NASA SEAS NS) GON SR SR PRR SS SESS TON \ 1S Sa SS SOS REY . 5 : SAN NS SEN SS SEEN Seey a ROA SS we oN = BREN ON WSs RAN SSE AK . on GE tye Legs cies LLG Lig So we Of; SNK SIO SERN SOS hs SS Sixccat SOI wt ~ » , SO SY . Division iN | Section A)! nema ge THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK -: BOSTON + CHICAGO +» DALLAS ATLANTA + SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LiuitEp LONDON + BOMBAY ° CALCUTTA MELLOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lt. TORONTO THE GENE S185 10 82% OF CHRISTIAL eR” BY THOMAS ‘O’HAGAN, M.A., PH.D., LITT.D., LL.D. Member of the Authors’ Club, London, England and of the Dante Society, Florence, Italy UE Dre New Work THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1926 All rights reserved Copyright, 1926, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1926. Printed in the United States of America by THE FERRIS PRINTING COMPANY, NEW YORK, To The Verv Reverend Daniel E. Hudson, C.S.C., LL.D. of Notre Dame University, Indiana, in Felicitation at the Completion of his Fiftieth Year as Editor of the Ave Maria. INTRODUCTION This study of Christian Art aims at developing in the student or lover of art a consciousness of the great and important part which Religion has at all times played, from the very foundation of Christianity, in the progress and development of Architecture, Sculpture and Paint- ing. The Church has ever, in her fostering care, watched over and tended carefully the divine dreams of the soul as these found expression from time to time, through the creative genius of the architect, the sculptor or the painter. In truth, this work might well bear the title, “The Spiritual Ebb and Flow of Christian Art’’; for it registers upon the white shores of the centuries the momentum of each art-wave traced through the spiritual evolution of the times. It will be seen, too that Art, like Religion, has had its barren days— spiritual eclipses—when man, for the moment, forgot his divine destiny and the things of the earth shut out the vision of God. Despite, however, the intervening of these dim or twilight years, Christian art as an expression, in terms of divine beauty, of man’s relation to God continued to bear witness to its spiritual mission, revealing itself from time to time to the soul of man in all the splendour of the artist’s dreams, 7 8 INTRODUCTION In order that the student or connoisseur of art may gain a full and rounded knowledge of the work of the great masters, the writer has discussed in an extended way their life, art, and works, and in listing their paintings and sculpture in the various galleries of Europe has, it will be observed, omitted little of import- ance. To understand and fully appreciate the meaning and significance of Christian art, we must have an intelligent knowledge of its sources of inspiration. Because of this, the writer has deemed it well to discuss, in two chapters, the relation of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints to Christian art. Assuredly it is of little import to discuss conventionally the Sistine Madonna, if we do not know the story of the Madonna through the centuries. It has been thought well also to discuss briefly in an open- ing chapter the art of the Ancient world, enabling there- by the student of art to understand and appreciate more fully by contrast the spirit and import of Christian art. The Author is under obligation for valuable data in the preparation of this book to the following works: Rio’s Poetry of Christian Art; Emma Louise Parry’s The Two Great Art Epochs; Natali and Vitelli’s Storia dell Arte; M. E. Tabor’s The Saints in Art; Mrs. Jenner’s Our Lady in Art; the series of monographs by Mr. Van Dyke on the art galleries of Europe; and Ralph Adams Cram’s admirable work, The Gothic Quest. Let us add to these the valuable works very kindly placed at our disposal in the Grosvenor Library, Buffalo, New York, one of the best art libraries in America. THomas O’HAGAN. Toronto, Canada, Dec. 8, 1925. CONTENTS PAGE POEPERIANICPION ete et sir oe stare alte ar ale ee NG Oe ore ele welalel iar 7 CHAPTER Lee CART IN THI ANCIENT WORLD. ibs ci60'e tiers as celela cle wae elec 11 Tito LHe DAWN OF. CHRISTIAN ART 2.\0 0/0 vec wc ce eevee deus 19 III. THe SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN ART..... 31 Vee PME SAINT SIN MARS aan Sera al LIT ai allutal ¢ Sibley sath Qt atads 39 VY. Tue DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN IDEALIN ART.... 52 View (BYZANTING AND ROMANBSQUI? Foie) cle elle sile ia Ga ele ioe 58 VII. Tue Fuitt AWAKENING OF CHRISTIAN ART............. 65 Vition Can EVOLUTION OF THE GOTHIC? oie ss oleic aids ule eters ant 70 IX. Tue Caruouic CHURCH AND THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. 80 X. WHERE THE ArT SEEDS WERE QUICKENED ............ 86 POUR OTABLM OOULPTORS si). 4'<5 n+ 's d.sis'm 5. 4.shers;b)0\9 Byes, date 94 XII. Grorro—OrcaGna—FRA ANGELICO..............0000- 101 XIMW-. = Tue Mysric Scuoon or PAInTInNG...........6..600005 109 DN PSAMONMBDNAUANDUART CS OCS) fe isi teis ge gee biktehle'd sou 113 XV. Tue Great Art TRIUMVIRATE OF THE RENAISSANCE....120 XVI. Ractau ConTRIBUTIONS TO CHRISTIAN ART..........-.. 136 XVII. Tse Curer Art GALLERIES OF EUROPE WITH THEIR PP ORPT ENTS NEES Oe ae ENON le PRGRCEE Neat wa 142 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART CHAPTER I ART IN THE ANCIENT WORLD The nations of antiquity have left us a record—a manuscript of their spirit, in their art, which, when properly interpreted, is a key to and reflection of their civilization and culture. Art, like civilization, owes its beginnings to the East—exr Oriente lux. Egypt, the cradle of art exerted upon the art of the neighbouring countries an influence similar to that which Greece later exercised on the basin of the Mediterranean. Both Chaldea and Babylon, in their art, owe much to Egyptian sculpture, which was essentially symbolical. But neither the Hebrew people nor the Phoenicians did anything for art. The former, in their sacred writings, have given us a wealth of poetry; while the latter were the English of antiquity, planting colonies in Cyprus, Crete, Asia Minor, Sicily, Carthage, Malta and Cadiz in Spain—merchants in touch with Asia, Africa, and Europe. Egypt, which is designated the mother of civilization, still remains, as regards the beginnings of its art, something of amystery. The ancient land of the Pharaohs is strewn with obelisks, sphinxes, temples and tombs. Like Greece, Egypt, it seems, however, had but little painting. The Egyptian art-mind was a massive one; yet it is a mistake to consider that it was a mind buried in gloom. In Egypt as in Greece religious belief was the centre and source of all art effort. It may be worth noting here that the Egyptian At 12 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Dynasties that have left us the greatest memorials in art are the Fourth, Twelfth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth. The Memphite remains belong to the Fourth Dynasty. Of this dynasty is the beautiful and colossal statue of Chephren, now in the Gizeh Museum. Among the rulers of Egypt Rameses II carries off the palm for the number of statues erected to him. At Ipsamboul, not far from Luxor, is a huge temple built by Rameses II to commemorate his Nubian victories. It was at Luxor that the recent important find of the rich tomb of King Tutankhamen was made. As regards the ancient archi- tecture of the East, it may be said that the architecture of Egypt was that of temples and of mystery and sym- bolism, while the Assyrian was the architecture of fortification and fighting, and the Persian that of palaces. The museums of Cairo, Rome, Turin and Florence possess valuable samples of Egyptian art. In the East, in ancient times, the individual had no value; man was not a citizen, but a subject. It was under the luminous skies of Greece that the arts, freeing themselves from the fetters of Eastern despotism and theocracy, first revealed to the world a human person- ality. It was in Greece that the individual, for the first time, began to have a recognized value. Here the subject became a citizen. Here not one but many are free. Though of course we know it to be a fact that both Plato and Aristotle justified slavery. It may be asked why Greece became such a seed-bed and cradle of art. First through its position; geographi- cally situated as it was, it became a seaway to strangers; and, then, through the division of its people into small communities cut off from each other by mountains— this gave access to other peoples and developed an ART IN THE ANCIENT WORLD 13 individuality and the desire to excel, together with an ardent love of glory and a laudable rivalry in the cultiva- tion of the fine arts. The same thing happened in the Italy of the Communes, the cradle of modern art. Of course the art of Greece, like its religion, owed some- thing to the East. The influence of Asia upon the civilization and art of Greece came through Asia Minor and Phoenicia; and the first city in Greece to be touched by this influence was Athens. It was in architecture and sculpture that Greek genius has influenced most the art of the world. But it was really in sculpture and literature that the Greeks excelled. Neither Pliny nor Homer speaks of Greek painting; and it is worth noting, as Schliemann says, that there is no trace of painting in any object ever found in any of the five pre-historic cities of Hissarlik. Of course there was Apelles, who painted at the court of Philip of Macedon. Perhaps the three most dis- tinguished Greek sculptors were Phidias, Scopas, and Praxiteles. Phidias, who lived during the age of the great Greek statesman Pericles, was an idealist. Like Leonardo da Vinci in painting, Phidias could unite grandeur and minuteness. We might say here that beauty to the Greeks was the harmonious disposition of parts—unity in variety. As regards architecture, till we get to the Greek period of art all architecture is only a welter of various types of buildings. With the rise of Greek architecture we enter on the great course of European architectural development, in which one style arises, in historic succession, from another—Roman from Greek, Romanesque from Roman, Gothic from Romanesque, of which the perfect art of Greece is the fountain-head. 14 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Greek Art periods may be divided into the Pre- Historic Age; the Early and Later Archaic; the Transi- tional; the Age of Pericles; the Age of Praxiteles and Scopas; and the Closing Period of Greek Art. A study of Greek art to be satisfactory demands a study of its development through the different periods; and nowhere is this more necessary than in the study of Greek sculp- ture. The great inspiration of Greek art is its growth, something not found in all the centuries of Oriental art. It should be noted, too, that the migration that brought the rude and uncultivated Dorians into Greece drove the other tribes to all the Mediterranean lands—the islands of the Aegean, the coast of Asia Minor, the islands from Cyprus to Sicily, the coast lands from southern Italy in the West to the Euxine coast in the East. Like the Egyptian, Greek was essentially a temple architecture, marked by its three chief styles, Doric, Tonic, and Corinthian. The Parthenon at Athens is Doric. Of the three styles the most essentially Greek is the Doric. The Parthenon was erected in 440 B.c. after the final triumph of the Athenians over the Persians. It was the Corinthian style that the Romans carried on and developed. A good example of this may be seen in the Maison Caree at Nimes in France. It is marvellous the influence of Greek genius upon the art and literature of the world. For instance, what does not mediaeval and modern philosophy owe to Plato and Aristotle; mediaeval and modern sculpture to Phidias and Praxiteles; and the glorious temples of the Christian world to the beauty and symmetry and repose of the Parthenon? Truly it may be said, indeed, that the Greeks still rule us from their urns. ART IN THE ANCIENT WORLD 15 The Romans were the inheritors of the Greek ideals of plastic art. They were the heirs of Greece, in its civili- zation, art, and culture. Being a people highly intellec- tual and of great refinement of taste, the Greeks would scarcely admit an ornament in their architecture unless it were the best. Their genius was largely expended in the building of temples; whereas the Romans, a conquer- ing race and possessed of little aesthetic refinement, desired above all a rich and sumptuous effect in their buildings. The Greeks, who were essentially religious and essentially artists, admired aesthetic perfection, while the Romans, who were primarily political, sub- ordinated beauty to utility, and perfection to grandeur and majesty. Likewise the Romans, to whom the aesthetic and ethical were the same, converted Zeus into Jove, Athena into Minerva, Hera into Juno, and Hermes into Mercury. So wherever the arms of Rome tri- umphed, Roman genius spread tokens of her art. In Africa, Syria, Asia Minor, Gaul, Spain, on the Danube, the Nile, the Rhine, there was created and constructed now a coliseum, now an aqueduct, now a column of victory, now a triumphal arch. But while the Romans were a practical people, colony-planters and law-givers, they did not disdain to beautify their villas and gardens with Greek art. Even before the downfall of Greece, Rome had felt such an admiration for Greek art that she early despoiled the Greek colonies of southern Italy and Sicily of their art. In a study of Roman art it will be observed how, es- pecially during the closing days of the Republic, the Roman artists imitated and copied the Greek works of art. The great influx of Greek masterpieces in Rome gave inspiration to the Roman artist; and henceforth 16 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Roman art made rapid strides. This development is especially seen in the Roman portrait sculpture of the time—in such statues as those of Julius Caesar, Cicero and Pompey. | In imperial times true Roman art reached its zenith, especially during the reign of Augustus, from 30 B.c. to 14 a.p. This may be regarded as the golden age of Roman art. Take, for instance, the Column of Trajan, standing today in excellent preservation in Trajan’s Forum in Rome, which tells the story of his Dacian expedition. It is one hundred and forty-seven feet high, ten feet in diameter, and made of thirty-four blocks of marble. This is a marvellous sculptural document attesting to the character of Roman warfare, the build- ing of walls and bridges, the marches, battles and victories; in a word, the whole campaign is set forth in all its dramatic bearings. Again, the various arches of triumph, such as that of Titus and that of Constantine, are a witness to the Roman art of the time. The sar- cophagus reliefs may be regarded as the last efforts of Roman art. As regards painting under the Roman Empire, it will be well for the student to visit Pompeii near Naples, ‘which, together with Herculaneum and Stabiae was overwhelmed and buried by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Pompeii was not in reality Roman; it resembled more a provincial Greek town. By the excavations that took place about the middle of the last century, the city with its art was finally revealed to the world. The early settlers of Pompeii were Greeks from neigh- bouring southern Italy, Magna Graecia. Even when it became Romanized, it still remained Greek in spirit, the temples and theatres being Greek, and the themes ART IN THE ANCIENT WORLD 17 of its art Greek legends and heroes. Pompeii is truly a link with the past. It will also repay the student to go to Pompeii because of the knowledge acquired there of a Roman house, with its halls and court, its atrium and its portico. The House of the Vetii brothers will afford also an excellent idea of the luxurious character of a Roman home, with its frescoed walls, decorated and alive with legends, satyrs, bacchantes, and cupids. We must not forget here to note that according to Virgil in the second book of his Georgics (lines 532-535), Rome was born in the fusion of three elements: the Latin, Sabine, and Etruscan; and that Roman art, es- pecially early Roman art, owed a good deal to the latter. According to Herodotus, the Etruscans came into Italy from Asia Minor, and were of an ancient Aegean race. They settled in Italy about 1000 B.c., overran modern Tuscany, known as Etruria; and also conquered Umbria. There were fourteen chief Etrurian cities. Of these the most important were Volaterrae (modern Volaterra), Faesulae (modern Fiesole), Cortona (mod- ern Cortona), Clustum (modern Chiusi), Perusia (modern Perugia). Clusium was the city of Lars Porsena, who attempted to restore the Tarquin Kings after they had been driven out of Rome 360 B.c. Macaulay refers to this in his ballad “Horatio at the Bridge.” Shame on the false Etruscan Who lingers in his home, When Porsena of Clusium Is on the march to Rome. Pliny gives a description of the tomb of Porsena at Clusium. What remains of the primitive civilization of the Etruscans shows their affiliation with Oriental 18 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART civilization and customs. There is little doubt, too, that they were influenced considerably in their art by the Ionian Greeks who had settled in the south of Italy. Up to the fifth century B.c. Etruscan art developed by itself. In commerce and navigation the Etruscans resembled the Phoenicians. They founded Adria, which gave its name to the Adriatic Sea. Etruscan art reached its height 600-300 B.c. In 294 B.c. the chief Etruscan towns surrendered to Rome. Their architectural remains are walls and gates of cities. A splendid sample of an Etruscan gate or archway is the Porta Augusta at Perugia. The style of their sculpture resembles a good deal that of the Egyptians. It was especially orna- mental in their tombs. It may be said, however, that the Etruscans lacked artistic feeling. Perhaps the best museums in which to gain a knowledge of Etruscan art are the Etruscan museum, in the Vatican, and the museum of Perugia. CHAPTER II THE DAWN OF CHRISTIAN ART The transition from the Ancient world of art to that of the Christian, signifies the quitting of the world of Pagan ideals for a world of the Christian soul-life which fills a new universe of human experience, marked by spiritual thought and Christian aspiration. Indeed, it is spiritual thought and Christian aspiration that con- stitute the new sphere of art. The old civilization has passed away, supplanted by new conditions, new ideals. The advent of Christianity gave a new meaning to life— a new significance to art. Greek art reflected not the life beyond. It pulsed with the throbbing and sensuous joy of outer life and glad nature-worship. The faith of the early Christian looked to a life beyond. He lived, and his art lives, in terms of eternity. The allurement of the temporal and material is now lost in the eternal and invisible. Now it is the things of the soul that count. | As a critic has said: ‘““To understand the new art we | must bring the invisible into full play.” This same critic tells us that the early Christians approached art in a spirit of fear and timidity. Hearkening to the com- mandment to worship the Lord in spirit, they turned from the Pagan temples, with their images, as something abhorrent and savouring of idolatry. Is it to be wondered at, then, that the early Christians did not interest themselves in the Pagan, artistic creations around them, but sought rather the sure and lasting 19 Teen 20 », THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART, things of the soul? The saints and martyrs were of their household, not Venus and Mars, or Jupiter and Minerva. It was necessary that the new faith should create an art tradition of its own before it admitted into its keeping the less precious though beauteous creations of pagan art. It was Christ, not Jupiter, who reigned under the new order of things; it was the kingdom of Heaven before the kingdom of earth. Nor did these early Chris- tians, as it is sometimes alleged, depict and fashion an im- age of their Divine Master after the form of Jupiter. This statement is entirely without foundation in fact. Christian art, then, had birth in the catacombs, whither the early catechumens, followers of Christ, hid themselves away that they might escape the purple rage of the Caesars, and follow the teachings of their crucified Master. Here amid the most solemn inspira- tion that the world has ever known, the first Christian artists traced on the walls of their subterranean chapels, and on the tombs of their brethren in Christ, the rude sketches which will always be objects of reverence to him who has remained faithful in heart to the ancient faith of which these primitive paintings are an expres- sion or symbol. In the days of trial and persecution, Christian art had a higher mission to fulfil than that of ministering to the senses: it was to fortify the souls of the victims against the insistent threats of their execu- tioners and against the fear of death. In these cata- combs—and it is considered that in and around Rome they cover more than six hundred acres—you have truly the beginnings of Christian art; an art so humble, as some writer has said, that one can scarcely realize that here is the germ of the glorious achievement of the coming centuries. _ THE DAWN OF CHRISTIAN ART 21 During the persecutions of the third century, the catacombs of St. Callista, St. Priscilla, St. Agnes, and St. Sebastian were formed. In these catacombs, there is little work of the sculptor. The width of the passages is usually from two and one-half feet to five feet, the height, eight feet. The loculi or tombs are cut in the walls lengthwise, on each of the passages, often in four or five rows one above the other. The inscriptions and _ symbols, a kind of picture-writing expressive of the faith and hope of the departed saint, are on the wall-slabs covering the tombs. Many of those found in the late excavations have been placed in the great Christian! museum of St. John in Lateran. ) It may be stated here that Christian painting differed | from that of Graeco-Roman in having less technical | accuracy, and in being symbolic. Some of the pictures, however, in the catacomb of St. Callista are among the most beautiful that antiquity has handed down. Now, as the Christians could not create a new beauty, they imitated the classic models, allegorizing to serve