Evangelist Portrait - Insular Variants and Decline

Insular Variants and Decline

The early artists of the Insular period often show evangelists from the front who appear to be standing, although a chair is drawn behind them; the human figure was not a focus of interest or skill for these artists. Later Insular depictions seem to show figures without chairs, who are standing. Most of Europe continued to use the seated model however, usually seen in a three-quarters on view, and usually with a cushion behind. Sometimes all four evangelists were combined on a page, sometimes around a Christ in Majesty. Standing portraits were usual, however, for wall and later panel paintings (and in the Tree of Jesse composition) with the Evangelists often treated as, and mixed with, other saints.

The Gospel book as a medium for heavily illustrated manuscripts declined in the West from the Romanesque period, and with it the use of the Evangelist portrait. In the Eastern Orthodox world, the Gospel Book remained a primary focus for illumination, and Evangelist portraits, derived from contemporary Byzantine versions, are heavily represented among the earliest illuminations from the new Slav national traditions, such as the 11th century Ostromir Gospels and the Khitrovo Gospels of about 1390 from Muscovy. In the West the portraits continued to be found in Bibles, more often as the picture within a historiated initial at the start of each Gospel. Other books sometimes contained them as well. Similar compositions began to be used for other saint-authors, especially for St Jerome, who is often shown in a book-lined study, often with his symbol, a lion, dozing at his feet. Similarly St Gregory the Great may be shown with a dove, representing his inspiration from the Holy Spirit, whispering in his ear.