Mother adores her Child. He lies extended upon her knee and she looks
down upon Him with hands folded in prayer. Sometimes the Child looks up
in His Mother’s face with His finger on His lip, expressing the _Verbum
sum_—“I am the word.” One must distinguish this from a Nativity where
the Mother adores her Child, but the presence of Joseph, the ruined
shed or manger, the ox and ass, express the _event_. In the _Madre Pia_
the locality and accessories are purely fanciful and ideal.
The constant introduction of St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth, and other
relations of the Virgin (always omitted in a Madonna _in trono_) would
be called a Holy Family, except for the presence of other sainted
personages whose existence and history belong to an entirely different
period, such as St. Catherine, St. George, St. Francis, or St.
Dominick. When this occurs it removes the picture from the historical,
and puts it at once with the imaginary and devotional subjects. Such a
group is not a _Sacra Famiglia_, but a _Sacra Conversazione_.
[Illustration:
Photo. Alinari
THE ADORATION OF THE CHILD.—PERUGINO
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)]
FOOTNOTES:
[6] See Appendix.
XI.—ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
=St. John the Baptist.= _Ital._ San Giovanni Battista. _Fr._ St. Jean
Baptiste. _Ger._ Johann der Täufer. (June 24.) St. John shares with
Christ and His mother the distinction of having his natural birthday
kept by the Church.
The history of this saint is given in St. Luke, and with the artists
his life has frequently been the subject of a series including the
_Angel Appearing to Zacharias_, _St. John Preaching_, _His Baptism of
Christ_, _Reproval of Herod_, _Daughter of Herodias Asks for St. John’s
Head_, _Beheading of St. John_, _Daughter of Herodias Carries St.
John’s Head to her Mother_, etc.
According to the legends, the Blessed Virgin remained with Elizabeth
until the birth of John, and in the historical pictures Mary is seen
with a glory around her head presenting the child to Zacharias. The
Greek legends say that St. John’s death took place two years before
that of Christ, and that he descended into Hades and brought unto the
departed spirits the tidings of their approaching redemption, and
remained there until released by the Saviour’s death.
[Illustration:
Photo. Alinari
JOHN THE BAPTIST IN THE DESERT.—TITIAN
(Academy, Venice.)]
St. John forms a link between the Old Testament and the Gospel. In art
he is usually represented as the Herald, the Forerunner of Christ, and
as leaving his home while still very young to begin his life in the
desert. In early art he is gaunt and wasted, with unshaven beard
and hair, but often in later pictures he is smooth-faced, young, and
beautiful, and wears a rich mantle over the garment of camel’s hair.
As Messenger, he wears “his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern
girdle about his loins,” and bears a reed cross and scroll with the
inscription _Ecce Agnus Dei_, or _Vox clementis in deserto!_ The lamb
is sometimes given, sometimes omitted.
He is introduced into pictures of the Holy Family as a witness to the
divine nature of Christ and as such is represented at all ages from
infancy to manhood. He is patron saint of all who are baptised and is
usually represented in sculpture in baptisteries.
XII.—THE FOUR EVANGELISTS
The earliest symbol used to typify the Four Evangelists was four
scrolls placed in the four angles of a Greek cross, or four books,
representing the Gospels. Next came the four rivers whose source was in
paradise.
Their conventional symbols, the angel or man for St. Matthew, the lion,
winged, for St. Mark, the ox for St. Luke and the eagle for St. John
are derived from the Apocalypse (Rev. iv., 7). The Four Beasts are also
found in the prophecy of Ezekiel (chap. i., 10). How early these “four
mysterious creatures” were adopted as symbols of the Four Evangelists
is not known. They are found in the fifth century, and in the seventh
century were universally recognised as fixed attributes.
It was thought that the _cherub_ or _man_ was given to St. Matthew
because he dwelt more upon the human side of Christ; the _lion_ to St.
Mark because he was called the “Historian of the Resurrection,” and the
revival of the lion’s cub symbolised the resurrection, also because he
begins his Gospel with the mission of the Baptist—“the voice of one
crying in the wilderness”—the lion typifying the wilderness; the _ox_
to St. Luke because it was the emblem of sacrifice, and Luke in his
Gospel dwelt more especially upon the priesthood of Christ; to St. John
the _eagle_ because it was the emblem of the highest inspiration.