the new faith. The dove, the lamb, the fish, and especially the | good shepherd bearing back the lost sheep to the fold were the prevailing subjects of symbols that found repre- sentation in the rude inscriptions on the walls and tombs of these ‘“‘dormitories” of the early Christians in Rome. It may be well to add here that the earliest represen- tation of the Twelve Apostles was that of twelve sheep surrounding Christ, the Good Shepherd, while He bore a lamb in His arms. The sheep issue from two cities, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Sometimes Christ is represented as the Lamb of God on an eminence from which flow the four rivers of Paradise. Rarely are the Apostles represented as doves, as in the mosaic in the 22 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Basilica of St. Clement in Rome. As to the four Evangelists, St. Matthew is represented by the cherub, because he speaks more of the human than the divine nature; St. Mark is symbolized by the lion, particularly because he dwells on the royal dignity of Christ; St. Luke was given the ox because he especially sets forth the priesthood of Christ; and St. John is represented by the eagle as an emblem of the lofty flights of his imagina- tion, and his keen gaze upon truth. It is worthy of noting that the favourite composition of the Christians of Rome in those early days was the figure of Christ between the two great pillars of the Church, St. Peter and St. Paul. As to the likeness or appearance of the Blessed Virgin, there has never been a continuous type, though there has always existed a traditional type of Christ. The acceptance of the new faith by Constantine after the battle of the Milvian Bridge, 312 a.p., and the proclamation of Christianity as the official religion of the Empire following the persecutions of the third century, gave the first great impulse to Christian art. The catacombs were soon emptied of the lowly followers of the Nazarene. The Church came out from its hiding place and proclaimed its mission; and out of the needs of the new religion was born Christian art, rude and crude, if you will. Thus arose the necessity for a new archi- tecture for places of worship where all could congregate; and hence we find appearing an original and dis- tinctively Christian architecture. It may be asked here, why was it that the School of Art which originated in the catacombs appeared to expire like a lamp which is no longer supplied with oil? To this a well-known art critic returns answer: THE DAWN OF CHRISTIAN ART 23 Among a people who had embraced Christianity in all its fullness, it was impossible for art to die so long as the imaginations were animated by faith; it was the traditions borrowed from an order of ideas which had forever disappeared that were destined to expire; but the genius of Christianity in refusing to be clothed in a form which only befitted its infancy, gave no signs on that account of declen- sion or languor; on the contrary, it was the consciousness of strength which enabled it to dis- embarrass itself of antiquated forms sure of creating new ones better adapted to the high mission it was called to fulfil. It was a death destined to be followed by a glorious resurrection. There has been much controversy through the cen- turies as to the origin of the plan and the prototype of the early Christian church. The accepted theory is that the courts or justice halls known to the Romans as basilicas were changed into places of Christian worship; and so the early churches were called basilicas. This is borne out by the great resemblance between the ground plan of these courts and such early church structures as the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. In many cases the beautiful columns of the pagan temples were used as constructive materials by the Christians; and beside the church arose a bell tower or campanile, later to be merged in the Romanesque and Gothic towers. An adjunct of the church was often the baptistry, a small circular building containing the baptismal font. When baptism by immersion went out, the baptistry as a separate building ceased. The circu- lar form of the baptistry was derived from the ancient Etruscans through the Romans. 24 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART It should be noted here that Constantine had estab- lished his capital in the Greek seaport town of Byzan- tium, 328 a.D., calling it Constantinople. Before quitting Rome the first Christian Emperor was instrumental in erecting four great basilicas: St. Peter’s, St. John in Lateran, St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, and the Basilica ' of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. Henceforth it will be " well to remember that we shall have to deal with the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire, and that henceforth, too, art will be influenced by the prevailing ideals in the East and the West. We have indicated the origin of early Christian architecture; let us note here one of the most important offerings of early Christian art—the mosaic. This form ~ of decoration was known even to the Egyptians and had been in use among the Greeks and Romans; but the possibilities of its development into the sphere of church decoration had never been foreseen. It may be said that mosaics witnessed the advent of Christianity. The ‘Eeyptians usedthe mosaic for jewélry;" while the Romans made floors of it. It is to the Romans that we owe its development into one of the great arts of the world. The first mosaics of official Christianity are to be seen in the little Church of Santa Constanza, in the via Nomentana, Rome, a circular building built to receive the tomb of Constantia, the daughter of Constantine. Then we have the mosaics in the Church of Santa Pudenziana, which is generally regarded as the oldest church in Rome, followed by mosaics in the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere, SS. Cosmas and Damian, the subterranean Basilica of St. Clement, Santa Maria Maggiore with its rich mosaic floor and its splendid THE DAWN OF CHRISTIAN ART 25 mosaics in the tribune; and in St. John Lateran we have mosaics of the fifth century in the baptistry. It may be said here that the early mosaics are the best; and one of these, representing the Redeemer and Saints, is in the Church of St. Pudenziana, a fourth century mosaic. But perhaps the mosaic is revealed in its richest splendour, not in Rome, but in Ravenna, hard by the Adriatic, which for a time remained the Capital of the Western Empire, and the residence of the exarchs in 552 A.D. This now desolate and almost deserted city was once the stage of the world’s great drama. In 404 A.D. the Emperor Honorius moved the Roman Court to Ravenna. It was during the residence at Ravenna of Galla Placidia, the sister of Honorius, and her son, Valentinian, and the era of Justinian, the Emperor, that mosaic decoration in the churches of Ravenna reached an unparalleled magnificence. Then were built the beautiful little sepulchral Chapel of Galla Placidia, the Churches of San Vitale, San Apollinare Nuova, and San Apollinare in Classe. Perhaps the most impressive of the mosaics are those in the Church of San Apollinare in Nuova. Referring to the importance of Ravenna as an early art centre, Muther, the German art critic, says: “What Pompeii was for the antique, what Bruges for the Flemish, what Rothenburg for the German Middle Ages, this Ravenna is for early Christian art.”’ When we turn to Constantinople we find that the mosaic which began to be used as a vehicle of Christian art in the fourth century became a decoration of great splendour in the Capital of the East. Perhaps the greatest of all mosaic works in extent were those carried out under the Emperor Justinian in St. Sophia (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople. The most perfected Byzan- 26 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART tine style of architecture, too, in the East dates from the time of Justinian. The earliest church still existing in Constantinople is the Basilica of St. John, built about the middle of the fifth century. These churches are of mixed style being composed of Graeco-Roman and Oriental elements. In our discussion of the architecture of this period we must always remember the influence of the Orient upon Byzantine; and the influence of the East upon the West. The form of church used most in the West at this time was a nave supported on columns and an atrium, and examples of this style are found both in Byzantium and Rome. The sixth century saw churches of this kind erected outside of Constantinople and Rome, at Ravenna, in Istria and in Africa. The latter had some magnificent basilicas such as the great Basilica of St. Cyprian. ‘These witness to the tragic days of the Church in Africa, its original seat and centre being Carthage. Within recent years nearly two hundred of these churches have been discovered and laid bare with their mosaic floors and eternal pictures in stone. Archaeologists regard these basilicas as superior to those of Rome, which no longer exist in their original form as do the churches in Africa, being built over and modified through the centuries. Beginning with the seventh century, the contrast between the art of the Eastern Empire and that of the ~ Western became more marked. It may be said that after the age of Justinian, pure Byzantine art declined in Constantinople, the most beautiful buildings for the next epoch being built for the Mohammedan conquerors of Syria and Egypt by Greek masters. Meantime, however, in the West, in southern Italy, Sicily, and even THE DAWN OF CHRISTIAN ART 27 Gaul and northern Italy, Byzantine art was gaining supremacy in all the branches of art as well as in archi- tecture. An example of the latter may be seen in the seventh-century Byzantine Cathedral of Santa Maria in the small town of Torcello some six miles north-east of Venice, which contains a gorgeous twelfth-century mosaic representing biblical scenes. Into much of the early Church architecture in the West there entered a blending of many styles; for as the Byzantine was influenced in Constantinople, in response to ideas derived from Armenia and the East, so having changed its habitat from the East to the West, the Byzantine was modified by local elements and developed into a new style of architecture which may be designated the Church architecture of the West. Speaking of this art blending, Ralph Adams Cram writes: During the first five centuries of the Christian era} the Church had been fighting for life, first against a dying imperialism, then against barbarian invasions. The removal of the temporal authority to Constantinople had continued the traditions of civilization where Greek, Roman and Asiatic ele- ments were fused in a curious alembic, one result of which was an architectural style that later and modified by many peoples was to serve as the foundation-stone of the Catholic architecture of the West. As regards the character of church architecture that prevailed in Rome during those early centuries, it may be designated as Latin or Romanesque. Following the time of Constantine it was Latin, and this was closely connected with some forms of Roman architecture. The rete 28 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART term Romanesque may be applied to the whole period between the decline of Roman and rise of Gothic. The basilica type of church is to be found in greater numbers in Rome than in any other neighbourhood, and pre- vailed there for a longer period than elsewhere owing to the influence of Church traditions. Now, as to some of the factors which led to different ideals in the art of the East and the West, first there was the division of opinion as to the personal appearance of Christ, St. Cyril maintaining that our Divine Lord was the least comely of men, basing his opinion on Tertullian and St. Justin; while St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory of Nyssa held the opposite view. There was the same difference of opinion as to the corporal beauty of the Blessed Virgin. This accented the fundamental types of painting in the East and the West, and formed an art schism to prelude the religious schism of Photius. Nor should we forget here to mention the effect which the storm of Iconoclasm that broke out in the East had upon art. It will be remembered that the iconoclastic Emperor Leo III, who had issued a decree in 726 a.p. that all images should be banished from the Eastern — Church, threatened to break the venerated image of St. Peter and drag Pope Gregory II, loaded with chains, to the foot of the imperial throne. At the beginning of the ninth century a new element was infused into art—the Germanic. This new school which took form we will designate the Germano-Chris- tian School. The new element infused new blood into the impoverished veins of the ancient world. This Germano-Christian School, Rio, in his admirable work “The Poetry of Christian Art,’’ compares to a vigorous shoot set in a better soil. Then came a little later the THE DAWN OF CHRISTIAN ART 29 portent of the catastrophe which was to overwhelm the world in the year 1000 a.p. This completely paralyzed the imagination of the artist. We have now reached the very night of that period termed by modern philosophy “the long sleep of the intellect,” and the painting of this time reveals the degradation that had set in quite as much as does the architecture, poetry, or language. The Romano-Christian School of painting practically ceased from this time to exist. Meantime, the Germano-Christian School of the North was striking down its roots vigorously and, following the impetus given to art and literature by Charlemagne early in the ninth century, a kind of central school of art appears to have formed itself, at this period, in the famous monastery of St. Gall, in Switzerland. Rio considers that neither the Byzantine nor Italian works from the ninth to the thirteenth century will bear comparison with the productions of the Germano-Christian School, which was at once ‘“more felicitous in its methods, more pure in the choice of its forms, and of greater fertility in its inventions.” The question arises here, how great a stimulus was Byzantine to the art of the West? During the warring time of iconoclasm in the East many Byzantine artists migrated to the court of Charlemagne, and again after the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders early in the thirteenth century many Byzantine artists went to Italy. How far did these Byzantine artists influence the art of the West, especially that of Italy? Art critics differ as to the extent and value of this influence. Certainly the Byzantine influence is to be seen in the architecture, particularly of northern Italy and southern France. Cattaneo, the Italian art critic, holds that the 30 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART general style of architecture in northern Italy from the sixth to the eleventh century was Italo-Byzantine. The Byzantine impulse especially touched Venice, as may be seen in the Basilica of St. Mark’s. But Byzantine art only formed a broad bridge between Roman antiquity and the Middle Ages. It was a stimulus indeed to a new and a higher order of Christian art, into which would enter the deeper emotions of the soul, with all its joys and sorrows and its communion with nature. The sym- bol and allegory of the catacomb were to find after a thousand years a deeper and more beauteous art mean- ing and significance in the brush of a Giotto and a Raphael. As ten centuries of Christian poetry and philosophy speak to us through the lips of Dante and St. Thomas Aquinas, so ten centuries of Christian painting look down upon us from the frescoed vault of the Sistine Chapel. Indeed, there are not a few who hold that Byzantium exercised a pernicious influence on the art of Italy. It is quite certain that if the Greeks had conquered Italy then Italy could have never worked out her high destiny. The Byzantine impress would have been, as in Russia, upon everything. This is seen in the fact that Naples, which embraced the imperial cause, did little in creative art; while Venice, Lombardy, and Tuscany, on the other hand, display brilliant imagination in works of art; and at Rome the pontifical tiara rises more radiant than all — crowns. Byzantine art was suitable in a high degree for liturgy and ceremony; but it could not and did not ex- press as Gothic art does the joys and sorrows of the soul. It held no communion with nature. It was stiff, cold, and studied. CHAPTER III THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN ART The Blessed Virgin being the link between the visible manifestation of God in the Person of His Divine Son and the human nature which Christ assumed, it can be readily realized what a part the Mother of God has played in the Christian art of the world—Christian art, which may be designated as an expression in terms of divine beauty of man’s relation to God. The Blessed Virgin is, because of this relation to her Divine Son, invested with an awful dignity not attainable by any other created being. Dante refers to this in the thirty- second Canto of Jl Paradiso, in the ““Divine Comedy,” in lines 85-87: Reguarda omai ne la faccia ch’ a Cristo Piu si somiglia che la sua chiarezza Sola ti puo disporre a veder Cristo. [Look now into the face that unto Christ Hath most resemblance, for its brightness only Is able to prepare thee to see Christ.] It is interesting to note, in the study of Christian art, that every age has occupied itself with some particular aspect of Christianity. Thus we find that in the cata- combs the symbolic prevailed when the most common objects of life were pressed into the service of God and invested with spiritual meaning. For example, in some of the catacombs Mary is represented with the birds clustering about her feet, as a pendant to Christ, the Good Shepherd, with the sheep around Him. 31 ead 32 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART But the most popular expression or representation of the Blessed Virgin in art, during the early centuries of the Church, was that of Intercessor. This prevailed in the East as well as in the West. The cult of Our Lady began with the very dawn of Christianity. In the East it was interrupted for a time by the fury of iconoclasm whereby all images and pictures of the Mother of God were removed from the churches. Again, when the blinding blast of Mohammedanism swept across the country, it not only sought to remove from the heart of man the story of man’s redemption, but also the part which the Mother of Christ played in the fulfilment of the Divine Will. It is difficult to say here what share all this had in the decadence of Byzantine art. | We will never know, and we cannot know, how great an influence as a civilizing force this tender devotion to the Mother of God has been through the centuries, not only in curbing and restraining the wild passions of the savage warrior, but in fostering that chivalrous tender- ness for women and children, which in time became the most beauteous flower of Christian civilization. Next to the crucifix that represents the great drama of Calvary, the image of Mary in due time found a place in the hearts and homes of all Christian people. Her ~ shrine, by the wayside, marked among all nations the progress of piety, purity, and peace. | But the ideal of the Mother of God has varied, at different epochs and with different peoples. You have but to look at the Virgin and Child enthroned, a mosaic of the sixth century, in the Church of 8. Apollinare in Ravenna, the Queen of Heaven in the Council’s Hall at Siena, painted by Simone di Martino, the enthroned THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN ART 33 Madonna by Cimabue, in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, to realize how varied has been the conception of the Blessed Virgin as represented at different times by different artists. Of course the popular expression in art of the faith of the Church after it had been established by Constantine as the religion of the Empire was the figure of Christ Triumphant. Mary as the second Eve, spotless and humble, responding to the Divine Will with ‘‘Fiat voluntas tua!’ made possible this redemption of man; and so her figure invariably appears in early Christian art near that of Our Divine Redeemer. It has been, indeed, through the cult of Mary that woman has struck off her bondage. Wherever her children have been enrolled in her service, wherever her chapels have arisen, wherever her statues and pictures have graced the walls of church and home, wherever banners have been unfurled in her honour, the beauty and dignity of womanhood have been acknowledged and proclaimed—nay, they have gained a new import, a new meaning, within the sacred precincts of the cloister and the home. Mary has ever been a very preface to the life of our Divine Lord, flooding the world with the warmth and sunshine of her spotless soul. As we trace her image and picture in art, through the centuries, we behold Mary as Intercessor, Mother, and Queen. In Roman art she is the majestic, dignified and intense Roman matron whose chief thought and care is for her children. In Greek Art she is the Empress, the crowned lady. This latter was the prevailing type in the Middle Ages, and continues today in Russia and Greece. The Italian Renaissance broke with all this; and in Siena she became the Madonna full of passionate sweet- 34 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART ness and mysticism. In Florence and in Umbria she is the Madonna of stately graciousness, marked by abso- lute purity and beauty of sentiment; and this is espe- cially true of the Madonnas of Fra Angelico. Speaking of the Madonnas of Fra Angelico, a critic has said: “They might be described as spiritual rainbows. They glow with purest color and have no sign of earthliness to mar them. They are radiant dreams full of the deepest spiritual exaltation.” It is very interesting to note how various artists and schools have treated the subject of the Annunciation. For instance, compare Leonardo da Vinei’s Annunciation with that of Botticelli’s or with that of Fra Angelico’s. Of course the great painter of Madonnas is Raphael, with whose work we shall deal fully in another chapter. Raphael’s Madonna is the humanized Madonna—the peasant woman of the fields clasping her child in her arms, as we see in the Madonna of the Grand Duke and the Madonna of the Chair. In the Madonnas of