The Symbolism of Certain Catacomb Frescoes-I

Author(s): Ethel Ross Barker

Source: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 24, No. 127 (Oct., 1913), pp. 43-45+47-50
Published by: Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.
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arrivedat by a perfectlysimple and straightforward
process of carpentry. Such is the genesis of the
linen-panel; and such is virtually the primitive
type in which it appears,for example, in the west
door of Milton Church by Sittingbourne, Kent, or
in the domestic panel-work of Wilsley House and
the "Barracks", both at Cranbrook in the same
county.
The precise date of the earliest occurrence of
the linen-panel cannot be determined; but it is
found as an established ornamental motif by the
middle of the 15th century (perhaps first in
northern France) and remained in current use
down to the close of the 16th century, or even
later. For at any rate the first fifty years of its
career, it continued to be an abstract ornament:
but the accidental resemblance to the folds of
drapery having once been noticed, the idea was
eagerly seized upon and elaborated with charac-
teristic exaggeration. The single arris of the
original plain panel first became multiplied into
three, four, five or even more arrises. But this
was not enough. Folds to simulatethe appearance
of a textile spread out and turned over on itself,
were added in increasing complexity as time went
on; a further imitative feature being sometimes
introduced in the shape of an incised or punched
pattern along the upper and lower edges to suggest
an embroideredborder,or the selvedge of a textile.
But from the purest to the most debased stage of
the linen-fold pattern, its one invariablefeature is
the central arris; while the treatment of the
extremities admits of almost endless variation.
The greatest licence in this regard was indulged
in by German and Flemish woodcarvers. Some-
times these fantastic elaborations take the form
THE SYMBOLISM OF CERTAIN CATACOMB FRESCOES-I
BY ETHEL ROSS BARKER
HE earliest examples of Christian
art in Rome-the frescoes of the
Catacombs- faithfully reflect some-
thing of the complex mind of that
cosmopolitan and, in some respects,
syncretistic community. A dispassionateexamina-
tion of their artistic form and of their inner mean-
ing reveals some characteristics of the primitive
Christian rather unlike the popular conception of
him.
The first fact that we seem to discern in the ex-
amination of the forms-literary, artistic,liturgical,
doctrinal-in which the spiritual conceptions of
Christianity clothed themselves, is the continuity
of development, a spiritual evolution, from pre-
Christian to Christian thought.
So faras artisticstyle goes, the Catacombfrescoes
are Hellenistic; there is scarcely one which would
arrest the eye as remarkableif found on the walls
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Early Furniture
of conventional flowers, fruits or foliage, beyond
the extremities of the folds. Very rarely indeed
is any extraneous object allowed to intrude itself
upon the surface of the folds themselves. Thus
the north door of the church of S. Mildred at
Canterburyis altogetherexceptional, for there the
uppermost row of linen-panels has a Tudor
rose in the middle of each, whilst others
have a superimposed shield [PLATE,D]. These
specimens are thickly coated with paint, but
the detail, with five arrises, is nevertheless
unmistakably clear. A set of panels, showing
three variant forms with a single arris between
turnover folds [PLATE, A, B & c] is now made
up into stallwork in the chancel of Tisbury
Church, Wiltshire. The most striking is one of
the narrowerones (9 in. wide) with a peculiarly
short arris [c]. The third panel [B] is II1 in. wide,
and all three are I ft. 2- in. high, sight measure.
The framed panels [E], with a friezeof renaissance
character,appear to be of about the year 1525.
They no doubt belonged to a hall-screen or some
other partition in a situation where they might be
seen on both surfaces, for the stiles at the back
are finished with carefully executed mouldings.
The second and the lowest tiers of panels show the
linen-pattern with fanciful leaf-like ornament at
the extremities,while the third tier from the top
comprises panels of one arris flanked by a some-
what involved series of turnoverfolds. The panels
are uniformly 8J in. wide, their height varying
from 19 to I9) in. The total height of the com-
bined frame of panels is 7 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft. I in.