“Rupertus considers the Four Beasts as typical of the Incarnation,
the Passion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension; an idea previously
dwelt upon by Durandus, who adds that the man and the lion are placed
on the right because the incarnation and the resurrection are the joy
of the whole earth; whilst the ox is on the left, because Christ’s
sacrifice was a trouble to the apostles; and the eagle is above the ox
as suggestive of our Lord’s upward flight into heaven. According to
others, the proper order in the ascending scale is thus: at the lowest
point on the left, the ox; to the right, the lion; above the ox, the
eagle; and above all, the angel. So in Raphael’s Vision of Ezekiel
[Pitti, Florence] the angel gazes into the face of the Holy One, the
others form His throne” (Mrs. Jameson).
Many ideas are conveyed in these apparently fanciful symbols. Sometimes
in church decoration the Four Evangelists are grouped with the Four
Greater Prophets, thus expressing the old and the new law. Sometimes,
particularly in stained glass, they are represented with the Four
Doctors, the evangelists appearing as witnesses and the doctors as
interpreters of the faith. A curious painting of the Four Doctors is
seen in the Louvre, in which the doctors are given not only their own
symbols, but also the symbols of the Four Evangelists.
=St. Matthew.= _Lat._ S. Mattheus. _Ital._ San Matteo. _Fr._ St.
Mathieu. _Ger._ St. Matthäus.
[Illustration:
Photo. Alinari
CHRIST AND THE FOUR EVANGELISTS.—FRA BARTOLOMMEO
(Pitti Palace, Florence.)]
St. Matthew ranks seventh or eighth among the apostles, but is first
as evangelist, because his Gospel was supposed to be the first that was
written. Scarcely anything is known of his history, except that he was
a Hebrew who served the Romans as a publican or tax-gatherer and that
his original name was Levi.
After the ascension he is said to have gone to Egypt and Ethiopia,
preaching the Gospel, and to have remained there twenty-three years.
While there he overcame two terrible magicians, raised the son of the
King of Egypt from the dead, and healed his daughter of leprosy. He
is believed to have perished in the reign of Domitian, A. D. 90, but
the manner of his death is in doubt. By some it is believed that he
suffered martyrdom by the sword or spear, but, according to the Greek
legends, his end came peacefully.
St. Matthew is not a favourite in art and is seldom represented alone
or in devotional pictures. As evangelist he holds a book or a pen,
and the angel, his proper symbol, stands by dictating or pointing
up to heaven. As apostle he frequently holds a purse, or money bag,
signifying his former occupation.
=St. Mark.= _Lat._ S. Marcus. _Fr._ St. Marc. _Ital._ San Marco
Evangelista. _Ger._ Der Heilige Marcus.
According to the traditions accepted in the Roman Church, St. Mark was
not one of the twelve apostles, but was a convert of St. Peter’s and
became his favourite disciple. While in Rome he wrote his Gospel for
the use of the Roman converts—some say from the dictation of St. Peter.
He founded the Church of Alexandria, the most renowned of all the early
Christian churches, but the wrath of the heathen became so great,
because of his miracles, that they seized him while he was worshipping
one day and, binding him, dragged him up and down the streets and
highways, and over the most stony and rocky places, until the breath
left his suffering body. The legends relate that, as his soul departed,
a terrific tempest of hail and lightning descended suddenly from the
skies, by which his murderers were instantly scattered and destroyed.
The Christians of Alexandria buried his mangled remains, and his tomb
there was held in reverence for several centuries. But about 815 A.
D. some Venetian merchants carried off the relics and brought them to
Venice, and the magnificent Church of St. Mark was built over them.
Since that time St. Mark has been honoured as the patron saint of
Venice, and his legendary history has supplied the Venetian painters
with many beautiful and picturesque subjects.
When represented as one of the Four Evangelists, alone or grouped with
others, his symbol is almost invariably the lion—winged or unwinged,
but usually _winged_—distinguishing him from St. Jerome, who also has
the lion as a symbol, but always unwinged. In devotional pictures
St. Mark often wears the habit of bishop, as the first Bishop of
Alexandria, holding his Gospel in his hand.