Bellini, Crivelli, Mantegna, and Lorenzo di Credi there is something of the mystical aloofness. When we turn to consider the Madonnas of lands other than Italy we find is Belgium the mystical Maries of Memling; and in Holland and Germany the coarse ‘“haus-fraus’ of Diirer and Rembrandt. When these Northern countries broke from the Catholic faith their painters ceased to find a subject of inspiration in the Mother of God; so that gradually the Northern Schools of Art ceased to paint her altogether. After the six- teenth century it was only in Italy and Spain that artists painted the Madonna with a spiritual signification. In modern painting this spiritual meaning is entirely absent. We look in vain in the work of Burne-Jones or THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN ART 35 Rossetti for even a hint of spiritual import in the Maries they have painted. Burne-Jones’s might be designated neurotic and Rossetti’s as avowedly plain. Both these painters used the subject rather to exploit their art than to bring out its spiritual significance. The Madonna is the universal type of motherhood, but this representation of the Mother of God has found expression under various forms. The very earliest is the Portrait Madonna figure against an indefinite back- ground. This portrait style is of Byzantine or Greek origin and was introduced into the West after the con- quest of Italy by Justinian. This portrait style then remained unchanged till practically the thirteenth century. Then followed the Madonna Enthroned, in which the setting is some sort of a throne or dais. Then we have the Madonna in Glory, the Pastoral Madonna with a landscape background, and the Madonna in a Home Environment. We have, too, the Madonna of Love (Mater Amabilis), the Madonna in Adoration (Madre Pia), and the Madonna as Witness, in which the Mother is pre-eminently the Christ-Bearer. We may say here that the enthroned Madonna begins where the portrait Madonna ends. Yet, though the advent of the Renaissance marks the change from the portrait to the enthroned Madonna, painters such as Mantegna Luini and Alonzo Cano and Murillo, in Spain, painted at times the portrait Madonna. For the enthroned Madonna we have to reach the period of full art development. Such Florentine painters as Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto and Francia of Bologna and the Venetians Cima and Bellini were partial to the enthroned Madonna. Raphael at times adopted the portrait style, as may be seen in his 36 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Madonna of the Grand Duke. There is a beautiful enthroned Madonna by Perugino in the Vatican Gallery. Pinturicchio, who studied with Raphael in the bottega of Perugino at Perugia, has a beautiful Madonna in the Church of St. Andrew in Perugia. Raphael’s Madonna, the so-called Ansidei Madonna, is in the National Gallery, London. This was purchased by the English Government in 1885 for £72,000. In the Pitti Palace, Florence, there is a Madonna by Raphael called the Baldicchino, and one by Fra Bartolommeo which resemble each other very closely. The best known painter of Madonnas among the Venetians was unques- tionably Bellini, the Madonna which established his fame being the one that was originally painted for the Chapel in San Giobbe, now in the Venice Academy. A good example of the Madonna in Glory is the famous Madonna della Stella of Fra Angelico, which is in a beautiful Gothic tabernacle, the sole ornament of a cell in San Marco, Florence. Raphael has given us in all about twenty Madonnas, and among these are three, La Belle Jardiniere, in the Louvre; the Madonna in the Meadow, in the Imperial Gallery, Vienna; and the Madonna of the Goldfinch, in the Uffizi, Florence, which we may designate as Pastoral Madonnas or Nature idyls. The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, pro- claimed in Council by Pope Pius IX in 1854, though generally accepted by the Christian world since the ~ earliest days of the Church, has been in later years a special subject of art inspiration to many painters such as Murillo and later Italian artists. The representation of the Blessed Virgin with a cluster of stars above her head and a crescent moon at her feet had origin in Spain. Let us set down here some of the chief paintings which THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN ART 37 directly or incidentally deal with Our Blessed Lady: The Presentation of Our Lady by Carpaccio, in the Brera Gallery, Milan; Madonna and Child with St. Jerome and St. Dominic by Filippino Lippi, in the National Gallery, London; Immaculate Conception by Murillo, in the Prado, Madrid; Virgo Sapientiae by the Van Eycks, in the Church of St. Bavo, Ghent; Vision of St. Bernard by Filippino Lippi, in Florence; Enthroned Madonna by Cimabue, in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence; Enthroned Madonna with Saints by Giovanni Bellini, in the Academy, Venice; Madonna and Child by Botticelli, in the Uffizi, Florence; Madonna and Child with St. John, by Raphael, in the Hermitage, Leningrad; Madonna and Child with St. Elizabeth and St. John by Andrea del Sarto, in the Louvre, Paris; Pieta by Francia, in the National Gallery, London; Eucharistic Ecce Homo by Giovanni Bellini, in the Ducal Palace, Venice; Our Lady as Intercessor, from Orcagna’s Last Judgment, in the Campo Santo, Pisa; The Nativity of Our Lady (fresco) by Ghirlandaio, in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence; the Presentation in the Temple by Titian, in the Academy, Venice; Marriage of the Blessed Virgin, from a series of paintings by the ‘Master of the Life of the Blessed Virgin,” in the Old Pinakothek, Munich; The Annuncia- tion from the lunette by Luca della Robbia, in the Foundling Hospital, Florence; The Visitation by Albertinelli, in the Uffizi, Florence; Nativity of Christ by Botticelli, in the National Gallery, London; Adora- tion of the Shepherds by Correggio, in the Royal Gallery, Dresden; Adoration of the Magi by Memling, in the Hospital of St. John, Bruges; Presentation of Christ in the Temple (fresco) by Giotto, in the Church 38 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART of San Francesco Assisi; the Flight into Egypt by Fra Angelico, in the Academy, Florence; The Home at Nazareth (engraving) by Albert Durer; The Finding of Christ in the Temple (fresco) by Pinturicchio, in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore Spello; The Marriage Feast at Cana by Paolo Veronese, in the Royal Gallery, Dresden; the Descent from the Cross by Uglino, Siena; the Entombment by Perugino, in the Pitti Palace, Florence; the Descent from the Cross by Tintoretto, in the Pitti Palace, Florence; The Ascension by Mantegna, in the Uffizi, Florence; The Death of Our Lady by Mantegna, in the Prado, Madrid; the Assumption by Titian, in the Academy, Venice; the Coronation of Our Lady (fresco) by Fra Angelico, in the Convent of St. Mark, Florence; and the Coronation of Our Lady (fresco) by Fra Lippo Lippi, in the Cathedral of Spoleto. Poet and Painter have, indeed, knelt in spirit and devotion before the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin, and have found inspiration in the beauty and divinity of her Motherhood. She is the supreme excellence of Human- ity, the highest point touched by the human race. Well does the English poet Wordsworth express this idea in his rarely beautiful sonnet ‘‘The Virgin’’: Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost With the least shade of thought to sin allied, Woman! above all women glorified, Our tainted nature’s solitary boast; Purer than foam on central ocean tost; Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon Before her wane begins on heaven’s blue coast; Thy Image falls to Earth. Yet some I ween Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might blend All-that was mixed and reconciled in Thee Of Mother’s love with maiden purity, Of high with low, celestial with terrene! CHAPTER IV THE SAINTS IN ART It is impossible to understand Christian Art without a knowledge of the hagiology of the Catholic Church; without some realization of, and appreciation for, the part which great saintly and illuminating souls have played, especially in symbol, from the very dawn of Christianity, in the expression and development of Christian Art. With a knowledge of the history of the Saints, religious painting takes on a new meaning; for the very mosaics in the early centuries, rude and crude and stiff as they seemed, were to the illiterate, as St. Augustine once said, ‘“‘sermons on the walls,” truths of Holy Church, to be conned and studied by the faithful. Now what are the attributes of the chief saints in Italian art? We shall begin with St. Francis of Assisi, for around the little brown-hooded Friar who walked the streets of Assisi, about seven hundred years ago, and preached poverty to the multitude and peace to warring cities, there has gathered more of the glory of art than around any other saint. Yet “‘the little man of God” who shepherded beast and bird inspired artists rather than made possible the creation of artists in his own community. This was reserved for that Order of intellectual action—the Dominicans—who gave to Christian art the two great Florentine painters, Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo. 39 40 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Here, then, are the representations of the chief Saints in Italian art: St. Francis, the stigmata; St. Anthony of Padua, a lily, the Christ child; St. Dominic, the dog, a star above his head; St. Anthony, a bell; St. Lawrence, a gridiron; St. George, a dragon; St. Jerome, a lion; St. Peter Martyr, a wound in his hand; St. Bernard, a bee- hive, symbol of eloquence; St. Christopher, a child on his shoulder; St. Clement, an anchor; St. Stephen, stones on his head; St. Catherine of Alexandria, a wheel; St. Catherine of Siena, Dominican habit, stigmata; St. Barbara, a palm; St. Cecilia, an organ or musical instrument; St. Agnes, a lamb; St. Clara, the pyx with the host; St. Ursula, maidens; and St. Mary Magdalene, a skull. Now as to colours, they have had a particular signifi- cance in art. The colours were rich and beautiful in the mosaics and in the frescoes, excepting the flesh tints; gold was extensively used. Each colour had a mystic sense and its proper use was carefully studied. White represented purity, faith, joy, and light. It was worn by our Saviour after the Resurrection, by the Blessed Virgin, and by the women, as a symbol of charity. Red signified royalty, fire, Divine Love, the Holy Spirit, and, in an evil sense, war and hatred. Red and Black were the colours of Satan and evil spirits. Blue represented heavenly love, truth, and constancy. Christ and the Virgin wear a blue mantle and St. John a blue tunic. Green signifies hope and victory—the colour of spring. Yellow represented sin, goodness, marriage and fruit- fulness. St. Joseph and St. Peter wear yellow. Ina bad sense yellow signifies jealousy, deceit, inconstancy. This is the colour Judas wears in the Passion Play at Oberammergau. Violet represents passion, suffering, THE SAINTS IN ART 41 love, truth, and penitence as Mary Magdalene wears it. After the Crucifixion it is the colour worn by the Blessed Virgin, and after the Resurrection, one of Christ’s colours. Gray represents penance, mourning, humility. It is the colour chosen by St. Francis of Assisi. Black alone signifies wickedness, death. In the pictures of the temptation Christ wears it. A word here as to the Messengers of God as represented in Art. St. Michael is represented as the Captain General of the hosts of heaven, his attribute being a sword and scales; St. Gabriel is the bearer of important messages, his attri- bute being a lily; and St. Raphael is represented as the Chief of the Guardian Angels, his attribute being the staff and gourd of a pilgrim. Let us now touch biographically upon some of the principal saints who have figured in Catholic art, indicating where possible the paintings or sculpture commemorative of them. St. Francis of Assisi (SEPTEMBER 17 AND OCTOBER 4). St. Francis, designated ‘“Everybody’s Saint,’ was born at Assisi 1182, the son of Pietro Bernadone. He was christened Giovanni, but his companions called him Francesco, because his father, who was a silk and wool merchant, had his son study French. As a youth Francis was gay and worldly. Resolving to fly from the world, while kneeling one day before a crucifix in the Church of St. Damiano, the youthful Francis heard a voice saying, ‘Francis, repair my Church.” Thence- forth he devoted himself solely to the service of God, wandering barefoot over the mountain wilds praising God for the earth his Mother and the moon his Sister, and had for his companions the flowers and the stars. In 1210 he obtained the sanction of Pope Innocent III 42 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART for the institution of an Order. Ten years later the number of friars in his Order had reached five thousand, of whom many were missionaries who went to foreign countries, St. Francis himself going to Egypt. On his return from Egypt he retired to a mountain hard by Assisi. Here he had his celebrated vision of Christ Crucified and received the stigmata or ‘‘Five Wounds.” He died in 1226 and was canonized two years later.— (St. Francis Preaching to the Birds—a fresco by Giotto in the Upper Church at Assisi). | St. Dominic (August 4). The founder of the Domini- can Order was born at Calaruga in Castile, Spain, 1170. After studying at Valencia he assumed the habit of a canon of St. Augustine and was distinguished for his learning and vigour of thought. In 1207 he went to Rome and received permission to preach against the Albigenses. St. Dominic associated with him other preachers who went with him in his missions and out of this association grew his Order. It was while St. Dominic was in Languedoc that he is said to have introduced the rosary, which had great influence in stirring up the devotion of the people. In 1218 St. Dominic went to Rome and instituted the Order of the Dominican Nuns. In the history of art the Dominicans have been especially distinguished. Besides, the work of Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo there is the sculpture on the tomb of St. Dominic at Bologna, by Fra Gugliemo, and the frescoes in the Spanish Chapel of S. Maria Novella in Florence. St. Augustine (Aucust 28). The greatest of the Latin Fathers was born in 354 in Numidia, Africa. His mother was St. Monica. His early life as a youth was stormy. After a residence of some time at-Rome, where THE SAINTS IN ART 43 he practised law successfully, he went to Milan, and coming under the influence of St. Ambrose, was bap- tized in presence of his mother. He was ordained in 387 and later became Bishop of Hippo near Carthage. He died in Hippo during its siege by the Vandals in 430. St. Augustine was the founder of the Augustinian Order of Friars and became the Patron Saint of Theologians. St. Augustine figures very much in Art. Benozzo Gozzoli has illustrated his life in frescoes at San Gimig- nano near Siena, and there are pictures by Botticelli in the Academy Venice and by Garofalo in the National Gallery, London. St. Benedict (Marcu 21). The Founder of the Benedictine Order was born of a noble family in Spoleto 480. He was sent to study at Rome, where he showed great promise. Attracted by the teaching of St. Jerome on the efficacy of solitude, he became a hermit at the age of fifteen. Having fled to the wilderness of Subiaco, where he tended the poor and the sick, a society of hermits made him their head. St. Benedict founded, in all, twelve monasteries and amongst his most distinguished converts to Christianity was St. Maurus, the son of a Roman Senator, who introduced the Benedictine Rule into France. From Subiaco St. Benedict went to Monte Cassino. There he promul- gated his Rule—perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience with manual labour. He died in 543. (Frescoes by Spinello Aretino in §. Miniato, Florence, and a painting by Memling in the Uffizi, Florence.) St. Thomas Aquinas (Marcu 7). Born at Rocca Secca, near Aquino, in Campania, 1227, his father being of the family of the Counts of Aquino, who were related to the illustrious Emperor, Frederick I. St. Thomas 44 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Aquinas as a young man showed great promise in his studies, which he pursued at Monte Cassino and the University of Naples. At the age of seventeen he took the habit of St. Dominic against his family’s wish. St. Thomas Aquinas became the greatest writer and teacher of his age. He died in the Cistercian Abbey at Fossa Nuova, 1274, while on his way to the Council of Lyons. His companion in Dante’s Paradiso and some- times in art is his teacher in theology, Blessed Albertus Magnus. In his works he expressed the truths of revelation in the formulae of the Greek philosophy, thus bringing the wisdom and method of Aristotle into the service of the Church. He summed up all accessible knowledge and gave it form as an organic whole. St. Thomas Aquinas as a great intellectual figure is repre- sented allegorically in a fresco in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. (Painting, St. Thomas Aquinas among the Doctors of the Church, by Zurbaran, in the Museum, Seville.) St. John the Baptist (JUNE 24 anp AucusT 29). St. John the Baptist, who is the Patron Saint of Florence and of French Canada, figures very much in Christian art. Such well-known painters as Murillo, Andrea del Sarto, and Fra Lippo Lippi have represented St. John the Baptist in art. In pictures of the Holy Family he is generally represented as a child; sometimes, as in Murillo’s painting, he is represented as a boy with a lamb, and again as a young man in raiment of camel’s hair. His symbol, at all times, is the cross. (Frescoes by Fra Lippo Lippi in the Duomo of Prato, by Andrea del Sarto and Francia Bigio in the cloisters del Scalzo, Florence, by Piuturicchio in the Duomo Siena, and in the painting by Fra Lippo Lippi in the National Gallery, THE SAINTS IN ART 45 London, where St. John the Baptist is represented as seated in the midst of St. Francis, St. Lawrence, SS. Cosmo and Damian, St. Anthony and St. Peter Martyr.) St. John the Evangelist (DECEMBER 27). Tradition says that St. John was sent to Rome in the reign of Domitian and cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, but was miraculously preserved. He was afterwards exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, returning thence to Ephesus, where he died at the age of nearly a hundred years. He is said to have performed many miracles. When the Empress Galla Placidia was re- turning from Constantinople to Ravenna, she was overtaken by a violent storm and vowed to St. John if she was preserved she would build a magnificent church in his honour. This she did. (Frescoes by Giotto in Santa Croce, Florence, and painting by Sodoma, representing the Madonna and Child, St. Catherine, St. Jerome, St. Lucy, and St. John the Evangelist.) St. Cecilia (Patroness of Music). (NovEMBER 22). The patroness of music was the daughter of noble Roman parents. She used her great gift for music to glorify God. When she was about sixteen years of age her parents married her to a young Roman noble, Valerian, who was converted to the faith. He sought St. Urban in the catacombs and was baptized by him. St. Cecilia bequeathed all her goods to the poor and desired St. Urban to convert her house into a place of worship for the Christians. Her house became a Church, which was rebuilt over her remains in the ninth century, when she appeared to Pope Pascal I and told him where her body was buried. Later she became the Patron Saint of musicians. (Famous paintings by Raphael in the Academy, Milan, and by the Van Eycks in the 46 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Berlin Museum. Painting by Moretto da Brescia in the Church of St. Clement, Brescia, in which are grouped St. Agatha, St. Lucy, St. Agnes, St. Barbara, and St. Cecilia. ) St. Peter (JANUARY 18 AND JUNE 29). The name of St. Peter is connected with many miracles. During the persecutions which followed the burning of Rome, tradition says that the Christians besought St. Peter to leave the city, and he at length consented. As he went along the Appian Way he met Christ walking towards Rome and said, ‘Domine quo vadis?” (Lord, whither goest Thou?). The reply was: ‘‘I go to Rome to be crucified anew.” St. Peter took this as a sign that he was to return and suffer all things—and at once obeyed. Together with St. Paul he was imprisoned in the Mamertine dungeon. According to legend, St. Peter’s daughter Petronilla accompanied him to Rome. St. Peter is regarded as the first Bishop of Rome. St. Peter is generally represented with keys as Door-Keeper of Heaven. Frescoes by Masaccio and others in the Carmine Church, Florence; by Raphael in the stanze of the Vatican; by Michelangelo in the Pauline Chapel; by Perugino in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. St. Catherine of Siena (Apriu 30). She was born in Siena 1347, and sought admission to the Third Order of St. Dominic while still continuing to live at her father’s house. She endured great temptations but overcame them by prayer and fasting. It is related that one morning when praying before the crucifix in the Chapel of St. Christine at Pisa, like St. Francis she received the ‘‘Stigmata.’’ Chosen by the Florentines who had been excommunicated in 1376 as the mediator with the Pope, then at Avignon, she helped to persuade THE SAINTS IN ART 47 him to return to Rome. She died at the age of thirty- three. St. Catherine exercised great influence on the political history of her times. She also wrote books, which are among the Italian classics. Her last years were spent at Rome working for unity and the reforma- tion of the Church. (Portrait by Andrea di Vanni in San Domenico, Siena, and frescoes in her house and in the Academy, Siena. Painting by Sano di Pietro at Siena.) St. Ursula (Patroness of Girls and the Teacher of Girls) (OcTOBER 21). St. Ursula was a British Princess of Christian parents, beautiful, virtuous, and of won- drous learning. She was sought in marriage for Conon, son of the pagan King of England. She consented, but made a condition that he should become a Christian. Ursula and Conon proceeded to Rome, where Conon was baptized by the Pope. On their way back the pagans fell upon them and Ursula suffered martyrdom at Cologne. St. Ursula is usually represented accompanied by her maidens. Her life is illustrated by a series of paintings by Memling in the Hospital of St. John at Bruges and by Carpaccio in the Academy, Venice. St. Anthony of Padua (JuNE 13). St. Anthony was born in Portugal towards the close of the twelfth century, and having entered the Franciscan Order, devoted himself to missionary work. St. Anthony was sent by St. Francis of Assisi to teach divinity in several universities, including Padua. He became renowned as a preacher. Like St. Francis, St. Anthony, too, was a lover of nature and animals. In Padua, St. Anthony is much cherished as a saint, his church there being famous. Various artists have illustrated his life in reliefs and frescoes at Padua. He is revered as the restorer of lost property to the rightful owners. (Paintings of St. 48 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Anthony by Murillo in the Provincial Museum, Seville). St. Mary Magdalene (Patroness of Marseilles and of Penitent Women) (Juny 22). There seems to be no distinction made in Western art between Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, and “the woman which was a sinner,” though they appear to have been historically three distinct persons. According to legend, St. Mary and her brother and sister, accom- panied by SS. Maximin and Marcella, after the Ascen- sion set out in a boat without sails, oars, or rudder and came to Marseilles. Here they converted and taught St. Lazarus, who became the first Bishop of Marseilles. Many miracles are related of St. Mary Tradition says that Mary went into solitude in the wilderness and remained there thirty years, fasting and reading, and often visited by angels who bore her at last to Heaven. She is usually represented as very beautiful, with long fair hair. Her figure is symbolic of Christian penitence. (Fresco ‘‘Noli me Tangere”’ by Fra Angelico in San Marco, Florence; painting, ‘Jesus and Mary Magda- lene,” by Correggio, in the Prado, Madrid; painting by Titian in the Pitti Palace, Florence; and a series of frescoes by Ferrari in St. Christoforo Vercelli.) St. Teresa (OcTOBER 15). St. Teresa was born at Avila in Castile, 1515. At the age of twenty she entered the Carmelite Convent at Avila. She was a woman of most extraordinary character and great mental power with a most fervid temperament. When she had at- tained middle age she set herself to reform the Carmel- ites and before she died in 1582 she had founded seventeen new convents for women and fifteen for men all under her strict rule. Next to the ‘Confessions of St. -Augustine’”’ the THE SAINTS IN ART 49 account of St. Teresa’s spiritual life as contained in the “Life Written by Herself’ and in the “‘Relations” and the ‘Interior Castle’ is one of the most remarkable spiritual biographies extant. Among writers on mystical theology St. Teresa also occupies a unique place. She is intensely personal and sets forth in the clearest light her marvelous spiritual experiences. St. Teresa was beatified in 1614 and canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. St. James the Greater (Juty 25). St. James is the Patron Saint of Spain, where he preached the gospel, returning thence to Judea. He was beheaded by order of Herod Agrippa and his body was carried to Joppa and put on board a ship which was directed by angels to Spain. His body was buried, but the place was un- known till a friar found it (800 a.p.) and removed it to Compostella. His shrine there became a place of pil- grimage where many miracles were wrought. In a battle with the Moors at Clavigo in 939 St. James was said to have appeared on a white charger at the head of the Christian host and Santiago was henceforth the war ery of the Spaniards. His life is represented in frescoes by Mantegna at the Eremitani Church, Padua, and by Sodoma in the Church of St. Spirito in Siena. St. Louis (of France) (Aucust 25). St. Louis of France is claimed by the Franciscans for he assumed the habit of the Third Order of Penitence before he em- barked on his first crusade. He was influenced by two great passions of his age—for crusade and for relics; and succeeded in bringing the Crown of Thorns to Paris, where he built over it Sainte Chapelle. He died in 1270 and was canonized in 1297. (Frescoes by Giotto, in Santa Croce, Florence.) 50 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART St. George of Cappadocia (Patron Saint of England) (ApRIL 23). St. George was born of Christian parents in the reign of Diocletian in Cappadocia. He became a tribune in the army. The legend is that while travelling through Lybia he came to a place where a monstrous dragon living in a marsh ravaged the neighbourhood. People sacrificed sheep, even children, to appease it. At last lot fell on Cleodelinda and she was led out as a victim. St. George saw her as she passed. He made the sign of the Cross, attacked the dragon, and pierced it with his lance. St. George told the King that he had conquered through the might of God, whereupon the King and many thousands were converted and baptized. During the persecutions of Diocletian St. George suffered martyrdom. St. George has had particular veneration in England since the time of Richard I, whose armies were under his special protection. Fres- coes by Carpaccio in 8. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice. The Sibyls. There were ten Sibyls named from the place of their birth or residence—Persian, Libyan, Delphic, Cumaean, Cytheraean, Samian, Cuman, Hellespontine, Phyrigian and Tiburtini. All of them are supposed to have prophesied of Christ and are introduced into Christian art and constantly associated with the prophets, apostles and evangelists. They are represented by the graffiti on the pavement of the Duomo, Siena; in frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, . by Michelangelo, and in St. Maria della Pace, Rome, by Raphael. The Nimbus. A word here as to the Nimbus. The glory, aureole and nimbus all represent symbols of sanctity. The aureole encircles the whole body, the nimbus the head, and the glory is the union of the other THE SAINTS IN ART 51 two. The aureole, strictly speaking, belongs only to the Persons of the Trinity, but the Blessed Virgin is invested with it under certain circumstances, such as the Assumption. The nimbus belongs to all holy persons and saints. The cruciform or triangular nimbus belongs to the Persons of the Trinity. The nimbus of saints should be - circular. A square nimbus indicates that the persons represented are living. The hexagonal nimbus was used for allegorical persons. CHAPTER V THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL IN ART When the Christian Church took art into its keeping and gave it direction in the day-dawn of its life, the Christian Ideal in Art had birth and beginning. Ever since, painting, sculpture, and architecture have been associated with the life of the Church. As an acolyte at its altars, Christian art has ever shared in its divine service, building up and beautifying the House of God with the radiant and celestial dreams of the soul. Until about three centuries ago, art remained solely the handmaid of religion, serving in its temples and ministering to the soul, with no thought of an earthly crown. During those sixteen hundred years it spoke to humanity in different tongues and with varied accent, but always understood of the people; for it spoke with the tongues of angels, ever standing before the throne of God; messengers of grace bearing tidings of faith and hope and redemption to mankind. Christian art is of heaven. The summit of ancient art, reached in the work of Phidias, Scopas, and Praxiteles, is marked by the perfec- tion of the finite; but the summit of Christian art reaches into the infinite. So the history of Christian art is marked by aspiration. It expresses, in symbol and allegory, the things of deepest concern to the life of the ee THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL IN ART 53 soul. At first the expression was crude. It had to build its house, not in accordance with the promulgated wor- ship of Jupiter, or Saturn, or Minerva, but in accordance with the needs of the Spirit of God. In. ancient Rome adulation and voluptousness were the only springs of action. When Christian art, emerging from its hiding place, entered the lists with paganism, the motif in art was absolutely changed. There was a complete transformation. Now there are new hopes, new fears, new yearnings of the soul after righteousness. Thus the spiritual ideal developed in early Christian art as the Church set before the eyes of the faithful the divine truths of God, expressed in crude imagery, yet soulful aspiration, an aspiration linking the visible with the invisible, and the soul of man with its destiny of happiness hereafter. The Christian ideal in art found expression in part in the churches, which rose as witness to the mission of the Church in every land. Faith was symbolized especially in the glory of their interior. Though the exterior was sometimes plain and unadorned, the interior was marked by splendour. The mosaic known to both the Greeks and Romans was lavishly used with all its wealth of brilliant colour to adorn apse and nave and wall. Thus the Christian Church spoke to the faithful in the language of Christian art. Not always, however, did the Church mosaics repre- sent religious subjects. The early mosaics were often realistic. This is seen in the Church of St. Vitale in Ravenna, where the Emperor Justinian and the Empress Theodora and their suite are represented in a mosaic of extended dimensions. In truth, the early mosaics were for the most part historical, while those of a later date nae ey “~ 54 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART were liturgical and didactic. The Church used art as a means of grace. St. Gregory says: ‘‘What writing is for those who read, painting is for the uneducated who can only look.” It will be noted, too, that the early Councils of the Church declared themselves on the matter of art in the Church. In 787 the Second Council of Niczea proclaimed: The composition is not an invention of the painter, but a product of the legislation and tradi- tion of the Catholic Church. The art: alone belongs to the painter; the choice and arrangement are of the fathers who build the Church. But in the development of Christian art we must not forget to take note of the interregnum which ensued after Alaric and his barbarian hordes laid waste the Capital of Christendom. Indeed, it was not till the advent of Charlemagne, whose genius, as Rio says in his ‘‘Poetry of Christian Art,’ was a kind of equipoise held in reserve by Providence against all that remained of paganism in the West, that the Christian ideal in art had found soil and full freedom of development. As first-fruits secured to the Church by the great Emperor of the West, the erecting of several churches in Rome marked the pontificate of succeeding popes. But not alone in Rome, where the popes had fixed their see, but in cities of northern Italy—in Florence, Venice, Milan, and in the Capital City of the realm of Charle- magne, Aix-la-Chapelle, new and splendid ecclesiastical structures arose which marked the progress and development of the Christian ideal in art. When the storm of Iconoclasm swept the Eastern Kmpire—and it lasted for part of two centuries—the THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL IN ART 55 Christian ideal in art suffered. Iconoclasm came as a spirit of destruction with the Mohammedans, from the deserts of the Orient. When it gained entrance into the Church of the Eastern Empire it wrought havoc with the splendour of imagery, in representation of Virgin and saint. It emptied the churches of the warmth and suggestiveness of Christian art, robbing thereby the very altars themselves of their attributes and atmos- phere of pious devotion. Following this blast of destruction a new Byzantine School arose, which, as we have already said, was liturgical and didactic rather than historical. It was at this time that the Byzantine style conquered the West. Almost coeval with the rise of the Crusades, Byzantine colonies appeared in Italy, notably at Venice, also in the south, and in Sicily. It was about this time that the Church of St. Mark’s at Venice was built; and in Sicily, under the conquering Norman princes, arose in 1148 the Cathedral of Cefalt, the palace Church at Palermo in 1160, and the Cathedral of Monreale in 1180. It was really a new art dynasty that arose in Sicily in which Damascus, Mount Athos, Rome, and Cluny seemed to make equal contributions “to a dream-story of architecture.’”’ With St. Mark’s in Venice, the building of which took about fifty years, from 1045 to 1095, Byzantine art in the West reached its richest flower and fruitage. We have noted in an earlier chapter that the Romano- Christian School of Art ceased almost altogether to exist from the date of the portent of the catastrophe which was to overwhelm the world in 1000. In the eleventh century a Benedictine School of Art arose at 56 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Monte Cassino, whose influence extended as far as Cluny. Traces of this school are chiefly to be found in the miniatures of the time. North of the Alps, in Germany, the arts stood at a higher level during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, than in Italy. During those two centuries, also, France in social and intellec- tual development led all Europe. The Romanesque mural paintings in several churches and monasteries in Germany, especially in the fine Church of St. Michael at Hildesheim, are quite notable and betray little Byzantine or Italian influence. In truth, Romanesque wall-painting of the twelfth century, especially as represented in some Rhineland churches and cloisters, is very much better than anything of the same period south of the Alps. Except in the mosaic alone the craftsmanship of France and Germany during this period quite surpassed anything that native Italian workmen could produce. Nor must we forget to mention here the rise of decorative sculpture in France about this time. It was the heralding of Gothic, although some of the earliest of this decorative sculpture is to be found in Provence, in the South of France, in the storied portals of St. Gilles near Nimes and St. Trophimus at Arles. It will be noted that Provence took the lead in the literary revival of this time, and the artistic movement that followed was almost a logical result of the classical remains so abundant in ancient Provincia Romana. In Rome, where a school of painting might naturally have been founded following the work of Cavallini, the removal of the Papacy to Avignon in 1305 made this impossible. It has recently been shown and proved beyond question that there had been a revival of art THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL IN ART 57 in Rome in the thirteenth century as attested to by the mosaics in Santa Maria in Trastevere and in Santa Maria Maggiore, the work respectively of Cavallini and Jacopo Torriti. It should not be forgotten that during the Roman- esque period of art development—that is, from the very inception of Christian art—architecture dominated all the other arts, the chief industry, almost the sole activity, being church building. Until the thirteenth century both architecture and painting were in the hands of priests and monks and all art was necessarily subordinated to the needs of religion and the welfare of the soul. Then took place a great art-stirring in the soul of Europe. It seemed as if an angel of creative force with a flaming torch had alighted upon the earth from the battlements of heaven. What had been liturgy and dogma under the mixed reign of Byzantine and Romanesque, now became humanized and vital, stirring to their depths the hearts of all races and all peoples, giving the artist new visions that culminated in an art epoch of splendour surpassing the richest achievements of world civilization. The development of the Christian ideal in art was fully attained when Divine Beauty, an attribute of God, possessed in dream the artist’s soul. CHAPTER VI BYZANTINE AND ROMANESQUE Byzantine, when used to designate a certain style or character of Christian architecture, is not so misleading as is the term Gothic. The term Byzantine is applied to the style of architecture which was developed in Byzantium after Constantine had transferred in 328 A.D. the capital of the Roman Empire to that city. It reached its highest point of development under the Emperor Justinian between the years 527 and 565. Byzantine is a composite style of architecture into which entered Roman, Early Christian, and Syrian elements of structure. It was also affected in matters of decoration by the luxurious taste of the Orient. Its distinctive features are the use of brick and stone in place of concrete; the use of imposts in connexion with columns and arches; the character of the carved ornament applied to surfaces and a system of covering rectangular spaces with domes. The latter is what especially differentiates Byzantine from all other styles. In truth it may be said that what columnar is to Greek architecture, the domical is to Byzantine. As we have mentioned in a former chapter, Con- stantine became a great church builder, though none of the churches now extant in Constantinople dates from his time, the oldest existing church, in the city founded by the first Christian Emperor, dating only from the middle of the fifth century. When the Emperor Jus- 58 BYZANTINE AND ROMANESQUE 19 tinian succeeded, with his General Belisarius, in driving the Goths out of Italy, and Ravenna became the seat of an exarch, there was erected in this “fortress of falling Empire’ by the Emperor of the East the beautiful Byzantine Church of St. Vitale, which was regarded as the Court Church of Justinian. In Ravenna also are to be seen the two churches dedicated to St. Apollinaris, St. Apollinare Nuovo, erected in 520, and St. Apollinare in Classe in 538. We might add here that Constantine built several churches in Syria; the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Church of the Ascension at Jerusalem, and another church at Antioch. All these are Byzantine and belong to the fourth century. It may be stated that Roman art originated as one branch of Byzantine art, which at the same time formed schools in Venice, in Rome, in southern Italy and in Sicily. In a study of the church architecture of Italy, as well as that of southern France, from the sixth to the eleventh century, it will be observed how large a part Byzantine played, though of course there was always a local infiltration that modified the style. In truth this is evident in all architecture, for there is no such thing as a pure style of architecture, Byzantine and Romanesque and Gothic being but a kind of blending and evolution of many elements that may be traced through the centuries back to the Greek. It may easily be realized how great was the influence of Rome, the seat of the Papacy, in determining during these many centuries the character of church archi- tecture in Western Europe. Beginning with what may be designated the Latin after the time of Constantine, the church architecture of Rome became Romanesque, with such a local infiltration that we might well call it 60 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Papal. The three styles of architecture—Latin, Romanesque, and Gothic—may be regarded as the architectural expression of Latin Christianity. But the Byzantine art seed took root especially in certain centres and quarters of the West. We have spoken of its development at Ravenna first under the Roman Emperors of the West, then under Theodoric the Goth, and finally under Justinian. Ravenna is assuredly the one place to study the early Byzantine architecture and mosaic as they developed under the hands of Greek artists brought from the East. Next came Venice and the neighbouring towns of Torcello and Murano. St. Mark’s in Venice was modelled on the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, being completed about the close of the eleventh century. It is Byzantine in style, but has been much modified by additions made to it during succeeding centuries. St. Mark’s was erected by Byzantine builders in the form of a Greek Cross with the four parts of practically equal length grouped around a central square. Each of the five divisions is crowned by a dome. It is the interior, however, of St. Mark’s which attracts us. Perhaps in no other building in the world is there so marvellous an ensemble of coloured marbles, alabasters, and glass mosaics, or such subtleties, delicacies, and complexities of light and shadow. Then in Sicily there was another burgeoning of Byzantine architecture. The Saracens held Sicily from the ninth century till the Norman counts, Robert and Roger, won it for their own. Under these Norman freebooters a regular artistic dynasty as regards church building arose. Various elements entered into the blood of this art—Arabic, Greek, and Northern. Dur- BYZANTINE AND ROMANESQUE 61 ing the twelfth century were built, as we have already noted, the Cathedral of Cefalt, the Palace Chapel at Palermo, and the Abbey of Monreale. | Indeed, Byzantine art influence found its way into well-nigh every corner of western Europe. In southern Italy it is found in Naples and Salerno, and in northern Italy in the Church of San Lorenzo in Milan. Again in southern France we have the Church of St. Front at Perigueux and the Cathedral at Angouleme, which show the influence of St. Mark’s at Venice. Let us say in connexion with Byzantine that it is one of the most interesting phases of art development. After it had fashioned and erected glorious Christian temples to God on the shores of the Bosphorus and enriched the Latin church of the West with beauteous altar and aisle and dome, it touched the soul of the desert-wandering Arab and found flower and fruitage in the splendid mosques of Cairo, Damascus, and Bagdad, and in that Moorish dream in Spain, the Mosque of Cordova, now a Chris- tian temple of faith and prayer. The term Romanesque, when applied to architecture, is a shifting and elusive one. Strictly speaking it means the architectural style of the Middle Ages, which prevailed from 1000 to 1200. The term is, however, very often applied to the whole period between the decline of Roman and rise of Gothic. It necessarily manifests very great variety according to locality, but it has a distinct character in that it embodies always certain Roman principles of construction modified