The Calling of Saint Matthew (Vocation de Saint Mathieu) 

Editor: This is James Tissot's *The Calling of Saint Matthew*, a watercolour painting that I find compelling in its understated realism. I’m immediately struck by how Tissot depicts this biblical scene as if it’s just another day at the market. What are your initial thoughts when viewing this work? Curator: Tissot’s choice of watercolour and his meticulous detail bring a remarkable immediacy to the scene. Let’s consider the materiality here. Watercolour, often seen as a medium for studies or illustrations, is used to depict what? Not a grand, divine event, but a moment of economic transaction. Note how the labour of the tax collector, Matthew, is presented: he is literally at his post, calculating, within a specific marketplace context. Do you see any signs of idealisation here? Editor: Not really. The tax collector's booth is quite plain, and the camels waiting nearby seem more focused on resting than bearing witness to anything momentous. I suppose there’s nothing particularly ‘holy’ in its rendering. Curator: Exactly! Tissot is using a medium typically associated with illustration – mass production - to depict a sacred scene not as a miracle, but as a transaction within a bustling economic hub. We must ask ourselves, how does this shift in portrayal affect the work's meaning, and even the very concept of divine calling? Consider the camels, beasts of burden integral to commerce: Tissot presents faith itself through a lens of material exchange and manual labor. Editor: So, you are saying Tissot is using the very processes of creating the art, and even the realistic setting to ground the spirituality? Curator: Precisely! Tissot uses the very medium, watercolor – reproducible, commercially viable - to subtly suggest that even matters of faith are inextricably linked to the world of commerce and daily labor. A compelling inversion, don't you think? Editor: It certainly makes you look at the scene, and faith, in a very different light! Thanks for illuminating the role materials and context play in its message.