The Shadow of Death is a religious painting by the English painter William Holman Hunt, on which he worked from 1870 to 1873, during his second trip to the Holy Land.

In 1850 Hunt's colleague John Everett Millais had already portrayed Jesus as a budding carpenter, helping his father as a young boy.

Millais' painting, Christ in the House of his Parents, had been viciously attacked by critics because of the alleged squalour of the workshop.

Hunt repeats many features of Millais's painting, but emphasises Jesus' physical health and muscularity.

[3] The portrayal of Mary's thriftiness (by carefully "saving" the gifts) also fits the emphasis on working class financial responsibility promoted by contemporary evangelical publications such as The British Workman.

His entry for 27 June 1874 reads, "I regret to say that against good advice and wise warning I went to see Holman Hunt's picture of the Shadow of Death.

She, Evelyn Manesta and Annie Briggs waited until the gallery was closing and then proceeded to break the glass on many of the most valuable paintings in including the "Shadow of Death", two by John Everett Millais and two by George Frederick Watts.