Four Evangelists
by Forco
Traditional Artist
2 months ago
First of all, this is not meant to be blasphemous or disrespectful in any way.
Some backstory: those interested in art history and/or religion will know that the Four Evangelists are very common subject in both sculpture and painting in Christian art. They are the four men that are traditionally considered the authors of the four gospels of the Bible, and they are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They were later associated with the four "living creatures" (aka the "Tetramorph"), which appear first in the book of Ezekiel and then in Revelations, and are traditionally depicted as an angel (Matthew), a winged lion (Mark), a winged bull (Luke) and an eagle (John).
Now I've seen my fair share of churches, and when frescos depict the four evangelists, you can find them as "only the man", "only the symbol" or "the man+the symbol side by side". No other options, or so I thought. Then some time ago I visited the lovely town of Schenna, in South Tyrol, whose old parish church has a chapel full of fifth-century frescos (circa 1403)... and I saw this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scena,_chiesa_di_Santa_Maria_Assunta_vecchia_-_Affreschi_della_cappella_di_San_Giovanni_28.jpg
Someone was drawing furries a whopping six hundred years ago :D
I have no idea where this kind of depiction came from, how widespread it was, if it was approved by the church (I doubt it), etc; I've never seen it anywhere else. If someone knows about other examples I'd love to see them!
As you can see in the photo, the fresco is very ruined, and I cannot put into words how sad that makes me. The bull of saint Luke (or saint Luke the Bull?) has come to us intact; by his side is the eagle of saint John: the whole upper body is missing but you can clearly see the talons. The lion and the angel would have been in the opposite part of the vault, but they have been completely lost (the other two segments of the vault, that you can partly see in the photo, contain[ed] the four latin-church fathers, Gregory, Jerome, Augustine and Ambrose: they are also common in church art, but far less than the evangelists; no animals for them!).
So anyway, it's been a while since i drew anything but I absolutely had to do this interpretation. The texts in the scrolls are quotes by Jesus, in latin, one for each gospel: Matthew 20:16, Mark 12:31, Luke 23:34 and John 14:6. There's a lot of "big" quotes in there, I just picked four that felt right without thinking too much about it.
Despite having a Christian theme, this is not directed to a specific target and it doesn't have any evangelizing intent. It's just a piece of art; I hope someone will like it :)
Some backstory: those interested in art history and/or religion will know that the Four Evangelists are very common subject in both sculpture and painting in Christian art. They are the four men that are traditionally considered the authors of the four gospels of the Bible, and they are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They were later associated with the four "living creatures" (aka the "Tetramorph"), which appear first in the book of Ezekiel and then in Revelations, and are traditionally depicted as an angel (Matthew), a winged lion (Mark), a winged bull (Luke) and an eagle (John).
Now I've seen my fair share of churches, and when frescos depict the four evangelists, you can find them as "only the man", "only the symbol" or "the man+the symbol side by side". No other options, or so I thought. Then some time ago I visited the lovely town of Schenna, in South Tyrol, whose old parish church has a chapel full of fifth-century frescos (circa 1403)... and I saw this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scena,_chiesa_di_Santa_Maria_Assunta_vecchia_-_Affreschi_della_cappella_di_San_Giovanni_28.jpg
Someone was drawing furries a whopping six hundred years ago :D
I have no idea where this kind of depiction came from, how widespread it was, if it was approved by the church (I doubt it), etc; I've never seen it anywhere else. If someone knows about other examples I'd love to see them!
As you can see in the photo, the fresco is very ruined, and I cannot put into words how sad that makes me. The bull of saint Luke (or saint Luke the Bull?) has come to us intact; by his side is the eagle of saint John: the whole upper body is missing but you can clearly see the talons. The lion and the angel would have been in the opposite part of the vault, but they have been completely lost (the other two segments of the vault, that you can partly see in the photo, contain[ed] the four latin-church fathers, Gregory, Jerome, Augustine and Ambrose: they are also common in church art, but far less than the evangelists; no animals for them!).
So anyway, it's been a while since i drew anything but I absolutely had to do this interpretation. The texts in the scrolls are quotes by Jesus, in latin, one for each gospel: Matthew 20:16, Mark 12:31, Luke 23:34 and John 14:6. There's a lot of "big" quotes in there, I just picked four that felt right without thinking too much about it.
Despite having a Christian theme, this is not directed to a specific target and it doesn't have any evangelizing intent. It's just a piece of art; I hope someone will like it :)
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Artwork (Traditional)
General Furry Art
Unspecified / Any
2268 x 1625
1.01 MB
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