Virgin is seen kneeling; St. Peter on the right, and James Minor on the left, also kneeling; five other apostles on each side. The Celestial Dove, with outspread wings, descends in a glory surrounded by fifteen cherubim: there are no tongues of fire. The prophet Joel is seen above, with the inscription, Effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem carnem." 1 66 6. The Virgin and the Apostles seated; flames of fire stand on their heads; the Holy Ghost appears above in a glory of light, from which rays are poured on every side. Mary Magdalene, and another Mary, are present behind; astonishment is the prevailing expression in every face, except in the Virgin and St. Peter. The composition is attributed to Raphael. 2 The next event of importance is the separation of the Twelve Apostles when they disperse to preach the Gospel in all lands. According to the ancient traditions, the apostles determined by lot to what countries they should go: Peter went to Antioch; James the Great remained in Jerusalem and the neighbourhood; Philip went to Phrygia ; John to Ephesus; Thomas to Parthia and Judea; Andrew to Scythia; Bartholomew to India and Judea. The Parting of the Apostles is a beautiful subject, of which I have met with but few examples; one is a woodcut after Titian. The Mission of the Apostles I remember to have seen by Bissoni over an altar in the Santa Giustina at Padua : they are preparing to depart; one reads from a book; another looses his shoes from his feet, in allusion to the text, "Take neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes;" several are bidding adieu to the Virgin. This picture struck me as dramatic; its merits otherwise I do not remember. We have next the "the Twelve Baptisms."3 In the upper compartment Christ is standing in a majestic attitude, and on each side are six apostles, all alike, and in white garments. The inscription above is in Greek: "Go ye, and preach the Gospel to all nations." Below, in twelve smaller compartments, each of the apostles is seen baptizing a convert an attendant, in white garments, stands by each font holding a napkin. One of the converts and his attendant are black, denoting clearly the chamberlain of the Queen of Ethiopia. This is a very uncommon subject. And, lastly, we have "the Twelve Martyrdoms." This is a more frequent series, in pictures and in prints, and occurs in a set of large fresco compositions in the church of San Nerco e Sant' Achilleo at Rome. In such representations the usual treatment is as follows:-1. St. Peter is crucified with his head downwards. 2. St. Andrew, bound on a transverse cross. 3. St. James Major, beheaded with a sword. 4. St. John, in a cauldron of boiling oil. 5. St. Philip, bound on a cross in the form of a T. 6. St. Bartholomew, flayed. 7. St. Thomas pierced with a spear. 8. St. Matthew, killed with a sword. 9. St. James Minor, struck down with a club. 10. St. Simon and St. Jude together: one is killed with a sword, the other with a club. 11. St. Matthias has his head cloven by a halbert. 12. St. Paul is beheaded.1 The authority for many of these martyrdoms is wholly apocryphal 2, and they sometimes vary; but this is the usual mode of representation in Western Art. In early Greek Art a series of the Deaths of the Apostles often occurs, but they do not all suffer martyrdom; and the subject of St. John in the cauldron of boiling oil, so famous in the Latin Church, is, I believe, unknown, or, at least, so rare, that I have not found it in genuine Byzantine Art. The most ancient series I have met with (in a Greek MS. of the ninth century) shows us five apostles crucified: St. Peter and St. Philip with the head downwards; St. Andrew on the transverse cross, as usual; St. Simon and St. Bartholomew, in the same manner as our Saviour. St. Thomas is pierced by a lance; and St. John is buried, and then raised by angels, according to the legend. The same series, similarly treated, ornamented the doors of the old Basilica of St. Paul, executed by Greek artists of the tenth century.3 A set of martyrdoms is in the Frankfort Museum; another is mentioned in Bartsch, viii. 22. 2 Eusebius says that all the apostles suffered martyrdom; but this is not borne out by any ancient testimony.-Lardner's Cred, of Gospel Hist, vol. viii. p. 81. 3 They were fortunately engraved for D'Agincourt's Histoire de l'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 worship; we seek it with more reason when they stand before us as a series of devotional representations; and still more when, as actors in some particular scene, they are supposed to be animated by sentiments called forth by the occasion, and modified by the individual character. By what test shall we try the truth and propriety of such representations? We ought to know both what to require from the artist, and on what grounds to require it, before we can rest satisfied. In the Gospel-histories the Apostles are consistently and beautifully distinguished in temper and bearing. Their characters, whether exhibited at full length, or merely touched upon, are sustained with dramatic truth. The medieval legends, however wild, are, as far as character goes, in harmony with these scriptural portraits, and fill up the outline given. It becomes therefore a really interesting speculation to observe how far this variety of characteristic expression has been carried out in the early types, how far attended to, or neglected, by the great painters, since the revival of Art. Lat. SS. Petrus et Paulus. ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. Ital. San Pietro or Piero, San Paolo. Fr. S. Pierre, S. Paul. 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 to St. Peter; but they are held to be equal in faith, in merit, and in sanctity. 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 mutual 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 Evangelists and the Prophets. Thus seen almost every where 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 characterised 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 harmonises with all our preconceived notions of St. Peter's temperament and character. He is a robust old man, with a broad forehead, and rather coarse features, an open undaunted countenance, short grey 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 necessary 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 the priestly tonsure; and in some 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. It is a tradition that the Gentiles shaved the head of St. Peter 67 St. Peter. (Greek type, eleventh century.) 1 St. Guthlac's Book. Ethelwold's Benedictional. |