New Painting Completed : Upon Awakening

Copyright 2010 by Elspeth Young

Upon Awakening
(Pilate's Wife)
by Elspeth Young

When [Pilate] was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him…Pilate saith unto [the chief priests and elders, and the multitude,] What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. 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. Matthew 27:19, 22-24

Despite the luxury surrounding her, Pilate's wife has "suffered many things," she told her husband. Intricate faux wall paintings, patterned silks, and a soft throne on which to sit—
all evidences of worldly ease and prosperity—did not save her, nor will it spare us, the need to answer Pilate's piercing question—"What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" Indeed, in the words of Elder Carlos E. Asay, "Ultimately, each of us will be required to provide an answer [to Pilate’s question] and to live with it.....When Pilate stood on the stage of life and pondered what to do with Christ, he listened to the voices of an angry mob and consented to his death. Now that we are on center stage, whose promptings will we follow? In the wings of our stage, prophets of the past and present are pleading for us to “look to God and live” (Alma 37:47), to “seek this Jesus of whom the … apostles have written” (Ether 12:41), to taste and know of “the goodness of Jesus” (Mormon 1:15), and to be men and women of Christ. (See Helaman 3:29.)" 1

“Upon awakening” to Christ’s divinity, will we allow “the Spirit of the living God” to write upon the “fleshy tables of [our] heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3), or will we turn aside from the Savior, washing our hands of the matter, as though we could absolve our actions from the bidding of divine truth?

SYMBOLISM IN THE PAINTING

The figure’s appearance is the artist’s interpretation of costuming and hairstyles typified by statues of married women from Rome’s empire period. Pilate’s wife wears a luxurious silken palla and stola, and a linen tunica intima. She is depicted here with hair slightly unkempt, indicative of her restless sleep—her hair cascades in small corkscrew curls (a fashion common to the time), but is not piled high on her head, according to custom. The artist literally shows her “upon awakening”— having lost no time before warning her husband.

Symbolically, she is seated on a throne draped in a deep red fabric, a color Romans “associated with death…through the blood shed by victims sacrificed…”(Sebesta 50), here a symbol of the Savior’s ultimate sacrifice for all mankind (see Isaiah 53:7).

Though Matthew does not specify the manner in which Pilate's wife "sent" her urgent message to her husband, in Roman times, it was typical to write messages on wax tablets like the one depicted. Such tablets often bore elaborate seals of authenticity, and words were incised into the wax using a lead stylus.

The poppy cradled in her hand is a native wildflower of Palestine. Because of the narcotic properties of poppies, historically, the poppy has symbolized dreams, sleep, and death, all significant themes in the story of Pilate’s wife.

1Carlos E. Asay, “Three Questions,” Ensign, Jan 1984, 71

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aggrawal, Anil. Nacotic Drugs. India: National Book Trust, 1995.

Edmondson, Jonathan and Alison Keith ed., Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2008.

Hepper, FN. Baker. Encyclopedia of Bible Plants. Leicester, England: Inter Varsity Press, 1992.

Russel, Douglas A. Costume History and Style. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1983.

Scoble, Gretchen and Ann Field. The Meaning of Flowers: Myth, Language & Lore. San Franscisco, California: Chronicle Books LLC, 1998.

Sebesta, J. L. and Bonfante, L. The World of Roman Costume. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.