Carl von Marr: The Mystery of Life (1879)

(John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Saratosa, USA)

A painting by the German-American artist Carl (von) Marr (1858-1936). This painting shows a medieval legend, the so-called ' wandering Jew'. According to the legend, a Jew taunted Christ on his way to the crucifixion. For this, the Jew was cursed to wander the earth until the judgement day. How the Jew insulted Christ varies from text tot text: he forbade Christ to rest at his doorstep, he yelled at Christ that he should walk faster to his crucifixion etc. Als the name of the 'wandering Jew' varies: Assuerus, Ahasver, Matathias, Buttadeus, Paul Marrane and Isaac Laquedem. The man is shown here sitting near the corpse of a drowned woman. Weary of his endless existence, the man is grief-stricken by this loss of life and envies the death of the woman. The original name of this painting was "Assuerus, the Wandering Jew" but was later changed to its current name. Painting from 1879.