The Source in Art of the So-Called Prophets Play in the Hegge Collection

Abstract

The seventh play in the Hegge collection of English mystery plays is unique: in it is to be found a striking, and I believe hitherto unnoted, influence of art. James Orchard Halliwell, in his edition of the Hegge plays,' calls this play " The Prophets." But whatever its superficial likeness to the liturgical Processus Prophetarum, and other prophet plays, it is my conviction that this single English play is directly influenced by -indeed, largely derived from-that pictorial representation of the genealogy of Christ which is known in art as the Tree of Jesse, Stirps Jesse, or Radix Jesse. In order to make this matter clear, I must first set forth what is meant by the Tree of Jesse; how it was usually represented; what its probable age; and what the extent of its dissemination. Then a brief consideration of the play will indicate the chain of relationship between the iconographic and the dramatic form. It is convenient to begin with the prescription for the representing of the tree of Jesse, found in that Byzantine Guide to Painting discovered by AIl. Adolphe Napoleon Didron: " The righteous Jesse sleeps. Out of the lower part of his breast spring three branches; the two smaller ones surround him, the third and larger one rises erect and entwines round the figures of Hebrew kings from David to Christ. The first is David; he holds a harp. Then comes Solomon; and after him, the other kings following