Christ in the House of Simon

The Master of the Morrison Triptych painted this Christ in the House of Simon for the York Art Gallery. The Gospel scene of Christ dining with Simon the Pharisee, where Mary Magdalene anoints his feet, was a popular subject that allowed painters to combine banquet genre elements with devotional narrative. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

The panel presents the supper scene with detailed attention to the table setting and the figures' interactions, rendered in the careful Netherlandish manner with rich surface detail and warm interior lighting.