Dear Miriam and Brian,
thanks for your interesting comments.
In fact, the first fish on the Last Supper table I am aware of is that
in St. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, mosaic from the second quarter of the
sixth c. (Luckily, it exists on the net:
http://www.tulane.edu/lester/text/Early.Christian.Period/Byzantine/Byzantine57.html)
There, though, there is only one, huge fish lying across the table,
obviously not a real fish but an "IXTYS." By the 12-13th c. this fish
multiplies in number, so that every disciple is now having one on his
plate, exactly as Brian says (there is a similar relief from Volterra,
12th c., shown in Kirschbaum, 1, 14). You're right, Miriam, they seem
rather fasting on Friday than contemplating the symbolic meaning of
Jesus.
Then things more interesting start happening. They recall the Passover
lamb, which had never actually disappeared from the horizon, and put it
side by side with the fish. Or - another extremity - they delete the
least traces of feasting, thus turning the Supper into "the Eucharist."
The latter one would then give way to such strange images as, e.g.,
the doubling Jesus distributing bread and wine to his disciples (mosaic
in St. Sofia, Kiev, 12th. c.), as a good priest would do at mass.
The former one, however, is more appealing to a historian of everyday
life, and to me personally, for it allows to notice a bizarre mixture of
1) eucharistic motifs; 2) allusions to Jewish Passover feasts (see Dirk
Bouts' LS with the oak-leaves on the table, most probably as a
substitute for the bitter grass one has to chew on at the Passover
seder); 3) a steady intrusion of those kinds of food which are usual for
the medieval regional Easter celebration (eggs, pork, white wine, etc.)
but could hardly have been known to Jesus and apostles.
In this connection, I wonder whether painters and artisans creating
those images could in any case follow any kind of spelt-out prescription
concerning what the Last Supper was supposed to be like for them, for
the Gospels are certainly not and cannot be their guide. If you know of
any example, please do share this information!
Best,
Elena
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