Apostles

   The word apostles stems from the Greek apostellos and stands for to send forth. It refers to the 12 disciples of Christ who were charged with the mission to spread his word throughout the world. There are four biblical sources that give the names of the apostles: Matthew 10: 1-5, Mark 3:16, Luke 6:14, and the Book of Acts 1:13. These men are Peter, his brother Andrew, James, James' brother John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus (also called Judas, the brother of James), Simon, and Judas Iscariot. After Judas betrayed Christ, he was replaced by Matthias (Acts 1:21), and later Paul also became part of the group. Of these men, Peter, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Thaddeus, and Simon were crucified. James was killed by a sword, Matthew by a halberd, and Thomas by a spear. James the son of Alphaeus and Matthias were stoned to death, Paul was beheaded, Judas Iscariot hung himself, and John is believed to have died of natural causes. The Crucifixion of St. Peter was rendered by Michelangelo in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican (1542-1550) and Caravaggio in the Cerasi Chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome (1600). St. James Led to His Execution by sword is one of the scenes Andrea Mantegna included in the Ovetari Chapel at the Church of the Eremitani, Padua, in 1454-1457. The calling of the apostles by Christ was also a common subject in art, as Domenico del Ghirlandaio's Calling of Sts. Peter and Andrew in the Sistine Chapel, Rome (1482), and Caravaggio's Calling of St. Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel at San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome (1599-1600), show. The apostles were present at the Last Supper, as depicted by Andrea del Castagno (1447) in the refectory of Sant' Apollonia, and at Pentecost when they began to speak in foreign tongues, as El Greco portrayed them in c. 1608-1610 (Madrid, Prado). The apostles witnessed the Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin, with Hugo van der Goes (c. 1481; Bruges, Groeninge-museum) and Titian (1516-1518; Venice, Santa Maria dei Frari) depicting each scene respectively. Peter, James, and John were present at the Agony in the Garden as Mantegna (mid-1450s) and Giovanni Bellini (c. 1460, both London, National Gallery) represented them. Thomas doubted Christ's Resurrection, so Christ showed him his wounds from the Crucifixion, a scene Verrocchio presented in his sculpture of c. 1465-1483 for one of the niches of Orsanmichele, Florence. Finally, John is the author of the Book of Revelations, the last book in the Bible, which provided much inspiration to artists; for example, Hans Memlinc painted the apocalyptic Vision of St. John on Patmos (1479; Bruges, Hospital of St. John) as one of the side panels to the Altarpiece of the Virgin and Angels.