VIII. THE REQUIEM 283

of entrance into the church, with St. John the Evangelist, and end with St. Mark-the order of all being as follows:-

St. John the Evangelist baptizes inEphesus.

St. JamesJudæa.

St. PhilipPhrygia.

St. MatthewEthiopia.

St. SimonEgypt.

St. ThomasIndia.

St. AndrewAchaia.

St. PeterRome.

St. Bartholomew (legend indecipherable).*

St. ThaddeusMesopotamia.

St. MatthiasPalestine.

St. MarkAlexandria.

Over the door is Herod’s feast. Herodias’ daughter dances with St. John Baptist’s head in the charger, on her head,-simply the translation of any Greek maid on a Greek vase, bearing a pitcher of water on her head.

I am not sure, but I believe the picture is meant to represent the two separate times of Herod’s dealing with St. John; and that the figure at the end of the table is in the former time, St. John saying to him, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.”¹

95. Pass on now into the farther chapel under the darker dome.

Darker, and very dark;-to my old eyes, scarcely decipherable; to yours, if young and bright, it should be beautiful, for it is indeed the origin of all those golden-domed backgrounds of Bellini, and Cima, and Carpaccio; itself a Greek vase,² but with new Gods. That ten-winged cherub

* Quære? See post, § 155 [p. 331, where the legend is given as “India”].

¹ [Matthew xiv. 4.]

² [Compare what Ruskin similarly says of the Bardi Chapel painted by Giotto; Mornings in Florence, § 46 (Vol. XXIII. pp. 341-342).]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]