Page 1030 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

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

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