Evangelist portrait
Evangelist portraits are a specific type of
Author portraits
They originate in the classical secular tradition of the author portrait, which was often the only illustration in a classical manuscript, also used as a
Evangelists' symbols
The traditional symbols of the Evangelists were often included in the images, or especially in the Insular tradition, either given their own additional images on a separate page, or used instead of an evangelist portrait. The symbols are: the Lion of Mark, the Eagle of John, the Ox or Calf of Luke and the Angel or Man of Matthew. Often all are shown with wings, as in the familiar winged lion used in the coat of arms of Venice, whose patron saint was Mark. Sometimes, as in the example from Lorsch, the symbols are shown dictating the text to the evangelist.
The symbols of the four evangelists are derived from a vision in the book of the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel of four living creatures in the form of men, but each with four faces:
"As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man in front; the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle at the back." (Ezek. 1:10)
Christian iconographic tradition came to associate the man with Saint Matthew, the lion with Saint Mark, the ox with Saint Luke, and the eagle with Saint John.
Depictions and other media
Early Gospel Books often had a very elaborate and costly treasure binding or cover in metalwork, often with jewels and ivories. These most often featured a central panel with Christ in Majesty, often including the Evangelists and/or their symbols in the corners. Versions of the same composition appear in all media used for Early Medieval religious art, including wall paintings. The Tassilo Chalice is an 8th-century example of pure metalwork with five oval medallion portraits of Christ and the Evangelists (with symbols) round the cup.
Insular variants and decline
The early artists of the Insular period often show evangelists from the front who appear to be standing, although a chair is drawn behind them; the human figure was not a focus of interest or skill for these artists. Later Insular depictions seem to show figures without chairs, who are standing. Most of Europe continued to use the seated model however, usually seen in a three-quarters on view, and usually with a cushion behind. Sometimes all four evangelists were combined on a page, sometimes around a Christ in Majesty. Standing portraits were usual, however, for wall and later panel paintings (and in the Tree of Jesse composition) with the Evangelists often treated as, and mixed with, other saints.
The Gospel book as a medium for heavily illustrated manuscripts declined in the West from the Romanesque period, and with it the use of the Evangelist portrait. In the
Gallery
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One of three author portraits in the Vienna Dioscurides of the 1st-century physician author. He is painting a plant held by its personification. Early 6th-century Byzantine.
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Group author portrait of distinguished physicians from the Vienna Dioscurides. Presumably collated from individual portraits in their works. Only Galen has a chair.
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Among the earliest surviving evangelist portrait, in the Rossano Gospels, Mark writing on a scroll, 6th century. Written under Byzantine rule in Italy (the mark above his shoulders is a stain).
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Portrait of the Evangelist Mark from theEthiopic Garima Gospels, carbon dated to the 5th or early 6th century. Written in Axum, Ethiopia, following Late Antique Egyptian models.
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Luke in theChronography of 354.
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Imago Leonis - the Lion of Mark from the Echternach Gospels which show no portraits, only the symbols. Insular c. 690.
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John,pocket gospel books, with the portraits as the only whole page illumination.
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Matthew; Anglo-Saxon 8th century, combining many classical details, such as the curtains, withinterlace decoration on the chair. Stockholm Codex Aureus
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Ebbo Gospels, 9th century, Matthew
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Luke, Fulda School, c. 840
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Four evangelists and prophets surround Christ. c. 850 by Haregarius of Tours.
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A much rarer author portrait ofSt Paul9th century, follows similar conventions.
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Luke, Byzantine, 10th century, British Library. The side-table with writing materials is much more typical of the Orthodox world.
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Origen; The dolphin-shaped lectern stem, still understood in Byzantine examples, has metamorphosed into a kind of dragon in northern Europe
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Spassky Gospels, Yaroslavl, 1220s. Compare the arch and curtains with the Chrongraphy of 354; their function now seems lost in this double portrait, whose artist is also unclear how a scroll functions.
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The Angel of Matthew, Andrei Rublev's only known miniature, from the Khitrovo Gospels, c. 1400, containing full-page evangelist portraits and the first Russian full-page symbols.
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John, from the Cutbercht Gospels (8th century)
Notes
- ^ The portrait of Mark in the Lindisfarne Gospels seems taken directly from the single portrait, usually thought to be of Ezra, in the Codex Amiatinus.
References
- Calkins, Robert G. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983.
- Nordenfalk, Carl. Cetic and Anglo-Saxon Painting: Book illumination in the British Isles 600-800. New York: George Braziller, 1977.
- Otto Pächt, Book Illumination in the Middle Ages (trans fr German), 1986, Harvey Miller Publishers, London, ISBN 0-19-921060-8