When they are represented all together, certain symbols often distinguish the Apostles from each other, but unfortunately there is no absolute uniformity in the distribution of these symbols, a fact leading to no little confusion. Chief amongst them is the Scroll bearing one of the clauses of the Creed named after the Apostles, each of the twelve having been, it is supposed, responsible for one article of the belief. The cave in which they are said to have met outside Jerusalem to compose the Creed is still shown to pilgrims, and early writers are pretty well agreed as to the authorship of each pregnant sentence, the divergence of opinion not having commenced until some centuries after the foundation of the Church. St. Peter, as Prince of the Apostles, always stands first, and St. Matthias, as chosen last of all to replace Judas, is at the bottom of the list. St. Peter is said to have begun with, ‘I believe in God the Father Almighty St. John went on, ‘and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord St. James the Elder, ‘Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary St. Andrew, ‘suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried St. Philip, He descended into hell’; St. Thomas, eager to atone for his unbelief, ‘rose again the third day’; St. Bartholomew, ‘ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty ’; St. Matthew, ‘from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead’; St. James the Younger, ‘I believe in the Holy Ghost’; St. Simon, ‘I believe in the Holy Catholic Church’; St. Jude or Thaddaeus, ‘in the forgiveness of sins’; and St. Matthias concluded, ‘in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.’ This order was retained in many Missals as late as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but in a still decipherable mural painting, dating from the former, in the Cathedral of Amiens, St. Thomas is credited with the clause ‘I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.’ Elsewhere he Says, ‘From thence He shall come to judge the quick and dead,’ and some artists, including Martin de Vos, make him say, ‘I believe in the Holy Ghost.’
St. Paul, though he took no part in the compilation of the Creed, is constantly included amongst the Apostles, and having received his call direct from the risen Lord, he is placed next to St. Peter, while St. Barnabas, who, though named among the Apostles, was not one of the original twelve, is occasionally bracketed with St. Matthias. In the Greek Menology of the eleventh century the order is somewhat changed from that given above, and in the mosaics of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome, which have been freely restored, it varies yet again, and is as follows: St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. James the Elder, St. John, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Simon, St. James the Younger, St. Matthias, and St. Thaddaeus. On the remarkable bronze doors cast at Constantinople in 1070, which gave access to the old Basilica of S. Paolo, and were rescued from the fire when the rest of the building was destroyed, is a series of engraved figures of the Apostles in which St. Paul, as titulary of the Church, comes first, and St. Tames the Less, St. Thaddaeus, and St. Matthias are left out altogether. Another fairly constant symbol of the Apostles, requiring, however, no little acumen for interpretation, is a Church or Castle supposed to represent the town or locality evangelized by each. Many such designs are introduced in the bas-reliefs and enamels of early mediaeval times, especially on reliquaries or on tombs. Thus, St. Peter is connected with Rome, Antioch, or Alexandria; St. Paul with Illyria; St. John with Asia Minor; St. James the Elder with Spain; St. Bartholomew with India, Armenia, and Media; St. Matthew with Parthia and Ethiopia; St. Philip with Galatia, and, according to others, also with Gaul, Phrygia, or Northern Asia; St. James the Younger with Jerusalem and the Holy Land in general; St. Jude with Persia; St. Matthias with Judaea and Eastern Ethiopia; and St. Barnabas with Cyprus and Northern Italy; whilst the two Evangelists who were not Apostles, St. Luke and St. Mark, are associated, the former with Bithynia, the latter with Egypt.
Sometimes the town accompanying an Apostle is supposed to refer merely to the Heavenly Jerusalem, the gates of which were opened through his teaching; in others an attempt has been made to indicate some place on earth, and even when the name of the Apostle is not inscribed beneath his figure, it is often possible to identify him by means of certain characteristics of the landscape in which he appears.
From the earliest days of the Church the Group of twelve Apostles was a favorite subject with artists, and in the various presentments of them is reflected the gradual evolution of Christian art from the quaint symbolism of the Catacombs to the idealized realism of such masters as Fra Angelico, Andrea del Sarto, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Ribera, Rembrandt, Albert Dürer, and others.
