The Twelve Apostles.
The Twelve Apostles.
Next to those who recorded the word of God, were those called by Christ to the task of diffusing his doctrine, and sent to preach the kingdom of heaven ‘through all nations.’
The earliest representations of the Twelve Apostles appear to have been, like those of the Four Evangelists, purely emblematical: they were figured as twelve sheep, with Christ in the midst, as the Good Shepherd, bearing a lamb in his arms; or, much more frequently, Christ is himself the Lamb of God, raised on an eminence and crowned with a cruciform nimbus, and the apostles were ranged on each side as sheep. Instances are to be met with in the old Christian bas-reliefs. In the old Roman churches[145] we find this representation but little varied, and the situation is always the same. In the centre is the lamb standing on an eminence, from which flow the four rivers of Paradise; on one side six sheep issuing from the city of Jerusalem, on the other six sheep issuing from the city of Bethlehem, the whole disposed in a line forming a sort of frieze, just below the decoration of the vault of the apsis. The church of S. M. Maggiore exhibits the only exception I have met with; there we find a group of sheep, entering, not issuing from, the gates of Jerusalem and Bethlehem: in this case, however, the sheep may represent believers, or disciples in general, not the Twelve Apostles. Upon the great crucifix in the apsis of San Clemente, at Rome, are twelve doves, which appear to signify the Twelve Apostles.
The next step was to represent the Apostles as twelve men all alike, each with a sheep, and Christ in the middle, also with a sheep, sometimes larger than the others. We find this on some of the sarcophagi.[146] Again, a little later, we have them represented as twelve venerable men, bearing tablets or scrolls in their hands, no emblems to distinguish one from another, but their names inscribed over or beside each. They are thus represented in relief on several ancient sarcophagi now in the Christian Museum in the Vatican, and in several of the most ancient churches at Rome and Ravenna, ranged on each side of the Saviour in the vault of the apsis, or standing in a line beneath.
But while in the ancient Greek types, and the old mosaics, the attributes are omitted, they adhere almost invariably to a certain characteristic individual representation, which in the later ages of painting was wholly lost, or at least neglected. In these eldest types, St. Peter has a broad face, white hair, and short white beard: St. Paul, a long face, high bold forehead, dark hair and beard: St. Andrew is aged, with flowing white hair and beard: St. John, St. Thomas, St. Philip, young and beardless: St. James Major and St. James Minor, in the prime of life, short brown hair and beard; both should bear a resemblance more or less to the Saviour, but St. James Minor particularly: St. Matthew, St. Jude, St. Simon, St. Matthias, aged, with white hair. The tablets or scrolls which they carry in their hands bear, or are supposed to bear, the articles of the Creed. It is a tradition, that, before the apostles dispersed to preach the Gospel in all lands, they assembled to compose the declaration of faith since called the Apostles’ Creed, and that each of them furnished one of the twelve propositions contained in it, in the following order:—St. Peter: Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, creatorem cœli et terræ. St. Andrew: Et in Jesum Christum Filium ejus unicum, Dominum nostrum. St. James Major: Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine. St. John: Passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus et sepultus. St. Philip: Descendit ad inferos, tertia die resurrexit à mortuis. St. James Minor: Ascendit ad cœlos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis. St. Thomas: Inde venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos. St. Bartholomew: Credo in Spiritum Sanctum. St. Matthew: Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam; sanctorum communionem. St. Simon: Remissionem peccatorum. St. Matthias: Carnis resurrectionem. St. Thaddeus: Et vitam æternam.
The statues of the apostles on the shrine of the Virgin in the San Michele at Florence exhibit a fine example of this arrangement. I give the figure of St. Philip holding his appropriate sentence of the Creed on a scroll (65).
In later times, the Apostles, instead of being disposed in a line, are grouped round the Saviour in glory, or they form a circle of heads in medallions: as statues, they ornament the screen in front of the altar, or they are placed in a line on each side of the nave, standing against the pillars which support it. From the sixth century it became usual to distinguish each of them by a particular emblem or attribute borrowed from some circumstance of his life or death. Thus, taking them in order, according to the canon of the mass,—
St. Peter bears the keys or a fish.
St. Paul, the sword: sometimes two swords.
St. Andrew, the transverse cross.
St. James Major, the pilgrim’s staff.
St. John, the chalice with the serpent; sometimes the eagle also: but the eagle, as I have observed, belongs to him properly only in his character of Evangelist.
