Zacchaeus the Publican

About this artwork

Research in Progress

Art Historical Context

Michel Lasne’s *Zacchaeus the Publican*, created around 1650, captures a well-known biblical episode in which the tax collector Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree to glimpse Jesus passing through Jericho. As a French printmaker active during the first half of the seventeenth century, Lasne specialized in devotional and narrative subjects that circulated widely among European audiences. Although the precise technique remains unrecorded, the work’s classification as a print underscores the important role reproductive media played in disseminating religious stories to viewers beyond elite circles. The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s holding invites visitors to consider how seventeenth-century artists adapted scriptural themes for a growing print market. Lasne’s interpretation would have offered both spiritual reflection and a visual reminder of themes of redemption and humility central to the story. Today, the sheet forms part of ongoing research at the museum, preserving a modest yet eloquent example of French graphic art from the Baroque era for contemporary audiences.