The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 4

Title: Christ in Glory
Artist: Unknown
Medium: Tempera on parchment  
Size: tbd.
Date: 17th-century
Location: British Library, London.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me four calling birds...

Four Calling birds represent the Four Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke & John. This image, from an illuminated manuscript held at the British Library, London, is of the Christ in Glory, surrounded by traditional images depicting the Four Evangelists. Matthew, the author of the first gospel account is symbolized by a winged man, or angel. Mark, author of the second gospel account is symbolized by a winged lion – a figure of courage and monarchy. Luke, author of the third gospel account (and the Acts of the Apostles) is symbolized by a winged ox or bull – a figure of sacrifice, service and strength. John the Evangelist, author of the fourth gospel is symbolized by an eagle – a figure of the sky, and believed to be able to look straight into the sun.

TWENTY SAINTS IN TWENTY DAYS: PART 7 – ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST

Title: St John the Evangelist
Artist: El Greco
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 90 x 77 cm
Date: 1595-1604
Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid.

TWENTY SAINTS IN TWENTY DAYS: PART 7 – ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST

The Apostle St John the Evangelist was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the brother of James the Greater. Originally they were fishermen, and fished with their father in the Lake of Genesareth. In the Gospels the two brothers are often called after their father "the sons of Zebedee", and received from Christ the honorable title of Boanerges, "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17). John is the presumed author of the fourth gospel and, by tradition, the Beloved Disciple of that book, as well as the author of the Apocalypse, although scholarship does question at least some of these connections. One of the first to be called to follow Christ, he also witnesses with Peter and James the raising of Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:37), the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), and the Agony in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37). Only he and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for the Last Supper (Luke 22:8).

There is an analogous version of this painting in the Cathedral of Toledo, which is part of a series of the twelve Apostles called Apostolados. It is assumed by some scholars that this painting also belonged to a similar series. The saint’s attributes are a book or scroll, in allusion to his writings, an eagle which may hold a pen or inkhorn in its beak, or, as in this example, a chalice from which a snake emerges. This imagery commemorates the testimony that once, while at Ephesus, John was given a cup of poisoned wine to drink. Before drinking, he blessed the cup and the poison departed the cup in the form of a serpent.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541 – April 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. Today considered one of the greatest artists of the Spanish school, El Greco was born in Crete, a Greek island then under Venetian control. Little is known of his youth, though El Greco's early works demonstrate that he worked within the conservative tradition of Byzantine icon painting before exposure to Venetian High Renaissance art broadened his stylistic approach. His workshop turned out a great many replicas of his paintings, but his work was so personal that his influence was slight, his only followers of note being his son Jorge Manuel Theotokopoulos and Luis Tristan. The strangeness of his art has inspired various theories, for example that he was mad or suffered from astigmatism, but his rapturous paintings make complete sense as an expression of the religious fervor of his adopted country. Interest in his art revived at the end of the 19th century and with the development of Expressionism in the 20th century he came into his own.

Crucifixion

Title: Crucifixion
Artist: Andrea da Firenze
Medium: Tempera on wood
Size: 33 x 22 cm
Date: 1377
Location: Pinacoteca, Vatican

As Jesus hung near death on the cross he was aware that he had finished his work. He exclaimed “Everything is done!” then bowed his head and died. In order to ensure he was truly dead, as described in John 19:30: “One of the soldiers with a spear did pierce his side, and immediately there came forth blood and water.”

In the centre of the small panel Christ hangs on the cross, his head slumped onto his right shoulder showing the marks from the crown of thorns. Blood oozes from his wounds, and spurts from the gash caused by the spear. Mary stands to the left, her hands joined in a mournful gesture, gazing at her son. Saint John the Evangelist is at the right, his hands joined in front of his chest, looking toward Christ with sorrow and disbelief. A Dominican friar kneels at the foot of the cross, embracing it, while two angels at either side of the cross also mourn.

Andrea da Firenze was a Florentine painter about who little is known. The earliest paintings that can be attributed to him suggest that he must have formed a close association with the workshop of Andrea di Cione. Da Firenze is remembered mainly for his frescoes in the Spanish Chapel of Sta Maria Novella, Florence. He last recorded in 1377 working on frescoes of the Life of St Raynerius in the Campo Santo at Pisa.