Matthæus

Med skrivetavle og griffel er Matthæus ved at skrive sit evangelium. Til højre for ham et vinget menneske, der er hans evangelistsymbol, som profeten Ezekiels vision fremstiller den. Ved hans højre fod en pengesæk, der angiver hans tidligere erhverv som tolder. Modelleret af en af brødrene Bienaime, formentlig den yngre.

Figur
Matthæus holder en skrifttavle på sit bøjede knæ, parat til at nedskrive evangeliet. For hans fod står en pengesæk, og bag ham kigger et vinget menneskebarn frem.

Historie
Matthæus, der også kaldes Levi, var tolder, altså skatteopkræver for romerne, og det hedder meget konkret at: ”Da Jesus gik derfra, så han en mand, som hed Matthæus, sidde ved toldboden og han sagde til ham, ”Følg mig” og han rejste sig og fulgte ham”.

Matthæus missionerede i Etiopien, her reddede han bl.a. kongedatteren Ephigenia fra at blive gift, men han blev desværre henrettet for det.

Traditionen har tillagt Matthæus at være ophavsmand til et af de fire evangelier. I kunsten optræder han derfor enten sammen med de tre andre evangelister: Johannes, Lukas og Markus eller sammen med apostlene, som her i Vor Frue Kirke.

Som apostel har han ofte et regnebræt og en pengepose som sit kendetegn, men som evangelist identificeres han ved, at et vinget menneske følger ham.

Det er helt udsædvanligt, at han som her, er fremstillet som evangelist, selvom han står sammen med de andre apostle. Bertel Thorvaldsen må have gjort det meget bevidst, for det samme gør sig gældende for Johannes, der også har denne dobbeltrolle, og i Vor Frue er karakteriseret ved sit evangelisttegn, en ørn, og ikke ved en kalk med en slange, som ellers er hans aposteltegn. 

Thorvaldsen kan dårligt have set det andre steder, men må have besluttet at fremstille dem sådan selv. Der er desværre ikke nogen skriftlige kilder, der kan belyse, hvorfra han blev inspireret til at gøre det.

I Matthæus Evangeliet fremhæves det, at Gud allerede før Jesu fødsel havde udvalgt ham til at opfylde de gammeltestamentlige profetier og forjættelser, og der lægges vægt på at redegøre for Jesu slægts- og barndomshistorie. 

Evangeliet repræsenterer inkarnationen: at Gud kom i menneskeskikkelse. I Johannes Evangeliet fremhæves Jesu opstandelse og de to evangelier repræsenterer således begyndelsen og enden. Og det kan være grunden til at Matthæus og Johannes er karakteriserede som evangelister, skønt de her optræder i apostelrækken.

De fire evangelister symboler: Johannes ørn, Matthæus menneske, Markus løve og Lukas oksen, stammer dels fra Ezekiels vision og fra Johannes Åbenbaring, hvor fire himmelvæsner bærer Guds tronstol.

Fakta
Skitsen laves af Thorvaldsen i 1821, og figuren modelleres ultimo 1821 af Luigi Bienaimé.

Apostlen Matthæus i Vor Frue Kirke af billedhugger Bertel Thorvaldsen. Foto: Jakob Faurvig

English

Matthew The Apostle and Evangelist

The statue
Matthew rests a writing tablet on his bended knee, ready to write down the gospel. A bag of money stands at his feet, and from behind him a winged child peeks out.

The story
Matthew, also know as Levi, was a publican, meaning a tax collector for the Romans, and it is clearly stated that: ”As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him”. Matthew preached in Ethiopia, and here among other things, he saved the king’s daughter, Ephigenia, from getting married. Sadly, however, he was executed for the feat.

Tradition attributes Matthew as being the author of one of the four gospels; in the arts he is therefore depicted either with the other three evangelists: John, Luke and Mark or with the other Apostles as here in Church of Our Lady.

As an Apostle Matthew often holds a numbers board or a bag of money as his characteristic, but as an evangelist he is identified by a winged man following him. Portraying him in the role of evangelist is extremely unusual when he is with the Apostles, and Thorvaldsen must have made a conscious decision to do so, because he portrays John, who shares the dual role, in the same manner, and in Church of Our Lady he is characterised by his evangelist emblem, an eagle, and not a chalice with a snake, which is his apostle emblem.

Thorvaldsen could hardly have seen this anywhere else, but must have decided on this portrayal on his own. Unfortunately, there are no written sources available to shed light on his inspiration for the depiction. In the Gospel according to Matthew, it is underlined that even before the birth of Jesus God had chosen him to fulfil the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament, and there is extra focus on accounting for the ancestry and childhood story of Jesus.

The Gospel represents the incarnation of God appearing in the form of Man. In the Gospel according to John, the resurrection of Jesus is emphasised, and the two gospels thus represent the beginning and the end. That may be the reason for Matthew and John appearing as evangelists even though they are depicted in the row of Apostles.

The symbols of the four evangelists are: John’s eagle, Matthew’s angel, Mark’s lion and Luke’s ox. Their origin is partly Ezekiel’s vision and partly the Book of Revelation, where four heavenly creatures carry the Throne of God.

The facts
The sketch was made by Thorvaldsen in 1821, and the statue was modelled in late 1821 by Luigi Bienaimé.