AFTER BURNAND’S “LES DISCIPLES”

Les Disciples (after Eugène Burnand) is my fifth painting in the Classical Academic tradition—a faithful reproduction of the 1898 masterpiece by Swiss-French artist Eugène Burnand (1850–1921), The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection. This iconic work captures the dramatic moment when Peter and John, having heard Mary Magdalene’s astonishing news that Jesus’ tomb was empty, race toward it in a surge of hope and disbelief.

I chose this painting because I was deeply moved by Burnand’s portrayal of the Apostles’ intense expressions—their eyes wide with urgent, hopeful questioning: “Could it truly be? Our Savior lives?” The raw emotion in their faces, combined with the dynamic sense of motion, makes this one of the most powerful depictions of Easter morning.

Burnand’s composition blends realism in the figures—especially the wind-swept hair conveying urgent movement—with an impressionistic treatment of the glowing dawn landscape of the Israeli countryside. This contrast heightens the emotional immediacy of the scene.

This life-size copy is executed on un-tempered Masonite board, reinforced with oak supports and prepared with five coats of Renaissance marble gesso. The underpainting follows the ten-value verdaccio (gray-green) palette to establish luminous, lifelike flesh tones in the overlying colored layers.

The completed painting was sealed with a special oil medium. After drying for one year, it received several coats of Damar varnish. With proper care—protected from direct sunlight and handled gently—it should endure for hundreds of years and can be cherished and passed down through generations.