圖文閱讀:聖馬太與天使

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.

在欣賞偉大的藝術作品時，最大的障礙就是不肯摒棄陋習和偏見。用未曾想到的方式去畫熟悉的題材往往遭到責難，然而最振振有辭的指責也不過是“它看起來不太對頭”而已。對於一個故事，我們越是經常看到它用藝術形式表現出來，就越是堅信它必須永遠依樣畫葫蘆地重複下去。特別是涉及到《聖經》中的題材，情緒就更加容易激昂。我們都知道《聖經》中根本沒有告訴我們耶穌的外貌如何，上帝本身也不想被想象爲人的形狀，我們也知道那些習以爲常的形象是處於往昔藝術家們的創造，雖然明知如此，還是有人以爲背離那些傳統的形式就是褻瀆神明。

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.

事實上，往往是那些捧讀《聖經》最虔誠、最專心的藝術家才試圖在腦海中構思神聖事蹟的嶄新畫面。他們努力拋開以往看到的一切繪畫作品，開動腦筋想象小救世主躺在牲口槽裏、牧羊人前來禮拜他的時候，想象一個漁夫開始宣講福音的時候，場面必定會是什麼樣子。一個偉大的藝術家總是竭力用嶄新的眼光來重新解讀古老的經文，而這樣的事，卻一次又一次使那些無知之輩感到震驚與憤怒。

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.

激起這種“公憤”的一個典型例子，是卡拉瓦喬惹出的亂子；卡拉瓦喬是一位有着大膽改革精神的意大利藝術家，從事藝術活動的時間大約在公元1600年左右。當時他受命給羅馬一座教堂的祭壇畫一幅聖馬太的像。聖徒應該被畫成正在那裏寫作福音，爲了表現出福音是上帝的聖諭，還應該畫一個天使正在爲他的作品賦予超凡入聖的靈感。

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.

卡拉瓦喬是一個堅定不屈、富於想象的青年藝術家，他苦苦地思索那個年邁的貧苦勞動者，一個小收稅人，突然不得不坐下來寫書時，場面必然會是什麼樣子。於是他把聖馬太畫成這麼一幅樣子：禿頂，赤着泥腳，笨拙地抓着一個大本子，由於不習慣於寫作而感到緊張，焦灼地皺起眉頭。在聖馬太旁邊，他畫了一個年輕的天使，彷彿剛從天外飛來，像老師教小孩子一樣，溫柔地把着這位勞動者的手。

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.

卡拉瓦喬把畫像交給預定要在祭壇上安放這幅作品的教堂時，教堂方認爲這幅畫對聖徒有失敬意，而拒絕接受，卡拉瓦喬不得不重提畫筆。

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.

這一次他不敢再冒險，完全遵從對於天使和聖徒外表的傳統要求。由於卡拉瓦喬的苦心經營，力圖使畫作生動有趣，所以第二幅畫也不失爲一幅佳作。但我們仍能感覺到，它不如第一幅作品那麼忠誠而真摯