Art Collections Online

Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea, is shown symbolically washing his hands of blame, his face racked with guilt.  In the background Christ is being led to his crucifixion.  The figure at the far left may be a self-portrait of the artist himself, Van Bijlert.  He specialized in portraiture, genre and history scenes but perhaps surprisingly also painted religious subjects for the Catholic Church despite his Protestant beliefs.