Zacchaeus the Publican
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Accession Number
1896-31-24
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Michel Lasne’s *Zacchaeus the Publican*, created around 1650, captures a well-known biblical episode in which the tax collector Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree to glimpse Jesus passing through Jericho. As a French printmaker active during the first half of the seventeenth century, Lasne specialized in devotional and narrative subjects that circulated widely among European audiences. Although the precise technique remains unrecorded, the work’s classification as a print underscores the important role reproductive media played in disseminating religious stories to viewers beyond elite circles. ...