Reading
Compare three passages
Acts 1 describes the selection of Matthias by lot. Acts 12 describes the death of James, brother of John, by the sword. John 20 gives Jesus’ invitation to Thomas and Thomas’s response. Summarise each passage in a sentence without adding what a later painter might depict.
Place the later objects
The pilgrim badge of James belongs to the history of Compostela. The axe beside Matthias belongs to later martyrdom imagery. Pointing out that an object is later helps explain why an artist using it does not simply illustrate the wording of a biblical verse.
Key takeaway
Match every historical claim to the kind of source that can support it.
Visual study
Christ guides Thomas’s hand towards his side while the other men lean close.
After Caravaggio · 1610–1620 · Public domainMatthias clasps the shaft of an axe. The broad metal head appears beside his face.
Peter Paul Rubens · c. 1611 · Public domainThe shaft of the pilgrim’s staff rises past James’s shoulder while his joined hands rest near his chest.
Guido Reni · Museum of Fine Arts, Houston