such a look, such features, he would have been cast out from the company of the apostles; the legend already referred to says expressly that Judas was of a comely appearance, and was recommended to the service of Pontius Pilate by his beauty of person: but the painters, speaking to the people in the language of form, were right to admit of no equivocation. The same feeling which induced them to concentrate on the image of the Demon all they could conceive of hideous and repulsive, made them picture the exterior of Judas as deformed and hateful as the soul within; and by an exaggeration of the Jewish cast of features combined with red hair and beard, they flattered themselves that they had attained the desired object. But as if this were not enough, the ancient painters, particularly in the old illuminations, and in Byzantine art, represent Judas as directly and literally possessed by the Devil; sometimes it is a little black demon seated on his shoulder, and whispering in his ear; sometimes entering his mouth: thus, in their simplicity, rendering the words of the gospel, "Then entered Satan into Judas."

The colour proper to the dress of Judas is a dirty dingy yellow; and in Spain this colour is so intimately associated with the image of the arch-traitor, as to be held in universal dislike: both in Spain and in Italy, malefactors and galleyslaves are clothed in yellow. At Venice the Jews were obliged to wear yellow hats.

In some of the scriptural scenes in which Judas is mentioned or supposed to be present, it is worth while to remark whether the painter has passed him over as spoiling the harmony of the sacred composition by his intrusive ugliness

See Ford's Handbook of Spain, also Goethe's "Theory of Colours," translated by Mr. Eastlake. "When a yellow colour is communicated to dull and coarse surfaces, such as common cloth, felt, or the like, on which it does not appear with full energy, the disagreeable effect alluded to is apparent. By a slight and scarcely perceptible change, the beautiful impression of fire and gold is transformed into one not undeserving the epithet foul, and the colour of honour and joy reversed to that of ignominy and aversion. To this impression, the yellow hats of bankrupts, and the yellow circles on the mantles of Jews, may have owed their origin." p. 308.

Fl. Gal.

and wickedness, or has rendered him conspicuous by a distinct and characteristic treatment. In a picture by Nicolò Frumenti, of the Magdalen at the feet of our Saviour, Judas stands in the foreground looking on with a most diabolical expression of grudging malice mingled with scorn; he seems to grind his teeth as he says, "To what purpose is this waste?" In Perugino's most beautiful picture of the washing Manfrini P. the feet of the disciples, Judas is at once distinguished, looking askance with a wicked sneer on his face, which is not otherwise ugly. In Raphael's composition, of the Magdalen anointing the feet of Christ, Judas leans across the table with an angry look of expostulation.

Those subjects in which Judas Iscariot appears as a principal personage follow here.

1. He is bribed by the Jews. The high-priest pays into the hand of Judas the thirty pieces of silver. They are standing before a doorway on some steps; Judas is seen in profile, and has the nimbus as one of the apostles: three persons are behind, one of whom expresses disapprobation and anxiety. In this subject, and in others wherein Judas is introduced, Angelico has not given him ugly and deformed features; but in the scowling eye and bent brow there is a vicious expression.

Venice.

Angelico da

Fiesole.

Fl. Acad.

Siena.

In Duccio's series of the "Passion of our Saviour," he has, in this and in other scenes, represented Judas with regular Duomo and not ugly features; but he has a villanous, and at the same time, anxious expression; - he has a bad conscience.

The scene between Judas and the high-priest is also given by Schalken as a candle-light effect, and in the genuine Dutch style.

2. "Judas betrays his Master with a kiss." This subject will be noticed at large in the Life of Christ. The early Italians, in giving this scene with much dramatic power, never forget the scriptural dignity required; while the early Germans, in their endeavour to render Judas as odious in physiognomy as in heart, have in this, as in many other instances, rendered

the awful and the pathetic merely grotesque. We must infer from Scripture, that Judas, with all his perversity, had a conscience; he would not else have hanged himself. In the physiognomy given to him by the old Germans, there is no trace of this; he is an ugly malignant brute, and nothing more.

3. "Judas throws down the thirty pieces of silver in the Temple, and departs." The composition by Rembrandt is full Vliet, 1634. of gloomy expression.

Eng.

Frankfort
Mus.

Bib. du Roi.

