H /'; 
 
 - J m ' '".'", 
 ' 
 
 I 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 ELISOBEL
 
 '--,.' Kg* * | 
 
 ....-;-A; -".:-'.:'" , 
 
 ;;..-> \- : - , ff ,' - ' 
 
 i I m -. ' 
 
 g ' 


 
 THE WRITINGS ON ART 
 
 OF 
 
 ANNA JAMESON 
 
 IN FIVE VOLUMES 
 VOL. I
 
 EDITED, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 BY ESTELLE M HURLL 
 
 AND 
 
 ABUNDANTLY ILLUSTRATED WITH DESIGNS 
 FROM ANCIENT AND MODERN ART 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOLUME I 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON MIFFI.IN AND COMPANY 
 (Cfte fltoersibe pK9* 
 
 M UCCCCIV
 
 Copyright, 1895, 
 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mast., U. S. A. 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.
 
 AAUPL/ART6 
 
 EDITOR'S PEEFACE 
 
 THE revision of " Sacred and Legendary Art " has been 
 conducted with the twofold purpose of preserving the original 
 form of the work and of adding thereto such critical comments 
 as would increase its value as an authoritative reference book. 
 The only change in the form of the text is the occasional 
 insertion of a foot-note in the body of the page. All editorial 
 comment is inclosed in brackets to distinguish it sharply from 
 the original material. 
 
 It has been the duty of the editor to ascertain concerning 
 each work of art which Mrs. Jameson mentions, (1) the opin- 
 ion of recent critics in regard to its authorship, (2) the name 
 of the gallery, church, or private collection in which it is now 
 to be found. 
 
 The first of these tasks is one whose importance is apparent 
 to all who have noted the recent history of art criticism. The 
 works of Crowe and Cavalcaselle, the first instalment of which 
 appeared in 1864, four years after Mrs. Jameson's death, com- 
 pletely overturned many of the prevailing ideas in regard to 
 the authorship of famous old paintings. A still greater revo- 
 lution has been caused by the works of Morelli, which were 
 the starting-point of an entirely new method of criticism. 
 Among the followers of this eminent Italian critic are several 
 who have contributed materially to the literature of art criti- 
 cism : Dr. Gustavo Frizzoni and Dr. J. P. Eichter ; Dr. 
 Woermann, who has based his catalogue of the Dresden Gal- 
 lery on the " Critical Studies," and Sir Henry Layard, who 
 has revised Kugler's " Handbook of the Italian Schools " in 
 accordance with , the same work. But without enumerating 
 here all the leading authorities of the day, it is enough to say
 
 vi EDITOR'S PREFACE 
 
 that their opinions are so widely accepted that any work on 
 art written previous to 1860 should be corrected by the new 
 standards in order to be a trustworthy guide to student and 
 tourist. The editor has therefore undertaken to insert through- 
 out the text frequent foot-notes referring to the differing opin- 
 ions concerning specific pictures. In a few exceptional cases 
 the newly authorized artist-name is simply substituted for that 
 given by Mrs. Jameson, the brackets being a sufficient indica- 
 tion of the editor's hand. A complete list of the reference 
 books used in the revision shows the reader the authority upon 
 which these corrections are made. 
 
 The task of investigating the present locality of the works of 
 art mentioned has proceeded by various methods. In the case 
 of pictures in the great galleries, the current official catalogues 
 of such galleries have been accepted as reliable authority upon 
 the contents of their respective collections. In instances where 
 the works of art mentioned are in the churches of Florence 
 and Rome, the information concerning them has been derived 
 from correspondents in these cities who have personally inves- 
 tigated the subject, and whose faithful labors the editor here 
 gratefully acknowledges. 
 
 Many of the works referred to were at the time of Mrs. 
 Jameson's writing in collections which have been since dis- 
 persed, as the Louis Philippe collection, sold in 1853, which 
 included the Spanish and Standish Galleries; the Aguado col- 
 lection in Paris and the Einuccini in Florence ; the Duke of 
 Lucca's, sold in 1841 ; as well as various notable collections 
 in England, as the Wallerstein, of Kensington Palace ; Lord 
 Shrewsbury's (Alton Towers), sold in 1857 ; Lord Northvvick's, 
 sold in 1859; Mr. Bromley's, sold in 1863, and that of Mr. 
 Rogers. It has been difficult and sometimes impossible to 
 trace the history of the pictures in these and similar collec- 
 tions, though Bedford's " Art Sales " has often furnished the 
 desired information. 
 
 Although the search for localities has been more largely a 
 work of verification than of correction, it was found, as was to 
 be expected, that a not inconsiderable number of great paintings
 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE vii 
 
 have changed hands during the last fifty years. Wherever reli- 
 able information of these changes could be obtained, reference 
 to the present locality has been inserted in the text. There 
 are other cases in which the information is merely negative, 
 showing that no picture corresponding to Mrs. Jameson's 
 description now exists in the place to which she refers it, 
 but with no clue to its present whereabouts. In a few rare 
 instances where a work of art is so insignificant as to receive 
 only a passing allusion from the author, failure to find* it in 
 the locality referred to has seemed a sufficient justification for 
 omitting the passage instead of correcting it. Thus a brief 
 reference to a picture of St. Anthony by Jerome Bosch in the 
 Berlin Gallery is omitted because there is no trace of such a 
 picture in the current Berlin catalogue. Similarly, a passage 
 concerning a mosaic in S. Sabina, Kome, is omitted because 
 the design alluded to has been taken down since Ciampini saw 
 and described it. 
 
 It may be added that the editor has often been able to sup- 
 ply information concerning the present ownership of pictures 
 whose whereabouts Mrs. Jameson does not mention, or which 
 she expressly says she cannot learn. For example, Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds's portrait of Mrs. Billington as St. Cecilia is referred 
 to the Lenox Gallery, New York, and Carpaccio's Martyrdom 
 of St. Stephen to Stuttgart, on the authority of Berenson and 
 the Berlin and Louvre catalogues. 
 
 Besides the critical examination of the text, the editorial 
 work has included the brief description of such modern paint- 
 ings of the subjects treated as are worthy to be placed beside 
 the works of the old masters. These references are necessarily 
 few in number, and do not add materially to the text. 
 
 In the matter of illustrations the editor has treated the 
 original selections with far greater liberty than would be justi- 
 fied in handling the text. Modern technical processes make it 
 possible to derive from original sources a set of pictures cover- 
 ing the entire field with a completeness and accuracy hitherto 
 undreamed of. With these superior advantages an entirely 
 new scheme of illustrations has been prepared. Wherever it
 
 viii EDITOK S PREFACE 
 
 has seemed best to exclude any to which Mrs. Jameson refers 
 as accompanying her text, her allusion has of course been 
 omitted. 
 
 The first aim in the selection has been to supplement in the 
 best possible way the meaning of the text. The pictures 
 chosen are in nearly all cases those specifically mentioned by 
 Mrs. Jameson, or, if not, such as correspond admirably to the 
 general type she describes. Where there are several illustra- 
 tions . of any one subject, special pains have been taken to 
 show a variety of treatment. In such cases there is usually 
 some quaint early picture contrasted with later pictures both 
 of the Italian and German schools. Wherever there was an 
 opportunity for choice, preference has been given, other things 
 being equal, to the picture of superior artistic excellence. 
 Thus have been brought together some of the world's great 
 masterpieces. 
 
 The editor has taken great interest in compiling a list of 
 the -authorities to which Mrs. Jameson refers throughout her 
 work, stating in nearly every case the full title and the date of 
 the edition probably used by her. Her authorities for the 
 legends are enumerated in the original preface. As nearly 
 all these old reference books are to be found in our great libra- 
 ries, it has been thought well to leave the explicit references 
 to their pages or plates as Mrs. Jameson first gave them, that 
 students may continue to avail themselves of this help in their 
 collateral researches. In the case of books republished since 
 1860, as Stirling's " Annals of the Artists of Spain," Kugler's 
 "Handbook of the Italian Schools," Lindsay's " Christian Art," 
 etc., the allusions are corrected to refer to the latest editions. 
 
 The quotations from French and Italian writers have been 
 translated into English that the work may be as useful as 
 possible to English readers. The Index of Places and General 
 Index will render the contents of the volumes more readily 
 available. 
 
 ESTKLLE M. HURLL. 
 NEW BEDFORD, MASS., April, 1895.
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 THIS book was begun six years ago, in 1842. It has since 
 been often laid aside, and again resumed. In this long interval, 
 many useful and delightful works have been written on the sa'me 
 subject, but still the particular ground I had chosen remained 
 unoccupied ; and, amid many difficulties, and the conscious- 
 ness o many deficiencies, I was encouraged to proceed, partly 
 by the pleasure I took in a task so congenial partly by the 
 conviction that such a work has long been wanted by those 
 who are not contented with a mere manual of reference, or a 
 mere catalogue of names. This book is intended not only to 
 be consulted, but to be read if it be found worth reading. 
 It has been written for those who are, like myself, unlearned ; 
 yet less, certainly, with the idea of instructing, than from a 
 wish to share with others those pleasurable associations, those 
 ever new and ever various aspects of character and sentiment, 
 as exhibited in Art, which have been a source of such vivid 
 enjoyment to myself. 
 
 This is the utmost limit of my ambition ; and, knowing 
 that I cannot escape criticism, I am at least anxious that there 
 should be no mistake as to purpose and intention. I hope it 
 will be clearly understood that I have taken throughout the 
 aesthetic and not the religious view of those productions of Art 
 which, in as far as they are informed with a true and earnest 
 feeling, and steeped in that beauty which emanates from genius 
 inspired by faith, may cease to be Religion, but cannot cease 
 to be Poetry ; and as poetry only I have considered them. 
 
 The difficulty of selection and compression has been the 
 greatest of all my difficulties ; there is not a chapter in this 
 book which might not have been more easily extended to a vol-
 
 x AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 ume than compressed into a few pages. Every reader, how- 
 ever, who is interested in the subject, may supply the omissions, 
 follow out the suggestions, and enjoy the pleasure of discover- 
 ing new exceptions, new analogies, for himself. With regard 
 to the arrangement, I am , afraid it will be found liable to 
 objections ; but it is the best that, after long consideration 
 and many changes, I could fix upon. It is not formal, nor 
 technical, like that of a catalogue or a calendar, but intended 
 to lead the fancy naturally from subject to subject as one opened 
 upon another, with just sufficient order to keep the mind un- 
 perplexed and the attention unfatigued amid a great diversity 
 of objects, scenes, stories, and characters. 
 
 The authorities for the legends have been the "Legenda 
 Aurea " of Voragine, in the old French and English transla- 
 tions ; the "Flos Sanctorum" of Eibadeneira, in the old 
 French translation; the "Perfetto Legendario," editions of 
 Rome and Venice ; the " Legende delle Sante Vergini," Flor- 
 enc$ and Venice ; the large work of Baillet, " Les Vies des 
 Saints," in thirty-two volumes, most useful for the historical 
 authorities ; and Alban Butler's " Lives of the Saints." * All 
 these have been consulted for such particulars of circumstance 
 and character as might illustrate the various representations, 
 and then compressed into a narrative as clear as I could 
 render it. 
 
 The First Part contains the legends of the scriptural per- 
 sonages and the primitive fathers. 
 
 The Second Part contains those sainted personages who 
 lived, or are supposed to have lived, in the first ages of Chris- 
 tianity, and whose real history, founded on fact or tradition, 
 has been so disguised by poetical embroidery, that they have 
 in some sort the air of ideal beings. As I could not under- 
 take to go through the whole calendar, nor yet to make my 
 book a catalogue of pictures and statues, I have confined my- 
 self to the saints most interesting and important, and (with 
 very few exceptions) to those works of Art of which I could 
 speak from my own knowledge. 
 
 l [An edition of this work was published in New York in 1846.]
 
 AUTHORS PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xi 
 
 The legends of the monastic orders, ahd the history of the 
 Franciscans and Dominicans, considered merely in their con- 
 nection with the revival and development of the Fine Arts in 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, open so wide a range 
 of speculation, the characteristics of these religious enthu- 
 siasts of both sexes are so full of interest and beauty as artistic 
 conceptions, and as psychological and philosophical studies so 
 extraordinary, that I could not, in conscience, compress them 
 into a few pages : they form a volume complete in itself, enti- 
 tled " Legends of the Monastic Orders." 
 
 The little sketches and woodcuts are trifling as illustrations, 
 and can only assist the memory and the fancy of the reader ; 
 but I regret this the less, inasmuch as those who take an in- 
 terest 'in the subject can easily illustrate the book for them- 
 selves. To collect a portfolio of prints, including those works 
 of Art which are cited under each head as examples, with a 
 selection from the hundreds of others which are not cited, and 
 arrange them in the same order with reference, not to schools, 
 or styles, or dates, but to subject merely would be an amus- 
 ing, and I think not a profitless, occupation. It could not be 
 done in the right spirit without leading the mind far beyond 
 the mere pleasure of comparison and criticism, to "thoughts 
 more elevate and reasonings high " of things celestial and ter- 
 restrial, as shadowed forth in form by the wit and the hand of 
 man. 
 1848.
 
 PEEFACE TO THE TRIED EDITION 
 
 THE Author ventures to hope that, on comparing this Third 
 Edition of " Sacred and Legendary Art " with the two pre- 
 ceding, it will be found greatly improved, and rendered more 
 worthy of the kind approbation and sympathy with which it 
 has been received. The whole has been carefully revised ; the 
 references to the pictures and other works of Art corrected 
 from the latest authorities, and many new examples have been 
 added. In a work so multifarious in its nature, and compris- 
 ing so many hundred subjects and references, there may remain 
 some errors and omissions, but they have not occurred from 
 want of care ; and I must not omit to express due thanks for 
 the observations and corrections which have been forwarded to 
 me from time to time, and which have been in this edition 
 carefully attended to. 
 
 A. J. 
 
 January, 1857.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO BY THE AUTHOR AND BY THE 
 
 EDITOR xxiii 
 
 MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESOX xxvii 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MRS. JAMESON'S WORKS . . . xlv 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. OF THE ORIGIN AND GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 
 
 LEGENDS REPRESENTED IN ART 1 
 
 II. OF THE DISTINCTION TO BE DRAWN BETWEEN THE 
 
 DEVOTIONAL AND THE HISTORICAL SUBJECTS . . 10 
 
 III. OF CERTAIN PATRON SAINTS WHO ARE COMMONLY 
 
 GROUPED TOGETHER IN WORKS OF ART, OR WHO BE- 
 LONG TO PARTICULAR COUNTRIES, ClTIES, OR, LO- 
 CALITIES ... 17 
 
 IV. OF CERTAIN EMBLEMS AND ATTRIBUTES 22 
 
 V. OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORS 34 
 
 II. OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 I. ANGELS. Antiquity of the Belief in Angels. Early No- 
 tions respecting them. How represented in the Old 
 Testament; in the New Testament. Angelic Hier- 
 archies. The Nine Choirs. Seraphim, Cherubim. 
 General Characteristics in Painting. Infant Angels. 
 Wings. Angels of Dante. Angels as Messengers, 
 Choristers, Guardians ; as Ministers of Wrath ; as 
 Agents in the Creation. Manner in which the prin- 
 cipal Painters have set forth the Angelic Forms and 
 
 Attributes 37 
 
 II. ARCHANGELS. The Seven Archangels. The Four Arch- 
 angels. The Three Archangels 83 
 
 ST. MICHAEL ; . . 89 
 
 ST. GABRIEL HI 
 
 ST. RAPHAEL 118 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES ON ANGELS 123
 
 ^iv CONTENTS 
 
 t m. THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 THE EARLIEST TYPES : as Four Books ; as Four Rivers ; as 
 the Four Mysterious Creatures ; the Human and Ani- 
 mal Forms combined ; with Wings ; as Men .... 124 
 
 ST. MATTHEW. His Legend. His Atttributes. Pictures 
 
 from his Life not common 134 
 
 ST. MARK. His Legend. Devotional Pictures : as Evangel- 
 ist ; as the Disciple of Peter ; as the Patron Saint of 
 Venice. The Legend of the Fisherman. The Le- 
 gend of the Christian Slave. The Translation of the 
 Body of St. Mark 139 
 
 ST. LUKE. His Legend. Devotional Figures. Attributes : 
 as Evangelist and Painter. St. Luke painting the 
 Virgin 147 
 
 ST. JOHN. His Legend. Devotional Pictures : as Evangel- 
 ist ; as Apostle ; as Prophet. Subjects from his Life. 
 Legend of St. John and the Robber ; of the two 
 Young Men ; of Drusiana ; of the Huntsman and the 
 Partridge. The Martyrdom of St. John. Legend of 
 the Death of St. John. Legend of Galla Placidia ; of 
 King Edward the Confessor 150 
 
 THE Six WRITERS OF THE CANONICAL EPISTLES, AS A 
 
 SERIES 165 
 
 IV. THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 ANCIENT TYPES : as Twelve Sheep ; as Twelve Doves ; as 
 Twelve Men. How grouped in Ecclesiastical Decora- 
 tion. In the old Mosaics ; their proper place. Ex- 
 amples from various Painters. Historical Subjects 
 relating to the Twelve Apostles : the Pentecost ; the 
 Separation of the Twelve Apostles to preach the Gos- 
 pel ; the Twelve Baptisms ; the Twelve Martyrdoms 167 
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. The Ancient Greek Types. 
 Examples of the early Treatment of these two Apos- 
 tles : in the old Mosaics ; in early Sculpture ; in Pic- 
 tures 179 
 
 ST. PETER. His peculiar Attributes : as Apostle and Patron 
 Saint; as the Head and Founder of the Roman 
 Church ; as Pope. Subjects from the Scriptural Life 
 of St. Peter. Legendary Stones connected with St.
 
 CONTENTS XV 
 
 Peter : the Legend of Simon Magus ; of the " Domine, 
 quo vadis ? " of Processus and Martinian. The Mar- 
 tyrdom of St. Peter. St. Peter as Keeper of the Gates 
 of Paradise. The Legend of St. Petronilla. The 
 Life of St. Peter in' a Series of Subjects 186 
 
 ST. PAUL. Earliest Type. Attributes of St. Paul : the 
 Sword. Subjects from his Life. Stoning of Ste- 
 phen. Conversion of St. Paul. The Vision of St. 
 Paul. Miracles of St. Paul. His Martyrdom. 
 The Legend of Plautilla. The Life of St. Paul in a 
 Series of Subjects 207 
 
 ST. ANDREW. The Legend. Attributes. Historical Sub- 
 jects from the Life of St. Andrew. Flagellation. 
 Adoration of the Cross. Martyrdom as represented 
 by Guido, Domenichino, and Murillo 221 
 
 ST. JAMES THE GREAT. Story and Character as represented 
 in Scripture. St. James as Patron of Spain. The 
 Legend of Santiago. The Battle of Clavijo. The 
 Pilgrims of Compostella. The Devotional Figures 
 and Attributes of St. James the Apostle. As Tutelar 
 Saint of Spain. Pictures from his Legend .... 225 
 
 ST. PHILIP. The Legend of the Idol and the Serpent. De- 
 votional Pictures and Attributes. Subjects from his 
 Legend. Distinction between St. Philip the Apostle 
 and St. Philip the Deacon 235 
 
 ST. BARTHOLOMEW. The Legend. The Attributes. Mar- 
 tyrdom 237 
 
 ST. THOMAS. Origin of his peculiar Attribute. The Legend 
 of King Gondof orus. The Incredulity of St. Thomas. 
 
 The Legend of the " Madonna della Cintola." 
 Martyrdom of St. Thomas ..." 239 
 
 ST. JAMES MINOR. First Bishop of Jerusalem. Attributes. 
 
 Resemblance to Christ. Subjects from his Life. 
 
 Martyrdom. Frescoes at Padua 244 
 
 ST. SIMON ZELOTES AND ST. JUDE. Legend and Attributes. 
 
 Represented as Children 2 
 
 ST. MATTHIAS. Attributes 248 
 
 JUDAS ISCARIOT. Scriptural Character. Legends relating 
 
 to him. How represented in various Subjects . . 249 
 THE LAST SUPPER. Its Importance as a Sacred Subject. - 
 Devotional when it represents the Institution of the 
 Eucharist. Historical when it represents the Detec-
 
 XVI CONTENTS 
 
 tion of Judas. Various examples : Giotto ; Duccio 
 of Siena ; Angelico da Fiesole ; Luca Signorelli ; Ghir- 
 landajo ; Albert Diirer ; Leonardo da Vinci ; Raphael ; 
 Andrea del Sarto ; Titian ; Poussin 254 
 
 FAULTS AND MISTAKES COMMITTED BY PAINTERS IN REP- 
 RESENTING THE LAST SUPPER 267 
 
 ST. BARNABAS. His Legend. Popular at Venice as Kins- 
 man of St. Mark. Represented with the Gospel of 
 St. Matthew . 272 
 
 V. THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 THE FOUR LATIN FATHERS. - Their particular Attri- 
 butes. Their proper place in Ecclesiastical Decora- 
 tion. Subjects in which they are introduced together 274 
 
 ST. JEROME. History and Character. Influence over the 
 Roman Women. Origin of his Attributes Le- 
 gend of the Wounded Lion. Devotional Figures of 
 St. Jerome : as Patron Saint ; as Translator of the 
 Scriptures ; as Penitent. Subjects from the Life 
 of St. Jerome. The Communion of St. Jerome . 280 
 
 ST. AMBROSE. Story and Character of St. Ambrose. The 
 Emperor Theodosius. The Discovery of the Mar- 
 tyrs St. Protasius and St. Gervasius. Legends re- 
 lating to St. Ambrose : The Prefect Macedonius ; 
 The Nobleman of Tuscany. Devotional Figures 
 of St. Ambrose. His peculiar Attributes. His 
 Church at Milan ; his Life as represented on the 
 Altar. Statue of St. Ambrose 295 
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE. Character of St. Augustine. His Shrine 
 at Pavia, and Basso-relievos representing his Life. 
 Devotional Figures of St. Augustine. Represented 
 with his Mother, Monica. Various Subjects from 
 his Life. The Vision of St. Augustine .... 303 
 
 ST. GREGORY. His Story and Character. His Popu- 
 larity. Legends connected with his Life ; Origin 
 of his Attribute, the Dove ; the Supper of St. Greg- 
 ory ; the Mass of St. Gregory ; the Miracle of the 
 Brandeum ; St. Gregory releases the Soul of the Em- 
 peror Trajan ; the Legend as represented in Pic- 
 tures ; the Legend of the Monk. St. Gregory's 
 Doctrine of Purgatory. How represented . . . 311
 
 CONTENTS xvii 
 
 IT. THE FOUR GREEK FATHERS. How represented in the 
 
 Greek Pictures, and by the Latin Artists .... 320 
 
 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. Singular Legends with regard to 
 him. The Penance of St. Chrysostom : as repre- 
 sented in the German Prints ; by Lucas Cranach ; 
 by Beham ; by Albert Diirer 321 
 
 ST. BASIL THE GREAT. His Character. How repre- 
 sented. Story of the Emperor Valens. Legends 
 which refer to St. Basil 331 
 
 ST. ATHANASIUS. How represented. Unpopular as a 
 
 Subject of Art 334 
 
 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN. His History and Character. 
 His celebrity as a Poet. Beautiful Miniatures rela- 
 tive to his Life 335 
 
 ST. CYRIL. How represented 337 
 
 VI. ST. MARY MAGDALENE, ST. MARTHA, ST. LAZ- 
 ARUS, ST. MAXIMIN, ST. MARCELLA, ST. MARY 
 OF EGYPT, AND THE BEATIFIED PENITENTS 
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALEXE. Her Character. Disputes concern- 
 ing her Identity. The Popular and Scriptural Le- 
 gend. The old Provei^al Legend. The Devotional 
 Representations : as Patron Saint ; as Penitent. Sa- 
 cred Subjects in which she is introduced. Legendary 
 Subjects. La Danse de la Madeleine. The Assump- 
 tion of the Magdalene. The Legend of the Mother 
 and Child. Her Life in a series of Subjects. Le- 
 gends of Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist 339 
 
 ST. MARTHA. Her Character. Legends of St. Martha. 
 
 How represented. AVhere introduced 37G 
 
 ST. LAZARUS 378 
 
 ST. MARY OF EGYPT. The Legend. Distinction between 
 
 St. Mary of Egypt and Mary Magdalene. Proper At- 
 tributes of Mary of Egypt. Stories and Pictures from 
 her Life " 379 
 
 MARY THE PEXITENT. Not to be confounded with Mary of 
 Egypt. Her Story. Landscapes of Philippe de 
 Champagne 384 
 
 ST. THAIS AND ST. PELAGIA 387
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Jameson * Frontispiece 
 
 Crosses 25 
 
 Crowns 29 
 
 Palms 30 
 
 Cherubs (Pinturicchio) 42 
 
 Part of a Glory of Angels from the Coronation of the Virgin 
 
 (Ambrogio Borgognone). S. Simpliciano, Milan .... 44 
 
 Assyrian Winged Genius 47 
 
 Cherub (from early MS.) 49 
 
 Angel (Bellini). From Frari Madonna, Church of Frari, 
 
 Venice 52 
 
 Angel (Melozzo d%Forli). Vatican, Rome 53 
 
 Angel (Melozzo da Forli). Vatican, Rome 55 
 
 Angel bearing the Moon (Greek, twelfth century) .... 57 
 
 Expulsion from Paradise (Bas-relief, Orvieto) 59 
 
 Angels visiting Abraham (Raphael). Loggie, Vatican . . 63 
 
 Diagram of chapel, Riccardi Palace, Florence 65 
 
 Angels (Martin Schoen) 69 
 
 Angels (Angelico). From Coronation, Uffizi, Florence . . 71 
 
 Angels in Adoration (Granacci). Florence Academy ... 72 
 
 Angel (Perugino). From Assumption, Florence Academy . 73 
 
 Angels (Titian). From Assumption, Venice Academy . . 75 
 
 Angel (Raphael). Chigi Chapel, Rome 77 
 
 Angel (Rembrandt). From Tobias and the Angel, Louvre 79 
 Angel (Xiccolo del Area). From Tomb of St. Dominick, 
 
 Bologna 81 
 
 Archangels(Cimabue). S. Francesco, Assisi 83 
 
 Archangels (attributed to Orcagna). From Last Judg- 
 ment, Campo Santo, Pisa 85 
 
 Angels (attributed to Orcagna). From Last Judgment, 
 
 Campo Santo, Pisa 87 
 
 St. Michael (Angelico). From Deposition, Florence Acad- 
 emy \ . 95 
 
 St. Michael (Martin Schoen) 98
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix 
 
 St. Michael and the Dragon (Raphael). Louvre 101 
 
 St. Michael and the Dragon (Guido Reni). Capuccini, 
 
 Rome facing 102 
 
 St. Michael and the Dragon (Oggione). Brera, Milan . . 104 
 
 St. Michael as Angel of Judgment (attributed to Memling) . 107 
 
 Angel Gabriel (Lorenzo Monaco). Florence Academy . . 114 
 
 Angel Gabriel (Stephen Lothener). Cathedral, Cologne . . 115 
 
 Angel Gabriel (Martin Schoen) 117 
 
 Tobias and the Angels (attributed to Botticelli). Florence 
 
 Academy facing 122 
 
 St. Matthew (Mosaic). S. Pudenziana 127 
 
 St. Luke (Mosaic). S. Pudenziana 128 
 
 St. Mark (Mosaic) 128 
 
 St. John (Mosaic). S. Paolo, Rome 129 
 
 St. John (Mosaic) 129 
 
 Assyrian Symbol 130 
 
 St. Mark (Mosaic). San Marco, Rome 131 
 
 The Evangelists. S. Vitale, Ravenna 132 
 
 St. Matthew (Raphael). From Marc Antonio's engraving 
 
 after Raphael's design in Hall of Pope's Pages, Vatican . 135 
 Christ and St. Matthew (attributed to Pordenone). Dres- 
 den Gallery 138 
 
 St. Mark (Titian). From St. Mark Enthroned, S. Maria 
 
 della Salute, Venice 140 
 
 St. Mark (Bartolommeo). Pitti, Florence 142 
 
 Miracle of St. Mark (Tintoretto). Venice Academy facing 146 
 
 St. John (Lucas van Ley den) 152 
 
 St. John (Raphael). From Marc Antonio's engraving after 
 
 Raphael's design in Hall of Pope's Pages, Vatican . . . 153 
 
 Twelve Apostles as Sheep (Mosaic) 167 
 
 St. Philip (Orcagna). Or San Michele, Florence .... 169 
 
 St. Peter (Greek type). Eleventh century 180 
 
 St. Paul (Greek type). Eleventh century 182 
 
 St. Peter (Vischer). Nuremberg 186 
 
 St Peter as Pope (Cola dell' Amatrice) 187 
 
 Repentance of St. Peter (Bas-relief, third century) .... 190 
 Repentance of St. Peter (Mosaic). S. Apollinare, Nuovo, 
 
 Ravenna 191 
 
 Christ delivering Keys to St. Peter (Perugino). Sistine 
 
 Chapel, Rome facing 192 
 
 Madonna and Child with Saints (Crivelli). Dudley House, 
 
 London . 194
 
 XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 St. Paul and St. Peter (Filippino Lippi). Carmine, Flor- 
 ence 196 
 
 Crucifixion of St. Peter (Filippino Lippi). Carmine, Flor- 
 ence 203 
 
 St. Peter at the Gate of Paradise (attributed to Simone 
 Memmi). Spanish Chapel, S. Maria Novella, Florence . 204 
 
 Conversion of St. Paul (Rubens) facing 210 
 
 St. Andrew (Vischer). Nuremberg 222 
 
 St. James Major (Raphael). From Marc Antonio's engrav- 
 ing after Raphael's design in Hall of Pope's Pages, Vati- 
 can 231 
 
 St. James (Andrea del Sarto). Uffizi, Florence 232 
 
 St. Philip (Albert Diirer) 235 
 
 St. Philip (Nanni di Banco). Or San Michele, Florence . 236 
 
 St. Bartholemew (Albert Diirer) 238 
 
 St. Thomas (Lucas van Leyden) 240 
 
 St. James Minor (Martin Schoen) 245 
 
 St. Matthias (Raphael). From Marc Antonio's engraving 
 after Raphael's design in Hall of Pope's Pages, Vatican . 248 
 
 The Last Supper (after Da Vinci) facing 262 
 
 The Vision of the Four Fathers (Dosso Dossi). Dresden 
 
 Gallery facing 278 
 
 St. Jerome (Ghirlandajo). Ogni Santi, Florence .... 285 
 St. Jerome (Raphael). From Crucifixion, Dudley House, 
 
 London 1 288 
 
 The Penance of St. Jerome (Albert Diirer) 289 
 
 St. Jerome and the. Lion (Coll' Antonio del Fiore). Na- 
 ples 292 
 
 Last Communion of St. Jerome (Domenichino). Vatican 
 
 Gallery facing 292 
 
 St. Ambrose and Ernperor Theodosius (Rubens). Belve- 
 dere, Vienna facing 302 
 
 St. Augustine (attributed to Filippo Lippi). Uffizi, Flor- 
 ence 305 
 
 Vision of St. Augustine (Garofalo). National Gallery, Lon- 
 don 308 
 
 St. Augustine and St. Monica (Ary Scheffer). National 
 
 Gallery London 310 
 
 Miracle of St. Gregory (A. Sacchi). Vatican Gallery facing 318 
 
 1 Under the reproduction of this picture in the Portfolio for January, 1895 
 (Julia Cartwright's monograph on Raphael), is the statement that the original is 
 in the possession of Mr. Mond. Miintz and others refer it to the Dudley House 
 collection.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XXI 
 
 The Penance of St. Chrysostom (Albert Diirer) 330 
 
 Magdalene (Canova) 349 
 
 Magdalene (Lucas van Leyden) 351 
 
 Madonna with Magdalene and St. Jerome (Correggio). 
 
 Parma Gallery facing 352 
 
 Magdalene (Guido Reni). Louvre, Paris 357 
 
 Noli Me Tangere (Titian). National Gallery, London facing 364
 
 AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 Bosio. Roma Subterranea. Rome, 1651. 
 
 Ciampini, Giovanni Giustino. Opera ed auct. Roma, 1747. 
 
 Bottari, Giovanni Gaetano. Sculture e pitture sagre estratte dai 
 cimiterii di Roma. Roma, 1737-54. 
 
 Miinter, Friedrich Christian Carl Heinrich. Sinnbilder und Kunst- 
 vorstellungen der alten Christen. Altona, 1825. 
 
 Didron. Manuel d'Iconographie Chretienne. Paris, 1845. 
 
 Durandus, William. Rationale Divinorum Officiorum. 1 
 
 Koburgher (Koberger). Legendensammlung. Nuremberg, 1488. 
 
 Marco Lastri. L'Etruria Pittrice. Florence, 1791-95. 
 
 Cicognara. Scultura Moderna. Prato, 1823. 
 
 Lanzi. Storia Pittorica della Italia. 2 
 
 Rosini. Storia della Pittura Italiana. Pisa, 1839. 
 
 Vasari. Vite dei Pittori, Scultori e Architetti. Florence, 1846-57. 
 
 Lord Lindsay. Sketches of Christian Art. London, 1847. 
 
 Franz Kugler. A Handbook of the History of Painting. Ger- 
 man, French, and Dutch Schools. Edited by Sir Edmund Head. 
 London, 1846. 
 
 Bartsch. Le Peintre Graveur. Vienna, 1813. 
 
 Heller. Leben und Werke von Albrecht Diirer. Leipzig, 1831. 
 
 Passavant. Rafael von Urbino. Leipzig, 1839. 
 
 Stirling. Annals of the Artists of Spain. London, 1848. 
 
 Sir Edmund Walker Head. Handbook of the History of the Span- 
 ish and French Schools of Painting. London, 1848. 
 
 Waagen. Kunstwerke und Kiinstler in England und Paris. Ber- 
 lin, 1837-39. 
 
 Paul Landon. Annales du Musee et de PEcole des Beaux Arts. 
 (22 vols.) Paris, 1815. 
 
 1 The first book of this work has been recently translated into English by J. 
 M. Neale and Benj. Webb of Trinity College, Cambridge. The Symbolism of 
 Churches and Church Ornament. London, 1893. The .translators enumerate in 
 the preface the following editions of the original Latin work: Rome, 1473; 
 Lyons, 1503, 1512, 1534, 1584; Antwerp, 1570; Venice, 1599, 1609. 
 
 2 It is impossible to tell from the context what edition of this work was used 
 by the author.
 
 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED BY THE EDITOR xxiii 
 
 Thomas Frognall Dibdin. The Bibliographical Decameron; or, 
 ten days pleasant discourse upon illuminated manuscripts, etc. 
 (3 vols.) London, 1817. 
 
 Le Opere del pittore plasticatore Gaudenzio Ferrari, disegnate ed 
 incise da S. Pinazzi, descritte da G. Bordiga. Milan, 1835^. 
 
 John Carter. Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting in 
 England. London, 1838. 1 
 
 Bayle. Dictionnaire Historique et Critique. Rotterdam, 1720. 
 
 Zani, Pietro. Enciclopedia metodica critico-ragionata delle Belle 
 Arti. Parma, 1817-23. 
 
 Nathaniel Lardner. Works. London, 1788. 
 
 L'Abbe Mery. Theologie des Peintres. Paris, 1765. 
 
 Milman. History of Christianity. London, 1840. 
 
 John C. L. Giesler. Text-book of Ecclesiastical History. New 
 York, 1849: 2 
 
 Edward Gibbon. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Ro- 
 man Empire. 8 
 
 Goethe. Theory of Colors. Translated by C. L. Eastlake. Lon- 
 don, 1840. 
 
 Robert Curzon, Jr. Visits to Monasteries in the Levant. London, 
 1849. 
 
 J. W. Percy. Romanism as it exists at Rome. Exhibited in in- 
 scriptions, etc. London, 1847. 
 
 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED BY THE EDITOR 
 
 J. Spencer Northcote and W. E. Brownlow. Roma Sotterranea. 
 
 London, 1869. 
 
 Andre Perate. Archaeologie Chretienne. Paris, 1892. 
 P. Raffaelo Garrucci. Storia della Arte Cristiana. Prato, 1879. 
 Didron. Christian Iconography : vol. i., translated by E. J. Mil- 
 
 lington. London, 1851. vol. ii., translated by Margaret 
 
 Stokes. London, 1886. 
 Louisa Twining. The Symbols of Early Christian and Medieval 
 
 Art. London, 1885. 
 Lord Lindsay. Sketches of Christian Art. London, 1885. 
 
 1 This work was republished in 1887. 
 
 - This is probably not the edition used by Mrs. Jameson, but is the only one 
 accessible to the editor. 
 
 3 It is impossible to tell from the context what edition the author used of a 
 book republished so many times.
 
 xxiv AUTHORITIES CONSULTED BY THE EDITOR 
 
 Woltmann and Woermann. History of Painting. Translated by 
 
 Clara Bell. London, 1887. 
 Eugene Miintz. Histoire de PArt pendant la Renaissance. Paris, 
 
 1889-91. 
 Robert Dohme and others. Kunst und Kiinstler des Mittelalters 
 
 und der Neuzeit. Leipzig, 1877-1886. 
 Sir Henry Layard's Revision of Kugler's Handbook of tke Italian 
 
 Schools. London, 1887. 
 Morelli. Critical Studies of Italian Painters. Translated by 
 
 Constance Jocelyn Ffoulkes. London, 1892. 
 
 Gustavo Frizzoni. Arte Italiana del Rinascimento. Milan, 1891. 
 Crowe and Cavalcaselle. History of Painting in Italy. London, 
 
 1864. 
 Crowe and Cavalcaselle. History of Painting in North Italy. 
 
 London, 1871. 
 Bernhard Berenson. The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance. 
 
 New York and London, 1894. 
 Crowe's Revision of Kugler's Handbook of the German, Flemish, 
 
 and Dutch Schools. London, 1889. 
 Ernst Forster. Denkmale der Deutschen Kunst. Leipzig, 1855- 
 
 1869. 
 
 H. Janitschek. Geschichte der Deutschen Kunst. Berlin, 1890. 
 Stirling-Maxwell. Annals of the Artists of Spain. London, 
 
 1891. 
 Clara Cornelia Stranahan. History of French Painting. New 
 
 York, 1888. 
 
 D. C. Thompson. Barbizon School. London, 1891. 
 Crowe and Cavalcaselle. Raphael: His Life and Works. Lon- 
 don, 1882-1885. 
 Eugene Miintz. Raphael. Translated by Walter Armstrong. 
 
 London, 1882. 
 Passavant. Raphael. Translated in an abridged English edition. 
 
 London and New York, 1872. 
 Crowe and Cavalcaselle. Titian : His Life and Times. London, 
 
 1877. 
 
 Georges La Fenestre. La Vie et 1'CEuvre de Titien. Paris. 
 Frank Preston Stearns. Life and Genius of Jacopo Robusti. New 
 
 York, 1894. 
 J. A. Symonds. Life of Michel Angelo Buonarroti. London. 
 
 1893. 
 Cavalucci et Molinier. Les Delia Robbia : leur vie et leur ceuvre. 
 
 Paris, 1884.
 
 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED BY THE EDITOR XXV 
 
 Charles B. Curtis. Velasquez and Murillo. Description and his- 
 torical catalogue of their works. London and New York, 1883. 
 
 The works of Antonio Canova, engraved by Henry Moses. De- 
 scription by the Countess Albrizzi ; biographical memoir by 
 Count Cicognara. London, 1849. 
 
 Moritz Thausing. Diirer : His Life and Works. Translated from 
 the German by F. A. Eaton. London, 1882. 
 
 Emile Michel. Rembrandt : His, Life, his Work, and his Time. 
 Translated from the French by Florence Simmonds. London, 
 1894. 
 
 Dimitri Rovinski. L'CEuvre grave de Rembrandt avec un cata- 
 logue raisonne. St. Petersburg, 1890. 
 
 Amand-Durand. (Euvre de Schongauer. Paris, 1891. 
 
 Amand-Durand. CEuvre de Lucas de Leyde. Paris. 
 
 Amand-Durand. CEuvre de Diirer. Paris. 
 
 Malcom Bell. Edward Burne-Jones : A Record and Review. 
 London and New York, 1893. 
 
 F. G. Stephens. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In Portfolio, May, 1894. 
 
 George Redford. Art Sales. London, 1888. 
 
 John Denison Champlin, Jr., and Charles C. Perkins. Cyclopaedia 
 of Painters and Painting. New York, 1886. 
 
 Bryan. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. Revised by Robert 
 Edmund Graves. London, 1886. 
 
 J. Burckhardt. Le Cicerone : Guide de 1'Art Antique et de 1'Art 
 Moderne. Traduit par Aug. Gerard sur le 5 iemo edition par le 
 docteur Wilhelm Bode. Paris, 1892. 
 
 Jean Paul Richter. Italian Art in the National Gallery. London, 
 1883. 
 
 The National Gallery. Foreign Schools. By Authority. Lon- 
 don, 1892. 
 
 Ernest Law. An Illustrated New Guide to Hampton Court Palace. 
 London, 1894. 
 
 Windsor Castle : Official and Authorized Royal Guide. 1894. 
 
 Susan and Joanna Horner. Walks in Florence. London, 1873. 
 
 Kdroly. Guide to the Paintings of Florence. London, 1893. 
 
 Caesar Rigoni. Catalogue of the Royal Uffizi Gallery in Florence. 
 Florence, 1892. 
 
 Catalogue de la Galerie Royale de Venise. Venice, 1892. 
 
 R. Pinacoteque de Bologne. Bologna, 1883. 
 
 Catalogo della R. Pinacoteca di Milano. Milan, 1892. 
 
 Cav. E. G. Massi. Descrizione delle Gallerie di Pittura nel Ponti- 
 ficio Palazzo Vaticano. Rome, 1887.
 
 xxvi AUTHORITIES CONSULTED BY THE EDITOK 
 
 Galleria Doria Pamphilj. 1894. 
 
 Guida per visitare la Galleria di San Luca. Rome, 1882. 
 
 D. Pedro de Madrazo. Catalogo de los Cuadros del Museo del 
 
 Prado de Madrid. Madrid, 1893. 
 Catalogo de los Cuadros y estatuas en el museo provincial de Se- 
 
 villa. Seville, 1888. 
 La Fenestre et Richtenberger. Le Musee National du Louvre. 
 
 Paris, 1893. 
 F. Villot. Musee National du Louvre. Ecoles allemandes, fla- 
 
 mandes et hollondaises. Paris, 1889. 
 F. Villot. Musee National du Louvre. Tableaux de 1'Ecole fran- 
 
 9aise. Paris, 1891. 
 Le V" Both de Tauzia. Musee National du Louvre. Ecoles d'lta- 
 
 lie et d' Espagne. Paris, 1894. 
 Edouard Fetis. Catalogue descriptif et historique des Tableaux 
 
 Anciens du Musee de Bruxelles. Brussels, 1889. 
 Catalogue. Musee Royal d'Anvers. Antwerp, 1894. 
 Karl Woermann. Katalog der Koniglichen Gemaldegalerie zu 
 
 Dresden. Dresden, 1892. 
 Edward Ritter von Engerth and Wilhelm von Wartenegg. 
 
 Fiihrer durch die Gemalde-Galerie zu Wien. Vienna, 1892. 
 Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der Gemalde Konigliche Museen zu 
 
 Berlin. Berlin, 1891. 
 Illustrierter Katalog der Alten Pinakothek. Officielle Ausgabe. 
 
 Munich. 
 Ermitage Imperial. Catalogue de la Galerie des Tableaux. Les 
 
 Ecoles d' Italic et d'Espagne, par le Bar. E. Briiningk and A. 
 
 Somoff. St. Petersburg, 1891.
 
 MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 1 
 
 THE life of Anna Jameson has a twofold interest, arising 
 at once from her own marked individuality and from her 
 relations to all the progressive movements of her times. Her 
 personality is singularly winning. That " fine aspiring spirit " 
 and " noble instinct for greatness," which Elizabeth Barrett 
 was quick to recognize in her early writings, makes itself 
 felt on every page of her books. As a friend, she was loved 
 for her affectionate and generous heart ; as a writer, she was 
 admired for her brilliant mind and scholarly attainments. In 
 private life and in public work her name stood to friends and 
 critics alike for all that was sincere and earnest and noble. 
 
 The early half of our century was a time of newly awak- 
 ening interest in great art. Lord Lindsay and Sir Charles 
 Eastlake in England, as well as the continental writers, Dr. 
 Waagen and M. Rio, contributed much to the true appreciation 
 of the old masters. Among these Mrs. Jameson takes a 
 recognized place of honor. Political Science, too, owes much 
 to her enthusiastic labors. Hers was the first name on a 
 petition to pass a bill in Parliament securing to married wo- 
 men the use of their own earnings. She worked hard to get 
 Schools of Design open to women. She encouraged every 
 effort to better the education of the masses. 
 
 In the social world, as well as in the world of art and let- 
 ters, Mrs. Jameson was a brilliant figure. She had a positive 
 genius for friendship, and included among her intimates 
 many of her most distinguished contemporaries. 
 
 1 The basis of this sketch is Mrs. Gerardine MacPherson's Memoirs of Anna 
 Jameson, Boston, 1878. For many side-lights thrown on the subject by 
 contemporary writers, credit is given in the proper places throughout the 
 narrative.
 
 XXV111 MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 
 
 Among these varied interests was passed a life which, 
 though devoid of striking events, has its own peculiar charm, 
 because so full of intellectual activity and usefulness. 
 
 Anna Murphy was born at Dublin in 1794, at a time of 
 great political disturbance in Ireland. Her father was a min- 
 iature painter and, withal an ardent adherent to the " United 
 Irishmen." His revolutionary tendencies, however, came to 
 no disastrous results, for he removed to England in 1798, and 
 thenceforward took no active part in Irish politics. For the 
 following five years the family home was successively located 
 at Whitehaven and Newcastle-on-Tyne, where the the chil- 
 dren enjoyed the utmost freedom of country life. The father 
 being often absent from home, sometimes accompanied by 
 his wife, Anna, who was the eldest, became the leader and 
 care-taker of the three little sisters, who loved her with loyal 
 devotion. 
 
 An amusing incident is related of an attempt of the little 
 troop of maids to escape from the tyranny of their landlady 
 by running away to join their parents in Scotland. Anna 
 organized the expedition with great adroitness, and was deeply 
 chagrined Avhen the party was overtaken and captured. At 
 another time the young adventuress proposed to her follow- 
 ers that they should set forth to earn their own livelihood 
 and help their father. Their plan was to go to Brussels to 
 learn lace-making, and was only frustrated by the defection of 
 one of the sisters. 
 
 Of Mrs. Jameson's child-life we have still further her own 
 very interesting record written late in life at the request of a 
 friend, not as an autobiography, but rather as a study of 
 child-nature, which in her opinion was so grossly misunder- 
 stood in current educational systems. 
 
 " No, " she writes, " certainly I was not an extraordinary 
 child. If anything in particular, I believe I was particularly 
 naughty at least so it was said twenty times a day. But 
 looking back now, I do not think I was particular even in this
 
 MEMOIK OF MRS. JAMESON xxix 
 
 respect ; I perpetrated not more than the usual amount of 
 mischief, so called, which every lively, active child perpe- 
 trates between five and ten years old. I had the usual desire 
 to know and the usual dislike to learn ; the usual love of 
 fairy tales and hatred of French exercises. " 
 
 As the narrative goes on it is impossible not to believe, in 
 spite of the writer's modest self-estimate, that she was indeed 
 an extraordinary child. Her most remarkable gift was a 
 powerful imagination. Gathering her younger sisters about 
 her, she used to entertain them with marvellous tales of her 
 own invention, which she related " with a keen sense of tri- 
 umphant enjoyment in seeing the listener taken in by a most 
 artful and ingenious concatenation of impossibilities. Fer- 
 dinand Mendez Pinto, that liar of the first magnitude, was 
 nothing in comparison ! " Not less wonderful were the scenes 
 and events of her own inner reveries, which she never revealed 
 to others. " The shaping spirit of imagination began," she 
 says, " when I was about eight or nine years old to haunt 
 my inner life. I can truly say that from ten years old to 
 fourteen or fifteen I lived a double existence ; one outward, 
 linking me with the external sensible world, the other, inward, 
 creating a world to and for itself, conscious to itself only." 
 It was doubtless because of her vivid imagination that the 
 whole period of childhood was haunted by an intense fear of 
 darkness and supernatural influences. Her bed was visited 
 by dread visions of the ghost of Hamlet's father, of Apollyon, 
 and other fantastic creatures known to her through the 
 illustrated volumes of their family library. These visionary 
 sufferings lasted until she was nearly twelve years old, and had 
 she not possessed a strong reasoning power, which rejected and 
 condemned her fears as groundless, the consequences might 
 have been serious. But her imagination was, on. the whole, 
 less a source of pain than of enjoyment, as by its magic power 
 she found a constant and boundless delight in the beauty 
 of nature. "The stars were to me," she writes, "as the
 
 XXX MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 
 
 gates of heaven ; the rolling of the waves to the shore, the 
 graceful reeds and grasses bending before the breeze as they 
 grew by the wayside, the minute and delicate forms of insects, 
 the trembling shadows of boughs and leaves dancing on the 
 ground in the highest noon, these were to me perfect pleasures 
 of which the imagery now in my mind is distinct." An in- 
 teresting characteristic of the child, closely allied to her love 
 of nature, was her sensitiveness to music. Beautiful music 
 moved her to a passion of delight, while discordant sounds had 
 the curious effect upon her organism of sending the blood 
 backward to her heart. 
 
 The early education of the Murphy children was intrusted 
 to a family governess, Miss Yokely, a most conscientious and 
 exacting teacher, who trained her pupils thoroughly and well. 
 Miss Yokely's duties came to an end in 1803, at about the time 
 when Mr, Murphy's increasing success led him to bring his* fam- 
 ily to London, in or near which he passed the remainder of his 
 life. Anna was now left to her own devices in the matter of 
 education, and whatever were the methods of her self-teaching, 
 it is certain that they produced no mean results. She had 
 worked hard at French, Italian, and Spanish, had even dipped 
 into Persian (which she had begun to study with a neighbor- 
 ing clergyman when seven years old !) when, at the early 
 age of sixteen, she undertook the position of governess in the 
 household of the Marquis of Winchester. Four years were 
 spent in this family, after which it does not appear that she 
 accepted any ne\v appointment until 1821, when she again took 
 up the duties of governess. The circumstance which led to 
 this step was the breaking of her newly formed engagement 
 with Mr. Robert Jameson, a young barrister lately introduced 
 to the family. Believing herself broken-hearted by this early 
 disappointment, she eagerly embraced an opportunity *to travel 
 with a pupil, in the hope of assuaging her grief by change of 
 scene. The journey proved, as was to be expected, of the great- 
 est benefit to the melancholy young traveller. Italy occupied
 
 MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON XXxi 
 
 the larger share of the tour, especially Florence and Rome, 
 in whose treasures Miss Murphy took the greatest delight. 
 "I have stored my mind," she writes, " with images of beauty 
 and grandeur which will last through all my existence." A 
 careful record of her impressions was committed to her diary, 
 whose pages are full of interesting comment and description. 
 
 Upon her return to England she became governess to the 
 children of Mr. Littleton, afterwards Lord Hatherton, in 
 whose family she remained four years. In the mean time the 
 engagement Avhich had been so hastily broken in 1821 was 
 renewed, and in 1825 Anna Murphy and Robert Jameson 
 were married. Then followed a quiet life in an unpretentious 
 little home in Tottenham Court Road. Here were taken the 
 first steps in the literary career afterwards to become so famous. 
 The young wife read to her husband the diary which had been 
 a source of so much pleasure to her during her continental 
 journeyings, and he was struck with its originality. A little 
 later he asked her to read it to a friend of theirs, a certain 
 Thomas, who came often to their house as a prote'gd of Mr. 
 Jameson. Thomas was a quaint character, whose superior in- 
 telligence and omnivorous reading had raised him from the 
 cobbler's bench to a small business in buying and selling books. 
 Among other higher tastes, he had acquired considerable pro- 
 ficiency in playing the guitar, and was at this time giving 
 guitar lessons to Mrs. Jameson. The listener heard the diary 
 with enthusiasm, and at once begged the manuscript to publish 
 it. Permission was accordingly given, Mrs. Jameson jestingly 
 proposing that a Spanish guitar should be her own share of the 
 profits should the undertaking be successful. To conceal the 
 identity of the writer and her travelling companions, a few 
 changes were made, and a fictitious conclusion added. Thus 
 appeared, anonymously, "A Lady's Diary," which was so well 
 received that Thomas was offered by an established publishing 
 house fifty pounds for the copyright. He promptly made the 
 sale, and devoted ten guineas to the purchase of a Spanish
 
 xxxii MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 
 
 guitar. The new edition of the book was rechristened " The 
 Diary of an Ennuyde," by which name it is still known. The 
 Diary was soon in all the book clubs, and excited much discus- 
 sion. The style was clearly original. " The objects/' says 
 the writer, " which particularly struck my fancy, were precisely 
 those which passed unnoticed by every one else," and the fact 
 gives piquancy to this and all her later descriptions of travel. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson now became a well-known literary figure in 
 London, and soon appeared again before the public with her 
 " Loves of the Poets." Sought out and admired both by her 
 father's friends and those of her own making, she formed in 
 this period of her young womanhood some valuable and last- 
 ing friendships. One of these was with Bryan Waller Procter 
 (" Barry Cornwall ") and his wife, who, in turn, introduced 
 to her Miss Fanny Kemble, then about sixteen years of age. 
 Miss Kemble had been greatly fascinated by the Diary, and 
 had a girlish enthusiasm in meeting its clever author. 1 The 
 two soon found much in common, and when, shortly after, the 
 young actress made her professional ddbut, Mrs. Jameson was 
 among her most faithful critics, offering praises and criticisms 
 with equal kindness and good judgment. Her warm admira- 
 tion for her young friend's talent is seen in the descriptive 
 text she afterwards wrote for Hayter's drawings of Fanny 
 Kemble as Juliet, a most glowing tribute. 
 
 In the mean time the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Jameson 
 was not bringing great happiness to either. Partly on this 
 account perhaps, and partly because he met with no great pro- 
 fessional success, Mr. Jameson decided, in 1829, to accept a 
 minor official appointment in the island of Dominica. As it 
 was obviously impracticable for him to take his wife to these 
 untried colonial surroundings, he left her among her own 
 family. 
 
 1 An account of their meeting is given in Frances A. Kemble's Records of a 
 Girlhood (New York, 1879), p. 127. The same volume, as well as The Records 
 of a Later Life (New York, -1882), contains many interesting letters from Miss 
 Kemble to Mrs. Jameson.
 
 MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON xxxiii 
 
 Soon after her husband's departure, Mrs. Jameson took a 
 delightful continental trip with her father and Sir Gerard Noel, 
 visiting, for the first time, some of the cities of Germany. 
 Upon her return to England she made her home in London, 
 with her sister Louisa, Mrs. Bate. Here she continued her 
 literary work, and, in 1832, published her " Characteristics of 
 Shakespeare's Women," dedicated to Fanny Kemble. This 
 was her first serious literary undertaking, and definitely estab- 
 lished her popularity as a writer. At about this time she 
 taught herself to etch, in order that she might illustrate her 
 books with her own handiwork. The accomplishment proved 
 of great use to her at a time when this tedious and imperfect? 
 method of reproduction was the best yet discovered. 
 
 Mr. Jameson returned from the West Indies in 1833, and, 
 after spending a few months with his wife in Mrs. Bate's home, 
 accepted a new and more promising appointment in Canada. 
 It was understood at his departure that should he become well 
 established in the new field, Mrs. Jameson would join him 
 there later. 
 
 In the mean time she proceeded to Germany to pursue her 
 plans for some new literary work. Germany received her with 
 open arms. The learned scholars Tieck and Schlegel welcomed 
 her as a fellow-student of Shakespeare ; the sculptor Dan- 
 necker and the painter Retzsch, as an art critic of sympathetic 
 insight and judgment ; the court of the grand duke of Austria, 
 as a brilliant guest ; and the Goethe family, as a near friend. 
 To Madame de Goethe, the daughter-in-law of the great poet, 
 Mrs. Jameson had been introduced by Major Noel, with whom 
 she had become acquainted shortly before going abroad, and 
 who remained through all her life a most chivalrous and de- 
 voted friend. His presence in Weimar at the time of her 
 visit added much to her enjoyment of this historic spot, so 
 full of interest to her as an ardent admirer of Goethe. In 
 the midst of these delightful German travels Mrs. Jameson 
 was hastily recalled to England, to the bedside of her father.
 
 xxxiv MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 
 
 who had been stricken with paralysis. Always very dear to 
 him in health, she became in his invalidism his chief consola- 
 tion and support. Other family duties also claimed her atten- 
 tion. Still making her home with her sister Louisa, she 
 assumed almost a mother's care for the eldest child, Gerardine. 
 Thus she was unable to leave England again for more than a 
 year, and in the mean time busied herself, in whatever leisure 
 she could command, with shaping the miscellaneous notes col- 
 lected during her two visits to Germany. These took final 
 form in a series of essays called " Sketches of Art, Life, and 
 Character," published in 1834. 1 What the " Diary of an 
 ^Ennuyde" attempted for Italy, in a small way, and with an 
 immature hand, the new book did for Germany much more 
 completely and skilfully, and with the maturer* judgment 
 gained from wider experience. Germany was then but little 
 known to the English, and the " Sketches " appeared as a rev- 
 elation of German life and character. It describes many of 
 the most celebrated Germans of the time, savants, artists, and 
 musicians, and is full of discriminating comment upon the mon- 
 uments of the great cities and the art works in their galleries. 
 It was during Mrs. Jameson's residence in London, in 1834, 
 that she was introduced by her friend Major Noel to his 
 cousin, Lady Byron, with whom through long years she was 
 on the closest terms of intimacy. Other friends, not so inti- 
 mate, whom she mentions in the correspondence of this time, 
 are Harriet Martineau and Mrs. Austin, two celebrated 
 women, for whom she always entertained a cordial admira- 
 tion. 2 In the summer of 1834, Mr. Murphy being no longer 
 
 1 Sketches of Art, Life, and Character first appeared as a component part in 
 a series of volumes, including all the works Mrs. Jameson had previously pub- 
 lished, the title of the series being Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad. 
 Later it was, and is still, published as an ihdependent volume. 
 
 2 It is inexplicable that Miss Martineau, after many years of pleasant inter- 
 course and correspondence with Mrs. Jameson, in which there was an appar- 
 ently mutual regard, should, upon the death of the latter, write of her in so 
 ironical and unsympathetic a spirit. Biographical Sketches, Harriet Marti- 
 neau. London, 1870.
 
 MEMOIR OF MKS. JAMESON XXXA' 
 
 in a critical condition, Mrs. Jameson could be spared by her 
 family to continue her travels and studies in Germany. Here 
 she spent nearly two happy years, being a large part of the 
 time with her dear friend Madame de Goethe. A tribute to 
 the character of this remarkable woman appears in the pages 
 of the " Sketches of Art, Life, and Character," and explains 
 the fond attachment between the fascinating "Ottilie" and the 
 " liebe Anna." 
 
 The visit in Germany was brought to an end by the per- 
 emptory summons of Mr. Jameson calling his wife to join him 
 in Toronto, which she accordingly did in December, 1836. 
 The rigor of the northern climate, the cheerlessness of the 
 rudely built town, and the lack of any congenial or elevating 
 society made a gloomy welcome to the new-comer. Still more 
 dreary weeks followed, with constantly recurring attacks of 
 chills and fever, and few comforts of home life. It is touch- 
 ing to note her childlike pleasure in receiving one day some 
 hothouse flowers, the first she had seen since leaving Eng- 
 land. Mere physical discomforts, however, were of minor 
 moment compared with the deeper cause of unhappiness in 
 the strained relations between herself and husband. The 
 passing months tested fully the irremediable incompatability 
 between them. It had already been apparent that there was 
 little or no real harmony in the union, and after this faithful 
 endeavor on the part of the wife to renew confidence between 
 them, a separation was mutually agreed upon. Accordingly, 
 Mrs. Jameson left Toronto in the summer, and after travelling 
 extensively through the west of Canada, sailed from New York 
 early in the year 1838. In spite of the unhappy associations 
 of the year in America, it brought some experiences upon 
 which Mrs. Jameson could always look back with pleasure. 
 Of this exceptional nature were her visits in New York 
 and Boston, where she was enthusiastically received by her 
 American admirers. Washington Irving and Dr. Channing 
 paid her their tributes of respect ; her old friend, Fanny
 
 Xxxvi MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 
 
 Kemble, welcomed her to her Philadelphia home. One new 
 friend was won, Miss Catherine Sedgwick, then very popular 
 as the author of " Live and Let Live," and the " Poor Rich 
 Man and the Eich Poor Man." 
 
 Mrs. Jameson returned to England a disappointed and lonely 
 woman. To an affectionate and sensitive nature like hers, 
 the severing of the most sacred ties of her life could not but 
 bring a sadness which must henceforth color her whole future. 
 But she took up her broken life courageously, determined to 
 make of it all that she could for the benefit of others. The 
 members of her family needed her sadly. Her father, though 
 " still a jovial Irishman," required, in his paralytic condition, 
 much care and attention. Two unmarried sisters remained at 
 home with their parents, and their income was far from suf- 
 ficient for their maintenance. In these circumstances Mrs. 
 Jameson set herself steadily to the task of family support, and 
 in her labor of love found great consolation. Of the family 
 circle at this time her American friend, Miss Sedgwick, gives 
 us a charming little picture, describing her own visit to them 
 in 1839. 1 " I remember well," she writes, " his (Mr. Mur- 
 phy's) cordial salutation, and his saying, with a kind reference 
 to my little book, and to his own consolations, ' Miss Sedgwick, 
 / am the rich poor man/ and saying so, he looked with over- 
 flowing eyes upon his devoted wife, whom I always found sit- 
 ting beside him, and on Mrs. Jameson, who was truly his joy 
 and pride and support." Mr. Murphy died in 1842, greatly 
 mourned by his family. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson's first publication after her return from Can- 
 ada consisted of the material she had gathered during her ab- 
 sence. The descriptions of her travels were combined with 
 the literary studies which had been her winter occupation, and 
 the whole work was issued under the title " Winter Studies 
 and Summer Kambles." In 1840 she undertook her first work 
 
 1 Vide page 378 et seq. of the Life and Letters of Catherine M. Sedgwick, 
 edited by Mary E. Dewey. New York, 1871.
 
 MEMOIK OF MRS. JAMESON XXXVli 
 
 devoted exclusively to Art. This was the laborious but inter, 
 esting task of compiling " A Companion to Private Galleries m 
 England." It was during the preparation of this volume that 
 she first became acquainted with Sir Charles Eastlake, who 
 proved a most kind and helpful friend. The " Companion " 
 was so successful that it was soon followed by a "Handbook to 
 the Public Galleries in and near London," pronounced by the 
 ''Athenaeum" "one of the best executed works which has 
 been turned out in these days of broken literary promises and 
 unperformed literary duties." Mrs. Jameson now undertook 
 new and more serious plans for Art publications. In 1842 
 she began a series of papers on the Early Italian Painters, 
 which were published in the " Penny Magazine " and attracted 
 much attention. At the same time she first put her hand to 
 the most extensive and valuable work of her life, the series 
 on Sacred and Legendary Art. This was a subject for which 
 she had already collected many notes, both in her continental 
 journeyings and in her visits to the private collections of Eng- 
 land. The reader of the " Diary " and of the " Sketches " 
 could not fail to be struck with the writer's rare insight 
 into the significance and beauty of religious Art. She often 
 discovered a meaning which had previously been entirely 
 overlooked by art critics. Thus we find her upon her first 
 visit to Rome, when a mere tyro in art criticism, boldly 
 challenging the accepted title of Domenichino's Cumsean 
 Sibyl, and pronouncing it a St. Cecilia. 1 Coming to Dresden 
 a few years later, she interpreted Correggio's great painting 
 as " a grand piece of lyrical and sacred poetry," in which 
 St. George figures as "religious magnanimity," St. John, 
 " religious enthusiasm," St. Geminiani, " religious munifi- 
 cence," and St. Peter Martyr, "religious fortitude." 2 Obser- 
 vations like these seemed intuitive with her, and she was, 
 therefore, naturally drawn to a literary work in which she 
 
 1 See the Diary of an Ennuyee, p. 137. 
 
 2 See Sketches of Art, Life, and Character, p. 356.
 
 xxxviii MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 
 
 could unfold to eyes less gifted than her own the poetry of 
 sacred and legendary Art. The task was one requiring an 
 enormous amount of research and study, and for this Mrs. 
 Jameson was admirably adapted. An insatiable reader and an 
 excellent linguist, she had already an extensive familiarity with 
 French, German, and Italian literature. Many interruptions 
 hindered the rapid progress of the work, but by January, 
 1845, it had advanced so far that she could select a certain 
 portion of it to issue in a series of papers in the " Athenaeum." 
 By this means she was enabled to test the popularity of the 
 subject, and the result was so satisfactory that the following 
 summer she pushed her plans forward by some months of 
 study in Dresden and Paris. A year later she concluded nego- 
 tiations with her publishers, and immediately set out again for 
 the Continent, for the purpose of completing the volume. 
 This time she was accompanied by her favorite niece, Gerardine 
 Bate, now about sixteen years old, a charming girl, and a val- 
 uable assistant in her aunt's labors. They had progressed to 
 Paris, when an incident occurred, as delightful as it was sur- 
 prising. This was the sudden appearance of Mrs. Jameson's 
 long-time friend, Elizabeth Barrett, 1 whom she had left in 
 London, ostensibly " satisfied with the sofa and silence," trans- 
 formed into the wife of Robert Browning, and setting forth on 
 a wedding journey ! The meeting was mutually gratifying, 
 and the friends united to form a most congenial travelling 
 party. For six weeks they remained together, at the end of 
 which Mrs. Jameson was obliged to leave her friends in Pisa, 
 going on with her niece to Florence. Here for two happy 
 months they worked together in gallery, church, and cloister. 
 Pleasant lodgings were taken in the Piazza Santa Croce, and 
 aunt and niece entered with enjoyment into the social pleasures 
 of the Anglo-Saxon colony. The next step was to Rome, 
 
 1 Mrs. Jameson had made the acquaintance of Miss Barrett in 1844, and tlie 
 latter had furnished a translation from the Odyssey for the paper on The Xan- 
 thian Marbles, published in 1846.
 
 MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON XXXIX 
 
 where the dear friend " Ottilie * awaited them. Then fol- 
 lowed a wonderful winter in the Eternal City, to which the 
 niece, writing in after years the memoirs of her aunt, looked 
 back as upon an enchanted time. Although Mrs. Jameson's 
 work did not permit her to go into society, the drawing-room 
 of her lodgings in the Piazza di Spagna was a centre for 
 many brilliant gatherings. Here came Dr. Braun and Charles 
 Hemans, the archaeologists ; John Gibson, the sculptor ; Cor- 
 nelius and Overbeck, the German pre-Raphaelites ; Lord 
 Compton and Lord Walpole, English painters ; Madame 
 de Goethe and her German friends, and many others dis- 
 tinguished in art and letters. In the midst of them sat the 
 gracious hostess, receiving with gentle dignity the well-de- 
 served honors of her little court. She is described as an at- 
 tractive woman with reddish hair and a skin of "dazzling 
 whiteness." Her arms f and hands were beautiful. Her face 
 was habitually refined and spirituelle in expression, and was 
 capable of a marvellous power of concentrated feeling. She 
 had thin colorless lips " fit for incisive meanings," and clear 
 intellectual blue eyes that could flash at will indignation or 
 love. 1 She was a brilliant talker, the best, said those who had 
 heard many, that they ever heard. 
 
 The outcome of the social gayeties of the winter was the 
 engagemenfc^of Miss Bate to Mr. Robert MacPherson, a young 
 Scotch artist. Mrs. Jameson was naturally disappointed to 
 give up so early the niece who had become a helpful and dear 
 companion, but at length yielded cheerfully to the inevitable. 
 The two returned to London in the spring, bringing home the 
 completed volumes of the first series of <fc 6acred and Legend- 
 ary Art." 
 
 Through all the years in which Mrs. Jameson was engaged 
 upon this work, her art studies were by no means her exclu- 
 
 1 Mrs. Jameson's personal appearance is described by three of her friends: 
 Miss Fanny Kemble (Records of a Girlhood), Miss Sedffwick (Life and Let- 
 ers), and Mrs. Browning (Letters to Richard H. Home, London, 1877).
 
 xl MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 
 
 sive literary pursuits. Always keenly alive to all public inter- 
 ests, she frequently made slight digressions on these subjects 
 in the pages of her miscellaneous writings. 1 In 1843, when 
 a commissioner's report made public the terrible condition of 
 women and children employed in the mining and manufacturing 
 districts, she joined others in indignant protest against such a 
 titate of affairs. Her article on the subject in the " Athe- 
 nseum " deserves to be remembered with Elizabeth Barrett's 
 " Cry of the Children," as a noble woman's outcry against a 
 great public wrong. In 1846 she published two important 
 essays on subjects of social science, " Woman's Mission and 
 Woman's Position," and the " Relative Position of Mothers 
 and Governesses." 2 That her writing on public questions 
 was in a forcible and eloquent strain we may well infer from 
 a complimentary allusion made soon after by Miss Martineau, 
 to her " immortal paragraph about the New Poor Law." 
 Upon the completion of the manuscript of " Sacred and 
 Legendary Art," Mrs. Jameson's thoughts turned again to the 
 political questions of the hour, though not to write of them 
 except in her private correspondence. It was a time of 
 great excitement, when the revolution in France and the 
 Chartist agitations in England were occupying the thoughts of 
 all. Ireland, too, was full of distressing grievances, and a visit 
 here in the fall of 1848 aroused Mrs. Jameson's pftrfound pity 
 for her native land. During this visit she received from her 
 publishers the first copy of " Sacred and Legendary Art." 
 " It looks very pretty," she writes, " and I get plenty of com- 
 pliments, as a matter of course, but compliments do not mean 
 success, and, as yeV, I do not know what to hope on that 
 score." Success, however, followed in a measure which the 
 author could never have dreamed of. The leading periodicals 
 received the work with favorable reviews. Among them, none 
 
 1 See Sketches of Art, Life, and Character, p. 132 et seq.; Winter Stiidies 
 and Summer Rambles (New York, 1839), vol. i. pp. 144, 323. 
 
 2 Published in Memoirs and Essays.
 
 MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON xli 
 
 was more appreciative than that of Charles Kingsley in " Fra- 
 ser's." Both subject and treatment were exactly such as would 
 appeal to the great preacher's poetic imagination. Of the nar- 
 rative portion he says, " Never were legends narrated with more 
 discernment and simplicity ; " and of the descriptions of paint- 
 ings, " Nowhere do we recollect criticisms more general, bril- 
 liant, picturesque. Often they have deeper merits, and descend 
 to those fundamental laws of beauty and religion by which all 
 Christian Art must ultimately be tested." Characteristics such 
 as these must needs give permanent value to a literary work. 
 The " Sacred and Legendary Art " has been adopted as the 
 standard authority in its unique field for two generations, and 
 time serves only to deepen its value as an interpretative guide 
 to great religious Art. " God bless you for this book," wrote 
 Henry W. Longfellow from across the seas, and the blessing is 
 echoed from countless homes of England and America. 
 
 The first work on " Sacred and Legendary Art," treating of 
 the saints and martyrs, was followed in due time by a second 
 series on the "Legends of the Monastic Orders," the notes for 
 which had been previously gathered. The " Legends of the 
 Madonna " was next in order, appearing in 1852. This had 
 been by far the most difficult of the volumes, owing to the 
 embarrassment of presenting the subject in a way that should 
 give no offence alike to Protestant or Roman Catholic. The 
 delicate spirit with which disputed questions are touched, the 
 frank impartiality of the whole treatment, set it above criti- 
 cism, and make it the crowning literary achievement of the 
 writer's life. 
 
 At this time, from 1851-1854, Mrs. Jameson was living in 
 Bruton Street with her sister' Camilla, Mrs. Sherwin. Here she 
 held every week a simple evening party, at which many of her 
 distinguished literary friends were wont to appear. The year 
 1854 was saddened by the death of her mother. In the same 
 year Mr. Jameson also died in Canada, and, contrary to his 
 promise, failed to make provision for his widow. Being now
 
 xlii MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON 
 
 without the income he had allowed her, and still bearing the 
 responsibility of supporting her sisters, she was somewhat dis- 
 tressed with financial worries. In this crisis, a company of 
 friends, of whom Mrs. Procter was chief, combined to present 
 her with a gift annuity of 100. This generous present was 
 proffered in a spirit so affectionate and delicate that the recip- 
 ient could not but accept it with grateful appreciation. In 
 addition to this, Mrs. Jameson had since 1851 received from 
 the Crown a pension of 100 per annum, in recognition of her 
 valuable literary services. Thus she was comfortably provided 
 for, and " taken out of slavery to booksellers and book- 
 makers." 
 
 Mrs. Jameson had never lost interest in social questions, 
 and in 1855 resumed active part in the work. Her special sub- 
 ject was now charity organizations, a matter at that time 
 arousing great interest in England from the influence of Flor- 
 ence Nightingale. Many distinguished women took up the 
 new cause, among them Lady Byron, whose friendship had 
 always exercised a strong influence upon Mrs. Jameson. Mrs. 
 Jameson's plan was to give a series of lectures, beginning with 
 one "On Sisters of Charity at Home and Abroad." This she 
 delivered in a drawing-room with great success, but her physical 
 strength did not permit her to continue public speaking. Soon 
 after she went abroad for her health, and devoted herself un- 
 tiringly to the examination of social conditions on the Conti- 
 nent. Hospitals and charity institutions were visited in Paris, 
 Vienna, Turin, and Milan, and the new information was set 
 forth in an address on the " Communion of Labor," deliv- 
 ered upon her return to England in 1856. This and her pre- 
 vious lecture, together with a Letter to Lord John Russell, 
 were published later in one volume, and constitute no small 
 contribution to the progressive thought of the day. 
 
 In 1857 Mrs. Jameson again turned her face towards Italy, 
 having as a first object the preparation of a second edition of 
 the " Legends of the Madonna," and later, new literary under- 
 takings. Here she rejoined for a season her beloved " child,"
 
 MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON xliii 
 
 Gerardine, now Mrs. MacPherson. The niece noted that long 
 labors were telling at last upon her aunt, and this was the 
 more apparent when the latter returned to Rome in 1859. 
 This winter, however, was a busy and happy one. Friends, 
 old and new, contributed to her enjoyment. Gibson and Mr. 
 Charles Hemans were there as of yore, and the Hawthornes, 
 for the first time. Miss Bessie Parkes was also of the privi- 
 leged circle, a young woman very active in the social science dis- 
 cussions of London, and an ardent admirer of Mrs. Jameson. 
 Some of these friends occasionally accbmpanied Mrs. Jameson 
 about the city, and to such her conversation was a revelation. 
 As Mr. Kingsley had written of her, " she comprehended at 
 once the idea and central laws of a work of art." " A pic- 
 ture," she herself told Miss Parkes, "was like a plain writing; 
 when she looked at it, she seemed to feel instantly for what 
 purpose it had been wrought." The absorbing interest of this 
 time was the collection of material to carry to full completion 
 the series on Sacred and Legendary Art. Two memorandum 
 books were being filled with notes on the Life of Our Lord and 
 Old Testament subjects. In the spring Mrs. Jameson went 
 to Florence, especially attractive to her for the presence of the 
 Brownings. By the following fall (1859) she was again in 
 England, having hastened somewhat for the special purpose of 
 attending a social science meeting. This Avas perhaps her 
 last notable public appearance. Miss Parkes relates how a 
 deep hush fell on the audience when she rose to join in the dis- 
 cussion. "Every eye bent eagerly upon her, 'and every ear 
 drank in her thoughtful and weighty words." 1 What she 
 called her " family nest " was now at Brighton, where her two 
 sisters kept a home. Between this place and London she 
 came and went continually, carrying on her studies in the Brit- 
 ish Museum. It was when she was in London, one stormy 
 March day, that, returning to her lodgings after a morning in 
 the Museum, she took a heavy cold. A day or two later 
 
 ^ Vilt p. 448 of Viynettes, by Bessie Raynor Parkes, London and New 
 York, 1860.
 
 xliv MEMOIR OF MRS. JAMESON. 
 
 Miss Parkes called, to find her very ill, and immediately sum- 
 moned the sisters from Brighton. But the disease made rapid 
 progress, and on March 17, 1860, within a week from the time 
 of her seizure, Anna Jameson passed away, at the age of sixty- 
 five. Her body was laid at rest in Kensal Green, by the 
 graves of her father and mother. 
 
 " No woman has written more variously, and few men or 
 women so well," wrote Miss Catherine Sedgwick upon the 
 death of her friend, and the praise was well won. Mrs. Jame- 
 son's range of labors included biography, travel, literary criti- 
 cism and social science, and her work was admirable in all these 
 fields. But her supreme excellence and her enduring fame 
 is in the interpretation of sacred Art. Here she was at her 
 best. Not gifted, as she herself well knew, with great creative 
 imagination, she possessed in rare measure the power to appre- 
 ciate and interpret this faculty in others. With this was 
 united a remarkable gift of expression, which makes all that 
 she wrote the most delightful reading. The characteristics of 
 her style are essentially feminine. With her progressive ideas 
 on larger opportunities for women, she had no mistaken notion 
 that a woman's work should imitate a man's, and freely poured 
 into her writing all the enthusiastic fervor of her warm heart. 
 In addition to her lighter imaginative qualities, she had an 
 antiquarian's love of research. Musty old books of legends 
 were to her a perfect storehouse of treasures. Out of these 
 dry bones, collected with arduous and unceasing toil, she called 
 forth those living images of saint and martyr which " make 
 our hearts glow within us in admiration and gratitude." Her 
 finest characteristic is her reverent and catholic spirit. She 
 looked at sacred Art as the expression of the highest human 
 aspirations, and sought earnestly in every work the essential 
 truth of the conception. Beneath the external incongruities 
 of mediaeval dogma and superstition she saw the great funda- 
 mental realities of life, and these were the burden of her message 
 to humanity. 
 
 E. M. H.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MRS. JAMESON'S 
 WORKS 
 
 1826. The Diary of an Ennuyee. 
 
 1829. Loves of the Poets. 
 
 1831. Celebrated Female Sovereigns. 
 
 1831. Memoirs, Biographical and Critical, illustrating the 
 
 Diaries of Pepys, Evelyn, Clarendon, and other Contem- 
 porary Writers. (The text of " The Beauties of the 
 Court of King Charles II.") 
 
 1832. Characteristics of Shakespeare's Women. 
 
 1834. Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad. (4 vols., con- 
 taining Mrs. Jameson's previously published works and 
 in addition, Sketches of Art, Life, and Character.) 
 
 1834* Translation of the text of Retzsch's " Fancies." (Illustra- 
 tions of Goethe, Schiller, Shakespeare, etc.) 
 
 1838. Winter Studies and Summer Rambles. 
 
 1840. Social Life in Germany. (A translation of the domestic 
 
 dramas by Princess Amelia of Saxony.) 
 
 1841. Companion to Private Galleries. 
 
 1842. Handbook to the Public Galleries in and near London. 
 
 1845. Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters. 
 
 1846. Memoirs and Essays (1. The Home of Titian. 2. The 
 
 Xanthian Marbles. 3. The Life of Washington Allston. 
 4. The Lyrical Drama in England. 5. The Condition of 
 the Women of the Working Classes. 6. The Means 
 afforded for the Training of Women. 7. The relative 
 * Position of Mothers and Governesses). 
 
 1846. Introduction and descriptive text of Griiner's Engravings 
 of the frescoes in Buckingham Palace Summer House. 
 
 1848. Sacred and Legendary Art. First Series. (Saints and Mar- 
 tyrs.) 
 
 1850. Legends of the Monastic Orders. (Second series of Sacred 
 
 and Legendary Art.) 
 
 1851. Companion to the Court of Modern Sculpture. (Guide 
 
 book for Crystal Palace Exhibition.) 
 
 1852. Legends of the Madonna. (Third series of Sacred and Le- 
 
 gendary Art.) 
 1854. Commonplace Book of Thoughts, Memories, and Fancies.
 
 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. OF THE ORIGIN AND GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 
 LEGENDS REPRESENTED IN ART 
 
 WE cannot look round a picture gallery we cannot turn 
 over a portfolio of prints after the old masters, nor even the 
 modern engravings which pour upon iis daily, from Paris, 
 Munich, or Berlin without perceiving how many of the 
 most celebrated productions of Art, more particularly those 
 which have descended to us from the early Italian and Ger- 
 man schools, represent incidents and characters taken from the 
 once popular legends of the Catholic Church. This form of 
 hero-worship has become, since the Reformation, strange to us 
 as far removed from our sympathies and associations as if 
 it were antecedent to the fall of Babylon and related to the 
 religion of Zoroaster, instead of being left but two or three 
 centuries behind us, and closely connected with the faith of 
 our forefathers and the history of civilization and Christianity. 
 Of late years, with a growing passion for the works of Art of 
 the Middle Ages, there has arisen among us a desire to com- 
 prehend the state of feeling which produced them, and the 
 legends and traditions on, which they are founded ; a desire 
 to understand, and to bring to some surer critical test, repre- 
 sentations which have become familiar without being intelligi- 
 ble. To enable us to do this, Ave must pause for a moment at 
 the outset ; and, before we plunge into the midst of things, 
 ascend to higher ground, and command a far wider range of 
 illustration than has yet been attempted, in order to take cog- 
 nizance of principles and results which, if not new, must be 
 contemplated in a new relation to each other.
 
 2 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 The Legendary Art of the Middle 'Ages sprang out of the 
 legendary literature of the preceding ages. For three centuries 
 at least, this literature, the only literature which existed at 
 the time, formed the sole mental and moral nourishment of 
 the people of Europe. The romances of Chivalry, which long 
 afterwards succeeded, were confined to particular classes, and 
 left no impress on Art beyond the miniature illuminations 
 of a few manuscripts. This legendary literature, on the con- 
 trary, which had worked itself into the life of the people, 
 became, like the antique mythology, as a living soul diffused 
 through the loveliest forms of Art, still vivid and vivifying, 
 even when the old faith in its mystical significance was lost or 
 forgotten. And it is a mistake to suppose that these legends 
 had their sole origin in the brains of dreaming monks. The 
 wildest of them had some basis of truth to rest on, and the 
 forms which they gradually assumed were but the necessary 
 result of the age which produced them. They beqame the 
 intense expression of that inner life which revolted against 
 the desolation and emptiness of the outward existence ; of 
 those crushed and outraged sympathies which cried aloud for 
 rest, and refuge, and solace, and could nowhere find them. It 
 will be said, " In the purer doctrine of the Gospel." But 
 where was that to be jfound ? The Gospel was not then the 
 heritage of the poor : Christ, as a comforter, walked not among 
 men. His own blessed teaching was inaccessible except to the 
 learned : it was shut up in rare manuscripts ; it was perverted 
 and sophisticated by the passions and the blindness of those 
 few to whom it was accessible. The bitter disputes in the 
 early Church relative to the nature of the Godhead, the subtle 
 distinctions and incomprehensible arguments of the theologians, 
 the dread entertained by the predominant Church of any 
 heterodox opinions concerning the divinity of the Redeemer, 
 had all conspired to remove Him,jn His personal character 
 of Teacher and Saviour, far away from the hearts of the 
 benighted and miserable people far, far away into regions 
 speculative, mysterious, spiritual, whither they could not, dared 
 not follow Him. In this state of things, as it has been re- 
 marked by a distinguished Avriter, " Christ became the object 
 of a remoter, a more awful adoration. The mind began, there- 
 fore, to seek out, or eagerly to seize, some other more material 
 beings in closer alliance with human sympathies." And the
 
 INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 same author, after tracing in vivid and beautiful language the 
 dangerous but natural consequences of this feeling, thus sums 
 up the result : " During the perilous and gloomy days of per- 
 secution, the reverence for those who endured martyrdom for 
 the religion of Christ had grown up out of the best feelings of 
 man's improved nature. Reverence gradually grew into venera- 
 tion, worship, adoration : and although the more rigid theology 
 maintained a marked distinction between the honor shown 
 to the martyrs, and that addressed to the Redeemer and the 
 Supreme Being, the line was too fine and invisible not to be 
 transgressed by excited popular feeling." (Milman, Hist, of 
 Christianity, iii. 540.) 
 
 " We live," says the poet, " through admiration, hope, and 
 love." Out of these vital aspirations not indeed always 
 " well or wisely placed," but never, as in the heathen mythol- 
 ogy, degraded to vicious and contemptible objects arose and 
 spread the universal passion for the traditional histories of the 
 saints and martyrs, personages endeared and sanctified in 
 all hearts, partly as examples of the loftiest virtue, partly as 
 benign intercessors between suffering humanity and that Deity 
 who, in every other light than as a God of Vengeance, had 
 been veiled from their eyes by the perversities of schoolmen 
 and fanatics, till He had receded beyond their reach, almost 
 beyond their comprehension. Of the prevalence and of the 
 incalculable influence of this legendary literature from the 
 seventh to the tenth century, that is, just about the period 
 when Modern Art was struggling into existence, we have a 
 most striking picture in Guizot's " Histoire de la Civilisation." 
 " As after the siege of Troy," says this philosophical and elo- 
 quent writer, " there were found, in every city of Greece, men 
 who collected the traditions and adventures of heroes, and 
 sung them for the recreation of the people, till these recitals 
 became a national passion, a national poetry ; so, at the time 
 of which we speak, the traditions of what may be called the 
 heroic ages of Christianity had the same interest for the na- 
 tions of Europe. There were men who made it their business 
 to collect them, to transcribe them, to read or recite them 
 aloud, for the edification and delight of the people. And this 
 was the only literature, properly so called, of that time." 
 
 Now, if we go back to the authentic histories of the suffer-
 
 4 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 ings and heroism of the early martyrs, we shall find enough 
 there, both of the wonderful and the affecting, to justify the 
 credulity and enthusiasm of the unlettered people, who saw no 
 reason why they should not believe in one miracle as well as 
 in another. In these universally diffused legends, we may 
 recognize the means, at least one of the means, by which a 
 merciful Providence, working through its own immutable laws, 
 had provided against the utter depravation, almost extinction, 
 of society. Of the " Dark Ages," emphatically so called, the 
 period to which I allude was perhaps the darkest ; it was " of 
 Night's black arch the keystone." At a time when men were 
 given over to the direst evils that can afflict humanity, igno- 
 rance, idleness, wickedness, misery ; at a time when the every- 
 day incidents of life Avere a violation of all the moral instincts 
 of mankind ; at a time when all things seemed abandoned to a 
 blind chance, or the brutal law of force ; when there was no 
 repose, no refuge, no safety anywhere ; when the powerful 
 inflicted, and the weak endured, whatever we can conceive of 
 most revolting and intolerable ; when slavery was recognized 
 by law throughout Europe ; when men fled to cloisters, to 
 shut themselves from oppression, and women to shield them- 
 selves from outrage ; when the manners were harsh, the lan- 
 guage gross ; when all the softer social sentiments, as pity, 
 reverence, tenderness, found no resting-place in the actual rela- 
 tions of life ; when for the higher ranks there was only the 
 fierce excitement of war, and on the humbler classes lay the 
 weary, dreary monotony of a stagnant existence, poor in pleas- 
 ures of every kind, without aim, without hope ; then won- 
 drous reaction of the ineffaceable instincts of good implanted 
 within us ! arose a literature which reversed the outward 
 order of things, which asserted and kept alive in the hearts of 
 men those pure principles of Christianity which were outraged 
 in their daily actions ; a literature in which peace was repre- 
 sented as better than war, and sufferance more dignified than 
 resistance ; which exhibited poverty and toil as honorable, and 
 charity as the first of virtues ; which held up to imitation and 
 emulation self-sacrifice in the cause of good, and contempt of 
 death for conscience' sake ; a literature in which the tender- 
 ness, the chastity, the heroism of woman played a conspicuous 
 part ; which distinctly protested against slavery, against vio- 
 lence, against impurity in word and deed ; which refreshed the
 
 INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 fevered and darkened spirit with images of moral beauty and 
 truth ; revealed bright glimpses of a better land, where " the 
 wicked cease from troubling," and brought down the angels of 
 God with shining wings and bearing crowns of glory, to do 
 battle with the demons of darkness, to catch the fleeting soul 
 of the triumphant martyr, and carry it at once into a paradise 
 of eternal blessedness and peace ! 
 
 Now the Legendary Art of the three centuries which com- 
 prise the revival of learning, was, as I have said, the reflection 
 of this literature, of this teaching. Considered in this point 
 of view, can we easily overrate its interest and importance ? 
 
 "When, after the long period of darkness which followed 
 upon the decline of the Roman Empire, the Fine Arts began 
 to revive, the first, and for several ages the only, impress they 
 received was that of the religious spirit of the time. Painting, 
 Sculpture, Music, and Architecture, as they emerged one after 
 another from the "formless void," were pressed into the ser- 
 vice of the Church. But it is a mistake to suppose, that in 
 adroitly adapting the reviving Arts to her purposes, in that 
 magnificent spirit of calculation Avhich at all times character- 
 ized her, the Church from the beginning selected the subjects, 
 or dictated the use that was to be made of them. We find, 
 on the contrary, edicts and councils repressing the popular 
 extravagances in this respect, and denouncing those apocryphal 
 versions of sacred events and traditions which had become 
 the delight of the people. But vain were councils and edicts; 
 the tide was too strong to be so checked. The Church found 
 herself obliged to accept and mould to her own objects the 
 exotic elements she could not eradicate. She absorbed, so to 
 speak, the evils and errors she could not expel. There seems 
 to have been at this time a sort of compromise between the 
 popular legends, with all their wild mixture of northern and 
 classical superstitions, and the Church legends properly so 
 called. The first great object to which reviving Art was des- 
 tined was to render the Christian places of worship a theatre 
 of instruction and improvement for the people, to attract and 
 to interest them by representations of scenes, events, and 
 personages already so familiar as to require no explanation, 
 appealing at once to their intelligence and their sympathies ; 
 embodying in beautiful shapes (beautiful at least in their eyes)
 
 6 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 associations and feelings and memories deep-rooted in their 
 very hearts, and which had influenced, in no slight degree, the 
 progress of civilization, the development of mind. Upon 
 these creations of ancient Art we cannot look as those did for 
 whom they were created ; we cannot annihilate the centuries 
 which lie between us and them ; we cannot, in simplicity of 
 heart, forget the artist in the image he has placed before us, 
 nor supply what may be deficient in his work, through a rev- 
 erentially excited fancy. We are critical, not credulous. We 
 no longer accept this polytheistic form of Christianity ; and there 
 is little danger, I suppose, of our falling again into the strange 
 excesses of superstition to which it led. But if we have not 
 much sympathy with modern imitations of Mediaeval Art, still 
 less should AVC sympathize with that narrow puritanical jeal- 
 ousy which holds the monuments of a real and earnest faith in 
 contempt. All that God has permitted once to exist in the 
 past should be considered as the possession of the present; 
 sacred for example or warning, and held as the foundation on 
 which to build up what is better and purer. It should seem 
 an established fact that all revolutions in religion, in govern- 
 ment, and in art, which begin in the spirit of scorn, and in a 
 sweeping destruction of the antecedent condition, only tend to 
 a reaction. Our puritanical ancestors chopped off the heads of 
 Madonnas and Saints, and paid vagabonds to smash the storied 
 windows of our cathedrals ; notv, are these rejected and out- 
 raged shapes of beauty coming back to xis, or are we not rather 
 going back to them ? As a Protestant, I might fear lest in 
 doing so we confound the eternal spirit of Christianity with 
 the mutable forms in which it has deigned to speak to the 
 hearts of men, forms which must of necessity vary with the 
 degree of social civilization, and bear the impress of the feel- 
 ings and fashions of the age which produce them ; but I must 
 also feel that we ought to comprehend, and to hold in due rev- 
 erence, that which has once been consecrated to holiest aims, 
 which has shown us what a magnificent use has been made of 
 Art, and how it may still be adapted to good and glorious 
 purposes, if, while we respect these time-consecrated images 
 and types, we do not allow them to fetter us, but trust in the 
 progressive spirit of Christianity to furnish us with new im- 
 personations of the good new combinations of the beautiful. 
 I hate the destructive as I revere the progressive spirit. We
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 must laugh if any one were to try and persuade us that the 
 sun was guided along his hlazirig path by " a fair-haired god 
 who touched a golden lyre ; " but shall we therefore cease to 
 adore in the Apollo Belvedere the majestic symbol of light, 
 the most divine impersonation of intellectual power and 
 beauty ? So of the corresponding Christian symbols : may 
 that time never come, when we shall look up to the effigy of 
 the winged and radiant angel trampling down the brute-fiend, 
 without a glow of faith in the perpetual supremacy and final 
 triumph of good over evil ! 
 
 It is about a hundred years since the passion, or the fashion, 
 for collecting works of Art began to be generally diffused 
 among the rich and the noble of this land ; and it is amusing 
 to look back and to consider the perversions and affectations of 
 the would-be connoisseurship during this period ; the very 
 small stock of ideas on which people set up a pretension to 
 taste the false notions, the mixture of pedantry and igno- 
 rance which everywhere prevailed. The publication of Rich- 
 ardson's book and Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses had 
 this advantage, that they, to a certain degree, diffused a 
 more elevated idea of Art as Art, and that they placed con- 
 noisseurship on a better and truer basis. In those days we 
 had Inquiries into the Principles of Taste, Treatises on the 
 Sublime and Beautiful, Anecdotes of Painting ; and we 
 abounded in Antiquarian Essays on disputed Pictures and 
 mutilated Statues ; but then, and up to a late period, any in- 
 quiry into the true spirit and significance of works of Art, as 
 connected with the history of Religion and Civilization, would 
 have appeared ridiculous or perhaps dangerous ; we should 
 have had another cry of "No Popery," and Acts of Parlia- 
 ment forbidding the importation of Saints and Madonnas. It 
 was fortunate, perhaps, that connoisseurs meddled not with 
 such high matters. They talked volubly and harmlessly of 
 " hands," and " masters," and " schools," - of " draperies," of 
 "tints," of " handling," - of "fine heads," "fine composi- 
 tions ; " of the " grace of Raphael," and of the " Correggi- 
 osity of Correggio." The very manner in which the names 
 of the painters were pedantically used instead of the name of 
 the subject is indicative of this factitious feeling ; the only 
 question at issue was, whether such a picture was a genuine
 
 8 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 " Raphael " ? such another a genuine " Titian " ? The spirit 
 of the work whether that Avas genuine ; how far it was in- 
 fluenced by the faith and the condition of the age which pro- 
 duced it ; whether the conception was properly characteristic, 
 and of what it was characteristic of the subject ? or of the 
 school ? or of the time ? whether the treatment corre- 
 sponded to the idea within our own souls, or was modified by 
 the individuality of the artist, or by received conventional- 
 isms of all kinds ? these were questions which had not then 
 occurred to any one ; and I am not sure that we are much wiser 
 even now ; yet, setting aside all higher considerations, how 
 can we do common justice to the artist, unless we can bring 
 his work to the test of truth ? and how can we do this, unless 
 we know what to look for, what was intended as to incident, 
 expression, character ? One result of our ignorance has been 
 the admiration wasted on the flimsy mannerists of the later 
 ages of Art ; men who apparently had no definite intention 
 in anything they did, except a dashing outline, or a delicate 
 finish, or a striking and attractive management of color. 
 
 It is curious, this general ignorance with regard to the sub- 
 jects of Mediaeval Art, more particularly now that it has be- 
 come a reigning fashion among us. We find no such ignorance 
 with regard to the subjects of Classical Art, because the asso- 
 ciations connected with them form a part of every liberal 
 education. Do we hear any one say, in looking at Annibal 
 Caracci's pictures in the National Gallery, " Which is Silenus, 
 and which is Apollo ? " Who ever confounds a Venus with a 
 Minerva, or a Vestal with an Amazon ; or would endure an 
 undraped Juno, or a beardless Jupiter ? Even* the gardener 
 in Zeluco knew Neptune by his " fork," and Vulcan by his 
 " lame leg." We are indeed so accustomed, in visiting the 
 churches and the galleries abroad, and the collections at home, 
 to the predominance of sacred subjects, that it has become a 
 mere matter of course, and excites no particular interest and 
 attention. We have heard it all accounted for by the fact 
 that the Church and Churchmen were the first, and for a long 
 time the only, patrons of Art. In every sacred edifice, and in 
 every public or private collection enriched from the plunder of 
 sacred edifices, we look for the usual proportion of melancholy 
 martyrdoms and fictitious miracles, for the predominance of
 
 Madonnas and Magdalenes, St. Catherines and St. Jeromes ; 
 but why these should predominate, why certain events and 
 characters from the Old and the New Testament should be 
 continually repeated, and others comparatively neglected ; 
 whence the predilection for certain legendary personages, who 
 seemed to be multiplied to infinity, and the rarity of others ; 
 of this we know nothing. 
 
 We have learned, perhaps, after running through half the 
 galleries and churches in Europe, to distinguish a few of the 
 attributes and characteristic figures which meet us at* every 
 turn, yet without any clear idea of their meaning, derivation, 
 or relative propriety. The palm of victory, we know, desig- 
 nates the martyr triumphant in death. We so far emulate the 
 critical sagacity of the gardener in Zeluco that we have learned 
 to distinguish St. Laurence by his gridiron, and St. Catherine 
 by her wheel. We are not at a loss to recognize the Mag- 
 dalene's " loose hair and lifted eye," even when without her 
 skull and her vase of ointment. We learn to know St. Francis 
 by his brown habit and shaven crown and wasted ardent fea- 
 tures : but how do we distinguish him from St. Anthony or St. 
 Dominick ? As for St. George and the Dragon from the 
 St. George of the Louvre, Raphael's, who sits his horse 
 with the elegant tranquillity of one assured of celestial aid, 
 down to him " who swings on a sign-post at mine hostess's 
 door," he is our familiar acquaintance. But who is that 
 lovely being in the first blush of youth, who, bearing aloft the 
 symbolic cross, stands with one foot on the vanquished dragon ? 
 " That is a copy after Raphael." And who is that majestic 
 creature holding her palm branch, while the unicorn crouches 
 at her feet ? " That is the famous Moretto at Vienna." Are 
 we satisfied ? not in the least ! but we try to look wiser, 
 and pass on. 
 
 In the old times the painters of these legendary scenes and 
 subjects could always reckon securely on certain associations 
 and certain sympathies in the minds of the spectators. We 
 have outgrown these associations, we repudiate these sympa- 
 thies. We have taken these works from their consecrated 
 localities, in which they once held each their dedicated place, 
 and we have hung them in our drawing-rooms and our dress- 
 ing-rooms, over our pianos and our sideboards and now
 
 * 
 10 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 what do they say to us ? That Magdalene, weeping amid her 
 hair, who once spoke comfort to the soul of the fallen sinner, 
 
 that Sebastian, arrow-pierced, whose upward ardent glance 
 spoke of courage and hope to the tyrant-ridden serf, that 
 poor tortured slave, to whose aid St. Mark comes sweeping 
 down from, above, can they speak to us of nothing save flow- 
 ing lines and correct drawing and gorgeous color ? Must we 
 be told that one is a Titian, the other a Guido, the third a 
 Tintoret, before we dare to melt in compassion or admiration ? 
 
 or the moment we refer to their ancient religious significa- 
 tion and influence, must it be with disdain or with pity ? 
 This, as it appears to me, is to take not a rational, but rather 
 a most irrational as well as a most irreverent, view of the 
 question ; it is to confine the pleasure and improvement to be 
 derived from works of Art within very narrow bounds ; it is 
 to seal up a fountain of the richest poetry, and to shut out a 
 thousand ennobling and inspiring thoughts. Happily there is 
 a growing appreciation of these larger principles of criticism 
 as applied to the study of Art. People look at the pictures 
 which hang round their walls, and have an awakening sus- 
 picion that there is more in them than meets the eye more 
 than mere connoisseurship can interpret ; and that they have 
 another, a deeper significance than has been dreamed of by 
 picture dealers and picture collectors, or even picture critics. 
 
 II. OF THE DISTINCTION TO BE DRAWN BETWEEN THE 
 DEVOTIONAL AND THE HISTORICAL SUBJECTS 
 
 At first, when entering on a subject so boundless and so 
 diversified, we are at a loss for some leading classification which 
 shall be distinct and intelligible, without being mechanical. 
 It appears to me that all sacred representations, in as far as 
 they appeal to sentiment and imagination, resolve themselves 
 into two great classes, which I shall call the DEVOTIONAL and 
 the HISTORICAL. 
 
 Devotional pictures are those which portray the objects of 
 our veneration with reference only to their sacred character, 
 whether standing singly or in company with others. They 
 place before us no action or event, real or supposed. They are 
 neither portrait nor history. A group of sacred personages 
 Avhere no action is represented is called in Italian a " sacra
 
 INTKODUCTION 11 
 
 conversazione ; " the word conversazione, which signifies a 
 society in which there is communion, being here, as it appears 
 to me, used with peculiar propriety. All subjects, then, which 
 exhibit to us sacred personages, alone or in groups, simply in 
 the character of superior beings, must be considered as devo- 
 tionally treated. 
 
 But a sacred subject, without losing wholly its religious im- 
 port, becomes historical the moment it represents any story, 
 incident, or action, real or imagined. All pictures which ex- 
 hibit the events of Scripture story ; all those which express 
 the actions, miracles, and martyrdoms of saints, come under 
 this class ; and to this distinction I must call the attention of 
 the reader, requesting that it may be borne in mind through- 
 out this work. 
 
 We must also recollect that a story, action, or fact may be 
 so represented as to become a symbol expressive of an abstract 
 idea ; and some Scriptural and some legendary subjects may 
 be devotional, or historical, according to the sentiment con- 
 veyed : for example, the Crucifixion and the Last Supper may 
 be so represented as either to exhibit an event, or to express 
 a symbol of our Redemption. The Raising of Lazarus ex- 
 hibits in the Catacombs a mystical emblem of the general resur- 
 rection ; in the grand picture by Sebastian del Piombo, in our 
 National Gallery, it is a scene from the life of our Saviour. 
 Among the legendary subjects, the Penance of the Magdalene 
 and St. Martin Dividing his Cloak may be merely incidents, 
 or they may be symbolical, the first of penitence, the latter of 
 charity, in the general sense. And, again, there are some sub- 
 jects which, though expressing a scene or an action, are wholly 
 mystical and devotional in their import ; as the Vision of St. 
 Augustine and the Marriage of St. Catherine. 
 
 Among the grandest of the devotional subjects Ave may 
 reckon those compositions which represent the whole celestial 
 hierarchy ; the divine personages of the Trinity, the angels 
 and archangels, and the beatified spirits of the just. Such is 
 the subject called the " Paradise," so often met with in pic- 
 tures and ecclesiastical decoration, where Christ is enthroned 
 in glory ; such is also the Coronation of the Virgin, that 
 ancient and popular symbol of the triumph of Religion or the 
 Church ; the Adoration of the Lamb ; and the Last Judg-
 
 12 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 merit, from the Apocalypse. The order of precedence in these 
 sacred assemblages was early settled by ecclesiastical authority, 
 and was almost as absolute as that of a modern code of honor. 
 First after the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, as Regina Angelorum, 
 and St. John the Baptist ; then, in order, the Evangelists ; 
 the Patriarchs ; the Prophets ; the Apostles ; the Fathers ; the 
 Bishops ; the Martyrs ; the Hermits ; the Virgins ; the Monks, 
 Nuns, and Confessors. 
 
 As examples, I may cite the Paradise of Angelico, in the 
 Florence Academy ; the Coronation of the Virgin by Hans 
 Hemling, in the Wallerstein collection, which contains not less 
 than fifty-two figures, all individualized with their proper 
 attributes ; and which, if it were possible, should be considered 
 in contrast with the Coronation by Angelico. The Flemish 
 painter seems to have carried his intense impression of earthly 
 and individual life into the regions of heaven ; the Italian, 
 through a' purer inspiration, seems to have brought all Para- 
 dise down before us upon earth. In the Adoration of the 
 Lamb by [the brothers] Van Eyclc [the Ghent altar-piece], 
 there are not fewer than two hundred figures. For the Last 
 Judgment, the grand compositions of Orcagna * in the Campo 
 Santo [Pisa], of Luca Signorelli and Angelico at Orvieto, 
 and the fresco of Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel may 
 be consulted. 
 
 Where the usual order is varied, there is generally some 
 reason for it ; for instance, in the exaltation of a favorite saint, 
 as we sometimes find St. Dominick and St. Francis by the side 
 of St. Peter and St. Paul ; and among the miniatures of that 
 extraordinary MS., the Hortus Deliciarum, now at Strasbourg, 
 painted for a virgin abbess, there is a " Paradiso," in which 
 the painter, either by her command or in compliment to her, 
 has placed the virgins immediately after the angels. 
 
 The representation of the Virgin and Child with saints 
 grouped around them is a devotional subject familiar to us 
 from its constant recurrence. It also frequently happens that 
 the tutelary saint of the locality, or the patron saint of the 
 votary, is represented as seated on a raised throne in the centre ; 
 
 1 [Orcagna on the authority of Vasari has long been called the author of 
 these frescoes; but there are grounds for believing that they are the work of 
 Nardo Daddi. Vide J-nyard's Revision of Kugler's Handbook, vol. i- p. 111.]
 
 INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 and other saints, though under every other circumstance taking 
 a superior rank, become here accessaries, and are placed on 
 each side or lower down in the picture : for example, where 
 St. Augustine is enthroned, and St. Peter and St. Paul stand 
 on each side, as in picture by B. Vivarini (Venice ; SS. 
 Giovanni e Paolo), or where St. Barbara is enthroned, and 
 Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine stand on each side, as in a 
 picture by Matteo di Siena (San Dominico, Siena). 
 
 In such pictures, the votary or donor is often introduced 
 kneeling at the feet of his patron, either alone or accompanied 
 by his wife and other members of his family : and to express 
 the excess of his humility, he is sometimes so diminutive in 
 proportion to the colossal object of his veneration as to be 
 almost lost to sight ; we have frequent examples of this 
 naivete of sentiment in the old mosaics and votive altar-pieces ; 
 for instance, in a beautiful old fresco at Assisi, where the 
 Magdalene, a majestic figure about six feet high, holds out her 
 hand in benediction to a little Franciscan friar about a foot in 
 height : but it was abandoned as barbarous in the later schools 
 of Art, and the votary, when retained, appears of the natural 
 size ; as in the Madonna del Donatore 1 of Raphael (Vatican, 
 Home), where Sigismond Conti is almost the finest and most 
 striking part of that inestimable picture ; and in the Madonna 
 of the Meyer family by Holbein (Dresden Gallery). 
 
 When a bishop is introduced into a group of saints kneel- 
 ing, while all the others are standing, he may be supposed to 
 be the Donatore or Dlvoto, the person who presents the pic- 
 ture. When he is standing, he is one of the bishop-patrons 
 or bishop-martyrs, of whom there are some hundreds, and who 
 are more difficult to discriminate than any other pictured 
 saints. 
 
 And this leads me to the subject of the so-called anachro- 
 nisms in devotional subjects, where personages who lived at 
 different and distant periods of time are found grouped to- 
 gether. It is curious to find the critics of the last century 
 treating with pity and ridicule, as the result of ignorance or a 
 barbarous unformed taste, the noblest and most spiritual concep- 
 tions of poetic Art. Even Sir Joshua Reynolds had so little idea 
 of the true object and feeling of such representations, that he 
 1 [Better known as the Madonna di Foligno.]
 
