being really intended for the
Last Supper than most of the paintings of this class. The central
figure has a certain dignity about it. Upon the round plates on the
table are fishes, and the eight baskets are full of bread. It may be a
Christian painting of a bad period, and intended to commemorate some
of our Lord's miracles. The principal lines on the edges of the
dresses have been renewed. This painting is under an _arco-solium_ in
the chapel of the Sacraments, the burial-place of the Bishops of Rome
in the third century. All the paintings in that part of this great
catacomb that is usually open to the public, and in which masses are
said on certain occasions, have long been said by well-informed
persons to have been _restored_ within the last twenty years, but this
is now denied by the Roman Catholic authorities.

An engraving of this painting is given by Bosio in the sixth
_arco-solium_ of this catacomb, p. 523; he calls it Christ and the
Apostles. It is also given by Perret in the modern French style, vol.
i. p. 28; and by Dr. Northcote in plate xiii., much embellished by
color and improved by the skill of modern artists.

S. PONTIANUS.

The Baptistery, with the Baptism of Christ painted on the wall, over
the arch. He is represented standing in the River Jordan up to His
waist in water, in which fishes are swimming, and at which a hart is
drinking; the Holy Dove is over His head. S. John Baptist is standing
on the bank, and pouring water on His head, or perhaps only holding
out his hand to touch it. On the opposite side is another figure in a
white dress, hiding his face. All the three figures have the nimbus.

AN AGAPE.

An Agape, or love-feast, is a common subject of the paintings in the
catacombs, and sometimes seems to be evidently a representation of the
family gatherings that were held on the anniversaries in these tombs,
in the same manner as they were in the painted tombs in the Via Latina
or the Via Appia. These paintings are often supposed to be the LAST
SUPPER, and sometimes may be so, but the one before us can hardly be
intended for Christ and his Apostles.

CHRIST AND THE CHURCH.

These two figures, one on either side of a small table, on which are
two dishes, one with a fish upon it and the other with bread, are
supposed to represent our Lord after the Resurrection, and the
Christian Church in the form of a woman, with the hands uplifted in
the Oriental attitude of prayer, such as is u