13 THE of $ur ILorfc. VOL. IL THE f^istorp of ur lUri AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WORKS OF ART: WITH THAT OF HIS TYPES ; ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST ; AND OTHER PERSONS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. COMMENCED BY THE LATE MRsf JAMESON. CONTINUED AND COMPLETED BY LADY EASTLAKE. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOLUME II. / _ v t>^\ty NEW EDITION. \V LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST 16 th STREET. 1892. N T3 I8SO 590Gl BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON CONTENTS THE SECOND VOLUME. THE LORD'S PASSION. FAOK Entry into Jerusalem . . . - * . . . 5 Christ washing the Disciples' Feet . . . . , .12 The Last Supper . . . . . .18 The Agony in the Garden . . . . . .24 The Betrayal ...... ... . 34 Christ brought before Annas . . .. .- ' .44 Christ before Caiaphas . . . . ... 48 The Mocking before Caiaphas, and the Denial of our Lord by Peter . 53 Christ before Pilate . . V , ' . . .61 Christ's Appearance before Herod . . . . 64 Christ's Second Appearance before Pilate . ' : . ^ . 65 The Flagellation . * . . '.' .71 Christ after the Flagellation . V . . . . .81 The Crowning with Thorns . . . . '- ,. . .84 The Ecce Homo . . . . . '. .91 Christ bearing His Cross ...... 100 Christ fallen beneath the Cross . . . . . .117 The Stations . . . . . ,v . ' .120 Christ stripped of His Garments . . * . .124 The Virgin wrapping the Linen Cloth round our Saviour's Body . 126 Our Lord being offered the Cup to drink . ' ; . .127 Christ ascending the Cross . . . - j-.- . . 129 Our Lord being nailed to the Cross . . , . . 130 The Elevation of the Cross . . '''- --'^ .' . 134 The Crucifixion . ,-:;* . . '-. .136 Various Classes of the Crucifixion . ' -. . . .139 The Crucifixion symbolically treated . . . ' . 141 The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St. John \ . . 149 Crucifixion with Lance and Sponge . . ..- . 160 Vlll CONTENTS OP THE SECOND VOLUME. PAGE The Crucifixion with the Thieves . . . . .164 The Crucifixion with Angels . . . . . .172 The Crucifixion with the Virgin fainting . . . .179 The Crucifixion with the Virgin, St. John, and Saints . . 184 The Crucifixion with the Magdalen _ . , . . . . . .1.85 The Crucifixion with the Maries . . ' . ) . . .187 Doctrinal Crucifixion, by Fra Angelico . . . .188 The Tree of the Cross . .... 194 Crucifixion on Cross with living Arms ..... 200 Soldiers dividing Robe . . . . _ , , . 203 The Crucifixion with the Figure of Christ alone . . . 205 The Figure of Adam connected with the Crucifixion . , . 207 The Crucifixion considered as a Whole . . . 209 The Descent from the Cross ...... 213 The Pieta . . . . . . .226 The Virgin and Dead Christ alone ..... 235 The Virgin with the Dead Christ and Angels .... 236 The Bearing the Body of Christ to the Sepulchre . . . 238 The Entombment . . . . . . .243 The Descent into Limbus . .... 250 The Resurrection . . . . . . . 263 The Women at the Sepulchre ...... 272 The Apparitions of our Lord . . . . . .277 The Appearance of Christ to the Magdalen .... 278 The Appearance of Clirist to the Maries .... 286 The Journey to Emmaus . . . . . . 287 The Supper at Emmaus .... . 292, The Unbelief of Thomas . . . . . .298 Jesus appearing at the Sea of Tiberias ..... 302 The Charge to Peter ....... 303 The Ascension ........ 305> The Sign of the Cross . . . . . . 314 The Crucifix . . . . . . , . 325 Christ as the Lamb ....... 335 Christ as the Good Shepherd . . , . . .340 Christ as Second Person of the Trinity .... 345 Christ seated in a Glory ...... 353 The Rest of the Church . . . . . 356 Instruments of the Passion ...... 360 Dead Christ, erect in the Tomb, showing His Wounds . . 360 Dead Christ in the Tomb, supported by Angels or Sacred Personages 362 Dead Christ in Tomb, with the Virgin Mary and St. John . . 363 The Man of Sorrows ....... 366 The Mass of St. Gregory . . . . . .369 The Arms of Christ 371 CONTENTS OP THE SECOND VOLUME. PAGE Christ enthroned ....... 372 Salvator Mundi ........ 374 Christ treading on Asp and Basilisk, on Young Lion and Dragon . 375 Christ as Preacher ....... 376 Christ treading the Wine-press ...... 376 II Salvatore . . .... . .377 Christ as Pilgrim . .... 377 The Child Christ ..-.-.. . .378 Intercession , . . . : ; . 382 The History of the True Cross . . ^ . . . . 385 The Last Judgment ... . . . . . 392 VOL. II. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THE SECOND VOLUME. Those marked with an asterisk have not been engraved before. 139. Entry into Jerusalem. Catacombs. 140. Entry into Jerusalem. Early Miniature. *141. Entry into Jerusalem. Drawing. Taddeo Gaddi. 142. Christ washing Disciples' Feet. Catacombs. 143. Christ washing Disciples' Feet. Giotto. Arena Chapel 144. Christ washing Disciples' Feet. Fra Angelica. 145. The Agony in the Garden. Early Greek Miniature. 146. The Agony in the Garden. Gaudenzio Ferrari. 147. The Kiss of Judas, and Prostration of the Guards Fra Angelica. 148. The Betrayal. Duccio. Siena. 1 49. Christ before Caiaphas and Annas. Giotto. Arena Chapel. 150. Christ before Caiaphas. Gaudenzio Ferrari. *151. The Mocking of Christ. Miniature. Bologna. *152. The Mocking of Christ Silver-gilt Plates. Cathedral t Aix-la-CIiapelle. *153. The Mocking of Christ. Ivory. 154. The Mocking of Christ. Fra Angelica. 155. The Mocking of Christ before Caiaphas. Duccio. 156. Christ before Pilate. Duccio. Siena. * 157. Christ before Pilate. Ivory. *158. The Flagellation. Silver-gilt Plates. Aix-la-ChapelU. *159. The Flagellation. Ivory. 160. The Flagellation. Fra Angelica. 161. The Flagellation. L. Carracci. Bologna Gallery. 162. The Crowning with Thorns. Speculum Salvationi*. 163. Ecce Homo. Gaudenzio Ferrari. Milan. *164. Ideal Ecce Homo. Moretto. Museo Tosi, Brescia. 165. Christ carrying the Cross. Marco Palmezzano. 166. Christ carrying the Cross. Fra Angelica. S. Marco. Xl'l LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME. *167. Christ carrying the Cross. Taddeo Gaddi. S. Croce, Florence. *168. Christ carrying the Cross. Bible Historiee, Paris. 169. Christ carrying the Cross. Paolo Morando. Verona Gallery. 170. Christ fallen beneath the Cross. Domenicliino. Stafford Gallery. 171. S. Veronica. Andrea Sacchi. 172. Christ fallen beneath the Cross. Station pillar. Nuremberg. 173. Christ stripped of His Garments. Giotto. *174. The Virgin binding the Cloth round Christ. Cologne Museum. 175. The Offering the Vinegar. Lucas van Ley den. *176. Christ ascending the Cross. Italian Miniature. 177. The Nailing to the Cross. IfAgincourt. 178. The Nailing to the Cross. Fro, Angelica. 179. The Nailing to the Cross. Speculum. M. Berjeau. *180. Sun and Moon at Crucifixion. Ancient ivory. 181. The Crucifixion. Miniature. Brussels Library. 182. The Crucifixion. Catacomb of Pope Julius. 183. Virgin and St. John at Foot of Cross. Lorenzo di Credi. 184. The Crucifixion. Michael Angela. 185. The Crucifixion. Martin Schan. 186. Virgin arid St. John at Foot of Cross. Guffins. Church of Notre Dame at S. Nicolas, between Antwerp and Ghent. *187. Legend of Longinus. Belgian MS. Mr. Holford. *188. Early Crucifixion with Thieves. Monza. *189. Bad Thief. Antonello da Messina. Antwerp Gallery. 190. Angels in Crucifixion. Pietro Cavallini. Assisi. 191. Angels round Cross. Duccio. Siena. 192. Angel exchanging Crown of Thorns for real Crown. D'Agincourt. 193. Angels receiving Soul of Good Thief. Buffalmacco. Campo Santo. 194. Demons receiving Soul of Bad Thief. N. di Pietro. Pisa. 195. Angel lamenting, above Crucifixion. Gaudenzio Ferrari. 196. Virgin fainting. Duccio. Siena. 197. Magdalen at Foot of Cross. Luiui. *198. The Crucifixion, with Church and Synagogue. Draining. 199. Soldiers quarrelling over Division of Robe. Luini. *200. Adam at Foot of Cross. English MS. B. Museum. 201. Descent from Cross. Luccio. Siena. 202. Descent from Cross. N. di Pietro. Pisa. 203. Descent from Cross. Raphael. M. Antonio. 204. Descent from Cross. Fra Angelica. Accademia, Florence. 205. Pieta. Greek miniature. 206. One of the Maries in Pieta. Donatella. 207. Pietc\. Fra Bartolomeo. Pitti. 208. Pieta. Fra Francia. National Gallery. 209. The Bearing to the Sepulchre. Raphael. 210. The Bearing to the Sepulchre. Rembrandt etching. 211. Entombment, with Virgin assisting. S. Angela in Formit. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME. Xlll 212. Entombment. P. della Frances ca. Borgo S. Sepolcro. *213. Colloquy between Satan and Prince of Hell. Ambrosian Library, Milan. *214. Christ at Door of Hell. Ambrosian Library, Milan. *215. Jaws of Hell. Bible Histories. 216. Descent into Limbus. Fro, Angelica. *217. Resurrection. Shrine S. Albinus. Cologne. 218. Resurrection. Giotto. 219. Resurrection. Perugino. Vatican. 220. Resurrection. Annibale Carracci. Louvre. 221. Maries at Sepulchre. Duccio. Siena. 222. Christ appearing to Magdalen. Duccio. Siena. 223. Christ appearing to Magdalen. Raphael. 224. Journey to Eminaus. Duccio. Siena. 225. Journey to Emmaus. Fra Angelico. S. Marco. 226. Supper at Emmaus. Titian. Louvre. *227. The Incredulity of Thomas. Byzantine MS. 228. The Incredulity of Thomas. Cima. Belle Arti, *229. Ascension. Early ivory. *230. Ascension. Ivory. 231. Ascension. MS. B. Museum. 232. Monogram of Christ. 233. Bread inscribed with Cross. 234. TheLabarum. 235. First Coin with Cross. 236. Cross with Alpha and Omega. 237. Cross on Globe. S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravennn, 238. Cross. MS. Munich. 239. Tau Cross. 240. Equilateral Cross. 241. Latin Cross. 242. Cross of Creation. 243. Cross of the Resurrection. 244. Cross of the Baptist. 245. Greek Cross. 246. Papal Cross. 247. Cross of St. Andrew. 248. Cross of Jerusalem. 249. Irish Cross. 250. Pectoral Cross. 251. Early Pectoral Crucifix. 252. Crucifix of Lothario. *253. Hohenlohe Siegmaringen Crucifix. *254. Back of Hohenlohe Siegmaringen Crucifix. *255. Enamel Crucifix. Hon. R. Curzon. *256. Agnus Dei. S. Ambrogio, Milan. 257. The Good Shepherd. Ancient Sarcophagus. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME. 258. Procession of the Holy Spirit. 259. The Trinity. Rubens. Munich Gallery. 260. Italian Trinity. *261. First and Second Person. Belgian MS. Mr. Holford* *262. Christ in Glory. Belgian MS. Mr. Eolford. 263. Ideal Man of Sorrows. Fra Angelica. Louvre. 264 Pieta. Gaudenzio Ferrari. *265. Man of Sorrows. A. Dilrer. Dresden. 266. Man of Sorrows. A. Dilrer. *267. The Mass of St. Gregory. School of Memling. *268. Christ Enthroned. L. Vivarini. Belle Arti, Venice. 269. Christ Enthroned. Vivarini. 270. The Glorification of the Son. Wohlgemuth. *271. Infant Christ. M. Reizet. Paris. 272. Infant Christ sleeping on Cross. Francesdiini. 273. Intercession. Hans Baldung Griin. *274. Christ as Judge. B. Museum. 275. Hand accepting. 276. Hand repulsing. 277. Angels in Last Judgment. Orgagna. 278. Part of Last Judgment. Orgagna. 279. Group from Last Judgment. L. Signorelli. 280. Group from Last Judgment. L. Signorelli. * 281. Angel crowning the Blessed. L. Signorelli, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME. XV The Agony in the Garden. Miniature. Mr. BoxalVs Speculum, and Rembrandt etching . . ... to face page 27 The Betrayal of Christ. Van DycL Madrid . . . .42 Christ being unbound from the Column. Luini. Monasterlo Maggiore, Milan ......... 81 *Christ after the Flagellation. Velasquez. J. Sarnie Lumley, Esq. . 82 The Crowning with Thorns. Luini. Ambrosian Library . . 88 The Ecce Homo. Rembrandt etching . . . . .95 The Ecce Homo. Cigoli. Pitti . . . . . ..98 Elevation of the Cross. Rubens. Munich . '. . . 135 The Crucifixion. Early ivory . . . . . . 144 The Crucifixion with Thieves. Mantegna. Louvre . . .169 Adoration of the Cross. Fra Angelica. S. Marco . . . 189 *Tree of the Cross. Miniature. B. Museum . . . .195 Christ on the Cross. Velasquez, Madrid Gallery, and Van Dyck, Borghese Gallery, Rome . . . . . .205 The Crucifixion. Gaudenzio Ferrari . . . . .211 Pieta. Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Accademia, Siena .... 229 The Bearing to the Tomb. Mantegna etching . . .'. . 238 Entombment Taddeo Gaddi. Accademia, Florence . . . 246 *The Resurrection. The Maries at the Sepulchre. Early ivory . . 263 Ascension. Giotto. Arena Chapel . . . . .308 Ascension. Perugino. Vatican Gallery . . . . .310 *The Trinity. Memling. Grimani Breviary, Venice , . . 349 The Last Judgment. Fra Angelico. Earl of Dudley . . .414 THE LORD'S PASSION. WE now approach those consummating scenes of our Saviour's course which are comprised by theologians and artists under the designation of The Passion. This word was adopted from the Latin, and, while meaning suffering in a general sense, has been emphati- cally applied to the sufferings of our Lord : in the same sense the Italian term, the ' Compassione della Madonna,' exclusively desig- nates the Virgin's sympathy with the sufferings of her Son. No part of the Saviour's history is found so thickly strewn with the flowers of Art simple and homely, many of them, in form, but fragrant with earnest and pathetic feeling. The nature of the subject sufficiently accounts for this efflorescence, comprising as it does within a few days the culminating evidences of our Lord's character and mission, the humility and obedience of His humanity, the power and triumph of His divinity. Representations of scenes from the Passion occur in every pictorial history of Christ, but it is especially as a separate series that they crowd before the eye from the 13th century. The cause for this will be found in the impassioned cry to contemplate the sufferings of Christ, which arose from the founders of the two great Orders of Dominicans and Franciscans, and which gave an impulse to this class of subjects, both in dramatic and pictorial Art. The Passion of our Lord, commencing with the Entry into Jerusalem, and terminating in the Descent of the Holy Ghost, is known to have been performed as a kind of play or mystery as early as the 13th century, in diffe- rent parts of Italy, on the Day of Pentecost. This play continued to be a popular form of religious entertainment and edification for centuries in various parts of the Continent, though less traceable in England, and is still carefully and piously performed in the VOL. II. B HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Tyrol. 1 That the plays and the pictures of the time, both consti- tuting a part of the same great ecclesiastical system of instruction and stimulus, should have agreed in treatment of their common subjects, is natural ; also that they should have materially influ- enced each other. There is no doubt that these representations afforded a school, and in many respects a beneficial one, to the painter; for he here saw costume and action, groups and attitudes, and, in a general way, expression, which ministered to his own Art. But the school could only be beneficial as long as the nature of the source was not apparent in the result. Much, therefore, that is theatrical and exaggerated in later religious Art may be justly attributed to inspirations adopted too directly from scenes of this nature. It is probable, also, that the almost entire neglect of these subjects, as a series, by the great Italian masters of the 15th and 16th centuries, may have been owing, with other causes such as the more exclusive devotion to the Madonna and the increasing legends of saints to the indifference bred by familiarity with these sacred plays, which formed the stock entertainment of all classes of society. This is little to be regretted, for there is plenty of evidence in single scenes from the Passion, treated by the Cinque- cento painters, how little their modes of conception harmonised with the sacred character of the subject. It is fortunate, therefore, that we are able to derive our impressions of the series of the Passion from the two great masters who mainly head the generations of Italian Art. Duccio has left us the Passion, in a number of small pictures, formerly at the back of his colossal Madonna and Child in the cathedral at Siena. Giotto the same on the frescoed walls of the Chapel of the Arena, at Padua. Neglect and violence have gone far to destroy both these series, especially that by Giotto. Still, as will be seen, enough remains to show that, in a religious sense, they have never been so truly and worthily conceived. Fra Angelico has also bequeathed to us a full series of the Passion, accompanying the history of Christ, and multiplied illustrations of 1 The Play of the Passion (' Das Passionsspiel ') is performed every ten years at Ober- Ammergau, a village in what are called the Bavarian Highlands of the Tyrol. Here the traditional rendering of each scene, with its types, is retained, and the close connection between these religious mysteries, and the Art which is exemplified in the ' Biblia Panpe- runi,' is demonsti'ated. See 'Das Passionsspiel zu Ober-Ammergau, von Ludwig Clarus Miinchen, I860,' THE LORD'S PASSIOX. single scenes from it. Some of these are unsurpassed in beauty and piety of conception by anything before or since, while others are not free from the corruption of Christian Art which had even then obtained. The Lombard school, which M. Rio rightly eulogises as that in which a purer spirituality lingered longer than elsewhere, gives evidence of this quality in its greater devotion to the subjects of the Passion. No one has embodied some of the events on the road to Calvary with greater pathos than the sweet painter, Bernardo Luini. But it is Gaudenzio Ferrari principally, of the Lombard painters,.