The Master Mason

“The Master Mason is the fourth and final painting in the Sanctioned Blindness series. It presents Joseph Smith in full Masonic regalia, making a gesture documented in both the Masonic initiation ritual and the LDS temple endowment ceremony.

The apron depicted is based on a photograph of Joseph Smith’s actual surviving Masonic apron, documented in historical records. Historian David John Buerger documented that the parallels between the two rituals are so close they are sometimes identical.
Joseph Smith joined Freemasonry in March 1842 and achieved Master Mason status. Forty-nine days later he introduced the endowment ceremony to his inner circle. The parallels between the two rituals are extensive and specific, the gestures, the penalties, the signs, the vocabulary, the clothing. LDS apologists have argued that Freemasonry itself preserves ancient ritual dating to biblical times, which would make the similarities a case of shared ancient origin. Freemasonry makes no such claim about itself.

This painting presents the documented record and asks the viewer to look.

The painting was rendered from reference material derived from the daguerreotype discovered in 2022 within a Smith family locket, identified by the historians who examined it as the only known photographic image of Joseph Smith.

Behold the man.”