Druide coupant le gui au sixième jour de la lune

This work by Henri-Paul Motte, titled “Druid Cutting the Mistletoe on the Sixth Day of the Moon,” depicts a druidic ritual inspired by ancient descriptions of Gaulish and Celtic religion. Set in the heart of a sacred forest, the scene shows a group of druids and participants gathered around a platform built in the trees at the moment when the mistletoe is cut according to a solemn ceremonial rite. The image emphasizes the sacred nature of the woodland, the ritual whiteness of the figures, the hieratic character of the ceremony, and the romantic imagination of druidism as reinvented by late nineteenth-century history painting. Dated 1900, the work illustrates less a precise historical event than a learned and symbolic vision of the religious beliefs attributed to the ancient druids.