4. "The remorse of Judas." He is seated, and in the act of putting the rope about his neck; beside him is seen the purse and the money scattered about the ground. The design is by Bloemart, and, from the Latin inscription underneath, appears to be intended as a warning to all unrighteous dealers.

5. Judas hanging on a tree is sometimes introduced into the background, in ancient pictures of the Deposition and the Entombment.

6. Demons toss the soul of Judas from hand to hand in MS. No. 7206. the manner of a ball: in an old French miniature. This is sufficiently grotesque in representation; yet, in the idea, there is a restless, giddy horror which thrills us. At all events, it is better than placing Judas between the jaws of Satan with his legs in the air, as Dante has done, and as Orcagna in his Dantesque fresco has very literally rendered the description of the poet.1

Florence.

S. Maria
Novella.

It is clear that the extravagant legends which refer to Judas Iscariot were the inventions of the middle ages, and are as little countenanced by the writings of the early fathers as by the Gospels. Eusebius says, that "Christ gave like gifts to Judas with the other apostles; that once our Saviour had good hopes of him on account of the power of the free will, for Judas was not of such a nature as rendered his salvation impossible; like the other apostles, he might have been instructed by the Son of God, and might have been a sincere and good disciple." Quoted in Lardner, vol. viii. p. 77.

THE LAST SUPPER.

Ital. Il Cenacolo. La Cena. Fr. La Cène. Ger. Das Abendmal

Christi.

I HAVE already mentioned the principal scenes in which the Twelve always appear together; there is, however, one event belonging properly to the life of Christ, so important in itself, presenting the apostles under an aspect so peculiar, and throwing so much interest around them collectively and individually, that I must bring it under notice here.

Next to the Crucifixion, there is no subject taken from the history of our redemption so consecrated in art as the Last Supper. The awful signification lent to it by Protestants as well as Catholics, has given it a deep religious import, and caused its frequent representation in churches; it has been, more particularly, the appropriate decoration of the refectories of convents, hospitals, and other institutions having a sacred character. In our Protestant churches, it is generally the subject of the altar-piece, where we have one.

Besides being one of the most important and interesting, it is one of the most difficult among the sacred subjects treated in art. While the fixed number of personages introduced, the divine and paramount dignity of One among them, the wellknown character of all, have limited the invention of the artist, they have tasked to the utmost his power of expression. The occasion, that of a repast eaten by twelve persons, is, under its material aspect, so commonplace, and, taken in the spiritual sense, so awful, that to elevate himself to the height of his theme, while keeping the ideal conscientiously bounded within its frame of circumstance, demanded in the artist aspirations of the grandest order, tempered by the utmost sobriety of reflection; and the deepest insight into the springs of character, combined with the most perfect knowledge of the in

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dications of character as manifested through form. On the other hand, if it has been difficult to succeed, it has been equally difficult to fail signally and completely; because the spectator is not here, as in the crucifixion, in danger of being perpetually shocked by the intrusion of anomalous incidents, and is always ready to supply the dignity and meaning of a scene so familiar in itself, out of his own mind and heart; It has followed, that mediocrity has been more prevalent and more endurable in this, than in any other of the more serious subjects of art. But where excellence has been in some few instances attained, it has been attained in such a supreme degree, that these examples have become a perpetual source of contemplation and of emulation, and rank among the most renowned productions of human genius.

But before I come to consider these analytically, it is necessary to premise one or two observations, which will assist as to discrimination in the general treatment.

Pictures and works of art, which represent the Last Supper of our Lord, admit of the same classification which I have adhered to generally throughout this work. Those which represent it as a religious mystery must be considered as devotional, those which represent it merely as a scene in the passion of our Saviour are historical. In the first, we have the spiritual origin of the Eucharist; in the second, the highly dramatic detection of Judas. It is evident that the predominating motif in each must be widely different. In paintings which are intended for the altar, or for the chapels of the Holy Sacrament, we have the first, the mystical version; it is the distribution of the spiritual food. In the second form, as the Last Supper eaten by Christ with his disciples, as leading the mind to an humble and grateful sense of his sacrifice, as repressing all sinful indulgence in food, it has been the subject chosen to decorate the refectory or common dining-room of convents.

It is curious that on the Christian sarcophagi the Last Supper does not occur. There is, in the Vatican, a rude