A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids

William Holman Hunt did several Christian paintings, and A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids was one of his prominent ones. He did the piece in 1850 and presented it for exhibition at the Royal Academy.

Christ in The House of His Parents by Millais was its companion piece during the exhibition. The two pieces tackled a similar theme of people helping those in need. Hunt's A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids is exactly that. A family of eight in a fisherman's hut is hiding a missionary who is running from a mob of pagan Celts. Two women and a child are tending to the Christian missionary who looks to be wounded.

He is wearing red and white garb, which was typical of missionaries during that era. Two adult men are leaning against the door to reinforce it. One of them is peeking through the slightly open door, watching the mob outside. A boy, who appears to be the youngest, is lying on the floor by the door, looking scared. The crude hut is by a river with reeds growing just outside. Behind the shelter, the mob is chasing another missionary. A druid is towering above the crowd, pointing towards the priest as if ordering the mob to catch him.

The British painter made A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary to echo the teachings of Christ. He included a few bible verses on the picture to match the subjects. John 16:2 appears at the top of the frame. It says, "The time is coming that whoever kills you, will think it's in service to God." This quote matches with the scenes in the painting where the Druids are persecuting Christians in the name of religion. Romans 3:15 and Mark 9:41 are the other verses Hunt associated with this piece.

The painter equated the missionary with Christ. According to a commentary Hunt gave for the painting, the persecutions of the missionaries were prefigured. The martyred missionaries were like Christ who tried to preach the good news, but their flock rejected them. The people in the hut are a representation of the civilising power of conversion. Currently, A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary is at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum.