High Priest for permission to go to Damascus and bring bound to Jerusalem all those who had already embraced Christianity. As he was journeying thither he was called by a voice from Heaven 'Saul, Saul, why persecuteth thou me?"" (Acts Ix:1-4), and he went into Damascus so impressed by the miracle that, blinded for three days by the light that had enveloped him at the time the Voice had appeared to him, for the same three days he neither ate nor drank. And so when Ananias of Damascus went reluctantly at the Divine bidding to call Saul to the fold, the great preacher-to-be was ready. He is first named as Paul: "Saul, who is also called Paul" in Acts XIII:9. The conversion of St. Paul and his previous life have been made the subject of innum

ST. JAMES MAJOR (SANT' IAGO), THE APOSTLE, AS A PILGRIM
WITH HIS STAFF AND WALLET, PREACHING TO THE PEOPLE.
FROM A PICTURE BY NOËL COYPEL.
(Courtesy of Wildenstein & Co.)

erable pictures. The sword was given him as a symbol or attribute (see Plate XX) no earlier than the 11th century, three centuries after the keys became the traditional attribute of his companion, St. Peter.

St. James the Great is frequently represented as a pilgrim with staff and wallet, as in a fine picture by the 18th Century French painter, Noël Coypel, of St. James preaching, a stately, noble, figure in long flowing robes. As the patron saint of Spain and conqueror of the Moorish infidels at the battle of the Clavijo or Alveida Plains, he is usually garbed as a pilgrim mounted on a snow-white charger, and holding aloft a banner. Occasionally, in his capacity

as a warrior of Christ, he is depicted naïvely in full armor-as though he, any more than St. Michael and other armored angels, needed that terrestrial protective harness-his heels armed with the golden spurs of a knight, and with a casque with flowing plumes upon his head.

St. James the Less is represented as resembling closely his kinsman, Jesus-his mother, Mary Cleophas, being the sister of the Virgin Mary-and the tradition is that Judas agreed with the Jews to kiss his Master's cheek, when the Roman soldiers arrived to take Jesus prisoner, in order that they might not mistake St. James for Our Lord. St. James Major likewise bears a strong likeness to Christ, of whom he also was a cousin, Mary Salome being another step-sister of the Madonna.*

St. Philip is generally portrayed in the prime of life and beardless, or with only a slight beard.

Save for the Crucifixion, no incident of Christ's Mission on Earth has so deep a significance as the Lord's Supper, or the Last Supper, as it is usually called in English. The French and Italian termsof importance to visitors to European galleries-are "La Cêne" and "La Cenacola," respectively. This great subject can be treated, indeed by some great artist-mystics, such as Giotto and Fra Angelico, has been treated, in two different ways, firstly as an historical event, in the course of which occurs the dramatic incident of the denunciation of the traitor, in which case it signifies simply the Passover meal: "Now the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him: Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the passover?" (Matthew XXVI:22); secondly, as the mystic institution of the Eucharist, after the pointing out of Judas as the traitor: "And as they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and brake it, and gave it to them and said: Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them and they all drank of it. And He said unto them: This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many." (Mark xiv:22.) In the gospels of the first two evangelists, the denunciation of Judas precedes the institution of the Eucharist; St. Luke places it immediately after, while St. John refers neither to the Passover supper nor to the Eucharist. St. Mark and St. Luke, not being Apostles, were, of course, not present at the Cenacola, the twelve being Matthew, Andrew, James Major and Minor, both bearing the traditional resemblance to the Master, John, always next to Jesus, usually on His left leaning upon His bosom, Philip and Thomas, both as young men, Peter, old

*St. Anna, the Mother of Mary, was married twice before she espoused Joachim, the father of the Blessed Virgin, the first time to Cleophas, by whom she bore Mary, the wife of Alpheus, and mother of St. James the Less, Thaddeus and Joseph Justus; the second to Salome, by whom she bore another Mary who married Zebedee, a wealthy merchant of Galilee, and whose children were St. James Major and St. John the Evangelist.

with a curly short white beard, Bartholomew, Simon, Thaddeus (Jude) and Judas Iscariot.

It is the event of the Last Supper at the moment of the denunciation that is most commonly represented, for its inherent dramatic qualities could not help but appeal to the artists of old. The surprise, the questioning looks, the anger at the possibility of such unbelievable treachery, are all portrayed with a greater or less degree of emotion and dramatic vigor according to the mentality and technical powers of the artist. Giotto painted for the Refectory of the convent of Santa Croce in Florence, the first representation in Western Art, of the event of the Lord's Supper, and has chosen the actual moment of the denunciation when Christ is saying: "He that dippeth his hand with Me in the dish, that same shall betray Me." As it was necessary for this picturization for Judas to be close to Our Lord, and as it would have appeared offensive to the pious of early days to give the traitor precedence over the faithful apostles, Giotto placed him opposite the Saviour, alone on the near side of the table, a composition which remained as a model until Leonardo's infraction of the traditional rule, previously referred to. Again, as many, if not the majority, of the representations of the Last Supper were painted for refectories in monastic institutions, the scene was painted upon the wall running at right angles to the lines of tables on the floor, and as one long table on the far side of which Our Lord and the Twelve, with the exception of Judas, are seated, so that when the monks or nuns were at their meals, the effect was created of a "head-table" from which Our Lord and His immediate disciples presided over the company. Occasionally again, this great scene, at which the mystic foundation of the Christian religion was laid, is depicted shortly after the denunciation, and shows Judas preparing, or attempting, to escape from the room. In some pictures, Judas appears to be trying to hide the purse in his hand as though it contained the "thirty pieces of silver" only, whereas there was no need of concealment, for the traitor was officially the steward or custodian of the funds of the holy company.