The most ancient representations of those sent forth by Christ to preach His Gospel throughout the world were purely emblematical, the Savior appearing in them as a Sheep with a halo round its head, standing on a little hill with six lambs, all exactly alike, on each side of Him, or more rarely the twelve Apostles were symbolized under the form of doves. The former subject was repeated again and again in the Catacombs, and in the first Christian Churches, but later the symbolism was extended to embrace the distinction between the Evangelists and the Apostles by the introduction of four streams flowing from the mouth of the Lamb of God, although in spite of the fact that two of the four writers of the Gospels were Apostles, there still remained six sheep on each side. Occasionally one half of these were represented leaving the city of Jerusalem, and the other half that of Bethlehem; whilst elsewhere the order was reversed, all hastening towards instead of from the gates. As time went on it became customary to combine the emblem with the thing signified. Christ appeared as the Good Shepherd with a lamb on His shoulder or beside Him, whilst the twelve Apostles, all of the same type of face and figure, each with his attendant sheep, were ranged on either side of the Redeemer. By degrees the sheep disappeared, and the Preachers of the Gospels were seen as venerable men, all very much alike, distinguished at first from each other only by the scrolls, referred to above, which they held in their hands. Slowly, but surely, however, as skill in painting and sculpture increased, they became differentiated into individual characters, so that the date of the various works of art in which they appear may be approximately fixed according to this development. St. Peter, for instance, became the fiery, eloquent preacher; St. John the devout and earnest thinker; the resemblance between St. James the Less and the Savior, so often commented on, was brought out; and the beardless St. Thomas and St. Philip were represented in all the virile strength of their young manhood.
Various sculptures, mosaics, frescoes, etc., of the individual Apostles are noticed below in the separate articles on each, but it may be added here that the series of portraits in the Prado Museum, Madrid, by Rubens and Ribera, are especially fine.
One of the earliest examples of the Apostles being introduced as a group of human actors in an actual scene occurs in the fifth-century mosaics in the Baptistery at Ravenna. In the center of the cupola, Christ, entirely nude, is about to be baptized, the Jordan being figured as an old heathen river god crowned with rushes, whilst the twelve Apostles are ranged around, forming a kind of living halo to the principal group. St. John the Baptist does not appear, unless the river-god represents him, but the four Evangelists are, as it were, hinted at by four altars, each with its book of the Gospels introduced m the frieze below the Apostles. The name of each Apostle is written above his head, so that there can be no difficulty in identification, and the order in which they appear is as follows: Saints Peter, Andrew, James the Elder, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Simon, Jude, James the Younger, Matthew, Thomas, and Paul, so that the first and last-named face each other, neither really taking precedence of the other. Each holds in his hands the Eucharistic oblation; all wear pointed caps, and a white mantle and yellow vest, or a white vest and yellow mantle, the Chief of the Apostles having the former and St. Paul the latter.
On the eastern side of the Scala Santa at Rome and opposite to the Piazza di Porta San Giovanni is a tribune, erected in the eighteenth century by Pope Benedict XIV., on which are exact copies made from old drawings of the eighth-century mosaics which had adorned the old triclinium, or chief dining-hall, of Leo III. in the Lateran Palace, and were destroyed during the reign of Clement XII. The subjects of these mosaics are: The Sending forth of the Apostles by Christ; the Foundation of the temporal power of the Papacy by Constantine the Great, and its union with the spiritual supremacy by Charlemagne. In the central scene, the Savior stands on an eminence, holding in his left hand an open book, in which is inscribed Pax Vobis, and with the other pointing to St. Peter, who stands on His right holding the keys and the cross, whilst St. Paul with his sword is on the left, and the other Apostles are ranged on either side beyond. All wear white robes, and beneath them is written in Latin, ‘Go ye and teach all nations.’
On the left of this central scene Christ appears enthroned, giving the keys to St. Silvester, who baptized the first Christian Emperor, and the Standard of the Cross to Constantine, who adopted it in obedience to an order from on high said to have been received in a vision. On the right it is St. Peter who occupies the throne, and in his turn bestows the stole, the emblem of spiritual authority, upon St. Leo III. and the banner upon Charlemagne, who was crowned Emperor by that Pope.
In the old Basilica of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, which before the disastrous fire of 1823 was a perfect storehouse of Christian art, were two series of mosaics, one dating from the fifth, the other from the beginning of the thirteenth century. In the latter, which have been carefully restored, though much of their original charm is lost, Christ appears with Pope Honorius III. kneeling at his feet, St. Peter and St. Andrew on his right hand and St. Paul and St. Luke on his left, whilst beneath them are the twelve Apostles and two angels.
In the Tribune of S. Pudenziana are a few fourth-century mosaics which have escaped injury, in which Christ appears with all the Apostles and the Saint after whom the church is named, with her sister, S. Praxedis; and other examples of a similar kind occur in the Upper Church of S. Clemente, whilst in the Christian Museum of the Vatican are preserved various fragmentary relics of mosaics, etc., which have from time to time been rescued from destruction.
The ancient city of Ravenna is peculiarly rich in remains of early Christian Church decoration. On the dome of SS. Nazario e Celso, for instance, are some beautiful fifth-century mosaics, which include the symbols of the four Evangelists and figures of eight of the Apostles, between which doves are seen drinking from a fountain. In S. Apollinare Nuovo is a series of sixth-century mosaics representing scenes from the life of Christ, in which eleven Apostles and St. Paul appear; and in S. Maria in Cosmedin, the sixth-century dome mosaics give the Baptism of Christ as taking place in the presence of the same witnesses.