This example is the property of Mr. F. Clements
Harper,to whom thanksare due for his permission
to reproduce it.
of a house in Alexandriaor Pompeii. It is true
that the ideas here depicted are very different.
The few purely decorative subjects are discreetly
selected: sun, moon and river god are seen, and
man's toil through the four seasons; doves and
peacocks flutter among foliage; Cupids and
Psyches play among the flowers; shepherds and
fishermen carry out their work in exquisite little
pastoralscenes. One of the most beautifulexamples
of such decorationis of the Ist century,in the noble
Catacomb on the Via Ardeatina, the property of
Flavia Domitilla, the niece of Domitian. I cannot
forbear noting that last year some more graves
were discovered here,and they have been identified,
with very little doubt, as those of Narcissus and
others mentioned in S. Paul'sEpistle to the Romans.
This Hellenism in style is found equallyin Jewish
and Christian subjects, among which there is
scarcely one that cannot be connected with a
43
 The Symbolismof Certain CatacombFrescoes
similar pagan representation. To mention a few
only : the ark of Noah recalls the chest in which
DanaEcrossedthe sea with the infantPerseus;Jonah
reclines under his gourd in the pose of graceful
abandonment seen in the drunken fauns beloved
of Hellenistic art; his whale recalls the friendly
dolphin of Arion; while the risen Lazaruscomes
out of a classic tomb, quite unlike any Christian
sepulchre of the period.
But this Hellenism penetratesdeeper than mere
form,for in the earliest days the Christianadopted
for his own and, as we shall see later, interpreted
in his own sense, the figure of Hermes bearing
the sheep on his shoulders (Hermes Kriophoros)
[FIGURE I]; that of Orpheus with his lyre; and, in
all probability, the fish symbol and the dove, from
Syria and India.
In this connexion we may note, in passing, how
the persistent semi-paganism of the new converts
after the Peace of the Church (A.D.313) is reflected,
in a temporarypagan reaction,in certain Catacomb
frescoes. S. Augustine says :-
Look how many Christiansare half heathen; they have
joined us with their bodies, but never with their heart and
soul.'
Just at this period we find in the Catacombs a
perceptibleincrease of purely secular subjects in
the form of delightful little genre pictures : flower-
sellers, charioteers, wine-sellers, bakers. More
remarkableare the rare mythological representa-
tions, different in spirit from the Orpheus and
other pagan symbols of the early converts. In a
strange syncretistic picture of the judgment after
death a woman (Vibia) appears before the
tribunal of Pluto (Dispater) and Proserpine
(Aeracura). She is introduced by Mercury,
the messenger, and Alcestis, while opposite
stand the three "divine Fates" The conception,
composition and execution are classic, and the
names over each person leave no doubt as to the
meaning of the picture. The story is continued
in the adjoining fresco. Vibia is " introduced" by
"a good angel" into the gardens of paradise,
where, in properChristianfashion, she is partaking,
all in the same picture, of the celestial banquet in
the company of those who have been "judged in
the judgment of the good ".
To return to the more primitivepagan-Christian
symbolism. These slight manifestationsof the link
in form, and sometimes in subject, with pre-
Christianthought, bearwitness, I think, to a deeper
identity ; that of religious consciousness. In some
sense, Paganism was the matrix out of which the
jewel of Christianity developed. There is after all
a great similarity in religious experience; and we
find that man's conception of his relation to some
power above himself has ever tended to crystallize
itself into a belief in some divine sacrifice in which
man shares,-materially and spiritually-by some
1 Serm. 2 in Migne, Patrologia Latina, t. 38, col. 423.
44
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sort of communion, to approach which he must
purify himself and by which he obtains immor-
tality. Symbolizing and expressing these concep-
tions, we find universallya form of baptismor puri-
fication by water,some drama of a divine sacrifice,
some form of communion-meal. These symbolic
acts are then carried out by rites expressive of
man's emotions-dance, procession, music, lights,
and so on. At all periods the original conception,
symbol and ritual are of necessity inadequate, and
further liable to all manner of distortions.
