Christ Appearing to His Disciples After the Resurrection 

William Blake rendered this watercolor entitled *Christ Appearing to His Disciples After the Resurrection*. At its heart lies the archetypal image of the resurrected Christ, his arms outstretched. This gesture—the open hand—is a powerful motif, transcending its immediate Christian context. Consider the Orans figure in early Christian art, a posture of prayer and supplication. Blake's Christ offers a variation of this, a gesture of welcome and divine presence. The disciples respond in postures of devotion: kneeling, heads bowed, hands clasped in prayer, overwhelmed by the divine apparition. The open hand is a universal symbol. Think of the classical sculptures of emperors or deities extending their hands in a gesture of power and beneficence, or the raised hands of a conductor as he guides an orchestra, conveying authority. The image echoes through epochs and across cultures, embodying the complex interplay between power, compassion, and the human desire for connection with the divine. This collective memory is embedded in the symbolic language of art.