In 1876, the publisher Archibald Fullarton & Co. published the Illustrated Family Bible.  This edition of the Bible included twelve engravings by William Bell Scott of his own designs, William Holman Hunt’s Light of the World, and several dozen engravings from paintings by nineteenth-century French and German artists, including Horace Vernet, Ary Scheffer, Paul Delaroche, Johann Friedrich Overbeck and Peter von Cornelius.

The Publishers’ Notice stated:

Both in the original designs, and in the selection from the great Continental painters, the Publishers have had the aid of William Bell Scott, who is as well known for his critical judgment as for his abilities as an artist.  The object kept in view has been nor merely to charm the eye, but to carry out the teachings of Scripture by illustrations addressing themselves to the understanding and the heart.

Scott’s twelve engravings are shown below.  Scott made three of the twelve designs into large-scale paintings (reproduced elsewhere on this website).

1 – Eve of the Deluge

2 – The Tenth Day of Rain

3 – Finding of Moses

4 – The Tabernacle of the Wilderness

5 – The High Priest with His Ephod and Breastplate Entering the Holy Place

6 – Moses Bringing Down the Tablets of the Law

7 – David Playing Before Saul

8 – The Flight into Egypt

9 – And Behold, the Veil of the Temple Was Rent in Twain

10 – Adoration of the Shepherds

11 – Paul Before Felix

12 – The Resurrection

Credit:  Website author’s photographs of his personal copy of the Illustrated Family Bible.

Copyright © Antony Ryan 2019.