John Bellany

Kinlochbervie, 1966, Oil on hardboard, 243.5 x 320 cm, National Galleries Scotland; Purchased 1986, GMA 2988, Courtesy National Galleries of Scotland / Bridgeman

People Fishing

Commentary by Jonathan Evens

Cite Share

Here, John Bellany shows us fishermen in Kinlochbervie, the most northerly port on the west coast of Scotland. Those gutting fish in the foreground are seated at a table as though at the Last Supper, while behind them a fisherman carries a yoke giving him ‘the appearance of being crucified’, and the boat on which he and others stand ‘is like the mythical boat used to ferry the dead across the river Styx to Hades’ (National Galleries of Scotland).

Bellany, who was himself born in a fishing village (Port Seton, near Edinburgh), paints a scene that would have been familiar to him, yet saturates it in the imagery of Christianity. He sees signs of faith in the fisher folk’s everyday work. And he implies that through such faith, the ordinary activities of these people who fish for fish can also become the activity of embodying the gospel, and thus transforming human lives and communities (‘fishing for people’). 

In Matthew 4:12–22 and Mark 1:14–20, we read how it was necessary for those responding to the call of Jesus to leave their physical nets, exchanging a literal sort of fishing for a metaphorical one. That call reflected the itinerant mission which would take them throughout Galilee and the surrounding countryside, culminating in Jerusalem with Jesus’s crucifixion. By the time Kinlochbervie was painted, however, the call to serve Jesus and his kingdom by ‘fishing for people’ could be incorporated into settled everyday life and pursued whilst also fishing for fish.

The change reflects the transitions of Jesus’s story, and where he is at work in the ongoing story of his followers. In the Gospel accounts, Jesus is consistently on the move and the task of his first disciples is to go ahead of him and announce the coming of God’s kingdom as he arrives (Luke 10:1–9). Following Jesus’s Ascension and the coming of his Spirit at Pentecost, his disciples instead find his Spirit within them, so he is with them wherever they are and whatever they are doing. His kingdom can come in the homes, the towns, and the workplaces of those he calls, without their having to leave. It is always, and intensely, ‘near’ (Matthew 4:17).

 

References

Updated before 2020. ‘John Bellany: Kinlochbervie’, National Galleries of Scotland, artwork label, available at https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/400 [accessed 5 February 2023]

See full exhibition for Matthew 4:12–22; Mark 1:14–20

Matthew 4:12–22; Mark 1:14–20

Revised Standard Version

Matthew 4

12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; 13and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Caperʹna-um by the sea, in the territory of Zebʹulun and Naphʹtali, 14that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15“The land of Zebʹulun and the land of Naphʹtali,

toward the sea, across the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles—

16the people who sat in darkness

have seen a great light,

and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death

light has dawned.”

17From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebʹedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebʹedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Mark 1

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”

16 And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebʹedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebʹedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.

More Exhibitions