The Way of Saint James: Pilgrimage to the Tomb of a “Son of Thunder”

09 Saturday Mar 2013

Tags

Altar of the Holy Blood, altarpiece, church, Friedrich Herlin, Germany, martyr, pilgrimage, relic, Rothenburg, Saint James, Santiago de Compostela, tomb

Twelve Apostles Altar, Church of Saint James (St. Jakobskirche), Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. Photo by Reliquarian.

The Way of Saint James

According to tradition, Saint James, one of the twelve Apostles, was martyred by beheading in the year 44. After the rediscovery of his relics in 814, pilgrimages to his tomb in Compostela, northern Spain, became extremely popular. Compostela even rivaled Jerusalem and Rome as a destination for pilgrim travelers during the Middle Ages. Consequently, routes to Saint James’s shrine, including one through Rothenburg, Germany, crisscrossed Europe, marking the path to the saint’s tomb. Today, the Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago) continues to direct travelers to the remains of the fiery-tempered Apostle whom Jesus once called a “Son of Thunder.”

Invitation to a Beheading

Saint James was beheaded in Jerusalem during the Christian persecutions of King Herod Agrippa I. According to Clement of Alexandria, Saint James’s accuser was so moved by the courage and conviction James showed at his trial that he subsequently repented and declared himself a Christian. As a consequence, the man was sentenced to be beheaded alongside Saint James. As both men were led to execution, the accuser turned to James and begged for his forgiveness. According to Butler’s Lives of the Saints, “St James, after pausing a little, turned to him and embraced him, saying, ‘Peace be with you’. He then kissed him, and they were both beheaded together.”[1]

A Tomb by the Sounding Sea

Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias Grunewald (sculptures by Nicolas of Hagenau) (detail), 1510-1515, Colmar, France. On the carved predella of the Isenheim Altarpiece, Saint James can be seen holding a large seashell in his right hand. His pilgrim’s cap is also adorned with a shell. Photo by Reliquarian.

Early chronicles suggested that after his death, Saint James’s remains were transported from Jerusalem to the northern coast of Spain where they were buried contra mare Britannicum, “close to the British sea.”[2] The location of the tomb, however, remained a mystery until, centuries later, in about 814, the tomb was rediscovered under miraculous circumstances.[3] According to legend, a local monk named Pelayo was guided by a star to a secluded spot in the woods near the Galician coast.[4] There he discovered a marble sarcophagus that contained human bones, apparently very old.[5] Bishop Teodomir, the local bishop, proclaimed the remains to be those of Saint James, long believed to have been buried in the region. After learning of the discovery, King Alfonso II journeyed to the site to venerate the relics and ordered that a church be built on the spot. The modest church established by King Alfonso II later grew into the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the ultimate destination of pilgrims traveling the Way of Saint James.

King Alfonso II’s journey to the tomb of Saint James is considered the first pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and it set the example for subsequent generations of pilgrim travelers. Departing from Oviedo, the location of his royal court, King Alfonso II likely took the Roman road known as the Camino Primitivo to Compostela. As the popularity of Saint James’s shrine grew, other routes gradually came into regular use, such as the Camino del Norte, another Roman road, which skirted the coast. By the 11^th century, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela had become an international phenomenon, drawing visitors from all over Christendom and establishing Santiago de Compostela as a rival to Jerusalem and Rome for pilgrims.[6] In a paper discussing the history of the pilgrimage, Laurie Dennett opines that interest in Saint James’s relics had begun to shift the “conceptual geography of Christian Europe, giving it a new pole in the west, a new focus for popular devotion, that balanced the Byzantine east with its spiritual centre at Jerusalem.”[7] She further notes that “Santiago de Compostela even seemed to rival the pretensions of Rome,” at least for a time.[8]

St. Jakobskirche and the Twelve Apostles Altar

The St. Jakobskirche (Saint James’s Church) in Rothenburg ob der Tauber was once an important stop on the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela. Known more widely as the home of the Altar of the Holy Blood, the church also houses the impressive Twelve Apostles Altar (Zwölfbotenaltar), a carved altarpiece with a painted predella and painted wings, which incorporates several images of Saint James.

