In front of certain tympanums, statues, columns, capitals or stained glass windows of
Romanesque or Gothic churches, we are sometimes unable to identify the characters
represented.
However, there are simple means for recognizing them:
Francisco de Zurbarán
Museum Fabre, Montpellier.
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1: Who is this virgin and martyr whose two breasts were torn off with
pliers?
AAgatha
BMathilda
COpportune
Sometimes, her breasts are represented like two breads on a dish.
2: Why did this girl of noble family push back the advances of the Roman consul who was
in love with her?
AShe was already married
BShe was in love with the son of a
blacksmith
CShe had made a vow of chastity
He denounced her as a Christian woman, and she was condemned to be whipped. Her
breasts were cut and she was finally burned on burning coals.
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3: Which evangelist was inspired by the angel?
AMarc
BMatthias
CMatthew
4: Why is another of his symbol a purse?
AHe kept the thirty pieces of silver for
which Judas Iscariote had betrayed Jesus
BHe had been a tax collector
CIt contained spines of the crown of Christ
which caused miraculous cures
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Rembrandt van Rijn (1661)
Oil on fabric. 96 X 81 cm.
Museum of the Louvre, Paris.
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Albrecht Durer (1516)
Tempera. 46 X 37 cm.
Gallery of the Offices, Florence.
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5: Who is this apostle, often represented with the bumblebee (large stick of a
pilgrim) and a seashell?
AJacob
BJames the Elder
CJames the Younger
Friar of the Saint John the Evangilist.
After being tortured and decapitated, his body was brought back in Galicia
and then buried in a field.
A sanctuary was built there, where his relics are preserved.
6: Where is this sanctuary?
Ain Compostelle
BIn Corogne
Cin Oporto
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7: Who is this evangelist?
AJohn
BLuke
CMark
8: Why is his emblem the bull or the ox?
ABecause of the twelve apostles, one
identifies him with the zodiacal sign of the Bull.
BTo remember his past as an agricultor and
peasant before meeting Jesus.
CHis Gospel starts with the narration of
the sacrifice that Zacharius offered to the Temple
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Franz Hals (about 1625)
Oil on fabric. 70 X 55 cm.
Museum of Western European and Eastern Art, Odessa.
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Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1722)
Oil on fabric. 167 X 139 cm.
San Stae, Venice.
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9: Which apostle was skinned with sharp a knife?
APatrice
BLazare
CBartholomew
10: And he was also...?
Acrucified upside down
Bcut out of piece which was thrown to the
dogs
Cthrown in the sea from the top of a cliff
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