 14 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 thinks it necessary to apologize for the error of the painter, 01 
 the mistaken piety of his employer. We must remember that 
 the personages here brought together in their sacred character 
 belong no more to our earth, but to heaven and eternity : for 
 them there is no longer time or place ; they are here assembled 
 together in the perpetual " communion of saints," immortal 
 contemporaries in that kingdom where the Angel of the Apoca- 
 lypse proclaimed " that there should be time no longer." 
 
 Such groups are sometimes arranged with an artless solem- 
 nity, all the personages standing and looking straight out of 
 the picture at the worshipper. Sometimes there is a touch of 
 dramatic sentiment, which, without interfering with the solemn 
 devotional feeling, lights up the whole with the charm of a 
 purpose ; as in the Correggio at Parma [Gallery], where St. 
 Jerome presents his translation of the Scriptures to the infant 
 Christ, while an angel turns the leaves, and Mary Magdalene, 
 symbol of redemption and reconciliation, bends to kiss the feet 
 of the Saviour. 
 
 Our ancestors of the Middle Ages were not particular in 
 drawing that strong line of demarcation between the classical, 
 Jewish, and Christian periods of history, that we do. They 
 saw only Christendom everywhere ; they regarded the past 
 only in relation to Christianity. Hence we find in the early 
 ecclesiastical monuments and edifices such a strange assemblage 
 of Pagan, Scriptural, and Christian worthies ; as, Hector of 
 Troy, Alexander the Great, King David, Judas Maccabeus, 
 King Arthur, St. George, Godfrey of Boulogne, Lucretia, Vir- 
 ginia, Judith, St. Elizabeth, St. Bridget (as in the Cross of 
 Nuremberg). In the curious Manual of Greek Art published 
 by Didron, we find the Greek philosophers and poets entering 
 into a scheme of ecclesiastical decoration, as in the carved stalls 
 in the Cathedral of Ulm, where Solon, Apollonius, Plutarch, 
 Plato, Sophocles are represented, holding each a scroll, on 
 which is inscribed a passage from their works, interpreted into 
 an allusion to the coming of Christ : and I have seen a pic- 
 ture of the Nativity in which the sibyls are dancing hand-in- 
 hand around the cradle of the new-born Saviour. This may 
 appear profane to some, but the comprehension of the whole 
 universe within the pale of Christianity strikes me as being in 
 the most Catholic, as well as in the most poetical, spirit.
 
 INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 It is in devotional subjects that we commonly find those 
 anthropomorphic representations of the Divinity which shock 
 devout people ; and which no excuse or argument can render 
 endurable to those who see in them only ignorant irreverence 
 or intentional profaneness. It might be pleaded that the pro- 
 faneness is not intentional ; that emblems and forms are, in 
 the imitative arts, what figures of speech are in language ; that 
 only through a figure of speech can any attempt be made to 
 place the idea of Almighty power before us. Familiar expres- 
 sions, consecrated by Scripture usage, represent the Deity 3s 
 reposing, Avaking, stretching forth His hand, sitting on a throne ; 
 as pleased, angry, vengeful, repentant ; and the ancient paint- 
 ers, speaking the language proper to their art, appear to have 
 turned these emblematical words into emblematical pictures. 
 I forbear to say more on this point, because I have taken 
 throughout the poetical and not the religious view of Art, and 
 this is an objection which must be left, as a matter of feeling, 
 to the amount of candor and knowledge in the critical reader. 
 
 Ht- 
 
 In the sacred subjects properly called HISTORICAL, we must 
 be careful to distinguish between those which are Scriptural, 
 representing scenes from the Old or New Testament, and those 
 which are Legendary. 
 
 Of the first, for the present, I do not speak, as they will be 
 fully treated hereafter. 
 
 The historical subjects from the lives of the saints consist 
 principally of Miracles and Martyrdoms. 
 
 In the first, it is worth remarking that we have no pictured 
 miracle which is not imitated from the Old or the New Tes- 
 tament (unless it be an obvious emblem, as where the saint 
 carries his own head). There is no act of supernatural power 
 related of any saint which is not recorded of some great Scrip- 
 tural personage. The object was to represent the favorite patron 
 as a copy of the great universal type of beneficence, CHRIST 
 OUR REDEEMER. And they were not satisfied that the re- 
 semblance should lie in character only ; but should emulate 
 the power of Christ in his visible actions. We must remem- 
 ber that the common people of the Middle Ages did not, and 
 could not, distinguish between miracles accredited by the testi- 
 mony of Scripture and those which were fabrications, or at least 
 exaggerations. All miracles related as divine interpositions
 
 16 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 were to them equally possible, equally credible. If a more 
 extended knowledge of the natural laws renders us in these 
 days less credulous, it also shows us that many things were 
 possible, under particular conditions, which were long deemed 
 supernatural. 
 
 We find in the legendary pictures, that the birth of several 
 saints is announced by an angel, or in a dream, as in the stories 
 of St. Catherine, St. Roch, etc. They exhibit precocious piety 
 and wisdom, as in the story of St. Nicholas, who also calms a 
 tempest, and guides the storm-tossed vessel safe to land. They 
 walk on the water, as in the stories of St. Raymond and St. 
 Hyacinth ; or a river divides, to let them pass, as in the story 
 of St. Alban. Saints are fed and comforted miraculously, or 
 delivered from prison by angels ; or resist fire, like the " Three 
 Children." The multiplication of bread and the transforma- 
 tion of water into wine are standing miracles. But those 
 which most frequently occur in pictures are the healing of the 
 sick, the lame, the blind ; the casting out of demons, the res- 
 toration of the dead, or some other manifestation of compas- 
 sionate and beneficent power. 
 
 Some of the pictured legends are partly Scriptural, partly 
 historical, as the story of St. Peter ; others are clearly religious 
 apologues founded on fact or tradition, as those of St. Mary of 
 Egypt and St. Christopher ; others are obviously and purely 
 allegorical, as the Greek story of St. Sophia (i. e. Heavenly 
 Wisdom, 2CX&IA) and her celestial progeny, St. Faith, St. 
 Hope, and St. Charity, all martyred by the blind and cruel 
 Pagans. The names sound as if borrowed from the " Pilgrim's 
 Progress ; " and it is curious to find Banyan's allegorical 
 legend, the favorite picture-book of the people, appearing just 
 at the time when the legends and pictures of the saints became 
 objects of puritanical horror, and supplying their place in the 
 popular imagination. 
 
 Martyrdoms are only too common : they present to us Chris- 
 tianity under its most mystical aspect the deification of suf- 
 fering ; but to render these representations effective, they should 
 be pathetic without being terrible, they should speak to us 
 
 Of melancholy fear subdued by faith, 
 Of blessed consolations in distress; 
 
 but not of the horrid cruelty of man towards man. It lias
 
 INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 been well remarked by my friend M. Rio (to whose charming 
 and eloquent exposition of Christian Art I refer with ever- 
 new delight) that the early painters of Western Christendom 
 avoided these subjects, and that their prevalence in ecclesias- 
 tical decoration marked the decline of religious feeling and 
 the degeneracy of Art. But this remark does not apply to 
 Byzantine Art ; for we find from the exact description of a 
 picture of the ^piartyrdom of St. Euphemia (both the picture 
 and the description -dating from the third century), that such 
 representations were then common, and were appealed to in 
 the same manner as now, to excite the feelings of the people. 
 The martyrdoms generally met with are those of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul, St. Stephen Protomartyr, St. Laurence, St. 
 Catherine, and St. Sebastian. These we find everywhere, in 
 all countries and localities. Where the patron of the church 
 or chapel is a martyr, his martyrdom holds a conspicuous 
 place, often over the high altar, and accompanied by all the 
 moving circumstances which can excite the pity, or horror, or 
 enthusiasm of the pious votaries ; but in the best examples 
 we find the saint preparing for his death, not suffering the 
 torments actually inflicted ; so that the mind is elevated by 
 the sentiment of his courage, not disturbed and disgusted by 
 the spectacle of his agonies. 
 
 III. OF CERTAIN PATRON SAINTS 
 
 WHO ARE COMMONLY GROUPED TOGETHER IX WORKS OF ART, 
 OR WHO BELONG TO PARTICULAR COUNTRIES, CITIES, OR LO- 
 CALITIES 
 
 While such assemblages of holy persons as are found 
 grouped together in devotional pictures are to be considered 
 as quite independent of chronology, we shall find that the 
 selection has been neither capricious nor arbitrary, and, with a 
 little consideration, we shall discover the leading idea in the 
 mind of the artist that, at least, which was intended- to be 
 conveyed to the mind of the spectator, and which was much 
 more intelligible in former times than it is now. 
 
 Sometimes we find certain saints placed in companionship, 
 because they are the joint patrons and protectors of the city 
 or locality for which the picture was painted. Thus in the 
 Bologna pictures we constantly find the bishop St. Petronius,
 
 18 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 St. Eloy, St. Dominick, and the warrior St. Proculus ; while 
 in the Venetian pictures we have perpetual St. Marks, St. 
 Georges, and St. Catherines. 
 
 Or, secondly, they are connected by kindred powers and 
 attributes. Thus we find St. Sebastian, the patron against 
 pestilence, in company with St. Rqch, who ministered to the 
 sick of the plague. Thus St: Catherine and St. Jerome, the 
 two patrons of school theology, are often fotyjid in compan- 
 ionship. Where St. Catherine and St. Barbara are found 
 together, the first figures as patroness of the ecclesiastical, and 
 the second of the military, power or they represent respec- 
 tively the contemplative and the active life. 
 
 Or, thirdly, they are combined in the fancy by some inevi- 
 table association ; as St. Augustine and St. Stephen are often 
 in the same picture, because St. Augustine dedicated some of 
 his most eloquent works to the glory of the martyr. 
 
 Or they were friends on earth, for which reason St. Cyprian 
 and St. Cornelius are placed together. 
 
 Or their relics repose in the same spot ; whence St. Stephen 
 and St. Laurence have become almost inseparable. When St. 
 Vincent and St. Laurence are placed together (as in a lovely 
 composition of Parmigiano, where they sit reading out of the 
 same book), it is because of the similarity of their fate, and 
 that the popular tradition supposed them to be brothers. 
 
 A point of more general importance, and capable of more 
 definite explanation, is the predominance of certain sacred 
 personages in particular schools of Art. St. Cosmo and St. 
 Damian, for instance, are perpetually recurring in the Floren- 
 tine pictures as the patron saints of the Medici family. In 
 the Lombard pictures St. Ambrose is often found without 
 his compeers not as doctor of the Church, but as bishop 
 of Milan. In the Siena pictures, we may look for the nun 
 St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Ansano, the apostle of the 
 Sienese, holding his banner and palm. And in the Augustine 
 chapels and churches, St. Augustine figures, not as doctor of 
 the Church, but as patriarch of the Order. 
 
 A bishop-martyr, holding his palm, and not otherwise des- 
 ignated either by name or attribute, would be in one of 
 Perugino's pictures, St. Ercolano or St. Costanzo ; in a Flor- 
 entine picture, St. Donate or St. Romulo ; if the picture were
 
 INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 painted in the march of Ancona, it would probably be St. 
 Apollinaris of Ravenna ; at Naples it would be a St. Janua- 
 rius ; at Paris, or in a picture painted for a French church, of 
 which there are many in Italy, it would be St. Denis ; and 
 in German prints, St. Boniface or St. Lambert. I need not 
 further multiply examples. 
 
 If the locality from which' the picture came will sometimes 
 determine the names of the personages, so the personages rep- 
 resented will often explain the purpose and intended situation 
 of the picture. There is in Lord Ashburton's gallery a noble 
 group representing together St. Peter, St. Leonard, St. Martha, 
 and Mary Magdalene. Such a combination points it out at 
 once as intended for a charitable institution, and, on inquiry, 
 we find that it was painted for the chapel of a brotherhood 
 associated to redeem prisoners, to ransom slaves, to work for 
 the poor, and to convert the sinner to repentance. Many such 
 interesting and instructive analogies will be pointed out in the 
 course of the following pages, and the observer of works of 
 Art will discover others for himself. 
 
 I add here, in alphabetical order, those countries and locali- 
 ties of which the patron saints are distinguished in works of 
 Art. 1 
 
 ANCOXA : St. Cyriacus, Bishop ; and his mother Anna, Martyr. 
 
 AREZZO : St. Donato, Bishop. 
 
 ASTI, NOVARA. and all through the cities of PIEDMONT and the 
 north of Italy, we find the Warrior, St. Maurice, and his com- 
 panions St. Secuuclus, St. Alexander, and the other Martyrs of the 
 Theban Legion. 
 
 AUGSBURG : St. Ulrich, Bishop ; St. Afra, Martyr. 
 
 AUSTRIA : St. Leopold, St. Stephen, St. Maximilian, St. Colo- 
 man. 
 
 BAMBERG : St. Henry and St. Cunegimda, Emperor and Em- 
 press. 
 
 BARCELONA : St. Eulalia, Martyr. (In Spanish pictures onl}'.) 
 
 BAVARIA : St. George, Martyr. 
 
 BERGAMO : St. Alexander, Warrior ; St. Grata, Widow. 
 
 BOHEMIA : St. John Nepomuck, Priest ; St. "VTenceslaus, King ; 
 St. Ludmilla, Queen; St. Vitus, young Martyr; St. Procopius, 
 Hermit. 
 
 1 The Saints who do not appear in these volumes will be found in the Zo 
 gendsofthe Monastic Orders.
 
 20 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 BOLOGNA : St. Petronius, Bishop ; St. Dominick, Friar ; St. Pro- 
 culus, Warrior Martyr ; St. Eloy (Eligio), Bishop and Smith. 
 
 BRESCIA : St. Faustinas and Jovita ; St. Julia, St. Afra, Martyrs. 
 
 BRUGES : St. John the Baptist. 
 
 BURGUNDY: St. Andrew, Apostle. 
 
 COLOGNE: The Three Kings; St. Ursula, Virgin Martyr; St. 
 Gereon, Warrior Martyr. 
 
 COMO : St. Abbondio, Bishop. 
 
 CORTONA : St. Margaret, Nun and Penitent. 
 
 CREMONA : St. Omobuono, Secular Habit. 
 
 FERRARA : St. Geminiano, Bishop ; St. George, Martyr; St. Bar- 
 bara, Martyr. 
 
 FIESOLE : St. Romulo, Bishop. 
 
 FLORENCE : St. John the Baptist ; St. Zenobio, St. Antonio, 
 Bishops ; St. Reparata, Virgin Martyr ; St. Cosmo and St. Damian 
 (the Apothecary Saints, especial patrons of the Medici family) ; 
 St. Verdiana, Nun ; St. Miniato, Warrior. 
 
 FRANCE: St. Michael, Angel; St. Dionysius (Denis), Bishop; 
 St. Genevieve, Virgin ; St. Martin, Bishop. 
 
 GENOA : St. George, St. Laurence, Martyrs. 
 
 GHENT : St. Bavon, Prince and Hermit. 
 
 GRENOBLE : St. Hugh the Carthusian. 
 
 IRELAND: St. Patrick, Bishop; St. Bridget, Abbess. 
 
 LUCCA: St. Martin, Bishop; St. Frediano, Priest; St. Zita, 
 Virgin. 
 
 LIEGE : St. Hubert, Bishop and Huntsman ; St. Lambert, Bishop. 
 
 MADRID: St. Isidore, Laborer; St. Dominick, Friar (Patron of 
 the Escurial, St. Laurence). 
 
 MANTUA : St. Andrew : St. Barbara ; St. George and St. Longi- 
 nus, Warrior Saints. 
 
 MARSEILLES and all PROVENCE : St. Lazarus ; St. Mary Magda- 
 lene ; St. Martha ; St. Marcella. 
 
 MESSINA : St. Agatha, Martyr. 
 
 MILAX : St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor ; St. Gervasius and St. 
 Protasitis, Martyrs; St. Maurice, St. Victor, Warriors. 
 
 MODENA : St. Geminiano, Bishop. (In pictures of the Correggio 
 School.) 
 
 NAPLES : St. Januarius, Martyr. 
 
 NOVARA : St. Gaudenzio, Bishop. 
 
 NUREMBERG : St. Laurence, Martyr; St. Sebald, Pilgrim and 
 Hermit. (The latter an important person in pictures and prints 
 of the Albert DUrer school.) 
 
 PADUA : St. Anthony of Padua, Friar. 
 
 PARIS: St. Genevieve, Virgin; St. Germain, Bishop; St. Hippo- 
 litus, Martyr.
 
 INTRODUCTION 21 
 
 PARMA : St. John the Baptist ; St. Thomas the Apostle ; St. 
 Bernard, Monk; St. Hilary (Ilario), Bishop. 
 
 PERUGIA : St. Ercolano and St. Costanzo, Bishops. 
 
 PIACENZA : St. Justina, Martyr; St. Antoninus, Warrior (The- 
 ban Legion). 
 
 PIEDMONT and SAVOY : St. John the Baptist ; St. Maurice and 
 St. George, Warriors: St. Amadeus, King. 
 
 PISA: St. Ranieri, Hermit; St. Torpe, Warrior; St. Ephesus and 
 St. Potita, Warriors. (These only in the ancient Pisan school.) 
 
 RAVENNA : St. Apollinaris, Bishop. 
 
 RIMINI : St. Julian, Martyr. (A young saint, popular all through 
 the north and down the east coast of Italy.) 
 
 SEVILLE : St. Leander, Bishop ; St. Justina, St. Rufina, Sisters 
 and Martyrs. (These are only found in Spanish pictures.) 
 
 SICILY: St. Vitus, Martyr; St. Rosalia, Recluse (Palermo); St. 
 Agatha (Messina), St. Lucia (Syracuse), Martyrs. 
 
 SIENA: St. Ansano, Martyr; St. Catherine of Siena, Nun; St. 
 Bernardino, Friar. 
 
 THURINGIA and all that part of SAXONY : St. Elizabeth of 
 Hungary; St. Boniface, Bishop. 
 
 TOLEDO : St. Ildefonso, Bishop ; and St. Leocadia, Martyr. 
 (Only in Spanish pictures.) 
 
 [TouRS : St. Martin, Bishop.'] 
 
 TREVISO: St: Liberale, Warrior. 
 
 TURIN : St. John the Baptist ; St. Maurice, Warrior. 
 
 UMBRIA : All through this region and the eastern coast of 
 Italy, very important in respect to Art, the favorite saints are : St. 
 Nicholas, Bishop; St. Francis of Assisi, Friar; St. Clara, Nun; St. 
 Julian, Martyr ; and St. Catherine, Virgin Martyr. 
 
 VALENCIA : St. Vincent, Martyr. 
 
 VENICE : St. Mark, Apostle ; St. George, St. Theodore, Warriors ; 
 St. Nicholas, Bishop ; St. Catherine, St. Christina, Virgin Martyrs. 
 
 VERCELLI: St. Eusebius, Bishop ; St. Thronestus, Warrior (The- 
 ban Legion). 
 
 VERONA: St. Zeno, Bishop; St. Fermo, Martyr; St. Euphemia, 
 Martyr. 
 
 VOTIVE PICTURES are those which have been dedicated in 
 certain religious edifices, in fulfilment of vows ; either as the 
 expression of thanksgiving for blessings which have been 
 vouchsafed, or propitiative against calamities to be averted. 
 The far greater number of these pictures commemorate an 
 escape from danger, sickness, death ; and more especially, some 
 visitation of the plague, that terrible and frequent scourge of
 
 22 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 the Middle Ages. The significance of such pictures is gener- 
 ally indicated by the presence of St. Sebastian or St. Koch, 
 the patrons against the plague ; or St. Cosmo and St. Damian, 
 the healing and medical saints ; accompanied by the patron 
 saints of the country or locality, if it be a piiblic act of devo- 
 tion ; or, if dedicated by private or individual piety, the donor 
 kneels, presented by his own patron saint. In general, though 
 not always, this expressive group is arranged in attendance on 
 the enthroned Madonna and her divine Son, as the universal 
 protectors from all evil. Such pictures are among the most 
 interesting and remarkable of the works of sacred Art which 
 remain to us, and have often a pathetic and poetical beauty, 
 and an historical significance, which it is a chief purpose of 
 these volumes to interpret and illustrate. 
 
 IV. OF CERTAIN EMBLEMS AND ATTRIBUTES 
 
 To know something of the attributes and emblems of gen- 
 eral application, as well as those proper to each saint, is abso- 
 lutely necessary ; but it will also greatly assist the fancy and 
 the memory to understand their origin and significance. For 
 this reason I will add a few words of explanation. 
 
 The GLORY, NIMBUS, or AUREOLE the Christian attri- 
 bute of sanctity, and used generally to distinguish all holy 
 personages is of pagan origin. It expressed the luminous 
 nebula (Homer, Iliad, xxiii. 205), supposed to emanate from, 
 and surround, the Divine Essence, which stood, "a shade in 
 midst of its own brightness." Images of the gods were deco- 
 rated with a crown of rays, or with stars ; and when the Roman 
 emperors assumed the honors due to divinity, they appeared in 
 public crowned with golden radii. The colossal statue of Nero 
 wore a circle of rays, imitating the glory of the sun. This 
 ornament became customary ; and not only the first Caesars, 
 but the Christian emperors, adopted the same divine insignia ; 
 and it became at length so common that we find it on some 
 medals, round the heads of the consuls of the later empire. 
 Considered in the East as the attribute of power only, whether 
 good or evil, we find, wherever early Art has been developed 
 under Byzantine influences, the nimbus thus applied. Satan, 
 in many Greek, Saxon, and French miniatures, from the ninth 
 to the thirteenth century, wears a glory. In a psalter of the
 
 INTRODUCTION 23 
 
 twelfth century, the Beast of the Apocalypse with seven 
 heads, has six heads surrounded by the nimbus ; the seventh, 
 wounded and drooping, is without the sign of power. 
 
 But in Western Art the associations with this attribute 
 were not merely those of dignity, but of something divine and 
 consecrated. It was for a long time avoided in the Christian 
 representations as being appropriated by false gods or heathen 
 pride ; and when first adopted does not seem clear. 1 The 
 earliest example cited is a gem of St. Martin of the early part 
 of the sixth century, in which the glory round his head seems 
 to represent his apotheosis ; and in all instances it is evidently 
 intended to represent divine glory and beatitude. 
 
 The glory round the head is properly the nimbus or aureole. 
 The oblong glory surrounding the whole person, called in 
 Latin the vesica piscis, and in Italian the tnandorla (almond) 
 from its form, is confined to figures of Christ and the Virgin, 
 or saints who are in the act of ascending into heaven. When 
 used to distinguish one of the three divine persons of the 
 Trinity, the glory is often cruciform or triangular. The square 
 nimbus designates a person living at the time the work was 
 executed. In the frescoes of Giotto at Assisi, the allegorical 
 personages are in some instances distinguished by the hexagonal 
 nimbus. In other instances it is circular. From the fifth to 
 the twelfth century the nimbus had the form of a disc or plate 
 over the head. 2 From the twelfth to the fifteenth century it 
 was a broad golden band, round, or rather behind the head, 
 composed of circle within circle, often adorned with precious 
 stones, and sometimes having the name of the saint inscribed 
 within it. From the fifteenth century it was a bright fillet 
 over the head, and in the seventeenth century it disappeared 
 altogether. In pictures the glory is always golden, the color 
 of light ; in miniatures and stained glass I have seen glories of 
 various colors, red, blue, or green. 3 
 
 1 ["The nimbus is little seen during the four first centuries of the Christian 
 era." Christian Iconography, vol. i. p. 97.] 
 
 2 A metal circle, like a round plate, was fastened on the head of those 
 statues placed in the open air, to defend them from the rain or dust. Some 
 of the ancient glories are very like those plates, but I do not think they are 
 derived from them. 
 
 3 I believe these colored glories to be symbolical, but am not sure of the 
 application of the colors. Jfcmong the miniatures of the ffortus Deliciarum t 
 painted in 1180, is a representation of the celestial paradise, in which the
 
 24 SACRED AND* LEGENDARY ART 
 
 The FISH was the earliest, the most universal, of the Chris- 
 tian emblems, partly as the symbol of water and the rite of 
 baptism, and also becavise the five Greek letters which express 
 the word Fish form the anagram of the name of Jesus Christ. 
 In this sense we find the fish as a general symbol of the Chris- 
 tian faith upon the sarcophagi of the early Christians ; on the 
 tombs of the martyrs in the Catacombs ; on rings, coins, lamps, 
 and other utensils ; and as. an ornament in early Christian 
 architecture. It is usually a dolphin, Avhich among the pagans 
 had also a sacred significance. 
 
 The passage in the Gospel, " Follow me, and I will make 
 you fishers of men," is supposed to have originated the use of 
 this symbol ; and I may observe here, that the fish placed in 
 the hands of St. Peter has probably a double or treble signifi- 
 cation, alluding to his former occupation as a fisherman, his 
 conversion to Christianity, arid his vocation as a Christian 
 apostle, i. e. a fisher of men, in the sense used by Christ ; 
 and in the same sense we find it given as an attribute to 
 bishops who were famous for converting and baptizing, as St. 
 Zeno of Verona and Gregory of Tours. 
 
 The CROSS. About the tenth century the Fish disap- 
 peared, and the Cross symbol of our redemption from the 
 apostolic times became the sole and universal emblem of 
 the Christian faith. The cross placed in the hand of a saint 
 is usually the Latin cross (1), the form ascribed to the cross on 
 which our Saviour suffered. Other crosses are used as em- 
 blems or ornaments, but still having the same signification ; as 
 the Greek cross (2), in which the arms are all of the same 
 length ; the transverse cross, on which St. Andrew is supposed 
 to have suffered, in this form (,3) ; the Egyptian cross, some- 
 times placed in the hands of St. Philip the apostle, and it 
 was also the form of the crutch of St. Anthony, and em- 
 broidered on his cope or robe, hence it is called St. Anthony's 
 cross (4). There is also the Maltese cross, and various orna- 
 mental crosses. The double cross on the top of a staff, in- 
 stead of the crosier, is borne by the Pope only ; the staff with 
 a single cross by the Greek bishops. 
 
 virgins, the apostles, the martyrs, and confessors wear the golden nimbus ; 
 the prophets and the patriarchs, the white or silver nimbus ; the saints who 
 strove with temptation, the red nimbus ; those.*vho were married have the 
 nimbus green, while the beatified penitents have theirs of a yellowish white, 
 somewhat shaded. (Didron [Christian Iconography, vol. i. pp. 163-165].)
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 25 
 
 At first, the Cross was a sign only. When formed of gold 
 or silver, the five wounds of Christ were signified by a ruby 
 or carbuncle at each extremity, and one in the centre. It was 
 not till the sixth century that the Cross became a CRUCIFIX. 
 no longer an emblem, but an image. 
 
 The LAMB, in Christian Art, is the peculiar symbol of the 
 Redeemer, as the sacrifice without blemish ; in this sense it is 
 given as an attribute to John the Baptist. The lamb is also 
 the general emblem of innocence, meekness, modesty ; in this 
 sense it is given to St. Agnes, of whom Massillon said so beau- 
 tifully, " Pen de pudeur, ou il n'y a pas de religion; peu de 
 religion, ou il n'y a pas de pudeur." 
 
 The PELICAN, tearing open her breast to feed her young 
 with her own blood, was an early symbol of our redemption 
 through Christ. 
 
 One or both of these emblems are frequently found in an- 
 cient crosses and crucifixes ; the lamb at the foot, the pelican 
 at the top, of the cross. 
 
 The DRAGOX is the emblem of sin in general, and of the 
 sin of idolatry in particular ; and the dragon slain and van- 
 quished by the power of the Cross is the perpetually recurring 
 myth, which, varied in a thousand waj r s, we find running 
 through all the old Christian legends ; not subject to misap- 
 prehension in the earliest times ; but as the cloud of ignorance 
 darkened and deepened, the symbol was translated into a fact. 
 It has been suggested that the dragon, which is to us a phan- 
 tasm and an allegory, which, in the Middle Ages, was the 
 visible shape of the demon adversary of all truth and good- 
 ness, might have been, as regards form, originally a .fact ; for 
 wherever we have dragon legends, whether the scene be laid 
 in Asia, Africa, or Europe, the imputed circumstances and the 
 form are little varied. The dragons introduced into early 
 painting and sculpture so invariably represent a gigantic
 
 26 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 winged crocodile, that it is presumed there must have been 
 some common origin for the type chosen as if by common con- 
 sent ; and that this common type may have been some fossil 
 remains of the Saurian species, or even some far-off dim tradi- 
 tion of one of these tremendous reptiles surviving in Heaven 
 knows what vast desolate morass or inland lake, and spreading 
 horror and devastation along its shores. At Aix, a huge fos- 
 silized head of one of the Sauri was for a long time preserved 
 as the head of the identical dragon subdued by St. Martha ; 
 and St. Jerome relates that he had himself beheld at Tyre 
 the bones of the sea monster to which Andromeda had been 
 exposed probably some fossil remains, which in the popular 
 imagination were thus accounted for. Professor Owen told 
 me that the head of a dragon in one of the legendary pictures 
 he had seen in Italy closely resembled in form that of the 
 Deinotherium Giganteum. These observations have refer- 
 ence only to the type adopted when the old Scripture allegory 
 took form and shape. The dragon of Holy Writ is the same 
 as the serpent, i. e. personified sin, the spiritual enemy of man- 
 kind. 
 
 The Scriptural phrase of the "jaws of hell" is literally 
 rendered in the ancient works of Art by the huge jaws of a 
 dragon, wide open and emitting flames, into which the souls of 
 sinners are tumbled headlong. In pictures, sin is also typified 
 by a serpent or snake ; in this form it is placed under the 
 feet of the Madonna, sometimes with an apple in its mouth ; 
 sometimes, but only in late pictures of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, winding its green scaly length round and round a globe, 
 significant of the subjugation of the whole earth to the power 
 of sin till delivered by the Redeemer. On this subject I shall 
 have much 'more to say when treating of the pictures of the 
 Fall of Man, and the subjects taken from the Apocalypse : for 
 the present we need only bear in mind ttie various significa- 
 tions of the popular Dragon myth, which may shadow forth 
 the conquest over sin, as in the legends of St. Michael and St. 
 Margaret ; or over paganism, as in the legends of St. Sylves- 
 ter and St. George ; or sometimes a destroying flood, as in the 
 legend of St. Martha, where the inundatiw of the Rhone is 
 figured by a dragon emerging from the waters and spreading 
 around death and pestilence, like the Python of the Grecian 
 myth.
 
 INTRODUCTION 27 
 
 The Liox, as an ancient Christian symbol, is of frequent 
 recurrence, more particularly in architectural decoration. An- 
 tiquaries are not agreed as to the exact meaning attached to 
 the mystical lions placed in the porches of so many old Lom- 
 bard churches ; sometimes with an animal, sometimes with a 
 man, in their paws. But we find, that the lion was an ancient 
 symbol of the Kedeemer, " the Lion of the tribe of Judah : " 
 also of the resurrection of the Redeemer ; because, according 
 to an oriental fable, the lion's cub was born dead, and in three 
 days its sire licked it into life. In this sense it occurs in the 
 windows of the cathedral at Bourges. In either sense it may 
 probably have been adopted as a frequent ornament in the 
 church utensils, and in ecclesiastical decoration, supporting 
 the pillars in front, or the carved thrones, etc. 
 
 The lion also typifies solitude the wilderness ; and, in 
 this sense, is placed near St. Jerome and other saints who did 
 penance, or lived as hermits in the desert ; as in the legends 
 of St. Paul the hermit, St. Mary of Egypt, St. Onofrio. 
 Further, the lion as an attribute denoted death in the amphi- 
 theatre, and with this signification is placed near certain mar- 
 tyrs, as St. Ignatius and St. Euphemia. The lion, as the 
 type of fortitude and resolution, was placed at the feet of 
 those martyrs who had suffered with singular courage, as St. 
 Adrian and St. Xatalia. In the example of St. Jerom^, a 
 lion may have originally typified any hindrance in the way of 
 study or of duty ; in allusion to the text, " The slothful man 
 saith, There is a lion in the way." (Prov. xxvi. 13.) 
 
 When other wild beasts, as wolves and bears, are placed at 
 the feet of a saint attired as abbot or bishop, it signifies that he 
 cleared waste land, cut down forests, and substituted Christian 
 culture and civilization for paganism and the lawless hunter's 
 life ; such is the significance in pictures of St. Magnus, St. 
 Florentius, and St. Germain of Auxerre. 
 
 The HART or HIXD was also an emblem of double signifi- 
 cation. It was a type of solitude and of purity of life, and 
 was also a type of piety and religious aspiration, adopted 
 from the forty-second Psalm, " Like as the hart panteth aftef 
 the water-brooks, so panteth my soul for Thee, God ! " 
 
 When the original meaning of the lion, the hart, and other 
 emblems was no longer present to the popular mind, legends 
 were invented to account for them ; and that which had been
 
 28 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 a symbol became an incident, or an historical attribute, as 
 in the stories of the lion healed by St. Jerome, or digging 
 the grave of St. Paul ; the miraculous stag which appeared to 
 St. Eustace and St. Hubert ; the wounded doe in the legend 
 of St. Giles ; and the hind which spoke to St. Julian. 
 
 The PEACOCK, the bird of Juno, was an ancient pagan sym- 
 bol, signifying the apotheosis of an empress, as we find from 
 many of the old Koman coins and medals. The early Chris- 
 tians, accustomed to this interpretation, adopted it as a general 
 emblem of the mortal exchanged for the immortal existence ; 
 and, with this signification, we find the peacock with out- 
 spread train on the walls and ceilings of catacombs, the tombs 
 of the martyrs, and many of the sarcophagi, down to the 
 fourth and fifth centuries. It is only in modern times that 
 the peacock has become the emblem of worldly pride. 
 
 The CROWN, as introduced in Christian Art, is either an 
 emblem or an attribute. It has been the emblem from all 
 antiquity of victory, and of recompense due to superior power 
 or virtue. In this sense the word and the image are used in 
 Scripture in many passages : for example, " Henceforth there is 
 laid up for me a crown of righteousness." And in this sense, 
 as the recompense of those who had fought the good fight to the 
 end, and conquered, the crown became the especial symbol of the 
 glory of martyrdom. In very ancient pictures, a hand is seen 
 coming out of heaven holding a wreath or circlet ; afterwards 
 it is an angel who descends with a crown, which is sometimes 
 a coronet of gold and jewels, sometimes a wreath of palm or 
 myrtle. In general only the female martyrs wear the sym- 
 bolical crown of glory ; martyrs of the other sex hold the 
 crown in their hands, or it is borne by an angel. Hence we 
 may presume that the crown, which among the Jews was the 
 especial ornament of a bride, signified the bride or spouse of 
 Christ one dedicated to virginity for his sake ; and in this 
 sense, down to the present time, the crown is placed on the 
 head of a nun at the moment of consecration. Therefore in 
 the old pictures of female martyrs we may interpret the crown 
 in this double sense, as signifying at once the bride and the 
 martyr. 
 
 But it is necessary also to distinguish between the symbol 
 and the attribute : thus, where St. Cecilia and St. Barbara wear 
 the crown, it is the symbol of their glorious martyrdom ; Avhen
 
 INTRODUCTION 29 
 
 St. Catherine and St. Ursula wear the crown, it is at once as 
 the symbol of martyrdom and the attribute of their royal rank 
 as princesses. 
 
 The crown is also the symbol of sovereignty. When it is 
 placed on the head of the Virgin, it is as Queen of Heaven, 
 and also as the " Spouse " of Scripture allegory. 
 
 But the crown is also an attribute, and frequently, when 
 worn by a saint or placed at his feet, signifies that he was 
 royal or of princely birth : as in the pictures of Louis ' of 
 France, St. William, St. Elizabeth, St. Helena, and many 
 others. 
 
 The crowns in the Italian pictures are generally a wreath, 
 
 or a simple circle of gold and jewels, or a coronet radiated with 
 a few points. But in the old German pictures the crown is 
 often of most magnificent workmanship, blazing with jewels. 
 
 I have seen a real silver crown placed on the figures of cer- 
 tain popular saints, but as a votive tribute, not an emblem. 
 
 The SWORD is also either a symbol or an attribute. As a 
 symbol, it signifies generally a martyrdom by any violent 
 death, and, in this sense, is given to many saints who did not 
 die by the sword. As an attribute, it signifies the particular 
 death suffered, and that the martyr in whose hand or at whose 
 feet it is placed was beheaded ; in this sense it is given to St. 
 Paul, St. Catherine, and many others. It is given also to the 
 warrior martyrs, as the attribute of their military profession. 
 Other symbols of martyrdom are the AXE, the LAXCE, and the 
 CLUB. 
 
 ARROWS, which are attributes, St. Ursula, St. Christian, and 
 St. Sebastian. 
 
 The POXIARD, given to St. Lucia. 
 
 The CAULDRON, given to St. John the Evangelist and St. 
 Cecilia. 
 
 The PIXCERS and SHEARS, St. Apollonia and St. Agatha.
 
 30 
 
 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 The WHEELS, St. Catherine. 
 
 FIRE and FLAMES are sometimes an emblem of martyrdom 
 and punishment, and sometimes of religious fervor. 
 
 A BELL was supposed to have power to exorcise demons, 
 and for this reason is given to the haunted St. Anthony. 
 
 The SHELL signifies pilgrimage. 
 
 The SKULL, penance. 
 
 The ANVIL, as an attribute of martyrdom, belongs to St. 
 Adrian only. 
 
 The PALM, the ancient classical symbol of victory and tri- 
 umph, was early assumed by the Christians as the universal 
 symbol of martyrdom, and for this adaptation of a pagan 
 ornament they found warrant in Scripture : Rev. vii. 9, 
 " And after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude stood 
 before the throne, clothed with white robes, and with palms in 
 their hands." ..." And he said to me, These are they which 
 came out of great tribulation." Hence in pictures of martyr- 
 doms an angel descends with the palm ; hence it is figured on 
 the tombs of early martyrs, and placed in the hands of those 
 who suffered in the cause of truth, as expressing their final 
 victory over the powers of sin and death. 
 
 The sensual think with reverence of the palm 
 Which the chaste votary wields. 
 
 The palm varies in form from a small leaf to the size of a 
 palm branch, almost a tree. It is very small in the early 
 Italian pictures, very large in the Spanish pictures. In the 
 
 Siena pictures it has a bunch of dates depending from it. It 
 is only in late pictures that the palm, with a total disregard to 
 the sacredness of its original signification, is placed on the 
 ground, or under the feet of the saint.
 
 INTRODUCTION 31 
 
 The STANDARD, or banner, is also the symbol of victory, 
 the spiritual victory over sin, death, and idolatry. It is borne 
 by our Saviour after His resurrection, and is placed in the 
 hands of St. George, St. Maurice, and other military saints ; 
 in the hands of some victorious martyrs, as St. Julian, St. 
 Ansano, and of those who preached the Gospel among infidels ; 
 also in the hands of St. Ursula and St. Eeparata, the only 
 female saints, I believe, who bear this attribute. 
 
 The OLIVE, as the well-known emblem of peace and rec- 
 onciliation, is figured on the tombs of the early martyrs ; 
 sometimes with, sometimes without, the dove. The olive is 
 borne as the attribute of peace by the angel Gabriel, by St. 
 Agnes, and by St. Pantaleon ; sometimes also by the angels 
 in a Nativity, who announce " peace on earth." 
 
 The DOVE in Christian Art is the emblem of the Holy 
 Ghost ; and, besides its introduction into various subjects 
 from the New Testament, as the Annunciation, the Baptism, 
 the Pentecost, it is placed near certain saints who are supposed 
 to have been particularly inspired, as St. Gregory, St. Thomas 
 Aquinas, St. Hilarius, and others. 
 
 The dove is also a symbol of simplicity and purity of heart, 
 and, as such, it is introduced into pictures of female saints, 
 and especially of the Madonna and Child. 
 
 It is also the emblem of the soul ; in this sense it is seen 
 issuing from the lips of dying martyrs, and is found in pic- 
 tures of St. Eulalia of Merida, and St. Scholastica the sister 
 of St. Benedict. 
 
 The LILY is another symbol of purity, of very general ap- 
 plication. We find it in pictures of the Virgin, and particu- 
 larly in pictures of the Annunciation. It is placed significantly 
 in the hand of St. Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary, 
 his staff, according to the legend, having put forth lilies ; it is 
 given, as an emblem merely, to St. Francis, St. Anthony of 
 Padua, St. Dominick, and St. Catherine of Siena, to express 
 the particular purity of their lives. 
 
 The UNICORN is another ancient symbol of purity, in allu- 
 sion to the fable that it could never be captured except by a 
 virgin stainless in mind and life ; it has become in consequence 
 the emblem peculiarly of female chastity, but in Christian Art 
 is appropriate only to the Virgin Mary and St. Justina. 
 
 The FLAMING HEART expresses fervent piety and love : in
 
 32 SACRED AND LEGENDARY . ART 
 
 early pictures it is given to St. Augustine, merely in allusion 
 to a famous passage in his " Confessions ; " but in the later 
 schools of Art it has become a general and rather vulgar em- 
 blem of spiritual love : in this sense it is given to St. Theresa ; 
 St. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, a Florentine nun ; and some 
 of the Jesuit saints. 
 
 The BOOK in the hands of the Evangelists and the Apostles 
 is an attribute, and represents the Gospel. In the hand of 
 St. Stephen it is the Old Testament; in the hand of any other 
 saint it may be the Gospel, but it may also be an emblem only, 
 signifying that the saint was famous for his learning or his 
 writings ; it has this sense in pictures of St. Catherine, the 
 Doctors of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Bona- 
 ventura. 
 
 A CHURCH placed in the hands of a saint signifies that he 
 was the founder of some particular church : in this sense St. 
 Henry bears the cathedral of Bamberg ; or, that he was the 
 protector and first bishop of the Church, as St. Petronius bears 
 the cathedral of Bologna. I must except the single instance 
 of St. Jerome ; the church in his hands signifies no particular 
 edifice, but, in a general sense, the Catholic Church, of which 
 he was the great support and one of the primitive fathers; to 
 render the symbol more expressive, rays of light are seen pro- 
 ceeding from the portal. 
 
 The SCOURGE in the hand of a saint, or at his feet, signifies 
 the penances he inflicted upon himself ; but in the hand of 
 St. Ambrose it signifies the penance he inflicted upon others. 
 
 The CHALICE, or Sacramental Cup, with the Host, signifies 
 Faith ; it is given to St. Barbara. The Cup, with the Serpent, 
 is the attribute of St. John. 
 
 The SHIP. -- The Ark of Noah, floating safe amid the 
 Deluge, in which all things else were overwhelmed, was an ob- 
 vious symbol of the Church of Christ. Subsequently the Ark 
 became a ship. St. Ambrose likens the Church of God to a 
 ship, and the Cross to the mast set in the midst of it. "Arbor 
 quvcdam in navi est crux in ecclesia." The Bark of St. 
 Peter tossed in the storm, and by the Redeemer guided safe to 
 land, was also considered as symbolical. These mingled asso- 
 ciations combined to give to the emblem of the ship a sacred 
 significance. Every one who has been at Home will remem- 
 ber the famous mosaic of the ship tossed by the storms, and
 
 INTRODUCTION 33 
 
 assailed by demons, called THE NAVICELLA, which was exe- 
 cuted by Giotto for the old Basilica of St. Peter's, and is now 
 under the Portico, opposite to the principal door. I believe 
 that in the pictures of St. Nicholas and St. Ursula the ship 
 had originally a sacred and symbolical significance, and that 
 the legends were afterwards invented or modified to explain 
 the emblem, as in so many other instances. 
 
 The ANCHOR is the Christian symbol of immovable firm- 
 ness, hope, and patience ; and in this sense we find it very 
 frequently in the catacombs, and on the ancient Christian 
 gems. It was given to several of the early saints as a symbol. 
 Subsequently a legend was invented to account for the symbol, 
 turning it into an attribute, as was the case with the lion and 
 the stag. For example : to St. Clement the anchor was first 
 given as the symbol of his constancy in Christian hope, and 
 thence we find, subsequently invented, the story of his being 
 thrown into the sea with the anchor round his neck. On the 
 vane of thfe Church of St. Clement in the Strand, the anchor, 
 the parish device, was anciently placed ; and as in the English 
 fancy no anchor can be well separated from a ship, they have 
 lately placed a ship on the other side the original signifi- 
 cation of the anchor, as applied to St. Clement, the martyr, 
 being unknown or forgotten. 
 
 The LAMP, LANTERN, or TAPER, is the old emblem of 
 piety : " Let your light so shine before men : " and it also 
 signifies wisdom. In the first sense we find this attribute in 
 the hand of St. Gudula, St. Genevieve of Paris, and St. 
 Bridget ; while the lamp in the hand of St. Lucia signifies 
 celestial light or wisdom. 
 
 FLOWERS and FRUITS, often so beautifully introduced into 
 ecclesiastical works of Art, may be merely ornamental ; Crivelli, 
 and some of the Venetian and Lombard painters, were fond of 
 rich festoons of fruit and backgrounds of foliage and roses. 
 But in some instances they have a definite significance. Roses 
 are symbolical in pictures of the Madonna, who is the " Rose 
 of Sharon." ( Vide Legends of the Madonna.) The wreath 
 of roses on the brow of St. Cecilia, the roses and fruits Borne 
 by St. Dorothea, are explained by the legends. 
 
 The apple was the received emblem of the Fall of man and 
 original sin. Placed in pictures of the Madonna and Child, 
 either in the hand of the infant Christ, or presented by an
 
 34 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 angel, it signified Redemption from the consequences of the 
 Fall. The pomegranate, bursting open, and the seeds visible, 
 was an emblem of the future, of hope in immortality. When 
 an apple, a pear, or a pomegranate is placed in the hand of St. 
 Catherine as the mystical Sposa of Christ, which continually 
 occurs, particularly in the German pictures, the allusion is to 
 be taken in the Scriptural sense : " The fruit of the Spirit is 
 love, joy, peace." 
 
 V. OP THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORS 
 
 In very early Art we find colors used in a symbolical or 
 mystic sense, and, until the ancient principles and traditions 
 were wholly worn out of memory or set aside by the later 
 painters, certain colors were appropriate to certain subjects and 
 personages, and could not arbitrarily be applied or misapplied. 
 In the old specimens of stained glass we find these significa- 
 tions scrupulously attended to. Thus : 
 
 WHITE, represented by the diamond or silver, was the 
 emblem of light, religious purity, innocence, virginity, faith, 
 joy, and life. Our Saviour wears white after His resurrection. 
 In the judge it indicated integrity ; in the rich man humility ; 
 in the woman chastity. It was the color consecrated to the 
 Virgin, who, however, never wears white except in pictures of 
 the Assumption. 
 
 RED, the ruby, signified fire, divine love, the Holy Spirit, 
 heat, or the creative power, and royalty. White and red roses 
 expressed love and innocence, or love and wisdom, as in the 
 garland with which the angel crowns St. Cecilia. In a bad 
 sense, red signified blood, war, hatred, and punishment. Red 
 and black combined were the colors of purgatory and the 
 Devil. 
 
 BLUE, or the sapphire, expressed heaven, the firmament, 
 truth, constancy, fidelity. Christ and the Virgin wear the red 
 tunic and the blue mantle, as signifying heavenly love and 
 heavenly truth. 1 The same colors were given to St. John the 
 evangelist, with this difference, that he wore the blue tunic 
 and the red mantle ; in later pictures the colors are sometimes 
 red and green. 
 
 1 In the Spanish schools the color of our Saviour's mantle is generally a 
 deep rich violet.
 
 INTRODUCTION 35 
 
 YELLOW, or gold, was the symbol of the sun ; of the good- 
 ness of God ; initiation, or marriage ; faith, or fruitf ulness. 
 St. Joseph, the husband of the Virgin, wears yellow. In pic- 
 tures of the apostles, St. Peter wears a yellow mantle over a 
 blue tunic. In a bad sense, yellow signifies inconstancy, 
 jealousy, deceit ; in this sense it is given to the traitor Judas, 
 who is generally habited in dirty yellow. 
 
 GREEX, the emerald, is the color of spring ; of hope, par- 
 ticularly hope in immortality ; and of victory, as the color of 
 the palm and the laurel. 
 
 VIOLET, the amethyst, signified love and truth : or passion 
 and suffering. Hence it is the color often worn by the mar- 
 tyrs. In some instances our Saviour, after His resurrection, 
 is habited in a violet instead of a blue mantle. The Virgin 
 also wears violet after the crucifixion. Mary Magdalene, who 
 as patron saint wears the red robe, as penitent wears violet and 
 blue, the colors., of sorrow and of constancy. In the devotional 
 representation of her by Timoteo della Vite (Bologna Gallery), 
 she wears red and green, the colors of love and hope. 
 
 GRAY, the color of ashes, signified mourning, humility, and 
 innocence accused ; hence adopted as the dress of the Fran- 
 ciscans (the Grey Friars) ; but it has since been changed for a 
 dark rusty brown. 
 
 BLACK expressed the earth, darkness, mourning, wicked- 
 ness, negation, death ; and was appropriate to the Prince of 
 Darkness. In some old illuminated MSS., Jesus, in the 
 Temptation, wears a black robe. White and black together 
 signified purity of life, and mourning or humiliation; hence 
 adopted by the Dominicans and the Carmelites. 
 
 The mystical application of attributes and colors was more 
 particularly attended to in that class of subjects I have distin- 
 guished as devotional. In the sacred historical pictures we 
 find that the attributes are usually omitted as superfluous, and 
 characteristic propriety of color often sacrificed to the general 
 effect. 
 
 These introductory observations and explanations will be 
 found illustrated in a variety of forms as we proceed ; and 
 readers will be led to make comparisons and discover analogies 
 and exceptions for themselves. I must stop here ; yet one 
 word more.
 
 36 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART 
 
 All the productions of Art, from the time it has been 
 directed and developed by Christian influences, may be re- 
 garded under three different aspects. 1. The purely religious 
 aspect, which belongs to one mode of faith ; 2. The poetical 
 aspect, wnich belongs to all ; 3. The artistic, which is the 
 individual point of view, and has reference only to the action 
 of the intellect on the means and material employed. There 
 is pleasure, intense pleasure, merely in the consideration of 
 Art as Art ; in the faculties of comparison and nice discrimi- 
 nation brought to bear on objects of beauty ; in the exercise 
 of a cultivated and refined taste on the productions of mind in 
 any form whatever. But a threefold, or rather a thousand 
 fold, pleasure is theirs who to a sense of the poetical unite a 
 sympathy with the spiritual in Art, and who combine with 
 delicacy of perception and technical knowledge more elevated 
 sources of pleasure, more variety of association, habits of more 
 excursive thought. Let none imagine, however, that, in pla- 
 cing before the uninitiated these unpretending volumes, I as- 
 sume any such superiority as is here implied. Like a child 
 that has sprung on a little way before its playmates, and caught 
 a glimpse through an opening portal of some varied Eden 
 within, all gay with flowers and musical with birds, and 
 haunted by divine shapes which beckon onward; and, after 
 one rapturous survey, runs back and catches its companions by 
 the hand and hurries them forward to share the new-found 
 pleasure, the yet unexplored region of delight ; even so it is 
 with me : I am on the outside, not the inside, of the door I 
 open.
 
 II. OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 I. 'ANGELS 
 
 THERE is something so very attractive and poetical, as well 
 as soothing to our helpless finite nature, in all the supersti- 
 tions connected with the popular notion of Angels, that we 
 cannot wonder at their prevalence in the early ages of the 
 world. Those nations who acknowledged one Almighty Crea- 
 tor, and repudiated with horror the idea of a plurality of gods, 
 were the most willing to accept, the most enthusiastic in 
 accepting, these objects of an intermediate homage ; and gladly 
 placed between their humanity and the awful supremacy of an 
 unseen God the ministering spirits who were the agents of 
 His will, the witnesses of His glory, the partakers of His 
 bliss, and who in their preternatural attributes of love and 
 knowledge filled up that vast space in the created universe 
 which intervened between mortal man and the infinite, omni- 
 potent LORD OF ALL. 
 
 The belief in these superior beings, dating from immemorial 
 antiquity, interwoven as it should seem with our very nature, 
 and authorized by a variety of passages in Scripture, has de- 
 scended to our time. Although the bodily forms assigned to 
 them are allowed to be impossible, and merely allegorical, 
 although their supposed functions as rulers of the stars and 
 elements have long been set aside by a knowledge of the natu- 
 ral laws, still the coexistence of many orders of beings superior 
 in nature to ourselves, benignly interested in our welfare, and 
 contending for us against the powers of evil, remains an article 
 of faith. Perhaps the belief itself, and the feeling it excites 
 in the tender and contemplative mind, were never more beauti- 
 fully expressed than by our own Spenser : 
 
 And is there care in heaven ? And is there love 
 In heavenly spirits to these creatures base, 
 
 That may compassion of their evils move ? 
 There is ! else much more wretched were the case
 
 38 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 Of men than beasts ! But oh, th' exceeding grace 
 Of highest God that loves His creatures so, 
 And all His works with mercy doth embrace, 
 That blessed angels He sends to and fro 
 To serve to wicked man, to serve His wicked foe. 
 
 How oft do they their silver bowers leave, 
 
 And come to succor us that succor want ? 
 
 How oft do they with golden pinions cleave 
 
 The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant, 
 
 Against foul fiends, to aid us militant ? 
 
 They for us fight, they watch, and duly ward, 
 
 And their bright squadrons round about us plant, 
 
 And all for love, and nothing for reward ! 
 
 Oh, why should heavenly God to men have such regard ! 
 
 [Faery Queene, book ii. canto viii.] 
 
 It is this feeling, expressed or unexpressed, lurking at the 
 very core of all hearts, which renders the usual representations 
 of angels, spite of all incongruities of form, so pleasing to the 
 fancy : we overlook the anatomical solecisms, and become 
 mindful only of that emblematical significance which through 
 its humanity connects it with us, and through its supernatural 
 appendages connects us with heaven. 
 
 But it is necessary to give a brief summary of the Scriptural 
 and theological authorities, relative to the nature and functions 
 of angels, before we can judge of the manner in which these 
 ideas have been attended to and carried out in the artistic 
 similitudes. Thus angels are represented in the Old Testa- 
 ment : 
 
 1. As beings of a higher nature than men, and gifted with 
 superior intelligence and righteousness. (2 Sam. xiv. 17.) 
 
 2. As a host of attendants surrounding the throne of God, 
 and as a kind of celestial court or council. (Gen. xxxii. 1, 
 2 ; Ps. ciii. 21 ; 1 Kings xxii. 19 ; Job i. 6.) 
 
 3. As messengers of His will conveyed from heaven to 
 earth ; or as sent to guide, to correct, to instruct, to reprove, 
 to console. 
 
 4. As protecting the pious. 
 
 5. As punishing by command of the Most High the wicked 
 and disobedient. (Gen. xxii. 11 ; Exod. xiv. 19 ; Num. xx. 
 16 ; Gen. xxi. 17 ; Judg. xiii. 3 ; 2 Kings i. 3 ; Ps. xxxiv. 
 7 ; Judith xiii. 20.) 
 
 6. As having the form of men ; as eating and drinking. 
 
 7. As wielding a sword.
 
 ANGELS 39 
 
 8. As having power to slay. (2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; 2 Kings 
 xix. 35; Gen. xviii. 8; Num. xxii. 31; 1 Chron. xxi. 16; 
 Gen. xix. 13.) 
 
 I do not recollect any instance in which angels are repre- 
 sented in Scripture as instigated by human passions ; they 
 are merely the agents of the mercy or the wrath of the 
 Almighty. 
 
 After the period of the Captivity, the Jewish ideas concern- 
 ing angels were considerably extended and modified by an 
 admixture of the Chaldaic belief, and of the doctrines taught 
 by Zoroaster. (Calmet.) It is then that we first hear of 
 good and bad angels, and of a fallen angel or personation of 
 evil, busy in working mischief on earth and counteracting 
 good ; also of archangels, who are alluded to by name ; and 
 of guardian angels assigned to nations and individuals ; and 
 these foreign ideas concerning the spiritual world, accepted 
 and promulgated by the Jewish doctors, pervade the whole of 
 the New Testament, in which angels are far more familiar to us 
 as agents, more frequently alluded to, and more distinctly 
 brought before us, than in the Old Testament. For example : 
 they are represented 
 
 1. As countless. 
 
 2. As superior to all human wants and weaknesses. 
 
 3. As the deputed messengers of God. 
 
 4. They rejoice over the repentant sinner. They take 
 deep interest in the mission of Christ. 
 
 5. They are present with those who pray ; they bear the 
 souls o the just to heaven. 
 
 6. They minister to Christ on earth, and will be present at 
 His second coming. (Matt. xxvi. 53 ; Heb. xii. 22 ; Matt. 
 xxii. 30 ; Luke xx. 36 ; Matt. xix. 24 ; Luke i. 11 ; Acts v. 
 19 et passim ; Luke xv. 10 ; 1 Peter i. 12 ; Luke xvi. 22 ; 
 Heb. i. 14 ; 1 Cor. xi. 10 ; Matt. i. 20, xvi. 27, xxv. 31.) 
 
 In the Gospel of St. John, which is usually regarded as the 
 fullest and most correct exposition of the doctrines of Christ, 
 angels are only three times mentioned, and in none of these 
 instances does the word angel fall from the lips of Christ. 
 On the other hand, the writings of St. Paul, who was deeply 
 versed in all the learning and philosophy of the Jews, 
 abound in allusions to angels, and according to the usual 
 interpretation of certain passages, he shows them divided into
 
 40 OF ANGELS AND AKCHANGELS 
 
 several classes. (Rom. viii. 38 ; Col. i. 16 ; Ephes. i. 21.) 
 St. Luke, who was the friend and disciple of St. Paul, some 
 say his convert, is more direct and explicit on the subject 
 of angels than any of the other Evangelists, and his allusions 
 to them much more frequent. 
 
 The worship of angels, which the Jews brought from Chal- 
 dea, was early introduced into the Christian Church. In the 
 fourth century the council of Laodicea published a decree 
 against places of worship dedicated to angels under names 
 which the Church did not recognize. But neither warning nor 
 council seems to have had power to modify the popular creed, 
 countenanced as it was by high authority. All the Fathers are 
 unanimous as to the existence of angels good and evil. They 
 hold that it is evermore the allotted task of good angels to 
 defend us against evil angels, and to carry on a daily and 
 hourly combat against our spiritual foes : they teach that the 
 good angels are worthy of all reverence as the ministers of God 
 and as the protectors of the human race ; that their intercession 
 is to be invoked, and their perpetual, invisible presence to be 
 regarded as an incitement to good and a preventive to evil. 
 
 This, however, was not enough. Taking for their foundation 
 a few Scripture texts, and in particular the classification of St. 
 Paul, the imaginative theologians of the middle ages ran into 
 all kinds of extravagant subtleties regarding the being, the 
 nature, and the functions of the different orders of angels. 
 Except as far as they have been taken as authorities in Art, I 
 shall set aside these fanciful disquisitions, of which a nvere ab- 
 stract would fill volumes. For our present purpose it is suffi- 
 cient to bear in mind that the great theologians divide the 
 angelic host into three hierarchies, and these again into nine 
 choirs, three in each hierarchy : according to Dionysius the 
 Areopagite, in the following order : 1. Seraphim, Cherubim, 
 Thrones. 2. Dominations, Virtues, Powers. 3. Princedoms, 
 Archangels, Angels. The order of these denominations is not 
 the same in all authorities : according to the Greek formula, St. 
 Bernard, and the Legenda Aurea, the Cherubim precede the 
 Seraphim, and in the hymn of St. Ambrose they have also the 
 precedence To TJiee, Clierubim and Seraphim continually 
 do cry, etc. ; but the authority of St. Dionysius seems to be 
 admitted as paramount, for, according to the legend, he was
 
 ANGELS 41 
 
 the convert and intimate friend of St. Paul, and St. Paul, 
 who had been transported to the seventh heaven, had made 
 him acquainted with all he had there beheld. 
 
 Desire 
 
 In Dionysius so intensely wrought 
 That he, as I have done, ranged them, and named 
 Their orders, marshalled in his thought ; 
 
 For he had learned 
 
 Both this and much beside of these our orbs 
 From an eye-witness to Heaven's mysteries. 
 
 Dante, Par. 28. 
 
 The first three cfioirs receive their glory immediately from 
 God and transmit it to the second ; the second illuminate the 
 third ; the third are placed in relation to the created universe 
 and man. The first Hierarchy are as councillors ; the second 
 as governors ; the third as ministers. The Seraphim are 
 absorbed in perpetual love and adoration immediately round 
 the throne of God. The Cherubim know and worship. The 
 Thrones sustain the seat of the Most High. The Domina- 
 tions, Virtues, Powers, are the Regents of stars and elements. 
 The three last orders, Princedoms, Archangels, and Angels, 
 are the protectors of the great Monarchies on earth, and the 
 executors of the Avill of God throughout the universe. 
 
 The term angels is properly applied to all these celestial 
 beings ; but it belongs especially to the two last orders, who 
 are brought into immediate communication with the human 
 race. The word angel, Greek in its origin, signifies a mes- 
 senger, or more literally, a Irinyer of tidings. 
 
 In this sense the Greeks entitle Christ, "The great Angel 
 of the will of God ; " and I have seen Greek representations 
 of Christ with wings to His shoulders. John the Baptist is 
 also an angel in this sense ; likewise the Evangelists ; all of 
 whom, as I shall show hereafter, bear, as celestial messengers, 
 the angel-wings. 
 
 In ancient pictures and illuminations which exhibit the glo- 
 rification of the Trinity, Christ, or the Virgin, the hierarchies 
 of angels are represented in circles around them, orb within 
 orb. This is called a glory of angels. In pictures it is sel- 
 dom complete : instead of nine circles, the painters content 
 themselves with one or two circles only. The innermost 
 circles, the Seraphim and the Cherubim, are in general repre- 
 sented as heads merely, with two or four or six wings, and
 
 42 
 
 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 of a bright red or blue color ; sometimes with variegated 
 wings, green, yellow, violet, etc. This emblem intended to 
 shadow forth to human comprehension a pure spirit glowing 
 with love and intelligence, in which all that is bodily is put 
 away, and only the head, the seat of soul, and wings, the 
 attribute of spirit and swiftness, retained is of Greek origin. 
 When first adopted I do not know, but I have met with it in 
 Greek MSS. of the ninth century. Down to the eleventh 
 century the faces were human, but not childish ; the infant 
 head was afterwards adopted to express innocence in addition 
 to love and intelligence. 
 
 Such was the expressive and poetical symbol which degen- 
 erated in the later periods 
 of Art into those little fat 
 baby heads, with curly hair 
 and small wings under the 
 chin, which the more they 
 resemble nature in color, 
 feature, and detail, the 
 more absurd they become, 
 the original meaning being 
 wholly lost or perverted. 
 
 In painting, where a 
 glory of angels is placed 
 
 round the Divine Being or the glorified Virgin, those forming 
 the innermost circles are, or ought to be, of a glowing red, the 
 color of fire, that is, of love ; the next circle is painted blue, 
 the color of the firmament, or light, that is, of knowledge. 
 Now as the word seraph is derived from a Hebrew root signi- 
 fying love, and the word cherub from a Hebrew root signify- 
 ing to know, should not this distinction fix the proper place 
 and name of the first two orders ? It is admitted that the 
 spirits v&rich love are nearer to God than those which know, 
 since we cannot know that which we do not first love ; that 
 Love and Knowledge, " the two halves of a divided world," 
 constitute in their union the perfection of the angelic nature ; 
 but the Seraphim, according to the derivation of their name, 
 should love most; their whole being is fused, as it were, in a 
 glow of adoration ; therefore they should take the precedence, 
 and their proper color is red. The Cherubim, " the lords of 
 those that know,'"' come next, and are to be painted blue. 
 
 Cherubs (Pinturicchio)
 
 ANGELS 43 
 
 Thus it should seem that, in considering the religious pic- 
 tures of the early ages of Art, we have to get rid of certain 
 associations as to color and form, derived from the phraseology 
 of later poets and the representations of later painters. " Blue- 
 eyed Seraphim " and the " blue depth of Seraph's eyes " are 
 not to be thought of any more than " smiling Cherubim." 
 The Seraphim, where distinguished by color, are red ; the 
 Cherubim blue : the proper character, where character is at- 
 tended to, is, in the Seraph, adoration ; in the Cherub, con- 
 templation. So Milton 
 
 With thee bring 
 Him who soars on golden wing, 
 The Cherub, Contemplation. 
 
 I remember a little Triptyca, a genuine work of Fiesole, in 
 which one of the lateral compartments represents his favorite 
 subject, the souls of the blessed received into Paradise. They 
 are moving from the lower part of the picture towards the 
 top, along an ascent paved with flowers, all in white garments 
 and crowned with roses. At one side, low down, stands a 
 blue Cherub robed in drapery spangled with golden stars, 
 who seems to encourage the blessed group. Above are the 
 gates of heaven. Christ welcomes to His kingdom the beati- 
 fied spirits, and on each side stands a Seraph, all of a glowing 
 red, in spangled drapery. The figures are not here merely 
 heads and wings, but full length, having all that soft peculiar 
 grace which belongs to the painter. 1 
 
 In a Coronation of the Virgin (Collection of Prince Waller- 
 stein, Kensington Palace), a glory of Seraphim overarches 
 the principal group. Here the angelic beings are wholly of a 
 bright red color ; they are human to the waist, with hands 
 clasped in devotion ; the bodies and arms covered with plumage, 
 but the forms terminating in wings ; all uniformly red. In 
 the same collection is a small Greek picture of Christ receiv- 
 ing the soul of the Virgin ; over His head hovers a large, 
 fiery red, six-winged Seraph ; and on each side a Seraph with 
 
 l I know not whether it be necessary to observe here, that in early Art the 
 souls of the blessed are not represented as angels, nor regarded as belonging to 
 this order of spiritual beings, though I believe it is a very common notion that 
 we are to rise from the dead with the angelic attributes as well as the angelic 
 nature. For this belief there is no warrant in Scripture, unless Mark xii. 25 
 be so interpreted-
 
 44 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 Part of a Glory of Angels from the Coronation of the Virgin by Ambrogio 
 Borgo^none 
 
 hair and face and limbs of glowing red, and with white dra- 
 peries. Vasari mentions an Adoration of the Magi by Liberale 
 of Verona, in which a group of angels, all of a red color, stand 
 as a celestial guard round the Virgin and her divine Infant. 
 
 The distinction of hue in the red and blue angels we find 
 wholly omitted towards the end of the fifteenth century. 
 Cherubim with blue, red, green, and variegated Avings we find 
 in the pictures of Perugino and other masters in the be-
 
 ANGELS 45 
 
 ginning of the sixteenth century, also in early pictures .of 
 Raphael. Liberale of Verona has given us, in a Madonna 
 picture, Cherub heads without wings, and of a blue color, 
 emerging from golden clouds. And in Raphael's Madonna di 
 San Sisto [Dresden], the whole background is formed of Cheru- 
 bim and Seraphim of a uniform delicate bluish tinge, as if 
 composed of air, and melting away into an abyss of golden 
 glory, the principal figures standing relieved against this flood 
 of living love and light beautiful! So are the Cherubim 
 with many -colored wings, which float in the firmament in 
 Perugino's Coronation of the Virgin ; but none of these can 
 be regarded as so theologically correct as the fiery red and 
 bright blue Seraphim and Cherubim of which are formed the 
 hierarchies and glories which figure in the early pictures, the 
 stained glass, the painted sculpture, and the illuminated MSS. 
 from the tenth to the sixteenth century. 
 
 The next five choirs of angels, the Thrones, Dominations, 
 Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, though classed and described 
 with great exactitude by the theologians, have not been very 
 accurately discriminated in Art. In some examples the 
 Thrones have green wings, a fiery aureole, and bear a throne 
 in their hands. The Dominations, Virtues, and Powers some- 
 times bear a globe and a long sceptre surmounted by a cross. 
 The Principalities, according to the Greek formula, should 
 bear a branch of lily. The Archangels are figured as warriors, 
 and carry a sword with the point upwards. The angels are 
 robed as deacons, and carry a wand. In one of the ancient 
 frescoes in the Cathedral at Orvieto there is a complete 
 hierarchy of angels, so arranged as to symbolize the Trinity, 
 each of the nii^e choirs being composed of three angels, but 
 the Seraphim only are distinguished by their red color and 
 priority of place. In the south porch of the Cathedral of 
 Chartres, each of the nine orders is represented by two angels ; 
 in other instances, one angel only represents the order to which 
 he belongs, and nine angels represent the whole hierarchy. I 
 saw in the palace of the Bishop of ^Norwich an elegant little 
 bas-relief in alabaster, exhibiting the nine choirs, each repre- 
 sented by a single angel. The first (the Seraphim) hold the 
 sacramental cup ; the Cherubim, a book ; the Thrones, a 
 throne ; the Principalities, a bunch of lilies ; the Archangels 
 are armed. The other attributes are not clearly made out,
 
 46 OF ANGELS AND AECH ANGELS 
 
 The figures have been ornamented with painting and gilding, 
 now partially worn off; and the style is of the early part of 
 the fifteenth century. It appeared to me to have formed one 
 of the compartments of an altar-piece. Where, however, we 
 meet with groups or rows of angels, as in the Greek mosaics 
 and the earliest frescoes, all alike, all with the tiara, the long 
 sceptre-like wands, and the orb of sovereignty, I believe these 
 to represent the Powers and Princedoms of Heaven. The 
 Archangels alone, as we shall see presently, have distinct indi- 
 vidual names and attributes assigned to them. 
 
 The angels generally have the human form ; are winged ; 
 and are endowed with immutable happiness and perpetual 
 youth, because they are ever in the presence of Him with 
 whom there is no change and no time. They are direct 
 emanations of the beauty of the Eternal mind, therefore beau- 
 tiful ; created, therefore, not eternal, but created perfect, and 
 immortal in their perfection. They are always supposed to be 
 masculine ; perhaps for the reason so beautifully assigned by 
 Madame de Stael, " because the union of power with purity 
 (la force avec la puretej constitutes all that we mortals can 
 imagine of perfection." There is no such thing as an old 
 angel, and therefore there ought to be no such thing as an 
 infant angel. The introduction of infant angels seems to 
 have arisen from the custom of representing the regenerate 
 souls of men as new-born infants, and perhaps also from the 
 words of our Saviour when speaking of children, " I say unto 
 you, their angels do always behold the face of my Father 
 which is in heaven." Such representations, when religiously 
 and poetically treated as spirits of love, intelligence, and in- 
 nocence, are of exquisite beauty, and have a significance which 
 charms and elevates the fancy ; but from this, the true and 
 religious conception, the Italian putti and puttini and the 
 rosy chubby babies of the Flemish school are equally remote. 
 
 In early Art, the angels in the bloom of adolescence are 
 always amply draped ; at first, in the classical tunic and pal- 
 lium ; afterwards in long linen vestments with the alba and 
 stole, as levites or deacons ; or as princes, with embroidered 
 robes and sandals, and jewelled crowns or fillets. Such figures 
 are common in the Byzantine mosaics and pictures. The ex- 
 pression, in these early representations, is usually calm and 
 impassive. Angels partially draped in loose, fluttering, mere-
 
 ANGELS 
 
 47 
 
 tricious attire, poised in attitudes upon clouds, or with features 
 animated by human passion, or limbs strained by human 
 effort, are the innovations of more modern Art. White is, or 
 ought to be, the prevailing color in angelic draperies, but red 
 and blue of various shades are more frequent. Green often 
 occurs ; and in the Venetian pictures, yellow, or rather saffron- 
 
 Assyrian Winged Genius 
 
 colored robes are not unfrequent. In the best examples of 
 Italian Art, the tints, though varied, are tender and delicate ; 
 all dark, heavy colors and violent contrasts of color are avoided. 
 On the contrary, in the early German school the angels have 
 rich, heavy voluminous draperies of the most intense and vivid 
 colors, ofte^n jewelled and embroidered with gold. Flight, in 
 such garments, seems as difficult as it would be to swim in 
 coronation robes. 
 
 But, whatever be the treatment as to character, lineaments, 
 or dress, wings are almost invariably the attribute of the
 
 48 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 angelic form. As emblematical appendages, these are not 
 merely significant of the character of celestial messengers, for, 
 from time immemorial, wings have been the Oriental and 
 Egyptian symbol of power, as well as of swiftness ; of the 
 spiritual and aerial, in contradistinction to -the human and 
 the earthly. Thus, with the Egyptians, the winged globe 
 signified power and eternity, that is, the Godhead ; a bird, 
 with a human head signified the soul ; and nondescript crea- 
 tures with wings abound not only in the Egyptian paintings 
 and hieroglyphics, but also in the Chaldaic and Babylonian 
 remains, in the Lycian and Nineveh marbles, and on the gems 
 and other relics of the Gnostics. I have seen on the Gnostic 
 gems figures with four wings, two springing from the shoulders 
 and two from the loins. This portentous figure, from the 
 ruins of Nineveh, is similarly constructed [p. 47]. 
 
 In Etruscan Art all their divinities are winged ; and where 
 Venus is represented with wings, as in many of the antique 
 gems (and by Correggio in imitation of them, as in the pic- 
 ture called Mercury Instructing Cupid, National Gallery), 
 these brilliant wings are not, as some have supposed, emblem- 
 atical of the transitoriness, but of the might, the majesty, 
 and the essential divinity of beauty. In Scripture, the first 
 mention of Cherubim with wings is immediately after the 
 departure of the Israelites from Egypt (Exod. xxxi. 2). 
 Bezaleel, the first artist whose name is recorded in the world's 
 history, and who appears to have been, like the greatest artists 
 of modern times, at once architect, sculptor, and painter, prob- 
 ably derived his figures of Cherubim with outstretched wings, 
 guarding the mercy-seat, from those Egyptian works of Art 
 with which the Israelites must have been familiarized. Clem- 
 ent of Alexandria is so aware of the relative similitude, that 
 he supposes the Egyptians to have borrowed from the Israelites, 
 which is obviously the reverse of the truth. How far the 
 Cherubim which figure in the Biblical pictures of the present 
 day resemble the carved Cherubim of Bezaleel, we cannot tell, 
 but probably the idea and the leading forms are the same : for 
 the ark, we know, was carried into Palestine ; these original 
 Cherubim were the pattern of those which adorned the temple 
 of Solomon, and these, again, were the prototype after which 
 the imagery of the second temple was fashioned. Although 
 in Scripture the shape under which the celestial ministers
 
 ANGELS 
 
 49 
 
 appeared to man is nowhere described, except in the visions 
 of the prophets (Dan. x. 5), and there with a sort of dreamy 
 incoherent splendor, rendering it most perilous to clothe the 
 image placed before the fancy in definite forms, still the idea 
 of wings, as the angelic appendages, is conveyed in many places 
 distinctly, and occasionally with 
 a picturesque vividness which 
 inspires and assists the artist. 
 For instance, in Daniel, *ch. vii., 
 " they had wings like a fowl." 
 In Ezekiel, ch. i., " their wings 
 were stretched upward when they 
 flew ; when they stood they let 
 down their wings ; " " I heard 
 the noise of their wings as the 
 noise of great waters ; " and in 
 Zechariah, ch. v., " I looked, 
 and behold there came out two 
 women, and the wind was in 
 their wings, for they had wings 
 like the wings of a stork." And 
 Isaiah, ch. vi., in the descrip- 
 tion of the Seraphim, "Each 
 one had six wings ; with twain 
 he covered his face, and with 
 twain he covered his feet, and 
 with twain he did fly." By 
 the early artists this description 
 was followed out in a manner 
 more conscientious and rever- 
 ential than poetical. 
 
 They were content with a symbol. But mark how Milton, 
 more daring, could paint from the same original : 
 
 A seraph winged ; six wings he wore to shade 
 His lineaments divine : the pair that clad 
 Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breast 
 With regal ornament ; the middle pair 
 Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round 
 Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold 
 And colors dipped in heaven ; the third his feet 
 Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail, 
 Sky-tinctured grain. 
 
 Cherub (from early MS.)
 
 .50 OF ANGELS AND AECH ANGELS 
 
 I have sometimes thought that Milton, in his descriptions 
 of angels, was not indebted merely to the notions of the old 
 theological writers, interpreted and embellished by his own 
 fancy: may he not, in his wanderings through Italy, have 
 beheld with kindling sympathy some of those glorious creations 
 of Italian Art which, when I saw them, made me break out 
 into his own divine language as the only fit utterance to 
 express those forms in words ? But to return : Is it not a 
 mistake to make the wings, the feathered appendages of the 
 angelic form, as like as possible to real wings the wings of 
 storks, or the wings of swans, or herons, borrowed for the 
 occasion ? Some modern painters, anxious to make wings look 
 " natural," have done this ; Delaroche, for instance, in his St. 
 Cecilia. Infinitely more beautiful and consistent are the non- 
 descript wings which the early painters gave their angels : 
 large so large, that when the glorious creature is represented 
 as at rest, they droop from the shoulders to the ground ; with 
 long slender feathers, eyed sometimes like the peacock's train, 
 bedropped with gold like the pheasant's breast, tinted with 
 azure and violet and crimson, " colors dipped in heaven," 
 they are really angel-wings, not bird-wings. 
 
 [The] angels in the Campo Santo are, in this respect, pe- 
 culiarly poetical. Their extremities are wings instead of limbs ; 
 and in a few of the old Italian and German painters of .the 
 fifteenth century we find angels whose extremities are formed 
 of light waving folds of pale rose-color or azure drapery, or of 
 a sort of vapory cloud, or, in some instances, of flames. The 
 cherubim and seraphim which surround the similitude 'of Je- 
 hovah, when He appears to Moses in the burning bush (Vatican : 
 Raphael's fresco), are an example of the sublime and poetical 
 significance which may be given to this kind of treatment. 
 They have heads and human features marvellous for intelli- 
 gence and beauty ; their hair, their wings, their limbs, end in 
 lambent fires; they are " celestial Ardors bright," which seem- 
 to have being without shape. 
 
 Dante's angels have less of dramatic reality, less of the 
 aggrandized and idealized human presence, than Milton's. 
 ( Vide Purg. c. viii. 35 ; Par. c. xxxi. ; Purg. c. xxiv. 140.) 
 They are wondrous creatures. Some of them have the quaint 
 fantastic picturesqueness of old Italian Art and the Albert 
 Diirer school ; for instance, those in the Purgatorio, with their
 
 ANGELS 51 
 
 wings of a bright green, and their green draperies, " verde come 
 fogliette," kept in a perpetual state of undulation by the breeze 
 created by the fanning of their wings, with features too daz- 
 zling to be distinguished : ~ 
 
 Ben discerneva in lor la testa bionda, 
 Ma nelle facce P occhio si smarria 
 Come virtu ch' a troppo si confonda. 
 
 [In Gary's translation : 
 
 Well I descried the whiteness on their heads ; 
 But in their visages the dazzled eye 
 Was lost, as faculty that by too much 
 Is overpower'd.] 
 
 And the Shape, glowing red as in'a furnace, with an air from 
 the fanning of its wings, " fresh as the first breath of wind in 
 a May morning, and fragrant as all its flowers." That these 
 and other passages scattered through the Purgatorio and the 
 Paradiso assisted the fancy of the earlier painters in portray- 
 ing their angelic Glories and winged Beatitudes, I have little 
 doubt ; but, on the other hand, the sublime angel in the In- 
 ferno he who conies speeding over the waters with vast 
 pinions like sails, sweeping the evil spirits in heaps before 
 him, " like frogs before a serpent," and with a touch of his 
 wand making the gates of the city of Dis fly open ; then, with 
 a countenance solemn and majestic, and quite unmindful of his 
 worshipper, as one occupied by higher matters, turning and 
 soaring away, this is quite in the sentiment of the grand old 
 Greek and Italian mosaics, which preceded Dante by some 
 centuries. The Cherubim in the upper lights of the painted 
 windows at St. Michael's, Coventry, and at Cirencester, are 
 represented each standing on a white wheel with eight spokes. 
 They have six wings, of peacocks' feathers, of a rich yellow 
 color. A white cross surmounts the forehead, and both arms 
 and legs are covered with short plumage. The extremities are 
 human and bare. At Cirencester the Cherubim hold a book, 
 at Coventry a scroll. 
 
 But besides being the winged messengers of God to man, the 
 deputed regents of the stars, the rulers of the elements, and 
 the dispensers of the fate of nations, angels have another func- 
 tion in which we love to contemplate them. They are the 
 choristers of heaven. Theirs is the privilege to sound that
 
 52 
 
 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 hymn of praise which goes up from this boundless and har- 
 monious universe of suns and stars and worlds and rejoicing 
 creatures, towards the God who created them : theirs is the 
 music of the spheres 
 
 They sing, and singing in their glory move, 
 
 they tune divine instruments, named after those of earth's 
 harmonies 
 
 The harp, the solemn pipe 
 And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop, 
 All sounds on fret by string or golden wire, 
 
 And with songs 
 
 And choral symphonies, day without night, 
 Circle his throne rejoicing. 
 
 [Par. Lost, book vii. 595.] 
 
 There is nothing more beautiful, more attractive, in Art 
 than the representations of angels in this character. Some- 
 times they form a chorus round 
 the.glorified Saviour, when, after 
 His sorrow and sacrifice on 
 earth, He takes His throne in 
 heaven ; or, when the crown is 
 placed on the head of the Ma- 
 ternal Virgin in glory, pour 
 forth their triumphant song, and 
 sound their silver clarions on 
 high : sometimes they stand or 
 kneel before the Madonna and 
 Child, or sit upon the steps 
 of her throne, singing, with 
 such sweet earnest faces ! or 
 playing on their golden lutes, 
 or piping celestial symphonies ; 
 or they bend in a choir from 
 the opening heavens above, and welcome, with triumphant 
 songs, the liberated soul of the saint or martyr ; or join in St. 
 Cecilia's hymn of praise : but whatever the scene, in these and 
 similar representations, they appear in their natural place and 
 vocation, and harmonize enchantingly with all our feelings 
 and fancies relative to these angelic beings, made up of love 
 and music. 
 
 Angel (Bellini)
 
 ANGELS 
 
 53 
 
 Angel (Melozzo da Forll) 
 
 Most beautiful ex- 
 amples of this treat- 
 ment occur both in 
 early painting and 
 sculpture ; and no one 
 who has wandered 
 through churches and 
 galleries, with feeling 
 and observation awake, 
 can fail to remember 
 such. It struck me as 
 characteristic of the 
 Venetian school, that 
 the love of music 
 seemed to combine 
 with the sense of har- 
 mony in color ; no- 
 where have I seen musical angels so frequently and so beau- 
 tifully introduced : and whefeas the angelic choirs of Fiesole, 
 Ghirlandajo, and Kaphael seem to be playing as an act of 
 homage for the delight of the Divine Personages, those of 
 Vivarini and Bellini and Palma appear as if enchanted by 
 their own music ; and both together are united in the grand 
 and beautiful angels of Melozzo da Forli, particularly in one 
 who is bending over a lute, and another who with a triumphant 
 and ecstatic expression strikes the cymbals. (Sacristy of St. 
 Peter's, Rome.) Compare the cherubic host who are pouring 
 forth their hymns of triumph, blowing their uplifted trumpets, 
 and touching immortal harps and viols in Angelico's " Corona- 
 tion " (in the Louvre), or in Signorelli's " Paradiso " (in the 
 cathedral at Orvieto), with those lovely Venetian choristers, 
 the piping boys, myrtle-crowned, who are hymning Bellini's 
 Madonna (in the Frari at Venice), or those who are touching 
 the lute to the praise and glory of St. Ambrose in Vivarini's 
 most beautiful picture [in the Frari, Venice] ; you will feel 
 immediately the distinction in point of sentiment. 
 
 The procession of chanting angels which once surmounted 
 the organ in the Duomo of Florence is a perfect example of 
 musical angels applied to the purpose of decoration. Perhaps 
 it was well to remove this exquisite work of art to a place of 
 safety, where it can be admired and studied as a work of art ;
 
 54 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 but the removal has taken from it the appropriate expression. 
 How they sing ! when the tones of the organ burst forth, 
 we might have fancied we heard their divine voices through 
 the stream of sound ! The exquisite little bronze choristers 
 round the high altar of St. Antonio in Padua are another 
 example ; Florentine in elegance of form, Venetian in senti- 
 ment, intent upon their own sweet song. 
 
 There is a third function ascribed to these angelic natures, 
 which brings them even nearer to our sympathies ; they are 
 the deputed guardians of the just and innocent. St. Raphael, 
 whose story I shall presently relate, is the prince of the guar- 
 dian angels. The Jews held that the angels deputed to Lot 
 were his guardian angels (Gen. xviii., xlviii. 16). The fathers 
 of the Christian Church taught that every human being, from 
 the hour of his birth to that of his death, is accompanied by 
 an angel appointed to watch over him. The Mahometans give 
 to each of us a good and an evil angel ; but the early Chris- 
 tians supposed us to be attended each by a good angel only, 
 who undertakes that office, not merely from duty to God, and 
 out of obedience and great humility, but as inspired by exceed- 
 ing charity and love towards his human charge. It would 
 require the tongues of angels themselves to recite all that we 
 owe to these benign and vigilant guardians. They watch by 
 the cradle of the new-born babe, and spread their celestial 
 wings round the tottering "steps of infancy. If the path of 
 life be difficult and thorny, and evil spirits work us shame and 
 woe, they sustain us ; they bear the voice of our complaining, 
 of our supplication, of our repentance, up to the foot of God's 
 throne, and bring us back in return a pitying benediction, to 
 strengthen and to cheer. When passion and temptation strive 
 for the mastery, they encourage us to resist ; when we conquer, 
 they crown us ; when we falter and fail, they compassionate 
 and grieve over us ; when we are obstinate in polluting our 
 own souls, and perverted not only in act but in will, they 
 leave us and woe to them that are so left ! But the good 
 angel does not quit his charge until his protection is despised, 
 rejected, and utterly repudiated. Wonderful, the fervor of 
 their love Avonderful their meekness and patience who 
 endure from day to day the spectacle of the unveiled human 
 heart with all its miserable weaknesses and vanities, its inordi-
 
 ANGELS 
 
 55 
 
 nate desires and selfish purposes ! Constant to us in death, 
 they contend against the powers of darkness for the emanci- 
 pated spirit ; they even visit the suffering sinner in purgatory ; 
 they keep alive in the tormented spirit faith and hope, and 
 
 ;'* 
 
 Angel (Melozzo da Forll) 
 
 remind him that the term of expiation will end at last. So 
 ])ante (Purg. c. viii.) represents the souls in purgatory as com- 
 forted in their misery ; and (which has always seemed to me a 
 touch of sublime truth and tenderness) as rejoicing over those 
 who were on earth conspicuoiis for the very virtues wherein 
 themselves were deficient. When at length the repentant
 
 56 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 
 
 soul is sufficiently purified, the guardian angel bears it to the 
 bosom of the Saviour. 
 
 The earlier painters and sculptors did not, apparently, make 
 the same use of guardian angels that we so often meet with in 
 works of Modern Art. Poetical allegories of angels guiding 
 the steps of childhood, extending a shield over innocence, 
 watching by a sick-bed, do not, I think, occur before the seven- 
 teenth century ; at least I have not met with such. The 
 ancient masters, who really believed in the personal agency of 
 our angelic guardians, beheld them with awe and reverence, 
 and reserved their presence for great and solemn occasions. 
 The angel who presents the pious votary to Christ or the 
 Virgin, who crowns St. Cecilia and St. Valerian after their 
 conquest over human weakness ; the angel who cleaves the air 
 " with flight precipitant " to break the implements of torture, 
 or to extend the palm to the dying martyr, victorious over 
 pain ; the angels who assist and carry in their arms the souls 
 of the just, are, in these and all similar examples, represen- 
 tations of guardian angels. 
 
 Such, then, are the three great functions of the angelic host ; 
 they are Messengers, Choristers, and Guardians. But angels, 
 without reference to their individuality or their ministry, 
 with regard only to their species and their form, as the most 
 beautiful and the most elevated of created essences, as interme- 
 diate between heaven and earth, are introduced into all 
 works of Art which have a sacred purpose or character, and 
 must be considered not merely as decorative accessories, but 
 as a kind of presence, as attendant witnesses ; and, like the 
 chorus in the Greek tragedies, looking on where they are not 
 actors. In architectural decoration, the cherubim with which 
 Solomon adorned his temple have been the authority and 
 example (1 Kings vi. 23). "Within the oracle he made two 
 cherubims, each ten cubits high, and with wings five cubits in 
 length " (the angels in the old Christian churches on each side 
 of the altar correspond with these cherubim), "and he overlaid 
 the cherubims with gold, and carved all the Avails of the house 
 with carved figures of cherubims, and he made doors of olive 
 tree, and he carved on them figures of cherubims." So, in 
 Christian art and architecture, angels, Avith their beautiful 
 cinctured heads and outstretched wings and floAving draperies,
 
 ANGELS 
 
 57 
 
 fill up every space. The instances are so numerous that they 
 will occur to every one who has given a thought to the subject. 
 I may mention the frieze of angels in Henry the Seventh's 
 Chapel [Westminster Abbey], merely as an example at hand, 
 and which can be referred to at any moment ; also the angels 
 round the choir of Lincoln Cathedral, of which there are fine 
 casts in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham ; and in some of the 
 old churches in Saxony which clearly exhibit the influence of 
 Byzantine Art for instance, at Freyburg, Mersebtirg, Naurn- 
 burg angels with outspread wings fill up the spandrils of 
 the arches along the nave. 
 
 But in the best ages of Art angels were not merely em- 
 ployed as decorative accessories ; they had their appropriate 
 place and a solemn significance 
 as a part of that theological sys- 
 tem which the edifice, as a whole, 
 represented. 
 
 As a celestial host surround- 
 ing the throne of the Trinity, 
 or of Christ as redeemer or as 
 judge, or of the Virgin in glory, 
 or the throned Madonna and 
 Child, their place is immedi- 
 ajtely next to the Divine Person- 
 ages and before the Evangelists. 
 
 In what is called a Liturgy 
 of Angels, they figure in pro- 
 cession on each side of the choir, 
 so as to have the appearance of 
 approaching the altar; they wear 
 the stole and alba as deacons, and 
 bear the implements of the mass. 
 In the Cathedral of Rheims there 
 is a range of colossal angels as a 
 grand procession along the vaults 
 of the nave, who appear as ap- 
 proaching the altar : these bear 
 
 not only the gospel, the missal, the sacramental cup, the ewer, 
 the taper, the cross, etc., but also the attributes of sovereignty, 
 celestial and terrestrial : one carries the sun, another the moon, 
 a third the kingly sceptre, a fourth the globe, a fifth the 
 
 Angel bearing the Moon 
 (Greek, 12th century)
 
 58 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 sword ; and all these, as they approach the sanctuary, they 
 seem about to place at the feet of Christ, who stands there as 
 priest and king in glory. Statues of angels in an attitude 
 of worship on each side of the altar, as if adoring the sacrifice 
 or hearing in triumph the instruments of Christ's pas- 
 sion, the cross, the nails, the spear, the crown of thorns or 
 carrying tapers are more common, and must he regarded 
 not merely as decoration, but as a presence in the high solem- 
 nity. 
 
 In the Cathedral of Auxerre may be seen angels attending 
 on the triumphant coming of Christ ; and, which is most sin- 
 gular, they, as well as Christ, are on horseback. 
 
 When, in subjects from Scripture history, angels figure not 
 merely as attendants and spectators, but as personages neces- 
 sary to the action, they are either ministers of the divine 
 wrath or of the divine mercy ; agents of destruction, or agents 
 of help and good counsel. As all these instances belong to 
 the historical scenes of the Old or the New Testament, they 
 will be considered separately, and I shall confine myself here 
 to a few remarks on the introduction and treatment of angels 
 in some subjects of peculiar interest. 
 * 
 
 In relating "the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Para- 
 dise," it is not said that an angel was the immediate agent of 
 the divine wrath, but it is so represented in works of Art. In 
 the most ancient treatment I have met with (MS. 10th century, 
 Paris, Bibl. Nationale), a majestic armed angel drives forth 
 the delinquents, and a cherub with six wings stands as guard 
 before the gate. I found the same motif in the sculptures on 
 the facade of the Duomo at Orvieto. In another instance, an 
 ancient Saxon miniature, the angel is represented not as driving 
 them forth, but closing the door against them. But these are 
 exceptions to the usual mode of treatment, which seldom varies ; 
 the angel is not represented in wrath, but calm, and stretches 
 forth a sword which is often (literally rendering the text) a 
 waving, lambent flame. I remember an instance in which the 
 preternatural sword, " turning every way," has the form of a 
 wheel of flames. 
 
 An angel is expressly introduced as a minister of wrath in 
 the story of Balaam, in which I have seen no deviation from 
 the obvious prosaic treatment, rendering the text literally ?
 
 ANGELS 59 
 
 Expulsion from Paradise (Bas-relief, Orvieto) 
 
 " And the ass,saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, 
 and his sword drawn in his hand." 
 
 "The destroying angel, leaning from heaven, presents to 
 David three arrows, from which to choose, war, pestilence, 
 or famine." I have found this subject beautifully executed 
 in several MSS., for instance, in the " Heures d'Anne de 
 Bretagne ; " also in pictures and in prints. 
 
 " The destroying angel sent to chastise the arrogance of 
 David is beheld standing between heaven and earth with 
 his sword stretched over Jerusalem to destroy it." Of this 
 sublime vision I have never seen any but the meanest repre- 
 sentations ; none of the great masters have treated it ; perhaps 
 Rembrandt might have given us the terrible and glorious 
 angel standing like a shadow in the midst of his own intense 
 irradiation. David fallen on his face, and the sons of Oman 
 hiding themselves by their rude threshing-floor, with that 
 wild mixture of the familiar and the unearthly in which he 
 alone has succeeded. 
 
 " The chastisement of Heliodorus " has given occasion to 
 the sublimest composition in which human genius ever at- 
 tempted to embody the conception of the supernatural, 
 Raphael's fresco in the Vatican. St. Michael, the protecting
 
 , 60 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 angel of the Hebrew nation, is supposed to have been the 
 minister of divine wrath on this occasion ; but Raphael, in 
 omitting the wings, and all exaggeration or alteration of the 
 human figure, has shown how unnecessary it was for him to 
 have recourse to the prodigious and impossible in form, in 
 order to give the supernatural in sentiment. The unearthly 
 warrior and his unearthly steed the weapon in his hand, 
 which is not a sword to pierce, nor a club to strike, but a sort 
 of mace, of which, as it seems, a touch would annihilate ; the 
 two attendant spirits, who come gliding above the marble 
 floor, with their hair streaming back with the rapidity of their 
 aerial motion are in the very spirit of Dante, and, as concep- 
 tions of superhuman power, superior to anything in pictured 
 form which Art has bequeathed to us. 
 
 In calling to mind the various representations of the angels 
 of the Apocalypse let loose for destruction, one is tempted to 
 e$claim, " Oh, for a warning voice ! " When the Muse of 
 Milton quailed, and fell ten thousand fathom deep into Bathos, 
 what could be expected from human invention ? In general, 
 where this subject is attempted in pictures, we find the angels 
 animated, like those of Milton in the war of heaven, with 
 " fierce desire of battle," breathing vengeance, wrath, and 
 fury. So Albert Dtirer, in those wonderful scenes of his 
 " Apocalypse," has exhibited them ; but some of the early 
 Italians show them merely impassive, conquering almost with- 
 out effort, punishing without anger. The immediate instru- 
 ments of the wrath of God in the day of judgment are not 
 angels, but devils or demons, generally represented by the old 
 painters with every possible exaggeration of hideousness, and 
 as taking a horrible and grotesque delight in their task. The 
 demons are fallen angels, their deformity a consequence of 
 their fall. Tims, in some very ancient representations of the 
 expulsion of Lucifer and his rebel host, the degradation of 
 the form increases with their distance from heaven. (MS. 
 13th century, Breviaire de St. Louis.) Those who are upper- 
 most are still angels ; they bear the aureole, the wings, and 
 the tunic ; they have not yet lost all their original brightness : 
 those below them begin to assume the bestial form : the fingers 
 become talons, the heads become horned; and at last, as they 
 touch the confines of the gulf of hell, the transformation is 
 Been complete, from the luminous angel into the abominable
 
 ANGELS 61 
 
 and montrous devil, with serpent tail, claws, bristles, and 
 tusks. This gradual transformation, as they descend into the 
 gulf of sin, has a striking allegorical significance which cannot 
 escape the reader. In a Greek MS. of the ninth century 
 (Paris, Bibl. Nat.), bearing singular traces of antique classical 
 Art in the conception and attributes of the figures, I found 
 both angels and demons treated in a style quite peculiar and 
 poetical. The angels are here gigantic, majestic, Jove-like 
 figures, with great wings. The demons are also majestic, 
 graceful winged figures, but painted of a dusky gray color (it 
 may originally have been black). In one scene, where Julian 
 the Apostate goes to seek the heathen divinities, they are 
 thus represented, that is, as black angels ; showing that the 
 painter had here assumed the devils or demons to be the dis- 
 crowned and fallen gods of the antique world. 
 
 These are a few of the most striking instances of angels 
 employed as ministers of wrath. Angels, as ministers of 
 divine grace and mercy, 
 
 Of all those acts which Deity supreme 
 Doth ease its heart of love in, 
 
 occur much more frequently. 
 
 The ancient heresy that God made use of the agency of 
 angels in the creation of the world, and of mankind, I must 
 notice here, because it has found its way into Art ; for exam- 
 ple, in an old miniature which represents an angel having 
 before him a lump of clay, a kind of ebauche of humanity, 
 which he appears to be moulding with his hands, while the 
 Almighty stands by directing the work. (As in the legend of 
 Prometheus. Plato, Protag.) This idea, absurd as it may 
 appear, is not perhaps more absurd than the notion of those 
 who would represent the Great First Cause as always busied 
 in fashioning or altering the forms in His visible creation, like 
 a potter or any other mechanic. [There is a very interesting 
 and remarkable series of panels by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 
 representing the seven angels of creation. The angel of the 
 First Day has wings of gray purple, while those of succeeding 
 angels gradually brighten in color, flecked with gold. The 
 Sabbath angel sits at the feet of the Sixth, flower-garlanded 
 and playing upon a many stringed instrument. The designs 
 were originally intended for Tamworth Church (England), and
 
 62 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 are now (1894) in the possession of Alexander Henderson, 
 Esq.] But as we are occupied at present with the Scriptural, 
 not the legendary subjects, I return to the Old Testament. 
 The first time that we read of an angel sent as a messenger of 
 mercy, it is for the comfort of poor Hagar ; when he found 
 her weeping by the spring of water in the wilderness because 
 her mistress had afflicted her : and again, when she was cast 
 forth and her boy fainted for thirst. In the representation of 
 these subjects, I do not know a single instance in which the 
 usual angelic form has not been adhered to. In the sacrifice 
 of . Isaac, " the angel of the Lord calls to Abraham out of 
 heaven." This subject, as the received type of the sacrifice 
 of the Son of God, was one of the earliest in Christian Art. 
 We find it on the sarcophagi of the third and fourth centu- 
 ries ; but in one of the latest only have I seen a personage 
 introduced as staying the hand of Abraham, and this person- 
 age is without wings. In painting, the angel is sometimes in 
 the act of taking the sword out of Abraham's hand, which 
 expresses the nature of his message ; or he lays one hand on 
 his arm, and with the other points to the ram which was to 
 replace the sacrifice, or brings the ram in his arms to the 
 altar ; but, whatever the action, the form of the angelic mes- 
 senger has never varied from the sixth century. 
 
 In the visit of the angels to Abraham there has been a 
 variety caused by the wording of the text. It is not said that 
 three angels visited Abraham, yet in most of the ancient rep- 
 resentations the three celestial guests are winged angels. I 
 need hardly observe that these three angels are assumed to be 
 a figure of the Trinity, and in some old illuminations the in- 
 terpretation is not left doubtful, the angels being characterized 
 as the three persons of the Trinity, wearing each the cruci- 
 form nimbus : two of them, young and beardless, stand behind ; 
 the third, representing the Father, has a beard, and, before 
 Him Abraham is prostrated. Beautiful for grace and sim- 
 plicity is the winged group by Ghiberti, in which the three 
 seem to step and move together as one. 1 More modern artists 
 have given us the celestial visitants merely as men. Preemi- 
 nent in this style of conception are the pictures of Raphael 
 and Murillo. Raphael here, 2 as elsewhere, a true poet, has 
 
 1 [A panel of the Baptistery Gate, Florence.] 
 
 -' [A panel of "Raphael's Bible," in the Loggia of the Vatican.]
 
 ANGELS 
 
 63 
 
 Angels visiting Abraham (Raphael) 
 
 succeeded in conveying, with exquisite feliciiy, the sentiment 
 of power, of a heavenly presence, and of a mysterious signifi- 
 cance. The three youths, who stand linked together hand in 
 hand before the Patriarch, with such an air of henign and 
 superior grace, want no wings to show us that they belong to 
 the courts of heaven, and have but just descended to earth 
 
 So lively shines 
 
 In them divine resemblance, and such grace 
 The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured. 
 
 Murillo, on the contrary, gives us merely three young men, 
 travellers, and has set aside wholly both the angelic and the 
 mystic character of the visitants. (Sutherland Gallery, Staf- 
 ford House, London.) 
 
 The angels who descend and ascend the ladder in Jacob's 
 dream are in almost every instance represented in the usual 
 form ; sometimes a few (as in Raphael's fresco in the Vati- 
 can) sometimes in multitudes (as in the picture by Allston, 
 painted for Lord Egremont, and now at Petworth) some- 
 times as one only, who turns to bless the sleeper before he
 
 64 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 ascends ; 1 and the ladder is sometimes a flight, or a series of 
 flights, of steps ascending from earth to the empyrean. But here 
 it is Rembrandt who has shown himself the poet ; the ladder 
 is a slanting stream of light ; the angels are mysterious bird- 
 like luminous forms, which emerge one after another from a 
 dazzling fount of glory, and go floating up and down, so like 
 a dream made visible ! In Middle- Age Art this vision of Jacob 
 occurs very rarely. I shall have to return to it when treating 
 of the subjects from the Old Testament. 
 
 In the New Testament angels are much more frequently 
 alluded to than in the Old ; more as a reality, less as a vision ; 
 in fact, there is no important event throughout the Gospels 
 and Acts in which angels do not appear, either as immediate 
 agents, or as visible and present ; and in scenes where they 
 are not distinctly said to be visibly present, they are assumed 
 to be so invisibly, St. Paul having said expressly that " their 
 ministry is continual." It is therefore with undeniable pro- 
 priety that, in works of Art representing the incidents of the 
 Gospels, angels should figure as a perpetual presence, made 
 visible under such forms as custom and tradition have conse- 
 crated. 
 
 I pass over, Jor the present, the grandest, the most im- 
 portant mission of an angel, the announcement brought by 
 Gabriel to the blessed Virgin. I shall have to treat it fully 
 hereafter in the " Legends of the Madonna." The angel who 
 appears to Joseph in a dream, and the angel who commands 
 him to flee into Egypt, was in both cases probably the same 
 angel who hailed Mary as blessed above all women ; but we 
 are not told so ; and according to some commentators it was 
 the guardian angel of Joseph who appeared to him. In these 
 and other scenes of the New Testament, in which angels are 
 described as direct agents, or merely as a chorus of minister- 
 ing attendants, they have the usual form, enhanced by as 
 much beauty, and benignity, and aerial grace as the fancy of 
 the artist could bestow on them. In the Nativity they are 
 seen hovering on high, pouring forth their song of triumph ; 
 they hold a scroll in their hands on which their song is writ- 
 ten : in general there are three angels ; the first sings, Gloria 
 in excelsis Deo ! the second, Et in terra pax ! the third, 
 Hominibus boncv voluntatisf but in some pictures the three 
 1 As in a picture by F. Bol [in Dresden].
 
 ANGELS 
 
 65 
 
 Altar 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 angels are replaced by a numerous choir, who raise the song of 
 triumph in the skies, while others are seen kneeling round and 
 adoring the Divine Infant. 
 
 The happiest, the most beautiful, instance I can remember 
 of this particular treatment is the little chapel in the Riccardi 
 Palace at Florence. The chapel is in the form of a Greek cross, 
 and the frescoes [by Benozzo Gozzoli] are thus disposed: 
 
 The walls 1, 2, and 3, 
 are painted with the jour- 
 ney of the Wise Men, who, 
 with a long train of attend- 
 ants mounted on horseback 
 and gorgeously apparelled, 
 are seen travelling over hill 
 and dale led by the guiding 
 star. Over the altar was 
 the Nativity [by Filippo 
 Lippi, now removed to the 
 Academy] ; on each side (4, 
 5) is seen a choir of angels, 
 perhaps fifty in number, re- 
 joicing over the birth of the 
 Redeemer : some kneel in 
 
 adoration, with arms folded over the bosom, others offer flow- 
 ers ; some come dancing forward with flowers in their hands 
 or in the lap of their robes ; others sing and make celestial 
 music ; they have glories round their heads, all inscribed alike, 
 " Gloria in excelsis Deo ! " The na'ive grace, the beautiful 
 devout expression, the airy movements of these lovely beings, 
 melt the soul to harmony and joy. The chapel having been 
 long shut up, and its existence scarcely remembered, these 
 paintings are in excellent preservation ; and I saw nothing in 
 Italy that more impressed me with admiration of the genuine 
 feeling and piety of the old masters. The choral angels of 
 ^.ngelico da Fiesole, already described, are not more pure in 
 sentiment, and are far less animated, than these. 1 
 
 But how different from both is the ministry of the angels 
 in some of the pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 
 ries, both German and Italian ! The Virgin Mary is washing 
 
 l For several curious and interesting particulars relative to these subjects 
 see the Legends of the, Madonna, 
 
 Door
 
 66 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 her Divine Infant ; angels dry the clothes, or pour out water ; 
 Joseph is planing a board, and angels assist the Infant Saviour 
 in sweeping up the chips. In a beautiful little Madonna and 
 Child 1 , in Prince Wallerstein's collection, an angel is playing 
 with the Divine Infant, is literally his playfellow ; a very 
 graceful idea, of which I have seen but this one instance. 
 
 In the Flight into Egypt an angel often leads the ass. In 
 the Kiposo, a subject rare before the fifteenth century, angels 
 offer fruit and flowers, or bend down the branches of the date- 
 tree, that Joseph may gather the fruit ; or weave the choral 
 dance, hand in hand, for the delight of the Infant Christ, 
 while others make celestial music, as in Vandyck's beautiful 
 picture in [the Pitti, Florence, a replica of which is in] Lord 
 Ashburton's collection. After the Temptation, they minister 
 to the Saviour in the wilderness, and spread for Him a table 
 of refreshment 
 
 Celestial food divine, 
 
 Ambrosial fruit, fetched from the tree of life, 
 And from the fount of life ambrosial drink. 
 
 [Milton, Par. Reg. book iv. 590.] 
 
 It is not said that angels were visibly present at the baptism 
 of Christ ; but it appears to me that they ought not therefore 
 to be supposed absent, and that there is a propriety in making 
 them attendants on this solemn occasion. They are not intro- 
 duced in the very earliest examples, those in the catacombs 
 and sarcophagi ; nor yet in the mosaics of Ravenna ; because 
 angels were then rarely figured, and instead of the winged 
 angel we have the sedge-crowned river god, representing the 
 Jordan. In the Greek formula, they are required to be present 
 "in an attitude of respect : " no mention is made of their 
 holding the garments of our Saviour ; but it is certain that in 
 Byzantine Art, and generally from the twelfth century, this 
 has been the usual mode of representing them. According to 
 the Fathers, our Saviour had no guardian angel, because He 
 did not require one ; notwithstanding the sense usually giv^p 
 to the text, " He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, 
 lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone," the angels, 
 they affirm, were" not the guardians, but the servante, of 
 Christ; and hence, I presume, the custom of representing 
 them, not merely as present, but as ministering to Him during 
 His baptism. The gates of San Paolo (tenth century) afford
 
 ANGELS 67 
 
 the most ancient example I have met with of an angel holding 
 the raiment of the Saviour : there is only one angel. Giotto 
 introduces two graceful angels kneeling on the bank of the 
 river and looking on with attention. The angel in Raphael's 
 composition [Vatican] bows his head, as if awestruck by the 
 divine recognition of the majesty of the Redeemer ; and the 
 reverent manner in which he holds the vestment is very beau- 
 tiful. Other examples will here suggest themselves to the 
 reader, and I shall resume the subject when treating of the 
 life of our Saviour. 
 