- who has left a complete series of the Passion in his frescoes in the church at Varallo, and in his coloured terra-cotta groups on the Sacro Monte of that celebrated place of pilgrimage. It was reserved, however, especially for the great German artists of the 15th and 16th centuries to treat these subjects : Martin Schon, Albert Diirer, Israel von Mechenen, and Lucas van Leyden, are chiefly known to the world as illustrators of the Passion, in the form of woodcuts and engravings. Germany, with her princes and potentates indifferent to Art, and the great mass of the population always depressed by poverty, gave but few commissions for pictures, and far less for works on a monumental scale, to her great painters. They therefore gained their bread chiefly by the exercise of forms of Art more accessible to a humbler class of patrons. These etchings and engravings are monuments of skill in knowledge of drawing, practice of hand, and microscopic power of ej r e, and occa- sionally show indications of deep feeling ; but too often, with the partial exception of those by Lucas van Leyden, they lower their subject by a degradation of the Lord's Person, and by a brutality in those around Him which it is painful to witness. To call these forms of conception realistic is a misapprehension of terms. The ideal and the real are not opposed to each other like a good and an evil principle. True feeling is as proper, and bad taste as foreign, to the one as to the other. The causes for the repulsive ugliness which meets us in many of these en- gravings lay deeper than it is within the scope of this work to inquire ; but the low and unjoyous physical condition of a poverty- stricken people under a stern climate may be readily believed to have given a deeper impress of outward degradation to the HISTORY OF OUR LORD. period of the decline of the Eoman Catholic Church in Germany than elsewhere. On the other hand, the circulation of these series contributed doubtless to that heterogeneous momentum which set the Reformation in motion. For these engravings spoke the truth, though only under those debased forms which naturally preceded the unlocking of the Bible itself. The series of the Passion properly begins, like the plays, with the Entry into Jerusalem, and ends with the Descent of the Holy Ghost, though some painters take up the subject at a later moment, and close it earlier. The number of designs in these series varies con- siderably : Duccio has twenty-six ; Albert Diirer, in one of his series, fifteen ; Holbein, nine. We give a list of those by Duccio : 1. Entry into Jerusalem. 2. The Last Supper. 3. Washing the Disciples' Feet. 4. Christ's last Address to His Disciples. 5. Judas bargaining for the Pieces of Silver. 6. Agony in the Garden. 7. The Capture of Christ. 8. Denial of Peter. 9. Christ before Annas. 10. Christ before Caiaphas. 11. Christ mocked. 12. Christ before Pilate. 13. Pilate speaking to the People. Our object is now to follow these scenes, though not confining ourselves exclusive!}' to them ; for Art, taken generally, fills up this sacred course with a far closer gradation of scenes than any known series would supply. 14. Christ before Herod. 15. Christ again before Pilate. 16. Christ crowned with Thorns. 17. Pilate washing his Hands. 18. The Flagellation. 19. The Road to Calvary. 20. Crucifixion. 21. Descent from Cross. 22. Entombment. 23. Descent into Limbus. 24. The Maries at the Sepulchre. 25. Christ appearing to the Magdalen. 26. Christ at Emmaus. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. . .' ' Ital. Nfostro Signore che entra trionfante in Gerusalemme. Fr. Entree de Jesus h, Jerusalem. Germ. Christ! Eiuzug in Jerusalem. OUR LORD was now about to enter the gates of Jerusalem with the acclamations due to Deity, which He was so soon to leave with the contumely cast only upon a criminal. His entry into Jerusalem is therefore justly looked upon in Art as His first stage to Calvary, and, when given at all in the series of the Passion, is always given first. The Evangelists are all agreed as to the main particulars of the circumstances of His entry that it was upon an ass, and accompanied by a multitude, who cried, ' Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!' All but John describe the disciples as casting their clothes on the ass, and the people as spreading their garments in the way. St. Matthew and St. Mark relate that the people cut down branches, and ' strawed them in the way.' St. John, that they took branches of palm trees, and went to meet Him. The only ambiguity relates to the animal. St. Matthew relates, that when come unto the Mount of Olives, our Lord sent His disciples, saying, ' Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her : loose them and bring them unto me ' (xxi. 2) ; adding, i All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Zechariah), saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foalof an ass.' St. Mark and St. Luke both speak only of a colt, whereon never man sat, and St. John of a young ass. This variety in the narrative has left its impress upon early Art, the foal being frequently seen ac- companying the mother, on which Jesus rides. Thus early artists embody one literal portion of the text, later painters another, for in the strong young animal of maturer Art we identify the colt ' where- on never man sat.' The Entry into Jerusalem is properly always HISTORY OF OUR LORD. triumphant in character. Jeremy Taylor says, ' The blessed Jesus had never but two days of triumph in His life the one His Trans- figuration, the other this His riding into the Holy City/ It is one of the subjects of the early Christian cycles, occurring frequently on sarcophagi in the Catacombs (woodcut, No. 139). Here, with the economy of materials characteristic of classic Art, seldom more than one figure is seen spreading the garment; while another behind represents the disciples, and one bough the branches. 1 The foal ts here a frequent accompaniment, sometimes naively stretching its 139 Entry into Jerusalem. (Sarcophagus.) little head to smell at the garment or nibble the branch, or, as in the illustration, trotting like a diminutive war-horse beneath its parent. The figure here seen in the tree, and in early miniatures, not engaged in plucking branches, but attentively looking at our 1 According to Brady's Clavis Calendaria, p. 278, note, the yew was substituted in England for the palm, and the box in Rome. Now the palm-branch is supplied as an article of trade to the Roman Church in Passion Week. The branches are whitened by a process of tying up the tree, as may be observed on the South coast of Spain, at Ali- cante, and Elche, where an unfortunate tree here and there among the noble groves of palms is seen thus treated like a magnified lettuce. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. Lord, suggests the idea of Zacchaeus, who being little of stature and not able to see Him for the press, ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree. This incident occurred, according to St Luke, who alone mentions it, as our Lord was passing through Jericho, and before He mounted the ass, when such an elevation for the purpose of seeing Him would be no longer necessary. Nevertheless, the system in early Art of giving consecutive moments in one view warrants this interpretation. Another variation from the text also is often seen in the small size of the figures which welcome the Lord. In the Catacombs, and where the classic feeling maintained its supremacy, this smaller scale was indicative of moral inferiority, as seen in the representa- tions of the miracles (vol. i. pp. 351-2) ; but in miniatures, and other forms of Art, in which a Greek element prevails, the small figures are intended to represent children. This is in allusion to the subsequent overthrow of the money-changers, when the children cried Hosanna in the Temple, and to our Lord's application to that circumstance of the text from the Psalms (Ps. viii. 2), ' Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength.' In the Greek Church, to this day, the representation of the Entry into Jerusalem is thronged with children. In early Art the position of our Saviour on the ass varies much. As in the illustration from the Cata- combs, He is often seen seated astride, and with His right profile to the spec- tator. But a sideways position is also frequent, and is the type usually found in the earliest MSS. On these occa- sions our Lord usually sits with both feet to the spectator. Instances may be seen when both are turned from him. In each case His face is in profile. Also there is an ancient form where our Saviour is seated full front 140 to the spectator,- as if on a chair Entry into Jerusalem. (Early miniature. D'Agincourt, pi. ciii.) of state, one hand raised in benediction, the other holding a scroll l Benedictus qui venit in nomine,' &c. < Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.' This small quaint illustration (No. .HISTORY OF OUR LORD. 140) l is a specimen. Here there are no reins to the animal, which, strange to say, is going at full gallop, both fore-feet in the air, threatening to overset the figure on his knees spreading the garment. The little foal is again here. On the gates of St. Paolo- fuori-le-Mura, executed at Constantinople in the llth century, and destroyed by fire in 1823, our Saviour also sits full front like one enthroned. The sideways position continues comparatively late in Art we shall see it in an illustration by Gaddo Gaddi and, tradition has retained it in the curious Passionsspiel, still acted in the Tyrol (see p. 2). In a miniature of the 6th century, from the Gospels of St. Augus- tine and St. Cuthbert, our Lord has a whip in His right hand, raised to strike the animal. To say nothing of the improper character of this action, it prevents the gesture of benediction. It may be considered as a rule in Art that our Lord is riding from left to right of the picture a position evidently calculated better to show the right hand with which He is invariably blessing. Nevertheless, exceptions, as in the woodcut above, occur to this. On the bronze gates of S. Zeno at Verona, our Lord is seen coming from the right, with His left side to the spectator. No ruder ex- ample can be well cited. Here, in the total ignorance of perspective, the figures are placed one above the other, like objects on a table. The head of the figure who holds the garment being lower than the ass's hoofs, so that instead of stooping to the act, he is stretching his arms upwards. Here the branches held by the figures are those of palms which also occur in early MSS. traceable, probably, to the usage of the Greek Church, which had no difficulty in pro- curing them. There are instances of Christ Himself bearing a palm-branch as He sits on the animal ; one occurs in a painted window at Bourges. This is doubtless connected with the fact, that in the Greek Church Palm Sunday is called the Sunday of the palm-bearer. In some rare instances the Saviour is represented with a book in His hand. 2 The garments spread in the way have also their variations accord- ing to the period. In the Art of the Catacombs, which was com- paratively real in detail, though typical in meaning, a real garment the tunic of antiquity is being spread; a figure is even seen 1 D'Agiocourt. 2 British Museum, MS. Tiberius. C. IV. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. in the act of stripping his outer garment over his head ; and, in later Art, the real garment of the day is given and the same dramatic action repeated. But the intervening centuries were not so literal. In a miniature at Brussels, quoted before, the ass is walking over three layers of drapery, red, blue, and yellow. In the MS. in the British Museum, just quoted, the idea of honour rendered is increased by a long breadth of gorgeous brocade, spread under the ass's feet. As regards the clothes cast by the disciples upon the animal's back to form a seat for their Lord, Art has by no means adhered to the letter of Scripture. In the illustration from the Catacombs, as we have seen, regular trappings are given to the animals. In other instances our Lord sits on the ass's bare back ; while there are not wanting some in which He occupies a high Eastern saddle. Duccio's representation of the Entry 1 the first subject in the series, mentioned p. 4 is the first which breaks through the limits of early treatment. No conception of the subject at any time has been more picturesque and animated. The number of figures which throng through the gate to meet our Lord give the effect of a crowd, while the trees seen above a wall, skirting the road, are beset by eager numbers, to whom others, who have climbed aloft, are throwing down branches. Here the greater part of the multitude are small and unbearded, and therefore intended for children. This is quite in harmony with the Byzantine forms which constituted the groundwork of Duccio's original conceptions. Our Lord here sits easily upon the ass ; His action, in this respect perhaps, varying with the habits of the painter. Fra Angelico, the gentle Dominican monk, who may be supposed to have known but little of the science of horsemanship, even on so lowly an animal, makes the Saviour, in his series (formerly on the doors of the press in the Chapel of the Nunziata, now in the Accademia at Florence), with projected feet and tight-drawn reins, like one truly unused to such a seat. Whilst Taddeo Gaddi (born 1300), in our illustration (No. 141, over leaf), from a drawing in the British Museum, leaves the Lord free from any thought of His position, with the reins fallen on the patient animal's neck, as if, amid all the human treachery and infirmity which environ Him, He is, at all events, sure that her faithful feet 1 See plate in Kugler'a Handbook of Italian Schools. Vol. i. p. 115. VOL. II. C ,10 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. 141 Entry into Jerusalem. (Drawing. Taddeo Gaddi.)' will not play Him false. Here, as we see, the sideways position is retained. Giacomo Bellini has it also in his volume of drawings in the British Museum. Tintoretto's almost ruined great picture of the Crucifixion, in the Scuola di S. Rocco at Venice, follows the ass farther in its possible history. Whilst He who had so lately been the object of popular acclamation hangs dying on the Cross, an ass, as the author of ' Modern Painters ' has observed, points a moral by innocently grazing on the old trodden-down palm-branches, which alone testify to the course of His evanescent triumph. It may be observed, that there is a tradition which still con- nects the. ass with the Entry into Jerusalem, though it has failed to gain consideration towards the i oppressed race ; ' namely, that the dark line down the animal's back and across the forequarters, forming the shape of a Latin cross, was the heritage of the race from that day. 1 As Art progressed, the subject became more exclusively pictur- esque. Gaudenzio Ferrari gives little expression to our Lord, and a 1 For an account of the honour done to the ass by the Church in the triple character of the animal which Balaam rode, which carried the Virgin and Child into Egypt, and on which Christ entered Jerusalem, see Hone on 'Ancient Mysteries,' p. 160. ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 11 very disagreeable one to the vicious, backward-bent ears of the animal ; but he turns to good account the haste to procure branches, the feet of one figure who is reaching up the tree being propped on the hands of another. Poussin has treated it with great picturesqueness, the scene being laid in an open country with Jerusalem on one side, and a grove of palms on the other, up and down the step-like stems of which figures are hurrying. Still, except as part of a series (and seldom even as such with the German and Flemish artists), the Entry has not been popular with mature or later Art, and though offering great opportunities, both for landscape and architecture, to the realistic painters of the Netherlands, has not, even in that subordinate sense, been treated nearly so often as the flight into Egypt. We maj r add, that in some illustrated Bibles the prophet Zecha- riah is represented with this subject in the background, in reference to his prophecy. The Entry into Jerusalem is understood in the scheme of Christian Art as comprising the Weeping over the City. 1 St. Luke says, 4 As He drew near the city' (it may be supposed still on the ass), 1 He wept over it.' The conception of that scene as a separate incident is an instance of modern Protestant interpretation. Our Lord entered Jerusalem thus riding on an ass on the first day of the Jewish week kept in the Anglican Church under the title of Palm Sunday ; in the Greek Church, as the Sunday of the Palm-bearer ; and in the Syrian and Egyptian Churches as Hosanna Sunday. 1 At the same time the weeping of Christ over Jerusalem is given in more elaborate series, such as the ' Speculum Salvationia, ' by a type from the Old Testament, namely, b.v the prophet Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of the city. 12 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. CHRIST WASHING THE DISCIPLES' FEET. Jtal. Cristo che lava i Piedi agli Apostoli. Fr. La Sainte Ablution. Germ,. Die Fusswaschung. THE washing of the disciples' feet by the hands of the Lord occurs between the eating of the Paschal Lamb and the institution of the Last Supper. < When the Holy Jesus had finished His last Mosaic rite, He descends to give example of the first-fruits of evangelical grace.' 1 It was the custom in the East to wash the feet of honoured guests before a meal ; and besides giving them thus the example of His great humility, it is believed that our Lord designedly timed this act as one of symbolical purification before the institution of that Spiritual Supper which was His last bequest. St. John is the only evangelist who mentions this incident. He relates that Christ having risen from supper, l and laid aside His garments, took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poured water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh He to Simon Peter .... Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head ' (John xiii. 4, &c.) This is the moment which is always chosen. Some writers assert that our Lord denuded Himself of all except the cloth with which He was girded. Art has, however, adopted the more becoming and probable view, and our Lord is always seen fully draped. Two opposite principles were gathered from the subject of the Washing of the Disciples' Feet, according to different periods. When the Church was young, it served as an encouragement of faith ; in later times, as a repression of pride. We find the subject, therefore, in the first sense, on a sarcophagus in the Catacombs, 1 Jeremy Taylor's Life of Christ. CHRIST WASHING THE DISCIPLES' FEET. though but one instance of it occurs. After that it may be looked upon as the sign of that humility which is supposed to be ex- clusively Christian, being perpetuated as such, not only in the form of Art, but as an annual observance in the Roman Church, where the Pope, as most of our readers know, washes the previously perfectly cleansed feet of twelve poor men on Maundy-Thursday. The chief variations in the representation of this subject consist in the position of our Lord, who is depicted as successively stand- 142 Christ washing Disciples' Feet. (Ancient sarcophagus.) ing, stooping, and kneeling for His act of self-abasement. The standing position is that which the reference of the earliest Art chose. This necessitated a corresponding elevation in the position of St. Peter. Both these features appear in the representation from a sarcophagus found in the Catacombs, where Peter sits on a raised platform, and our Lord stands before him with a cloth attached round His neck, obviously long enough for the purpose intended (woodcut, No. 142). The moment chosen is another source of variety in the subject, 14 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. and is equally significant of more or less reverence in treatment. Our Lord is here not engaged in the act, though the mind is satis- fied that He will be so in another moment. This elevated attitude on the part of Peter, and the consequent standing or only stooping position on that of Christ, is seen also in early manuscripts, but the moment is less reverential. Our Lord, with a cloth in His hand, and another hanging on the wall behind Him, is in the act of wiping one of Peter's feet, who sits with an air of consternation, one hand to his head, on a platform, with the other Apostles ranged all full front on the same. Thus it is evident that the Lord can pass easily along the line. 1 As our Lord's figure bends lower to His humble task, other agencies are resorted to by the artist to counteract the appearance of degradation. Even angelic ministration, as in the Baptism, was called in. A manuscript of the llth century, 2 shows our Lord on one knee, but an angel from heaven is descending to bring Him the towel. * Thus showing,' as said by Dr. Waagen, 8 6 in the strongest light, the humility of Him whom even the angels serve.' The figure of Peter also undergoes change with time. In early works he either holds up one hand or both, as deprecating such an honour, or he points with his right hand to his head. This may be interpreted either as an Oriental salutation of humility, or as an express reference to the words, ' not my feet only, but my hands and my head.' He is also sometimes given with his hands crossed reverentially on his breast. It was believed by the early commentators on Scripture, that Judas' feet were washed first, our Lord having commenced with him and not with Peter. The words of John favour the belief that Peter was not the first thus honoured. ' After that He poured water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet .... Then cometh He to Peter.' His words, too, to the chief of the Apostles after the ceremony, i And ye are clean, but not all,' may imply that one was already washed, who could, nevertheless, not be made clean. Art has not lost sight of this inference ; and where we see a disciple already tying on his sandals, as in our next woodcut, while our Lord 1 D'Agincourt, pi. civ. 2 British Museum, Biblia Cottou. Tiberias, C. VI. * Treasures of Art, vol. i. p. 144. CHRIST WASHING THE DISCIPLES' FEET. 15 is in the act of washing Peter's feet, the figure is meant for that of Judas. Oftener, however, the traitor is seen with a b.ag of money in the background, in the act of departing. It is obvious that when Art ventured on a bond fide representatiorj of the scene, with our Lord kneeling on the floor before His dis- ciples, the utmost refinement of feeling was requisite to counteract Christ washing Disciplea* Feet. (Giotto. Arena Chapel.) what might appear as a profane reversal of the order of things. Giotto's fresco in the Arena Chapel is the first large and important representation of this subject (woodcut, No. 143). He has seized the moment which gives dignity to the Saviour and raises 'Him above His office. The Master, it is true, is on one knee before His servant, holding one of the feet which He is about to immerse in the water, but His head is uplifted, His other hand raised ;, He is speaking, 16 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. inculcating the humility they are to imitate, and thus bringing the doctrine more before our minds than the act. His head is full of energetic grandeur. Two young Apostles, St. John and another, the first carrying a pitcher of water, and thus, by this act of service, helping to elevate the office of Christ, look like attendant angels. A fully-bearded and long-haired figure (red hair in the fresco) in 144 Christ washing Disciples' Feet. (Pra Angelica) the foreground, tying on his sandals, is, as we have said, doubtless intended for Judas. But of all the painters who expressed the condescension of the Lord by the impression it produced upon those to whom it was sent, Fra Angelico stands foremost in beauty of feeling (woodcut, No. 144). Not only the hands, but the feet of poor shocked Peter protest against his Master's condescension. It is a contest for humility CHRIST WASHING THE DISCIPLES' FEET. 17 between the two ; but our Lord is more than humble, He is lowly and mighty too. He is on His knees ; but His two outstretched hands, so lovingly offered, begging to be accepted, go beyond the mere incident, as Art and Poetry of this class always do, and link themselves typically with the whole gracious scheme of Redemp- tion. True Christian Art, even if Theology were silent, would, like the very stones, cry out, and proclaim how every act of our Lord's course refers to one supreme idea. Unfortunately such refinement of feeling did not long accompany this subject, and we are shocked by treatment even of an opposite character. It will hardly be believed that in various manuscripts of the 14th century, and in several engravings of a later date, one or two of the disciples are seen with large knives in hand, coolly relieving their feet of some inconvenient encumbrances. A picture, too, in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, falsely called ' Perino del Vaga,' repeats this action with variations, while Judas looks on with undisguised contempt. At best, in the few representations of the subject by masters of the mature time of Art, all we see is one figure kneeling, wiping the feet of another, who neither lifts up his hands nor points to his head, but, as in Gaudenzio Ferrari's fresco at Varallo, seems only to think of so holding his drapery that it should not be wetted in the operation, while the disciples around are pulling off their stockings. VOL. II. 18 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. THE LAST SUPPER. Ital La Cena, Fr. La Cene. Germ. Das Abendmahl. THE importance of the Last Supper in the history of Christian doctrine rendered it an early subject in Art. Though it does not appear in the Catacombs, it is seen in religious subjects as early as the beginning of the llth century. It appears, for instance, in the retablo, supposed to have been executed by Greek artists for the Emperor Otho III. out of the gold plates taken from the throne of Charlemagne. This, and the miniatures of the same time, 1 give a semicircular table, the straight side being next the spectator, with the Saviour seated at the end on the left. St. John, who does not lean on His breast, sits with the other Apostles round the semicircle. Judas alone stands or sits in the centre in front, receiving from our Lord the sop. Thus early Art has chosen the moment at which the Lord points out His betrayer. This incident descended in many instances to maturer times, and even when the giving of the sop is not represented, Judas is placed alone in front, as in the Last Supper by Giotto, and in the fresco discovered in the refectory of S. Onofrio at Florence, now generally attributed to Pinturicchio. In another respect, later Art has departed, and not to its advantage, from the early traditions of the subject. For the figure of St. John, leaning on the shoulder of Christ, and sometimes fallen forward on his Master's lap, which is stereotyped from the 14th century, has too often the double defect of being disrespectful and unpicturesque. This incident is given with most exaggeration in the Northern schools. The Last Supper, however, is less frequently treated in later times. It was considered, probably, and with justice, as too distinct and important a subject, embodying rather the solemn institution of a Sacrament than an event in the hurried tragedy of the last days of our Lord's life, and fitted, therefore, to be the centre, and not merely a portion, of a pictorial system. Its necessary form i For example, MS. with ivory cover, A.D. 1014, in Munich Library. THE LAST SUPPER. 19 of composition also disqualified it from occupying the same space which sufficed for scenes of more usual proportions. Nor could it well be brought into the same category with the Supper at Emmaus. These reasons account for our seldom finding the subject in the series of representations which illustrate the Passion and Death of our Lord. We now proceed to consider the Last Supper in the only sense which Mrs. Jameson has not anticipated; for we must remind the reader that the Last Supper, both historically and devotionally, finds place, from its connection with the history of the Apostles, and especially with that of Judas, in her ' Sacred and Legendary Art ' (see vol. i. p. 260). The subject, indeed, in all its bearings, its naive traditions (in the sense of Art) and archaeological lore, has been exhausted by her able pen ; excepting in one respect, for, with the project of the present work always kept in view, she abstained from all critical investigation of the office which Art has performed towards the principal Personage in this scene. It remains, therefore, for us to consider the Person of our Lord as given in the representations of the Last Supper, and we approach it necessarily, as will be shown, through those of His companions. We take up her remarks on the difficulty of rendering this scene anything more than a mere symmetrical convention, from the number of the figures, and the monotonous and commonplace character, materially speaking, of their occupation. Considered merely in the sense of Art, we may say that there was too little in the nature of the subject for so many figures, all men, to do.