All Mihailov’s mobile face beamed at once; his eyes sparkled.  He tried to say something, but he could not speak for excitement, and pretended to be coughing.  Low as was his opinion of Golenishtchev’s capacity for understanding art, trifling as was the true remark upon the fidelity of the expression of Pilate as an official, and offensive as might have seemed the utterance of so unimportant an observation while nothing was said of more serious points, Mihailov was in an ecstasy of delight at this observation.  He had himself thought about Pilate’s figure just what Golenishtchev said.  The fact that this reflection was but one of millions of reflections, which as Mihailov knew for certain would be true, did not diminish for him the significance of Golenishtchev’s remark.  His heart warmed to Golenishtchev for this remark, and from a state of depression he suddenly passed to ecstasy.  At once the whole of his picture lived before him in all the indescribable complexity of everything living.  Mihailov again tried to say that that was how he understood Pilate, but his lips quivered intractably, and he could not pronounce the words.  Vronsky and Anna too said something in that subdued voice in which, partly to avoid hurting the artist’s feelings and partly to avoid saying out loud something silly—­so easily said when talking of art—­people usually speak at exhibitions of pictures.  Mihailov fancied that the picture had made an impression on them too.  He went up to them.

“How marvelous Christ’s expression is!” said Anna.  Of all she saw she liked that expression most of all, and she felt that it was the center of the picture, and so praise of it would be pleasant to the artist.  “One can see that He is pitying Pilate.”

This again was one of the million true reflections that could be found in his picture and in the figure of Christ.  She said that He was pitying Pilate.  In Christ’s expression there ought to be indeed an expression of pity, since there is an expression of love, of heavenly peace, of readiness for death, and a sense of the vanity of words.  Of course there is the expression of an official in Pilate and of pity in Christ, seeing that one is the incarnation of the fleshly and the other of the spiritual life.  All this and much more flashed into Mihailov’s thoughts.

“Yes, and how that figure is done—­what atmosphere!  One can walk round it,” said Golenishtchev, unmistakably betraying by this remark that he did not approve of the meaning and idea of the figure.

“Yes, there’s a wonderful mastery!” said Vronsky.  “How those figures in the background stand out!  There you have technique,” he said, addressing Golenishtchev, alluding to a conversation between them about Vronsky’s despair of attaining this technique.