 In one account of our Saviour's agony in the Garden of 
 Gethsemane it is expressly said that an angel " appeared unto 
 Him out of heaven, strengthening Him ; " therefore, where 
 this awful and pathetic subject has been attempted in Art, 
 there is propriety in introducing a visible angel. Notwith- 
 standing the latitude thus allowed to the imagination, or per- 
 haps for that very reason, the greatest and the most intelligent 
 " painters have here fallen into strange errors, both in conception 
 and in taste. For instance, is it not a manifest impropriety to 
 take the Scripture phrase in a literal sense, and place a cup in 
 the hand of the angel ? Is not the word cup here, as else- 
 where, used as a metaphor, signifying the destiny awarded by 
 Divine will, as Christ had said before, " Ye shall drink of my 
 cup," and as we say, " His cup overfloweth with blessings ? " 
 The angel, therefore, who does not bend from heaven to an- 
 nounce to Him the decree He knew full well, nor to present 
 the cup of bitterness, but to strengthen and comfort Him, 
 should not bear the cup, still less the cross, the scourge, 
 the crown of thorns, as in many pictures. 
 
 Where our Saviour appears bowed to the earth, prostrate, 
 half swooning with the anguish of that dread moment, and an 
 angel is seen sustaining Him, there is a true feeling of the real 
 meaning of Scripture ; but even in such examples the effect is 
 often spoiled by an attempt to render the scene at once more 
 mystical and more palpable. Thus a painter equally remark- 
 able for the purity of his taste and deep religious, feeling, 
 Xiccolo Poussin, has represented Christ, in His agony, sup- 
 ported in the arms of an angel, while a crowd of child-angels, 
 very much like Cupids, appear before Him with the instru- 
 ments of the Passion ; ten or twelve bear a huge cross ; others
 
 68 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 hold the scourge, the crown of thorns, the nails, the sponge, 
 the spear, and exhibit them before Him, as if these were the 
 images, these the terrors, which could overwhelm with fear 
 and anguish even the human nature of such a Being ! 1 It 
 seems to me also a mistake, when the angel is introduced, to 
 make him merely an accessory (as Raphael has done in one of 
 his early pictures), a little figure in the air to help the mean- 
 ing : since the occasion was worthy of angelic intervention, in 
 a visible shape, bringing divine solace, divine sympathy, it 
 should be represented under a form the most mighty and the 
 most benign that Art could compass ; but has it been so ? 
 I can recollect no instance in which the failure has not been 
 complete. If it be said that to render the angelic comforter so 
 superior to the sorrowing and prostrate Redeemer would be to 
 detract from His dignity as the principal personage of the 
 scene, and thus violate one of the first rules of Art, I think 
 differently, I think it could do so only in unskilful hands. 
 Represented as it ought to be, and might be, it would infi- 
 nitely enhance the idea of that unimaginable anguish which, 
 as we are told, was compounded of the iniquities and sorrows 
 of all humanity laid upon Him. It was not the pang of the 
 Mortal, but the Immortal, which required the presence of a 
 ministering spirit sent down from heaven to sustain Him. 
 
 In the Crucifixion, angels are seen lamenting, wringing their 
 hands, averting or hiding their faces. In the old Greek cruci- 
 fixions, one angel bears the sun, another the moon, on each 
 side of the cross : 
 
 Dim sadness did not spare, 
 That time, celestial visages. 
 
 Michael Angelo gives us two unwinged colossal-looking angel 
 heads, which peer out of heaven in the background of his 
 Crucifixion in a manner truly supernatural, as if they sympa- 
 thized in the consummation, but in awe rather than in grief. 
 
 Angels also receive in golden cups the blood which flows 
 from the wounds of our Saviour. This is a representation 
 Avhich has the authority of some of the most distinguished and 
 most spiritual among the old painters ; but it is, to my taste, 
 particularly unpleasing and unpoetical. Raphael, in an early 
 
 1 The picture is, I suspect, not by Poussin, but by Stella. There is another, 
 similar, by Guido, in the Louvre.
 
 ANGELS 
 
 69 
 
 Angels (Martin Schoen) 
 
 picture, the only Cruci- 
 fixion he ever painted, 1 
 thus introduces the 
 angels ; and this form 
 of the angelic ministry 
 is a mystical version of 
 the sacrifice of the Re- 
 deemer not uncommon 
 in Italian and German 
 pictures of the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 As the Scriptural 
 and legendary scenes, 
 in which angels form 
 the poetical machinery, 
 will be discussed here- 
 after in detail as sepa- 
 rate subjects, I shall 
 conclude these general 
 and preliminary re- 
 marks with a few words 
 on the characteristic style in which the principal painters have 
 set forth the angelic forms and attributes. 
 
 It appears that, previous to the end of .the fourth century A 
 there were religious scruples which forbade the representation 
 of angels, arising, perhaps, from the scandal caused in the 
 early Church by the worship paid to these supernatural beings, 
 and so strongly opposed by the primitive teachers. We do 
 not find on any of the Christian relics of the first three cen~ 
 turies, neither in the catacombs nor on the vases or the 
 sarcophagi, any figure which could be supposed to represent 
 what we call an angel. On one of the latest sarcophagi we 
 find little winged figures, but evidently the classical winged 
 genii, used in the classical manner as ornament only (Ciampini, 
 p. 131, A. D. 394). In the second Council of Nice, John of 
 Thessalonica maintained that angels have the human form, and 
 may be so represented ; and the Jewish doctors had previously 
 decided that God consulted His angels when He said, " Let us 
 make man after our image," and that consequently we may 
 suppose the angels to be like men, or, in the words of the 
 
 1 [Collection of L. Mond, Esq., London.]
 
 70 OF ANGELS AND AECHANGELS 
 
 prophet, "like unto the similitude of the sons of men." 1 
 (Dan. x. 16.) 
 
 But it is evident that, in the first attempt at angelic effigy, 
 it was deemed necessary, in giving the human shape, to render 
 it as superhuman, as imposing as possible ; colossal propor- 
 tions, mighty overshadowing wings, kingly attributes, these 
 we find in the earliest figures of angels which I believe exist, 
 the mosaics in the Church of Santa Agata at Ravenna (A. D. 
 400). Christ is seated on a throne (as in the early sar- 
 cophagi) ; He holds the Gospel in one hand, and with the left 
 gives the benediction. An angel stands on each side ; they 
 have large wings, and bear a silver wand, the long sceptre of 
 the Grecian kings ; they are robed in classical drapery, but 
 wear the short pallium (the " garb succinct for flight ") ; their 
 feet are sandaled, as prepared for a journey, and their hair 
 bound by a fillet. Except in the wings and short pallium, 
 they resemble the figures of Grecian kings and priests in the 
 ancient bas-reliefs. 
 
 This was the truly majestic idea of an angelic presence (in 
 contradistinction to the angelic emblem), which, well or ill 
 executed, prevailed during the first ten centuries. In the 
 MS. already referred to (in the Bib. Nat., Paris), as con- 
 taining such magnificent examples of this godlike form and 
 bearing, I selected one group less ruined than most of the 
 others, Jacob wrestling with the angel. The drawing is 
 wonderful for the period, that of Charlemagne ; the mighty 
 being grasps the puny mortal, who was permitted for a while 
 to resist him ! " He touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, 
 and it was out of joint ; " the action is as significant as 
 possible. In the original, the drapery of the angel is white ; 
 the fillet binding the hair, the sandals, and the wings, of pur- 
 ple and gold. 
 
 From the eleventh to the thirteenth century the forms of 
 the angels became, like all things in the then degraded state 
 of Byzantine Art, merely conventional. They are attired 
 either in the imperial or the sacerdotal vestments, as already 
 described, and are richly ornamented, tasteless and stiff, large 
 without grandeur, and, in general, ill drawn ; as in [some] 
 figures [at] Monreale. 
 
 On the revival of Art, we find the Byzantine idea of angels 
 i Greek MS., A. D. 867.
 
 ANGELS 
 
 71 
 
 everywhere prevailing. The angels in Ciraabue's famous 
 " Virgin and Child Enthroned " [Kucellai Chapel, S. Maria 
 Novella, Florence] are grand creatures, rather stern ; but this 
 arose, I think, from his inability to express beauty. The 
 colossal angels at [S. Francesco] Assisi (A. r>. 1270), solemn 
 sceptred kingly forms, all alike in action and attitude, appeared 
 to me magnificent. 
 
 In the angels of Giotto (A. D. 1310), we see the commence- 
 ment of a softer grace and a purer taste, further developed by 
 some of his scholars. Be- 
 nozzo Gozzoli has left in the 
 Campo Santo examples of 
 the most graceful and fanci- 
 ful treatment. Of Benozzo's 
 angels in the Riccardi Palace 
 I have spoken at length. 
 His master Angelico (worthy 
 the name !) never reached 
 the same power of expressing 
 the rapturous rejoicing of 
 celestial beings, but his con- 
 ception of the angelic nature 
 remains unapproached, unap- 
 proachable (A. D. 1430) ; it 
 is only his, for it was the 
 gentle, passionless, refined 
 nature of the recluse, which 
 stamped itself there. An- 
 gelico's angels are unearthly, 
 not so much in form as in 
 sentiment ; and superhuman, 
 not in power but in purity. 
 In other hands, any imitation 
 of his soft ethereal grace 
 would become feeble and in- Angels (Angelico) 
 
 sipid. With their long robes 
 
 falling round their feet, and drooping many-colored wings, 
 they seem not to fly or to walk, but to float along, " smooth 
 sliding without step." Blessed, blessed creatures ! love us, 
 only love us, for we dare not task your soft serene Beatitude 
 by asking you to help us !
 
 72 
 
 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 Angels in Adoration (Granacd) 
 
 There is more sympathy with humanity in Francia's angels j 
 they look as if they could weep, as well as love and sing. 
 
 Most beautiful are the groups of adoring angels by Fran- 
 cesco Granacci so serenely tender, yet with a touch of grave 
 earnestness which gives them a character apart : they have 
 the air of guardian angels who have discharged their trust, 
 and to whom the Supreme utterance has voiced forth, " Ser- 
 vant of God, Avell done ! " (In the Academy at Florence : they 
 must have formed the side wings to an enthroned Madonna 
 and Child.)
 
 ANGELS 
 
 73 
 
 The angels of Botticelli are often stiff, and those of Ghir- 
 landajo sometimes fantastic ; but in both I have met with 
 angelic countenances and forms which, for intense and happy 
 expression, can never be forgotten. One has the feeling, how- 
 ever, that they used human models the portrait face looks 
 through the angel face. This is still more apparent in 
 Mantegna and Filippo Lippi. As we might have expected 
 from the character of Fra Filippo, his angels want refinement : 
 they have a boyish look, with their crisped curled hair and 
 their bold beauty; yet some of them are magnificent for 
 that sort of angel-beings supposed to have a volition of their 
 own. Andrea del Sarto's angelfe 
 have the same fault in a less 
 degree : they have, if not a bold, 
 yet a self-willed boyish expres- 
 sion. 
 
 Perugino's angels convey the 
 idea of an unalterable sweetness : 
 those of his earlier time have 
 much natural grace, those of his 
 later time are mannered. In 
 early Venetian Art the angels are 
 charming ; they are happy, affec- 
 tionate beings, with a touch of 
 that voluptuous sentiment after- 
 wards the characteristic of the 
 Venetian school. 
 
 In the contemporary German 
 school, angels are treated in a 
 very extraordinary and original 
 style. One cannot say that they 
 are earthly or commonplace, still 
 less are they beautiful or divine ; 
 but they have great simplicity, 
 earnestness, and energy of action. 
 They appear to me conceived in 
 
 the Old Testament spirit, with their grand stiff massive dra- 
 peries, their jewelled and golden glories, their wings " eyed 
 like the peacock, speckled like the pard," their intense ex- 
 pression, and the sort of personal and passionate interest they 
 throw into their ministry. This is the character of Albert 
 
 Angel (Perugino)
 
 74 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 Diirer's angels especially ; those of Martin Schoen and Lucas 
 v. Leyden are of a gentler spirit. 
 
 Leonardo da Vinci's angels do not quite please me, elegant, 
 refined, and lovely as they are : " methinks they smile too 
 much." By his scholar Luini there are some angels in the 
 gallery of the Brera, swinging censers and playing on musi- 
 cal instruments, which, with the peculiar character of the 
 Milanese school, combine all the grace of a purer, loftier 
 nature. 
 
 Correggio's angels are grand and lovely, but they are like 
 children enlarged and sublimated, not like spirits taking the 
 form of children : where thy smile it is truly, as Annibal 
 Caracci expresses it, "con una naturalezza e semplicita che 
 innamora e sforza a ridere con loro ; " 1 but the smile in 
 many of Correggio's angel heads has something sublime and 
 spiritual, as well as simple and natural. 
 
 And Titian's angels impress me in a similar manner I 
 mean those in the glorious Assumption at Venice with their 
 childish forms and features, but with an expression caught 
 from beholding the face of " our Father that is in heaven : " 
 it is glorified infancy. I remember standing before this pic- 
 ture, contemplating those lovely spirits one after another, until 
 a thrill came over me like that which I felt when Mendelssohn 
 played the organ, and I became music while I listened. The 
 face of one of those angels is to the face of a child just what 
 that of the Virgin in the same picture is compared with the 
 fairest of the daughters of earth : it is not here superiority of 
 beauty, but mind and music and love, kneaded, as it were, into 
 form and color. 
 
 I have thought it singular and somewhat unaccountable, that 
 among the earliest examples of undraped boy-angels are those 
 of Fra Bartolommeo, he who on one occasion, at the command 
 of Savonarola, made a bonfire of all the undressed figures he 
 could lay his hands on. 
 
 But Raphael, excelling in all things, is here excellent above 
 all : his angels combine, in a higher degree than any other, the 
 various faculties and attributes in which the fancy loves to 
 clothe these pure immortal, beatified creatures. The angels of 
 Giotto, of Benozzo, of Fiesole, are, if not female, feminine ; 
 
 1 [" With a naturalness and simplicity which delights and makes us laugh 
 with them."]
 
 ANGELS 
 
 75 
 
 those o^F. Lippi, and of A. Mantegna, masculine; but you 
 cannot say of those of Raphael that they are masculine or 
 feminine. The idea of sex is wholly lost in the blending of 
 power, intelligence, and grace. In his earlier pictures grace is 
 the predominant characteristic, as in the dancing and singing 
 angels in his Coronation of the Virgin (Gallery of the Vatican). 
 In his later pictures the sentiment in his ministering angels is 
 more spiritual, more dignified. As a perfect example of grand 
 
 Angels (Titian) 
 
 and poetical feeling, I may cite the angels as ' 'Regents of the 
 Planets," in the Capella Chigiana (S. Maria del Popolo, Rome). 
 The cupola represents in a circle the creation of the solar 
 system according to the theological and astronomical (or rather 
 astrological) notions which then prevailed a hundred years 
 before " the starry Galileo and his woes." In the centre is 
 the Creator ; around, in eight compartments, we have, first, 
 the angel of the celestial sphere, who seems to be listening 
 to the divine mandate, " Let there be lights in the firmament 
 of heaven ; " then follow, in their order, the Sun, the Moon, 
 Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The name of
 
 76 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 each planet is expressed by its mythological represlntative j 
 the Sun by Apollo, the Moon by Diana : and over each pre- 
 sides a grand colossal winged spirit seated or reclining on a 
 portion of the zodiac as on a throne. The union of the theo- 
 logical and the mythological attributes is in the classical taste 
 of the time, and quite Miltonic. 1 In Raphael's child-angels, 
 the expression of power and intelligence, as well as innocence, 
 is quite wonderful ; for instance, look at the two angel-boys in 
 the Dresden Madonna di San Sisto, and the angels, or celestial 
 genii, who bear along the Almighty when He appears to Noah, 
 (as in the fresco in the Vatican [Stanza d' Eliodoro].) No 
 one has expressed like Raphael the action of flight, except 
 perhaps Rembrandt. The angel who descends to crown Santa 
 Felicitk cleaves the air with the action of a swallow ; 2 and the 
 angel in Rembrandt's Tobit soars like a lark with upward 
 motion, spurning the earth. 
 
 Michael Angelo rarely gave wings to his angels ; I scarcely 
 recollect an instance, except the angel in the Annunciation : and 
 his exaggerated human forms, his colossal creatures, in which 
 the idea of power is conveyed through attitude and muscular 
 action, are, to my taste, worse than unpleasing. My admira- 
 tion for this wonderful man is so profound that I can afford 
 to say this. His angels are superhuman, but hardly angelic : 
 and while in Raphael's angels we do not feel the want of wings, 
 we feel while looking at those of Michael Angelo, that not 
 even the " sail-broad vans " with which Satan labored through 
 the surging abyss of chaos could suffice to lift those Titanic 
 forms from earth and sustain them in mid-air. The group of 
 angels over the Last Judgment [Sistine Chapel], flinging their 
 mighty limbs about, and those that surround the descending 
 figure of Christen the Conversion of St. Paul [Pauline Chapel], 
 may be referred to here as characteristic examples. The 
 angels, blowing their trumpets, puff and strain like so many 
 troopers. Surely this is not angelic : there may be poiver, 
 great imaginative and artistic power, exhibited in the concep- 
 
 1 The mosaics in the dcnne of the Chigi chapel are so ill-lighted that it is 
 difficult to observe them in detail, but the}' have lately been rendered cheaply 
 accessible in the fine set of engravings by Gruner, an artist who in our day 
 has revived the pure and correct design and elegant execution of Marc 
 Antonio. 
 
 2 See the engraving under this title by Marc Antonio ; it is properly St. 
 Cecilia, and not St. Felicita.
 
 ANGELS 
 
 77 
 
 Angel (Raphael) 
 
 tion of form, but in the beings themselves there is more of 
 effort than of power ; serenity, tranquillity, beatitude, ethereal 
 purity, spiritual grace are out of the question. 
 
 The later followers of his school, in their angelic as in their 
 human forms, caricatured their great master, and became, to an 
 offensive degree, forced, extravagant, and sensual. 
 
 When we come to the revival of a better "taste under the 
 influence of the Caracci, we find the angels of that school as 
 far removed from the early Christian types as were their apos- 
 tles and martyrs. They have often great beauty, consummate 
 elegance, but bear the same relation to the' religious and ethe- 
 real types of the early painters that the angels of Tasso bear 
 to those of Dante. Turn, for instance, to the commencement 
 of the " Gerusalemme Liberata," where the angel is deputed 
 to carry to Godfrey the behest of the Supreme Being. The 
 picture of the angel is distinctly and poetically brought before 
 xis ; he takes to himself a form between boyhood and youth ;
 
 78 OF ANGELS AND AECHANGELS 
 
 his waving curls are crowned with beams of light ; he puts on 
 a pair of wings of silver tipped with gold, with which he 
 cleaves the air, the clouds, the skies ; he alights on Mount 
 Lebanon, and poises himself on his balanced wings 
 
 E si libro su 1' adeguate penne. 
 
 This is exactly the angel which figures in the best pictures of 
 the Caracci and Guido : he is supremely elegant, and nothing 
 more. 
 
 I must not here venture on minute criticism, as regards dis- 
 tinctive character in the crowds of painters which sprung out 
 of the eclectic school. It would carry us too far ; but one or 
 two general remarks will lead the reader's fancy along the path 
 I would wish him to pursue. I would say, therefore, that the 
 angels of Ludovico have more of sentiment, those of Annibal 
 more of power, those of Guido more of grace ; and of Guido 
 it may be said that he excels them all in the expression of 
 adoration and humility ; see, for instance, the adoring seraphs 
 in Lord Ellesmere's " Immaculate Conception." The angels of 
 Domenichino, Guercino, and Albano are to me less pleasing. 
 Domenichino's angels are merely human. I never saw an 
 angel in one of Guercino's pictures that had not, with the 
 merely human character, a touch of vulgarity. As for Albano, 
 how are we to discriminate between his angels and his nymphs, 
 Apollos, and Cupids ? But for the occasion and the appella- 
 tion, it would be quite impossible to distinguish the Loves that 
 sport round Venus and Adonis, from the Cherubim, so called, 
 that hover above a Nativity or a Riposo ; and the little angels 
 in his Crucifixion cry so like naughty little boys that one 
 longs to put them in a corner. This merely heathen grace 
 and merely human sentiment is the general tendency of the 
 whole school ; and no beauty of form or color can, to the 
 feeling and religious mind, redeem such gross violations of 
 propriety. As for Poussin, of whom I think with due rever- 
 ence, his angels are often exquisitely beautiful and refined : 
 they have a chastity and a moral grace which pleases at first 
 view ; but here again the scriptural type is neglected and 
 heathenized in obedience to the fashion of the time. If we 
 compare the Cupids in his Rinaldo and Armida with the 
 angels which minister to the Virgin and Child, or the Cheru- 
 bim weeping in a Deposition with the Amorini who are
 
 Angel (Rembrandt) 
 
 lamenting over Adonis ; in what respect do they differ ? 
 They are evidently painted from the same models, the beau- 
 tiful children of Titian and Fiamingo. 
 
 Rubens gives us strong well-built youths, with redundant 
 yellow hair ; and chubby naked babies, as like flesh and 
 blood, and as natural, as the life : and those of Vandyck are 
 more elegant, without being more angelic. Murillo's child- 
 angels are divine, through absolute beauty ; the expression of 
 innocence and beatitude was never more perfectly given ; but 
 in grandeur and power they are inferior to Correggio, and, 
 in all that should characterize a divine nature, immeasurably 
 below Raphael. 
 
 Strange to say, the most poetical painter of angels in the 
 seventeenth century is that inspired Dutchman, Rembrandt ; 
 not that his angels are scriptural ; still less classical ; and 
 beautiful they are not, certainly often the reverse ; but if 
 they have not the Miltonic dignity and grace, they are at 
 least as unearthly and as poetical as any of the angelic 
 79
 
 80 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 phantasms in Dante, unhuman, unembodied creatures, com- 
 pounded of light and darkness, "the somewhat between a 
 thought and a thing,''' haunting the memory like apparitions. 
 For instance, look at his Jacob's Dream, at Dulwich ; or his 
 etching of the Angels appearing to the Shepherds, breaking 
 through the night, scattering the gloom, making our eyes 
 ache with excess of glory, the Gloria in excelsis ringing 
 through the fancy while we gaze ! 
 
 I have before observed that angels are supposed to be mas- 
 culine, with the feminine attributes of beauty and purity ; but 
 in the seventeenth century the Florentine painter, Giovanni 
 di S. Giovanni, scandalized his contemporaries by introducing 
 into a glory round the Virgin, female angels (angelesse). 
 Rubens has more than once committed the same fault against 
 ecclesiastical canons and decorum; for instance, in his "Ma- 
 donna aux Anges " in the Louvre. Such aberrations of fancy 
 are mere caprices of the painter, improprieties inadmissible in 
 high Art. 
 
 Of the sprawling, fluttering, half-naked angels of the Pietro 
 da Cortona and Bernini school, and the feeble mannerists 
 of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, what shall be 
 said ? that they are worthy to illustrate Moore's " Loves of 
 the Angels"? "non ragioniam di lor ;" no, nor even look at 
 them ! I have seen angels of the later Italian and Spanish 
 painters more like opera dancers with artificial wings and gauze 
 draperies, dressed to figure in a ballet, than anything else I 
 could compare them to. 
 
 The most original, and, in truth, the only new and original 
 version of the Scripture idea of angels which I have met with, 
 is that of William Blake, a poet painter, somewhat mad as 
 we are told, if indeed his madness were not rather " the tele- 
 scope of truth," a sort of poetical clairvoyance, bringing the 
 unearthly nearer to him than to others. His adoring angels 
 float rather than fly, and, with their half-liquid draperies, 
 seem about to dissolve into light and love : and his rejoicing 
 angels behold them sending up their voices with the 
 morning stars, that " singing, in their glory move ! " 
 
 As regards the treatment of angels in the more recent pro- 
 ductions of Art, the painters and sculptors have generally 
 adhered to received and known types in form and in senti-
 
 ANGELS 81 
 
 ment. The angels of the old Italians, Giotto and Frate 
 Angelico, have been very well imitated by Steinle and others 
 of the German school : th Raffaelesque feeling has been in 
 general aimed at by the French and English painters. Tene- 
 rani had the old mosaics in his mind when he conceived that 
 magnificent colossal Angel of the Resurrection seated on a 
 
 Angel (Niccolb del Area) 
 
 tomb, and waiting for the signal to sound his trumpet, which 
 I saw in his atelier, prepared, I believe, for the monument 
 of the Duchess Lanti [and now in the Lanti chapel of Sta 
 Maria sopra Minerva]. 
 
 Mr. Rusldn remarks very truly, that in early Christian Art 
 there is " a certain confidence, in the way in which angels trust 
 to their wings, very characteristic of a period of bold and 
 simple conception. Modern science has taught us that a wing
 
 82 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 cannot be anatomically joined to a shoulder ; and in proportion 
 as painters approach more and more to the scientific as' distin- 
 guished from the contemplative state of mind, they put the 
 wings of their angels on more timidly, and dwell with greater 
 emphasis on the human form with less upon the wings, until 
 these last become a species of decorative appendage, a mere 
 sign of an angel. But in Giotto's time an angel was a com- 
 plete creature, as much believed in as a bird, and the way in 
 which it would or might cast itself into the air and lean hither 
 and thither on its plumes was as naturally apprehended as 
 the manner of flight of a chough or a starling. Hence Dante's 
 simple and most exquisite synonym for angel, ' Bird of God ; ' 
 and hence also a variety and picturesqueness in the expression 
 of the movements of the heavenly hierarchies by the earlier 
 painters, ill replaced by the powers of foreshortening and 
 throwing naked limbs into fantastic positions, which appear in 
 the cherubic groups of later times." [Some of] the angels 
 from the Campo Santo at Pisa are instances of this bird-like 
 form. They are Uccelli di Dio. [Others] are examples of 
 the later treatment. 
 
 I pause here, for I have dwelt upon these celestial Hier- 
 archies, winged Splendors, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, till 
 my fancy is becoming somewhat mazed and dazzled by the 
 contemplation. I must leave the reader to go into a picture- 
 gallery, or look over a portfolio of engravings, and so pursue 
 the theme, whithersoever it may lead him, and it may lead 
 him, in Hamlet's "words, "to thoughts beyond the reaches of 
 his soul ! "
 
 Archangels (Cimabue) 
 
 II. ARCHANGELS 
 
 The Seven 
 
 Who in God's presence, nearest to His throne, 
 Stand ready at command. MILTON. 
 
 Having treated of the celestial Hierarchy in general, we 
 have now to consider those angels Avho in artistic representa- 
 tions have assumed an individual form and character. These 
 helong to the order of Archangels, placed by Dionysius in the 
 third Hierarchy : they take rank between the Princedoms and 
 the Angels, and partake of the nature of both, being, like the 
 Princedoms, Powers ; and, like the Angels, Ministers and Mes- 
 sengers. 
 
 Frequent allusion is made in Scripture to the seven Angels 
 who stand in the presence of God. (Eev. viii. 2, xv. 1, xvi. 
 1, etc. ; Tobit xxii. 15.) This was in accordance with the 
 popular creed of the Jews, who not only acknowledged the 
 supremacy of the Seven Spirits, but assigned to them distinct 
 83
 
 84 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 vocations and distinct appellations, each terminating with the 
 syllable El, which signifies God. Thus we have 
 
 I. MICHAEL (i. e. who is like unto God), captain-general of 
 the host of heaven, and protector of the Hebrew nation. 
 
 II. GABRIEL (i. e. God is my strength), guardian of the 
 celestial treasury, and preceptor of the patriarch Joseph. 
 
 III. RAPHAEL (I. e. the Medicine of God), the conductor 
 of Tobit ; thence the chief guardian angel. 
 
 IV. URIEL (i. e. the Light of God), who taught Esdras. 
 He was also regent of the sun. 
 
 V. CHAMUEL (i. e. one who sees God ?), who wrestled 
 with Jacob, and who appeared to Christ at Gethsemane. (But, 
 according to other authorities, this was the angel Gabriel.) 
 
 VI. JOPHIEL (i. e. the Beauty of God), who was the pre- 
 ceptor of the sons of Noah, and is the protector of all those 
 who, with an humble heart, seek after truth, and the enemy 
 of those who pursue vain knowledge. Thus Jophiel was nat- 
 urally considered as the guardian of the tree of knowledge, 
 and the same who drove Adam and Eve from Paradise. 
 
 VII. ZADKIEL (i. e. the Righteousness of God), who stayed 
 the hand of Abraham when about to sacrifice his son. (But, 
 according to other authorities, this was the archangel Michael.) 
 
 The Christian Church does not acknowledge these Seven 
 Angels by name ; neither in the East, where the worship of 
 angels took deep root, nor yet in the West, where it has been 
 tacitly accepted. Nor have I met with them as a series, by 
 name, in any ecclesiastical work of Art, though I have seen a 
 set of old anonymous prints in which they appear with distinct 
 names and attributes : Michael bears the sword and scales ; 
 Gabriel, the lily ; Raphael, the pilgrim's staff and gourd full 
 of water, as a traveller. Uriel has a roll and a book : he is 
 the interpreter of judgments and prophecies, and for this 
 purpose was sent to Esdras : " The angel that was sent unto 
 me, whose name was Uriel, gave me an answer." (Esdras ii. 
 4.) And in Milton 
 
 Uriel, for thou of those Seven Spirits that stand 
 In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright, 
 The first art wont his great authentic will 
 Interpreter through highest heaven to bring. 
 
 According to an early Christian tradition, it was this angel,
 
 ARCHANGELS 
 
 85 
 
 ana not Christ in person, who accompanied the two disciples 
 to Emmaus. Chamuel is represented with a ciip and a staff ; 
 Jophiel with a naming sword. Zadkiel bears the sacrificial 
 knife which he took from the hand of Abraham. 
 
 But the Seven Angels, without being distinguished by name, 
 are occasionally introduced into works of art. For example, 
 
 Archangels (attributed to Orcagna) 
 
 over the arch of the choir in San Michele, at Eavenna (A. D. 
 545), on each side of the throned Saviour are the Seven An- 
 gels blowing trumpets like cow's horns : " And I saw the 
 Seven Angels which stand before God, and to them were given 
 seven trumpets." (Rev. viii. 2, 6.) In representations of 
 the Crucifixion and in the Pieta, the Seven Angels are often 
 seen in attendance, bearing the instruments of the Passior
 
 86 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 Michael bears the cross, for he is " the Bannerer of heaven ; " 
 but I do not feel certain of the particular avocations of the 
 others. 
 
 In the Last Judgment, in the Campo Santo at Pisa, the 
 Seven Angels are active and important personages. The angel 
 who stands in the centre of the picture, below the throne of 
 Christ, extends a scroll in each hand ; on that in the right 
 hand is inscribed " Come, ye blessed of my Father," and on 
 that in the left hand, " Depart from me, ye accursed : " him I 
 suppose to be Michael, the angel of judgment. At his feet 
 crouches an angel who seems to shrink from the tremendous 
 spectacle, and hides his face : him I suppose to be Raphael, 
 the guardian angel of humanity. The attitude has always 
 been admired cowering with horror, yet sublime. Beneath 
 are other five angels, who are engaged in separating the just 
 from the wicked, encouraging and sustaining the former, and 
 driving the latter towards the demons who are ready to snatch 
 them into flames. These Seven Angels have the garb of 
 princes and warriors, with breastplates of gold, jewelled sword- 
 belts and tiaras, rich mantles; while the other angels who 
 figure in the same scene are plumed and bird-like, and hover 
 above, bearing the instruments of the Passion. 
 
 Again we may see the Seven Angels in quite another char- 
 acter, attending on St. Thomas Aquinas, in a picture [attrib- 
 uted to] Taddeo Gaddi (A. D. 1352, Florence, S. Maria No- 
 vella [Spanish chapel]). Here, instead of the instruments of 
 the Passion, they bear the allegorical attributes of those virtues 
 for which that famous saint and doctor is to be reverenced : 
 one bears an olive-branch, i. e. Peace ; the second, a book, i. e. 
 Knowledge ; the third, a crown and sceptre, i. e. Power ; the 
 fourth, a church, *. e. Religion ; the fifth, a cross and shield, 
 '/. e. Faith ; the sixth, flames of fire in each hand, i. e. Piety 
 and Charity ; the seventh, a lily, i. e. Purity. 
 
 In general it may be presumed when seven angels figure 
 together, or are distinguished from among a host of angels by 
 dress, stature, or other attributes, that these represent " the 
 Seven Holy Angels who stand in the presence of God." Four 
 only of these Seven Angels are individualized by name, Mi- 
 chael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel. According to the Jewish 
 tradition, these four sustain the throne of the Almighty : they 
 have the Greek epithet arch, or chief, assigned to them, from
 
 ARCHANGELS 
 
 87 
 
 Angels (attributed to Orcagna) 
 
 the two texts of Scripture in which that title is used (1 Thess. 
 iv. 16 ; Jude 9) ; but only the three first, who in Scripture 
 have a distinct personality, are reverenced in the Catholic 
 Church as saints ; and their gracious heauty, and their divine 
 prowess, and their high behests to mortal man, have furnished 
 some of the most important and most poetical subjects which 
 appear in Christian Art. 
 
 The earliest instance I have met of the Archangels intro- 
 duced by name into a work of art is in the old church of San 
 Michele at Ravenna (A. r>. 545). The mosaic in the apse 
 exhibits Christ in the centre, bearing in one hand the cross as 
 a trophy or sceptre, and in the other an open book on which 
 are the words, " Qui videt me videt et Patrem meum" [John 
 xiv. 9]. On each side stand Michael and Gabriel, with vast 
 wings and long sceptres ; their names are inscribed above, but 
 without the Sanctus and without the Glory. It appears, 
 therefore, that at this time, the middle of the sixth century, the 
 title of Saint, though in use, had not been given to the Arch- 
 angels. 
 
 When, in the ancient churches, the figure of Christ or of 
 the Lamb appears in a circle of glory in the centre of the 
 roof ; and around, or at the four corners, four angels who
 
 88 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 sustain the circle with outstretched arms, or stand as watchers, 
 with sceptres or lances in their hands, these I presume to be 
 the four Archangels " who sustain the throne of God." Ex- 
 amples may he seen in San Vitale at Ravenna ; in the chapel 
 of San Zeno, in Santa Prassede at Rome ; and on the roof of 
 the choir of San Francesco d'Assisi. 
 
 So the four Archangels, stately colossal figures, winged and 
 armed and sceptred, stand over the arch of the choir in the 
 Cathedral of Monreale, at Palermo. (Greek mosaic, A. D. 1174.) 
 
 So the four angels stand at the four corners of the earth 
 (Rev. vii. 1) and hold the winds, heads with puffed cheeks 
 and dishevelled hair. (MS. of the Book of Revelation, four- 
 teenth century, Trinity College, Dublin.) 
 
 But I have never seen Uriel represented by name, or alone, 
 in any sacred edifice. In the picture of Uriel painted by 
 Allston, he is the "Regent of the Sun," as described by 
 Milton ; not a sacred or scriptural personage. (Coll. of the 
 Duke of Sutherland.) On a shrine of carved ivory (Hotel de 
 Cluny [Paris]) I have seen the four Archangels as keeping 
 guard, two at each end ; the three first are named, as usual, 
 St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael ; the fourth is styled St. 
 Cherubin ; and I have seen the same name inscribed over the 
 head of the angel who expels Adam and Eve from Paradise. 
 There is no authority for such an appellation applied individ- 
 ually ; but I find, in a famous legend of the middle ages, 
 " La Penitence d'Adam," that the angel who guards the gates 
 of Paradise is thus designated : " Lorsque 1'Ange Chdrubin 
 vit arriver Seth aux portes de Paradis," etc. The four Arch- 
 angels, however, seldom occur together, except in architectural 
 decoration. On the other hand, devotional pictures of the 
 three Archangels named in the canonical Scriptures are of fre- 
 quent occurrence. They are often grouped together as patron 
 saints or protecting spirits ; or they stand round the throne of 
 Christ, or below the glorified Virgin and Child, in an attitude 
 of adoration. According to the Greek formula, the three in 
 combination represent the triple power, military, civil, and 
 religious, of the celestial hierarchy : St. Michael being hab- 
 ited as a warrior, Gabriel as a prince, and Raphael as a 
 priest. In a Greek picture, the three Archangels sustain in a 
 kind of throne the figure of the youthful Christ, here winged, 
 as being Himself the supreme Angel ( ayyeXos), and with both
 
 ST. MICHAEL 89 
 
 hands blessing the universe. The Archangel Raphael has 
 here the place of dignity as representing the Priesthood ; but 
 in Western Art Michael takes precedence of the two others, 
 and is usually placed in the centre as Prince or Chief : with 
 him, then, as considered individually, we begin. 
 
 ST. MICHAEL 
 
 Lat. Sanctus Michael Angelas. Hal. San Michele, Sammichele. 
 Fr. Monseigneur Saint Michel. (Sept. 29.) 
 
 "Michael, the Great Prince that standeth for the children of thy people." 
 Dan. xii. 1. 
 
 It is difficult to clothe in adequate language the divine 
 attributes with which painting and poetry have invested this 
 illustrious archangel. Jews and Christians are agreed in 
 giving him the preeminence over all created spirits. All the 
 might, the majesty, the radiance, of Thrones, Dominations, 
 Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, are centred in him. In him God 
 put forth His strength when He exalted him chief over the 
 celestial host, when angels warred with angels in heaven ; and 
 in him God showed forth His glory when He made him con- 
 queror over the power of sin, and " over the great dragon that 
 deceived the world." 
 
 To the origin of the worship paid to this great Archangel I 
 dare not do more than allude, lest I stray wide from my 
 subject, and lose myself, and my readers too, in labyrinths of 
 Orientalism. But, in considering the artistic representations, 
 it is interesting to call to mind that the glorification of St. 
 Michael may be traced back to that primitive Eastern dogma, 
 the perpetual antagonism between the Spirit of Good and the 
 Spirit of Evil, mixed up with the Chaldaic belief in angels 
 and their influence over the destinies of man. It was subse- 
 quent to the Captivity that the active Spirit of Good, under 
 the name of Michael, came to be regarded as the especial 
 protector of the Hebrew natibn ; the veneration paid to him 
 by the Jews was adopted, or rather retained, by the Oriental 
 Christians, and, though suppressed for a time, was revived and 
 spread over the West, where we find it popular and almost 
 universal from the eighth century.
 
 90 OF ANGELS AND AKCHANGELS 
 
 The legends which have grown out of a few mystical texts 
 of Scripture, amplified by the fanciful disquisitions of the theo- 
 logical writers, place St. Michael before us in three great 
 characters : 1. As captain of the heavenly hosts, and con- 
 queror of the powers of hell. 2. As lord of souls, conductor 
 and guardian of the spirits of the dead. 3. As patron saint 
 and prince of the Church Militant. 
 
 When Lucifer, possessed by the spirit of pride and ingrati- 
 tude, refused to fall down and worship the Son of man, 
 Michael was deputed to punish his insolence, and to cast him 
 out from heaven. Then Michael chained the revolted angels 
 in middle air, where they are to remain till the day of judg- 
 ment, being in the mean time perpetually tortured by hate, 
 envy, and despair ; for they behold man, whom they had dis- 
 dained, exalted as their superior ; above them they see the 
 heaven they have forfeited ; and beneath them the redeemed 
 souls continually rising from earth, and ascending to the pres- 
 ence of God, whence they are shut out forever. 
 
 " Now," says the old Legend (vide II perfetto Legendario, 
 1659), " if it be asked wherefore the books of Moses, in re- 
 vealing the disobedience and the fall of man, are silent as to 
 the revolt and the fall of the angels, the reason is plain ; and 
 in this God acted according to His wisdom. For, let us sup- 
 pose that a certain powerful lord had two vassals, both guilty 
 of the prime of treason, and one of these is a nobleman of pure 
 and lofty lineage, and the other a base-born churl, what 
 doth this lord ? He hangs up the churl in the market-place 
 as a warning and example to others : but, for the nobleman, 
 fearing the scandal that may arise among the people, and 
 perhaps also some insult to the officers of the law, the judge 
 causes him to be tried secretly, and shuts him up in a dun- 
 geon ; and when judgment is pronounced against him, he 
 sends to his prison, and puts him privily to death ; and when 
 one asketh after him, the answer is only ' He is dead,' and 
 nothing more. Thus did God in respect to the rebel angels 
 of old ; and their fate was not revealed until the redemption 
 of man was accomplished." 
 
 This passage from the old Italian legend is so curiously 
 characteristic of the feudal spirit of Christianity in the middle 
 ages, that I have ventured to insert it verbatim. If religion 
 did, in some degree, modify the institutions of chivalry, in a
 
 ST. MICHAEL 91 
 
 much greater degree did the ruling prejudices of a barbarian 
 age modify the popular ideas of religion. Here, notwithstand- 
 ing the primary doctrine of Christ, the equality of all men 
 before God, we have the distinction between noble and 
 churl carried into the very councils of Heaven. 
 
 But, to return to St. Michael, on whom, as the leader of 
 His triumphant hosts, God bestowed many and great privi- 
 leges. To him it was given 
 
 To bid sound th' archangel trumpet, 
 
 and exalt the banner of the Cross in the day of judgment ; 
 and to him likewise was assigned the reception of the immor- 
 tal spirits when released by death. It was his task to weigh 
 them in a balance (Dan. v. 27 ; Ps. Ixii. 9) : those whose 
 good works exceeded their demerits, he presented before the 
 throne of God ; but those who were found wanting he gave 
 up to be tortured in purgatory, until their souls, from being 
 "as crimson, should become as white as snow." Therefore, 
 in the hour of death, he is to be invoked by the faithful, 
 saying, " Michael, militice ccelestis signifer, in adjutorium 
 nostrum veni, princeps et propugnator ! " 
 
 Lastly, when it pleased the Almighty to select from among 
 the nations of the earth one people to become peculiarly His 
 own, He appointed St. Michael to be president and leader 
 over that chosen people. 1 " At that time shall Michael stand 
 up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy 
 people '' (Dan. x. 13, xii. 1) : and when the power of the 
 Synagogue was supposed to cease, and to be replaced by the 
 power of the Church, so that the Christians became the peo- 
 ple of God, then Michael, who had been the great prince of 
 the Hebrew people, became the prince and leader of the 
 Church militant in Christendom, and the guardian of redeemed 
 souls against his old adversary the Prince of Hell. (Rev. 
 xii. C, 7.) 
 
 1 The Gnostics taught that the universe was created by the Seven Great 
 Angels, who ranked next to the Enos, or direct emanations from God: "and 
 when a distribution was afterwards made of things, the chief of the creating 
 angels had the people of the Jews particularly to his share ; a doctrine which 
 in the- main was received by many ancients." See Lardner's History of the 
 Early Heresies. I have alluded to the angel pictured as the agent in crea- 
 tion, but the Seven creating Angels I have not met with in art. This was one 
 of the Gnostic fancies condemned by the early Church.
 
 92 OF ANGELS AND AKCHANGELS 
 
 The worship paid to St. Michael, and which originated in 
 the far East, is supposed to have been adopted by the Oriental 
 Christians in consequence of a famous apparition of the Arch- 
 angel at Colossse, in Phrygia, which caused him to be held in 
 especial honor by the people of that city, and perhaps occa- 
 sioned the particular warning of St. Paul addressed to the 
 Colossians. But although the worship of angels was consid- 
 ered among the heresies of the early Church, we find Constan- 
 tine no sooner master of the empire, and a baptized Christian, 
 than he dedicates a church to the Archangel Michael (by his 
 Greek name Michaelion), and this church, one of the most 
 magnificent in Constantinople, became renowned for its mira- 
 cles, and the parent and model of hundreds more throughout 
 the East. 
 
 In the West, the honors paid to St. Michael are of later 
 date : that a church dedicated to him must have existed in 
 Rome long before the year 500 seems clear, because at that 
 time it is mentioned as having fallen into ruin. But the West 
 had its angelic apparitions as well as the East, and St. Michael 
 owes his widespread popularity in the middle ages to three 
 famous visions which are thus recorded. 
 
 In the fifth century, in the city of Siponte, in Apulia (now 
 Manfredonia), dwelt a man named Galgano or Garganus, very 
 rich in cattle, sheep, and beasts ; and as they pastured on the 
 sides of the mountain, it happened that a bull strayed and 
 came not home ; then the rich man took a multitude of ser- 
 vants and sought the bull, and found him at the entrance of a 
 cave on the very summit of the mountain, and, being wroth 
 with the bull, the master ordered him to be slain ; but when 
 the arrow was sent from the bow it returned to the bosom of 
 him who sent it, and he fell dead on the ground : then the 
 master and his servants were troubled, and they sent to inquire 
 of the bishop what should be done. The bishop, having 
 fasted and prayed three days, beheld in a vision the glorious 
 Archangel Michael, who descended on the mountain, and told 
 him that the servant had been slain because he had violated a 
 spot peculiarly sacred to him, and he commanded that a church 
 should be erected and sanctified there to his honor. And when 
 they entered the cavern they found there three altars already 
 erected, one of them covered with a rich embroidered altar- 
 cloth of crimson and gold, and a stream of limpid water spring-
 
 ST. MICHAEL 93 
 
 ing from the rock, which healed all diseases. So the church 
 was built, and the fame of the vision of Monte Galgano, though 
 for some time confined to the south of Italy, spread throughout 
 Europe, and many pilgrimages were made to the spot on which 
 the angelic footsteps had alighted. 
 
 The second vision is much more imposing. When Rome 
 was nearly depopulated by a pestilence in the sixth century, 
 St. Gregory, afterwards pope, advised that a procession should 
 be made through the streets of the city, singing the service 
 since called the Great Litanies. He placed himself at the 
 head of the faithful, and during three days they perambulated 
 the city ; and on the third day, when they had arrived oppo- 
 site to the mole of Hadrian, Gregory beheld the Archangel 
 Michael alight on the summit of that monument, and sheathe 
 his sword, bedropped with blood. Then Gregory knew that 
 the plague was stayed, and a church was there dedicated to the 
 honor of the Archangel : and the Tomb of Hadrian has since 
 been called the Castle of Sant' Angelo to this day. 
 
 This, of all the recorded apparitions of St. Michael, is the 
 only one which can be called poetical ; it is evidently borrowed 
 from the vision of the destroying angel in Scripture. As early 
 as the ninth century, a church or chapel dedicated to St. 
 Michael was erected on the summit of the huge monument, 
 which at that time must have preserved much of its antique 
 magnificence. The church was entitled Ecdesia Sancti Anyeli 
 usque ad Ccelos. The bronze statue, which in memory of this 
 miracle now surmounts the Castle of St. Angelo, was placed 
 there in recent times by Benedict XIV., and is the work of a 
 Flemish sculptor, Verschaffelt. I suppose no one ever looked 
 at this statue critically at least, for myself, I never could : 
 nor can I remember now, whether, as a work of art, it is above 
 or below criticism ; perhaps both. With its vast wings, poised 
 in air, as seen against the deep blue skies of Rome, or lighted 
 up by the golden sunset, to me it WAS ever like what it was 
 intended to represent like a vision. 
 
 A third apparition was that accorded to Aubert, bishop of 
 Avranches (A. D. 706). T^iis holy man seems to have been 
 desirous to attract to his own diocese a portion of that sanctity 
 (and perhaps other advantages) which Monte Galgano derived 
 from the worship of St. Michael. In the Gulf of Avranches, 
 in Normandy, stands a lofty isolated rock inaccessible from the
 
 94 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 land at high water, and for ages past celebrated as one of the 
 strongest fortresses and state prisons in France. In the reign 
 of Childebert II., St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, had a 
 vision, in which the Archangel Michael commanded him to 
 repair to this rock, then the terror of mariners, and erect a 
 church to his honor on the highest point, where a bull would 
 be found concealed, and it was to cover as much space as the 
 bull had trampled with his hoofs ; he also discovered to the 
 bishop a well-spring of pure water, which had before been un- 
 known. As the bishop treated this command as a dream, the 
 Archangel appeared to him a second and a third time ; and at 
 length, to impress it on his waking memory, he touched his 
 head with his thumb, and made a mark or hole in his skull, 
 which he carried to the grave. This time the bishop obeyed, 
 and a small church was built on the spot indicated ; afterwards 
 replaced by the magnificent Abbey Church, which was begun 
 by Richard duke of Normandy, in 966, and finished by William 
 the Conqueror. The poverty of invention shown in this legend, 
 which is little more than a repetition of that of Monte Gal- 
 gano, is very disappointing to the fancy, considering the cele- 
 brity of Mont Saint Michel as a place of pilgrimage, and as one 
 of the most picturesque objects in European scenery, with its 
 massive towers, which have braved the tempests of a thousand 
 years, rising from the summit of the peak, and the sea wel- 
 tering round its base. It failed not, however, in the effect 
 anticipated. The worship of St. Michael became popular in 
 France from the ninth century ; the Archangel was selected as 
 patron saint of France, and of the military order instituted in 
 his honor by Louis XI. in 1469. The worship paid to St. 
 Michael as patron saint of Normandy naturally extended itself 
 to England after the Norman conquest, and churches dedicated 
 to this archangel abound in all the towns and cities along the 
 southern and eastern shores of our island ; we also have a 
 Mount St. Michael on the coast of Cornwall, in situation and 
 in name resembling that on the coast of France. At this day 
 there are few cities in Christendom which do not contain a 
 church or churches dedicated to St. Michael, some of them of 
 great antiquity. 
 
 I must not omit that St. Michael is considered as the angel 
 of good counsel ; that " Le vrai office de Monseigneur Saint 
 Michel est de faire grandes revelations aux hommes en has, en
 
 ST. MICHAEL 
 
 95 
 
 leur donnant moult saints conseils," and in particular, " sur le 
 bon nourissement que le pere et la mere donnent a leurs en- 
 fans." (Le Livre des Angeles de 
 Dieu, MS., Paris, Bibl. Nat.) It 
 is to be regretted that " Mon- 
 seigneur Saint Michel " should 
 be found rather remiss in this 
 part of his angelic functions. 
 
 We shall now see how far 
 these various traditions and popu- 
 lar notions concerning St. Michael 
 have been carried out in Art. 
 
 In all representations of St. 
 Michael, the leading idea, well or 
 ill expressed, is the same. He 
 is young and beautiful, but " se- 
 vere in youthful beauty," as one 
 who carries on a perpetual con- 
 test with the powers of evil. In 
 the earlier works of art he is robed 
 in white, with ample many-col- 
 ored wings, and bears merely the 
 sceptre or the lance surmounted 
 by a cross, as one who conquered 
 by spiritual might alone. But in 
 the later representations, those 
 colored by the spirit of chivalry, 
 he is the angelic Paladin, armed 
 in a dazzling coat of mail, with 
 sword, and spear, and shield. He 
 has a lofty open brow, long fair 
 hair floating on his shoulders, 
 sometimes bound by a jewelled 
 tiara ; sometimes, but not often, 
 shaded by a helmet. From his 
 shoulders spring two resplendent 
 wings. Thus we see him standing 
 
 by the throne of the Madonna, or worshipping at the feet of 
 the Divine Infant ; an exquisite allegory of spiritual and intel- 
 lectual power protecting purity and adoring innocence. 
 
 There is a most beautiful little figure by Angelico, of St. 
 
 St. Michael (Angelico)
 
 96 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 Michael standing in his character of archangel and patron of 
 the Church Militant, " as the winged saint ; " no demon, no 
 attribute except the lance and shield. The attitude, so tran- 
 quilly elegant, may be seen in this sketch. In the original the 
 armor is of a dark crimson and gold, the wings are of rain- 
 bow tints, vivid and delicate ; a flame of lambent fire rests 
 on the brow. [The figure is one of a series of panels let into 
 the frame of Angelico's Deposition, in the Florence Academy.] 
 
 But the single devotional figures of St. Michael usually 
 represent him as combining the two great characters of captain 
 of the heavenly host and conqueror of the powers of hell. 
 He stands armed, setting his foot on Lucifer, either in the 
 half-human or the dragon form, and is about to transfix him 
 with his lance, or to chain him down in the infernal abyss. 
 Such, however varied in the attitude, expression, and acces- 
 sories, is the most frequent and popular representation of St. 
 Michael, when- placed before us, as the universally received 
 emblem of the final victory of good over evil. 
 
 In those churches of Christendom which have not been 
 defaced by a blind destructive zeal, this image meets us at 
 every turn : it salutes us in the porch as we enter, or it shines 
 upon us in gorgeous colors from the window, or it is wreathed 
 into the capitals of columns, or it stands in its holy heroic 
 beauty over the altar. It is so common and so in harmony 
 with our inmost being, that we rather feel its presence than 
 observe it. It is the visible, palpable reflection of that great 
 truth stamped into our very souls, and shadowed forth in 
 every form of ancient belief, the final triumph of the spirit- 
 ual over the animal and earthly part of our nature. This is 
 the secret of its perpetual repetition, and this the secret of 
 the untired complacency with which we regard it ; for even 
 in the most inefficient attempts at expression we have always 
 the leading motif distinct and true, the winged virtue is al- 
 ways victorious above and the bestial vice is always prostrate 
 below : and if to this primal moral significance be added all 
 the charm of poetry, grace, animated movement which human 
 genius has lavished on this ever blessed, ever welcome sym- 
 bol, then, as we look up at it, we are " not only touched, but 
 wakened and inspired," and the whole delighted imagination 
 glows with faith and hope and grateful triumphant sympathy, 
 so at least I have felt, and I must believe that others have 
 felt it too.
 
 ST. MICHAEL 97 
 
 In the earliest representations of this subject, we see the 
 simplest form of the allegory, literally rendering the words of 
 Scripture, " The dragon shalt thou trample under foot." (Ps. 
 xci. 13.) Here there is no risk of a divided interest or a mis- 
 directed sympathy. The demon, grovelling under the feet of 
 the victorious spirit, is not the star-bright apostate who drew 
 after him the third part of heaven ; it is the bestial malignant 
 reptile : not the emblem of resistance, but the emblem of 
 sin ; not of the sin that aspires, which, in fact, is a contra- 
 diction in terms, no sin aspires, but of the sin which 
 degrades and brutifies, as all sin does. In the later represen- 
 tations, where the demon takes the half-human shape, however 
 hideous and deformed, the allegory may so be brought nearer 
 to us, and rendered more terrible even by a horrid sympathy 
 with that human face, grinning in despite and agony ; but 
 much of the beauty of the scriptural metaphor is lost. 1 
 
 The representations of St. Michael and the dragon are so 
 multifarious that I can only select a few among them as exam- 
 ples of the different styles of treatment. 
 
 The symbol, as such, is supposed to have originated with the 
 Gnostics and Arians, and the earliest examples are to be found 
 in the ancient churches on the western coast of Italy and the 
 old Lombard churches. I have never seen it in the old 
 mosaics of the sixth century, but in the contemporary sculpture 
 frequently. It would be difficult to point to the most ancient 
 example, such is the confusion of dates as regards dedications, 
 restorations, alterations ; but I remember a carving in white 
 marble on the porch of the Cathedral of Cortona (aboufr the 
 seventh century), which may be regarded as an example of 
 this primitive style of treatment. 
 
 Another instance will be remembered by the traveller in 
 Italy, the strange antique bas-relief on the facade of that 
 extraordinary old church, the San Michele at Pavia ; not the 
 
 1 Dr. Arnold has some characteristic remarks on the half-human effigies of 
 Satan; he objects to the JVIiltonic representation: "By giving a human 
 likeness, and representing nim as a bad man, you necessarily get some image 
 of what is good, as well as of what is bad, for no man is entirely evil." 
 " The hoofs, the horns, the tail, were all useful in this way, as giving you an 
 image of something altogether disgusting ; and so Mephistopheles, and the 
 Utterly contemptible and hateful character of the Little Master in Sintram, 
 are far more true than the Paradise Last." Life, vol. ii.
 
 98 
 
 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 figure in the porch, which is modern, but that which is above. 
 In the Menologium Grecum is a St. Michael standing with a 
 long sceptre, a majestic colossal figure, while kneeling angels 
 adore him, and the demons crouch under his feet. (Vatican 
 MSS., A. D. 989.) 
 
 By Martin Schoen : St. Michael, attired in a long loose 
 robe and floating mantle, tramples on the demon; he has 
 
 St. Michael (Martin Schoen) 
 
 thrown down the shield, and with his* lance in both hands, 
 but without effort, and even with a calm angelic dignity, pre- 
 pares to transfix his adversary. The figure is singularly ele- 
 gant. The demon has not here the usual form of a dragon, 
 but is a horrible nondescript reptile, with multitudinous flexile
 
 ST. MICHAEL 99 
 
 claws, like those of a crab, stretched out to seize and entangle 
 the unwary ; for an emblematical figure, very significant. 
 In an old fresco by Guariente di Padova (A. r>. 1365. Eremi- 
 tani, Padua), the angel is draped as in Martin Schoen's figure, 
 but the attitude is far less elegant. 
 
 Sometimes the dragon has a small head at the end of his 
 tail, instead of the forked sting. I recollect an instance of 
 St. Michael transfixing the large head, while a smaller angel, 
 also armed, transfixes the other head. (Greek Apocalypse, 
 MS., Paris, Bibl. Nat.) This is an attempt to render literally 
 the description in the Apocalypse : " For their power is in 
 their mouth, and in their tails : for their tails were like unto 
 serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt." (Rev. 
 ix. 19.) In a most elegant figure of St. Michael, from the 
 choir of the San Giovanni, at Malta, I found the demon thus 
 characterized, with a tail ending in the serpent head. 
 
 In an old Siena picture (Siena Academy), St. Michael is 
 seated on a throne : in one hand a sword, in the other the orb 
 of sovereignty ; under his feet lies the dragon mangled and 
 bleeding : a bad picture, but curious for the singular treatment. 
 
 In the sixteenth century these figures of St. Michael become 
 less ideal and angelic, and more and more chivalrous and pic- 
 turesque. In a beautiful altar-piece by Andrea del Sarto, 
 now in the Florence Academy, there is a fine martial figure 
 of the Archangel, which, but for the wings, might be mis- 
 taken for a St. George ; and in the predella underneath, on 
 a small scale, he is conqueror of the demon. The peculiarity 
 here is, that the demon, though vanquished, makes a vain. 
 struggle, and has seized hold of the belt of the angel, who, 
 with uplifted sword, and an action of infinite grace and dig- 
 nity, looks superior down, as one assured of victory. 
 
 Raphael has given us three figures of St. Michael, all differ- 
 ent, and one of them taking rank with his masterpieces. 
 
 The first is an early production, painted when he was a 
 youth of nineteen or twenty, and now in the Louvre. St. 
 Michael, armed with a shield on which is a red cross, his 
 sword raised to strike, stands with one foot on a monster ; 
 other horrible little monsters, like figures in a dream, are 
 around him : in the background are seen the hypocrites and 
 thieves as described by Dante; the first, in melancholy pro- 
 cession, Aveighed down with leaden cowls ; ,'jhe others, tor-
 
 100 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 mented by snakes : and, in the distance, the flaming dolorous 
 city. St. Michael is here the vanquisher of the Vices. It is 
 a curious and fantastic, rather than poetical, little picture. 
 
 The second picture, 1 also in the Louvre, was painted by 
 Raphael, in the maturity of his talent, for Francis I. : the 
 king had left to him the choice of the subject, and he selected 
 St. Michael, the niilitary patron of France, and of that knightly 
 Order of which the king was Grand Master. 
 
 St. Michael not standing, but hovering on his poised 
 wings, and grasping his lance in both hands sets one foot 
 lightly on the shoulder of the demon, who, prostrate, writhes 
 up, as it were, and tries to lift his head and turn it on his 
 conqueror with one last gaze of malignant rage and despair. 
 The archangel looks down upon him with a brow calm and 
 serious ; in his beautiful face is neither vengeance nor disdain 
 in his attitude no effort ; his form, a model- of youthful 
 grace and majesty, is clothed in a brilliant panoply of gold 
 and silver ; an azure scarf floats on his shoulders ; his wide- 
 spread wings are of purple, blue, and gold ; his light hair is 
 raised, and floats outward on each side of his head, as if from 
 the swiftness of his downward motion. The earth emits 
 flames, and seems opening to swallow up the adversary. The 
 form of the demon is human, but vulgar in its proportions, 
 and of a swarthy red, as if fire-scathed ; he has the horns and 
 the serpent-tail ; but, from the attitude into which he is 
 thrown, the monstrous form is so fore-shortened that it does 
 not disgust, and the majestic figure of the archangel fills up 
 nearly the whole space fills the eye fills the soul with 
 its victorious beauty. 
 
 That Milton had seen this picture, and that when his sight 
 was quenched the " winged saint " revisited him in his dark- 
 ness, who can doubt ? 
 
 Over his lucid arms 
 A military vest of purple flowed 
 Livelier than Melibcean, or the grain 
 Of Sarra worn by kings and heroes old 
 In time of truce. 
 
 By his side, 
 
 As in a glittering zodiac, hung the sword, 
 Satan's dire dread, and in his hand the spear. 
 
 i [The beauty of this picture is seriously injured by restorations, made 
 necessary by the too free use of black in the original painting.]
 
 ST. MICHAEL 
 
 101 
 
 St. Michael and the Dragon (Raphael) 
 
 A third St. Michael, designed by Raphael, exists only as an 
 engraving (by Marco di Ravenna. Bartsch, xiv. 106). The 
 angel here wears a helmet, and is classically draped ; he stands 
 in an attitude of repose, his foot on the neck of the demon ; 
 one hand rests on the pommel of his sword, the other holds 
 the lance.
 
 102 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 It seems agreed that, as a work of art, there is only the St. 
 Michael of Guido (in the Cappuccini at Rome) which can he 
 compared with that of Raphael ; the moment chosen is the 
 same ; the treatment nearly the same ; the sentiment quite 
 different. 
 
 Here the angel, standing, yet scarcely touching the ground, 
 poised on his outspread wings, sets his left foot on the head of 
 his adversary ; in one hand he brandishes a sword, in the 
 other he holds the end of a chain, with which he is about to 
 bind down the demon in the bottomless pit. The attitude has 
 been criticised, and justly ; the grace is somewhat mannered, 
 verging on the theatrical ; but Forsyth is too severe when he 
 talks of the "air of a dancing-master:" one thing, however, 
 is certain, we do not think about attitude when we look* at 
 Raphael's St. Michael ; in Guide's, it is the first thing that 
 strikes us ; but when we look farther, the head redeems all ; 
 it is singularly beautiful, and in the blending of the masculine 
 and feminine graces, in the serene purity of the brow, and the 
 flow of the golden hair, there is something divine : a slight, 
 very slight expression of scorn is in the air of the head. The 
 fiend is the worst part of the picture ; it is not a fiend, but a 
 degraded prosaic human ruffian ; we laugh with incredulous 
 contempt at the idea of an angel called down from heaven to 
 overcome such a wretch. In Raphael the fiend is human, but 
 the head has the god-like ugliness and malignity of a satyr : 
 Guido's fiend is only stupid and base. It appears to me that 
 there is just the same difference the same kind of difference 
 between the angel of Raphael and the angel of Guido, as 
 between the description in Tasso and the description in Mil- 
 ton ; let any one compare them. In Tasso we are struck by 
 the picturesque elegance of the description as a piece of art, 
 the melody of the verse, the admirable choice of the expres- 
 sions, as in Guido by the finished but somewhat artificial and 
 studied grace. In Raphael and Milton we see only the vision 
 of a " shape divine." 
 
 One of the most beautiful figures of St. Michael I ever saw 
 occurs in a Coronation of the Virgin by Moretto, and is touched 
 by his peculiar sentiment of serious tenderness (Brescia). 
 
 In devotional pictures such figures of St. Michael are some- 
 times grouped poetically with other personages, as in a most 
 beautiful picture by Innocenzo da Imola (Brera, Milan), where
 
 ST. MICHAEL AND THE DRAGON (Gfioo RENI)
 
 ST. MICHAEL 103 
 
 the archangel tramples on the demon ; St. Paul standing on 
 one side, and St. Benedict on the other, both of whom had 
 striven with the fiend and had overcome him : the Madonna 
 and the Child are seen in a glory above. 1 
 
 And again in a picture by Mabuse, where St. Michael, as 
 patron, sets his foot on the black grinning fiend, and looks 
 down on a kneeling votary, while the votary, with his head 
 turned away, appears to be worshipping, not the protecting 
 angel, but the Madonna, to whom St. Michael presents him. 2 
 Such votive pictures are not uncommon, and have a peculiar 
 grace and significance. Here the archangel bears the victori- 
 ous banner of the cross, he has conquered. In some in- 
 stances he holds in his hand the head of the Dragon, and in 
 all instances it is, or ought to be, the head of the Dragon 
 which is transfixed, " Thou shalt bruise his head." 
 
 Those representations in which St. Michael is not conqueror, 
 but combatant, in which the moment is one of transition, are 
 less frequent ; it is then an action, not an emblem, and the 
 composition is historical rather than symbolical. It is the 
 strife with Lucifer ; " when Michael and his angels fought 
 against the dragon, and the dragon, fought and his angels, and 
 the great dragon was cast out." (Rev. xii. 7.) In churches 
 and chapels dedicated to St. Michael, or to " the Holy An- 
 gels," this appropriate subject often occurs ; as in a famous 
 fresco by Spinello d'Arezzo, at Arezzo (A. D. 1400. Engraved 
 in Lasinio's Early Florentine Masters). In the middle of 
 the composition, Michael, armed with sword and shield, is seen 
 combating the dragon with seven heads, as described in the 
 Apocalypse. Above and around are many angels, also armed. 
 At the top of the picture is seen an empty throne, the throne 
 which Lucifer had " set in the north ; " below is seen Lucifer, 
 falling with his angels over the parapet of heaven. (Isaiah 
 xiv. 13.) The painter tasked his skill to render the transfor- 
 mation of the spirits of light into spirits of darkness as fear- 
 ful and as hideous as possible ; and, being a man of a nervous 
 temperament, the continual dwelling on these horrors began at 
 length to trouble his brain. He fancied that Lucifer appeared 
 
 1 [No painting by Innocenzo da Imola is mentioned in the Brera catalogue 
 of 1892.] 
 
 2 [The reference is probably to the painting in the Munich Gallery now 
 catalogued to Bernaert van Orley.]
 
 104 
 
 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 St. Michael and the Dragon (Oggione) 
 
 to him in a dream, demanding by what authority he had por- 
 trayed him under an aspect so revolting ? the painter awoke 
 in horror, was seized with delirious fever, and so died. 
 
 In his combat with the dragon, Michael is sometimes repre- 
 sented alone, and sometimes as assisted by the two other arch- 
 angels, Gabriel and Raphael : as in the fresco by Signorelli, at 
 Orvieto, where one of the angels, whom we may suppose to
 
 ST. MICHAEL 105 
 
 be Kaphael, looks down on the falling demons with an air of 
 melancholy, almost of pity. 
 
 In a picture by Marco Oggione, Michael has precipitated the 
 demon into the gulf, and hovers above, Avhile Kaphael and 
 Gabriel stand below on each side, looking on ; all are clothed 
 in voluminous loose white draperies, more like priests than 
 warriors ; but it is a fine picture (Brera, Milan). 
 
 In the large Rubens-room at Munich there are two pictures 
 of Michael subduing the revolted angels. The large one, in 
 which Michael is the principal figure, is not agreeable. Ru- 
 bens could not lift himself sufficiently above the earth to 
 conceive and embody the spiritual, and heroic, and beautiful 
 in one divine form ; his St. Michael is vulgar. The smaller 
 composition, where the fallen, or rather falling, angels fill the 
 whole space, is a most wonderful effort of artistic invention. 
 At the summit of the picture stands St. Michael, the shield in 
 one hand, in the other the forked lightnings of divine wrath ; 
 and from above the rebel host tumble headlong " in hideous 
 ruin and combustion hurled," and with such affright and 
 amazement in every face, such a downward movement in every 
 limb, that we recoil in dizzy horror while we look upon it. It 
 is curious that Rubens should have introduced female repro- 
 bate spirits : if he intended his picture as an allegory, merely 
 the conquest of the spiritual over the sensual, he is excusable ; 
 but if he meant to figure the vision in the Apocalypse, it is a 
 deviation from the proper scriptural treatment, which is inex- 
 cusable. This picture remains, however, as a whole, a perfect 
 miracle of art : the fault is, that we feel inclined to applaud 
 as we do at some astonishing tour de force ; such at least was 
 my own feeling, and this is not the feeling appropriate to the 
 subject. Though this famous picture is entitled the Fall of 
 the Angels, I have some doubts as to whether this was the 
 intention of the painter, whether he did not mean to express 
 the fall of sinners, flung by the Angel of judgment into the 
 abyss of wrath and perdition ? 
 
 In those devotional pictures which exhibit St. Michael as 
 Lord of souls, he is winged and unarmed, and holds the bal- 
 ance. In each scale sits a little naked figure, representing a 
 human soul ; one of these is usually represented with hands 
 joined as in thankfulness he is the beato, the elected; the 
 other is in an attitude of horror he is the rejected, the repro-
 
 106 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 bate ; and often, but not necessarily, the idea is completed by 
 the introduction of a demon, who is grasping at the descend- 
 ing scale, either with his talons, or with the long two-pronged 
 hook, such as is given to Pluto in the antique sculpture. 
 
 Sometimes St. Michael is thus represented singly ; some- 
 times very beautifully in Madonna pictures, as in a picture by 
 Leonardo da Vinci (A. D. 1498), where St. Michael, a graceful 
 angelic figure, with light flowing hair, kneels before the Ma- 
 donna, and presents the balance to the Infant, who seems to 
 welcome the pious little soul who sits in the uppermost scale. 1 
 
 I have seen this idea varied. St. Michael stands majestic, 
 with the balance poised in his hands : instead of a human figure 
 in either scale, there are weights ; on one side is seen a com- 
 pany of five or six little naked shivering souls, as if waiting 
 for their doom ; on the other several demons, one of whom 
 with his hook is pulling down the ascending scale. (Psalter of 
 St. Louis. Bib. de 1' Arsenal, Paris.) With or without the 
 balance, St. Michael figures as Lord of souls when introduced 
 into pictures of the Assumption or the Glorification of the 
 Virgin. To understand the whole beauty and propriety of 
 such representations, we must remember that, according to 
 one of the legends of the death of the Virgin, her spirit was 
 consigned to the care of St. .Michael until it was permitted 
 to reanimate the spotless form, and with it ascend to heaven. 
 
 In one or two instances only, I have seen St. Michael with- 
 out wings. In general, an armed figure, unwinged and stand- 
 ing on a dragon, we may presume to be a St. George ; but 
 where the balance is introduced, it leaves no doubt of the 
 personality it is a St. Michael. Occasionally the two char- 
 acters the protecting Angel of light and the Angel of judg- 
 ment are united, and we see St. Michael with the dragon 
 under his feet and the balance in his hand. This was a favor- 
 ite and appropriate subject on tombs and chapels dedicated to 
 the dead ; such is the beautiful bas-relief on the tomb of 
 Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 In some representations of the Last Judgment, St. Michael, 
 instead of the banner and cross, bears the scales ; as in the 
 very curious bas-relief on the fagade of the church of St. 
 Trophime at Aries. St. Michael here has a balance so large 
 
 [! The picture described is the Vierge aux Balances of the Louvre, attri- 
 buted by Otto Miindler to Cesare da Sesto.]
 
 ST. MICHAEL 
 
 107 
 
 that it is almost as high as himself ; it is not a mere emblem, 
 but a fact ; a soul sits in each scale, and a third is rising up ; 
 the angel holds out one hand to assist him. In another part 
 of the same bas-relief St. Michael is seen carrying a human 
 soul (represented as a little naked figure) and bringing it to 
 
 St. Michael as Angel of Judgment (attributed to Memling) 
 
 St. Peter and St. Paul. In a celebrated Last Judgment, at- 
 tributed by some authors to John Van Eyck, by others to 
 Justus of Ghent [or to Memling], St. Michael is grandly 
 introduced. High up, in the centre, sits the Saviour, with the 
 severe expression of the judge. Above Him hover four angels 
 with the instruments of the Passion, and below Him three
 
 108 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 others sounding trumpets I suppose the seven preemi- 
 nent angels : the Virgin and St. John the Baptist on each 
 side, and then the Apostles ranged in the usual manner. " In 
 the lower half of the picture stands St. Michael, clad in 
 golden armor, so bright as to reflect in the most complete 
 manner all the surrounding objects. His figure is slender and 
 elegant, but colossal as compared to the rest. He seems to 
 be bending earnestly forward, a splendid purple mantle falls 
 from his shoulders to the ground, and his large wings are com- 
 posed of glittering peacock's feathers. He holds the balance ; 
 the scale with the good rests on earth, but that with the souls 
 which are found wanting mounts into the air. A demon 
 stands ready to receive them, and towards this scale St. Michael 
 points with the end of a black staff which he holds in his 
 right hand." This picture, which is a chef-d'oeuvre of the 
 early German school, is now in the church of St. Mary at 
 Dantzig. 
 
 The historical subjects in which St. Michael is introduced 
 exhibit him as prince of the Hebrew nation, and belong prop- 
 erly to the Old Testament. (St. Ephrem, Bib. Orient, torn. i. 
 p. 78; De Beausobre, vol. ii. p. 17.) "After the confusion 
 of tongues, and the scattering of the people, which occurred 
 on the building of the Tower of Babel, every separate nation 
 had an angel to direct it. To Michael was given in charge 
 the people of the Lord. The Hebrews being carried away 
 captive into the land of Assyria, Daniel prayed that they 
 might be permitted to return when the seventy years of cap- 
 tivity were over ; but the Angel of Persia opposed himself on 
 this occasion to the angels Michael and Gabriel. He wished 
 to retain the Jews in captivity, because he was glad to have, 
 within the bounds of his jurisdiction, a people who served 
 the true God, and because he hoped that in time the captive 
 Jews would convert to the truth the Assyrians and Persians 
 committed to his care." This curious passage from one of the 
 early Christian fathers, representing the good angels as opposed 
 to each other, and one of them as disputing the commands 
 of God, is an instance of the confused ideas on the subject of 
 angels which prevailed in the ancient Church, and which pre- 
 vail, I imagine, in the minds of many even at this day. 
 
 In the story of Hagar in the wilderness, it is Michael who
 
 ST. MICHAEL 109 
 
 descends to her aid. In the sacrifice of Isaac, it is Michael 
 who stays the arm of Abraham. It is Michael who brings 
 the plagues on Egypt, and he it is who leads the Israel- 
 ites through the wilderness. It was the belief of the Jews, 
 and of some of the early Christian fathers, that through his 
 angel (not in person) God spoke to Moses from the burning 
 bush, and delivered to him the law on Mount Sinai ; and that 
 the angel so delegated was Michael. 
 
 It is Michael who combats with Lucifer for the body of 
 Moses. (Jude, ver. 9.) According to one interpretation of this 
 curious passage of Scripture, the demon wished to enter and 
 to possess the form of Moses, in order to deceive the Jews by 
 personating their leader ; but others say that Michael con- 
 tended for the body, that he might bury it in an unknown 
 place, lest the Jews should fall into the sin of paying divine 
 honors to their legislator. This is a fine picturesque subject ; 
 the rocky desert, the body of Moses dead on the earth, the 
 contest of the good and evil angel confronting each other, 
 these are grand materials ! It must have been rarely treated, 
 for I remember but one instance the fresco by L. Signorelli, 
 in the Sistine Chapel in the Yatican. 1 
 
 It is Michael who intercepts Balaam when on his way to 
 curse the people of Israel, and puts blessings into his mouth 
 instead of curses : a subject often treated, but as a fact rather 
 than a vision. (Didron.) 
 
 It is Michael who stands before Joshua in the plain by 
 Jericho : " And Joshua said unto him, Art thou for us, or 
 for our adversaries ? And he said, Nay ; but as captain of 
 the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on 
 his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, 
 What saith my lord unto his servant ? And the captain of 
 the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy 
 foot ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." (Joshua 
 v. 1315.) This subject is very uncommon. In the Greek 
 MS. already alluded to, I met with a magnificent example 
 magnificent in point of sentiment, though half ruined and 
 effaced ; the god-like bearing of the armed angel, looking 
 down on the prostrate Joshua, is here as fine as possible. 
 
 It is Michael who appears to Gideon. (Judges vi. 11.) It 
 
 1 [For other opinions in regard to the authorship of this fresco, see Lay- 
 urd's Revision of Kugler's Handbook, p. 185.]
 
 110 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 is Michael who chastises David. (2 Sam. xxiv. 16.) It is 
 Michael who exterminates the army of Sennacherib ; a sub- 
 ject magnificently painted by Rubens [Munich]. Some sup- 
 pose that on this occasion God made use of the ministry of an 
 evil angel. (Calmet.) 
 
 It is Michael who descends to deliver the Three Children 
 from the burning fiery furnace. The Three Children in the 
 furnace is a subject which appears very early in the catacombs 
 and on the sarcophagi as a symbol of the Redemption. so 
 early, that it is described by Tertullian (De Oratione, cap. 
 xii.) ; but in almost all the examples given there are three 
 figures only ; where there is a fourth, it is, of course, the pro- 
 tecting angel, but he is without wings. (Bottari, Tab. xxii.) 
 On the early Christian sarcophagi, as I have already observed, 
 there are no winged angels. In the oft-repeated subject of 
 the " Three Children in the burning fiery furnace," the fourth 
 figure, when introduced, may represent a son of God, i. e. 
 an angel ; or the Son of God, i. e. Christ, as it has been inter- 
 preted in both senses. 
 
 Michael seizes the prophet Habakkuk by the hair of the 
 head, and carries him to Babylon, to the den of lions, that he 
 may feed Daniel. (Bel and the Dragon, 26.) This apocryphal 
 subject occurs on several sarcophagi. (Bottari, 15, 49, 84.) I 
 have seen it also in illuminated MSS., but cannot at this mo- 
 ment refer to it. It occurs in a series of late Flemish prints 
 after Heemskerk, of which there are good impressions in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 The Archangel Michael is not named in the Gospels ; but 
 in the legends of the Madonna, as we shall see hereafter, he 
 plays a very important part, being deputed by Christ to 
 announce to His mother her approaching end, and to receive 
 her soul. For the present I will only remark, that when, in 
 accordance with this very ancient legend, an angel is repre- 
 sented kneeling before the Madonna, and holding in his hand 
 a palm surmounted by stars, or a lighted taper, this angel is 
 not Gabriel, announcing the conception of Christ, as is usually 
 supposed, but Michael, as the angel of death. (See Legends of 
 the Madonna.) 
 
 The legend of Monte Galgano I saw in a large fresco, in the 
 [Cappella Velluti] Santa Croce at Florence, by a painter of
 
 ST. GABRIEL 111 
 
 the Giotto school ; but in so bad a state, that I could only 
 make out a bull on the top of a mountain, and a man shooting 
 with a bow and arrow. On the opposite wall is the combat of 
 Michael with the dragon very spirited, and in much better 
 preservation. To distinguish the apparition of St. Michael on 
 Monte Galgano from the apparition on Mont St. Michel, in 
 both of which a bull and a bishop are principal figures, it is 
 necessary to observe, that, in the last-named subject, the sea 
 is always introduced at the base of the picture, and that the 
 former is most common in Italian, and the latter in French, 
 works of art. In the French stained glass of the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries, St. Michael is a very popular subject, 
 either with the dragon, or the scales, or both. 
 
 Lately, in removing the whitewash from the east wall of 
 the nave of Preston Church, near Brighton, was discovered 
 the outline of a group of figures representing St. Michael, 
 fully draped, and with large wings, bearing the balance ; in 
 each scale a human soul. The scale containing the beato is 
 assisted by a figure fully draped, but so ruined that it is not 
 possible to say whether it represents the Virgin, or the guar- 
 dian saint of the person who caused the fresco to be painted. 
 I am told that in the old churches of Cornwall, and of the 
 towns on the south coast, which had frequent intercourse with 
 France, effigies of St. Michael occur frequently, both in paint- 
 ing and sculpture. On the old English coin, thence called an 
 angel, we have the figure of St. Michael, who was one of the 
 patron saints of our Norman kings. 
 
 I must now trust to the reader to contemplate the figures 
 of St. Michael, so frequent and so varied in Art, with refer- 
 ence to these suggestions ; and leaving for the present this 
 radiant Spirit, this bright similitude of a primal and universal 
 faith, we turn to his angelic companions. 
 
 ST. GABRIEL 
 
 Lot. Sanctus Gabriel. Ital. San Gabriello, San Gabriele, L'Angelo 
 Annunziatore. Fr. St. Gabriel. 
 
 " I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." Luke i. 19. 
 
 Iii those passages of Scripture where the Angel Gabriel is 
 mentioned by name, he is brought before us in the character
 
 112 OF ANGELS AND AKCHANGELS 
 
 of a Messenger only, and always on important occasions. In 
 the Old Testament he is sent to Daniel to announce the 
 return of the Jews from captivity and to explain the vision 
 which prefigures the destinies of mighty empires. His con- 
 test with the Angel of the kingdom of Persia, when St. 
 Michael comes to his assistance, would be a splendid subject 
 in fit hands ; I do not know that it has ever been painted. 
 In the New Testament the mission of Gabriel is yet more 
 sublime : he first appears to the high priest Zacharias, and 
 foretells the birth of John the Baptist, a subject which 
 belongs especially to the life of that saint. Six months later, 
 Gabriel is sent to announce the appearance of the Redeemer 
 of mankind. " The stone on which stood the angel Gabriel 
 when he announced to the most Blessed Virgin the great 
 mystery of the Incarnation " is among the relics enumerated 
 as existing in the church of Santa Croce at Rome. 
 
 In the Jewish tradition, Gabriel is the guardian of the 
 celestial treasury. Hence, I presume, Milton has made him 
 chief guardian of Paradise : 
 
 , Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat, 
 
 Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night. 
 
 [Par. Lost, book iv. 550.] 
 
 As the Angel who announced the birth of Christ, he has 
 been venerated as the Angel who presides over childbirth. 
 He foretells the birth of Samson, and, in the apocryphal 
 legends, he foretells to Joachim the birth of the Virgin. In 
 the East, he is of great importance. Mahomet selected him 
 as his immediate teacher and inspirer, and he became the 
 great protecting angel of Islamism : hence between Michael, 
 the protector of the Jews and Christians, and Gabriel, the 
 protector of the Moslem, there is supposed to exist no friendly 
 feeling rather the reverse. 
 
 In the New Testament, Gabriel is a much more important 
 personage than Michael ; yet I have never met with any pic- 
 ture in which he figures singly as an object of worship. In 
 devotional pictures he figures as the second of the three Arch- 
 angels " Secondo f ra i primi," as Tasso styles him ; or in 
 his peculiar character as the divine messenger of grace, " V An- 
 yelo anniinziatore." He then usually bears in one hand a
 
 ST. GABRIEL 113 
 
 lily or a sceptre ; in the other a scroll on which is inscribed, 
 " AVE MARIA, GRATIA PLENA ! " 1 
 
 The subject called the ANNUNCIATION is one of the most 
 frequent and most important, as it is one of the most, beauti- 
 ful, in the whole range of Christian Art. It belongs, how- 
 ever, to the history of the Virgin, where I shall have occasion 
 to treat it at length ; yet as the Angel Gabriel here assumes, 
 by direct scriptural testimony, a distinct name and personality, 
 and as the dignity and significance proper to a subject so often 
 unworthily and perversely treated depend very much on the 
 character and deportment given to the celestial messenger, I 
 shall make a few observations in this place with respect to the 
 treatment of the angel, only reserving the theme in its general 
 bearing for future consideration. 
 
 In the early representations of the Annunciation it is treated 
 as a religious mystery, and with a solemn simplicity and purity 
 of feeling which is very striking and graceful in itself, as 
 well as in harmony with the peculiar manner of the divine reve- 
 lation. The scene is generally a porch or portico of a temple- 
 like building ; the Virgin stands (she is very seldom seated, 
 and then on a kind of raised throne) ; the angel stands before 
 her, at some distance ; very often, she is within the portico ; 
 he is without. Gabriel is a majestic being, generally robed in 
 white, wearing the tunic and pallium a I'antique, his flowing 
 hair bound by a jewelled tiara, with large many-colored wings, 
 and bearing the sceptre of sovereignty in the left hand, while 
 the right is extended in the act of benediction as well as salu- 
 tation : " Hail ! thou that art highly favored ! Blessed art 
 thou among women ! " He is the principal figure : the atti- 
 tude of the Virgin, with her drapery drawn over her head, 
 her eyes drooping, and her hands folded on her bosom, is 
 always expressive of the utmost submission and humility. So 
 Dante introduces the image of the lowly Virgin receiving the 
 angel as an illustration of the virtue of Humility : 
 
 1 In Paradise he sings forever the famous salutation: 
 Cantando Ave Maria gratia plena 
 Dinanzi a lei le sue ali distese. 
 
 Dante, Par. 32. 
 
 [And he who had to her descended once 
 On earth, now hail'd in heav'n, and on pois'd wing 
 Ave Maria gratia plena sang. 
 
 Cary's Translation.]
 
 114 
 
 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 Ed avea in atto impressa esta fa- 
 
 vella 
 " Ecce ancilla Dei! " 
 
 and Flaxman has admirably 
 embodied this idea, both in 
 the lofty angel with out- 
 spread arms, and the kneel- 
 ing Virgin. Sometimes the 
 angel floats in, with his arms 
 crossed over his bosom, but 
 still with the air of a supe- 
 rior being, as in this beau- 
 tiful figure after Lorenzo 
 Monaco, from a picture in 
 the [Academy], Florence. 
 
 The two figures are not 
 always in the same picture ; 
 it was a very general custom 
 to place the Virgin and the 
 Angel, the " Annunziata " 
 and the "Angelo annunzia- 
 tore," one on each side of 
 the altar, the place of the 
 Virgin being usually to the 
 right of the spectator; some- 
 times the figures are half- 
 length : sometimes, when placed in the same picture, they are 
 in two separate compartments, a pillar, or some other ornament, 
 running up the picture between them ; as in many old altar- 
 pieces, where the two figures are placed above or on each side 
 of the Nativity, or the Baptism, or the Marriage at Cana, or 
 some other scene from the life and miracles of our Saviour. 
 This subject does not appear on the sarcophagi ; the earliest 
 instance I have met with is in the mosaic series over the arch 
 in front of the choir in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, at 
 Rome, executed in the fifth century. Here we have two suc- 
 cessive moments represented together. In the first the angel is 
 sent on his mission, and appears flying down from heaven ; the 
 earliest instance I have seen of an angel in the act of flight. 
 In the second group the Virgin appears seated on a throne ; two 
 angels stand behind her, supposed to represent her guardian 
 
 Angel Gabriel (Lorenzo Monaco)
 
 ST. GABRIEL 
 
 110 
 
 angels, and the angel 
 Gabriel stands in front 
 with one hand extended. 
 The dresses are classical, 
 and there is not a trace 
 of the mediaeval feeling, 
 or style, in the whole 
 composition. 
 
 In the Greek pictures, 
 the Angel and the Vir- 
 gin hoth stand ; and in 
 the Annunciation of Cim- 
 abue the Greek formula 
 is strictly adhered to. I 
 have seen pictures, of the 
 fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries, in which Ga- 
 briel enters as a princely 
 ambassador, with three 
 little angels bearing up 
 his mantle behind : in a 
 picture in the collection 
 of Prince Wallerstein, 
 one meek and beautiful 
 angel bears up the rich 
 robes of the majestic arch- 
 angel, like a page in the train of a sovereign prince. But from 
 the beginning of the fourteenth century we perceive a change 
 of feeling, as well as a change of style ; the veneration paid to 
 the Virgin demanded another treatment. She becomes not 
 merely the principal person, but the superior being; she is 
 the " Regina angelorum," and the angel bows to her, or kneels 
 before her as to a queen. 1 Thus in the famous altar-piece at 
 Cologne, the angel kneels ; he bears a sceptre, and also a sealed 
 
 1 See the Ursuline Manual. ''When an angel anciently appeared to the 
 patriarchs or prophets, he was received with due honor as being exalted above 
 them, both by nature and grace; but when an archangel visited Mary, he 
 was struck with her superior dignity and preeminence, and, approaching, 
 saluted her with admiration and respect. Though accustomed to the lustre 
 of the highest heavenly spirits, yet he was dazzled and amazed at the dignity 
 and spiritual glory of her whom he came to salute Mother of God, while the 
 attention of the whole heavenly court was with rapture fixed upon her." 
 
 Angel Gabriel (Stephen Lothener)
 
 116 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 roll, as if he were a celestial ambassador delivering his cre- 
 dentials ; about the same period we sometimes see the angel 
 merely with his hands folded over his breast, and his head 
 inclined, delivering his message as if to a superior being. 
 
 I cannot decide at what period the lily first replaced the 
 sceptre in the hand of the angel, not merely as the emblem 
 of purity, but as the symbol of the Virgin from the verse in 
 the Canticles usually applied to her : "I am the rose of 
 Sharon, and the lily of the valley." A lily is often placed in 
 a vase near the Virgin, or in the foreground of the picture : 
 of all the attributes placed in the hand of the angel, the lily 
 is the most usual and the most expressive. 
 
 The painters of Siena, who often displayed a new and origi- 
 nal sentiment in the treatment of a subject, have represented 
 the Angel Gabriel as the announcer of " peace on earth ; " he 
 kneels before the Virgin, croAvned with olive, and bearing a 
 branch of olive in his hand, as in a picture by Taddeo Bartoli. 
 There is also a beautiful St. Gabriel by Martin Schoen, stand- 
 ing, and crowned with olive. So Dante 
 
 L' angel che venue in terra col decreto 
 Delia molt' anni lagrimata pace. 
 
 Another passage in Dante which the painters seem to have 
 had before them shows us the Madonna as queen, and the 
 angel as adoring : 
 
 "Qual e quel angel che con tanto giuoco 
 Guarda negli occhi la nostra regina 
 Innamorato si che par di fuoco ?" 
 Ed egli a me, " Baldezza e leggiadria 
 Quanta esser puote in angelo ed in alma 
 Tutta e in lui, e si volem che sia ! " 
 
 [Paradiso, canto xxxii. 90. 1 ] 
 
 It is in seeking this baldezza e leggiadria in a mistaken 
 
 1 [Gary's translation of these lines scarcely conveys the meaning of bal- 
 dezza and leggiardria : 
 
 " Say who that angel is, that with such glee 
 Beholds our queen, and so enamor'd glows 
 Of her high beauty, that all fire lie seems," 
 
 " In him are summ'd 
 Whate'er of buxomness and free delight 
 May be in spirit, or in angel, met."]
 
 ST. GABKIEL 
 
 117 
 
 sense that the later painters have forgotten all the spiritual 
 dignity of the Angel Messenger. 
 
 Where the angel bears a lighted taper, which the Virgin 
 extends her hand to take from him ; or, kneeling, bears in his 
 hand a palm-branch, surmounted by seven or twelve stars, the 
 subject represented is not the announcement of the birth of 
 the Saviour, but the death of the Virgin, a. part of her legendary 
 history which is rarely treated and easily mistaken ; then the 
 announcing angel is not Gabriel, but Michael. 1 
 
 In old German Art, the angel in the Annunciation is habited 
 in priestly garments richly embroidered. The scene is often 
 the bedroom of the Virgin ; 
 and while the announcing 
 angel enters and kneels at 
 the threshold of the door, 
 the Holy Ghost enters at 
 the window. I have seen 
 examples in which Gabriel, 
 entering at a door behind 
 the Virgin, unfolds his offi- 
 cial " Ave Maria." He has 
 no lily, or sceptre, and she is 
 apparently conscious of his 
 presence without seeing him 
 (as in a very curious print by 
 " Le Graveur de 1466 ; " and 
 there are other instances). 
 
 But in the representa- 
 tions of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury we find neither the 
 solemnity of the early Ital- 
 ian nor the naivete' of the 
 early German school ; and 
 this divine subject becomes 
 more and more materialized 
 
 and familiarized, until, losing its spiritual character, it strikes 
 us as shockingly prosaic. One cannot say that the angel is 
 invariably deficient in dignity, or the Virgin in grace. In the 
 
 1 The Annunciation and the Death of the Virgin, and the office and charac- 
 ter of the announcing angel in both subjects, are fully treated and illustrated 
 in the Legends oj' the Madonna. 
 
 t- s 
 
 Angel Gabriel (Martin Schoen)
 
 118 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 Venetian school and the Bologna school we find occasionally 
 very beautiful Annunciations ; but in general the half-draped 
 fluttering angels and the girlish-looking Virgins are nothing less 
 than offensive ; and in the attempt to vary the sentiment the 
 naturalisti have here run the risk of being much too natural. 
 
 In the cathedral at Orvieto, the Annunciation is represented 
 in front of the choir by two colossal statues by Francesco 
 Mochi : to the right is the Angel Gabriel, poised on a marble 
 cloud, in an attitude so fantastic that he looks as if he were 
 going to dance ; on the other side stands the Virgin, con- 
 ceived in a spirit how different ! yet not less mistaken ; she 
 has started from her throne ; with one hand she grasps it, with 
 the other she seems to guard her person against the intruder ; 
 majesty at once, and fear, a look of insulted dignity, are in the 
 air and attitude, "par che minacci e terna nel tempo 
 istesso," but I thought of Mrs. Siddons while I looked, not 
 of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 This fault of sentiment I saw reversed, but equally in the 
 extreme, in another example a beautiful miniature. (Chants 
 Royaux. Paris, Bibl. Nat.) The Virgin, seated on the side of 
 her bed, sinks back alarmed, almost fainting ; the angel in a 
 robe of crimson, with a white tunic, stands before her, half 
 turning away and grasping his sceptre in his hand, with a proud 
 commanding air, like a magnificent surly god a Jupiter who 
 had received a repulse. 
 
 I pass over other instances conceived in a taste even more 
 blamable Gabriels like smirking, winged lord chamberlains ; 
 and Virgins, half prim, half voluptuous the sanctity and 
 high solemnity of the event utterly lost. Let this suffice for 
 the present : , I may now leave the reader to his own feeling 
 and discrimination. 
 
 ST. RAPHAEL 
 
 Lot. Sanctus Raphael. Ital. San Raffaello. Fr. Saint Raphael. 
 Ger. Der Heilige Rafael. 
 
 "lam Raphael, one of the Seven Holy Angels which present the prayers of 
 the Saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One." 
 Tobit xii. 15. 
 
 I have already alluded to the established belief, that every 
 individual man, nay, every created being, hath a guardian
 
 ST. RAPHAEL 119 
 
 angel deputed to watch over him. Woe unto us, if, by our 
 negligence or our self-will, we offend him on whose vigilance 
 we depend for help and salvation ! But the prince of guardian 
 spirits, the guardian angel of all humanity, is Raphael ; and in 
 this character, according to the early Christians, he appeared 
 to the shepherds by night " with good tidings of great joy, 
 which shall be for all people." It is, however, from the beau- 
 tiful Hebrew romance of Tobit that his attributes are gathered : 
 he is the protector of the young and innocent, and he watches 
 over the pilgrim and the wayfarer. The character imputed to 
 him in the Jewish traditions has been retained and amplified 
 by Milton ; Raphael is the angel sent by God to warn Adam : 
 
 The affable archangel 
 Raphael ; the sociable spirit that deigned 
 To travel with Tobias, and secured 
 His marriage with the seven times wedded maid. 
 
 [Par. Lost, book v. 220.] 
 
 And the character of the angel is preserved throughout ; 
 his sympathy with the human race, his benignity, his elo- 
 quence, his mild and social converse. So when Adam blesses 
 him : 
 
 Since to part, 
 
 Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger, 
 Sent from whose sovereign goodness I adore! 
 Gentle to me and affable hath been 
 Thy condescension, and shall be honored ever 
 With grateful memory. Thou to mankind 
 Be good and friendly still, and oft return ! 
 
 [Par. Lost, book viii. 645.] 
 
 This character of benignity is stamped on all the best 
 representations of Raphael, which, however, are not common : 
 they occur principally in the chapels dedicated to the holy 
 guardian angels ; but there are also churches and chapels dedi- 
 cated to him singly. 
 
 The devotional figures of Raphael exhibit him in the dress 
 of a pilgrim or traveller, " his habit fit for speed succinct," 
 sandals on his feet, his hair bound with a fillet or diadem, the 
 staff in his hand, and sometimes a bottle of water or a wal- 
 let {panetiere) slung to his belt. In a figure by Murillo, 
 from one of the most beautiful pictures in the Leuchtenberg 
 Gallery [Munich]], Raphael is the guardian and guide of the 
 votary who appears below a bishop who probably bore the
 
 120 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 same name. Mr. Stirling entitles this picture, "An Angel 
 appearing to a Bishop at his prayers." 
 
 Sometimes, as guardian spirit, he has a sword : the most 
 beautiful example I could cite of this treatment is the figure 
 in the Breviary of Anne of Bretagne (A. D. 1500) ; he wears 
 a pale-green tunic bordered with gold, and wings of a deep 
 rose-color ; he has a casket or wallet slung over his shoulder 
 by a golden belt ; in one hand he holds a sword, and the 
 other is raised with a warning gesture ; his countenance, beau- 
 tiful and benign as possible, yet says, " Take heed." More 
 commonly, however, he carries a small casket, box, or vase, 
 supposed to contain the " fishy charm " against the evil spirits. 
 (Tobit vi. 6, 7.) 
 
 Raphael, in his character of guardian angel, is generally 
 represented as leading the youthful Tobias. When, in order 
 to mark the difference between the celestial and the mortal 
 being, Tobit is figured so small as to look like a child, and 
 when the angel wears his spirit-wings, and is not disguised, 
 the whole subject becomes idealized : it is no longer an histor- 
 ical action, but a devotional allegory ; and Tobias with his 
 fish represents the Christian, the believer, guarded and guided 
 through his life-pilgrimage by the angelic monitor and min- 
 ister of divine mercy. 
 
 There is a small side chapel in the church of Saint 
 Euphemia, at Verona, dedicated to St. Raphael. The walls 
 are painted with frescoes from the story of Tobit ; and over 
 the altar is that masterpiece of Carotto, representing the three 
 archangels as three graceful spirit-like figures without wings. 
 The altar being dedicated to Raphael, he is here the principal 
 figure ; he alone has the glory encircling his head, and takes 
 precedence of the others ; he stands in the centre leading 
 Tobias, and looking down on him with an air of such saintly 
 and benign protection that one feels inclined to say or sing, 
 in the words of the litany, " Sancte Raphael, adolescentium 
 pudicitae defensor, ora pro nobis ! " Even more divine is the 
 St. Michael who stands on the right, with one hand gathering 
 up the folds of his crimson robe, the other leaning on his 
 great two-handed sword ; but such a head, such a countenance 
 looking out upon us so earnest, powerful, and serious ! we 
 recognize the Lord of Souls, the Angel of Judgment. To the 
 left of Raphael stands Gabriel, the Angel of Redemption ; he
 
 ST. RAPHAEL 121 
 
 holds the lily, and looks up to heaven adoring ! this is the 
 least expressive of the three heads, but still beautiful ; and, on 
 the whole, the picture left a stronger impression on my mind 
 than any I had seen at Venice, the glorious Assumption ex- 
 cepted. The coloring in its glowing depth is like that of 
 Giorgione. Vasari tells us that this picture, painted when 
 Carotto was young (about A. D. 1495), was criticised because 
 the limbs of the angels were too slender ; to which Carotto, 
 famous for his repartees, replied, " Then they will fly the 
 better ! " The drawing, however, it must be conceded, is not 
 the best part of the picture. . 
 
 The earliest picture of Titian which remains to us is a 
 St. Raphael leading Tobias (in the church of S. Marziale, 
 Venice) ; beautiful, but not equal, certainly, to that of Carotto. 
 Eaphael, as we might naturally suppose, painted his guardian 
 angel and patron saint con amore : 1 we have by him two St. 
 Raphaels ; the first, 2 a little figure, executed when he was a 
 boy in the studio of his master Perugino, [was formerly] one 
 side of an altar-piece in the Certosa at Pavia [whence it has 
 found its way to the National Gallery, London]. Later in 
 life, and in one of his finest works, he has introduced his 
 patron saint with infinite beauty of feeling : in the Madonna 
 della Pesce (Madrid), the Virgin sits upon her throne, with 
 the Infant Christ in her arms ; the angel Raphael presents 
 Tobias, who is not here a youth but a child ; while the In- 
 fant Christ turns away from the wise bearded old doctor, who 
 is intently studying his great book, to welcome the angel and 
 his charge. The head of the angel, looking up in the face of 
 the Madonna, is in truth sublime ; it would be impossible to 
 determine whether it belongs to a masculine or a feminine 
 being ; but none could doubt that it is a divine being, filled 
 with fervent, enthusiastic, adoring love. The fish in the 
 hand of Tobias has given its name to the picture ; and I may 
 as well observe that in the devotional pictures, where the fish 
 is merely an attribute, expressing Christian baptism, it is 
 usually very small ; in the story it is a sort of monster, which 
 sprang out of the river and would have devoured him. 
 
 1 Passavant's Rafael [German edition], vol. ii. pp. 6, 150. [Crowe and 
 Cavalcaselle are loath to admit the authenticity of the picture.] 
 
 2 [Although this picture is attributed to Raphael by Passavant, Crowe anC 
 Cavalcaselle consider it the work of Perugino, to whom it is credited in the 
 official catalogue of the National Gallery, 1802.]
 
 122 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 
 
 All the subjects in which the Archangel Raphael is an actor 
 belong to the history of Tobit. The scenes of this beautiful 
 scriptural legend I must call it so have been popular 
 subjects of Art, particularly in the later schools, and have 
 been admirably treated by some of the best Dutch and Flemish 
 painters ; the combination of the picturesque and poetical with 
 the homely and domestic recommended it particularly to 
 Rembrandt and his school. Tobias dragging the fish ashore, 
 while the angel stands by, is a fine picturesque landscape 
 subject which has been often repeated. The spirited little 
 sketch by Salvator (Louvre), in which the figure of the 
 guardian angel is admirable for power and animated grace ; 
 the twilight effect by Rembrandt, another by Domenichino 
 (National Gallery), three by Claude, * may be cited as examples. 
 
 In such pictures, as it has been rightly observed, the angel 
 ought not to have wings : he is disguised as the friendly 
 traveller. The dog, which ought to be omitted in the devo- 
 tional pictures, is here a part of the story, and figures with 
 great propriety. 
 
 Rembrandt painted the parting of Tobias and his parents 
 four times ; Tobias led by the angel, four times ; Tobias heal- 
 ing his father, once ; the departure of the angel, twice. Of 
 this last subject, the picture in the Louvre may be pronounced 
 one of his finest, miraculous for true and spirited expres- 
 sion, and for the action of the soaring angel, who parts the 
 clouds and strikes through the air like a strong swimmer 
 through the waves of the sea. 
 
 The story of Tobit, as a series of subjects, has been very 
 frequently represented, always in the genre and picturesque 
 style of the later schools. I shall have to return to it here- 
 after ; here I have merely alluded to the devotional treatment, 
 in order to direct attention to the proper character of the 
 Archangel Raphael. 
 
 And thus we have shown 
 
 How Holy Church 
 
 Doth represent with human countenance 
 Gabriel and Michael, and him who made 
 Tobias whole. 
 
 Dante, Par. c. iv. 
 
 1 [Tobit and the Angel by Claude Lorraine is one of the pictures of the 
 Madrid Gallery. Another is in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.]
 
 OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS 123 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES ON ANGELS 
 
 1. In a picture by Gentile da Fabriano (Berlin Gallery), the Virgin and 
 Child are enthroned, and on each side of the throne is a tree, on the branches 
 of which are little red Seraphim winged and perched like birds, singing and 
 making music. I remember also a little Dutch print of a Riposo, in which 
 live little angels are perched on the trees above, singing and playing for the 
 solace of the divine Infant. Thus we have Dante's idea of the Uccelli di Dio 
 reproduced in a more familiar form. 
 
 2. In the Convent of Sant' Angelo at Bologna, Camillo Procaccino painted 
 the "Acts of the Holy Angels" in the following order : 1. The Fall of the 
 Dragon. 2. The Angels drive Adam and Eve from Paradise. 3. The three 
 Angels visit Abraham. 4. The Angel stays the arm of Abraham. 5. The 
 Angel wrestles with Jacob. 6. The Angels visit Jacob in a Dream. 7. The 
 Angel delivers the three Children in the burning fiery Furnace. 8. The An- 
 gel slays the Host of Sennacherib. 9. The angel protects Tobit. 10. The 
 Punishment of Heliodorus. 11. The annunciation to Mary. It will be re- 
 marked that all these subjects are strictly scriptural.
 
 III. THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 " Matthew wrote for the Hebrews ; Mark, for the Italians ; Luke, for the 
 Greeks ; for all, the great herald John." GREGORY NAZIANZEX. 
 
 SINCE on the Four Evangelists, as the witnesses and inter- 
 preters of a revealed religion, the whole Christian Church may 
 be said to rest as upon four majestic pillars, we cannot be sur- 
 prised that representations of them should abound, and that 
 their effigies should have been introduced into Christian places 
 of worship from very early times. Generally, we find them 
 represented together, grouped, or in a series ; sometimes in their 
 collective character, as the Four Witnesses ; sometimes in 
 their individual character, each as an inspired teacher, or benef- 
 icent patron. As no authentic resemblances of these sacred 
 personages have ever been known or even supposed to exist, 
 such representations have always been either symbolical or 
 ideal. In the symbol, the aim was to embody, under some 
 emblematical image, the spiritual mission ; in the ideal por- 
 trait, the artist, left to his own conception, borrowed from 
 Scripture some leading trait (when Scripture afforded any 
 authority for such), and adding, with what success his skill 
 could attain, all that his imagination could conceive, as ex- 
 pressive of dignity and persuasive eloquence, the look " com- 
 mercing with the skies," the commanding form, the reverend 
 face, the ample draperies, he put the book or the pen into 
 his hand, and thus the writer and the teacher of the truth was 
 placed before us. 
 
 The earliest type under which the Four Evangelists are 
 * figured is an emblem of the simplest kind : four scrolls placed 
 in the four angles of a Greek cross, or four books (the Gos- 
 pels), representing allegorically those who wrote or promulgated 
 them. The second type chosen was more poetical the foui 
 rivers which had their source in Paradise : representations ot 
 this kind, in which the Saviour, figured as a lamb holding the 
 cross, or in His human form, with a lamb near Him, stands on
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 12o 
 
 an eminence, from which gush four rivers or fountains, are to 
 be met with in the catacombs, on ancient sarcophagi preserved 
 among the Christian relics in the Vatican, and in several old 
 churches constructed between the second and the fifth century. 
 
 At what period the four mysterious creatures in the vision 
 of Ezekiel (ch. i. 5) were first adopted as significant symbols 
 of the Four Evangelists does not seem clear. The Jewish 
 doctors interpreted them as figuring the four Archangels, 
 Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel ; and afterwards applied them 
 as emblems of the Four Great Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel, and Daniel. By the early Oriental Christians, who 
 typified the whole of the Old Testament, the transfer of the 
 emblem to the Four Evangelists seems obvious and easy ; we 
 find it alluded to as early as the second century. The four 
 " Beasts " of corresponding form in the Revelation (chap. iv. 
 7), which stood round the throne of the Lamb, were likewise 
 thus interpreted; but it was not till the fifth century that we 
 find these symbols assuming a visible form, and introduced 
 into works of Art. In the seventh century they had become 
 almost universal as distinctive attributes. 
 
