Ploughing Mount Zion, by William J. Webb(e) (1830-1912[?]). 1863. Oil on board. 24¼ x 47¾ inches (61.5 x 121.3 cm). Collection of the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, accession no. BIKGM:122. Image courtesy of the gallery, reproduced here via Art UK for purposes of non-commercial academic research. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Webb exhibited this first, principal version of this painting at the British Institution in 1864, no. 421, accompanied by this verse in the catalogue taken from Micah, Chapter III, verse 12: "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field." The Jewish prophet Micah, one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament, had prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed and that Zion would be ploughed like a field. Micah had observed widespread corruption amongst the leaders, and that the Jewish people had turned away from God, engaging in idolatry. His prophecy was a warning to the people of Israel of God's impending judgment if they did not repent and turn back to Him. Micah denounced the rulers, priests, and prophets for their corruption and false teachings and warned them of the destruction that will come upon them as a result of their disobedience. His prophecy was later fulfilled several times as Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and twice by the Romans, the first in 70 AD and the second time in 135 AD. The religious undertone to Webb's painting, as shown by this quotation from Micah, links this work to similar examples by William Holman Hunt.
Contemporary Reviews of the Painting
When Ploughing Mount Zion was shown at the British Institution a critic for The Illustrated London News felt that it deserved prominence and decried the poor hanging of the work:
Mr. J. Webb's picture of Ploughing on Mount Zion (421) is in many ways one of the most remarkable pictures in the whole exhibition, and yet it is most cruelly hung in the third room, far above the line and above one of the worst pictures here, which is saying not a little. The subject, a Syrian fellah behind a team of oxen, is intended to recall the prophecy in Micah, "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field," and the painting is most vigorous and careful, while the artistic value of the work is enhanced by its having being studied with religious fidelity "on the spot." For this reason it has a strangeness of aspect beyond, we presume, the comprehension of the hangers. [162]
F. G. Stephens in The Athenaeum again felt this work merited a better place in its hanging: "Ploughing on Mount Zion (421), Mr. W. J. Webb: a Syrian peasant driving a weak plough through stony soil, has many commendable points. The actions of the man and of his cattle are well rendered; the background is well painted, though a little weak in handling. This work, like the last, merits a better place than has fallen to its lot" (234).
Later Version
Webb(e)'s Ploughing Mount Zion [A Plough Team outside Jerusalem, Great Mosque in the background] is a later version of the painting. Oil, support unknown. 9 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches. Signed and dated 1879. (24 x 44.5 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Sotheby's (originally downloaded by George P. Landow). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
This smaller version of this work, apparently dated 1879, sold at Sotheby's Belgravia in 1977. In the Sotheby's catalogue it was entitled A Plough Team outside Jerusalem, Great Mosque in the background. The "Great Mosque" referred to is presumably the larger more impressive Dome of the Rock, the place where Muhammad is said to have ascended into heaven, and not the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is also of great religious significance to Muslims because it is second oldest mosque in Islam. Both are located on the Temple mount. In Webb's painting to the far right of centre in the background is the Stebbi Daoud [Maqam Al-Nabi Daoud], the tomb of David, and the walls of Jerusalem.
Bibliography
Bible Art. Web. 1 June 2025.
"Fine Arts. The British Institution." The Illustrated London News XLIV (13 February 1864): 162-63.
Ploughing Mount Zion. Art UK. Web. 1 June 2025.
Stephens, Frederic George. "Fine Arts. British Institution." The Athenaeum No. 1894 (February 13, 1864): 234-35.
Victorian Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours. London: Sotheby's Belgravia (November 29, 1977): lot 141, 22.
Created 11 June 2007
Last modified (principal version added) 1 June 2025