In the twelfth-century dome mosaics of the Cathedral of S. Marco at Venice the figures of the Apostles are introduced as spectators in the Ascension of Christ, and as actors in the Descent of the Holy Spirit; and the rood-screen shutting off the choir is adorned with fourteen statues, two centuries later in date than the mosaics, representing the twelve Apostles with the Virgin and St. Mark.
In the seventh-century Cathedral of Torcello is a very fine mural mosaic dating from the twelfth century, representing the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Last Judgment, and in the choir are some earlier Byzantine mosaics of the Virgin and the twelve Apostles.
Other interesting early representations of the twelve Apostles are preserved in various Continental museums and galleries, of which may be specially mentioned a quaint picture in the Venice Academy of ‘ The Coming of the Holy Ghost,’ in which the Virgin and the twelve Apostles are in an upper room and tongues of fire are descending upon them, whilst below numerous spectators in foreign costumes are gazing up in astonishment; and the painting in the great convent on Mount Athos with the twelve Apostles grouped about the Virgin, a tongue of fire on each head.
In some old MSS., notably in one of Greek origin, dating from the ninth century, preserved in the Bibliothèque Rationale, Paris, the Apostles are represented each one baptizing a convert, whilst above the twelve Baptisms Christ is seen with six Apostles on each hand, telling them to go forth and teach all nations. Elsewhere, in half-defaced frescoes and old engravings, such as those in the Frankfort Museum, the twelve are seen undergoing the various violent deaths to which they are said to have been subjected. St. Peter appears on a cross with his head downwards, St. Andrew bound to the so-called crux decussata explained below, St. James the Elder bowing his head to the stroke of a sword, St. John in his caldron of boiling oil, St. Philip bound to a T-shaped cross, St. Bartholomew being flawed alive, St. Thomas transfixed with a spear, St. Matthew dying by the sword, St. James the Less succumbing to the blow of a club, St. Simon and St. Jude suffering martyrdom together, one by a sword, the other by a club, St. Matthias with his head split open by an axe, and St. Paul being beheaded.
In early Greek art the twelve deaths are also sometimes represent^ together, but they are not all of a painful description. St. John, for instance, is never associated with the caldron of boiling oil so dear to Western tradition, but is being carried to heaven by angels. The five crucifixions are, however, of very frequent occurrence, and were generally rendered in the same manner, as on the celebrated bronze doors of the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura so often referred to.
In the external decoration of cathedrals and churches, the twelve Apostles were from the first often introduced, their position varying according to the subject. In general representations of the celestial hierarchy, for instance, their place is after the angels, prophets and evangelists, but in any particular scene, such as the Last Judgment or the Coronation of the Virgin, they appear after the Holy Trinity and the Mother of God, but before the angels, in allusion, perhaps, to the prophecy, ‘Ye shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’ This is the arrangement in the beautiful sculptures of the west front of Wells and many Continental cathedrals, such as Chartres, Amiens, etc., and it was also constantly carried out in the minor details of consecrated buildings, such as altars, pulpits, tombs, etc. Notable examples of bas-reliefs of the Apostles are those in bronze, by Peter Vischer, adorning the tomb of St. Sebald at Nuremberg, and those in the Coronation of the Virgin, by Luca della Robbia, in the Osservanza Monastery at Siena.
In the frescoes with which it early became the custom to decorate the walls and ceilings of churches and cathedrals the Apostles were rarely absent, and in the different manner in which their characters were interpreted were reflected alike the peculiarities of their artists and the gradual evolution of Christian art, from the purely conventional to the realistic and ideal. As instances of the introduction of the figures of the twelve in a general scheme of decoration may be specially mentioned the mural and ceiling paintings in the Cappella Nuova of the cathedral at Orvieto, by Fra Angelico, which include a long series of historical and imaginary scenes, and are amongst the most important frescoes prefaced in the fifteenth century; the frescoes by Luca Signorelli in the Chiesa della Casa Santa at Loreto, in which Evangelists, Apostles, and Fathers of the Church are all introduced; the seated figures of the Apostles in the dome of S. Giovanni Evangelista at Parma, y Correggio, introduced in the ‘Vision of St. John at Patmos ’ as spectators of the Ascension of Christ; the standing figures, from the same great hand, gazing up at the Assumption of the Virgin in the cupola of the Cathedral at Parma; the twelve figures surrounding Christ in the Last Judgment in the Campo Santo at Pisa, long ascribed to Orcagna, but of late years attributed to the brothers Lorenzetti; and, above all, the groups on either side of the Judge in Michael Angelo’s ‘Last Judgment ‘ in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican.