These universal beliefs were embodied in the
worship of Osiris, Mithras, and the rest, at the
moment when Christianitydawned on the world.
To the primitive Christian convert it must have
seemed that his old faiths were not overthrown,
but realized and fulfilled. As of old he was
baptized; was given, as one new-born, the sym-
bolic milk and honey of the neophyte ;2 took
part, year by year, in the divine Passion and
Resurrection; and was admitted to Communion
by means of the "Hostiam puramn,Hostiam
sanctam, Hostiam immaculatam"-the pure, holy,
and immaculate Host :-words found to-day in
the Canon of the Roman Mass, and already
ancient in the 4th century. " Et antiquum docu-
nzentum novo cedat ritui'" rightly explains his
attitude; and the Neoplatonic philosopher who
knew the uncreated and creative Word-In prin-
cipio erat verbumn-hadlittle difficultyin accepting
the Christianmessage: et verbumn carofactum est.
The learned Justin says :3
All that philosophersor legislatorsatany time declaredor
discovered aright, they accomplished according to their
portionof discoveryand contemplationof the Word.
Justin (martyred about 166) was much occupied
by questions of comparativereligion, and while he
was wont, as were the other Fathers,to ascribe the
numerous errors in paganism to the agency of
demons, yet he, Clement of Alexandria (2nd
century), and other writers all hold that Orpheus,
the Sibyls, the Greek philosophers, had received
some measure of the revelation of God. So it
is that, at the very dawn of Christianity,we find
depicted on graves of martyr,kinsman, or friend,
the Good Shepherd, Orpheus, the fish, the dove
. . all sacred symbols in pagan worship. These
symbols, however, were interpreted in terms of
Christian thought. A recognition of this simple
fact would prevent some of the wild comparisons
drawn between Christianity and paganism.
While so much is uncertain, we are here at
least on sure ground; and I think we may say
that all scholars who have an intimate knowledge
of the catacomb frescoes are in agreement as to
their meaning, with the exception of a few
subjects. As Mgr. Wilpert' and others have
pointed out, the significance of these paintings
2
Epist. Barnabas, 6; see later.
3 Apol. II in Migne's Patrologia Gracca, t. 6, col. 459.
4 Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms.
(A) THE EUCHARISTIC BANQUET. BEGINNING OF 2ND CENTURY. IN THE CATACOMB OF S. PRISCILLA

(B) MOSES STRIKING THE ROCK, THE MULTIPLICATION OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES, THE EPIPHANY, ORANTES. NOAH, LAZARUS, DANIEL, TOBIAS, AND
THE PARALYTIC. MIDDLE OF THE 4TH CENTURY. IN THE CATACOMB UNDER THE VIGNA MASSIMO

THE SYMBOLISM OF CERTAIN CATACOMB FRESCOES-]

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 The Symbolismof Certain CatacombFrescoes
to the primitive Christian consciousness is
revealed to us in a mass of contemporary litera-
ture-patristic writings, epigraphy, liturgy, and
Acts of the Martyrs. In dealing with this large
subject we will briefly summarize the results
obtained, in a classification of the subject matter
of the frescoes, and note what further light is
thrown by them on the mentality of the primitive
Christian. We will then discuss in detail certain
of the frescoes, as an illustration of the method of
investigation, and as a justification of the state-
ments made in the classification.
We may first remind the reader that the Cata-
combs which we are considering, about thirty in
number, lie within a limit of three miles from the
Aurelian wall, all along the roads which radiate
from Rome to the farthest cities of the empire.
The comparativelysmall portions excavated have
yielded many hundred frescoes of the first four
centuries (during which period the catacombs
were used as a place of burial); and a few of the
subsequent four centuries, when they were a
place of pilgrimage. It is with the earlier
frescoes only we are concerned here.
