FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[1]Milman, Hist. of Christianity, iii. 540.[2]Venice; SS. Giovanni e Paolo.[3]Siena; San Domenico.[4]Rome; Vatican.[5]Dresden Gal.[6]The Saints who do not appear in these volumes will be found in the ‘Legends of the Monastic Orders.’[7]‘Avant le 5me siècle le nimbe chrétien ne se voit pas sur les monumentsauthentiques.’ (Didron, Iconographie, p. 101.)[8]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.[9]I believe these coloured glories to be symbolical, but am not sure of the application of the colours. Among the miniatures of theHortus Deliciarum, painted in 1180, is a representation of the celestial paradise, in which the 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 who were married have the nimbus green, while the beatified penitents have theirs of a yellowish white, somewhat shaded. (Didron, Iconographie Chrétienne, p. 168.)[10]In the example of St. Jerome, a lion may have originally typified any hinderance in the way of study or of duty; in allusion to the text, ‘The slothful man saith, There is a lion by the way.’ Prov. xxvi. 13.[11]Vide‘Legends of the Madonna.’[12]In the Spanish schools the colour of our Saviour’s mantle is generally a deep rich violet.[13]Bologna Gal.[14]2 Sam. xiv. 17.[15]Gen. xxxii. 1, 2; Ps. ciii. 21; 1 Kings xxii. 19; Job i. 6.[16]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.[17]2 Sam. xxiv. 16; 2 Kings xix. 35; Gen: xviii. 8; Num. xxii. 31; 1 Chron. xxi. 16; Gen. xix. 13.[18]Calmet.[19]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.[20]Rom. viii. 38; Col. i. 16; Ephes. i. 21.[21]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.[22]Now in the Collection of Prince Wallerstein at Kensington Palace.[23]Vasari, p. 648. Fl. edit.[24]I saw in the palace of the Bishop of Norwich an elegant little bas-relief in alabaster, exhibiting the nine choirs, each represented 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.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.[25]As in the picture in our National Gallery, No. 10.[26]Vatican: Raphael’s fresco.[27]v.Purg. c. viii.; Par. c. xxxi.; Purg. c. xxiv.[28]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 colour. 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.[29]In the sacristy of the Vatican.[30]In the Louvre.[31]In the Cathedral at Orvieto.[32]In theFrariat Venice.[33]Gen. xviii., xlviii. 16.[34]Purg. c. viii.[35]1 Kings vi. 23.[36]MS. 10th century. Paris, Bibl. Nationale.[37]MS. 13th century, Breviaire de St. Louis.[38]Paris. Bibl. Nat., No. 510. G. MS.[39]As in the legend of Prometheus. (Plato, Protag. p. 320.)[40]Sutherland Gallery.[41]As in Raphael’s fresco in the Vatican.[42]As in the picture by Allston, painted for Lord Egremont, and now at Petworth.[43]As in a picture by F. Bol.[44]See ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ p. 180.[45]For several curious and interesting particulars relative to these subjects, see the ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ pp. 247, 256.[46]The picture is, I suspect, not by Poussin, but by Stella. There is another, similar, by Guido; Louvre, 1057.[47]Ciampini, p. 131,A.D.394.[48]Greek MS.A.D.867.[49]Paris, Bib. Nat., No. 510.[50]In the Academy at Florence: they must have formed the side wings to an enthroned Madonna and Child.[51]Gallery of the Vatican.[52]S. Maria del Popolo, Rome.[53]The mosaics in the dome of the Chigi chapel are so ill lighted that it is difficult to observe them in detail, but they 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.[54]As in the fresco in the Vatican.[55]See the engraving under this title by Marc Antonio; it is properly St. Cecilia, and not St. Félicité.[56]It is now in the Lanti chapel in the church of the Lateran.[57]Mr. Ruskin 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 cannot be anatomically joined to a shoulder; and in proportion as painters approach more and more to the scientific as distinguished 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 meresignof an angel. But in Giotto’s time an angel was a complete 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.’ The angels from the Campo Santo at Pisa, numbered 12, 21, and 32, are instances of this bird-like form. They areUccelli di Dio. Those numbered 27, 28, and 37 are examples of the later treatment.[58]A.D.1352. Florence, S. Maria Novella.[59]Greek mosaic,A.D.1174.[60]MS. of the Book of Revelation, fourteenth century. Trinity College, Dublin.[61]Coll. of the Duke of Sutherland.[62]Hôtel de Cluny, 399.[63]v.Il perfetto Legendario. 1659.[64]The Gnostics taught that the universe was created by the Seven Great Angels, who ranked next to theEons, 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 creation (p. 39), but the Seven creating Angels I have not met with in art. This was one of the Gnostic fancies condemned by the early Church.[65]Le Livre des Angeles de Dieu, MS. Paris Bibl. Nat.[66]Dr. Arnold has some characteristic remarks on the half-human effigies of Satan; he objects to the Miltonic representation:—‘By giving a human likeness, and representing him 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 Mephistophiles, and the utterly contemptible and hateful character of the Little Master in Sintram, are far more true than the Paradise Lost.’—Life, vol. ii.[67]Vatican MSS., No. 1613,A.D.989.[68]A.D.1365. Eremitani. Padua.[69]Greek Apocalypse MS. Paris Bibl. Nat.[70]Siena Acad.[71]By Marco di Ravenna. Bartsch, xiv. 106.[72]Brescia. S. Maria delle Grazie.[73]Milan, Brera.[74]Boisserée Gallery.[75]A.D.1400. Engraved in Lusinio’s ‘Early Florentine Masters.’[76]Milan. Brera.[77]Psalter of St. Louis. Bib. de l’Arsenal, Paris.[78]See ante, p. 111, for the figure of St. Michael.[79]St. Ephrem, Bib. Orient. tom. i. p. 78. De Beausobre, vol. ii. p. 17.[80]Didron, Manuel grec., p. 101.[81]Judges vi. 11.[82]2 Sam. xxiv. 16.[83]Calmet.[84]De Oratione, cap. xii.[85]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 representason of God,—i.e. an angel; ortheSon of God, i.e. Christ, as it has been interpreted in both senses.[86]Bel and the Dragon, 26.[87]Bottari, 15, 49, 84.[88]See ‘Legends of the Madonna.’[89]‘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 relies enumerated as existing in the church of the Santa Croce at Rome.[90]In Paradise he sings for ever the famous salutation:—CantandoAve Maria gratia plenaDinanzi a lei le sue ali distese.Dante,Par.32.[91]See the Ursuline Manual. ‘When an angel anciently appeared to the patriarchs or prophets, he was received with due honour as being exalted above them, both by nature and grace; but when an archangel visited Mary, he was struck with her superior dignity and pre-eminence, 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.’[92]The Annunciation and the Death of the Virgin, and the office and character of the announcing angel in both subjects, are fully treated and illustrated in the ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ pp. 179, 334.[93]As in a very curious print by ‘Le Graveur de 1466;’ and there are other instances.[94]Chants Royaux. Paris Bibl. Nat. MS. No. 6,989.[95]Mr. Stirling entitles this picture ‘An Angel appearing to a Bishop at his prayers.’[96]In the church of S. Marziale, Venice.[97]Passavant’s Rafael, vol. ii. pp. 6, 150.[98]Madrid Gallery.[99]Louvre, No. 358.[100]In our National Gallery.[101]Rupertus, Commentar. in Apocal. c. 4. Mark xvi. 16.[102]Fl. Acad.[103]There is a small and beautiful picture by Giulio Romano in the Belvedere at Vienna, representing the emblems of the Four Evangelists grouped in a picturesque manner, which was probably suggested by Raphael’s celebrated picture, which is in the Pitti palace at Florence.[104]Grosvenor Gallery.[105]Dresden Gallery. No. 828.[106]Paris, Bib. du Roi, No. 510.[107]A.D.1377. Eng. in Rossini, pl. 24.[108]Designed by Titian, and executed by F. Zuccati.[109]It is so like Giorgione in sentiment and colour that it has been attributed to him. For this expressive votive group, see the frontispiece to vol. ii., and the legends of the four patron saints above mentioned.[110]Beneath the monument of Nicolò Orsini, in the SS. Giovanni-e-Paolo at Venice. A very remarkable and beautiful picture of this class is in the Berlin Gallery (No. 316). St. Mark, enthroned and holding his gospel open on his knees, is instructing three of theProcuradori di San Marco, who kneel before him in their rich crimson dresses, and listen reverently.[111]Venice Ducal Palace.