=St. Luke.= _Lat._ Sanctus Luca. _Fr._ Saint Luc. _Ital._ San Luca.
Little is known of the real history of St. Luke. He was not an apostle,
and like St. Mark, is supposed to have been converted after the
ascension. He was a beloved disciple of St. Paul, and accompanied him
to Rome and remained with him until the last. After the martyrdom
of St. Peter and St. Paul he preached the Gospel in Greece and
Egypt, but whether he suffered martyrdom or died a natural death is
merely conjecture. There is some occasion for the belief that Luke
was a physician, and there is a legend that makes him a painter and
represents him as painting the portrait of the Virgin Mary, but this is
not confirmed by any of the earlier traditions. Because of this legend,
however, he was made the patron saint of painters.
St. Luke is usually represented with his Gospel, and his attendant ox,
winged or unwinged; but in Greek art and the art which came under the
Byzantine influence, he is represented as evangelist, young and without
beard, holding the portrait of the Virgin as his symbol in one hand,
and his Gospel in the other.
=St. John.= _Lat._ Sanctus Johannes. _Ital._ San Giovanni Evangelista.
_Fr._ Saint Jean, Messire Saint Jehan. _Ger._ Der Heilige Johann.
St. John was the son of the fisherman Zebedee, and with his brother
James was among the first followers of Christ.
In the legends of St. John, after the death of the Blessed Virgin he
went into Judæa preaching the Gospel, and then into Asia Minor, where
he founded the Seven Churches. During the persecution under Domitian,
he was sent in fetters to Rome and was cast into a caldron of boiling
oil, but he came out of it unharmed. He had other miraculous escapes,
and being accused of magic was exiled to the island of Patmos, where
he wrote his Revelation. He was released after Domitian’s death and
returned to his church at Ephesus. He died there a few years later,
being nearly a century old.
[Illustration:
Photo. Alinari
MADONNA OF THE HARPIES WITH ST. FRANCIS AND ST. JOHN,
EVANGELIST.—ANDREA DEL SARTO
(Uffizi, Florence.)]
A legend that is often represented in art is, that when he returned to
Ephesus he met a funeral procession and was told that it was that of
Drusiana, at whose house he had formerly dwelt. Bidding them set down
the bier, he prayed that she might be restored to life, and she arose
and walked to her house, the apostle going with her.
He is popular as a patron saint, and pictures of him are more
numerous than of any of the other evangelists. These represent him—as
evangelist, apostle, or prophet.
In early art St. John is an aged man with white hair and long white
beard, but with the later painters St. John as evangelist, although
nearly a century old, is represented as beardless, with light curling
hair, and has all the attributes of the youthful apostle. He is
sometimes seated, with his pen and his book,—sometimes standing; the
attendant eagle is always near him and frequently holds the pen or
ink-horn in its beak.
In his second character, or as one of the series of apostles, St. John
is represented in Western art as young and beardless, with pale brown
or golden flowing hair, and a face full of sweetness, candour, and
gentleness. His mantle is red in colour and the tunic blue or sometimes
green. He holds in his hand the sacramental cup from which a serpent is
seen to appear. St. Isidore relates that at Rome an attempt was made to
poison St. John in the cup of the sacrament; he drank of the same and
administered it to the communicants without injury, the poison having
by a miracle vanished from the chalice in the form of a serpent, but
the hired assassin fell down at his feet dead. According to another
account, the poisoned cup was given to him by order of the Emperor
Domitian. Another legend relates that Aristodemus, the high-priest of
Diana at Ephesus, dared him as a test of the truth of his mission to
drink of the poisoned chalice. St. John drank unharmed, but the priest
dropped dead. Yet another interpretation is that the cup in the hand
of St. John alludes to Christ’s reply when the mother of James and
John demanded for her sons that they be given a place of honour in
heaven,—“Ye shall indeed drink of my cup.”
In his third character of prophet and writer of the Revelation St.
John is generally represented in art as very old with a white, flowing
beard, seated in a rocky desert; the sea in the distance or around him,
representing the island of Patmos; he has the eagle at his side.