 The general application of the Four Creatures to the Four 
 Evangelists is of much earlier date than the separate and indi- 
 vidual application of each symbol, which has varied at different 
 times ; that propounded by St. Jerome, in his commentary on 
 Ezekiel, has since his time prevailed universally. Thus, then, 
 1. To St. Matthew was given the CHERUB, or human sem- 
 blance, because he begins his Gospel with the human genera- 
 tion of Christ ; or, according to others, because in his Gospel 
 the human nature of the Saviour is more insisted on than the 
 divine. In the most ancient mosaics, the type is human, not 
 angelic, for the head is that of a man with a beard. 2. St. 
 Mark has the LION, because he has set forth the royal dignity 
 of Christ ; or, according to others, because he begins with the 
 mission of the Baptist, " the voice of one crying in the 
 wilderness" which is figured by the lion; or, according 
 to a third interpretation, the lion was allotted to St. Mark 
 because there was, in the middle ages, a popular belief that 
 the young of the lion was born dead, and after three days was 
 awakened to vitality by the breath of its sire ; some authors, 
 however, represent the lion as vivifying his young not by his 
 breath, but by his roar. In either case the application is
 
 126 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 the same ; the revival of the young lion was considered as 
 symbolical of the resurrection, and Mark was commonly called 
 the " Historian of the Resurrection. '* Another commentator 
 observes that Mark begins his Gospel with " roaring " " the 
 voice of one crying in the wilderness ; " and ends it fearfully 
 with a curse " He that believeth not shall be damned ; " and 
 that, therefore, his appropriate attribute is the most terrible of 
 beasts, the lion. 1 3. Luke has the Ox, because he has dwelt 
 on the priesthood f Christ, the ox being the emblem of sacri- 
 fice. 4. John has the EAGLE, which is the symbol of the 
 highest inspiration, because he. soared upwards to the contem- 
 plation of the divine nature of the Saviour. 
 
 But the order in which, in theological Art, these symbols 
 are placed, is not the same as the order of the Gospels accord- 
 ing to the canon. Rupertus considers the Four Beasts as 
 typical of the Incarnation, the Passion, the Kesurrection, 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. 
 
 I have dwelt on these fanciful interpretations and disquisi- 
 tions, because the symbols of the Evangelists meet us at every 
 turn ; in the mosaics of the old Italian churches, in the decora- 
 tive sculpture of our old cathedrals, in the Gothic stained glass, 
 in the ancient pictures and miniatures, on the carved and 
 chased covers of old books ; everywhere, in short, where enters 
 the idea of their divine mission and where is it not ? The 
 profound thought, as well as the vivid imagination, exercised 
 in some of these early works of Art, is beginning to be appre- 
 ciated ; and we should lose the half of what is poetical and 
 significant and venerable in these apparently arbitrary and fan- 
 
 1 Rupertus, Commentar. in Apocal. c. 4. Mark xvi. 16.
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 127 
 
 ciful symbols, if we merely seized the general intention, and 
 not the relative and appropriate meaning of each. 
 
 I will only add (for I have restricted myself to the con- 
 sideration of the mysteries of faith only so far as they are 
 carried into the forms of Art) that these symbols of the Four 
 Evangelists were in their combination held to be symbolical 
 of the Eedeemer, in the fourfold character then universally 
 assigned to Him, as man, as king, as high priest, and as God ; 
 according to this Latin verse : 
 
 Quatuor hsec Dominum signant animalia Christum : 
 Est Homo nascendo, vitulusque sacer moriendo, 
 Et Leo surgendo, coelos n^uiVaque petendo ; 
 Nee minus hos scribas animalia et ipsa figurant. 
 
 This would again alter the received order of the symbols, 
 and place the angelic or human semblance lower than the rest : 
 but I have never seen them so placed ; at least I can recollect 
 no instance. 
 
 A Greek mosaic, existing in the Convent of Vatopedi, on 
 Mount Athos, exhibits an attempt to reduce to form the wild 
 and sublime imagery of the 
 prophet Ezekiel : the Evan- 
 gelists, or rather the Gospels, 
 are represented as the tetra- 
 morph, or four-faced creature, 
 with wings full of eyes, and 
 borne on wheels of living 
 flame. 
 
 The Tetramorph, i. e. the 
 union of the four attributes 
 of the Evangelists in one 
 figure, is in Greek Art always 
 angelic or winged a mys- 
 terious thing. The Tetra- 
 morph in Western Art has in some instances become monstrous, 
 instead of mystic and poetical. In a miniature of the " Hortus 
 Deliciarum" we find the new Law, or Christianity, represented 
 as a woman crowned and seated on an animal which, with the 
 body of a horse, has the four heads of the mystic creatures ; 
 and of the four feet, one is human ; one hoofed, for the ox ; 
 one clawed like an eagle's ; and one like a lion's ; underneath 
 is inscribed Animal Ecclesice. In some other examples, the 
 
 St. Matthew (Mosaic)
 
 128 
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 St. Luke (Mosaic) 
 
 Church, or the new Law, is 
 seated in a triumphal car, 
 drawn by the eagle, the lion, 
 and the ox, while the angel 
 holds the reins and drives as 
 
 charioteer, 
 
 rr( , , ... 
 
 Ihe early images of the 
 
 Evangelical symbol are uni- 
 formly represented with 
 wings, for the same reason that 
 wings were given to the an- 
 gels, they were angels, i. e. 
 bringers of good tidings : for 
 instance, in the earliest exam- 
 ple to which I can refer, a 
 rude fragment of a bas-relief 
 in terra-cotta found in the cat- 
 acombs, which represents a lamb with a glory holding a cross ; 
 on the right, an angel in a sacerdotal garment (St. Matthew), 
 on the left the winged ox (St. Luke), each holding a book. 
 
 In the incest ancient Christian churches we find these sym- 
 bols perpetually recurring, generally in or over the recess at the 
 east end (the apsis, or tribune), where stands the altar. And 
 as the image of Christ, as the Redeemer, either under the sem- 
 blance of the lamb, or in 
 His human likeness, as a 
 grand, calm, solemn figure 
 enthroned, and in the act 
 of benediction, forms inva- 
 riably the principal object ; 
 almost as invariably the 
 Evangelists are either at 
 the four corners, or ranged 
 in a line above or below, 
 or they are over the arch in 
 front of the tribune. Some- 
 times they are the heads 
 only of the mystic creatures 
 on an azure ground, studded 
 with stars, floating as in a firmament ; or the half figure ends 
 in a leafy scroll, like the genii in an arabesque; or the creature 
 
 St. Mark (Mosaic)
 
 THE FOUK EVANGELISTS 
 
 129 
 
 is given at full length and entire, with four wings, holding the 
 book, and looking much like a figure in heraldry. 
 
 The next step was the combination of the emblem with the 
 human form, i. e. the 
 head of the lion, ox, 
 or eagle, set upon the 
 figure of a man. There 
 is a figure of St. John 
 standing, with the head 
 of an eagle, holding the 
 Gospel. There is an- 
 other rudely engraved 
 in Mlinter's work, with 
 shoulders, and a scroll. 
 
 St. John (Mosaic) 
 
 upon the 
 St. John 
 
 the eagle's head, wings 
 I remember another of 
 seated, writing, with the head and clawed feet of an eagle, 
 and the body and hands of a man. Such figures as a series I 
 have seen in ornaments, and frequently in illuminated MSS., 
 but seldom in churches, and never of 
 
 rL M N ( C a l &r e s ^ ze< ^ very striking and 
 comparatively modern example of 
 this peculiar treatment occurs in a 
 bas-relief on the door of the Col- 
 lege of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence, 
 at Castiglione, in which the Four 
 Evangelists are represented as half- 
 length human figures, amply draped 
 and holding the Gospels, each with 
 the emblematic head and large out- 
 spread wings. The bronze bas-reliefs 
 of the Evangelists on each side of the 
 choir of St. Antonio, at Padua, are 
 similar in form, and very fine, both in 
 conception and workmanship. 
 
 There is a series of full-length 
 figures in the first compartment of 
 the Life of Christ by Angelico da 
 Fiesole (Florence Academy). In the 
 original the figures stand round a 
 mystic circle, alternately with the 
 prophets. We must remember, that 
 St. John (Mosaic) however monstrous and grotesque- such
 
 130 
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 figures may appear to the eye, they are not more unnatural 
 than the angelic representations with which we are so familiar 
 that we see in them beauty only not considering that men 
 with the wings of birds are as merely emblematical and impos- 
 sible as men with animal heads. It is interesting, and leads 
 the mind to many speculations, to remark that the Babylonish 
 captivity must have familiarized the Israelites with the com- 
 bination of the human and animal attributes in the same figure. 
 The gigantic bas-reliefs from Nineveh show us winged bulls 
 with human heads, and the human form with the eagle's head 
 
 and wings. This figure, 
 for example, is not un- 
 like some early figures 
 of St. John, if we sub- 
 stitute the book and the 
 pen for the basket and 
 the pine-cone. 
 
 In a few later exam- 
 ples the only symbolical 
 attribute retained is a 
 pair of wings. 
 
 These animal sym- 
 bols, whether alone or 
 in combination with the 
 human forms, were per- 
 fectly intelligible to the 
 people, sanctified in their 
 eyes by tradition, by 
 custom, and by the most 
 solemn associations. All 
 direct imitation of nature 
 was, by the best paint- 
 Assyrian Symbol ers, carefully avoided. 
 
 In this respect how fine 
 
 is Eaphael's Vision of Ezekiel ! how sublime and how true 
 in feeling and conception ! where the Messiah comes floating 
 along, upborne by the Four Creatures mysterious, spiritual, 
 wonderful beings, animals in form, but in all else unearthly, 
 and the winged ox not less divine than the winged angel ! 1 
 
 1 There is a small and beautiful picture by Giulio Romano in the Belve- 
 dere at Vienna, representing the emblems of the Four Evangelists grouped
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 131 
 
 Whereas, in the later times, when the artist piqued himself 
 upon the imitation of nature, the mystic and venerable signifi- 
 cance was wholly lost. As a striking instance of this mistaken 
 style of treatment, we may turn to the famous group of the 
 Four Evangelists by Rubens, grand, colossal, standing or rather 
 moving figures, each 
 with his emblem, if 
 emblems they can be 
 called which are almost 
 as full of reality as na- 
 ture itself, the ox so 
 like life, we expect him 
 to bellow at us; the 
 magnificent lion flour- 
 ishing his tail, and look- 
 ing at St. Mark as if 
 about to roar at him ! 
 and herein lies the 
 mistake of the great 
 painter, that, for the 
 religious and mysterious 
 emblem, he has Sub- 
 stituted the creatures themselves ; this being one of the 
 instances, not \infrequent in Art, in which the literal truth 
 becomes a manifest falsehood. (Grosvenor Gallery [London].) 
 
 In ecclesiastical decoration the Four Evangelists are some- 
 times grouped significantly with the Four Greater Prophets ; 
 thus representing the connection between the new and the 
 old Law. I met with a curious instance in the Cathedral of 
 Chartres. The five great windows over the south door may be 
 said to contain a succinct system of theology, according to the be- 
 lief of the thirteenth century : here the Virgin, i. e. the Church 
 or Religion, occupies the central window ; on one side is Jere- 
 miah, carrying on his shoulders St. Luke, and Isaiah carrying 
 St. Matthew ; on the other side Ezekiel bears St. John, and 
 Daniel, St. Mark ; thus representing the New Testament rest- 
 ing on the Old. 
 
 In ecclesiastical decoration, and particularly in the stained 
 glass, they are often found in combination with the Four Doc- 
 
 in a picturesque manner, which was probably suggested by Raphael's cele- 
 brated picture, which is in the Pitti Palace at Florence. 
 
 St. Mark (Mosaic
 
 132 
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 St. John St. Luke St. Matthew St. Mark 
 
 The Evangelists (S. Vitale, Ravenna) 
 
 tors, the Evangelists being considered as witnesses, the Doctors 
 as interpreters, of the truth ; or as a series with the Four 
 Greater Prophets, the Foiir Sibyls, and the Four Doctors of 
 the Church, the Evangelists taking the third place. 
 
 If, as late as the sixteenth century, we find the Evangelists 
 still expressed by the mystic emblems (as in the fine bronzes 
 in the choir of Sant' Antonio at Padua), as early as the sixth 
 we have in the Greek MSS. and mosaics the Evangelists as 
 venerable men, and promulgators of a revelation ; as in San 
 Vitale at Kavenna (A. D. 547) : on each side of the choir, near- 
 est the altar, we find the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah ; then 
 follow the Evangelists, two on each side, all alike, all classi- 
 cally draped in white tunics, each holding an open book, on 
 which is inscribed " Secundum Marcum," " Secundum Johan- 
 nem," etc. ; and above each the animal symbol or attribute, 
 large, full length, and grandly designed. In modern ecclesias- 
 tical decoration, the usual and appropriate situation of the 
 Four Evangelists is immediately under the dome, nearest to 
 the Saviour after the angels, or after the prophets, where either 
 are introduced. I will mention here a few examples celebrated 
 in the history of Art ; premising that among the works of Le- 
 onardo, of Michael Angelo, and Kaphael, we find no represen-
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 133 
 
 tations of the Four Evangelists ; which is singular, considering 
 that such figures entered necessarily into every scheme of theo- 
 logical decorative Art. 
 
 By Cimabue (A. D. 1270), larger than life, on the vault of 
 the choir in Sah Francesco d' Assisi. 
 
 By Giotto (A. D. 1320), in [S. Giovanni Evangelista], at 
 Eavenna ; seated, and each accompanied by one of the doctors 
 of the Church. 
 
 By Angelico (A. D. 1390), round the dome of the chapel of 
 San Niccolo, in the Vatican ; all seated, each with his emblem. 
 
 By Masaccio (A. D. 1420), round the dome of the chapel of 
 the Passion in San Clemente, at Eome ; admirable for simple 
 grandeur. 
 
 On the dome of the chapel del Cambio, at Perugia ; the 
 heads admirable. [By Manni, in Peruginesque style. 1 ] 
 
 By Correggio (A. D. 1520), immediately under the cupola 
 of San Giovanni [Parma], in four lunettes, magnificent fig- 
 ures : and again in -, the Cathedral of Parma, each seated in 
 glory, with one of the doctors of the Church. 
 
 By Domenichino, two sets (A. D. 1620). Those in the 
 Church of St. Andrea della Valle, at Eome, are considered his 
 finest works, and celebrated in the history of Art : they are 
 grand figures. The emblematical animals are here combined 
 with the personages in a manner the most studied and pictur- 
 esque ; and the angels which sport around them, playing with 
 the mane of St. Mark's lion, or the pallet and pencils of St. 
 Luke, are like beautiful " Amoretti," but we hardly think 
 of angels. The series at Grotta-Ferrata is inferior. 
 
 The Four Evangelists by Valentin (A. D. 1632), in the 
 Louvre, 2 had once great celebrity, and have been often en- 
 graved ; they appear to me signal examples of all that should 
 be avoided in character and sentiment. St. Matthew, for ex- 
 ample, is an old beggar ; the model for the attendant angel is 
 a little French gamin, " k qui Valentin a commande de sortir 
 un bras de la manche de sa chemise, que de 1'autre main il 
 soutient gauchement." 
 
 Le Sueur (A. D. 1655) has represented the Four Evangelists 
 seated at a table writing ; the Holy Ghost descends upon them 
 in the form of a dove. 
 
 1 [See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy, vol. iii. p. 338.] 
 
 2 [Not in Villot's catalogue of 1891.]
 
 134 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 Towards the end of the seventeenth century we find sets 
 of the Evangelists in which the emblems are altogether omit- 
 ted, and the personages distinguished by their situation, or by 
 their names inscribed under or over them ; but we miss those 
 antique scriptural attributes which placed them before us as 
 beings foreshadowed in the prophecies uttered of old ; they 
 have become mere men. 
 
 This must suffice for the Evangelists considered as a series 
 and in their collective character ; but it will be .interesting to 
 pause for a moment, and take a rapid retrospective view of the 
 progress, from first to last, in the expression of an idea through 
 form. * 
 
 First, we have the mere fact ; the four scrolls, or the four 
 books. 
 
 Next, the idea ; the four rivers of salvation flowing from 
 on high, to fertilize the whole earth. 
 
 Thirdly, the prophetic Symbol ; the winged cherub of four- 
 fold aspect. 
 
 Next, the Christian Symbol ; the four " beasts " in the 
 Apocalypse, with or without the angel-wings. 
 
 Then the combination of the emblematical animal with the 
 human form. 
 
 Then the human personages, each of venerable or inspired 
 aspect, as becomes the teacher and witness ; and each attended 
 by the scriptural emblem no longer an emblem, but an attri- 
 bute marking his individual vocation and character. 
 
 And, lastly, the emblem and attribute both discarded, we 
 have the human being only, holding his Gospel, i. e. his ver- 
 sion of the doctrine of Christ. 
 
 ST. MATTHEW 
 
 Lot. S. Mattheus. Ital. San Matteo. Fr. Saint Matthieu. Ger. 
 St. Matthaus. (Sept. 21.) 
 
 St. Matthew among the Apostles takes the seventh or 
 eighth place, but as an Evangelist he always stands first, because 
 his Gospel was the earliest written. Very little is certainly 
 known concerning him, his name occurring but once in his own 
 Gospel, and in the other Gospels only incidentally with refer- 
 ence to two events.
 
 ST. MATTHEW 
 
 135 
 
 He was a Hebrew by birth ; by profession a publican, or 
 tax-gatherer, in the service of the Romans an office very 
 lucrative, but particularly odious in the sight of his country- 
 men. His original name was Levi. It is recorded in few 
 words, that as he sat at the receipt of custom by the lake of 
 Gennesareth, Jesus in passing by saw him, and said unto him, 
 "Follow me," and he left 
 all and followed Him ; and 
 further, that he made a 
 feast in his house, at 
 which many publicans and 
 sinners sat down with the 
 Lord and His disciples, to 
 the great astonishment and 
 scandal of the Jews. So 
 far the sacred record : the 
 traditional and legendary 
 history of St. Matthew is 
 equally scanty. It is re- 
 lated in the " Perfetto Le- 
 gendario " that, after the 
 dispersion of the apostles, 
 he travelled into Egypt 
 and Ethiopia, preaching 
 the Gospel ; and having 
 arrived in the capital of 
 Ethiopia, he lodged in the 
 house of the eunuch who 
 had been baptized by 
 Philip, and who enter- 
 tained him with great 
 
 honor. There were two terrible magicians at that time in 
 Ethiopia, who by their diabolical spells and incantations kept 
 all the people in subjection, afflicting them at the same time 
 with strange and terrible diseases ; but St. Matthew overcame 
 them, and having baptized the people, they were delivered for- 
 ever from the malignant influence of these enchanters. And 
 further, it is related that St. Matthew raised the son of the 
 King of Egypt from the dead, and healed his daughter of the 
 leprosy. The princess, whose name was Iphigenia, he placed 
 at the head of a community of virgins dedicated to the service 
 
 St. Matthew (Raphael)
 
 136 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 of God ; and a certain wicked heathen king, having threatened 
 to tear her from her asylum, was struck by leprosy, and his 
 palace destroyed by fire. St. Matthew remained twenty-three 
 years in Egypt and Ethiopia, and it is said that he perished in 
 the ninetieth year of our era, under Domitian ; but the manner 
 of his death is uncertain ; according to the Greek legend, he 
 died in peace, but according to the tradition of the Western 
 Church, he suffered martyrdom either by the sword or the 
 spear. 
 
 Few churches are dedicated to St. Matthew. I am not aware 
 that he is the patron saint of any country, trade, or profession, 
 unless it be that of tax-gatherer or exciseman ; and this is 
 perhaps the reason that, except where he figures as one of the 
 series of evangelists or apostles, he is so seldom represented 
 alone, or in devotional pictures. In a large altar-piece, the 
 " San Matteo " of Annibal Caracci (Dresden Gallery), he is 
 standing before the throne of the Madonna, as a pendant to 
 John the Baptist, and gives his name to the picture : but such 
 examples are uncommon. When he is portrayed as an evan- 
 gelist, he holds a book or a pen ; and the angel, his proper 
 attribute and attendant, stands by, pointing up to heaven, or 
 dictating ; or he holds the inkhorn, or he supports the book. 
 In his character of apostle, St. Matthew frequently holds a 
 purse or money-bag, as significant of his former vocation. 
 
 Neither are pictures from his life of frequent occurrence. 
 The principal incident, entitled the " Calling of Matthew," 
 has been occasionally, but not often, treated in painting. The 
 motif is simple and not easily mistaken. St. Matthew is 
 seated at a kind of desk with money before him ; various 
 personages bring tribute ; on one side is seen Christ, with one 
 or two of His disciples, generally Peter and Andrew ; St. 
 Matthew is either looking towards Him with an expression of 
 awestruck attention, or he is rising from his seat, as in the act 
 to follow : the mere accessories and number of the personages 
 vary with the period of the composition and the taste of the 
 painter. 
 
 1. The earliest instance I can cite, probably the oldest 
 which has come down to us, is in a Greek MS. of the ninth 
 century (Paris, Bib. du Roi). St. Matthew sits with both 
 hands on a heap of gold lying on a table before him : he 
 looks round at Christ, who is a little behind.
 
 ST. MATTHEW 137 
 
 2. St. Matthew is about to rise to follow the Saviour ; by 
 Matteo di Ser Cambio of Perugia, who has represented his 
 patron saint in a small composition (A. D. 1377. Engraved 
 in Rosini, pi. 24). 
 
 3. In the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace there is a 
 very curious and interesting picture of this subject by Mabuse, 
 which once belonged to King Charles I., and is quaintly 
 described in the old catalogue of his pictures as " a very old, 
 defaced, curious altar-piece, \ipon a thick board, where Christ 
 is calling St. Matthew out of the custom-house ; which picture 
 was got in Queen Elizabeth's days, in the taking of Calus 
 Malus (Cadiz), in Spain. Painted upon a board in a gilded 
 arched frame, like an altar-piece ; containing ten big figures, less 
 than half so big as the life, and some twenty-two afar off less 
 figures. Given to the King." In the foreground there is a 
 rich architectural porch, from which St. Matthew is issuing in 
 haste, leaving his money-bags behind ; and in the background 
 is seen the Lake of Gennesareth and shipping. This picture 
 was among the booty taken in Essex's expedition against Cadiz 
 in 1596, and probably stolen from some church. 
 
 4. In the Vienna Gallery I found three .pictures of the 
 same subject, all by Hemessen, very quaint and curious. 
 
 5. At Dresden the same subject in the Venetian style [at- 
 tributed to] Pordenone. [Both Morelli and Dr. Woermann 
 are doubtful of the authenticity of this picture. It is perhaps 
 a copy by a Flemish artist.] 
 
 6. By Ludovico Caracci, a grand scenic picture, painted for 
 the Mendicanti in Bologna. (Xow in the Bologna Gallery.) 
 
 7. In a chapel of the church of San Luigi de' Francesi, at 
 Home, there are three pictures by Caravaggio from the life of 
 St. Matthew. Over the altar is the saint writing his Gospel ; 
 he looks up at the attendant angel, who is behind with out- 
 spread wings, and in the act of dictating. On the left is the 
 calling of St. Matthew : the saint, who has been counting 
 money, rises with one hand on his breast, and turns to follow 
 the Saviour ; an old man, with spectacles on his nose, exam- 
 ines with curiosity the personage whose summons has had 
 such a miraculous effect ; a boy is slyly appropriating the money 
 which the apostle has thrown down. The third picture is the 
 martyrdom of the saint, who, in the sacerdotal habit, lies 
 extended on a block, while a half-naked executioner raises the
 
 138 
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 Christ and St. Matthew (attributed to Pordenone) 
 
 sword, and several spectators shrink hack with horror. There 
 is nothing dignified or poetical in these representations ; and 
 though painted with all that power of effect which character- 
 ized Caravaggio, then at the height of his reputation, they 
 have also his coarseness of feeling and execution : the priests 
 were (not without reason) dissatisfied ; and it required all the 
 influence of his patron, Cardinal Giustiniani, to induce them to 
 retain the pictures in the church where we now see them. 
 Here we sympathize with the priests, rather than with the 
 artist and his patron. 
 
 The Feast which St. Matthew made for our Saviour and 
 His disciples is the subject of one of Paul Veronese's gorgeous 
 banquet scenes ; that which he painted for the refectory of the 
 Convent of St. John and St. Paul at Venice. It is now in the 
 Academy, filling up the end wall of one of the great rooms 
 from side to side, and seeming to let in light and air through 
 the lofty marble porticoes, which give us such a magnificent 
 idea of the splendor which surrounded Levi before he left all 
 to follow Jesus,
 
 ST. MARK 139 
 
 In all the representations of the death of St. Matthew, 
 except those of the Greek or Byzantine school, he dies by the 
 sword. The Greek artists uniformly exhibit him as dying in 
 peace, while an angel swings the censer beside his bed ; as on 
 the ancient doors of San Paolo at Rome. 
 
 Pictures from the legendary life of St. Matthew are very 
 rare. The most remarkable are the frescoes in the chapel of 
 San Matteo, at Eavenna, attributed to Giotto. They are so 
 much ruined that, of the eight subjects represented, only three 
 his vocation, his preaching and healing the sick in Ethiopia, 
 and the baptism of the king and queen can be made out. 
 In the Bedford missal at Paris I found a miniature, repre- 
 senting St. Matthew " healing, the son and daughter of King 
 Egyptus of the leprosy ; " but, as a subject of Art, he is not 
 popular. 
 
 ST. MARK 
 
 Lat. S. Marcus. Ital. San Marco Evangelista. Fr. St. Marc. Ger. 
 Der Heilige Marcus. (April 25. A. D. 68.) 
 
 St. Mark the Evangelist was not one of the twelve Apos- 
 tles : his conversion apparently took place after the ascension. 
 He was the companion and assistant of Paul and Barnabas, 
 with whom he preached the Gospel among the Gentiles. Ac- 
 cording to the traditions received in the Roman Church, he 
 was converted by St. Peter, and became his favorite disciple ; 
 attended him first to Aquileia, where they converted and bap- 
 tized the people on the shores of the Adriatic, and thence to 
 Rome. While there he wrote his Gospel for the use of the 
 Roman converts, some say from the dictation of the apostle. 
 He afterwards, by command of St. Peter, went to preach the 
 Gospel in Egypt ; and after preaching in Lybia and Thebais 
 for twelve years, he founded the church of Alexandria, subse- 
 quently one of the most celebrated of all the early Christian 
 churches. The ire of the heathen being stirred up against 
 him because of his miracles, they reviled him as a magician, 
 and, during the feast of their god Serapis, seized him while 
 in the act of worship, bound him, and dragged him along 
 the streets and highways, and over stony and rocky places, till 
 he perished miserably ; at the same time a dreadful tempest of 
 hail and lightning fell upon his murderers, by which they
 
 uo 
 
 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 were dispersed and destroyed. The Christians of Alexandria 
 buried his mangled remains, and his sepulchre was regarded 
 with great reverence for several centuries. About 815 A. D., 
 some Venetian merchants trading to Alexandria carried off the 
 relics (literally stole them, "convey the wise it call ! "), and 
 they were deposited in the city of Venice, where the stately 
 church of St. Mark was built over them. Since that time, St. 
 Mark has been honored as the patron saint of Venice, and his 
 legendary history has supplied the Venetian painters with 
 many beautiful and picturesque subjects. 
 
 When St. Mark is represented as one of the Four Evan- 
 gelists, either singly or grouped with the others, he is almost 
 invariably accompanied by the Jion, winged or unwinged, but 
 
 generally ' winged, 
 which distinguishes him 
 from St. Jerome, who is 
 also accompanied by the 
 lion, but unwinged, as 
 we shall see hereafter. 
 
 In devotional repre- 
 sentations, St. Mark 
 often wears the habit of 
 bishop, as first bishop of 
 Alexandria. He is thus 
 represented in the colos- 
 sal mosaic over the prin- 
 cipal door of St. Mark's 
 at Venice 1 in the pon 
 tificals of a -Greek bishop, 
 no mitre, short gray hair 
 and beard ; one hand 
 raised in benediction, 
 the other holding the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Of the innumerable 
 pictures in which St. 
 Mark figures as patron of Venice, I can afford to give a few 
 examples only. 
 
 1. A. Busati. He is seated on a throne ; an open book in 
 one hand, bearing inscribed the Venetian motto (" la Leggenda 
 1 Designed by Titian [or in his workshop], and executed by F. Zuccati. 
 
 St. Mark (Titian)
 
 ST. MARK 141 
 
 dd Veneti") PAX TIBI, MARCE, EVANGELISTA MEUS; the 
 other hand blessing : behind him a fig-tree, with leaves and no 
 fruit ; probably in allusion to the text, ch. xi. 13, which is 
 peculiar to St. Mark. On his right stands St. Andrew bearing 
 a cross ; on the left St. Bernardino of Siena ; behind him the 
 apple-tree which " brought death into the world and all our 
 woe." This votive picture, from its mystical accessories and 
 the introduction of St. Bernardino, was probably painted for 
 the Franciscans (i Frari) of Venice ; it is now in the Academy 
 there. 
 
 2. St. Mark on a lofty throne holds his Gospel in his hand ; 
 at his feet the four saints who &re protectors against sickness 
 and pestilence, St. Sebastian, St. Roch, St. Cosmo, and St. 
 Damian : a splendid picture in Titian's early manner. (It is 
 so like Giorgione in sentiment and color that it has been attri- 
 buted to him.) [Painted for the canons of San Spirito in 
 Isola, but now in S. Salute, Venice.] 3. St. Mark plants the 
 standard of Venice, by Bonifazio. And 4. " San Marco che 
 assista all' coscrizione maritima " (i. e. the enlisting of the 
 mariners for the service of the State), by G. del Moro, both 
 curious instances of the manner in which the Venetians mixed 
 up their patron saint with all their political and military trans- 
 actions. 5. St. Mark presents the Doge Leonardo Dona to 
 the Virgin ; the most remarkable of a numerous class of votive 
 pictures common in the Venetian school, in which St. Mark 
 introduces either the Doge or some general or magnifico to the 
 Virgin. 
 
 A very remarkable and beautiful picture of this class is in 
 the Berlin Gallery [Tintoretto], St. Mark, enthroned and 
 holding his Gospel open on his knees, is instructing three of 
 the Procuradori di San Marco, who kneel before him in their 
 rich crimson dresses, and listen reverently. 
 
 Among the devotional pictures of St. Mark, one of the most 
 famous is that of Fra Bartolommeo, in the Palazzo Pitti. He 
 is represented as a man in the prime of life, with bushy hair 
 and a short reddish beard, throned in a niche, and holding in 
 one hand the Gospel, in the other a pen ; the lion is omitted. 
 The Frate painted this picture for his own convent of San 
 Marco at Florence. It is much lauded and celebrated, but 
 the attitude appeared to me rather forced, and the features 
 rather commonplace,
 
 l42 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 The legend which describes St. Mark as the disciple and 
 amanuensis of St. Peter has given occasion for those votive 
 pictures in which they are represented together. 1. In the 
 treasury of St. Mark's (Venice, Ducal Palace) is preserved a 
 golden reliquary of a square form, containing, it is said, a frag- 
 ment of the original Gospel in the handwriting of St. Mark ; 
 
 St. Mark (Bartolommeo) 
 
 the chased cover represents St. Peter on a throne, and before 
 him kneels the evangelist, writing from his dictation. 2. And 
 again, in an ancient Greek Evangelarium, St. Mark is seated, 
 writing ; St. Peter stands before him with his hand raised as 
 dictating. 3. In a beautiful picture by Angelico da Fiesole 
 [the predella of a Madonna], St. Peter is in a pulpit preaching 
 to the Romans ; and Mark, seated, is taking down his words 
 in a book [Uffizi, Florence]. 4. St. Peter and St. Mark 
 standing together, the former holding a book, the latter a pen,
 
 ST. MARK 143 
 
 with an inkhorn suspended from his girdle, by Bellini ; l and 
 5, a similar one by Bonvicino [called Moretto] very beau- 
 tiful (Brera, Milan). 2 Such pictures are extrpmely interesting, 
 showing the opinion generally entertained of the origin of St. 
 Mark's Gospel. 
 
 Historical pictures from the legendary life of St. Mark 
 abound in the Venetian school, but are not often found out of 
 Venice. 
 
 St. Mark preaching the Gospel at Alexandria, by Gentil 
 Bellini, a very large composition with numerous figures, is on 
 many accounts extremely curious. The painter, who had 
 been at Constantinople, transferred to Alexandria the Oriental 
 scenery and costume with which he had become acquainted. 
 The church of St. Euphemia at Alexandria, in the background, 
 has the air of a Turkish mosque ; a crowd of persons, men and 
 women, in the costume of the Turks, surround the Saint, who 
 is standing on a kind of pedestal or platform, ascended by a 
 flight of steps, from which he addresses his audience with 
 great fervor. Gentil Bellini painted this picture for the 
 Scuola di San Marco, at Venice. [It is now in the] Brera at 
 Milan. 
 
 It is related that one day St. Mark, in his progress through 
 the city of Alexandria, saw a poor cobbler, who had wounded 
 his hand severely with his awl, so as to be incapacitated from 
 gaining his bread : St. Mark healed the wound ; and the cob- 
 bler, whose name was Anianus, being converted and properly 
 instructed, became a zealous Christian, and succeeded St. Mark 
 as Bishop of Alexandria. This miraculous cure of St. Anianus 
 and his subsequent baptism are represented in two pictures by 
 Mansueti. [Painted for the Scuola di San Marco, Venice, and 
 now in the Venice Academy.] In the Berlin Gallery is the 
 cure of St. Anianus, by Cima da Conegliano ; a large composi- 
 tion with many figures. The cure and baptism of St. Anianus, 
 represented as a very aged man, form the subjects of two fine 
 bas-reliefs on the facade of the School of St. Mark, by Tullio 
 Lombardo, A. D. 1502. 
 
 1 [As the present (1893) catalogue of the Venice Academy mentions no 
 picture of this description attributed to Bellini, it is probable that the refer- 
 ence is to the picture catalogued to Lorenzo.] 
 
 2 [The Brera catalogue for 1892 contains no picture of this description 
 attributed to Bonvicino.]
 
 144 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 In the Martyrdom of St. Mark, he is dragged through the 
 streets by the enraged populace, who haul him along by a 
 rope ; a storm from above overwhelms the idolaters. The 
 subject is thus represented by Angelico da Fiesole [in the pre- 
 della of a Madonna in the Uffizi, Florence]. 
 
 A famous legend of St. Mark, which has been the subject 
 of several pictures, can only be worthily given in the language 
 of the old Venetian chronicle : there is something perfectly 
 charming in the picturesque naivete and matter-of-fact detail 
 with which this wild and wonderful story is related ; and if 
 you, reader, have ever stood on the steps of the Piazzetta and 
 looked over to San Giorgio, or San Niccolo, when the waves 
 of the Lagune were foaming and driving up to your feet, and 
 storm-clouds stooping and lowering seemed to touch the very 
 domes and campanile around, then you will have the whole 
 scene as a reality before you. 
 
 " On the 25th of February, 1340, there fell out a wonder- 
 ful thing in this land ; for during three days the waters rose 
 continually, and in the night there was fearful rain and tem- 
 pest, such as had never been heard of. So great was the 
 storm that the waters rose three cubits higher than had ever 
 been known in Venice ; and an old fisherman being in his 
 little boat in the canal of St. Mark, reached with difficulty 
 the Riva di San Marco, and there he fastened his boat and 
 waited the ceasing of the storm. And it is related that, at 
 the time this storm was at the highest, there came an unknown 
 man, and besought him that he would row him over to San 
 Giorgio Maggiore, promising to pay him well ; and the fisher- 
 man replied, ' How is it possible to go to San Giorgio ? we 
 shall* sink by the way! ' But the man only besought him the 
 more that he should set forth. So, seeing that it was the will 
 of God, he arose and rowed over to San Giorgio Maggiore ; 
 and the man landed there, and desired the boatman to wait. 
 In a short while he returned with a young man ; and they 
 said, ' Now row towards San Niccolo di Lido.' And the fish- 
 erman said, ' How can one possibly go so far with one oar ? ' 
 And they said, l Row boldly, for it shall be possible to thee, 
 and thou shalt be well paid.' And he went ; and it appeared 
 to him as if the waters were smooth. Being arrived at San 
 Niccolo di Lido, the two men landed, and returned with a
 
 ST. MAKK 145 
 
 third, and, having entered into the boat, they commanded the 
 fisherman that he should row beyond the two castles. And 
 the tempest raged continually. Being come to the open sea, 
 they beheld approaching, with such terrific speed that it ap- 
 peared to fly over the waters, an enormous galley full of de- 
 mons (as it is written in the Chronicles, and Marco Sabellino 
 also makes mention of this miracle) : the said bark approached 
 the castles to overwhelm Venice, and to destroy it utterly ; 
 anon the sea, which had hitherto been tumultuous, became 
 calm ; and these three men, having made the sign of the 
 cross, exorcised the demons, and commanded them to depart, 
 and immediately the galley or the ship vanished. Then these 
 three men commanded the fisherman to land them, the one at 
 San Niccolo di Lido, the other at San Giorgio Maggiore, and 
 the third at San Marco. And when he had landed the third, 
 the fisherman, notwithstanding the miracle he had witnessed, 
 desired that he would pay him ; and he replied, ' Thou art 
 right ; go now to the Doge, and to the Procuratori of St. 
 Mark, and tell them what thou hast seen, for Venice would 
 have been overwhelmed had it not been for us three. I am 
 St. Mark the Evangelist, the protector of this city ; the other 
 is the brave knight St. George ; and he whom thou didst take 
 up at the Lido is the holy bishop St. Nicholas. Say to the 
 Doge and to the Procuratori l that they are to pay you ; and 
 tell them likewise that this tempest arose because of a certain 
 schoolmaster dwelling at San Felice, who did sell his soul to 
 the devil and afterwards hanged himself.' And the fisherman 
 replied, ' If I should tell them this, they would not believe 
 me.' Then St. Mark took off a ring which was on his finger, 
 which ring was worth five ducats ; and he said, ' Show them 
 this, and tell them when they look in the sanctuary they will 
 not find it ; ' and thereupon he disappeared. The next morn- 
 ing the said fisherman presented himself before the Doge and 
 related all he had seen the night before, and showed him the 
 ring for a sign. And the Procuratori having sent for the 
 ring, and sought in the usual place, found it not ; by reason 
 of which miracle the fisherman was paid, and a solemn pro- 
 cession was ordained, giving thanks to God, and to the relics 
 of the three holy saints, who rest in our land, and who deliv- 
 ered us from this great danger. The ring was given to 
 
 1 The Procuratori had charge of the church and the treasury of St. Mark.
 
 146 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 Signer Marco Loredano and to Signor Andrea Dandolo the 
 Procurator!, who placed it in the sanctuary ; and, moreover, 
 a perpetual provision was made for the aged fisherman above 
 mentioned." (Sanuto, Vite de' Duci Verieti.) 
 
 This legend is the subject of two celebrated pictures : The 
 first, attributed to Giorgione (Acad. Venice), represents the 
 storm. 1 A ship, manned by demons, is seen towering over 
 the waves : the demons appear to be seized with consternation ; 
 some fling themselves headlong over the side of their vessel, 
 others are clinging to the rigging, others sit on the masts, 
 which flame with fire, and the glare is seen over the murky 
 sky and sea. More in front are two barks, one towed by four 
 satyr-like demons, splendid figures admirably painted, literally 
 glowing as if they were red-hot, and full of fierce animation. 
 In the other bark are seen the three saints, St. Mark, St. 
 Nicholas, and St. George, rowed by the fisherman ; sea-mon- 
 sters are sporting amid the waves, demons bestride them ; the 
 city of Venice is just visible in the far-off distance. The 
 whole picture is full of vigor and poetic feeling ; the fiery 
 glow of color and the romantic style of Giorgione suited the 
 subject ; and it has been admirably restored. 
 
 The second picture is by Paris Bordone (Venice Academy), 
 and represents the fisherman presenting the miraculous ring of 
 St. Mark to the Doge Gradenigo. It is like a grand piece of 
 scenic decoration ; we have before us a magnificent marble 
 hall, with columns and buildings in perspective ; to the right, 
 on the summit of a flight of steps, sits the Doge in council ; 
 the poor fisherman, ascending the steps, holds forth the ring. 
 The numerous figures, the vivid color, the luxuriant architec- 
 ture, remind us of Paul Veronese, with, however, more deli- 
 cacy, both in color and execution. 
 
 A Christian slave, in the service of a certain nobleman of 
 Provence, disobeyed the commands of his lord, and persisted 
 in paying his devotions at the shrine of St. Mark, which was 
 at some distance. On his return home, he was condemned to 
 the torture. As it was about to be yiflicted, the saint himself 
 descended from heaven to aid his votary ; the instruments of 
 
 i 
 
 [In the opinion of Crowe and Cavalcaselle and other critics, this picture 
 was entirely repainted by Paris Bordone, and has been subjected to many 
 later restorations.]
 
 ST. LUKE 147 
 
 torture were broken or blunted, the oppressor and his execution- 
 ers confounded. This legend is the subject of a celebrated pic- 
 ture by Tintoretto (Acad. Venice), of which Mr. Kogers had the 
 original sketch. 1 The slave lies on the ground amid a crowd of 
 spectators, who look on, animated by all the various emotions 
 of sympathy, rage, terror ; a woman in front, with a child in her 
 arms, has always been admired for the lifelike vivacity of her 
 attitude and expression. The executioner holds up the broken 
 implements ; St. Mark, with a headlong movement, seems to 
 rush down from heaven in haste to save his worshipper ; the 
 dramatic grouping in this picture is wonderful ; the coloring, 
 in its gorgeous depth and harmony, is finer in the sketch than 
 in the picture. 
 
 In St. Mark's, at Venice, we find the whole history of St. 
 Mark on the vault of the Cappella Zen (opening from the Bap- 
 tistery), in a series of very curious mosaics of the twelfth 
 century. The translation of the body of St. Mark, the carry- 
 ing off the relics from Alexandria, their arrival in Venice, the 
 grand religious ceremonies which took place on their arrival ; 
 are, also represented in the mosaics over the portico of St. 
 Mark's, executed chiefly between 1650 and 1680. We have 
 the same legend in two compositions of Tintoretto (Venice, 
 Ducal Palace) ; in the first, the remains of St. Mark are taken 
 forcibly from the tomb by the Venetian mariners ; in the 
 other, they are borne away to sea in a night storm, while in 
 the air is seen hovering a bright transparent form, the soul 
 of the saint flitting with his body to Venice. 
 
 ST. LUKE 
 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 
 
 1 [This sketch was bought by the Baroness Burdett-Contts. Vide Redforift 
 Salts, vol. i. p. 151, and vol. ii. p. 255.]
 
 148 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 the Gospel in Greece and Egypt ; but whether he died a nat- 
 ural 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 tradi- 
 tions. 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 canonise* des chre'tiens uniquement 
 parce qu'ils s'occupaient de soulager le corps ou de charmer 
 1'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 draw- 
 ing of the Virgin discovered in the Catacombs, with an in- 
 scription purporting that it was " one of seven painted by 
 Luca," confirmed the popular belief that St. Luke the Evan- 
 gelist 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. 1 
 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 per- 
 
 i The little black virgin of the Monte della Guarclia, near Bologna, I saw- 
 carried in grand procession through the streets of that city, in May, 1847. 
 The following inscription is engraved on a tablet in the church of San Do- 
 menico and San Sisto at Rome: "Here at the high altar is preserved that 
 image of the most blessed Mary, which, being delineated by St. Luke the Evan- 
 gelist, received its colors and form divinely. This is that image with which 
 St. Gregory the Great (according to St. Antonine), as a suppliant, purified 
 Rome; and the pestilence being dispelled, the angel messenger of peace, 
 from the summit of the castle of Adrian, commanding the Queen of Heaven 
 to rejoice, restored health to the city." A Virgin in the Ara Cceli pretends to 
 the same honor; both these are black and ugh', while that in the S. Maria in 
 (.'osmedino is of uncommon dignity and beauty. See Legends of the Ma- 
 donna.
 
 ST. LUKE 149 
 
 form 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 evan- 
 gelist, represent him in general with his Gospel and his at- 
 tendant 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 Vene- 
 tian), we see St. Luke as evangelist young and beardless, hold- 
 ing 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." (MS., A. D. 1500. Paris, Bib. Imp.) 
 
 In an engraving by Lucas v. Leyden, executed as it should 
 seem in honor 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 favor- 
 ite subject. The most famous of all is a picture in the Acad- 
 emy of St. Luke, at Rome, [once] ascribed to Raphael [but now 
 attributed to Timoteo Viti. Vide Muntz, Raphael, chapter 
 xvi.]. 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
 
 150 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 to Raphael, 1 is in the Grosvenor Gallery [London]. In neither 
 of these pictures is the treatment quite worthy of that great 
 painter, wanting his delicacy hoth of sentiment and execution. 
 There is a most curious and quaint example in the Munich 
 Gallery, attributed to Van Eyck ; 2 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, hy 
 Aldegraef, in the Vienna Gallery. 3 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 colors, I remember in the Aguado Gal- 
 lery ; 4 a late Spanish picture by F. Kizi, A. D. 1660. 
 
 ST. JOHN 
 
 Lat. Sanctus Johannes. Gr. St. John Theologos, or the Divine. 
 Ital. San Giovanni Evangelista. Fr. Saint Jean ; Messire Saint' 
 Jehan. Ger. Der Heilige Johann. (Dec. 27, A. D. 99.) 
 
 Of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke so little is certainly 
 known, that we have no data on which to found an individual 
 portrait ; therefore any representation of them as venerable 
 and inspired teachers suffices to the fancy : .but it is quite 
 otherwise with St. John, the most distinguished of the evan- 
 gelists, and the most beloved of the disciples of our Lord. Of 
 him sufficient is known to convey a distinct impression of his 
 personal character, and an idea of what his personal appear- 
 ance may have been, supposing this outward semblance to have 
 harmonized with the inward being. 
 
 He was the son of the fisherman Zebedee, and, with his 
 brother James, among the first followers of the Saviour. He 
 is emphatically called " the disciple whom Jesus loved ; " a 
 
 preference which he merited, not only from the extreme purity 
 
 
 
 1 [Now catalogued to Giulio Romano.] 
 
 2 [Attributed in the Munich catalogue of 1894 to Roger Van der Weyden. 
 A similar painting by Van der Weyden is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 
 purchased from the Due de Durcal sale.] 
 
 3 [Reference is probabty to the picture attributed to Mabuse in the Belve- 
 dere catalogue of 1892.] 
 
 4 [The Aguado Gallery was the private collection of paintings owned by 
 the Marquis of Guadalqniver of Paris, who died in 1842.]
 
 ST. JOHN 151 
 
 of his life and character, but from his devoted and affectionate 
 nature. He appears to have been at all times the constant 
 companion of his divine Lord ; and his life, while the Saviour 
 was on earth, inseparable from His. In all the memora- 
 ble circumstances recorded in the Gospel he was a party, or at 
 least present. He witnessed the glory of the transfiguration ; 
 he leaned on the bosom of Jesus at the Last Supper ; he stood 
 by the cross in the hour of agony ; he laid the body of his 
 crucified Master in the sepulchre. After the death of the 
 Virgin Mother, who had been confided to his care, he went 
 about Judaea, preaching the Gospel with St. Peter. He then 
 travelled into Asia Minor, where he founded the Seven 
 Churches, and resided principally at Ephesus. During the 
 persecution of the Christians under Domitian, St. John was 
 sent in fetters to Rome ; and, according to a tradition gener- 
 ally received in the Roman Church, he was cast into a caldron 
 of boiling oil, but was miraculously preserved, and " came out 
 of it as out of a refreshing bath." He was then accused of 
 magic, and exiled to the island of Patmos, in the ^Egean Sea, 
 where he is said to have written his Revelation. After the 
 death of the Emperor Domitian he was released, and returned 
 to his church at Ephesus ; and for the use of the Christians 
 there he is said to have written his Gospel, at the age of ninety. 
 A few years afterwards he died in that city, being nearly a 
 century old. All the incidents here touched upon occur fre- 
 quently as subjects of Art, but most of them belong properly to 
 the life of Christ. 
 
 The personal character of St. John, at once attractive and 
 picturesque, has rendered him popular as a patron saint, and 
 devotional pictures of him are far more numerous than of any 
 of the other evarfgelists. 
 
 He is represented in one of his three characters : 1, as evan- 
 gelist ; 2, as apostle ; 3, as prophet ; or the three are com- 
 bined in one figure. 
 
 1. Of the early eagle symbol, I have spoken at length. 
 
 In Greek Art, whether as apostle or evangelist, St. John is 
 always an aged man with white hair, and a venerable beard 
 descending to his breast ; and by the earlier Latin painters, 
 where he figures as evangelist only, not as apostle, this type 
 has been adhered to ; but the later painters set it aside, and
 
 152 
 
 THE FOUK EVANGELISTS 
 
 St. John the Evangelist, nearly a century old, has all the attri- 
 butes of the youthful apostle. He is beardless, with light 
 curling hair, and eyes gazing upwards in a rapture of inspira- 
 tion : he is sometimes seated with his pen and his book, some- 
 times standing ; the attendant eagle always near him, and fre- 
 quently holding the pen or inkhorn in his beak. 
 
 In some of the old prints and pictures, which represent St. 
 John as writing the Gospel, his eyes are turned on the Virgin 
 with the Infant Christ in her arms, who appear as a vision in 
 
 the skies above ; underneath, 
 or on his book, is inscribed, 
 " The Word was made flesh," 
 or some other text of the same 
 import. The eagle at his side 
 has sometimes the nimbus or 
 a crown of stars (as in the 
 Missal of Henry VIII. Bod- 
 leian, Oxford), and is then 
 perhaps intended to figure 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 I remember an instance in 
 which the devil, intent on 
 intercepting the message of 
 reconcilement and " goodwill 
 towards men," which was de- 
 stined to destroy his empire 
 on earth, appears behind St. 
 John, arid is oversetting the 
 ink upon the pages ; another, 
 in which he is stealing away 
 the inkhorn. 
 
 2. As one of the series of 
 apostles, St. John is always, 
 in Western Art, young, or in 
 the prime of life, with little 
 or no beard, flowing or curl- 
 ing hair, generally of a pale 
 brown or golden hue. to express the delicacy of his nature ; 
 and in his countenance an expression of benignity and candor. 
 His drapery is, or ought to be, red, with a blue or green tunic. 
 He bears in his hand the sacramental cup, from which a serpent 
 
 St. John (Lucas van Leyden)
 
 ST. JOHN 
 
 153 
 
 is seen to issue. 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 issued from the 
 cup in the form of a 
 serpent, while the hired 
 assassin fell down dead 
 at his feet. According 
 to another version of 
 this story, the poisoned 
 cup was administered by 
 order of the Emperor 
 Domitian. According to 
 a third version, Aristo- 
 demus, the high priest 
 of Diana, at Ephesus, 
 defied him to drink of 
 the poisoned chalice, as 
 a test of the truth of 
 his mission ; St. John 
 drank unharmed, the 
 priest fell dead. Others 
 say, and this seems the 
 more probable interpre- 
 tation, that the cup in 
 the hand of St. John al- 
 ludes to the reply given 
 by our Saviour, when the 
 mother of James and 
 John requested for her 
 
 sons the place of honor in heaven, " Ye shall drink indeed 
 of my cup." As in other instances, the legend was invented 
 to explain the symbol. When the cup has the consecrated 
 wafer instead of the serpent, it signifies the institution of the 
 Eucharist. 
 
 Some of the old German representations of St. John are 
 of singular beauty : for example, one by Hans Memling, one 
 by Yon Melem, 1 standing figures ; simple, graceful, majestic ; 
 in the prime of youth, with a charming expression of devotion 
 in the heads : both hold the sacramental cup with the ser- 
 i Both among the fine lithographs of the Boissere'e Gallery. 
 
 St. John (Raphael)
 
 154 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 t 
 pent ; no eagle ; therefore St. John is here to be considered 
 
 as the apostle only ; when, with the cup, the eagle is placed 
 by his side, he is represented in the double character of apostle 
 and evangelist. 
 
 In the early Siena school, and in some old illuminations, 
 I have seen St. John carrying in his hand a radiant circle, 
 inscribed "In primo est verbum," and within the circle an 
 eagle with outspread wings : but this is uncommon. 
 
 3. St. John as the prophet, the .writer of the Revelation, is 
 usually an aged man, with a white flowing beard, seated in a 
 rocky desert ; the sea in the distance, or flowing round him, to 
 represent the island of Patmos ; the eagle at his side. In the 
 old frescoes, and the illuminated MSS. of the Apocalypse, this 
 is the usual representation. 
 
 Some examples of the ideal and devotional figures of St. 
 John as evangelist and prophet will give an idea of the variety 
 of treatment in this favorite subject : 
 
 1. Ancient Greejc. St. John, with the head of an eagle 
 and large wings, the figure fully draped, is soaring upwards. 
 In such representations the inscription is usually " Quasi 
 aquila ascendet et avolabit " (" Behold, he shall come up and 
 fly as the eagle." Jer. xlix. 22). 
 
 2. Perugino. St. John as an aged man, with long gray 
 beard and flowing hair, attended by a black eagle, looking up 
 at the Madonna in glory. (Academy, Bologna. 1 ) 
 
 3. Raphael (?). St. John, young and beautiful, mounted 
 on the back of an eagle, and soaring heavenwards ; in one 
 hand he holds a tablet, in the other a pen ; sea and land 
 below. This treatment, which recalls the antique Jupiter 
 bestriding his eagle, appears to me at once too theatrical and 
 too commonplace for Raphael. (Mustfe, Marseilles.) 
 
 4. Correggio. St. John seated writing his Gospel ; the 
 eagle at his feet is pluming his wing ; inscribed " Altius 
 cceteris Dei patefecit arcana." [A lunette in the church of 
 S. Giovanni Evangelista,] Parma; wonderfully beautiful. 
 
 1 [The Bologna catalogue contains no picture of this description attributed 
 to Perugino.]
 
 ST. JOHN 155 
 
 5. Domenichino. St. John, full length, life size ; young 
 and beautiful, in an ecstasy of inspiration, and sustained by 
 two angels ; the eagle at his feet ; formerly in the Giustiniani 
 Gallery ; finer, I think, than the St. John in Sant' Andrea. 
 (Leigh Court, Gallery of Mr. Miles.) Another, half length, a 
 scroll in his hand, looking upwards as one to whom the glory 
 of the heavens had been opened, you see it reflected in his 
 eyes, while love, wonder, devotion, beam from his beautiful 
 face and parted lips ; behind him hovers the attendant eagle, 
 holding the pen in his beak ; near him is the chalice, with 
 the serpent ; so that here he is in his double character of apos- 
 tle and evangelist. (Petersburg, Gallery of Prince Narishken. 
 Bng. ' by Mliller.) Domenichino excelled in St. Johns, as 
 Guido in Magdalenes ; perhaps the most beautiful of all is 
 that in the Brera, at Milan, where St. John bends on one 
 knee at the foot of the throne of the Madonna and Child, his 
 pen in one hand, the other pressed to his bosom, and looking 
 up to them with an air of ecstatic inspiration. Two little 
 angels, or rather amoretti, are in attendance : one has his 
 arms round the neck of the eagle, sporting with it ; the other 
 holds up the cup and the serpent. Every detail is composed 
 and painted to admiration ; but this is the artistic and pictur- 
 esque, not the religious, version of the subject. 
 
 St. John is frequently represented with St. Peter, because, 
 after the ascension, they taught and acted in concert. In 
 such pictures, the contrast between the fiery resolve and 
 sturdy, rugged grandeur which is given to St. Peter, and the 
 refinement, mildness, and personal grace of St. John, pro- 
 duces a fine effect : as in Albert Diirer's picture (Munich), 
 where John is holding open the Gospel, and Peter apparently 
 reading it ; two grand and simple figures, filling the mind as 
 we gaze upon them. As this picture was painted after Albert 
 Dlirer became a Protestant, I have thought it possible that he 
 might have had some particular meaning in thus making Peter 
 study the Gospel of John. At all events, Albert Diirer was 
 quite capable of such an intention ; and, whether intended or 
 not, the picture may be, and has been, thus interpreted. The 
 prophets and the poets often say more than they intended, for 
 their light was for others more than for themselves : so also 
 the great painters the Raphaels and Albert Diirers proph- 
 ets and poets in their way. When I have heard certain critics
 
 156 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 ridiculed because they found more in the productions of a 
 Shakespeare or a Raphael than the poet or painter himself ever 
 perceived or " intended," such ridicule has appeared to me in 
 the highest degree presumptuous and absurd. The true artist 
 " feels that he is greater than he knows." In giving form or 
 utterance to the soul within him, does he account to himself 
 for all the world of thoughts his work will excite in the minds 
 of others ? Is its significance to be circumscribed either by 
 the intention and the knowledge of the poet, or the compre- 
 hension of the age in which he lived ? That is the charac- 
 teristic of the second-rate, self-conscious poets or painters, 
 whom we read or study because they reflect to us a particular 
 meaning, a particular period, but not of the Homers and 
 Shakespeares, the Raphaels and Albert DUrers ; they speak 
 to all times, to all men, with a suggestive significance, widen- 
 ing, deepening with every successive generation ; and to meas- 
 ure their depth of meaning by their own intention, or by the 
 comprehension of their own or any one generation, what is it 
 but to measure the star of heaven by its apparent magnitude ? 
 An inch rule will do that ! 
 
 But to return from this digression. In devotional pictures 
 we often see St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist 
 standing together ; or on each side of Christ, or of the Ma- 
 donna and Child. There is a peculiar propriety and signifi- 
 cance in this companionship : both are, then, to be considered 
 as prophets ; they were, besides, kinsmen, and bore the same 
 name ; and St. John the Evangelist was the disciple of John 
 the Baptist before he was called by Christ. Here, again, the 
 contrast between the dark, emaciated, hairy prophet of the 
 wilderness and the graceful dignity of the youthful apostle 
 has a striking effect. An example at hand is the bronze bas- 
 relief on the tomb of Henry VII. (Westminster Abbey.) 
 Madonna pictures, in which the two St. Johns stand before 
 her throne, occur frequently. I remember, also, a marble 
 group of the Virgin and Child, in which the two St. Johns, as 
 infants, are playing at her feet, one with his eagle, the other 
 with his reed cross. (Rome, S. Maria-sopra-Minerva.) 
 
 As one who bore the most direct testimony to the Incarna- 
 tion, St. John is often introduced into Madonna pictures and 
 pictures of the Nativity ; but in the later schools only. In 
 these instances he points significantly to the Child, and the
 
 ST. JOHN 157 
 
 sacramental cup and wafer is either in his hand or at his feet, 
 or borne by an angel. 
 
 The historical and dramatic subjects in which. St. John fig- 
 ures as a principal personage are very numerous. As the 
 scriptural scenes belong properly to the life of Christ, I shall 
 confine myself here to some observations on the manner in 
 which St. John is introduced and treated in such pictures. In 
 general he is to be distinguished from the other apostles by 
 his youth and beauty and flowing hair, and by being placed 
 nearest to Christ as the most beloved of His disciples. 
 
 "The mother of James and John imploring from our Sa- 
 viour the highest place in heaven for her two sons " (Matt. 
 xx. 21) : a picture by Bonifazio [Veronese], in the Borghese 
 Gallery [Rome], beautiful both in sentiment and color. There 
 is another example by Paul Veronese ; and another, by Tin- 
 toretto, was in the Coesvelt Gallery. I must observe that, 
 except in Venetian pictures, I have not met with this incident 
 as a separate subject. 
 
 In the Last Supper, Peter is generally on the right of Christ, 
 and St. John on the left : he leans his head down on the 
 bosom of Christ (this is always the attitude in the oldest pic- 
 tures) ; or he leans towards Christ, who places Hi's hand upon 
 his shoulder,, drawing him towards Him with an expression of 
 tenderness : this is the action in the fresco [attributed to] Ra- 
 phael, lately discovered at Florence [Sanf Onofrio]. But I 
 must reserve the full consideration of this subject for another 
 place. 
 
 "Where, instead of the Last Supper, our Saviour is repre- 
 sented as administering the Eucharist, St. John is seen on His 
 right hand, bearing the cup. 
 
 In the Crucifixion, when treated as a religious rather than 
 an historical subject, St. John stands on the left of the Cross, 
 and the Virgin on the right ; both in attitudes of the pro- 
 foundest grief and adoration mingled. In general the motif 
 of this sacred subject does not vary ; but I remember exam- 
 ples in which St. John is seen trampling a Jew under his 
 feet ; on the other side the Virgin tramples on a veiled woman, 
 signifying the old law, the synagogue, as opposed to the Chris- 
 tian Church, of which the Virgin was the received symbol. 
 
 When the Crucifixion is a scene or action, not a mystery,
 
 Io8 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 then St. John is beheld afar off, with the women who followed 
 their divine Master to Calvary. 
 
 St. John and the Virgin Mary returning from the Crucifix- 
 ion : he appears to be sustaining her slow and fainting steps. 
 I have only once met with this beautiful subject, in a picture 
 by Zurbaran, in the Munich Gallery. 1 
 
 In the Descent from the Cross, St. John is a chief actor ; he 
 generally sustains the head of the Saviour, and is distinguished 
 by an expression of extreme sorrow and tenderness. In the 
 Entombment he is sometimes one of the bearers, sometimes 
 he follows lamenting. In a print of the Entombment after 
 Andrea Mantegna, he is not only weeping and wringing his 
 hands as usual, but absolutely crying aloud with the most ex- 
 aggerated expression of anguish. In pictures of the Descent 
 of the Holy Ghost, St. John is usually a conspicuous figure, 
 and in the foreground. In the Assumption of the Virgin, he 
 is also conspicuous, generally in front, as the pendant to St. 
 Peter, and gazing upwards with ecstatic faith and devotion. 
 
 Of course there is great variety in these representations : 
 the later painters thought less of individual character and sig- 
 nificant propriety of arrangement than of artistic grouping ; 
 therefore the above remarks have reference to the early paint- 
 ers only. 
 
 In the scenes talcen from the Acts, St. John is always in 
 companionship with St. Peter, and becomes the secondary 
 figure. 
 
 St. John writing his Revelation in the island of Patmos is 
 a subject which frequently occurs in MSS. of the Apocalypse, 
 and in the chapels dedicated to St. John. The motif is gen- 
 erally the same in all ; we have a desert island, with the sea 
 in the distance, or flowing round it ; St. John, seated on a 
 rock or under a tree, is in the act of writing ; or he is looking 
 up to heaven, where the " Woman crowned with stars," or 
 " the Woman fleeing from the dragon," appears as in his vis- 
 ion. 2 (Rev. xii;) Or he beholds St. -Michael, armed, cast 
 down the dragon in human form ; he has the eagle and book, 
 and looks up at the Virgin as in a picture by Ambrogio Figino 
 (Brera, Milan). The eagle is always in attendance as the 
 
 1 [The work here referred to is probably the painting catalogued as a pro- 
 duction of Francisco Ribalta.] 
 - Vide Let/ends of the Madonna.
 
 ST. JOHN 159 
 
 symbol of inspiration in a general sense ; when represented 
 with a diadem, or glory, as in some very early examples, it 
 is a symbol of the Holy Ghost, which, among the Jews, was 
 figured by the eagle. 
 
 The subjects from the legendary life of St. John are exceed- 
 ingly interesting, but they are not easily recognized, and require 
 particular attention ; some are of frequent occurrence, others 
 rarely met with. 
 
 1. Israel v. Meckerien. St. John Instructing his Disciples 
 at Ephesus. (Acts iv. 37.) The scene is the interior of a 
 Gothic church, the windows painted with heraldic emblazon- 
 ments ; St. John is seated expounding the Scriptures, and five 
 disciples sit opposite to him with coarse ugly faces, but most 
 intense, expressive countenances ; in the background, a large 
 chest full of money. 
 
 2. Vatican, Chr. Mus. St. John drinking from the pois- 
 oned chalice ; a man falls down dead at his feet, several figures 
 look on with awe and astonishment : this is a frequent subject 
 in the elder schools of Art, and in the illuminated MSS. of 
 the Gospel and Apocalypse : but I have never met with a rep- 
 resentation later than the beginning of the fourteenth century. 1 
 
 3. It is related by Clement of Alexandria, that when St. 
 John was at Ephesus, and before he was exiled to Patmos, he 
 had taken to his care a young man of promising qualities of 
 person and mind. During his absence he left him under the 
 spiritual guidance of a certain bishop ; but after a while the 
 youth took to evil courses, and, proceeding from one excess to 
 another, he at length became the leader of a band of robbers 
 and assassins who struck terror into the whole country. When 
 St. John returned to Ephesus, he went to the bishop and de- 
 manded " the precious deposit he had left in his hands." At 
 first the priest did not understand him ; but when St. John 
 explained the allusion to his adopted son, he cast down his 
 eyes with sorrow and shame, and told of what had befallen. 
 Then St. John rent his garments, and wept with a loud voice, 
 and cried out, " Alas ! alas ! to what a guardian have I trusted 
 
 1 We find among the relics exhibited on great occasions in the church of 
 the S. Croce at Rome " the cup in which St. John, the apostle and evangel- 
 ist, by command of Domitian the emperor, drank poison without receiving 
 any injury; which afterwards being tasted by his attendants, on the instant 
 they fell dead."
 
 160 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 our brother ! " And he called for a horse and rode towards 
 the forest in which the robbers sojourned ; and when the cap- 
 tain of the robbers beheld his old master and instructor, he 
 turned and would have fled from his presence ; but St. John, 
 by the most fervent entreaties, prevailed on him to stop and 
 listen to his words. After some conference, the robber, utterly 
 subdued, burst into tears of penitence, imploring forgiveness ; 
 and while he spoke he hid beneath his robe his right hand, 
 which had been sullied with so many crimes ; but St. John, 
 falling on his knees before him, seized that blood-polluted 
 hand and kissed it and bathed it with his tears ; and he re- 
 mained with his reconverted brother till he had, by prayers 
 and encouraging words and affectionate exhortations, reconciled 
 him with Heaven and with himself. 
 
 This beautiful legend is the subject of some old engravings, 
 in which St. John is represented embracing the robber, who 
 is weeping on his neck, having flung away his weapons. It 
 has been, however, too rarely treated ; I have never met with 
 a picture of the subject ; and yet it abounds in picturesque 
 capabilities ; the forest background the contrast of youth and 
 age bright armor, flowing drapery, and the most striking 
 and affecting moral, are here all combined. 
 
 4. Another very pretty apologue relating to St. John is 
 sometimes included in a series of subjects from his life. Two 
 young men, who had sold all their possessions to follow him, 
 afterwards repented. He, perceiving their thoughts, sent 
 them to gather pebbles and fagots, and, on their return, 
 changed these into money and ingots of gold, saying to them, 
 " Take back your riches and enjoy them on earth, as you 
 regret having exchanged them for heaven ! " This story is 
 represented on one of the windows of the Cathedral at 
 Bourges. The two young men stand before St. John, with a 
 heap of gold on one side and a heap of stones and fagots on 
 the other. 
 
 5. When St. John had sojourned in the island of Patmos a 
 year and a day, he returned to his church at Ephesus ; and 
 as he approached the city, being received with great joy by 
 the inhabitants, lo ! a funeral procession came forth from the 
 gates ; and of those who followed weeping he inquired " who 
 was dead?" They said, "Drusiana." Now when he heard 
 that name he was sad, for Drusiana had excelled in all good
 
 ST. JOHN 161 
 
 
 
 works, and he had formerly dwelt in her house ; and he ordered 
 them to set down the bier, and having prayed earnestly, God 
 was pleased to restore Drusiana to life ; she arose up, and the 
 apostle went home with her and dwelt in her house. 
 
 This incident is the subject of a fine fresco, painted [by 
 Filippino Lippi] on the left hand wall of the [Filippo] 
 Strozzi Chapel [Santa Maria Novella] at Florence. It has 
 the forcible expression and dramatic spirit of the painter, with 
 that characteristic want of elevated feeling in the counte- 
 nances and in the general treatment which is apparent in all his 
 works ; the group in one corner, of a child starting from a dog, 
 is admired for its truth ; but, by disturbing the solemnity of 
 the marvellous scene, it repels like a falsehood. 
 
 6. There is another beautiful and picturesque legend relating 
 to St. John, of which I have never seen any representation ; 
 but it may possibly have occasioned the frequent introduction 
 of a partridge into the pictures of sacred subjects, particu- 
 larly in the Venetian School. St. John had a tame par- 
 tridge, which he cherished much ; and he amused himself 
 with feeding and tending it. "A certain huntsman, pass- 
 ing by with his bow and arrows, was astonished to see the 
 great apostle, so venerable for his age and sanctity, engaged in 
 such an amusement. The apostle asked him if he always 
 kept his bow bent ? He answered, that would be the way to 
 render it useless. ' If,' replied St. John, ' you unbend your 
 bow to prevent its being useless, so do I thus unbend my mind 
 for the same reason.' ' ; 
 
 7. The subject entitled the Martyrdom of St. John repre- 
 sents his immersion in a caldron of boiling oil, by order of 
 the Emperor Domitian. According to the received tradition, 
 this event took place outside the Latin gate of Rome ; and on 
 the spot stands the chapel of San Giovanni in Olio, com- 
 memorating his miraculous deliverance, which is painted in 
 fresco on the walls. The subject forms, of course, one of a 
 series of the life of St. John, and is occasionally met with in 
 old prints and pictures ; but it is uncommon. The treatment 
 affords little variety ; in Albert Diirer's famous woodcut, St. 
 John is sitting in a pot of boiling oil ; one executioner is blow- 
 ing the fire, another is pouring oil from a ladle on the saint's 
 head ; a judge, probably intended for Domitian, is seated on a 
 throne to the left, and there are numerous spectators. Pado-
 
 162 v THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 vanino painted this subject for the San Pietro at Venice ; 
 Rubens, with horrible truth of detail, for the altar-piece of 
 St. John at Malines. 
 
 It is the martyrdom in the boiling oil which gives St. John 
 the right to bear the palm, with which he is occasionally seen. 
 
 8. St. John, habited in priest's garments, descends the steps 
 of an altar into an open grave, in which he lays himself down, 
 not in death, but in sleep, until the coming of Christ : " being 
 reserved alive with Enoch and Elijah (who also knew not 
 death), to preach against the Antichrist in the last days." 
 This fanciful legend is founded on the following text : " Peter, 
 seeing the disciple whom Jesus loved following, saith unto 
 Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do ? Jesus saith unto 
 him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? 
 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that 
 disciple should not die." (John xxi. 21, 22.) 
 
 The legend which supposes St. John reserved alive has not 
 been generally received in the Church, and as a subject of 
 painting it is very uncommon. It occurs in the Menologium 
 Graecum (Vatican MSS., tenth century), where the grave into 
 which St. John descends is, according to the legend, "fossa in 
 crucls figuram " (in the form of a cross). In a series of the 
 deaths of the Apostles (MSS., ninth century. Paris, Nat. 
 Library), St. John is ascending from the grave ; for, according 
 to the Greek legend, St. John died without pain or change, 
 and immediately rose again in bodily form, and ascended into 
 heaven to rejoin Christ and the Virgin. 
 
 In a small and very curious picture which I saw at Rome 
 (Vatican, Christian Museum), forming part of a predella, there 
 is a tomb something like the Xanthian tombs in form ; one 
 end is open ; St. John, with a long gray beard, is seen issuing 
 from it, and, as he ascends, he is met by Christ, the Virgin, 
 St. Peter, and St. Paul, who are descending from above ; 
 while figures below look up with astonishment. On the 
 ancient doors of San Paolo he is lying in an open grave or 
 sarcophagus. 
 
 Of the miracles performed by John after his death, two are 
 singularly interesting in the history of Art ; both have been 
 treated in sculpture. 
 
 9. When the Empress Galla Placidia was returning from
 
 ST. JOHN 163 
 
 Constantinople to Eavenna with her two children (A. D. 425), 
 she encountered a terrible storm. In her fear and anguish 
 she vowed a vow to St. John the Evangelist, and, being landed 
 in safety, she dedicated to his honor a magnificent church. 
 When the edifice was finished, she was extremely desirous of 
 procuring some relics of the Evangelist, wherewith to conse- 
 crate his sanctuary ; but as it was not the manner of those 
 days to exhume, and buy and sell, still less to steal, the bodies 
 of holy men and martyrs, the desire of the pious empress 
 remained unsatisfied. However, as it is related, St. John 
 himself took pity upon her ; for one night, as she prayed 
 earnestly, he appeared to her in a vision ; and when she threw 
 herself at his feet to embrace and kiss them, he disappeared, 
 leaving one of his slippers or sandals in her hand, which 
 sandal was long preserved. 
 
 The antique church of Galla Placidia still exists at Ra- 
 v^nna, to keep alive, after the lapse of fourteen centuries, the 
 memory of her dream, and of the condescension of the blessed 
 apostle. Not much of the original building is left; the 
 superb mosaics have all disappeared, except a few fragments, 
 in which may be traced the storm at sea, and Galla Placidia 
 making her vow. Over the principal porch, which is of white 
 marble, in the Lombard style, and richly and elegantly orna- 
 mented, the miracle of the slipper is represented in two bas- 
 reliefs, one above the other. The lower compartment, or 
 lunette, represents a tabernacle, and within it an altar ; St. 
 John the Evangelist is seen offering incense ; on the other 
 side is Barbation, the confessor of the empress ; she, prostrate 
 at the feet of the apostle, seems to take off his sandal : on 
 each side are six hovering angels bearing the implements of 
 the mass. In the upper compartment, Galla Placidia is seen 
 kneeling at the feet of Christ, and offering to him the sacred 
 sandal, while the Evangelist stands on one side, and Barbation 
 on the other. These bas-reliefs are not older than the twelfth 
 century, and are in excellent preservation : I should suppose, 
 from the style of the grouping, that they were copied, or imi- 
 tated, from the older mosaics, once in the interior of the church. 
 
 10. The other miracle has the rare interest of being Eng- 
 lish in its origin and in its representation. " King Edward 
 the Confessor 1 had, after Christ and the Virgin Mary, a special 
 
 1 Vide legend of St. Edward the Confessor, in the Legends of the Monastic 
 Orders.
 
 164 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 veneration for St. John the Evangelist. One day, returning 
 from his church at Westminster, where he had been hearing 
 mass in honor of the evangelist, he was accosted by a pilgrim, 
 who asked of him an alms for the love of God and St. John. 
 The king, who was ever merciful to the poor, immediately drew 
 from his ringer a ring, and, unknown to any one, delivered it 
 to the beggar. When the king had reigned twenty-four years, 
 it came to pass that two Englishmen, pilgrims, returning from 
 the Holy Land to their own country, were met by one in the 
 habit of a pilgrim, who asked of them concerning their coun- 
 try ; and being told they were of England, he said to them, 
 ' When ye shall have arrived in your own country, go to King 
 Edward, and salute him in my name ; say to him, that I thank 
 him for the alms which he bestowed on me in a certain street 
 in Westminster ; for there, on a certain day, as I begged of 
 him an alms, he bestowed on me this ring, which till now I 
 have preserved, and ye shall carry it back to him, saying that 
 in six months from this time he shall quit the world, and come 
 and remain with me forever.' And the pilgrims, being 
 astounded, said, ' Who art thou, and where is thy dwelling- 
 place ? ' And he answered, saying, ' I am John the Evan- 
 gelist. Edward, your king, is my friend, and for the sanctity 
 of his life I hold him dear. Go now, therefore, deliver to 
 him this message and this ring, and I will pray to God that 
 ye may arrive safely in your own country.' When St. John 
 had spoken thus he delivered to them the ring, and vanished 
 out of their sight. The pilgrims, praising and thanking the 
 Lord for this glorious vision, went on their journey ; and be- 
 ing arrived in England, they repaired to King Edward, and 
 saluted him, and delivered the ring and the message, relating 
 all truly. And the king received the news joyfully, and 
 feasted the messengers royally. Then he set himself to pre- 
 pare for his departure from this world. On the eve of the 
 Nativity, in the year of our Lord 1066, he fell sick, and on 
 the eve of this Epiphany following he died. The ring he 
 gave to the Abbot of Westminster, to be forever preserved 
 among the relics there." (Johannis Brompton Cronicon, 955.) 
 According to one account (Dart's Hist, of Westminster), 
 the pilgrims met the king near his palace at Waltham, at a 
 place since called Havering. The writer adds : " In allusion 
 to this story, King Edward II. offered at his coronation a
 
 ST. JOHN 165 
 
 pound of gold made in the figure of a king holding a ring, and 
 a mark of gold (8 oz.) made like to a pilgrim putting forth his 
 hand to receive the ring." These must have been two little 
 statuettes of gold. 
 
 The legend of King Edward and St. John the Evangelist 
 is represented, with other legends of the same monarch, along 
 the top of the screen of Edward the Confessor's chapel. It is 
 in three compartments. The first represents King Edward 
 bestowing the ring on St. John in the disguise of a pilgrim ; 
 Westminster Abbey is seen behind. The second shows us the 
 meeting of the pilgrims and St. John in Palestine ; he holds 
 what seems a palm. In the third the pilgrims deliver the 
 ring to King Edward, who is seated at table. The sculp- 
 ture is very rude ; the figures disproportioned and ungraceful. 
 They are supposed to be of the time of Henry VI. 
 
 The same legend was painted on one of the windows of 
 Romford church, in Essex, but whether it still exists there I 
 know not. 1 
 
 Before I quit the subject of the Evangelists, it is worth 
 while to observe that, in Greek Art, not only the Four Evan- 
 gelists, but the six writers of the Acts and Epistles, are consid- 
 ered as a sacred series. In an ancient and beautiful MS. of 
 the " Epistole Canoniche," presented by the Queen of Cyprus 
 to Pope Innocent VIII., they are thus represented, two and 
 two together : 
 
 St. Luke, with a very thoughtful, earnest countenance, holds 
 a scroll, on which is written in Greek the commencement of 
 the Acts, " The former treatise have I made, Theophilus," 
 etc. ; and St. James, with a long, very earnest, and refined 
 face, holds a single roll. 
 
 St. Peter, with a broad, coarse, powerful physiognomy, 
 strongly characterized, holds two rolls ; and St. John, with a 
 long and very refined face, gray hair and beard, holds three 
 rolls. 
 
 St. Jude, with a long white beard and very aquiline nose, 
 holds one roll. St. Paul, bald in front, with long brown hair 
 and beard, and a refined face, bears many rolls tied up to- 
 gether. 
 
 1 [The window was in the South Chapel of the old Church of St. Edward's, 
 but is now lost.]
 
 166 THE FOUR EVANGELISTS 
 
 All the figures are on a gold ground, about six inches in 
 height, very finely conceived, though, as is usual in Byzantine 
 Art, formal and mechanical in execution. They look like 
 small copies of very grand originals. The draperies are all 
 classical ; a pale violet or brown tunic and a white mantle, as 
 in the old mosaics ; the rolls in their hands corresponding with 
 the number of their writings.
 
 IV. THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 NEXT to those who recorded the Word of God, were those 
 called by Christ to the task of diffusing His doctrine, and sent 
 to preach the kingdom of heaven " through all nations." 
 
 The earliest representations of the Twelve Apostles appear 
 to have been, like those of the Four Evangelists, purely em- 
 blematical : they were figured as twelve sheep, with Christ in 
 the midst, as the Good Shepherd, bearing a lamb in His^ arms ; 
 or, much more frequently, Christ is Himself the Lamb of God, 
 raised on an eminence and crowned with a cruciform nimbus, 
 and the apostles were ranged on each side as sheep. Instances 
 are to be met with in the old Christian bas-reliefs. In the 
 
 old Koman churches (S. M. in Trastevere, S. Prassede, S. 
 Clemente, S. Cecilia) we find this representation but little 
 varied, and the situation is always the same. In the centre 
 is the lamb standing on an eminence, from which flow the four 
 rivers of Paradise ; on one side six sheep issuing from the 
 city of Jerusalem, on the other six sheep issuing from the city 
 of Bethlehem, the whole disposed in a line forming a sort of 
 frieze, just below the decoration of the vault of the apsis. The 
 church of S. M. Maggiore exhibits the only exception I have 
 met with : there we find a group of sheep, entering, not issu- 
 ing from, the gates of Jerusalem and Bethlehem : in this case, 
 however, the sheep may represent believers, or disciples in 
 general, not the Twelve Apostles. Upon the great crucifix in 
 the apsis of San Clemente, at Rome, are twelve doves, which 
 appear to signify the Twelve Apostles.
 
 1G8 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 The next step was to represent the Apostles as twelve men 
 all alike, each with a sheep, and Christ in the middle, also 
 with a sheep, sometimes larger than the others. We find this 
 on some of the sarcophagi. (Bottari, Tab. xxviii.) Again, a 
 little later, we have them represented as twelve venerable men, 
 bearing tablets or scrolls in their hands, no emblems to dis- 
 tinguish one from another, but their names inscribed over or 
 beside each. They are thus represented in relief on several 
 ancient sarcophagi now in the Christian Museum in the Vati- 
 can, and in several of the most ancient churches at Rome and 
 Ravenna, ranged on each side of the Saviour in the vault of 
 the apsis, or standing in a line beneath. 
 
 But- while in the ancient Greek types, and the old mosaics, 
 the attributes are omitted, they adhere almost invariably to a 
 certain characteristic individual representation, which in the 
 later ages of painting was wholly lost, or at least neglected. 
 In these eldest types, St. Peter has a broad face, white hair, 
 and short white beard : St. Paul, a long face, high bold fore- 
 head, dark hair and beard : St. Andrew is aged, with flowing 
 white hair and beard : St. John, St. Thomas, St. Philip, young 
 and beardless : St. James Major and St. James Minor, in the 
 prime of life, short brown hair and beard ; both should bear a 
 resemblance more or less to the Saviour, but St. James Minor 
 particularly : St. Matthew, St. Jude, St. Simon, St. Matthias, 
 aged, with white hair. The tablets or scrolls which they 
 carry in their hands bear, or are supposed to bear, the articles 
 of the Creed. It is a tradition, that, before the apostles dis- 
 persed to preach the Gospel in all lands, they assembled to 
 compose the declaration of faith since called the Apostles' 
 Creed, and that each of them furnished one of the twelve 
 propositions contained in it, in the following order : St. 
 Peter : Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, creatorem 
 cceli et terra?. St. Andrew : Et in Jesurn Christum Filium 
 cjiis unifi-urn, Dominum nostrum. St. James Major : Qui 
 conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine. 
 St. John : Passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuui> 
 et siyjultus. St. Philip : Descendit ad inferos, tertia die 
 resurrexit a mortuis. St. James Minor : Ascendit ad ccc- 
 los, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis. St. 
 Thomas : Tnde venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos. St.
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 1G9 
 
 Bartholomew : Credo in Spiritum Sanctum. St. Matthew : 
 Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam ; sanctorum communionem. 
 St. Simon : Remissionem peccatorum. St. Matthias : Carnis 
 resurrect ionem. St. Thaddeus : Et vitam ceternam. 
 
 The statues of the apostles [by Orcagna] on the shrine of 
 the Virgin in the San Michele at Florence exhibit a fine 
 example of this arrangement. I give the figure of St. Philip, 
 holding his appropriate sentence of 
 the Creed on a scroll. 
 
 In later times, the Apostles, in- 
 stead of being disposed in a line, are 
 grouped round the Saviour in glory, 
 or they form a circle of heads in 
 medallions : as statues, they orna- 
 ment the screen in front of the altar, 
 or they are placed in a line on each 
 side of the nave, standing against the 
 pillars which support it. From the 
 sixth century it became usual to dis- 
 tinguish each of them by a particular 
 emblem or attribute borrowed from 
 some circumstance of his life or 
 death. Thus, taking them in order, 
 according to the canon of the mass 
 
 St. Peter bears 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 chalice with the ser- 
 pent ; sometimes the eagle also ; but 
 the eagle, as I have observed, belongs to him properly only in 
 his character of Evangelist. 
 
 St. Thomas, a builder's rule : also, but more seldom, a spear. 
 
 St. James Minor, a club. 
 
 St. Philip, the staff or crosier, 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. Philip (Orcagna)
 
 170 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 St. Thaddeus (or Jude), a halberd or lance. 
 
 St. Matthias, a lance. 
 
 The origin and meaning of these attributes will be explained 
 presently : meantime it must be borne in mind, that although 
 in sacred Art the Apostles are always twelve in number, they 
 are not always the same personages. St. Jude is frequently 
 omitted to make room for St. Paul. Sometimes, in the most 
 ancient churches (as in the Cathedral of Palermo), St. Simon 
 and St. Matthias are omitted, and the evangelists St. Mark and 
 St. Luke figure in their places. The Byzantine manual pub- 
 lished by Didron omits James Minor, Jude, and Matthias ; 
 and inserts Paul, Luke, and Mark. This was the arrange- 
 ment on the bronze doors of San Paolo-fuori-le-Mura at Rome, 
 executed by Byzantine artists in the tenth century, and now 
 destroyed. 
 
 On an ancient pulpit, of beautiful workmanship, in the 
 Cathedral of Troyes, the arrangement is according to the Greek 
 formula. 1 Thus 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 i* tf 
 
 e 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 It* -3 
 
 s 
 
 . a; 5 
 
 r a> - E 
 
 1 
 
 S j| . 
 
 o 
 
 "o 
 
 
 x 
 o 
 
 -2 -^ "H 2 
 (2 >J ^ H 
 
 
 
 Illl 
 
 B 
 
 53 
 
 CO 
 
 CO GO GO GO 
 
 1-5 
 
 CO GO GO CO 
 
 H 
 
 co co aj GO 
 
 ^ 
 
 Here, John the Baptist figures in his character of angel or 
 messenger ; and St. Paul, St. Mark, and St. Luke take the 
 place of St. James Minor, St. Jude, and St. Matthias. 
 
 The earliest instance of the Apostles entering into a scheme 
 of ecclesiastical decoration, as the consecrated and delegated 
 teachers of a revealed religion, occurs in the church of San 
 Giovanni in Fonte at Ravenna. 2 In the centre of the dome 
 is the Baptism of Christ, represented quite in the classical 
 style ; the figure of the Saviour being entirely undraped, and 
 the Jordan, signified by an antique river god, sedge-crowned, 
 and bearing a linen napkin as though he were an attendant 
 at a bath. Around, in a circle, in the manner of radii, are 
 the Twelve Apostles. The order is, Peter, Andrew, James, 
 
 1 The churches in the eastern provinces of France, particularly in Cham- 
 pagne, exhibit marked traces of the influence of Greek Art in the eleventh 
 mid twelfth centuries. 
 
 - A. D. 451. Ciampini, Vet. Mon. p. 1, c. 5v.
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 171 
 
 John, Philip, Bartholomew, Simon, Jude, James Minor, 
 Matthew, Thomas, Paul ; so that Peter and Paul stand face to 
 face at one extremity of the circle, and Simon and Bartholo- 
 mew back to back at the other. All wear pointed caps, and 
 carry the oblation in their hands. Peter has a yellow vest 
 and white mantle ; Paul, a white vest and a yellow mantle, 
 and so all around alternately. The name of each is inscribed 
 over his head, and without the title Sanctus, which, though 
 admitted into the Calendar in 449, was not adopted in works 
 of Art till some years later, about 472. 
 
 In the next instance, the attributes had not yet been 
 admitted, except in the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 
 MOSAIC (A. D. 816). Christ, in the centre, stands on an 
 eminence ; in one hand He holds an open book, on which is 
 inscribed Pax vobis. St. Peter, with the keys and a cross, 
 stands on the right ; and Christ, with His right hand, points 
 to the cross. St. Paul is on the left, with his sword ; beyond, 
 there are five Apostles on one side, and four on the other : in 
 all, eleven (Judas being properly omitted). Each holds a 
 book, and all are robed in white ; underneath the whole is 
 inscribed, in Latin, the words of our Saviour, " Go ye, and 
 teach all nations." On the arch to the right, Christ is seated 
 on a throne, and presents the keys to St. Peter, who kneels 
 on one side, and the standard to Constantine, who kneels on 
 the other (alluding, of course, to the famous standard). On 
 the arch to the left, St. Peter is throned, and presents the 
 stole to Pope Leo III., and the standard to Charlemagne. 
 This singular monument, a kind of resume of the power of 
 the Church, is a restoration of the old mosaic, executed by 
 order of Leo III. in the Triclinium of the old palace of the 
 Lateran, and now on one side of the Scala Santa, the side 
 facing the Porta San Giovanni. 
 
 MOSAIC, in the old basilica of St. Paul (A. D. 1206). In 
 the centre an altar veiled, on which are the Gospels (or per- 
 haps, rather, the Book of Life, the seven-sealed book in the 
 Revelation), and the instruments of the Passion. Behind 
 it rises a large Greek cross, adorned with gold and jewels. 
 Underneath, at the foot of the altar, five small figures stand- 
 ing and bearing palms, representing those who suffered for 
 the cause of Christ ; and on each side, kneeling, the monk 
 Aginulph, and Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, afterwards Xicholas
 
 172 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 III. On each side of the altar, a majestic angel : one bears 
 a scroll, inscribed GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO ; the other, ET 
 
 IN TERRA PAX HOMINIBUS BON^E VOLUNTATIS. Beyond 
 
 these the Apostles, six on each side, bearing scrolls with the 
 articles of the Creed. They are much alike, all in whife 
 robes, and alternately with each stands a palm-tree, the sym- 
 bol of victory and resurrection. This composition, of a 
 colossal size, formed a kind of frieze (taking the place of the 
 emblematical lamb and twelve sheep) round the apsis of the 
 Basilica. 
 
 In sculpture, the Apostles, as a series, entered into all dec- 
 orative ecclesiastical architecture ; sometimes on the exterior 
 of the edifice, always in the interior. In our English cathe- 
 drals they are seldom found unmutilated, except when out of 
 the reach of the spoiler; such was the indiscriminate rage 
 which confounded the venerable effigies of these delegated 
 teachers of the truth with the images which were supposed 
 to belong exclusively to the repudiated religion ! 
 
 Where the scheme of decoration is purely theological, the 
 proper place of the Apostles is after the Angels, Prophets, 
 and Evangelists ; but when the motif, or leading idea, implies 
 a special signification, such as the Last Judgment, Paradise, 
 the Coronation of the Madonna, or the apotheosis of a saint, 
 then the order is changed, and the Apostles appear immedi- 
 ately after the Divine Personages and before the angels, as 
 forming a part of the council or court of heaven, " When 
 the Son of Man shall come in His glory, ye also shall sit on 
 twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matt. 
 xix. 28 ; and Luke xxii. 30.) Such is the arrangement in 
 the Campo Santo, in Angelico's " Paradiso " in the Academy, 
 Florence, in Raphael's " Disputa," and many other instances : 
 and I may add the architectural treatment on the faqade of 
 Wells Cathedral, where, immediately under the Saviour sit- 
 ting in judgment, stand the Twelve Apostles, and beneath 
 them the hierarchy of angels, each of the nine choirs being 
 here expressed by a single angel. 1 Therefore to determine 
 the proper place of the Apostles, it is necessary to observe 
 well and to understand what has been the design of the artist, 
 
 1 I must refer the reader to Mr. Cockerell's illustrations and restorations of 
 the rich and multifarious and significant sculpture of Wells Cathedral.
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 173 
 
 and the leading idea of the whole composition, whether strictly 
 theoloyical or partly scenic. In all monuments which have 
 a solemn or a sacred purpose, altars, pulpits, tombs, the 
 Apostles find an appropriate place, either in connection with 
 other sacred personages, or as a company apart, the band of 
 teachers. The range of statues along the top of the screen in 
 front of the choir of St. Mark's at Venice will be remembered 
 by all who have seen them : in the centre stand the Virgin 
 and St. Mark, and then the Apostles, six on each side, grand 
 solemn figures, standing there as if to guard the sanctuary. 
 These are by Jacobelli, in the simple religious style of the 
 fifteenth century, but quite Italian. In contrast with them, 
 as the finest example of German sculptural treatment, we have 
 the Twelve Apostles on the tomb of St. Sebald, in his church 
 at Nuremberg, cast in bronze by Peter Vischer (about 1500). 
 These have become well known by the casts which have lately 
 been brought to England ; they are about two feet high, all 
 remarkable for the characteristic expression of the heads, and 
 the grand simplicity of the attitudes and draperies. 
 
 There are instances of the Apostles introduced into a 
 scheme of ecclesiastical decoration as devotional figures, but 
 assuming, from the style of treatment and from being placed 
 in relation with other personages, a touch of the dramatic and 
 picturesque. Such are Correggio's Apostles in the cupola of 
 the duomo at Parma (1532), which may be considered as the 
 most striking instance that could be produced of studied con- 
 trast to the solemnity and simplicity of the ancient treatment : 
 here the motif is essentially dramatic. They stand round the 
 dome as spectators would stand in a gallery or balcony, all 
 in picturesque attitudes, studiously varied (some, it must be 
 confessed, rather extravagant), and all looking up with amaze- 
 ment, or hope, or joy, or adoration, to the figure of the glori- 
 fied Virgin ascending into heaven. 
 
 Another series of Apostles in the San Giovanni at Parma 
 which Correggio had painted earlier (1522), are conceived 
 I think, in a finer spirit as to character, but, perhaps, not 
 more appropriate to the scene. Here the Twelve Apostles are 
 seated 011 clouds round the glorified Saviour, as they are sup- 
 posed to be in heaven : they are but partially draped. In the 
 heads but little attention has been paid to the ancient types, 
 except in those of St. Peter and St. Paul ; but they are sub-
 
 174 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 lime as well as picturesque in the conception of character and 
 expression. 
 
 The Apostles in Michael Angelo's Last Judgment (A. D. 
 1540) exhibit a still further deviation from the antique style 
 of treatment. They stand on each side of the Saviour, who is 
 not here Saviour and Redeemer, but inexorable Judge. They 
 are grandly and artificially grouped, all without any drapery 
 whatever, and with forms and attitudes which recall an assem- 
 blage of Titans holding a council of war, rather than the 
 glorified companions of Christ. [Sistine Chapel.] In early 
 pictures of Christ in glory, the Apostles, His companions in 
 heaven as on earth, form, with the Patriarchs and Prophets, 
 the celestial court or council : they sit upon thrones to the 
 right and to the left. (Luke xxii. 30.) Raphael's " Dis- 
 puta" in the Vatican is a grand example of this arrangement. 
 
 Sets of the Apostles, in devotional pictures and prints, are 
 so common, that I shall particularize only a few among the 
 most interesting and celebrated. Engravings of these can 
 easily be referred to. 
 
 1. A set by Raphael, engraved by Marc Antonio : grand, 
 graceful figures, and each with his appropriate attribute. 
 Though admirably distinguished in form and bearing, very 
 little attention has been paid to the ancient types, except 
 perhaps in St. Peter and St. John. Here St. James Minor 
 is omitted to make room for St. Paul. [The engravings are 
 from Raphael's frescoes in the Hall of the Pope's Pages, Vati- 
 can. The original pictures have been repainted, so that the 
 master's hand is no longer recognizable.] 
 
 2. A set by Lucas van Leyden, smaller than Raphael's, but 
 magnificent in feeling : here also the ancient types are for the 
 most part neglected. These two sets should be compared as 
 perfect examples of the best Italian and the most characteristic 
 German manner. Some of the German sets are very curious 
 and grotesque. 
 
 3. By H. S. Beham, a most curious set, in what may be 
 called the ultra German style : they stand two and two to- 
 gether, like a procession of old beggars; the workmanship 
 exquisite. Another set by Beham, in which the figures stand 
 singly, and which includes the Four Evangelists, dressed like 
 old burgomasters, with the emblematical wings, has been already 
 mentioned.
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 175 
 
 4. A set by Parmigiano, graceful and mannered, as is usual 
 with him. 
 
 5. By Agostino Caracci. This set, famous as works of Art, 
 must, when compared with those of Eaphael 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 Dtirer, seem intended 
 to form part of a complete set. We have St. Paul, St. Bar- 
 tholomew, 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 histori- 
 cal scenes, some scriptural, some legendary they are more 
 interesting as individual personages ; and the treatment should 
 be more characteristic. Some of these subjects belong prop- 
 erly 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 As- 
 sumption 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 im- 
 portant 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
 
 176 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 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. 1-6, 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 breth- 
 ren : " hence in so many representations of this subject the 
 Virgin is not only present, but a principal person ; Mary Mag- 
 dalene 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 dwell- 
 ers 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 inclosure ; tongues of fire descend from heaven ; 
 beneath is a closed door, at which several persons in strange 
 foreign dresses, with turbans, etc., are listening with amaze- 
 ment. 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. 
 (Venice Acad., fourteenth century.) 
 
 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. [Attributed by Rosini to Troso da 
 Monza.] 
 
 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 Gos- 
 pel in .so many different languages. The allusion is to the 
 words of Joel ii. 28 : " And I will pour out my Spirit upon
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 177 
 
 all flesh." (Convent of Chilandari, Mount Atlios.) 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, de- 
 scends in a glory surrounded by fifteen cherubim : there are 
 no tongues of fire. The prophet Joel is seen above, with the 
 inscription, " Effiindam de Spiritu meo super omnem car- 
 nem. " [Joel ii. 28.] (Vatican, Sala del Pozzo.) 
 
 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 Mag- 
 dalene 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. 
 [One of the tapestries of the Vatican in the series of the Life 
 of Christ called the " Arazzi della Scuola nuova."] 
 
 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 neighborhood ; Philip went to Phrygia ; John to 
 Ephesus ; Thomas to Parthia and Judea ; Andrew to Scythia ; 
 Bartholomew to India and Judea. The Parting of the Apos- 
 tles 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." (Greek MS., ninth 
 century. Paris, Bibl. du Eoi.) 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 inscrip-
 
 178 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 tion above is in Greek : " Go ye, and preach the Gospel to all 
 nations." Below in twelve smaller compartments, each of 
 the Apostles is seen baptising 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 caldron 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 hal- 
 berd. 12. St. Paul is beheaded. (A set of martyrdoms is in 
 the Frankfort Museum ; another is mentioned in Bartsch [Le 
 Peintre Graveur], vol. viii. p. 22.) 
 
 The authority for many of these martyrdoms is wholly 
 apocryphal, 1 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 caldron 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. Bartholo- 
 mew, in the same manner as our Saviour. St. Thomas is 
 pierced by a lance ; and St. John is buried, and then raised 
 
 1 Eusebius says that all the Apostles suffered martyrdom ; but this is not 
 borne out by any ancient testimony. Lardner's Credibility of Gospel His- 
 tory, vol. viii. p. 81.
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 179 
 
 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. They were 
 fortunately engraved for D'Agincourt's " Histoire de 1'Art," 
 before they were destroyed by fire. 
 
 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 Avorship ; we seek it 
 with more reason when they stand before us a series of devo- 
 tional representations ; and still more when, as actors in some 
 particular scene, they are supposed to be animated by senti- 
 ments 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 char- 
 acters, whether exhibited at full length, or merely touched 
 upon, are sustained with dramatic truth. The mediaeval le- 
 gends, 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 car- 
 ried out in the early types, how far attended to, or neglected, 
 by the great painters, since the revival of Art. 
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 
 
 Lai. SS. Petrus et Paulus. Ital. San Pietro or Piero, San Paolo. 
 Fr. S. Pierre, S. Paul. Spa. San Pedro, San Pablo. (June 29 
 
 and 30.) 
 
 
 
 I have already observed, that, as apostles and preachers of 
 the Word, St. Peter and St. Paul take the first place. Even 
 during their lives, a superiority was accorded to them ; and 
 this superiority, as the acknowledged heads and founders of 
 the Christian Church, under Christ, has been allowed down to 
 the present time. The precedence is by common consent given 
 St. Peter ; but they are held to be equal in faith, in merit, 
 and in sanctity.
 
 180 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 The early Christian Church was always considered under 
 two great divisions ; the church of the converted Jews, and 
 the church of the Gentiles. The first was represented by St. 
 Peter, the second by St. Paul. Standing together in this mu- 
 tual relation, they represent the universal Church of Christ ; 
 hence in works of Art they are seldom separated, and are 
 indispensable in all ecclesiastical decoration. Their proper 
 place is on each side of the Saviour, or of the Virgin throned ; 
 or on each side of the altar ; or on each side of the arch over 
 the choir. In any case, where they stand together, not merely 
 as Apostles, but Founders, their place is next after the Evan- 
 gelists and the Prophets. 
 
 Thus seen almost everywhere in companionship, it becomes 
 necessary to distinguish them from each other ; for St. Peter 
 does not always bear his keys, nor St. Paul his sword. In 
 the earliest examples, these attributes are wholly omitted ; 
 yet I scarcely know any instance in which a distinct type of 
 head has not been more or less attended to. 
 
 The ancient Greek type of the head of St. Peter, " the Pilot 
 of the Galilean Lake," is so strongly 
 characterized as to have the air of a 
 portrait. It is either taken from the 
 description of Nicephorus, so often 
 quoted, or his description is taken from 
 some very ancient representation : it 
 certainly harmonizes with all our pre- 
 conceived notions of St. Peter's tem- 
 perament and character. He is a ro- 
 bust old man, with a broad forehead, 
 and rather coarse features, an open 
 undaunted countenance, short gray 
 hair, and short thick beard, curled, 
 and of a silvery white : according to 
 the descriptive portrait of Nicephorus, 
 he had red weak eyes, a peculiarity 
 which it has not been thought neces* 
 sary to preserve in his effigies. In 
 some early pictures he is bald on the 
 top of the head, and the hair grows 
 thick around in a circle, somewhat like 
 St. Peter (Greek type) the P riestlv tonsure > and in some
 
 ST. PETER AXD ST. PAUL 181 
 
 examples this tonsure has the form of a triple row of curls 
 close to the. head, a kind of tiara. A curious exception to 
 this predominant, almost universal, type is to be found in 
 Anglo-Saxon Art, where St. Peter is always beardless, and 
 wears the tonsure ; so that but for the keys, suspended to a 
 ring on his finger, one might take him for an elderly monk. 
 ( Vide St. Guthlac's Book. Ethelwold's Benedictional.) It is 
 a tradition that the Gentiles shaved the head of St. Peter 
 in order to make him an object of derision, and that this is 
 the origin of the priestly tonsure. 
 
 The dress of St. Peter in the mosaics and Greek pictures is 
 a blue tunic, with white drapery thrown over it, but in general 
 the proper colors are a blue or green tunic with yellow drapery. 
 On the early sarcophagi, and in the most ancient church mosaics, 
 he bears merely a scroll or book, and, except in the character of 
 the head, he is exactly like St. Paul ; a little later we find him 
 with the cross in one hand, and the Gospel in the other. The 
 keys in his hand appear as his peculiar attribute about the 
 eighth century. I have seen him with one great key, but- in 
 general 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 and one of iron, opening the gates of heaven 
 and hell : occasionally, but rarely, he has a third key, express- 
 ing the dominion over heaven and earth and hell, as in the 
 mosaic on the tomb of Oth o II. (Lateran Mus.). 
 
 St. Paul presents a striking contrast to St. Peter, in features 
 as in character. There must have existed effigies of him in 
 very early times, for St. Augustine says that a certain Mar- 
 cellina, living in the second century, preserved in her Lararium, 
 among her household gods, " the images of Homer, Pythagoras, 
 Jesus Christ, and Paul the apostle." Chrysostom alludes to a 
 portrait of Paul which hung in his chamber, but unfortunately 
 he does not describe it. The earliest allusion to the personal 
 appearance of St. Paul occurs in Lucian, where he is styled, in 
 a tone of mocking disparagement, " the bald-headed Galilean 
 with a hook-nose." The description given by Nicephorus, 
 founded, we may presume, on tradition and on the existing 
 portraits, has been the authority followed in the early rep- 
 resentations. According to the ancient tradition, Paul was 
 a man of small and meagre stature, with an aquiline nose, a 
 high forehead, and sparkling eyes. In the Greek type the
 
 182 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 face is long and oval, the nose aquiline, the forehead high 
 and bald, the hair hrown, the heard long, flowing, and pointed, 
 and of a dark hrown (in the Greek formula it is said that his 
 
 heard shotild he grayish I recol- 
 lect no instance of St. Paul with a 
 gray heard) ; his dress is like St. 
 Peter's, a blue tunic and white man- 
 tle ; he has a book or scroll in one 
 hand, sometimes twelve rolls, which 
 designate his epistles. He bears the 
 sword, his attribute in a double 
 sense ; it signifies the manner of his 
 martyrdom, and it is emblematical 
 of the good fight fought by the faith- 
 ful Christian, armed with " the 
 sword of the Spirit, which is the 
 word of God." (Ephes. vi. 17.) The 
 life of St. Paul, after his conversion, 
 was, as we know, one long spiritual 
 combat, " perplexed, but not in 
 despair ; cast down, but not de- 
 stroyed." 
 
 These traditional characteristic 
 types of the features and persons of 
 the two greatest apostles were long 
 adhered to. We find them most 
 strictly followed in the old Greek 
 mosaics, in the early Christian sculpture, and the early pictures ; 
 in all which the sturdy dignity and broad rustic features of St. 
 Peter, and the elegant contemplative head of St. Paul, who 
 looks like a Greek philosopher, form a most interesting and 
 suggestive contrast. But, in later times, the old types, par- 
 ticularly in the head of St. Paul, were neglected and degraded. 
 The best painters took care not to deviate wholly from the 
 square head and short gray beard of St. Peter; but, from the 
 time of Sixtus IV., we find substituted for the head of St. 
 Paul an arbitrary representation, which varied according to the 
 model chosen by the artist which was sometimes a Roman 
 porter or a German boor ; sometimes the antique Jupiter or 
 the bust of a Greek rhetorician. 
 
 I shall now give some examples, in chronological order, of 
 
 St. Paul (Greek type)
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 183 
 
 the two great Apostles represented together, as Founders of 
 the Church. 
 
 On the early sarcophagi (from A. D. 321 to 400), St. Peter 
 and St. Paul stand on each side of the Saviour. The former 
 bears a cross, and is generally on the left hand of Christ. The 
 cross given to Peter, and often set with jewels, is supposed to 
 refer to the passage in St. John, xxi. 19, " Signifying hy what 
 death he should die : " but it may surely bear another inter- 
 pretation, i. e. the spirit of Christianity transmitted to all na- 
 tions by the first and greatest of the Apostles. St. Paul carries 
 a roll of writing ; he has a very high bald forehead : in other 
 respects the two Apostles are not particularly discriminated ; 
 they wear the classical costume. (Bottari, Tab. xxv.) Simi- 
 lar figures of Peter and Paul occur on the ancient glass drink- 
 ing-vessels and lamps preserved in the Vatican ; but the 
 workmanship is so rude that they are merely curiosities, and 
 cannot be cited as authorities. 
 
 MOSAIC (Rome, A. D. 443) in Santa Maria Maggiore, over 
 the arch which separates the sanctuary from the nave. We 
 have in the centre a throne, on which lies the roll, sealed with 
 seven seals ; above the throne rises a cross set with precious 
 stones ; on each side of the throne, St. Peter and St. Paul ; 
 they have no attributes, are habited in classical draperies, and 
 the whole representation is strictly antique in style, without a 
 trace of any of the characteristics of Medieval Art. This is 
 the oldest representation I have met with next to those on the 
 sarcophagi. 
 