[112]Fl. Gal.[113]Venice Acad.[114]Brera, Milan.[115]Brera, Milan.[116]A.D.1500. Scuola di S. Marco, Venice.[117]Fl. Gal.[118]TheProcuradorihad the charge of the church and the treasury of St. Mark.[119]Sanuto, Vite de’ Duci Veneti.[120]Acad. Venice.[121]Acad. Venice.[122]Ibid.[123]Venice, Ducal Palace.[124]The little black Virgin of the Monte della Guardia, 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 Domenico 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 Evangelist, received its colours 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 Cœli pretends to the same honour: both these are black and ugly, while that in the S. Maria in Cosmedino is of uncommon dignity and beauty. See ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ Introduction, p. xli.[125]MS.A.D.1500. Paris, Bib. Imp.[126]F. Rizi.A.D.1660.[127]As in the Missal of Henry VIII. Bodleian, Oxford.[128]Both among the fine lithographs of the Boisserée Gallery. (v.Nos. 5, 15, 25.)[129]Acad. Bologna.[130]Musée, Marseilles.[131]Leigh Court, Gal. of Mr. Miles.[132]Petersburg, Gal. of Prince Narishken. Eng. by Müller.[133]Munich Gal.[134]Westmin. Abbey.[135]Rome, S. Maria-sopra-Minerva.[136]v.‘Legends of the Madonna.’[137]Brera, Milan.[138]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 evangelist, 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.’[139]Vatican MSS., tenth century.[140]MSS., ninth century. Paris Nat. Library.[141]Vatican, Christian Museum.[142]Johannis Brompton Cronicon, 955.[143]Dart’s Hist. of Westminster.[144]v.Legend of St. Edward the Confessor in the ‘Legends of the Monastic Orders,’ p. 99.[145]Rome. S. M. in Trastevere. S. Prassede. S. Clemente. S. Cecilia.[146]Bottari, Tab. xxviii.[147]The churches in the eastern provinces of France, particularly in Champagne, exhibit marked traces of the influence of Greek Art in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.[148]A.D.451. Ciampini, Vet. Mon. p. 1, c. iv.[149]Matt. xix. 28; and Luke xxii. 30.[150]I must refer the reader to Mr. Cockerell’s illustrations and restorations of the rich and multifarious and significant sculpture of Wells Cathedral.[151]Luke xxii. 30.[152]Venice Acad., fourteenth century.[153]Rosini, vol. iii. p. 75.[154]Convent of Chilandari, Mount Athos.[155]Vatican, Sala del Pozzo.[156]Vatican.[157]Greek MS., ninth century. Paris, Bibl. du Roi, No. 510.[158]A set of martyrdoms is in the Frankfort Museum; another is mentioned in Bartsch, viii. 22.[159]Eusebius says thatallthe Apostles suffered martyrdom; but this is not borne out by any ancient testimony.—Lardner’s Cred. of Gospel Hist.vol. viii. p. 81.[160]They were fortunately engraved for D’Agincourt’sHistoire de l’Art, before they were destroyed by fire.[161]St. Guthlac’s Book. Ethelwold’s Benedictional.[162]As in the mosaic on the tomb of Otho II. (Lateran Mus.).[163]Bottari, Tab. xxv.[164]One of the finest I have ever seen is the ‘Saint Pierre au Donateur,’ by Gaudenzio Ferrari; holding 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, almostdemandingwhat he requires for his votary. The whole picture is extremely fine. (Turin Gallery, No. 19.)[165]Milan, Brera (No. 189).[166]What St. Clement says is to this purpose: that St. Peter’s hearers at 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 entreaties till they had prevailed upon him; and St. Peter confirmed that writing by his authority, that it might be read in the churches.’—Lardner,Cred., vol. i. p. 250.[167]Fl. Gal.[168]Brera, Milan.[169]Gian Bellini: Venice. S. M. de’ Frari.[170]Vienna Gal.[171]Bartsch, vi. 92.[172]‘Le Christ à la Colonne.’Louvre, No. 550.[173]Tab. xxi.[174]Hampton Court.[175]Madrid Gal., No. 114.[176]Bridgewater Gal.[177]Cathedral at Malines.[178]Gal. of the Hague.[179]This picture, formerly in the Brera, is now in England, in the gallery of Lord Ward. It is the finest and most characteristic specimen of the master I have ever seen.[180]It is signedMẽdulaÉ, and attributed to Giulio della Mendula; a painter (except through this picture) unknown to me.[181]Brancacci Chapel, Florence.[182]Berlin Gal., No. 313.[183]Louvre, No. 685.[184]As in the Greek mosaics in the Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo.[185]Several such pictures are in the royal collections at Windsor and Hampton Court.[186]Moore makes a characteristic remark on this fresco; he isamazedat the self-denial of the painter who could cross this fine group with the black iron bars which represent the prison.[187]Some Protestant writers have set aside St. Peter’s ministry at Rome, as altogether apocryphal; but Gieseler, an author by no means credulous, considers that the historical evidence is in favour of the tradition (v.Text-book of Eccles. Hist. p. 53). This is the more satisfactory because, even to Protestants, 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.[188]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.’[189]MS., Vatican, No. 6409. 10th century.[190]In the sacristy of the Vatican.[191]In the Brancacci Chapel at Florence.[192]In the Gallery of the Vatican.[193]Vatican. Capella Paolina.[194]v.Il perfetto Legendario.[195]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.)[196]Second or third century. Bosio, p. 519.[197]v.Münter’s Sinnbilder, p. 35.[198]v.Zani. Enc. delle Belle Arti.[199]In the gallery of Mr. Miles, at Leigh Court.[200]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,’ ii. 245.[201]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 church. Perhaps they were justified; but not by the plea of Bishop Terrick—the fear of idolatry.[202]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.[203]‘St. Paul prevents his jailor from killing himself’ (Acts xvi.) has been lately painted by Claude Hallé, and is now in the Louvre. (École française, No. 283.)[204]In the Dresden Gal., No. 821.[205]Bartsch, vii. 79.[206]Théologie des Peintres.[207]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.[208]Gallery of the Vatican.[209]Munich, 363.[210]In the collection of Mr. Miles at Leigh Court.[211]Hermogenes was the name of a famous Gnostic teacher and philosopher; thence, I suppose, adopted into this legend.[212]v.Southey, ‘Pilgrim of Compostella.’[213]Passavant’s Rafael, I. 508.[214]Duomo, Siena.[215]Belvedere, Vienna.[216]Venice Acad.[217]Rome, S. Maria-in-Trastevere.A.D.1397.[218]Stirling’s ‘Artists of Spain,’ ii. p. 753.[219]Legenda Aurea.[220]Gallery of Antwerp.[221]Passavant’s Rafael, II. 116.[222]Eng. by Audran.[223]Gal. Vatican.[224]Fl. Acad.[225]Fl. Gal.[226]Florence, Casa Ruccellai.[227]The romantic Legend of thesacratissima cintola, ‘the most sacred girdle of the Virgin,’ is given at length in the ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ p. 344.[228]‘Very soon after the Lord was risen, he went to James, and showed himself 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.[229]Matt. xiii. 55; Mark xv. 40.[230]Fl. Gal.[231]Fl. Acad.[232]See Ford’s ‘Handbook of Spain;’ also Goethe’s ‘Theory of Colours,’ translated by Sir C. Eastlake. ‘When a yellow colour is communicated to dull and coarse surfaces, such as common cloth, felt, or the like, on which it does not appear with full energy, the disagreeable effect alluded to is apparent. By a slight and scarcely perceptible change, the beautiful impression of fire and gold is transformed into one not undeserving the epithet foul, and the colour of honour and joy reversed to that of ignominy and aversion. To this impression, the yellow hats of bankrupts, and the yellow circles on the mantles of Jews, may have owed their origin.’ (P. 308.)[233]Fl. Gal.[234]Manfrini P., Venice.[235]Fl. Acad.[236]In the gallery of Lord Charlemont, Dublin.[237]MS., No. 7206. Bib. du Roi.[238]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 instructed 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.)[239]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.[240]Florence Acad.[241]In the series of compositions from the life of Christ, now in the Academy at Florence; beautifully and faithfully engraved by P. Nocchi.[242]This is also observable in the Last Supper by Nicolò Petri in the San Francesco at Pisa.[243]For a signal example, see Stirling’s ‘Artists of Spain,’ p. 493.[244]For some remarks on the subject of the Pentecost,v.‘Legends of the Madonna,’ p. 325.[245]Acad. Venice. Giovanni ed Antonio da Murano. 1440.