The style of representation,as well as the primi-
tive method of interpretation,is symbolic, allusive,
allegorical. As an example: the two miracles of
the feeding of the multitudes are alluded to under
the symbol of seven (occasionally eight or ten)
baskets of bread; sometimes the figure of Christ
touches one of the baskets with a long rod. Thus
these frescoes reveal the mind of the primitive
Christian, which delighted in symbolism and
allegory.
If we exclude a very few subjects at present
unexplained, or apparently unimportant, and
those decorative and genre pictures referred to
above, the remaining frescoes give us, at a very
rough estimation, something like fifty subjects
repeatedly represented. As regards the dating
we may note, in passing, that three of these
subjects [PLATE,B]-Noah in the ark, Daniel
in the lions' den, the Good Shepherd-appear
among the few Ist-century frescoes remain-
ing. Most of the familiar symbols--Orpheus,
the fish, the anchor, the dove, the orante
-appear very early in the 2nd century; and by
the end of the 3rd we have examples of nearly
every known fresco. This period, well illustrated
too in the literature, is the high-water mark of
primitive Christian art. A very large number of
frescoes, but only a few new subjects, belong to
the 4th century. The frescoes do not represent a
number of disconnected incidents chosen at
random, but fall into three definite groups-each
being an exposition of some aspect of Christian
doctrine. These subjects continually appear
arranged in a cycle of perhaps half a dozen
selected symbols on some single grave or chapel,
and the Christian could read off, in those col-
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located symbols, rightly interpreted, the main
articles of his faith. These groups consist of:-
I. Those frescoes dealing with the LIFE OF THE
DEPARTED. These form the vast majority, as
might be expected in a place of the dead, and depict
every phase of their existence. In addition to the
frescoes to be discussed later,we may place in this
group the primitive dove, the anchor, the palm
and that oft-repeated woman's (rarely a man's)
figure with suppliant hands-the orante-which
probably represents the soul [anima, feminine]
of the departed (occurring 153 times).
II. Those frescoes representing OUR LORD,
either more or less realistically, or symbolically.
Some of these are very beautiful, but the number
is surprisingly few. Among them are repre
sented :--Orpheus, who is a symbol of our Lord
and the Incarnation (see later). This doctrine is
expressedmore realisticallyin frescoes of the Birth
in the Stable (one only), the Adoration of the Magi
(one being of the early 2nd century) and the
Madonna and the Child. (The significance of
one of these so-called Madonnas is, I think, very
dubious.) Further, there are represented the
actual Baptismof our Lord (fromearly2ndcentury)
(4 times), and various miracles of healing, nearly
every one of these interpreted in a sacramental
sense (see later). There is a doubtful Crowning
with Thorns, and a Denial of S. Peter. Our Lord
is represented (over Ioo times) as the Good
Shepherd (from the Ist century). Chiefly in the
more literal and practical 4th century He is
depicted as teacher and law-giver among apostles,
or evangelists: also as judging the dead, and
rewarding the martyrs. Connected with this
Christologicalgroup are the sixteen representations,
so classic in execution, of Adam and Eve, symbols
of that Fall of Man (" 0 felix Culpa") which
caused the Incarnation.
III. The frescoes of the SACRAMENTAL
group
(from 2nd century) represent, directly, or usually
symbolically, the sacraments of the Eucharist and
Baptism. Among the eucharistic frescoes may be
placed, with certainty,severalof those representing
banquets [PLATE, A]. A few of those banquet
scenes represent,not the Eucharist,but the celestial
banquet in Paradise; a few the love-feast (the
agape); but the subject bristles with difficulties.
Other eucharistic symbols are the Sacrifice
of Abraham (22 times), and the Changing of
water into wine at Cana of Galilee. But the
favourite sacramental types are the fish symbol
(see later), occurring, either as a type of baptism
or of the Eucharist, very many times; the
miracles of the multiplication of the loaves
and fishes; and the meal after the Resurrection
by Lake Tiberias (see later). Other types of
Baptism are Noah in the Ark (also a type
of deliverance from peril (32); Moses striking
the rock: (also, as we see in the liturgies, a
47
 The Symbolismof Certain CatacombFrescoes
type of " deliverance from peril" and "'refresh-
ment for the soul of the departed" (68); the
Healing of the Blind Man (7) (see later); and the
Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda (15). The actual
incident of Baptism is represented in that of our
Lord (4), and of a Catechumen (4) (from 2nd
century).
