Monuments of the early church . II bols of baptism and of the Eucharist are represented. In thethird chamber is represented Christs miracle, the multiplica-tion of the loaves andfishes (Fig. 71), and tothe left of it the feed-ing of the multitude, atheme which was thor-oughly conventionalizedin early Christian the whole multitudecould not be pictured,it sufficed to representseven men seated at atable upon which wereplaced the loaves andfishes, and about whichwere arranged the sevenbaskets. The same scenewas depicted in the firstchamber. In both thesecases, and in all otherswhere this su
Monuments of the early church . II bols of baptism and of the Eucharist are represented. In thethird chamber is represented Christs miracle, the multiplica-tion of the loaves andfishes (Fig. 71), and tothe left of it the feed-ing of the multitude, atheme which was thor-oughly conventionalizedin early Christian the whole multitudecould not be pictured,it sufficed to representseven men seated at atable upon which wereplaced the loaves andfishes, and about whichwere arranged the sevenbaskets. The same scenewas depicted in the firstchamber. In both thesecases, and in all otherswhere this subject isrepresented, the men areclad in tunics. But inthe second c h a m. b e r,with but slight changeof treatment, a differentsubject was represented,the meal of the sevendisciples at the sea ofTiberias, when after hisresurrection the Lordmet them and put beforethem bread and fish. Inthis representation () the seven baskets arenaturally omitted, andthe disciples, as fisher-men, are depicted may be that the num-. PAINTING—The Eucharistic Banquet 227 ber of the disciples on this occasion accounts for the appear-ance of just seven figures in all similar representations ofbanquets. In this illustration, alongside of the fishermen attable, there is represented the apostolic fisherman drawing afish out of the mystic water w^iich Moses strikes from the this way the symbol of baptism is brought into connectionwith the symbol of the Eucharist. In the same chamber thebaptism of a disciple is expressly represented; in the thirdchamber we have the baptism of Christ in the Jordan, and outof the w^ater thus sanctified by Clirist, the fisherman is repre-sented drawing his fish. It is here possible only to allude to another banquet whichwas employed as a symbol of the Eucharist, namely the wed-ding feast at Cana where Christ turned the water into symbol is a very obvious one. It is to be presumed that the artist who decorated thesechambers was acquainted with
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectchristi, bookyear1901