[246]As I have frequent occasion to refer to pictures painted for theScuoleof Venice, it may be as well to observe that the wordscuola, which we translateschool, is not a place of education, but a confraternity for charitable purposes,—visiting the sick, providing hospitals, adopting orphans, redeeming prisoners and captives, &c. 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. Roch, the Carità 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 Carità is now the Academy of Arts.[247]Acad. Venice. Gio. da Udine.[248]Frankfort Museum.[249]We missed the opportunity, now never more to be recalled, of obtaining this admirable picture when it was sold out of the Fesch collection.[250]I believe the figure called St. Bonaventura, to represent St. Jerome, because, in accordance with the usual scheme of ecclesiastical decoration, the greatest of the four Latin Fathers would take the first place, and the cardinal’s hat and the 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.[251]Dresden Gal.[252]Imp. Gal., St. Petersburg.[253]Vienna Gal.[254]In the catalogue, St. Cunegunda is styledSt. Elizabeth Queen of Hungary, and St. Elizabeth of Hungary is styledSt. Elizabeth Queen of Portugal.[255]Irish Bishop of Würtzburg, and Patron,A.D.689.[256]‘In this picture we recognise the master to whom Albert Dürer 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, Flemish, and Dutch Schools, p. 111.[257]Florence, Ogni Santi.[258]Bologna, S. Maria Maggiore.[259]The picture, originally at Naples, was purchased or appropriated by Philip IV. for the Church of the Escurial, which belonged to the Jeronymites.[260]Milan, Brera.[261]Collection of Lord Ward.[262]Louvre, Sp. Gal.[263]P. Pitti, Florence.[264]Lichtenstein Gal.[265]Kugler pronounces this to be a Flemish picture (v.‘Handbook,’ p. 190).[266]The three frescoes by Carpaccio are in the Church of San Giorgio de’ Schiavoni at Venice.[267]It was in the Standish Gal. in the Louvre.[268]Engraved by Loli.[269]Wolvinus,A.D.832. ‘His name seems to indicate that he was of Teutonic race—a circumstance which has excited much controversy amongst the modern Italian antiquaries.’—Murray’s Handbook.[270]Belvedere Gal., Vienna.[271]Paris, Invalides.[272]SS. Giovan e Paolo, Venice.[273]Brera, Milan.[274]Fl. Gal.[275]Pitti Pal. This fine picture was painted for the Agostini.[276]Brera, Milan.[277]Berlin Gal.[278]Acad., Venice.[279]Vatican, Christian Museum.[280]Cremona.[281]Belvedere, Vienna.[282]v.‘Legends of the Monastic Orders,’ p. 191.[283]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.[284]Once in Lord Methuen’s Gallery at Corsham.[285]It was in the possession of Her Majesty the Ex-Queen of the French, who paid for it 25,000f.[286]There is a duplicate in the Bridgewater Gallery.[287]Sutherland Gal.[288]Vicenza. S. Maria del Monte.[289]Bartsch,Le Peintre Graveur, vii. 264.[290]For an account of St. Nilus, and the foundation of Grotta Ferrata, see the ‘Legends of the Monastic Orders.’[291]According to Sansovino, begun by Giorgione and finished by Sebastian.[292]Dante,Inf.c. xi.[293]The Greek wordPapa, here translatedder 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.’[294]Koburgher, ‘Legendensammlung,’ 1488, p. 325. Heller’s ‘Leben und Werke Albrecht Dürer’s,’ p. 440.[295]Sutherland Gal.[296]‘La Messe de saint Basile.’ Louvre, École française, No. 508.[297]‘Pour vous ramener à des idées plus favorables à la Madeleine, vous transportant au temps et aux circonstances où vécut cette célèbre Israélite, je pourrais vous dire,Messieurs, que l’antiquité, ne jugeant pas équitable d’exiger plus de vertu du sexe réputé pour le plus faible, ne croyait pas les femmes déshonorées de ce qui ne déshonorait pas les hommes à ses yeux; qu’elle a d’ailleurs toujours été bien moins sévère à des sentiments qui, naissant avec nous, lui paraissaient une partie de nous-mêmes, et qu’elle n’attacha jamais aucune idée flétrissante aux suites d’une passion qu’elle trouvait presque aussi pardonnable que naturelle. Les grâces de la beauté étaient alors regardées comme les autres talents; et l’art de plaire, aussi autorisé que les autres arts, loin d’inspirer de l’éloignement,’ &c.After describing, in glowing terms, her splendid position in the world, her illustrious rank, her understanding, ‘droit, solide, et délicat,’ her ‘grâce,’ her ‘esprit,’ her wondrous beauty, particularly her superb hair, ‘cultivé avec tant de soin, arrangé avec tant d’art;’—and lamenting that a creature thus nobly gifted should have been cast away upon the same rock which had shipwrecked the greatest, the most illustrious, of hercompatriotes, ‘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 recollect that it was preached from a pulpit by a grave doctor in theology:—‘Jeunes personnes qui vivez encore dans l’innocence! apprenez donc de la Madeleine combien grands sont les périls de la jeunesse, de la beauté, de tous les dons purement naturels; souvenez-vous que le désir excessif de plaire est toujours dangereux, rarement innocent, et qu’il est bien difficile de donner beaucoup de sentiments, sans en prendre soi-même. A la vue des faiblesses de la jeune Israélite, comprenez de quelle importance est, pour vous, la garde de votre cœur; et à quels désordres il vous expose, si vous ne vous accoutumez à le contrarier sans cesse, en tous ses penchants.‘Femmes mondaines, et peut-être voluptueuses! apprenez de la Madeleine à revenir de vos écarts; ils ont été, dans vous, le fruit de la faiblesse humaine; que votre retour soit le fruit de votre correspondance à la grâce. Et pourriez-vous ou vous proposer un modèle plus digne d’être suivi que celui que vous présente Madeleine, ou trouver ailleurs un motif plus puissant de le suivre?‘Et vous qui, fières d’une réserve que vous ne devez peut-être qu’à votre insensibilité, vous en faites un rempart, à l’abri duquel vous croyez pouvoir mépriser toute la terre, et dont la mondanité de Madeleine elle-même a peut-être scandalisé la précieuse vertu! femmes plus vaines que sages! apprenez de notre Sainte, qu’il n’y a que la grâce de Dieu et une attention continuelle sur nous-mêmes qui puissent nous aider constamment contre la pente qui nous précipite vers le mal; et craignez qu’on ne puisse vous dire, à son sujet, ce quo Saint Augustin disait à une dévote de votre caractère, pleine d’elle-même et médisante: “Plût à Dieu que vous eussiez donné dans les mêmes excès dont vous croyez si volontiers les autres capables! vous seriez moins éloignée du royaume de Dieu; du moins vous auriez de l’humanité!”’Le Brun’s Magdalene is just the Magdalene described by this preacher: both one and the other are as like the Magdalene of Scripture as Leo X. was like St. Peter.[298]The original Latin distich runs thus:—Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis,Exemploque meo vos reparate Deo.[299]It was in the Standish Gallery belonging to Louis-Philippe, and now dispersed.[300]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 Francesco Furini.[301]Lichtenstein Gal.[302]These two pictures were sold out of the Louvre with King Louis-Philippe’s pictures.[303]Turin Gallery.[304]Munich Gallery, No. 266. There is an inferior repetition in the Royal Gallery at Turin.[305]The great picture formerly in the Durazzo Palace is now in the Royal Gallery at Turin. It is wonderful for life and colour, and dramatic feeling—a masterpiece of the painter in his characteristic style.[306]Bottari, Tab. xxx.[307]Santa Croce, Florence.[308]This beautiful and valuable picture has been bequeathed by the poet to the National Gallery.[309]The print by Edelinck is considered as the masterpiece of that celebrated engraver.[310]Dresden Gal.[311]See p. 379,note.[312]There are about 150 churches in England dedicated in honour of Mary Magdalene.[313]There is a fine series of frescoes from the life of Mary Magdalene by Gaudenzio Ferrari, in the church of St. Cristoforo at Vercelli. 1. Mary and Martha are seated, with a 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 theNoli 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.[314]Bayle, Dict. Hist.; Molanus, lib. iv., de Hist. Sacrar. S. Mag., cap. xx. p. 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.’[315]Paris, Bibliothèque du Roi, MS. 7013, fourteenth century.[316]Il Perfetto Legendario.[317]Queen’s Gal.[318]Bodleian MSS., Oxford.[319]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, particularly the military hospitals, in France and elsewhere,—her brother Lazarus having been a soldier.[320]Fl. Gal.[321]B. Museum.[322]It was in the Sp. Gal. in the Louvre, now dispersed.[323]Santa Maria Penitente.[324]‘Leben und Werke Von Albrecht Dürer,’ No. 2067.

