At 05.03 27/10/97, you wrote:
>You seem to be assuming Luke could have actually made, or did actually make,
>the paintings attributed to him, and that he actually was an artist. This
>makes it necessary to answer certain questions.
I am saying absolutely the opposite; as I have tried outlined in previous
messages, the first sources mentioning Luke as a painter pertain to the
early 8th century and their emergence is closely related to the Iconoclastic
controversy. The example of Luke was used as a good argument to oppose Leo
III's and Constantine V's politics. About choosing Luke the physician as the
first Christian painter, I think the explication lies in the Prologue of his
Gospel, where he speaks about his scrupolous research for eyewitnesses as
sources for his narration. His role as a scrupulous historian may be
paralleled with the usage of the Greek word for 'writing history' and
'painting': 'historein', as well as 'graphein', were used both for 'writing'
and 'painting'. Here lies, in my opinion, the original cause for chossing
Luke as the initiator of the Christian practice of painting sacred images: a
scrupulous historian would also be a scrupulous author of portraits, and his
works would be considered believable reproductions of Christ's and the Holy
Virgin's faces. The desire for actual 'eyewitnesses' of the Lord's human
features is also witnessed by analogous stories: in the 'Narratio de rebus
Persicis' (6th century) the Three Magi order one of their servants to
portrait the Child, as well as in many Vitas of the Apostles' disciples the
actual aspect of Christ, St. Peter, St. Paul or St. Andrew is provided by
images thought of as made during the Saviour's lifetimes by some eyewitness.
The same is true for late 9th century Armenian legend recording St. Andrew
portraying the Virgin, or the contemporaneous legend of St. Nicodemus
painting an image of Christ in the night after the Saviour's crucifixion.
For these reasons I think it is Luke's being a scrupulous writer concerned
in searching believable sources, more than his activity as physician, which
stimulated the common perception of him as the initiator of Christian painting.
Michele Bacci
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