- Eleven out of the twelve were to be represented devout, earnest, and faithful, and Judas even decorous in demeanour. Many of them, too, were of the same age, most of them attired in the same kind of costume; while the introduction of their attributes was altogether incompatible with the occasion. Thus, the distinction of one Apostle from another strikes us at the very outset as a difficulty, which, in the case of sculpture, as in the cathedral at Lodi, or of wood-carving, as in Adam Kraft's work in the Church of St. Lawrence at Nuremberg, is further increased by the absence of colour. This was doubtless the reason, in early times, for the in- sertion of the names in the glories, and, perhaps, for the exaggerated 20 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. nature of the position of St. John, and of the character of Judas, which seem to have been seized upon as the only salient points. The discrimination of the characters and individualities of all, or even most of these passive and almost uniform figures, required, therefore, nothing short of the utmost refinement of observation and power of expression. These conditions, it is obvious, could only be fulfilled by a mind and hand of the highest order. But here another difficulty presented itself. The Apostles, after all, were but the subordinates in the piece ; such expression and character as could at best be given them depended entirely on the part which belonged to the principal actor. In representing Him, the artist had to choose between two modes of conception, each equally encumbered with objections. Our Lord might be depicted, as He has often been, in the act of blessing the bread and wine, and with His hand raised in prayer an action full of grace for Him, and which clearly conveyed His part in the story to the com- prehension of the beholder, but one which, occupying Him alone, left His companions little more than lay figures; or our Lord might be represented as engaged in no actual act at all, but simply in the character of one uttering, or having just uttered, a few words expressive of deep and mournful mental conviction. But such a moment, however easily described in words, is not so easily painted. These words, however full of meaning for the mind, offer none to the eye (for the giving the sop of Judas, a very unpleasing incident in the sense of Art, which, in the difficulty of telling the tale, was frequently resorted to in early works, belonged to another and later moment). Moreover, our Lord did not address these words to one Apostle more than another, still less to anyone out of the pic- ture. Nay, words spoken thus, in the deep abstraction of prophetic vision, would have produced the same effect on the hearer had the speaker been even invisible. And yet those words were indis- pensable to rouse all these lay figures into appropriate, though requisitely minute, indications of individual character. It was plain, therefore, that only he who could paint the ' troubled spirit' of Jesus as it breathed forth the plaintive sentence, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, one of you shall betray me,' would have the power to touch that spring which alone could set the rest of the delicate machinery in motion. THE LAST SUPPER. 21 We need not say who did fulfil these conditions, nor whose Last Supper it is all ruined and defaced as it may be which alone rouses the heart of the spectator as effectually as that incomparable shadow in the centre has roused the feelings of the dim forms on each side of Him. Leonardo da Vinci's Cena, to all who consider this grand subject through the medium of Art, is the Last Supper there is no other. Various representations exist, and by the highest names in Art, but they do not touch the subtle spring. Compared with this chef-d'oeuvre, their Last Suppers are mere exhibitions of well-drawn, draped, or coloured figures, in studiously varied attitudes, which excite no emotion beyond the admiration due to these qualities. It is no wonder that Leonardo should have done little or nothing more after the execution, in his forty-sixth year, of that stupendous picture. It was not in man not to be fastidious, who had such an unapproachable standard of his own powers perpetually standing in his path. Let us now consider this figure of Christ more closely. It is not sufficient to say that our Lord has just uttered this sen- tence ; we must endeavour to define in what, in His own Person, the visible proof of His having spoken consists. The painter has cast the eyes down an action which generally detracts from the ex- pression of a face. Here, however, no such loss is felt. The outward sight, it is true, is in abeyance, but the intensest sense of inward vision has taken its place. Our Lord is looking into Himself that self which knew ' all things,' and therefore needed not to lift His mortal lids to ascertain what effect His words had produced. The honest indignation of the Apostles, the visible perturbation of the traitor, are each right in their place, and for the looker on, but they are nothing to Him. Thus here at once the highest power and re- finement of Art is shown, by the conversion of what in most hands would have been an insipidity into the means of expression best suited to the moment. The inclination of the head, and the expres- sion of every feature, all contribute to the same intention. This is not the heaviness or even the repose of previous silence. On the contrary, the head has not yet risen, nor the muscles of the face sub- sided from the act of mournful speech. It is just that evanescent moment which all true painters yearn to catch, and which few but painters are wont to observe when the tones have ceased, but the 22 HISTORY OF ODR LORD. lips are not sealed when, for an instant, the face repeats to the eye what the voice has said to the ear. No one who has studied that head can doubt that our Lord has just spoken ; the sounds are not there, but they have not travelled far into space. Much, too, in the general speech of this head is owing to the skill with which, while conveying one particular idea, the painter has suggested no other. Beautiful as the face is, there is no other beauty but that which ministers to this end. We know not whether the head be handsome or picturesque, masculine or feminine in type whether the eye be liquid, the cheeks ruddy, the hair smooth, or the beard curling as we know with such painful certainty in other representations. All we feel is, that the wave of one intense meaning has passed over the whole countenance, and left its im- press alike on every part. Sorrow is the predominant expression that sorrow which, as we have said in our Introduction, dis- tinguishes the Christian's God, and which binds Him, by a sympathy no fabled deity ever claimed, with the fallen and suffering race of Adam His very words have given Himself more pain than they have to His hearers, and a pain He cannot expend in protestations as they do, for for this, as for every other act of His life, came He into the world. But we must not linger with the face alone ; no hands ever did such intellectual service as those which lie spread on that table. They, too, have just fallen into that position one so full of meaning to us, and so unconsciously assumed by Him and they will retain it no longer than the eye which is down and the head which is sunk. A special intention on the painter's part may be surmised in the opposite action of each hand ; the palm of the one so graciously and bountifully open to all who are weary and heavy laden, the other averted, yet not closed, as if deprecating its own symbolic office. Or we may consider their position as applicable to this particular scene only ; the one hand saying, l Of those that Thou hast given me none is lost,' and the other, which lies near Judas, ' except the son of perdition.' Or, again, we may give a still narrower defi- nition, and interpret this averted hand as directing the eye, in some sort, to the hand of Judas which lies nearest it, ' Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.' Not that the science of Christian iconography has been adopted here, for the THE LAST SUPPER. 23 welcoming and condemning functions of the respective hands have been reversed in reference, probably, to Judas, who sits on our Lord's right. Or we may give up attributing symbolic intentions of any kind to the painter a source of pleasure to the spectator more often justifiable than justified and simply give him credit for having, by his own exquisite feeling alone, so placed the hands as to make them thus minister to a variety of suggestions. Either way these grand and pathetic members stand as pre-eminent as the head in the pictorial history of our Lord, having seldom been equalled in beauty of form, and never in power of speech. Thus much has been said upon this figure of our Lord, because no other representation approaches so near the ideal of His Person. Time, ignorance, and violence have done their worst upon it, but it may be doubted whether it ever suggested more overpowering- feelings than in its present battered and defaced condition, scarcely now to be called a picture, but a fitter emblem of Him who was ' despised and rejected of men.' 24 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN. Ital. L' Orazione nell' Orto. Fr. J&jus au Jardin des Olives. Germ. Christus am Oelberge. THE rapid passage of events in those last days brings us now to a scene which Art is bound to approach with more than usual reve- rence. For being one which the eyes of men were not permitted to witness, it became known to the Christian world by direct inspiration. The Scriptures tell us, on more than one occasion, of our Lord's retiring from the sight of men ; but, except in two instances, they do not enfold to us what befell Him when alone. The first instance was the temptation, when angels came and ministered to Him after the conflict was over ; the second was the Agony in the Garden, when an angel was sent to sustain Him, even during the struggle. The Last Supper was over, and all that last discourse of tender- ness, and promise, and farewell. Judas was gone on his errand, and there remained but brief space for that approaching agony of mind and body, only possible to be produced by the combined divine capacity and human extremity of anguish. The history of this incident is gathered from three of the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke relate the event, and they divide it amongst them. Matthew and Mark describe the Lord's sorrow and sore amaze- ment, and His praying three times, and thrice returning to His sleeping disciples. St. Luke alone tells of the agony and bloody sweat, and of the angel who appeared from heaven strengthening Him. All three agree almost verbatim in the words of that prayer, and in the simile of the cup, in which our Lord expressed it. Jesus, we read, went forth over the brook Cedron, where was a garden He had often visited with His disciples. And coming to a place called Gethsemane, ' He saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, whilst I go and pray yonder. And He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee ' the same three who had witnessed the Trans- figuration ' and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN. 25 He unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death : tarry ye here, and watch with me ' (Matt. xxvi. 36-38). 6 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done. And there ap- peared an angel unto Him from heaven strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly : and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground ' (Luke xxii. 41-44). The early Fathers assign the two sentences of this prayer to the' two natures of our Lord. As man, He begged to have the cup pass from Him ; as God, He submitted Himself to His Father's will. St. Leo says, ; The first petition proceeded from infirmity ; the second from righteousness.' This is one of the most solemn scenes which the New Testament offers to a painter. The mixed human and divine nature of Christ breaking forth into a passion of suffering ; the divine messenger hastening to His side, or already ministering unto Him ; the solitude arid darkness of the night ; the sleeping men ; the flowing brook ; the distant city ; and the approaching traitor and his band. These latter materials, in which the picturesque more particularly lies, have been in some measure done justice to; but a short survey will show that the main idea, the solemn fact itself, embodied in our Lord's Person and in that of the angel, has been unaccountably neglected and perverted. The Agony in the Garden is hardly seen on the stage of Art before that time often alluded to here when the great Italian preachers had raised up before the minds of their hearers vivid pictures of our Saviour's sufferings. It is probably first seen in the 13th century, and then under forms of great reverence and simpli- city. The great facts to be conveyed were the Lord's prayer and the divine answer to it. How that answer was conveyed was not deemed so important to show as the higher fact of whence it pro- ceeded. Thus, in lieu of the angelic messenger, it is not unusual to seethe hand of the Father, or even the head of the First Person, appearing from a cloud, in token of assistance to the afflicted Son Occasionally also, in ivories of the 14th century, not three disciples only, but all eleven, lie asleep around the kneeling figure of Christ, VOL. n. E HISTORY OF OUR LORD. like a flock of sheep the Shepherd soon to be smitten, and the sheep scattered. Sometimes even these innocent solecisms gave way to a literal rendering of the text, as seen in our illustration (No. 145), from a Greco-Latin miniature of the 13th century taken from D'Agincourt, pi. xcvi. Here the angel stands close to our Lord the staff, the 145 The Agony in the Garden. (Early Greek miniature. D'Aginconrt.) true symbol of support, in his hand where the outstretched arms of the Sufferer show the need for it. The lower compartment of this miniature gives the intervening moment, when, coming to His disciples, He finds them sleeping. Occasionally, also, the Agony in the Garden is imaged forth by the sole figure of our Lord, as in our etching from Mr. Boxall's Italian Speculum of the 14th century. Here nothing further than the ideas of suffering, prayer, and heavenly succour are given, the scroll in the hands of the angel being meant to convey the words fe '- THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN. 27 of comfort of which he is the bearer. These were the naive con- ceptions of early times ; but as Art improved, the treatment of this subject declined, both in arrangement and intention. Let us examine, first, the lesser and comparatively unimportant error of arrangement. There is that broad and natural variety in the events of our Saviour's life, each with a character of its own, which especially fits them as materials for that Art which is intended to be read as we run. The eye in this subject needs but to see the figure of Christ alone, under the temple of heaven, prostrate in prayer, to recognise ' the Agony.' There is no other occasion in His life that can be confounded with this. Our Lord's Person, there- fore, is the prominent feature; all others are but accessories. Nevertheless, the prevailing type of this subject takes the eye > by surprise, by placing, not the Saviour, but the three figures of the disciples in the most prominent place. There they sit or lie in front St. Peter usually on the left hand, known by the sword, to be drawn in the next scene, in his hand, and St. John in the centre; while in the middle distance, or even in the extreme background, is discerned the diminished and subordinate figure of Christ in prayer.. This is a strange misapprehension; it is as if our office as spectators concerned the disciples, not the Lord, and that the object of the painter was rather to impress us with the infirmity of man than with the sufferings of Deity. Nor does Art itself plead any excuse ; on the contrary, the figures of three sleeping men, all doubled up with drowsiness, directly in front, are a dead weight that would swamp the interest of any composition. Thus the opportunity for the highest efforts of religious Art, that of rising to the expression of the divine countenance seen under such touching conditions, has been upon the whole disregarded. This may be called the error of arrangement that of intention is infinitely worse. It need hardly be observed, to the reader who has thought at all on these subjects, that the attempt to render a figure of speech through the medium of any form of Art