[1]Milman, Hist. of Christianity, iii. 540.

[2]Venice; SS. Giovanni e Paolo.

[3]Siena; San Domenico.

[4]Rome; Vatican.

[5]Dresden Gal.

[6]The Saints who do not appear in these volumes will be found in the ‘Legends of the Monastic Orders.’

[7]‘Avant le 5me siècle le nimbe chrétien ne se voit pas sur les monumentsauthentiques.’ (Didron, Iconographie, p. 101.)

[8]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.

[9]I believe these coloured glories to be symbolical, but am not sure of the application of the colours. Among the miniatures of theHortus Deliciarum, painted in 1180, is a representation of the celestial paradise, in which the 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 who were married have the nimbus green, while the beatified penitents have theirs of a yellowish white, somewhat shaded. (Didron, Iconographie Chrétienne, p. 168.)

[10]In the example of St. Jerome, a lion may have originally typified any hinderance in the way of study or of duty; in allusion to the text, ‘The slothful man saith, There is a lion by the way.’ Prov. xxvi. 13.

[11]Vide‘Legends of the Madonna.’

[12]In the Spanish schools the colour of our Saviour’s mantle is generally a deep rich violet.

[13]Bologna Gal.

[14]2 Sam. xiv. 17.

[15]Gen. xxxii. 1, 2; Ps. ciii. 21; 1 Kings xxii. 19; Job i. 6.

[16]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.

[17]2 Sam. xxiv. 16; 2 Kings xix. 35; Gen: xviii. 8; Num. xxii. 31; 1 Chron. xxi. 16; Gen. xix. 13.

[18]Calmet.

[19]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.

[20]Rom. viii. 38; Col. i. 16; Ephes. i. 21.

[21]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.

[22]Now in the Collection of Prince Wallerstein at Kensington Palace.

[23]Vasari, p. 648. Fl. edit.

