5. By Agostino Caracci. This set, famous as works of art, must, when
compared with those of Raphael and Lucas van Leyden, be pronounced
absolutely vulgar. Here St. John is drinking out of his cup, —an idea
which might strike some people as picturesque; but it is in vile taste.
Thaddeus has a saw as well as Simon; Peter has the papal tiara at his
feet; St. James Minor, instead of Thomas, carries the builder’s rule;
and St. Bartholomew has his skin thrown over his shoulders. This set
is an example of the confusion which prevailed with respect to the old
religious types and attributes, after the first half of the sixteenth
century.
6. ‘The Five Disciples,’ by Albert Dürer, seem intended to form part
of a complete set. We have St. Paul, St. Bartholomew, St. Thomas,
St. Philip, and St. Simon. The two last are the finest, and are most
grandly conceived.
These are examples of the simplest devotional treatment.
* * * * *
When the Apostles are grouped together in various historical
scenes,—some scriptural, some legendary—they are more interesting as
individual personages; and the treatment should be more characteristic.
Some of these subjects belong properly to the life of Christ: as the
Delivery of the Keys to Peter; the Transfiguration; the Entry into
Jerusalem; the Last Supper; the Ascension. Others, as the Death and
Assumption of the Virgin, will be considered in the legends of the
Madonna. But there are others, again, which refer more particularly to
the personal history of the Apostles, as related in the Acts and in the
Legends.
The Descent of the Holy Ghost was the first and most important event
after the Ascension of Christ. It is thus described: ‘When the day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there
appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and sat upon each
of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there
were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under
heaven. Now when this was noised abroad the multitude came together,
and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own
language.... But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.’
(Acts ii. 1-12, 16.)
According to the usual interpretation, the word _they_, in the first
verse, does not signify the Apostles merely, but, with them, ‘the
women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren:’ hence in so
many representations of this subject the Virgin is not only present,
but a principal person: Mary Magdalene and others are also frequently
introduced.
1. The most striking example I have yet met with is the grand mosaic
in the principal dome of St. Mark’s at Venice. In the apex of the dome
is seen the Celestial Dove in a glory of light; rays proceed from the
centre on every side, and fall on the heads of the Virgin and the
Twelve Apostles, seated in a circle. Lower down is a series of twelve
figures standing all round the dome: ‘Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
the dwellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia,
Pamphylia, Cretes and Arabians,’—each nation represented by one person,
and all in strange dresses, and looking up with amazement.
2. The Twelve Apostles and the Virgin are seen above seated in an
enclosure; tongues of fire descend from heaven; beneath is a closed
door, at which several persons in strange foreign dresses, with
turbans, &c., are listening with amazement. One of these is in the
Chinese costume,—a curious circumstance, considering the age of the
picture, and which could have occurred at that date nowhere but at
Venice.[152]
3. In the interior of a temple, sustained by slender pillars, the
Twelve Apostles are seated in a circle, and in the midst the Virgin,
tongues of fire on each head. Here the Virgin is the principal
person.[153]
4. An interior, the Twelve Apostles seated in a circle; above them, the
Celestial Dove in a glory, and from his beak proceed twelve tongues
of flame; underneath, in a small arch, is the prophet Joel, as an old
man crowned with a kingly crown and holding twelve rolls or scrolls,
indicating the Gospel in so many different languages. The allusion
is to the words of Joel, ii. 28: ‘And I will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh.’[154] This is the Greek formula, and it is curious that it
should have been closely followed by Pinturicchio;—thus:
5. In a rich landscape, with cypresses, palm-trees, and birds, the
Virgin is seen kneeling; St. Peter on the right, and James Minor on the
left, also kneeling; five other Apostles on each side. The Celestial
Dove, with outspread wings, descends in a glory surrounded by fifteen
cherubim: there are no tongues of fire. The prophet Joel is seen
above, with the inscription, ‘_Effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem
carnem_.’[155]
6. The Virgin and the Apostles seated; flames of fire stand on their
heads; the Holy Ghost appears above in a glory of light, from which
rays are poured on every side. Mary Magdalene, and another Mary, are
present behind; astonishment is the prevailing expression in every
face, except in the Virgin and St. Peter. The composition is attributed
to Raphael.[156]
* * * * *
The next event of importance is the separation of the Twelve Apostles
when they disperse to preach the Gospel in all lands. According to the
ancient traditions, the Apostles determined by lot to what countries
they should go: Peter went to Antioch; James the Great remained in
Jerusalem and the neighbourhood; Philip went to Phrygia; John to
Ephesus; Thomas to Parthia and Judea; Andrew to Scythia; Bartholomew to
India and Judea. The Parting of the Apostles is a beautiful subject, of
which I have met with but few examples; one is a woodcut after Titian.