View of St. Jakobskirche from the city walls. Photo by Reliquarian.

Completed in 1466, the altarpiece is the work of Hans Waidenlich and Friedrich Herlin with carvings in the Multscher tradition by an unknown sculptor.[9] Herlin, who may have been from Rothenburg, moved to Nördlingen later in his career and is closely identified with the Twelve Apostles Altar, which he signed: “This work was made by Friedrich Herlin, painter, mcccclxvi. Saint James pray to God for him.”[10]

In Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol, Rainer Kahsnitz identifies the Twelve Apostles Altar as “one of the best-preserved altarpieces from the Late Gothic period.”[11] Although little is known about the origins of the altarpiece, Kahsnitz speculates that it must have replaced an earlier work at St. Jakobskirche.[12]

Twelve Apostles Altar (detail). Photo by Reliquarian.

The corpus of the altarpiece depicts the Crucifixion, with Mary (to the left) and Saint John the Evangelist (to the right) below the cross, flanking the dying Christ. Next to Mary stands Saint James wearing a pilgrim’s hat decorated with a scallop shell, a symbol of pilgrimage. Two other shells dangle from his wrist, and he is shown with a pilgrim’s staff, another defining attribute of the patron saint of pilgrims.[13] The other carved figures below the cross are Saint Elizabeth (to the far left), who is carrying a loaf of bread and a pitcher; Saint Leonard (next to Saint John), the patron saint of prisoners of war; and Saint Anthony the hermit (to the far right), who is shown with a bell. According to Kahsnitz, the altar was kept permanently closed following Rothenburg’s adoption of the Reformation.[14] This helped preserve the sculptures and the paintings on the inner wings.[15]

Saint James and Saint Peter. Friedrich Herlin’s predella depicts Saint James with his traditional attributes in art: a pilgrim’s staff and a seashell. To the right of Saint James is Saint Peter with several of his symbols: a set of keys and a book. Photo by Reliquarian.

Saint James appears again on Herlin’s predella with a shell in one hand and a pilgrim’s staff in the other. To his left, Saint Peter carries two of his traditional attributes: a set of keys and a book, which he peers into with the aid of spectacles. All twelve Apostles are represented on the predella, arranged in pairs behind a Late Gothic balustrade.[16] In addition to other paintings, the back of the predella also features a depiction of the veil of Saint Veronica: the image of Christ’s face with a crown of thorns imprinted on a veil or shroud.[17]

Sons of Thunder

Saint James is often known as “the Greater” to distinguish him from Saint James, son of Alphaeus, known as “the Lesser.” He was the son of Zebedee and brother of Saint John the Evangelist, and he was the first Apostle martyred. Saint James and his brother John apparently earned the epithet Boanerges, or “Sons of Thunder,” on account of their “impetuous spirit and fiery temper.”[18] Nevertheless, as noted in Butler’s Lives of the Saints, James, John, and Peter, the Apostles “who from time to time acted impetuously, and had to be rebuked, were the very ones our Lord turned to on special occasions.”[19] James, John, and Peter were the only Apostles to witness the agony in the garden of Gethsemani and were the only ones present for the Transfiguration.

Modern Pilgrims

The Way of Saint James continues to be a popular with pilgrims even today. According to the Confraternity of Saint James, an organization founded “to bring together people interested in the medieval pilgrim routes through France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela,” the last several decades “have seen an extraordinary revival of interest in the pilgrimage to Santiago.”[20] Once considered “one of the greatest of all Christian shrines” in the Middle Ages,[21] the route from the border of France and Spain known as the Camino Francés was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.[22]

Twelve Apostles Altar, Church of Saint James (St. Jakobskirche), Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. Photo by Reliquarian.

Still, some scholars question whether Saint James ever preached in Spain and whether the remains interred at Santiago de Compostela really are those of Saint James. Butler’s Lives of the Saints states, “Outside of Spain almost all eminent scholars and critical students of history answer both questions in the negative.”[23] Several authors have argued that Saint James’s visit to Spain is “improbable” because Saint James was martyred in Jerusalem in the year 44 and because he was “unheard of in Spain before the end of the seventh century.”[24] Additionally, while it may be “quite possible that the relics recovered, after they had been lost, are identical with those which were venerated at Compostela in the middle ages, . . . the authenticity of medieval relics is always difficult to establish and in this case it is more than dubious.”[25]

Nevertheless, thousands of people continue to follow the Way of Saint James to Santiago de Compostela each year. While there are “as many reasons for this revival as there are pilgrims,” the Confraternity of Saint James observes that “many people make the pilgrimage at a turning point in their lives, and . . . many are helped to come to terms with personal crisis by a period of separation from all that is familiar, and the shared hardship of the road.”[26]

Pilgrim’s Hat, felt, silk braid, shell, bone, jet (c. 1571). This pilgrim’s hat is currently on display at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany, along with a matching pilgrim’s cloak and staff. The matching set of pilgrim’s garb belonged to Stephan Praun III, a pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela. Photo by Reliquarian.

Saint James the Greater, pine with paint and gilding, South German (1475-1500), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The influence of Veit Stoss, who worked in Nuremberg and Krakow, is evident in the carving of the statue’s robes and face. Photo by Reliquarian.

[1] 3 Butler’s Lives of the Saints 183 (Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. & Donald Attwater eds., 2d ed. 1956).

[2] Laurie Dennett, “2000 Years of the Camino de Santiago: Where Did It Come From? Where Is It Going?,” The Confraternity of Saint James, http://www.csj.org.uk/2000-years.htm (citing martyrologies by Florus of Lyons and Usuard of St. Germaine-des-Prés). Dennett observes that “by the late 8^th century, a literary tradition had developed which held that the burial place of St James lay in Spain, even if the site had not yet been identified.” She further notes, “Interestingly, it was not until after the purported discovery of the tomb in about 814 that a corresponding tradition evolved concerning the Apostle’s return to Palestine and death, and the transportation of his mortal remains back to Spain for burial.” Id. The mare Britannicum is the present-day English Channel.

[3] See id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] See Rainer Kahsnitz, Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol 58 (2006). Kahsnitz explains that the sculptures “were executed by a carver from the circle around the Ulm sculptor Hans Multscher (active there from 1427 until his death in 1467). In their compact three-dimensionality they are based more strongly on Multscher’s earlier works from the 1450s, at which time the sculptor was probably Multscher’s pupil.” Id. at 61.

[10] Id. at 58. A clever Latin inscription on the frame of the altarpiece also dates the work to 1466. It begins, “Bis duo c quoque sexagintaque sex quoque mille . . . .” Id.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] See George Ferguson, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art 112 (1959). Ferguson observes that the pilgrim’s staff is “used alone and in combination with various other objects as an attribute of numerous saints who have been noteworthy for their travels and pilgrimages.” Id. Other saints commonly depicted with staffs include Saints Christopher, John the Baptist, Jerome, Philip the Apostle, Ursula, and Roch. Id.

[14] Kahsnitz, supra note 9, at 58.

[15] Id.

[16] Id. at 60.

[17] See, e.g., Rosa Giorgi, Saints in Art 119 (Stefano Zuffi ed. & Thomas Michael Hartmann trans., 2002).

[18] Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 182.

[19] Id.

[20] The Confraternity of Saint James, The Confraternity of Saint James, http://www.csj.org.uk/csj.htm; The Present-Day Pilgrimage, The Confraternity of Saint James, http://www.csj.org.uk/present.htm.

[21] Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 183.

[22] The Present-Day Pilgrimage, supra note 20.

[23] Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 1, at 183.

[24] Id.

[25] Id.

[26] The Present-Day Pilgrimage, supra note 20.

Saint Munditia: A Holy Skeleton Near the Rindermarkt in Munich

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by Reliquarian in Tomb / Sarcophagus

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

church, Germany, martyr, Munich, reliquary, Saint Erasmus, Saint Munditia

The Skeleton of Saint Munditia

The skeleton of Saint Munditia rests in a glass ossuary, hidden in plain sight at the Peterskirche (Saint Peter’s Church) in Munich. Situated just steps from the church’s north entrance, the ossuary is ordinarily locked behind a wrought iron gate that partially Shrine of S Munditia obscures it from view. Most visitors never notice she’s there, but those who catch a glimpse of her and pause to peer through the gate may be surprised to find a skeleton, bedecked in jewels and bound in gauze, staring back at them.

The skeleton is propped on cushions and rests at a slight angle to the viewer. Its arms and legs are adorned with alternating red and green jewels, the color of gumdrops. She holds a golden palm frond resembling a giant quill pen in her left hand, her thumb hooked around its stem. The palm frond is emblematic of martyrdom. In her right hand she holds what appears to be a small philatory with the Greek letters chi (X) and rho (P), surrounded by a radiance, extending from the lid. Chi and rho are the first two letters in the Greek word for Christ. Unfortunately, although the philatory is transparent, it is difficult to discern what it contains. Are they the relics of another saint?

The skeleton’s most striking feature are its glass eyes. Set securely in the saint’s skull, they stare out at the world in slightly different directions. The skull is also crowned with a metal laurel wreath, another symbol of martyrdom.

Who Is Saint Munditia?

Not much is known of Saint Munditia. She does not appear in the Roman Martyrology or even the Book of Saints, although the inscription above her tomb is unequivocal about her status as both a saint and martyr. The inscription reads CORPUS SANCTA MUNDITIA MARTYRIS (“Body of Saint Munditia, Martyr”). She is also purportedly the patron saint of spinsters.[1]

According to some sources, the relics of Saint Munditia were discovered in the Roman catacombs and were obtained by Franz Benedikt Höger, a Munich businessman, in 1675. The relics were translated to the Peterskirche on 5 September 1677, where they have remained ever since. In 1804, the skeleton was concealed behind a wooden shrine in an attempt to combat “Aberglaube” (superstition), but the relics were eventually uncovered again in 1883, which resulted in renewed interest in her cult.[2] Peterskirche - Interior

The inscription located inside the ossuary, beneath Saint Munditia’s head, is somewhat enigmatic, but it offers clues about the life and death of the mysterious saint. It reads:

DDM MUNDICIE PROTOGENIE BENEMERENTI QUAE VIXIT ANNOS LX QUAE IBIT IN PACE XV KAL D ZUM FROMMEN GEDENKEN AN MUNDITIA PROTOGENIA DIE WOHLVERDIENTE: SIE LEBTE 60 JAHRE UND GING EIN IN DEN FRIEDEN AM 15. TAG VOR DEN KALENDEN DES DEZEMBERS (17. NOVEMBER) – APC

The abbreviation “APC” appended at the end of the text is one of the most perplexing parts of the inscription. Some have interpreted it to mean “ASCIA PLEXA CAPITA,” Shrine of S Munditia 2 indicating Saint Munditia had been decapitated by an ax or hatchet. Others propose that “APC” stands for “ANDRONICO PROBO CONSULIBUS,” meaning “During the counsulship of [Tatius] Andronicus and [Pompeius] Probus.” Under this interpretation, Saint Munditia would have died in the year 310.

While Saint Munditia may not have the star power of more famous saints, like Saint Mark or Saint George, she continues to be celebrated every year[3] at the Peterskirche, and she even has a following on Facebook. A contemporary poem by the Trinidadian writer Vahni Capildeo offers further evidence of Saint Munditia’s ability to provoke and inspire, even today. “St. Munditia, centuries later,” he writes, “bewigged, bolted and belted with jewels, . . . glassed off like the snake room at the zoo.”[4]

The Skull of Saint Erasmus

But Saint Munditia is not the only saint to share the small enclosure that contains her shrine. Above her glass ossuary and easily overlooked amidst the visual tumult of bones, jewels, and Baroque ornamentation surrounding her skeleton rests another, much smaller, glass reliquary. Peering out of the box with unnaturally blue eyes is a skull with a halo placed on a cushion. The inscription above it declares that it is the skull of Saint Erasmus: CAPUT S. ERASMI P. MART.[5] As I’ve written before, Saint Erasmus of Formiae is a patron saint of mariners and protector against intestinal ailments. He is incorrectly believed to have been martyred by disembowelment.

[1] Die Pfarrgemeinde von St. Peter, “Eine Katakombenheilige in St. Peter,” available at http://www.alterpeter.de/frameneu/mundi_frame.htm.

[2] Id.

[3] The Munditiafest takes place every November 17^th.

[4] Vahni Capildeo, No Traveller Returns 163 (2003).

[5] “MART” is a shortened form of “Martyr.” The “P.” I believe stands for “Pius,” meaning dutiful.

Saint Erasmus of Formiae (or Saint Elmo)

13 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Reliquarian in Painting

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Fourteen Holy Helpers, martyr, Master of Messkirch, Maximian, Saint Elmo, Saint Erasmus, Saint Florian, Saint Stephen, windlass

Nicholas Poussin, The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus (1628). Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City.

Saint Erasmus’s primary emblem is the windlass – a crank and shaft used for hoisting or hauling – so it is often assumed that the windlass had something to do with his martyrdom. Martyrs are often portrayed near or actually holding the instruments of their death; for example, Saint Stephen, who was stoned to death, may be shown holding a stone, or Saint Florian, who was drowned after being thrown into a river with a millstone around his neck, may be seen with a millstone. Saint Erasmus’s windlass, however, is emblematic of his patronage of mariners, not his manner of death. Still, the symbol of the windlass (a nautical symbol) and Saint Erasmus’s status as a martyr have become conflated over time, resulting in a gruesome, though erroneous, story of martyrdom by windlass.

Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus

Saint Erasmus was Bishop of Formiae, Campagna, Italy. The Roman Martyrology recounts that Saint Erasmus “was first scourged with leaded whips and then severely beaten with rods; he had also rosin, brimstone, lead, pitch, wax, and oil poured over him, without receiving any injury.”[1] Later, during the reign of Maximian, “he was again subjected to various most horrible tortures at Mola, but was still preserved from death by the power of God for the strengthening of others in the faith. Finally, celebrated for his sufferings, and called by God, he closed his life by a peaceful and holy end. His body was afterwards transferred to Gaeta.”[2]

Notably absent from the Roman Martyrology’s account is any mention of a windlass or a dramatic death. On the contrary, the martyrology states that Saint Erasmus died “by a peaceful and holy end.”[3] Over the centuries, however, Saint Erasmus’s frequent portrayal with a windlass and his status as a martyr gave rise to the myth that he had been killed with the use of a windlass. More specifically, and as portrayed to grisly effect in art, a tradition arose that he was disemboweled and that his intestines were wound around a windlass as he was killed.[4]

As Patron Saint of Sailors

As mentioned, the windlass became a symbol of Saint Erasmus because of his patronage of sailors. During storms at sea, sailors sometimes encountered blue glowing balls of light or blue flames springing from the mastheads of their ships. Because these lights often appeared toward the end of a storm, sailors considered the lights a good omen and a sign of protection from their patron saint.[5] The name “Erasmus” had several variants around the Mediterranean, including “Elmo,” and the lights became known as “St. Elmo’s Fire” or “St. Elmo’s Lights.”[6] St. Elmo’s Fire is a meteorological phenomenon caused by ionization of the air around certain objects, like ships’ masts. Nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere fluoresce, like gas in a neon light, with a blue or violet glow, giving St. Elmo’s Fire its distinctive hue.[7]

Disembowelment By Windlass

Over time, however, Saint Erasmus’s nautical emblem began to take on a more sinister pall. As Rosa Giorgi states in Saints In Art, even though no written evidence held that Saint Erasmus’s intestines were “pulled from his body with a windlass,” the windlass nevertheless “became popularly imagined as an instrument of torture, and thus the atrocious punishment of having one’s intestines extracted with the device was invented.”[8] Giorgi further explains, “This is one example where imagery influenced hagiography.”[9]

As Portrayed in Art

Nicholas Poussin’s The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus (1628) (pictured at the beginning of this post) perpetuates the myth that Saint Erasmus was disemboweled. The painting is fraught with tension and high drama as Saint Erasmus, his face pained but resolute, is methodically disemboweled while a crowd of his tormentors looks on. Saint Erasmus, who is tied down on his back over a sturdy wooden bench, anchors the scene. His red chasuble and miter, indicating his status as a bishop, are strewn on the ground beside him. His executioner, whose head is positioned near the very center of the painting, leans over him, pulling his intestines from his body. A man in the background to the right of the painting pulls a windlass, winding the intestines around a wooden post.