 MOSAIC (Rome, A. D. 526) in St. Cosmo and St. Damian, on 
 the vault of the apsis. Christ stands in the centre, sustained 
 by clouds ; His right hand is raised in the attitude of one who 
 exhorts (not blessing, as is the usual manner) ; the left hand 
 holds the book of life ; at His feet flows the river Jordan, the 
 symbol of Baptism. On each side, but lower down and much 
 smaller in size, stand St. Peter and St. Paul ; they seem to 
 present St. Cosmo and St. Damian to the Saviour. Beyond 
 these again, on either side, stand St. Theodore and the pope 
 (Felix I.) who dedicated the church. Palm-trees, and a Phce- 
 nix crowned with a starry glory, emblems of Victory and Im- 
 mortality, close this majestic and significant composition on 
 each side. Here St. Peter and St. Paul are dignified figures,
 
 184 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 in which the Greek type is strongly characterized ; they wear 
 long white mantles, and have no attributes. 
 
 MOSAIC (A. D. 936) on the tomb of Otho II. St. Peter 
 and St. Paul together, rather more than half length, and above 
 life size. St. Peter has three keys, suspended on a ring ; St. 
 Paul, the book and sword. The original mosaic is preserved 
 in the Vatican, and a copy is in the Lateran. This relic is, as 
 a document, invaluable. 
 
 MOSAIC (A. D. 1216-1227) in the apsis of the old basilica 
 of St. Paul. Christ is seated on a throne, with the cruciform 
 glory and His name I C. X C.: the right hand gives the ben- 
 ediction in the Greek form ; He holds in His left an open 
 book, inscribed VENITE BENEDICTI PATRIS MEI PERCIPITE 
 REGNUM. (Matt. xxv. 34.) On the left, St. Peter with his 
 right hand raised to Christ, and an open scroll in his left hand, 
 inscribed TU ES CHRISTUS FILIUS DEI vivi. On the other 
 side of Christ, St. Paul ; his right hand on his breast, and in 
 his left a scroll with these words, IN NOMINE JESU OMNE 
 
 GENU FLECTATUR CfELESTIUM TERRESTRIUM ET INFERNO- 
 RUM. (Phil. xi. 10.) Beyond St. Peter stands his brother 
 St. Andrew ; and beyond St. Paul his favorite disciple Luke. 
 At the foot of the throne kneels a diminutive figure of the 
 Pope, Honorius III., by whom the mosaic was dedicated. 
 Palm-trees close the composition on each side ; underneath runs 
 the frieze of the Twelve Apostles previously described. 
 
 MOSAIC (twelfth century) in the Cathedral of Monreale at 
 Palermo. St. Peter and St. Paul are seated on splendid 
 thrones on each side of the tribune ; St. Peter holds in his 
 left hand a book, and the right, which gives the benediction, 
 holds also the two keys : over his head is inscribed, SANCTUS 
 
 PETRUS PRINCEPS APOSTOLORUM CUI TRADIT.E SUNT CLAVES 
 
 REGNI CCELORUM. St. Paul holds the sword with the point 
 upwards like a sceptre, and the book as usual : the intellec- 
 tual Greek character of the head is strongly discriminated. 
 The inscription is SANCTUS PAULUS PR^DICATOR VERITA- 
 
 TIS ET DOCTOR GENTIUM GENT1. 
 
 Among the rich and curious bas-reliefs in front of the 
 church of St. Trophime at Aries, we have St. Peter and St. 
 Paul seated together receiving the souls of the just. Each 
 has two souls in his lap, and the Archangel Michael is bring- 
 ing another.
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 185 
 
 In pictures, their proper place, as I have observed, is on 
 each side of the throne of the Redeemer, or on each side of 
 the Virgin and Child : sometimes they are standing together, 
 or reading in the same book. 
 
 This must suffice for the devotional treatment of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul, when represented as joint founders and patrons 
 of the universal Christian Church. Before I notice those his- 
 torical subjects in which they appear together, I have to say a 
 few words of the manner in which they are treated separately 
 and distinctly. And first of St. Peter. 
 
 The various events of the life of St. Peter are recorded in 
 the Gospels and the Acts so minutely, that they may be 
 presumed to be familiar to all readers. From these we may 
 deduce his character, remarkable for fervor and energy rather 
 than sustained power. His traditional and legendary history 
 is full of incidents, miracles, and wonderful and picturesque 
 passages. His importance and popularity, considered as 
 Prince of the Apostles and Founder of the Church of Rome, 
 have extended with the influence of that powerful Church 
 of which he is the head and representative, and multiplied, 
 almost to infinitude, pictures and effigies of him in his indi- 
 vidual character, as well as historical representations of his 
 life and actions, wherever his paramount dignity is admitted. 
 
 It struck me, when wandering over the grand old churches 
 of Ravenna, where the ecclesiastical mosaics are the most an- 
 cient that exist, and still in wonderful preservation, that St. 
 Peter and St. Paul do not often appear, at least are in no re- 
 spect distinguished from the other apostles. Ravenna, in the 
 fifth century, did not look to Rome for her saints. On the 
 other hand, among the earliest of the Roman mosaics, St. Peter 
 is sometimes found sustaining the throne of Christ, without 
 his companion St. Paul ; as in S. Maria-in-Trastevere, S. Maria 
 Nuova, and others. At Rome, St. Peter is the Saint, the 
 Santissimo. The secession of the Protestant Church dimmed 
 his glory as Prince of the Apostles and universal Saint ; he 
 fell into a kind of disrepute as identified with the See of 
 Rome, which exposed his effigies, in England and Scotland 
 particularly, to a sweeping destruction. Those were disputa- 
 tious days, and Peter, the affectionate, enthusiastic, devoted,
 
 186 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 but somewhat rash apostle, veiled his head to the intellectual, 
 intrepid, subtle philosopher Paul. 
 
 Let us now see how Art has placed before us the sturdy 
 Prince of the Apostles. 
 
 I have already mentioned the characteristic type which be- 
 longs to him, and his prevalent attributes the key, the cross, 
 the book. When he figures among the 
 disciples in the Gospel stories, he some- 
 times holds the fish as the symbol of his 
 original vocation : if the fish be given 
 to him in single devotional figures, it 
 signifies also Christianity, or the rite of 
 Baptism. 
 
 The figures of St. Peter standing, as 
 Apostle and Patron Saint, with book 
 and keys, are of such perpetual occur- 
 rence as to defy all attempts to particu- 
 larize them, and so familiar as to need 
 (f/ /iff no further illustration. One of the finest 
 
 I have ever seen is the " St. Pierre au 
 Donateur," by Gaudenzio Ferrari ; hold- 
 ing his keys (both of gold), he presents 
 a kneeling votary, a man of middle age, 
 who probably bore his name. The head 
 of St. Peter is very characteristic, and 
 has an energetic pleading expression, al- 
 most demanding what he requires for 
 his votary. The whole picture is ex- 
 tremely fine. (Turin Gallery.) 
 
 Representations of him in his pecul- 
 iar character of Head and Founder of the Roman Church, and 
 first universal bishop, are less common. He is seated on a 
 throne ; one hand is raised in the act of benediction ; in the 
 other he holds the keys, and sometimes a book or scroll, in- 
 scribed with the text, in Latin, " Thou art Peter, and on this 
 rock have I built my Church." This subject of the throned 
 St. Peter is very frequent in the older schools. The well- 
 known picture by Giotto, painted for Cardinal Stefaneschi, now 
 in the sacristy of the Vatican, is very fine, simple, and solemn. 
 In a picture by Cima da Conegliano, St. Peter is not only 
 
 St. Peter (Vischer)
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 
 
 187 
 
 throned, but wears the triple tiara as Pope ; the countenance 
 is particularly earnest, fervent, almost fiery in expression : the 
 keys lie at his feet ; on one side stands St. John the Baptist, 
 on the other St. Paul. (Brera, Milan.) 
 
 As a deviation from the usual form of this subject, I must 
 mention an old bas-relief, full of character, and significantly 
 appropriate to its locality 
 the church of San Pie- 
 tro-in-Vincoli, at Rome. 
 St. Peter, enthroned, holds 
 in one hand the keys and 
 the Gospel ; with the other 
 he presents his chains to a 
 kneeling angel ; this unus- 
 ual treatment is very po- 
 etical and suggestive. 
 
 There are standing fig- 
 ures of St. Peter wearing 
 the papal tiara, and bran- 
 dishing his keys, as in a 
 picture by Cola dell' Ama- 
 trice. 1 And I should think 
 Milton had some such pic- 
 ture in his remembrance 
 when he painted his St. 
 Peter : - 
 
 Last came and last did go 
 The pilot of the Galilean Lake; 
 Two massy keys he bore of metals 
 
 twain, 
 (The golden opes, the iron shuts 
 
 amain), 
 He shook his mitred locks, and 
 
 stern bespake. St. Peter as Pope (Cola dell' Amatrice) 
 
 When, in devotional pictures, St. Peter is accompanied by 
 another apostle with no distinctive attributes, we may suppose 
 it to be St. Mark, who was his interpreter, companion, and 
 amanuensis at Rome. According to an early tradition, the 
 Gospel of St. Mark was written down from the dictation of 
 St. Peter. 2 In a miniature frontispiece to St. Mark's Gospel, 
 
 1 [Engraved in the work of Rosini, who locates it in the Fesch Gallery.] 
 
 2 "What St. Clement says is to this purpose: that St. Peter's hearers at
 
 188 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 the evangelist is seated writing, and St. Peter stands opposite, as 
 if dictating. In a picture by Angelico [Uffizi, Florence], Peter 
 is preaching from a pulpit to a crowd of people : Mark, seated 
 on one side, is diligently taking down his words. In a very 
 tine picture by Bonvicino [Moretto] they stand together ; St. 
 Peter is reading from a book ; St. Mark holds a scroll and ink- 
 horn ; he is submitting to St. Peter the Gospel he has just 
 penned, and which was afterwards confirmed by the apostle. 1 
 (Brera, Milan.) 
 
 Lastly, a magnificent Venetian picture represents St. Peter 
 throned as bishop, Avith an earnest and rather stern counte- 
 nance ; he holds a book in his hand ; two angels with musical 
 instruments are seated on the steps of his throne : on his right 
 hand stand John the Baptist and St. Jerome as cardinal ; on 
 his left St. Ambrose ; while St. Mark bends over a book, as 
 if reading to this majestic auditory. 2 (Gian Bellini : Venice. 
 S. M. de' Frari.) 
 
 Those scenes and incidents related in the Gospels in which 
 St. Peter is a principal or conspicuous figure, I shall enlarge 
 upon when treating of the life of Christ, and will only indicate 
 a few of them here, as illustrating the manner in which St. 
 Peter is introduced and treated in such subjects. 
 
 We have, first, the Calling of Peter and Andrew in a pic- 
 ture by Basaiti (Vienna Gallery), where the two brothers are 
 kneeling at the feet of the Saviour ; the fishing boats and the 
 Lake of Gennesareth in the background : 3 and in the beautiful 
 fresco by Ghirlandajo in the Sistine Chapel, where a number 
 of contemporary personages are introduced as spectators. St. 
 Andrew presenting St. Peter to our Saviour (as in a picture 
 'by Cavallucci, in the Vatican), is another version of the same 
 
 Rome were desirous of having his sermons writ down for their use; that they 
 made their request to Mark to leave them a written memorial of the doctrine 
 they had received by word of mouth; that they did not desist from their en- 
 treaties till they had prevailed upon him ; and St. Peter confirmed that writing 
 by his authority, that it might be read in the churches." Lardner [Credibil- 
 ity of the Compel History], vol. i. p. 250. 
 
 1 [No work of this description appears to be mentioned under Moretto's 
 name, either in the authoritative works on Art or in the Brera catalogue.] 
 
 2 [Diligent search in the authorities on Venetian Art brings to light no 
 picture of this description ascribed to Bellini. St. Peter Enthroned is the 
 subject of a painting by Basaiti in S. Pietro di Castello, Venice, and of one by 
 Palma Vecchio in the Venice Academy]. 
 
 3 [Catalogued as The Calling of the Sons of Zebedee : James and John.]
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 189 
 
 subject ; or St. Andrew is seen at the feet of Christ, while 
 St. Peter is sitting on the edge of the boat, or descending from 
 it in haste. 
 
 " Christ Walking on the Sea " is a familiar and picturesque 
 subject, not to be mistaken. The most ancient and most cele- 
 brated representation is Giotto's mosaic (A. D. 1298), now 
 placed in the portico of St. Peter's, over the arch opposite to 
 the principal door. The sentiment in the composition of this 
 subject is, generally, " Lord, help me ; or I perish ; " St. 
 Peter is sinking, and Christ is stretching out His hand to save 
 him. It is considered as a type of the Church in danger, 
 assailed by enemies, and saved by the miraculous interposition 
 of the Redeemer ; and in this sense must the frequent repre- 
 sentations in churches be understood. 
 
 In the " Miraculous Draught of Fishes," St. Peter is usually 
 on his knees looking up with awe and gratitude : " Depart 
 from me, Lord ! for I am a sinful man." The composition 
 of Raphael (the cartoon at [South Kensington]) is just what 
 we should seek for in Raphael, a masterpiece of dramatic ex- 
 pression, the significant, the poetical, the miraculous pre- 
 dominating. The composition of Rubens, at Malines, which 
 deserves the next place, should be looked at in contrast, as 
 an instance of the picturesque and vigorous treatment equally 
 characteristic of the painter, all life and reality, even to 
 the glittering fish which tumble in the net. " St. Peter find- 
 ing the tribute money " is a subject I have seldom met with ; 
 the motif is simple, and not to be mistaken. 
 
 In all the scenes of the life of our Saviour in which the 
 Apostles are assembled, in the Transfiguration, in the Last 
 Supper, in the " Washing the Feet of the Disciples," in the 
 scene of the agony and the betrayal of Christ, St. Peter is 
 introduced as a more or less prominent figure, but always to 
 be distinguished from the other Apostles. 'In the third of 
 these subjects, the washing of the feet, St. Peter generally 
 looks up at Christ with an expression of humble expostulation, 
 his hands on his head : the sentiment is " Not my feet 
 only, but my hands and my head." 
 
 In the scene of the betrayal of Christ, St. Peter cutting off 
 the ear of Malchus is sometimes a too prominent group ; and I 
 remember an old German print in which St. Peter having cut 
 off the ear, our Lord bends down to replace it. (Bartsch [Le 
 Peintre Graveur], vol. vi. p. 92.)
 
 190 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 " St. Peter Denying the Saviour " is always one of the sub- 
 jects in the series of the Passion of Christ. It occurs fre- 
 quently on the ancient sarcophagi as the symbol of repentance, 
 and is treated with classical and sculptural simplicity, the 
 cock being always introduced, as in the illustration : it is here 
 to be understood as a general emblem of human weakness and 
 repentance. As an action separately, or as one of the series 
 of the life and actions of Peter, it has not been often painted ; 
 it seems to have been avoided in general by the early Italian 
 painters as derogatory to the character and dignity of the 
 Apostle. The only examples I can recollect are in the later 
 Italian and Flemish schools. Teniers has adopted it as a 
 
 Repentance of St. Peter (Bas-relief, third century) 
 
 vehicle for a guardroom scene ; soldiers playing at cards, 
 bright armor, etc. [Louvre]. Rembrandt has taken it as a 
 vehicle for a fine artificial light [Hermitage, St. Petersburg] ; 
 and, for the same reason, the Caravaggio school delighted in 
 it. The maiden, whose name in the old traditions is Balilla, 
 is always introduced with a look and gesture of reproach, and 
 the cock is often perched in the background. 
 
 " Christ turned and looked upon Peter : " of this beautiful
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 
 
 191 
 
 Repentance of St. Peter (Mosaic) 
 
 subject, worthy of Eaphael himself, I can remember no in- 
 stance. 
 
 The " Repentance of Peter " is a subject seldom treated 
 in the earlier schools of Italy, but frequently by the later 
 painters, and particularly by the Bologna school ; in some 
 instances most beautifully. It was a subject peculiarly suited 
 to the genius of Guercino, who excelled in the expression of 
 profound rather than elevated feeling. 
 
 There is a manner of representing the repentance of Peter 
 which seems peculiar to Spanish Art, and is more ideal than 
 is usual with that school. Christ is bound to a column and 
 crowned with thorns ; St. Peter kneels before Him in an 
 attitude of the deepest anguish and humiliation, and appears 
 to be supplicating forgiveness. Except in the Spanish school, 
 I have never met with this treatment. The little picture 
 by Murillo is an exquisite example (Le Christ h la Colonne. 
 Louvre) ; and in the Spanish Gallery are two others, by 
 Pedro de Cordova and Juan Juanes : in the former, St. 
 Peter holds a pocket handkerchief with which he has been 
 wiping his eyes, and the cock is perched on the column to 
 which our Saviour is bound.
 
 192 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 Another ideal treatment we find in a picture by Guercino; 
 St. Peter is weeping bitterly, and opposite to him the Virgin 
 is seated in motionless grief. 
 
 Half-length figures of St. Peter looking up with an expres- 
 sion of repentant sorrow, and wringing his hands, are of 
 frequent occurrence, more especially in the later followers 
 of the Bologna and Neapolitan schools of the seventeenth 
 century : Ribera, Lanfranco, Caravaggio, and Valentin. In 
 most of these instances, the total absence of ideal or elevated 
 sentiment is striking ; any old bearded beggar out of the 
 streets, who could cast up his eyes and look pathetic, served 
 as a model. 
 
 I recollect no picture of the Crucifixion in which St. Peter 
 is present. 
 
 " The Delivery of the Keys to Peter " and " The Charge 
 to Peter " (Feed my sheep), either in separate pictures or 
 combined into one subject, have been, of course, favorite 
 themes in a church which founds its authority on these par- 
 ticular circumstances. The bas-relief over the principal door 
 of St. Peter's at Rome represents the two themes in one : 
 Christ delivers the keys to Peter, and the sheep are standing 
 by. In the panels of the bronze doors beneath (A. D. 1431), 
 we have the chain of thought and incident continued ; Peter 
 delivers the emblematical keys to Pope Eugenius IV. 
 
 It is curious that, while the repentance of Peter is a 
 frequent subject on the sarcophagi of the fourth century, the 
 delivery of the keys to Peter occurs but once. Christ, as a 
 beardless youth, presents to Peter two keys laid crosswise one 
 over the over. Peter, in whose head the traditional type is 
 most distinctly marked, has thrown his pallium over his out- 
 stretched hands, for, according to the antique ceremonial, of 
 which the early sculpture and mosaics afford us so many exam- 
 ples, things consecrated could only be touched with covered 
 hands. This singular example is engraved in Bottari (Tab. 
 xxi.). An example of beautiful and solemn treatment in 
 painting is Perugino's fresco in the Sistine Chapel. It con- 
 tains twenty-one figures ; the conception is quite ideal, the 
 composition regular even to formality, yet striking and dra- 
 matic. In the centre, Peter, kneeling on one knee, receives
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 193 
 
 the keys from the hand of the Saviour ; the apostles and dis- 
 ciples are arranged on each side behind Christ and St. Peter ; 
 in the background is the rebuilding of the Temple, a double 
 allegory: "Destroy this temple, I will build it up in three 
 iays : " and also, perhaps, alluding to the building of the 
 thapel by Sixtus IV. 
 
 In Raphael's cartoon [South Kensington Museum] the scene 
 is an open plain ; Christ stands on the right ; in front, St. 
 Peter kneels, with the keys in his hand ; Christ extends one 
 hand to Peter, and with the other points to a flock of 
 sheep in the background. The introduction of the sheep into 
 this subject has been criticised as at once too literal and too 
 allegorical, a too literal transcript of the words, a too alle- 
 gorical version of the meaning ; but I do not see how the 
 words of our Saviour could have been otherwise rendered in 
 painting, which must speak to us through sensible objects. 
 The other apostles standing behind Peter show in each counte- 
 nance the different manner in which they are affected by the 
 words of the Saviour. 
 
 By Gian Bellini : 1 a beautiful picture (Madrid Gallery) : 
 St. Peter kneeling, half length, receives the keys from Jesus 
 Christ, seated on a throne. Behind St. Peter stand the three 
 Christian Graces, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Poussin has 
 taken this subject in his series of the Seven Sacraments to 
 represent the sacrament of Ordination (Bridgewater Gallery, 
 London). In this instance, again, the two themes are united; 
 and we must also remember, that the allegorical representation 
 of the disciples and followers of Christ as sheep looking up 
 to be fed is consecrated by the practice of the earliest schools 
 of Christian Art. Rubens has rendered the subject very 
 simply, in a picture containing only the two figures, Christ 
 and St. Peter (Cathedral at Malines) ; and again with five fig- 
 ures, less good (Gal. of the Hague). Numerous other examples 
 might be given ; but the subject is one that, however treated, 
 cannot be easily mistaken. 
 
 A very ideal version of this subject is where St. Peter 
 kneels at the feet of the Madonna, and the Infant Christ, 
 bending from her lap, presents the keys to him ; as in a sin- 
 
 1 [No picture of this description appears to be mentioned under Bel- 
 lini's name, either in the authoritative works on Art or in the Madrid cata- 
 logue.]
 
 194 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 Madonna and Child with Saints (Crivelli) 
 
 gularly fine and large composition by Crivelli, 1 and in another 
 by Andrea Salaino. Another, very beautiful and curious, was 
 in the possession of Mr. Bromley 2 of Wootten. 3 
 
 After the ascension of our Saviour, the personal history of 
 St. Peter is mingled first with that of St. John, and afterwards 
 with that of St. Paul. 
 
 " Peter and John healing the lame man at the gate called 
 Beautiful " is the subject of one of the finest of [Raphael's] 
 cartoons at [South Kensington]. Perin del Vaga, Niccolo Pous- 
 sin, and others less renowned, have also treated it; it is sus- 
 ceptible of much contrast and dramatic effect. 
 
 1 This picture, formerly in the Brera, is now in [the Berlin Gallery.] It 
 is the finest and most characteristic specimen of the master I have ever 
 seen. 
 
 2 [The Bromley collection was sold in 1803.] 
 
 3 It is signed MEDULA, and attributed to Giulio della Mendula ; a painter 
 (except through this picture) unknown to me.
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 195 
 
 " The sick are brought out and placed in the shadow of 
 Peter and John that they may be healed," by Masaccio, in the 
 Brancacci Chapel [Carmine], Florence. 
 
 " Peter Preaching to the Early Converts : " the two most 
 beautiful compositions I have seen are the simple group of 
 Masaccio J and another by Le Sueur, full of variety and senti- 
 ment. 
 
 " Peter and John communicate the Holy Ghost by laying 
 their hands on the Disciples," by Vasari (Berlin Gal.). I do 
 not well remember this picture. 2 
 
 The Vision of St. Peter : three angels sustain the curtain or 
 sheet which contains the various forbidden animals, as pigs, 
 rabbits, etc. (as in a print after Guercino). 
 
 " Peter Baptizes the Centurion." (Very appropriately placed 
 in the baptistery of the Vatican.) St. Peter meets the Centu- 
 rion ; he blesses the family of the Centurion. All common- 
 place versions of very interesting and picturesque subjects. 
 
 " The Death of Ananias." Raphael's cartoon of this awful 
 scene is a masterpiece of dramatic and scenic power; never 
 was a story more admirably and completely told in painting. 
 Those who had to deal with the same subject, as if to avoid a 
 too close comparison with his unapproachable excellence, have 
 chosen the death of Sapphira as the motif; as, for example, 
 Niccolo Poussin (Louvre). 
 
 " Dorcas or Tabitha Restored to Life." One of the finest 
 and most effective of Guercino's pictures, now in the Palazzo 
 Pitti ; the simple dignity of the apostle, and the look of sick 
 amazement in the face of the woman restored to consciousness, 
 show how strong Guercino could be when he had to deal with 
 natural emotions of no elevated kind. The same subject, by 
 Costanzi, is among the great mosaics in St. Peter's. " The Death 
 of Dorcas," by Le Sueur, is a beautiful composition. She lies 
 extended on a couch ; St. Peter and two other apostles ap- 
 proach the foot of it : the poor widows, weeping, show to St. 
 Peter the garments which Dorcas had made for them. (Acts 
 ix. 39.) 
 
 1 [Critics are divided in their opinion as to which of the Branoacci Chapel 
 frescoes are Masaccio's and which Masolino's. Peter Preaching is attributed 
 by Crowe and Cavalcaselle to the former, by Sir Henry Layard and Wolt- 
 mann and Woermann to the latter.] 
 
 2 [The 1891 catalogue of the Berlin Gallery contains no work attributed to 
 Vasari.]
 
 196 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 The imprisonment of Peter and his deliverance by the 
 Angel were incidents so important, and offer such obvious 
 points of dramatic effect, that they have been treated in every 
 possible variety of style and sentiment, from the simple for- 
 mality of the early mosaics, where the two figures Peter 
 
 sitting on a stool, lean- 
 ing his head on his 
 hand, and the Angel at 
 his side express the 
 story like a vision, 1 
 down to the scenic 
 and architectural com- 
 positions of Steenwick, 
 where, amid a vast 
 perspective of gloomy 
 vaults and pillars, a 
 diminutive St. Peter, 
 with an Angel or a sen- 
 tinel placed somewhere 
 in the foreground, just 
 serves to give the pic- 
 ture a name. 2 
 
 Some examples of 
 this subject are of 
 great celebrity. 
 
 Masaccio, in the fres- 
 coes of the Brancacci 
 Chapel, has represented 
 Peter in prison looking 
 through his grated win- 
 dow, and Paul outside 
 communing with him. 3 
 (The noble figure of St. 
 Paul in this fresco was 
 imitated by Raphael in 
 the "St. Paul Preach- 
 
 St. Paul and St. Peter (Filippino Lippi) 
 
 1 As in the Greek mosaics in the Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo. 
 
 2 Several such pictures are in the royal collections at Windsor and Hamp- 
 ton Court. 
 
 8 [This fresco, together with the Liberation of Peter, are attributed by Sir 
 Henry Layard to Filippino Lippi. Vide Layard's revision of Kugler's Hand- 
 book, p. 143.]
 
 ST. PETEK AND ST. PAUL 197 
 
 ing at Athens.") In the next compartment of the series, 
 Masaccio has given us the Angel leading forth Peter, while 
 the guard sleeps at the door : he sleeps as one oppressed with 
 an unnatural sleep. Raphael's fresco in the Vatican is not 
 one of his best, but he has seized on the obvious point of 
 effect, both as to light and grouping ; and we have three 
 separate moments of the same incident, which yet combine 
 most happily into one grand scene. Thus in the centre, over 
 the window, we see through a grating the interior of the 
 prison, where St. Peter is sleeping between two guards, who, 
 leaning on their weapons, are sunk in a deep charmed slum- 
 ber ; 1 an angel, whose celestial radiance fills the dungeon with 
 a flood of light, is in the act of waking the apostle ; on the 
 right of the spectator, the angel leads the apostle out of the 
 prison ; two guards are sleeping on the steps : on the left, 
 the soldiers are roused from sleep, and one with a lighted 
 torch appears to be giving the alarm ; the crescent moon 
 faintly illumines the background. 
 
 The deliverance of St. Peter has always been considered as 
 figurative of the deliverance of the Church ; and the two 
 other frescoes of this room, the Heliodorus and the Attila, 
 bear the same interpretation. It is worth while to compare 
 this dramatic composition of Raphael with others wherein the 
 story is merely a vehicle for artificial effects of light, as in a 
 picture by Gerard Honthorst ; or treated like a supernatural 
 vision, as by that poet, Rembrandt. 
 
 Those historical subjects in which St. Peter and St. Paul 
 figure together will be noticed in the life of St. Paul. 
 
 I come now to the legendary stories connected with St. Peter ; 
 an inexhaustible source of popular and pictorial interest. 
 
 Peter was at Jerusalem as late a"s A. D. 52 ; then at An- 
 tioch ; also in Babylon : according to the most ancient testimo- 
 nies he was at Rome about A. D. 63 ; but the tradition that he 
 resided as bishop in the city of Rome for twenty-five years, 
 first related by Jerome, seems questionable. 2 Among the 
 
 1 Moore makes a characteristic remark on this fresco; he is amazed at the 
 pelf-denial of the painter who could cross this fine group with the black iron 
 bars which represent the prison. 
 
 2 Some Protestant writers have set aside St. Peter's ministry at Rome as 
 altogether apocryphal; but Gieseler, an author by no means credulous, con-
 
 198 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 legendary incidents which marked his sojourn in Rome, the 
 first and the most important is the story of Simon Magus. 
 
 Simon, a famous magician among the Jews, had astonished 
 the whole city of Jerusalem by his wonderful feats ; but his 
 inventions and sorceries were overcome by the real miracles of 
 Peter, as the Egyptian magi had been conquered by Aaron. 
 He offered the apostles money to buy the secret of their power, 
 which Peter rejected with indignation. St. Augustine tells 
 us, as a characteristic trait of the fiery-spirited apostle, that 
 " if he had fallen on the traitor Simon, he would certainly 
 have torn him to pieces with his teeth." The magician, van- 
 quished by a superior power, flung his books into the Dead 
 Sea, broke his wand, and fled to Rome, where he became a 
 great favorite of the Emperor Claudius, and afterwards of 
 Nero. Peter, bent on counteracting the wicked sorceries of 
 Simon, followed him to Rome. About two years after his 
 arrival, he was joined there by the Apostle Paul. Simon 
 Magus having asserted that he was himself a god, and could 
 raise the dead, Peter and Paul rebuked his impiety, and chal- 
 lenged him to a trial of skill in presence of the emperor. 
 The arts of the magician failed ; Peter and Paul restored the 
 youth to life : and on many other occasions Simon was van- 
 quished and put to shame by the miraculoifs power of the 
 apostles. At length he undertook to fly up to heaven in sight 
 of the emperor and the people ; and, crowned with laurel, and 
 supported by demons, he flung himself from a tower, and ap- 
 peared for a while to float thus in the air : but St. Peter, fall- 
 ing on his knees, commanded the demons to let go their hold, 
 and Simon, precipitated to the ground, was dashed to pieces. 
 
 This romantic legend, so popular in the middle ages, is 
 founded on some antique traditions not wholly unsupported 
 by historical testimony. 
 
 There can be no doubt that there existed in the first century 
 a Simon, a Samaritan, a pretender to divine authority and 
 supernatural powers; who, for a time, had many followers; 
 who stood in a certain relation to Christianity ; and who may 
 have held some opinions more or less similar to those enter- 
 
 siders that the historical evidence is in favor of the tradition. (Vide Text- 
 book of Eccles. Hist.) This is the more satisfactory, because, even to Prot- 
 estants, it is not agreeable to be at Rome and to be obliged to reject certain 
 associations which add to the poetical, as well as to the religious, interest of 
 the place.
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 199 
 
 tained. by the most famous heretics of the early ages, the 
 Gnostics. Irenaeus calls this Simon the father of all heretics. 
 " All those," he says, " who in any way corrupt the truth, or 
 mar the preaching of the Church, are disciples and successors 
 of Simon, the Samaritan magician." Simon gave himself forth 
 as a god, and carried about with him a beautiful woman named 
 Helena, whom he represented as the first conception of his 
 that is, of the divine mind, the symbol or manifestation of 
 that portion of spirituality which had become entangled in 
 matter. He represented her as a resuscitation of the famous 
 Helen of Troy, which is said to have suggested to Goethe the 
 resuscitation of Helena in the second part of " Faust." 
 
 The incidents of the story of Simon Magus have been often 
 and variously treated. 
 
 1. By Quentin Massys : Peter refuses the offer of Simon 
 Magus " Thy money perish with thee ! " Here Peter wears 
 the mitre of a bishop : the picture is full of coarse but natural 
 expression. 
 
 2. " Peter and Paul Accused before Nero : " the fresco in 
 the Brancacci Chapel, attributed by Kugler to FilippiuoLippi, 
 is certainly one of the most perfect pieces of Art, as a dramatic 
 composition, which we have before the time of Raphael. To 
 the right the emperor is seated on his throne, on each side his 
 ministers and attendants. The countenances are finely varied ; 
 some of them animated by attention and curiosity, others sunk 
 in deep thought. The two apostles, and their accuser, Simon 
 Magus, are in front. Simon, a magnificent figure, who might 
 serve for a Prospero, lays his hand on the vest of Peter, as if 
 to drag him forward ; Paul stands aside with quiet dignity ; 
 Peter, with a countenance full of energetic expression, points 
 contemptuously to the broken idol at his feet. For the felicity 
 and animation with which the story is told, and for propriety, 
 grace, and grandeur, Raphael has not often exceeded this pic- 
 ture. 
 
 3. Another of the series of the life of Peter in the Bran- 
 cacci Chapel is the resuscitation of the youth, who in the 
 legend is called the nephew of the emperor ; a composition of 
 numerous figures [painted partly by Masaccio and partly by 
 Filippino Lippi]. In the centre stands St. Peter, and before 
 him kneels the youth ; a skull and a few bones are near him 
 a na'ive method of expressing his return from death to life.
 
 200 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 The variety of expression in the countenances of the assembled 
 spectators is very fine. According to the custom of the Flor- 
 entine school at that time, many are portraits of distinguished 
 persons ; and, considering that the fresco was painted at a 
 period most interesting in the Florentine history (A. D. 1440). 
 we have much reason to regret that these can no longer be 
 discriminated. 
 
 4. " The Fall of Simon Magus " is a favorite and pictur- 
 esque subject, often repeated. A most ancient and most curi- 
 ous version is that on the walls of the Cathedral at Assisi, 
 older than the time of Giotto, and attributed to Giunta Pisano 
 (A. D. 1232). On one side is a pyramidical tower formed of 
 wooden bars ; Peter and Paul are kneeling in front ; the figure 
 of the magician is seen floating in the air and sustained by 
 hideous demons ; very dreamy, poetical, and fanciful. In 
 Mr. Ottley's collection I saw a small ancient picture of the 
 same subject, very curious, attributed to Benozzo Gozzoli. 
 Raphael's composition in the Vatican has the simplicity of a 
 classical bas-relief a style which does not appear suited to 
 this romantic legend. The picture by L. Caracci at Naples I 
 have not seen. Over one of the altars of St. Peter, we now 
 see Vanni's picture of this subject ; a clever commonplace 
 treatment : the scene is an amphitheatre, the emperor above in 
 his balcony ; Peter and Paul in front, invoking the name of 
 Christ, and Simon Magus tumbling headlong, forsaken by his 
 demons ; in the background sit the vestals. Battoni's great 
 picture in the S. Maria degli Angeli at Rome is considered his 
 best production ; it is full of well-studied academic drawing, 
 but scenic and mannered. 
 
 The next subject in the order of events is styled the 
 " DOMINE, QUO VADIS ? " After the burning of Rome, 
 Nero threw upon the Christians the accusation of having 
 fired the city. This was the origin of the first persecution, 
 in which many perished by terrible and hitherto unheard-of 
 deaths. The Christian converts besought Peter not to expose 
 his life, which was dear and necessary to the Avell-being of all ; 
 and at length he consented to depart from Rome. But as he 
 fled along the Appian Way, about two miles from the gates, 
 he was met by a vision of our Saviour travelling towards the 
 city. Struck with amazement, he exclaimed, " Lord ! whither
 
 ST. PETEK AND ST. PAUL 201 
 
 goest thou ? " to which the Saviour, looking upon him with a 
 mild sadness, replied, " I go to Home to be crucified a second 
 time," and vanished. Peter, taking this for a sign that he 
 was to submit himself to the sufferings prepared for him, 
 immediately turned back and reentered the city. Michael 
 Angelo's famous statue, now in the church of S. Maria-sopra- 
 Minerva at Home, is supposed to represent Christ as He 
 appeared to Peter on this occasion ; and a cast or copy of it 
 is in the little church of " Domine, quo vadis ? " erected on 
 the spot sanctified by this mysterious meeting. 
 
 It is surprising that this most beautiful, picturesque, and, 
 to my fancy, sublime legend, has been so seldom treated ; and 
 never, as it appears to me, in a manner worthy of its capa- 
 bilities and its high significance. It is seldom that a whole 
 story can be told by two figures, and these two figures placed 
 in such grand and dramatic contrast, Christ in His serene 
 majesty and radiant with all the glory of beatitude, yet with 
 an expression of gentle reproach ; the apostle at His feet, 
 arrested in his flight, amazed, and yet filled with a trembling 
 joy ; and for the background the wide Campagna or the tower- 
 ing walls of imperial Rome, these are grand materials ; but 
 the pictures I have met with are all ineffective in conception. 
 The best fall short of the sublime ideal ; most of them are 
 theatrical and commonplace. 
 
 Raphael has interpreted it in a style rather too classical for 
 the spirit of the legend ; with great simplicity and dignity, 
 but as a, fact, rather than a vision conjured up by the stricken 
 conscience and tenderness of the affectionate apostle. The 
 small picture by Annibal Caracci in our National Gallery is a 
 carefully-finished academical study and nothing more, but may 
 be referred to as a fair example of the usual mode of treat- 
 ment. 
 
 Peter returned to Rome, persisted in his appointed work, 
 preaching and baptizing ; was seized with St. Paul and thrown 
 into the Mamertine dungeons under the Capitol. The two 
 centurions who guarded them, Processus and Martinian, and 
 many of the criminals confined in the same prison, were con- 
 verted by the preaching of the apostle ; and there being no 
 water to baptize them, at the prayer of St. Peter a fountain 
 sprang up from the stone floor ; which may be seen at this 
 day.
 
 202 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 " The Baptism of St. Processus and St. Martinian in the 
 Dungeon " [by Giuseppe Fasseri], is in the baptistery of St. 
 Peter's at Rome ; they afterwards suffered for the faith, and 
 were canonized. In the same church [a mosaic copy of the 
 picture in the Vatican] is the scene of their martyrdom by 
 Valentin ; they are seen bound and stretched on a hurdle, 
 the head of one to the feet of the other, and thus beaten to 
 death. The former picture the Baptism is commonplace ; 
 the latter, terrible for dark arid effective expression ; it is just 
 one of those subjects in which the Caravaggio school delighted. 
 
 A few days after their incarceration, St. Peter and St. Paul 
 were condemned to death. According to one tradition, St. 
 Peter suffered martyrdom in the Circus of Caligula at the foot 
 of the Vatican, and was crucified between two metae, i. e. the 
 goals or terminse in the Circus, round which the chariots turned 
 in the race ; but, according to another tradition, he was put to 
 death in the courtyard of a barrack or military station on the 
 summit of Mons Janicula, where the church of San Pietro in 
 Montorio now stands ; that is, on an eminence above the site 
 of the Circus of Caligula. At his own request, and that his 
 death might be even more painful and ignominious than that 
 of his Divine Master, he was crucified with his head down- 
 wards. 
 
 In the earliest representations I have met with (MS., Vati- 
 can, tenth century), St. Peter is raised on the cross with his 
 head downwards, and wears a long shirt which is fastened 
 round his ankles. In the picture of Giotto (in the sacristy of 
 St. Peter's) the local circumstances, according to the first tradi- 
 tion, are carefully attended to : we have the cross erected 
 between the two metae, and about twenty soldiers and attend- 
 ants ; among them a woman who embraces the foot of the 
 cross, as the Magdalene embraces the cross of the Saviour. 
 Above are seen angels, who bear the soul of the martyred 
 saint in a glory to heaven. Masaccio's composition l (in the 
 Brancacci Chapel at Florence) is very simple ; the scene is 
 the courtyard of a military station (according to the second 
 tradition). Peter is already nailed upon a cross ; three execu- 
 tioners are in the act of raising it with cords and a pulley to 
 
 1 [This fresco is attributed to Filippino Lippi in Layard's revision of Kug- 
 ler's //undbootc. p. 143.]
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 
 
 203 
 
 Crucifixion of St. Peter (Filippino Lippi) 
 
 suspend it against a great beam of wood ; there are several 
 soldiers, but no women present. In Guide's composition 
 (Vatican Gallery) there are only three figures, the apostle 
 and two executioners ; it is celebrated as a work of Art, but 
 it appeared to me most ineffective. On the other hand, 
 Rubens has gone into the opposite extreme ; there are only 
 three persons, 1 the principal figure filling nearly the whole 
 of the canvas : it is full of vigor, truth, and nature ; but the 
 brutality of the two executioners, and the agony of the aged 
 saint, too coarsely and painfully literal. These simple repre- 
 sentations of the mere act or fact should be compared with 
 the fresco of Michael Angelo in which the event is evolved 
 into a grand drama. Here the scene is evidently the summit 
 
 1 [The Crucifixion of St. Peter painted by Rubens for the church of St. 
 Peter, Cologne, is described as containing six executioners.]
 
 204 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 St. Peter at the Gate of Paradise (attributed to Simone Memmi) 
 
 of the Mons Janiculum : in the midst of a crowd of soldiers 
 and spectators, St. Peter lies nailed to the cross, which a num- 
 ber of men are exerting their utmost strength to raise from the 
 ground. (Vatican. Cappella Paolina.) 
 
 The legend which makes St. Peter the keeper of the gate 
 of Paradise, with power to grant or refuse admission, is 
 founded on the delivery of the keys to Peter. In most of 
 the pictures which represent the entrance of the blessed into
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 205 
 
 Paradise or the New Jerusalem, Peter stands with his keys 
 near the gate. There is a beautiful example in the great fresco 
 [attributed to] Simone Memmi in the chapel de' Sjjagnuoli 
 [Santa Maria Xovella] at Florence : St. Peter stands at the open 
 portal with his great key, and two angels crown with garlands 
 the souls of the just as they enter joyously hand in hand. 1 
 
 The legend of St. Petronilla, the daughter of St. Peter (in 
 French, Sainte Pernelle), has never been popular as a subject 
 of Art, and I can remember no series of incidents from the life 
 of St. Peter in which she is introduced, except those in the 
 Carmine at Florence. It is apparently a Roman legend, and 
 either unknown to the earliest artists, or neglected by them. 
 It is thus related : 
 
 " The apostle Peter had a daughter born in lawful wedlock, 
 who accompanied him in his journey from the East. Being 
 at Rome with him, she fell sick of a grievous infirmity which 
 deprived her of the use of her limbs. And it happened that 
 as the disciples were at meat with him, in his house, one said to 
 him, ' Master, how is it that thou, who healest the infirmities 
 of others, dost not heal thy daughter Petronilla ? ' and St. 
 Peter answered, ' It is good for her to remain sick : ' but, 
 that they might see the power that was in the word of God, he 
 commanded her to get up and serve them at table, which she 
 did; and having done so, she lay down again helpless as 
 before ; but many years afterwards, being perfected by her 
 long suffering, and praying fervently, she was healed. Petro- 
 nilla was wonderfully fair ; and Valerius Flaccus, a young 
 and noble Roman, who was a heathen, became enamored of 
 her beauty, and sought her for his wife, and he being very 
 powerful, she feared to refuse him ; she therefore desired him 
 to return in three days, and promised that he should then 
 carry her home. But she prayed earnestly to be delivered 
 from this peril ; and when Flaccus returned in three days 
 with great pomp to celebrate the marriage, he found her dead. 
 The company of nobles who attended him carried her to the 
 grave, in which they laid her, crowned with roses ; and Flac- 
 cus lamented greatly." (Vide II perfetto Legendario.) 
 
 The legend places her death in the year 98, that is, thirty- 
 four years after the death of St. Peter ; but it would be in 
 
 1 [For full description of this fresco and a discussion of its authorship, see 
 Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy, vol. ii. pp. 85-89.]
 
 206 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 vain to attempt to reconcile the dates and improbabilities of 
 this story. 
 
 St. Peter raising Petronilla from her sick-bed is one of the 
 subjects by Masaccio [or by Masolino] in the Brancacci 
 Chapel. The scene of her entombment is the subject of a 
 once celebrated and colossal picture by Guercino [Gallery of 
 Capitol, Rome] : the copy in mosaic is over the altar dedicated 
 to her in St. Peter's : in front, and in the lower part of the 
 picture, she is just seen as they are letting her down into 
 the grave, crowned with roses ; behind stands Flaccus with a 
 handkerchief in his hand, and a crowd of spectators : in the 
 upper part of the picture Petronilla is already in Paradise, 
 kneeling, in a rich dress, before the feet of Christ, having 
 exchanged an earthly for a heavenly bridegroom. This great 
 picture exhibits, in a surpassing degree, the merits and defects 
 of Guercino : it is effective, dramatic, deeply and forcibly col- 
 ored, and arrests attention : on the other hand, it is coarse, 
 crowded, vulgar in sentiment, and repugnant to our better taste. 
 There is a standing figure of Petronilla in the Duomo at 
 Lucca, by Daniel di Yolterra ; very fine. 1 
 
 The life of St. Peter, when represented as a series, generally 
 comprises the following subjects, commencing with the first 
 important incident after the Ascension of Christ. 
 
 1 There was an oratory in the church of the Franciscans at Varallo, in which 
 they celebrated a yearly festival in honor of St. Petronilla. While Gauden- 
 zio Ferrari was painting there the series of frescoes in the chapel of the cruci- 
 fixion on the Sacro Monte, he promised to paint for the festival an effigy of 
 the saint. The eve of the day arrived, and still it was not begun : the people 
 murmured, and reproached him, which he affected to treat jestingly ; but he 
 arose in the night, and, with no other light than the beams of the full moon, 
 executed a charming figure of St. Petronilla, which still exists. She stands 
 holding a book, a white veil over her head, and a yellow mantle falling in 
 rich folds : she has no distinctive emblem. "Gaudenzio, che in una bella 
 notte d' estate dipinse fra ruvide muraglie una Santa lutta grazia e pudore 
 mentre un pallidoraggi di 'lima sbucato dalla frondosa chioma d' albero dol- 
 cemente gl' irradia la fronte calva e la barba rossiccia, presenta un non so che d\ 
 ideale e di romanzesco che veramente rapisce." [Gaudenzio who on a beau- 
 tiful summer night painted between rough walls a saint all grace and modesty, 
 while a pale moonbeam came through the leafy tree-branches and lighted up 
 /iis bald forehead and ruddy beard, presented an indescribably ideal and 
 romantic picture which was truly ravishing.] Opere di Gaudenzio Ferrari^ 
 No. 21. (Maggi, Turin.)
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 207 
 
 1. Peter and John heal the lame man at the Beautiful 
 Gate. 2. Peter heals the paralytic Eneas. 3. Peter raises 
 Tabitha. 4. The angel takes off the chains of Peter. 5. He 
 follows the angel out of the prison. 6. St. Peter and St. 
 Paul meet at Rome. 7. Peter and Paul before Xero are 
 accused by Simon Magus. 8. The fall of Simon Magus. 
 9. The crucifixion of St. Peter. 
 
 The fine series of frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel at 
 Florence is differently arranged ; thus : 1. The tribute money 
 found in the fish by St. Peter. 2. Peter preaching to the 
 converts. 3. Peter baptizes the converts. In this fresco, the 
 youth, who has thrown off his garments and is preparing for 
 baptism, is famous as the first really graceful and well-drawn 
 undraped figure which had been produced since the revival of 
 Art. 4. Peter and John heal the cripple at the Beautiful 
 Gate, and Petronilla is raised from her bed. 5. Peter in his 
 prison is visited by Paul. 6. Peter delivered by the angel. 
 7. The resuscitation of the dead youth. 8. The sick are laid 
 in the way of Peter and John, " that at the least the shadow 
 of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them." 9. 
 Peter and John distribute alms ; a dead figure lies at the feet 
 of the apostles, perhaps Ananias. The situation of the fresco 
 is very dark, so that it is difficult to distinguish the action 
 and expression of the figures. 10. Peter and Paul accused 
 before Xero. 11. The crucifixion of Peter. 
 
 In St. Peter's at Rome we have of course every scene from 
 the life of the apostle which could well be expressed by Art ; 
 but none of these are of great merit or interest : most of them 
 are from the schools of the seventeenth century. 
 
 ST. PAUL, though called to the apostleship after the ascen- 
 sion of the Saviour, takes rank next to St. Peter as one of the 
 chief witnesses of the Christian faith. Of all the apostles he 
 is the most interesting ; the one of whose personal character 
 and history we know most, and through the most direct and 
 irrefragable testimony. The events of his life, as conveyed 
 in the Acts and the Epistles, are so well-known that I need 
 not here particularize them. The legends connected with him 
 are very few. 
 
 The earliest single figure of St. Paul to which I can refer
 
 208 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 was found painted on the walls of the cemetery of Priscilla, 
 near Home. (Second or third century. Bosio, p. 519.) He 
 stands, with outstretched arms, in the act of prayer (in the 
 early ages of Christianity the act of supplication was expressed 
 in the classical manner, that is, not with folded hands, but 
 with the arms extended) ; he has the nimbus ; his dress is 
 that of a traveller, the tunic and pallium being short, and his 
 feet sandalled, perhaps to indicate his many and celebrated 
 travels ; perhaps, also, it represents Paul praying for his flock 
 before he departed from Macedon to return to Jerusalem (Acts 
 xx.) : over this ancient figure, which, though ill drawn, is 
 quite classical in sentiment and costume, is inscribed PAULUS. 
 PASTOR. APOSTOLOS ; on his right hand stands the Good 
 Shepherd, in reference to the title of PASTOR, inscribed over 
 his effigy. Another figure of St. Paul, which appears to be of 
 later date, but anterior to the fifth century, was found in the 
 catacombs at Naples : in this effigy he wears the dress of a 
 Greek philosopher; the style in which the drapery is worn 
 recalls the time of Hadrian : he has no nimbus, nor is the 
 head bald ; he has sandals on his feet : over his head is 
 inscribed his name, PAULUS ; near him is a smaller figure 
 similarly draped, who offers him fruit and flowers in a vase ; 
 probably the personage who was entombed on the spot. 
 
 At what period the sword was given to St. Paul as his 
 distinctive attribute, is with antiquaries a disputed point ; 
 certainly, much later than the keys were given to Peter. 
 (Vide Mlinter's Sinnbilder, p. 35.) If we could be sure that 
 the mosaic on the tomb of Otho II., and another mosaic already 
 described, had not been altered in successive restorations, 
 these would be evidence that the sword was given to St. 
 Paul as his attribute as early as the sixth century ; but there 
 are no monuments which can be absolutely trusted as regards 
 the introduction of the sword before the end of the eleventh 
 century ; since the end of the fourteenth century, it has been 
 so generally adopted, that in the devotional effigies I can re- 
 member no instance in which it is omitted. When St. Paul 
 is leaning on the sword, it expresses his martyrdom ; when he 
 holds it aloft, it expresses also his warfare in the cause of 
 Christ: when two swords are given to him, one is the attri- 
 bute, the other the emblem ; but this double allusion does
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 209 
 
 not occur in any of the older representations. In Italy I 
 never met with St. Paul bearing two swords, and the only 
 instance I can call to mind is the bronze statue by Peter 
 Vischer, on the shrine of St. Sebald, at Nuremberg. 
 
 Although devotional representations of St. Paul separate 
 from St. Peter and the other apostles occur very rarely, pic- 
 tures from his life and actions are commonly met with ; the 
 principal events are so familiar, that they are easily recognized 
 and discriminated even by the most unlearned in biblical 
 illustration ; considered and treated as a series, they form a 
 most interesting and dramatic succession of scenes, often intro- 
 duced into the old churches ; but the incidents chosen are not 
 always the same. 
 
 Paul, before his conversion, was present at the stoning of 
 Stephen, and he is generally introduced holding on his knees 
 the garments of the executioners. In some ancient pictures, 
 he has, even while looking on and " consenting to the death " 
 of the victim, the glory round his head, as one who, while 
 "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disci- 
 ples of the Lord," was already a " chosen vessel to bear His 
 name before the Gentiles." But in a set of pictures which 
 relate expressly to St. Paul, the Martyrdom of Stephen is, 
 with proper feeling, omitted, and the series generally begins 
 with the CONVERSION OF PAUL, in his character of apostle, 
 the first great event in his life. An incident so important, so 
 celebrated, and in all its accessories so picturesque and dra- 
 matic, has of course been a frequent subject of artistic treat- 
 ment, even as a separate composition. In some of the old 
 mosaics, the story is very simply, and at the same time vividly, 
 rendered. In the earliest examples, St. Paul has the nimbus 
 or glory while yet unconverted ; he is prostrate on the ground, 
 grovelling on his hands and knees; rays of light fall upon 
 him out of heaven, where the figure of Christ, half length, is 
 seen emerging from glory ; sometimes it is a hand only, which 
 is the emblem of the Almighty Power ; two or four attendants 
 at most are flying in terror. It is not said in Scripture that 
 St. Paul journeyed on horseback from Jerusalem to Damascus ; 
 but the tradition is at least as old as the time of Pope Dalma- 
 sius (A. D. 384), as it is then referred to. St. Augustine says 
 he journeyed on foot, because the Pharisees made a point of 
 religion to go on foot, and it is so represented in the old Greek
 
 210 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 mosaics. The expression, " It is hard for thee to kick against 
 the pricks/' has been oddly enough assigned as a reason for 
 placing Paul on horseback ; 1 at all events, as he bore a mili- 
 tary command, it has been thought proper in later times so to 
 represent him, and also as surrounded by a numerous cortege 
 of attendants. This treatment admits, of course, of endless 
 variety, in the disposition and number of the figures, in the 
 attitudes and expression ; but the moment chosen is generally 
 the same. 
 
 1. The oldest example I can cite, next to the Greek mo- 
 saics, is an old Italian print mentioned by Zani. Paul, 
 habited as a Koman warrior, kneels with his arms crossed on 
 his breast, and holding a scroll, on which is inscribed in Latin, 
 " Lord, what shall I do ? " Christ stands opposite to him, 
 also holding a scroll, on which is written, " Saul, Saul, why 
 persecutest thou me ? " There are no attendants. Zani 
 does not give the date of this quaint and simple version of 
 the story. 
 
 2. Raphael. Paul, habited as a Roman soldier, is lying on 
 the ground as thrown from his horse ; he looks upward to 
 Christ, who appears in the clouds, attended by three child- 
 angels : his attendants on foot and on horseback are repre- 
 sented as rushing to his assistance, unconscious of the vision, 
 but panicstruck by its effect on him ; one attendant in the 
 background seizes by the bridle the terrified horse. The origi- 
 nal cartoon of this fine composition (one of the tapestries in 
 the Vatican) is lost. 
 
 3. Michael Angelo. Paul, a noble figure, though prostrate, 
 appears to be struck motionless and senseless ; Christ seems to 
 be rushinr/ down from heaven surrounded by a host of angels ; 
 those of the attendants who are near to Paul are flying in 
 all directions, while a long train of soldiers is seen ascending 
 from the background. This grand dramatic composition forms 
 the pendant to the Crucifixion of Peter in the Cappella Pao- 
 lina. It is so darkened by age and the smoke of tapers, and 
 so ill lighted, that it is not easily made out ; but there is a 
 fine engraving, which may be consulted. 
 
 4. Another very celebrated composition of this subject is. 
 that of Kubens, in the Gallery of Mr. Miles, at Leigh Court. 
 Paul, lying in the foreground, expresses in his attitude the 
 
 1 Vide Zani, Enc. della Belle Arti.
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 211 
 
 most helpless and grovelling prostration. The attendants ap- 
 pear very literally frightened out of their senses ; and the gray 
 horse snorting and rearing behind is the finest part of the 
 picture : as is usual with Rubens, the effects of physical fear 
 and amazement are given with the utmost spirit and truth ; 
 but the scriptural dignity, the supernatural terrors, of the 
 subject are ill expressed, and the apostle himself is degraded. 
 To go a step lower, Cuyp has given us a Conversion of St. 
 Paul apparently for the sole purpose of introducing horses in 
 different attitudes ; the favorite dapple gray charger is seen 
 bounding off in terror ; no one looks at St. Paul, still less to 
 Christ above but the horses are admirable. 
 
 o. In Albert DUrer's print, a shower of stones is falling 
 from heaven on St. Paul and his company. 
 
 6. There is a very curious and unusual version of this sub- 
 ject in a rare print by Lucas van Leyden. It is a composition 
 of numerous figures. St. Paul is seen, blind and bewildered, 
 led between two men ; another man leads his frightened 
 charger ; several warriors and horsemen follow, and the whole 
 procession seems to be proceeding slowly to the right. In the 
 far distance is represented the previous moment Paul struck 
 down and blinded by the celestial vision. 
 
 " Paul, after his Conversion, restored to sight by Ananias," 
 as a separate subject, seldom occurs ; but it has been treated 
 in the later schools by Vasari, by Cavallucci, and by P. Cortona. 
 
 " The Jews flagellate Paul and Silas." I know but one 
 picture of this subject, that of Xiccolo Poussin : the angry 
 Jews are seen driving them forth with scourges ; the Elders, 
 who have condemned them, are seated in council behind : as 
 we might expect from the character of Poussin, the dignity of 
 the apostles is maintained, but it is not one of his best 
 pictures. 
 
 " Paul, after his Conversion, escapes from Damascus ; " he 
 is let down in a basket (Acts ix. 25) : the incident forms, of 
 course, one of the scenes in his life when exhibited in a series, 
 but I remember no separate picture of this subject, and the 
 situation is so ludicrous and so derogatory that we can under- 
 stand how it came to be avoided.
 
 212 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 " The ecstatic vision of St. Paul, in which he was caught 
 up to the third heaven." (2 Cor. xii. 2.) Paul, who so fre- 
 quently and familiarly speaks of angels, in describing this 
 event, makes no mention of them, hut in pictures he is repre- 
 sented as borne upwards by angels. I find no early composi- 
 tion of this subject. The small picture of Domenichino is 
 coldly conceived. Poussin has painted the " Ravissement de 
 St. Paul " twice ; in the first, the apostle is borne upon the 
 arms of four angels, and in the second he is sustained by three 
 angels. In rendering this ecstatic vision, the angels, always 
 allowable as machinery, have here a particular propriety ; 
 Paul is elevated only a few feet above the roof of his house, 
 where lie his sword and book. Here the sword serves to dis- 
 tinguish the personage ; and the roof of the house shows us 
 that it is a vision, and not an apotheosis. [One picture is in 
 the Louvre and another in England.] 
 
 " Paul Preaching to the Converts at Ephesus." In a beau- 
 tiful Raffaelesque composition by Le Sueur, the incident of the 
 magicians bringing their books of sorcery and burning them 
 at the feet of the apostle is well introduced. It was long the 
 custom to exhibit this picture solemnly in Notre Dame every 
 year on the 1st of May. It is now in the Louvre. 
 
 " Paul before Felix," and " Paul before Agrippa." Neither 
 of these subjects has ever been adequately treated. It is to 
 me inconceivable that the old masters so completely overlooked 
 the opportunity for grand characteristic delineation afforded by 
 both these scenes, the latter especially. Perhaps in estimat- 
 ing its capabilities, we are misled by the effect produced on 
 the imagination by the splendid eloquence of the apostle ; yet, 
 were another Raphael to arise, I would suggest the subject as 
 a pendant to the St. Paul at Athens. 
 
 " Paul performs miracles before the Emperor Nero ; " a 
 blind man, a sick child, and a possessed woman are brought 
 to him to be healed. This, though a legendary rather than a 
 scriptural subject, has been treated by Le Sueur with scriptural 
 dignity and simplicity. 
 
 " The Martyrdom of St. Paul " is sometimes a separate sub- 
 ject, but generally it is the pendant to the martyrdom of St. 
 Peter. According to the received tradition, the two apostles
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 213 
 
 suffered at the same time, but in different places ; for St. Paul, 
 being by birth a Roman citizen, escaped the ignominy of the 
 public exposure in the Circus, as well as the prolonged torture 
 of the cross. He was beheaded by the sword outside the 
 Ostian gate, about two miles from Rome, at a place called 
 the Aqua Salvias, now the " Tre Fontane." The legend of the 
 death of St. Paul relates that a certain Roman matron, named 
 Plautilla, one of the converts of St. Peter, placed herself on the 
 road by which St. Paul passed to his martyrdom, in order to 
 behold him for the last time ; and when she saw him, she 
 wept greatly, and besought his blessing. The apostle then, 
 seeing her faith, turned to her and begged that she would 
 give him her veil to bind his eyes when he should be beheaded, 
 promising to return it to her after his death. The attendants 
 mocked at such a promise, but Plautilla, with a woman's faith 
 and charity, taking off her veil, presented it to him. After 
 his martyrdom, St. Paul appeared to her, and restored the veil 
 stained with his blood. It is also related, that when he. was 
 decapitated the severed head made three bounds upon the earth, 
 and wherever it touched the ground a fountain sprang forth. 
 
 In the most ancient representations of the martyrdom of 
 St. Paul, the legend of Plautilla is seldom omitted. In the 
 picture of Giotto preserved in the sacristy of St. Peter's, 
 Plautilla is seen on an eminence in the background, receiving 
 the veil from the hand of Paul, who appears in the clouds 
 above ; the same representation, but little varied, is executed 
 in bas-relief on the bronze doors of St. Peter's. The three 
 fountains gushing up beneath the severed head are also fre- 
 quently repreaented as a literal fact, though a manifest and 
 beautiful allegory, figurative of the fountains of Christian 
 faith which should spring forth from his martyrdom. 
 
 In all the melancholy vicinity of Rome, there is not a more 
 melancholy spot than the " Tre Fontane." A splendid mon- 
 astery, rich with the offerings of all Christendom, once existed 
 there ; the ravages of that mysterious scourge of the Cam- 
 pagna, the malaria, have rendered it a desert ; three ancient 
 churches and some ruins still exist, and a few pale monks 
 wander about the swampy dismal confines of the hollow in 
 which they stand. In winter you approach them through a 
 quagmire ; in summer, you dare not breathe in their pesti- 
 lential vicinity ; and yet there is a sort of dead beauty
 
 214 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 about the place, something hallowed as well as sad, which 
 seizes on the fancy. In the church properly called " San Paolo 
 delle Tre Fontane," and which is so old that the date of the 
 foundation is unknown, are three chapels with altars raised 
 over as many wells or fountains ; the altars are modern, and 
 have each the head of St. Paul carved in relief. The water, 
 which appeared to me exactly the same in all the three foun- 
 tains, has a soft insipid taste, neither refreshing nor agreeable. 
 The ancient frescoes have perished, and the modern ones are 
 perishing. It is a melancholy spot. 
 
 To return, however, to that event which has rendered it for 
 ages consecrated and memorable. Among the many represen- 
 tations of the decollation of St. Paul which exist in sculpture 
 and in painting, I have not met with one which could take a 
 high place as a work of Art, or which has done justice to the 
 tragic capabilities of the subject. 
 
 After his martyrdom, the body of St. Paul was interred on 
 a spot between the Ostian gate and the Aqua Salvias, and 
 there arose the magnificent church known as San Yaolo-fuori- 
 le-mura. I saw this church a few months before it was con- 
 sumed by fire in 1823 ; I saw it again in 1847, when the 
 restoration was far advanced. Its cold magnificence, compared 
 with the impressions left by the former structure, rich with 
 inestimable remains of ancient Art, and venerable from a 
 thousand associations, saddened and chilled me. 
 
 The mosaics in the old church, which represented the life 
 and actions of St. Paul, were executed by the Greek mosaic 
 masters of the eleventh century. They appear to have com- 
 prised the same subjects which still exist as _a series in the 
 church of Monreale near Palermo, and which I shall now 
 describe. 
 
 1. Saul is sent by the high priest to Damascus. Two 
 priests are seated on a raised throne in front of the Temple ; 
 Saul stands before them. 
 
 2. The Conversion of Saul, as already described. 
 
 3. Saul, being blind, is led by his attendants to the gate of 
 Damascus. 
 
 4. Saul seated. Ananias enters and addresses him. 
 
 5. Paul is baptized : he is standing, or rather sitting, in a 
 font, which is a large vase, and not much larger in proportion 
 than a punch-bowl.
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 215 
 
 6. St. Paul disputes with the Jews. His attitude is vehe- 
 ment and expressive ; three Jewish doctors stand before him 
 as if confounded and put to silence by his eloquent reasoning. 
 
 7. St. Paul escapes from Damascus ; the basket in which 
 he is lowered down from a parapet is about the size of a hand- 
 basket. 
 
 8. St. Paul delivers a scroll to Timothy and Silas ; he con- 
 signs to their direction the deacons that were ordained by the 
 apostles and elders. (Acts xvi. 4.) 
 
 9. St. Paul and St. Peter meet at Rome, and embrace with 
 brotherly affection. I believe this subject to represent the 
 reconciliation of the two apostles after the dispute at Antioch. 
 The inscription is, Hie Paulus venit Bo mam et pacem fecit 
 cum Petro. In the Christian Museum in the Vatican there 
 is a most beautiful small Greek picture in which Peter and 
 Paul are embracing ; it may represent the reconciliation or the 
 parting : the heads, though minute, are extremely character- 
 istic. * 
 
 10. The Decollation of St. Paul at the Aqua Salvias ; one 
 fountain only is introduced. 
 
 This is the earliest instance I can quote of the dramatic 
 treatment of the life and actions of St. Paul in a series of 
 subjects. The Greek type of the head of St. Paul is retained 
 throughout, strongly individualized, and he appears as a man of 
 about thirty-five or forty. In the later schools of Art, which 
 afford some celebrated examples of the life of St. Paul treated 
 as a series, the Greek type has been abandoned. 
 
 The series, by Raphael, executed for the tapestries of the 
 Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, consists of five large and seven 
 small compositions. 
 
 1. The Conversion of Saul, already described ; the cartoon 
 is lost. 2. Elymas the sorcerer struck blind ; wonderful for 
 dramatic power. 3. St. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 4. Paul 
 preaches at Athens. Of these three magnificent compositions 
 we have the cartoons at [South Kensington]. 5. St. Paul in 
 prison at Philippi. The earthquake through which he was 
 liberated is here represented allegorically as a Titan in the 
 lower corner of the picture, with shoulders and arms heaving 
 up the earth. This, which strikes us as rather pagan in con- 
 ception, has, however, a parallel in the earliest Christian Art, 
 where, in the baptism of Christ, the Jordan is sometimes rep-
 
 216 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 resented by a classical river-god, sedge-crowned, and leaning on 
 his urn. 
 
 The seven small subjects, which in the set of tapestries 
 run underneath as borders to the large compositions, are thus 
 arranged : 
 
 1. "As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering 
 into every house, and haling men and women committed them 
 to prison." (Acts viii. 3.) At one end of a long narrow com- 
 position Saul is seated in the dress of a Roman warrior, and 
 attended by a lictor ; they bring before him a Christian youth ; 
 farther on are seen soldiers " haling men and women " by the 
 hair ; others flee in terror. This was erroneously supposed to 
 represent the massacre at Prato, in 1512, by the adherents of 
 the Medici, and is so inscribed in the set of engravings by 
 Bartoli and Landon. 
 
 2. John and Mark taking leave of the brethren at Perga in 
 Pamphylia. (Acts xiii. 3.) 
 
 3. Paul, teaching in the synagogue at Antioch, confounds 
 the Jews. (Acts xviii. 3.) * 
 
 4. Paul at Corinth engaged in tent-making with his host. 
 This is an uncommon subject, but I remember another instance 
 in a curious old German print, where, in the lower part of the 
 composition, the apostle is teaching or preaching ; and above 
 there is a kind of gallery or balcony, in which he is seen work- 
 ing at a loom : " You yourselves know that these hands have 
 ministered to my necessities, laboring night and day, because 
 we would not be chargeable unto you." (Acts xviii. 6.) 
 
 5. Being at Corinth, he is mocked by the Jews. (Acts 
 viii. 12.) 
 
 6. He lays his hand on the Christian converts. 
 
 7. He is brought before the judgment-seat of Gallic. 1 
 
 " Paul, in the island of Melito, shaking the viper from his 
 hand," is not a common subject, and yet it is capable of the 
 finest picturesque and dramatic effects : the storm and ship- 
 wreck in the background, the angry heavens above, the red 
 firelight, the group of astonished mariners, and, preeminent 
 among them, the calm intellectual figure of the apostle shak- 
 
 1 Those who consult the engravings by Santi Bartoli and Landon must 
 bear in mind that almost all the references are erroneous. See Passavant's 
 Rafael [German edition], vol. ii. p. 245.
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 217 
 
 ing the venomous beast from his hand, these are surely 
 beautiful and available materials for a scenic picture. Even if 
 treated as an allegory in a devotional sense, a single majestic 
 figure, throwing the evil thing innocuous from him, which I 
 have not yet seen, it would be an excellent and a significant 
 subject. The little picture by Elzheimer is the best example 
 I can cite of the picturesque treatment. That of Le Sueur 
 has much dignity ; those of Perino del Vaga, Thornhill, West, 
 are all commonplace. 
 
 Thornhill, as everybody knows, painted the eight principal 
 scenes of the life of the apostle in the cupola of St. Paul's. 1 
 Few people, I should think, have strained their necks to ex- 
 amine them ; the eight original studies, small sketches en gri- 
 saille, are preserved in the vestry, and display that heartless, 
 mindless, mannered mediocrity, which makes all criticism fool- 
 isrfbess ; I shall, however, give a list of the subjects. 
 
 1. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 2. Paul preaching at 
 Athens. 3. Elymas struck blind. 4. The converts burn 
 their magical books. 5. Paul before Festus. 6. A woman 
 seated at his feet ; I presume the Conversion of Lydia of Thy- 
 atira. 7. Paul let down in a basket. 8. He shakes the 
 viper from his hand. 
 
 At the time that Thornhill was covering the cupola at " the 
 rate of 2 the square yard," Hogarth, his son-in-law, would 
 also try his hand. He painted " St. Paul pleading before 
 Felix " for Lincoln's Inn Hall ; where the subject, at least, is 
 appropriate. The picture itself is curiously characteristic, not 
 of the scene or of the chief personage, but of the painter. St. 
 Paul loaded with chains, and his accuser Tertullus, stand in 
 front ; and Felix, with his wife Brasilia, are seated on a raised 
 tribunal in the background ; near Felix is the high priest 
 Ananias. The composition is good. The heads are full of 
 vivid expression wrath, terror, doubt, fixed attention ; but 
 the conception of character most ignoble and commonplace. 
 Hogarth was more at home when he took the same subject as 
 a vehicle for a witty caricature of the Dutch manner of treat- 
 ing sacred subjects their ludicrous anachronisms and mean 
 
 i The clergy who permitted Sir James Thornhill to paint the cupola of St. 
 Paul's with Scripture scenes, refused to admit any other paintings into the 
 cnureli. Perhaps they were justified; but not by the plea of Bishop Terrick 
 the fear of idolatry.
 
 218 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 incidents. St. Paul, in allusion to his low stature, is mounted 
 on a stool ; an angel' is sawing through one leg of it ; Tertul- 
 lus is a barrister, in wig, band, and gown ; the judge is like an 
 old doting justice of peace, and his attendants like old beggars. 
 In the Florentine Gallery there is a very curious series of 
 the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul in eight pictures, in the 
 genuine old German style; fanciful, animated, full of natural 
 and dramatic expression, and exquisitely finished, but dry, 
 hard, grotesque, and abounding in anachronisms. This series, 
 the most important work of the painter, Hans Schaufelein, is 
 not mentioned in Kugler's " Handbook." It is engraved in 
 outline in the New Florence Gallery, published in 1837. 
 
 Among the few separate historical subjects in which St. 
 Peter and St. Paul are represented together, the most impor- 
 tant is the dispute at Antioch, a subject avoided by 'the 
 earliest painters. St. Paul says, " When Peter was come to 
 Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be 
 blamed." Guide's picture in the Brera at Milan is cele- 
 brated : Peter is seated, looking thoughtful, with downcast 
 eyes, an open book on his knees ; Paul, in an attitude of 
 rebuke, stands over against him. There is another example 
 by Rosso : here both are standing ; Peter is looking down : 
 Paul, with long hair and beard floating back, and a keen 
 reproving expression, "rebukes him to his face." I presume 
 the same subject to be represented by Lucas van Leyden in a 
 rare and beautiful little print, in which St. Peter and St. Paul 
 are seated together in earnest conversation. St. Peter holds a 
 key in his right hand, and points with the other to a book 
 which lies on his kiu^s. St. Paul is about to turn the leaf, 
 and his right hand appears to rebuke St. Peter j his left foot 
 is on the sword which lies at his feet. 
 
 " The Parting of St. Peter and St. Paul, before they are 
 led to death." The scene is without the gates of Rome ; and 
 as the soldiers drag Peter away, he turns back to Paul with a 
 pathetic expression. This picture, now in the Louvre, is one 
 of Lanfranco's best compositions. 
 
 " St. Paul prevents his jailer from killing himself " (Acts 
 xvi.) has been lately painted by Claude Halle, and is now in 
 the Louvre.
 
 ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL 219 
 
 When the crucifixion of St. Peter and the decollation of St. 
 Paul are represented together in the same picture, such a 
 picture must be considered as religious and devotional, not 
 historical ; it does not express the action as it really occurred, 
 but, like many pictures of the crucifixion of our Saviour, it is 
 placed before us as an excitement to piety, self-sacrifice, and 
 repentance. We have this kind of treatment in a picture by 
 Xiccolo dell' Abate (in the Dresden Gal.) : St. Paul kneels 
 before a block, and the headsman stands with sword uplifted 
 in act to strike ; in the background, two other executioners 
 grasp St. Peter, who is kneeling on his cross and praying 
 fervently : above, in a glory, is seen the Virgin ; in her arms 
 the Infant Christ, Avho delivers to two angels palm-branches 
 for the martyred saints. The genius of Niccolo was not pre- 
 cisely fitted for this class of subjects. But the composition is 
 full of poetical feeling. The introduction of the Madonna 
 and Child stamps the character of the picture as devotional, 
 not historical it would otherwise be repulsive, and out of 
 keeping with the subject. 
 
 There is a Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul engraved 
 after Parmigiano, which I shall notice on account of its care- 
 less and erroneous treatment. They are put to death together ; 
 an executioner prepares to decapitate St. Peter, and another 
 drags St. Paul by the beard : the incidents are historically 
 false, and, moreover, in a degraded and secular taste. These 
 are the mistakes that make us turn disgusted from the tech- 
 nical facility, elegance, and power of the sixteenth century, to 
 the simplicity and reverential truth of the fourteenth. 
 
 There are various traditions concerning the relics of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul. According to some, the bodies of the two 
 apostles were, in the reign of Heliogabalus, deposited by the 
 Christian converts in the catacombs of Eome, and were laid in 
 the same sepulchre. After the lapse of about two hundred 
 years, the Greek or Oriental Christians attempted to carry 
 them off; but were opposed by the Roman Christians. The 
 Romans conquered ; and the two bodies were transported to 
 the church of the Vatican, where they reposed together in a 
 magnificent shrine, beneath the church. Among the engrav- 
 ings in the work of Ciampini and Bosio are two rude old 
 pictures commemorating this event. The first represents the
 
 220 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 combat of the Orientals and the Romans for the bodies of the 
 Saints ; in the other, the bodies are deposited in the Vatican. 
 In these two ancient representations, which were placed in the 
 portico of the old basilica of St. Peter, the traditional types 
 may be recognized the broad full features, short curled 
 beard, and bald head of St. Peter, and the oval face and long 
 beard of St. Paul. 
 
 Here I must conclude this summary of the lives and charac- 
 ters of the two greatest apostles, as they have been exhibited 
 in Christian Art ; to do justice to the theme would have 
 required a separate volume. One observation, however, sug- 
 gests itself, and cannot be passed over. The usual type of 
 the head of St. Peter, though often ill rendered and degraded 
 by coarseness, can in general be recognized as characteristic ; 
 but is there among the thousand representations of the apostle 
 Paul one on which the imagination can rest completely satis- 
 fied ? I know not one. No doubt the sublimest ideal of 
 embodied eloquence that ever was expressed in Art is Raphael's 
 St. Paul preaching at Athens. He stands there the delegated 
 voice of the true God, the antagonist and conqueror of the 
 whole heathen world : " Whom ye ignorantly worship, HIM 
 declare I unto you " is not this what he says ? Every 
 feature, nay, every fold in his drapery, speaks ; as in the other 
 St. Paul leaning on his sword (in the famous St. Cecilia), 
 every feature and every fold of drapery meditates. The latter 
 is as fine in its tranquil melancholy grandeur as the former in 
 its authoritative energy : in the one the orator, in the other 
 the philosopher, were never more finely rendered : but is it, in 
 either, the Paul of Tarsus whom we know ? It were certainly 
 both unnecessary and pedantic to adhere so closely to historic 
 fact as to make St. Paul of diminutive stature, and St. Peter 
 weak-eyed : but has Raphael done well in wholly rejecting the 
 traditional portrait which reflected to us the Paul of Scripture, 
 the man of many toils and many sorrows, wasted with vigils, 
 worn down with travel, whose high bald forehead, thin 
 flowing hair, and long pointed beard, spoke so plainly the fer-' 
 vent and indomitable, yet meditative and delicate, organization, 
 and in substituting this Jupiter Ammon head, with the 
 dark redundant hair, almost hiding the brow, and the full 
 bushy beard ? This is one of the instances in which Raphael,
 
 ST. ANDREW 221 
 
 in yielding to the fashion of his time, has erred, as it seems to 
 me, though I say it with all reverence. The St. Paul rend- 
 ing his garments at Lystra, and rejecting the sacrifice of the 
 misguided people, is more particularly false as to the character 
 of the man, though otherwise so grandly expressive, that we 
 are obliged to admire what our better sense our conscience 
 cannot wholly approve. 
 
 I shall now consider the rest of the apostles in their proper 
 order. 
 
 ST. ANDREW 
 
 Lai. S. Andreas. Ital. Sant' Andrea. Fr. St. Andre. Patron saint 
 of Scotland and of Russia. (Nov. 30, A. D. 70.) 
 
 St. Andrew was the brother of Simon, Peter, and the first 
 who was called to the apostleship. Nothing further is recorded 
 of him in Scripture : he is afterwards merely included by name 
 in the general account of the apostles. 
 
 In the traditional and legendary history of St. Andrew, we 
 are told that, after our Lord's ascension, when the apostles 
 dispersed to preach the Gospel to all nations, St. Andrew trav- 
 elled into Scythia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, everywhere con- 
 verting multitudes to the faith. The Russians believe that 
 he was the first to preach to the Muscovites in Sarmatia, and 
 thence he has been honored as titular saint of the empire of 
 Russia. After many sufferings, he returned to Jerusalem, and 
 thence travelled into Greece, and came at length to a city of 
 Achaia, called Patras. Here he made many converts ; among 
 others, Maximilla, the wife of the proconsul yEgeus, whom he 
 persuaded to make a public profession of Christianity. The 
 proconsul, enraged, commanded him to be seized and scourged, 
 and then crucified. The cross on which he suffered was of a 
 peculiar form (crux decussata), since called the St. Andrew's 
 cross ; and it is expressly said that he was not fastened to 
 his cross with nails, but with cords, a circumstance always 
 attended to in the representations of his death. It is, how- 
 ever, to be remembered, that while all authorities agree that 
 he was crucified, and that the manner of his crucifixion was 
 peculiar, they are not agreed as to the form of his cross. St. 
 Peter Chrysologos says that it was a tree : another author 
 affirms that it was an olive-tree. The Abbe Mery remarks,
 
 222 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 that it is a mistake to give the transverse cross to St. Andrew ; 
 
 that it ought not to differ from the cross of our Lord. His 
 
 reasons are not absolutely conclusive : " II suffit pour mon- 
 trer qu'ils sont la-dessus dans 1'erreur, 
 de voir la croix veritable de St. Andre', 
 conserve'e dans 1'Eglise de St. Victor de 
 Marseille ; on trouvera qu'elle est k an- 
 gles droits," etc. 1 Seeing is believing; 
 nevertheless, the form is fixed by tradi- 
 tion and usage, and ought not to be de- 
 parted from, though Michael Angelo has 
 done so in the figure of St. Andrew in 
 the Last Judgment, and there are sev- 
 eral examples in the Italian masters. 2 
 The legend goes on to relate, that St. 
 Andrew on approaching the cross pre- 
 pared for his execution, saluted and 
 adored it on his knees, as being already 
 consecrated by the sufferings of the Re- 
 deemer, and met his death triumphantly. 
 Certain of his relics were brought from 
 Patras to Scotland in the fourth century, 
 and since that time St. Andrew has been 
 honored as the patron saint of Scotland, 
 and of its chief order of knighthood. 
 He is also the patron saint of the famous 
 Burgundian Order, the Golden Fleece j 
 
 and of Russia and its chief Order, the Cross of St. Andrew. 
 
 - Since the fourteenth century, St. Andrew is generally dis- 
 tinguished in works of Art by the transverse cross ; the devo- 
 tional pictures in which he figures as one of the series of 
 apostles, or singly as patron saint, represent him as a very old 
 man with some kind of brotherly resemblance to St. Peter ; 
 his hair and beard silver white, long, loose, and flowing, and 
 in general the beard is divided ; he leans upon his cross, and 
 holds the Gospel in his right hand. 
 
 1 Theologie des Peintres. 
 
 2 In several ancient pictures and bas-reliefs the cross has the usual form, 
 but he is not nailed always bound with cords, as in the ancient bas-relief 
 over the portal of his church at Vercelli. 
 
 St. Andrew (Vischer)
 
 ST. ANDREW 223 
 
 The historical subjects from the life of St. Andrew, treated 
 separately from the rest of the apostles, are very few ; his 
 crucifixion is the only one that I have found treated before 
 the fifteenth century. On the ancient doors of San Paolo, the 
 instrument of his martyrdom has the shape of a Y, and re- 
 sembles a tree split down the middle. The cross in some 
 later pictures is very lofty, and resembles the rough branches 
 of a tree laid transversely. 
 
 I know but two other subjects relating to the life of St. 
 Andrew which have been separately treated in the later schools 
 of Art the Adoration of the Cross and the Flagellation. 
 
 " St. Andrew Adoring his Cross," by Andrea Sacchi (Gal- 
 lery of the Vatican), is remarkable for its simplicity and fine 
 expression ; it contains only three figures. St. Andrew, half 
 undraped, and with his silver hair and beard floating dishevelled, 
 kneels, gazing up to the cross with ecstatic devotion ; he is 
 addressing to it his famous invocation : " Salve, Croce pre- 
 ziosa ! che fosti consecrata dal corpo del mio Dio ! " An 
 executioner stands by, and a fierce soldier, impatient of delay, 
 urges him on to death. 1 
 
 " St. Andrew Taken Down from the Cross " is a fine effec- 
 tive picture by Eibera (Munich). 
 
 When Guido and Domenichino painted, in emulation of 
 each other, the frescoes in the chapel of Sant' Andrea in the 
 church of San Gregorio, at Kome, Guido chose for his subject 
 the Adoration of the Cross. The scene is supposed to be out- 
 side the walls of Patras in Achaia ; the cross is at a distance 
 in the background ; St. Andrew, as he approaches, falls down 
 in adoration before the instrument of his martyrdom, conse- 
 crated by the death of his Lord ; he is attended by one soldier 
 on horseback, one on foot, and three executioners ; a group of 
 women and alarmed children in the foreground are admirable 
 for grace and feeling they are, in fact, the best part of the 
 picture. On the opposite wall of the chapel Domenichino 
 painted the Flagellation of St. Andrew, a subject most diffi- 
 cult to treat effectively, and retain at the same time the dig- 
 nity of the suffering apostle, while avoiding all resemblance to 
 a similar scene in the life of Christ. Here he is bound down 
 
 l [Massi's catalogue of the Vatican Gallery (1887) contains no mention of 
 any such picture.]
 
 224 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 on a sort of table ; one man lifts a rod, another seems to taunt 
 the prostrate saint ; a lictor drives back the people. The 
 group of the mother and frightened children, which Domeni 
 chino so often introduces with little variation, is here verj 
 beautiful ; the judge and lictors are seen behind, with a tem- 
 ple and a city in the distance. When Domenichino paintec 1 
 the same subject in the church of Sant' Andrea-della-Valle, ht 
 chose another moment, and administered the torture after a 
 different manner : the apostle is bound by his hands and feet 
 to four short posts set firmly in the ground ; one of the execu- 
 tioners in tightening a cord breaks it and falls back ; three 
 men prepare to scourge him with thongs : in the foreground 
 we have the usual group of the mother and her frightened 
 children. This is a composition full of dramatic life and 
 movement, but unpleasing. Domenichino painted in the same 
 church the crucifixion of the saint, and his apotheosis sur- 
 mounts the whole. 
 
 All these compositions are of great celebrity in the history 
 of Art far color and for expression. Lanzi says that the per- 
 sonages, " if endued with speech, could not say more to the ear 
 than they do to the eye." But in power and pathos none of 
 them equal the picture of Murillo [Madrid], of which we have 
 the original study in England. (In the collection of Mr. Miles 
 at Leigh Court [Somerset].) St. Andrew is suspended on the 
 high cross, formed not of planks, but of the trunks of trees laid 
 transversely. He is bound with cords, and undraped, except by a 
 linen cloth ; his silver hair and beard loosely streaming in the 
 air ; his aged countenance illuminated by a heavenly transport, 
 as he looks up to the opening skies, whence two angels of 
 really celestial beauty, like almost all Murillo's angels, descend 
 with the crown and palm. In front, to the right, is a group 
 of shrinking, sympathizing women ; and a boy turns away, 
 crying with a truly boyish grief ; on the left are guards and 
 soldiers. The subject is here rendered poetical by mere force 
 of feeling ; there is a tragic reality in the whole scene, far more 
 effective, to my taste, than the more studied compositions of 
 the Italian painters. The Martyrdom of St. Andrew, and the 
 Saint Preaching the Gospel, by Juan de Roelas, are also men- 
 tioned as splendid productions of the Seville school. [Museum 
 of Seville.] 
 
 I think it possible that St. Andrew may owe his popularity
 
 ST. JAMES THE GEEAT 225 
 
 in the Spanish and Flemish schools of Art to his being the 
 patron saint of the far-famed Burgundian Order of the Golden 
 Fleece. At the time that Constantinople was taken, and the 
 relics of St. Andrew dispersed in consequence, a lively enthu- 
 siasm for this apostle was excited throughout all Christendom. 
 He had been previously honored chiefly as the brother of St. 
 Peter : he obtained thenceforth a kind of personal interest and 
 consideration. Philip of Burgundy (A. D. 1433), who had ob- 
 tained at great cost a portion of the precious relics, consisting 
 chiefly of some pieces of his cross, placed under the protection 
 of the apostle his new order of chivalry, which, according to 
 the preamble, was intended to revive the honor and the mem- 
 ory of the Argonauts. His knights wore as their badge the 
 cross of St. Andrew. 
 
 ST. JAMES THE GREAT 
 
 t 
 
 Lot. Sanctus Jacobus Major. Ital. San Giacomo, or Jacopo, Mag- 
 giore. Fr. St. Jacques Majeur. Spa. San Jago, or Santiago. 
 El Tutelar. Patron saint of Spain. (July 25, A. D. 44.) 
 
 St. James the Great, or the Elder, or St. James Major, 
 was nearly related to Christ, and, with his brother John (the 
 evangelist) and Peter, he seems to have been admitted to par- 
 ticular favor, travelled with the Lord, and was present at most 
 of the events recorded in the Gospels. He was one of the 
 three who were permitted to witness the glorification of Christ 
 on Mount Tabor, and one of those who slept during the agony 
 in the garden. After our Saviour's ascension, nothing is re- 
 corded concerning him, except the fact that Herod slew him 
 with the sword. In the ancient traditions he is described as 
 being of a zealous and affectionate temper, easily excited to an- 
 ger : of this we .have a particular instance in his imprecation 
 against the inhospitable Samaritans, for which Christ rebuked 
 him : " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. The 
 Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save 
 them." (Luke ix. 55.) 
 
 As Scripture makes no further mention of one so distin- 
 guished by his zeal and by his near relationship to the Saviour, 
 the legends of the middle ages have supplied this deficiency; 
 and so amply, that St. James, as St. Jago or Santiago, the
 
 226 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 military patron of Spain, became one of the most renowned 
 saints in Christendom, and one of the most popular subjects of 
 Western Art. Many of these subjects are so singular, that, in 
 order to render them intelligible, I must give the legend at 
 full length as it was followed by the artists of the fourteenth 
 and fifteenth centuries. 
 
 According to the Spanish legend, the apostle James was the 
 son of Zebedee, an illustrious baron of Galilee, who, being 
 the proprietor of ships, was accustomed to fish along the shores 
 of a certain lake called Gennesareth, but solely for his good 
 pleasure and recreation : for who can suppose that Spain, that 
 nation of Hidalgos and Caballeros, would ever have chosen 
 for her patron, or accepted as the leader and captain-general 
 of her armies, a poor ignoble fisherman ? It remains, there- 
 fore, indisputable, that this glorious apostle, who was our 
 Lord's cousin-german, was of noble lineage, and worthy of his 
 spurs as a knight and a gentleman ; so in Dante : 
 
 EC co it Bar one 
 Per cui laggiii si visita Galizia. 
 
 But it pleased him, in his great humility, to follow, while on 
 earth, the example of his divine Lord, and reserve his warlike 
 prowess till called upon to slaughter, by thousands and tens 
 of thousands, those wicked Moors, the perpetual enemies of 
 Christ and His servants. Now, as James and his brother 
 John were one day in their father's ship with his hired ser- 
 vants, and were employed in mending the nets, the Lord, 
 who was walking on the shores of the lake, called them ; and 
 they left all and followed Him ; and became thenceforward 
 His most favored disciples, and the witnesses of His miracles 
 while on earth. After the ascension of Christ, James preached 
 the Gospel in Judea ; then he travelled over the whole world, 
 and came at last to Spain, where he made very few converts, 
 by reason of the ignorance and darkness of the people. One 
 day, as he stood with his disciples on the banks of the Ebro, 
 the blessed Virgin appeared to him seated on the top of a 
 pillar of jasper, and surrounded by a choir of Angels ; and 
 the apostle having thrown himself on his face, she commanded 
 him to build on that spot a chapel for her worship, assuring 
 him that all this province of Saragossa, though now in the 
 darkness of paganism, would at a future time be distinguished
 
 ST. JAMES THE GREAT 227 
 
 by devotion to her. He did as the holy Virgin had com- 
 manded, and this was the origin of a famous church afterwards 
 known as that of Our Lady of the Pillar (" Nuestra Senora 
 del Pillar"). Then St. James, having founded the Christian 
 faith in Spain, returned to Judea, where he preached for 
 many years, and performed many wonders and miracles in 
 the sight of the people : and it happened that a certain sor- 
 cerer, whose name was Hermogenes, 1 set himself against the 
 apostle, just as Simon Magus had wickedly and vainly opposed 
 St. Peter, and with the like result. Hermogenes sent his 
 scholar Philetus to dispute with James, and to compete with 
 him in wondrous works ; but, as you will easily believe, he 
 had no chance against the apostle, and, confessing himself 
 vanquished, he returned to his master, to whom he announced 
 his intention to follow henceforth James and his doctrine. 
 Then Hermogenes, in a rage, bound Philetus by his diabolical 
 spells, so that he could not move hand or foot; saying, "Let 
 us now see if thy new master can deliver thee : " and Philetus 
 sent his servant to St. James, praying for^aid. Then the 
 apostle took off his cloak, and gave it to the servant to give 
 his master, and no sooner had Philetus touched it, than he 
 became free, and hastened to throw himself at the feet of his 
 deliverer. Hermogenes, more furious than ever, called to the 
 demons who served him, and commanded that they should 
 bring to him James and Philetus, bound in fetters ; but on 
 their way the demons met with a company of Angels, who 
 seized upon them, and punished them for their wicked inten- 
 tions, till they cried for mercy. Then St. James said to them, 
 " Go back to him who sent ye, and bring him hither bound." 
 And they did so ; and having laid the sorcerer down at the 
 feet of St. James, they besought him, saying, " Now give us 
 power to be avenged of our enemy and thine ! " But St. 
 James rebuked them, saying, " Christ hath commanded us to 
 do good for evil." So he delivered Hermogenes from their 
 hands ; and the magician, being utterly confounded, cast his 
 books into the sea, and desired of St. James that lie would 
 protect him against the demons, his former servants. Then 
 St. James gave him his staff, as the most effectual means 
 of defence against the infernal spirits ; and Hermogenes be- 
 
 1 Hermogenes was the name of a famous Gnostic teacher and philosopher ; 
 thence, I suppose, adopted into this legend.
 
 228 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 came a faithful disciple and preacher of the Word from that 
 day. 
 
 But the evil-minded Jews, being more and more incensed, 
 took James and bound him, and brought him before the tri- 
 bunal of Herod Agrippa ; and one of those who dragged him 
 along, touched by the gentleness of his demeanor, and by 
 his miracles of mercy, was converted, and supplicated to die 
 with him ; and the apostle gave him the kiss of peace, saying, 
 " Pax vobis ! " and the kiss and the words together have 
 remained as a form of benediction in the Church to this day. 
 Then they were both beheaded, and so died. 
 
 And the disciples of St. James came and took away his 
 body ; and, not daring to bury it, for fear of the Jews, they 
 carried it to Joppa, and placed it on board of a ship : some 
 say that the ship was of marble, but this is not authenticated ; 
 however, it is most certain that angels conducted the ship 
 miraculously to the coast of Spain, where they arrived in 
 seven days ; and, sailing through the straits called the Pillars 
 of Hercules, they landed at length in Galicia, at a port called 
 Iria Flavia, now Padron. 
 
 In those days there reigned over the country a certain 
 queen whose name was Lupa, and she and all her people 
 were plunged in wickedness and idolatry. Now, having come 
 to shore, they laid the body of the apostle upon a great stone, 
 which became like wax, and, receiving the body, closed around 
 it : this was a sign that the saint willed to remain there ; but 
 the wicked Queen Lupa was displeased, and she commanded 
 that they should harness some wild bulls to a car, and place 
 on it the body, with the self-formed tomb, hoping that they 
 would drag it to destruction. But in this she was mistaken ; 
 for the wild bulls, when signed by the cross, became as docile 
 as sheep, and they drew the body of the apostle straight into 
 the court of her palace. When Queen Lupa beheld this mir- 
 acle, she was confounded, and she and all her people became 
 Christians : she built a magnificent church to receive the 
 sacred remains, and died in the odor of sanctity. 
 
 But then came the darkness and ruin which during the 
 invasion of the Barbarians overshadowed all Spain ; and the 
 body of the apostle was lost, and no one knew where to find 
 it, till, in the year 800, the place of sepulture was revealed to 
 a certain holy friar.
 
 ST. JAMES THE GREAT 229 
 
 Then they caused the body of the saint to be transported 
 to Compostella; and, in consequence of the surprising mira- 
 cles which graced his shrine, he was honored not merely in 
 Galicia, but throughout all Spain. He became the patron 
 saint of the Spaniards, and Compostella, as a place of pilgrim- 
 age, was renowned throughout Europe. From all countries 
 bands of pilgrims resorted there, so that sometimes there 
 were no less than a hundred thousand in one year. The 
 military Order of Saint Jago, enrolled by Don Alphonso for 
 their protection, became one of the greatest and richest in Spain. 
 
 Now, if I should proceed to recount all the wonderful deeds 
 enacted by Santiago in behalf of his chosen people, they 
 would fill a volume. The Spanish historians number thirty- 
 eight visible apparitions, in which this glorious saint descended 
 from heaven in person, and took the command of their armies 
 against the Moors. The first of these, and the most famous 
 of all, I shall now relate. 
 
 In the year of our Lord 939, King Eamirez, having vowed 
 to deliver Castile from the shameful tribute imposed by the 
 Moors, of one hundred virgins delivered annually, collected 
 his troops, and defied their king Abdelraman to battle : 
 
 The king call'd God to witness, that, came there weal or woe, 
 Thenceforth no maiden tribute from out Castile should go. 
 " At least I will do battle on God our Saviour's foe, 
 * And die beneath my banner before I see it so ! " 
 
 Accordingly he charged the Moorish host on the plain of 
 Alveida or Clavijo : after a furious conflict, the Christians 
 were, by the permission of Heaven, defeated, and forced to 
 retire. Night separated the combatants, and King Ramirez, 
 overpowered with fatigue, and sad at heart, flung himself 
 upon his couch and slept. In his sleep he beheld the apostle 
 St. Jago, who promised to be with him next morning in the 
 field, and assured him of victory. The king, waking up from 
 the glorious vision, sent for his prelates and officers, to whom 
 he related it ; and the next morning, at the head of his army, 
 he recounted it to his soldiers, bidding them rely on heavenly 
 aid. He then ordered the trumpets to sound to battle. The 
 soldiers, inspired with fresh courage, rushed to the fight. 
 Suddenly St. Jago was seen mounted on a milk-white charger, 
 and waving aloft a white standard ; he led on the Christians, 
 who gained a decisive victory, leaving 60,000 Moors dead on
 
 230 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 the field. This was the famous battle of Clavijo ; and ever 
 since that day, " SANTIAGO ! " has been the war-cry of the 
 Spanish armies. 
 
 But it was not only on such great occasions that the invin- 
 cible patron of Spain was pleased to exhibit his power : he 
 condescended oftentimes to interfere for the protection of the 
 poor and oppressed, of which I will now give a notable in- 
 stance, as it is related by Pope Calixtus II. 
 
 There was a certain German, who with his wife and son 
 went on a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella. Having 
 come as far as Torlosa, they lodged at an inn there ; and the 
 host had a fair daughter, who, looking on the son of the 
 pilgrim, a handsome and a graceful youth, became deeply 
 enamored ; but he, being virtuous, and, moreover, on his way 
 to a holy shrine, refused to listen to her allurements. 
 
 Then she thought how she might be avenged for this slight 
 put upon her charms, and hid in his wallet her father's silver 
 drinking-cup. The next morning, no sooner were they de- 
 parted, than the host, discovering his loss, pursued them, ac- 
 cused them before the judge, and the cup being found in the 
 young man's wallet, he was condemned to be hanged, and all 
 they possessed was confiscated to the host. 
 
 Then the afflicted parents pursued their way lamenting, and 
 made their prayer and their complaint before the altar of the 
 blessed Saint Jago ; and thirty-six days afterwards as they 
 returned by the spot where their son hung on the gibbet, they 
 stood beneath it, weeping and lamenting bitterly. Then the 
 son spoke and said, " O my mother! my father! do not 
 lament for me, for I have never been in better cheer ; the 
 blessed apostle James is at my side, sustaining me and filling 
 me with celestial comfort and joy ! " The parents, being 
 astonished, hastened to the judge, who at that moment was 
 seated at table, and the mother called out, " Our son lives ! " 
 The judge mocked at them : " What sayest thou, good woman ? 
 thou art beside thyself ! If thy son liveth, so do those fowls 
 in my dish." And lo ! scarcely had he uttered the words, 
 when the fowls (being a cock and a hen) rose up full-feathered 
 in the dish, and the cock began to crow, to the great admira- 
 tion of the judge and his attendants. 1 Then the judge rose 
 
 1 Vide Southey, Pilgrim of Compostella.
 
 ST. JAMES THE GREAT 
 
 231 
 
 up from table hastily, and called together the priests and the 
 lawyers, and they went in procession to the gibbet, took down 
 the young man, and restored him to his parents ; and the 
 miraculous cock and hen 
 were placed under the pro- 
 tection of the Church, 
 where they and their pos- 
 terity long flourished in 
 testimony of this stupen- 
 dous miracle. 
 
 There are many other 
 legends of St. James ; the 
 Spanish chroniclers in 
 prose and verse abound in 
 such ; but, in general, 
 they are not merely in- 
 credible, but puerile and 
 unpoetical ; and I have 
 here confined nlyself to 
 those which I know to 
 have been treated in Art. 
 
 Previous to the twelfth 
 century, St. James is only 
 distinguished among the 
 apostles by Jiis place, 
 which is the fourth in the 
 series, the second after St. 
 Peter and St. Paul. In 
 some instances he is por- 
 trayed with a family resemblance to Christ, being his kinsman ; 
 the thin beard, and the hair parted and flowing down on each 
 side. But from the thirteenth century it became a fashion to 
 characterize St. James as a pilgrim of Compostella : he bears 
 the peculiar long staff, to which the wallet or gourd of water 
 is suspended ; the cloak with a long cape, the scallop-shell on 
 his shoulder or on his flapped hat. Where the cape, hat, 
 and scallop-shells are omitted, the staff, borne as , the first 
 of the apostles who departed to fulfil his Gospel mission, re- 
 mains his constant attribute, and by this he may be recog- 
 nized - in the Madonna pictures, and when grouped with othei* 
 saints. 
 
 St. James Major (Raphael)
 
 232 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 The single devotional figures of St. James represent him in 
 two distinct characters : 
 
 1. As tutelar saint of Spain, and conqueror of the Moors. 
 In his pilgrim habit, mounted on a white charger, and waving 
 a white banner, with white hair and beard streaming like a 
 meteor, or sometimes armed in complete steel, spurred like 
 a knight, his casque shadowed by white plumes, he tramples 
 
 over the prostrate Infidels ; so 
 completely was the humble, 
 gentle-spirited apostle of Christ 
 merged in the spirit of the re- 
 ligious chivalry of the time. 
 This is a subject frequent in 
 Spanish schools. The figure 
 over the high altar of Santiago 
 is described as very grand when 
 seen in the solemn twilight. 
 
 ^ / ^^^ 2. St. James as patron saint 
 
 / /] v "~~^S\ nn ' /ase^N"^ in the general sense. The most 
 
 f j. Id i -CvAw///i JkWL/yA 
 
 beautiful example 1 have met 
 with is a picture in the [Uffizi, 
 at] Florence, painted by Andrea 
 del Sarto for the Compagnia or 
 Confraternita of Sant' Jacopo, 
 and intended ^p figure as a 
 standard in their processions. 
 The Madonna di San Sisto of 
 Kaphael was painted for a sim- 
 ilar purpose : and such are still 
 commonly used in the religious 
 processions in Italy ; but they 
 have no longer Raphaels and 
 
 Andrea-del-Sartos to paint them. In this instance the picture- 
 has a particular form, high and narrow, adapted to its especial 
 purpose : St. James wears a green tunic, and a rich crimson 
 mantle ; and as one of the purposes of the Compagnia was to 
 educate poor orphans, they are represented by the two boys at 
 his feet. This picture suffered from the sun and the weather, 
 to which it had been a hundred times exposed in yearly proces- 
 sions ; but it has been well restored, and is admirable for its 
 vivid coloring as well as the benign attitude and expression. 
 
 St. James (Andrea del Savto)
 
 ST. JAMES THE GREAT 233 
 
 3. St. James seated ; he holds a large book bound in vel- 
 lum (the Gospels) in his left hand and with his right points 
 to heaven : by Guercino, in the gallery of Count Harrach, 
 at Vienna. One of the finest pictures by Guercino I have 
 seen. 
 
 Pictures from the life of St. James singly j or as a series, 
 are not common ; but among those which remain to us there 
 are several of great beauty and interest. 
 
 In the series of frescoes painted in a side chapel of the 
 church of St. Antony of Padua (A. D. 1376), once called the 
 Cappella di San Giacomo, and now San Felice, the old legend 
 of St. James has been exactly followed ; and though ruined 
 in many parts, and in others coarsely repainted, these works 
 remain as compositions amongst the most curious monuments 
 of the Trecentisti. It appears that, towards the year 1376, 
 Messer Bonifacio de' Lupi da Parma, Cavaliere e Marchese di 
 Serana, who boasted of his descent from the Queen Lupa of 
 the legend, dedicated this chapel to St. James of Spain (San 
 Jacopo di Galizia), and employed M. Jacopo Avanzi to deco- 
 rate it, who no doubt bestowed his best workmanship on his 
 patron saint. The subjects are thus arranged, beginning with 
 the lunette on the left hand, which is divided into three com- 
 partments : 
 
 1. Hermogenes sends Philetus to dispute with St. James. 
 2. St. James in his pulpit converts Philetus. 3. Hermogenes 
 sends his demons to bind St. James and Philetus. 4. Hermo- 
 genes brought bound to St. James. 5. He burns his books of 
 magic. 6. Hermogenes and Philetus are conversing in a 
 friendly manner with St. James. 7. St. James is martyred. 8. 
 The arrival of his body in Spain in a marble ship steered by an 
 angel. 9. The disciples lay the body on a rock, while Queen 
 Lupa and her sister and another personage look on from a 
 window in her palace. Then follow two compartments on the 
 side where the window is broken out, much ruined ; they rep- 
 resented apparently the imprisonment of the disciples. 12. 
 The disciples escape and are pursued, and their pursuers with 
 their horses are drowned. 13. The wild bulls draw the sar- 
 cophagus into the court of Queen Lupa's palace. 14. Bap- 
 tism of Lupa. 15 and 16 (lower compartments to the left). 
 St. Jago appears to King Ramirez, and the defeat of the 
 Moors at Clavijo.
 
 234 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 * There is a rare and curious print by Martin Schoen, in 
 which the apparition of St. James at Clavijo is represented 
 not in the Spanish but the German style. It is an animated 
 composition of many figures. The saint appears on horseback 
 in the midst, wearing his pilgrim's dress, with the cockle-shell 
 in his hat ; the Infidels are trampled down, or fly before 
 him. 
 
 On the road from Spoleto to Foligno,. about four miles 
 from Spoleto, there is a small chapel dedicated to St. James 
 of Galizia. The frescoes representing the miracles of the 
 saint were painted by Lo Spagna (A. D. 1526), the friend and 
 fellow pupil of Raphael. In the vault of the apsis is the 
 Coronation of the Virgin ; she kneels, attired in white drapery 
 flowered with gold, and the whole group, though inferior in 
 power, appeared to me in delicacy and taste far superior to the 
 fresco of Fra Filippo Lippi at Spoleto, from which Passavant 
 thinks it is borrowed. 1 Immediately under the Coronation, 
 in the centre, is a figure of St. James as patron saint, stand- 
 ing with his pilgrim's staff in one hand, and the Gospel in the 
 other ; his dress is a yellow tunic with a blue mantle thrown 
 over it. In the compartment on the left, the youth is seen 
 suspended on the gibbet, while St. James with his hands under 
 his feet sustains him ; the father and mother look up at him 
 with astonishment. In the compartment to the right, we see 
 the judge seated at dinner, attended by his servants, one of 
 whom is bringing in a dish : the two pilgrims appear to have 
 just told their story, and the cock and hen have risen up in 
 the dish. These frescoes are painted with great elegance and 
 animation, and the story is told with much naivetd. ^pfound 
 the same legend painted on one of the lower windows of' the 
 church of St. Ouen, and on a window of the right-hand aisle 
 in St. Vincent's at Rouen. 
 
 Of ST. JOHN, who is the fifth in the series, I have spoken 
 at large under the head of the Evangelists. 
 
 1 Passavant's Rafael [Ger. ed.], i. 508.
 
 ST. PHILIP 
 
 235 
 
 ST. PHILIP 
 
 Ital. San Filippo Apostolo. Fr. Saint Philippe. Patron of Bra- 
 bant and Luxembourg. (May 1.) 
 
 Of St. Philip there are few notices in the Gospel. He was 
 born at Bethsaida, and he was one of the first of those whom 
 our Lord summoned to follow Him. After the ascension, he 
 travelled into Scythia, and remained there preaching the Gos- 
 pel for twenty years ; he then preached at Hieropolis in 
 Phrygia, where he found the people addicted to the worship 
 of a monstrous serpent or dragon, or of the god Mars under 
 that form. Taking compassion on their blindness, the apostle 
 commanded the serpent, in the name of the cross he held in 
 his hand, to disappear, and immediately the reptile glided out 
 from beneath the altar, at the same time emitting such a hide- 
 ous stench that many people died, and among them the king's 
 son fell dead in the arms of his attendants ; but the apostle, 
 by Divine power, restored 
 him to life. Then the 
 priests of the dragon were 
 incensed against him, and 
 they took him, and crucified 
 him, and being bound on the 
 cross they stoned him ; thus 
 he yielded up his spirit to 
 God, praying, like his Di- 
 vine Master, for his enemies 
 and tormentors. 
 
 According to the Scrip- 
 ture, St. Philip had four 
 daughters, who were proph- 
 etesses, and made man^tcon- 
 verts to the faith of Christ. 
 (Acts xxi. 9.) In the Greek 
 calendar, St. Mariamne, his 
 sister, and St. Hermione, his 
 daughter, are commemorated 
 as martyrs. 
 