More interesting, however, alike from the historical and religious point of view, are those pictures in which the Apostles appear as human actors in some real, legendary, symbolic, or purely imaginary scene. Full as they were of religious fervor, early Christian artists loved to depict scenes from the Gospel story and the traditions and legends which gathered about the first records of the Master’s life and work on earth, but each master worked out his own idealization of the revered personalities who were brought into touch with that work.
Among the favorite subjects from the lives of the Apostles in which all or several appear together are the Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter; the Charge to go forth to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick; the Washing of the Apostles’ Feet; the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane; the Last Supper; the Institution of the Eucharist; the Apparition of Christ to the Eleven, as they sat at meat; the Ascension; the Descent of the Holy Ghost; with the Dormition. Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin. In certain early representations of the Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter, notably in the bas-reliefs above the western entrance to St. Peter’s, Rome, the subject is combined with the charge ‘Feed My Sheep’; and in Raphaels cartoon, now in the South Kensington Museum, Christ extends one hand to the kneeling St. Peter, who already holds the keys, and with the other points to a flock of sheep in the background. Other examples occur in which Christ and St. Peter are alone, as in a picture by Rubens, or, as in one by Giovanni Bellini, the Savior is on His heavenly throne and St. Peter kneels to receive the keys, accompanied by allegorical figures only. Crivelli, again, in the exquisite picture in the Berlin Gallery, originally painted for Fermo Cathedral, treats the subject as entirely figurative, for it is the Infant Christ seated on His Mother’s knee who presents the keys to the kneeling Apostle, whilst the places of the other disciples are taken by various saints, including St. Louis and St. Bernard. Of the many examples of this oft-repeated subject including all twelve Apostles, one of the finest is the fresco by Perugino in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, in which the Savior and St. Peter occupy the center of the scene, the latter receiving the keys on his knees, and the rest of the Apostles, with a few spectators, stand behind them, whilst in the background is represented, according to some, the rebuilding of the Temple, in allusion to the words, ‘Destroy this Temple and I will build it in three days but according to others, the building of the Sistine Chapel.
In the ‘Washing of the Feet of the Disciples,’ of which two beautiful examples are in London, one by Tintoretto in the National Gallery, the other by Madox Brown in the Tate Collection, St. Peter is generally the most prominent figure amongst the Apostles, and seems to be gazing up at the Savior with the words, ‘Not my feet only, but my hands and my head and in the Agony in the Garden, with the companion scene of the Betrayal, he is also a chief actor, the other Apostles looking on as he eagerly protests against the arrest of the Master, or dashes forward to cut off the ear of Malchus, as in the quaint picture by Fra Angelico in the Florence Academy. These various episodes are repeated again and again in the many series of the Passion of the Lord. Though much injured, the frescoes by Giotto in the Arena Chapel at Padua illustrating the Life of the Virgin and of Christ still retain much of their original beauty, and include the Marriage at Cana, the Raising of Lazarus, the Washing of the Feet, the Last upper, the Ascension of Christ and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. Fra Angelico included many scenes from the life of Christ in the two sets of pictures which once belonged to the Church of S. Annunziata at Florence, and are now in the Academy of the same city, and also in the beautiful frescoes still in situ in the Monastery of San Marco, in all of which the various characters of the Apostles are finely brought out. The great Passion fresco by Luini in the Church of S. Maria degli Angioli at Lugano, containing many hundred figures, includes several beautiful renderings of scenes in which the Apostles play an important part, as in the Agony in the Garden and the Ascension. Some of the same incidents were, of course, introduced by Raphael in the frescoes known as his Bible in the Loggie of the Vatican; and in Albert Dürer’s two series of engravings known as the ‘Great Passion’ and the ‘Little Passion’ the Apostles are rendered with all the nigged force of expression characteristic of the work of the great German master.
In sculpture, as well as in pictorial art, scenes from the Passion were freely introduced. Andrea Pisano, Donatello, Luca della Robbia, and many others treated with great skill the figures of the different Apostles. The fame of all works of the kind was, however, eclipsed by the bas-reliefs of the great bronze Gates of the Baptistery at Florence, designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti, of which there is a good cast in the South Kensington Museum, forming an epitome of the life-story of Christ, and including ideal figures of the Evangelists, the Apostles, the Doctors of the Church, and of many of the actors in the great drama of the Cross. The Shipwreck of the Apostles, the Rescue of St. Peter from sinking in the waves, the Transfiguration, the Resurrection of Lazarus, the Entry into Jerusalem, the Betrayal and Arrest of the Master, the painful Journey to Calvary, the Crucifixion, the Ascension, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, are among the scenes figured in this remarkable work, one of the most beautiful productions of the prolific golden age of art in Italy.
