Template:POTD/2019-06-17
Christ in the Desert is an 1872 oil-on-canvas painting by Russian artist Ivan Kramskoi, reflecting the temptation of Christ. This theme had attracted Kramskoi since the early 1860s, when he made the first sketch of the composition. The first version of the painting is dated 1867, but turned out to be unsuccessful. In the revised version, he opted for a horizontal rather than vertical format and introduced the pallid rocky desert in the background. Kramskoi used primarily cool colours to reflect the chill dawn in the background; the thoughtful figure of Christ, wearing a dark wrap with a red tunic underneath, is slightly shifted to the right of centre. He wrote: "To the question 'this is not Christ, how do you know he looked like that?', I permitted myself to reply 'but even the actual, living Christ has not been recognised'." The painting is in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.Painting credit: Ivan Kramskoi