St. Thomas, a builder’s rule: also, but more seldom, a spear.
St. James Minor, a club.
St. Philip, the staff or crosier, surmounted by a cross; or a small cross in his hand.
St. Bartholomew, a large knife.
St. Matthew, a purse.
St. Simon, a saw.
St. Thaddeus (or Jude), a halberd or lance.
St. Matthias, a lance.
The origin and meaning of these attributes will be explained presently: meantime it must be borne in mind, that although in sacred Art the Apostles are always twelve in number, they are not always the same personages. St. Jude is frequently omitted to make room for St. Paul. Sometimes, in the most ancient churches (as in the Cathedral of Palermo), St. Simon and St. Matthias are omitted, and the evangelists St. Mark and St. Luke figure in their places. The Byzantine manual published by Didron omits James Minor, Jude, and Matthias; and inserts Paul, Luke, and Mark. This was the arrangement on the bronze doors of San Paolo-fuori-le-Mura at Rome, executed by Byzantine artists in the tenth century, and now destroyed.
On an ancient pulpit, of beautiful workmanship, in the Cathedral of Troyes, the arrangement is according to the Greek formula.[147] Thus—
| S. John B. | J. Christ. | The Virgin | |
| S. Matthew. | S. Peter. | S. Simon. | An Angel. |
| S. Philip. | S. Luke. | S. Bartholomew | |
| S. Mark. | S. Andrew. | S. James. | |
| S. Paul. | S. Thomas. | S. John. |
Here, John the Baptist figures in his character of angel or messenger; and St. Paul, St. Mark, and St. Luke take the place of St. James Minor, St. Jude, and St. Matthias.
The earliest instance of the Apostles entering into a scheme of ecclesiastical decoration, as the consecrated and delegated teachers of a revealed religion, occurs in the church of San Giovanni in Fonte at Ravenna.[148] In the centre of the dome is the Baptism of Christ, represented quite in the classical style; the figure of the Saviour being entirely undraped, and the Jordan, signified by an antique river god, sedge-crowned, and bearing a linen napkin as though he were an attendant at a bath. Around, in a circle, in the manner of radii, are the Twelve Apostles. The order is,—Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Simon, Jude, James Minor, Matthew, Thomas, Paul; so that Peter and Paul stand face to face at one extremity of the circle, and Simon and Bartholomew back to back at the other. All wear pointed caps, and carry the oblation in their hands. Peter has a yellow vest and white mantle; Paul, a white vest and a yellow mantle, and so all round alternately. The name of each is inscribed over his head, and without the title Sanctus, which, though admitted into the Calendar in 449, was not adopted in works of art till some years later, about 472.
In the next instance, the attributes had not yet been admitted, except in the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Mosaic (A.D. 816). Christ, in the centre, stands on an eminence; in one hand he holds an open book, on which is inscribed Pax vobis. St. Peter, with the keys and a cross, stands on the right; and Christ, with his right hand, points to the cross. St. Paul is on the left, with his sword; beyond, there are five Apostles on one side, and four on the other: in all, eleven (Judas being properly omitted). Each holds a book, and all are robed in white; underneath the whole is inscribed, in Latin, the words of our Saviour, ‘Go ye, and teach all nations.’ On the arch to the right, Christ is seated on a throne, and presents the keys to St. Peter, who kneels on one side, and the standard to Constantine, who kneels on the other (alluding, of course, to the famous standard). On the arch to the left, St. Peter is throned, and presents the stole to Pope Leo III., and the standard to Charlemagne. This singular monument, a kind of résumé of the power of the Church, is a restoration of the old mosaic, executed by order of Leo III. in the Triclinium of the old palace of the Lateran, and now on one side of the Scala Santa, the side facing the Porta San Giovanni.
Mosaic, in the old basilica of St. Paul (A.D. 1206). In the centre an altar veiled, on which are the Gospels (or perhaps, rather, the Book of Life, the seven-sealed book in the Revelations), and the instruments of the Passion. Behind it rises a large Greek cross, adorned with gold and jewels. Underneath, at the foot of the altar, five small figures standing and bearing palms, representing those who suffered for the cause of Christ; and on each side, kneeling, the monk Aginulph, and Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, afterwards Nicholas III. On each side of the altar, a majestic angel: one bears a scroll, inscribed Gloria in excelsis Deo; the other, ET IN TERRA PAX HOMINIBUS BONÆ VOLUNTATIS. Beyond these the Apostles, six on each side, bearing scrolls with the articles of the Creed. They are much alike, all in white robes, and alternately with each stands a palm-tree, the symbol of victory and resurrection. This composition, of a colossal size, formed a kind of frieze (taking the place of the emblematical lamb and twelve sheep) round the apsis of the Basilica.
