Carl Bloch's painting "Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda" will soon be joined by another Bloch piece at the BYU Museum of Art.
The museum has acquired "The Mocking of Christ," a painting Bloch completed in 1880 that was only recently rediscovered.
The piece depicts Christ, eyes on the painting's viewer, while a soldier leans over his shoulder and presses a crown of thorns into his head. It is painted in shades of gray, black and brown on mahogany.
"It's such a unique thing to have a religious piece like this come onto the market," said Kylie Brooks, the museum's marketing and public relations manager. "We're so honored to have it at the BYU Museum of Art."
The museum will host an unveiling of "The Mocking of Christ" on Thursday, June 4, at a press conference at 9 a.m. The painting will then be put on public display the same day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., when museum visitors will be able to see the piece before it goes through conservation.
Last sold at auction in 1935, the piece was held in a private collection until it was rediscovered by Danish art dealer Peter Titelbech, who Brooks said was an instrumental part of the acquisition process. Titelbech has extensive knowledge on Bloch and his paintings, and he will attend the press conference to answer questions.
Museum director Mark Magleby said in a news release that the last Bloch painting available for purchase was "Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda" when it was purchased for the BYU Museum of Art by Jack and Mary Lois Wheatley.
"This is the first religious painting by Carl Bloch to enter the market in 13 years," Magleby said.
Bloch, a 19th-century Danish painter, painted another version of "The Mocking of Christ," which resides in the Ordrup Kirke in Charlottenlund, Denmark. This larger version visited Brigham Young University in 2013 and 2014 as part of the museum's exhibit "Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz."
That exhibit featured an extensive collection of art from around the world, and obtaining it for the exhibit was an involved process.
In a Deseret News article published Nov. 14, 2013, Inger-Marie Dahl, a representative of the Ordrup church, described the difficulty of parting with "The Mocking of Christ" for the exhibit.
"The discussion was extremely emotional for some, who said, 'We're not a museum,’” she said.
The BYU Museum of Art also hosted an exhibit titled "Carl Bloch: The Master's Hand," composed exclusively of Bloch pieces, in 2010. The museum's patrons and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often familiar with Bloch's works, which are frequently displayed in church meetinghouses and used in church publications.
Along with "Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda," BYU's museum is home to several of Bloch's etchings.
Email: jjohnson@deseretnews.com