The achievement of textures in this lithograph is a notable one among these proofs. The
white Georgian preaching the gospel to the negroes is a satire on hypocrisy.
-George Bellows
In many of his lithographs George Bellows displayed a distrust of organized religion.
He used the title of this work to draw attention to the utter futility of the white
preacher pronouncing a blessing on these shackled prisoners, whose faces and postures reveal
them as totally without hope for the future. They pay little attention to the
gesticulating white man who stands above them offering comfort and the promise of a
better life in the hereafter.