[24]I saw in the palace of the Bishop of Norwich an elegant little bas-relief in alabaster, exhibiting the nine choirs, each represented 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.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.

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.

[25]As in the picture in our National Gallery, No. 10.

[26]Vatican: Raphael’s fresco.

[27]v.Purg. c. viii.; Par. c. xxxi.; Purg. c. xxiv.

[28]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 colour. 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.

[29]In the sacristy of the Vatican.

[30]In the Louvre.

[31]In the Cathedral at Orvieto.

[32]In theFrariat Venice.

[33]Gen. xviii., xlviii. 16.

[34]Purg. c. viii.

[35]1 Kings vi. 23.

[36]MS. 10th century. Paris, Bibl. Nationale.

[37]MS. 13th century, Breviaire de St. Louis.

[38]Paris. Bibl. Nat., No. 510. G. MS.

[39]As in the legend of Prometheus. (Plato, Protag. p. 320.)

[40]Sutherland Gallery.

[41]As in Raphael’s fresco in the Vatican.

[42]As in the picture by Allston, painted for Lord Egremont, and now at Petworth.

[43]As in a picture by F. Bol.

[44]See ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ p. 180.

[45]For several curious and interesting particulars relative to these subjects, see the ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ pp. 247, 256.

[46]The picture is, I suspect, not by Poussin, but by Stella. There is another, similar, by Guido; Louvre, 1057.

[47]Ciampini, p. 131,A.D.394.

[48]Greek MS.A.D.867.

[49]Paris, Bib. Nat., No. 510.

[50]In the Academy at Florence: they must have formed the side wings to an enthroned Madonna and Child.

[51]Gallery of the Vatican.

[52]S. Maria del Popolo, Rome.

[53]The mosaics in the dome of the Chigi chapel are so ill lighted that it is difficult to observe them in detail, but they 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.

[54]As in the fresco in the Vatican.

[55]See the engraving under this title by Marc Antonio; it is properly St. Cecilia, and not St. Félicité.

[56]It is now in the Lanti chapel in the church of the Lateran.

[57]Mr. Ruskin 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 cannot be anatomically joined to a shoulder; and in proportion as painters approach more and more to the scientific as distinguished 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 meresignof an angel. But in Giotto’s time an angel was a complete 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.’ The angels from the Campo Santo at Pisa, numbered 12, 21, and 32, are instances of this bird-like form. They areUccelli di Dio. Those numbered 27, 28, and 37 are examples of the later treatment.

[58]A.D.1352. Florence, S. Maria Novella.

[59]Greek mosaic,A.D.1174.

[60]MS. of the Book of Revelation, fourteenth century. Trinity College, Dublin.

[61]Coll. of the Duke of Sutherland.

[62]Hôtel de Cluny, 399.

[63]v.Il perfetto Legendario. 1659.

[64]The Gnostics taught that the universe was created by the Seven Great Angels, who ranked next to theEons, 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 creation (p. 39), but the Seven creating Angels I have not met with in art. This was one of the Gnostic fancies condemned by the early Church.

[65]Le Livre des Angeles de Dieu, MS. Paris Bibl. Nat.

[66]Dr. Arnold has some characteristic remarks on the half-human effigies of Satan; he objects to the Miltonic representation:—‘By giving a human likeness, and representing him 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 Mephistophiles, and the utterly contemptible and hateful character of the Little Master in Sintram, are far more true than the Paradise Lost.’—Life, vol. ii.

[67]Vatican MSS., No. 1613,A.D.989.

[68]A.D.1365. Eremitani. Padua.

[69]Greek Apocalypse MS. Paris Bibl. Nat.

[70]Siena Acad.

[71]By Marco di Ravenna. Bartsch, xiv. 106.

[72]Brescia. S. Maria delle Grazie.

[73]Milan, Brera.

[74]Boisserée Gallery.

[75]A.D.1400. Engraved in Lusinio’s ‘Early Florentine Masters.’

[76]Milan. Brera.

[77]Psalter of St. Louis. Bib. de l’Arsenal, Paris.

[78]See ante, p. 111, for the figure of St. Michael.

[79]St. Ephrem, Bib. Orient. tom. i. p. 78. De Beausobre, vol. ii. p. 17.

[80]Didron, Manuel grec., p. 101.

[81]Judges vi. 11.

[82]2 Sam. xxiv. 16.

[83]Calmet.

[84]De Oratione, cap. xii.

[85]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 representason of God,—i.e. an angel; ortheSon of God, i.e. Christ, as it has been interpreted in both senses.

[86]Bel and the Dragon, 26.

[87]Bottari, 15, 49, 84.

[88]See ‘Legends of the Madonna.’

[89]‘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 relies enumerated as existing in the church of the Santa Croce at Rome.

[90]In Paradise he sings for ever the famous salutation:—CantandoAve Maria gratia plenaDinanzi a lei le sue ali distese.Dante,Par.32.

[90]In Paradise he sings for ever the famous salutation:—

CantandoAve Maria gratia plenaDinanzi a lei le sue ali distese.Dante,Par.32.

CantandoAve Maria gratia plena

Dinanzi a lei le sue ali distese.

Dante,Par.32.

[91]See the Ursuline Manual. ‘When an angel anciently appeared to the patriarchs or prophets, he was received with due honour as being exalted above them, both by nature and grace; but when an archangel visited Mary, he was struck with her superior dignity and pre-eminence, 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.’

[92]The Annunciation and the Death of the Virgin, and the office and character of the announcing angel in both subjects, are fully treated and illustrated in the ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ pp. 179, 334.

[93]As in a very curious print by ‘Le Graveur de 1466;’ and there are other instances.

[94]Chants Royaux. Paris Bibl. Nat. MS. No. 6,989.

[95]Mr. Stirling entitles this picture ‘An Angel appearing to a Bishop at his prayers.’

[96]In the church of S. Marziale, Venice.

[97]Passavant’s Rafael, vol. ii. pp. 6, 150.

[98]Madrid Gallery.

[99]Louvre, No. 358.

[100]In our National Gallery.

[101]Rupertus, Commentar. in Apocal. c. 4. Mark xvi. 16.

[102]Fl. Acad.

[103]There is a small and beautiful picture by Giulio Romano in the Belvedere at Vienna, representing the emblems of the Four Evangelists grouped in a picturesque manner, which was probably suggested by Raphael’s celebrated picture, which is in the Pitti palace at Florence.

[104]Grosvenor Gallery.

[105]Dresden Gallery. No. 828.

[106]Paris, Bib. du Roi, No. 510.

[107]A.D.1377. Eng. in Rossini, pl. 24.

[108]Designed by Titian, and executed by F. Zuccati.

[109]It is so like Giorgione in sentiment and colour that it has been attributed to him. For this expressive votive group, see the frontispiece to vol. ii., and the legends of the four patron saints above mentioned.

