EVANGELISTS
Evangelists: translation
The Evangelists were the writers of the Gospels, the first four books in the New Testament where the story of Christ is told. In the medieval era, the Evangelists were represented symbolically, with the winged man denoting Matthew, the lion for Mark, the ox for Luke, and the eagle for John. These creatures stem from a vision experienced by Ezekiel where they surrounded the throne of God. In the Renaissance, Andrea del Castagno rendered the Evangelists writing their Gospels, their symbols included, in the Chapel of Tarsasius at San Zaccaria, Venice (1442), as did Benozzo Gozzoli in his frescoed vault in the Cappella di Sant' Agostino at San Gimignano (1464-1465). Jacob Jordaens painted the Evangelists together in a single canvas comparing one Gospel against the other (c. 1625; Paris, Louvre) and Fra Bartolomeo rendered Christ and the Four Evangelists (1516; Florence, Palazzo Pitti), a work that glorifies the rituals of the mass. Raphael painted the Vision of Ezekiel (1518; Florence, Palazzo Pitti), where a robust figure of God the Father hovers above the Earth and is supported by the symbols of the Evangelists.