Fra Angelico, in his series depicting the Life of Christ, in the Florence Academy, has painted two scenes, one of the Passover supper, the other of the Institution of the Eucharist. The first adheres to the general rules as described above, with all its movement and dramatic tenseness; the other is quite evidently devotional. Christ and His followers have all risen from the table; the Apostles are kneeling, while the Saviour presents the Host to St. John. Judas kneeling behind Our Lord seems to be watching for an opportunity to slip out of an open door nearby. Thus again is the traitor cleverly set apart from his fellows.

In a remarkably devout picture by the early Fleming, Dirk Bouts, formerly in the Church of St. Peter in the martyred city of Louvain, the Saviour

and His followers are grouped around a square table, four with Our Lord at the head facing the spectator, two at the foot with their backs turned, one of whom is quite evidently Judas, the other most probably Thomas, a youngish man with a beard; and three on each side. Two servants are in the room and two more look through a serving aperture in the wall. Bouts has chosen for his subject the moment when Christ holding the wafer in His hand is making His momentous announcement of the significance of the

Justus of Ghent has depicted the ceremony of the Eucharist in a picture now in the Urbino Gallery, in which in addition to the Apostles there are a number of spectators who are not kneeling. Among them one can recognize the patron of the painter, Duke Federigo da Montefeltro, ruler of Urbino, in profile, from the famous portrait by Piero della Francesca, in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Here all are kneeling before the Master who is placing the Host in the mouth of one of them. Judas, richly dressed and coiffed with a turban, looks contemptuously upon the devout group and is moving toward the door. And it is the Duke of Urbino who pushes the traitor back with his outstretched hand! A characteristic bit of Flemish painting with its very "every-day" interpretations of even the most mystic and elevated events.

CHAPTER VII

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST AND MARY MAGDALENE

I have brought together in one chapter these two saints of widely different character and significance for no other reason than that they are, outside the group of the Evangelists and Apostles, the two outstanding saints contemporary with the life of Our Lord.

St. John the Baptist is celebrated throughout Christendom as the patron of all who have been baptised, and, in art, holds a particularly important place both as patron of the cradle of the Renaissance, Florence, and as a witness to the divinity of Christ, which reasons account for his appearance in so many pictures of the Madonna and Child and of Holy Families in galleries all over the world. He is the only saint whose birthday (June 24th) is cele

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST AS A YOUTH IN THE DESERT; THE FAMOUS PICTURE BY ANDREA DEL SARTO, IN THE PITTI PALACE IN FLORENCE

brated as a Feast-day, like those of Our Lord and His Mother. All other Saints are remembered on the day of their death.

The representation of St. John the Baptist in art is practically constant, although in quite late works and occasionally in Spanish paintings, he is garbed with a richness which is ill-suited to his character and mission, and can only be attributed to the excessive extent to which hero-worship of the Saints was carried in the Iberian peninsula.

His correct dress, whether as a child, as he appears in so many lovely Madonna pictures by Raphael and the Umbrians, or as a man, is a camelhair tunic, very short, with another garment thrown

THIS FINE BOTTICELLI MADONNA in trono SHOWS ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST WITH A SLIGHT BEARD, AND ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST

-EXCEPTIONALLY-AS AN OLD MAN (SEE PAGE 46(d))

without, a beard, even by the same artist, as in the case of two great Enthroned Madonna pictures by Botticelli, one in the Berlin Museum, the other at the Florence Academy. Titian, who of course comes late in the history of Italian art (1477-1576), has painted the Fore-runner as a man of splendid physique, and powerful, handsome features, almost nude, a magnificent picture and probably more like the subject's real type than the more ascetic mystical representation of the earlier artists. St. John the Baptist as the Fore-runner, is, so to speak, the link between the Old and the New Testament, the last Prophet of the former, the first Saint of the latter. It was his mother, the elderly Elisabeth, wife of priest Zacharias, still older than herself, who was exalted to a miraculous motherhood, that her son who was to be called John, might "make ready a people prepared for the Lord," and who first recognised the divinity of Christ. Mary having been informed by the Archangel Gabriel, of her glorious destiny, learnt from the same divine messenger that her kinswoman, Elisabeth, had also "conceived a son in her old age" (Luke 1: 36). So she "went into the hill country with haste... and entered the house of Zacharias and saluted Elisabeth. . . . And she (Elisabeth) spake out with a loud voice . . . and said whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me" (Luke 1: 39-43). It was then that Mary said "My soul doth magnify the Lord," that ringing Magnificat which is the shining light of all arts: painting, poetry and music, the great cry of exultation that she, this lowly girl, was to give to the wait