According to the usual interpretation, the word _they_, in the first verse, does not signify the Apostles merely, but, with them, ‘the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren:’ hence in so many representations of this subject the Virgin is not only present, but a principal person: Mary Magdalene and others are also frequently introduced. 1. The most striking example I have yet met with is the grand mosaic in the principal dome of St. Mark’s at Venice. In the apex of the dome is seen the Celestial Dove in a glory of light; rays proceed from the centre on every side, and fall on the heads of the Virgin and the Twelve Apostles, seated in a circle. Lower down is a series of twelve figures standing all round the dome: ‘Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, the dwellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Cretes and Arabians,’—each nation represented by one person, and all in strange dresses, and looking up with amazement. 2. The Twelve Apostles and the Virgin are seen above seated in an enclosure; tongues of fire descend from heaven; beneath is a closed door, at which several persons in strange foreign dresses, with turbans, &c., are listening with amazement. One of these is in the Chinese costume,—a curious circumstance, considering the age of the picture, and which could have occurred at that date nowhere but at Venice.[152] 3. In the interior of a temple, sustained by slender pillars, the Twelve Apostles are seated in a circle, and in the midst the Virgin, tongues of fire on each head. Here the Virgin is the principal person.[153] 4. An interior, the Twelve Apostles seated in a circle; above them, the Celestial Dove in a glory, and from his beak proceed twelve tongues of flame; underneath, in a small arch, is the prophet Joel, as an old man crowned with a kingly crown and holding twelve rolls or scrolls, indicating the Gospel in so many different languages. The allusion is to the words of Joel, ii. 28: ‘And I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.’[154] This is the Greek formula, and it is curious that it should have been closely followed by Pinturicchio;—thus: 5. In a rich landscape, with cypresses, palm-trees, and birds, the Virgin is seen kneeling; St. Peter on the right, and James Minor on the left, also kneeling; five other Apostles on each side. The Celestial Dove, with outspread wings, descends in a glory surrounded by fifteen cherubim: there are no tongues of fire. The prophet Joel is seen above, with the inscription, ‘_Effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem carnem_.’[155] 6. The Virgin and the Apostles seated; flames of fire stand on their heads; the Holy Ghost appears above in a glory of light, from which rays are poured on every side. Mary Magdalene, and another Mary, are present behind; astonishment is the prevailing expression in every face, except in the Virgin and St. Peter. The composition is attributed to Raphael.[156] * * * * *