4. Another very pretty apologue relating to St. John is sometimes included in a series of subjects from his life. Two young men, who had sold all their possessions to follow him, afterwards repented. He, perceiving their thoughts, sent them to gather pebbles and faggots, and, on their return, changed these into money and ingots of gold, saying to them, ‘Take back your riches and enjoy them on earth, as you regret having exchanged them for heaven!’ This story is represented on one of the windows of the Cathedral at Bourges. The two young men stand before St. John, with a heap of gold on one side, and a heap of stones and faggots on the other.
5. When St. John had sojourned in the island of Patmos a year and a day, he returned to his church at Ephesus; and as he approached the city, being received with great joy by the inhabitants, lo! a funeral procession came forth from the gates; and of those who followed weeping he inquired ‘who was dead?’ They said, ‘Drusiana.’ Now when he heard that name he was sad, for Drusiana had excelled in all good works, and he had formerly dwelt in her house; and he ordered them to set down the bier, and having prayed earnestly, God was pleased to restore Drusiana to life; she arose up, and the apostle went home with her and dwelt in her house.
This incident is the subject of a fine fresco, painted by Filippo Lippi, on the left-hand wall of the Strozzi Chapel at Florence. It has the forcible expression and dramatic spirit of the painter, with that characteristic want of elevated feeling in the countenances and in the general treatment which is apparent in all his works: the group in one corner, of a child starting from a dog, is admired for its truth; but, by disturbing the solemnity of the marvellous scene, it repels like a falsehood.
6. There is another beautiful and picturesque legend relating to St. John, of which I have never seen any representation; but it may, possibly, have occasioned the frequent introduction of a partridge into the pictures of sacred subjects, particularly in the Venetian School. St. John had a tame partridge, which he cherished much; and he amused himself with feeding and tending it. ‘A certain huntsman, passing by with his bow and arrows, was astonished to see the great apostle, so venerable for his age and sanctity, engaged in such an amusement. The apostle asked him if he always kept his bow bent? He answered, that would be the way to render it useless. “If,” replied St. John, “you unbend your bow to prevent its being useless, so do I thus unbend my mind for the same reason.”’
7. The subject entitled the Martyrdom of St. John represents his immersion in a cauldron of boiling oil, by order of the Emperor Domitian. According to the received tradition, this event took place outside the Latin gate at Rome; and on the spot stands the chapel of San Giovanni in Olio, commemorating his miraculous deliverance, which is painted in fresco on the walls. The subject forms, of course, one of a series of the life of St. John, and is occasionally met with in old prints and pictures; but it is uncommon. The treatment affords little variety; in Albert Dürer’s famous woodcut, St. John is sitting in a pot of boiling oil; one executioner is blowing the fire, another is pouring oil from a ladle on the saint’s head; a judge, probably intended for Domitian, is seated on a throne to the left, and there are numerous spectators. Padovanino painted this subject for the San Pietro at Venice; Rubens, with horrible truth of detail, for the altar-piece of St. John at Malines.
It is the martyrdom in the boiling oil which gives St. John the right to bear the palm, with which he is occasionally seen.
8. St. John, habited in priest’s garments, descends the steps of an altar into an open grave, in which he lays himself down, not in death, but in sleep, until the coming of Christ; ‘being reserved alive with Enoch and Elijah (who also knew not death), to preach against the Antichrist in the last days.’ This fanciful legend is founded on the following text: ‘Peter, seeing the disciple whom Jesus loved following, saith unto Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die.’ (John xxi. 21, 22.)
The legend which supposes St. John reserved alive has not been generally received in the Church, and as a subject of painting it is very uncommon. It occurs in the Menologium Græcum,[139] where the grave into which St. John descends is, according to the legend, ‘fossa in crucis figuram’ (in the form of a cross). In a series of the deaths of the Apostles,[140] St. John is ascending from the grave; for, according to the Greek legend, St. John died without pain or change, and immediately rose again in bodily form, and ascended into heaven to rejoin Christ and the Virgin.
In a small and very curious picture which I saw at Rome,[141] forming part of a Predella, there is a tomb something like the Xanthian tombs in form: one end is open; St. John, with a long grey beard, is seen issuing from it, and, as he ascends, he is met by Christ, the Virgin, St. Peter, and St. Paul, who are descending from above; while figures below look up with astonishment. On the ancient doors of San Paolo he is lying in an open grave or sarcophagus.