Amongst all the subjects chosen for representation by painters and sculptors in Italy, none was so popular or so frequently repeated as that of the Last Supper. In the representations of it may be said to have culminated the poetic conception of the Apostles, as a body of men set apart from the rest of humanity by their close communion with the Son of God. The deep significance and the tragic pathos of the farewell meal, in which the Apostles were put to the first of the many terrible tests which in the next few days were to try their faith and courage to the uttermost, appealed with irresistible force to every artist; and the great importance of the Institution of the Eucharist, inseparably connected with it, led to the introduction of the subject in almost every church, cathedral, monastery, or hospital.
It is not necessary to enter here into the controversy as to whether the Last Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist were one and the same meal or two distinct incidents, the latter succeeding the former either immediately or after a short interval. Suffice it to say that from the earliest days of the Church it was customary to represent the Savior and His Apostles sharing a simple meal, as in an old painting from the Catacombs, now in the Vatican; and that later the Last Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist were sometimes treated as one and sometimes as two subjects, certain artists, notably Fra Angelico, in the ‘Scenes from the Life of Christ’ now in the Florence Academy, representing both in the same series. In his ‘Last Supper’ the disciples are all seated apparently listening to the Savior’s words, ‘One of you shall betray Me’; whilst in the companion drawing the disciples are kneeling, and Christ is giving the bread to St. John, whilst Judas is close to the door, looking as if he were eager to escape.
One of the earliest extant representations of the Last Supper or of the Institution of the Eucharist, for opinions are divided as to which is intended, occurs in the embroidery on a deacon’s robe preserved in the Vatican, supposed to be a copy from a Greek original, in which, on one side, the Master is seen giving the wine, and on the other the bread, to the disciples, who reverently approach one by one to receive it. In many twelfth and thirteenth century Greek paintings of the same subject Christ is seen either breaking the bread or holding the cup; whilst in one of the oldest Western examples, a twelfth-century bas-relief in the Cathedral of Lodi, the Apostles are seated on either side of the Lord, six of them with their hands on their breast, and five others looking on apparently unmoved, as Judas receives the sop from the Savior’s hand.
Amongst the most famous representations of the Last Supper by the great Italian masters are the fresco long ascribed to Giotto, but now supposed to be by Taddeo Gaddi, in what was once the Refectory of the Monastery of S. Croce at Florence; that by Luini in the Church of S. Maria degli Angioli at Lugano; that by Ghirlandaio in the Refectory of the Ognissanti at Florence; the Cenacolo of Andrea del Sarto in S. Salvi at Florence; ‘The Institution of the Eucharist,’ by Signorelli, painted for the high altar of the Gesu, but now in the Cathedral of Cortona; the fresco by Raphael in the Loggie of the Vatican; that ascribed to the same master, but probably by one of his pupils, in S. Onofrio, Florence; the great picture painted by Titian for the Refectory of the Escorial, Madrid, which, being too large, was cut down and all but destroyed by the monks; and, above all, the painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Refectory of the Dominican Monastery of S. Maria della Grazie at Milan.
In the fresco at S. Croce a long table stretches right across the wall, and at it, facing the spectator, are seated Christ and the eleven disciples, St. John with his head resting on the knees of the Master, and beyond him, on the right, St. Peter, St. James the Elder, St. Matthew, St. Bartholomew, and St. Philip; on the other side are the five other faithful disciples, whilst Judas sits alone opposite Christ in the act of dipping his hand in the dish common to all. The heads in this fine work are full of individual character, and that of the Savior especially is of great dignity and beauty. Judas is distinguished from his brethren by the evil expression of his face, but he is not so repulsively ugly as it later became the fashion to make him.
The custom introduced in the fresco at S. Croce of painting the Last Supper at the end of the refectory of monasteries, so that the monks could see it at their meals and be reminded of all that it signified, was very constantly followed later, and the position of the figures also became traditional, though their individual treatment varied considerably. In the fresco by Luini at Lugano two columns divide the supper-table into three parts, our Lord and six of the Apostles occupying the central division, whilst the other six are seated three in each of the side compartments. Judas grasps his bag, and at his feet is a large cat, a detail often introduced, and supposed to typify the Evil One, by whom the unfortunate Judas was possessed. St. John seems to have fainted away in his horror at the words, ‘One of you shall betray Me one of the Apostles has started to his feet, another points at Judas, the rest are in attitudes expressive of astonishment, and St. Thomas seems to be remonstrating with the Master for the terrible aspersion on the fidelity of one of the chosen twelve.
In Ghirlandaio’s ‘Last Supper,’ in the Ognissanti Monastery at Florence, the meal is represented as taking place at a table of horse-shoe shape, in a wide, airy hall, and through the lofty
arches of the vaulting a glimpse is obtained of a beautiful garden, the cypresses, palms, and orange-trees in which form a fine background for the heads of Christ and the Apostles. The Savior, who has evidently just uttered the well-known words, looks dreamily out of the picture, with His head drooping, as if in deep despondency; St. Peter leans forward, pointing with his thumb to the Master, and seems to be addressing Judas, who, black-browed and defiant, with mouth wide open, the fatal sop in his hand, and the ill-omened cat behind him, is evidently eagerly repudiating the suspicion of his brother disciple.