It would be difficult to find any other subject in
the Catacombs: for the numerous apparently
historical incidents taken from those books which
became later the Canon of the Scriptures (includ-
ing Apocrypha, which, of course, is still retained
in the Catholic Bible), are all to be interpreted
either in a sacramental sense, or as a symbol for
the departing soul of the deliverance God ever
brought to His servants (see later).
These frescoes are at one with the very earliest
literature in revealing the minds of these first
Christians as much preoccupied with doctrinal
questions. The spirit, too, which in a place of
burial repeatedly represented the Sacraments,
must have held those Sacraments as the heart
and soul of their faith. This last fact we
might have alreadyforeseen when we consider the
relations of Christianityto paganism to which we
have referredabove. It is difficult to imagine that
the Jew, with his sacrificialsystem, and the Gentile
with his need (as revealed in his religions) of a
sacramentalsystem, could have been satisfied by a
faith which was not based on sacramentalism.
It has been remarkedby some writers that in the
Catacombs there are no representations of the
ecclesiastical hierarchy. To refer to one among
a hundred proofs that such a hierarchy existed
from Apostolic days, we need only refer the reader
to the Teachingof theApostles5of the very beginning
of the 2nd century for minute details thereon.
In the Catacombs themselves we find numerous
inscriptions of bishops, priests, deacons, sub-
deacons, readers, exorcists, clerks (notarii) and
sextons (fossores).6 After all, we do not depict on
the graves of our dead, portraits of archbishop,
bishop or parish priest-nor even ordination, nor
the marriagerites.
Proceeding to the second part of our discussion,
it remains now to justify these statements by an
examination of a few fresco subjects in the light
of the literature contemporary with them, as an
illustration of method, and so give a mere indica-
tion-a hint--of all that might be said on each
subject. First let us consider the origin and
significance of the Shepherd bearing the Sheep
(of the Ist century and later). This youth-
ful Good Shepherd with the lamb across his
shoulders [FIGUREI] is purely Hellenistic in artistic
conception; its ancestry can be traced at least as
far back as the archaic figure of Hermes bearing a
sheep - Hermes the producer of fruitfulness in
5 The Didache, ed. Gibson.
* Marucchi, Epigrafia cristiana.
48
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the flocks. There is a gulf fixed between that idea
and the Christian interpretation " I am the good
Shepherd". There is scarcely an early Christian
writer who has not meditated on this symbol, but
the words of the ancient prayerfor the dead in the
Gelasian Sacrament' are surely inspired by the
actual fresco, " Be merciful to him . . . Show
Thyself to him the Good Shepherd and bear him
on Thy shoulders". This Shepherd bearing the
sheep, and often carryinga Pan's pipe and standing
between two
other sheep in
a little pastoral
picture is closely
related to the
subject of the
Shepherd with
pipe or pastoral
staff in his
hands guarding
his flock - a
figurefruitful in
symbolism. One
interpretation
out of many is
found in the
authentic "Acts
of Polycarp"
(2nd century),
in which our FIGURE I
Lord is de-
scribed as "the Shepherd of the Catholic Church
all over the world". This aspect of the Good
Shepherd is emphasized by the rolls of parch.
ment often depicted in His hand or at His side:
"Jesus Christ... the Good Shepherdand law-giver
of the one flock ", says Clement of Alexandria(2nd
century); and we find Abercius, Bishop of
Hierapolis (2nd century),describing himself as "a
disciple of the Good Shepherd". (See later.)