more or less by early Christian and Byzantine methods. There are two constant features that belong to the Romanesque—the rounded arch and rib-vaulting. It should be stated here, however, that ribbed vaults were 62 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART known to the Arabs one hundred and fifty years before they appeared in Europe, as may be seen in a chapel in the mosque, now the Cathedral of Cordova. Again, it will be noted in connexion with Romanesque churches of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in France, Ger- many and England, that there is a bell tower which became a prominent element of design in the structure of the church, whereas in Italy the campanile, some- times round and sometimes square, was frequently detached from the main edifice. To understand how varied was the style of the Romanesque in Western Europe, we should remember that the age of the Romanesque was the age of feudalism, marked by social disorder. The only unifying power at this time was the Church. Feudalism, however, divided cities and peoples and so we can realize how a Romanesque church would have a certain local individuality of its own. In England there is little of architectural value be- queathed by the Anglo-Saxons, but with the advent of the Normans an impulse was given to church building. Usually the Romanesque in England is designated Norman or Anglo-Norman. Perhaps the finest church monument of this kind is the Cathedral of Durham, which was built at the close of the eleventh century. Then followed the Cathedral of Peterborough. Por- tions of Norwich Cathedral are also Norman. Ely has a Norman nave and Bristol a Norman chapter house. A good example of the small Norman church is that of Iffley, near Oxford. Romanesque may be classified into two divisions: Germany and north Italy, and France and England. Special mention must be made here of the palace church built at Aix-la-Chapelle at the close of the BYZANTINE AND ROMANESQUE 63 eighth century and beginning of the ninth by Charle- magne. This of course was largely Byzantine in its design, being modelled on the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna. It is the vivid memory of Ravenna—the prototype of many churches in Germany and the most typical building of this epoch. In the German Empire, especially along the Rhine, there was a great revival of art from 975 to 1000 following the introduction of Byzantine artists by Otho II, who had married the daughter of the Emperor of Constantinople in 972. There is considerable resemblance between the Roman- esque churches of the Rhine in Germany and the Romanesque churches of northern Italy. This arose from the fact that the Rhine Provinces were closely allied by commerce with northern Italy. Some of the most typical examples of the Rhenish Romanesque are the Cathedrals at Worms, Treves and Mayence and the Church of the Apostles, at Cologne. It is alleged by some that Lombard-German Roman- esque influenced the Romanesque of France. But this is doubtful, for the Romanesque architecture of France is quite superior in architectural quality to anything produced at the same epoch in either Germany or Italy. It was really from French Romanesque that the great complete style of mediaeval Gothic was naturally developed. Perhaps the finest Romanesque church in France is St. Sernin of Toulouse. This was built towards the close of the eleventh century. It could not, however, have been the model for the Church of St. James of Compostella in Spain, as Street says, seeing that both were built within the same years. Another magnificent church of the Romanesque type in southern France is the Cathedral of Albi. In the old city of Carcassone is 64 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART the Church of St. Nazaire, made up of two distinct parts, one Romanesque and the other Gothic. It may be said that while the cathedrals of southern France are not equal to those of the north, there are some which for magnificence and impressiveness take rank with the most notable of any land. In Italy the unifying influence of the Church, to which we have already referred, was counterbalanced by the provincialism and the local diversities of the various Italian states, resulting in a wide diversity of architec- tural styles. These may be grouped under four divi- sions: The Lombard, the Tuscan-Romanesque, the Italo-Byzantine and the Basilican or Early Christian. The Lombard style is found in Milan, Bologna, Pavia, and Verona. The finest type of the Tuscan-Romanesque is the Cathedral at Pisa, while the Church of St. Miniato in Florence may be regarded as Italo-Byzantine. In Spain, when Toledo was captured from the Moors in 1062 and the emancipation of the country from Moslem rule had truly begun, there followed something of a church building era in northern Spain. These churches were largely Romanesque, perhaps in some instances influenced by French Romanesque models. Such churches as the old Cathedral in Salamanca, the Collegiate Church at Toro, the Church of St. Isidore at Leon, and the Church of St. Vincent at Avila, resemble very much contemporary French work. Yet it is wrong > to say that Spain was a mere copyist. It is worth noting that these churches in their style reveal little of Moorish influence. Let us say here that we should always be on our guard against attributing to peoples and races the borrowing of their art ideals from others, for ideals everywhere are a common property. CHAPTER VII THE FULL AWAKENING OF CHRISTIAN ART We have now reached the threshold of a marvellous epoch in the political, social, intellectual, and spiritual development of Europe. Steadily the great work of the Church as a civilizing, redeeming, and Christianizing force has been bearing fruit. The faith that had ex- pressed in the catacombs the higher and holier dreams of the soul, in rude image and symbol, now becomes vitalized with a new force, and is seeking expression, through the manifold activities of the spirit, in battling for Christ in crusade before the walls of Jerusalem; in the building of church and cloister; in the lonely vigils of the knight who, kneeling at the shrine of the Mother of God, vows in prayer protection to woman. And yet we are still in the Middle Ages, but a Middle Ages aflame with the ardour of faith. Civilization is now beginning to feel the embrace of peace. The sword, indeed, has not been put in its scabbard, but war is beginning to develop, even amid its horrors, sentiments of pity and forgiveness and charity and brotherly-love. Rome has now extended her spiritual sway over well- nigh all Europe. The successor of St. Peter becomes, by the consent of mankind, the arbitrator of nations. What greater tribute could have been paid to the popes of the Middle Ages than that they should have been made depositaries of such power. 66 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART It is full time now to look, after all this planting of the seeds in the fields of Christian hope and prayer and sacrifice, for the burgeoning of a Christian art and literature. We are already on the eve of its blossoming. The past centuries have prepared the way. The East has lent something to the West. The Church has pre- served the artistic fruits of faith. Christian architecture symbolizes each gift of the nations. After battling against every adverse force, the Church emerges from all those troublous centuries in the West in triumph, wearing a tiara of splendour. Faith has preserved the best in art in both the East and the West. To this full awakening of Christian art which marks especially the twelfth and thirteenth centuries of European civilization, very many factors and events contributed. But let us not forget that the development of art and literature does not in itself depend upon adventitious circumstances. So we doubt the wisdom of endeavouring to explain all the causes and factors that entered into the birth and development of this mar- vellous period upon whose threshold we now stand: a period which perhaps has no parallel in the history of the world. It is something more than the East touching the West; antiquity lighting new altar-fires in the Italian Republics; something more than the accidental finding of a Graeco-Roman sarcophagus; something more than the advent into Italy of Byzantine artists. | Art and literature do not develop from adventitious causes, but come forth from the spiritual constitution of the times. In art, as in life and government, “The old order changeth giving place to the new, lest one good custom should corrupt the world.’ The advent of St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante, and Giotto was not accidental. FULL AWAKENING OF CHRISTIAN ART 67 They are the fruit of spiritual evolution. Ten silent centuries of Christian faith are reflected in their works. Yet we would do well in our study of art to note closely the character of the political, social, and religious move- ments that mark the epoch of art creation, as these con- stitute factors both in the impulse given to creative energy and in determining to some extent what form creative art shall take—what shall be its mould, its like- ness, and the spirit of its message to the people. We have now touched the centuries of romance and chivalry, and Romance Art, with which we will have to deal, is but one of many expressions of the life of the Middle Ages. This romance art had birth in the age of the Crusades, the time of “a culture not founded on knowing things, but on the art of doing things.” It is also an age of allegory, as the pages of Dante’s Divine Comedy and the stained glass windows of Gothic Cathedrals bear witness. There is, too, a very quest of the Holy Grail abroad. The burning and eloquent words of Pope Urban to the great Christian assemblage at Clermont-Ferrand on the eve of the setting out of the First Crusade in 1095 has stirred the soul of Europe. The battle ery, “It is the will of God!” goes up to heaven, and armed Europe throws itself upon infidel Asia. It is a movement unparalleled in history. King, prince, knight and peasant bear upon their shoulder the red cross. Eight crusades follow, in the last of which a King of France, Louis IX (St. Louis), leads his army and dies at its head in 1270 in Tunis, Africa. Coeval with the Crusades a movement of much greater and more spiritual significance had birth—the foundation and organization of the Mendicant Friars. St. Francis of Assisi, ‘“Erverybody’s Saint,” heard the voice of God 68 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART calling upon him to repair His house. St. Dominic, with the great zeal of active faith, marched out with the cross and put down heresy. Two great saints of contempla- tion and action, they touched and fortified the spiritual life of their time with the rare gifts and virtues of prayer and poverty and the divine sacrifice of truly militant souls. The little brown-hooded ‘‘Poverello’”’ of Assisi by the might of his teaching converted war and selfish- ness into peace and humility as he traversed the high- ways with sandalled foot, with ‘‘the courtesy of God”’ for his creed, his divine gaiety mocking the very drama of his poverty. Assuredly these significant movements of chivalry and faith touched deeply the art of the time. In truth St. Francis has been called the father of Italian art, and the saying is true if taken with a certain elasticity of meaning. Nor should we forget to mention here the wonderful influence that the cult of the Blessed Virgin had upon the art of this period. The Virgin of the Middle Ages, the Throne of God and Queen of Heaven, gives place to the Mother, the most beautiful, the sweetest and tenderest of women. After St. Bernard, il suo fedele Bernardo, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Bonaventure, devotion to the Madonna became one of the chief Christian devotions. This, too, is the age of the Rosary, instituted by St. Dominic as he crushed out by preaching and prayer the dangerous teaching of the - Albigenses. Another contributing factor to the full awakening and development of Christian art, especially architecture, in the towns of northern France, when these towns became communes, was the guilds, which became regular schools of craftsmanship. A mediaeval town was a sort of craft FULL AWAKENING OF CHRISTIAN ART 69 university and Gothic art is the art of the Masons’ guild. Indeed, whoever would follow step by step the develop- ment of art at this period must recognize the prepon- derating art-influence of France upon the neighbouring countries. Nor is there any need to confine this influ- ence to the Ile de France alone, for the new spirit had already touched Normandy and Burgundy and the Cistercian monks had now borne the seeds of the new art spirit between the leaves of their breviaries into both England and Spain. Again this was the age when France led all Europe in political, social, and intellectual development. The twelfth century in creative energy was for France what the thirteenth was for Italy. It was one of the most splendid periods in the intellectual life of man, express- ing itself in an infinite variety of noble and attractive forms. At this epoch, then, in the history of art we stand as watchers of the dawn and behold night passing away. The light of faith, dimmed at times in the past but ever shining amid tempest and turmoil, proves a lamp to our feet. At last there is ushered in the full tide of morn. The spiritual life of centuries has finally found in art a fitting voice and tongue. It is, indeed, the full awaken- ing of Christian art. CHAPTER VIII THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOTHIC Of all the arts which spring from the soil of Catholic faith, the most sublime and vital is that of Gothic architecture. ‘‘Since the days of Greece,” says Ralph Adams Cram, ‘‘whose victorious authority and tranquil beauty subdue us even yet, nothing has been seen equal to Gothic art, and perhaps humanity will never again see so powerful a manifestation of artistic vital- ity.”” Carlyle tells us that ten silent centuries speak through the lips of Dante. With equal truth we may say that ten silent centuries of Catholic faith whisper to our souls as we tread the aisles of a mediaeval Gothic cathedral. | The Gothic cathedral is the “Summa”’ of St. Thomas Aquinas plus the ‘Divina Commedia”’ of Dante wrought in stone. It is the concrete expression of a Christian soul yearning for the infinite. It is both mystic and scholastic. The spirit of contemplation abides in its aisles, and the beatific vision of God upon its altar. The same spirit that touched with fire from heaven the © lips of St. Thomas Aquinas and anointed the eyes of Dante, gave creative form to the Gothic cathedral and reared tower above wall and turret above tower, with cross melting away into immortal light. Ralph Adams Cram tells us that Gothic architecture and Gothic art are the aesthetic expression of that epoch 70 THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOTHIC 71 of European history when paganism had been ex- tinguished, the hordes of barbarian invaders beaten back or christianized and assimilated, and when the Catholic Church had established itself not only as the sole spiritual power supreme and almost unquestioned in authority, but also as the arbiter of the destinies of sovereigns and of people. Of course the transition of Gothic architecture was from the Romanesque, and this transition took place in France. Almost. all historians of art are agreed upon this. Yet they are not agreed as to what England, Germany, Italy, and Spain owe to the inspiration of French Gothic art. The term Gothic is a misnomer. As Vasari, the Italian painter and historian of art, tells us, the term was first ‘used during the later Renaissance and in a spirit of contempt. Ignorant both of the habitat of the style and its nature the Italians called the Gothic the maniéra tedesca. It is difficult to understand what led them to do this, for there is nothing either racial or religious, geo- graphical or chronological, that might connect it with a race and name that had perished and disappeared with Justinian’s conquest of Italy and Sicily about the middle of the sixth century. As Ralph Adams Cram points out, Gothic art, ethnically considered, is Franco-Norman in its origin and certainly there is no kinship between the Catholic Franks and Normans on the one hand and the Arian Goths on the other. It should be noted here that Italians have never taken kindly to the Gothic. They look upon the Gothic cathedral as they do upon a musical drama of Wagner, as lacking in harmony. So we must be ever on our guard when we read Italian criticism of Gothic art. Italian genius can reach the sublime, as it has in Michel- 72 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART angelo and Dante, but all must be subject to law and order and predominant grace. This attitude of the Italian mind towards Gothic is set forth in the following opinion advanced in their ‘History of Art’ by Natali and Vitelli: The harmony of northern Gothic architecture is as indefinite as a melody of Wagner; add a spire to the Cathedral of Cologne and it will remain what it is; take but a single line from the facade of the Cathedral of Orvieto and immediately the charm is broken. For a long time Gothic architecture was regarded by many as having had its origin in Germany. It was held that its prototype was the German forest compressed in miniature. It was indeed an ingenious and somewhat apt explanation; for as you enter a Gothic cathedral you feel that it reflects something of the mysterious life of the forest in that it reproduces that life by artistic com- pression so that the rock, the tree—nature, in fine—is there in artistic representation. 7 Should you ask where was the cradle of Gothic, we would answer without a doubt, in Normandy. From the very days of St. Benedict in the sixth century, the Catholic Church had been preparing the soil for the flowering of Gothic art. The civilization of the Middle Ages was Catholic civilization, whose consecrating force . was religion. The centuries following Pope Gregory the Great and St. Benedict saw Europe redeemed and the Church purified and restored by Pope Gregory VII and the monks of Cluny. This was followed in the twelfth century by the development of great schools, the rise of communes, the military orders and the crusades. Then THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOTHIC 73 followed the thirteenth century, which ‘‘with the aid of Pope Innocent III, Philip Augustus, St. Louis, and the Franciscans and Dominicans, was to raise to the highest point of achievement the spiritual and material poten- tialities developed in the immediate past.” Towards the close of the eleventh century—that is, after the death of William the Conqueror—the duchy of Normandy lost much of its influence. Henceforth Gothic art found its chief stimulus, patronage and inspiration in the [le de France as a part of the realm of the French monarchy. It may be also added that when the Cluniac influence waned in Normandy it received a new and greater impulse from the Cistercian monks, who especially promulgated and favoured Gothic art in their buildings in England. During the eleventh century and the first half of the twelfth century nearly all the architects whose names have come down to us belong to the religious orders. During the second half of the twelfth century the superiority appeared to be in favour of the laity, and under Philip Augustus this superiority became prepon- derant. At the close of the thirteenth century all the architects known belong to the civil professions. What the French call la grande poussée de séve de Varchitecture Gothique, which we may translate as ‘‘the vigorous impulse given to Gothic architecture,” took place in France during the reigns of Louis VI, Louis VII, Philip Augustus and Louis IX, a period comprising a century and a half, during which the genius of France shed its rays over Christendom and the foundation of French national unity was practically laid. This was brought about by the alliance between royalty, the Church, and the free commune, 74 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART It was, moreover, within this unique and marvellous © epoch that the great Gothic cathedrals of France were built: Notre Dame de Chartres, Notre Dame de Paris, the Cathedrals of Bourges, Rheims, Amiens, Rouen, Laon, Soissons, Sens, and Beauvais. Historians of art have designated Gothic as the “‘Catholic Style.” We may add to this, remembering where the art had birth and where it flowered so richly, that it might well be designated also the ‘‘French Style.” These hundred and fifty years of Gothic development were illustrious in their fruitage and in the life of France. | The splendour of Paris University attracted the most eminent minds of the Catholic world. The French “Chansons de Geste”’ are everywhere translated and imitated. The superb ‘Chanson de Roland,” which rivals in strength and grandeur the Homeric poems, makes, as a writer says, the tour of Europe in the wallet of the trowvéres. Paris for the first time becomes truly the altar and centre of European scholarship, culture, and civilization. The greatest men of the time enrol in its university. Dante and Roger Bacon and Raymond Lully and Brunetto Latini and Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure sit on its benches. Gothic architecture, which the Germans of the thirteenth century designated opus franci genum, is meantime copied everywhere, and the best architects of France go away to propagate the new law. It crosses the English - Channel, the Rhine, the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean. We see William of Sens building the choir of Canterbury Cathedral, and an architect from Blois at work on the choir of Lincoln Cathedral, Etienne de Bonneuil build- ing the Cathedral of Upsala, and Matthias of Arras building the Cathedral of Prague. THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOTHIC 75 We think it is generally accepted that William of Sens introduced into England and set before English eyes as much of the Gothic as then existed, at least at Sens; but it has been disputed that the work of William of Sens in rebuilding the Canterbury choir was the first Gothic done in England. Mr. Bond, in his work ‘Gothic Architecture in England,” holds that the first complete Gothic of England commenced, not with the choir of ~ Lincoln or Canterbury, but with the Cathedral of Wells. which was begun by Reginald Fitzbohun, who