addressed only to the eye, must be always unsuccessful in interest, and often false in meaning. A metaphor in words becomes a reality in representation. Such a metaphor our Lord employed in the prayer 28 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. that this cup might pass from Him. The cup, we know, is a frequent figure in the allegorical language of Scripture. There is the 6 cup of wrath,' and the ' cup of salvation,' and there is, emphati- cally, ' my cup,' of which Christ says that all His followers shall indeed drink ; the very anticipation of which now caused Him such anguish of mind and body. But every Christian believes, without over-anxious searching, the simple words of Scripture, ' an angel appeared unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.' The angelic messenger's office, too, is more defined in the Latin version, where the word ' confortans ' indicates strength and comfort too. What, then, has the cup to do in his hand ? For no casuistry can convert the signs of suffering, to one fainting under the consciousness of its approach, into the symbol of strength. It is difficult to imagine what confusion of ideas can have led to such an anomaly. In such solemn scenes, known, as we have said before, only by revelation, all frivolous conceits of a painter are sternly interdicted, for the real is the ideal, and vice versd. Here the mockery of the cup in the very hand to which only the ministry of comfort was appointed, is a direct subversion of the truth, invalidating both the supplication and the interposition : it is difficult to conceive that the prayer has been for bread, where a stone is sent in answer. The absurdities into which this form of misconception branched were innumerable. In some pictures by the grandest Italian masters for instance, in Mantegna's Agony in the Garden, in Mr. Baring's gallery the false idea is further developed by the absence of the angel and the substitution of a whole row of little angioletti, who present all the instruments of the Passion, the Cross, the column, &c., together. Nor was Poussin, in the 17th century, less ingenious in this false direction. The master who was punctilious as to probabilities of costume and position making his figures in the Last Supper recline upon couches gave no thought to the real features of the scene we are considering. His angel, it is true, is sustaining the fainting Lord, but the eyes of the winged messenger are fixed with childish glee on a swarm of little cherubs, who occupy two-thirds of the picture, holding aloft, as in mockery of the Sufferer, every object that has the remotest connection with the approaching THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN. 29 ordeal from the Cross, column, and ladder, they can barely lift, to the money, the dice, and the mailed hand of the High Priest's servant, who was to strike the Divine Victim. Often, too, the angel alone is the bearer of all the instruments of the Passion he can possibly sustain an idea the more unseemly 146 The Agony in the Garden. (Gaudenzio Ferrari.) when we remember that the archangel Michael was the messenger believed to have been here sent to Christ, and who is thus seen reeling beneath these heterogeneous encumbrances, to the sacrifice of all dignity as much as of all truth. In the ' Bedford Missal,' in the Agony in the Garden, the Almighty Himself appears above, 30 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. showing Christ a crucifix. 1 Or we see, as in our illustration from Gaudenzio Ferrari (No. 146), the angel bearing the cup which contains a miniature cross. This last conception is a connecting link to a far more- serious perversion. From the negative contradiction of the words of Scripture Art proceeds to superadd grave and positive heresy. Having punned, as senselessly as irreverently, on a metaphorical expression, she next seizes upon a synonym of the same, and wrests from it still profaner conclusions. For the word given as 6 cup ' in the English Bible is in the Latin Missal rendered as 4 chalice.' This seems the only solution for the conception of this solemn subject which shocks the Protestant eye in numerous pictures of the best times of Art. The cup in the hand of the angel is no longer the false symbol of suffering, but the profaner representation of the Eucharistic chalice with the sacramental wafer in it, which is being offered by the angel to the suffering Jesus. This is not the place for controversial argument; at the same time there are few so utterly ignorant of the leading doctrines of all Christian Churches as not to perceive the profane confusion of fact and idea thus implied. Not a tenet of our faith remains secure under the casuistry of such a conceit. Nay, the very Divinity of Christ falls before it; for who but man and man as sinner needs to partake of that just instituted cup of His Body and Blood ? Thus the simplicity of Art and of the Gospel stand or fall to- gether. The literal narrative of the Agony in the Garden lost sight of, all became confusion and error. So deeply rooted was the heretical idea of our Lord's having on this occasion received the Sacrament, that in many a fresco and picture of the 14th century the angel is seen bringing the cup and wafer in the corporate or cloth with which, a Roman priest always holds the sacred elements. Raphael himself, in his picture, formerly in Mr. Rogers' possession, 2 places our Lord kneeling upright, and with folded hands, before the bearer of the cup, exactly in the position of a communicant. If the truth were known, many an unlearned spectator has taken this i Waagen. Treasures of Art, vol. i. p. 129. * Now in that of Miss Burdett Coutts. THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN. 31 conception of the Agony in the Garden for our Lord confessing His sins and receiving absolution before His death. Another form that ma)' be mentioned suppresses the angel alto- gether, and places the cup only with the wafer, all resplendent with radiance within it, upon a ledge of rock, or some elevation, while Christ kneels in apparent adoration before it. This is seen in Albert Diirer, and other German masters. At the same time, among the pictures thus marred in a religious sense, are works of the highest possible beauty. Some of the greatest masters have treated this subject. Mantegna's picture, already mentioned, is a chef-d'oeuvre of magnificent drawing and drapery, and quaint detail of landscape, architecture, and animals. His disciples all lie in soundest slumber, thus depart- ing from the established type which, derived probably from our Lord's words to those left at the entrance of the garden, < Sit ye here,' makes the three who were to watch during His prayer sit also. Perugino's large picture in the Accademia at Florence represents another school. Bellini, too, is seen in this subject. It is impos- sible to forget a picture ascribed to him, formerly belonging to Mr. Davenport Bromley, now in the National Gallery. Here the solitary landscape and solemn twilight give that indescribable ' grace of a day that is gone ' so peculiarly in harmony with the kneeling figure. This still pathos of nature is also remarkable in a picture by Basaiti, in the Venetian Belle Arti, where the fading light and the leafless trees seem to point to a new morrow and a new summer. Here the disciples sleep full in the foreground, in the form of a pyramid, of which one, full length on his back, forms the base. Christ is on an elevation behind, where the painter seems instinc- tively to have felt the anomaly of placing Him, and therefore gives Him another form of prominence by the force of the figure against the twilight sky. This is a devotional picture, with saints on each side. The lamp is a quaint device to show its destination upon an altar. Michael Angelo's design for the Agony in the Garden has cer- tainly not sinned in the way we condemn. There is neither cup nor even angel, and our Lord is as clumsily conspicuous as His 32 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. massive disciples, who sit like solid sacks of sleep. Nevertheless, it is difficult to conceive anything less solemn or sublime than the great old Florentine's version of this scene. It is corroborative of the conclusions to which we have endea- voured to lead the reader that the most true, and therefore, in a religious sense, the finest representations of the Agony in the Garden, are by what are called realistic painters. Among the Italians, Correggio stands foremost; his well-known picture in Apsley House of which there is a good copy in the National Gallery though famed for the painter's special quality of chiaro- scuro, is equally remarkable for the way in which the story is told. Here the Christ, though not of elevated character, is, at all events, the principal Person, while the grand angel who shines upon Him from the very edge of the picture has no false auxiliary which breaks the promise both to heart and eye. In Paul Veronese's picture, too, in Mr. Baring's gallery, and in others of the same subject by this gorgeous realistic painter, the help of the angel, though over-material in character, is thoroughly genuine. Albert Diirer has always all the faults of arrangement and mean- ing we have condemned ; but his figure of our Lord throwing up His arms with the action of wild despair is terribly grand. But beyond every other master in conveying the reality of this subject to the eye, and that with the slightest means, may be mentioned that marvellous utterer of the noblest emotions under Dutch forms. Rembrandt's little etching of the subject, of which we have given a fac-simile (p. 26), is almost an agony to look on. Those crooked lines and apparently accidental blurs all find their only point of sight in the very depths of the spectator's heart. All convention is banished here, and all propriety that may be banished. Our overburthened Lord shuts His eyes and wrings His hands, and, in the conflict of mind and body, taxes the bodily strength of the angel on one knee before Him a creature, it is true, with nothing angelic but his wings, and the intense sincerity of his beneficent purpose. Here, too, Rembrandt has introduced all proper accessories, and in their proper places. The three dis- ciples lie sleeping on the receding slope of the hill. Jerusalem is indicated above, overshadowed with symbolically heavy clouds, THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN. 33 through which the moon is breaking, while a troop passing through a gateway, expressed in the fewest possible lines, show who it is that is approaching. Nor must we forget another painter, but lately taken from his work Ary SchefFer whose conception of this scene alone would preserve his name. In his picture the expression of ajony seems to burst forth at every pore, as did those drops of sweat, while the mploring, failing hands are such as only an angel from heaven can fitly sustain. Thus, in this subject the reality and reverence of the Protestant painters have proved the truest interpreters ; and, whether Catholic or Protestant, Reality hand in hand with Reverence can alone unlock the deeper powers of Art. We may mention, that both in Italian and German Art, whether sculpture, painting, or miniature, the scene of the Agony is laid within an enclosure either of palings or what is now called ' wattled fence.' This occurs so constantly as to show some purpose probably that of designating, according to European notions, the locality of a garden. A few words upon another point. The words in Scripture are, 6 And His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling on the ground.' This is generally interpreted by the early commentators not as real blood, but as drops like unto drops of blood in size. Art, therefore, has only introduced the actual Bloody Sweat in early and homely forms, such as miniatures of Byzantine origin, and coloured German woodcuts of which the British Museum furnishes examples where the crimson drops are seen falling from Christ's Person. It may be remarked, too, that the fervour of the Middle Ages converted the purple robe into a symbol of that sup- posed bloody exudation. .VOL. II. 34 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. THE BETRAYAL. ItaL La Presa, or La Cattura nell' Orto. Span. El Prendimiento. Fr. La Prise de Je'sus-Christ. Germ. Die Gefangennehmung Christi. THE Betrayal of our Lord may well be placed by Art immediately next to or under the Agony in the Garden. The language of the Gospel is almost identical in each Evangelist : ' While Jesus yet spake,' or, ' immediately while He yet spake, came Judas' showing that no respite was granted between those quickly shifting scenes. The fact of the capture of Christ by means of the treachery of Judas is mentioned in all four Gospels. The kiss of Judas, by Matthew, Mark, and Luke ; the going backwards and falling to the ground of the guards, on our Lord saying f I am He,' by John only. Peter's drawing the sword, and cutting off the servant's ear, by all. The miracle by which the man was healed, only by Luke ; the forsaking Him, and flight of all the disciples, by Matthew and Mark ; the escape of ( a certain young man, having a linen cloth about his naked body,' only by Mark. These are the incidents gathered thus piecemeal from the several narratives, every one of which has found illustration in Art. No one can study this story without having a vivid picture before the mind's eye. Nowhere is the contrast between our Lord and His enemies, and even His friends, more strongly seen. The kiss of those false lips has only elicited a remark more of sorrow than reproach : ' Judas ! betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss ? ' The natural violence of one of His disciples in His defence is instantly repaired by a beneficent miracle. Our Lord re- asseverates the words, 4 1 am He,' the better to favour the desertion of His own friends : < If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.' And all these staves and swords and torches are brandished to capture one who, in the selfsame moment, discloses a divinity in His very Person which levels them to the ground, and yet, in every act and word, a calm readiness to surrender Himself into their hands. THE BETRAYAL. The scene is thus crowded with more than Art can express at once ; for, looking broadly at the recital, there are two separate ideas that of treachery in the kiss given by Judas, ' one of the twelve,' and that of supernatural power in the effect of those few small words, ' I am He ' c an answer so gentle, yet which had in it a strength greater than the Eastern wind, or the voice of thunder ; for God was in that still voice, and it struck them down to the ground.' 1 Both these ideas were adopted by Art ; that view of the Betrayal which is given by the prostrate guards being, from its greater reve- rence, adopted first. For early Art never lost sight of the funda- mental conditions on which every event in our Lord's course on earth, and especially of this portion of it, was based, namely, the voluntary nature of all His acts. In the true sense this was a sur- render, not a capture, for Jesus knew { all things that should come upon Him.' The prostration of the troop is almost an anomaly when seen in Art, for the guards seem at this moment to be the captured and betrayed, not our Lord. The probably earliest example of this subject embodies, however, neither of these ideas. It forms one ot the small compartments of the bronze doors of St. Zeno at Verona, and is a simple, rude composition ; our Lord between two figures, who each hold Him by the hand, and two figures with flambeaux behind Him. Generally the prostration of the guards is given in a very simple fashion. A few figures with weapons, and often in armour, are lying flat on the ground in parallel lines, whilst our Lord stands erect above them, the image of calm power. The incident of St. Peter and Malchus does not belong here. Thus the scene is represented in miniatures, and in the * Speculum Salvationis,' where each recum- bent figure has a casque, or covering of some kind on his head, except one, intended, it is believed, for Judas, who had involuntarily bared himself, as the fashion of the day led the artist to believe, at the sight of his Master, for he also, as Scripture says, ' stood with them,' and, it may be supposed, fell with them. Fra Angelico is the only master of note who has given this view 1 Quotation from Nonnus' ' Paraphrase of Gospel of St. John,' given in Jeremy Taylor's 'Life of Christ.' 