XIII.—THE TWELVE APOSTLES
The earliest representations of the Twelve Apostles seem to have been,
like those of the Four Evangelists, purely symbolical. They were
represented as twelve sheep, and Christ, bearing a lamb in His arms,
stood in their midst as the Good Shepherd; or Christ the Lamb of God
was placed on an eminence and crowned with a cruciform nimbus, and the
apostles were arranged on each side as sheep.
A little later the apostles were represented as twelve men, all alike,
each with a sheep, and Christ stood in the middle, also with a sheep,
which was often larger than theirs.
=The Apostles’ Creed.= “It is affirmed by Ambrose, ‘that the twelve
Apostles, as skilful artificers, assembled together, and made a key
by their common advice, that is, the Creed; by which the darkness of
the devil is disclosed, that the light of Christ may appear.’ Others
fable that every Apostle inserted an article, by which the Creed is
divided into twelve articles; and a sermon, fathered upon St. Austin,
and quoted by the Lord Chancellor King, fabricates that each particular
article was thus inserted by each particular Apostle.
Peter (1). I believe in God the Father Almighty;
John (2). Maker of heaven and earth;
James (3). And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
Andrew (4). Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin
Mary;
Philip (5). Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and
buried;
Thomas (6). He descended into hell, the third day he rose again from
the dead;
Bartholomew (7). He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of
God the Father Almighty;
Matthew (8). From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead;
James, the son of Alpheus (9). I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy
Catholic Church;
Simon Zelotes (10). The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins;
Jude, the brother of James (11). The resurrection of the body;
Matthias (12). Life everlasting. Amen.” (_Apocryphal New Testament._)
From the sixth century every one of the apostles had his especial
attribute, which was taken from some circumstance of his life or death.
According to the canon of the mass, they follow in order, thus:
St. Peter, the keys or a fish.
St. Paul, the sword; sometimes two swords.
St. Andrew, the transverse cross.
St. James Major, the pilgrim’s staff.
St. John, the sacramental cup with the serpent; sometimes the eagle
(the latter belongs to him only in his character of evangelist).
St. Thomas, a builder’s rule, sometimes a spear.
St. James Minor, a club.
St. Philip, the staff or crozier, surmounted by a cross, or a small
cross in his hand.
St. Bartholomew, a large knife.
St. Matthew, a purse.
St. Simon, a saw.
St. Thaddeus (or Jude), a halberd or lance.
St. Matthias, a lance.
Although in sacred art the apostles are always twelve in number, they
are not always the same. St. Paul is often substituted for St. Jude and
frequently the evangelists St. Mark and St. Luke appear instead of St.
Simon and St. Matthias.
=St. Peter and St. Paul.= _Lat._ SS. Petrus et Paulus. _Ital._ San
Pietro or Piero, San Paolo. _Fr._ S. Pierre, S. Paul. _Spa._ San Pedro,
San Pablo.
Even during their lifetime, the power and the influence of St. Peter
and St. Paul as apostles and preachers of the Gospel were recognised;
and they were acknowledged then as now to be the heads and founders of
the Christian Church.
The precedence given to St. Peter, prince of the apostles and founder
of the Church of Rome, has never been questioned, but still they are
held to be “equal in faith, in merit, and in sanctity.”
In works of art they are seldom separated. They are found on _each_
side of the Saviour or of the Virgin enthroned; or on each side of the
altar; or on each side of the arch over the choir. Wherever they are
together, not only as apostles but founders, their rank is next after
the evangelists and the prophets.
[Illustration:
Photo. Alinari
ST. PETER BAPTISING.—MASACCIO
(Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.)]
Many legends are related of St. Peter. Among them that of Simon Magus
is the most important, and it has been frequently illustrated in art
(Acts viii., 9, 24).
Simon Magus was a famous magician among the Jews, who performed
marvellous feats of sorcery and claimed to be a god. Privately he tried
to buy from the apostles the secret of their power to work miracles,
but was rejected by them with scorn.
The apostles vanquished him at every turn, and drove him out of
Jerusalem; and he fled to Rome, where he became a favourite of the
Emperor Claudius and afterwards of Nero. Simon claimed that he had the
power to raise the dead, and when Peter and Paul came to Rome they
challenged him to restore the life of a youth in the presence of the
emperor. The magician failed utterly to make good his boast, but when
Peter and Paul spoke to the boy he at once rose from the dead. Then the
magician announced that he would fly to heaven, and jumping from a high
tower he floated in the air for a time, sustained there by demons. At
this, Peter fell on his knees and begged that the demons might loose
their hold, which they did, and the magician, falling to the ground,
was dashed to pieces.
