCEPTED OF MEN Bottom right on step, left of foot of Christ: REJECTED
Makers and roles
George Tinworth (London 1843 - London 1913), sculptor
References
Gosse 1883: Gosse, E.W. A Critical Essay on the Life and Works of George Tinworth London, 1883, pp. 39-40, 58, 77 Surtees 2004: Virginia Surtees, Egerton [née Compton], Marianne Margaret, Viscountess Alford [known as Lady Marian Alford] (1817–1888), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford 2004 Rose 1982: Rose, P. George Tinworth, Chronology of Principal Works, Harrimann- Judd Collection, I, Los Angeles, 1982 Bilbey and Trusted 2002: Diane Bilbey and Marjorie Trusted, British Sculpture 1470 to 2000, A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2002, pp. 419-20