36 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. of the Betrayal in his series now in the Accademia at Florence ; he, however, combines it with the kiss of Judas. We give an illustration from this picture (No. 147). The other version of the subject of the Betrayal, the kiss of Judas 147 The Kiss of Judas, and Prostration of the Guards, (Fra Angelico.) only, abounds in ivories and miniatures, and, where its fellow-subject scarcety appears at all, in all serial works of the Passion. As the signal for all that was to follow the date of that moment when 6 the prince of this world was come, who had no part in Him this in- cident could never be omitted. In ivories and other works, where the space is limited, not more than twice two figures are given Christ and Judas, Peter and the servant ; one the idea of treachery, the other of the miracle. A simple and effective conception pre- vails ; Judas is drawing our Lord to him, or enfolding Him in his arms. The Saviour is generally looking earnestly and sorrowfully at him. Peter has a choice of attitudes. He is either in the act oi cutting off the ear sometimes, in spite of the express words of Scrip- THE BETRAYAL. 37 ture, the left ear, the servant standing quite still for the occasion ; or he is sheathing his sword, long enough to have spitted an ox, with an air of satisfaction, and the man is lying crying on the ground. Often the union of the two groups is effected in a touching manner, for in the same moment that Judas betrays with a kiss, our Lord's hand is extended in the act of healing the ear. In ivories * of Northern origin, of the 14th century, our Lord has the severed ear in His hand, and is stooping down to restore it to its place. An old German woodcut, in the British Museum, rude and coloured, dated 1457, carries on the story with great naivete, for the miracle is ac- complished, and the man, though still on the ground, is feeling his restored ear with manifest astonishment. Generally Peter, in the early examples, is standing and preserving a certain equanimity ; but in a Greek miniature, engraved by D'Agincourt, the impetuous Apostle has got the man under him, and is kneeling with both knees on his back. It may be observed in the Betrayal, that Judas is often repre- sented as shorter than our Lord. This may appear a natural arrangement to enhance the prominence of the principal figure. The ' Revelations of St. Brigitta,' however, doubtless influenced Art in this respect. The fervent saint, quoting the words of the Blessed Virgin, whom she reports to have closely interro- gated on the point, says : ' My Son, as His betrayer approached Him, inclined Himself to him, because Judas was of short stature.' Judas is sometimes seen, as already said, enfolding the Saviour in his arms an action almost more treacherous than the kiss. It was supposed that he was apprehensive that by the exercise of supernatural power our Lord might even at the last moment elude their grasp. Hence his words, given here in italics, ' whom- soever I shall kiss, that same is He, hold Him fast? And again, 6 take Him and lead Him away safely? Thence also the embrace according to Art which promoted this end, by, in most cases, fettering our Lord's arms. This is seen in Giotto's fresco in the Arena Chapel at Padua, which though too much injured to be represented here, gives the full historical event with all the vehement action which was that great master's characteristic. Judas has here both his arms round 1 See one in Arundel Society. 38 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. his Master ; the action helping to render his ungainly figure still uglier, for the drapery is pulled tight over his back as it follows the hands round our Lord's neck, who is thus almost concealed in the coils of this serpent. Angry soldiers a sea of heads some hel- meted, some bare, stand around, brandishing clubs, battle-axes, spears, lanterns, and flambeaux, which latter glare full on the mild head of Jesus, looking earnestly into Judas's face. One figure raises a horn to his lips, and gives evidently a livety blast, probably to inform fresh cohorts that the Lamb whom so many armed butchers were sent to capture is safe in their hands. In the front, on the right, is some important Jewish functionary in the wildest excitement. On the left is St. Peter, in eager action, with his knife promptly used, for the ear already hangs detached from the head, while an Elder, with a hood over his head, is clutching at Peter with unmistakably pugnacious intentions. So violent is the scene, with the knife out, blood flowing, and dangerous wea- pons in fierce hands, that nothing, humanly speaking, can possibly prevent murder. But with the next moment the scene was to change the Victim was willing, His friends too happy to quit the field, and the only wound that had been inflicted healed. Well does George Herbert that poet of the Passion illustrate in his turn such pictures as these : Arise ! arise ! they come. Look how they run ! Alas ! what haste they make to be undone ; How with their lanterns do they seek the sun. Was ever grief like mine ? With clubs and staves they seek me as a thief, Who am the way of truth, the true relief, Most true to those who are my greatest grief. Was ever grief like mine ? Judas ! dost thou betray me with a kiss ? Canst thou find hell about my lips, and miss Of life, just at the gates of life and bliss? Was ever grief like mine ? See, they lay hold on me, not with the hands Of faith, but fury ; yet, at their command, I suffer binding, who have loosed their bands. Was ever grief like mine ? THE BETRAYAL. 39 All my disciples fly ! Fear put a bar Betwixt my friends and me ; they leave the star Which brought the Wise Men from the East from far. Was ever grief like mine ? Very rarely do we see the fact, ' all my disciples fly,' commemo- rated in Art. Duccio, throughout faithful to the letter of Scripture the key to the simple sublimity of his compositions has a remarkable picture of the Betrayal in his series. Here the disciples 148 The Betrayal. (Duccio. Siena.) are fleeing like frightened sheep on one side, whilst Judas is in the act of kissing the Lord, who is serenely intent on restoring the wounded servant the right hand being raised in benediction for that purpose. This is one of the most dignified, as it is the most complete, representation of the scene. We give an illustration (No. 148). Now that the subject of the Betrayal, under the form of the Kiss of Judas, was fairly in the handn of known and great masters, it becomes interesting to note how one particular and objectionable feature was overcome. The violence used to our Lord's sacred 40 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Person in this incident, though in some sort understood in the Scriptures, is not described. It is simply said, 'And they laid their hands on Him, and took Him ; ' or, according to St. John, 6 And the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him.' Art is here put upon her resources to avoid offending the eye of reverence. The scene must be rude, and the only safety lay in dwelling, as in the Scripture narrative, on that dignity and gentleness of our Lord which acts both in a hallowing and contrasting sense. The mild effulgence of Christ's Person is sufficient to counterbalance the necessarily rough elements of infuriated Jews and stern Pagan soldiery. Where this idea is not duly developed the eye is sure to be offended. There were three moments in the scene open to the painter's choice Judas ap- proaching to betray with a kiss ; in the act of so betraying ; and having already betrayed Him. The first of these, Judas approaching, is the form most fitted to spare the spectator the sight of blas- phemous outrage. This preparatory moment is generally preferred by the nameless artists of early ivories and miniatures, and by Italian painters ; but the engraved series of the German masters of the 15th and 16th centuries generally show one of the two later moments. Martin Schon represents Judas as leaving the scene, bag in hand, already a prey to remorse ; the malignant despair of his face being artfully increased by the curved end of a soldier's helmet, which projects like a horn from behind his forehead. Christ is therefore already in the hands of the rabble for such the German and Flemish artists of this time always made 'the troop' the rope over His head, His hands bound, one wretch pulling Him by the hair, and another dragging up His robe, till His bare feet and ankles are exposed. But our Lord's divine head, or rather the intention of it, overcomes in great measure even so barbarous a conception. He is not heeding His captors, or His bound hands self is forgotten in pity for another the wounded servant is the object of His earnest gaze, and in another moment, by the mere exercise of divine volition, we feel that the healing miracle will ensue. Thus a great master may choose what seems a difficulty, and turn it into the evidence of triumphant power. This shows who it is that those brutified and caricatured figures have in their grasp, more strikingly than if He had stretched forth His hands to work the miracle. THE BETRAYAL. 41 Not so did Albert Diirer conceive, who, sometimes most sublime of all German masters in sacred subjects, sinks here and elsewhere into the lowest perversion of truth and taste. In his large wood- cut of the subject, the spectator is left uncertain whether the treacherous sign agreed upon has been given. A fierce masculine head, with grand curling hair, belonging to a figure holding a bag, is close to the Saviour. But the artist betrays the Lord as well ; for he depicts Him with upraised head appealing to Heaven against the outrage, and resisting it with all His might. His left foot is planted convulsively on the ground before Him, and He is throw- ing His whole weight backwards from two figures ; the one drag- ging Him by the neck of His garment, the other by a rope round His waist. At the same time a Roman soldier is tying His hands behind Him. This is a highly offensive representation, simply because untrue to our Lord's character. Two other plates by Albert Diirer of the same subject are scarcely better : in both Judas is in the act of kissing the Lord with pro- truded lips ; thus in great measure hiding the face, the expression of which can alone redeem the scene. But the very lowest conception of the subject appears in a design purporting to be by Poussin, but more probably by the hand of his scholar, Stella, by whom is a series of the Passion, all equally reprehensible. The garden is here occupied by a mere rabble rout, in the midst of which is our Lord screaming with terror, and with both His arms extended an action as improbable in one just captured as it is unbecoming when applied here to Christ. Not only does His state of excitement, but also the distance to which the crowd have dragged Him, preclude all possibility of His heal- ing the servant, who, with his lantern under him, lies under Peter's drawn sword with his ear still untouched. It is a relief to turn to a picture with beauties of expression seldom found in the sumptuousness of later Art. There were rich elements in this night subject for gorgeous lighting and colour to attract Van Dyck, and his picture of El Prendimiento at Madrid is one of his chefs-d'oeuvre. (We give an etching.) Judas is here only approaching, going as if uphill to his prey. He has taken our Lord's right hand, which lies passive in his, and is treading with one foot on the Saviour's drapery, partially fallen off, as if the VOL. ir. G 42 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. more to detain Him. Other fierce hands are on our Lord's left shoulder, while two brawny arms behind are lifting the sacrilegious rope just ready to be thrown over His head. A strong figure, following close on Judas, has another rope. Figures of brutal strength hold flambeaux, and one in armour glares fiercely in the night. St. Peter has knocked his man down, who is screaming under him, with his lantern overturned, and the candle burning on the ground. Thick trees, illumined with the glare, are above the group, and an owl, just roused, is about to take its heavy flight. The moon, a waning crescent, < on her back,' is more poetical than true, for during the Paschal week the moon was at the full. The whole scene has a dark and treacherous character, the lines of the picture all leading up in violent action to one pale face in the centre the only face not distorted by rage or cunning radiant, tranquil, and loving The ever fixed mark Which looks on tempests and is never shaken. Van Dyck, however, painted another picture of this subject, an engraving of which exists, which contrasts painfully with that we have described also by torchlight. The incident of St. Peter and Malchus is an invariable accom- paniment of this subject; sometimes occupying too prominent a part in the foreground. The struggle between the two figures is not always so decorous as might be desired. The man is sometimes on his back, kicking the chief Apostle, like the evil one over- powered, though the comparison cannot be extended to rough Peter and the Archangel. There was, perhaps, a tradition in the loth century of the servant having carried a lantern, for from about that time it is always introduced and seen fallen with him to the ground. In a manuscript in the Brussels Library, executed for Jean de Berry, in honour of his wife Ursigne, where the rebus of Ours and Cygne is perpetually recurring, there is a miniature of the Betrayal, in which the prostrate servant is catching hold of the robe of Judas to save him : a touch of bitter satire, on the painter's part, on the blindness which could thus appeal to the sinking sinner, with the Ark of refuge standing by. In ivories of the 14th century the servant is sometimes seen with a club. THE BETRAYAL. 43 In these German series of etchings or woodcuts, and in pictures, especially of the Flemish school, the figure of the young man fleeing, and throwing off his garment before a pursuing soldier, is sometimes seen in the background. This figure is also given by Correggio. Tradition, fond of finding a name for every actor, however subordinate in these scenes, affixed that of St. John the Evangelist to the young man, and modern writers, including our own Jeremy Taylor, adopt this as a fact. But there seems no evidence to prove it, though the reasons advanced by St. Ambrose and St. Gregory in opposition, that St. John cannot be supposed to have worn a loose garment over his naked person, are not very conclusive. At all events, Art has not adhered to the letter of Scripture, for, except by Correggio, a tight-fitting under-garment is always given. By some, this figure was supposed to represent the keeper of the garden, who, roused from sleep by the outrage going on within its precincts, had taken flight. The Italian writers, adopting this conclusion, have named the fleeing figure rortolano. 