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I Copyright. 1913, by tne Star Company. (treat Britain Rights Reserved. of the Earliest Christian ^>ombs in As fiich Shows the Saviour as a Smilin mt!e Shepherd and not as a"tttan of3 orroios H HB oldest known statue of the Saviour has been Identified In Constantinople According to Dr Franklin Hamilton, a high authority on Christian art, It dates from the beginning of the third century, or possibly the end of the second century. In other words. It dates from somewhere between 190 and 210 A. D. This means that it was made within two or three generations of the lifetime of the Saviour. It was found in an early Christian tomb near Damaecus, to which the church extended In the lifetime of the apostles. Work of this character Is extremely scarce. Only for a brief period could it have been permis sible to make a statue of the Saviour In the Byzantine Church, which The Statue at Constantinople, Now Declared to Be the Oldest Carved Representation of the Saviour, Dating Between the End of the Second and the Beginning of the Third Century. Ancient Byzantine Picture of the Saviour, Showing the Beardless Type Followed by Some Early Artists. piled an ingenious argument that the traditional portrait of the Saviour, followed by nearly all the great painters of the Middle Ages, is an actual likeness. This type shows a bearded face of long, delicate oval form and regular features. Sir Wyke Bayliss contends that It is based on the portraits in the Catacombs. One of these portraits, that in the Catacomb ot * he believes to have been made by an artist who had seen —*=■- Another of very early date is in the Catacomb of Pontianus. If this bearded type Is a true likeness, then the shephe*' - * Jiatue «an hardly be so. But the beardless type is alBO found among the portraits of the Saviour in the Catacombs, and it is the type usually followed in the early pictures of the Eastern Church. It is possible that among the first Christians there were some who sought to make an authentic likeness of the Saviour and others who preferred to create a type that best repre sented their idea of the divine appearance- Again, it is probable that the early Christians during the times of per secution in Rome, were afraid to place actual likeness where they might be seen by the authorities. They therefore used symbol in their art. Thus Christ subduing the hearts of men is typified in the form of Orpheus attracting the wild beasts with his lyre. Christ as a shepherd is represented by a youth carrying a lamb. t The shepherd symbol was naturally a favorite one with the first Christians. The Saviour was regarded as a shepherd by the humble and suffering people, who were the first to accept His teachings. In the pas sages in the Old Testament foreshadowing His coming He is spoken of as a shepherd who will save the sheep from the slaughter. It is a beautiful symbol, and one that appeals naturally to a simple people, who were largely following pastoral and agricultural pursuits. symmetrical Untrained hands formed it. The casual eye would scarce deign to rest upon such a monument, and yet how full of meaning, how unspeakably precious is this rude monolithl It is the earliest known carved representation of the Lord. "It shows an Oriental shepherd of grotesque but gentle mien. He is a toiler, a peasant. He is coarsely garbed and smiling. On his broad, bent shoulders rests a lamb “I am glad that those first Christians did not picture the Lord as a conqueror, who builded His throne on the tears and blood of humanity. He marched to conquest, but not with horses and chariots. He went with music, a shepherd’s song.” Dr. Hamilton has collected a quantity of interesting evidence in favor of the antiquity of the statue. There are many frescoes and drawings of the Saviour dating from the earliest centuries, but the number of "free statues” of Him is exceedingly small. There are four of them in Rome, two being in the Lateran Museum under the direct authority of the Pope, and one in Seville, Spain. They all represent the Saviour as a shepherd. To none of these five does Dr. Hamilton concede a date earlier than the fourth century, while the Constantinople statue is at least a century earlier, as has been explained. Dr. Hamilton admits that Rome of the pictured representations of the Saviour are probably older. Among these he counts the pagan graffito, or scratched drawing in the palace of the Caesars at Rome, which he dates from the middle of the second century. Another of very early date is a Catacomb portrait showing Jesus as Orpheus playing a lyre. The question whether any of these pictures is an authentic likeness of the Saviour has been much disputed. The late Canon Farrar held that the true likeness was lost. Sir Wyke Bayliss, an Euglish artist, has com- Sacred Shroud Preserved Turin. Believed Saviour’s Own Body. m BiT V.m fnf?L Mb*. In