Saviour, the first who proclaimed him to the world as such; the latter beheld the vision in Patmos, of the Woman in travail pursued by the dragon, which is interpreted in reference to the Virgin and her Child.  The group thus brought into relation is full of meaning, and, from the variety and contrast of character, full of poetical and artistic capabilities.  St. John the Baptist is usually a man about thirty, with wild shaggy hair and meagre form, so draped that his vest of camel’s hair is always visible; he holds his reed cross.  St. John the Evangelist is generally the young and graceful disciple; but in some instances he is the venerable seer of Patmos,

  “Whose beard descending sweeps his aged breast.”

There is an example in one of the finest pictures by Perugino.  The Virgin is throned above, and surrounded by a glory of seraphim, with many-coloured wings.  The Child stands on her knee.  In the landscape below are St. Michael, St. Catherine, St. Apollonia, and.  St. John the Evangelist as the aged prophet with white flowing beard. (Bologna Acad.)

* * * * *

The Fathers of the Church, as interpreters and defenders of the mystery of the Incarnation, are very significantly placed near the throne of the Virgin and Child.  In Western art, the Latin doctors, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory, have of course the preeminence. (v Sacred and Legend.  Art.)

The effect produced by these aged, venerable, bearded dignitaries, with their gorgeous robes and mitres and flowing beards, in contrast with the soft simplicity of the divine Mother and her Infant, is, in the hands of really great artists, wonderfully fine.  There is a splendid example, by Vivarini (Venice Acad.); the old doctors stand two on each side of the throne, where, under a canopy upborne by angels, sits the Virgin, sumptuously crowned and attired, and looking most serene and goddess-like; while the divine Child, standing on her knee, extends his little hand in the act of benediction.  Of this picture I have already given a very detailed description. (Sacred and Legend.  Art.) Another example, a grand picture by Moretto, now in the Museum at Frankfort, I have also described.  There is here a touch of the dramatic sentiment;—­the Virgin is tenderly caressing her Child, while two of the old doctors, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, stand reverently on each side of her lofty throne; St. Gregory sits on the step below, reading, and St. Jerome bends over and points to a page in his book.  The Virgin is not sufficiently dignified; she has too much the air of a portrait; and the action of the Child is, also, though tender, rather unsuited to the significance of the rest of the group; but the picture is, on the whole, magnificent.  There is another fine example of the four doctors attending on the Virgin, in the Milan Gallery.[1]

[Footnote 1:  In a native picture of the Milanese School, dedicated by Ludovico Sforza Il Moro.]