DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0112
94
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. III.
posterous roof. The cell and pillars of white
marble remain, but the latter are almost lost in
a wall drawn from column to column, and filling*
up the whole intermediate space. It is much to
picture of the manners of the times, while others occasionally
exhibit an affecting representation of the sufferings of the
Christians. Of the former kind is a painting on a vaulted
ceiling in the cemetery of Pontianus; in a circle in the
centre appears the Good Shepherd—in the corners four
figures of Angels—on the sides the four Seasons. Winter is
represented by a youth holding some sticks in his right hand
and extending it towards a vase with a flame rising from it:
in his left he bears alighted torch : a withered tree stands in
the back ground. Spring is signified by a boy on one knee,
as if he had just taken up a lamb which he supports with
one hand ; in the other he holds a lily : the scene is a garden
laid out in regular walks : near the border of one of these
walks stands a tree in full foliage. Summer appears as a
man in a tunic, with a round hat on his head in the act of
reaping; the sickle is of the same form as that used in Eng-
land. Autumn is depicted as a youth applying a ladder to a
tree, round which twines a luxuriant vine. All these com-
partments are divided by garlands and arabesques. Of the
latter species of representation, we have an instance in a
painting which presents a human figure immersed up to the
middle in a boiling caldron, with his hands joined before his
breast, and his eyes raised to heaven as if in ardent supplica-
tion. The three children in the flames occur frequently, and
probably allude to the same subject. An inscription placed
over one of these scenes of martyrdom is affecting. O tempora
infausta, quibus inter sacra et vota ne in cavernis quidem
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. III.
posterous roof. The cell and pillars of white
marble remain, but the latter are almost lost in
a wall drawn from column to column, and filling*
up the whole intermediate space. It is much to
picture of the manners of the times, while others occasionally
exhibit an affecting representation of the sufferings of the
Christians. Of the former kind is a painting on a vaulted
ceiling in the cemetery of Pontianus; in a circle in the
centre appears the Good Shepherd—in the corners four
figures of Angels—on the sides the four Seasons. Winter is
represented by a youth holding some sticks in his right hand
and extending it towards a vase with a flame rising from it:
in his left he bears alighted torch : a withered tree stands in
the back ground. Spring is signified by a boy on one knee,
as if he had just taken up a lamb which he supports with
one hand ; in the other he holds a lily : the scene is a garden
laid out in regular walks : near the border of one of these
walks stands a tree in full foliage. Summer appears as a
man in a tunic, with a round hat on his head in the act of
reaping; the sickle is of the same form as that used in Eng-
land. Autumn is depicted as a youth applying a ladder to a
tree, round which twines a luxuriant vine. All these com-
partments are divided by garlands and arabesques. Of the
latter species of representation, we have an instance in a
painting which presents a human figure immersed up to the
middle in a boiling caldron, with his hands joined before his
breast, and his eyes raised to heaven as if in ardent supplica-
tion. The three children in the flames occur frequently, and
probably allude to the same subject. An inscription placed
over one of these scenes of martyrdom is affecting. O tempora
infausta, quibus inter sacra et vota ne in cavernis quidem