Jesus and the Evangelists

Circa 325-50
Relief carving
Museo Pio Christiano, Vatican City

The figure waving to the rowers and holding an oar is identified as Jesus by the label to his right. The other rowers, right to left, are labeled as the evangelists Mark, Luke, John, and presumably Matthew on the part that is now lost. The image does not of course record any historical moment, as Mark and Luke came into the Christian community only after the Ascension of Christ. Thus it is symbolic, but of what I am not sure.

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Read more about the evangelists as a group.

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• Iconography of the Evangelists
• This Picture

Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.