George's Church, Liverpool. The original picture was painted for
this purpose, by commission from the Corporation, in the year 1826, for
which the artist received 1,000 guineas. Perhaps in all the productions of
British art there is not a more appropriate subject for the embellishment
of a church, than Hilton's representation of this sublime event. The
countenance and figure of the crucified Saviour are admirably drawn: his
placid resignation is finely contrasted with the muscular figures of the
two thieves struggling in the last agonies of torture: the spike-nails and
blood-drops of the hands and feet, and the title on the cross are closely
preserved. The group of women at the foot of the cross, the lifeless form,
drooping hand, anxious eye, and gushing tear, the terrified and afflicted
populace, and the unperturbed devotional gaze of a few by-standers are too
among the masterly beauties of this composition. The lights are well kept,
and the entire effect of the Window is that of awe-inspiring grandeur.
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