Opening the text

Sacred and legendary art, volume 1 (of 2): Containing legends of the angels and archangels, the evangelists, the Apostles, the doctors of the church, and St. Mary magdalene, as represented in the fine arts.Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)

Religion

Sacred and legendary art, volume 1 (of 2): Containing legends of the angels and archangels, the evangelists, the Apostles, the doctors of the church, and St. Mary magdalene, as represented in the fine arts.

Name: Sacred and legendary art, volume 1 (of 2): Containing legends of the angels and archangels, the evangelists, the Apostles, the doctors of the church, and St. Mary magdalene, as represented in the fine arts.
Author: Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)

Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)

Christian art and symbolism; Christian saints in art

It is owing, I suppose, to the intercourse of Venice with the East,
that one of her beautiful churches is dedicated to San Gian Grisostomo,
as they call him there, in accents as soft and sonorous as his own
Greek. Over the high altar is the grandest devotional picture in
which I have seen this saint figure as a chief personage. It is the
masterpiece of Sebastian del Piombo,[291] and represents St. John
Chrysostom throned and in the act of writing in a great book; behind
him, St. Paul. In front, to the right, stands St. John the Baptist, and
behind him St. George as patron of Venice; to the left Mary Magdalene,
with a beautiful Venetian face; behind her, St. Catherine, patroness of
Venice: close to St. J. Chrysostom stands St. Lucia holding her lamp;
she is here the type of celestial light or wisdom.[292] This picture
was for a long time attributed to Giorgione. There was also a very
fine majestic figure of this saint by Rubens, in the collection of M.
Schamp: he is in the habit of a Greek bishop; in one hand he holds the
sacramental cup, and the left hand rests on the Gospel: the celestial
dove hovers near him, and two angels are in attendance.

       *       *       *       *       *

I cannot quit the history of St. John Chrysostom without alluding
to a subject well known to collectors and amateurs, and popularly
called ‘_La Pénitence de St. Jean Chrysostome_.’ It represents a woman
undraped, seated in a cave, or wilderness, with an infant in her arms;
or lying on the ground with a new-born infant beside her; in the
distance is seen a man with a glory round his head, meagre, naked,
bearded, crawling on his hands and knees in the most abject attitude;
beneath, or at the top, is inscribed S. JOHANNES CRISOSTOMUS.

For a long time this subject perplexed me exceedingly, as I was quite
unable to trace it in any of the biographies of Chrysostom, ancient or
modern: the kindness of a friend, learned in all the _byways_ as well
as the _highways_ of Italian literature, at length assisted me to an
explanation.

[Illustration: 90 The Penance of St. Chrysostom (Albert Dürer)]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Religion

Sacred and legendary art, volume 1 (of 2): Containing legends of the angels and archangels, the evangelists, the Apostles, the doctors of the church, and St. Mary magdalene, as represented in the fine arts.

Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)

Christian art and symbolism; Christian saints in art

It is owing, I suppose, to the intercourse of Venice with the East,
that one of her beautiful churches is dedicated to San Gian Grisostomo,
as they call him there, in accents as soft and sonorous as his own
Greek. Over the high altar is the grandest devotional picture in
which I have seen this saint figure as a chief personage. It is the
masterpiece of Sebastian del Piombo,[291] and represents St. John
Chrysostom throned and in the act of writing in a great book; behind
him, St. Paul. In front, to the right, stands St. John the Baptist, and
behind him St. George as patron of Venice; to the left Mary Magdalene,
with a beautiful Venetian face; behind her, St. Catherine, patroness of
Venice: close to St. J. Chrysostom stands St. Lucia holding her lamp;
she is here the type of celestial light or wisdom.[292] This picture
was for a long time attributed to Giorgione. There was also a very
fine majestic figure of this saint by Rubens, in the collection of M.
Schamp: he is in the habit of a Greek bishop; in one hand he holds the
sacramental cup, and the left hand rests on the Gospel: the celestial
dove hovers near him, and two angels are in attendance.

       *       *       *       *       *

I cannot quit the history of St. John Chrysostom without alluding
to a subject well known to collectors and amateurs, and popularly
called ‘_La Pénitence de St. Jean Chrysostome_.’ It represents a woman
undraped, seated in a cave, or wilderness, with an infant in her arms;
or lying on the ground with a new-born infant beside her; in the
distance is seen a man with a glory round his head, meagre, naked,
bearded, crawling on his hands and knees in the most abject attitude;
beneath, or at the top, is inscribed S. JOHANNES CRISOSTOMUS.

For a long time this subject perplexed me exceedingly, as I was quite
unable to trace it in any of the biographies of Chrysostom, ancient or
modern: the kindness of a friend, learned in all the _byways_ as well
as the _highways_ of Italian literature, at length assisted me to an
explanation.

[Illustration: 90 The Penance of St. Chrysostom (Albert Dürer)]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Sacred and legendary art, volume 1 (of 2): Containing legends of the angels and archangels, the evangelists, the Apostles, the doctors of the church, and St. Mary magdalene, as represented in the fine arts.

Sacred and legendary art, volume 1 (of 2): Containing legends of the angels and archangels, the evangelists, the Apostles, the doctors of the church, and St. Mary magdalene, as represented in the fine arts.

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