To the left of the painting, a man in white stares angrily into Saint Erasmus’s face and gesticulates towards a pagan statute crowned with laurel leaves.[10] The man is demanding that Saint Erasmus forsake his faith. Two angels hover above, carrying a laurel wreath and a palm frond, which were symbols of victory to the Romans.[11] Christian artists later appropriated those symbols, particularly the palm frond, and used them to represent a martyr’s victory over death. In The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus, the angels wait to bestow the crown and palm frond of martyrdom on Saint Erasmus in his final hour.

Other Associations

In addition to being the patron saint of sailors, Saint Erasmus is also the patron saint of a host of other groups, including explosives workers, ordnance workers, and women in labor. He is also invoked against colic, birth pains, intestinal disorders, stomach diseases, and storms. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, a group of saints regarded as special protectors against various illnesses.

[1] Catholic Church, The Roman Martyrology 161 (revised ed., reprint 1916).

[2] Id. Other sources are more specific about the circumstances of his life and death, although much confusion remains over the particulars of Saint Erasmus’s identity. The Book of the Saints, for example, lists two Saints Eramsus, both from Syria, whose feast days are celebrated on June 2^nd and November 25^th. Of the second Saint Erasmus, the Book of the Saints concedes, “He may possibly be one and the same with the fourth century Martyr, Erasmus of June 2,” although enough evidence exists to indicate the two were distinct individuals. Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine’s Abbey, The Book of the Saints 95 (photo. reprint 2003) (1921). Still, details of the story of Saint Erasmus, Bishop of Formiae, “point to a confusion between him and some other Martyr of the same name.” Id. Butler’s Lives of the Saints describes additional details of the saint’s life, although it notes with skepticism that “[n]othing is actually known of his history, his so-called ‘acts’ being late compilations based on legends which confuse him with a namesake, a martyr bishop of Antioch.” 2 Butler’s Lives of the Saints 453, 453-454 (Herbert J. Thurston, S.J. & Donald Attwater eds., 2d ed. 1956). Butler’s Lives of the Saints, citing the Acta Sanctorum, does identify the Saint Erasmus at issue here as the Bishop of Formiae and relates that his relics were kept in Campagna in the 6^th century. Id. According to Saint Gregory the Great, his relics were translated to Gaeta in 842 when Formiae was destroyed by the Saracens. Id. Saint Erasmus is also sometimes confused with Saint Agapitus of Praeneste. Id. (citing B. de Gaiffner, Etudes d’Histoire et d’Archeologie Namuroises (1949)).

[3] I am not sure how this qualifies as a martyr’s death, but the Roman Martyrology unequivocally describes him as “bishop and martyr.” Id.

[4] Butler’s Lives of the Saints states emphatically, “There is nothing in the legendary history of St Erasmus of Formiae to connect him with that particular form of torture.” Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 2, at 454.

[5] See, e.g., William Beaty and Steven A. Ackerman, “What Causes the Strange Glow Known as St. Elmo’s Fire? Is This Phenomenon Related to Ball Lightning?” Scientific American, Sep. 22, 1997, available at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=quotwhat-causes-the-stran.

[6] Butler’s Lives of the Saints, supra note 2, at 454.

[7] See Beaty, supra note 5.

[8] Rosa Giorgi, Saints in Art 119 (Stefano Zuffi ed. & Thomas Michael Hartmann trans., 2002).

[9] Id.

[10] I suspect the statue may be of Hercules. Hercules was often portrayed with a wooden club and the skin of the Nemean Lion, which he killed as part of his first labor, draped over an arm or over his shoulders. The figure in Poussin’s painting appears to be carrying a club, which he rests on his right shoulder like a baseball bat, and has something (a lion skin?) draped over his arm.

[11] See George Ferguson, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art 18-19 (1959).