[110]Beneath the monument of Nicolò Orsini, in the SS. Giovanni-e-Paolo at Venice. A very remarkable and beautiful picture of this class is in the Berlin Gallery (No. 316). St. Mark, enthroned and holding his gospel open on his knees, is instructing three of theProcuradori di San Marco, who kneel before him in their rich crimson dresses, and listen reverently.

[111]Venice Ducal Palace.

[112]Fl. Gal.

[113]Venice Acad.

[114]Brera, Milan.

[115]Brera, Milan.

[116]A.D.1500. Scuola di S. Marco, Venice.

[117]Fl. Gal.

[118]TheProcuradorihad the charge of the church and the treasury of St. Mark.

[119]Sanuto, Vite de’ Duci Veneti.

[120]Acad. Venice.

[121]Acad. Venice.

[122]Ibid.

[123]Venice, Ducal Palace.

[124]The little black Virgin of the Monte della Guardia, 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 Domenico 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 Evangelist, received its colours 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 Cœli pretends to the same honour: both these are black and ugly, while that in the S. Maria in Cosmedino is of uncommon dignity and beauty. See ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ Introduction, p. xli.

[125]MS.A.D.1500. Paris, Bib. Imp.

[126]F. Rizi.A.D.1660.

[127]As in the Missal of Henry VIII. Bodleian, Oxford.

[128]Both among the fine lithographs of the Boisserée Gallery. (v.Nos. 5, 15, 25.)

[129]Acad. Bologna.

[130]Musée, Marseilles.

[131]Leigh Court, Gal. of Mr. Miles.

[132]Petersburg, Gal. of Prince Narishken. Eng. by Müller.

[133]Munich Gal.

[134]Westmin. Abbey.

[135]Rome, S. Maria-sopra-Minerva.

[136]v.‘Legends of the Madonna.’

[137]Brera, Milan.

[138]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 evangelist, 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.’

[139]Vatican MSS., tenth century.

[140]MSS., ninth century. Paris Nat. Library.

[141]Vatican, Christian Museum.

[142]Johannis Brompton Cronicon, 955.

[143]Dart’s Hist. of Westminster.

[144]v.Legend of St. Edward the Confessor in the ‘Legends of the Monastic Orders,’ p. 99.

[145]Rome. S. M. in Trastevere. S. Prassede. S. Clemente. S. Cecilia.

[146]Bottari, Tab. xxviii.

[147]The churches in the eastern provinces of France, particularly in Champagne, exhibit marked traces of the influence of Greek Art in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

[148]A.D.451. Ciampini, Vet. Mon. p. 1, c. iv.

[149]Matt. xix. 28; and Luke xxii. 30.

[150]I must refer the reader to Mr. Cockerell’s illustrations and restorations of the rich and multifarious and significant sculpture of Wells Cathedral.

[151]Luke xxii. 30.

[152]Venice Acad., fourteenth century.

[153]Rosini, vol. iii. p. 75.

[154]Convent of Chilandari, Mount Athos.

[155]Vatican, Sala del Pozzo.

[156]Vatican.

[157]Greek MS., ninth century. Paris, Bibl. du Roi, No. 510.

[158]A set of martyrdoms is in the Frankfort Museum; another is mentioned in Bartsch, viii. 22.

[159]Eusebius says thatallthe Apostles suffered martyrdom; but this is not borne out by any ancient testimony.—Lardner’s Cred. of Gospel Hist.vol. viii. p. 81.

[160]They were fortunately engraved for D’Agincourt’sHistoire de l’Art, before they were destroyed by fire.

[161]St. Guthlac’s Book. Ethelwold’s Benedictional.

[162]As in the mosaic on the tomb of Otho II. (Lateran Mus.).

[163]Bottari, Tab. xxv.

[164]One of the finest I have ever seen is the ‘Saint Pierre au Donateur,’ by Gaudenzio Ferrari; holding 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, almostdemandingwhat he requires for his votary. The whole picture is extremely fine. (Turin Gallery, No. 19.)

[165]Milan, Brera (No. 189).

[166]What St. Clement says is to this purpose: that St. Peter’s hearers at 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 entreaties till they had prevailed upon him; and St. Peter confirmed that writing by his authority, that it might be read in the churches.’—Lardner,Cred., vol. i. p. 250.

[167]Fl. Gal.

[168]Brera, Milan.

[169]Gian Bellini: Venice. S. M. de’ Frari.

[170]Vienna Gal.

[171]Bartsch, vi. 92.

[172]‘Le Christ à la Colonne.’Louvre, No. 550.

[173]Tab. xxi.

[174]Hampton Court.

[175]Madrid Gal., No. 114.

[176]Bridgewater Gal.

[177]Cathedral at Malines.

[178]Gal. of the Hague.

[179]This picture, formerly in the Brera, is now in England, in the gallery of Lord Ward. It is the finest and most characteristic specimen of the master I have ever seen.

[180]It is signedMẽdulaÉ, and attributed to Giulio della Mendula; a painter (except through this picture) unknown to me.

[181]Brancacci Chapel, Florence.

[182]Berlin Gal., No. 313.

[183]Louvre, No. 685.

[184]As in the Greek mosaics in the Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo.

[185]Several such pictures are in the royal collections at Windsor and Hampton Court.

[186]Moore makes a characteristic remark on this fresco; he isamazedat the self-denial of the painter who could cross this fine group with the black iron bars which represent the prison.

[187]Some Protestant writers have set aside St. Peter’s ministry at Rome, as altogether apocryphal; but Gieseler, an author by no means credulous, considers that the historical evidence is in favour of the tradition (v.Text-book of Eccles. Hist. p. 53). This is the more satisfactory because, even to Protestants, 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.

[188]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.’

[189]MS., Vatican, No. 6409. 10th century.

[190]In the sacristy of the Vatican.

[191]In the Brancacci Chapel at Florence.

[192]In the Gallery of the Vatican.

[193]Vatican. Capella Paolina.

[194]v.Il perfetto Legendario.

[195]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.)

[196]Second or third century. Bosio, p. 519.

[197]v.Münter’s Sinnbilder, p. 35.

[198]v.Zani. Enc. delle Belle Arti.

[199]In the gallery of Mr. Miles, at Leigh Court.

[200]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,’ ii. 245.

[201]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 church. Perhaps they were justified; but not by the plea of Bishop Terrick—the fear of idolatry.

[202]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.

[203]‘St. Paul prevents his jailor from killing himself’ (Acts xvi.) has been lately painted by Claude Hallé, and is now in the Louvre. (École française, No. 283.)

[204]In the Dresden Gal., No. 821.

[205]Bartsch, vii. 79.

[206]Théologie des Peintres.

[207]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.

[208]Gallery of the Vatican.

[209]Munich, 363.

[210]In the collection of Mr. Miles at Leigh Court.

[211]Hermogenes was the name of a famous Gnostic teacher and philosopher; thence, I suppose, adopted into this legend.

[212]v.Southey, ‘Pilgrim of Compostella.’

[213]Passavant’s Rafael, I. 508.

[214]Duomo, Siena.

[215]Belvedere, Vienna.

[216]Venice Acad.

[217]Rome, S. Maria-in-Trastevere.A.D.1397.

[218]Stirling’s ‘Artists of Spain,’ ii. p. 753.

[219]Legenda Aurea.

[220]Gallery of Antwerp.

[221]Passavant’s Rafael, II. 116.

[222]Eng. by Audran.

[223]Gal. Vatican.

[224]Fl. Acad.

[225]Fl. Gal.

[226]Florence, Casa Ruccellai.

[227]The romantic Legend of thesacratissima cintola, ‘the most sacred girdle of the Virgin,’ is given at length in the ‘Legends of the Madonna,’ p. 344.

[228]‘Very soon after the Lord was risen, he went to James, and showed himself 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.

[229]Matt. xiii. 55; Mark xv. 40.

[230]Fl. Gal.

[231]Fl. Acad.

[232]See Ford’s ‘Handbook of Spain;’ also Goethe’s ‘Theory of Colours,’ translated by Sir C. Eastlake. ‘When a yellow colour is communicated to dull and coarse surfaces, such as common cloth, felt, or the like, on which it does not appear with full energy, the disagreeable effect alluded to is apparent. By a slight and scarcely perceptible change, the beautiful impression of fire and gold is transformed into one not undeserving the epithet foul, and the colour of honour and joy reversed to that of ignominy and aversion. To this impression, the yellow hats of bankrupts, and the yellow circles on the mantles of Jews, may have owed their origin.’ (P. 308.)

[233]Fl. Gal.

[234]Manfrini P., Venice.

[235]Fl. Acad.

[236]In the gallery of Lord Charlemont, Dublin.

[237]MS., No. 7206. Bib. du Roi.

[238]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 instructed 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.)

[239]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.

[240]Florence Acad.

[241]In the series of compositions from the life of Christ, now in the Academy at Florence; beautifully and faithfully engraved by P. Nocchi.

[242]This is also observable in the Last Supper by Nicolò Petri in the San Francesco at Pisa.

[243]For a signal example, see Stirling’s ‘Artists of Spain,’ p. 493.

[244]For some remarks on the subject of the Pentecost,v.‘Legends of the Madonna,’ p. 325.

[245]Acad. Venice. Giovanni ed Antonio da Murano. 1440.

[246]As I have frequent occasion to refer to pictures painted for theScuoleof Venice, it may be as well to observe that the wordscuola, which we translateschool, is not a place of education, but a confraternity for charitable purposes,—visiting the sick, providing hospitals, adopting orphans, redeeming prisoners and captives, &c. 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. Roch, the Carità 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 Carità is now the Academy of Arts.

[247]Acad. Venice. Gio. da Udine.

[248]Frankfort Museum.

[249]We missed the opportunity, now never more to be recalled, of obtaining this admirable picture when it was sold out of the Fesch collection.

[250]I believe the figure called St. Bonaventura, to represent St. Jerome, because, in accordance with the usual scheme of ecclesiastical decoration, the greatest of the four Latin Fathers would take the first place, and the cardinal’s hat and the 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.

[251]Dresden Gal.

[252]Imp. Gal., St. Petersburg.

[253]Vienna Gal.

[254]In the catalogue, St. Cunegunda is styledSt. Elizabeth Queen of Hungary, and St. Elizabeth of Hungary is styledSt. Elizabeth Queen of Portugal.

[255]Irish Bishop of Würtzburg, and Patron,A.D.689.

[256]‘In this picture we recognise the master to whom Albert Dürer 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, Flemish, and Dutch Schools, p. 111.

[257]Florence, Ogni Santi.

[258]Bologna, S. Maria Maggiore.

[259]The picture, originally at Naples, was purchased or appropriated by Philip IV. for the Church of the Escurial, which belonged to the Jeronymites.

[260]Milan, Brera.

[261]Collection of Lord Ward.

[262]Louvre, Sp. Gal.

[263]P. Pitti, Florence.

[264]Lichtenstein Gal.

[265]Kugler pronounces this to be a Flemish picture (v.‘Handbook,’ p. 190).

[266]The three frescoes by Carpaccio are in the Church of San Giorgio de’ Schiavoni at Venice.

[267]It was in the Standish Gal. in the Louvre.

[268]Engraved by Loli.

[269]Wolvinus,A.D.832. ‘His name seems to indicate that he was of Teutonic race—a circumstance which has excited much controversy amongst the modern Italian antiquaries.’—Murray’s Handbook.

[270]Belvedere Gal., Vienna.

[271]Paris, Invalides.

[272]SS. Giovan e Paolo, Venice.

[273]Brera, Milan.

[274]Fl. Gal.

[275]Pitti Pal. This fine picture was painted for the Agostini.

[276]Brera, Milan.

[277]Berlin Gal.

[278]Acad., Venice.

[279]Vatican, Christian Museum.

[280]Cremona.

[281]Belvedere, Vienna.

[282]v.‘Legends of the Monastic Orders,’ p. 191.

[283]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.

[284]Once in Lord Methuen’s Gallery at Corsham.

[285]It was in the possession of Her Majesty the Ex-Queen of the French, who paid for it 25,000f.

[286]There is a duplicate in the Bridgewater Gallery.

[287]Sutherland Gal.

[288]Vicenza. S. Maria del Monte.

[289]Bartsch,Le Peintre Graveur, vii. 264.

[290]For an account of St. Nilus, and the foundation of Grotta Ferrata, see the ‘Legends of the Monastic Orders.’

[291]According to Sansovino, begun by Giorgione and finished by Sebastian.

[292]Dante,Inf.c. xi.

[293]The Greek wordPapa, here translatedder 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.’

[294]Koburgher, ‘Legendensammlung,’ 1488, p. 325. Heller’s ‘Leben und Werke Albrecht Dürer’s,’ p. 440.

[295]Sutherland Gal.

[296]‘La Messe de saint Basile.’ Louvre, École française, No. 508.

