Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1963, Page 33

ALTARISKLÆÐI FRÁ SVALBARÐI
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S U M M A R Y
Altar frontal depicting the story of St. John the Apostle.
This article is concerned with a 14th or 15th century altar frontal from tho
church at Svalbarð in northern Iceland, now in the National Museum of Iceland
(inv. no. 10933). The frontal, which measures 90x115 cm, is executed in laid and
couched work (Icel. refilsaumur) with polychrome woollen yarns. The main design
of the frontal consists of twelve roundels of pictorial content placed in three
horizontal rows. The purpose of the study is to determine the meaning of the
pictures in the roundels.
The author concludes that the pictures show episodes from the life of St. John
the Apostle and Evangelist, who was indeed the patron saint of Svalbarð church.
The episodes depicted are as follows:
1. Parable of a cock.
2. The flogging of St. John.
3. St. John’s hair being shorn.
4. St. John boiled in oil.
5. St. John raises Drusiana from the dead.
6. The apostle and the robber.
7. Story of the two brothers and the broken gems.
8. Story of the two envious brothers.
9. St. John accepts the cup of poison from Aristodemus.
10. Aristodemus accepts the apostle’s cloak.
11. With the cloak Aristodemus raises two criminals from the dead.
12. St. John descending into his grave.
The author explains each picture in detail and compares them to four versions
of the Story of St. John the Apostle as well as to the Story of Two Apostles (i. e.
St. John and St. James), all of which exist in Icelandic manuscripts from the
13th and the 14th centuries. His conclusions are that the succession of events and
even the development of details in the embroidered pictures follow so closely the
last mentioned story (although most of the episodes are to be found in all four
versions of the Story of St. John as well) that without doubt the designer of
the frontal knew the Story of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist in a version
of the closest resemblance to the story of the Two Apostles.