 When St. Philip is repre- 
 sented alone, or as one. of the St. Philip (Albert Diirer)
 
 236 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 series of apostles, he is generally a man in the prime of life, 
 with little beard, and with a benign countenance, being de- 
 scribed as of a remarkably cheerful and affectionate nature. 
 He bears, as his attribute, a cross, 
 which varies in form ; sometimes it 
 is a small cross, which he carries in 
 his hand ; sometimes a high cross in 
 the form of a T, or a tall staff with 
 a small Latin cross at the top of it. 
 The cross of St. Philip may have a 
 treble signification : it may allude to 
 his martyrdom ; or to his conquest 
 over the idols through the power of 
 the cross ; or, when placed on the 
 top of the pilgrim's staff, it may al- 
 lude to his mission among the barba- 
 rians as preacher of the cross of sal- 
 vation. Single figures of St. Philip 
 as patron are not common : there is 
 a fine statue [by Nanni di Banco] of 
 him on the fa9ade of San Michele 
 at Florence, and a noble figure by 
 Beccafumi, reading (Duomo, Siena) ; 
 another, seated and reading, by Ul- 
 rich Mair, in the Belvedere, Vienna. 
 
 St. Philip (Nanni di Banco) 
 
 Subjects from the life of St. Philip, 
 whether as single pictures or in a 
 series, are also rarely met with. As he was the first called by 
 our Saviour to leave all and follow Him, and his vocation 
 therefore a festival in the Church, it must, I think, have been 
 treated apart ; but I have not met with it. I know of but 
 three historical subjects taken from his life : 
 
 1. Bonifazio [in the Venice Academy]. St. Philip stands 
 before the Saviour: the attitude of the latter is extremely 
 dignified, that of Philip supplicatory ; the other apostles are 
 seen in the background : the coloring and expression of the 
 whole like Titian. The subject of this splendid picture is 
 expressed by the inscription underneath (John xiv. 14) : 
 " Domine, ostende nobis Patrem, et sufficit nobis." " Philippe, 
 qui videt me, videt et Patrem meum : ego et Pater unum sumus."
 
 ST. BARTHOLOMEW 237 
 
 2. St. Philip exorcises the serpent. The scene is the inte- 
 rior of a temple, an altar with the statue of the god Mars : a 
 serpent, creeping from beneath the altar, slays the attendants 
 with his poisonous and fiery breath. The ancient fresco in 
 his chapel at Padua, described by Lord Lindsay, is extremely 
 animated, but far inferior to the same subject in the Santa 
 Croce at Florence by Fra Filippo Lippi, 1 where the dignified 
 attitude of the apostle, and the group of the king's son dying 
 in the arms of the attendants, are admirably effective and dra- 
 matic. St. Philip, it must be observed, was the patron saint of 
 the painter. 
 
 3. The Crucifixion of St. Philip. According to the old Greek 
 traditions, he was crucified with his head downwards, and he 
 is so represented on the gates of San Paolo ; also in an old 
 picture over the tomb of Cardinal Philippe d' Alen^on ; where 
 his patron, St. Philip, is attached to the cross with cords, and 
 head downwards, like St. Peter (Rome, S. Maria-in-Trastevere. 
 A. D. 1397) ; but in the old fresco by Giusto da Padova he 
 is crucified in the usual manner, arrayed in a long red garment 
 which desends to his feet. 2 
 
 It is necessary to avoid confounding St. Philip the apostle 
 with St. Philip the deacon. It was Philip the deacon who 
 baptized the chamberlain of Queen Candace, though the action 
 has sometimes been attributed to Philip the apostle. The 
 incident of the baptism of the Ethiopian, taking place in the 
 road, by running water, " on the way that goeth down from 
 Jerusalem to Gaza," has been introduced into several beauti- 
 ful landscapes with much picturesque effect. Claude has thus 
 treated it, Salvator Rosa, Jan Both, in a most beautiful pic- 
 ture in the Queen's Gallery, Rembrandt, Cuyp, and others. 
 
 ST. BARTHOLOMEW 
 
 Lat. S. Bartholomews. Ital. San Bartolomeo. Fr. St. Barthelemi. 
 (Aug. 24.) 
 
 As St. Bartholomew is nowhere mentioned in the canoni- 
 cal books, except by name in enumerating the apostles, there 
 
 1 [As there are no frescoes by Filippo Lippi at Santa Croce, and no painting 
 there treating the subject mentioned, reference is evidently made to Filippino 
 Lippi's fresco in the chapel of Filippo Strozzi at S. Maria Novella.] 
 
 2 [The reference is probably to the series of the life of St. Philip in the chapel 
 of St. Luke, basilica of St. Anthony, Padua.]
 
 238 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 has been large scope for 
 legendary story, but in 
 works of Art he is not a 
 popular saint. According 
 to one tradition, he was 
 the son of a husbandman ; 
 according to another, he was 
 the son of a prince Ptolo- 
 meus. After tHe ascension 
 of Christ he travelled into 
 India, even to the confines 
 of the habitable world, car- 
 rying*with him the Gospel 
 of St. Matthew ; returning 
 thence, he preached in Ar- 
 menia and Cilicia ; and com- 
 ing to the city of Albanopo- 
 lis, he was condemned to 
 death as a Christian : he 
 was first flayed- and then 
 crucified. 
 
 In single figures and de- 
 votional pictures, St. Bar- 
 tholomew sometimes carries in one hand a book, the Gospel of 
 St. Matthew ; but his peculiar attribute is a large knife, the 
 instrument of his martyrdom. The legends describe him as 
 having a quantity of strong black hair and a bushy grizzled 
 beard ; and this portrait being followed very literally by the old 
 German and Flemish painters, gives him, with his large knife, 
 the look of a butcher. In the Italian pictures, though of a 
 milder and more dignified appearance, he has frequently black 
 hair ; and sometimes dark and resolute features ; yet the same 
 legend describes him as of a cheerful countenance, wearing a 
 purple robe and attended by angels. Sometimes St. Bar- 
 tholomew has his own skin hanging over his arm, as among 
 the saints in Michael Angelo's Last Judgment [Sistine Chapel, 
 Rome], where he is holding forth his skin in one hand, and 
 grasping his knife in the other : and in the statue by Marco 
 Agrati in the Milan Cathedral, famous for its anatomical preci- 
 sion and its boastful inscription, "Non me Praxiteles sed Marcus 
 pinxit Agratis." I found in the church of Notre Dame at Paris 
 
 St. Bartholomew (Albert Diirer)
 
 ST. THOMAS 239 
 
 a picture of St. Bartholomew healing the Princess of Armenia. 
 With this exception, I know not any historical subject where 
 this apostle is the principal figure, except his revolting and cruel 
 martyrdom. In the early Greek representation on the gates of 
 San Paolo, he is affixed to a cross, or rather to a post with a 
 small transverse bar at top, to which his hands are fastened 
 above his head ; an executioner, with a knife in his hand, stoops 
 at his feet. This is very different from the representations in 
 the modern schools. The best, that is to say, the least dis- 
 gusting, representation I have met with, is a small picture by 
 Agostino Caracci, in the Sutherland Gallery, which once 
 belonged to King Charles I. : it is easy to see that the painter 
 had the antique Marsyas in his mind. That dark ferocious 
 spirit, Kibera, found in it a theme congenial with his own 
 temperament; * he has not only painted it several times with a 
 horrible truth and power, but etched it elaborately with his 
 own hand : a small picture, copied from the etching, is at 
 Hampton Court [attributed to L. Nottery]. 
 
 ST. THOMAS 
 
 Ital. San Tomaso. Sp. San Tome. Patron Saint of Portugal 
 and Parma. (Dec. 21.) 
 
 St. Thomas, called Didymus (the twin), takes, as apostle, 
 the seventh^place. He was a Galilean and a fisherman, and 
 we find him distinguished among the apostles on two occasions 
 recorded in the Gospel. ' "When Jesus was going up to Beth- 
 any, being then in danger from the Jews, Thomas said, "Let 
 us also go, that we may die with Him." (John xi. 16, xx. 25.) 
 After the resurrection, he showed himself unwilling to believe 
 in the reappearance of the crucified Saviour without ocular 
 demonstration : this incident is styled the Incredulity of 
 Thomas. From these two incidents we may form some idea 
 of his character : courageous and affectionate, but not inclined 
 to take things for granted ; or, as a French writer expresses it, 
 " brusque et resolu, mais d'un esprit exigeant." After the 
 ascension, St. Thomas travelled into the East, preaching the 
 
 1 [See Stirling-Maxwell's Annals of the Artists of Spain, p. 891, for de- 
 scription of Ribera's Flaying of St. Bartholomew in Madrid Gallery. Other 
 paintings of the same subject by Ribera are in Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and 
 Florence.]
 
 240 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 Gospel in far distant countries towards the rising sun. It is 
 a tradition received in the Church, that he penetrated as far as 
 India ; that there meeting with the three Wise Men of the 
 East, he baptized them ; that he founded a church in India, 
 and suffered martyrdom there. It is related that the Portu- 
 guese found at Meliapore an ancient inscription, purporting 
 that St. Thomas had been pierced with a lance at the foot of 
 a cross which he had erected in that city, and that in 1523 his 
 body was found there and transported to Goa. 
 
 In Correggio's fresco of St. Thomas as protector of Parma 
 he is surrounded by angels bearing exotic fruits, as expressing 
 his ministry in India. 
 
 There are a number of extravagant and poetical legends 
 relating to St. Thomas. I shall here limit myself to those 
 
 which were adopted in ecclesi- 
 astical decoration, and treated 
 by the artists of the middle 
 ages. 
 
 When St. Thomas figures as 
 apostle, alone or with others, 
 in all the devotional represen- 
 tations which are not prior to 
 the thirteenth century, he car- 
 ries as his attribute the build- 
 er's rule, of this form 
 
 Now, as 
 he was a 
 fisherman, 
 and neither 
 a carpenter 
 nor a ma- 
 son, the ori- 
 gin of this attribute must be 
 sought in one of the most pop- 
 ular legends of which he is the 
 subject. 
 
 St. Thomas (Liu-as van Lcyden) " When St - Thomas was at 
 
 Cesarea, our Lord appeared to 
 
 him and said, ' The King of the Indies, Gondoforus, hath 
 sent his provost Abanes to seek for workmen well versed in 
 the science of architecture, who shall build for him a palace
 
 ST. THOMAS 241 
 
 finer than that of the Emperor of Rome. Behold, now I will 
 send thee to him.' And Thomas went, and Gondoforus com- 
 manded him to build for him a magnificent palace, and gave 
 him much gold and silver for the purpose. The king went 
 into a distant country, and was absent for two years ; and St. 
 Thomas meanwhile, instead of building a palace, distributed 
 all the treasures intrusted to him among the poor and sick ; 
 and when the king returned, he was full of wrath, and he 
 commanded that St. Thomas should be seized and cast 
 into prison, and he meditated for him a horrible death. 
 Meantime the brother of the king died ; and the king resolved 
 to erect for him a most magnificent tomb ; but the dead man, 
 after that he had been dead four days, suddenly arose and sat 
 upright, and said to the king, ( The man whom thou wouldst 
 torture is a servant of God : behold, I have been in Paradise, 
 and the angels showed to me a wondrous palace of gold and 
 silver and precious stones,' and they said, ' This is the palace 
 that Thomas the architect hath built for thy brother King 
 Gondoforus.' And when the king heard these words, he 
 ran to the prison, and delivered the apostle ; and Thomas 
 said to him, ' Knowest thou not that those who would possess 
 heavenly things have little care for the things of this earth ? 
 There are in heaven rich palaces without number, which were 
 prepared from the beginning of the world for those who pur- 
 chase the possession through faith and charity. Thy riches, 
 King, may prepare the way for thee to such a palace, but 
 they cannot follow thee thither.' ' (Legenda Aurea.) 
 
 The builder's rule in the hand of St. Thomas characterizes 
 him as the spiritual architect of King Gondoforus, and for the 
 same reason he has been chosen among the saints as patron of 
 architects and builders. 
 
 There is in this legend or allegory, fanciful as it is, an obvi- 
 ous beauty and significance, which I need not point out. It 
 appears to me to be- one of those many legends which originally 
 were not assumed to be facts, but were related as parables, 
 religious fictions invented for the instruction of the people, like 
 our Saviour's stories of the " Good Samaritan," the " Prodigal 
 Son," etc., and were rendered more striking and impressive by 
 the introduction of a celebrated and exalted personage our 
 Saviour, the Virgin, or one of the apostles as hero of the 
 tale. This beautiful legend of St. Thomas and King Gondo-
 
 242 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 forus is painted on one of the windows of the cathedral at 
 Bourges, an appropriate offering from the company of builders 
 in that ancient city. It is also the subject of one of the finest 
 of the ancient French mysteries, which was acted with great 
 applause at Paris in the fourteenth century. 
 
 But, in the historical subjects from the life of St. Thomas, 
 the first place must be given to the one scriptural incident in 
 which he figures as a principal person. " The Incredulity of 
 St. Thomas " occurs in all the early series of the life of Christ, 
 as one of the events of his mission, and one of the proofs of 
 his resurrection. On the ancient gates of San Paolo it is 
 treated with great simplicity as a sacred mystery, St. Thomas 
 being the principal personage in the action, as the one whose 
 conviction was to bring conviction to the universe. Christ 
 stands on a pedestal surmounted by a cross ; the apostles are 
 ranged on each side, and St. Thomas, approaching, stretches 
 forth his hand. The incident, as a separate subject, is of 
 frequent occurrence in the later schools of Italy, and in the 
 Flemish schools. The general treatment, when given in this 
 dramatic style, admits of two variations : either St. Thomas is 
 placing his hand, with an expression of doubt and fear, on the 
 wounds of the Saviour ; or, his doubts being removed, he is 
 gazing upwards in adoration and wonder. Of the first, one of 
 the finest examples is a well-known picture by Rubens (Gallery 
 of Antwerp), one of his most beautiful works, and extraor- 
 dinary for the truth of the expression in the countenance of 
 the apostle, whose hand is on the side of Christ ; St. John 
 and St. Peter are behind. In Vandyck's picture at Peters- 
 burg, St. Thomas stoops to examine the Saviour's hand. In a 
 design ascribed to Raphael, we have the second version : the 
 look of astonished conviction in St. Thomas. 1 Niccolo Poussin 
 has painted it finely, introducing twelve figures. 2 Guercino's 
 picture is celebrated, but he has committed the fault of repre- 
 senting the two principal figures both in profile. (Vatican 
 Gallery.) 
 
 The legendary subject styled " La Madonna della Cintola " 
 belongs properly to the legends of the Virgin [and is given at 
 length in the " Legends of the Madonna "], but as St. Thomas 
 
 1 Passavant's Rafael [Ger. ed.], ii. 116. 
 
 2 Eng. by Audran.
 
 ST. THOMAS 243 
 
 is always a principal personage I shall mention it here. The 
 legend relates that when the Madonna ascended into heaven, 
 in the sight of the apostles, Thomas was absent ; but after 
 three days he returned, and. doubting the truth of her glorious 
 translation, he desired that her tomb should be opened ; which 
 was done, and lo ! it was found empty. Then the Virgin, tak- 
 ing pity on his weakness and want of faith, threw down to 
 him her girdle, that this tangible proof remaining in his hands 
 might remove all doubts forever from his mind : hence in 
 many pictures of the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin, 
 St. Thomas is seen below holding the sacred girdle in his hand. 
 For instance, in Raphael's beautiful " Coronation " in the 
 Vatican ; and in Correggio's " Assumption " at Parma, where 
 St. Thomas holds the girdle, and another apostle kisses it. 
 
 The belief that the girdle is preserved in the Cathedral 
 at Pistoia has rendered this legend a popular subject with 
 the Florentine painters ; and we find it treated, not merely 
 as an incident in the scene of the Assumption, but in a man- 
 ner purely mystic and devotional. Thus, in a charming bas- 
 relief by Luca della Robbia, 1 the Virgin, surrounded by a choir 
 of angels, presents her girdle to the apostle. In a beautiful 
 picture by Granacci (Uffizi, Florence), the Virgin is seated on 
 the clouds ; beneath is her empty sepulchre : on one side 
 kneels St. Thomas, who receives with reverence the sacred 
 girdle ; on the other kneels the Archangel Michael. In sim- 
 plicity of arrangement, beauty of expression, and tender har- 
 mony of color, this picture has seldom been exceeded. Gra- 
 nacci has again treated this subject, and St. Thomas receives 
 the girdle in the presence of St. John the Baptist, St. James 
 Major, St. Lawrence, and St. Bartholomew. [The picture is 
 in the Rucellai Palace, Florence.] We have the same sub- 
 ject by Paolino da Pistoia ; by Sogliani ; and by Mainardi, a 
 large and very fine fresco in the church of Santa Croce at 
 Florence. 
 
 A poetical and truly mystical version of this subject is that 
 wherein the Infant Saviour, seated or standing on his mother's 
 knee, looses her girdle and presents it to St. Thomas. Of this 
 I have seen several examples ; one in the Duomo at Viterbo. 
 
 In the Martyrdom of St. Thomas, several idolaters pierce 
 
 1 [This bas-relief, which is in the Florence Academy, is attributed by Cava- 
 lucci and Molinier to Andrea della Robbia.]
 
 244 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 him through with lances and javelins. It was so represented 
 on the doors of San Paolo, with four figures only. Rubens, 
 in his large picture, has followed the legend very exactly ; St. 
 Thomas embraces the cross, at the foot of which he is about to 
 fall, transfixed by spears. A large picture in the gallery of* 
 Count Harrach at Vienna, called there the Martyrdom of St. 
 Jude, I believe to represent the Martyrdom of St. Thomas. 
 Two of the idolatrous priests pierce him with lances. Albert 
 Diirer, in his beautiful print of St. Thomas, represents him 
 holding the lance, the instrument of his martyrdom : but this 
 is very unusual. 
 
 The eighth in the order of the Apostles is the Evangelist ST. 
 MATTHEW, of whom I have spoken at length. 
 
 ST. JAMES MINOR 
 
 Lai. S. Jacobus Frater Domini. Gr. Adelphotheos. Ilal. San 
 Jacopo or Giacomo Minore. Fr. St. Jacques Mineur. (May 1.) 
 
 The ninth is St. James Minor, or the Less, called also the 
 Just : he was a near relative of Christ, being the son of Mary, 
 the wife of Cleophas, who was the sister of the Virgin Mary ; 
 hence he is styled " the Lord's brother." Nothing particular 
 is related of him till after the ascension. He is regarded as 
 first Christian bishop of Jerusalem, and venerated for his self- 
 denial, his piety, his wisdom, and his charity. These charac- 
 teristics are conspicuous in the beautiful Epistle which bears 
 his name. Having excited, by the fervor of his teaching, the 
 fury of the Scribes and Pharisees, and particularly the enmity 
 of the high priest Ananus, they flung him down from a terrace 
 or parapet of the Temple, and one of the infuriated populace 
 below beat out his brains with a fuller's club. 
 
 In single figures and devotional pictures, St. James is gen- 
 erally leaning on this club, the instrument of his martyrdom. 
 According to an early tradition, he so nearly resembled our 
 Lord in person, in features and deportment, that it was diffi- 
 cult to distinguish them. " The Holy Virgin herself," says 
 the legend, " had she been capable of error, might have mis- 
 taken one for the other ; " and this exact resemblance rendered 
 necessary the kiss of the traitor Judas, in order to point out 
 his victim to the soldiers.
 
 ST. JAMES MINOR 
 
 245 
 
 This characteristic resemblance is attended to in the earliest 
 and best representations of St. James, and by this he may 
 usually be distinguished when he does not "bear his club, which 
 is often a thick stick or staff. With the exception of those 
 Scripture scenes in which the apostles are present, I have met 
 with few pictures in which St. 
 James Minor is introduced : he 
 does not appear to have been 
 popular as a patron saint. The 
 event of his martyrdom occurs 
 very seldom, and is very liter- 
 ally rendered : the scene is a 
 court of the Temple, with ter- 
 races and balconies ; he is fall- 
 ing, or has fallen, to the ground, 
 and one of the crowd lifts up 
 the club to smite him. 
 
 Ignorant artists have in some 
 instances confounded St. James 
 Major and St. James Minor. 
 The Cappella dei Belludi at Pa- 
 dua, already mentioned, dedi- 
 cated to St. Philip and St. 
 James, contains a series of fres- 
 coes from the life of St. James 
 Minor, in which are some of 
 the miraculous incidents attrib- 
 uted in the "Legenda Aurea" 
 to St. James Major. 
 
 1. The Council of the Apostles held at Jerusalem, in which 
 St. James was nominated chief or bishop of the infant Church. 
 2. Our Saviour after His resurrection appears to St. James, 
 who had vowed not to eat till he should see Christ. 1 3. St. 
 James thrown down from the pulpit in the court of the Tem- 
 
 1 " Very soon after the Lord was risen, he went to James, and showed him- 
 self to him. For James had solemnly sworn that he would eat no bread from 
 the time that he had drunk the cup of the Lord till he should see him risen 
 from among them that sleep. 'Bring,' saith the Lord, 'a table and bread.' 
 He took bread, and blessed and brake it, and then gave it to James the Just, 
 and said to him, 'My brother, eat thy bread; for the Son of man is risen 
 from among them that sleep.' " St. Jerome, as quoted in Lardner, Lives of 
 the Apostles, chap. xvi. 
 
 St. James Minor (Martin Schoen)
 
 246 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 pie. 4. He is slain by the fuller. 5. A certain merchant is 
 stript of all his goods by a tyrant, and cast into prison. He 
 implores the protection of St. James, who, leading him to the 
 summit of the tower, commands the tower to bow itself to the 
 ground, and the merchant steps from it and escapes : or, ac- 
 cording to the version followed in the fresco, the apostle lifts 
 the tower on one side from its foundation, and the prisoner 
 escapes from under it, like a mouse out of a trap. 6. A poor 
 pilgrim, having neither money nor food, fell asleep by the 
 wayside, and, on waking, found that St. James had placed 
 beside him a loaf of bread, which miraculously supplied his 
 wants to the end of his journey. These two last stories are 
 told also of St. James of Galicia, but I have never met with 
 any pictures of his life in which they are included. Here 
 they undoubtedly refer to St. James Minor, the chapel being 
 consecrated to his honor. 
 
 ST. SIMON ZELOTES (OR THE ZEALOT). ST. JUDE (THAD- 
 DEUS, OK LEBBEUS) 
 
 Ital. San Simone ; San Taddeo. Fr. St. Simon le Zele ; St. Thad- 
 dee. Ger. Judas Thaddaus. (Oct. 28.) 
 
 The uncertainty, contradiction, and confusion which I find 
 in all the ecclesiastical biographies relative to these apostles 
 make it impossible to give any clear account of them ; and as 
 subjects of Art they are so unimportant, and so uninteresting, 
 that it is the less necessary. According to one tradition, they 
 were the same mentioned by Matthew as our Lord's brethren 
 or kinsmen. But, according to another tradition, they were 
 not the same, but two brothers who were among the shepherds 
 to whom the angel and the heavenly host revealed the birth of 
 the Saviour. Those painters who followed the first tradition 
 represent Simon and Jude as young, or at least in the prime 
 of life. Those who adopt the second represent them as very 
 old, taking it for granted that at the birth of Christ they must 
 have been full-grown men ; and this, I think, is the legend 
 usually followed. . It seems, however, generally agreed, that 
 they preached the Gospel together in Syria and Mesopotamia, 
 and together suffered martyrdom in Persia : in what manner 
 they suffered is unknown ; but it is supposed that St. Simon 
 was sawn asunder, and St. Thaddeus killed with a halberd.
 
 ST. SIMON ZELOTES 247 
 
 In a series of apostles, St. Simon bears the saw, and St. 
 Thaddeus a halberd. In Greek Art, Jude and Thaddeus are 
 two different persons. Jude is represented young, Thaddeus 
 old; St. Simon in extreme old age, with a bald head, and 
 long white beard. In the Greek representation of his martyr- 
 dom, he is affixed to a cross exactly like that of our Saviour, 
 so that, but for the superscription O CIMON, he might be 
 mistaken for Christ. I do not know of any separate picture 
 of these apostles. 
 
 There is, however, one manner of treating them, with refer- 
 ence to their supposed relationship to our Saviour, which is 
 peculiarly beautiful. Assuming that the three last-named apos- 
 tles, James the son of Mary Cleophas, Simon and Jude, Jo- 
 seph or Joses the Just, also named by Matthew among the 
 brethren of Christ ; together with James and John, the sons of 
 Mary Salome, were all nearly related to the Saviour ; it was 
 surely a charming idea to group as children around Him in 
 His infancy those who were afterwards called to be the chosen 
 ministers of His Word. Christianity, which has glorified 
 womanhood and childhood, never suggested to the Christian 
 artist a more beautiful subject, nor one which it would be more 
 easy, by an unworthy or too picturesque treatment, to render 
 merely pretty and commonplace. This version, however, of 
 the Sacra Famiglia is rarely met with. There is an example 
 in the Louvre, signed " Laurentius " (Lorenzo di Pavia, A. D. 
 1513), which is remarkable as a religious representation ; 
 but the most beautiful instance of this treatment is a chef- 
 d'oeuvre of Perugino, in the Muse'e at Marseilles. In the 
 centre is the Virgin, seated on a throne ; she holds the infant 
 Christ in her arms. Behind her is St. Anna, her two hands 
 resting affectionately on the shoulders of the Virgin. In front, 
 at the foot of the throne, are two lovely children, undraped, 
 with glories round their heads, on which are inscribed their 
 names, Simon and Thaddeus. To the right is Mary Salome, 
 a beautiful young woman, holding a child in her arms St. 
 John, afterwards the evangelist. Near her is Joachim, the 
 father of the Virgin. At his feet another child, James Major. 
 To the left of the Virgin, Mary the wife of Cleophas, stand- 
 ing, holds by the hand James Minor : behind her, Joseph, the 
 husband of the Virgin, and at his feet another child, Joseph 
 (or Joses) or Justus. I have also seen this subject in illu-
 
 248 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 minated MSS., and, however treated, it is surely very poetical 
 and suggestive. (Matt. xiii. 55 ; Mark xv.*40.) 
 
 ST. MATTHIAS 
 Ital San Mattia. Fr. St. Mathias. (Feb. 24.) 
 
 St. Matthias, who was chosen by lot to fill the place of the 
 traitor Judas, is the last of the apostles. (Acts i.) He 
 
 preached the Gospel in Jti- 
 dea, and suffered martyrdom 
 at "the hands of the Jews, 
 either by the lance or by the 
 axe. In the Italian series 
 of the apostles, he bears as 
 his attribute the lance ; in 
 the German sets, more com- 
 monly the axe. The cere- 
 mony of choosing St. Mat- 
 thias by lot is the subject of 
 a mediocre picture by Bos- 
 chi. St. Denis says that 
 the apostles were directed in 
 their choice by a beam of 
 divine splendor, for it were 
 impious to suppose that such 
 an election was made by 
 chance. In this picture of 
 Boschi, a ray of light falls 
 from heaven on the head of 
 St. Matthias. 
 
 There is a figure of this 
 apostle by Cosimo Eoselli, 
 holding a sword by the 
 point : what might be the 
 
 intention of that capricious painter it is now impossible to 
 guess. (Florence Academy.) Separate pictures of St. Matthias 
 are very rare, and he is seldom included in sets of the apostles. 
 
 St. Matthias (Raphael)
 
 JUDAS ISCARIOT 249 
 
 JUDAS ISCARIOT 
 ItaL Giuda Scariota. Fr. Judas Iscariote. 
 
 The very name of Judas Iscariot has become a by-word ; 
 his person and character an eternal type of impiety, treachery, 
 and ingratitude. We shudder at the associations called up by 
 his memory ; his crime, without a name, so distances all pos- 
 sible human turpitude, that he cannot even be held forth as a 
 terror to evil-doers ; we set him aside as one cut off ; we never 
 think of him but in reference to the sole and unequalled crime 
 recorded of him. Not so our ancestors ; one should have 
 lived in the middle ages, to conceive the profound, the ever- 
 present horror with which Judas Iscariot was then regarded. 
 The Devil himself did not inspire the same passionate hatred 
 and indignation. Being the devil, what could he be but 
 devilish ? His wickedness was according to his infernal na- 
 ture : but the crime of Judas remains the perpetual shame and 
 reproach of our humanity. The devil betrayed mankind, but 
 Judas betrayed his God. 
 
 The Gospels are silent as to the life of Judas before he 
 became an apostle, but our progenitors of the middle ages, 
 who could not conceive it possible that any being, however 
 perverse, would rush at once into such an abyss of guilt, have 
 filled up the omissions of Scripture after their own fancy. 
 They picture Judas as a wretch foredoomed from the beginning 
 of the world, and prepared by a long course of vice and crime 
 for that crowning guilt which filled the measure full. Ac- 
 cording to this legend, he was of the tribe of Reuben. Before 
 his mother brought him forth, she dreamed that the son who 
 lay in her womb would be accursed, that he would murder 
 his father, commit incest with his mother, and sell his God. 
 Terrified at her dream, she took counsel with her husband, and 
 they agreed to avert the threatened calamity by exposing the 
 child. As in the story of CEdipus, from which, indeed, this 
 strange wild legend seems partly borrowed, the means taken 
 to avert the threatened curse caused its fulfilment. . Judas, at 
 his birth, is inclosed in a chest, and flung into the sea ; the 
 sea casts him up, and, being found on the shore, he is fostered 
 by a certain king and queen as their own son ; they have, 
 however, another son, whom Judas, malignant from his birth,
 
 250 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 beats and oppresses, and at length kills in a quarrel over a 
 game at chess. He then flies to Judea, where he enters the 
 service of Pontius Pilate as page. In due time he commits 
 the other monstrous crimes to which he was predestined ; and 
 when he learns from his mother the secret of his birth, he is 
 filled with a sudden contrition and terror ; he hears of the 
 prophet who has power on earth to forgive sins ; and seeking 
 out Christ throws himself at His feet. Our Saviour, not de- 
 ceived, but seeing in him the destined betrayer, and that all 
 things may be accomplished, accepts him as His apostle : he 
 becomes the seneschal or steward of Christ, bears the purse, 
 and provides for the common wants. In this position, avarice, 
 the only vice to which he was not yet addicted, takes posses- 
 sion of his soul, and makes the corruption complete. Through 
 avarice he grudges every penny given to the poor, and when 
 Mary Magdalene anoints the feet of our Lord he is full of 
 wrath at what he considers the waste of the precious perfume : 
 " Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, 
 and given to the poor ? This he said, not that he cared for 
 the poor, but because he was a thief." Through avarice, he 
 yields to the bribe offered by the Jews. Then follow the 
 scenes of the betrayal of Christ, and the late repentance and 
 terrible suicide of the traitor, as recorded in Scripture. But 
 in the old Mystery of the " Passion of Christ " the repentance 
 and fate of Judas are very dramatically worked out, and with 
 all possible circumstances of horror. When he beholds the 
 mild Saviour before the judgment-seat of Herod, he repents : 
 Remorse, who figures as a real personage, seizes on the fated 
 wretch, and torments him till in his agony he invokes Despair. 
 Despair appears, almost in the guise of the "accursed wight" 
 in Spenser, and, with like arguments, urges him to make away 
 with his life : 
 
 And brings unto him swords, rope, poison, fire, 
 
 And all that might him to perdition draw, 
 
 And bids him choose what death he would desire. 
 
 Or in the more homely language of the old French" mys- 
 tery 
 
 II faut que tu passes le pas ! 
 Voici dagues et coutelas, 
 Forcettes, poin^ons, allumettes, 
 Avise, choisis les plus belles,
 
 JUDAS ISCARIOT 251 
 
 Et celles de meilleure forge, 
 Pour te couper a coup la gorge ; 
 Ou si tu aimes mieux te pendre, 
 Voici lacs et cordes a vendre. 
 
 The offer here of the bodkins and the allumettes reminds 
 us of the speech of Falconbridge : 
 
 If thou would'st drown thyself, 
 Put but a little water in a spoon, 
 And it shall be as all the ocean, 
 Enough to stifle such a villain up. 
 
 Judas chooses the rope, and hangs himself forthwith ; " and 
 falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his 
 bowels gushed out : " which account is explained by an early 
 tradition, that being found and cut down, his body was thrown 
 over the parapet of the Temple into the ravine below, and, in 
 the fall, was riven and dashed to pieces. 
 
 There required but one more touch of horror to complete 
 the picture ; and this is furnished by a sonnet of Giani, which 
 I remember to have read in my youth. When Judas falls 
 from the fatal tree, his evil genius seizes the broken rope, and 
 drags him down to the seething abyss below : at his approach, 
 hell sends forth a shout of rejoicing; Lucifer smooths his 
 brow, corrugated Avith fire and pain, and rises from his burning 
 throne to welcome a greater sinner than himself : 
 
 Poi fra le braccia incateno quel tristo, 
 
 E colla bocca sfavillante e nera 
 
 Gli rese il bacio ch' avea dato a Christo ! * 
 
 The retribution imaged in the last two lines borders, I am 
 afraid, on a concetto ; but it makes one shiver, notwithstand- 
 ing- 
 Separate representations of the figure or of the life of 
 Judas Iscariot are not, of course, to be looked for ; they would 
 have been regarded as profane, as ominous, worse than the 
 evil-eye. In those Scripture scenes in which he finds a place, 
 it was the aim of the early artists to give him a countenance 
 as hateful, as expressive of treachery, meanness, malignity, as 
 their skill could compass, the Italians having depended 
 more on expression, the German and Spanish painters on form. 
 
 1 [In English : Then he chained the arms of the wicked one, and with a 
 mouth sparkling and bright, returned the kiss which he had given to Christ.]
 
 252 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 We have a conviction, that if the man had really worn such 
 a look, such features, he would have been cast out from the 
 company of the apostles ; the legend already referred to says 
 expressly that Judas was of a comely appearance, and was 
 recommended to the service of Pontius Pilate by his beauty 
 of person : but the painters, speaking to the people in the 
 language of form, were right to admit of no equivocation. 
 The same feeling which induced them to concentrate on the 
 image of the demon all they could conceive of hideous and 
 repulsive, made them picture the exterior of Judas as deformed 
 and hateful as the soul within ; and, by an exaggeration of the 
 Jewish cast of features combined with red hair and beard, they 
 flattered themselves that they had attained the desired object. 
 But as if this were not enough, the ancient painters, particu- 
 larly in the old illuminations, and in Byzantine Art, represent 
 Judas as directly and literally possessed by the Devil ; some- 
 times it is a little black demon seated on his shoulder, and 
 whispering in his ear ; sometimes entering his mouth : thus, 
 in their simplicity, rendering the words of the Gospel, " Then 
 entered Satan into Judas." 
 
 The color proper to the dress of Judas is a dirty dingy 
 yellow ; and in Spain this color is so intimately associated with 
 the image of the arch-traitor as to be held in universal dis- 
 like : both in Spain and in Italy, malefactors and galley-slaves 
 are clothed in yellow. 1 At Venice the Jews were obliged to 
 wear yellow hats. 
 
 In some of the Scriptural scenes in which Judas is men- 
 tioned or supposed to be present, it is worth while to remark 
 whether the painter has passed him over as spoiling the har- 
 mony of the sacred composition by his intrusive ugliness and 
 wickedness, or has rendered him conspicuous by a distinct and 
 characteristic treatment. In a picture by Niccolo Frumenti 
 of the Magdalene at the feet of our Saviour, Judas stands in 
 
 1 See Ford's Handbook of Spain; also Goethe's Theory of Colors, trans- 
 lated by Sir C. Eastlake. " When a yellow color is communicated to dull 
 and coarse surfaces, such as common cloth, felt, or the like, on which it does 
 not appear witli full energy, the disagreeable effect alluded to is apparent. 
 By a slight and scarceh- perceptible change, the beautiful impression of fire 
 and gold is transformed into one not undeserving the epithet foul, and the 
 color of honor and joy reversed to that of ignominy and aversion. To this 
 impression, the yellow hats of bankrupts, and the yellow circles on the man- 
 tles of Jews, may have owed their origin." Page 308.
 
 JUDAS ISCARIOT 253 
 
 . 
 
 .the foreground, looking on with a most diabolical expression 
 of grudging malice mingled with scorn ; he seems to grind his 
 teeth as he says, " To what purpose is this waste ? " (Uffizi, 
 Florence.) [There is a] beautiful picture of the washing the 
 feet of the disciples [in the Venice Academy, attributed to 
 Boccaccino] ; Judas is at once distinguished, looking askance 
 with a wicked sneer on his face, which is not otherwise ugly. 
 In Raphael's composition of the Magdalene anointing the feet 
 of Christ, Judas leans across the table with an angry look of 
 expostulation. 
 
 Those subjects in which Judas Iscariot appears as a princi- 
 pal personage follow here. 
 
 1. Angelico da Fiesole. (Florence Academy.) He is bribed 
 by the Jews. The high priest pays into the hand of Judas 
 the thirty pieces of silver. They are standing before a door- 
 way on some steps; Judas is seen in profile, and has the 
 nimbus as one of the apostles : three persons are behind, one 
 of whom expresses disapprobation and anxiety. In this sub- 
 ject, and in others wherein Judas is introduced, Angelico has 
 not given him ugly and deformed features ; but in the scowl- 
 ing eye and bent brow there is a vicious expression. 
 
 In Duccio's series of the " Passion of our Saviour," in the 
 Duomo at Siena, he has, in this and in other scenes, repre- 
 sented Judas with regular and not ugly features ; but he has 
 a villainous, and at the same time anxious, expression, he 
 has a bad conscience. 
 
 The scene between Judas and the high priest is also given 
 by Schalken as a candle-light effect, and in the genuine Dutch 
 style. 
 
 2. " Judas betrays his Master with a kiss." This subject 
 will be noticed at large in the Life of Christ. The early 
 Italians, in giving this scene with much dramatic power, never 
 forgot the Scriptural dignity required ; while the early Ger- 
 mans, in their endeavor to render Judas as odious in physi- 
 ognomy as in heart, have, in this as in many other instances, 
 rendered the awful and the pathetic merely grotesque. We 
 must infer from Scripture, that Judas with all his perversity, 
 had a conscience : he would not else have hanged himself. In 
 the physiognomy given to him by the old Germans, there is 
 no trace of this ; he is an ugly malignant brute, and nothing 
 more.
 
 254 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 3. Rembrandt. " Judas throws down the thirty pieces of 
 silver in the Temple, and departs." (In the gallery of Lord 
 Charlemont, Dublin.) 
 
 4. " The remorse of Judas." He is seated and in the act of 
 putting the rope about his neck ; beside him is seen the purse 
 and the money, scattered about the ground. The design is by 
 Bloemart, and, from the Latin inscription underneath, appears 
 to be intended as a warning to all unrighteous dealers. 
 
 5. " Judas hanging on a tree " is sometimes introduced into 
 the background, in ancient pictures of the Deposition and the 
 Entombment : there is one in the Frankfort Museum. 
 
 6. " Demons toss the soul of Judas from hand to hand in 
 the manner of a ball," in an old French miniature. (Bib. 
 du Roi.) This is sufficiently grotesque in representation ; yet 
 in the idea there is a restless, giddy horror which thrills us. 
 At all events, it is better than placing Judas between the jaws 
 of Satan with his legs in the air, as Dante has done, and as 
 Orcagna in his Dantesque fresco has very literally rendered the 
 description of the poet. (Florence, S. Maria Novella.) 
 
 It is clear that the extravagant legends which refer to Judas 
 Iscariot were the inventions of the middle ages, and are as 
 little countenanced by the writings of the early fathers as by 
 the Gospels. Eusebius says that "Christ gave like gifts to 
 Judas with the other apostles ; that once our Saviour had 
 good hopes of .him on account of the power of the free will, 
 for Judas was not of such a nature as rendered his salvation 
 impossible ; like the other apostles, he might have been in- 
 structed by the Son of God, and might have been a sincere 
 and good disciple." (Quoted in Lardner, vol. viii. p. 77.) 
 The Mahometans believe that Christ did not die, that He 
 ascended alive into heaven, and that Judas was crucified in 
 His likeness. (Curzon, p. 185.) 
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 
 
 Ital. II Cenacolo. La Cena. Fr. La Cene. Ger. Das Abendmal 
 
 Christi. 
 
 I have already mentioned the principal scenes in which 
 the Twelve always appear together ; there is, however, one 
 event belonging properly to the Life of Christ, so important
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 255 
 
 in itself, presenting the Apostles under an aspect so peculiar, 
 and throwing so much interest around them collectively and 
 individually, that I must bring it under notice here. 
 
 Next to the Crucifixion, there is no subject taken from the 
 history of our redemption so consecrated in Art as the Last 
 Supper. The awful signification lent to it by Protestants as 
 well as Catholics has given it a deep religious import, and 
 caused its frequent representation in churches ; it has been, 
 more particularly, the appropriate decoration of the refectories 
 of convents, hospitals, and other institutions having a sacred 
 character. In our Protestant churches it is generally the sub- 
 ject of the altar-piece, where we have one. 
 
 Besides being one of the most important and interesting, it 
 is one of the most difficult among the sacred subjects treated 
 in Art. While the fixed number of personages introduced, the 
 divine and paramount dignity of One among them, the well- 
 known character of all, have limited the invention of the artist, 
 they have tasked to the utmost his power of expression. The 
 occasion, that of a repast eaten by twelve persons, is, under its 
 material aspect, so commonplace, and, taken in the spiritual 
 sense, so awful, that to elevate himself to the height of his 
 theme, while keeping the ideal conscientiously bounded within 
 its frame of circumstance, demanded in the artist aspirations 
 of the grandest order, tempered by the utmost sobriety of re- 
 flection ; and the deepest insight into the springs of character, 
 combined with the most perfect knowledge of the indications 
 of character as manifested through form. On the other hand, 
 if it has been difficult to succeed, it has been equally difficult 
 to fail signally and completely ; because the spectator is not 
 here, as in the crucifixion, in danger of being perpetually 
 shocked, by the intrusion of anomalous incidents, and is always 
 ready to supply the dignity and meaning of a scene so familiar 
 in itself out of his own mind and heart. It has followed, that 
 mediocrity has been more prevalent and more endurable in this 
 than in any other of the more serious subjects of Art. But 
 where excellence has been in some few instances attained, it 
 has been attained in such a supreme degree, that these ex- 
 amples have become a perpetual source of contemplation and 
 of emulation, and rank among the most renowned productions 
 of human genius.
 
 I 
 
 256 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 But before I come to consider these analytically, it is neces- 
 sary to premise one or two observations, which will assist us 
 to discrimination in the general treatment. 
 
 Pictures and works of Art, which represent the Last Supper 
 of our Lord, admit of the same classification which I have 
 adhered to generally throughout this work. Those which 
 represent it as a religious mystery must be considered as devo- 
 tional ; those which represent it merely as a scene in the pas- 
 sion of our Saviour are historical. In the first, we have the 
 spiritual origin of the Eucharist ; in the second, the highly 
 dramatic detection of Judas. It is evident that the predomi- 
 nating motif in each must be widely different. In paintings 
 which are intended for the altar, or for the chapels of the 
 Holy Sacrament, we have the first, the mystical version ; it 
 is the distribution of the spiritual food. In the second form, 
 as the Last Supper eaten by Christ with His disciples, as lead- 
 ing the mind to an humble and grateful sense of His sacrifice, 
 as repressing all sinful indulgence in food, it has been the sub- 
 ject chosen to decorate the refectory or common dining-room 
 of convents. 
 
 It is curious that on the Christian sarcophagi the Last 
 Supper does not occur. There is, in the Vatican, a rude paint- 
 ing taken from the catacombs representing twelve persons in a 
 semicircle, with something like plates and dishes before them. 
 I could not determine whether this was our Saviour and His 
 apostles, or merely one of those feasts or suppers instituted by 
 the early Christians called Ayapce or love-feasts ; but I should 
 think the latter. 
 
 On the dalmatica (deacon's robe) preserved in the sacristy 
 of the Vatican, there is, if the date be exact (A. D. 795), the 
 most ancient representation I have seen of the institution of 
 the Sacrament. The embroidery, which is wonderfully beauti- 
 ful, is a copy from Byzantine Art. On one side, our Saviour 
 stands by a table or altar, and presents the cup to His apostles, 
 one of whom approaches in a reverential attitude, and with his 
 hands folded in his robe ; on the other side, Christ presents 
 the wafer or host : so that we have the two separate moments 
 in separate groups. 
 
 There exists in the Duomo of Lodi the most ancient sculp- 
 tural example of this subject I have met with ; it is a bas- 
 relief of the twelfth century, dated 1163, and fixed in the
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 257 
 
 wall to the left of the entrance. Christ and the apostles are 
 in a straight row, all very much alike ; six of the apostles lay 
 their hands on their breast, " Lord, is it I ? " and Christ 
 presents the sop to Judas, who sits in front, and is as ugly as 
 possible. 
 
 Although all the Byzantine pictures of the twelfth and 
 thirteenth centuries which have come under my notice repre- 
 sent Christ breaking the bread or holding the cup, that is, 
 the institution of the Sacrament, the Greek formula published 
 by Didron distinguishes between this scene and that of the 
 repast in which Judas is denounced as a traitor. The earliest 
 representation to which I can refer in Western Art, as taking 
 the historical form, is the Cenacolo of Giotto, the oldest and 
 the most important that has been preserved to us ; it was 
 painted by him in the refectory of the convent of Santa 
 Croce at Florence. This refectory, when I visited it in 1847, 
 was a carpet manufactory, and it was difficult to get a good 
 view of the fresco by reason of the intervention of the carpet- 
 looms. It has been often restored, and is now in a bad state ; 
 still, enough remains to understand the original intention 
 of the artist, and that arrangement which has since been the 
 groundwork of similar compositions. 1 
 
 A long table extends across the picture from side to side : 
 in the middle, and fronting the spectator, sits the Redeemer ; 
 to the right, St. John, his head reclining on the lap of Christ : 
 next to him, Peter ; after Peter, St. James Major ; thus pla- 
 cing together the three favorite disciples. Next to St. James, 
 St. Matthew, St. Bartholomew, and a young beardless apostle, 
 probably St. Philip. 
 
 On the left hand of our Saviour is St. Andrew ; and next 
 to him, St. James Minor (the two St. Jameses bearing the 
 traditional resemblance to Christ) ; then St. Simon and St. 
 Jude ; and lastly, a young apostle, probably St. Thomas. 
 (The reader will have the goodness to recollect that I give 
 this explanation of the names and position of the eleven apos- 
 tles as my own, and with due deference to the opinion of 
 those who on a further study of the fresco may differ from 
 me.) Opposite to the Saviour, and on the near side of the 
 
 1 [This refectory is now fitted up as a museum. The fresco described is no 
 longer considered the work of Giotto, but is attributed to some pupil, perhaps 
 Taddeo Gaddi. Vide Layard's Kevision of Kugler's Handbook, p. 100.]
 
 258 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 table, sits Judas, apart from the rest, and in the act of dipping 
 his hand into the dish. It is evident that the moment chosen 
 by the artist is, "He that dippeth with me in the dish, the 
 same shall betray me." 
 
 Although the excuse may be found in the literal adoption 
 of the words of the Gospel, 1 it appears to me a fault to make 
 St. John leaning, as one half asleep, on the lap of our Saviour, 
 after such words have been uttered as must have roused, or 
 at least ought to have roused, the young and beloved apostle 
 from his supine attitude ; therefore, we may suppose that 
 Christ is about to speak the words, but has not yet spoken 
 them. The position of Judas is caused by the necessity of 
 placing him sufficiently near to Christ to dip his hand in the 
 same dish ; while to have placed him on the same side of 
 the table, so as to give him the precedence over the more 
 favored disciples, would have appeared to the early artists 
 nothing less than profane. Giotto has paid great attention 
 to the heads, which are individually characterized, but there 
 is little dramatic expression ; the attention is not yet directed 
 to Judas, who is seen in profile, looking up, not ugly in fea- 
 ture, but with a mean vicious countenance, and bent shoulders. 
 
 The arrangement of the table and figures, so peculiarly 
 fitted for a refectory, has been generally adopted since the 
 time of Giotto in pictures painted for this especial purpose. 
 The subject is placed on the upper wall of the chamber ; the 
 table extending from side to side : the tables of the monks 
 are placed, as in the dining-rooms of our colleges, lengthways ; 
 thus all can behold the divine assembly, and Christ appears 
 to preside over and sanctify the meal. 
 
 In another Cenacolo [attributed to] Giotto, which forms 
 one of the scenes in the history of Christ, he has given us 
 a totally different version of the subject ; and, not being 
 intended for a refectory, but as an action or event, it is more 
 dramatic. It is evident that our Saviour has just uttered the 
 words, " He that dippeth with me in the dish, the same shall 
 betray me." Judas, who has mean, ugly, irregular features, 
 looks up alarmed, and seems in the act of rising to escape. 
 One apostle (Philip, I think) points at him, and the attention 
 
 1 The Greek expression, "leaning on His bosom, or on His lap," is not, I 
 believe, to be taken literally, being used to signify an intimate and affectionate 
 intercourse.
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 259 
 
 of all is more or less directed to him. This would be a fault 
 if the subject were intended for a refectory, or to represent the 
 celebration of the Eucharist. But here, where the subject is 
 historical, it is a propriety. (Florence Academy.) 
 
 The composition of Duccio of Siena, in the Duomo at 
 Siena, must have been nearly contemporary with, if it did not 
 precede, those of Giotto (A. D. 1308) ; it is quite different, 
 quite original in motif and arrangement. Seven apostles sit 
 on the same side with Christ, and five opposite to Him, turn- 
 ing their backs on the spectator ; the faces are seen in profile. 
 The attitude of St. John, leaning against our Saviour Avith 
 downcast eyes, is much more graceful than in the composition 
 of Giotto. St. Peter is on the right of Christ ; next to him 
 St. James Minor : two young apostles sit at the extreme ends 
 of the table, whom I suppose to be St. Philip and St. Thomas : 
 the other apostles I am unable to discriminate, with the excep- 
 tion of Judas, who, with regular features, has a characteristic 
 scowl on his brow. Christ holds out a piece of bread in His 
 hand : two of the apostles likewise hold bread, and two others 
 hold a cup ; the rest look attentive or pensive, but the general 
 character of the heads is deficient in elevation. The moment 
 chosen may be the distribution of the bread and wine ; but, 
 to me, it rather expresses the commencement of the meal, and 
 our Saviour's address : " With desire have I desired to eat 
 this passover with you before I suffer." (Luke xxii. 15.) 
 The next compartment of the same series, which represents the 
 apostles seated in a group before Christ, and listening with 
 upturned faces and the most profound attention to His last 
 words, has much more of character, solemnity, and beauty 
 than the Last Supper. Judas is here omitted ; " for he, hav- 
 ing received the sop, went immediately out." 
 
 Angelico da Fiesole, in his Life of Christ, has been careful 
 to distinguish between the detection of Judas and the institu- 
 tion of the Eucharist. (In the series of compositions from 
 the Life of Christ, now in the Academy at Florence ; beauti- 
 fully and faithfully engraved by P. Nocchi.) He has given 
 us both scenes. In the first compartment, John is leaning 
 down with his face to the Saviour ; the back of his head only 
 is seen, and he appears too unmindful of what is going for- 
 ward. The other apostles are well discriminated, the usual 
 type strictly followed in Peter, Andrew, James Major and
 
 260 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 James Minor. To the right of Christ are Peter, Andrew, 
 Bartholomew; to the left, James Minor. Four turn their 
 backs, and two young apostles stand on each side, I pre- 
 sume Thomas and Philip ; they seem to be waiting on the 
 rest : Judas dips his hand in the dish. I suppose the moment 
 to be the same as in the composition of Duccio. 
 
 But in the next compartment the motif is different. All 
 have risen from table ; it is no longer a repast, it is a' sacred 
 mystery ; Christ is in the act of administering the bread to 
 St. John ; all kneel ; and Judas is seen kneeling behind 
 Christ, near an open door, and apart from the rest, as if he 
 were Avatching for the opportunity to escape. To dispose of 
 Judas in this holy ceremony is always a difficulty. To repre- 
 sent him as receiving with the rest the sacred rite is an offence 
 to the pious. The expression used by St. John (xii. 30), 
 " After he had received the sop he went out," implies that 
 Judas was not present at the Lord's Supper, which succeeded 
 the celebration of the paschal supper. St. Luke and St. 
 Mark, neither of whom was present, leave us to suppose that 
 Judas partook, with the other disciples, of the mystic bread 
 and wine ; yet we can hardly believe that, after having been 
 pointed out as the betrayer, the conscience-stricken Judas 
 should remain to receive the Eucharist. Sometimes he is 
 omitted altogether ; sometimes he is stealing out at the door. 
 In the composition of Luca Signorelli, which I saw at Cor- 
 tona, all the twelve apostles are kneeling ; Christ is distribut- 
 ing the wafer ; and Judas, turning away with a malignant 
 look, puts his wafer into his satchel. In the composition of 
 Palmezzano, in the Duomo at Forli, our Saviour stands, hold- 
 ing a plate, and is in the act of presenting the wafer to Peter, 
 who kneels : St. John stands by the side of Christ, holding 
 the cup ; Judas is in the background ; he kneels by the door, 
 and seems to be watching for the opportunity to steal away. 
 
 The fine composition, fine also in sentiment and character, 
 of Ghirlandajo, was painted for the small refectory in the 
 San Marco at Florence. The arrangement is ingenious ; the 
 table is of what we call the horseshoe form, which allows all 
 the figures to face the spectator ; and at the same time takes 
 up less room than where the table runs across the picture from 
 side to side. Judas sits in front, alone ; Christ has just 
 designated him. " He it is to whom I shall give the sop,
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 261 
 
 when I have dipped it." (John xiii. 26.) Judas holds the 
 sop in his hand, with an alarmed conscious look. Behind sits 
 an ill-omened cat, probably intended for the fiend. John, to 
 the left of Christ, appears to have swooned away. The other 
 apostles express, in various ways, amazement and horror. 
 
 It has been a question among critics, whether the purse 
 ought to be placed in the hand of Judas when present at the 
 Last Supper, because it is usually understood as containing 
 the thirty pieces of silver : but this is a mistake ; and it leads 
 to the mistake of representing him as hiding the purse, as if it 
 contained the price of his treachery. Judas carries the purse 
 openly, for he was the steward, or purse-bearer of the party : 
 " he had the bag, and bare what was put therein " (John xii. 
 6, xiii. 29) : and as the money-bag is also the attribute of St. 
 Matthew the tax-gatherer, we must take care not to confound 
 him with the traitor and thief. This brings me to the consid- 
 eration of the subject as treated by Albert Dlirer. 
 
 In the series of large woodcuts from the Passion of our 
 Saviour (styled "La yrande Passion"), the Cenacolo is an 
 event, and not a mystery. John, as a beautiful youth, is lean- 
 ing against our Saviour with downcast eyes ; he does not look 
 as if he had thrown himself down half asleep, but as if Christ 
 had put His arm around him, and drawn and pressed him 
 fondly towards Him. On the right is Peter : the other apos- 
 tles are not easily discriminated, but they have all that sort of 
 grandiose ugliness which is so full of character, and so particu- 
 larly the characteristic of the artist : the apostle seated in front 
 in a cowering attitude, holding the purse which he seems anx- 
 ious to conceal, and looking up apprehensively, I suppose to 
 be Judas. 
 
 In the smaller sets of woodcuts (" La petite Passion ") I 
 believe the apostle with the purse in the foreground to be St. 
 Matthew ; while the ugly, lank-haired personage behind Christ, 
 who looks as if about to steal away, is probably intended for 
 Judas : one of the apostles has laid hold of him, and seems to 
 say, " Thou art the man ! " 
 
 There is a third Cenacolo, by Albert Dlirer, which plainly 
 represents the Eucharist. The cup only is on the table, and 
 Judas is omitted. 
 
 In a Cenacolo by another old German, Judas is in the act 
 of receiving the sop which Christ is putting into his mouth ;
 
 262 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 and at the same time he is hiding the purse, a mistake, as 
 I have already observed. 
 
 These examples must suffice to give some idea of the manner 
 in which this subject was generally treated by the early Ger- 
 man and Italian artists. But, whether presented before us as 
 a dramatic scene expressing individual character, or as an 
 historical event memorable in the life of Christ, or as a reli- 
 gious rite of awful and mysterious import all the examples I 
 have mentioned are in some respects deficient. We have the 
 feeling, that, whatever may be the merit in sentiment, in 
 intention, in detail, what has been attempted has not been 
 achieved. 
 
 When Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest thinker as well as 
 the greatest painter of his age, brought all the resources of his 
 wonderful mind to bear on the subject, then sprang forth a 
 creation so consummate, that since that time it has been at 
 once the wonder and the despair of those who have followed 
 in the same path. True, the work of his hand is perishing 
 will soon have perished utterly. I remember well, standing 
 before this wreck of a glorious presence, so touched by its pale, 
 shadowy, and yet divine significance, and by its hopelessly 
 impending ruin, that the tears sprang involuntarily. Fortu- 
 nately for us, multiplied copies have preserved at least the 
 intention of the artist in his work. We can judge of what it 
 has been, and take that for our text and for our theme. 
 
 The purpose being the decoration of a refectory in a rich 
 convent [Sta. Maria delle Grazie, Milan], the chamber lofty 
 and spacious, Leonardo has adopted the usual arrangement : 
 the table runs across from side to side, filling up the whole 
 extent of the wall, and the figures, being above the eye, and 
 to be viewed from a distance, are colossal ; they would other- 
 Avise have appeared smaller than the real personages seated at 
 the tables below. The moment selected is the utterance of 
 the words, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you 
 shall betray me : " or rather the words have just been uttered, 
 and the picture expresses their effect on the different auditors. 
 It is of these auditors, his apostles, that I have to speak, and 
 not of Christ himself ; for the full consideration of the subject, 
 as it regards Him, must be deferred ; the intellectual elevation,
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 263 
 
 the fineness of nature, the benign god-like dignity, suffused 
 with the profoundest sorrow, in this divine head, surpassed all 
 I could have conceived as possible in Art ; and, faded as it is, 
 the character there, being stamped on it by the soul, not the 
 hand, of the artist, will remain while a line or hue remains 
 visible. It is a divine shadow, and, until it fades into no- 
 thing, and disappears utterly, will have the lineaments of 
 divinity. Next to Christ is St. John ; he has just been 
 addressed by Peter, who beckons to him that he should ask 
 "of whom the Lord spake." His disconsolate attitude, as he 
 has raised himself to reply, and leans his clasped hands on 
 the table, the almost feminine sweetness of his countenance, 
 express the character of this gentle and amiable apostle. Peter, 
 leaning from behind, is all fire and energy ; Judas, who knows 
 full well of whom the Saviour spake, starts back amazed, over- 
 setting the salt ; his fingers clutch the bag, of which he has 
 the charge, with that action which Dante describes as charac- 
 teristic of the avaricious : 
 
 Quest! risurgeranno dal sepolcro 
 Col pugno chiuso. 
 
 Tiiese from the tomb with clenched grasp shall rise. 
 
 His face is seen in profile, and cast into shadow ; without 
 being vulgar, or even ugly, it is hateful. St. Andrew, with 
 his long gray beard, lifts up his hands, expressing the wonder 
 of a simple-hearted old man. St. James Minor, resembling 
 the Saviour in his mild features, and the form of his beard 
 and hair, lays his hand on the shoulder of St. Peter the 
 expression is, " Can it be possible ? Have we heard aright ? " 
 Bartholomew, at the extreme end of the table, has risen per- 
 turbed from his seat ; he leans forward with a look of eager 
 attention, the lips parted ; he is impatient to hear more. (The 
 fine copy of Oggione, in the Royal Academy, does not give 
 this anxious look he is attentive only.) On the left of our 
 Saviour is St. James Major, who has also a family resemblance 
 to Christ ; his arms are outstretched, he shrinks back, he 
 repels the thought with horror. The vivacity of the action 
 and expression are wonderfully true and characteristic. (Mor- 
 ghen, the engraver, erroneously supposed this to represent St. 
 Thomas, and placed on the border of his robe an inscription 
 fixing the identity ; which inscription, as Bossi asserts, never
 
 264 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 did exist in the original picture.) St. Thomas is behind St. 
 James, rather young, with a short beard ; he holds up his 
 hand, threatening "If there be indeed such a wretch, let 
 him look to it." Philip, young and with a beautiful head, 
 lays his hand on his heart ; he protests his love, his truth. 
 Matthew, also beardless, has more elegance, as one who be- 
 longed to a more educated class than the rest ; he turns to 
 Jude and points to our Saviour, as if about to repeat His 
 words, " Do you hear what He says ? " Simon and Jude sit 
 together (Leonardo has followed the tradition which makes 
 them old and brothers) ; Jude expresses consternation ; Simon, 
 with his hands stretched out, a painful anxiety. 
 
 To understand the wonderful skill with which this compo- 
 sition has been arranged, it ought to be studied long and 
 minutely ; and, to appreciate its relative excellence, it ought 
 to be compared with other productions of the same period. 
 Leonardo has contrived to break the formality of the line of 
 heads without any apparent artifice, and without disturbing 
 the grand simplicity of the usual order ; arid he has vanquished 
 the difficulties in regard to the position of Judas, without 
 making him too prominent. He has imparted to a solemn 
 scene sufficient movement and variety of action, without de- 
 tracting from its dignity and pathos ; he has kept the expres- 
 sion of each head true to the traditional character, without 
 exaggeration, without effort. To have done this, to have been 
 the first to do this, required the far-reaching philosophic mind, 
 not less than the excelling hand, of this " miracle of nature," 
 as Mr. Hallam styles Leonardo, with reference to his scientific 
 as well as his artistic powers. 
 
 And now to turn to another miracle of nature, Raphael. 
 He has given us three compositions for the Last Supper. The 
 fresco lately discovered in the refectory of Sanf Onofrio [now 
 known as the " Egyptian Museum "], at Florence, is an early 
 work painted in his twenty-third year (A. D. 1505). The 
 authenticity of this picture has been vehemently disputed ; l 
 for myself as far as my opinion is worth anything I never, 
 
 1 [For the opinion of those who attribute this fresco to Raphael see Gazette 
 des Beaux Arts, 1872, vol. ii. p. 299. In the judgment of Kugler and of Crowe 
 and Cavalcaselle it is the work of Gerino da Pistoia.]
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 265 
 
 after the first five minutes, had a doubt on the subject. As 
 to its being the work of Neri de' Bicci, I do not believe it 
 possible ; and as for the written documents brought forward to 
 prove this, I turn from them to " the handwriting on the 
 wall," and there I see, in characters of light, RAPHAEL and 
 him only. It is, however, a youthful work, full of sentiment 
 and grace, but deficient, it appears to me, in that depth and 
 discrimination of character displayed in his later works. It is 
 evident that he had studied Giotto's fresco in the neighboring 
 Santa Croce. The arrangement is nearly the same. 
 
 Christ is in the centre ; His right hand is raised, and He is 
 about to speak ; the left hand is laid, with extreme tenderness 
 in the attitude and expression, on the shoulder of John, who re- 
 clines upon Him. To the right of Christ is St. Peter, the head 
 of the usual character ; next to him St. Andrew, with the 
 flowing gray hair and long divided beard ; St. James Mi- 
 nor, the head declined resembling Christ : he hofds a cup. 
 St. Philip is seen in profile with a white beard (this is con- 
 trary to the received tradition, which makes him young ; and 
 I doubt the correctness of this appellation). St. James Major, 
 at the extreme end of the table, looks out of the picture ; 
 Raphael has apparently represented himself in this apostle. 
 On the left of Christ, after St. John, is St. Bartholomew ; he 
 holds a knife, and has the black beard and dark complexion 
 usually given to him. Then Matthew, something like Peter, 
 but milder and more refined. Thomas, young and handsome, 
 pours wine into a cup ; last, on the right, are Simon and Jude ; 
 Raphael has followed the tradition which supposes them young, 
 and the kinsmen of our Saviour. Judas sits on a stool on the 
 near side of the table, opposite to Christ, and while he dips 
 his hand into the dish he looks round to the spectators ; he 
 has the Jewish features, red hair and beard, and a bad expres- 
 sion. All have glories ; but the glory round the head of 
 Judas is much smaller than the others. This is also ob- 
 servable in the Last Supper by Niccolo Petri in the San Fran- 
 cesco at Pisa. 
 
 In the second composition, one of the series of the Life of 
 Christ, in the Loggie of the Vatican, Raphael has placed the 
 apostles round a table, foxir on each of the three sides ; our 
 Saviour presiding in the centre. John and Peter, who are, as 
 usual, nearest to Christ, look to Him with an animated appeal-
 
 2G6 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 ing expression. Judas is in front, looking away from the 
 rest, and as if about to rise. The other heads are not well 
 discriminated, nor is the moment well expressed; there is, 
 indeed, something confused and inharmonious, unlike Raphael, 
 in the whole composition. I pass it over, therefore, without 
 further remark, to come to the third example a masterpiece 
 of his later years, worthy as a composition of being compared 
 with Leonardo's ; but, never having been painted, we can only 
 pronounce it perfect as far as it goes. The original drawing 
 enriches the collection of the Queen of England : the admir- 
 able engraving of Marc Antonio, said to have been touched 
 by Raphael, is before me while I write. From the disposition 
 of the unshod feet as seen under the table, it is styled by col- 
 lectors " il pezzo del piedi ; " from the arrangement of the 
 table and figures it was probably designed for a refectory. 
 
 In the centre is Christ, with both hands resting on the 
 table ; in' the head, a melancholy resignation. Peter is on the 
 right, his hand on his breast. John, on the left, places both 
 hands on his breast, with a most animated expression, " You 
 cannot believe it is I ? " Andrew has laid his hand on the 
 shoulder of Peter, and leans forward with a sad interrogative 
 expression. The head of Judas has features akin to those of 
 the antique satyr, with the look askance of a detected villain ; 
 he has heard the words, but he dares not meet the eye, of his 
 Divine Master : he has no purse. James Minor, next to John, 
 with his hands extended, seems to speak sadly to Philip : 
 " And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them 
 should do this thing ? " The whole composition is less dra- 
 matic, has less variety of action and attitude, than that of 
 Leonardo, but is full of deep melancholy feeling. 
 
 The Cenacolo of Andrea del Sarto, in the Convent of the 
 Salvi near Florence, takes, I believe, the third rank after those 
 of Leonardo and Raphael. He has chosen the selfsame mo- 
 ment, " One of you shall betray me." The figures are, as 
 usual, ranged on one side of a long table. Christ, in the 
 centre, holds a piece of bread in His hand ; on His left is St. 
 John, and on His right St. James Major, both seen in profile. 
 The face of St. John expresses interrogation ; that of St. James, 
 interrogation and a start of amazement. Next to St. James 
 are Peter, Thomas, Andrew ; then Philip, who has a small
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 267 
 
 cross upon his breast. After St. John come James Minor, 
 Simon. Jude, Judas Iscariot, and Bartholomew. Judas, with 
 his hands folded together, leans forward, and looks down, with 
 a round mean face, in which there is no power of any kind, 
 not even of malignity. In passing almost immediately from 
 the Cenacolo in the St. Onofrio to that in the Salvi. we feel 
 strongly all the difference between the mental and moral supe- 
 riority of Raphael at the age of twenty and the artistic great- 
 ness of Andrea in the maturity of his age and talent. This 
 fresco deserves its high celebrity. It is impossible to look on 
 it without admiration, considered as a work of Art. The 
 variety of the attitudes, the disposition of the limbs beneath 
 the table, the ample, tasteful draperies, deserve the highest 
 praise ; but the heads are deficient in character and elevation, 
 and the whole composition wants that solemnity of feeling 
 proper to the subject. 
 
 The Cenacolo of Titian, painted for Philip II. for the altar 
 of his chapel in the Escurial, is also a notable example of the 
 want of proper reverential feeling : two servants are in at- 
 tendance ; Judas is in front, averting his head, which is in deep 
 shadow ; a dog is under the table, and the Holy Ghost is 
 descending from above. 
 
 Xiccolo Poussin has three times painted the Cenacolo. 1 In 
 the two series of the Seven Sacraments, he has, of course, rep- 
 resented the institution of the Eucharist, as proper to his sub- 
 ject ; in both instances, in that pure and classical taste proper 
 to himself. In the best and largest composition, the apostles 
 are reclining on couches round the table. Christ holds a plate 
 full of bread, and appears as saying, "Take, eat." Four are 
 putting the morsel into their mouths. Judas is seen behind, 
 with an abject look, stealing out of the room. 
 
 The faults which I have observed in pictures of this subject 
 are chiefly met with in the Venetian, Flemish, and later Bo- 
 lognese schools. When the motif selected is the institution 
 of the Eucharist, it is a fault to sacrifice the solemnity and 
 religious import of the scene in order to render it more dra- 
 matic : it ought not to be dramatic ; but the pervading senti- 
 
 1 [Poussin's Christ instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist is in the 
 Louvre.]
 
 268 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 meat should be one, a deep and awful reverence. When Christ 
 is distributing the bread and wine, the apostles should not be 
 conversing with each other; nor should the figures exceed 
 twelve in number, for it appears to me that the introduction 
 of Judas disturbs the sacred harmony and tranquillity of the 
 scene. When the motif is the celebration of the Passover, 
 or the detection of Judas, a more dramatic and varied arrange- 
 ment is necessary ; but here, to make the apostles intent on 
 eating and drinking, as in some old German pictures, is a fault. 
 Even Albano has represented one of the apostles as peeping 
 into an empty wine-pitcher with a disappointed look. 
 
 It appears to me, also, a gross fault to introduce dogs and 
 cats, and other animals ; although I have heard it observed 
 that a dog gnawing a bone is introduced with propriety, to 
 show that the supper is over, the Paschal Lamb eaten, before 
 the moment represented. 
 
 Vulgar heads, taken from vulgar models, or selected without 
 any regard either to the ancient types, or the traditional char- 
 acter of the different apostles, are defects of frequent occur- 
 rence, especially in the older German schools ; and in Titian, 
 Paul Veronese, and Rubens, even where the heads are other- 
 wise fine and expressive, the scriptural truth of character is in 
 general sacrificed. 
 
 It is a fault, as I have already observed, to represent Judas 
 anxiously concealing the purse. 
 
 | 
 
 Holbein, in his famous Last Supper at Basle, and in the 
 
 small one in the Louvre, has adopted the usual arrangement ; 
 the heads all want elevation ; but here the attention fixes at 
 once upon Judas Iscariot the very ideal of scoundrelism 
 I can use no other word to express the unmitigated ugliness, 
 vulgarity, and brutality of the face. Lavater has referred to 
 it as an example of the physiognomy proper to cruelty and 
 avarice ; but the dissimulation is wanting. This base, eager, 
 hungry-looking villain stands betrayed by his own looks ; he 
 is too prominent ; he is, in fact, the principal figure, a fault 
 in taste, feeling, and propriety. 
 
 The introduction of a great number of figures, as spectators 
 or attendants, is a fault ; excusable, perhaps, where the sub- 
 ject is decorative and intended for the wall of a refectory, but
 
 THE LAST SUITER ' 269 
 
 not otherwise. Iri the composition of Paul Veronese, 1 there 
 are twenty-three figures ; in that of Zucchero, forty -live ; in 
 that of Baroccio, twenty-one. These supernumerary persons 
 detract from the dignity and solemnity of the scene. 
 
 Tintoretto has introduced several spectators, and among 
 them an old woman spinning in a corner, who, while she turns 
 her spindle, looks on with an observant eye. This alludes to 
 an early tradition, that the Last Supper was eaten in the house 
 of Mary, the mother of Mark the evangelist. But it is no- 
 where said that she was present, and therefore it is an impro- 
 priety to introduce her. Magnificent architecture, as in the 
 picture by B. Peruzzi (who, by the way, was an architect), 
 seems objectionable : but equally unsuitable is the poor dis- 
 mantled garret in this picture of Tintoretto ; for the chamber 
 in which the scene took place was " the guest chamber," a 
 large upper room, ready prepared ; and as it was afterwards 
 the scene of the Pentecost, it must have held more than a 
 hundred persons. 
 
 It is a fault, as I have already observed, to represent John 
 as asleep on the breast or the shoulder of our Saviour. 
 
 Though countenanced by the highest authorities in Art, I 
 believe it must be considered as a fault, or at least a mistake, 
 to represent our Saviour and His apostles as seated, instead of 
 reclining round the table. It is a fault, not merely because 
 the use of the triclinium or couch at all social meals was gen- 
 eral in the antique times, for the custom of sitting upright 
 was not so entirely extinct among the Jews but that it might 
 on any other occasion have been admissible, but, from 
 peculiar circumstances, it became in this instance an impro- 
 priety. We know that when the Passover was first instituted 
 the Jews were enjoined to eat it standing, as men in haste, 
 with girded loins and sandalled feet ; but afterwards it was 
 made imperative that they should eat it in an attitude of re- 
 pose, lying upon couches, and as men at ease ; and the reason 
 for this was, that all the circumstances of the meal, and par- 
 ticularly the attitude in Avhich it was eaten, should indicate 
 
 1 [There is a Last Supper by Veronese in the refectory of SS. Giovanni e 
 I'aolo, Venice.]
 
 270 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 the condition of security and freedom which the Israelites en- 
 joyed after their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage. In 
 the then imperfect state of Biblical criticism, this fact seems to 
 have been unknown to the earlier artists, or disregarded by 
 those who employed and directed them. Among modern ar- 
 tists, Poussin and Le Sueur have scrupulously attended to it, 
 even when the moment chosen is the mystical distribution of 
 the bread and wine which succeeded the Paschal Supper. 
 Commentators have remarked, that if Christ and his disciples 
 reclined at table, then, supposing Christ to have the central 
 place of honor, the head of John would have been near to 
 the bosom of Christ : but under these circumstances, if Judas 
 were sufficiently near to receive the sop from the hand of 
 Christ, then he must have reclined next to Him on the other 
 side, and have taken precedence of Peter. This supposed a 
 propinquity which the early Christian artists deemed offensive 
 and inadmissible. 
 
 In the composition by Stradano the arrangement of the 
 table and figures is particularly well managed : all recline on 
 couches ; in the centre of the table is a dish, to which Christ 
 extends His hand, and Judas, who is here rather handsome 
 than otherwise, at the same time stretches forth his ; the mo- 
 ment is evidently, "He that dippeth with me in the dish, the 
 same shall betray me." Two circumstances spoil this picture, 
 and bring it down to the level of the vulgar and the common- 
 place. In the background is seen a kitchen and the cooking 
 of the supper. Under. Judas crouches a hideous demon, with 
 horns, hoof, and tail, visible only to the spectator. 
 
 When the Cenacolo represents the Eucharist, it is, perhaps, 
 allowable to introduce angels, because it was, and I believe is, 
 an established belief, that, visible or invisible, they are always 
 present at the Sacrament. The Holy. Ghost descending from 
 above is unsanctioned by Scripture, but may serve to mark 
 the mystical and peculiar solemnity of the moment chosen 
 for representation. It may signify, " He that receiveth me, 
 receiveth Him that sent me." But where angels attend, or 
 where the Spiritual Comforter comes floating down from above, 
 then the presence of Judas, or of any superfluous figures as 
 spectators or servitors, or of dogs or other animals, becomes a 
 manifest impropriety.
 
 THE LAST SUPPER 271 
 
 The introduction of the Devil in person as tempting Judas 
 is rendered pardonable by the naivete of the early painters : 
 in the later schools of Art it is offensive and ridiculous. 
 
 The Cenacolo of Baroccio, painted by order of Clement VIII. 
 (1594), for his family chapel in the Santa Maria-sopra-Minerva, 
 is remarkable for an anecdote relating to it. Baroccio, who 
 was not eminent for a correct taste, had in his first sketch re- 
 verted to the ancient fashion of placing Satan close behind 
 Judas, whispering in his ear, and tempting him to betray his 
 Master. The Pope expressed his dissatisfaction, " che non 
 gli piaceva ildemoniosidimesticassetanto con Gesu Cristo" 1 
 and ordered him to remove the offensive figure. This is not 
 the last example of the ancient manner of treatment. In the 
 Cenacolo of Franceschini, painted nearly a century later, two 
 angels are attending on the sacred repast, while Judas is in the 
 act of leaving the room, conducted by Satan in person. 
 
 It is surely a fault, in a scene of such solemn and sacred 
 import, to make the head of Judas a vehicle for public or 
 private satire, by giving him the features of some obnoxious 
 personage of the time. This, according to tradition, has been 
 done in some instances. Perhaps the most remarkable ex- 
 ample that could be cited is the story of Andrea del Castagno, 
 who, after having betrayed and assassinated his friend Do- 
 menico Veneziano, painted himself in the character of Judas : 
 a curious instance of remorse of conscience. 2 
 
 Volumes might be written on the subject of the Last Sup- 
 per. It extends before me, as I think and write, into endless 
 suggestive associations, which, for the present, I dare not fol- 
 low out : but I shall have occasion to return to it hereafter. 
 ( Vide Legends of the Madonna.) 
 
 1 [It did not please him for the devil to be so familiar with Jesus Christ.] 
 
 2 [The story of Castagno's betrayal of his friend, related by Vasari, is now 
 positively known to be false. The registers of the death of the two painters 
 show that the supposed victim outlived the supposed murderer four years 
 Vide Layard's Revision of Kugler's Handbook, p. 135.]
 
 272 THE TWELVE APOSTLES 
 
 ST. BARNABAS 
 Ilal. San Barnaba. Fr. Saint Barnabe. (June 11.) 
 
 St. Barnabas is usually entitled the Apostle Barnabas, be- 
 cause he was associated with the Apostles in their high calling ; 
 " and," according to Lardner, " though without that large 
 measure of inspiration and high authority which was peculiar 
 to the TWELVE APOSTLES, properly so called, yet he is to be 
 considered as Apostolical, and next to them in sanctity." For 
 this reason I place him here. 
 
 St. Barnabas was a Levite, born in the island of Cyprus and 
 the cousin-german of Mark the evangelist. The notices of his 
 life and character scattered through the Acts invest him with 
 great personal interest. He it was who, after the conversion 
 of Paul, was the first to believe in his sincerity, and took 
 courage to present him to the other apostles, " who were afraid 
 of him, and would not believe that he was a disciple." (Acts 
 xv. 39.) Barnabas afterwards became the fellow-laborer of 
 Paul, and attended him to Antioch. We are told that " he 
 was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith : " and 
 to this the legendary traditions add, that he was a man of 
 a most comely countenance, of a noble presence, grave and 
 commanding in his step and deportment; and thence, when 
 he and Paul were at Lystra together, " they called Barnabas 
 Jupiter, arid Paul Mercurius." Subsequently, however, Paul 
 and Barnabas fell into a dispute concerning Mark, and sepa- 
 rated. The tradition relates that Barnabas and Mark remained 
 for some time together, being united by the ties of friendship, 
 as well as by those of kindred. Barnabas preached the Gos- 
 pel in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy ; and there is an old 
 legendary tradition that he was the first Bishop of Milan. The 
 legend also relates that everywhere he carried with him the 
 Gospel of St. Matthew, written by the hand of the evangelist, 
 preaching what was written therein ; and when any were sick, 
 or possessed, he laid the sacred writing upon their bosom, and 
 they were healed (a beautiful allegory this !) ; and it happened 
 that, as he preached in a synagogue of Judea against the Jews, 
 they were seized with fury and took him, and put him to a 
 cruel death. But Mark and the other Christians buried him 
 with many tears.
 
 ST. BAKNABAS 273 
 
 The body of St. Barnabas remained in its place of sepulture 
 till the days of the Emperor Zeno, when, according to Nice- 
 phorus, it was revealed in a dream to Antemius that the 
 apostle rested in a certain spot, and would be found there, 
 with the Gospel of St. Matthew lying on his bosom. And so 
 it happened : the remains were found ; the Gospel was carried 
 to the emperor at Constantinople ; and a church was built,- 
 dedicated to St. Barnabas. 
 
 It is, I presume, in consequence of his being the kinsman 
 of St. Mark, that Barnabas is more popular at Venice than 
 elsewhere, and that devotional figures of him are rarely found 
 except in Venetian pictures. He is represented as a man of 
 majestic presence, holding in his hand the Gospel of St. 
 Matthew, as in a fine picture by Bonifazio : in his church at 
 Venice he is represented over the high altar, throned as 
 bishop, while St. Peter, stands below. 
 
 He often occurs in subjects taken from the Acts and the 
 life of St. Paul. In the scene in which he presents Paul to 
 the other apostles, he is the principal personage ; but in the 
 scene at Paphos, where Elymas is struck blind, and at Lystra, 
 he is always secondary to his great companion.
 
 V. THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 I. THE FOUR LATIN FATHERS 
 
 THE Evangelists and the Apostles represented in Art the 
 Spiritual Church, and took their place among the heavenly 
 influences. The great Fathers or Doctors were the represen- 
 tatives of the Church Militant on earth : as teachers and pas- 
 tors, as logicians and advocates, they wrote, argued, contended, 
 suffered, and at length, after a long and fierce struggle against 
 opposing doctrines, they fixed the articles of faith thereafter 
 received in Christendom. For ages, and down to the present 
 time, the prevailing creed has been that which was founded 
 on the interpretations of these venerable personages. They 
 have become, in consequence, frequent and important subjects 
 of Art, particularly from the tenth century the period 
 when, in their personal character, they began to be regarded 
 not merely as gifted and venerable, but as divinely inspired ; 
 their writings appealed to as infallible, their arguments ac- 
 cepted as demonstration. We distinguish them as the Latin 
 and the Greek Fathers. In Western Art, we find the Latin 
 Fathers perpetually grouped together, or, in a series : the 
 Greek Fathers seldom occur except in their individual char- 
 acter, as saints rather than as teachers. 
 
 The four Latin Doctors are St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. 
 Augustine, and St. Gregory. When represented together, 
 they are generally distinguished from each other, and from 
 the sacred personages who may be grouped in the same pic- 
 ture, by their conventional attributes. Thus St. Jerome is 
 sometimes habited in the red hat and crimson robes of a car- 
 dinal, with a church in his hand ; or he is a half-naked, bald- 
 headed, long-bearded, emaciated old man, with eager wasted 
 features, holding a book and pen, and attended by a lion. St. 
 Ambrose wears the episcopal robes as Bishop of Milan, with 
 mitre and crosier, and holds his book ; sometimes, also, he
 
 THE FOUR LATIX FATHERS 275 
 
 carries a knotted scourge, and a bee-hive is near him. St. 
 Augustine is also habited as a bishop, and carries a book ; he 
 has often books at his feet, and sometimes a flaming heart 
 transpierced by an arrow. The origin and signification of 
 these symbols I shall explain presently. 
 
 In the most ancient churches the Four Doctors are placed 
 after the Evangelists. In the later churches they are seen 
 combined or grouped with the evangelists, occasionally also 
 with the sibyls ; but this seems a mistake. The appropriate 
 place of the sibyls is neither with the evangelists nor the 
 fathers, but among the prophets, -where Michael Angelo has 
 placed them [in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel]. 
 
 Where the principal subject is the glory of Christ, or the 
 coronation or assumption of the Virgin, the Four Fathers 
 attend with their books as witnesses and interpreters. 
 
 1. A conspicuous instance of this treatment is the dome of 
 San Giovanni at Parma [Correggio]. In the centre is the 
 ascension of Christ, around are the Twelve Apostles gazing 
 upwards ; below them, in the spandrils of the arches, as if 
 bearing record, are the Four Evangelists, each with a Doctor 
 of the Church seated by him as interpreter : St. Matthew is 
 attended by St. Jerome ; St. Mark, by St. Gregory ; St. Luke, 
 by St. Augustine ; and St. John, by St. Ambrose. 
 
 2. A picture in the Louvre by Pier-Francesco Sacchi (A. 
 D. 1640) represents the Four Doctors, attended, or rather 
 inspired, by the mystic symbols of the Four Evangelists. 
 They are seated at a table, under a Canopy sustained by 
 slender pillars, and appear in deep consultation : near St. 
 Augustine is the eagle ; St. Gregory has the ox ; St. Jerome, 
 the angel ; and St. Ambrose, the lion. 
 
 3. In a well-known woodcut after Titian, " The Triumph 
 of Christ," 1 the Redeemer is seated in a car drawn by the 
 Four Evangelists ; while the Four Latin Doctors, one at each 
 wheel, put forth all their strength to urge it on. The patri- 
 archs and prophets precede, the martyrs and confessors of the 
 faith follow, in grand procession. 
 
 1 [According toRidolfi this print reproduces a fresco with which Titian 
 decorated the walls of a house at Padua. Vide Crowe and Cavalcaselle. 
 Titian, vol. i. p. 121.]
 
 276 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 4. In a Coronation of the Virgin, very singularly treated, 
 we have Christ and the Virgin &n a high platform or throne, 
 sustained by columns ; in the space underneath, between these 
 columns, is a group of unwinged angels, holding the instru- 
 ments of the Passion. (Or, as I have sometimes thought, this 
 beautiful group may be the souls of the Innocents, their proper 
 place being under the throne of Christ.) On each side a vast 
 company of prophets, apostles, saints, and martyrs, ranged tier 
 above tier. Immediately in front, and on the steps of the 
 throne, are the Four Evangelists, seated each with his symbol 
 and book : behind them the Four Fathers, also seated. This 
 picture, which as a painting is singularly beautiful, the execu- 
 tion finished, and the heads most characteristic and expressive, 
 may be said to comprise a complete system of the theology of 
 the middle ages. (Academy, Venice. Giovanni ed Antonio 
 da Murano. 1440.) 
 
 5. We have the same idea carried out in the lower part of 
 Raphael's " Disputa " in the Vatican. The Four Doctors are 
 in the centre of what may be called the sublunary part of the 
 picture : they are the only seated figures in the vast assembly 
 of holy, wise, and learned men around ; St. Gregory and St. 
 Jerome on the right of the altar, St. Ambrose and St. Augus- 
 tine on the left. As the two latter wear the same parapher- 
 nalia, they are distinguished by having books scattered at 
 their feet, on which are inscribed the titles of their respective 
 works. 
 
 The Madonna and Child enthroned, with the Doctors of 
 the Church standing on each side, is a subject which has been 
 often, and sometimes beautifully, treated ; and here the con- 
 trast between all we can conceive of virginal and infantine 
 loveliness and innocence enshrined in heavenly peace and 
 glory and these solemn, bearded, grand-looking old Fathers, 
 attending in humble reverence, as types of earthty wisdom 
 ought to produce a magnificent effect, when conceived in the 
 right spirit. I can remember, however, but few instances in 
 which the treatment is complete and satisfactory. 
 
 1. One of these is a picture by A. Vivarini : (A. D. 1446), 
 
 1 [The inscription on this painting is " 1446 Johannes Alaitiaunus Antonius 
 <le Muriano p.," scarcely leaving room to doubt that it is the work of Giovanni 
 and Antonio da Murano. Vide Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting 
 in North Italy, vol. i. p. 28.]
 
 THE FOUR LATIX FATHERS 277 
 
 now in the Academy at Venice. [Catalogued to Giovanni 
 and Antonio da Murano.] Here, the Virgin sits upon a 
 throne under a rich canopy sustained by four little angels. 
 She looks out of the picture with a most dignified, tranquil, 
 goddess-like expression ; she wears, as usual, the crimson 
 tunic and blue mantle, the latter being of most brilliant 
 azure ; on her brow a magnificent jewelled crown ; the Divine 
 Child stands on her knee, and raises his little hand to bless 
 the worshipper. To the right of the Virgin, and on the 
 platform of her throne, stands St. Jerome, robed as cardinal, 
 and bearing his church, with St. Gregory habited as pope. 
 To the left stands St. Ambrose, holding his crosier and knotted 
 scourge, and St. Augustine with his book. This is a wonder- 
 ful picture, and, as a specimen of the early Venetian school, 
 unequalled. The accuracy of imitation, the dazzling color, 
 the splendid dresses and accessories, the grave beauty of the 
 Madonna, the divine benignity of the Infant Redeemer, and 
 he sternly thoughtful heads of the old Doctors, are not only 
 positively fine, but have a relative interest and value as being 
 stamped with that very peculiar character which belonged to 
 the Vivarini and their immediate followers. It was painted 
 for the Scuola della Carita. 1 
 
 2. A different and a singular treatment of the Four Fathers 
 occurs in another Venetian picture, in the Academy, Venice, 
 by Gio. da Udine. Christ is represented seated on a throne, 
 and disputing with the Jewish doctors, who are eagerly argu- 
 ing or searching their books. In front of the composition 
 stand St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St.-Gregory ; 
 who, with looks fixed on the youthful Saviour, appear to 
 be reverentially listening to and recording His words. This 
 wholly poetical and ideal treatment of a familiar passage in 
 the life of Christ I have never seen but in this one instance. 
 
 1 As I have frequent occasion to refer to pictures painted for the Scuole of 
 Venice, it may be as well to observe that the word scuola, which we translate 
 school, is not a place of education, but a confraternity for charitable purposes, 
 visiting the sick, providing hospitals, adopting orphans, redeeming pris- 
 oners and captives, etc. In the days of the republic these schools were richly 
 supported and endowed, and the halls, churches, and chapels attached to them 
 were often galleries of Art: such were the schools of St. Mark, St. Ursula, St. 
 Koch, the Carita, and others. Unhappily, they exist no longer; the French 
 seized on their funds, and Austria does not like confraternities of any kind. 
 The Scuola della Caritii is now the Academv of Arts.
 
 278 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 3. A third example is a picture by Moretto, of extraordinary 
 beauty, in the Frankfort Museum. The Virgin sits on a lofty 
 throne, to which there is an ascent of several steps ; the Child 
 stands on her right : she presses him to her with maternal 
 tenderness, and his arms are round her neck. At the foot of 
 the throne stand St. Ambrose, with his scourge, and St. 
 Augustine ; St. Gregory, wearing the papal tiara, and without 
 a beard, is seated on a step of the throne, holding an open 
 book ; and St. Jerome, kneeling on one knee, points to a 
 passage in it ; he wears the cardinal's dress complete. This 
 picture is worthy of Titian in the richness of the effect, with 
 a more sober grandeur in the color. The Virgin is too much 
 like a portrait ; this is the only fault. 1 
 
 In the Chapel of Niccolb V., in the Vatican, Angelico has 
 painted eight Doctors of the Church, single majestic figures, 
 standing under Gothic canopies. According to the names now 
 to be seen inscribed on the pedestals beneath, these figures 
 represent St. Jerome, 2 St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, 
 St. Athanasius, St. Leo, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Thomas 
 Aquinas. St. John Chrysostom and St. Athanasius represent 
 the Greek doctors. St. Leo, who saved Rome from Attila, is 
 with peculiar propriety placed in the Vatican ; and St. Thomas 
 Aquinas, the angelic doctor, naturally finds a place in a chapel 
 painted by a Dominican for a pope who particularly favored 
 the Dominicans, Nicholas V. 
 
 The Four Fathers communing on the mystery of the Trinity, 
 or the Immaculate Conception, were favorite subjects in the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century, when church pictures, 
 instead of being religious and devotional, became more and 
 more theological. There is an admirable picture of this sub- 
 ject by Dosso Dossi (Dresden Gal.). Above is seen the Mes- 
 
 1 We missed the opportunity, now never more to be recalled, of obtaining 
 this admirable picture when it was sold out of the Fesch collection. 
 
 2 I believe the figure called St. Bonaventura to represent St. Jerome, be- 
 cause, in accordance with the usual scheme of ecclesiastical decoration, the 
 greatest of the Four Latin Fathers would take the first place, and the car- 
 dinal's hat and a long flowing beard are his proper attribute ; whereas, there 
 is no example of a St. .Bonaventura with a beard, or wearing the monastic 
 habit, without the Franciscan cord. The Arundel Society have engraved 
 this fine figure under the name of St. Bonaventura.
 
 THE VISION OF THE FOUR FATHERS (Dosso Dossi)
 
 THE FOUR LATIN FATHERS 279 
 
 siah, as Creator, in a glory ; he lays His hand on the head of 
 the Virgin, who kneels in deep humility before Him ; St. 
 Gregory sits in profound thought, a pen in one hand, a tablet 
 in the other ; St. Ambrose and St. Augustine are similarly 
 engaged ; St. Jerome, to whom alone the celestial vision ap- 
 pears to be visible, is looking up with awe and wonder. 
 Guido, in a celebrated picture (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), 
 has represented the Doctors of the Church communing on 
 the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. The figures are 
 admirable for thoughtful depth of character in the expression, 
 and for the noble arrangement of the draperies ; above is seen 
 the Virgin, floating amid clouds, in snow-white drapery, and 
 sustained by angels ; visible, however, to St. Jerome and St. 
 Ambrose only. 
 
 Rubens has treated the Fathers several times ; the colossal 
 picture in the Grosvenor Gallery [London] is well known, 
 where they appear before us as moving along in a grand pro- 
 cession ; St. Jerome comes last (he should be first ; but on 
 these points Rubens was not particular) : he seems in deep 
 contemplation, enveloped in the rich scarlet robes of a cardi- 
 nal of the seventeenth century, and turning the leaves of his 
 great book. In another picture we have the Four Fathers 
 seated, discussing the mystery of the Eucharist ; St. Jerome 
 points to a passage in the Scriptures ; St. Gregory is turning 
 the page ; they appear to be engaged in argument ; the other 
 two are listening earnestly. There is another picture .by Ru- 
 bens in which the usual attributes of the Fathers are borne 
 aloft by angels, while they sit communing below. 
 
 These examples will suffice to give a general idea of the 
 manner in which the four great Doctors of the Western Church 
 are grouped in devotional pictures. We will now consider 
 them separately, each according to his individual character 
 and history.
 
 280 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 ST. JEROME 
 
 Lat. Sanctus Hieronymus. Ital. San Geronimo or Girolamo. Fr. 
 St. Jerome, Hierome, or Geroisme. Ger. Der Heilige Hieroni- 
 mus. Patron of scholars and students, and more particularly of 
 students in theology. (Sept. 30, A. D. 420.) 
 
 Of the four Latin Doctors, St. Jerome, as a subject of 
 painting, is by far the most popular. The reasons for this are 
 not merely the exceedingly interesting and striking character 
 of the man, and the picturesque incidents of his life, but also 
 his great importance and dignity as founder of Monachism in 
 the West, arid as author of the universally received transla- 
 tion of the Old and New Testament into the Latin language 
 (called " The Vulgate "). There is scarcely a collection of 
 pictures in which we do not find a St. Jerome, either doing 
 penance in the desert, or writing his famous translation, or 
 meditating on the mystery of the Incarnation. 
 
 Jerome was born about A. D. 342, at Stridonium, in Dal- 
 matia. His father, Eusebius,* was rich ; and as he showed the 
 happiest disposition for learning, he was sent to Rome to finish 
 his studies. There, through his own passions, and the evil 
 example of his companions, he fell into temptation, and for a 
 time abandoned himself to worldly pleasures. But the love 
 of virtue, as well as the love of learning, was still strong 
 within him : he took up the profession of law, and became 
 celebrated for his eloquence in pleading before the tribunals. 
 When more than thirty, he travelled into Gaul, and visited 
 the schools of learning there. It was about this time that he 
 was baptized, and vowed himself to perpetual celibacy. In 
 373, he travelled into the East, to animate his piety by dwell- 
 ing for a time among the scenes hallowed by the presence of 
 the Saviour ; and, on his way thither, he visited some of the 
 famous Oriental hermits and ascetics, of whom he has given 
 us such a graphic account, and whose example inspired him 
 with a passion for solitude and a monastic life. Shortly after 
 his arrival in Syria, he retired to a desert in . Chalcis, on the 
 confines of Arabia, and there he spent four years in study and 
 seclusion, 'supporting himself by the labor of his hands. He 
 has left us a most vivid picture of his life of penance in the
 
 ST. JEROME 281 
 
 wilderness ; of his trials and temptations, his fastings, his 
 sickness of soul and body ; and we must dwell for a moment 
 on his own description, in order to show with what literal and 
 circumstantial truth the painters have rendered it. He says, 
 in one of his epistles, " Oh how often, in the desert, in that 
 vast solitude which, parched by the sultry sun, affords a dwell- 
 ing to the monks, did I fancy myself in the midst of the 
 luxuries of Rome ! I sate alone, for I was full of bitterness. 
 My misshapen limbs were rough with sackcloth, and my skin 
 so squalid that I might have been mistaken for an Ethiopian. 
 Tears and groans were my occupation every day, and all day 
 long. If sleep surprised me unawares, my naked bones, which 
 scarcely held together, rattled on the earth." His companions, 
 he says, " were scorpions and wild beasts ; " his home, if a 
 recess among rocks and precipices." Yet, in the midst of this 
 horrible self-torture and self-abasement, he describes himself as 
 frequently beset by temptations to sin and sensual indulgence, 
 and haunted by demons : at other times, as consoled by voices 
 and visions from heaven. Besides these trials of the flesh 
 and the spirit, he had others of the intellect. His love of 
 learning, his admiration of the great writers of classical anti- 
 quity, of Plato and Cicero, made him impatient of the 
 rude simplicity of the Christian historians. He describes him- 
 self as fasting before he opened Cicero ; and, as a further 
 penance, he forced himself to study Hebrew, which at first 
 filled him with disgust, and this disgust appeared to him a 
 capital sin. In one of his distempered visions, he fancied he 
 heard the last trumpet sounded in his ear by an angel, and 
 summoning him before the judgment-seat of God. "Who art 
 thou ? " demanded the awful voice. " A Christian," replied 
 the trembling Jerome. " 'T is false ! " replied the voice, 
 " thou art no Christian : thou art a Ciceronian. Where the 
 treasure is, there will the heart be also." He persevered, 
 and conquered the difficulties of Hebrew ; and then, wearied 
 by the religious controversies in the East, after ten years' 
 residence there, he returned to Rome. 
 
 But neither the opposition he had met with, nor his four 
 years of solitude and penance in the desert, had subdued the 
 fiery enthusiasm of temperament which characterized this cele- 
 brated man. At Rome he boldly combated the luxurious self- 
 indulgence of the clergy, and preached religious abstinence and
 
 282 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHUECH 
 
 mortification. He was particularly remarkable for the influ- 
 ence he obtained over the Roman women ; we find them, sub- 
 dued or excited by his eloquent exhortations, devoting them- 
 selves to perpetual chastity, distributing their possessions 
 among the poor, or spending their days in attendance on the 
 sick, and ready to follow their teacher to the Holy Land to 
 the desert even to death. His most celebrated female con- 
 vert was Paula, a noble Roman matron, a descendant of the 
 Scipios and the Gracchi. Marcella, another of these Roman 
 ladies, was the first who, in the East, collected together a 
 number of pious women to dwell together in community : hence 
 she is, by some authors, considered as the first nun ; but others 
 contend that Martha, the sister of Mary Magdalene, was the 
 first who founded a religious community of women. 
 
 After three years' sojourn at Rome, St. Jerome returned to 
 Palestine, and took up his residence in a monastery he had 
 founded at Bethlehem. When, in extreme old age, he became 
 sensible of the approach of death, he raised with effort his 
 emaciated limbs, and, commanding himself to be carried into 
 the chapel of the monastery, he received the sacrament for the 
 last time from the hands of the priest, and soon after expired. 
 He died in 420, leaving, besides his famous translation of the 
 Scriptures, numerous controversial writings, epistles, and com- 
 mentaries. 
 
 We read in the legendary history of St. Jerome, that one 
 evening, as he sat within the gates of his monastery at Bethle- 
 hem, a lion entered, limping as in pain ; and all the brethren, 
 when they saw the lion, fled in terror : but Jerome arose, and 
 went forward to meet him, as though he had been a guest. 
 And the lion lifted up his paw, and St. Jerome, on examining 
 it, found that it was wounded by a thorn, which he extracted ; 
 and he tended the lion till he was healed. The grateful 
 beast remained with his benefactor, and Jerome confided to 
 him the task of guarding an ass which was employed in bring- 
 ing firewood from the forest. On one occasion, the lion having 
 gone to sleep while the ass was at pasture, some merchants 
 passing by carried away the latter ; and the lion, after search- 
 ing for him in vain, returned to the monastery with drooping 
 head, as one ashamed. St. Jerome, believing that he had 
 devoured his companion, commanded that the daily task of the
 
 ST. JEROME 283 
 
 ass should be laid upon the lion, and that the fagots should 
 be bound on his back, to which he magnanimously submitted, 
 until the ass was recovered ; which was in this wise. One 
 day, the lion, having finished his task, ran hither and thither, 
 still seeking his companion ; and he saw a caravan of mer- 
 chants approaching, and a string of camels, which, according 
 to the Arabian custom, were led by an ass ; and when the lion 
 recognized his friend, he drove the camels into the convent, 
 and so terrified the merchants that they confessed the theft, 
 and received pardon from St. Jerome. 
 
 The introduction of the lion into pictures of St. Jerome is 
 supposed to refer to this legend : but in this instance, as in 
 many others, the reverse was really the case. The lion was 
 in very ancient times adopted as the symbol befitting St. 
 Jerome, from his fervid, fiery nature, and his life in the 
 wilderness ; and in later times, the legend invented to explain 
 the symbol was gradually expanded into the story as given 
 above. 
 
 Representations of St. Jerome, in pictures, prints, and sculp- 
 ture, are so numerous that it were in vain to attempt to give 
 any detailed account of them, even of the most remarkable. 
 All, however, may be included under the following classifica- 
 tion, and, according to the descriptions given, may be easily 
 recognized. 
 
 The devotional subjects and single figures represent St. Je- 
 rome in one of his three great characters. 1. As patron Saint 
 and Doctor of the Church. 2. As Translator and Commen- 
 tator of the Scriptures. 3. As Penitent. As Doctor of the 
 Church, and teacher, he enters into every scheme of decoration, 
 and finds a place in all sacred buildings. As Saint and Peni- 
 tent, he is chiefly to be found in the convents and churches of 
 the Jeronymites, who claim him as their Patriarch. 
 
 When placed before us as the patron saint and father of 
 divinity, he is usually standing full length, either habited in 
 the cardinal's robes, or with the cardinal's hat lying at his feet. 
 It may be necessary to observe, that there is no historical 
 authority for making St. Jerome a cardinal. Cardinal-priests 
 were not ordained till three centuries later ; but as the other 
 fathers were all of high ecclesiastical rank, and as St. Jerome 
 obstinately refused all such distinction, it has been thought
 
 284 THE DOCTOKS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 necessary, for the sake of his dignity, to make him a cardinal : 
 another reason may be, that he .performed, in the court of 
 Pope Dalmasius, those offices since discharged by the cardinal- 
 deacon. In some of the old Venetian pictures, instead of the 
 official robes of a cardinal, he is habited in loose ample red 
 drapery, part of which is thrown over his head. When repre- 
 sented with his head uncovered, his forehead is lofty and bald, 
 his beard is very long, flowing even to his girdle ; his features 
 fine and sharp, his nose aquiline. In his hand he holds a book 
 or a scroll, and frequently the emblematical church, of Avhich 
 he was the great support and luminary : and, to make the 
 application stronger and clearer, rays of light are seen issuing 
 from the door of the church. 
 
 1. A signal instance of the treatment of Jerome as patron 
 saint occurs in a fine picture by Wohlgemuth, 1 the master of 
 Albert Dlirer (Vienna Gallery). It is an altar-piece represent- 
 ing the glorification of the saint, and consists of three compart- 
 ments. In the centre, St. Jerome stands on a magnificent 
 throne, and lays his left hand on the head of a lion raised up 
 on his hind legs : the donors of the picture, a man and a 
 woman, kneel in front ; on each side are windows opening on 
 a landscape, wherein various incidents of the life of St. Jerome 
 are represented ; on the right, his Penance in the Wilderness 
 and his Landing at Cyprus ; and on the left, the merchants 
 who had carried off the ass bring propitiatory gifts, which the 
 saint rejects, and other men are seen felling wood and loading 
 the lion. On the inner shutters or wings of the central pic- 
 ture are represented, on the right, the three other doctors, 
 St. Augustine, with the flaming heart ; St. Ambrose, with the 
 beehive both habited as bishops ; and St. Gregory, wearing 
 his tiara, and holding a large book (his famous Homilies) in 
 his hand. On the left, three apostles with their proper attri- 
 butes St. Andrew, St. Thomas, and St. Bartholomew ; on 
 the other side are represented, to the right, St. Henry II. 
 holding a church (the cathedral of Bamberg), and a sword, his 
 proper attributes ; and his wife, St. Cunegunda. 2 On the left, 
 St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Martin. There are besides, 
 
 1 [The picture is catalogued as an unknown under the indefinite name 
 " Meister vom heil. Hieronvmus in Wien." About A. n. 1511.] 
 
 - In the catalogue, St. Cunegunda is styled St. Elizabeth Queen of Hun- 
 $'<ry, and St. Elizabeth of Hungary is styled St. Elizabeth Queen of Portugal.
 
 ST. JEROME 285 
 
 to close in the whole, two outer doors : on the inner side, to 
 the right, St. Joseph and St. Kilian ; l on the left, St. Cath- 
 erine and St. Ursula ; and on the exterior of the whole the 
 
 St. Jerome (Ghirlandajo) 
 
 mass of St. Gregory, with various personages and objects con- 
 nected with the Passion of Christ. The whole is about six 
 feet high, dated 1511, and may bear a comparison, for elabo- 
 
 1 Irish Bishop of Wiirtzbur, and Patron, A. n. 689.
 
 286 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 rate and multifarious detail and exquisite painting, with the 
 famous Van Eyck altar-piece in St. John's Church at Ghent. 1 
 
 2. In his character of patron, St. Jerome is a frequent sub- 
 ject of sculpture. There is a Gothic figure of him in Henry 
 tfee Seventh's Chapel [Westminster Abbey], habited in the 
 cardinal's robes, the lion fawning vipon him. 
 
 When St. Jerome is represented in his second great charac- 
 ter, as the translator of the Scriptures, he is usually seated in 
 a cave or in a cell, busied in reading or in writing ; he wears a 
 loose robe thrown over his wasted form ; and either he looks 
 down intent on his book, or he looks up as if awaiting heavenly 
 inspiration : sometimes an angel is dictating to him. 
 
 1. In an old Italian print, which I have seen, he is seated 
 on the ground reading, in spectacles ; an anachronism frequent 
 in the old painters. Sometimes he is seated under the shade 
 of a tree ; or within a cavern, writing at a rude table formed 
 of a stump of a tree, or a board laid across two fragments of 
 rock ; as in a beautiful picture by Ghirlandajo, remarkable for 
 its solemn and tranquil feeling. (Florence, Ogni Santi.) 
 
 2. Very celebrated is an engraving of this subject by Albert 
 Diirer. The scene is the interior of a cell at Bethlehem ; 
 two windows on the left pour across the picture a stream of 
 sunshine, which is represented with wonderful effect. St. Je- 
 rome is seen in the background, seated at a desk, most intently 
 writing his translation of the Scriptures ; in front the lion is 
 crouching, and a fox is seen asleep. These two animals are 
 here emblems, the one, of the courage and vigilance, the 
 other of the wisdom or acuteness, of the saint. The execu- 
 tion of this print is a miracle of Art, and it is very rare. 
 There is an exquisite little picture by Elzheimer copied from 
 it, and of the same size, at Hampton Court. I need hardly 
 observe, that here the rosary and the pot of holy water are 
 anachronisms, as well as the cardinal's hat. By Albert Diirer 
 we have also St. Jerome writing in a cavern, and St. Jerome 
 reading in his cell ; both woodcuts. 
 
 1 "In this picture we recognize the master to whom Albert Diirer was 
 indebted for his education; indeed, Wohlgemuth here surpasses his great 
 scholar in the expression of gentleness and simplicity, particularly in the 
 heads of some of the female saints." Handbook of Painting: German, Flem- 
 ish, and Dutch Schools [Edition of 1846], p. 111. [Later editions omit this 
 passage.]
 
