St Matthew and the Angel

There is no greater obstacle to the enjoyment of great works of art than our unwillingness to discard habits and prejudices. A painting which represents a familiar subject in an unexpected way is often condemned for no better reson than that it does not seem right. The more often we have seen a story represented in art, the more firmly do we become convinced that it must always be represented on similar lines. About biblical subjects, in particular feelings are apt to run high. Though we all know that the Scriptures tell us nothing about the appearance of Jesus, and that God Himself cannot be visualized in human form, and though we know that it was the artists of the past who first created the images we have become used to, some are still inclined to think that to depart from there traditional forms amounts to blasphemy.

在欣赏伟大的艺术作品时，最大的障碍就是不肯摒弃陋习和偏见。用未曾想到的方式去画熟悉的题材往往遭到责难，然而最振振有辞的指责也不过是“它看起来不太对头”而已。对于一个故事，我们越是经常看到它用艺术形式表现出来，就越是坚信它必须永远依样画葫芦地重复下去。特别是涉及到《圣经》中的题材，情绪就更加容易激昂。我们都知道《圣经》中根本没有告诉我们耶稣的外貌如何，上帝本身也不想被想象为人的形状，我们也知道那些习以为常的形象是处于往昔艺术家们的创造，虽然明知如此，还是有人以为背离那些传统的形式就是亵渎神明。

As a matter of fact, it was usually those artists who read the Scriptures with the greatest devotion and attention who tried to build up in their minds an entirely fresh picture they had seen, and to imagine what it must have been like when the Christ Child lay in the manger and the shepherds came to adore Him, or When a fisherman began to preach the gospel. It has happened time and again that such efforts of a great artist to read the old text with entirely fresh eyes have shocked and outraged thoughtless people.

事实上，往往是那些捧读《圣经》最虔诚、最专心的艺术家才试图在脑海中构思神圣事迹的崭新画面。他们努力抛开以往看到的一切绘画作品，开动脑筋想象小救世主躺在牲口槽里、牧羊人前来礼拜他的时候，想象一个渔夫开始宣讲福音的时候，场面必定会是什么样子。一个伟大的艺术家总是竭力用崭新的眼光来重新解读古老的经文，而这样的事，却一次又一次使那些无知之辈感到震惊与愤怒。

A typical 'scandal' of this kind flared up round Caravaggio(1571-1610), a very bold and revolutionary Italian artist, who worked round about 1600. He was given the task of painting a picture of St Matthew for the alter of a church in Rome. The saint was to be represented writing the gospel, and, to show that the gospels were the word of God, an angel was to be represented inspiring his writings.

激起这种“公愤”的一个典型例子，是卡拉瓦乔惹出的乱子；卡拉瓦乔是一位有着大胆改革精神的意大利艺术家，从事艺术活动的时间大约在公元1600年左右。当时他受命给罗马一座教堂的祭坛画一幅圣马太的像。圣徒应该被画成正在那里写作福音，为了表现出福音是上帝的圣谕，还应该画一个天使正在为他的作品赋予超凡入圣的灵感。

Caravaggio, who was a very imaginative and uncompromising young artist, thought hard about what it must have been like when an elderly, poor, working man, a simple publican, suddenly had to sit down to write a book. And so he painted a picture of St matthew with a bald head and bare dusty feet, awkwardly gripping the huge volume, anxiously wrinkling his brow under the unaccustomed strain of writing. By his side he painted a youthful angel, who seems just to have arrived from on high, andwho gently guides the labourer's hand as a teacher may do to a child.

卡拉瓦乔是一个坚定不屈、富于想象的青年艺术家，他苦苦地思索那个年迈的贫苦劳动者，一个小收税人，突然不得不坐下来写书时，场面必然会是什么样子。于是他把圣马太画成这么一幅样子：秃顶，赤着泥脚，笨拙地抓着一个大本子，由于不习惯于写作而感到紧张，焦灼地皱起眉头。在圣马太旁边，他画了一个年轻的天使，仿佛刚从天外飞来，像老师教小孩子一样，温柔地把着这位劳动者的手。

When Caravaggio delivered this picture to the church where it was to be placed respect for the saint. The painting was not accepted, and Caravaggio had to try again.

卡拉瓦乔把画像交给预定要在祭坛上安放这幅作品的教堂时，教堂方认为这幅画对圣徒有失敬意，而拒绝接受，卡拉瓦乔不得不重提画笔。

This time he took no chance. He kept strictly to the conventional ideas of what an angel and a saint should look like. The outcome is still quite a good picture, for Caravaggio had tried hard to make it look lively and interesting, but we feel that it is less honest and sincere than the first had been.

这一次他不敢再冒险，完全遵从对于天使和圣徒外表的传统要求。由于卡拉瓦乔的苦心经营，力图使画作生动有趣，所以第二幅画也不失为一幅佳作。但我们仍能感觉到，它不如第一幅作品那么忠诚而真挚