Job and His Friends

The Book of Job relates the story of how Satan destroys Job’s property and family and subjects him to painful illness to test his faith. Zahrtmann depicts Job in the company of friends who remain impassive as he curses God and the cruel injustice and senselessness of his suffering. Zahrtmann’s history painting is always tinted by his personal preferences and preoccupations. He was presumably gay, the mother figure was regularly debated in his work, and he engaged in an ambiguous revolt against traditions. Even so, the themes he addressed cannot be reduced to being merely personal in scope. The jar hiding Job’s sex may be a symbol of woman-as-mother. The “mother” can be read as morality carrying out an act of castration. If Job is also Zahrtmann we may read this as his erotic urges being blocked.