The church in the catacombs : a description of the primitive church of Rome : illustrated by its sepulchral remains . itha heavy contracted countenance, destitute of youth-ful expression, excites no sympathy for the helplessoffspring of the Virgin : and the man of sorrows/a more usual object of representation, covered withtriangular splashes of blood, with a face indicativeof hopeless anguish, intense in expression, and notdeficient in execution, illustrates less the Redeemerslife than a dark page in the history of this school of art, which comes down almost tothe tenth or eleve
The church in the catacombs : a description of the primitive church of Rome : illustrated by its sepulchral remains . itha heavy contracted countenance, destitute of youth-ful expression, excites no sympathy for the helplessoffspring of the Virgin : and the man of sorrows/a more usual object of representation, covered withtriangular splashes of blood, with a face indicativeof hopeless anguish, intense in expression, and notdeficient in execution, illustrates less the Redeemerslife than a dark page in the history of this school of art, which comes down almost tothe tenth or eleventh century, the western worldadded sculpture, forbidden by the iconoclast zealof the East: but both divisions of Christendomunderwent the same fate: the sky of sacred art * Canon 3 166 THE SYMBOLS USED darkened, as the Saviours countenance, its propersun, shed a more disastrous light over its scenes ofwoe; till the last glimmering of Divine majestysuffered total eclipse from the exclusive display ofagonised humanity. The monogram of our Saviours name, rudelyexpressed in the annexed fac-simile, (Lap. Gall.). is composed of % and p, the first letters of preserve a vestige of this figure by writingXmas, and Xtian, which can only be explained bysupposing the first letter to stand for the Greek X,chi. The above inscription is to be read—Tasaris,in Christ the First and the Last. The alpha and omega, reversed in this epitaph,refer to the well-known passage in the Apocalypse:their continual use proves the general reception ofthat book as a part of the inspired canon. The a and w are mentioned by Tertullian, as wellas by Prudentius. From the ignorance of thesculptor, the entire symbol was sometimes inverted,as in the next. The circle is supposed to imply theeternity of Christ. IN THE CATACOMBS. IlDVs 167
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectchristianartandsymbolism
