福特‧梅鐸克斯‧布朗（Ford Madox Brown，1821-1893）的《耶穌為彼得滌足》（1852）常被認為是前拉斐爾畫派式的復古主義習作，或是他呈現當代社會議題的《工作》之前奏，而多忽略此作的宗教畫本質，及布朗對此聖經主題的詮釋與風格轉化。透過深入的圖像分析並參照十九世紀中葉英國歷史背景，本研究首度對此作提出完整的視覺性與文化性考察。本文首先追溯早期藝術對此作的啟發，分析布朗如何結合復古形式與學院理論以打造戲劇化的視覺形式，並將自身的歷史畫論述運用在宗教題材上，企圖調和真實性與神性這兩種看似衝突的元素。本文接著探討此作以滌足場景與裸身基督為命題的緣由，論證布朗如何有意識地揀選當時工人運動中代表性的宗教議題與視覺語彙，對維多利亞中期的宗教與階級議題提出積極的回應，亦賦予此幅宗教作品強烈的當代性，勾勒出關於教會、階級與社會關係的理想願景。

Ford Madox Brown's Jesus Washing Peter's Feet (1852) has often been regarded as an attempt at Pre-Raphaelite revivalism, and a prelude to the painter's socially engaged masterpiece Work (1852-65). Working from these conclusions, the present study examines the painting's complex intertextuality from pictorial, religious, and social perspectives to further reveal its cultural nuances. By first exploring its stylistic innovations, this article investigates the way in which Brown accommodated the requisite of realism and spiritualism through historicising religious painting. The article then situates Jesus in its mid-Victorian social-religious context to bring forth Brown's involvements in contemporary issues such as Chartism and religious controversies. It argues that, through an unconventional treatment of a biblical scene, Jesus demonstrates the extent to which religious themes serve to embody the artist's commentaries on art, religion and society, in which profound contemporaneousness and emotionally-charged humanity define a new mode of Victorian religious painting.