Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/207

 seen, in St. George's Church. In this picture, Zoffany himself figures as St Peter, a strong full face with small grey beard; and the face of St. John is a portrait of the painter's young wife; whom he married on his return from abroad. The Apostles were painted from local fishermen, and a curious proof that the figures were actual portraits was the fact that the grandson of one of the men, whose likeness has thus been preserved, was so exactly like his grandsire that he might well have been taken for the original of the figure in the canvas.

The two pictures do not agree in their arrangement. In the foreground of the St. John's painting are shown a great layer of brass with a ewer and small dish, while in the Brentford picture their place is occupied by two figures, who appear to be about to descend from the "large upper room" by steps, to which access is given by an opening in the floor. The figures are those of a white youth and a negro, the latter a portrait of the artist's "black slave." It is thought that Zoffany, by the introduction of these two figures, the negro and the Caucasian, in connection with the Jewish type, wished to exemplify the three races of mankind—the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, sharers alike in the blessing of the New Dispensation.