‘The Cenacolo,’ by Andrea del Sarto, in the S. Salvi Convent at Florence, has all the delicacy of drawing and luminosity of coloring characteristic of its author’s work. It is full of human feeling, though not perhaps so spiritual in expression as many other representations of the same scene; the hands especially reflect in a remarkable way the emotions of their owners. It is related that its beauty so struck the soldiers who were about to set Are to the Monastery containing it that they spared the building for its sake, a forbearance for which the lovers of art may well be grateful. In this beautiful fresco Christ, with an exquisite touch of loving sympathy, lays His hand on that of St. John, as if to assure him that he at least is not guilty, and all except the beloved disciple and Judas seem to be asking, with the same supplicating eagerness, the question, ‘Is it I?’
In the ‘Institution of the Eucharist,’ by Signorelli, at Cortona, Christ, who is represented standing, places the sacred bread in the mouth of a kneeling Apostle, whilst the others grouped about the stately figure of the Master reverently await their turn; and Judas, who has a crafty, sinister expression, has opened bis money-bag, with the evident intention of concealing in it the consecrated food he dares not swallow.
The fresco in S. Onofrio, Florence, attributed to Raphael, but probably by one of bis pupils or followers, repeats the arrangement in that of the S. Croce Refectory; but in the Bible series of the Loggie the usual grouping of the Apostles is departed from, for the table is square, the Savior occupying one of the sides and the disciples, in groups of four, the other three. The figures in both are, however, excelled by those of the Apostles in the great fresco of the ‘Disputa’ in the Camera della Segnatura, which is supposed to be entirely from the great master’s own hand, and represents, not, as its name would seem to imply, an acrimonious discussion of the Blessed Sacrament, but a {glorification of the Christian faith.
Great as is the fame of the various renderings described above of the inspiring theme of the Last Supper, it is surpassed by that of Leonardo da Vinci, in the Refectory of the Convent of S. Maria della Grazie at Milan, which, in spite of its melancholy condition of decay, the result partly of the use of oil in mixing the colors, and of the presence of white lead in the plaster, still retains something of the original dignity and majesty which must have distinguished it at first. It is, indeed, instinct alike with the tragic pathos of the melancholy historic event it so fully realizes and the mystic, spiritual meaning of that event. The characters of the Apostles are realized with an insight into human nature rarely excelled, and, in spite of the careful attention to detail, everything is subordinated to the force and truth of the general effect. At a long, narrow table Christ is seated, with St. John beside him, and St. Peter next to him. On the left is St. James the Elder, and behind him is St. Thomas. The rest of the eleven are easy of identification, so truly has Leonardo interpreted the character of each; and Judas, his awful punishment already begun, starts back in agonized horror, upsetting the salt as he does so, and clutching at the bag, the sign of the position of trust he has forfeited. The whole scene is full of action and of emotion; love, terror, grief, anger, and bewilderment are all expressed in the noble features of the faithful eleven. The face of Christ is full alike of Divine compassion and more than human dignity, and that of Judas, seen only in profile, though not painfully repulsive, expresses very forcibly the evil influence to which the betrayer has succumbed.
The Last Supper was often chosen as a subject by the later Italian masters. Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, Zucchero, Baroccio, and many of their followers and imitators, painted it; but none of their works have won the loving admiration given to that of Leonardo, for as a rule they destroyed the historical accuracy and blurred the spiritual meaning of their compositions by the introduction of numerous figures which had nothing to do with the central motive, so that the Apostles sank to the position of mere spectators. Amongst artists of other nationalities, it was only occasionally that the subject so beloved in Italy was introduced; but Holbein produced two ‘Last Suppers’: one a large oil painting, presented at Basel; the other a smaller one, now in the Louvre, and Albert Dürer included the subject, as a matter of course, in his ‘Great Passion ‘ and ‘Little Passion,’ already referred to, in both of which, however, though the figures of the Apostles are full of rugged force, he treated the farewell meal as a mere episode of the life of Christ, without any suggestion of its mystic meaning as a sacrament.
In modern times there has been a considerable revival of interest in religious subjects, and some few fine pictures of the Last Supper have been produced, notably those by the Frenchman Dagnan-Bouveret and the German Fritz von Uhde; but in both of them the Apostles are represented as men of the present day, not typical Jews, though the peasants in the latter work are very finely painted, and their features forcibly express the effect on their different characters of the accusation of the Master.