 ST. JEROME 287 
 
 3. Even more beautiful is a print of Lucas v. Leyden, in 
 which St. Jerome is reclining in his cell and reading intently ; 
 the lion licks his foot. 
 
 4. In a picture by Lucas Cranach, Albert of Brandenburg, 
 elector of Mayence (1527), is represented in the character pf 
 St. Jerome, seated in the wilderness, and writing at a table 
 formed of a plank laid across two stumps of trees : he is in 
 the cardinal-robes ; and in the foreground a lion, a hare, a 
 beaver, a partridge, and a hind, beautifully painted, express 
 the solitude of his life. In the background the caravan of 
 merchants is seen entering the gate of the monastery, con- 
 ducted by the faithful lion. 
 
 5. The little picture by Domenichino, in our National Gal- 
 lery, represents St. Jerome looking up from his book, and 
 listening to the accents of the angel. 6. In a picture by 
 Tiarini (Bologna, S. Maria Maggiore), it is St. John the Evan- 
 gelist, and not an angel, who dictates while he writes. 7. In 
 a picture by Titian, St. Jerome, seated, holds a book, and 
 gazes up at a crucifix suspended in the skies ; the lion is 
 drinking at a fountain. Out of twenty prints of St. Jerome 
 after Titian, there are at least eight which represent him at 
 study or writing. 
 
 It is in the double character of Doctor of the Church, and 
 translator of the Scriptures, that we find St. Jerome so fre- 
 quently introduced into pictures of the Madonna, and grouped 
 with other saints. Two of the most celebrated pictures in the 
 world suggest themselves here as examples : 1. " The Ma- 
 donna della Pesce " of Raphael ; where the Virgin, seated on 
 a raised throne, holds the Infant Christ in her arms ; on her 
 right hand, the Archangel Raphael presents the young Tobias, 
 who holds the fish, the emblem of Christianity or Baptism. 
 On the other side kneels St. Jerome, holding an open book, 
 his beard sweeping to his girdle ; the lion at his feet ; the In- 
 fant Christ, while he bends forward to greet Tobias, has one 
 hand upon St. Jerome's book : the whole is a beautiful and 
 expressive allegory. The picture, originally at Naples, was 
 purchased or appropriated by Philip IV. for the Church of the 
 Escurial, which belonged to the Jeronymites. [It is now in 
 the Madrid Museum.] 2. Correggio's picture, called "The 
 St. Jerome of Parma," represents the Infant Christ on the
 
 288 
 
 THE DOCTOKS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 knees of his mother : Mary Magdalene bends to kiss his feet : 
 St. Jerome stands in front, presenting his translation of the 
 Scriptures. [Gallery at Parma ; called " II Giorno."] 
 
 The penitent St. Jerome seems to have been adopted through- 
 out the Christian Church as the approved symbol of Christian 
 penitence, self-denial, and self-abasement. No devotional sub- 
 ject, if we except the " Madonna and Child " and the " Magda- 
 lene," is of such perpetual recurrence. In the treatment it 
 has been infinitely varied. The scene is generally a wild 
 rocky solitude : St. Jerome, half naked, emaciated, with matted 
 hair and beard, is seen on his knees before a crucifix, beating 
 
 his breast with a stone. 
 The lion is almost al- 
 ways introduced, some- 
 times asleep, or crouch- 
 ing at his feet ; some- 
 times keeping guard, 
 sometimes drinking at 
 a stream. The most 
 magnificent example of 
 this treatment is by 
 Titian (Brera, Milan) : 
 St. Jerome, kneeling 
 on one knee, half sup- 
 ported by a craggy rock, 
 and holding the stone, 
 looks up with eager 
 devotion to a cross, art 
 lessly fixed into a cleft 
 in the rock ; two books 
 lie on a cliff behind : 
 
 at his feet are a skull and hour-glass ; and the lion reposes in 
 front. The feeling of deep solitude, and a kind of sacred 
 horror breathed over this picture, are inconceivably fine and 
 impressive. Another by Titian, but inferior, is in the Louvre ; 
 and there are at least twelve engravings of St. Jerome doing 
 penance, after the same painter : among them a superb land- 
 scape, in which are seen a lion and a lioness prowling in the 
 wilderness, while the saint is doing penance in the foreground. 
 By Agostino Caracci there is a famous engraving of " St 
 
 St. Jerome (Raphael)
 
 ST. JEROME 289 
 
 Jerome doing penance in a cave," called from its size the great 
 St. Jerome. But to particularize further would be endless : 
 I know scarcely any Italian painter since the fifteenth century 
 who has not treated this subject at least once. 
 
 The Spanish painters have rendered it with a gloomy power, 
 and revelled in its mystic significance. In the Spanish gallery 
 of the Louvre I counted at least twenty St. Jeromes : the old 
 
 The Penance of St. Jerome (Albert Diirer) 
 
 German painters and engravers also delighted in it, on account 
 of its picturesque capabilities. 
 
 Albert Diirer represents St. Jerome kneeling before a cru- 
 cifix, which he has suspended against the trunk of a massy 
 tree ; an open book is near it ; he hplds in his right hand a 
 flint-stone, with which he is about to strike his breast, all 
 wounded and bleeding from the blows already inflicted ; the 
 lion crouches behind him, and in the distance is a stag. 
 
 The penitent St. Jerome is not a good subject for sculpture ; 
 the undraped, meagre form, and the abasement of suffering, 
 are disagreeable in this treatment : yet such representations
 
 290 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 are constantly met with in churches. The famous colossal 
 statue by Torrigiano, now in the Museum at Seville, represents 
 St. Jerome kneeling on a rock, a stone in one hand, a crucifix 
 in the other. At Venice, in the Frari, there is a statue [by 
 Alessandro Vittoria] of St. Jerome, standing, with the stone 
 in his hand and the lion at his feet ; too majestic for the Peni- 
 tent. There are several other statues of St. Jerome at Venice, 
 from the Liberi and Lombardi schools, all fine as statues ; but 
 the penitent saint is idealized into the patron saint of penitents. 
 
 When figures of St. Jerome as penitent are introduced in 
 Madonna pictures, or in the Passion of Christ, then such fig- 
 ures are devotional, and symbolical, in a general sense, of 
 Christian repentance. 
 
 There is an early picture of the Crucifixion, by Raphael, 
 in which he has placed St. Jerome at the foot of the cross, 
 beating his breast with a stone. [Now in the collection of 
 L. Mond, Esq., London.] 
 
 The pictures from the life of St. Jerome comprise a variety 
 of subjects : 1. " He receives the cardinal's hat from the 
 Virgin ; " sometimes it is the Infant Christ, seated in the lap 
 of the Virgin, who presents it to him. 2. " He disputes with 
 the Jewish doctors on the truth of the Christian religion ; " in 
 a curious picture by Juan de Valdes (Louvre, Spanish Gal- 
 lery). 1 He stands on one side of a table in an attitude of au- 
 thority ; the rabbis, each of whom has a demon looking over 
 his shoulder, are searching their books for arguments against 
 him. 3. " St. Jerome, while studying Hebrew in the solitude 
 of Chalcida, hears in a vision the sound of the last trumpet, 
 calling men to judgment." This is a common subject, and 
 styled "The Vision of St. Jerome." I have met with no ex- 
 ample earlier than the fifteenth century. In general, he is 
 lying on the ground, and an angel sounds the trumpet from 
 above. In a composition by Ribera he holds a pen in one 
 hand and a penknife in the other : he seems to have been 
 arrested in the very act of mending his pen by the blast of the 
 trumpet : the figure of the saint, wasted even to skin and 
 bone, and his look of petrified amazement, are very fine, not- 
 withstanding the commonplace action. In a picture by Sub- 
 leyras, in the Louvre, St. Jerome is gazing upwards, with an 
 astonished look ; three archangels sound their trumpets from 
 1 [The Spanish Gallery is now dispersed.]
 
 ST. JEROME 291 
 
 above. In a picture by Antonio Pereda, at Madrid, St. Je- 
 rome not only hears in his vision the sound of the last trump, 
 he sees the dead arise from their graves around him. Lastly, 
 by way of climax, I may mention a picture in the Louvre, by 
 a modern French painter, Sigalon : St. Jerome is in a convul- 
 sive fit, and the three angels, blowing their trumpets in his 
 ears, are like furies sent to torment and madden the sinner, 
 rather than to rouse the saint. [Exhibited at Salon, 1831.] 
 
 While doing penance in the desert, St. Jerome was some- 
 times haunted by temptations, as well as amazed by terrors. 
 
 4. Domenichino, in one of the frescoes in St. Onofrio [Rome], 
 represents the particular kind of temptation by which the saint 
 was in imagination assailed : while he is fervently praying and 
 beating his breast, a circle of beautiful nymphs, seen in the 
 background, weave a graceful dance. Vasari has had the bad 
 taste to give us a penitent St. Jerome with Venus and Cupids 
 in the background : one arch little Cupid takes aim at him, 
 an offensive instance of the extent to which, in the sixteenth 
 century, classical ideas had mingled with and depraved Chris- 
 tian Art. (Pitti, Florence.) 
 
 5. Guido. " St. Jerome translating the Scriptures while 
 an angel dictates : " life size and very fine (except the angel, 
 who is weak, and reminds one of a water-nymph) ; in his pale 
 manner. (Lichtenstein Gallery, Vienna.) 
 
 6. Domenichino. " St. Jerome is flagellated by an angel 
 for preferring Cicero to the Hebrew writings ; " also in the 
 St. Onofrio. The Cicero, torn from his hand, lies at his feet. 
 Here the saint is a young man, and the whole scene is repre- 
 sented as a vision. 
 
 7. But St. Jerome was comforted by visions of glory, as well 
 as haunted by terrors and temptations. In the picture by 
 Parmigiano, in our National Gallery, St. Jerome is sleeping in 
 the background, while St. John the Baptist points upwards to 
 a celestial vision of the Virgin and Child, seen in, the opening 
 heavens above : the upper part of this picture is beautiful and 
 full of dignity ; but the saint is lying stretched on the earth 
 in an attitude so uneasy and distorted that it would seem as 
 if he were condemned to do penance even in his sleep ; and 
 the St. John has always appeared to me mannered and theatrical.
 
 292 
 
 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 St. Jerome and the Lion. (Coll' Antonio del Fiore.) 
 
 8. The story of the lion is often represented. St. Jerome 
 is seated in his cell, attired in the monk's habit and cowl ; the 
 lion approaches, and lays his paw upon his knee ; a cardinal's 
 hat and books are lying near him ; and, to express the self- 
 denial of the saint, a mouse is peeping into an empty cup. 
 Kugler pronounces this to be a Flemish picture. 
 
 In another example, by Vittore Carpaccio, the lion enters 
 the cell, and three monks, attendants on St. Jerome, flee in 
 terror. 
 
 9. The Last Communion of St. Jerome is the subject of one 
 of the most celebrated pictures in the world, the St. Jerome 
 of Domenichino, which has been thought worthy of being 
 placed opposite to the Transfiguration of Raphael, in the Vati- 
 can. The aged saint feeble, emaciated, dying is borne in 
 the arms of his disciples to the chapel of his monastery, and 
 placed within the porch. A young priest sustains him ; St. 
 Paula, kneeling, kisses one of his thin bony hands ; the saint 
 fixes his eager eyes on the countenance of the priest, who is
 
 LAST COMMUNION OF ST. JEROME (DOMBNICHINO)
 
 ST. JEROME 293 
 
 about to administer the sacrament, a noble dignified figure 
 in a rich ecclesiastical dress ; a deacon holds the cup, and an 
 attendant priest the book and taper ; the lion droops his head 
 with an expression of grief ; the eyes and attention of all are 
 on the dying saint, while four angels, hovering above, look 
 down upon the scene. 
 
 Agostino Caracci, in a grand picture now in the Bologna 
 Gallery, had previously treated the same subject with much 
 feeling and dramatic power ; but here the saint is not so wasted 
 and so feeble, St. Paula is not present, and the lion is tenderly 
 licking his feet. 
 
 Older than either, and very beautiful and solemn, is a pic- 
 ture by Vittore Carpaccio, in which the saint is kneeling in the 
 porch of a church, surrounded by his disciples, and the lion is 
 seen outside. 
 
 10. "The Death of St. Jerome." In the picture by Star- 
 nina he is giving his last instructions to his disciples, and the 
 expression of solemn grief in the old heads around is very 
 fine. In a Spanish picture he is extended on a couch made 
 of hurdles, and expires in the arms of his monks. 
 
 In a very fine anonymous print, dated 1614, St. Jerome is 
 dying alone in his cell (this version of the subject is contrary 
 to all authority and precedent) : he presses to his bosom the 
 Gospel and the crucifix; the lion looks up in his face roaring, 
 and angels bear away his soul to heaven. 
 
 11. " The Obsequies of St. Jerome." In the picture by 
 Vittore Carpaccio, the saint is extended on the ground before 
 the high altar, and the priests around are kneeling in various 
 attitudes of grief or devotion. The lion is seen on one side. 1 
 
 I will mention here some other pictures in which St. 
 Jerome figures as the principal personage. 
 
 St. Jerome introducing Charles V. into Paradise is the sub- 
 ject of a large fresco, by Luca Giordano, on the staircase of 
 the Escurial. 
 
 St. Jerome conversing with two nuns, probably intended 
 for St. Paula and St. Marcella. 2 
 
 The sleep of St. Jerome. He is watched by two angels, 
 
 1 The three frescoes by Carpaccio are in the Church of San Giorgio de' 
 Schiavoni at Venice. 
 
 2 It was in the Standish Gallery in the Louvre.
 
 294 THE DOCTOES OF THE CHURCH 
 
 one of whom, with his finger on his lip, commands silence. 
 (Engraved by Loli.) 
 
 It is worth remarking, that in the old Venetian pictures St. 
 Jerome does not wear the proper habit and hat of a cardinal, 
 but an ample scarlet robe, part of which is thrown over his 
 head as a hood. 
 
 The history of St. Jerome, in a series, is often found in the 
 churches and convents of the Jeronymites, and generally con- 
 sists of the following subjects, of which the fourth and sixth 
 are often omitted : 
 
 1. He is baptised. 2. He receives the cardinal's hat from 
 -the Virgin. 3. He does penance in the desert, beating his 
 breast with a stone. 4. He meets St. Augustine. 5. He is 
 studying or writing in a cell. 6. He builds the convent at 
 Bethlehem. 7. He heals the wounded lion. 8. He receives 
 the Last Sacrament. 9. He dies in the presence of his disci- 
 ples. 10. He is buried. 
 
 Considering that St. Jerome has ever been venerated as one 
 of the great lights of the Church, it is singular that so few 
 churches are dedicated to him. There is one at Rome, 
 erected, according to tradition, on the very spot where stood 
 the house of Santa Paula, where she entertained St. Jerome 
 during his sojourn at Kome in 382. For the high altar of 
 this church, Domenichino painted his masterpiece of the Com- 
 munion of St. Jerome already described. The embarkation of 
 Saint Paula, to follow her spiritual teacher St. Jerome to the 
 Holy Land, is the subject of one of Claude's most beautiful 
 sea pieces, in the collection of the Duke of Wellington ; 
 another picture of this subject, the figures as large as life, is in 
 the Brera [Milan], by a clever Cremonese painter, Giuseppe 
 Bottoni. 
 
 St. Jerome has detained us long ; the other Fathers are, as 
 subjects of Art, much less interesting.
 
 ST. AMBEOSE 295 
 
 ST. AMBROSE 
 
 Lai. S. Ambrosius. Ital. Sant' Ambrogio. Fr. St. Ambroise. 
 Ger. Der Heilige Ambrosius. Patron Saint of Milan. (April 4, 
 A. D. 397.) 
 
 We can hardly imagine a greater contrast than between the 
 stern, enthusiastic, dreaming, ascetic Jerome, and the states- 
 man-like, practical, somewhat despotic AMBROSE. This ex- 
 traordinary man, in whose person the priestly character assumed 
 an importance and dignity till then unknown, was the son of a 
 prefect of Gaul, bearing the same name, and was born at 
 Treves in the year 340. It is said that, when an infant in 
 the cradle, a swarm of bees alighted on his mouth without 
 injuring him. The same story was told of Plato and of Archi- 
 lochus, and considered prophetic of future eloquence. It is 
 from this circumstance that St. Ambrose is represented with 
 the bee-hive near him. 
 
 Young Ambrose, after pursuing his studies at Home with 
 success, was appointed prefect of ^Emilia and Liguria (Pied- 
 mont and Genoa), and took up his residence at Milan. 
 Shortly afterwards the Bishop of Milan died, and the succes- 
 sion was hotly disputed between the Catholics and the Arians. 
 Ambrose appeared in his character of prefect, to allay the tu- 
 mult ; he harangued the people with such persuasive eloquence 
 that they . were hushed into respectful silence ; and in the 
 midst a child's voice was heard to exclaim, " Ambrose shall be 
 bishop ! " The multitude took up the cry as though it had 
 been a voice from heaven, and compelled him to assume the 
 sacred office. He attempted to avoid the honor thus laid 
 upon him by flight, by entreaties, pleading that, though a 
 professed Christian, he had never been baptized: in vain! the 
 command of the emperor enforced the wishes of the people ; 
 and Ambrose, being baptized, was, within eight days after- 
 wards, consecrated bishop of Milan. He has since been re- 
 garded as the patron saint of that city. 
 
 He began by distributing all his worldly goods to the poor ; 
 he then set himself to study the sacred writings, and to render 
 himself in all respects worthy of his high dignity. " The Old 
 and the New Testament," says Mr. Milman, "'met in the person 
 of Ambrose : the implacable hostility to idolatry, the abhor-
 
 296 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHUKCH 
 
 rence of every deviation from the established formulary of 
 belief ; the wise and courageous benevolence, the generous 
 and unselfish devotion to the great interests of humanity." 
 
 He was memorable for the grandeur and magnificence with 
 which he invested the ceremonies of worship : they had never 
 been so imposing. He particularly cultivated music, and 
 introduced from the East the manner of chanting the service 
 since called the Ambrosian chant. 
 
 Two things were especially remarkable in the life and char- 
 acter of St. Ambrose. The first was the enthusiasm with 
 which he advocated celibacy in both sexes : on this topic, as 
 we are assured, he was so persuasive, that mothers shut up 
 their daughters lest they should be seduced by their eloquent 
 bishop into vows of chastity. The other was his determination to 
 set the ecclesiastical above the sovereign or civil power : this 
 principle, so abused in later timeSj was in the days of Ambrose 
 the assertion of the might of Christianity, of mercy, of justice, 
 of freedom, over heathenism, tyranny, cruelty, slavery. The 
 dignity with which he refused to hold any communication with 
 the Emperor Maximus, because he was stained with the blood 
 of Gratian, and his resolute opposition to the Empress Justina, 
 who interfered with his sacerdotal privileges, were two 
 instances of this spirit. But the most celebrated incident of 
 his life is his conduct with regard to the Emperor Theodosius, 
 the last great emperor of Rome, a man of an iron will, a 
 despot, and a warrior. That he should bend in trembling 
 submission at the feet of an unarmed priest, and shrink before 
 his rebuke, filled the whole world with an awful idea of the 
 supremacy of the Church, and prepared the way for the Hilde- 
 brands, the Perettis, the Caraffas of later times. With regard 
 to St. Ambrose, this assumption of moral power, this high 
 prerogative of the priesthood, had hitherto been without prece- 
 dent, and in this its first application it certainly commands our 
 respect, our admiration, and our sympathy. 
 
 Theodosius, with all his great qualities, was subject to fits 
 of violent passion. A sedition, or rather a popular affray, had 
 taken place in Thessalonica ; one of his officers was ill-treated, 
 and some lives lost. Theodosius, in the first moment of in- 
 dignation, ordered an indiscriminate massacre of the inhabit- 
 ants, and seven thousand human beings men, women, and
 
 , ST. AMBROSE 297 
 
 children were sacrificed. The conduct of Ambrose on this 
 occasion was worthy of a Christian prelate : he retired from the 
 presence of the emperor, and wrote to him a letter, in which, 
 in the name of Christ, of His Church, and of all the bishops 
 over whom he had any influence, he denounced this inhuman 
 act with the strongest expressions of abhorrence, and refused 
 to allow the sovereign, thus stained with innocent blood, to 
 participate in the sacraments of the Church, in fact, exconu 
 municated him. In vain the emperor threatened, supplicated ; 
 in vain he appeared with all his imperial state before the 
 doors of the cathedral of Milan, and commanded and entreated 
 entrance. The doors were closed ; and even on Christmas Day, 
 when he again as a suppliant presented himself, Ambrose ap- 
 peared at the porch and absolutely forbade his entrance, unless 
 he should choose to pass into the sanctuary over the dead 
 body of the intrepid bishop. At length, after eight montKs of 
 interdict, Ambrose consented to relent, on two conditions : 
 the first, that the emperor should publish an edict by which 
 no capital punishment could be executed till thirty days after 
 conviction of a crime ; the second, that he should perform a 
 public penance. . The emperor submitted ; and, clothed in 
 sackcloth, grovelling on the earth, with dust and ashes on his 
 head, lay the master of the world before the altar of Christ, 
 because of innocent blood hastily and wrongfully shed. This 
 was a great triumph, and one of incalculable results some 
 evil, some good. 
 
 Another incident in the life of St. Ambrose should be 
 recorded to his honor. In his time, " the first blood was 
 judicially shed for religious opinion " and the first man who 
 suffered for heresy was Priscilian, a noble Spaniard : on 
 this occasion, St. Ambrose and St. Martin of Tours raised their 
 protest in the name of Christianity against this dreadful prece- 
 dent ; but the animosity of the Spanish bishops prevailed, 
 and Priscilian was put to death ; so early were bigotry and 
 cruelty the characteristics of the Spanish hierarchy ! Ambrose 
 refused to communicate with the few bishops who had coun- 
 tenanced this transaction : the general voice of the Church was 
 against it. 
 
 The man who had thus raised himself above all worldly 
 power was endued by popular enthusiasm with supernatural
 
 298 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH # 
 
 privileges : he performed cures ; he saw visions. At the time 
 of the consecration of the new cathedral at Milan, a miracu- 
 lous dream revealed to him the martyrdom of two holy men, Ger- 
 vasius and Protasius, and the place where their bodies reposed. 
 The remains were disinterred, conveyed in solemn procession 
 to the cathedral, and deposited beneath the high altar; and St. 
 Gervasius and St. Protasius became, on the faith of a dream, 
 distinguished saints in the Roman calendar. Ambrose died at 
 Milan, in 397, in the attitude and the act of prayer. 
 
 There were many poetical legends and apologues relating to 
 St. Ambrose current in the middle ages. 
 
 It is related that an obstinate heretic who went to hear him 
 preach, only to confute and mock him, beheld an angel visi- 
 ble at his side and prompting the words he uttered ; on seeing 
 which, the scoffer was of course converted ; a subject repre- 
 sented in his church at Milan. 
 
 One day Ambrose went to the prefect Macedonius to entreat 
 favor for a poor condemned wretch ; but the doors were shut 
 against him, and he was refused access. Then he said, " Thou, 
 even thou, shalt fly to the church for refuge, and shalt not 
 enter!" and a short time afterwards, Macedonius, being pur- 
 sued by his enemies, fled for sanctuary to the church; but, 
 though the doors were wide open, he could not find the 
 entrance, but wandered around in blind perplexity till he was 
 slain. Of this incident I have seen no picture. 
 
 On another occasion, St. Ambrose, coming to the house of a 
 nobleman of Tuscany, was hospitably received ; and he inquired 
 concerning the state of his host ; the nobleman replied. " I 
 have never known adversity ; every day hath seen me increas- 
 ing in fortune, in honors, in possessions. I have a numerous 
 family of sons and daughters, who have never cost me a pang 
 of sorrow ; I have a multitude of slaves, to whom my word is 
 law ; and I have never suffered either sickness or pain." 
 Then Ambrose rose hastily from table, and said to his 
 companions, " Arise ! fly from this roof, ere it fall upon us ; 
 for the Lord is not here ! " and scarcely had he left the house, 
 when an earthquake shook the ground, and swallowed up the 
 palace with all its inhabitants. I have seen this story in a 
 miniature, but cannot at this moment refer to it. 
 
 St. Ambrose falls asleep, or into a trance, while celebrating
 
 ST. AMBROSE 299 
 
 mass, and sees in the spirit the obsequies of St. Martin of 
 Tours : the sacristan strikes him on the shoulder to wake him. 
 This is the subject of a very old mosaic in his church at 
 Milan. 
 
 When St. Ambrose was on his death-bed, Christ visited him 
 and comforted him ; Honorat, bishop of Vercelli, was then in 
 attendance on him, and having gone to sleep, an angel waked 
 him, saying, " Arise, for he departs in this hour ; " and Honorat 
 was just in time to administer the sacrament and see him 
 expire. Others who were present beheld him ascend to 
 heaven, borne in the arms of angels. 
 
 Devotional pictures of St. Ambrose alone as patron saint do 
 not often occur. In general he wears the episcopal pallium 
 with the mitre and crosier as bishop : the beehive is some- 
 times placed at his feet ; but a more frequent attribute is the 
 knotted scourge with three thongs. The scourge is a received 
 emblem of the castigation of sin : in the hand of St. Ambrose 
 it may signify the penance inflicted on the Emperor Theodo- 
 sius ; or, as others interpret it, the expulsion of the Arians 
 from Italy and the triumph of the Trinitarians. It has 
 always this meaning, we may presume, when the scourge has 
 three knots or three thongs. I have seen figures of St. 
 Ambrose holding two human bones in his hand. When this 
 attribute occurs (as in a picture by Vivarini, Venice Acad.), 
 it alludes to the discovery of the relics of Gervasius and Pro- 
 tasius. 
 
 Among the few representations of St. Ambrose as patron 
 saint, the finest beyond all comparison is that which adorns his 
 chapel in the Frari at Venice, painted conjointly by B. Viva- 
 rini and Basaiti (A. D. 1498). He is seated on a throne, 
 raised on several steps, attired in his episcopal robes and mitre, 
 and bearing the triple scourge in his hand. He has a short 
 gray beard, and looks straight out of the picture with an ex- 
 pression of stern power. Nothing here of the benignity and 
 humility of the Christian teacher ! Around his throne stands 
 a glorious company of saints : on the right, St. George in 
 complete armor ; St. John the Baptist ; a young saint, bear- 
 ing a sword and palm, with long hair, and the most beautiful 
 expression of mild serene faith, whom I suppose to be St. Theo-
 
 300 THE DOCTOKS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 dore ; St. Sebastian ; and another figure behind, part of the 
 head only seen. On the left, St. Maurice, armed ; the three 
 Doctors, St. Gregory, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and two 
 other saints partly seen behind, whose personality is doubtful. 1 
 All these wait round St. Ambrose, as guards and councillors 
 round a sovereign ; two lovely little angels sit on the lower 
 steps of the throne hymning his praise. The whole picture is 
 wonderful for color, depth, and expression, and shows to what 
 a pitch of excellence the Vivarini family had attained in these 
 characteristics of the Venetian school, long before it had be- 
 come a school. 
 
 Most of the single figures of St. Ambrose represent him in 
 his most popular character, that of the stern adversary of the 
 Arians. I remember (in the Frari at Venice) a picture in 
 which St. Ambrose in his episcopal robes is mounted on a 
 white charger, and flourishing on high his triple scourge. The 
 Arians are trampled under his feet, or fly before him. I have 
 seen an old print, in which he is represented with a short 
 gray beard, stern countenance, and wearing the bishop's mitre ; 
 underneath is the inscription, " Antiquis ejus imaginibus Me- 
 diolani olim depictis ad vivum expressa ; " but it see"ms cer- 
 tain that no authentic portrait of him exists. 
 
 His church at Milan, the Basilica of Sant' Ambrogio Mag- 
 giore, one of the oldest and - most interesting churches in 
 Christendom, was founded by him in 387, and dedicated to all 
 the Saints. Though rebuilt in the ninth century and restored 
 in the seventeenth, it still retains the form of the primitive 
 Christian churches (like some of those at Rome and Ravenna), 
 and the doors of cypress wood are traditionally regarded as the 
 very doors which St. Ambrose closed against the Emperor 
 Theodosius, brought hither from the ancient cathedral. "Within 
 this venerable and solemn old church may be seen one of the 
 most extraordinary and best-preserved specimens of Mediaeval 
 Art : it is the golden shrine or covering of the high altar, 
 much older than the famous pala d' oro at Venice ; arfd the 
 work, or at.least the design, of one man : 2 whereas the pala, 
 
 1 [Thp list of saints as enumerated by Crowe and Cavalcaselle is as 
 follows : St. George, St. Vitale, St. Gregory, St. Augustine, St. John the 
 Baptist, St. Gervasius, St. Protasius, St. Sebastian, St. Jerome.] 
 
 2 Wolvinus, A. D. 832. " His name seems to indicate that he was of Teu- 
 tonic race a circumstance which has excited much controversy amongst 
 the modern Italian antiquaries." Murray's Handbook.
 
 ST. AMBROSE 301 
 
 is the work of several different artists at different periods. 
 On the front of the altar, which is all of plates of gold, 
 enamelled and set with precious stones, are represented in 
 relief scenes from the life of our Saviour : on the sides, which 
 are of silver-gilt, angels, archangels, and medallions of Milan- 
 ese saints. On the back, also of silver-gilt, we have the 
 Avhole life of St. Ambrose, in a series of small compartments, 
 most curious and important as a record of costume and man- 
 ners, as well as an example of the state of Art at that time. 
 I have never seen any engraving of this monument, but I 
 examined it carefully. In the centre stand the Archangels 
 Michael and Gabriel, in the Byzantine style ; and below them, 
 St. Ambrose blesses the donor, Bishop Angelbertus, and the 
 goldsmith Wolvinus. Around, in twelve compartments, we 
 have the principal incidents of the life of St. Ambrose, the fig- 
 ures being, as nearly as I can recollect, about six inches high. 
 
 1. Bees swarm round his head as he lies in his cradle. 2. 
 He is appointed prefect of the Ligurian provinces. 3. He is 
 elected bishop of Milan in 375. 4. He is baptized. 5. He is 
 ordained. 6. and 7. He sleeps, and beholds in a vision the 
 obsequies of St. Martin of Tours. 8. He preaches in the 
 cathedral, inspired by angels. 9. He heals the sick and lame. 
 10. He is visited by Christ. 11. An angel wakes the bishop 
 of Vercelli, and sends him to St. Ambrose. 12. Ambrose dies, 
 and angels bear away his soul to heaven. 
 
 I was surprised not to find in his church what we consider 
 as the principal event of his life his magnanimous resist- 
 ance to the Emperor Theodosius. In fact, the grand scene 
 between Ambrose and Theodosius has never been so popular 
 as it deserves to be ; considered merely as a subject of paint- 
 ing, it is full of splendid picturesque capabilities ; for group- 
 ing, color, contrast, background, all that could be desired. In 
 the great picture by Rubens (Belvedere Gallery, Vienna), the 
 scene is the porch of the church. On the left the e-mperor, 
 surrounded by his guards, stands irresolute, and in a supplica- 
 tory attitude, on the steps ; on the right and above, St. Am- 
 brose is seen, attended by. the ministering priests, and stretches 
 out his hand to repel the intruder. There is a print, after 
 Andrea del Sarto, representing Theodosius on his knees before 
 the relenting prelate. In the Louvre is a small picture, by 
 Subleyras, of the reconciliation of Ambrose and Theodosius.
 
 302 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 In our National Gallery is a small and beautiful copy, by 
 Vandyck, of the great picture by Rubens. 
 
 As joint patrons of Milan, St. Ambrose and St. Carlo Bor- 
 romeo are sometimes represented together, but only in late 
 pictures. 
 
 There is a statue of St. Ambrose, by Falconet (Paris, In- 
 valides), in the act of repelling Theodosius, which is men- 
 tioned by Diderot, with a commentary so characteristic of the 
 French anti-religious feeling of that time, a feeling as nar- 
 row and one-sided in its way as the most bigoted puritanism, 
 that I am tempted to extract it ; only premising, that if, after 
 the slaughter at Ismael, Catherine of Russia had been placed 
 under the ban of Christendom, the world would not have been 
 the worse for such an exertion of priestly power. 
 
 C'est ce fougueux eveque qui osa fermer les portes de Peglise a 
 Theodose, et a qui un certain soiiverain de par le monde (Frederic 
 of Prussia) qui dans la guerre passee avoit une si bonne envie de 
 faire un tour dans la rue des pretres, et une certaine souveraine 
 (Catherine of Russia) qui vient de debarrasser son clerge de toute 
 cette richesse inutile qui Pempechoit d'etre respectable, auroient 
 fait couper la barbe et les oreilles, en lui disant : " Apprenez, mon- 
 sieur Pabbe, que le temple de votre Dieu est sur mon domaine, et 
 que si mon predecesseur vous a accorde par grace les trois arpens 
 de terrain qu'il occupe, je puis les reprendre et vous envoyer porter 
 vos autels et votre fanatisme ailleurs. Ce lieu-ci est la maison 
 du Pere commun des hommes, bons ou medians, et je veux entrer 
 quand il me plaira. Je ne m'accuse point a vous ; quand je daigne- 
 rois vous consulter, vous n'en savez pas assez pour me conseiller 
 sur ma conduite, et de quel front vous immiscez-vous d'en juger ? " 
 Mais le plat empereur ne parla pas ainsi, et 1'e'veque savoit bien a 
 qui il avoit a faire. Le statuaire nous Pa montre dans le moment 
 de son insolent apostrophe. 
 
 [This is that fiery bishop who dared to close the door of the 
 church against Theodosius. A certain sovereign (Frederic of 
 Prussia) who in the recent war had such a desire to take a turn in the 
 priests' quarters, and a certain empress (Catherine of Russia) who 
 has just relieved her clergy of all the useless riches which prevented 
 their being respectable, would have cut his ears and beard, saying 
 to him: "Learn, your Reverence, that the temple of your God is 
 in my domains, and that if my predecessor has given you the favor 
 of the three acres it covers, I can take them back and make 
 you take elsewhere your altars and your fanaticism. This place is
 
 ST. AMBROSE AND EMPEROR THEODOS1US (RUBENS)
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE 303 
 
 the home of the common Father of men, good or bad, and I will 
 enter it when I please. I am not accountable to you ; even if I 
 should deign to consult you, you do not know enough to advise me 
 upon my conduct, and what impudence to take it upon yourself to 
 judge it." But the cringing emperor did not talk in this wise, and 
 the bishop knew with whom he had to deal. The statue shows 
 him in the moment of his insolent address.] 
 
 In Diderot's criticisms on Art, which are often quoted even 
 now, there is in general a far better taste than prevailed in 
 his time, and much good sense ; but a low tone of sentiment 
 when he had to deal with imaginative or religious Art, and 
 an intolerable coarseness " most mischievous foul sin in chid- 
 ing sin." 
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE 
 
 St. Austin. Lat. Sanctus Augustinus. Ital. Sant' Agostina. Fr. 
 St. Augustin. (Aug. 28, A. D. 430.) 
 
 St. Augustine, the third of the Doctors of the Church, was 
 born at Tagaste, in Numidia, in 354. His father was a hea- 
 then ; his mother, Monica, a Christian. Endowed with splen- 
 did talents, a vivid imagination, and strong passions, Augustine 
 passed his restless youth in dissipated pleasures, in desultory 
 studies, changing from one faith to another, dissatisfied with 
 himself and unsettled in mind. His mother, Monica, wept 
 and prayed for him, and, in the extremity of her anguish, 
 repaired to the bishop of Carthage. After listening to her 
 sorrows, he dismissed her with these words : " Go in peace ; 
 the son of so many tears will not perish ! " Augustine soon 
 afterwards went to Eome, where he gained fame and riches by 
 his eloquence at the bar ; but he was still unhappy and rest- 
 less, nowhere finding peace either in labor or in pleasure. 
 From Rome he went to Milan ; there, after listening for some 
 time to the preaching of Ambrose, he was, after many strug- 
 gles, converted to the faith, and was baptized by the bishop of 
 Milan, in presence of his mother, Monica. On this occasion 
 was composed the hymn called the '' Te Deum," still in use 
 in our Church, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine reciting the 
 verses alternately as they advanced to the 'altar. Augustine, 
 after some time spent in study, was ordained priest, and then 
 bishop of Hippo, a small town and territory not far from Car-
 
 304 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 thage. Once installed in his bishopric, he ever afterwards 
 refused to leave the flock intrusted to his care, or to accept of 
 any higher dignity. His life was passed in the practice of 
 every virtue : all that he possessed was spent in hospitality 
 and charity, and his time was devoted to the instruction of 
 his flock, either by preaching or writing. In 430, after he 
 had presided over his diocese for thirty-five years, the city of 
 Hippo was besieged by the Vandals ; in the midst of the 
 horrors that ensued, Augustine refused to leave his people, 
 and died during the siege, being then in his seventy-sixth 
 year. It is said that his remains were afterwards removed 
 from Africa to Pavia, by Luitprand, king of the Lombards. 
 His writings in defence of Christianity are numerous and cele- 
 brated ; and he is regarded as the patron saint of theologians 
 and learned men. 
 
 Of his glorious tomb, in the Cathedral of Pavia, I can only 
 say that its beauty as a work of art astonished me. I had 
 not been prepared for anything so rich, so elegant in taste, and 
 so elaborate in .invention. It is of the finest florid Gothic, 
 worked in white marble, scarcely discolored by time. Augus- 
 tine lies upon a bier, and angels of exquisite grace are folding 
 his shroud around him. The basso-relievos represent the 
 events of his life ; the statues of the evangelists, apostles, and 
 other saints connected with the history of the Church, are full 
 of dignity and character. It comprises in all two hundred 
 'and ninety figures. This magnificent shrine is attributed by 
 Cicognara to the Jacobelli of Venice, and by Vasari to the 
 two brothers Agostino and Agnolo of Siena ; but he does not 
 speak with certainty, and the date 1362 seems to justify the 
 supposition of Cicognara, the Sienese brothers being then 
 eighty or ninety years old. 
 
 Single figures of St. Augustine are not common ; and when 
 grouped with others in devotional pictures, it is not easy to 
 distinguish him from other bishops ; for his proper attribute, 
 the heart flaming or transpierced, to express the ardor of his 
 piety or the poignancy of his repentance, is very seldom intro- 
 duced : but when a bishop is standing with a book in his hand, 
 or a pen, accompanied by St. Jerome, and with no particular 
 attribute, we may suppose it to be St. Augustine ; and when 
 the title of one of his famous writings is inscribed on the 
 book, it of course fixes the identity beyond a doubt.
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE 
 
 305 
 
 1. B. Vivarini. St. 
 Augustine seated on a 
 throne, as patron saint, 
 mitred and robed ; alone, 
 stern, and majestic. (SS. 
 Giovanni e Paolo, Ven- 
 ice.) 
 
 2. Dosso Dossi. St. 
 Augustine throned as 
 patron, attended by two 
 angels ; he looks like a 
 jovial patriarch. (Brera, 
 Milan.) 
 
 3. [Attributed to] 
 F. Filippo Lippi. 1 St. 
 Augustine writing in 
 his chamber ; no em- 
 blem, no mitre ; yet the 
 personalite so marked, 
 that one could not mis- 
 take him either for Am- 
 brose or Jerome. (Uf- 
 fizi, Florence.) 
 
 4. Andrea del Sarto. 
 Agostini. 
 
 St. Augustine (attributed to Filippo Lippi) 
 
 [The "Dispute."] Painted for the 
 St. Augustine as doctor ; before him stand St. 
 Dominick and St. Peter Martyr ; beside him St. Laurence, 
 listening; in front kneel St. Sebastian arid Mary Magdalene. 
 (Pitti, Florence.) 
 
 5. V. Carpaccio. St. Augustine standing ; 2 a fine, stern, 
 majestic figure ; he holds his book and scourge. (Brera, 
 Milan.) 
 
 6. Paris Bordone. The Virgin and Child enthroned ; the 
 Virgin places on the head of St. Augustine, who kneels before 
 her, the jewelled mitre. (Berlin.) 
 
 7. Florigerio. St. Augustine, as bishop, and St. Monica, 
 veiled, stand on each side of the Madonna. (Academy, 
 Venice.) 
 
 1 [Also attributed to Botticelli.] 
 
 2 [The 1892 Brera catalogue contains no picture of St. Augustine attributed 
 to Dosso Dossi or to V. Carpaccio.]
 
 306 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 As a series of subjects, the history of St. Augustine is not 
 commonly met with ; yet certain events in his life are of very 
 frequent occurrence. 
 
 I shall begin with the earliest. 
 
 1. Monica brings her son to school ; the master receives 
 him ; the scholars are sitting in a row conning their horn 
 books. The names of Monica and Augustine are inscribed in 
 the glories round their heads. This is a very curious little 
 oval picture of the early part of the fourteenth century. 
 (Vatican, Christian Museum.) 
 
 Benozzo Gozzoli has painted the same subject in a large 
 fresco in the church of San Gemignano at Volterra (A. D. 
 1460). Monica presents her son to the schoolmaster, who 
 caresses him ; in the background a little boy is being whipped, 
 precisely in the same attitude in which correction is admin- 
 istered to this day in some of our schools. 
 
 2. St. Augustine under the fig-tree meditating, with the 
 inscription, " Dolores animse salutem parturientes ; " and the 
 same subject varied, with the inscription, Tolle, lege. He tells 
 us in his Confessions, that while still unconverted and in deep 
 communion with his friend Alypius on the subject of the 
 Scriptures, the contest within his mind was such that he 
 rushed from the presence of his friend and threw himself 
 down beneath a fig-tree, pouring forth torrents of repentant 
 tears ; and he heard a voice, as it were the voice of a child, 
 repeating several times, " Tolle, lege/' " Take and read ; " and 
 returning to the place where he had left his friend, and taking 
 up the sacred volume, he opened it at the verse of St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Romans, " Not in rioting and drunkenness, not 
 in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying ; but 
 put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for 
 the flesh." Considering that this was the voice of God, he 
 took up the religious profession, to the great joy of his mother 
 and his friend. 
 
 3. C. Procaccino. The Baptism of St. Augustine in the 
 presence of St. Monica. This is a common subject in chapels 
 dedicated to St. Augustine or St. Monica. (Cremona.) 
 
 4. As the supposed founder of one of the four great reli- 
 gious communities, St. Augustine is sometimes represented as 
 giving the rules to his Order : or in the act of writing them 
 while his monks stand around, as in a picture by Carletto
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE 307 
 
 Cagliari (Belvedere, Vienna) : both are common subjects in 
 the houses of the Augustine friars. The habit is black. (Vide 
 Legends of the Monastic Orders.) 
 
 5. St. Augustine dispensing alms, generally in a black habit, 
 and with a bishop's mitre on his head. 
 
 6. St. Augustine, washing the feet of the pilgrims, sees 
 Christ descend from above to have his feet washed with the 
 rest ; a large picture in the Bologna Academy by Desubleo," a 
 painter whose works, with this one exception, are unknown to 
 me. The saint wears the black habit of an Augustine friar, 
 and is attended by a monk with a napkin in his hand. I 
 found the same subject in the Louvre, in a Spanish picture 
 of the seventeenth century; above is seen a church (like the 
 Pantheon) in a glory, and Christ is supposed to utter the 
 words, "Tibi commendo Ecclesiam meam." I believe this 
 picture was afterwards in the possession of Mr. Dennistoun, of 
 Dennistoun. Mr. Stirling mentions it as a fine specimen of 
 Murillo's second style. 
 
 7. St. Augustine, borne aloft by angels in an ecstatic vision, 
 beholds Christ in the opening heavens above, St. Monica 
 kneeling below. This fine picture, by Vandyck, is or was in 
 the gallery of Lord Methuen, at Corsham, 1 and at Madrid there 
 is another example, by Murillo : St. Augustine kneeling in an 
 ecstasy sees a celestial vision ; on one hand the Saviour cruci- 
 fied, on the other the Virgin and angels. 
 
 This, however, is not the famous subject called, in general, 
 8. "The Vision of St. Augustine," which represents a dream 
 or vision related by himself. He tells us that while busied in 
 writing his discourse on the Trinity, he wandered along the 
 seashore lost in meditation. Suddenly he beheld a child who, 
 having dug a hole in the sand, appeared to be bringing water 
 from the sea to fill it. Augustine inquired what Avas the 
 object of his task ? He replied, that he intended to empty 
 into this cavity all the waters of the great deep. " Impossi- 
 ble ! " exclaimed Augustine. " Not more impossible," replied 
 the child, " than for thee, Augustine ! to explain the mys- 
 tery on which thou art now meditating." 
 
 No subject from the history of St. Augustine has been so 
 
 1 [A picture of St. Augustine in Ecstasy, by Vandyck, is in the Church of 
 St. Augustine, at Antwerp.]
 
 308 
 
 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 often treated, yet I do not remember any very early example. 
 It was adopted as a favorite theme when Art became rather 
 theological than religious, and more intent on illustrating the 
 dogmas of churchmen than the teaching of Christ. During 
 the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries we find it everywhere, 
 and treated in every variety of style ; but the motif does not 
 vary, and the same fault prevails too generally, of giving us a 
 
 Vision of St. Augustine (Garofalo) 
 
 material fact, rather than a spiritual vision or revelation. Au- 
 gustine, arrayed in his black habit or his episcopal robes, 
 stands on the seashore, gazing with an astonished air on the 
 Infant Christ, who pauses, and looks up from his task, hold- 
 ing a bowl, a cup, a ladle, or a shell in his hand. Thus we 
 have it in Murillo's picture the most beautiful example I 
 have seen : the child is heavenly, bxit not visionary, " palpable 
 to feeling as to sense." [Collection of Joseph T. Mills, Esq., 
 Rugby, Warwickshire.] 
 
 In Garofalo's picture of this subject, now in our National 
 Gallery, Augustine is seated on a rock by the margin of the 
 sea, habited in his episcopal robes, and with his books and 
 writing implements near him ; and while he gazes on the mys- 
 terious child, the Virgin appears amid a choir of angels above : 
 behind Augustine stands St. Catherine, the patron saint of
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE 309 
 
 theologians and scholars : the little red figure in the back- 
 ground represents St. Stephen, whose life and actions are elo- 
 quently set forth in the homilies of St. Augustine : the intro- 
 duction of St. Catherine, St. Stephen, and the whole court of 
 heaven, gives the picture a visionary character. Rubens has 
 painted this subject with all his powerful reality : here Augus- 
 tine wears the black habit of his Order. Vandyck in his large 
 grand picture has introduced St. Monica kneeling, thus giving 
 at once the devotional or visionary character. (Once in Lord 
 Methuen's Gallery at Corsham.) Albert Dtirer has designed 
 and engraved the same subject. The most singular treatment 
 is the classical composition of Raphael, in one of the small 
 chiaro-scuro pictures placed significantly under the " Dispute of 
 the Sacrament." St. Augustine is in a Roman dress, bare- 
 headed, and on horseback ; his horse starts and rears at the 
 sight of the miraculous child. 
 
 There is something at once picturesque and mystical in this 
 subject, which has rendered it a favorite with artists and theo- 
 logians ; yet there is always, at least in every instance I can 
 recollect, something prosaic and literal in the treatment which 
 spoils the poetry of the conception. 
 
 9. " St. Augustine and St. Stephen bury Count Orgaz " 
 the masterpiece of Domenico el Greco, once in the Cathedral of 
 Toledo, now in the Madrid Gallery. This Conde de Orgaz, 
 as Mr. Ford tells us in his Handbook, lived in 1312, and had 
 repaired a church in his lifetime, and therefore St. Stephen 
 and St. Augustine came down from heaven to lay him in his 
 tomb, in presence of Christ, the Virgin, and all the court of 
 heaven. " The black and gold armor of the dead Count is 
 equal to Titian ; the red brocades and copes of the saints are 
 admirable ; less good are the Virgin and celestial groups." I 
 have before mentioned the reason why St. Aiigustine and St. 
 Stephen *re often represented in companionship. 
 
 St. Monica is often introduced into pictures of her son, 
 where she has, of course, the secondai'y place ; her dress is 
 usually a black robe, and a veil or coif, white or gray, resem- 
 bling that of a nun or a widow. I have met with but one 
 picture where she is supreme ; it is in the Carmine at Flor- 
 ence. St. Monica is seated on a throne and attended by twelve 
 holy women or female saints, six on each side. The very dark 
 situation of this picture prevented me from distinguishing in-
 
 310 
 
 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 dividually the saints around her, but Monica herself as well 
 as the other figures have that grandiose air which belongs to 
 the painter Filippo Lippi. 1 
 
 I saw in the atelier of the, painter Ary Schefier, in 1845, 
 an admirable picture of St. Augustine and his mother Monica. 
 The two figures, not quite full length, are seated ; she holds 
 
 St. Augustine and St. Monica (Ary Scheffer) 
 
 his hand in both hers, looking up to heaven with an expres- 
 sion of enthusiastic undoubting faith, " the son of so many 
 tears cannot be cast away ! " He also is looking up with an 
 ardent, eager, but anxious, doubtful expression, which seems to 
 say, "Help thou my unbelief!" For profound and truthful 
 feeling and significance, I know few things in the compass of 
 
 1 [The picture described is probably the fresco in the church of Santo 
 Spirito, Florence, and is in the style of the Pollaiuoli. Vide Crowe and 
 Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Jtaly, vol. ii. p. 397-]
 
 ST. GREGORY 311 
 
 modern Art that can be compared to this picture. [In the 
 National Gallery, London. Acquired by bequest in 1885.] 
 
 ST. GREGORY 
 
 Lot. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus. Ital. San Gregorio Magno or 
 Papa. Fr. St. Gregoire. Ger. Der Heilige Gregor. (March 12, 
 A. D. 604.) 
 
 The fourth Doctor of the Latin Church, St. Gregory, styled, 
 and not without reason, Gregory the Great, was one of those 
 extraordinary men whose influence is not only felt in their 
 own time, but through long succeeding ages. The events of 
 his troubled and splendid pontificate belong to history ; and I 
 shall merely throw together here such particulars of his life 
 and character as may serve to render the multiplied represen- 
 tations of him both intelligible and interesting, He was born 
 at Rome in the year 540. His father, Gordian, was of sena- 
 torial rank : his mother, Sylvia, who, in the history of St. 
 Gregory, is almost as important as St. Monica in the story of 
 St. Augustine, was a woman of rare endowments, and, during 
 his childish years, the watchful instructress of her son. It is 
 recorded that when he was still an infant she was favored by 
 a vision of St. Anthony, in which he promised to her son the 
 supreme dignity of the tiara. Gregory, however, commenced 
 his career in life as a lawyer, and exercised during twelve 
 years the office of praetor or chief magistrate of his native city ; 
 yet, while apparently engrossed by secular affairs, he became 
 deeply imbued with the religious enthusiasm which was char- 
 acteristic of his time and hereditary in his family. Imme- 
 diately on the death of his father he devoted all the wealth 
 he had inherited to pious and charitable purposes, converted 
 his paternal home on the Celian Hill into a monastery and 
 hospital for the poor, which he dedicated to St. Andrew ; 
 then, retiring to a little cell within it, he took the habit of the 
 Benedictine Order, and gave up all his time to study and prep- 
 aration for the duties to which he had devoted himself. On 
 the occasion of a terrific plague which almost depopulated 
 Eome, he fearlessly undertook the care of the poor and sick. 
 Pope Pelagius having died at this time, the people with one 
 voice called upon Gregory to succeed him ; but he shrank from 
 the high office, and wrote to the Emperor Maurice, entreating
 
 312 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 him not to ratify the choice of the people. The emperor 
 sent an edic.t confirming his election, and thereupon Gregory 
 fled from Rome, and hid himself in a cave. Those who went 
 in search of him were directed to the place of his concealment 
 by a celestial light, and the fugitive was discovered and brought 
 back to Rome. 
 
 No sooner had he assumed the tiara, thus forced upon him 
 against his will, than he showed himself in all respects worthy 
 of his elevation. While he asserted the dignity of his sta- 
 tion, he was distinguished by his personal humility : he was 
 the first pope who took the title of " Servant of the Servants 
 of God ; " he abolished slavery throughout Christendom on 
 religious grounds ; though enthusiastic in making converts, he 
 set himself against persecution ; arid when the Jews of Sar- 
 dinia appealed to him, he commanded that the synagogues 
 which had been taken from them, and converted into churches, 
 should be restored. He was the first who sent missionaries to 
 preach the Gospel in England, roused to pity by the sight of 
 some British captives exposed for sale in the market at Rome. 
 Shocked at the idea of an eternity of vengeance and torment, 
 if he did not originate the belief in purgatory, he was at least 
 the first who preached it publicly, and made it an article of 
 faith. In his hatred of war, of persecution, of slavery, he 
 stepped not only in advance of his own time, but of ours. He 
 instituted the celibacy of the clergy, one of the boldest strokes 
 of ecclesiastical power ; he reformed the services of the Church ; 
 defined the model of the Roman liturgy, such as it has ever 
 since remained the offices of the priests, the variety and 
 change of the sacerdotal garments ; he arranged the music of 
 the chants, and he himself trained the choristers. " Experi- 
 ence," says Gibbon, " had shown him the efficacy of these 
 solemn and pompous rites to soothe the distress, to confirm 
 the faith, to mitigate the fierceness, and to dispel the dark en- 
 thusiasm of the vulgar, and he readily forgave their tendency 
 to promote the reign of priesthood and superstition." If, at 
 a period when credulity and ignorance were universal, he 
 showed himself in some instances credulous and ignorant, it 
 seems hardly a reproach to one in other respects so good and 
 so great. 
 
 His charity was boundless, and his vigilance indefatigable : 
 he considered himself responsible for every sheep of the flock
 
 ST. GKEGORY 313 
 
 intrusted to him ; and when a beggar died of hunger in the 
 streets of Rome, he laid himself under a sentence of penance 
 and excommunication, and interdicted himself for several days 
 from the exercise of his sacerdotal functions. 
 
 Such was St. Gregory the Great, the last pope who was 
 canonized : celestial honors and worldly titles have often heen 
 worse seldom so well bestowed. 
 
 During the last two years of his life, his health, early 
 impaired by fasts and vigils, failed entirely, and he was unable 
 to rise from his couch. He died in 604, in the fourteenth 
 year of his pontificate. They still preserve, in the church of 
 the Lateran at Rome, his bed, and the little scourge with 
 which he was wont to keep the choristers in order. 
 
 The monastery of St. Andrew, which he founded on the 
 Celian Hill, is now the church of San Gregorio. To stand 
 on the summit of the majestic flight of steps which leads to 
 the portal, and look across to the ruined palace of the Caesars, 
 makes the mind giddy with the rush of thoughts. There, 
 before us, the Palatine Hill pagan Rome in dust ; here, the 
 little cell, a few feet square, where slept in sackcloth the man 
 who gave the last blow to the power of the Caesars, and first 
 set his foot as sovereign on the cradle and capital of their 
 greatness. 
 
 St. Gregory was in person tall and corpulent, and of a dark 
 complexion, Avith black hair and very little beard. He speaks 
 in one of his epistles of his large size, contrasted with his weak- 
 ness and painful infirmities. He presented to the monastery 
 of St. Andrew his own portrait, and those of his father and 
 his mother, St. Sylvia : they were still in existence three hun- 
 dred years after his death, and the portrait of Gregory proba- 
 bly furnished that particular type of physiognomy which we 
 trace in all the best representations of him, in which he ap- 
 pears of a tall, large, and dignified person, with a broad full 
 face, black hair and eyebrows, and little or no beard. 
 
 As he was, next to St. Jerome, the most popular of the 
 Four Doctors, single figures of him abound. They are vari- 
 ously treated : in general, he bears the tiara as pope, and the 
 crosier with the double cross, in common with other papal 
 saints ; but his peculiar attribute is the dove, which in the 
 old pictures is always close to his ear. He is often seated on
 
 314 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 a throne in the pontifical robes, wearing the tiara : one hand 
 raised in benediction ; in the other a book, which represents 
 his homilies and other famous works attributed to him : the 
 dove either rests on his shoulder or is hovering over his head. 
 He is thus represented in the fine statue, designed, as it is said, 
 by M. Angelo, and executed by Cordieri, in the chapel of St. 
 Barbara, in San Gregorio, Borne ; and in the picture over the 
 altar-piece of his chapel, to the right of the high altar. In 
 the Salviati Chapel, on the left, is the " St. Gregory in prayer," 
 by Annibal Caracci. He is seen in front bareheaded, but 
 arrayed in the pontifical habit, kneeling on a cushion, his hands 
 outspread and uplifted ; the dove descends from on high ; the 
 tiara is at his feet, and eight angels hover around : a grand, 
 finely-colored, but, in sentiment, rather cold and mannered 
 picture. There is a duplicate in the Bridgewater Gallery. 
 
 By Guercino, St. Gregory seated on a throne, looking up- 
 wards, his hand on an open book, in act to turn the leaves ; 
 the dove hovers at his shoulder : to the left stands St. Francis 
 Xavier ; on the right, and more in front, St. Ignatius Loyola. 
 Behind St. Gregory is an angel playing on the viol, in allusion 
 to his love and patronage of sacred music ; in front an infant 
 angel holds the tiara. The type usually adopted in figures of 
 St. Gregory is here exaggerated into coarseness, and the picture 
 altogether appears to me more remarkable for Guercino's faults 
 than for his beauties. (Sutherland Gallery.) 
 
 Several of the legends connected with the history of St. 
 Gregory are of singular interest and beauty, and have afforded 
 a number of picturesque themes for Art : they appear to have 
 arisen out of his exceeding popularity. They are all expres- 
 sive of the veneration in which he was held by the people ; 
 of the deep impression left on their minds by his eloquence, 
 his sanctity, his charity ; and of the authority imputed to his 
 numerous writings, which were commonly said to have been 
 dictated by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 1. John the deacon, his secretary, who has left a full ac- 
 count of his life, declares that he beheld the Holy Ghost in 
 the form of a dove perched upon his shoulder while he was 
 writing or dictating his famous homilies. This vision, or 
 rather figure of speech, has been interpreted as a fact by the
 
 ST. GREGOKY 315 
 
 early painters. Thus, in a quaint old picture in the Bologna 
 Gallery, we have St. Gregory seated on a throne writing, the 
 celestial dove at his ear. A little behind is seen John the 
 deacon, drawing aside the curtain, and looking into the room 
 at his patron with an expression of the most naive astonish- 
 ment. 1 
 
 2. The Archangel Michael, on the cessation of the pesti- 
 lence, sheathes his sword on the summit of the Mole of Ha- 
 drian. I have never seen even a tolerable picture of this 
 magnificent subject. There is a picture in the Vatican, in 
 which Gregory and a procession of priests are singing litanies, 
 and in the distance a little Mola di Adriano, with a little 
 angel on the summit ; curious, but without merit of any kind. 
 
 3. The Supper of St. Gregory. It is related that when 
 Gregory was only a monk, in the monastery of St. Andrew, a 
 beggar presented himself at the gate, and requested alms : 
 being relieved, he came again and again, and at length nothing 
 was left for the charitable saint to bestow but the silver por- 
 ringer in which his mother, Sylvia, had sent him si potage ; 
 and he commanded that this should be given to the mendicant. 
 It was his custom, when he became pope, to entertain every 
 evening at his own table twelve poor men, in remembrance of 
 the number of our Lord's apostles. One night, as he sat at 
 supper with his guests, he saw, to his surprise, not twelve, but 
 thirteen seated at his table. And he called to his steward, 
 and said to him, " Did I not command thee to invite twelve ? 
 and behold, there are thirteen ! " And the steward told them 
 over, and replied, " Holy Father, there are surely twelve 
 only ! " and Gregory held his peace ; and after the meal, he 
 called forth the unbidden guest, and asked him, " Who art 
 thou ? " And he replied, " I am the poor man whom thou 
 didst formerly relieve ; but my name is the Wonderful, and 
 through me thou shalt obtain whatever thou shalt ask of God." 
 Then Gregory knew that he had entertained an angel (or, 
 according to another version of the story, our Lord Himself). 
 This legend has been a frequent subject in painting, under 
 the title of " The Supper of St. Gregory." In the fresco in 
 his church at Home [Viviani], it is a winged angel who ap- 
 pears at the supper-table. In the fresco of Paul Veronese, 
 
 l [The editor is unable to identify this picture in the catalogue of the 
 Bologna Gallery.]
 
 316 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 one of his famous banquet-scenes, the stranger seated at the 
 table is the Saviour habited as a pilgrim. (Vicenza. S. Maria 
 del Monte.) In the picture painted by Vasari, his master- 
 piece, now in the Bologna Gallery, he has introduced a great 
 number of figures and portraits of distinguished personages 
 of his own time, St. Gregory being represented under the like- 
 ness of Clement VII. The unbidden guest, or angel, bears 
 the features of the Saviour. 
 
 This is one of many beautiful mythic legends, founded on 
 the words of St. Paul in which -he so strongly recommends 
 hospitality as one of the virtues : " Be not forgetful to enter- 
 tain strangers : for thereby some have entertained angels una- 
 wares." (Heb. xiii. 2.) Or, as Massinger has rendered the 
 apostolic precept, 
 
 Learn all, 
 
 By this example, to look on the poor 
 
 With gentle eyes, for in such habits often 
 
 Angels desire an alms. 
 
 4. The Mass of St. Gregory. On a certain occasion, when 
 St. Gregory was officiating at the mass, one who was near him 
 doubted the real presence ; thereupon, at the prayer of the 
 saint, a vision is suddenly revealed of the crucified Saviour 
 Himself, who descends upon the altar, surrounded by the 
 instruments of His passion. This legend has been a popular 
 subject of painting from the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, and is called " The Mass of St. Gregory." I have met 
 with it in every variety of treatment and grouping ; but, how- 
 ever treated, it is not a pleasing subject. St. Gregory is seen 
 officiating at the altar, surrounded by his attendant clergy. 
 Sometimes several saints are introduced in a poetical manner, 
 as witnesses of the miracle : as in an old picture I saw in the 
 gallery of Lord Northwick, 1 the crucified Saviour descends 
 from the cross and stands on the altar, or is upborne in the 
 air by angels, while all the incidental circumstances and in- 
 struments of the Passion not merely the crown of thorns, 
 the spear, the nails, but the kiss of Judas, the soldiers' dice, 
 the cock that crew to Peter are seen floating in the air. 
 As a specimen of the utmost naivete in this representation 
 may be mentioned Albert Dlirer's woodcut. 
 
 l [The collection of Lord Northwick was dispersed by a sale in 1859. Vide 
 Redford's Sales, vol. i. p. 157.]
 
 ST. GREGORY 317 
 
 The least offensive and most elegant in treatment is the 
 marble bas-relief in front of the altar in the Chapel of St. 
 Gregory at Rome. 
 
 5. The miracle of the Brandeum. The Empress Constantia 
 sent to St. Gregory requesting some of the relics of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul. He excused himself, saying that he dared not 
 disturb their sacred remains for such a purpose, but he sent her 
 part of a consecrated cloth (Brandeuni) which had enfolded 
 the body of St. John the Evangelist. The empress rejected 
 this gift with contempt : whereupon Gregory, to show that 
 such things are hallowed not so much in themselves as by the 
 faith of believers, laid the Brandeum on the altar, and after 
 praying he took up a knife and pierced it, and blood flowed as 
 from a living body. This incident, called the "miracle del 
 Brandei," has also been painted. Andrea Sacchi has repre- 
 sented it in a grand picture now in the Vatican ; the mosaic 
 copy is over the altar of St. Gregory in St. Peter's. Gregory 
 holds up to view the bleeding cloth, and the expression of 
 astonishment and conviction in the countenances of the assist- 
 ants is very fine. 
 
 6. St. Gregory releases the soul of the Emperor Trajan. In 
 a little picture in the Bologna Academy, 1 he is seen praying 
 before a tomb, on which is inscribed TRAJANO IMPERADOK ; 
 beneath are two angels raising the soul of Trajan out of the 
 flames. Such is the usual treatment of this curious and poetical 
 legend, which is thus related in the " Legenda Aurea:" "It 
 happened on a time, as Trajan was hastening to battle at the 
 head of his legions, that a poor widow flung herself in his 
 path, and cried aloud for justice, and the emperor stayed to 
 listen to her ; and she demanded vengeance for the innocent 
 blood of her son, killed by the son of the emperor. Trajan 
 promised to do her justice when he returned from his ex- 
 pedition. 'But, sire,' answered the widow, 'should you be 
 killed in battle, who then will do me justice ? ' ' My succes- 
 sor,' replied Trajan. And she said, ' What will it signify to 
 you, great emperor, that any other than yourself should do me 
 justice ? Is it not better that you should do this good action 
 yourself than leave another to do it ? ' And Trajan, alighted, 
 and having examined into the affair, he gave up his own son 
 
 1 [The name of the artist not being given, it is not possible to find in the 
 Bologna Gallery catalogue the picture here refer -ed to.J
 
 318 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 to her in place of him she had lost, and bestowed on her like- 
 wise a rich dowry. Now it came to pass that as Gregory was 
 one day meditating in his daily walk, this action of the Em- 
 peror Trajan came into his mind, and he wept bitterly to think 
 that a man so just should be condemned as a heathen to eternal 
 punishment. And entering into a church he prayed most 
 fervently that the soul of the good emperor might be released 
 from torment. And a voice said to him, ' I have granted thy 
 prayer, and I have spared the soul of Trajan for thy sake ; but 
 because thou hast supplicated for one whom the justice of God 
 had already condemned, thou shalt choose one of two things : 
 either thou shalt endure for two days the fires of purgatory, or 
 thou shalt be sick and infirm for the remainder of thy life.' 
 Gregory chose the latter, which sufficiently accounts for the 
 grievous pains and infirmities to which this great and good 
 man was subjected, even to the day of his death." 
 
 This story of Trajan was extremely popular in the middle 
 ages : it is illustrative of the character of Gregory, and the 
 feeling which gave rise to his doctrine of Purgatory. Dante 
 twice alludes to it ; he describes it as one of the subjects sculp- 
 tured on the walls of purgatory, and takes occasion to relate 
 the whole story : 
 
 There was storied on the rock 
 Th' exalted glory of the Roman prince, 
 Whose mighty worth moved Gregory to earn 
 His mighty conquest Trajan the Emperor. 
 A widow at his bridle stood attired 
 In tears and mourning. Round about them trooped 
 Full throng of knights: and overhead in gold 
 The eagles floated, struggling with the wind. 
 The wretch appeared amid all these to say: 
 " Grant vengeance, sire ! for, woe beshrew this heart, 
 My son is murdered ! " He, replying, seemed : 
 " Wait now till I return." And she, as one 
 Made hasty by her grief: " sire, if thou 
 Dost not return ? " " Where I am, who then is, 
 May right thee." " What to thee is other's good, 
 If thou neglect thy own ? " " Now comfort thee," 
 At length he answers. " It beseemeth well 
 My duty be performed, ere I move hence. 
 So justice wills; and pity bids me stay." 
 
 Cary's Dante, Purg. x. 
 
 It was through the efficacy of St. Gregory's intercession that 
 Dante afterwards finds Trajan in Paradise, seated between 
 King David and King Hezekiah. (Par. xx.)
 
 MIRACLE OF ST. GREGORY (A. SACCHI)
 
 ST. GREGORY 319 
 
 As a subject of painting, the story of Trajan was sometimes 
 selected as an appropriate ornament for a hall of justice. We 
 find it sculptured on one of the capitals of the pillars of the 
 Ducal Palace at Venice : there is the figure of the widow 
 kneeling, somewhat stiff, but very simple and expressive, and 
 over it in rude ancient letters, " Trajano Imperador, die die 
 justizia a la Vedova" In the Town Hall of Ceneda, near 
 Belluna, are the three Judgments (i tre Giudizi), painted by 
 Pompeo Amalteo : the Judgment of Solomon, the Judgment 
 of Daniel, and the Judgment of Trajan. It is painted in the 
 Town Hall of Brescia by Giulio Campi, one of a series of eight 
 righteous judgments. 
 
 I found the same subject in the Church of St. Thomas of 
 Canterbury at Verona. " The son of the Emperor Trajan 
 trampling over the son of the widow " is a most curious com- 
 position by Hans Schaufelein. (Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, 
 vii. 264.) 
 
 7. There was a monk, who, in defiance of his vow of pov- 
 erty, secreted in his cell three pieces of gold. Gregory, on 
 learning this, excommunicated him, and shortly afterwards the 
 monk died. When Gregory heard that the monk had perished 
 in his sin, without receiving absolution, he was filled with 
 grief and horror ; and he wrote upon a parchment a prayer 
 and a form of absolution, and gave it to one of his deacons, 
 desiring him to go to the grave of the deceased and read it 
 there : on the following night the monk appeared in a vision, 
 and revealed to him his release from torment. 
 
 This story is represented in the beautiful bas-relief in white 
 marble in front of the altar of his chapel ; it is the last com- 
 partment on the right. The obvious intention of this wild 
 legend is to give effect to the doctrine of purgatory and the 
 efficacy of prayers for the dead. 
 
 St. Gregory's merciful doctrine of purgatory also suggested 
 those pictures so often found in chapels dedicated to the service 
 of the dead, in which he is represented in the attitude of sup- 
 plication, while on one side, or in the background, angels are 
 raising the tormented souls out of the flames. 
 
 In ecclesiastical decoration I have seen the two popes, St. 
 Gelasius, who reformed the calendar in 494, and St. Celesti- 
 nus, who arranged the discipline of the Monastic Orders, added 
 to the series of beatified Doctors of the Church.
 
 320 THE DOCTOKS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 II. THE FOUR GREEK FATHERS 
 
 The Four Greek Fathers are St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil 
 the Great, St. Athanasius, and St. Gregory Nazianzen. To 
 these, in Greek pictures, a fifth is generally added, St. Cyril 
 of Alexandria. 
 
 From the time of the schism between the Eastern and West- 
 ern Churches, these venerable personages, who once exercised 
 such an influence over all Christendom, who preceded the 
 Latin Fathers, and were in fact their teachers, have been 
 almost banished from the religious representations of the west 
 of Europe. When they are introduced collectively as a part 
 of the decoration of an ecclesiastical edifice, we may conclude 
 in general that the work is Byzantine and executed under the 
 influence of Greek artists. 
 
 A signal example is the central dome of the baptistery of 
 St. Mark's at Venice, executed by Greek artists of the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries. In the four spandrils of the vault are 
 the Greek Fathers seated, writing (if I well remember), and in 
 the purest Byzantine style of Art. They occupy the same 
 places here that we find usually occupied by the Latin Doctors 
 in church decoration : each has his name inscribed in Greek 
 characters. We have exactly the same representation in the 
 Cathedral of Monreale at Palermo. The Greek Fathers have 
 no attributes to distinguish them, and the general custom in 
 Byzantine Art of inscribing the names over each figure renders 
 this unnecessary : in general, each holds a book, or, in some 
 instances, a scroll, which represents his writings ; while the 
 right hand is raised in benediction, in the Greek manner, the 
 first and second finger extended, arid the thumb and third 
 finger forming a cross. According to the formula published 
 by M. Didron, each of the Greek Fathers bears on a scroll the 
 first words of some remarkable passage from his works : thus, 
 St. John Chrysostom has " God, our God, who hath given us 
 for food the bread of life," etc. ; St. Basil, " None of those 
 who are in the bondage of fleshly desires are worthy," etc. ; 
 St. Athanasius, " Often, and anew, do we flee to thee, God," 
 etc. ; St. Gregory Nazianzen, " God, the holy among the ho- 
 lies, the thrice holy," etc.; and St. Cyril, "Above all, a 
 Virgin without sin or blemish," etc.
 
 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 321 
 
 The Greek bishops do not wear mitres ; consequently, when 
 in the Italian or German pictures St. Basil or any of his com- 
 panions wear the mitre, it is a mistake arising from the igno- 
 rance of the artist. 
 
 The Fathers of the Greek Church have been represented by 
 Domenichino at Grotta Ferrata, placed over the cornice and 
 under the evangelists, their proper place : they are majestic 
 figures, with fine heads, and correctly draped according to the 
 Greek ecclesiastical costume. They are placed here with pecul- 
 iar propriety, because the convent originally belonged to the 
 Greek order of St. Basil, and the founder, St. Nilus, was a 
 Greek. 1 
 
 As separate devotional and historical representations of 
 these Fathers do sometimes, though rarely, occur, I shall say 
 a few words of them individually. 
 
 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 
 
 Lot. Sanctus Johannes Chrysostom. Itul. San Giovanni Crises- 
 tomo, San Giovanni Bocca d' Oro. Fr. St. Jean Chrysostome. 
 Died September 14, A. D. 407. His festival is celebrated by the 
 Greeks on the 13th of November, and by the Latin Church on 
 the 27th of January. 
 
 St. John, called CHRYSOSTOM, or OF THE GOLDEN MOUTH, 
 because of his extraordinary eloquence, was born at Antioch 
 in 344. His parents were illustrious, and the career opened 
 to him was of arts and arms ; but from his infancy the bent 
 of his mind was peculiar. He lost his father when young ; 
 his mother Arthusia, still in the prime of her life, remained a 
 widow for his sake, and superintended his education with care 
 and intelligence. The remark of Sir James Mackintosh that 
 " all distinguished men have had able mothers," appears 
 especially true of the great churchmen and poets. The 
 mother of St. John Chrysostom ranks with the Monicas and 
 Sylvias, already described. 
 
 John, at the age of twenty, was already a renowned pleader 
 at the bar. At the age of twenty-six, the disposition to 
 self-abnegation and the passion for solitude, which had dis- 
 
 1 For an account of St. Nilns, and the foundation of Grotta Ferrata, see 
 the Legends of the Monastic Orders.
 
 322 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 tinguished him from boyhood, became so strong that he wished 
 to retire altogether from the world ; his legal studies, his legal 
 honors, had become hateful to him : he would turn hermit. 
 For a time his mother's tears and prayers restrained him. He 
 has himself recorded the pathetic remonstrance in which she 
 reminded him of all she had done and suffered in her state of 
 widowhood for his sake, and besought him not to leave her. 
 For the present he yielded : but two years later he fled from 
 society, and passed five or six years in the wilderness near 
 Antioch, devoting himself solely to the study of the Scrip- 
 tures, to penance and prayer ; feeding on the wild vegetables, 
 and leading a life of such rigorous abstinence that his health 
 sank under it, and he was obliged to return to Antioch. 
 
 All this time he was not even an ordained priest ; but 
 shortly after he had emerged from the desert, Flavian, bishop 
 of Antioch, ordained him, and appointed him preacher. At 
 the moment of his consecration, according to the tradition, a 
 white dove descended on his head, which was regarded as the 
 sign of immediate inspiration. He then entered on his true 
 vocation as a Christian orator, the greatest next to Paul. On 
 one occasion, when the people of Antioch had offended the 
 Emperor Theodosius, and were threatened with a punishment 
 like that which had fallen on Thessalonica, the eloquence of 
 St. John Chrysostom saved them : he was so adored by the 
 people, that when he was appointed patriarch of Constanti- 
 nople it was necessary to kidnap him, and carry him off from 
 Antioch by a force of armed soldiers, before the citizens had 
 time to interfere. 
 
 From the moment he entered on his high office at Constan- 
 tinople he became the model of a Christian bishop. Humble, 
 self-denying, sleeping on a bare plank, content with a little 
 bread and pulse, he entertained with hospitality the poor and 
 strangers : indefatigable as a preacher, he used his great gift 
 of eloquence to convert his hearers to what he believed to be 
 the truth: he united the enthusiasm and the imagination of 
 the poet, the elegant taste of the scholar, the logic of the 
 pleader, with the inspired earnestness of one who had au- 
 thority from above. He was, like St. Jerome, remarkable for 
 his influence over women ; and his correspondence with one of 
 his female converts and friends, Olympias, is considered one 
 of the finest of his works remaining to us ; but, inexorable in
 
 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 323 
 
 his denunciations of vice, without regard to sex or station, he 
 thundered against the irregularities of the monks, the luxury 
 and profligacy of the Empress Eudosia, and the servility of 
 her flatterers, and brought down upon himself the vengeance 
 *of that haughty woman, with whom the rest of his life was 
 one long contest. He was banished : the voice of the people 
 obliged the emperor to recall him. Persisting in the resolute 
 defence of his church privileges, and his animadversions on 
 the court and the clergy, he was again banished ; and, on his 
 way to his distant place of exile, sank under fatigue and the 
 cruel treatment of his guards, who exposed him, bare-headed 
 and bare-footed, to the burning sun of noon : and thus he 
 perished, in the tenth year of his bishopric, and the sixty- 
 third of his age. Gibbon adds, that, " at the pious solicita- 
 tion of the clergy and people of Constantinople, his relics, 
 thirty years after his death, were transported from their ob- 
 scure sepulchre to the royal city. The Emperor Theodosius 
 advanced to receive them as far as Chalcedon, and, falling 
 prostrate on the coffin, implored, in the name of his guilty 
 parents, Arcadius and Eudosia, the forgiveness of the injured 
 saint." 
 
 It is- owing, I suppose, to the intercourse of Venice with 
 the East, that one of her beautiful churches is dedicated to 
 San Gian Grisostomo, as they call him there, in accents as 
 soft and sonorous as his own Greek. Over the high altar is 
 the grandest devotional picture in which' I have seen this saint 
 figure as a chief personage. It is the masterpiece of Sebastian 
 del Piombo, 1 and represents St. John Chrysostom throned and 
 in the act of writing in a great book ; behind him, St. Paul. 
 In front, to the right, stands St. John the Baptist, and behind 
 him St. George, as patron of Venice ; to the left Mary Mag- 
 dalene, with a beautiful Venetian face ; behind her, St. Cath- 
 erine, patroness of Venice ; close to St. J. Chrysostom stands 
 St. Lucia holding her lamp ; she is here the type of celestial 
 light or wisdom. (Dante, Inf. c. xi.) This picture was for a 
 long time attributed to Giorgione. There was also a very fine 
 majestic figure of this saint by Rubens, in the collection of 
 M. Schamp ; he is in the habit of a Greek bishop ; in one 
 hand he holds the sacramental cup, and the left hand rests on 
 
 1 According to Sansovino, begun by Giorgione, and finished by Sebastian.
 
 324 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 the Gospel*: the celestial dove hovers near him, and two angels 
 are in attendance. 
 
 I cannot quit the history of St. John Chrysostom without 
 alhiding to a subject well known to collectors and amateurs,- 
 and popularly called "La Penitence de St. Jean Chrysostome." 
 It represents a woman undraped, seated in a cave, or wilder- 
 ness, with an infant in her arms ; or lying on the ground with 
 a new-born infant beside her ; in the distance is seen a man 
 with a glory round his head, meagre, naked, bearded, crawling 
 on his hands and knees in the most abject attitude : beneath, 
 or at the top, is inscribed S. JOHANNES CKISOSTOMUS. 
 
 For a long time this subject perplexed me exceedingly, 
 as I was quite unable to trace it in any of the biographies of 
 Chrysostom, ancient or modern : the kindness of a friend, 
 learned in all the byways as well as the highways of Italian 
 literature, at length assisted me to an explanation. 
 
 The bitter enmity excited against St. John Chrysostom in 
 his lifetime, and the furious vituperations of his adversary, 
 Theophilus of Alexandria, who denounced him as one stained 
 by every vice, " hostem humanitatis, sacrilegorum principew, 
 immundum dcemonem" as a wretch who had absolutely de- 
 livered up his soul to Satan, were apparently disseminated by 
 the monks. Jerome translated the abusive attack of Theophi- 
 lus into Latin ; and long after the slanders against Chrysostom 
 had been silenced in the East, they survived in the West. To 
 this may be added the slaughter of the Egyptian monks by 
 the friends of Chrysostom in the streets of Constantinople ; 
 which, I suppose, was also retained in the traditions, and mixed 
 up with the monkish fictions. It seems to have been forgotten 
 wiio John Chrysostom really was ; his name only survived in 
 the popular ballads and legends as an epitome of every horrible 
 crime ; and to account for his being, notwithstanding all this, 
 a saint, was a difficulty which in the old legend is surmounted 
 after a very original, and I must needs add, a very audacious 
 fashion. " I have," writes my friend, " three editions of this 
 legend in Italian, with the title ' La Historia di San Giovanni 
 Boccadoro.' It is in ottava rima, thirty -six stanzas in all, 
 occupying two leaves of letter-press. It was originally com- 
 posed in the fifteenth century, and reprinted again and again, 
 like the ballads and tales hawked by itinerant balladrnongers,
 
 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 325 
 
 from that day to this, and as well known to the lower orders 
 as ' Jack the Giant- Killer ' here. I will give you the story 
 as succinctly and as properly as I can. A gentleman of the 
 high roads, named Schitano, confesses his robberies and murders 
 to a certain Frate, who absolves him, upon a solemn promise 
 not to do three things 
 
 Che tu non facci falso sacramento, 
 Ne homicidio, ne adulterare. 
 
 Schitano thereupon takes possession of a cave, and turns 
 Romito (Hermit) in the wilderness. A neighboring king 
 takes his daughter out hunting with him ; a Avhite deer starts 
 across their path ; the king dashes away in pursuit ten miles 
 or more, forgetting his daughter ; night comes on ; the prin- 
 cess, left alone in the forest, wanders till she sees a light, and 
 knocks for admittance at the cave of Schitano. He fancies 
 at first that it must be the 'Demonio,' but at length he 
 admits her after long hesitation, and turns her horse out to 
 graze. Her beauty tempts him to break one of his vows; the 
 fear of discovery induces him to violate another by murdering 
 her, and throwing her body into a cistern. The horse, how- 
 ever, is seen by one of the cavaliers of the court, who knocks 
 and inquires if he has seen a certain ' donzella ' that way ? 
 The hermit swears that he has not beheld a Christian face for 
 three years, thus breaking his third vow ; but, reflecting on 
 this threefold sin with horror, he imposes on himself a most 
 severe penance ( ; un' aspra penitenza '), to wit : 
 
 Di stare sette anni nelT aspro diserto, 
 
 Pane non mangero ne bero vino, 
 
 Ne mai risguardero il ciel scoperto, 
 
 Non parlero Hebraico ne Latino, 
 
 Per fin che quel ch' io dico non e certo, 
 
 Che un fantin di sei di porga favella, 
 
 ' Perdonato t' ha Dio; va alia tua cella.' 
 
 That is, he swears that for seven years he will neither eat 
 bread nor drink wine, nor look up in the face of heaven, nor 
 speak either Hebrew or Latin, until it shall come to pass that 
 an infant of seven days old shall open its mouth and say, 
 'Heaven hath pardoned thee go in peace.' So, stripping 
 off his clothes, he crawls on hands and knees like the beasts of 
 the field, eating grass and drinking water.
 
 326 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 "Nor did his resolution fail him he persists in this 
 ' aspra penitenza ' for seven years 
 
 Sette anni e sette giorni nel diserto ; 
 Come le bestie andava lui carpone, 
 E mai non risguardo il ciel scoperto, 
 Peloso egli era a modo d' un montone; 
 Spine e fango il suo letto era per certo, 
 Del suo peccato havea contrizione; 
 E ogni cosa facea con gran fervore, 
 Per purgar il suo fallo e grand' errore. 
 
 In the mean time it came into the king's head to draw the 
 covers where the hermit was leading this life. The dogs of 
 course found, but neither they nor the king could make any- 
 thing of this new species of animal, ' die pareva un orso.' 
 So they took him home in a chain and deposited him in their 
 zoological collection, where he refused meat and bread, and 
 persisted in grazing. On new year's day the queen gives 
 birth to a son, who, on the seventh day after he is born, says 
 distinctly to the hermit, 
 
 Torna alia tua cella, 
 Che Dio t' ha perdonato il tuo peccato, 
 Levati su, Romito ! ora favella ! 
 
 But the hermit does not speak as commanded ; he makes signs 
 that he will write. The king orders the inkstand to be brought, 
 but there is no ink in it : so Schitano at once earns his sur- 
 name of Boccadoro (Chrysostom) by a simple expedient : he 
 puts the pen to his mouth, wets it with his saliva, and writes 
 in letters of gold, 
 
 Onde la penna in bocca si metteva, 
 E a scrivere comincib senza dimoro, 
 Col sputo, lettere che parevan d' oro ! 
 
 " After seven years and seven days, he opens his golden 
 mouth in speech, and confesses his foul crimes to the king ; 
 cavaliers are dispatched in search of the body of the princess ; 
 as they approach the cavern they hear celestial music and in 
 the end they bring the donzella out of the cistern alive and 
 well, and very sorry to leave the blessed Virgin and the 
 angels, with whom she had been passing her time most agree- 
 ably : she is restored to her parents with universal festa e 
 allegrezza, and she announces to the hermit that he is par- 
 doned and may returned to his cell, which he does forthwith,
 
 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 327 
 
 and ends in leading the life of a saint, and being beatified. 
 The ' discreti auditori ' are invited to take example 
 
 Da questo Santo pien di leggiadria 
 Che Iddio setnpre perdona a' peccatori, 
 
 and are finally informed that they may purchase this edifying 
 history on easy terms, to wit, a halfpenny 
 
 Due quattrini dia senza far piu parole. 
 
 The price, however, rose ; for in the next century the line is 
 altered thus : 
 
 Pero ciascun che comperarne vuole, 
 
 Tre quattrini mi dia senza piu parole." 
 
 The woodcuts prefixed to the ballad represent this saintly 
 Nebuchadnezzar on all fours, surprised by the king with his 
 huntsmen and dogs ; but no female figure, as in the German 
 prints, in which the German version of the legend has evi- 
 dently been in the mind of the artists. It differs in some 
 respects from the Italian ballad. I shall therefore give as 
 much of it here as will explain the artistic treatment of the 
 story. 
 
 " When John Chrysostom was baptized, the Pope l stood 
 godfather. At seven years old he went to school, but he was 
 so dull and backward that he became the laughing-stock of 
 his schoolfellows. Unable to endure their mockery, he took 
 refuge in a neighboring church, and prayed to the Virgin ; 
 and a voice whispered, ' Kiss me on the mouth, and thou 
 shalt be endowed with all learning.' He did so, and, return- 
 ing to the school, he surpassed all his companions, so that 
 they remained in astonishment : as they looked, they saw a 
 golden ring or streak round his mouth, and asked him how it 
 came there ? and when he told them they wondered yet more. 
 Thence he obtained the name Chrysostom. John was much 
 beloved by his godfather the Pope, who ordained him priest 
 at a very early age ; but the first time he offered the sacrifice 
 of the mass, he was struck to the heart by his unworthiness, 
 and resolved to seek his salvation in solitude ; therefore, 
 throwing off his priestly garments, he fled from the city, and 
 
 1 The Greek word Papa, here translated der Papst (the Pope), betrays the 
 Eastern origin of the story. It is the general title of the Greek priesthood, and 
 means simply a priest, elevated in the German legend into "the Pope."
 
 328 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHUliCH 
 
 made his dwelling in a cavern of the rock, and lived there a 
 long while in prayer and meditation. 
 
 "Now not far from the wilderness in which Chrysostom 
 dwelt was the capital of a great king ; and it happened that 
 one day, as the princess his daughter, who was young and 
 very fair, was walking with her companions, there came a sud- 
 den and violent gust of wind, which lifted her up and carried 
 her away, and set her down in the forest, far off; and she 
 wandered about till she came to the cave of Chrysostom and 
 knocked at the door. He, fearing some temptation of the 
 devil, would not let her in ; but she entreated, and said, ' I 
 am no demon, but a Christian woman ; and if thou leavest me 
 here, the wild beasts will devour me ! ' So he yielded per- 
 force, and arose and let her in. And he drew a line down the 
 middle of his cell, and said, ' That is your part, this is mine ; 
 and neither shall pass this line.' But this precaution was in 
 vain, for passion and temptation overpowered his virtue ; he 
 overstepped the line, and sinned. Both repented sorely ; and 
 Chrysostom, thinking that if the damsel remained longer in 
 his cave it would only occasion further sin, carried her to a 
 neighboring precipice, and flung her down. When he, had 
 done this deed, he was seized with horror and remorse ; and 
 he departed and went to Rome to his godfather the Pope, and 
 confessed all, and entreated absolution. But his godfather 
 knew him not ; and, being seized with horror, he drove him 
 forth, and refused to absolve him. So the unhappy sinner 
 fled to the wilderness, and made a solemn vow that he would 
 never rise from the earth nor look up, but crawl on his hands 
 and knees, until he had expiated his great sin and was ab- 
 solved by Heaven. 
 
 " When he had thus crawled on the earth for fifteen years, 
 the queen brought forth a son ; and when the Pope came to 
 baptize the child, the infant opened its mouth and said, 'I 
 will not be baptized by thee, but by St. John ; ' and he repeated 
 this three times : and none could understand this miracle ; 
 but the Pope was afraid to proceed. In the mean time, the 
 king's huntsmen had gone to the forest to bring home game 
 for the christening feast : there as they rode, they beheld a 
 strange beast creeping on the ground ; and not knowing what 
 it might be, they threw a mantle over it and bound it in a 
 chain and brought it to the palace. Many came to look on
 
 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 329 
 
 this strange beast, and with them came the nurse with the 
 king's son in her arms ; and immediately the child opened its 
 mouth and spake, ' John, come thou, and baptize me ! ' He 
 answered, ' If it be God's will, speak again ! ' And the 
 child spoke the same words a second and a third time. Then 
 John stood up ; and the hair and the moss fell from his body, 
 and they brought him garments ; and he took the child, and 
 baptized him with great devotion. 
 
 " When the king heard his confession, he thought, ' Per- 
 haps this was my daughter, who was lost and never found ; ' 
 and he sent messengers into the forest to seek for the remains 
 of his daughter, that her bones at least might rest in conse- 
 crated ground. When they came to the foot of the preci- 
 pice, there they found a beautiful woman seated, naked, and 
 holding a child in her arms ; and John said to her, ' Why 
 sittest thou here alone in the wilderness ? ' And she said, 
 ' Dost thou not know me ? I am the woman who came to 
 thy cave by night, and whom thou didst hurl down this 
 rock ! ' Then they brought her home with great joy to her 
 parents." l 
 
 This extravagant legend becomes interesting for two rea- 
 sons : it shows the existence of the popular feeling and belief 
 with regard to Chrysostom, long subsequent to those events 
 which roused the hatred of the early monks ; and it has been, 
 from its popular notoriety, embodied in some rare and valu- 
 able works of art, which all go under the name of " the Pen- 
 ance or Penitence of Johannes Chrysostom or Crisostomos." 
 
 1. A rare print by Lucas Cranach, composed and engraved 
 by himself. In the centre is an undraped woman reclining on 
 the ground against a rock, and contemplating her sleeping 
 infant, which is lying on her lap ; a stag, a hind crouching, a 
 pheasant feeding near her, express the solitude of her life ; in 
 the background is " the savage man " on all fours, and brows- 
 ing : here, he has no glory round his head. The whole com- 
 position is exceedingly picturesque. 
 
 2. A rare and beautiful print by B. Beham, and repeated 
 by Hans Sebald Beham, represents a Avoman lying on the 
 ground with her back turned to the spectator ; a child is near 
 
 1 Koburgher, Legendtnsammlung, 1488, p. 325; Heller's Leben und Werke 
 Albrecht Duress, p. 440.
 
 330 
 
 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 The Penance of St. Chrysostom (Albert Diirer) 
 
 her ; Chrysostom is seen crawling in the background, with the 
 glory round his head. 
 
 3. A small print by Albert Diirer, also exquisitely engraved 
 (from which I give a sketch). Here the woman is sitting at 
 the entrance of a rocky cave, feeding her child from her bosom : 
 in the background the " savage man " crawling on all fours, 
 and a glory round his head. This subject has been called St. 
 Genevieve of Brabant ; but it is evidently the same as in the 
 two last-named compositions. 
 
 All these prints, being nearly contemporaneous^ show that
 
 ST. BASIL THE GREAT 331 
 
 the legend must have been particularly popular about this 
 time (1509-1520). There is also an old French version of 
 the story which I have not seen. 
 
 ST. BASIL THE GREAT 
 
 Lot. St. Basilius Magnus. ItaL San Basilio Magno. Fr. St. 
 Basile. (June 14, A. D. 380.) 
 
 St. Basil, called the Great, was born at Cesarea in Cappado- 
 cia, in the year 328. He was one of a family of saints. His 
 father St. Basil, his mother St. Emnielie, his two brothers St. 
 Gregory of Nyssa and St. Peter of Sebaste, and his sister St. 
 Macrina, were all distinguished for their sanctity, and renowned 
 in the Greek calendar. The St. Basil who takes rank as the 
 second luminary of the Eastern Church, and whose dogmatical 
 and theological works influenced the faith of his own age, and 
 consequently of ours, was the greatest of all. But, notwith- 
 standing his importance in the Greek Church, he figures so 
 seldom in the productions of Western Art, that I shall content 
 myself with relating just so much of his life and actions as 
 may render the few representations of him interesting and 
 intelligible. 
 
 He owed his first education to his grandmother St. Macrina, 
 the elder, a woman of singular capacity and attainments, to 
 whom he has in various parts of his works acknowledged his 
 obligations. For several years he pursued his studies in pro- 
 fane learning, philosophy, law, and eloquence, at Constanti- 
 nople, and afterwards at Athens, where he had two companions 
 and fellow-students of very opposite character: Gregory of 
 Nazianzen, afterwards the Saint ; and Julian, afterwards the 
 Apostate. 
 
 The success of the youthful Basil in all his studies, and the 
 reputation he had obtained as an eloquent pleader, for a time 
 swelled his heart with vanity, and would have endangered his 
 salvation but for the influence of his sister, St. Macrina, who 
 in this emergency preserved him for himself, and elevated his 
 mind to far higher airiis than those of mere worldly science 
 and worldly distinction. From that period, and he was then 
 not more than twenty-eight, Basil turned his thoughts solely 
 to the edification of the Christian Church ; but first he spent 
 some years in retreat among the hermits of the desert, as was
 
 332 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 the fashion of that day, living, as they did, in abstinence, 
 poverty, and abstracted study ; acknowledging neither country, 
 family, home, nor friends, nor fortune, nor worldly interests 
 of any kind, but with his thoughts fixed solely on eternal life 
 in another world. In these austerities he, as was also usual, 
 consumed and ruined his bodily health ; and remained to the 
 end of his life a feeble wretched invalid, a circumstance 
 which was supposed to contribute greatly to his sanctity. He 
 was ordained priest in 362, and bishop of Cesarea in 370 ; his 
 ordination on the 14th of June being kept as one of the great 
 feasts of the Eastern Church* 
 
 On the episcopal throne he led the same life of abstinence 
 and humility as in a cavern of the desert ; and contended for 
 the doctrine of the Trinity against the Arians, but with less of 
 vehemence, and more of charity, than the other Doctors en- 
 gaged in the same controversy. The principal event of his 
 life was his opposition to the Emperor Valens, who professed 
 Arianism, and required that, in the Church of Cesarea, Basil 
 should perform the rite according to the custom of the Arians. 
 The bishop refused : he was threatened with exile, confiscation, 
 death : he persisted. The emperor, fearing a tumult, resolved 
 to appear in the church on the day of the Epiphany, but not 
 to communicate. He came, hoping to overawe the impracti- 
 cable bishop, surrounded by all his state, his courtiers, his 
 guards. He found Basil so intent on his sacred office as to 
 take not the slightest notice of him ; those of the clergy around 
 him continued to chant the service, keeping their eyes fixed in 
 the profoundest awe and respect on the countenance of their 
 bishop. Valens, in a situation new to him, became agitated : 
 he had brought his oblation ; he advanced with it ; but the 
 ministers at the altar, not knowing whether Basil would accept 
 it, dared not take it from his hands. Valens stood there for a 
 moment in sight of all the people, rejected before the altar, 
 he lost his presence of mind, trembled, swooned, and would 
 have fallen to the earth, if one of the attendants had not 
 received him in his arms. A conference afterwards took place 
 between Basil and the emperor ; but the' latter remained uncon- 
 verted, and some concessions to the Catholics was all that the 
 bishop obtained. 
 
 St. Basil died in 379, worn out by disease, and leaving 
 behind him many theological writings. His epistles, above
 
 ST. BASIL THE GREAT 333 
 
 all, are celebrated, not only as models of orthodoxy, but of 
 style. 
 
 Of St. Basil, as of St. Gregory and St. John Chrysostom, 
 we have the story of the Holy Ghost, in visible form as a dove 
 of wonderful whiteness, perched on his shoulder, and inspiring 
 his words when he preached. St. Basil is also celebrated as 
 the founder of Monachism in the East. He was the first who 
 enjoined the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience ; and 
 his Rule became the model of all other monastic Orders. 
 There is, in fact, no other Order in the Greek Church, and 
 when either monks or nuns appear in a Greek or a Russian 
 picture they must be Basilicans, and no other : the habit is a 
 plain black tunic with a cowl, the tunic fastened round the 
 waist with a girdle of cord or leather. Such is the dress of 
 the Greek caloyer, and it never varies. 
 
 The devotional figures of St. Basil represent him, or ought 
 to represent him, in the Greek pontificals, bareheaded, and 
 with a thin worn countenance. 
 
 " The Emperor Valens in the church at Cesarea,''* an admir- 
 ably picturesque subject, has received as little justice as the 
 scene between Ambrose and Theodosius. When the French 
 painter Subleyras was at Rome in 1745, he raised himself to 
 name and fame by his portrait of Benedict XIV. (Sutherland 
 Gallery), and received, through the interest of his friend Car- 
 dinal Valenti, the commission to paint a picture for one of the 
 mosaics in St. Peter's. The subject selected was the Emperor 
 Valens fainting in presence of St. Basil. We have all the 
 pomp of the scene : the altar, the incense, the richly attired 
 priests on one side ; on the other, the imperial court. It is 
 not easy to find fault, for the picture is well drawn, well 
 composed, in the mannered taste of that time; well colored, 
 rather tenderly than forcibly ; and Lanzi is enthusiastic in his 
 praise of the draperies ; yet, as a whole, it leaves the mind 
 unimpressed. As usual, the original sketch for this picture 
 far excels the large composition. (" La Messe de saint Basile." 
 Louvre.) 
 
 The prayers of St. Basil were supposed by the Armenian 
 Christians, partly from his sanctity, and partly from his intel- 
 lectual endowments, to have a peculiar, almost resistless, power ;
 
 334 THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 so that he not only redeemed souls from purgatory, but even 
 lost angels from the abyss of hell. " On the sixth day of the 
 creation, when the rebellious angels fell from heaven through 
 that opening in the firmament which the Armenians call Aro- 
 cea, and we the Galaxy, one unlucky angel, who had no parti- 
 cipation in their sin, but seems to have been entangled in the 
 crowd, fell with them." (A moral, I presume, on the conse- 
 quences of keeping bad company.) " And this unfortunate 
 angel was not restored till he had obtained, it is not said how, 
 the prayers of St. Basil. His condition meantime, from the 
 sixth day of the creation to the fourth century of the Christian 
 era, must have been even more uncomfortable than that of 
 Klopstock's repentant demon in ' The Messiah.' ' : 
 
 There are many other beautiful legendary stories of St. 
 Basil, but, as I have never met with them in any form of Art, 
 I pass them over here. One of the most striking has been 
 versified by Southey in his ballad-poem, " All for Love." It 
 would afford a great variety of picturesque subjects. 
 
 ST. ATHANASIUS 
 
 Lat. S. Athanasius, Peter Orthodoxise. Ital. Sant' Atanasio. Fr. 
 St. Athanase. (May 2, A. D. 373.) 
 
 St. Athanasius, whose famous Creed remains a stumbling- 
 block in Christendom, was born at Alexandria, about the year 
 298 ; he was consequently the eldest of the Greek Fathers, 
 though he does not in that Church take the first rank. He, 
 like the others, began his career by the study of profane liter- 
 ature, science, and eloquence ; but, seized by the religious 
 spirit of the age, he, too, fled to the desert, and became, for a 
 time, the pupil of St. Anthony. He returned to Alexandria, 
 and was ordained deacon. His first appearance as a public 
 character was at the celebrated council of Nice (A. D. 325), 
 where he opposed Arius and his partisans with so much zeal 
 and eloquence, that he was thenceforth regarded as the great 
 pillar of orthodoxy. He became bishop of Alexandria the 
 following year ; and the rest of his life was a perpetual con- 
 test with the Arians. The great schism of the early Church 
 blazed at this time in the East and in the West, and Athana-
 
 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN 335 
 
 sius, by his invincible perseverance and intrepidity, procured 
 the victory for the Catholic party. He died in 372, after hav- 
 ing been bishop of Alexandria forty-six years, of which twenty 
 years had been spent in exile and tribulation. 
 
 It is curious that, notwithstanding his fame and his impor- 
 tance in the Church, St. Athanasius should be, as a patron and 
 a subject of Art, of all saints the most unpopular. He figures, 
 of course, as one of the series of Greek Doctors ; but I have 
 never met with any separate representation of him, and I know 
 not any church dedicated to him, nor any picture representing 
 the vicissitudes of his unquiet life, fraught as it was with 
 strange reverses and picturesque incidents. Such may exist, 
 but in Western Art, at least, they have never been prominent. 
 According to the Greek formula, he ought to be represented 
 old, bald-headed, and with a long white beard. 
 
 ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN 
 
 Gr. St. Gregory Theologos. Lot. S. Gregorius Nazianzenus. Ital. 
 San Gregorio Nazianzeno. Fr. St. Gregoire de Naziance. Ger. 
 St. Gregor von Nazianz. (May 9, A. D. 390.) 
 
 This Doctor, like St. Basil, was one of a family of saints ; 
 his father, St. Gregory, having been bishop of Nazianzus be- 
 fore him ; his mother, St. Nonna, famous for her piety ; and 
 two of his sisters, St. Gorgonia and St. Cesarea, also canon- 
 ized. Gregory was born about the year 328 ; and his mother, 
 who fondly believed that he had been granted to her prayers, 
 watched over his early education, and guided his first steps in 
 piety and literature. When a boy, he had a singular dream, 
 which he has related himself. He beheld in his sleep two vir- 
 gins of celestial beauty ; they were clothed in white garments, 
 and their faces shone upon him like two stars out of heaven ; 
 they took him in their arms and kissed him as if he had been 
 their child. He, charmed by their virgin beauty and their ca- 
 resses, asked who they were, and whence they came ? One of 
 them replied, " I*m called Chastity, and my sister here is Tem- 
 perance ; we come to thee from Paradise, where we stand con- 
 tinually before the throne of Christ, and taste ineffable delights : 
 come to us, my son, and dwell with us forever ; " and having 
 spoken thus, they left him and flew upwards to heaven. He
 
 336 THE DOCTOES OF THE CHURCH 
 
 followed them Avith longing eyes till they disappeared, and as 
 he stretched his arms towards them he awoke. 
 
 This dream how natural in a boy educated between a ten- 
 der mother, who had shielded him, as only mothers can, against 
 all sinful temptations, and a lovely and saintly sister ! he 
 regarded as a direct revelation from heaven : it decided his 
 future life, and he made a vow of perpetual continence and 
 temperance. Like the other Greek doctors, he began by the 
 study of profane literature and rhetoric. He went to Athens, 
 where he formed an enduring friendship with St. Basil, and 
 pursued his studies with Julian, afterwards Caesar and Apos- 
 tate. After leaving Athens, in his thirtieth year, he was bap- 
 tized ; and, devoting himself solemnly to the service of God and 
 the study of the Scriptures, like his friend Basil, he destroyed 
 his health by his austerities and mortifications : he confesses 
 that they were wholly repugnant to his nature a nature sen- 
 sitive, imaginative, poetical ; but this of course only added to 
 their merit and efficacy. His aged father withdrew him from 
 his solitude, and ordained him as his coadjutor : in 362 he 
 succeeded to the bishopric of Xazianzus ; but great part of his 
 time was still spent at Constantinople, whither he was invited 
 to preach against the Arians. It was a strange spectacle to 
 see, in the capital of the world, a man, from a distant prov- 
 ince and an obscure town, of small shrunken stature, bald- 
 headed, wrinkled, haggard with vigils and fasting, poor, ill- 
 clothed, and in his address unpolished and abrupt, stand up to 
 oppose himself to a luxurious court and prevalent sect. The 
 people began by stoning him ; but at length his earnestness 
 and eloquence overcame all opposition. 
 
 Religious disputes were the fashion at that time in Constan- 
 tinople, not merely among the priesthood, but among the laity, 
 the lawyers, and above all the women, who were heard, in 
 assemblies and at feasts, at home and abroad, declaiming and 
 arguing on the most abstruse mysteries of the evangelical doc- 
 trine, till they lost temper and modesty ; so true it is, that 
 there is nothing new under the sun. This was in 378, and 
 St. Gregory found more difficulty in silencing their squabbles 
 than in healing the schisms of the Church. He was ordained 
 bishop of Constantinople by the favor of Theodosius ; but, 
 unable to endure the odious cabals and uncharitable contests 
 which at that time distracted and disgraced Christianity, ho
 
 ST. CYRIL 337 
 
 resigned his sacred office, and retired to a small paternal estate, 
 where he lived, with his usual self-denial and austerity, till his 
 death. He composed in his retreat a number of beautiful 
 poems in his native Greek : he was, in fact, the earliest Chris- 
 tian poet on record. These poems are not hymns only, but 
 lyrics, in which he poured forth his soul, his aspirations, his 
 temptations, his joys, his sufferings, his plaintive supplications 
 to Christ, to aid him in his perpetual combats against a too 
 vivid imagination, and feelings and passions which not even 
 age and penance had subdued. 
 
 St. Gregory Nazianzen ought to be represented as an old 
 man wasted by fasting and vigils, with a bald head, a long 
 beard of a reddish color, and eyebrows the same. He is al- 
 ways the last in a series of the Four Greek Fathers, and, 
 though often occurring in Greek Art, the popularity of St.* 
 Gregory the GREAT has completely banished St. Gregory the 
 POET from Western Art. 
 
 There remains, however, a very valuable and singular mon- 
 ument to the honor of St. Gregory Nazianzen, in the Greek 
 MS. of his sermons preserved in the Imperial Library at Paris, 
 and adorned with Byzantine miniatures, which must once have 
 been beautiful and brilliant : ruined as they are, they present 
 some of the most ancient examples which remain to us of the 
 treatment of many sacred subjects from the Old and the New 
 Testament, and give a high idea of the classic taste and the 
 skill of the Byzantine limners of the ninth century. Besides 
 the sacred subjects, we have numerous scenes interspersed from 
 the life of Gregory himself, his friend St. Basil, and the Em- 
 peror Theodosius. As these are subjects which are exceptional, 
 I need not describe them. Of the style of the miniatures I 
 have already spoken. 
 
 ST. CYRIL 
 
 Lnt. St. Cyrillus. Ital. San Cirillo. Fr. St. Cyrille. (Jan. 28, 
 A. D. 444.) 
 
 St. Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria from the year 412 to 444, 
 was famous in his time as deeply engaged in all the contests 
 which disturbed the early Christian Church. He has left a
 
 338 THE DOCTOKS OF THE CHUECH 
 
 great number of theological writings, which are regarded as 
 authority in matters of faith. He appears to have been vio- 
 lent against the so-called heresies of that day, and opposed 
 Nestorius with the same determined zeal and inexorable firm- 
 ness with which Athanasius had opposed Arius. The ascend- 
 ancy of Cyril was disgraced by the death of the famous female 
 mathematician and philosopher Hypatia, murdered with hor- 
 rible cruelty, and within the walls of a church, by the fanatic 
 followers of the patriarch, if he did not himself connive at it. 
 He is much more venerated in the Greek than in the Latin 
 Church. In the Greek representations he is the only bishop 
 who has his head covered ; he wears a veil or hood, coming 
 over his head, falling down on his shoulders, and the front 
 embroidered with a cross. 
 
