by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson

Wm Eerdmans, Spring 2002

ISBN: 0802850074

This is the story of a man who was called a saint, and later, the patron saint of travelers, especially at Christmastime.

It was first written in the thirteenth century Golden Legend, a collection of wonder tales compiled by Jacobus de Voragine. The stories were arranged by seasons of the year and were not meant to be historical. The original authors may have been schoolboys in monastery schools.

Richard Jesse Watson has illustrated this medieval text with hypnopomic* oil paintings that wobble between this world and another.

*hypnopomic - associated with the semiconsciousness preceeding waking.

Media Reviews of The Legend of Saint Christopher:

“Watson’s artwork achieves a startling blend of the ancient and the timeless, the archetypal and the particular - he paints narrative elements in representational oils, reserving the backgrounds for abstract patterns that hint at the mythic roots of legend.” Publisher’s Weekly, 9/30/02