Unknown artist

Fishing scene, 4th century, Mosaic, Basilica Patriarcale di Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia; Cameraphoto Arte, Venice / Art Resource, NY

Angels Catching Fish

Commentary by Jane Heath

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To a modern eye trained by familiarity with later Christian art, this detail from a fourth-century mosaic seems to show angels catching fish in a net. To an affluent ancient Roman viewer, it would probably recall seascapes that they had seen in luxury villas, where winged cupids were frequently portrayed catching fish (Holden 2002: 31).

A very similar motif is found in a non-Christian context in the Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily dating to a similar time. In Aquileia, however, this motif is not in a private villa, but in a basilica, which was erected soon after Constantine gave Christians freedom of worship, and was soon to be expanded by the addition of an external baptistery and another basilica. Bishop Theodore’s dedication of the building ‘with support from Almighty God and the heavenly flock’ is celebrated in an inscription in the centre of the mosaic of which this detail is a part. Other parts of the mosaic represent moments in the biblical Jonah narrative, when the sea-monster spews Jonah forth and when Jonah rests under a gourd (McEachnie 2017: 128–29).

Within this context, the winged figures catching fish take on Christian connotations. Fish, fishing, and seascapes were prominent in early Christian imagery, both in texts and in art (Drewer 1981). Fish being drawn up from the sea could be an image of salvation, but in the parable of the dragnet, the emphasis falls on judgement.

Matthew’s imagery begins with the possibility of salvation: all kinds of fish are gathered into the dragnet and the good ones are saved, while the bad are thrown away (Matthew 13:47–48). But it is the latter image on which Matthew rests: at the end of the age, angels will separate the evildoers from the righteous and cast them into the furnace (vv.49–50).

 

References

Drewer, Lois. 1981. ‘Fisherman and Fish Pond: From the Sea of Sin to the Living Waters’, The Art Bulletin, 63.4: 533–47

Holden, Antonia. 2002. ‘The Cultivation of Upper-Class Otium: Two Aquileian “Oratory” Pavements Reconsidered’, Studies in Iconography 23: 29–54

McEachnie, Robert. 2017. Chromatius of Aquileia and the Making of a Christian City (New York: Routledge)

See full exhibition for Matthew 13:44–52

Matthew 13:44–52

Revised Standard Version

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; 48when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. 49So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, 50and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.

51 “Have you understood all this?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

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