 With the Greek Fathers I conclude the list of those saints 
 who are generally represented in their collective character, 
 grouped, or in a series.
 
 VI. ST. MAEY MAGDALENE, ST. MAETHA, ST. 
 LAZARUS, ST. MAXIMIN, ST. MARCELLA, ST. 
 MARY OF EGYPT, AND THE BEATIFIED PEN- 
 ITENTS 
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 Lot. Sancta Maria Magdalena. Ital. Santa Maria Maddalena. Fr. 
 La Madeleine. La Sainte Demoiselle pecheresse. Patroness of 
 Provence, of Marseilles, and of frail and penitent women. (July 
 22, A. D. 68.) 
 
 OF all the personages who figure in history, in poetry, in 
 art, Mary Magdalene is at once the most unreal and the most 
 real, the most unreal, if we attempt to fix her identity, 
 which has been a subject of dispute for ages ; the most real, 
 if we consider her as having been, for ages, recognized and 
 accepted in every Christian heart as the impersonation of the 
 penitent sinner absolved through faith and love. In this, her 
 mythic character, she has been surrounded by associations which 
 have become fixed in the imagination, and which no reasoning, 
 no array of facts, can dispel. This is not the place to enter 
 into disputed points of biblical criticism ; they are quite be- 
 side our present purpose. Whether Mary Magdalene, "out 
 of whom Jesus cast seven devils," Mary of Bethany, and the 
 "woman who was a sinner," be, as some authorities assert, 
 three distinct persons, or, as others affirm, one and the same 
 individual under different designations, remains a question 
 open to dispute, nothing having been demonstrated on either 
 side, from Scripture or from tradition ; and I cannot presume 
 even to give an opinion where doctors and doctors of the 
 Church, too disagree ; Origen and St. Chrysostom taking 
 one side of the question, St. Clement and St. Gregory the 
 other. Fleury, after citing the opinions of both sides, thus 
 beautifully sums up the whole question : " II importe de ne 
 pas croire tdmerairement ce que 1'Evangile ne dit point, et de 
 ne pas mettre la religion a suivre aveuglement toutes les opin- 
 ions populaires : la foi est trop precieuse pour la prodiguer
 
 340 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 ainsi; mais la charitd Test encore plus; et ce qui est le plus 
 important, c'est d'eViter les disputes qui peuvent Faltdrer tant 
 soit peu." l And this is most true : in his time the fast 
 hold which the Magdalene had taken of the affections of the 
 people was not to be shaken by theological researches and 
 doubts. Here critical accuracy was nothing less than profana- 
 tion and scepticism, and to have attacked the sanctity of the 
 Blessed Mary Magdalene would have embittered and alienated 
 many kindly and many believing spirits. It is difficult to 
 treat of Mary Magdalene ; and this difficulty would be in- 
 creased infinitely if it were absolutely necessary to enter on 
 the much-vexed question of her scriptural character and iden- 
 tity ; one thing only appears certain, that such a person, what- 
 ever might have been her veritable appellation, did exist. The 
 woman who, under the name of Mary Magdalene, whether 
 that name be rightfully or wrongfully bestowed, stands before 
 us sanctified in the imagination and in the faith of the people 
 in her combined character of Sinner and of Saint, as the first- 
 fruits of Christian penitence, is a reality, and not a fiction. 
 Even if we would, we cannot do away with the associations 
 inseparabty connected with her name and her image. Of all 
 those to whom much has been forgiven, she was the first ; of 
 all the tears since ruefully shed at the foot of the cross of 
 suffering, hers were the first ; of all the hopes which, the Res- 
 urrection has since diffused through nations and generations of 
 men, hers were the first. To her sorrowful image how many 
 have looked up through tears, and blessed the pardoning grace 
 of which she was the symbol or rather the impersonation ! 
 Of the female saints, some were the chosen patrons of cer- 
 tain virtues, others of certain vocations ; but the accepted and 
 glorified penitent threw her mantle over all, and more espe- 
 cially over those of her own sex who, having gone astray, were 
 recalled from error and from shame, and laid down their 
 wrongs, their sorrows, and their sins in trembling humility at 
 the feet of the Redeemer. 
 
 Nor is it only the popularity of Mary Magdalene as the 
 representative and the patroness of repentant sinners which has 
 
 1 [Rendered into English: One must not rashly believe anything the Gospel 
 does not tell, and not make religion follow blindly every popular opinion; faith 
 is too precious to be so wasted ; but charity is even more precious, and the im- 
 portant thing is to avoid disputes which can in any way injure it.]
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 341 
 
 multiplied her image through all Christendom. As a subject 
 
 for painting, 
 
 Whether the fair one sinner it or saint it, 
 
 it is rich in picturesque capabilities. It combines all that 
 can inspire with all that can chasten the fancy ; yet, when we 
 review what has been done, how inadequate the result ! In 
 no class of subjects have the mistakes of the painters, even 
 the most distinguished, been so conspicuous as in the represen- 
 tation of the penitent Magdalene ; and it must be allowed 
 that, with all its advantages and attractions, it is a subject full 
 of perils and difficulties. Where the penitent prevails, the 
 saint appears degraded ; where the wasted, unclad form is seen 
 attenuated by vigils and exposed in haggard unseemliness, it 
 is a violation of that first great rule of Art which forbids the 
 repulsive and the painful. And herein lies the fault of the 
 earlier schools, and particularly of the old Greek *and German 
 painters, their matter-of-fact ugliness would be intolerable, 
 if not redeemed by the intention and sentiment. On the 
 other hand, where sensual beauty has obviously been the para- 
 mount idea in the artist's work, defeating its holiest purpose 
 and perverting its high significance, the violation of the moral 
 sentiment is yet more revolting. This is especially the fault 
 of the later painters, more particularly of the schools of Venice 
 and Bologna : while the French painters are yet worse, adding 
 affectation to licentiousness of sentiment; the Abbd Me'ry 
 exclaims with reasonable and pious indignation against that 
 " air de yalanterie " which in his time was regarded as char- 
 acteristic of Mary Magdalene. The " larmoyantes " penitents 
 of Greuze Magdalenes a la Pompadour are more objec- 
 tionable to my taste than those of Rubens. 
 
 I shall give the legend of the Magdalene here as it was 
 accepted by the people and embodied by the arts of the middle 
 ages, setting aside those Eastern traditions which represent the 
 Mary of Bethany and the Magdalene as distinct personages, 
 and place the death and burial-place of Mary Magdalene at 
 Ephesus. Our business is with the Western legend, which 
 has been the authority for Western Art. This legend, besides 
 attributing to one individual, and blending into one narrative, 
 the very few scattered notices in the Gospels, has added some 
 other incidents, inconceivably wild and incredible, leaving her,
 
 342 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 however, the invariable attributes of the frail loving woman, 
 the sorrowing penitent, and the devout enthusiastic saint. 
 
 Mary Magdalene was of the district of Magdala, on the 
 shores of the Sea of Galilee, where stood her castle, called 
 Magdalon ; she was the sister of Lazarus and of Martha, and 
 they were the children of parents reputed noble, or, as some 
 say, of royal race. On the death of their father, Syrus, they 
 inherited vast riches and possessions in land, which were 
 equally divided between them. Lazarus betook himself to 
 the military life ; Martha ruled her possessions with great dis- 
 cretion, and was a model of virtue and propriety, perhaps a 
 little too much addicted to worldly cares ; Mary, on the con- 
 trary, abandoned herself to luxurious pleasures, and became 
 at length so notorious for her dissolute life, that she was known 
 through all the country round only as " THE SINNER." Her 
 discreet sistftr, Martha, frequently rebuked her for these disor- 
 ders, and at length persuaded her to listen to the exhortations 
 of Jesus, through which her heart was touched and converted. 
 The seven demons which possessed her, and which were ex- 
 pelled by the power of the Lord, were the seven deadly sins 
 to whicji she was given over before her conversion. On one 
 occasion Martha entertained the Saviour in her house, and, 
 being anxious to feast Him worthily, she was " cumbered with 
 much serving." Mary, meanwhile, sat at the feet of Jesus, 
 and heard His words, which completed the good work of her 
 conversion ; and when, some time afterwards, He supped in the 
 house of Simon the Pharisee, she followed Him thither, " and 
 she brought an alabaster box of ointment, and began to wash 
 His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hair of her 
 head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with ointment ; 
 and He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." She became 
 afterwards one of the most devoted of His followers ; " minis- 
 tered to Him of her substance ; " attended Him to Calvary, and 
 stood weeping at the foot of the cross. She, with the other 
 Mary, watched by His tomb, and was the first to whom He 
 appeared after the resurrection ; her unfaltering faith, mingled 
 as it was with the intensest grief and love, obtained for her 
 this peculiar mark of favor. It is assumed by several com- 
 mentators that our Saviour appeared first to Mary Magda- 
 lene, because she, of all those whom He had left on earth, 
 had most need of consolation, "The disciples tcent away
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 343 
 
 to their own home ; but Mary stood ivithout the sepulchre, 
 weeping" 
 
 Thus far the notices in the Gospel and the suggestions of 
 commentators : the old ProveiiQal legend then continues the 
 story. After the ascension, Lazarus with his two sisters, 
 Martha and Mary, with Maximin, one of the seventy-two 
 disciples, from whom they had received baptism, Cedon, the 
 blind man whom our Saviour had restored to sight, and Mar- 
 cella, the handmaiden who attended on the two sisters, were 
 by the heathen set adrift in a vessel without sails, oars, or 
 rudder ; but, guided by Providence, they were safely borne 
 over the sea till they landed in a certain harbor which proved 
 to be Marseilles, in the country now called France. The 
 people of the land were pagans, and refused to give the holy 
 pilgrims food or shelter ; so they were fain to take refuge 
 under the porch of a temple, and Mary Magdalene preached 
 to the people, reproaching them for their senseless worship of 
 dumb idols ; and though at first they would not listen, yet 
 being after a time convinced by her eloquence, and by the 
 miracles performed by her and by her sister, they were con- 
 verted and baptized. And Lazarus became, after the death of 
 the good Maximin, the first bishop of Marseilles. 
 
 These things being accomplished, Mary Magdalene retired 
 to a desert not far from the city. It was a frightful barren 
 wilderness, in the midst of horrid rocks and caves ; and here 
 for thirty years she devoted herself to solitary penance for the 
 sins of her past life, which she had never ceased to bewail bit- 
 terly. During this long seclusion she was never seen or 
 heard of, and it was supposed that she was dead. She fasted 
 so rigorously that, but for the occasional visits of the angels, 
 and the comfort bestowed by celestial visions, sl^e must have 
 perished. Every day during the last years of her penance 
 the angels came down from heaven and carried her up in their 
 arms into regions where she was ravished by the sounds of 
 unearthly harmony, and beheld the glory and the joy pre- 
 pared for the sinner that repenteth. One day a certain her- 
 mit, who dwelt in a cell on one of those wild mountains, 
 having wandered farther than usual from his home, beheld 
 this wondrous vision the Magdalene in the arms of ascend- 
 ing angels, who were singing songs of triumph as they bore
 
 344 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 her upwards ; and the hermit, when he had a little recovered 
 from his amazement, returned to the city of Marseilles, and 
 reported what he had seen. According to some of the legends, 
 Mary Magdalene died within the walls of the Christian 
 church, after receiving the sacrament from the hand of St. 
 Maximin ; but the more popular accounts represent her as dy- 
 ing in her solitude, while angels watched over and ministered 
 to her. 
 
 The middle of the thirteenth century was an era of religious 
 excitement all over the south of Europe. A sudden fit of 
 penitence "una subita compunzione," as an Italian author 
 calls it seized all hearts ; relics, and pilgrimages, and pen- 
 ances, and monastic ordinances filled all minds. About this 
 period, certain remains, supposed to be those of Mary Magda- 
 lene and Lazarus, were discovered at a place since called St. 
 Maximin, about twenty miles north of Toulon. The discov- 
 ery strongly excited the devotion and enthusiasm of the 
 people ; and a church was founded on the spot by Charles, 
 Count of Provence (the brother of St. Louis), as early as 
 1279. A few years afterwards, this prince was vanquished 
 and taken prisoner by the king of Aragon, and when at length 
 set free after a long captivity, he ascribed his deliverance par- 
 ticularly to the intercession of his chosen patroness, Mary 
 Magdalene. This incident greatly extended her fame as a 
 saint of power ; and from this time we may date her popular- 
 ity, and those sculptural and pictorial representations of her, 
 under various aspects, which, from the fourteenth century to 
 the present time, have so multiplied that scarcely any Catho- 
 lic place of worship is to be found without her image. In 
 fact, it is difficult for us, in these days, to conceive, far more 
 difficult to sympathize with, the passionate admiration and de- 
 votion with which she was regarded by her votaries in the 
 middle ages. The imputed sinfulness-of her life only brought 
 her nearer to them. Those who did not dare to lift up their 
 eyes to the more saintly models of purity and holiness to 
 the martyrs who had suffered in the cause of chastity took 
 courage to invoke her intercession. The extravagant titles 
 bestowed upon her in the middle ages " Vamante de Jesus- 
 Christ" " la bien-aimee du Sauveur" " la tres-saincte de- 
 moiselle pecheresse" and others which I should hardly
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 345 
 
 dare to transcribe, show the spirit in which she was wor- 
 shipped, particularly in the south of France, and the kind of 
 chivalrous sentiment which mingled with the devotion of her 
 adorers. I found in an old French sermon a eulogium of 
 Mary Magdalene, which for its eloquence and ingenuity seems 
 to me without a parallel. The preacher, while acknowledg- 
 ing the excesses which brought her a penitent to the feet of 
 Christ, is perfectly scandalized that she should be put on a 
 par with common sinners of the same class, and that on the 
 faith of a passage in St. Luke, " on a osd fle'trir une des plus 
 belles Times qui soient jamais sorties des mains du Oe'ateur ! " 
 He rather glorifies her as a kind of Aspasia, to whom, indeed, 
 he' in a manner compares her. 1 
 
 1 After describing, in glowing terms, her splendid position in the world, her 
 illustrious rank, her understanding, " droit, solide, et delicat," her "grace,"' her 
 "esprit," her wondrous beauty, particularly her superb hair, " cultive avec tant 
 de soin, arrange avec tant d'art, and lamenting that a creature thus noblv 
 gifted should have beeg cast away upon the same rock which had shipwrecked 
 the greatest, the most illustrious, of her " compatriotes, le fort Samson, le preux 
 David, le sage Salomon," he goes on to describe, with real eloquence, and in 
 a less offensive strain of panegyric, her devotion at the foot of the cross, her 
 pious visit to the tomb by break of day, braving the fury of the guards, the 
 cruelty of the Jews, and taking the place of the apostles, who were dispersed or 
 fled. And thus he winds up with a moral, most extraordinary when we recol- 
 lect that it was preached from a pulpit by a grave doctor in theology: 
 
 "Jeunes personnes qui vivez encore dans I'innocence! apprenez done de la 
 Madeleine combien grands sont les perils de la jeunesse, de la beaute", de tons 
 les dons purement naturels ; souvenez-vous que le desir excessif de plaire est 
 toujours dangereux, rarement innocent, et qu'il est bien difficile de donner 
 beaticoup de sentiments, sans en prendre soi-meme. A la vue des faiblesses de 
 la jeune Israelite, comprenez de quelle importance est, pour vous, la garde de 
 votre coeur ; et a quels desordres il vous expose, si vous ne vous accoutumez a 
 le contrarier sans cesse, en tous ses penchants. 
 
 "Femmes mondaines, et peut-etre voluptueuses! apprenez de la Madeleine 
 a revenir de vos ecarts; ils onte'te', dans vous, le fruit de la faiblesse humaine ; 
 que votre retour soil le fruit de votre correspondance a la grace. Et pourriez- 
 vous ou vous proposer un modele plus digne d'etre suivi que celui que vous 
 presente Madeleine, ou trouver ailleurs un motif plus puissant de le suivre ? 
 
 " Et vous qui, fieres d'une reserve que vous ne devez peut-etre qu'a vfctre 
 insensibilite, vous en faites un rempart, a 1'abri duquel vous croyez pouvoir 
 mepriser toute la terre, et dont la mondanite de Madeleine elle-meme a peut-etre 
 scandalise la precieuse vertu! femmes plus values que sages! apprenez de 
 notre Sainte, qu'il n'y a que la grace de Dieu et une attention continuelle sur 
 nous-memes qui puissent nous aider constamment contre la pen^te qui nous pre- 
 cipite vers le mal, et craignez qu'on ne puisse vous dire, a son sujet, ce que 
 Saint Augustin disait a une devote de votre caractere, pleine d'elle-meme et 
 medisante : ' Plut a Dieu que vous eussiez dunne dans les memes exces dont
 
 346 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 The traditional scene of the penance of the Magdalene, a 
 wild spot between Toulon and Marseilles, is the site of a fa- 
 mous convent called La Sainte Beaume (which in the Proven- 
 (jal tongue signifies Holy Cave), formerly a much frequented 
 place of pilgrimage. It is built on the verge of a formidable 
 precipice ; near it is the grotto in which the saint resided ; 
 and to Mount Pilon, a rocky point about six hundred feet 
 above the grotto, the angels bore her seven times a day to pray. 
 This convent was destroyed and pillaged at the commencement 
 of the French Revolution. It was filled with relics and works 
 of art referring to the life and the worship of the Magdalene. 
 
 But the most sumptuous fane ever erected to her special 
 honor is that which, of late years, has arisen in the city of 
 Paris. The church, or rather the temple, of La Madeleine stands 
 an excelling monument, if not of modern piety, at least of 
 modern Art. It is built on the model of the temple of Jupiter 
 at Athens : 
 
 That noble type is realized again 
 
 In perfect form ; and dedicate to whom? 
 
 vous croyez si volontiers les autres capables! vous seriez moins e'loigne'e du 
 royaume de Dieu ; du moins vous auriez de 1'humanite! ' " 
 
 [Young people still living in ignorance of sin! learn of the Magdalene how 
 great are the perils of youth, of beauty, of all purely natural gifte; remember 
 that the excessive desire to please is always dangerous, rarely innocent, and that 
 it is very difficult to arouse passion without feeling it oneself. Consider the 
 failings of the young Jewess, and learn how important to you is the watch over 
 your heart; and to what misfortunes you are exposed if you do not accustom 
 yourselves to oppose it constantly in all its desires. 
 
 Worldly, and perhaps sensual women, learn of the Magdalene to turn from 
 your errors; they have been in you the fruit of human weakness; may your 
 repentance be the fruit of feeling the. grace of God. And could you propose a 
 more worthy model to follow than that which the Magdalene offers you, or rind 
 elsewhere a more powerful motive for following itV 
 
 And you who, proud of a reserve which you owe perhaps only to your cold 
 nature, make it a barrier from whose shelter you think you can despise all the 
 earth, and whose precious vrrtues the worldliness of the Magdalene herself has 
 perhaps scandalized! women, more vain than wise! learn of our saint that it 
 is only the grace of God and a continual watch over ourselves which can restrain us 
 constantly from the impulse which urges us towards evil; and fear, lest some 
 one sa} 7 to you what Saint Augustine said to a church-going woman of your 
 character, full of herself and despising others : " Would to God that you had 
 indulged in the same excesses of which you so readily think others capable ! 
 You would be nearer the Kingdom of God ; } r ou would at least have more hu- 
 manity ! "] * 
 
 Le Brim's Magdalene is just the same Magdalene described by this preacher; 
 both one and the other are as like the Magdalene of Scripture as Leo X. 
 was like St. Peter.
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 347 
 
 To a poor Syrian girl of lowliest name 
 A haples9^reature, pitiful and frail, 
 As ever wore her life in sin and shame ! 
 
 R. M. MlLNES. 
 
 The saint, whether she were " the lowly Syrian girl," or 
 the "Princess of Magdala," would be equally astonished to 
 behold herself thus honored with a sort of pagan magnificence 
 in the midst of a luxurious capital, and by a people more 
 remarkable for scoffing than for praying. Even in the suc- 
 cessive vicissitudes of this splendid edifice there is something 
 strange. That which is now the temple of the lowly penitent, 
 was a few years ago Le Temple de la Gloire. 
 
 Let us now turn to those characteristic representations with 
 which painting and sculpture have made us familiar, and for 
 which both Scripture and legendary tradition have furnished 
 the authority and the groundwork. These are so numerous 
 and so infinitely varied, that I find it necessary here, as in 
 the case of St. Jerome, to arrange them under several heads. 
 
 The devotional representations may be divided into two 
 classes. 1. Those which represent the Magdalene as patron 
 saint. 2. Those which represent her penitence in the desert. 
 
 The historical subjects may also be divided into two classes. 
 1. Those scenes from Gospel story in which Mary Magdalene 
 figures as a chief or conspicuous personage. 2. The scenes 
 taken from her legendary life. 
 
 In all these subjects the accompanying attribute is the ala- 
 baster box of ointment, which has a double significance ; it 
 may be the perfume which she poured over the feet of the 
 Saviour, or the balm and spices which she had prepared to 
 anoint his body. Sometimes she carries it in her hand, some- 
 times it stands at her feet, or near her; frequently, in later 
 pictures, it is borne by an attendant angel. The shape varies 
 with the fancy of the artist ; it is a small vase, a casket, a 
 box, a cup with a cover ; more or less ornamented, more or 
 less graceful in form ; but always there the symbol at once 
 of her conversion and her love, and so peculiar that it can 
 leave no doubt of her identity. 
 
 Pier drapery in the ancient pictures is usually red, to express 
 the fervor of her love. In modern representations, and where 
 she figures as penitent, it is either blue or violet, violet, the 
 color of mourning and penitence ; blue, the color of constancy.
 
 348 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 To express both the love and the sorrow, she sometimes wears 
 a violet-colored tunic and a red mantle. The luxuriant hair 
 ought to be fair or golden. Dark-haired Magdalenes, as far as 
 I can remember, belong exclusively to the Spanish school. 
 
 1. When exhibited to us as the patron saint of repentant 
 sinners, Mary Magdalene is sometimes a thin wasted figure, 
 with long dishevelled hair of a pale golden hue, falling over 
 her shoulders almost to the ground ; sometimes a skin or a 
 piece of linen is tied round her loins, but not seldom her sole 
 drapery is her long redundant hair. The most ancient single 
 figure of this character to which I can refer is an old picture 
 in the Byzantine manner, as old, perhaps, as the thirteenth 
 century, and now in the Academy at Florence. She is stand- 
 ing as patroness, covered only by her long hair, which falls in 
 dark brown masses to her feet ; the color, I imagine, was ori- 
 ginally much lighter. She is a meagre, haggard, grim-looking 
 figure, and holds in her hand a scroll, on which is inscribed in 
 ancient Gothic letters 
 
 Jfte Despectetetf 
 l">os qui peccare sofitis 
 <Cj:emplo meo 
 Dos reparate JDco. 1 
 
 Rude and unattractive as is this specimen of ancient Art, I 
 could not look at it without thinking how often it must have 
 spoken hope and peace to the soul of the trembling sinner, in 
 days when it hung, not in a picture gallery to be criticised, 
 but in a shrine to be worshipped. Around this figure, in the 
 manner of the old altar-pieces, are six small square compart- 
 ments containing scenes from her life. 
 
 The famous statue carved in wood by Donatello, in point of 
 character, may be referred to this class of subjects : she stands 
 over her altar in the Baptistery at Florence, with clasped 
 hands, the head raised in prayer ; the form is very expressive 
 of wasting grief and penance, but too meagre for beauty. 
 "Egli la voile specchio alle penitenti, non incitamento alia 
 cupidizia degli sguardi, come avenne ad altri artisti," says 
 Cicognara ; and, allowing that beauty has been sacrificed to 
 expression, he adds, " but if Donatello had done all, what 
 
 1 The original Latin distich runs thus: 
 
 Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis, 
 Exemploque meo vos reparate Deo.
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 349 
 
 would have remained for Canova ? " That which remained 
 for Canova to do, he has done [1796] ; he has made her as 
 lovely as possible, and he has dramatized the sentiment : she 
 is more the penitent than the patron saint. The display of 
 the beautiful limbs is chastened by the humility of the attitude 
 half kneeling, half prostrate ; by the expression of the 
 
 Magdalene (Canova) 
 
 drooping head " all sorrow's softness charmed from its de- 
 spair." Her eyes are fixed on the cross which lies extended 
 on her knees ; and she weeps not so much her own past 
 sins, as the sacrifice it has cost to redeem them. This is the 
 prevailing sentiment, or, as the Germans would call it, the 
 motive of the representation, to which I should feel inclined 
 to object as deficient in dignity and severity, and bordering 
 too much on the genre and dramatic style ; but the execution 
 is almost faultless. Very beautiful is another modern statue 
 of the penitent Magdalene, executed in marble for the Count
 
 350 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 d'Espagtiac, by M. Henri de Triqueti. She is half seated, 
 half reclining on a fragment of rock, and pressing to her bosom 
 a crown of thorns, at once the mourner and the penitent : the 
 sorrow is not for herself alone. 
 
 But, in her character of patron saint, Mary Magdalene was 
 not always represented with the squalid or pathetic attributes 
 of humiliation and penance. She became idealized as a noble 
 dignified creature bearing no traces of sin or of sorrow on her 
 beautiful face ; her luxuriant hair bound in tresses round her 
 head ; her drapery rich and ample ; the vase of ointment in 
 her hand or at her feet, or borne by an angel near her. Not 
 unfrequently she is attired with the utmost magnificence, 
 either in reference to her former state of worldly prosperity, or 
 rather, perhaps, that with the older painters, particularly those 
 of the German school, it was a common custom to clothe all 
 the ideal figures of female saints in rich habits. In the four- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries such representations of the Mag- 
 dalene are usual both in Italian and German Art. A beautiful 
 instance may be seen in a picture by Signorelli, at Orvieto, 
 where she is standing in a landscape, her head uncovered, and 
 the rich golden hair partly braided, partly flowing over her 
 shoulders ; she wears a magnificent tunic embroidered with 
 gold, over it a flowing mantle descending to her feet ; she holds 
 the vase with her left hand, and points to it with her right. 
 If it were not for the saintly aureole encircling her head, this 
 figure, and others similar to it, might be mistaken for Pandora. 
 See, for example, the famous print by Lucas v. Leyden, where 
 she stands on clouds with an embroidered coif and flowing 
 mantle, holding the vase in her left hand, and lifting the cover 
 with her right ; and in the half length- by Leonardo, or one 
 of his school. The want of a religious sentiment gives such 
 figures a very heathen and Pandora look, so that the aureole 
 alone fixes the identity. This is not the case with a noble 
 Magdalene by Denis Calvaert, in the Manfrini Palace at Venice. 
 She is standing in a fine bold landscape ; one hand sustains 
 her ample crimson drapery, the other holds her vase ; her fair 
 hair falls in masses over her shoulders, and she looks down on 
 her worshippers with a serious dignified compassion. This is 
 one of the finest pictures of the . later Bologna school, finer 
 and truer in sentiment than any of the Caracci and Guido 
 Magdalenes.
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 351 
 
 In this her wholly 
 divine and ideal charac- 
 ter of saint and interces- 
 sor, Mary Magdalene is 
 often most beautifully 
 introduced as standing 
 near the throne of the 
 Virgin, or as grouped 
 with other saints. In 
 two of the most famous 
 pictures in the world 
 she is thus represented. 
 In the St. Cecilia of 
 Raphael, she stands on 
 the left, St. Paul being 
 on the right of the prin- 
 cipal figure ; they are 
 here significant of the 
 conversion of the man 
 through power, of the 
 woman through love, 
 from a state of reproba- 
 tion to a state of recon- 
 cilement and grace. St. 
 Paul leans in deep medi- 
 tation on his sword. Mary Magdalene is habited in ample 
 drapery of blue and violet, which she sustains with one hand, 
 and bears the vase in the other. She looks out of the picture 
 with a benign countenance and a particularly graceful turn of 
 the head. Raphael's original design for this picture (engraved 
 by Marc Antonio) is, however, preferable in the sentiment 
 given to the Magdalene : she does not look out of the picture, 
 but she looks up : she also hears the divine music which has 
 ravished St. Cecilia. In the picture she is either unconscious 
 or inattentive. 1 
 
 In the not less celebrated St. Jerome of Correggio [Parma 
 Gall.], she is on the left of the Madonna, bending down with 
 an expression of the deepest adoration to kiss the feet of the 
 infant Christ, while an angel behind holds up the vase of 
 
 1 [For facsimiles of the original design and of the completed picture in the 
 Bologna Gallery, see Miintz, Raphuel, translated by Armstrong, p. 526.] 
 
 Magdalene (Lucas van Leyden)
 
 352 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 ointment : thus recalling to our minds, and shadowing forth 
 in the most poetical manner, that memorable act of love and 
 homage rendered at the feet of the Saviour. Parmigiano has 
 represented her, in a Madonna picture, as standing on one side, 
 and the prophet Isaiah on the other. Lord Ashburton has a 
 fine picture by Correggio, in which we have the same ideal 
 representation : she is here grouped with St. Peter, St. Mar- 
 garet, and St. Leonardo. 
 
 There are two classes of subjects in which Mary Magdalen'e 
 is richly habited, and which must be carefully distinguished ; 
 those above described, in which she figures as patron saint, and 
 those which represent her before her conversion, as the votary 
 of luxury and pleasure. In the same manner we must be 
 careful to distinguish those figures of the penitent Magdalene 
 which are wholly devotional in character and intention, and 
 which have been described in the first class, from those which 
 represent her in the act of doing penance, and which are 
 rather dramatic and sentimental than devotional. 
 
 2. The penance of the Magdalene is a subject which has 
 become, like the penance of St. Jerome, a symbol of Christian 
 penitence, but still more endeared to the popular imagination 
 by more affecting and attractive associations, and even more 
 eminently picturesque, so tempting to the artists, that by 
 their own predilection for it they have assisted in making it 
 universal. In the display of luxuriant female forms, shadowed 
 (not hidden) by redundant fair hair, and flung in all the 
 abandon of solitude, amid the depth of leafy recesses, or 
 relieved by the dark umbrageous rocks ; in the association of 
 love and beauty with the symbols of death and sorrow and 
 utter humiliation ; the painters had ample scope, ample ma- 
 terial, for the exercise of their imagination, and the display 
 of their skill : and what has been the result ? They have 
 abused these capabilities even to license ; they have ex- 
 hausted the resources of Art in the attempt to vary the de- 
 lineation ; and yet how seldom has the ideal of this most 
 exquisite subject been I will not say realized but even 
 approached ? We have Magdalenes who look as if they 
 never could have sinned, and others who look as if they never 
 could have repented ; we have Venetian Magdalenes with the 
 air of courtesans, and Florentine Magdalenes with the air of
 
 MADONNA WITH MAGDALENE AND ST. JEROME (CORREGGIO)
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 353 
 
 Ariadnes ; and Bolognese Magdalenes like sentimental Niobes ; 
 and French Magdalenes, moitie galantes, moitie devotes ; and 
 Dutch Magdalenes, who wring their hands like repentant 
 washerwomen. The Magdalenes of Rubens remind us of 
 nothing so much as of the " unfortunate Miss Bailey ; " and 
 the Magdalenes of Vandyck are fine ladies who have turned 
 Methodists. But Mary Magdalene, such as we have conceived 
 her, mournful yet hopeful, tender yet dignified, worn with 
 grief and fasting yet radiant with the glow of love and faith, 
 and clothed with the beauty of holiness, is an ideal which 
 painting has not yet realized. Is it beyond the reach of 
 Art ? We might have answered this question, had Raphael 
 attempted it ; but he has not. His Magdalene at the feet 
 of Christ is yet unforgiven the forlorn castaway, not the 
 devout penitent. 
 
 The Magdalene doing penance in her rocky desert first be- 
 came a popular subject in the sixteenth century ; in the seven- 
 teenth it was at the height of favor. There are two distinct 
 versions of the subject, infinitely varied as to detail and senti- 
 ment : either she is represented as bewailing her sins, or as 
 reconciled to Heaven. 
 
 In the former treatment she lies prostrate on the earth, or 
 she is standing or kneeling at the entrance of the cave (in 
 some of the old illuminated missals the upper part of her body 
 is seen emerging from a cave or rather a hole in the ground), 
 the hands clasped, or extended towards heaven ; the eyes 
 streaming with tears ; the long yellow hair flowing over her 
 shoulders. The crucifix, the skull, and sometimes the scourge, 
 are introduced as emblems of faith, mortality, and penance ; 
 weeping angels present a crown of thorns. 
 
 In the latter treatment she is reading or meditating ; the 
 expression is serene or hopeful ; a book lies beside the skull ; 
 angels present the palm, or scatter flowers ; a vision of glory 
 is seen in the skies. 
 
 The alabaster box is in all cases the indispensable attribute. 
 The eyes are usually raised, if not in grief, in supplication or 
 in aspiration. The " uplifted eye " as well as the " loose hair " 
 became a characteristic ; but there are some exceptions. The 
 conception of character and situation, which was at first sim- 
 ple, became more arid more picturesque, and at length theatri- 
 cal a mere vehicle for sentiment and attitude.
 
 3,54 ST. MAEY MAGDALENE 
 
 1. The earliest example I can remember of the Penitent 
 Magdalene, dramatically treated, remains as yet unsurpassed ; 
 
 the reading Magdalene of Correggio, in the Dresden Gallery. 1 
 This lovely creation has only one fault the virginal beauty 
 is that of a Psyche or a Seraph. In Oehlenschlager's drama 
 of " Correggio," there is a beautiful description of this far-famed 
 picture ; he calls it " Die Gottinn des Waldes Frommigkeit," 
 
 the goddess of the religious solitude. And in truth, if we 
 could imagine Diana reading instead of hunting, she might 
 have looked thus. Oehlenschlager has made poetical use of the 
 tradition that Correggio painted this Magdalene for a poor 
 monk who was his confessor or physician ; and thus he makes 
 Silvestro comment on the work : 
 
 What a fair picture ! 
 
 This dark o'erhanging shade, the long fair hair, 
 The delicate white skin, the azure robe, 
 The full luxuriant life, the grim death's head, 
 The tender womanhood, and the great book: 
 These various contrasts have you cunningly 
 Brought into sweetest harmony. 
 
 But truer, at least nobler in sentiment, is the Magdalene by 
 the same painter (in the Manfrini Palace, Venice), of the same 
 size and similarly draped in dark blue ; but here standing at 
 the entrance of her cave. She leans her elbow on the book 
 which lies on the rock, and appears to be meditating on its 
 contents. The head, seen in front, is grand and earnest, with 
 a mass of fair hair, a large wide brow, and deep, deep eyes 
 full of mystery. The expression of power in this head pleases 
 me especially, because true to the character, as I conceive it. 
 
 Doch ist es schon von einem Weibe, mein' ich, 
 
 Einmal gefallen wieder sich zu heben; 
 
 Es gibt sehr wen'ge Miinner, die das kijnnen ! 
 
 Yes! it is good to see a hapless woman, 
 That once has fallen, redeem herself! In truth, 
 There be few men, methink.s, could do as much. 
 
 Correggio, act i. scene 1. 
 
 1 [The authenticity of this famous picture is boldly challenged by Morelli, 
 who considers it a copy by some northern artist of a late sixteenth-century 
 work by one of the Caracci school. Dr. Julius Meyer, in his work on Correg- 
 gio, has also pronounced "against its genuineness. Vide Morelli, Critical Studies 
 of Italian Painters, vol. ii. pp. 158-165 ; also Dr. Woermann's catalogue of the 
 Dresden Gallery.]
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 355 
 
 I do not know why this lovely Manfrini picture should 
 be so much less celebrated than the Dresden Magdalene. 
 While the latter has been multiplied by copies and engravings, 
 I do not remember a single print after the Manfrini Magda- 
 lene. There is a bad feeble, copy in the Louvre ; J I know no 
 other. 
 
 2. There is a celebrated picture by Timoteo della Vite, in 
 the Bologna Gallery. She is standing before the entrance of 
 her cavern, arrayed in a crimson mantle ; her long hair is seen 
 beneath descending to her feet ; the hands joined in prayer, 
 the head declined on one side, and the whole expression that 
 of girlish innocence and simplicity, with a touch of the pa- 
 thetic. A mendicant, not a Magdalene, is the idea suggested j 
 and, for myself, I confess that at the first glance I was re- 
 minded of the little Red Riding-hood, and could think of no 
 sin that could have been attributed to such a face and figure, 
 beyond the breaking of a pot of butter : yet the picture is 
 very beautiful. 
 
 3. The Magdalene of Titian was so celebrated in his own 
 time that he painted at least five or six repetitions of it, and 
 copies and engravings have since been multiplied. [The ear- 
 liest of Titian's Magdalenes now extant is probably that in 
 the Pitti, Florence.] The eyes, swimming in tears, are raised 
 to heaven ; the long dishevelled hair floats over her shoulders ; 
 one hand is pressed on her bosom, the other rests on the skull ; 
 the forms are full and round, the coloring rich ; a book and a 
 box of ointment lie before her on a fragment of rock. She is 
 sufficiently woful, but seems rather to regret her past life 
 than to repent of it, nor is there anything in the expression 
 which can secure us against a relapse. Titian painted the 
 original for Charles V. His idea of the pose was borrowed, 
 as we are told, from an antique statue, and his model was a 
 young girl, who being fatigued with long standing, the tears 
 ran down her face, "and Titian attained the desired expres- 
 sion " ! His idea, therefore, of St. Mary Magdalene was the 
 fusion of an antique statue and a girl taken out of the streets ; 
 and with all its beauties as a work of Art and very beauti- 
 ful it is this chef-d'oeuvre of Titian is, to my taste, most 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 1 It was in the Standish Gallery belonging to Louis Philippe, and now dis- 
 persed.
 
 356 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 4. Cigoli's Magdalene is seated on a rock, veiled only by 
 her long hair, which falls over the whole figure ; the eyes, still 
 wet with tears, are raised to heaven ; one arm is round a skull, 
 the right hand rests on a book which is on her knees. [Pitti, 
 Florence.] 
 
 5. The Magdalene of Carlo Cignani, veiled in her dishev- 
 elled hair, and wringing her hands, is also most affecting for 
 the fervent expression of sorrow. 
 
 6. Guido, regarded as the painter of Magdalenes par excel- 
 lence, has carried this mistake yet farther ; he had ever the 
 classical Niobe in his mind, and his saintly penitents, with all 
 their exceeding loveliness, appear to me utterly devoid of that 
 beauty which has been called " the beauty of holiness ; " the 
 reproachful grandeur of the Niobe is diluted into voluptuous 
 feebleness ; the tearful face, with the loose golden hair and 
 uplifted eyes, of which he has given us at least ten repetitions, 
 however charming as Art, as painting, are unsatisfactory as 
 religious representations. I cannot except even the beautiful 
 study in our National Gallery, nor the admired full length in 
 the Sciarra Palace, at Rome ; the latter, when I saw it last, ap- 
 peared to me poor and mannered, and the pale coloring not 
 merely delicate, but vapid. A head of Mary Magdalene read- 
 ing, apparently a study from life, is, however, in a grand style. 
 (Lichtenstein Gallery.) 
 
 7. Murillo's Magdalene, in the Louvre, kneeling, with 
 hands crossed on her bosom, eyes upraised, and parted lips, 
 has eager devout hope as well as sorrow in the countenance. 
 8. But turn to the Magdalene of Alonzo Cano, which hangs 
 near : drooping, negligent of self ; the very hands are nerve- 
 less, languid, dead. 1 Nothing but woe, guilt, and misery are 
 in the face and attitude ; she has not yet looked into the 
 face of Christ, nor sat at His feet, nor heard from His lips, 
 " Woman, thy sins be forgiven thee," nor dared to hope ; it is 
 the penitent only ; the whole head is faint, and the whole 
 heart sick. 9. But the beautiful Magdalene of Annibal Ca- 
 racci 2 has heard the words of mercy ; she has memories which 
 are not of sin only ; angelic visions have already come to her 
 
 1 These two pictures were sold out of the Louvre with King Louis Philippe's 
 pictures. 
 
 2 [Reference is probably to the picture in the Doria Gallery, attributed to the 
 Bolognese school.]
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 357 
 
 Magdalene (Guido Reni) 
 
 in that wild solitude ; she is seated at the foot of a tree ; she 
 leans her cheek on her left hand, the other rests on a skull ; 
 she is in deep contemplation ; but her thoughts are not of 
 death ; the upward ardent look is full of hope, and faith, and 
 love. The fault of this beautiful little picture lies in the 
 sacrifice of the truth of the situation to the artistic feeling of 
 beauty the common fault of the school ; the forms are 
 large, round, full, untouched by grief and penance. 
 
 10. Vandyck's Magdalenes have the same fault as his Ma- 
 donnas ; they are not feeble nor voluptuous, but they are too 
 elegant and ladylike. I remember, for example, a Deposition 
 by Vandyck, and one of his finest pictures, in which Mary 
 Magdalene kisses the hand of the Saviour quite with the air 
 of a princess. The most beautiful of his penitent Magdalenes 
 is the half-length figure with the face in profile, bending 
 with clasped hands over the crucifix ; the skull and knotted 
 scourge lie on a shelf of rock behind ; underneath is the in-
 
 358 ST. MARY MAGDALEXE 
 
 scription, " Fallit gratia, et vana est pulchritude ; mulier 
 timens Dominum ipsa laudabitur." (Prov. xxxi. 30.) 11. 
 Rubens has given us thirteen Magdalenes, more or less coarse ; 
 in one picture (Turin Gallery) she is tearing her hair like a 
 disappointed virago ; in another, the expression of grief is 
 overpowering, but it is that of a woman in the house of cor- 
 rection. From this sweeping condemnation I must make one 
 exception ; it is the picture known as " The Four Penitents " 
 (Munich). In front the Magdalene bows down her head on 
 her clasped hands with such an expression of profound hu- 
 mility as Rubens only, when painting out of nature and his 
 own heart, could give. Christ, with an air of tender yet sub- 
 lime compassion, looks down upon her, " Thy sins be for- 
 given thee ! " Behind Christ and the Magdalene stand Peter, 
 David, and Didymus, the penitent thief; the faces of these 
 three, thrown into shadow to relieve the two principal figures, 
 have a self-abased, mournful expression. (There is an infe- 
 rior repetition in the Royal Gallery at Turin.) I have never 
 seen anything from the hand of Rubens at once so pure and 
 pathetic in sentiment as this picture, while the force and truth 
 of the painting are, as usual, wonderful. No one should judge 
 Rubens who has not studied him in the Munich Gallery. 
 There is a beautiful half-length female figure attributed to 
 Correggio, and engraved under the title of Gismunda weeping 
 over the heart of her lover, in the collection of the Duke of 
 Newcastle. The duplicate in the Belvedere Gallery at Vienna 
 is there styled a Magdalene, and attributed correctly to Fran- 
 cesco Furini. 
 
 The HISTORICAL SUBJECTS from the life of Mary Mag- 
 dalene are either scriptural or legendary ; and the character of 
 the Magdalene, as conceived by the greatest painters, is more 
 distinctly expressed in those scriptural scenes in which she is 
 an important figure, than in the single and ideal representa- 
 tions. The illuminated Gospels of the ninth century furnish 
 the oldest type of Mary, the penitent and the sister of Laza- 
 rus, but it differs from the modern conception of the Magda- 
 lene. She is in such subjects a secondary scriptural personage, 
 one of the accessories in the history of Christ, and nothing 
 more ; no attempt was made to give her importance, either by 
 beauty or dignity, or prominence of place, till the end of the 
 thirteenth century.
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 359 
 
 The sacred subjects in which she is introduced are the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 1. Jesus at supper with Simon the Pharisee. " And she 
 began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the 
 hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with 
 ointment." (Luke vii. 30.) 
 
 2. Christ is in the house of Martha and Mary. " And she 
 sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his words ; but Martha was cum- 
 bered with much serving." (Luke x. 39, 40.) 
 
 3. The raising of Lazarus. " Lord, if thou hadst been 
 here, my brother had not died." (John xi. 32.) 
 
 4. The Crucifixion. " Now there stood by, the cross Mary 
 Magdalene." (John xix. 25 ; Matt, xxvii. 56.) 
 
 5. The Deposition from the Cross. " And Mary Magda- 
 lene, and the mother of Jesus, beheld where he was laid." 
 (Mark xv. 47.) 
 
 6. The Maries at the Sepulchre. " And there was Mary 
 Magdalene and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepul- 
 chre." (Matt, xxvii. 61.) 
 
 7. Christ appears to Mary Magdalene in the Garden, called 
 the "Noli me tangere." "Touch. me not, for I am not yet 
 ascended to my Father." (John xx. 17.) 
 
 In the first, second, and last of these subjects, the Magda- 
 lene is one of the two principal figures, and necessary to the 
 action ; in the others she is generally introduced, but in some 
 instances omitted ; and as all belong properly to the life of 
 Christ, I shall confine myself now to a few remarks on the 
 characteristic treatment of the Magdalene in each. 
 
 1. The supper with Simon has been represented in every 
 variety of style. The earliest and simplest I can call to mind 
 is the fresco of Taddeo Gaddi 1 in the Rinuccini Chapel [Santa 
 Croce], Florence. The Magdalene bends down prostrate on 
 the feet of the Saviour ; she is in a red dress, and her long 
 yellow hair flows doAvn her back ; the seven devils by which 
 she was possessed are seen above, flying out of the roof of the 
 house in the shape of little black monsters. Raphael, when 
 treating the same subject, thought only of the religious signifi- 
 cance of the action, and how to express it with the utmost 
 force and the utmost simplicity. There are few figures our 
 
 1 [The frescoes of this chapel are attributed by Crowe and Cavalcaselle to 
 Giovanni da Milano, the favorite pupil of Taddeo Gaddi.]
 
 360 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 Saviour, the Pharisee, four apostles, and two attendants-, 
 Mary Magdalene in front bends over the feet of Christ, while 
 her long hair half conceals her face and almost sweeps the 
 ground ; nothing can exceed the tenderness and humility of 
 the attitude and the henign dignity of Christ. As an example 
 of the v most opposite treatment let us turn to the gorgeous 
 composition of Paul Veronese ; we have a stately banquet- 
 room, rich architecture, a crowd of about thirty figures ; and 
 the Magdalene is merely a beautiful female with loose robes, 
 dishevelled tresses, and the bosom displayed ; this gross fault 
 of sentiment is more conspicuous in the large picture in the 
 Durazzo Palace J at Genoa than in the beautiful finished sketch 
 in the collection of Mr. Rogers. 2 A fine sketch by the same 
 painter, but quite different, [was] at Alton Towers. The 
 composition of Rubens, of which a very fine sketch is in the 
 Windsor collection, is exceedingly dramatic ; the dignity of 
 Christ and the veneration and humility of the Magdalene are 
 admirably expressed ; but the disdainful surprise of some of 
 the assistants, and the open mockery of others the old man 
 in spectacles peering over to convince himself of the truth 
 disturb the solemnity of the feeling : and this fault is even 
 more apparent in the composition of Philippe de Champaigne, 
 where a young man puts up his finger with no equivocal ex- 
 pression. In these two examples the moment chosen is not 
 " Thy sins are forgiven thee," but the scepticism of the Phari- 
 see becomes the leading idea : " This man, if he were a 
 prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman 
 this is." 
 
 2. Christ in the house of Martha and Mary. Of this beau- 
 tiful subject I have never seen a satisfactory version ; in the 
 fresco in the Rinuccini Chapel the subject becomes legendary 
 rather than scriptural. Mary Magdalene is seated at the feet 
 of Christ in an attitude of attention ; Martha seems to expos- 
 tulate ; three of the disciples are behind ; a little out of the 
 principal group, St. Marcella, also with a glory round her head, 
 is seen cooking. At Hampton Court there is a curious picture 
 of this subject by Hans Vries, which is an elaborate study of 
 
 1 The great picture formerly in the Durazzo Palace is now in the Royal Gal- 
 lery at Turin. It is wonderful for life and color, and dramatic feeling a 
 masterpiece of the painter in his characteristic style. 
 
 2 [Bought by Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Vide Redford's Sales, vol. i. p. 151 ; 
 vol. ii. p. 260.]
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 361 
 
 architecture : the rich decoration of the interior has been criti- 
 cised ; but, according to the legend, Martha and* Mary lived in 
 great splendor; and there is no impropriety in representing 
 their dwelling as a palace, but a very great impropriety in 
 rendering the decorations of the palace more important than 
 the personages of the scene. In a picture by Old Bassano, 
 Christ is seen entering the house ; Mary Magdalene goes for- 
 ward to meet him ; Martha points to the table where Lazarus 
 sits composedly cutting a slice of sausage, and in the corner 
 St. Marcella is cooking at a fire. In a picture by Rubens, the 
 treatment is similar. The holy sisters are like two Flemish 
 farm servants, and Christ but I dare not proceed : in both 
 these instances, the coloring, the expression, the painting of 
 the accessories the vegetables and fruit, the materials and 
 implements for cooking a feast are as animated and true to 
 nature as the conception of the whole scene is trivial, vulgar, 
 and, to a just taste, intolerably profane. 
 
 One of the most modern compositions of this scene which 
 has attracted attention is that of Overbeck, very simple and 
 poetical, but deficient in individual expression. 
 
 3. The raising of Lazarus was selected by the early Chris- 
 tians as an emblem both of the general resurrection and the 
 resurrection of our Saviour, at a time that the resurrection 
 of the Saviour in person was considered a subject much too 
 solemn and mysterious to be dealt with by the imitative arts. 
 In its primitive signification, as the received emblem of the 
 resurrection of the dead, we find this subject abounding in 
 the catacombs, and on the sarcophagi of the third and fourth 
 centuries. The usual manner of representation shows the dead 
 man swathed like a mummy, under the porch of a temple 
 resembling a tomb, to which there is an ascent by a flight of 
 steps. Christ stands before him, and touches him with a 
 wand. Sometimes there are two figures only, but in general 
 Mary Magdalene is kneeling by. There is one instance only 
 in which Christ stands surrounded by the apostles, and the 
 two sisters are kneeling at his feet, " Lord, hadst thou been 
 here, my brother had not died." 1 
 
 In more modern Art this subject loses its mystic significa- 
 tion, and becomes simply a scriptural incident. It is treated 
 like a scene in a drama, and the painters have done their 
 l Bottari, Tab. xxx. *
 
 3G2 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 utmost to vary the treatment. But, however varied as re- 
 gards the style of conception and the number of personages, 
 Martha and Mary are always present, and, in general, Mary 
 is at the feet of our Saviour. The incident is of course one 
 of the most important in the life of Christ, and is never 
 omitted in the series, nor yet in the miracles of our Saviour. 
 But, from the beginning of the fourteenth century, it forms 
 one of the scenes of the story of Mary Magdalene. The fresco 
 of Giovanni da Milano at Assisi 1 contains thirteen figures, and 
 the two sisters kneeling at the feet of Christ have a grand and 
 solemn simplicity ; but Mary is not here in any respect distin- 
 guished from Martha, and both are attired in red. 
 
 In the picture in our National Gallery [designed in part by 
 Michael Angelo and painted by Sebastiano del Piombo], the 
 kneeling figure of Mary looking up in the face of Jesus, with 
 her grand severe beauty and earnest expression, is magnificent : 
 but here, again, Mary of Bethany is not Mar)' Magdalene, 
 nor the woman " who was a sinner ; " and I doubt whether 
 Michael Angelo intended to represent her as such. On the 
 other hand, the Caracci, Rubens, and the later painters are 
 careful to point out the supposed identity, by the long fair 
 hair, exposed and dishevelled, the superior beauty and the 
 superior prominence and importance of the figure, while Martha 
 stands by, veiled, and as a secondary personage. 
 
 4. In the crucifixion, where more than the three figures 
 (the Redeemer, the Virgin, and St. John) are introduced, the 
 Magdalene is almost always at the foot of the cross, and it 
 is said that Giotto gave the first example. Sometimes she is 
 embracing the cross, and looking up with all the abandonment 
 of despairing grief, which is more picturesque than true in 
 sentiment ; finer in feeling is the expression of serene hope 
 tempering the grief. In Rubens' famous " Crucifixion " in 
 the Antwerp [Cathedral], she has her arms round the cross, 
 and is gazing at the executioner with a look of horror : this 
 is very dramatic and striking, but the attention of the penitent 
 ought to be fixed on the dying Saviour, to the exclusion of 
 every other thought or object. In Vandyck's " Crucifixion," 
 the face of the Magdalene seen in front is exquisite for its 
 pathetic beauty. Sometimes the Virgin is fainting in her 
 
 1 [The frescoes at Assisi are no longer assigned to Giovanni da Milano.]
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 363 
 
 arms. The box of ointment is frequently placed near, to dis- 
 tinguish her from the other Maries present. 
 
 5. In the Descent or Deposition from the Cross, and in the 
 Entombment, Mary Magdalene is generally conspicuous. She 
 is often supporting the feet or one of the hands of the Saviour ; 
 or she stands by weeping ; or she sustains the Virgin ; or 
 (which is very usual in the earlier pictures) she is seen la- 
 menting aloud, with her long tresses disordered, and her arms 
 outspread in an ecstasy of grief and passion ; or she bends 
 down to embrace the feet of the Saviour, or to kiss his hand ; 
 or contemplates with a mournful look one of the nails, or the 
 crown of thorns, which she holds in her hand. 
 
 In the Pieth, of Fra Bartolommeo, in the Pitti Palace, the 
 prostrate abandonment in the figure of the Magdalene, press- 
 ing the feet of Christ to her bosom, is full of pathetic expres- 
 sion ; in the same gallery is the Pieta by Andrea del Sarto, 
 where the Magdalene, kneeling, wrings her hands in mute 
 sorrow. But in this, as in other instances, Raphael has 
 shown himself supreme ; there is a wonderful little drawing 
 by him, in which Nicodemus and others sustain the body of 
 the Saviour, while Mary Magdalene lies prostrate bending her 
 head over his feet, which she embraces ; the face is wholly 
 concealed by the flowing hair, but never was the expression 
 of overwheming love and sorrow conveyed with such artless 
 truth. 1 
 
 6. The Maries at the Sepulchre. The women who carry 
 the spices and perfumes to the tomb of Jesus are called, in 
 Greek Art, the Myrrlwpliores, or myrrh-bearers : with us 
 there are usually three Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother 
 of James and John, and Mary Salome. In Matthew, two 
 women are mentioned ; in Mark, three ; in Luke, the number 
 is indefinite ; and in John, only one is mentioned, Mary 
 Magdalene. There is scarcely a more beautiful subject in 
 the whole circle of scripture story than this of the three deso- 
 late affectionate women standing before the tomb in the gray 
 dawn, while the majestic angels are seen guarding the hallowed 
 spot. One of the earliest examples is the composition of 
 Duccio [Siena] ; the rules of perspective were then unknown 
 
 1 [The treatment of the Magdalene is similar in Raphael's Pieta in the col- 
 lection of Mr. Dawson, London. Vide Miintz, Raphael, p. 211.]
 
 364 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 but what a beautiful simplicity in the group of women ! 
 how fine the seated angel ! " The angel of the Lord de- 
 scended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from 
 the door and sat upon it." I have seen one instance, and 
 only one, in which the angel is in the act of descending ; in 
 general, the version according to St. John is followed, and the 
 " two men in shining garments " are seated within the tomb. 
 There is a famous engraving, after a design by Michael Angelo, 
 called " The Three Maries going to the Sepulchre ; " it repre- 
 sents three old women veiled, and with their backs turned 
 very awful ; but they might as well be called the three Fates, 
 or the three Witches, as the three Maries. The subject has 
 never been more happily treated than by Philip Veit, a modern 
 German artist, in a print which has become popxtlar ; he has 
 followed the version of Matthew : " As it began to dawn, 
 came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepul- 
 chre." The attitude of motionless sorrow ; the anxious ex- 
 pectant looks, fixed on the tomb ; the deep shadowy stillness ; 
 the morning light just breaking in the distance, are very truly 
 and feelingly expressed. 
 
 7. The " Noli me tangere " is the subject of many pictures ; 
 they do not vary in the simplicity of the motif, which is fixed 
 by tradition, and admits of but two persons. The composition 
 of Duccio, as one of the series of the Passion of Christ, is 
 extremely grand ; and the figure of Mary, leaning forward as 
 she kneels, with outstretched hands full of expression. The 
 old fresco [attributed to Giovanni da Milano] in the Rinuccini 
 Chapel at Santa Croce, Florence, is also exquisite. Two of 
 the finest in conception and treatment are, notwithstanding, in 
 striking contrast to each other. One is the Titian [once] in the 
 collection of Mr. Rogers and bequeathed by the poet to the 
 National Gallery : the Magdalene, kneeling, bends forward 
 with eager expression, and one hand extended to touch him : 
 the Saviour, drawing his linen garment round him, shrinks back 
 from her touch yet with the softest expression of pity. Be- 
 sides the beauty and truth of the expression, this picture is 
 transcendent as a piece of color and effect ; while the rich land- 
 scape and the approach of morning over the blue distance are 
 conceived with a sublime simplicity. Not less a miracle of 
 Art, not less poetical, but in a far different style, is the Rem- 
 brandt in the Queen's Gallery [Buckingham Palace] : at the
 
 NOLI ME TANGERE (TITIAN)
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 365 
 
 entrance of the sepulchre the Saviour is seen in the habili- 
 ments of a gardener, and Mary Magdalene at his feet, adoring. 
 This picture exhibits, in a striking degree, all the wild origi- 
 nality and peculiar feeling of Rembrandt : the forms and char- 
 acters are common ; but the deep shadow of the cavern tomb, 
 the dimly-seen supernatural beings within it, the breaking of 
 the dawn over the distant city, are awfully sublime, and 
 worthy of the mysterious scene. Baroccio's great altar-piece, 
 which came to England with the Duke of Lucca's pictures, 
 once so famous, and well known from the fine engraving of 
 Raphael Morghen, is poor compared with any of these : Christ 
 is effeminate and commonplace Mary Magdalene all in a 
 flutter. 
 
 I now leave these scriptural incidents, to be more fully con- 
 sidered hereafter, and proceed to the fourth class of subjects 
 pertaining to the life of the Magdalene those which are 
 taken from the wild Provengal legends of the thirteenth and 
 fourteenth centuries. 
 
 1. " La Danse de la Madeleine " is the title given to a very 
 rare and beautiful print by Lucas v. Leyden. It represents 
 Mary Magdalene abandoned to the pleasures of the world. 
 The scene is a smiling and varied landscape ; in the centre 
 Mary Magdalene, with the anticipative glory round her head, 
 is seen dancing along to the sound of a flute and tabor, while 
 a man in a rich dress leads her by the hand : several groups of 
 men and women are diverting themselves in the foreground ; 
 in the background Mary Magdalene, with a number of gay 
 companions, is chasing the stag ; she is mounted on horseback, 
 and has again the glory round her head : far in the distance 
 she is seen borne upwards by the angels. This singular and 
 suggestive composition is dated 1519. There is a fine impres- 
 sion in the British Museum. 
 
 2. " Mary Magdalene rebuked by her sister Martha for her 
 vanity and luxury/'' I believe I am the first to suggest that 
 the famous picture in the Sciarra Palace, by Leonardo da Vinci, 
 known as " Modesty and Vanity," is a version of this subject. 
 When I saw it, this idea was suggested, and no other filled my 
 mind. The subject is one often treated, and here treated in 
 Leonardo's peculiar manner. The attitude of the veiled figure 
 is distinctly that of remonstrance and rebuke j the other,
 
 366 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 decked and smiling, looks out of the picture holding flowers in 
 her hand, as yet unconvinced, unconverted : the vase of oint- 
 ment stands near her. In other pictures there is no doubt as 
 to the significance of the subject ; it has been gracefully 
 treated in a picture by Giovanni Lopicino, now in the gallery 
 of the Belvedere at Vienna. She is seated at her toilette ; her 
 maid is binding her luxuriant hair ; Martha, standing by, 
 appears to be remonstrating with great fervor. There is a 
 pretty picture by Elisabetta Sirani of the same scene, simi- 
 larly treated. 
 
 3. " Mary Magdalene conducted by her sister Martha to the 
 feet of Jesus." Of this most beautiful subject I know but 
 one composition of distinguished merit. It is by Raphael, and 
 exists only in the drawing, and the rare engraving by Marc 
 Antonio. Christ sits within the porch of the Temple, teaching 
 four of his disciples who stand near him. Martha and Mary 
 are seen ascending the steps which lead to the portico : Martha, 
 who is veiled, seems to encourage her sister, who looks down. 
 I observe that Passavant and others are uncertain as to the 
 subject of this charming design : *it has been styled " The Vir- 
 gin Mary presenting the Magdalene to Christ ; " but with any one 
 who has carefully considered the legend there can be no doubt 
 as to the intention of the artist. " Mary Magdalene listening 
 to the preaching of our Saviour, with Martha seated by her 
 side," is one of the subjects in the series by Gauden^io Ferrari 
 at Vercelli : it is partly destroyed. We have the same sub- 
 ject by F. Zucchero ; Mary, in a rich dress, is kneeling at the 
 feet of the Saviour, who is seated under a portico ; Martha, 
 veiled, stands near her, and there are numerous spectators and 
 accessories. 
 
 4. " The Magdalene renouncing the Vanities of the World " 
 is also a very attractive subject. In a picture by Guido she 
 has partly divested herself of her rich ornaments, and is taking 
 some pearls from her hair, while she looks up to heaven with 
 tearful eyes. In a sketch by Rubens, in the Dulwich Gallery, 
 she is seated in a forest solitude, still arrayed in her worldly 
 finery, blue satin, pearls, etc., and wringing her hands with an 
 expression of the bitterest grief. The treatment, as usual with 
 him, is coarse, but effective. In his large picture at Vienna, 
 with the figures life size, Mary is spurning with her feet a 
 casket of jewels, and throwing herself back with her hands
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 367 
 
 clasped in an agony of penitence ; while Martha sits behind } 
 gazing on her with an expression so demurely triumphant as 
 to be almost comic. There is an exquisite little picture by 
 Gerard Douw in the Berlin Gallery, in which the Magdalene, 
 in a magnificent robe of crimson and sables, is looking up to 
 heaven with an expression of sorrow and penitence ; the table 
 before her is covered with gold and jewels. " Mary Magda- 
 lene renouncing the World," by Le Brun, is a famous picture, 
 now in the Louvre. She looks up to heaven with tearful eyes, 
 and is in the act of tearing off a rich mantle ; a casket of 
 jewels lies overturned at her feet. This picture is said to be 
 the portrait of Madame de la Valliere, by whose order it was 
 painted for the church of the Carmelites at Paris, where she 
 had taken refuge from the court and from the world. It has 
 that sort of theatrical grace and grandeur, that mannered medi- 
 ocrity, characteristic of the painter and the time. 1 There is a 
 Magdalene in the Gallery at Munich by Le Brun, which is to 
 me far preferable ; and this, and not the Paris one, I presume 
 to be the portrait of the Duchesse de la Valliere. In a pic- 
 ture by Franceschini she has flung off her worldly ornaments, 
 which lie scattered on the ground, and holds a scourge in her 
 hand, with which she appears to have castigated herself : she 
 sinks in the arms of one of her attendant maidens, while 
 Martha, standing by, seems to speak of peace, and points to- 
 wards heaven : the figures are life size. (Dresden Gallery.) 
 !None of these pictures, with the exception of the precious 
 Leonardo in the Sciarra Palace, have any remarkable merit as 
 pictures. The scenes between Mary and Martha are capable of 
 the most dramatic and effective illustration, but have never 
 yet been worthily treated. 
 
 5. " The embarkation of the Magdalene in Palestine, with 
 Martha, Lazarus, and the others, cast forth by their enemies in 
 a vessel without sails or rudder, but miraculously conducted by 
 an angel," is another subject of which I have seen no adequate 
 representation. There is a mediocre picture by Curradi in the 
 Florence Gallery. Among the beautiful frescoes of Gaudenzio 
 Ferrari in the Church of St. Cristoforo at Yercelli, is the voy- 
 age of the Magdalene and her companions, and their disem- 
 barkation at Marseilles. 
 
 1 The print by Edelinck is considered as the masterpiece of that celebrated 
 engraver.
 
 368 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 6. " Mary Magdalene preaching to the inhabitants of Mar- 
 seilles " has been several times represented in the sculpture and 
 stained glass of the old cathedrals in the south of France. In 
 the Hotel de Cluny there is a curious old picture in distemper 
 attributed to King Rend of Provence, the father of our Mar- 
 garet of Anjou, and famous for his skill as a limner. Mary 
 Magdalene is standing on some steps, arrayed in loose white 
 drapery, and a veil over her head. She is addressing earnestly 
 a crowd of listeners, and among them we see King Rene' and 
 his wife Jeanne de Laval on thrones with crown and sceptre, 
 a trifling anachronism of about 1,400 years, but it may be 
 taken in a poetical and allegorical sense. The port of Mar- 
 seilles is seen in the background. The same subject has been 
 classically treated in a series of bas-reliefs in the porch of the 
 Certosa at Pavia : there is a mistake, however, in exhibiting 
 her as half naked, clothed only in a skin, and her long hair 
 flowing down over her person ; for she was at this time the 
 missionary saint, and not yet the penitent of the desert. 
 
 7. " Mary Magdalene borne by angels above the summit of 
 Mount Pilon," called also "The Assumption of the Magda- 
 lene," is a charming subject when treated in the right spirit. 
 Unfortunately, we are oftener reminded of a Pandora, sustained 
 by a group of Cupids, or a Venus rising out of the sea, than 
 of the ecstatic trance of the reconciled penitent. It was very 
 early a popular theme. In the treatment we find little vari- 
 ety. She is seen carried upwards very slightly draped, and 
 often with no other veil than her redundant hair, flowing over 
 her whole person. She is in the arms of four, five, or six 
 angels. Sometimes one of the angels bears the alabaster box 
 of ointment ; far below is a wild mountainous landscape, 
 with a hermit looking up at the vision, as it is related in the 
 legend. 
 
 In a hymn to the Magdalene, by an old ProvenQal poet 
 (Balthazar de la Burle), there is a passage describing her 
 ascent in the arms of angels, which, from its vivid graphic 
 naivete, is worthy of being placed under the print of Albert 
 Dlirer : 
 
 Ravengat Ion jour los anges la portavan 
 
 Ben plus hault que lou roc. 
 
 Jamais per inauvais temps que fessa ne freddura, 
 
 Autrc abit non avia que la sien cabellura,
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 369 
 
 Que como un mantel d'or tant eram bels e blonds 
 La couvria de la testa tin al has des talons. 1 
 
 The fresco by Giulio Romano, in which she is reclining 
 amid clouds, and sustained by six angels, while her head is 
 raised and her arms extended with the most ecstatic expres- 
 sion, was cut from the walls of a chapel in the Trinitk di 
 Monte at Rome, and is now in our National Gallery. 
 
 One of the finest pictures ever painted by Ribera is the 
 Assumption of the Magdalene in the Louvre, both for beauty 
 of expression and color. She is here draped, and her drapery 
 well managed. 2 The Spanish painters never fell into the 
 mistake of the Italians ; they give us no Magdalenes which 
 recall the idea of a Venus Meretrix. The rules of the In- 
 quisition were here absolute, and held the painters in whole- 
 some check, rendering such irreligious innovations inadmissible 
 and unknown. In the Turin Gallery there is an Assumption 
 of the Magdalene by Denis Calvaert, admirably painted, in 
 which she is carried up by four Apollo-like angels, who, with 
 their outstretched arms, form a sort of . throne on which she is 
 seated : she is herself most lovely, draped in the thin undress 
 of a Venus ; and the whole composition, at first view., brought 
 to my fancy the idea of a Venus rising from the sea, throned 
 in her shell and sustained by nymphs and cupids. 
 
 In general, the early painters, Albert Diirer, Vivarini, Lo- 
 renzo di Credi, Benedetto Montagna, represent her in an upright 
 position, with hands folded in prayer, or crossed over her 
 bosom, and thus soaring upwards, without effort of will or 
 apparent consciousness ; while the painters of the seventeenth 
 century (Avith whom this was a favorite subject) strained their 
 imagination to render the form and attitude voluptuously grace- 
 ful, and to vary the action of the attendant angels, until, in 
 one or two instances, the representation became at once absurdly 
 prosaic and offensively theatrical. F. Zucchero, Cambiasi, Lan- 
 franco, Carlo Maratti, have all given us versions of this sub- 
 ject in a florid, mannered style. 
 
 1 [Rendered into English : The day came when the angels bore her far above 
 the rock-cave. Through storm and cold, she had no other clothing than her 
 hair, which covered her from head to feet like a golden mantle, it was so beau- 
 tiful and blonde.] 
 
 2 [Ribera's Assumption of the Magdalene in the Louis Philippe collection was 
 purchased at the sale of 1853 by Pearce. Vide Bedford's Sales, vol. ii. p. 
 270.]
 
 370 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 Over the high altar of the Madeleine, at Paris, is the same 
 subject in a marble group, by Marochetti, rather above life size. 
 Two angels bear her up, while on each side an archangel kneels 
 in adoration. 
 
 8. The Last Communion of the Magdalene is represented 
 in two different ways, according to the two different versions 
 of the story : in the first, she expires in her cave, and angels 
 administer the last sacrament ; one holds a taper, another pre- 
 sents the cup, a third the wafer. This has been painted by 
 Domenichino. In the other version, she receives the sacrament 
 from the hand of St. Maximin, who wears the episcopal robes, 
 and the Magdalene kneels before him, half-naked, emaciated, 
 and sustained by angels : the scene is the porch of a church. 
 
 9. The Magdalene dying in the Wilderness, extended on 
 the bare earth, and pressing the crucifix to her bosom, is a 
 frequent subject in the seventeenth century. One of the finest 
 examples is the picture of Rustichino in the Pitti, Florence. 
 The well-known " Dying Magdalene " of Canova has the same 
 merits and defects as his Penitent Magdalene. [This statue 
 was executed in 1822, for the Earl of Liverpool. Engraved 
 by Henry Moses.] 
 
 I saw a picture at Bologna by Tiarini, of which the con- 
 ception appeared to me very striking and poetical. The Virgin, 
 " La Madre Addolorata," is seated, and holds in her hand the 
 crown of thorns, which she contemplates with a mournful 
 expression ; at a little distance kneels Mary Magdalene with 
 long dishevelled hair, in all the abandonment of grief. St. 
 John stands behind, with his hands clasped, and his eyes raised 
 to heaven. 
 
 When the Magdalene is introduced into pictures of the 
 " Incredulity of Thomas," it is in allusion to a famous par- 
 allel in one of the Fathers, in which it is insisted " that the 
 faith of Mary Magdalene and the doubts of Thomas were 
 equally serviceable to the cause of Christ." 
 
 Among the many miracles imputed to the Magdalene, one 
 only has become popular as a subject of Art. Besides being 
 extremely na'ive and poetical, it is extremely curious as illus- 
 trating the manners of the time. It was probably fabricated 
 in the fourteenth century, and intended as a kind of parable,
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 371 
 
 to show that those who trusted in Mary Magdalene, and in- 
 voked her aid, might in all cases reckon upon her powerful 
 intercession. It is thus related : 
 
 " Soon after Mary Magdalene landed in Provence, a certain 
 prince of that country arrived in the city of Marseilles with 
 his wife, for the purpose of sacrificing to the gods ; but they 
 were dissuaded from doing so by the preaching of Mary Mag- 
 dalene : and the prince one day said to the saint, ' We greatly 
 desire to have a son. Canst thou obtain for us that grace 
 from the God whom thou preachest ? ' And the Magdalene 
 replied, ' If thy prayer be granted, wilt thou then believe ? ' 
 And he answered, ' Yes, I will believe.' But shortly after- 
 wards, as he still doubted, he resolved to sail to Jerusalem to 
 visit St. Peter, and to find out whether his preaching agreed 
 with that of Mary Magdalene. His wife resolved to accom- 
 pany him : but the husband said, ' How shall that be possible, 
 seeing that thou art with child, and the dangers of the sea are 
 very great ? ' But she insisted, and, throwing herself at his 
 feet, she obtained her desire. Then, having laden a vessel Avith 
 all that was necessary, they set sail, and when a day and a night 
 Avere come and gone, there arose a terrible storm. The poor 
 woman was seized prematurely with the pains of childbirth ; 
 in the midst of the tempest she brought forth her first-born 
 son, and then died. The miserable father, seeing his wife 
 dead, and his child deprived of its natural solace, and crying 
 for food, wrung his hands in despair, and knew not what to 
 do. And the sailors said, ' Let us throw this dead body into 
 the sea, for as long as it remains on board the tempest will not 
 abate.' But the prince, by his entreaties, and by giving them 
 money, restrained them for a while. Just then, for so it 
 pleased God, they arrived at a rocky island, and the prince 
 laid the body of his wife on the shore, and, taking the infant 
 in his arms, he wept greatly, and said, ' Mary Magdalene ! 
 to my grief and sorrow didst thou come to Marseilles. Why 
 didst thou ask thy God to give me a son only that I might 
 lose both son and wife together ? O Mary Magdalene ! have 
 pity on my grief, and if thy prayers may avail, save at least 
 the life of my child ! ' Then he laid down the infant on the 
 bosom of the mother, and covered them both with his cloak, 
 and went on his way, weeping. And when the prince and 
 his attendants had arrived at Jerusalem, St. Peter showed him
 
 372 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 all the places where our Saviour had performed his miracles, 
 and the hill on which he had been crucified, and the spot from 
 whence he had ascended into heaven. Having been instructed 
 in the faith by St. Peter, at the end of two years the prince 
 embarked to return to his own country, and passing near to 
 the island in which he had left his wife, he landed in order 
 to weep upon her grave. 
 
 " Now, wonderful to relate ! his infant child had been 
 preserved alive by the prayers of the blessed Mary Magda- 
 lene : and he was accustomed to run about on the sands of the 
 seashore, to gather up pebbles and shells ; and when the child, 
 who had never beheld a man, perceived the strangers, he was 
 afraid, and ran and hid himself under the cloak which cov- 
 ered his dead mother ; and the father, and all who were with 
 him, were filled with astonishment; but their surprise was 
 still greater when the woman opened her eyes, and stretched 
 out her arms to her husband. Then they offered up thanks, 
 and all returned together to Marseilles, where they fell at the 
 feet of Mary Magdalene, and received baptism. From that 
 time forth, all the people of Marseilles and the surrounding 
 country became Christians." 
 
 The picturesque capabilities of this extravagant but beauti- 
 ful legend will immediately suggest themselves to the fancy 
 the wild seashore the lovely naked infant wandering on the 
 beach the mother, slumbering the sleep of death, covered 
 with the mysterious drapery the arrival of the mariners 
 what opportunity for scenery and grouping, color and ex- 
 pression ! It was popular in the Giotto school, which arose 
 and flourished just about the period when the enthusiasm for 
 Mary Magdalene was at its height ; but later painters have 
 avoided it, or, rather, it was not sufficiently accredited for a 
 Church legend ; and I have met with no example later than 
 the end of the fourteenth century. 
 
 The old fresco [in the Rinuccini Chapel of] S. Croce at 
 Florence will give some idea of the manner in which the sub- 
 ject was usually treated. In the foreground is a space repre- 
 senting an island ; water flowing round it, the water being 
 indicated by many strange fishes. On the island a woman lies' 
 extended with her hands crossed upon her bosom ; an infant 
 lifts up the mantle, and seems to show her to a man bending 
 over her; the father on his knees, with hands joined, looks
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 373 
 
 devoutly up to heaven ; four others stand behind expressing 
 astonishment or fixed attention. In the distance is a ship, in 
 which sits a man with a long white beard, in red drapery ; 
 beside him another in dark drapery ; beyond is a view of a 
 port with a lighthouse, intended, I presume, for Marseilles. 
 The story is here told in a sort of Chinese manner as regards 
 the drawing, composition, and perspective ; but the figures and 
 heads are expressive and significant. 
 
 In the Chapel of the Magdalene [San Francesco], Assisi, 
 the same subject is given with some variation. The bark 
 containing the pilgrims is guided by an angel, and the infant 
 is seated by the head of the mother, as if watching her. [Va- 
 riously attributed to Buffalmacco or to some pupil of Giotto, 
 perhaps Puccio.] 
 
 The life of Mary Magdalene in a series of subjects, min- 
 gling the scriptural and legendary incidents, may often be found 
 in the old French and Italian churches, more especially in the 
 chapels dedicated to her ; and I should think that among the 
 remains of ancient painting now in course of discovery in our 
 own sacred edifices they cannot fail to occur. 1 In the mural 
 frescoes, in the altar-pieces, the stained glass, and the sculp- 
 ture of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, such a series 
 perpetually presents itself ; and, well or ill executed, will in 
 general be found to comprise the following scenes : 
 
 1. Her conversion at the feet of the Saviour. 2. Christ 
 entertained in the house of Martha ; Mary sits at his feet to 
 hear his words. 3. The raising of Lazarus. 4. Mary Magda- 
 lene and her companions embark in a vessel without sails, oars, 
 or rudder. 5. Steered by an angel, they land at Marseilles. 6. 
 Mary Magdalene preaches to the people. 7. The miracle of 
 the mother and child. 8. The penance of the Magdalene in 
 a desert cave. 9. She is carried up in the arms of angels. 
 10. She receives the sacrament from the hands of an angel 
 or from St. Maximin. 11. She dies, and angels bear her spirit 
 to heaven. 
 
 There is a fine series of frescoes from the life of Mary 
 Magdalene by Gaudenzio Ferrari, in the Church of St. Cris- 
 toforo at Vercelli. 1. Mary and Martha are seated, with a 
 
 1 There are about one hundred and fifty churches in England dedicated in 
 honor of Mary Magdalene.
 
 374 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 
 
 crowd of others, listening to Christ, who is preaching in a 
 pulpit. Martha is veiled and thoughtful : Mary, richly dressed, 
 looks up eagerly. Half destroyed. 2. Mary anoints the 
 feet of the Saviour ; she lays her head down on his foot with 
 a tender humiliation : in the background the Maries at the 
 sepulchre and the "Noli me tangere." This also in great part 
 ruined. 3. The legend of the Prince of Provence and his 
 wife, who are kneeling before Lazarus and Mary. Martha is 
 to the left, and Marcella behind. In the background are the 
 various scenes of the legend the embarkation ; the scene on 
 the island ; the arrival at Jerusalem ; the return to Marseilles 
 with the child. This is one of the best preserved, and the 
 heads are remarkably fine. 4. Mary Magdalene sustained by 
 angels, her feet resting between the wings of one of them, is 
 borne upwards. All the upper part of the figure is destroyed. 
 In the background are the last communion -and burial of the 
 Magdalene. I saw these frescoes in October, 1855. They 
 suffered greatly from the siege in 1638, when several bombs 
 shattered this part of the wall, and will soon cease to exist. 
 They are engraved in their present state in Pianazzi's " Opere 
 di Gaudenzio Ferrari," No. 19. 
 
 The subjects vary of course in number and in treatment, but, 
 with some attention to the foregoing legend, they will easily 
 be understood and discriminated. Such a series was painted 
 by Giotto in the Chapel of the Bargello at Florence (where 
 the portrait of Dante was lately [1840] discovered), but they 
 are nearly obliterated ; the miracle of the mother and child is, 
 however, to be distinguished on the left near the entrance. 
 The treatment of the whole has been imitated in the Kinuc- 
 cini Chapel at Florence, and in the Chapel of the Magdalene 
 at Assisi ; on the windows of the cathedrals of Chartres and 
 Bourges ; and in a series of bas-reliefs round the porch of the 
 Certosa of Pavia, executed in the classical style of the six- 
 teenth century. 
 
 On reviewing generally the infinite variety which has been 
 given to these favorite subjects, the life and penance of the Mag- 
 dalene, I must end where I began in how few instances has 
 the result been satisfactory to mind or heart, or soul or sense ! 
 Many have well represented the particular situation, the ap-
 
 ST. MARY MAGDALENE 375 
 
 propriate sentiment, the sorrow, the hope, the devotion ; but 
 who has given us the character? A noble creature, with 
 strong sympathies and a strong will, with powerful faculties of 
 every kind, working for good or evil, such a woman Mary 
 Magdalene must have been, even in her humiliation ; and the 
 feeble, girlish, commonplace, and even vulgar women who 
 appear to have been usually selected as models by the artists, 
 turned into Magdalenes by throwing up their eyes and letting 
 down their hair, ill represent the enthusiastic convert or the 
 majestic patroness. 
 
 I must not quit the subject of the Magdalene without some 
 allusion to those wild legends which suppose a tender attach- 
 ment (but of course wholly pure and Platonic) to have existed 
 between her and St. John the Evangelist. 1 In the enthu- 
 siasm which Mary Magdalene excited in the thirteenth century, 
 no supposition that tended to exalt her was deemed too extrava- 
 gant : some of her panegyrists go so far as to insist that the 
 marriage at Cana, which our Saviour and his mother honored 
 by their presence, was the marriage of St. John with the Mag- 
 dalene ; and that Christ repaired to the wedding-feast on pur- 
 pose to prevent the accomplishment of the marriage, having 
 destined both to a state of greater perfection. This fable was 
 never accepted by the-Church ; and among the works of Art 
 consecrated to religious purposes I have never met with any 
 which places St. John and the Magdalene in particular rela- 
 tion to each other, except when they are seen together at the 
 foot of the cross, or lamenting with the Virgin over the body 
 of the Saviour : but such was the popularity of these extraor- 
 dinary legends towards the end of the thirteenth and in the 
 beginning of the fourteenth century, that I think it possible 
 such may exist, and, for want of this key, may appear hope- 
 lessly enigmatical. 
 
 In a series of eight subjects which exhibit the life of St. 
 John prefixed to a copy of the Revelation, there is one which 
 I think admits of this interpretation. (Paris, Bibliotheque 
 du Roi, MS., fourteenth century.) The scene is the inte- 
 
 1 Bayle, Diet. Hist. ; Molanus, lib. iv., de Hist. Sacrar~S. Mag., cap. xx. 
 y>, 428; Thomasium, prefat. 78. The authority usually cited is Abdius, a writer 
 who pretended to have lived in the first century, and whom Bayle styles "the 
 most impudent of legendary impostors."
 
 376 ST. MARTHA 
 
 rior of a splendid building sustained by pillars. St. John is 
 baptizing a beautiful woman, who is sitting in a tub ; she has 
 long golden hair. On the outside of the building seven men 
 are endeavoring to see what is going forward : one peeps 
 through the key-hole ; one has thrown himself flat on the 
 ground, and has his eye to an aperture ; a third, mounted on 
 the shoulders of another, is trying to look in at a window ; a 
 fifth, who cannot get near enough, tears his hair in an agony 
 of impatience ; and another is bawling into the ear of a deaf 
 and blind comrade a description of what he has seen. The ex- 
 ecution is French, of the fourteenth century ; the taste, it will 
 be said, is also French ; the figures are drawn with a pen and 
 slightly tinted : the design is incorrect ; but the vivacity of 
 gesture and expression, though verging on caricature, is so 
 true, and so comically dramatic, and the whole composition 
 so absurd, that it is impossible to look at it without a smile. 
 
 ST. MARTHA 
 
 ItaL Santa Marta, Vergine, Albergatrice di Cristo. Fr. Sainte 
 Marthe, la Travailleuse. Patroness of cooks and housewives. 
 (June 29, A. D. 84.) 
 
 Martha has shared in the veneration paid to her sister. The 
 important part assigned to her in the^ history of Mary has 
 already been adverted to ; she is always represented as the 
 instrument through whom Mary was converted, the one who 
 led her first to the feet of the Saviour. " Which thing," says 
 the story, " should not be accounted as the least of her merits, 
 seeing that Martha was a chaste and prudent virgin, and the 
 other publicly contemned for her evil life ; notwithstanding 
 which, Martha did not despise her, nor reject her as a sister, 
 but wept for her shame and admonished her gently and with 
 persuasive words ; and reminded her of her noble birth, to 
 which she was a disgrace, and that Lazarus, their brother, be- 
 ing a soldier, would certainly get into trouble on her account. 
 So she prevailed, and conducted her sister to the presence of 
 Christ, and afterwards, as it is well known, she lodged and 
 entertained the Saviour in her own house." (II perfetto Le- 
 gendario.) 
 
 According to the Provencal legend, while Mary Magdalene 
 converted the people of Marseilles, Martha preached to the
 
 ST. MARTHA 377 
 
 people of Aix and its vicinity. In those days the country was 
 ravaged by a fearful dragon, called the Tarasque, which during 
 the day lay concealed in the river Rhone. Martha overcame 
 this monster by sprinkling him with holy water, and having 
 bound him with her girdle (or, as others say, her garter), the 
 people speedily put an end to him. The scene of this legend 
 is now the city of Tarascon, where there is, or was, a mag- 
 nificent church, dedicated to St. Martha, and richly endowed 
 by Louis XI. 
 
 The same legends assure us that St. Martha was the first 
 who founded a monastery for women ; the first, after the blessed 
 Mother of Christ, who vowed her virginity to God ; and that 
 when she had passed tnany years in prayer and good works, 
 feeling that her end was near, she desired to be carried to a spot 
 where she could see the glorious sun in heaven, and that they 
 should read to her the history of the passion of Christ ; and 
 when they came to the words, " Father, into thy hands I com- 
 mend my spirit," she died. 
 
 As Mary Magdalene is the patroness of repentant frailty, so 
 Martha is the especial patroness of female discretion and good 
 housekeeping. In this character, she is often represented with 
 a skimmer or ladle in her hand, or a large bunch of keys is 
 attached to her girdle. For example, in a beautiful old Ger- 
 man altar-piece attributed to Albert Dlirer (Queen's Gallery), 
 she is standing in a magnificent dress, a jewelled turban, and 
 holding a well-known implement of cookery in her hand. In 
 a missal" of Henry VIII. (Bodleian MSS., Oxford), she is rep- 
 resented with the same utensil, and her name is inscribed be- 
 neath. In general, however, her dress is not rich but homely, 
 and her usual attributes as patron saint are the pot of holy 
 water, the asperge in her hand, and a dragon bound at her feet. 
 In the chapels dedicated to the Magdalene, she finds her appro- 
 priate place as pendant to her sister, generally distinguished by 
 her close coif and by being draped in blue or dark brown or 
 gray ; while the Magdalene is usually habited in red. When 
 attended by her dragon, St. Martha is sometimes confounded 
 with St. Margaret, who is also accompanied by a dragon ; but 
 it must be remembered that St. Margaret bears a crucifix 
 or palm, and St. Martha the pot of holy water ; and in gen- 
 eral the early painters have been careful to distinguish these 
 attributes.
 
 378 ST. LAZARUS 
 
 St. Martha, besides being a model of female discretion, so- 
 briety, and chastity, and the patroness of good housewives, 
 was, according to the old legends, the same woman who was 
 healed by Christ, and who in gratitude erected to his honor a 
 bronze statue, which statue is said to have existed in the 
 time of Eusebius, and to have been thrown down by Julian 
 the Apostate. 1 
 
 When Martha and Mary stand together as patronesses, one 
 represents the active, the other the contemplative, Christian 
 life. 
 
 Martha is generally introduced among the holy women who 
 attend the crucifixion and entombment of our Lord. In a 
 most beautiful Entombment by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Martha 
 kisses the hand of the Saviour, while Mary Magdalene is seen 
 behind with outspread arms : Lazarus and Maximin stand at 
 the head of the Saviour. 
 
 ST. LAZARUS 
 
 Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, is revered as the 
 first bishop and patron saint of Marseilles, and is generally 
 represented with the mitre and stole. There are at least fifty 
 saints who wear the same attire ; but when a figure in episco- 
 pal robes is introduced into the same picture, or the same series, 
 with Martha and Mary, it may be presumed, if not otherwise 
 distinguished, to be St. Lazarus : sometimes, but rarely, the 
 introduction of a bier, or his resurrection, in the background, 
 serves to fix the identity. Grouped with these three saints, 
 we occasionally find St. Marcella (or Martilla), who accompa- 
 nied them from the East, but who is not distinguished by any 
 attribute ; nor is anything particular related of her, except 
 that she wrote the life of Martha, and preached the Gospel in 
 Sclavonia. 
 
 There are beautiful full-length figures of Mary, Martha, 
 Lazarus, and Marcella in the Brera at Milan, painted by one 
 of the Luini school, and treated in a very classical and noble 
 
 1 It is perhaps in reference to this tradition that St. Martha has become the 
 patroness of an order of charitable women, who serve in the hospitals, partic- 
 ularly the military hospitals, in France and elsewhere her brother Lazarus 
 having been a soldier.
 
 ST. MARY OF EGYPT 379 
 
 style, draped, and standing in niches to represent statues. At 
 Munich are the separate figures of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, 
 by Grlinewald ; Lazarus is seen standing by his bier ; Mary, 
 in the rich costume of a German lady of rank, presents her 
 vase ; and Martha is habited like a German hausfrau, with 
 her dragon at her feet. They are much larger than life, 
 admirably painted, and full of character, though somewhat 
 grotesque in treatment. 
 
 Over the altar of the church "La Major," at Marseilles, 
 stands Lazarus as bishop ; Mary on the right, and Martha on 
 the left ; underneath these three statues runs a series of bas- 
 reliefs containing the history of Lazarus. 1. He is recalled to 
 life. 2. Seated on the edge of his tomb, he addresses the 
 spectators. 3. He entertains Christ. 4. The arrival at Mar- 
 seilles. 5. He preaches to the people. 6. He is consecrated 
 bishop. 7. He suffers martyrdom. 
 
 In a tabernacle or triptica by Niccolo Frumenti (A. D. 1461), 
 the central compartment represents the raising of Lazarus, who 
 has the truest and most horrid expression of death and dawn- 
 ing life I ever beheld. On the volet to the right is i!he supper 
 in the house of Levi, and the Magdalene anointing the feet of 
 the Saviour ; on the left volet, Martha meets him on his arri- 
 val at Bethany " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother 
 had not died?' (Uffizi, Florence.) 
 
 In the Chapel of Mary Magdalene at Assisi, we find, besides 
 the history of her life, full-length figures of Mary, Martha, 
 Lazarus, and Maximin. Mary, a beautiful dignified Ijgure, as 
 usual in rich red drapery, stands to the right of the altar, hold- 
 ing out her hand to a kneeling Franciscan ; on the left Martha 
 stands in gray drapery with a close hood, Lazarus and Max- 
 imin as bishops. 
 
 This will give an idea of the manner in which these person- 
 ages are either grouped together or placed in connection with 
 each other. 
 
 ST. MAKY OF EGYPT 
 
 Lnt. Santa Maria Egiziaca Penitente. Fr. Sainte Marie 1'Egyp- 
 tienne, La Gipesienne, La Jussienne. (April 2, A. D. 433.) 
 
 I place the story of St. Mary of Egypt here, for though 
 she had no real connection with the Magdalene, in works of
 
 380 ST. MARY OF EGYPT 
 
 art they are perpetually associated as les bienheureuses pecker- 
 esses, and in their personal and pictorial attributes not unfre- 
 quently confounded. The legend of Mary Egyptiuca is long 
 anterior to that of Mary Magdalene. It was current in a 
 written form so early as the sixth century, being then re- 
 ceived as a true history ; but it appears to have been origi- 
 nally one of those instructive parables or religious romances 
 which, in the early ages of the Church, were composed and 
 circulated for the edification of the pious. In considering the 
 manners of that time, we may easily believe that it may have 
 had some foundation in fact. That a female anchoret of the 
 name of Mary lived and died in a desert of Palestine near 
 the river Jordan that she there bewailed her sins in solitude 
 for a long course of years, and was accidentally discovered 
 is a very ancient tradition, supported by contemporary evi- 
 dence. The picturesque, miraculous, and romantic incidents 
 with which the story has been adorned appear to have been 
 added to enhance the interest ; and, in its present form, the 
 legend is attributed to St. Jerome; 
 
 " Towards the. year of our Lord 365, there dwelt in Alex- 
 andria a woman whose name was Mary, and who in the infamy 
 of her life far exceeded Mary Magdalene. After passing sev- 
 enteen years in every species of vice, it happened that one 
 day, while roving along the seashore, she beheld a ship ready 
 to sail, and a large company preparing to embark. She in- 
 quired whither they were going ? They replied that they 
 were goipg up to Jerusalem, to celebrate the feast of the true 
 cross. She was seized with a sudden desire to accompany 
 them ; but having no money, she paid the price of her pas- 
 sage by selling herself to the sailors and pilgrims, whom she 
 allured to sin by every means in her power. On their arrival 
 at Jerusalem, she joined the crowds of worshippers who had 
 assembled to enter the church ; but all her attempts to pass 
 the threshold were in vain ; whenever she thought to enter 
 the porch, a supernatural power drove her back in shame, in 
 terror, in despair. Struck by the remembrance of her sins, 
 and filled with repentance, she humbled herself and prayed 
 for help ; the interdiction was removed, and she entered the 
 church of God, crawling on her knees. Thenceforward she 
 renounced her wicked and shameful life, and, buying at a 
 baker's three small loaves, she wandered forth into solitude,
 
 ST. MARY OF EGYPT 381 
 
 and never stopped or reposed till slie had penetrated into the 
 deserts beyond the Jordan, where she remained in severest 
 penance, living on roots and fruits, and drinking water only ; 
 her garments dropped away in rags piecemeal, leaving her 
 unclothed ; and she prayed fervently not to be left thus ex- 
 posed : suddenly her hair grew so long as to form a covering 
 for her whole person (or, according to another version, an 
 angel brought her a garment from heaven). Thus she dwelt 
 in the wilderness in prayer and penance, supported only by 
 her three small loaves, which, like the widow's meal, failed 
 her not, until, after the lapse of forty-seven years, she was 
 discovered by a priest named Zosimus. Of him she requested 
 silence, and that he woxild return at the end of a year, and 
 bring with him the elements of the holy sacrament, that she 
 might confess and communicate before she was released from 
 earth. And Zosimus obeyed her, and returned after a year ; 
 but not being able to pass the Jordan, the penitent, super- 
 naturally assisted, passed over the water to him ; and having 
 received the sacrament with tears, she desired the priest to 
 leave her once more to her solitude, and to return in a year 
 from that time. And when he returned he found her dead, 
 her hands crossed on her bosom. And he wept greatly ; and, 
 looking around, he saw written in the sand these words, 
 ' Father Zosimus, bury the body of the poor sinner, Mary 
 of Egypt ! Give earth to earth, and dust to dust, for Christ's 
 sake ! ' He endeavored to obey this last command, but being 
 full of years, and troubled and weak, his strength failed him, 
 and a lion came out of the wood and aided him, digging with 
 his paws till the grave was sufficiently large to receive the 
 body of the saint, which being committed to the earth, the 
 lion retired gently, and the old man returned home praising 
 God, who had shown mercy to the penitent." 
 
 In single figures and devotional pictures, Mary of Egypt is 
 portrayed as a meagre, wasted, aged woman, with long hair, 
 and holding in her hand three small loaves. Sometimes she 
 is united with Mary Magdalene, as joint emblems of female 
 penitence ; and not in painting only, but in, poetry, 
 
 Like redeemed Magdalene, 
 Or that Egyptian penitent, whose tears 
 Fretted the rock, and moisten'd round her cave 
 The thirsty desert.
 
 382 ST. MARY OF EGYPT 
 
 Thus they stand together in a little rare print by Marc Antonio, 
 the one distinguished by her vase, the other by her three 
 loaves. Sometimes, when they stand together, Mary Magda- 
 lene is young, beautiful, richly dressed, and Mary of Egypt, 
 a squalid, meagre, old woman, covered with rags, as in a rare 
 and curious print by Israel von Meckenen. (British Museum.) 
 
 Pictures from her life are not common. The earliest I have 
 met with is the series [by Giotto] painted on the walls of the 
 Chapel of the Bargello, at Florence, above the life of Mary 
 Magdalene : they had been whitewashed over. In seeking for 
 the portrait of Dante, this whitewash has been in part removed ; 
 and it is only just possible for those acquainted with the legend 
 to trace in several compartments the history of Mary of Egypt. 
 
 1. .Detached subjects are sometimes met with. In the 
 Church of San Pietro-in-P6, at Cremona, they preserve relics 
 said to be those of Mary of Egypt ; and over the altar there is 
 a large picture by Malosso, representing the saint at the door 
 of the Temple at Jerusalem, and repulsed by a miraculous 
 power. She is richly dressed, with a broad brimmed hat, and 
 stands on the step, as one endeavoring to enter, while several 
 persons look on, some amazed, others mocking. 
 
 2. Mary of Egypt doing penance in the desert is easily con- 
 founded with the penitent Magdalene. Where there is no 
 skull, no vase of ointment, no crucifix near her, Where the 
 penitent is aged, or at least not young and beautiful, with 
 little or no drapery, and black or gray hair, the picture may 
 be presumed to represent Mary of Egypt, and not the Magda- 
 lene, however like in situation and sentiment. There [was] a 
 large fine picture of this subject at Alton Towers. 1 
 
 3. The first meeting of Mary and the hermit Zosimus has 
 been painted by Eibera : in this picture her hair is gray and 
 short, her skin dark and sunburnt, and she is clothed in rags. 
 
 4. In another picture by the same painter she is passing 
 over the Jordan by the help of angels ; she is seen floating in 
 the air with her hands clasped, and Zosimus is kneeling by. 
 This subject might easily be confounded with the Assumption 
 of the Magdalene, but the sentiment ought to distinguish 
 them ; for, instead of the ecstatic trance of the Magdalene, 
 we have merely a miraculous incident : the figure is but little 
 
 1 [The Alton Towers Collection was dispersed by a sale in 1857.]
 
 ST. MARY OF EGYPT 383 
 
 raised above the waters, and the hermit is kneeling on the 
 shore. It was in the Spanish Gallery in the Louvre, now dis- 
 persed. 
 
 5. St. Mary receives the last communion from the hands of 
 Zosimus. I have known this subject to be confounded with 
 the last communion of the Magdalene. The circumstances of 
 the scene, as well as the character, should be attended to. 
 Mary of Egypt receives the sacrament in the desert ; a rivet 
 is generally in the background : Zosimus is an aged monk. 
 Where the Magdalene receives the sacrament from the hands 
 of Maximin, the scene is a portico or chapel with rich archi- 
 tecture, and Maximin wears the habit of a bishop. 
 
 6. The death of Mary of Egypt. Zosimus is kneeling 
 beside her, and the lion is licking her feet or digging her 
 grave. The presence of the lion distinguishes this subject 
 from the death of Mary Magdalene. 
 
 St. Mary of Egypt was early a popular saint in France, and 
 particularly venerated by the Parisians, till eclipsed by the in- 
 creasing celebrity of the Magdalene. She was styled, familiarly, 
 La Gipesienne (the Gipsy), softened by time into La Jus- 
 sienne. The street in -which stood a convent of reformed 
 women, dedicated to her, is still La Rue Jussienne. 
 
 We find her whole story in one of the richly painted win- 
 dows of the Cathedral of Chartres ; and again in the " Vitraux 
 de Bourges," where the inscription underneath is written 
 " Segiptiaca." 
 
 Among the best modern frescoes which I saw at Paris, was 
 the decoration of a chapel in the Church of St. Merry, dedi- 
 cated to Ste. Marie 1'Egyptienne : the religious sentiment and 
 manner of middle age Art are as usual imitated, but with a 
 certain unexpected originality in the conception of some of the 
 subjects which pleased me. 1. On the wall, to the right, she 
 stands leaning on the pedestal of the statue of the Madonna in 
 a meditative attitude, and having the dress and the dark com- 
 plexion of an Egyptian dancing-girl ; a crowd of people are 
 seen behind entering the gates of the Temple, at which she 
 alone has been repulsed. 2. She receives the communion from 
 the hand of Zosimus, and is buried by a lion. 
 
 On the left-hand wall. 3. Her apotheosis. She is borne 
 aloft by many angels, two of whom swing censers, and below 
 is seen the empty grave watched by a lion. 4. Underneath is
 
 384 ST. MAEY THE PENITENT 
 
 a group of hermits, to whom the aged Zosimus is relating the 
 story of the penitence and death of St. Mary of Egypt. 
 
 I do not in general accept modern representations as authori- 
 ties, nor quote them as examples ; but this resuscitation of 
 Mary of Egypt in a city where she was so long a favorite 
 saint appears to me a curious fact. Her real existence is 
 doubted even by the writers of that Church which, for four- 
 teen centuries, has celebrated her conversion and glorified her 
 name. Yet the poetical, the moral significance of her story 
 remains ; and, as I have reason to know, can still impress the 
 fancy, and through the fancy waken the conscience and touch 
 the heart. 
 
 There were several other legends current in the early ages 
 of Christianity, promulgated, it should seem, with the distinct 
 purpose of calling the frail and sinning woman to repentance. 
 If these were not pure inventions, if the names of these beati- 
 fied penitents retained in the offices of the Church must be 
 taken as evidence that they did exist, it is not less certain that 
 the prototype in all these cases was the reclaimed woman of the 
 Scriptures, and that it was the pitying charity of Christ Avhich 
 first taught men and angels to rejoice over the sinner that 
 repenteth. 
 
 ST. MARY THE PENITENT 
 
 The legend of Mary, the niece of the hermit Abraham, 
 (Santa Maria Penitente) must not be confounded with that of 
 Mary of Egypt. The scene of this story is placed in the des- 
 erts of Syria. The anchoret Abraham had a brother, who 
 lived in the world and possessed great riches, and when he 
 died, leaving an only daughter, she was brought to her uncle 
 Abraham, apparently because of his great reputation for holi- 
 ness, to be brought up as he should think fit. The ideas of 
 this holy man, with regard to education, seem to have been 
 those entertained by many wise and religious people since his 
 time ; but there was this difference, that he did not show her 
 the steep and thorny way to heaven, and choose for himself 
 " the primrose path of dalliance." Instead of applying to his 
 charge a code of morality as distinct as possible from his own, 
 he, more just, only brought up his niece in the same ascetic 
 principles which he deemed necessary for the salvation of all 
 men.
 
 ST. MARY THE PENITENT 385 
 
 Mary, therefore, being brought to her uncle when she was 
 only seven years old, he built a cell close to his own, in which 
 he shut her up ; and, through a little window, which opened 
 between their cells, he taught her to say her prayers, to recite 
 the Psalter, to sing hymns, and dedicated her to a life of holi- 
 ness and solitude, praying continually that she might be de- 
 livered from the snares of the arch-enemy, and keeping her 
 far, as he thought, from all possibility of temptation ; while 
 he daily instructed her to despise and hate all the pleasures 
 and vanities of the world. 
 
 Thus Mary grew up in her cell till she was twenty years 
 old ; then it happened that a certain youth, who had turned 
 hermit and dwelt in that desert, came to visit Abraham to 
 receive his instructions ; and he beheld through the window 
 the face of the maiden as she prayed in her cell, and heard 
 her voice as she sang the morning and the evening hymn ; and 
 he was inflamed with desire of her beauty, till his whole heart 
 became as a furnace for the love of her ; and forgetting his 
 religious vocation, and moved thereto by the devil, he tempted 
 Mary, and she fell. When she came to herself, her heart was 
 troubled ; she beat her breast and wept bitterly, thinking of 
 what she had been, what she had now become ; and she de- 
 spaired, and said in her heart, " For me there is no hope, no 
 return ; shame is my portion evermore ! " So she fled, not 
 daring to meet the face of her uncle, and went to a distant 
 place, and lived a life of sin and shame for two years. 
 
 Now, on the same night that she fled from her cell, Abra- 
 ham had a dream ; and he saw in his dream a monstrous 
 dragon, who came to his cell, and finding there a beautiful 
 white dove, devoured it, and returned to his den. When the 
 hermit awoke from his dream he was perplexed, and knew not 
 what it might portend ; but again he dreamed, and he saw the 
 same dragon, and he put his foot on its head, and crushed it, 
 and took from its maw the beautiful dove, and put it in his 
 bosom, and it came to life again, and spread its wings and flew 
 towards heaven. 
 
 Then the old man knew that this must relate to his niece 
 Mary ; so he took up his staff, and went forth through the 
 world seeking her everywhere. At length he found her, and 
 seeing her overpowered with shame and despair, he exhorted 
 her to take courage, and comforted her, and promised to take
 
 386 . ST. MAEY THE PENITENT 
 
 her sin and her penance on himself. She wept and embraced 
 his knees, and said, " my father ! if thou thinkest there is 
 hope for me, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest, and 
 kiss thy footsteps which lead me out of this gulf of sin and 
 death ! " So he prayed with her, and reminded her that God 
 did not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should 
 turn from his wickedness and live ; and she was comforted. 
 And the next morning Abraham rose up and took his niece by 
 the hand, leaving behind them her gay attire and jewels and 
 ill-gotten wealth. 
 
 And they returned together to the cell in the wilderness. 
 
 From this time did Mary lead a life of penitence and of great 
 humility, ministering to her aged uncle, who died glorifying 
 God : after his death, she lived on many years, praising God, 
 and doing good in humbleness and singleness of heart, and 
 having favor with the people ; so that from all the country 
 round they brought the sick, and those who were possessed, 
 and she healed them, such virtue was in her prayers, al- 
 though she had been a sinner ! Nay, it is written, that even 
 the touch of her garment restored health to the afflicted. 
 
 At length she died, and the angels carried her spirit out of 
 the shadow and the cloud of sin into the glory and the joy 
 of heaven. 
 
 Although the legend of Mary the Penitent is accepted by 
 the Church, which celebrates her conversion on the 29th of 
 October, effigies of her must be rare ; I have never met with 
 any devotional representation of her. A print attributed to 
 Albert Dlirer represents the hermit Abraham bringing back his 
 penitent niece to his cell. 1 
 
 In the Louvre are two large landscapes by Philippe de 
 Champaigne, which in poetry and grandeur of conception come 
 near to those of Niccolo Poussin ; both represent scenes from 
 the life of Mary the Penitent. In the first, amid a wild and 
 rocky landscape, is the cell of Abraham, and Mary, sitting 
 within it, is visited by the young hermit who tempted her to 
 sin ; in the second, we have the same wilderness, under another 
 aspect ; Mary, in a rude secluded hut, embowered in trees, is 
 visited by pilgrims and votaries, who bring to her on their 
 shoulders and on litters, the sick and the afflicted, to be healed 
 by her prayers. The daughter of Champaigne, whom he ten- 
 1 Leben und Werke von Albrecht Diirer, No. 2067-
 
 ST. THAIS AND ST. PELAGIA 387 
 
 derly loved, was a nun at Port-Royal, and I think it probable 
 that these pictures (like others of his works) were painted for 
 that celebrated convent. 
 
 St. Thais, a renowned Greek saint, is another of these 
 " bienheureuses pecheresses" not the same who sat at Alex- 
 ander's feast, and fired* Persepolis, but a firebrand in her own 
 way. St. Pelagia, called Pelagia Meretrix and Pelayia Mima 
 (for she was also an actress), is another. These I pass over 
 without further notice, because I have never seen nor read of 
 any representation of them in Western Art. 
 
 St. Afra. who sealed her conversion with her blood, will be 
 found among the Martyrs. 
 
 Poets have sung, and moralists and sages have taught, that 
 for the frail woman there was nothing left but to die ; or if 
 more remained for 'her to suffer, there was at least nothing left 
 for her to be or do : no choice between sackcloth and ashes 
 and the livery of sin. 
 
 The beatified penitents of the early Christian Church spoke 
 another lesson; spoke divinely of hope for the fallen, hope 
 without self-abasement or defiance. We, in these days, ac- 
 knowledge no such saints; we have even done our best to 
 dethrone Mary Magdalene ; but we have martyrs, "by the 
 pang without the palm," and one at least among these who 
 has not died without lifting up a voice of eloquent and solemn 
 warning; who has borne her palm on earth, and whose starry 
 crown may be seen on high even now, amid the constellations 
 of Genius.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 
 MAY 4 1998 
 
 r 
 
 
 WAY 2 -
 
 A 001 290 985 9 
 
 1 
 
 Vmfr