,%20c.%201475-1500_Paris,%20BNF_MS%20Francais%20177,%20fol.%20338r.jpg) |
Jean Colombe, The Landowner, the Gardener and the Barren Fig Tree From Vita Jesu Christi by Ludolph of Saxony French (Bourges), c. 1475-1500 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 177, fol. 338r
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“Some people
told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”
And he told them this parable:
“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,
and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,
he said to the gardener,
‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
but have found none.
So cut it down.
Why should it exhaust the soil?’
He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
it may bear fruit in the future
If not you can cut it down.’”
Luke 13:1-9,
Gospel for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year C
In the Gospel
chosen for the Third Sunday of Lent in the yearly cycle for Year C, we are
presented with two instances in which Jesus sets out examples of how God deals
with our sins. First, he relates two
recent disasters that may have made people wonder, even as we ourselves often
wonder following the disasters of our own time, both natural and manmade. In the first event, Pilate, the Roman
governor, had ordered that his troops mingle the blood of many Galileans with
the blood of their sacrificed animals. Presumably, this resulted in their
deaths, as the passage clearly implies.
This is a manufactured tragedy, an atrocity caused by tyranny. In the second event, a tower fell on people
in the Siloam area of Jerusalem. One
supposes that this is a natural disaster, due to unsteady foundations or perhaps
to an earthquake. In both cases Jesus
reprimands his listeners for making a judgment on the people affected by
assuming that their unpleasant deaths marked them as great sinners. He reminds them, however, that because death
can be sudden and violent, the need for repentance is absolute and immediate at
every moment of life. Our sense of wounded
justice and our self-deception are not what God sees. God does not use the disasters of life to
punish us.
,%20c.%20940-960_New%20York,%20Pierpont%20Morgan%20Library_MS%20M%20652,%20fol.%20266r.jpg) |
Sycamore Fig Tree From De Materia Medica by Dioscorides Pedanius of Anazarbos Byzantine (Constantinople), c. 940-960 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 652, fol. 266r |
He also adds a
parable to drive home the point that repentance is important, and that God is
merciful. He tells us of a landowner
(God), who comes to a fig tree in his garden and finds that it is barren for
the third year. He requests that his
gardener cut it down, since it is producing nothing and eating up the nutrients
in the soil. However, the gardener (also
a personification of God) urges him to be merciful and to give the tree another
chance. If it is carefully nurtured for another year, it may become fruitful once again. If not, it can be destroyed.
.jpeg) |
Parable of the Barrem Fig Tree in the Vineyard Austrian, c. 1349-1351 Lilienfeld, Stiftsbibliothek
Institut für Realienkunde, Austria CCBYNCD BYNCD httpswww.europeana.eu
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Both the stories
from the recent European news and the parable emphasize how God deals with us
and our world. He will give us time to
repent in the hope that, if our souls are lovingly tended and ready to accept
the care, we will be able to produce good fruit, no matter how barren our
previous years may have been. Further,
God does not use disasters, whether earthquakes, plagues, or wars, to exact
punishment on the guilty. But it is up
to us to receive his grace and to act on it.
This hopeful
story has much in common with some of the other Lenten gospels we have looked
at over the years. It resonates, for
example, with the story of the Prodigal Son and the Woman at the Well. However, unlike them it has not had much
iconographic life. I was surprised with
how few images I was able to find, although it is possible that more
exist. The number of sites that carry iconographic
materials have expanded enormously since I began writing this blog, which makes
it even more surprising that so few images seem to be available.
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Parable of the Fig Tree in the Vineyard Austrian, c. 1425-1435 Vienna, Österreichische Nationalsbibliothek Institut für Realienkunde, Austria CC BY-NC-ND httpswww.europeana.euenitem15501005185 |
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Ludovico Mazzolino, Parable of the Barren Fig Tree Italian, c. 1525-1530 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
One particular
print image is widely held, however (I located seven in a brief survey of museum collections on the internet).
This is a late sixteenth-century printed image made by Adriaen Collaert,
following a design by Hans Bol. It comes
from a series of the twelve months produced by the same team. This format seems to have been quite a
popular item in the late sixteenth- and seventeenth centuries in the Low
Countries (today's Holland and Belgium). It
harkens back to the labors of the months from the calendar pages found in
medieval prayer books. But in these
examples, the labors of the months relate to biblical passages.
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Adriaen Collaert after Hans Bol, Parable of the Barren Fig Tree From Emblemata Evangelica ad XII Signa Coelestia Sive Flemish, 1585 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
So, for instance, the harvest and preparation
for the coming year are associated with the story of the landowner and his
gardener, who stand at the left of the image.
Meanwhile, all around them the other farm workers are collecting the
abundant harvest of the other trees, filling bags with the crop and carrying
them off. Sheep are seen grazing
peacefully and all seems at peace in the background. That is until one notices that in the deep
background, straight above the figures of the owner and the gardener as they
confer over the barren tree, is a scene of warfare in which riders on horseback
are shown with lances directed at figures who flee from them, while other
figures, presumably dead or wounded lie around the base of a tower which is
shown at the instant of collapse.
