He often occurs in subjects taken from the Acts and the life of St. Paul. In the scene in which he presents Paul to the other apostles, he is the principal personage; but in the scene at Paphos, where Elymas is struck blind, and at Lystra, he is always secondary to his great companion.
84 Angel (Albert Dürer) v. [p. 79].
The Doctors of the Church.
The Doctors of the Church.
I. THE FOUR LATIN FATHERS.
The Evangelists and the Apostles represented in Art the Spiritual Church, and took their place among the heavenly influences. The great Fathers or Doctors were the representatives of the Church Militant on earth: as teachers and pastors, as logicians and advocates, they wrote, argued, contended, suffered, and at length, after a long and fierce struggle against opposing doctrines, they fixed the articles of faith thereafter received in Christendom. For ages, and down to the present time, the prevailing creed has been that which was founded on the interpretations of these venerable personages. They have become, in consequence, frequent and important subjects of Art, particularly from the tenth century—the period when, in their personal character, they began to be regarded not merely as gifted and venerable, but as divinely inspired; their writings appealed to as infallible, their arguments accepted as demonstration. We distinguish them as the Latin and the Greek Fathers. In Western Art, we find the Latin Fathers perpetually grouped together, or in a series: the Greek Fathers seldom occur except in their individual character, as saints rather than as teachers.
The four Latin Doctors are St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory. When represented together, they are generally distinguished from each other, and from the sacred personages who may be grouped in the same picture, by their conventional attributes. Thus St. Jerome is sometimes habited in the red hat and crimson robes of a cardinal, with a church in his hand; or he is a half-naked, bald-headed, long-bearded, emaciated old man, with eager wasted features, holding a book and pen, and attended by a lion. St. Ambrose wears the episcopal robes as bishop of Milan, with mitre and crosier, and holds his book; sometimes, also, he carries a knotted scourge, and a bee-hive is near him. St. Augustine is also habited as a bishop, and carries a book; he has often books at his feet, and sometimes a flaming heart transpierced by an arrow. The origin and signification of these symbols I shall explain presently.