_Lat._ Sanctus Luca. _Ital._ San Luca. _Fr._ Saint Luc. (Oct. 18.)
Of the real history of St. Luke we know very little. He was not an
apostle; and, like St. Mark, appears to have been converted after the
ascension. He was a beloved disciple of St. Paul, whom he accompanied
to Rome, and remained with his master and teacher till the last. It
is related, that, after the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, he
preached the Gospel in Greece and Egypt; but whether he died a natural
death, or suffered martyrdom, does not seem clear. The Greek traditions
represent him as dying in peace, and his death was thus figured on the
ancient doors of San Paolo at Rome. Others affirm that he was crucified
at Patras with St. Andrew.
There is some ground for the supposition that Luke was a physician.
(Col. iv. 14.) But the pretty legend which makes him a painter,
and represents him as painting the portrait of the Virgin Mary, is
unsupported by any of the earlier traditions. It is of Greek origin,
still universally received by the Greek Church, which considers
painting a religious art, and numbers in its calendar of saints a long
list of painters, as well as poets, musicians, and physicians. ‘Les
Grecs,’ says Didron, ‘semblent avoir canonisé des chrétiens uniquement
parce qu’ils s’occupaient de soulager le corps ou de charmer l’esprit.’
In the west of Europe, the legend which represents St. Luke as a
painter can be traced no higher than the tenth century; the Greek
painters introduced it; and a rude drawing of the Virgin discovered
in the catacombs, with an inscription purporting that it was ‘one of
seven painted by Luca,’ confirmed the popular belief that St. Luke
the evangelist was meant. Thus originated the fame of innumerable
Virgins of peculiar sanctity, all attributed to his hand, and regarded
with extreme veneration. Such ancient pictures are generally of Greek
workmanship, and of a black complexion.[124] In the legend of St. Luke
we are assured that he carried with him everywhere two portraits,
painted by himself; one of our Saviour, and one of the Virgin; and
that by means of these he converted many of the heathen, for not only
did they perform great miracles, but all who looked on these bright
and benign faces, which bore a striking resemblance to each other,
were moved to admiration and devotion. It is also said, that St. Luke
painted many portraits of the Virgin, delighting himself by repeating
this gracious image; and in the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata, at
Rome, they still show a little chapel in which, ‘as it hath been handed
down from the first ages, St. Luke the Evangelist wrote, and painted
the effigy of the Virgin-Mother of God.’
On the strength of this tradition, St. Luke has been chosen as the
patron saint of painters. Academies of art are placed under his
particular protection; their chapels are dedicated to him, and over the
altar we see him in his charming and pious avocation, that of painting
portraits of the Blessed Virgin for the consolation of the faithful.
The devotional figures of St. Luke, in his character of evangelist,
represent him in general with his gospel and his attendant ox, winged
or unwinged, as already described; but in Greek Art, and in those
schools of Art which have been particularly under the Byzantine
influence (as the early Venetian), we see St. Luke as evangelist young
and beardless, holding the portrait of the Virgin as his attribute
in one hand, and his gospel in the other. A beautiful figure of St.
Luke as evangelist and painter is in the famous ‘Heures d’Anne de
Bretagne.’[125]
In an engraving by Lucas v. Leyden, executed as it should seem in
honour of his patron saint, St. Luke is seated on the back of his ox,
writing the gospel; he wears a hood like an old professor, rests his
book against the horns of the animal, and his inkstand is suspended on
the bough of a tree. But separate devotional figures of him as patron
are as rare as those of St. Matthew.
St. Luke painting the Virgin has been a frequent and favourite subject.
The most famous of all is a picture in the Academy of St. Luke, at
Rome, ascribed to Raphael. Here St. Luke, kneeling on a footstool
before an easel, is busied painting the Virgin with the Child in her
arms, who appears to him out of heaven sustained by clouds: behind St.
Luke stands Raphael himself, looking on. Another of the same subject, a
very small and beautiful picture, also ascribed to Raphael, is in the
Grosvenor Gallery. In neither of these pictures is the treatment quite
worthy of that great painter, wanting his delicacy both of sentiment
and execution. There is a most curious and quaint example in the Munich
Gallery, attributed to Van Eyck: here the Virgin, seated under a rich
Gothic canopy, holds on her lap the Infant Christ, in a most stiff
attitude; St. Luke, kneeling on one knee, is taking her likeness. There
is another, similar in style, by Aldegraef, in the Vienna Gallery.
Carlo Maratti represents St. Luke as presenting to the Virgin the
picture he has painted of her. St. Luke painting the Madonna and Child,
while an angel is grinding his colours, I remember in the Aguado
Gallery; a late Spanish picture.[126]
[Illustration: _St. Mark attended by St. Gregory._]
[Illustration: _St. Luke painting the Virgin._]