44 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. CHRIST BROUGHT BEFORE ANNAS. Ital, Cristo avanti Anna. Fr. Jdsus devant Anne. THERE are few artists who have ventured to lift the veil which the Scriptures have spread over the incidents that befell our Lord be- tween the period of His betrayal and His appearance before the High Priest. It is too probable that the passage from G-ethsemane to the palace of the functionary was the scene of blasphemous out- rage towards the Lamb of God, for, as Jeremy Taylor says, i it is certain that His captors wanted no malice, and now no power, for the Lord had given Himself into their hands.' There were tra- ditions, too, of violence used by the ruder soldiers as they recrossed the little brook Cedron with their prey, a prophetic allusion to which is supposed to be found in the Psalm, 'He shall drink of the brook by the way.' It is, however, to the credit of Art seldom to have attempted to fill up this undescribed interval. It is true that among the bas-reliefs on early Christian sarcophagi, which give us, in repeated forms, the chief miracles and events of Christ's life, with the events from the Old Testament which typify them, there occurs on more than one occasion a figure led between two others, which has been sometimes interpreted as that of our Lord on His way to the tribunal, sometimes as St. Peter being taken before Herod. At all events, nothing more than the indication of the subject is given in such early Art. And the same may be said of Fra Angelico, who gives the time after Judas has disappeared, in the series now in the Accademia. But Fra Angelico ran no risk of shocking our feelings of reverence. His captors of our Lord, if not lambs, are very, gentle wolves, and the scene little more than a pious fiction. It is only the attempt at reality, which occurs at a later time, which is reprehensible. In this sense it appears in a work at the National Museum at Munich, consisting of fifty rude German miniatures in one frame, representing the whole life of our Lord, where He is shown falling under circumstances of violence in the brook itself. Holbein appears, however, to be the greatest CHRIST BROUGHT BEFORE ANNAS. 45 delinquent in this respect, having represented the passage of this stream in an engraving of which it is said that c his hand must have trembled while it gave form to an invention as novel as it was cruel, barbarous, and diabolical.' * Albert Diirer also has approached far too near this forbidden subject. In his series called the Little Passion, we see Annas, or Caiaphas, seated in the distance, while our Lord, in the foreground, is dragged along, evidently up steps, by His hair as well as by the rope ; His hands tied behind Him, His form bent double, His head hidden by His position and by the disordered hair, and with all the expression of a figure which will fall to the ground the next moment. To represent the sacred Person of our Lord succumbing beneath degrading treatment, is not endurable to a reverent eye, even in scenes which commemorate His known sufferings, and, on occasions where Scripture is silent, utterly unjustifiable. We can never too often impress upon our readers that Art is bound, as the very first condition of her service, to show respect to the Person of our Lord, by rendering its dignity paramount to -every outrage to which He subjected Himself. To endeavour to assume the position of a looker- on at the time, is the fallacy, as we have observed in the Introduc- tion, by which many an artist of no elevation of character has erred. Such a position, however true in the light of a fact then, has never been true in any light since. To us Christ, in every circumstance of His life, is the Lord of heaven and earth, and nothing less. To depict Him under the loftiest and benignest of forms, while in the act of being bruised, wounded, despised, and rejected, is the only mode of conveying that religious lesson which is meant to melt and humble the heart. It is only by the comparison of His sufferings with His divine nature, that the tremendous spectacle of His Cross and Passion can reach our perceptions. Associate these sufferings with a mean and degraded 'figure, or exaggerate them so as to hide all the character of Him who endures them, and they immediately lose their solemn effect on the mind. For where Christ is made but a suffering and persecuted man, humanity looks on with pity, sometimes with disgust, but never with humble and penitent awe. We may be sure that upon this very passage, our Lord, however outraged, still bore the impress of a power which could have sum- 1 Zani, vol. vii. p. 186. 46 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. moned twelve legions of angels to His rescue. And our great requirement from Art in the ensuing terrible scenes is, that she should always remind us of that great declaration in the 10th chapter of St. John : < ISTo man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.' The Gospels vary with all the unconsciousness of truth in the recital of our Lord's appearances before the various tribunals, but all agree in compressing the passage from Gethsemane into such words as these : ' And they led Jesus away to the High Priest ; ' or, < they that had hold of Him led Him away to Caiaphas ; ' l Then they took Him and led Him, and brought Him unto the High Priest's house.' Even the Old Testament, in its prophecies, gives the same decorous character to this part of the Passion : ' He was led as a lamb to the slaughter.' It is nowhere said that He was dragged there. And, finally, St. John, more circumstantially: ' Then the band of the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound Him, and led Him away to Annas first ; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the High Priest that same year.' St. John is the only Evangelist who mentions Annas. St. Luke, the only one who describes our Lord's appearance before Herod, and His two appear- ances before Pilate. St. John alone gives the incident of Caiaphas tearing his robe, and of the officer who struck Jesus in his presence. St. Matthew alone tells how Pilate's wife came to him and said, 6 Have thou nothing to do with that just man,' &c. ; and, also, the fact of Pilate's washing his hands. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all describe the outrage our Lord suffered at the hands of the Jewish council and of their servants when they blindfolded Him. Matthew, Mark, and John, that which He endured from the soldiers of the governor when they pressed the crown of thorns upon His head. St. Luke alone says that Jesus was mocked by Herod and his captains, who put upon Him < a gorgeous robe.' All the Evangelists relate that Pilate delivered Him to be scourged ; but St. John alone that Pilate brought Him forth to the people wearing the purple robe and the crown of thorns, and said, ' Behold the man.' These, therefore, are the scenes of which Art has to avail herself in representing incidents of such partial similitude as our Lord's five distinct appearances before authorities before Annas, Caia- CHRIST BROUGHT BEFORE ANNAS. 47 phas, Pilate, Herod, and Pilate again and His three different outrages, known in scholastic phraseology under the appellation of ' The Three Mockings,' successively by Caiaphas, by Herod, and before Pilate. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that confusion should have arisen, and that these various events should be misnamed and frequently shuffled into a wrong order of succession ; also, that few artists should have attempted the whole series at all. Duccio in this respect stands alone, and also in the nicety of discrimination, and in the carrying on of the same coun- tenances and characters, like as in the shifting scenes of a play, whence, doubtless, his ideas were derived. Duccio commences with Christ before Annas ; according to St. John's words, ' Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound Him, and led Him away to Annas first ' (xviii. 12, 13). The master has here introduced the incident of the servant raising his hand to strike the Lord, which properly belongs to the appearance of Christ before Caiaphas. But a slight ambiguity in the Scrip- ture narrative excuses this mistake, for the fact is related, and with it the mild remonstrance of Jesus that ensued ; and then St. John adds, ' Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas, the high priest* (v. 24). Strictly speaking, the scene before Annas has no identifying action for an artist's use, and is therefore scarcely ever delineated. 48 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS. 1 Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people ' (John xviii. 14). On this account Dante has placed him in hell, ' fixed to a cross with three stakes on the ground ' (Canto xxiii.) : That pierced spirit, whom intent Thou view'st, was he who gave the Pharisees Counsel, that it were fitting that one man Should suffer for the people. He doth lie Transverse ; nor any passes, but him first Behoves make feeling trial how each weighs. In straits like this along the foss are placed The father of his consort (Annas), and the rest Partakers in that counsel, seed of ill And sorrow to the Jews. This is usually the first tribunal rendered in Art, as most expres- sive of evil towards our Lord, Caiaphas having thus stirred up the people. It is finely treated by Duccio, who makes the High Priest tearing his robe the identifying action with a hypo- critical expression of horror, which is repeated by a number of hoary-headed Jews around and behind him. But a still finer con- ception of this scene is that by Giotto in the Arena Chapel, of which we give an illustration (No. 149). Here we see two func- tionaries occupying the seat of justice. This, doubtless, arose from the mention by St. Luke of Annas and his son-in-law, Caiaphas, as being High Priests conjointly ; which, however, applies to the appearance of John the Baptist, seven years earlier. There was, however, much early controversy as to whether Annas did not occupy the position of vicar, and continue to reside in the same palace. At all events, the idea of the conjoint high -priesthood is seen in Art as early as the llth century, when it appears on the brass doors of the cathedral at Benevento, 1 and in early miniatures, and was thence adopted by Giotto in his grand fresco. The moment here 1 Ciampini. CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS. 149 Christ before Caiaphas and Annas. (Giotto. Arena Chapel. ) chosen is when Caiaphas has adjured Christ by the living God to say whether He be the Son of God. To which Jesus answered in the affirmative, adding the prophecy that they shall see Him as the Son of man or, in His human figure sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then Caiaphas rends his clothes, and says, ' He hath spoken blasphemy ; what further need have we of witnesses ? ' Caiaphas, therefore, is tearing open his robe, and showing his bare chest, while an officer lifts his hand to strike Jesus with the palm. But the figure of Jesus Himself is the true test of a great master's power of conception. Here our Lord is neither meekly facing His accuser, nor looking at His smiter ; He is neither strong in innocence, angelic in forgiveness, nor, as the Northern schools too often made Him, borne down with degradation, but He is VOL. n. H 50 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. in the position of one erect, noble, and especially unconscious, who is looking beyond all earthly things, as He gazes into futurity and utters this prophecy. By these means Giotto has raised our Lord above the scene He is in it, but not of it ; and thus the closest ad- herence to Scripture has resulted in one of the loftiest conceptions of the scene that Art had rendered. Two moments are here combined, the action of Caiaphas and that of the officer, which other artists have separated. As regards the individual who committed the outrage of striking the Saviour, tradition which always busied itself in naming, connecting, and touching up all anonymous persons or unexplained incidents in Scripture has identified him with that Malchus, the servant of the High Priest, whose ear Jesus had just healed, thus transforming the man into a kind of minor Judas. The German artists in their series have, therefore, generally made this figure bearing the same lantern which invariably escapes from his hand at Peter's onslaught. Giotto, however, seems to have disdai ned this spurious interpretation, for the individual about to strike Christ is, by his dress, evidently an officer of some importance. The presence of the two false witnesses is also a distinguishing sign of the hall of the High Priest. This is seen in rude early forms, as on the bronze doors of S. Zeno at Verona, where the group is limited to a person on a throne, the figure of our Lord, and two men in speaking gestures. Rude as is this representation, it suffices to prove that the Art of the South, even at that undeveloped period, gave evidence of its elevation of feeling in one respect. Any violence towards the Person of our Lord was out of the power of an Art not sufficiently advanced to grapple with lively action. The stiff decorum of the scene, there- fore, does not go for much. But one point was left to their own feeling. The Scriptures, namely, say nothing of how Christ was bound, and in the freedom of choice thus left, the artists of the South preferred the more reverent mode of binding His bauds in front; many of those of the North, the greater degradation of pinioning His hands behind. 1 It is obvious, however, that this point was one of no light importance to an artist. The hands of Christ as He stands before these tribunals all bound as they 1 One probable cause ior this arrangement is that S. Buenaventura describes our Lord with His hands bound behind Him. English translation, p. 215. CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS. 51 are the touch of which was life, health, and spiritual blessing appeal to the feelings with a power only second to His countenance. There is another reason, too, for our seeing the hands, which is L50 Christ before Caiaphas. (Gaudenzio Ferrari.) that, in most early forms, the right hand, though bound, is still blessing as if that action flowed from Him by a humane necessity. With His hands tied behind Him, whether seated, standing, or dragged along, no man could well look dignified. This was an 52 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. instance where an artist could either give or deny himself the materials for maintaining the dignity of the principal figure. By the 16th century, even in Italy, and still earlier in the North, we find this tribute of reverence already sacrificed, and the pinioning the hands behind adopted. Gaudenzio Ferrari, in his Christ before Caiaphas (not before Herod, as the Italian commentators call it), has bound the hands of Christ behind Him. The sense, however, is exquisitely rendered, and sufficiently distinct from Giotto to warrant another illustration (No. 150). He concentrates the interest upon the incident of the blow. Here it is evidently a furious servant who has just dealt it, while our Lord turns to him with an expression of which nothing can exceed the angelic gentleness. THE MOCKING OF CHRIST. 