. The Open court. scover thesixth finger an the popes hand,.and yet it is plainly visible to everyone who takes the trouble to look for it. The same is true of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, who ac-cording to the reports of the New Testament receives his instructionsin dreams. He accordingly is a typical example of a person who inall his walks of life is guided by divine commands tendered to himthrough dreams. He therefore is represented with six toes. If we look at Raphaels magnificent painting of the marriage ofthe Virgin to Joseph we notice that the grooms foot is left bare,which incident
. The Open court. scover thesixth finger an the popes hand,.and yet it is plainly visible to everyone who takes the trouble to look for it. The same is true of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, who ac-cording to the reports of the New Testament receives his instructionsin dreams. He accordingly is a typical example of a person who inall his walks of life is guided by divine commands tendered to himthrough dreams. He therefore is represented with six toes. If we look at Raphaels magnificent painting of the marriage ofthe Virgin to Joseph we notice that the grooms foot is left bare,which incident however is not fortuitous but ofifers the artist anopportunity to show that Joseph was a man possessed of the sixthsense, the faculty of dreams. Here again Raphael has shown his artistic taste by rendering 592 THE OPEN COURT. the sixth toe so inconspicuous that it is scarcely noticeable, andonly through a minute scrutiny are we able to verify the facts. In this connection we will sav that Mrs. Lucy MacDowell Mil-. THE SISTINE Raphael. burn, who has lectured in on Christian and Greek Art,especially on the life of the Madonna, interprets the peculiarity of THE SIXTH 593 the sixth finger as an endowment belonging to a ruler (jf the Churchfor the purpose of guidance. Pope Sixtus received the faculty ofdreams for the sake of j^ointing out with his hand the right way.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