In sculpture, the Apostles, as a series, entered into all decorative ecclesiastical architecture: sometimes on the exterior of the edifice, always in the interior. In our English cathedrals they are seldom found unmutilated, except when out of the reach of the spoiler; such was the indiscriminate rage which confounded the venerable effigies of these delegated teachers of the truth with the images which were supposed to belong exclusively to the repudiated religion!
Where the scheme of decoration is purely theological, the proper place of the Apostles is after the Angels, Prophets, and Evangelists; but when the motif, or leading idea, implies a special signification, such as the Last Judgment, Paradise, the Coronation of the Madonna, or the apotheosis of a saint, then the order is changed, and the Apostles appear immediately after the Divine Personages and before the angels, as forming a part of the council or court of heaven;—‘When the Son of man shall come in his glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’[149] Such is the arrangement in the Campo Santo, in Angelico’s ‘Paradiso’ in the Florence Gallery, in Raphael’s ‘Disputa,’ and many other instances: and I may add the architectural treatment on the façade of Wells Cathedral, where, immediately under the Saviour sitting in judgment, stand the Twelve Apostles, and beneath them the hierarchy of angels, each of the nine choirs being here expressed by a single angel.[150] Therefore to determine the proper place of the Apostles, it is necessary to observe well and to understand what has been the design of the artist, and the leading idea of the whole composition, whether strictly theological or partly scenic. In all monuments which have a solemn or a sacred purpose,—altars, pulpits, tombs,—the Apostles find an appropriate place, either in connection with other sacred personages, or as a company apart, the band of teachers. The range of statues along the top of the screen in front of the choir of St. Mark’s at Venice will be remembered by all who have seen them: in the centre stand the Virgin and St. Mark, and then the Apostles, six on each side, grand solemn figures, standing there as if to guard the sanctuary. These are by Jacobelli, in the simple religious style of the fifteenth century, but quite Italian. In contrast with them, as the finest example of German sculptural treatment, we have the Twelve Apostles on the tomb of St. Sebald, in his church at Nuremberg, cast in bronze by Peter Vischer (about 1500). These have become well known by the casts which have lately been brought to England; they are about two feet high, all remarkable for the characteristic expression of the heads, and the grand simplicity of the attitudes and draperies.
There are instances of the Apostles introduced into a scheme of ecclesiastical decoration as devotional figures, but assuming, from the style of treatment and from being placed in relation with other personages, a touch of the dramatic and picturesque. Such are Correggio’s Apostles in the cupola of the duomo at Parma (1532), which may be considered as the most striking instance that could be produced of studied contrast to the solemnity and simplicity of the ancient treatment: here the motif is essentially dramatic. They stand round the dome as spectators would stand in a gallery or balcony, all in picturesque attitudes, studiously varied (some, it must be confessed, rather extravagant), and all looking up with amazement, or hope, or joy, or adoration, to the figure of the glorified Virgin ascending into heaven.
Another series of Apostles in the San Giovanni at Parma, which Correggio had painted earlier (1522), are conceived, I think, in a finer spirit as to character, but, perhaps, not more appropriate to the scene. Here the Twelve Apostles are seated on clouds round the glorified Saviour, as they are supposed to be in heaven: they are but partially draped. In the heads but little attention has been paid to the ancient types, except in those of St. Peter and St. Paul; but they are sublime as well as picturesque in the conception of character and expression.
The Apostles in Michael Angelo’s Last Judgment (A.D. 1540) exhibit a still further deviation from the antique style of treatment. They stand on each side of the Saviour, who is not, here, Saviour and Redeemer, but inexorable Judge. They are grandly and artificially grouped, all without any drapery whatever, and with forms and attitudes which recall an assemblage of Titans holding a council of war, rather than the glorified companions of Christ. In early pictures of Christ in glory, the Apostles, his companions in heaven as on earth, form, with the Patriarchs and Prophets, the celestial court or council: they sit upon thrones to the right and to the left.[151] Raphael’s ‘Disputa’ in the Vatican is a grand example of this arrangement.
Sets of the Apostles, in devotional pictures and prints are so common, that I shall particularise only a few among the most interesting and celebrated. Engravings of these can easily be referred to.