[297]‘Pour vous ramener à des idées plus favorables à la Madeleine, vous transportant au temps et aux circonstances où vécut cette célèbre Israélite, je pourrais vous dire,Messieurs, que l’antiquité, ne jugeant pas équitable d’exiger plus de vertu du sexe réputé pour le plus faible, ne croyait pas les femmes déshonorées de ce qui ne déshonorait pas les hommes à ses yeux; qu’elle a d’ailleurs toujours été bien moins sévère à des sentiments qui, naissant avec nous, lui paraissaient une partie de nous-mêmes, et qu’elle n’attacha jamais aucune idée flétrissante aux suites d’une passion qu’elle trouvait presque aussi pardonnable que naturelle. Les grâces de la beauté étaient alors regardées comme les autres talents; et l’art de plaire, aussi autorisé que les autres arts, loin d’inspirer de l’éloignement,’ &c.After describing, in glowing terms, her splendid position in the world, her illustrious rank, her understanding, ‘droit, solide, et délicat,’ her ‘grâce,’ her ‘esprit,’ her wondrous beauty, particularly her superb hair, ‘cultivé avec tant de soin, arrangé avec tant d’art;’—and lamenting that a creature thus nobly gifted should have been cast away upon the same rock which had shipwrecked the greatest, the most illustrious, of hercompatriotes, ‘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 recollect that it was preached from a pulpit by a grave doctor in theology:—‘Jeunes personnes qui vivez encore dans l’innocence! apprenez donc de la Madeleine combien grands sont les périls de la jeunesse, de la beauté, de tous les dons purement naturels; souvenez-vous que le désir excessif de plaire est toujours dangereux, rarement innocent, et qu’il est bien difficile de donner beaucoup de sentiments, sans en prendre soi-même. A la vue des faiblesses de la jeune Israélite, comprenez de quelle importance est, pour vous, la garde de votre cœur; et à quels désordres il vous expose, si vous ne vous accoutumez à le contrarier sans cesse, en tous ses penchants.‘Femmes mondaines, et peut-être voluptueuses! apprenez de la Madeleine à revenir de vos écarts; ils ont été, dans vous, le fruit de la faiblesse humaine; que votre retour soit le fruit de votre correspondance à la grâce. Et pourriez-vous ou vous proposer un modèle plus digne d’être suivi que celui que vous présente Madeleine, ou trouver ailleurs un motif plus puissant de le suivre?‘Et vous qui, fières d’une réserve que vous ne devez peut-être qu’à votre insensibilité, vous en faites un rempart, à l’abri duquel vous croyez pouvoir mépriser toute la terre, et dont la mondanité de Madeleine elle-même a peut-être scandalisé la précieuse vertu! femmes plus vaines que sages! apprenez de notre Sainte, qu’il n’y a que la grâce de Dieu et une attention continuelle sur nous-mêmes qui puissent nous aider constamment contre la pente qui nous précipite vers le mal; et craignez qu’on ne puisse vous dire, à son sujet, ce quo Saint Augustin disait à une dévote de votre caractère, pleine d’elle-même et médisante: “Plût à Dieu que vous eussiez donné dans les mêmes excès dont vous croyez si volontiers les autres capables! vous seriez moins éloignée du royaume de Dieu; du moins vous auriez de l’humanité!”’Le Brun’s Magdalene is just the Magdalene described by this preacher: both one and the other are as like the Magdalene of Scripture as Leo X. was like St. Peter.

After describing, in glowing terms, her splendid position in the world, her illustrious rank, her understanding, ‘droit, solide, et délicat,’ her ‘grâce,’ her ‘esprit,’ her wondrous beauty, particularly her superb hair, ‘cultivé avec tant de soin, arrangé avec tant d’art;’—and lamenting that a creature thus nobly gifted should have been cast away upon the same rock which had shipwrecked the greatest, the most illustrious, of hercompatriotes, ‘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 recollect that it was preached from a pulpit by a grave doctor in theology:—

‘Jeunes personnes qui vivez encore dans l’innocence! apprenez donc de la Madeleine combien grands sont les périls de la jeunesse, de la beauté, de tous les dons purement naturels; souvenez-vous que le désir excessif de plaire est toujours dangereux, rarement innocent, et qu’il est bien difficile de donner beaucoup de sentiments, sans en prendre soi-même. A la vue des faiblesses de la jeune Israélite, comprenez de quelle importance est, pour vous, la garde de votre cœur; et à quels désordres il vous expose, si vous ne vous accoutumez à le contrarier sans cesse, en tous ses penchants.

‘Femmes mondaines, et peut-être voluptueuses! apprenez de la Madeleine à revenir de vos écarts; ils ont été, dans vous, le fruit de la faiblesse humaine; que votre retour soit le fruit de votre correspondance à la grâce. Et pourriez-vous ou vous proposer un modèle plus digne d’être suivi que celui que vous présente Madeleine, ou trouver ailleurs un motif plus puissant de le suivre?

‘Et vous qui, fières d’une réserve que vous ne devez peut-être qu’à votre insensibilité, vous en faites un rempart, à l’abri duquel vous croyez pouvoir mépriser toute la terre, et dont la mondanité de Madeleine elle-même a peut-être scandalisé la précieuse vertu! femmes plus vaines que sages! apprenez de notre Sainte, qu’il n’y a que la grâce de Dieu et une attention continuelle sur nous-mêmes qui puissent nous aider constamment contre la pente qui nous précipite vers le mal; et craignez qu’on ne puisse vous dire, à son sujet, ce quo Saint Augustin disait à une dévote de votre caractère, pleine d’elle-même et médisante: “Plût à Dieu que vous eussiez donné dans les mêmes excès dont vous croyez si volontiers les autres capables! vous seriez moins éloignée du royaume de Dieu; du moins vous auriez de l’humanité!”’

Le Brun’s Magdalene is just the Magdalene described by this preacher: both one and the other are as like the Magdalene of Scripture as Leo X. was like St. Peter.

[298]The original Latin distich runs thus:—Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis,Exemploque meo vos reparate Deo.

[298]The original Latin distich runs thus:—

Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis,Exemploque meo vos reparate Deo.

Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis,

Exemploque meo vos reparate Deo.

[299]It was in the Standish Gallery belonging to Louis-Philippe, and now dispersed.

[300]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 Francesco Furini.

[301]Lichtenstein Gal.

[302]These two pictures were sold out of the Louvre with King Louis-Philippe’s pictures.

[303]Turin Gallery.

[304]Munich Gallery, No. 266. There is an inferior repetition in the Royal Gallery at Turin.

[305]The great picture formerly in the Durazzo Palace is now in the Royal Gallery at Turin. It is wonderful for life and colour, and dramatic feeling—a masterpiece of the painter in his characteristic style.

[306]Bottari, Tab. xxx.

[307]Santa Croce, Florence.

[308]This beautiful and valuable picture has been bequeathed by the poet to the National Gallery.

[309]The print by Edelinck is considered as the masterpiece of that celebrated engraver.

[310]Dresden Gal.

[311]See p. 379,note.

[312]There are about 150 churches in England dedicated in honour of Mary Magdalene.

[313]There is a fine series of frescoes from the life of Mary Magdalene by Gaudenzio Ferrari, in the church of St. Cristoforo at Vercelli. 1. Mary and Martha are seated, with a 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 theNoli 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.

[314]Bayle, Dict. Hist.; Molanus, lib. iv., de Hist. Sacrar. S. Mag., cap. xx. p. 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.’

[315]Paris, Bibliothèque du Roi, MS. 7013, fourteenth century.

[316]Il Perfetto Legendario.

[317]Queen’s Gal.

[318]Bodleian MSS., Oxford.

[319]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, particularly the military hospitals, in France and elsewhere,—her brother Lazarus having been a soldier.

[320]Fl. Gal.

[321]B. Museum.

[322]It was in the Sp. Gal. in the Louvre, now dispersed.

[323]Santa Maria Penitente.

[324]‘Leben und Werke Von Albrecht Dürer,’ No. 2067.

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