TO UNDERSTAND THE SCENE

Saint Roch; Tourcoing, France

Saint Roch

Lazarus, ill and licked by dogs, can be mistaken for St Roch. This saint of the 15^th century is sick with plague; he shows his wound (or bubo) on his leg and he is accompanied by a dog that brings him a loaf of bread in its mouth. But Roch is always standing and dressed as a pilgrim of St James’s Way with a scallop shell.

The Banquet of the rich Man and Lazarus ; François MAÎTRE; 1475; miniature from “the City of God” translated by Raoul de Presle; manuscript MMW 10 A 11; Museum Meermanno Westreenianum, Koninklijke Bibliotheek,The Hague

  Meermanno

The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 16

There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
 (Luke 16:19-23)

Comment

Lazarus then finds himself in Abraham’s bosom, a place of heavenly banqueting, exactly the opposite of what he has known on earth. The rest of the text gives some importance to the death of the rich man and his attempt to warn his brothers, but the parable is not a condemnation of the rich, rather an appeal to pity, to compassion, to charity, an appeal to “see” the one who is at the door and who remains invisible to the rich man, hidden behind his belongings.

POOR LAZARUS 

It is traditional to centre the representation on the rich man’s banquet; Lazarus being rejected in the composition as in his life.

Two more original pictures of Lazarus: The lonely imploring man and Lazarus dressed as a pilgrim of St James. In both cases, the picture is close to that of St Roch and his dog.

A representation of the whole story: the banquet and the retribution “in Abraham’s bosom” for Lazarus and in hell for the rich man.

The diptych divides the narrative into rectangles but the engraving juxtaposes the elements in a complex manner, yet visible from left to right.

The picture of Lazarus and the rich man is fairly often present in church porches where poor beggars are to be found. But what kind of poverty is it?

In the Middle-Ages, the poor man par excellence was the leper and the man of the parable has become “St Lazarus”, patron and protector of lepers. One can see Lazarus with a clapper to announce his presence and a wooden bowl to receive gifts without being touched.

As early as the 17^th century, the word “lazar-house” designated a place where the sick were confined until one could see if they were contagious but the disease one feared then was the plague and no longer leprosy.