Part 3 (2/2)
[Footnote 9: In _Endymion_. See also Lowell's _Endymion_ for a description of Diana.]
In our picture the moon G.o.ddess is mounting her car for the nightly course across the sky.[10] Though she seems to be but just springing to her place, with bending knee, she is already speeding on her way.
[Footnote 10: As Apollo drives the sun chariot across the sky by day.
Compare Guido Reni's Aurora.]
”How tremulous-dazzlingly the wheels sweep Around their axle.”
Her quiver, well filled with the bow and arrows, hangs at her back, held by the strap bound over her breast.[11] The crescent moon gleams above her brow. The vehicle is the small two-wheeled chariot used among the Romans, scarcely larger than a chair. Only the hind legs of the steeds may be seen, but we fancy them to be two white does.
[Footnote 11: It seems odd that with this full quiver the subject should be called by some ”Diana's Return from the Chase.”]
[Ill.u.s.tration: DIANA _Convent of S. Paolo, Parma_]
The huntress turns her face earthward, lifting a fluttering veil high in her left hand. It is as if the face of the moon had been hidden behind a cloud which the G.o.ddess suddenly draws aside and shows ”her fulgent head uncovered, dazzling the beholder's sight.” It is with a bright, cheerful countenance that she beams upon her wors.h.i.+ppers. A sense of courage and exhilaration is expressed in her spirited bearing. With her right hand she points forward, as if calling us to join in the sport. In the swiftness of her motion her unbound hair and filmy garments blow out behind her.
She is a country-bred maiden, with plump neck and round arms, and her chief charm is her buoyant vitality. Her open face, with eyes set rather far apart, is the index of her nature. Her free life in the woods has developed a well poised womanhood. Fear is unknown to her; pain and disease come not near her. Rejoicing in immortal youth and strength, she speeds nightly through the sky, the messenger of light and comfort.
As we have seen in the preceding chapter, the picture of Diana is painted in fresco on the chimney cap, or hood, over the great fireplace in the Hall of the Vine Trellis. We may well believe that the decoration went far towards furnis.h.i.+ng the stately apartment.
Underneath runs the Latin inscription, ”_Ignem gladio ne fodias_,”
stir not the fire with the sword.
It will be remembered that the arms of the abbess, for whom the room was decorated, bore the device of the crescent moon. This fact may have suggested to Correggio, or his patrons, the subject of the moon G.o.ddess. Diana, as a virgin divinity, was an especially appropriate choice for the apartment of a nun.
The legends of Greek mythology were at that time very popular among people of culture, having been recently brought to notice in the revival of cla.s.sic learning. In Italy they furnished themes for the painter; in England, for the poet. The English Ben Jonson, living a half a century later than Correggio,[12] but representing in a certain measure the same love of cla.s.sic allusion, wrote a ”Hymn to Diana,”
which might have been inspired by this picture. The first stanza may be quoted for its interpretation:--
”Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, Now the sun is laid to sleep, Seated in thy silver chair, State in wonted manner keep.
Hesperus entreats thy light, G.o.ddess excellently bright.”
[Footnote 12: That is, from 1573 to 1637.]
VI
ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST
It seemed understood among the twelve disciples of Jesus that John was the one of their number especially beloved by the Master. He and his brother, James, were the sons of the fisherman Zebedee, and all three men earned their living in their fis.h.i.+ng-boats on the sea of Galilee.
It was while they were busy with their nets that Jesus one day called the two brothers to be fishers of men. ”And they straightway left their nets and followed him.”[13]
[Footnote 13: St. Matthew, chapter iv., verse 20.]
Under the teachings of Jesus, John grew in knowledge of spiritual things. He was one of the three accompanying their Master to the Mount of Transfiguration, where they witnessed a sacred scene withheld from the others. His nature was affectionate and poetic, and he was a deep thinker. Often when the meaning of Jesus' words was beyond his hearers, John treasured the sayings in his memory. On the evening when Jesus sat at table with his disciples for the last time, John was near him, leaning on his Master's breast. When, on the next day, Jesus hung upon the cross, it was John to whom he commended his mother as to a son. ”And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”
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