Amongst the many beautiful representations of the Ascension of Christ, other than those which occur in the various series of frescoes, etc., already referred to, may be mentioned that by Melozzo da Forli, painted for the Church of SS. Apostoli at Rome, but now in the Quirinal, and the two renderings of the same subject by Perugino — one in the Cathedral of Borgo San Sepolcro, the other in the Lyons Gallery.
In many early representations of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the event next in importance to the Ascension of Christ, in which the eleven Apostles took part, the Virgin is often introduced, and her presence is significant of the growing reverence in which she was held by the Church. She appears in the Mosaics already referred to in the dome of S. Marco, Venice; in a quaint picture of unknown authorship in the Venice Academy, in which tongues of fire are descending from Heaven upon her and the Apostles, whilst crowds of people in various national costumes are listening at a closed door below; in the wonderful fresco ascribed to Pinturicchio, in the Appartamenti Borgia of the Vatican, in which the Apostles and Virgin are all kneeling in the open air and the Holy Spirit is hovering above in a glory of cherubims, whilst the prophet Joel introduced in allusion to his prophecy, ‘I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh,’ looks down upon the scene; and Cimabue included the Descent of the Holy Ghost in his series of frescoes, illustrating the life of the Virgin in the lower church of S. Francesco at Assisi. Other fine representations of the great event of Pentecost are that by Giotto in the upper church of S. Francesco at Assisi, one of the best preserved of his beautiful frescoes; that by a pupil of Fra Angelico in the Florence Academy; that on a triptych in the Capitol Gallery, Rome, by Fra Angelico himself; that by Signorelli, originally painted on one side of a standard for the Church of S. Spirito at Urbino, in which the Virgin is seated at one end of a long room with the Apostles grouped on either side of her, and a tongue of flame is flickering on the head of each of those present; the large oil painting by Titian, unfortunately much injured, now in a chapel of S. Maria Salute in Venice, and the chalk drawing by Rubens in the National Gallery, London.
At a very early date in the history of the Church, a tradition became widely accepted to the effect that the Blessed Virgin died a painless death in the presence of all the Apostles, who had been miraculously summoned from their various fields of missionary labor to her bedside, and that after life was departed, her sinless body, exempt from the action of decay, was carried up to heaven by angels and given over to the care of her Divine Son. By a natural transition the fact of her death was gradually forgotten, and it became a living woman of transcendent beauty who, in the popular belief, was received into glory to be crowned in the presence of the angels by Him who had received His human nature from her. In the many representations of the three great scenes of the drama of the Assumption of Mary, the Dormition, or sleep, which took the place of death, the Ascent to Heaven and the Coronation in the presence of the celestial hierarchy, the Apostles are as a rule introduced; in the two first as principal actors, in the last as mere spectators of inferior importance, not only to the angels and archangels, but also to St. John the Baptist, who, as in the Van Eycks’ ‘Adoration of the Lamb,’ often occupies a placed of honor opposite to the Redeemer Himself.
Amongst the most beautiful renderings of these three great subjects are the ‘Death of the Virgin,’ by Giotto, now in the Florence Academy, in which the Apostles are gathered about the dying Mother’s couch and Christ is receiving her soul into His arms; the ‘Dormition’ and ‘Assumption’ formerly in the possession of Lord Methuen; the ‘Dormition’ in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence; the ‘ Dormition,’ part of the predella of an altar-piece in the Oratoria del Gesu at Cortona; the two ‘Coronations,’ one in the Louvre, the other in the Church of S. Marco at Venice, all by Fra Angelico, whose figures of the Apostles in the ‘ Dormitions ’ are full of individual character; the ‘Assumption,’ by Andrea del Sarto, in the Pitti Gallery, Florence, in which the Apostles kneel around the empty tomb below, and the Virgin is seated in the clouds above; the same subject, by Pintnricchio, in the Naples Museum, remarkable for the beauty of the heads of the Apostles, who, each with his emblem, are grouped below, their attitudes and gestures expressing their reverent wonder at the miracle which has just taken place; the ‘Virgin in Glory’ in the Church of S. Martino Maggiore, Bologna, with the Apostles gazing into the empty tomb below; the ’Assumption,’ in the Church of SS. Annunziata at Florence, in which the Apostles and holy women gaze up at the ascending Virgin, all by Perugino; and the great painting of the ‘Assumption,’ by Titian, now in the Venice Academy, a unique rendering of the familiar theme, for in it there is none of the quiet acceptance of the miracle characteristic of so many interpretations of it, but the Apostles are gesticulating wildly as the Virgin, a grandly majestic figure, is borne out of their sight by cherubim.