The Mission of the Apostles I remember to have seen by Bissoni over an
altar in the Santa Giustina at Padua: they are preparing to depart; one
reads from a book; another looses his shoes from his feet, in allusion
to the text, ‘Take neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes;’ several are
bidding adieu to the Virgin. This picture struck me as dramatic; its
merits otherwise I do not remember.
* * * * *
We have next ‘The Twelve Baptisms.’[157] In the upper compartment
Christ is standing in a majestic attitude, and on each side are six
Apostles, all alike, and in white garments. The inscription above is
in Greek: ‘Go ye, and preach the Gospel to all nations.’ Below, in
twelve smaller compartments, each of the Apostles is seen baptizing a
convert: an attendant, in white garments, stands by each font, holding
a napkin. One of the converts and his attendant are black, denoting
clearly the chamberlain of the Queen of Ethiopia. This is a very
uncommon subject.
* * * * *
And, lastly, we have ‘The Twelve Martyrdoms.’ This is a more frequent
series, in pictures and in prints, and occurs in a set of large fresco
compositions in the church of San Nereo e Sant’ Achilleo at Rome. In
such representations the usual treatment is as follows:—1. St. Peter is
crucified with his head downwards. 2. St. Andrew, bound on a transverse
cross. 3. St. James Major, beheaded with a sword. 4. St. John, in a
cauldron of boiling oil. 5. St. Philip, bound on a cross in the form of
a T. 6. St. Bartholomew, flayed. 7. St. Thomas, pierced with a spear.
8. St. Matthew, killed with a sword. 9. St. James Minor, struck down
with a club. 10. St. Simon and St. Jude together: one is killed with a
sword, the other with a club. 11. St. Matthias has his head cloven by a
halbert. 12. St. Paul is beheaded.[158]
The authority for many of these martyrdoms is wholly apocryphal,[159]
and they sometimes vary; but this is the usual mode of representation
in Western Art. In early Greek Art a series of the Deaths of the
Apostles often occurs, but they do not all suffer martyrdom; and the
subject of St. John in the cauldron of boiling oil, so famous in the
Latin Church, is, I believe, unknown, or, at least, so rare, that I
have not found it in genuine Byzantine Art.
The most ancient series I have met with (in a Greek MS. of the ninth
century) shows us five Apostles crucified: St. Peter and St. Philip
with the head downwards; St. Andrew on the transverse cross, as usual;
St. Simon and St. Bartholomew, in the same manner as our Saviour. St.
Thomas is pierced by a lance; and St. John is buried, and then raised
by angels, according to the legend. The same series, similarly treated,
ornamented the doors of the old Basilica of St. Paul, executed by Greek
artists of the tenth century.[160]
Wherever the Apostles appear as a series, we expect, of course, some
degree of discriminating propriety of character in each face and
figure. We seek it when they merely form a part of the general scheme
of significant decoration in the architectural arrangement of a place
of worship; we seek it with more reason when they stand before us
as a series of devotional representations; and still more when, as
actors in some particular scene, they are supposed to be animated by
sentiments called forth by the occasion, and modified by the individual
character. By what test shall we try the truth and propriety of such
representations? We ought to know both what to require from the artist,
and on what grounds to require it, before we can rest satisfied.
In the Gospel-histories the Apostles are consistently and beautifully
distinguished in temper and bearing. Their characters, whether
exhibited at full length, or merely touched upon, are sustained with
dramatic truth. The mediæval legends, however wild, are, as far as
character goes, in harmony with these scriptural portraits, and fill
up the outline given. It becomes therefore a really interesting
speculation to observe how far this variety of characteristic
expression has been carried out in the early types, how far attended
to, or neglected, by the great painters, since the revival of Art.