Ongelovige Tomas 1684 - 1837

Charles Howard Hodges created this mezzotint, Ongelovige Tomas, using a copper plate. Hodges, born in London, later moved to the Netherlands where he became a prominent portrait artist, catering to the elite of Dutch society during a period of political and social upheaval. Here, Hodges engages with the biblical narrative of Doubting Thomas. Thomas, one of Jesus’s disciples, refuses to believe in Jesus’s resurrection until he can feel the wounds himself. Look at the intimate moment Hodges captures: Jesus guides Thomas’s hand to his wounded side, the other disciples watching intently. Hodges’s choice of the mezzotint technique is interesting here. The dark background and subtle gradations of light and shadow give the scene a dramatic intensity, inviting us to feel the palpable tension between faith and doubt. What does it mean to see, but not believe? What does it mean to believe without proof? Hodges uses the printmaking medium to offer a wide distribution of this moment of reckoning.