.jpg) |
Adriaen Collaert after Hans Bol, Parable of the Barren Fig Tree Detail - Upper Left From Emblemata Evangelica ad XII Signa Coelestia Sive Flemish, 1585 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
Jesus stands at the far-left
side of the page discussing with the Pharisees as he tells them these two
stories.
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Adriaen Collaert after Hans Bol, Parable of the Barren Fig Tree Detail - Lower Right From Emblemata Evangelica ad XII Signa Coelestia Sive Flemish, 1585 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
Below the
engraving is a Latin commentary on this Gospel passage from Luke (Luke 13,
above) which reads in translation:
“The super-fruitful
tree which in season yields fruit pleasing to the farmer is praised; the barren tree is deservedly cut
down with an ax to be sold; but often the punishment of evil men may be
deferred by prayers.” (My
translation)
Other
visualizations of this Gospel passage do exist, though none is as complete and
defined as this one. Some, like the
Collaert engraving include parts of the Gospel of Luke that are described in
the same chapter 13, such as the falling tower or the healing of the bent
woman.
,%20c.%201371-1372_The%20Hague,%20Meermano%20Museum%20MS%20MMW%2010%20B%2023,%20fol.%20502v.jpg) |
Jean Bondol and Others, The Blood of the Galileeans is Mingled with that of Their Sacrifices and the Owner Discusses the Fig Tree with the Gardener From Grande Bible Historiale Completée French (Paris), c. 1371-1372 The Hague, Meermano Museum MS MMW 10 B 23, fol. 502v |
,%20c.%201430_The%20Hague,%20KB_MS%20KB%2078%20D%2038,II,%20fol.%20170r.jpg) |
Claes Brouwer and Others, Miracle of the Woman Bent Over and Parable of the Barren Fig Tree From a History Bible Dutch (Utrecht), c. 1430 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 78 D 38,II, fol. 170r |
,%20c.%201487-1490_New%20York,%20Pierpont_MS%20M%20894,%20fol.%20219v.jpg) |
Master of Edward IV, Jesus Describing the Parable of the Fig Tree to the Pharisees and the Disciples From Vita Christi by Ludolf of Saxony Flemish (Bruges), c. 1487-1490 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 894, fol. 219v
Here the parable itself is relegated to a small vignette just above the outstretched arm of Jesus. The foreground and sides are filled with the Pharisees and the Disciples to whom Jesus is telling the story. |
Some, like the two paintings by Abel Grimmer shown below, are modeled on the widely circulated Adriaen Collaert print already discussed. Grimmer apparently copied in paint the series of twelve months and did it several times over.
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Abel Grimmer, September, The Parable of the Sterile Fig Tree Flemish, c. 1600 Private Collection |
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Abel Grimmer, September with the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree Flemish, 1611 Private Collection |
The seventeenth century Flemish engraver Nicolas Cochin also borrowed the composition of the Collaert/Bols print for his own, simplified, version. His debt to the Collaert/Bols print is obvious, although he did not include the details of the falling tower and slaughtered people.
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Nicolas Cochin, Parable of the Fig Tree From a Set of Twelve Parables Flemish, 1672 Nancy, Museum of Fine Arts |
In addition, the text on his print is a direct quotation of the words of the landowner from the Vulgate Gospel of Luke. It reads: "Ecce anni tres sunt ex quo venio quarens fructum in ficoluca hac, et non invenio, succide ergo illam, ut quid exiam terram occupat." Or in English "Behold, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree
and I find none. Cut it down therefore. Why should it encumber the ground?" (Luke 13:7) (Slightly modernized quotation from the Douai-Reims Bible.) 1Others, especially those dating
from the eighteenth century and later, reduce the field of vision only to the parable of the
landowner and the gardener. See especially the early eighteenth century prints of the Dutch engraver, Jan Luyken, all done within a handful of years and, although obviously related, subtly different from each other.
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Jan Luyken, Parable of the Barren Fig Tree From Historiae Celebriores Veteris Testamenti by Christoph Weigel Dutch, 1708 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
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Jan Luyken, Parable of the Barren Fig Tree From a Bible Dutch, 1712 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum
This print includes a highly colloquial verse. The meaning can be translated very roughly as "You wait patiently for us to improve. O, that we remembered you!" "You" being, of course, God.
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Jan Luyken, Parable of the Barren Fig Tree From The Scriptural Histories and Parables of the Old and New Covenants Dutch, 1712 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
These appear
in increasingly naturalistic surroundings until, by the end of the nineteenth
century, they are totally realistic.
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Carl Rahl, The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree Austrian, c. 1850 Vienna, Belvedere Museum |
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James Tissot, The Vine Dresser and the Fig Tree French, c. 1886-1894 New York, Brooklyn Museum |
Until at the beginning of the twentieth century abstraction again entered the world of narrative art.  |
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree Irish, 20th century Dungarvan, Waterford, Ireland |
© M. Duffy,
2022
1. Translation from the Douay-Rheims Latin Vulgate Bible found at https://vulgate.org/douay-rheims.htm
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United
States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. All rights reserved.