The Apostles (Elgar) many delays, Elgar finally started formal composition of the music in mid-December 1902. Composition of the work in vocal-score format was complete by the end of June 1903, with scoring complete on 17 August. "The Apostles "is a narrative work, dealing with the calling of the Apostles and their experiences of Jesus' preaching, miracles, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. "The Kingdom" would carry the story onward. Elgar was more interested in human motivations than philosophical underpinnings, and two of the most prominent characters in the work are the two sinners Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot. Elgar's conception outgrew the confines of
Vocation of the Apostles portrait of Diotisalvi Neroni, who had taken refuge in Rome after plotting against Piero di Cosimo de' Medici. Another exile from Constantinople is John Argyropoulos, who appears on the right. Other characters on the right are members of the Tornabuoni family. Vocation of the Apostles The Vocation of the Apostles is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. In 1481 a group of Florentine painters left for Rome, where they had been called as part of the reconciliation project between Lorenzo de' Medici, the "de facto" ruler of