Scenes in which only some of the Apostles took part are, of course, of constant occurrence in works of art, and many of them are noticed elsewhere in connection with individual Saints. Among the most important are the Calling of the First Disciples, the Marriage at Cana, Christ walking on the Sea, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, the Raising of Jairus’s Daughter, the Raising of Lazarus, the various Miracles of Healing, the Feast in the House of Simon, the Transfiguration, the Agony in the Garden, and, most solemn of all, the Deposition from the Cross and the Entombment.
A very fine example of the ‘Calling of the Disciples’ is that by Ghirlandaio in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, still in good preservation, though the companion fresco of the ‘Resurrection’ by Arrigo Fiammingo has been completely destroyed. In the former St. Peter and St. Andrew kneel at the feet of the Master, a noble figure in flowing robes, whilst the other disciples and a number of typical Hebrews look on behind them. In the middle distance on the left Christ is seen again, calling Peter and Andrew to follow Him; and on the right He has the two Zebedee, are approaching in a fishing-boat on the Sea of Galilee, to be in their turn received. In the Church of St. Andrew at Antwerp is an eighteenth-century pulpit on which the ‘Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew’ is very realistically carved.
The Marriage at Cana is of comparatively rare occurrence in the works of the early Italian masters, and was seldom introduced in scenes from the Life of the Virgin. It occurs, however, in Giotto’s frescoes in the Arena Chapel, Padua, and was one of the subjects of the paintings designed by Fra Angelico for the decoration of the silver Press in SS. Annunziata at Florence, and executed by his pupils. The Marriage at Cana, the Baptism of Christ, and the Transfiguration, by Baldovinetti, are now in the Florence Academy. In later pictures of the same subject, notably in the celebrated one by Paolo Veronese, now in the Louvre, painted for the Monastery of S. Giorgio Maggiore at Venice, the figures of the Apostles are almost lost in the crowds of other guests, and although they have been identified, there is little in their appearance to distinguish them as the companions of the Lord.
Among the most celebrated representations of the Miraculous Draught of Fishes is that on the bronze Gates by Ghiberti at Florence, in which the attitudes of the Apostles are full of expression; the picture by Rubens in a chapel of the Church of Notre Dame at Malines, remarkable for its richness of coloring and dramatic force; the painting by G. de Crayer in the Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; and the cartoon by Raphael in the South Kensington Museum.
In the various representations of the Miracles of Christ, it was customary to introduce a few of the disciples as spectators. In the ‘Raising of Jairus’s Daughter,’ of which a very beautiful example is that by the modern German master, Albert Keller, Saints Peter, James, and John are the usual attendants; whilst in the ‘Calling of Lazarus from the Tomb,’ of which the great picture by Sebastiano del Piombo, now in the National Gallery, London, is one of the finest renderings, the greater number of the Apostles are grouped behind the chief actors in the scene.
In the ‘Feast in the House of Simon,’ at which Mary Magdalene, or, rather, the woman who has erroneously been identified with her, anointed the feet of the Master with ointment, the Apostles are introduced, as in the ‘Marriage at Cana,’ amongst the other guests. This is the case in the three renderings 0? the same subject by Paolo Veronese, which are now, one in the Turin Gallery, one in the Brera Gallery, Milan, and one, considered the best, in the Louvre; as well as in the painting on wood by Signorelli, now in the Dublin Gallery, which originally formed part of the predella of an altar-piece.
In the ‘Transfiguration,’ a subject that tested to the uttermost the powers of the artists who attempted to realize it, Saints Peter and James and John are, of course, the only Apostles present, and the character of each of them is so clearly brought out that there is rarely any difficulty in identifying them. The fame of Raphael’s ‘Transfiguration,’ now in the Vatican, painted for Cardinal Giulio de Medici, afterwards Pope Clement XII., has overshadowed that of any other work dealing with the same subject; but, as a matter of fact, the Apostles in it are by no means his best representations of them, and their emotions on the bewildering occasion have been better rendered by other masters. In the bronze Gates by Ghiberti the favored three are represented sleeping in attitudes full of grace and beauty; in Fra Angelico’s ‘Transfiguration’ in S. Marco, Florence, the Apostles are prostrating themselves in wondering reverence; in the two fine compositions by Perugino, one now in the Pinacoteca Vannucci at Perugia, and the other, a fresco, on the wall of the Collegio del Cambio, in the same city, they kneel at the foot of the mound, gazing up and shading their eyes from the dazzling glory of the vision; in the ‘Transfiguration’ by Sebastiano del Piombo, still in good preservation in the vault of a chapel in S. Pietro in the Montorio, Rome, the figures are full of character; Titian’s impressive representation of the same subject is considered one of his finest works; and Giovanni Bellini’s ‘Transfiguration’ in the Correr Museum, Venice, is a good example of that master’s early style. Adapted from: The Saints in Christian Art: The Evangelists, Apostles, and Other Early Saints, By Mrs. Arthur Bell, (London: George Bell & Sons, 1901)