The eye of the beholder

These are two early paintings of mine that I always smile to look at due to the interpretations they have received. The works, variants of the same topic, are entitled "Jesus and Pilate" (Christ's Judgement), as were made during my religious iconography phase (research for my PhD). A friend of mine, a perfect atheist, when asked to guess the subject matter, declared that he saw "two men, one in a very ugly sweater". It is all in the eyes of the beholder...