Anna Karenina - Part 5

All Mihailov's mobile face beamed at once; his eyes sparkled. He

tried to say something, but he could not speak for excitement,

and pretended to be coughing. Low as was his opinion of

Golenishtchev's capacity for understanding art, trifling as was

the true remark upon the fidelity of the expression of Pilate as

an official, and offensive as might have seemed the utterance of

so unimportant an observation while nothing was said of more

serious points, Mihailov was in an ecstasy of delight at this

observation. He had himself thought about Pilate's figure just

what Golenishtchev said. The fact that this reflection was but

one of millions of reflections, which as Mihailov knew for

certain would be true, did not diminish for him the significance

of Golenishtchev's remark. His heart warmed to Golenishtchev for

this remark, and from a state of depression he suddenly passed to

ecstasy. At once the whole of his picture lived before him in

all the indescribable complexity of everything living. Mihailov

again tried to say that that was how he understood Pilate, but

his lips quivered intractably, and he could not pronounce the

words. Vronsky and Anna too said something in that subdued voice

in which, partly to avoid hurting the artist's feelings and

partly to avoid saying out loud something silly--so easily said

when talking of art--people usually speak at exhibitions of

pictures. Mihailov fancied that the picture had made an

impression on them too. He went up to them.

"How marvelous Christ's expression is!" said Anna. Of all she

saw she liked that expression most of all, and she felt that it

was the center of the picture, and so praise of it would be

pleasant to the artist. "One can see that He is pitying Pilate."

This again was one of the million true reflections that could be

found in his picture and in the figure of Christ. She said that

He was pitying Pilate. In Christ's expression there ought to be

indeed an expression of pity, since there is an expression of

love, of heavenly peace, of readiness for death, and a sense of

the vanity of words. Of course there is the expression of an

official in Pilate and of pity in Christ, seeing that one is the

incarnation of the fleshly and the other of the spiritual life.

All this and much more flashed into Mihailov's thoughts.

"Yes, and how that figure is done--what atmosphere! One can walk

round it," said Golenishtchev, unmistakably betraying by this

remark that he did not approve of the meaning and idea of the

figure.

"Yes, there's a wonderful mastery!" said Vronsky. "How those

figures in the background stand out! There you have technique,"

he said, addressing Golenishtchev, alluding to a conversation

between them about Vronsky's despair of attaining this technique.