Somewhat akin to this are the five frescoes of
Orpheus represented, as in innumerable classic
designs, in his long white robe, mantle and
Phrygian cap, and bearing his lyre. He is usually
surrounded by sheep only, but in the Domitilla
fresco (4th century) by a delightful variety of beast
and bird. Eusebius8 gives the Christian inter-
pretation; namely, that the Orpheus-Christ is a
type of the Incarnation:-.. that with his
Greek fables relate Orpheus lyre
tamed the wild beasts, and with the charm of his song
drew the oak-treesafter him. Wherefore the all-wise and
all-harmoniousWord of God jthe Logos], when He healed
with divers remedies the minds of men corrupted with
manifoldiniquities,took in His hand a musical instrument
fashioned by His own wisdom, even His human nature,
and on it played a bewitching music; not, as Orpheus,to
the brutes,but to minds endowed with reason. And He
tamed alike Greeks and barbarians, and healed with the
medicine of celestial doctrinethe fierce and brutalinstincts
of their spirits.
7 Muratori, Liturgia Romana vetus, I, p. 44o, ed. 176o.
in Pat. Grcac.t. 20, col. 1409.
8 De Laud. Constan., XIV.,
 The Symbolismof Certain CatacombFrescoes
Eusebius is apparentlyonly developing Clement of
Alexandria(2nd century),who calls the Logos--
the Word Incarnate-" the musician harmonizing
all things, the singer of the new song".
Again, the FISHas depicted in the Catacombs is
no longer the symbol of some oriental fish deity,
but, as we shall see, an image of Christ Himself as
revealed in Baptism and the Eucharist. As a type
of Baptism the Fish-sometimes resembling a
dolphin in form-is representedalone; or, as in a
fresco of the Chapel of the Sacraments (2nd
century) in S. Callixtus, as being drawn by a
fisherman out of water flowing from a rock: in
that water is depicted the Baptism of Christ.
Let us see what the fathers have to say on this
point. First Tertullian (16o-240) writes:--9
But we, little fish, are born in water according to our
Fish (IXOTN) Jesus Christ.
Elsewhere we find:-
The elect are the celestial race of the divine Fish : they
are the little fish born in the water which flows from that
rock which is Christ, formed in his image, drawing from
the quenchless source the knowledge of eternal wisdom.
Besides Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen (both early
third century) and others repeatedly explain
the story of Moses bringing water from the
rock as a type of Baptism; and the subject
occurs in the Catacombs no less than sixty-
eight times. Moses himself is a type of Peter,10as
is testified by severalof the earlierfathers. More-
over, on one or two of the gilded glasses (vetri)
found in the Catacombsthe scene of Moses strik-
ing the rock is depicted, but the word PETRUS
is inscribed over Moses. I am inclined to think
that the curious frescoes representing Our
Lord touching the water-pots with a long rod (a
symbolic representationof the miracle at Cana of
Galilee) indicates the symbolic identity of Moses-
Peter-Christ, and further that this method of
representation knits together the sacraments of
Baptism and the Eucharist in the person of Christ:
an idea which seems to appear in the double
significance, baptismal- eucharistic, of the fish
symbol, as we shall see.
Clement of Alexandria (2nd century) refers to
the fish and other pagan symbols (all of which
we find in the Catacombs) in his directions to
Christian women as to what rings they may suit-
ably wear.n11
But let our signet rings bear a dove, or a fish, or a
ship . . . or a lyre [symbol of Orpheus] . . . or an anchor
...and if there is a fisherman on it, remember the
apostle (Peter) and his (spiritual) sons who are drawn forth
from the water.
And in his hymn to "Christ the Saviour" (op. cit.
III, 12) we read :-
S.. Fisher of Men who are saved; Who dost feed
with sweet life the holy fishes saved from the perilous wave
of the sea of vice ...
9 De Baptis., I, Pat. Lat., t. I, col. 1198.
10 Macarius of Egypt, Horn. 26, c. 23 in Pat. Gr., t. 34,
col. 690.
