The earliest of all is in the CapeUa Greca in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla, and belongs to the beginning of the 2nd cent., where three Magi approach the Mother and Child with their offerings : this subject was a verv common one. fifteen instances being mentioned by Wilpert in the Catacombs, and it continued
another fresco (of the first half of the 2nd cent.), representing the Virgin andChild sitting, whilea figure (the prophet Isaiah) points to a star. The pictu Virgin and Child in this well-known fresco is \ ' recalling in suteliness and gr.ace as well as in design Raphael's treatment of the subject : nothing could be more unlike the hieratic stiffness of the intervening Bvzantine and Gothic types. The figure of the Child is naked in this instance, though in some it is draped ; but in all, the treatment is that which we
to cent, fresco in the sa oralis (representing a bishop on one side s:
deacon, and in the act of dedicating _ ...„ ^ ^
figure on the other side of the picture, wiiich is that of w..^ Virgin Mary holding the Child Christ in her lap. There is also one instance of the Child lying alone in a manger (now much decayed)given by de Rossi. To carrv the subject a step further, the important 6th cent, mosaics of St. -Apollinare Nuove at Ravenna must be mentioned: along one wall of the nave a pro- cession of male martyrs approaches Christ enthroned between
the Rena
catacomb has the figure of a female ^ , the midst, while a cathedra, accompanied by his '"' 'rgin; he points
ngels; the Vir;,'ii, - I i i
contains the cro^^, ■., , i , ,i - ... • ■ ;
type that endured t : - ; , ni , i ;:.,!.,;,.-
remarkable that (whil- {':- :,. -> mi rii.- .!,riir-[j. ', i..j,i;-l ..-i the other wall is approached direoth) the proi-essinii of li m.il.- martyrs is led by the Magi, and thus the conmion tradition is still preserved by which the Mother and Child appear as part of this Gospel scene. This may be taken as a transitional in- stance, leading on to the later manner of representing the Virgin and Child, which has been the chief theme of Christian art since that age, and the occasion of so manv masterpieces, from Cimabue, Giotto, Filippino Lippi, Botticelli', Delia Robbia. and the great company of Christian sculptors, Raphael, Michael Angelo, Murillo, and countless others down to our own time.
In the 2nd and 3rd cent, frescoes of the Cata- combs the adult figure of Christ appears in many pictures of Gospel events ; and it is remarkable that there is in the Catacomb of St. Pretestato a scene from the Passion which is almost as early as the first Virgin and Child,— viz. of the first lialf of the 2nd cent., — and yet occurs once only: the Croiening with Thorns is the subject represented, and other scenes from the Passion may have occu- pied the now vacant si)aces which form part of the scheme; yet no other picture of any Holy
Week event occurs in the Catacombs. It is re- markable also that the subject most referred to by indirect type — the Resurrection of our Lord — is never once illustrated until the 4th cent. ; while the iigure of Christ raising Lazarus appears as early as the beginning of the 2nd cent., and occurs in no less than 53 e.xtant examples. It must always be borne in mind that the Catacombs were not, as is popularly supposed, the ordinary churches or hiding- placesof the Christians, but were designed and used for burials and services in con- nexion with the departed, and their art is entirely confined to subjects within this purpose. Thus, the Gospel events are all chosen with reference to two themes— the deliverance and blessedness of the departed, and the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, which were closely bound up with the thought of the faithful departed, as is shown by the reference to baptism m 1 Co 15^, and by the many chapels for and pictures of the Eucharist in the Catacombs. Thus, the Raising of Lazarus, the scenes of Healing, the Conversa- tion about the Living Water with the Samaritan woman (as well as the pictures in which our Lord does not appear, such as Jonah and Daniel), all refer to deliverance from the powers of death ; while the Baptism of Christ, tlie Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and the Miracle at Cana, are chosen for their reference to the Sacraments. There is a good deal of convention in the treat- ment of these subjects — e.g. Lazarus is represented as a muiinny erect in a classical doorway, wliile Christ — youthful and beardless— touches him with a rod. The same scenes are carried on in the sculptures of the sarcophagi — Lazarus, the Mir- acles of Healing, of the Loaves, of Cana, the Epiphany, as well as the Good Shepherd ; while in the 4th cent, sarcophagi are found the Entry into Jerusalem, and Christ before Pilate ; the limited funereal cycle of subjects is widened out, and in the 5th cent, ivories and the carved doors of St. Sabina there are added Christ Preaching, the Agony in the Garden, the Betrayal, Christ bearing His Cross, Christ and St. Thomas, the Resurrection, and the Ascension.