"The Sanhedrin"

James J. Tissot (French painter and illustrator, 1836-1902) was a well-known French impressionist painter. But after his model and mistress commited suicide at the age of 28 in 1882, his heart began to turn toward spiritual things. He visited the Holy Land in 1886-87 and in 1889 for careful geographical and ethnographic studies. During the latter part of his career he produced a series of 700 watercolor drawings to illustrate the Life of Christ (published 1896) and the Old Testament. His New Testament paintings are part of the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, while his Old Testament paintings are for the most part owned by the Jewish Museum of New York. 

In the opinion of many art critics, Tissot is one of the most accurate painters of any age who has sought to depict the events and scenes of the Bible. In the Holy Land he sketched hundreds of scenes and individuals from life, and then developed well composed Bible paintings based on both his careful research and accurate drawings.