1 Pced. III, II, Pat. Gr., t. 8, col. 634.
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To the Eucharistic idea in this hymn we will
return. Later, Paulinus, bishop of Nola (353-431),
writes to bishop Delphinus as follows :-"n
I remember that I am made the son of the dolphin
(Delphinus) that I might become one of those " fishes which
pass through the paths of the sea" [Psalms]. I remem-
ber you are not only my father but my fisher [non pater
sed Peter]. For you have put your hook into me to draw
me forth from the deep and bitter waters of the world,
that I might be made captive unto salvation. But if I am
thy fish I should bring in my mouth the precious denarius,
shining, not with the image and superscription of Caesar,
but with the living and life-giving image of the eternal
King, namely, faith and truth (fidem veritatis).
There is, I think, an identificationin the writer's
mind between bishop Delphinus, the dolphin (as
a symbol of Christ), and Peter, as preeminently
the " fisher of men ". The whole passage refers to
Baptism. There is no real confusion of thought in
representingChristas at once Fishermanand Fish.
Again Optatus of Milevis (4thcentury)interprets
the fish which little Tobias carried and which
healed his father Tobit of blindness, as symbolic
of Christ.'1 This explanation of the symbol of the
fish is in harmony with the earlier fathers, but it
is in contradiction to the actual story of Tobias,
who was saved by God from being devoured by a
monstrous fish : and so Tobias (represented three
times in the Catacombs) becomes one of the
innumerable types of deliverance in time of peril
which we shall consider presently. This explana-
tion of Optatus implicitly connects the fishsymbol
with Baptism, since one of the effects of Baptism
was illumination, as explained by Justin Martyr1
-" and that washing of baptism is called illumina-
tion." Indeed, the healing of the blind man, as
related in the Gospels, was considered a symbol of
baptism by Clement of Alexandria, Ambrose and
Augustine, and the subject is found seven times
in the Catacombs. If there were any doubt about
this implicit allusion, Optatus continues :-
He is that Fish who, at baptism, by invocation is
plunged into the waters, so that that which was simply
water is called piscina from piscis [fish]. And the name of
that Fish in Greek contains in one word a host of holy
names, for it is in Latin Jesus Christus Dei Filius Salvator.
Piscina, of course, is merely an old classical
word for a fishpond i
The so called Sibylline acrostic (a set of verses
in which the thirtyinitial lettersof the lines formed,
in Latin, the words JESUS CHRISTUS DEI FILIUS
SALVATOR) existed, probablyas a Christianforgery,
possibly as early as the 2nd century. The fact
that, in the Greek, this acrostic itself formed a
second acrostic, IXOYO (fish), was also early
observed. We find this play on the word in the
2nd-century Greek inscription of Autun, to be
considered later: it becomes a commonplace in
the fathers of the 4th and 5th century. It seems
probable, but by no means proved, however, that
the symbol of the fish was adopted either as being
12
Ep. XX, Pat. Lat., t. 61, col. 249.
13 De schis, Donat., III. 2, in Pat. Lat., ii (cf. Apocrypha,
Book of Tobit).
14 Apol. I, 61, in Pat. Gr., t. 6, col. 422.
49
 The Symbolismof Certain CatacombFrescoes
a sacred pagan symbol, or on account of the
Gospel associations with fish and fishermen; and
that the presence of the divine name discovered in
the word was only an additional consecration,
and not the origin, of the symbol.
REVIEWS
ADMONITIONS OF THE INSTRUCTRESS IN THE PALACE. A Painting
by Ku K'ai-Chih in the Department of Prints and Drawings,
British Museum, reproduced in coloured woodcut. Text by
LAURENCEBINYON, Assistant - keeper in the Department.
London: Printed by order of the Trustees of the British
Museum.
THE scroll ascribed to Ku K'ai-Chih is the greatest
measure of Chinese painting in this country.
Acquired at a small price in 1903 merely as an
ancient Chinese painting, its authenticity as the
oldest known painting by a great Chinese master
has gradually been confirmed and established so
that it now takes rank as one of the most important
monuments of Chinese painting in existence.
