page_title: St Augustine Gospels
section_title: Evangelist portrait of Luke
hierarchical_section_title: St Augustine Gospels / Miniatures / Evangelist portrait of Luke
caption_attribution_description: English: Folio 129v of the St. Augustine Gospels (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 286), Portrait of Luke - Detail of right hand scenes
context_page_description: The St Augustine Gospels is an illuminated Gospel Book which dates from the 6th century. It was made in Italy and has been in England since fairly soon after its creation; by the 16th century it had probably already been at Canterbury for almost a thousand years. It has 265 leaves measuring about 252 x 196 mm, and is not entirely complete, in particular missing pages with miniatures.
  This manuscript is the oldest surviving illustrated Latin Gospel Book, and one of the oldest European books in existence. Although the only surviving illuminations are two full-page miniatures, these are of great significance in art history as so few comparable images have survived.
  The Church of England calls the book the Canterbury Gospels, though to scholars this name usually refers to another book, an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon gospel book written at Canterbury, now with one portion in the British Library as Royal MS I. E. VI, and another in the Library of Canterbury Cathedral.
context_section_description: Of the four portrait pages, only that for Luke survives (Folio 129v). He is shown sitting on a marble throne, with a cushion, in an elaborate architectural setting, probably based on the scaenae frons of a Roman theatre - a common convention for Late Antique miniatures, coins and Imperial portraiture. The pose with the chin resting on a hand suggests an origin in classical author portraits of philosophers - more often evangelists are shown writing.  Above a cornice sits the winged ox, Luke's evangelist's symbol. The pediment has an inscription with a hexameter from the Carmen Paschale by the 5th century Christian poet Coelius Sedulius (Book 1, line 357): "Iura sacerdotii Lucas tenet ore iuvenci" - "Luke holds the laws of priesthood in the mouth of the young bull" (iuvencus meaning also "young man").  
  More unusually, twelve small scenes drawn from Luke, mostly of the Works of Christ (who can be identified as the only figure with a halo), are set between columns in the architectural frame to the portrait. This particular arrangement is unique in surviving early evangelist portraits, though similar strips of scenes are found in ivory book-covers from the same period. The scenes themselves probably drew from a now-destroyed fresco cycle of the Life of Christ in Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome.
  The scenes, many of which were rarely depicted in art from later medieval periods, include:
  The Annunciation to Zechariah (left, top, Luke 1, 8–20), as he officiates at the Temple
  Christ among the Doctors (left, 2nd down, Luke 2, 43–50) which omits Saint Joseph, probably from lack of space; Mary enters to the left.
  Christ preaching from the boat (left, 3rd down, Luke 5, 3)
  The Calling of Peter (left, 4th down, Luke 5, 8)
  The Miracle of the son of the widow of Naim, (left, 5th down, Luke 7, 12–16) at the "gate of the city".
  The Calling of Matthew, a very rare scene (left bottom, Luke 5, 27–32).
  "...And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting him and saying, Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?" (right, top: Luke 10, 25)
  "...a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him..." (right 2nd down, Luke 11, 27–28): "extollens vocem quaedam mulier de turba".
  The Miracle of the Bent Woman (right 3rd down, Luke 13, 10–17), though labelled with text from Luke 9, 58: "Foxes have holes" (see below).
  The one leper out of the ten (?), Luke 17, 12–19
  The Healing of the Man with Dropsy (Luke 14, 2–5)
  The Calling of Zacchaeus (right, bottom), who had climbed a tree to see Christ better (Luke 19, 1–10).
  The captions in the margins, added later, probably in the 8th century from the handwriting,  name the scenes or are quotations or near-quotations from the Vulgate text of Luke identifying them. For example, the top right caption reads: "legis peritus surrexit temptans illum" or "[a] lawyer stood up, tempting him", from Luke 10, 25. The caption two below this one may misidentify the scene depicted, according to Carol Lewine. Even those, like Francis Wormold, who support the caption, admit the scene could not be so identified without it. The caption reads:"Ih[esu]s dixit vulpes fossa habent", a paraphrase of the start of Luke 9, 58 (and Matthew 8, 20): "et ait illi Iesus vulpes foveas habent et volucres caeli nidos Filius autem hominis non habet ubi caput reclinet" - "Jesus said to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." The image shows Jesus blessing a bent figure, which could match the quotation, or a miracle.
caption: Right-hand scenes
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