When the first persecution under Nero broke out, the Christians finally
succeeded in persuading St. Peter to flee from Rome and thereby save a
life that was so precious to the Church.
As Peter was fleeing along the Appian Way, he suddenly encountered our
Lord Himself going towards Rome, and bearing His cross. In wonder at
such a vision, Peter exclaimed, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” (_Domine,
quo vadis?_) and Jesus, bending His eyes sadly upon him, answered, “I
go to Rome to be crucified again.” And thus saying, He vanished from
sight. Peter felt this to be a sign that he was forsaking his duty
and turned back at once to the city, where he continued to preach and
baptise until he was taken with St. Paul and thrown into the Mamertine
prison.
Here they converted the two centurions, Processus and Martinian, who
guarded them, also many other prisoners. There was no water with which
to baptise them, but at the prayer of St. Peter that water might be
forthcoming, a spring broke through the stone floor and remains a
fountain there to this day.
Tradition declares that St. Peter was crucified with his head downward
at his own request, feeling himself unworthy to suffer the same death
as his Lord.
When in devotional pictures St. Peter is accompanied by another apostle
with no distinctive attributes, it may be supposed that it is St. Mark,
who was his companion, amanuensis, and interpreter at Rome.
“St. Peter was generally represented blessing, St. Paul preaching,—the
former with white hair and beard, the hair sometimes plaited in three
distinct partitions; the latter with a lofty and partially bald brow,
and long high nose,—as characteristic of the man of genius and the
thorough gentleman, as the former is of the warm-hearted, frank,
impetuous fisherman. The likenesses may be correct,—they were current,
at least, in the days of Eusebius” (Lord Lindsay’s _Sketches of
Christian Art_).
The dress of St. Peter in the mosaics and Greek pictures is a blue
tunic with a white mantle, but in later pictures he wears a blue or
green tunic with yellow drapery. In the earliest representations, he
bears a scroll or book, later a cross in one hand and book in the
other. It is not until about the eighth century that the keys become
his peculiar symbol. Sometimes he has one great key, but usually he
carries two keys, one of gold and one of silver—to absolve and to
bind—or according to another interpretation one is of gold for the
gates of heaven, the other of iron for the gates of hell. The legend
that makes St. Peter the keeper of the gate of Paradise, having power
to grant or refuse admission, found its origin in the delivery of the
keys to St. Peter.
Although =St. Paul= was called to be an apostle after the ascension
of Christ, yet he takes rank next to St. Peter as one of the “chief
witnesses of the Christian faith.” The history of the “great apostle
of the Gentiles” is given fully in the Acts, and the Epistles and the
legends have not added much to it. It is related that he suffered
martyrdom outside the Ostian Gate of Rome by being beheaded on the
same day that St. Peter was crucified within the city. It is also
said that a certain Roman matron, named Plautilla, a convert of St.
Peter’s, wishing to see St. Paul for the last time, placed herself on
the road where he passed to his martyrdom. As she beheld him, she wept
and implored his blessing. The apostle gave it and then asked for her
veil, that he might bind his eyes before being beheaded. He promised
to return it to her after his death. Plautilla gave it readily, thus
showing her faith, although her attendants refrained not from mocking
at so ridiculous a promise. After his martyrdom, however, her veil,
stained with his blood, was restored to her in person by St. Paul. The
spot where he was beheaded is still venerated as the _Tre Fontane_,
tradition saying that the severed head made three bounds on the ground,
and at each place that it touched a fountain gushed forth.
In art the dress of St. Paul is, like St. Peter’s, a blue tunic and
white mantle. He has a book or scroll in one hand, occasionally _twelve
rolls_, representing his Epistles. His peculiar symbol is the sword—his
attribute in a double sense—first signifying the manner of his
martyrdom, and second typifying the “good fight fought by the faithful
Christian.” When St. Paul is leaning on his sword it then expresses his
martyrdom. When he holds it aloft it proclaims his warfare in the cause
of Christ; when _two swords_ are given to him, one is the attribute,
the other the symbol.