Hitherto it has been reproduced only partially and
in black and white; the fullest account of it being
that by Mr. Laurence Binyon in The Burlington
Magazine, January, 1904. It was, therefore, a
felicitous idea on the part of the Trustees of the
British Museum to have the present admirable fac-
simile executed. In colour reproduction by means
of woodcut the Japanese are indubitably supreme,
and the Trustees have done well in confiding the
work to the Kokka Company, through whose
marvellous reproductions we in Europe gain most
of our ideas of the masterpieces of Chinese art.
The Japanese artists have accomplished this task
with their usual skill and fidelity. So fastidious,
indeed, is their connoisseur's reverence for an ancient
masterpiece that they have given to their work
almost the appearance of an original copy by some
artist of the Ming time rather than of a mere repro-
duction. They have been so careful to avoid any-
thing of the crudity of a modern reproduction, to
preserve as far as possible the patina of extreme
age that they have tended if anything to under-
state the sharpness and accent of the original. The
result is not only a remarkable record and remi-
niscence of the original, but a work which in itself
has the seductive charm of an exquisite bibelot.
The reproduction has been made, in short, in the
spirit of the great Imperial connoisseur, Ch'ien
Lung, who used to pore so reverently over Ku K'ai-
Chih's handiwork in the Lai-ch'ing pavilion, and
who "at an odd moment in summer sketched in ink
aspray of Epidendrum as an expression of sympathy
with its profound and mysterious import". And
indeed the work itself is well fitted to arouse such
a connoisseur's reverence as that of Ch'ien Lung
and of the modern Japanese reproducer. And
herein lies the marvel of the work and the explana-
tion of the almost certainly illfounded scepticism
with which its attribution to the 4th century of our
50
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In the next article we will discuss the fish as
a Eucharistic symbol.
[The illustrations are reproduced, by permission,
from "Le Pitture delle Catacombe Romane", by
Mgr. Guiseppe Wilpert.]
era was at first received. Who would have thought
that China had at that date arrived at this pitch of
subtlety and refinement, had already conceived the
spirit of the i8th century? But the doubts of its
authenticity being now silenced-and Mr. Binyon's
lucid and impartial statement of the case in the
text of this work leaves little room for hesitation-
we must make our conception of the development
of Chinese art fit with this surprising fact. Indeed
"I8th centuryness" seems to have been endemic in
China. Confucianism was full of it, and Taoism,
though it started with something too mystical and
passionate to accord with that principle, adapted
itself in process of time to this prevalent tone
of Chinese civilization. Only the irruption of
Buddhism for a time swept it away and gave us
the profoundly spiritual art of the Wei and T'ang
dynasties. We see then in the Ku K'ai-Chih an
art of complete self-consciousness, with a delicate,
almost ironical understanding the niceties of
manner and of the subtleties of facial and bodily
expression. It is like the work of some more
sensitive, more sophisticated Carpaccio. And yet
there comes through here and there-most definitely
in the drawing of the utensils in the toilet scene-
something of that great primitive sense of style and
form which represents the other element in Chinese
art, the element opposed to Chinoiserie and "18th
centuryness." It was this other element which was
destined to supplant all the delicate fine-spun sophis-
tications of Ku K'ai-Chih's art and replace it, in little
more than a century, by the impressive and rugged in-
tensity ofthe works at Li Lung Mien. This wasclearly
one of the great revolutions in the history of art,
a revolution which we may some day be able to trace
in detail. At present we can only note the great
gulf that has to be bridged between the Admonitions
of the Instructress, perhaps one of the latest works
of its kind, and the great imaginative work of the
6th, 7th and 8th centuries. There is much that is
difficult to explain in the art of the period pre-
ceding Ku K'ai-Chih. One would naturally infer
from an examination of the Admonitions that it was
the result of a long tradition of such exquisitely
refined illustration, and indeed some of the
figurines in black earthenware which belong even
to the pre-Han or very early Han periods show an
extraordinary likeness to the elegant court ladies
of Ku K'ai-Chih's scroll. And this would lead
us to suppose that a similar delicate art persisted
throughout the whole Han period. On the other
hand many of the figures which are attributed to