1. A set by Raphael, engraved by Marc Antonio: grand, graceful figures, and each with his appropriate attribute. Though admirably distinguished in form and bearing, very little attention has been paid to the ancient types, except perhaps in St. Peter and St. John. Here St. James Minor is omitted to make room for St. Paul.
2. A set by Lucas van Leyden, smaller than Raphael’s, but magnificent in feeling: here also the ancient types are for the most part neglected. These two sets should be compared as perfect examples of the best Italian and the most characteristic German manner. Some of the German sets are very curious and grotesque.
3. By H. S. Beham, a most curious set, in what may be called the ultra German style: they stand two and two together, like a procession of old beggars; the workmanship exquisite. Another set by Beham, in which the figures stand singly, and which includes the Four Evangelists, dressed like old burgomasters, with the emblematical wings, has been already mentioned.
4. A set by Parmigiano, graceful and mannered, as is usual with him.
5. By Agostino Caracci. This set, famous as works of art, must, when compared with those of Raphael and Lucas van Leyden, be pronounced absolutely vulgar. Here St. John is drinking out of his cup, —an idea which might strike some people as picturesque; but it is in vile taste. Thaddeus has a saw as well as Simon; Peter has the papal tiara at his feet; St. James Minor, instead of Thomas, carries the builder’s rule; and St. Bartholomew has his skin thrown over his shoulders. This set is an example of the confusion which prevailed with respect to the old religious types and attributes, after the first half of the sixteenth century.
6. ‘The Five Disciples,’ by Albert Dürer, seem intended to form part of a complete set. We have St. Paul, St. Bartholomew, St. Thomas, St. Philip, and St. Simon. The two last are the finest, and are most grandly conceived.
These are examples of the simplest devotional treatment.
When the Apostles are grouped together in various historical scenes,—some scriptural, some legendary—they are more interesting as individual personages; and the treatment should be more characteristic. Some of these subjects belong properly to the life of Christ: as the Delivery of the Keys to Peter; the Transfiguration; the Entry into Jerusalem; the Last Supper; the Ascension. Others, as the Death and Assumption of the Virgin, will be considered in the legends of the Madonna. But there are others, again, which refer more particularly to the personal history of the Apostles, as related in the Acts and in the Legends.
The Descent of the Holy Ghost was the first and most important event after the Ascension of Christ. It is thus described: ‘When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.... But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.’ (Acts ii. 1-12, 16.)
According to the usual interpretation, the word they, in the first verse, does not signify the Apostles merely, but, with them, ‘the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren:’ hence in so many representations of this subject the Virgin is not only present, but a principal person: Mary Magdalene and others are also frequently introduced.
1. The most striking example I have yet met with is the grand mosaic in the principal dome of St. Mark’s at Venice. In the apex of the dome is seen the Celestial Dove in a glory of light; rays proceed from the centre on every side, and fall on the heads of the Virgin and the Twelve Apostles, seated in a circle. Lower down is a series of twelve figures standing all round the dome: ‘Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, the dwellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Cretes and Arabians,’—each nation represented by one person, and all in strange dresses, and looking up with amazement.
2. The Twelve Apostles and the Virgin are seen above seated in an enclosure; tongues of fire descend from heaven; beneath is a closed door, at which several persons in strange foreign dresses, with turbans, &c., are listening with amazement. One of these is in the Chinese costume,—a curious circumstance, considering the age of the picture, and which could have occurred at that date nowhere but at Venice.[152]
3. In the interior of a temple, sustained by slender pillars, the Twelve Apostles are seated in a circle, and in the midst the Virgin, tongues of fire on each head. Here the Virgin is the principal person.[153]
4. An interior, the Twelve Apostles seated in a circle; above them, the Celestial Dove in a glory, and from his beak proceed twelve tongues of flame; underneath, in a small arch, is the prophet Joel, as an old man crowned with a kingly crown and holding twelve rolls or scrolls, indicating the Gospel in so many different languages. The allusion is to the words of Joel, ii. 28: ‘And I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.’[154] This is the Greek formula, and it is curious that it should have been closely followed by Pinturicchio;—thus:
5. In a rich landscape, with cypresses, palm-trees, and birds, the Virgin is seen kneeling; St. Peter on the right, and James Minor on the left, also kneeling; five other Apostles on each side. The Celestial Dove, with outspread wings, descends in a glory surrounded by fifteen cherubim: there are no tongues of fire. The prophet Joel is seen above, with the inscription, ‘Effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem carnem.’[155]
6. The Virgin and the Apostles seated; flames of fire stand on their heads; the Holy Ghost appears above in a glory of light, from which rays are poured on every side. Mary Magdalene, and another Mary, are present behind; astonishment is the prevailing expression in every face, except in the Virgin and St. Peter. The composition is attributed to Raphael.[156]
The next event of importance is the separation of the Twelve Apostles when they disperse to preach the Gospel in all lands. According to the ancient traditions, the Apostles determined by lot to what countries they should go: Peter went to Antioch; James the Great remained in Jerusalem and the neighbourhood; Philip went to Phrygia; John to Ephesus; Thomas to Parthia and Judea; Andrew to Scythia; Bartholomew to India and Judea. The Parting of the Apostles is a beautiful subject, of which I have met with but few examples; one is a woodcut after Titian. The Mission of the Apostles I remember to have seen by Bissoni over an altar in the Santa Giustina at Padua: they are preparing to depart; one reads from a book; another looses his shoes from his feet, in allusion to the text, ‘Take neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes;’ several are bidding adieu to the Virgin. This picture struck me as dramatic; its merits otherwise I do not remember.
