_Vienna Gallery_]
The old man standing next is St. Jerome, one of the Latin fathers of the
fourth century. He was both a preacher and a writer, and his greatest
service to the world was his translation of the Bible into Latin (the
Vulgate). This is the book from which he is now reading, and St. George
seems to look over his shoulder. St. George is the hero saint who
rescued the princess Cleodolinda from the dragon. He suffered many
tortures at the orders of the Emperor Diocletian, and was finally
beheaded for his faith.[10]
We learn to identify these and other saints in the old pictures by
certain features which the masters long ago agreed upon as appropriate
to the characters. St. Stephen we recognize here because he is young,
and carries a palm as the symbol of his martyrdom. St. Jerome is always
an old man and is known here by his book, and St. George is
distinguished by his armor.
The three make an interesting group as they represent three ages of
man,--youth, maturity, and old age. They stand, too, for distinctly
different temperaments. St. Stephen has the ardent imaginative nature of
a dreamer, St. George the active prosaic temper of the warrior, and St.
Jerome the grave contemplative mind of the scholar. Each serves the
Christ with his own gift.
In the picture the three seem to be reading together some passage
referring to the birth of Christ, perhaps that glorious verse from the
prophet Isaiah, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given."
Coming to the words "Wonderful, Counsellor," St. Stephen lifts his face
adoringly.
The Child is innocently unconscious of his grave guests. He lies across
his mother's lap kicking his feet gleefully and looking up to her with a
playful, appealing gesture. She bends over him smiling, and the two seem
to talk together in the mystic language of babyhood. The artist, we see,
painted the mother as beautiful and the child as winsome as he could
well imagine them. He did not try to discover how a woman of Judea was
likely to have looked centuries before. He preferred to think of Mary as
one of the beautiful Venetian women of his own day. He may have seen
some real mother and babe who suggested the picture to him, but in that
case he painted them largely according to his own fancy. The Madonna's
dress is not according to any Venetian fashions, but in the simple style
chosen as most appropriate by old masters. Red and blue were the colors
always used in her draperies, and it was also an ancient custom to
represent her as wearing a veil over her head as befitting her modesty.
The mother has the fresh comely look of perfect health, yet with much
delicacy and refinement in her gentle face. Both she and the babe seem
to rejoice in abounding health and vitality. The picture is full of the
joy of life.
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