53 THE MOCKING BEFORE CAIAPHAS, AND THE DENIAL OF OUR LORD BY PETER. Ital. Nostro Signore beffeggiato e schernito. Fr. Je"sus outrage* par les Juifs, et le Renieraent de St. Pierre. Germ. Die Verspottung Christi. THE first of the so-called Three Mockings follow in Holy Writ close after the declaration of the High Priest that our Lord had spoken blasphemy. Step by step the outrages of His captors increase in malice and cruelty. Having become their prey. He was now to be their sport, as, finally, their victim. There can be no doubt that Caiaphas, with the elders of the people, had departed from the hall, leaving our Lord, during the night, at the mercy of the soldiers and servants who had assisted at His betrayal. It was His character of a Prophet that at this time most wounded the pride of the Jews. It was but on the first day of that same week that the multitude had hailed Him with loud hosannas as the Prophet of Nazareth. On the same day Jesus had prophesied the destruction of the city, and denounced the chief Jews as the children of them who slew the prophets ; bidding them, in prophetic vision, to fill up the measure of their fathers' crimes. And now, those here present had just heard the seemingly helpless Prisoner in their hands declaring the glory that awaited Himself. This last act may be supposed to have given them the immediate cue to the kind of derision in which they were to take their wretched pastime. St. Mark tells the tale thus : ' And some began to spit on Him and to cover His face, and to buffet Him, and to say unto Him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike Him with the palms of their hands ' (xiv. 65). St. Luke says, l And the men that held Jesus mocked Him, and smote Him. And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked Him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote Thee?' (xxii. 63, 64). St. Matthew omits all mention of the blinding, though he implies it by narrating the same usage and taunts. St. John does not describe this mocking at all. In the earliest conceptions of this scene, found scattered in MSS., the artists seem to have preferred the omission of the blind- 54 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. ing, justified by St. Matthew's account, as leaving the divine countenance free, and thus aiding the simple idea of the lofty superiority of the Incarnate Word to the malice of His tormentors, who, on the classic principle, are made much smaller than Himself. Thus, also, that sense of the voluntary sacrifice is preserved, which is the chief truth required by the Christian spectator at the hands of Art. We give an instance (No. 151), from the initial letter E, heading an Exultet of the 13th century, in the collection of the ancient choral books in the ' Lyceo Musicale ' at Bologna. In other early versions Christ is seated as on a throne, with book and sceptre, in regal dignity, while His tor- mentors seem to ply their vile oc- cupation unheeded by Him. Such a conception is seen in one of the ancient silver-gilt plates preserved in the Treasury at Aix-la-Chapelle, and believed to be of the llth cen- tury (No. 152). 1 In all these early conceptions, the sense of reverence in the artist and of dignity in the Lord are the chief features. In later Art the scene is gene- rally given in an historical sense, as a part of a series, where the mind may be supposed to be in some measure prepared for so terrible a sight. We are not aware of any master having found pleasure in it as a separate theme. The scene is variously introduced : sometimes in the background of Christ's appearance before Caiaphas; sometimes in Caiaphas' pre- sence ; in other examples dividing the space with the Denial of the Saviour by Peter always in a large hall. The variety consists in the more or less exaggerated brutality of the mockers, who too often 1 Casts of these and of many remarkable ivories may be seen and purchased at Herr Leer's, 37 Stolk Gasse, Cologne. The Mocking of Christ. (Miniature. Bologna.) TEE MOCKING OF CHRIST. 55 152 The Mocking oi' Christ. (Silver-gilt plates. Cathedral, Aix-la-Chapelle.) transgress the needful decorum of Art. In the often-quoted ' Bible Historiee ' at Paris, among the various modes of insult and annoy- ance, a squirt is being used. Albert Diirer also gives a figure blowing a horn close to the Saviour's ear. Also the mode of covering our Lord's face is significant of time and school. The covering the whole face, according to St. Mark, may be considered the exception. This is generally seen in the ivories of the 14th century (woodcut, No 153), where a soldier on each side holds the ends of the cloth which conceals the divine face. But later Art vindicates her right to see as much of the face as possible ; accordingly, nothing more than a bandage is passed across the eyes. Even this was sometimes eluded, for occasionally the bandage is transparent, and the eyes are seen gazing i 33 The First MocJuug of chmt. through with a strange and linear thy effect, ( Ivor r- 14th century.) 56 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. as if piercing all obstacles by their divine power. Fra Angelico has imagined this supernatural appearance (woodcut, No. 154). He has given also to Christ the ball and sceptre of sovereignty, thus showing His abstract dignity in the midst of actual insults. For 154 The First Mocking of Christ. (Fra Angelico.) this is not to be taken as a confusion of this scene with that mock- ing where Christ is invested with the crown of thorns and the reed sceptre, but rather as an ideal setting forth of the opposite principles of Good and Evil. This last representation occurs in his series in the Accademia at Florence. The sentence in the 50th chapter of THE MOCKING OF CHRIST. 57 Isaiah, which so closely described these and following scenes of the Passion, and where it is said, ( Therefore have I set my face like a flint,' has been held to refer to this particular effect of our Lord's eyes, which are looking straight and steadfastly out, as if through and beyond all things. This mocking does not occur near so often, even in series, as that, which we shall soon approach, inflicted by Pilate's soldiers, and distinguished by the reed sceptre and the crown of thorns. And it is not to be wondered at if mistakes between the two have taken place. Nicoletto da Modena, for instance, in a well-known engraving cited by Bartsch, further confounds both mockings by representing the handkerchief as bound over the crown of thorns. The German engravers are distressingly rude in their conception of this scene. Albert Diirer gives our Lord sitting with His hands convulsively grasping each knee, as if wincing from a brutal servant who is dragging the divine head ignominiously on one side by the hair. There is, however, more story and satire in their plates. This latter quality is carried by Lucas van Leyden to the brink of the profane, for he makes a Jewish father directing the attention of his young child to Christ, thus maltreated, as a warning against doing likewise. The commentators differ as to whether the denial of Christ by Peter occurred before or after the mocking. By Matthew and Mark it is placed after that event ; by Luke, before it. .It must, how- ever, be believed to have taken place after the Apostle had witnessed a scene which tempted him the more to deny the knowledge of one thus set at nought. It is plain, also, that it did not occur during the mocking, as some have rather paradoxically suggested ; for St. Luke, who only mentions this pathetic incident, says that our Lord 6 turned and looked upon Peter.' His eyes, therefore, must have been at that time free from their bandage. The fact, too, that our Lord ' turned' to look upon His recusant disciple, implies that Peter had denied Him, where, perhaps, he thought that he was as little heard as seen. And thus the Denial is appropriately introduced into the same plate or picture, alternately as its foreground or background, with the First Mocking. Perfect accuracy of detail, however, is of course not to be looked for where the chief aim is to set forth the ideas of our Lord's suffering and of man's infirmity. VOL. II. I 58 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. 155 The Mocking of Christ before Caiaphas. (Duccio. ) Thus Duccio gives the Mocking with our Lord blindfolded before Caiaphas (woodcut, No. 155) ; while outside the hall and therefore interpretable as another and later moment are the highly expressive figures of the maidservant l and Peter, with the cock crowing above. Instances, nevertheless, occur of the confusion entailed by the quick succession of these various tribunals. We have seen the denial of Peter put in the background with the appearance of Christ before Annas. Peter's actual repentance is sometimes treated as a sepa- 1 It is curious to observe that even this nameless maidservant is not overlooked by the early writers in their close researches into the typical meaning of every fact in Scripture. Generally women are allowed the negative merit of not having personally participated in the crime of the Crucifixion. But St. Ambrose (4th century) quaintly says, ' What meaneth it that a maid is the first to betray Peter, save that that sex should be plainly implicated in our Lord's murder, in order that it might also be redeemed by His Passion '< ' THE MOCKING OF CHRIST. 59 rate picture ; the most remarkable instances are by Spagnoletto and Rembrandt. It is also seen in backgrounds, as in the Crowning with Thorns by Luini ; the Apostle kneeling in fervent prayer, and burying his head in his hands. Further information is found in Mrs. Jameson's ; Sacred and Legendary Art,' vol. i. p. 197. For the chief details of the life and death of Judas, the reader is referred to the same work by Mrs. Jameson (vol. i. p. 255). But a few more particulars applicable to this part of the history of our Lord may be inserted here. The repentance and death of the traitor is an episode that occurs, apparently, while our Lord was being led bound from the palace of Caiaphas to that of Pontius Pilate the governor. It is mentioned in the rapid course of events only by St. Matthew, who says that Judas, when he saw that He was condemned Caiaphas and the elders having openly asserted Him to be worthy of death i repented himself,' and returned the money to the chief priests, more as an act of restitution than because he thought he could thereby save the innocent blood. And as they cast his guilt back upon him, he threw down the money in the Temple, ' and went and hanged himself.' Another account is given by Peter in the first chapter of the Acts, who, speaking of Judas, ' which was guide to them that took Jesus,' says that 6 falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.' The truth is supposed to consist in the union of these two accounts the rope with which he sus- pended himself having broken, so that the fall became the actual cause of death. Certain generations of artists who executed the series of the Passion apparently by rote, do not seem to have reasoned much upon the words of Scripture. The figure of Judas, both hanging and with his bowels gushing out, and thus combin- ing the two forms of death, is almost an invariable feature in the ivory diptychs and tablets which compress into a small space the leading events of the Passion, as in our etching, vol. i. p. 23. In some of these ivories Judas, though thus dead, is repre- sented with his hand raised to the rope by which he hangs iv mode, perhaps, of instructing the spectator that it was his own act. On the Benevento doors the story is told with dramatic vehemence, for Satan is seen seated upon the shoulders of the pendent traitor, as if to weigh both soul and body down. In the 60 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. far-fetched logic of scholastic reasoning, this ' bursting asunder ' was interpreted as a particular judgment, viz., as preventing his last breath from being exhaled through the same lips that had betrayed his Lord. This idea also found expression at the hands of Art, of which we have seen an example in a book of drawings of the 14th century, in the Ambrogian Library at Milan. Here the demon is taking the soul of Judas, under the customary form of a little child, from the region of the bowels. Horrible as the subject is, there is something quaint and almost graceful in this drawing. A modern painter has conceived a new and striking moment in the short space between Judas's act of treachery and his death. This is given by A. Thomas, a Belgian painter. The time is the night. Two men have been fashioning the Cross by the light of a fire; one is asleep, the other engaged upon it. Judas, bag in hand, the moon shining behind him, comes suddenly on this scene, and is transfixed with horror. 1 1 Exhibited in the International Exhibition, 18G2. CHRIST BEFORE PILATE. 61 CHRIST BEFORE PILATE. Hal. Cristo avanti Pilato. Fr. Notre Seigneur devant Pilate. Germ. Christus vor Pilatus. ART now brings before us that Roman governor, who, in his ignorant, evil, and comparatively obscure life, little thought that his name was destined ever after to be preserved in connection with the sacrifice of the mysterious Prisoner who twice stood before him, who was ( conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, and suffered under Pontius Pilate.' We have already alluded to the apocryphal history of Pontius Pilate ; his real history is much shorter. He is known to have been very corrupt in his administration, and to have greatly oppressed the Jews. Christian Churches have differed much in the estimate of the part he played. The Coptic Church raised him to the dignity of a saint, and in the types which his acts and nation suggested, a favourable interpretation has, as we shall see, been given. Scripture thus introduces him: * When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.' These are the words of St. Matthew, and the substance of the account given of the same incident by the other Evangelists. The Jews, it appears, had either no power to put to death, without the order of the governor, or their customs did not allow it during the Paschal week. The accusation against the Prisoner varied accord- ing to the tribunal. Before Caiaphas, Christ had been charged with sorcery and blasphemy; before Pilate, and subsequently Herod, with treason to Caesar, in styling Himself a ' King.' It was Pilate who, not sorry to deride the hypocrites before him, seems first to have embodied the accusation in those ever-memor- able words, ' the King of the Jews,' which began with the inquiry of the Wise Men, and ended with the inscription on the Cross. 62 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. In the same spirit of derision, he asked our Lord the question : < Art Thou the King of the Jews ? ' to which He answered in an affirmative of which Christians understand the real import. But to all the accusations of the chief priests and elders, and to the further appeals of Pilate, He answered c to never a word,' so 6 that the governor marvelled greatly.' Hearing, then, that Christ was a Galilean, and glad to rid himself of a suit in which the accusers made a charge which he knew to be false, and yet which the accused mysteriously owned to be true, he sent Him to Herod, whose jurisdiction included the district of Galilee. 6 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him, and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him.' But here our Lord preserved the same course ; He made no answer to Herod's ' many questions,' nor to the vehement accusations of the chief priests and scribes. Tradition says that Herod believed our Lord, from His silence, to be devoid of understanding, which may, humanly speaking, account for his so far joining cause with the chief priests as to mock their Prisoner, arraying Him i in a gor- geous robe,' which the Greek Church interprets as ' a white robe,' this being an attribute of regal dignity, and, as commentators have not been slow to observe, of Innocence. Thus attired, Herod sent Him back to Pilate. This makes them agree ; But yet their friendship is my enmity. Was ever grief like mine ? Along this space of narrative, however touching, Art has left but few of her traces. The first interview with Pilate was, as we see, barren of all that action necessary to the Art whose first requisite is visible distinctness. It is, therefore, not admitted in the series of events on early bas-reliefs, or even on ivories, both requiring, in their simplicity of treatment and limit of space, a particular identifying action. One feature, however, there was, which may be gleaned in- directly, but with certainty, from Scripture, and which belongs to this first interview only. It appears that on our Lord's being first brought to the governor's palace the Jews refused to enter, ' lest CHRIST BEFORE PILATE. 63 they should be defiled; but that they might eat th