the court-yard of a military station (according to the second tradition). Peter is already nailed upon a cross; three executioners are in the act of raising it with cords and a pulley to suspend it against a great beam of wood; there are several soldiers, but no women, present. In Guido's composition 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, the principal figure filling nearly the whole of the canvas: it is full of vigour, truth, and nature; but the brutality of the two executioners, and the agony of the aged saint, too coarsely and painfully literal. These simple representations 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 of the Mons Janiculum: in the midst of a crowd of soldiers and spectators, St. Peter lies nailed to the cross, 2 Vatican. Capella Paolina.

In the Gallery of the Vatican.

which a number of men are exerting their utmost strength to raise from the ground.

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 keys to Peter. In most of the pictures which represent the

of the

73

From the fresco of Simone Memmi, Florence. (S. Maria Novella.)

entrance of the blessed into Paradise or the New Jerusalem, Peter stands with his keys near the gate. There is a beautiful example in the great fresco of Simon Memmi in the chapel de' Spagnuoli 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.

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. Petronilla was wonderfully fair; and Valerius Flaccus, a young and noble Roman, who was a heathen, became enamoured 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 Flaccus lamented greatly."1

The legend places her death in the year 98, that is, 34 years after the death of St. Peter; but it would be in 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 in the Brancacci Chapel. The scene of her entombment is the subject of a once celebrated and colossal picture by Guercino :

1 v. Il perfetto Legendario.

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 coloured, 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 Volterra, very fine.'

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. 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 Nero are accused by Simon Magus. 8. The fall of Simon Magus. 9. The crucifixion of St. Peter. This example is taken from the series of mosaics in the Cathedral of Monreale, at Palermo.

There was an oratory in the church of the Franciscans at Varallo, in which they celebrated a yearly festival in honour of St. Petronilla. While Gaudenzio Ferrari was painting there the series of frescoes in the chapel of the crucifixion 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 tutta grazia e pudore mentre un pallido raggio di luna sbucato dalla frondosa chioma d'albero dolcemente gl' irradia la fronte calva e la barba rossiccia, presenta un non so che di ideale e di romanzesco che veramente rapisce.”—Opere di Gaudenzio Ferrari, No. 21. (Maggi, Turin. It is to be regretted that in this valuable work neither the pages nor the plates are numbered.)

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 Nero. 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 ascension 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 particularise them. The legends connected with him are very few.

The earliest single figure of St. Paul to which I can refer was found painted on the walls of the cemetery of Priscilla, near Rome.' 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

Second or third century. Bosio, p. 519.