James Tissot

James Jacques Joseph Tissot (October 15, 1836 – August 8, 1902) was a French painter.

Paintings by French artist James Tissot of the Ark of the Covenant were the basis for the design of the actual prop and Ralph McQuarrie's illustration, made to resemble an etching, as seen in Indy's Bible in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The chief labor of his career - the production of 700 water-color drawings illustrate the life of Christ and the Old Testament.

He was still painting scenes of the Old Testamentat the abbey of Buillon, in the department of Doubs, France, when he died.

The merits of Tissot's Bible illustrations lay rather in the care with which he studied the details of scenery than in any quality of religious emotion. He seemed to aim, above all, at accuracy, and, in his figures, at a vivid realism, which was far removed from the conventional treatment of sacred types.