We have next ‘The Twelve Baptisms.’[157] In the upper compartment Christ is standing in a majestic attitude, and on each side are six Apostles, all alike, and in white garments. The inscription above is in Greek: ‘Go ye, and preach the Gospel to all nations.’ Below, in twelve smaller compartments, each of the Apostles is seen baptizing a convert: an attendant, in white garments, stands by each font, holding a napkin. One of the converts and his attendant are black, denoting clearly the chamberlain of the Queen of Ethiopia. This is a very uncommon subject.
And, lastly, we have ‘The Twelve Martyrdoms.’ This is a more frequent series, in pictures and in prints, and occurs in a set of large fresco compositions in the church of San Nereo e Sant’ Achilleo at Rome. In such representations the usual treatment is as follows:—1. St. Peter is crucified with his head downwards. 2. St. Andrew, bound on a transverse cross. 3. St. James Major, beheaded with a sword. 4. St. John, in a cauldron of boiling oil. 5. St. Philip, bound on a cross in the form of a T. 6. St. Bartholomew, flayed. 7. St. Thomas, pierced with a spear. 8. St. Matthew, killed with a sword. 9. St. James Minor, struck down with a club. 10. St. Simon and St. Jude together: one is killed with a sword, the other with a club. 11. St. Matthias has his head cloven by a halbert. 12. St. Paul is beheaded.[158]
The authority for many of these martyrdoms is wholly apocryphal,[159] and they sometimes vary; but this is the usual mode of representation in Western Art. In early Greek Art a series of the Deaths of the Apostles often occurs, but they do not all suffer martyrdom; and the subject of St. John in the cauldron of boiling oil, so famous in the Latin Church, is, I believe, unknown, or, at least, so rare, that I have not found it in genuine Byzantine Art.
The most ancient series I have met with (in a Greek MS. of the ninth century) shows us five Apostles crucified: St. Peter and St. Philip with the head downwards; St. Andrew on the transverse cross, as usual; St. Simon and St. Bartholomew, in the same manner as our Saviour. St. Thomas is pierced by a lance; and St. John is buried, and then raised by angels, according to the legend. The same series, similarly treated, ornamented the doors of the old Basilica of St. Paul, executed by Greek artists of the tenth century.[160]
Wherever the Apostles appear as a series, we expect, of course, some degree of discriminating propriety of character in each face and figure. We seek it when they merely form a part of the general scheme of significant decoration in the architectural arrangement of a place of worship; we seek it with more reason when they stand before us as a series of devotional representations; and still more when, as actors in some particular scene, they are supposed to be animated by sentiments called forth by the occasion, and modified by the individual character. By what test shall we try the truth and propriety of such representations? We ought to know both what to require from the artist, and on what grounds to require it, before we can rest satisfied.
In the Gospel-histories the Apostles are consistently and beautifully distinguished in temper and bearing. Their characters, whether exhibited at full length, or merely touched upon, are sustained with dramatic truth. The mediæval legends, however wild, are, as far as character goes, in harmony with these scriptural portraits, and fill up the outline given. It becomes therefore a really interesting speculation to observe how far this variety of characteristic expression has been carried out in the early types, how far attended to, or neglected, by the great painters, since the revival of Art.