was bishop from 1174 to 1191. In the development of Gothic architecture in England two things are quite evident: first, that England re- ceived the Gothic idea from Normandy, borrowing directly from Normandy and France; secondly, that she assimilated what she acquired and gave toall a distinctly national character that tended more and more, as the English Gothic style developed, to separate it structur- ally from the Gothic of France. Edward 8. Prior in his “History of Gothic Art in England” endeavours to lessen the indebtedness of England to France in her Gothic inspiration and borrowings. His arguments are specious and not at all convincing. He alleges, which is true, that all early Gothic building was church building, adding that French Gothic was laic, whereas English Gothic was cleric, and that the one borrowed little from the other. Assuredly little importance should be attached to such a statement as this. Of course it must be confessed that England, step by step diverging steadily from her point of departure from the Gothic of France, had worked out to the full her own form of artistic expression. It is, too, clearly seen that French precedents sat lightly upon England. Yet it 76 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART would be folly to deny England’s indebtedness to France for the introduction of Gothic in its early development. Let us not forget that architecturally speaking the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were for France centuries of great splendour. Indeed England owes to France both her early Romanesque and Gothic develop- ment. Why, Henry III, during whose reign West- minster Abbey was built, might be regarded socially as a Frenchman, seeing that in his early days he was continually at the court of Louis IX and his royal monastery was fashioned on the French system. Its monks spoke French. In truth, just as Cologne is a French Cathedral on German soil, so Westminster Abbey is a French Cathedral on English soil. When we turn to Germany we find that the Gothic, as in Italy, was slow in taking root there. It may be said that Cologne was the first Gothic church built in Germany. Cathedrals such as the one at Speyer are really more Romanesque than Gothic. In the Mayence Cathedral, for instance, there is very little of the Gothic. Strasburg Cathedral, however, may be re- garded as Gothic. As regards Cologne Cathedral, it is most perfect and complete on the structural side. It was French archi- tects who designed it and it is modelled on the Cathe- drals of Amiens and Beauvais. The Cathedral of Cologne is really a late construction, the greater part of it dating from the fourteenth and subsequent centuries. But noble and impressive as is this massive structure on the Rhine, it lacks the warmth, the suggestiveness and the spiritual appeal found in the great Gothic eathedrals of France. Flemish Gothic is a sub-school of French Gothic. By THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOTHIC 77 far the finest Gothic church in Belgium is the Cathedral of Antwerp. Its spire is a veritable crown; soaring as it does in the air, it is glorious to behold. ‘Tournai Cathe- dral, with its five towers, is indeed quite unique, but Tournai Cathedral is not pure Gothic. In fact, the nave of Tournai, wh:ch was built in 1060, is Rhenish Roman- esque. As to the Gothic in Italy, it practically always remained an exotic. Not only that, but even southern France, as well, never advanced far beyond the Roman- esque; and in Brittany, while there are several import- ant Gothic churches, such as the Cathedral at Quimper, they are as a whole almost all too heavy. In Italy the introduction of Gothic was as long delayed as in Germany, and as far as native work is concerned, as Cram points out, the fundamental principles of Gothic construction were never accepted at all. Milan Cathedral, it is true, is a very noble structure, but it is only a travesty of Gothic. One of the first churches in Italy which showed a complete acceptance of the Gothic style was the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1228. Grant Allen holds that the Cathedral at Siena, the Cathedral at Orvieto, and the campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence are the three finest examples of Italian Gothic. But of course none of these is pure Gothic. When we turn to Spain we find that as a Christian state it had practically, outside of a small territory near the Pyrenees, no existence till the middle of the thir- teenth century, when Ferdinand III united the crowns of Castile and Leon and won back from the Moors Seville and Cordova. A few churches in Spain before 78 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART this time show an undeveloped type of Gothic, but it was not until the victories of Ferdinand III made Spanish nationality possible and the coming into Spain of the Cistercian monks gave the necessary spiritual impulse, that Gothic architecture in any true sense appeared in Spain. The Cathedrals of Burgos, Barce- lona, Toledo, and Leon show clearly the influence of French Gothic, though of course they widely differ in detail from French precedents. Perhaps of all Spanish — Gothic cathedrals that of Burgos gives most evidence of French Gothic influence. Burgos, too, is usually regarded as the finest Gothic cathedral in Spain. It may be added that in the Spanish Gothic cathedral there is a certain personality that gives it distinctiveness from that of any other school of Gothic. — ) As to which are the finest Gothic churches in Europe, the choice must largely depend on temperament and taste. In England Lincoln is usually regarded as the finest and most complete. In Germany Cologne easily stands alone. Structurally considered, this is one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in the world, but the absence of sculpture renders it cold and hard. In France there are so many magnificent cathedrals that it is difficult to make a choice. Each church has some special architectural feature to commend it. The French themselves sum this up by saying: Clocher de Chartres, Nef d’ Amiens, Choeur de Beauvais et Portale de Reims. [Tower of Chartres, Nave of Amiens, Choir of Beauvais and Portal of Rheims.] It may be said here that French Gothic reached its full maturity and the summit of its perfection in the THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOTHIC 79 Sainte Chapelle, which was built in Paris during the reign of Louis IX. This miracle of the Gothic, which was built by Master Pierre de Montereau, has an upper and lower chapel, both possessing magnificent windows. But not in architecture alone did the Gothic feeling of this age reveal itself artistically. It found expression, too, in the dream in marble, and touched and glorified the painter’s brush. Indeed, it will be often found that sculpture and architecture go hand in hand. In France in the thirteenth century the imagiers or stone sculptors worked hand and hand with the great cathedral builders. This century may certainly be called the golden age of Gothic sculpture. Witness for example the loveliness of the angel statues around the Sainte Chapelle and the noble and majestic statues of Christ and the Apostles at the west end of Amiens Cathedral. Well may a writer say that these statues in perfection of execution and life expression have nothing to envy in antiquity. At the same epoch appear in Italy Niccola, Pisano and Cimabue and Duccio and Giotto. At their advent the Angel of Beauty and Truth awakes from its long slumber and forthwith art is touched as if in miracle with all the radiance of a consecrated dream. It is the -day-dawn of a new cycle in art which is to end in an evolution of Gothic splendour. CHAPTER Ix THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE At this stage in our discussion of the development of Christian art, it is well that we should devote some time to a consideration of the attitude of the Church towards that new movement known as Humanism which revealed and expressed itself in terms of art and literature in the life and civilization of Italy. The Italian Renaissance is perhaps the most complex period in the history of the world, and to understand it aright one has need, above all, of a contemporary sense of history. We have seen how the Church in past centuries had fostered both Christian art and literature; how under its aegis the highest inspiration of the soul had been nourished; how Christian tradition had handed down the memory of a culture based upon faith and its practices; how art had been conserved in church and cloister as a handmaid of religion; and how zealously the Church of God had watched over the new-born art and literature committed in trust to its care and keeping. » We have now to consider the relation of the Church to this new awakening of the human mind; to this stirring of the spirit; to this unsealing of the eye to the revealed beauty in nature and antiquity. There are two phases of the Italian Renaissance to be considered, and these must not be confused: the Revival of Learning and the 80 CATHOLIC CHURCH AND RENAISSANCE 81 Development of Art. We have to do here particularly with the latter, as it touches and concerns the genesis of Christian art. But let us not forget that this great movement, the Itahan Renaissance, began much earlier than historians generally allege. It is said that Dante, who was born in 1265, faced both ways—towards the departing Middle Ages and the dawn of the great Renaissance period. We had better accept this opinion and regard the three hundred years following the birth of Dante as the veritab!e period of the Italian Renaissance in art and literature. These were a remarkable three centuries in the life of Italy, when her republics taught Europe the wisdom of state-craft, the laws of trade and commerce, the worth of individual genius, and the glory and perfection of the fine arts. It was a period, when, despite the dark tragedies of vice, piety and prayer still illumined the cloisters of Italy and this, too, at a time when the new wine of old classicism poured from Homeric flasks, and casks had wellnigh intoxicated the head and heart of this garden of Europe and turned possible saints into satyrs. To Greek art and literature is generally attrib- uted much of the credit for the impulse given to this Renaissance movement in art and literature in Italy in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries; and in connexion with this is also emphasized the arrival of Greek scholars in Italy after the fall of Constantinople in 14538. But the true cause of the Italian Renaissance lay much deeper than all this. It had been growing through the preceding centuries and gathering force. Nor can any historian very well put his finger on any one fact, factor, or event and say: ‘‘This was the real 82 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART cause of the Italian Renaissance.”” The world of thought and free inquiry had extended its boundaries. This came with the broadening process of the mind. This spirit of free inquiry existed not despite Scholasti- cism, but largely because of it. Indeed it existed before Scholasticism had found full concrete form in the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Church never formally condemned free inquiry either in the world of philosophy or science. What the Church did was to condemn what she, as the deposit of divine truth, regarded as false in the world of moral teaching. In fulfilling her divine commission the Church does the very same thing today. It should not be forgotten here that the right of free inquiry and the right to uphold what is morally false are two distinct things. The Church, too, permits the very fullest criticism. What critic could be more scathing in his denunciation of Papal abuses, or what he regarded as abuses, than the poet Dante? Yet his sublime trilogy, the “Divine Comedy,” in which Pope and prelate, personae non gratae to this terrible mediaeval hater and singer of the most inspired and divine song of the world, are lashed and consigned to the lower Circles of Hell was never put on the Index. Another ‘‘fable convenue’’ of the crit'cs of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance is the hatred of nature. imputed to the Christians of this time. A mediaeval Catholic, it is alleged, was forbidden to admire a flower, a forest, or a mountain peak. How so much of nature got mixed up in the singing of ‘‘Old Dan Chaucer,” a Catholic poet of the fourteenth century, we know not. Chaucer is essentially the poet of the daisy and robed it in verse long before Burns turned it over with his CATHOLIC CHURCH AND RENAISSANCE 83 plough. Then we have the brown-hooded and gentle Friar, St. Francis of Assisi, who lived nearly two hundred years before Chaucer; and who was wont to call the birds of the air and the beasts of the field his brothers, and who composed canticles to the winds, the flowers, and the sun. Yet despite all this, St. Francis grew in favour with the Church and was canonized a few years after his death. As to painting at this epoch, some of its most ardent votaries were to be found within the sanctuary. A Fra Angelico, a Fra Bartolommeo, a Fra Lippo Lippi— albeit the life of the latter was scarred with moral scan- dal—all these glorified the canvas and brought down to earth beauteous glimpses of eternity to minister to the soul of man. Of course no one denies that there were worldly and political popes in those days of the Renaissance, but because of this there is no need on the part of historians to misrepresent facts and give no credit to the successors of St. Peter who, wearing the tiara in stormy and diffi- cult times when political and moral confusion reigned in wellnigh every quarter of Europe, directed the ark of Peter beneath the darkest skies till it at last found a haven of shelter on the shores of better and happier and more peaceful days. Many historians of the Italian Renaissance go so far as to claim that the paganism of the Renaissance under Pope Leo X reached the Papal Chair itself and that this Pope was a Christian neither in morals nor doctrine. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Leo X was of unimpeachable morality. Nor are there any grounds for saying that he lacked faith. It should be noted here, too, that frequently the painter gives us an accurate insight into the history and 84 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART spirit of his times. Take, for instance, the frescoes with which Ghirlandaio has covered the walls of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. We have in these the outward semblance of the men and women of the time, and even portraits of some of the most famous. Machiavelli is the exponent of the dominant political ideas of the age; Politian presents the highest point attained by its scholarship; Guicciardini is its exact and impartial historian; Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola unfold its fashionable philosophy, and the sermons of Savonarola tell us of its moral and spiritual eondition. Again it should be remembered that great periods of transition are invariably periods of religious deadness and of dissolution of manners. And in this period of the Renaissance the world was passing through a great revolution, spiritual, moral, and political. Nor should we forget to note in connexion with this period that in the Italy of the fourteenth century there was not a single legitimate power. ‘Take, for instance, the types of the Tyrants of Italy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—the Viscontis, the Sforzas, and the Medicis. Not one of them possessed a legitimate title to sov- ereignty. Asa consequence of this, the Christian land fell into contempt. After trampling the Church under foot all their lives, as a writer tells us, most of these triumphant adventurers died laughing at her excom- munications. | But to return to art, how did paganism gain the ascendancy among the Renaissance artists in both sculpture and painting? The explanation is both easy and obvious. ‘The political and social conditions in Italy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries produced, at least among Italians of the higher classes, a psycho- CATHOLIC CHURCH AND RENAISSANCE 85 logical and moral state singularly appropriate to the comprehension and reception of the lessons of antiquity. Pagan inspiration came to art from two sources: Rome and the Court of the Medici. In the presence of the picturesque ruins in Rome, Florentine painters, who had been invited there by Pope Sixtus IV, returned with their minds stored with classical reminiscences. The paganism which prevailed at the Court of the Medici was the result of corruption. Fra Lippo Lippi, to whom may be traced the earliest note of decadence, Pollaiuolo, Ghirlandaio, and Signorelli had gained the favour of Lorenzo dei Medici, and as a consequence of this their art not alone became secularized, but it lost much of its spiritual note and accent as it sank to the level of the art of pagan antiquity. At this stage the whole motif in art, while its technique had steadily advanced, became changed. Ruskin makes this clear where he says: “The early masters used the powers of painting to show the objects of faith, whereas the later schools used the objects of faith that they might show their powers of painting.’ Louis Gillet in his article on Painting in the Catholic Encyclopedia says: ‘The early Renaissance was a fortunate period in which the simplicity of the soul was not marred by the discovery of nature and art.” Assuredly a knowledge of the forces at work during this complex period is absolutely essential to a clear and adequate comprehension of the development of both art and literature within this creative period so rich in its cultural contributions to mankind. CHAPTER X WHERE THE ART SEEDS WERE QUICKENED Let us in this chapter give some attention to those centres in Italy and north of the Alps where the art seeds were quickened, during this blossoming epoch,when painter, sculptor, and architect translated their dreams into the full glory of a rich and ripened art. Beginning with Nicola Pisano, Duccio, Cimabue, and Arnolfo di Cambio early in the thirteenth century, art so developed during the next three hundred years that as the fifteenth century was drawing to a close almost every city in Italy had a school of art that could boast of having produced great masters of architecture, sculpture, and painting. The same might be said, also, to some extent, of the schools of art north of the Alps. In the history of art the term ‘‘school of painting”’ has two significations. It may have reference to a period or to a district. Again, there is what might be called a cosmic development of art and a personal development of art. The art of Egypt was impersonal, so was largely the art of the Middle Ages. On the other hand, Greek. art was personal and so was the art of the Italian Renaissance. While keeping clearly in mind therefore the influence of individual artists as well as the groups of artists who form ‘‘schools,’”’ we must take note espe- cially of the particular centres where the art seeds were quickened and where certain forces, religious or intel- 86 WHERE ART SEEDS WERE QUICKENED 87 lectual,—mayhap social—stimulated the development of art and lent it the dew and sunshine that gave it blossom and fruitage in those ripening years of European civilization. Among the communes of Italy no other city is so worthy of our attention as Florence, though in point of time in its art development Siena should take preced- ence, as the Republic of Siena enjoyed political inde- pendence and freedom one hundred years before Florence. Because of this, art reached an earlier development in Siena than in Florence. Yet it is to Florence we turn for the great quickening of the art seeds cast in the soil of those three centuries so full of the splendour of inspiration and human achievement. To Tuscany (Florence and Siena) to Umbria and to Venice are due, on the whole, the really creative forces of Italian painting. So we turn at once with a predilec- tion to beautiful Florence on the Arno, full of grandeur and grace and a certain ruggedness of charm. If you would obtain a pleasing and adequate view of Florence, go to the Piazza Michelangelo near the Church of San Miniato as the sun is sinking in the west. On the right is Fiesole with its slender campanile, and still farther to the right are the Appenines, Vallombrosa, and the Casentino with its picturesque walls, and on the left the purple Arno, which loses itself in the distance. This city of suavity and austerity, mysticism and sober irony, elegance and voluptuousness, has dowered Italy with a wealth of art transcendant in its splendour, surpassing that of any other art centre in Europe. Among its churches and cloisters there is none more historic than the ancient Baptistry of San Giovanni, which has watched over the history of Florence from 88 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART its very beginning. Ruskin designates San Giovanni as “the central building of Etrurian Christianity.” It dates from the seventh century and was remodelled in 1190 and again in the fifteenth century, and is octagonal in form. Dante mentions it twice with veneration in the Paradiso (XV 136-37; XVI 25-27). The three massive bronze doors of the Baptistry are unparalleled in the world; one of them is the work of Andrea Pisano; the remaining two are the masterpieces of Lorenzo Ghiberti and were declared by Michelangelo fit to serve as the gates of Paradise. San Giovanni was in early years the Duomo of Florence. Then we have the churches of San Lorenzo, San Miniato, San Marco, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, Santa Maria del Carmine, Santa Maria Nuova, Santo Spirito, Santa Maria del Fiore (the Cathedral), the Church of Ogni- santi, Santa Trinité, and San Michele in Orto. In nearly all these churches there is a wealth of sculp- ture and painting of the utmost interest and value to the student of art. For instance, in the Church of San Lorenzo there is the wonderful sculpture of Michel- angelo; in San Marco the paintings of Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo; in Santa Croce the work of Giotto, Agnolo Gaddi, and Luca della Robbia. It should be noted, too, that Santa Croce is the Westminster Abbey of the great Florentine dead. In the Church of Santa Maria Novella, which as a Dominican church corres-— ponds to the Franciscan Church of Santa Croce, the former being built in 1278 and the latter in 1294, there are frescoes by Fra Lippo Lippi, Ghirlandaio, Gaddi, Orcagna and Fra Angelico, and a painting by Simone di Martino. In the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine may be seen the great frescoes WHERE ART SEEDS WERE QUICKENED 89 of Masolino, Masaccio and Fra Lippo Lippi. Nor should we fail to mention here Giotto’s campanile, that “‘lily of Florence blossoming in stone.’’ And finally we have the Church of San Michele in Orto, with its marvellous tabernacle—the work of Orcagna. Let us now turn for a moment to consider briefly Siena and San Gimignano as art centres. In no other city in Italy was the Byzantine developed to such perfection as In Siena. The Font for the Baptistry and the Duomo bear witness to Quercia, a Sienese, asa sculptor. Then among painters of Siena we have Duccio, a contempor- ary of Cimabue. This painter brought the Byzantine manner to its utmost perfection. There is also the great allegorical work of Ambrogio Lorenzetti to be seen in the Palazzo della Signoria of Siena. Ghiberti calls Ambrogio the famosissimo e singularissimo maestro. He is generally regarded as the greatest and most imagina- tive painter that Siena has produced. The student should also note the fine pulpit in the Duomo, the work of Niccola Pisano. There are two chief centres of art in Siena: the Academy of Fine Arts and the Library of the Cathedral. In the library will be seen the frescoes of Raphael and Pinturicchio. A Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John by Sodoma, in the Academy of Fine Arts, shows the influence of his teacher, Leonardo da Vinci. In San Gimignano there is work by Lippo Memmi and the Florentine Benozzo Gozzoli, a disciple of Fra Angelico. A word here as to Pisa as an art centre. Besides being the birthplace of Niccola Pisano, whose famous pulpit is in the baptistry of the Duomo, Pisa holds much interest for the student of art because of its architecture and its unique Campo Santo, which is the pride of Pisa. It is 90 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART called Il Campo Santo—Holy Field—as therein is con- served the Holy Earth brought from Mount Calvary by fifty Pisan galleys in 1188. The structure, with its surrounding walls and chapel, was completed in 1278. Some of the best frescoes on the walls are the work of Benozzo Gozzoli, who is buried here beneath his own fresco entitled ‘Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s Dream.” Perhaps the most valuable of Gozzoli’s work is at Montefaleo and in the Riccardi Chapel in Florence. — Among the series of frescoes on the walls of the Campo Santo by Gozzoli, the most striking are those represent- ing the Drunkenness of Noah. There are also frescoes dealing with the story of St. Ranieri by the Sienese painter Memmi in the Campo Santo. Then there are a series of frescoes of which the most impressive is the Triumph of Death, the author of which is not known. Again Assisi and Perugia are two great art centres. In truth, Assisi is regarded as a very cradle of Italian art; for to the tomb of St. Francis came in pilgrimage painters from both Siena and Florence. The work of Cimabue and Giotto, the latter having visited Assisi twice, may be seen in the Basilica of St. Francis. The real Umbrian school of painters had birth in Perugia, its greatest painter being Perugino, the teacher of Raphael. Some of the earlier painters of Perugia were Benedetto Bonfigli and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. Two art centres influenced Perugia—Siena and Assisi. From the three the Mystic School had birth. Nor is Padua without interest to the art student. Here in the Chapel of the Arena is the great fresco work of Giotto repre- senting the life of our Lord and His Blessed Mother. It was while at work on these frescoes that Giotto met Dante at Padua. It may be said that the Paduan School WHERE ART SEEDS WERE QUICKENED 91 of Painting was founded on classicism by Squarcione, whose eminent pupil was Mantegna. Among Italian cities Venice was one of the last to be touched by the Renaissance movement in art. The city on the lagoons had been from an early time under the spell of Byzantinism, though even Byzantine art had no continuity in the city. It may be said that in the fourteenth century Venice was little influenced by the artistic life of other regions. The student should note, too, that while in Rome everything has an air of grandeur and in Florence an accent of grace, in Venice everything inclines to magnificence. The Venetian School of Painting really began with the influence and visit of Gentile da Fabriano to Venice, and the work of Jacopo Bellini and his two sons, Gentile and Giovanni. Jacopo Bellini had passed almost all his life in the district of the Marches and thus came in contact with Umbria. He became a pupil of Gentile da Fabriano. It was, however, with his two sons that Venetian art really rose to a complete personality and to an unparal- leled splendour. St. Mark’s, the Church of the Frari, and Santa Maria Formosa are among the finest churches in Venice. Its chief art gallery is the Academy. A visit to nearby Murano will also well repay the art student. We have already said that Florence has been the greatest creative force in the art of Italy. Yet we must not forget the share that Rome, the seat of the Papacy for well-nigh nineteen hundred years, has had in fostering Christian art. It is true we cannot speak of a Roman School of painting, for there never was such a distinct school. But it was the spiritual inspiration of Rome as the centre of the Christian world and the patronage of successive Popes that first nourished and 92 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART then singularly and devotedly encouraged and aided the genius of the painter during the time of the great art blossoming in Italy. We must go to Rome to see such magnificent eccles- iastical structures as the Basilicas of St. Peter’s, Santa Maria Maggiore, St. John in Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Santa Maria in Trastevere, and the Church of the Gesu and Santa Maria del Popolo. All these are adorned with sculpture — and art of the great masters. Then there is the Sistine Chapel, containing some of the finest work of Florentine painters, and the Camera della Segnatura of the Vatican, which is a witness for all time to the incomparable genius of Raphael. Add to these the Vatican Museum, the Vatican Pinacoteca, the National Museum, the Capitoline Museum, the Lateran Museum, the Bar- berini Gallery, the Borghese Gallery, the Doria Gallery and the Rospigliosi Palace, and you have some idea of the art wealth of Rome. North of the Alps the student would do well to visit, not Brussels and Antwerp with their excellent art galleries, but rather Bruges and Ghent, and, in Ger- many, Cologne and Nuremberg. Here will be found the centres in northern Europe where the early art seeds were quickened. The two brothers Hubert and Jan Van Eyck founded the Bruges School of Painting early in the fifteenth century. The most important work of these two brothers is ‘““The Adoration of the Lamb,” of which the central portion is to be seen at St. Bavon’s at Ghent. Then there is the mystic painter, Hans Memling, who was a German by birth and studied for some time at Cologne. In him there is an alliance of German spirit- WHERE ART SEEDS WERE QUICKENED 93 uality with Flemish technique. Cologne had an early school of painting of anonymous masters:—the Master of the Passion of Lyversberg, the Master of the Death of Mary, the Master of the Holy Family; and the School of Nuremberg had its two famous painters, Wohlgemuth and Pleydenwurff, to be followed later on by the great Albert Durer, who deserves in some respects to be ranked with the best of the Italian Renaissance painters. CHAPTER XI FOUR NOTABLE SCULPTORS The development of Gothic sculpture north of the Alps was really coeval with the development of Gothic architecture. Indeed, we should not forget that as Greek art flowered in the Parthenon, so Christian art flowered in the Cathedral. Sculpture, too, is a compo- nent part of the true Gothic style of architecture. It is interesting to trace, through Byzantine highways and the stormy wastes of barbaric desolation, the timid foot- prints of art, till at length architecture and sculpture find a congenial home, where Chivalry and the Crusades have built altars dedicated to the highest and noblest aspirations of the soul. Now, at last, we find sculpture taken into the house- hold of the faith—accepted in the family of Christian art. But preceding the full flowering of Christian art there had first to be a Gethsemane and Crucifixion before the dawn of a glorious Resurrection. In all this it was simply spiritual beauty clothing itself in the raiment of material beauty. There could not be, and there should not be, a divorce between these twain. They should but go hand in hand, material beauty ever mirroring spiritual beauty. It should be noted here that, while Gothic sculpture north of the Alps was glorifying the portals and facades of a Notre Dame de Chartres, a Notre Dame de Paris, 04 FOUR NOTABLE SCULPTORS 95 a Notre Dame de Reims, and a Notre Dame d’Amiens. south of the Alps architecture, as a mode of expression, quite outran sculpture; so that not until the time of Niccolé Pisano, who was born in Pisa in 1204, did the artist’s skillin any way answer to his idea. When sculp- ture did develop in Italy it was used, not as in Germany and France, for the decoration of portals and facades, but in pulpits, altars, and sepulchral monuments. We shall single out in this chapter for study and consideration four great Italian sculptors: Niccola Pisano, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, and Luca della Robbia, covering a period of almost three hundred years —from the birth of Pisano in 1204 to the death of della Robbia in 1482. These were among the most fruitful years, not alone in Italian sculpture, but in Italian architecture and painting as well. It may be said that Niccola Pisano bears the same relation to plastic art that Giotto does to painting. But there is this difference between the Pisan sculptor and the Florentine painter: the sculptor was influenced by both classicism and nature, while the painter was influenced only by nature and the world around him. We believe, however, that historians of art, in con- nexion with the art development of Niccola Pisano, make too much out of the story of the Graeco-Roman sarcophagus brought to Pisa by a Pisan galley, early in the thirteenth century, and utilized for the reposing dust of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany. The reliefs on this sarcophagus of the legend of Phaedra and Hippo- lytus no doubt touched and quickened the artistic spirit and feeling of Niccola, but it did not give him creative power. Adventitious circumstances, in themselves, do not create or make possible poets or painters. They 96 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART often stimulate genius, itis true. Again, the artist never borrows his fire from alien altars. The divinity is entirely his own; though, of course, circumstances may help to fan the flame upon the altar. There is some dispute as to the birthplace of Niccola Pisano, which we have given as Pisa, some holding that he was born in the province of Apulia in Southern Italy. Niccola was both architect and sculptor. In truth, he was the greatest architect of his century and made himself memorable as the inaugurator of the Tuscan-Gothic style; but our chief concern with him here is as a sculptor. His first sculptural relief appears to have been a Descent from the Cross cut about 1233 in a lunette over the north door of San Martino at Lucca. It is, however, with the pulpits of Pisa and Siena that Niccola’s reputation is most closely connected. Without crediting the genius of Niccola with all that is claimed for him, we can certainly say that he realized sculpture’s opportunity, and with his chisel opened the road which every supreme artist has since followed. Into the creation of the Baptistry of Pisa enters the influence of both nature and antiquity. It dates from 1260 and is a white marble structure, hexagonal in shape, supported by columns at its angles, and by a central pillar. Three of these columns rest on the backs of lions, and a recumbent lion guards the steps. Over the capitals are allegorical representations of the Vir- tues, while prophets and evangelists lean along the intervening arches; above these runs the body of the pulpit, with scenes of the Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Circumcision, Crucifixion and Last Judgment carved in such high relief that the figures are almost in the round. FOUR NOTABLE SCULPTORS 97 The next great work of Niccola was the ark, or shrine, which holds the remains of St. Dominic at Bologna. This shrine, arranged in three stories, required centuries for its full completion. The pulpit in Siena Cathedral followed this (1268) and is the most magnificent, but not the most beautiful, of all Niccola’s works. It is larger than the pulpit at Pisa, and somewhat similar to it in design, save that the Pisan pulpit is hexagonal and this is octagonal. Niccola’s last great work of sculpture was the fountain in Perugia. This is a series of basins rising, one above another, each with sculptured bas-reliefs. In this Niccola was aided by his son Giovanni, the work being completed in 1277. Niccola Pisano also designed many beautiful churches, amongst others San Trinita at Florence, which Michelangelo loved so much that he called it his lady—la mia Dama. In 1278 Niccola Pisano was laid to rest in the Campo Santo, Pisa, leaving his son, Giovanni, a worthy successor to his great talents both as an architect and sculptor. Lorenzo Ghiberti was born at Florence about 1378, and died there November 1445. Ghiberti learned the trade of a goldsmith, which in his day included almost all varieties of plastic arts. In the early stage of his artistic career he was known as a painter in fresco; and when the plague broke out in Florence, Ghiberti re- paired to Rimini, where he executed a highly prized fresco in the palace of the Sovereign Pandolfo Mala- testa. While there, his stepfather Bartoluccio induced him to return to Florence and take part in the great artistic contest for designs for the second bronze door on the north side of the Baptistry of San Giovanni. The prize, which was offered by the merchants’ guild of Florence, in 1401, was carried off by Ghiberti, one of 98 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART his rivals being the great architect and _ sculptor, Brunelleschi. The subject for the artists was the sacrifice of Isaac, and the competitors were required to observe in their work a certain conformity to the first bronze door of the baptistry executed by Andrea Pisano about one hundred years previously. The first of these two bronze doors occupied Ghiberti twenty years. When Ghiberti had finished the first portal on the north side, he began work on the second or main portal, on the east side, which was completed in 1452.. This portal shows an advance on the first, revealing greater freedom in the treatment. Ghiberti was a supreme master of technique. In his sense of the beautiful and in originality Ghiberti may be regarded as a precursor of Raphael. It was of this second portal executed by Ghiberti that Michelangelo said it was worthy of being the gate of Paradise. Other chief works of Ghiberti were his three bronze statues of St. John the Baptist, St. Matthew, and St. Stephen, executed for the Church of San Michele in Orto and a bas-relief for the coffin of St. Zenobius in the Florence Cathedral. Ghiberti has also given us the first history of Italian art, preceding the art historian Vasari by more than a hundred years. The third great sculptor of the early Renaissance was Donatello, who was born at Florence in 1386 and died there December, 1466. Like Ghiberti, Donatello, too, was early apprenticed to a goldsmith. When seventeen years of age, he accompanied his friend Brunelleschi to Rome. Their sojourn in classic Rome was fruitful for both. Brunelleschi, the architect, had gained valuable knowledge from his measurement of the Pantheon dome, while Donatello, the sculptor, gained a knowledge of classic forms and ornamentation. FOUR NOTABLE SCULPTORS 99 Donatello was a prolific artist. Florence is full of his work. On his return from Rome to Florence he was engaged on the statues for Giotto’s campanile. For the Cathedral he executed “‘St. John the Evangelist”? and the “Singing Gallery.” For San Michele in Orto he executed the statues of St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. George. In some respects the latter is his finest work. This statue is absolutely Greek in its simplicity and plastic beauty. His marble David is in the Bargello. It is interesting to compare this David with Verrocchio’s bronze David and Michelangelo’s marble David, all of which are in the Bargello, which is now known as the National Museum. Donatello’s great equestrian statue is that of the Venetian Condottiere Gattamelata, which is at Padua. At Padua Donatello designed the choir- gallery. He also executed the bronze doors for the sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence; and here in the Church of San Lorenzo this great sculptor was finally laid to rest beside his patron, Cosimo dei Medici. It should be added here that Donatello executed work in many cities outside of Florence, such as Siena and Rome. Donatello was a thorough realist and is said to have been one of the first modellers ‘‘with whom character and personality in the subject meant more than loveliness.”’ The last of the great quartette of sculptors who carried the torch of beauty, truth and light, during this great creative period in Florentine art, was Luca della Robbia, who was born at Florence in 1400 and died there in 1481. He is said to have studied with Ghiberti. His work is marked by great simplicity and loveliness. At an early age he was invited to execute sculptures for the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and the cam- 100 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART panile. For the organ-gallery of the Cathedral, della Robbia made the famous panels of the Cantoria, groups of boys singing and playing upon musical instruments. These panels are now in the museum of the Cathedral. Luca della Robbia’s Madonnas are especially full of charm and dignity and grace. He originated, too, a new and lovely phase of Christian art which is known as the Della Robbia earthenwares. These are seen at their best in Florence. A fresco portrait of Della Robbia by Vasari is to be seen in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. CHAPTER XII GIOTTO—ORCAGNA—FRA ANGELICO Giotto di Bondone, who was born in 1266 and died in 1337 is certainly one of the greatest figures in Italian art. Without crediting all the legends and stories of Vasari and others connected with his name. we can safely assert his pre-eminence as an artist and witness to the great part he played in the development of the art of the fourteenth century. Indeed, Giotto is by far the most distinguished name in the art of this century, which Ruskin designates as the century of the‘‘Christian Faithful School.” But as we study this early flowering of Italian Renaissance art, we must be on our guard lest we forget the great influence of Niccola Pisano and his two sons, Giovanni and Andrea, upon the early art development of this period. In truth, the influence of sculpture upon the painting of this time was most marked; and there can be no doubt as to the influence of Giovanni Pisano upon Giotto himself; and perhaps, indeed, Giotto’s influence upon Giovanni was in return no less great. The truth is, the renaissance in sculpture and in painting of this time went hand in hand. The story, however, of Cimabue finding Giotto as a shepherd boy drawing upon a stone one of the sheep which he was herding in the fields, near Vespignano, where he was born, is now generally regarded as a myth. We may nevertheless accept the fact that Cimabue 101 102 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART, was Giotto’s teacher; though we think that Cimabue is credited with too large a place, even by so eminent an art critic as Ruskin, as an influence in the beginnings of Renaissance art. Undue Florentine civic pride and the fact that Dante mentions Cimabue in his Divine Comedy may have led to the origin of this. In the eleventh Canto of the Purgatorio, beginning with line 94, Dante writes: Credetta Cumabue nella pintura Tener il campo ed ora ha Giotto vt grido Sicche la fama di colui s’oscura. (Cimabue believed that in painting he was master of the field, but today Giotto has the acclamation of the pub- licand Cimabue’sfameis overshadowed.) Dante also compares Cimabue and Guido Giunizelli, initiators of the dolce stil nuovo, the one in painting and the other in poetry, and Giotto and Guido Cavalcanti, perfectors of that style. Petrarch, by the way, said that he knew but two great painters in his day, Giotto and the Sienese Simone di Martino. The latter no doubt Petrarch met at Avignon, whither he had been invited by Pope Clement VI to execute frescoes for the Papal Palace. It was at this time, too, that Martino painted a portrait of Petrarch’s Laura of the Sonnets. This portrait still exists. Referring to Giotto and the age in which he lived, Ruskin says: Pure Christianity in this chivalric period divided itself into two great collateral powers—domestic and monastic—the Home and the Desert. And ‘these two glories of Christianity were understood to the full by only one man—Giotto. GIOTTO—ORCAGNA—FRA ANGELICO — 103 ‘We cannot make the fact too clear that Cimabue never fully freed himself from Byzantine influence, as may be seen in the paintings that he has left us. Nor is his work in any way superior to that of his Sienese contemporary Duccio. Even his Madonna in the Rucellai Chapel in Santa Maria Novella in Florence, sometimes attributed to Duccio, is not a very great advance on the Byzantine. Cimabue, in our opinion, was not the great regenerator of art. This was reserved for Giotto, who delivered painting from its fetters, changing it, as Ghiberti says, “from Greek to Latin and finally rendering it modern.” Giotto truly represents the flowering of Gothic art. He did not rely on antiquity, but upon his own outlook upon his surroundings. As a eritic has said, his work is alive with a love of truth, and thrills with broad and generous sympathies. Perhaps the kernel of Giotto’s genius, as a painter, was his creative imagination. He always seizes what is of human interest, and then, with strong emotion, depicts it. He is as dramatic as Michelangelo is epical, or as Correggio is lyrical, or Perugino elegiac. Yes, truly, the man for the hour was Giotto and with him the new order of things began. There are three chief centres where one may study Giotto’s work: Assisi, Padua, and Florence. The Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, which is regarded as the cradle of Italian art, holds in its keeping some of Giotto’s earliest work. But so many artists contributed to the adornment of this first of Italian Gothic churches that it is, at times, a little difficult to distinguish the individual work. We know that amongst the artists who were engaged in adorning the Basilica of St. Francis were the Pisan Giunta, the Roman mosaicist, 104 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART, Cavallini, Cimabue the Florentine, Giotto, and the Sienese Simone di Martino and Lorenzetti. There is, however, so much in the manner of Giotto that we can with fair accuracy pick out the frescoes that may be credited to him. The Basilica of St. Francis 1s impor- tant to the art student because it marks the transition from mediaeval art to Giotto. It should be remembered, too, that to Giotto and his disciples, St. Francis and Assisi, as art themes, held the same place that Rome and St. Peter did to the Tuscan and Umbrian painters at the close of the fifteenth century. Italian painting owes almost as much to St. Francis as Italian poetry does to Dante. The date of Giotto’s first visit to Assissi is surmised to have been about 1296. A few years later Giotto visited Rome, and, in collaboration with Cavallini, executed the Navicella, a mosaic for St. Peter’s, and the fresco in St. John in Lateran, repre- senting Pope Boniface VIII proclaiming the Jubilee of 1300. In 1306 we find Giotto, at Padua, at work on the frescoes of the Arena Chapel. In the Church of Santa Croce at Florence Giotto has depicted a series of scenes in the life of St. Francis and the two St. Johns. His last great achievement, which he left unfinished, was the campanile at Florence. Ruskin calls this ‘‘the model and mirror of perfect architecture.”’ Giotto was much beloved by his con- temporaries, Petrach, Dante, and Boceacio. It should be noted here that to the intluence of Dante’s Divine Comedy may be traced much of the allegory that enters into the art of this epoch; and that the three heavenly stars of sanctity and science—St. Francis, St. Dominic, and St. Thomas—that shine in the Dantean firmament proved a light and inspiration to the painter of this day. GIOTTO—ORCAGNA—FRA ANGELICO 105 Giotto was followed by many disciples who, while lacking his genius, perpetuated his teaching. Of these by far the greatest and most gifted was Orcagna, who was born in Florence in 1308 and died there in 1368. Orcagna was a kind of a fourteenth century Michel- angelo, being both architect, sculptor, painter and poet. We deal with him in this chapter because after Giotto his is the most illustrious name in the art of this century. His frescoes in the Strozzi Chapel, in Santa Maria Novella, have for themes the Last Judgment, Hell, and Paradise. The latter is very much admired, and has about it a grandeur that places it among the prominent frescoes of the age. It may be regarded as the most important Florentine wall decoration between the time of Giotto and Masolino. Orcagna’s great creation, however, is the Tabernacle in San Michele in Orto. This is a most exquisite piece of workmanship, carved in richly sculptured Gothic style. In the Campo Santo, Pisa, there are also two frescoes by Orcagna. It may be said that Orcagna, not only understood the art principles of Giotto, but he contributed elements of his own which led to the onward progress of art. The saintly and humanized Dominican monk, Fra Angelico, whose baptismal name was Guido, but who was known in religious life as I] Beato Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole, occupies a distinct place by himself in Italian art. He was born at Vicchio, in the Tuscan province of Mugello, in 1387, and died in Rome in 1455. At the age of twenty he became a novice in the Convent of San Domenico at Fiesole, and the following year took the vows and entered the Dominican Order. It is difficult to say under whom Fra Angelico received 106 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART his early art-training. It may have been under Lorenzo Monaco. The influence of the Sienese School is certainly discernible in his work. Owing to-the turmoil incident to the struggle for the pontifical throne between Gregory XII, Benedict XIII, and Alexander V, Fra Angelico, being an adherent of the first named, had to leave Fiesole in 1409 and take refuge in the convent of his order established at Foligno in Umbria. The plague having broken out here, our young Friar betook himself to Cortona, where he spent four years, returning to Fiesole in 1418. It is said that when at Foligno Fra Giovanni came under the influence of Giotto. After remaining eighteen years at Fiesole, Fra Angelico was invited to decorate the new Convent of San Marco, in Florence, which had just been allotted to his order, and of which Cosimo dei Medici was a munificent patron. As Murillo is the painter of the Immaculate Concep- tion, so Fra Angelico is assuredly the painter of Angels, the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin and the Annuncia-— tion. These were the subjects of his predilection. In all his work there is a mystic piety, a holiness, a spiritual beauty that could only emanate from the brush of Fra Angelico. Before the time of Fra Angelico, Simone di Martino had painted the gates of Paradise with the children entering it, hand im hand; it remained for Fra Angelico to represent these children as celestially dancing their way through the gates of Paradise. Fra Angelico understood what Ruskin calls the sacredness of colour. ‘His brushes robbed the Hybla bees and left them honeyless.’’ No other painter represents so fully the idealism of mediaeval religious painting as Fra Angelico. It will be noticed, too, that he is very individual. Should you ask for his classification as a GIOTTO—ORCAGNA—FRA ANGELICO 107 painter, we would be disposed to place him in the Sienese School, holding kinship with the Sienese painter, Lorenzo Monaco, who, as already stated, was probably his teacher. In his later frescoes at Rome and Orvieto it is worth noting that Fra Angelico reveals a little of the naturalistic manner. His work is scattered throughout the galleries and - churches of Europe. It may, however, be studied best in Fiesole, Cortona, Florence and Rome, where he passed his fruitful years. His chief work at Fiesole is the Madonna of the Great Tabernacle, which is in the Uffizi, Florence. But if you would understand and appreciate properly Fra Angelico, visit the old cloister of San Marco in Florence which is dedicated to his art. You will find the frescoed lunetites over the doors, repre- senting the gentle St. Dominic, founder of the Order, Peter Martyr, and Christ as a pilgrim, welcomed by the two Dominicans. In the refectory is the Crucifixion, and, when you pass up to the little cells, you will be in doubt as to which to admire most, the Madonna della Stella, the Virgin of the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, or the very touching scene of the Weeping - Marys at the Cross. When you behold these beautiful paintings full of the sunlight of heaven, you realize, indeed, that Fra Angelico “worked for his God, for His praise and glory, often on his knees and weeping at the thought of his suffering Lord.” In the Uffizi is his Coronation of the Virgin, and a similar painting is in the Louvre, Paris, which Vasari considers the better of the two. In the Florence Aca- demy are the Last Judgment, The Flight into Egypt, The Deposition from the Cross, and the Entombment. In Cortona, in the Church of San Domenico, there is a 108 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART beautiful Annunciation. In the Corsini Palace, Rome, are the Ascension, the Last Judgment, and the Pente- cost, and at Madrid the Annunciation, and at Leningrad a Madonna and Saints. In 1445, when almost sixty years of age, Fra Angelico was invited to Rome by Pope Eugenius IV to decorate a chapel and a little later was offered by the Pope the Archbishopric of Florence, which the humble friar- painter declined; and on the death of Pope Eugenius IV, his successor, Nicholas V, the founder of the Vatican Library, retained Fra Angelico in Rome to decorate a chapel for him in the Vatican, the subject being the legends of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence. Fra Angelico could not paint sin or ugliness. His is truly the mystic poetry of art. Fra Angelico also worked on the Capella Nuova of the Orvieto Cathedral and was assisted in this by his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli. He died when on a visit to Rome in 1455, and was buried in the Church of Santa — Maria sopra Minerva. His tombstone shows the recumbent figure of a Dominican monk. Pope Nicholas V wrote this epitaph on his tomb: Jt is no honour to be another Apelles, but rather, O Christ, that I gave all my gains to Thy poor. One was a work for earth, the other for heaven. A city, the flower of Etruria, bore me, John!” CHAPTER XIII THE MYSTIC SCHOOL OF PAINTING An art critic has affirmed that mysticism is to paint- ing what ecstasy is to psychology. The same writer advises us that it is in the lives of the saints rather than in the lives of the painters that proof of the interesting affinity between Religion and Art must be sought. In tracing the development of the different schools of painting in Italy, not the least interesting phase of this development is that which deals with the mystic element as it influenced the work of the painter at different periods of the Italian Renaissance. But first we shall note its rise ere we touch upon its influence on the different schools of painting of this great art epoch. To the mountains of Umbria let us then turn if we would know of the beginnings of the Mystic School of Painting. It did not have birth within the walls of either Rome or Florence. Where St. Francis breathed the peace of God and shepherded both bird and beast with the high courtesy of heaven, there mysticism took root and touched, in dream, the brush and pencil of the Umbrian and Tuscan painters who found theme and inspiration at his tomb. Truly, then, did the elements of mysticism dispersed henceforth, like so many wild flowers on the surrounding hills, in the modest villages of Tuscany, in little towns scattered along the sides of the Apennines, from Fiesole 109 110 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART to Spoleto, but especially in the convents, which were the real sanctuaries of Christian painting, take root and blossom. We shall find its influence spread from Venice to Naples by Gentile da Fabriano, who was born in the duchy of Urbino in 1360; and from Florence to Rome by Perugino, who was born at Citta della Pieve nearly a century later. We have said that Gentile da Fabriano carried the teachings and influences of the mystic school of Umbria to Venice. The three Bellinis, Jacopo, Gentile, and Giovanni in succession reveal in their work this influence Then from Perugia comes a master painter who estab- lishes a school of painting into which mysticism enters, in full vigour, and which culminates in the work of Raphael. Perugino occupies in his relation to his pupil Raphael the same position that Verrocchio does to Leonardo da Vinci. Nor should we forget to mention here the name of another pupil of Perugino—Pinturic- chio, who painted in conjunction with Raphael at Siena and like the latter was invited to Rome to paint in the Sistine Chapel. But the great missionary of the Umbrian or Mystic School was unquestionably Perugino. He extended its influence all through Italy; and especially infused new vigour into the Sienese School. Pope Sixtus IV invited him to Rome to paint three large compositions in the Sistine Chapel. It was in Florence that naturalism first gained influence, and this required to be counterbalanced by the spiritualism of the Umbrian School. By the way, it will be noticed that in all the work of Perugino and the painters of the Mystic School there is a constant element which might be designated as seraphic. But not only THE MYSTIC SCHOOL OF PAINTING 111 did Gentile da Fabriano, of the Umbrian School, influence the Venetian painters, but also such painters of the Florentine School as Fra Angelico and his disciple, Benozzo Gozzoli. The gentle Dominican monk from Fiesole, who dipped his pen in the sunlight of heaven when he painted angels, and knelt in prayer and adora- tion before the beauteous and celestial conceptions of his soul, belongs essentially to the Mystic School of Painting. Ruskin says that Cimabue had women to paint from pure as snow and bright as sunshine: the Blessed Virgin, St. Cecilia, and St. Agnes. Fra Angelico had a vision of angels more beautiful than ever appeared to . Jacob of old. That compunction of the heart and aspiration towards God, ecstatic raptures and a fore- taste of celestial bliss—these afforded Fra Angelico vision and exaltation when he glorified the canvas with the dreams of his soul. It is worth noting that it was the mystic painters that in nearly every instance were summoned to Rome to paint for the Popes—a Julius II, a Eugenius IV, and a Sixtus IV; and their work remains in the Eternal City -as the glory of the Umbrian School of painting. We should not forget to note here also the great kinship which existed between the Sienese School and the Umbrian School spiritually. We have already pointed out the probability that Lorenzo Monaco of the Sienese School was the early teacher of Fra Angelico, and that the latter was influenced by the Mystic School of painters, to which school Fra Angelico himself properly belongs. It will be observed, too, that the words Umbrian and Mystic are used here as really synonymous, for the 112 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART cradle of the Mystic School was virtually the tomb of St. Francis at Assisi, though two of the great creative centres of the Mystic School were Perugia and Siena. When we speak of the Mystic School, then, we mean all those painters who derived their inspiration at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, and from the spirit of the cloister, and that vision of faith which beatifies life and touches art in any form with immortality. Of Raphael Sanzio, ‘‘The Prince of Painters,” who early came under the influence of the Mystic School, through his teacher Perugino, it is his glory as an expo- nent of that School that he never permitted Paganism to share in the triumphs of his brush or pencil. Raphael’s early pictures are perhaps more attractive to the contemplative mind; while his latter are more pleas- ing to the active imagination. In his early pictures, too, the classical taste predominates; while in his latter work modern taste prevails. The little brown-hooded Friar of Assisi, whose saintship delights both heaven and earth, has be- queathed to the world, not alone in charity and poverty, a gospel of health for the healing of the nations; from his tomb, too, has irradiated the mystic light that glorifies and gives all art its true and treasured meaning. CHAPTER XIV SAVONAROLA AND ART Just when the Italian Renaissance in art and letters was reaching its apogee there appeared in the history of Florence the fiery figure of a Dominican friar, Fra Girolamo Savonarola, whose share in the civic, social, political, religious, and art life of the closing years of the fifteenth century entitles him to a place in our discussion here of the development of Christian Art. Around Fra Girolamo, his course and career and his tragic ending, have gathered much controversy and much discussion. To understand, however, the part which Savonarola played both in the political, religious, and art life of Florence, we must have a contemporary sense of history. This will lead us to understand the times and circumstances of which he became a victim, despite his sincere and high purposes of moral reform. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon every student of the Italian Renaissance, that it possesses really two distinct periods as regards the influence which Pagan art and literature exercised upon the Florentine people. At no time, moreover, was the Church abso- lutely swept into its vortex. There is unfortunately also a common impression that the dangerous ten- dencies of the Renaissance were not recognized by the Church. This is entirely erroneous. There were ever 113 114 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART men in the Church who raised their voices in warning against the deadly poison of the false Humanism. As Monsignor Baudrillart, of the French Academy, maintains, it is the historian’s first duty to distinguish periods and to avoid confusing epochs. For instance, in the first half of the fifteenth century, from Innocent VIII to Nicholas V, Humanism had as yet borne no fruit; there was merely the revival of letters. Though ~ certain individuals were from the beginning of almost pagan morals and intellectual leanings, there were, on the other hand, many Christian Humanists; therefore Humanism in itself cannot be blamed for the utter demoralization of certain of its followers. The Popes of this epoch can be reproached only with having shown undue indulgence towards men who, outside their literary talent, deserved no esteem. They perhaps would have done better had they been more scrupulous. As we reach, however, the close of the fifteenth century, we find that the poison of Pagan antiquity has entered the very marrow of the morals of Florence. Under the corrupting influence of the Court of the Medici, both literature and art suffered. The four- teenth century, which is known as the age of aesthetic Christian art, gradually gives way to an age of profane tendency, and painting becomes subservient to this profane tendency of the period—to its classical pedan- try, luxury and frivolity, and above all to patrician vanity. Moral scandals, such as that of Fra Lippo Lippi, stain the garment of the Church. The discovery of a classical manuscript becomes in the eyes of many of much more importance than the discovery of a saint. This was the period of the founding of the Platonic Academy by Lorenzo dei Medici, or perhaps it would be SAVONAROLA AND ART 115 more correct to say by Marsilio Ficino. Simultaneously with the founding of the Academy there was a great revival in Italian literature. This is what Carducci calls “Ol rinascimento della vita ttaliana nella forma classica’’ (the revival of Italian life in the classical form.) To this Academy belonged such distinguished names as Landini, who wrote the first Renaissance commentary on Dante’s Divine Comedy; Politian, the noted classical scholar and greatest Italian poet of the fifteenth century; and Pico della Mirandola, whose life and letters Blessed Thomas More translated and who is buried in the Church of San Marco. Now no age in its society is entirely corrupt. The profane tendency of this period in both art and literature had left many untouched. But what with luxury and vanity, the evil influence of the Medicean Court, the revival of the antique with its spirit of voluptuousness and corruption, and the weak- ening of Catholic life and discipline in the Church and educational institutions, the vigour of Catholic faith and practice soon became sapped or enfeebled. The flood- gates of enervation leading to the indulgence of sin and passion being thus opened up, it was truly an herculean task for even a Savonarola to stem the tide. To show how insidiously the profane note was intro- duced into the painting and sculpture of this time, it is only necessary to say that the portrait which had taken its place in Christian art at the very beginning of the revival, as may be seen in Giotto’s fresco in the Bargello representing Dante, Brunetto Latini and Corso Donati, now becomes in the hands of a painter such as Paolo Uccello the medium and means of mingling the revered personages of the Old and New Testament with secular personages of the day. Giotto never did this. When he 116 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART introduced his own portrait into a picture painted for the Church of Gaeta, it was in an attitude of prayer and adoration. We know further that. Lorenzo dei Medici suggested to Pollaiuolo as subject the Twelve Labours of Hercules; to Ghirlandaio, the story of the Misfortunes of Vulcan; and to Luca Signorelli, gods and goddesses in all their charms of nudity. We have now something of the setting of the stage for the advent of Savonarola, who had entered the Order of St. Dominic at Bologna in 1474. Savonarola was a man of rigid and ascetic life and early became a notable preacher and reformer of the licentious morals that then prevailed. In 1490 he preached a series of sermons in the pulpit of San Marco. All Florence thronged to hear him. In 1491 he became Prior of San Marco. Savona- rola began with an inner reform of the monastery, and, regardless of consequences, he attacked from the pulpit and furiously lashed the vainglorious, immoral, and pleasure-seeking life of the Florentines, with the result that many abandoned their evil ways and returned with contrite hearts to the practice of virtue. It was about this time that Roderigo Borgia became Pope under the title of Alexander VI. We have said that Savonarola was a victim of circum- stances. It is necessary to explain this here. Politically the Pope, like all the Italian princes and cities, except Florence, was opposed to the intervention of Chas. VIII, King of France, in Italian affairs. Savonarola supported this intervention. This brought him directly in conflict with Pope Alexander VI. Then again Savonarola had committed the unpardonable offence of having used his efforts to encourage the investment of capital in the Monte di Pietaé, founded for the purpose of saving the SAVONAROLA AND ART 117 poorer citizens from the ruinous exactions of the usurers. So naturally Savonarola had for enemies all the mer- chants and bankers, who organized a formidable con- federacy against him, ramifications of which extended to Rome. At this time there were three factions in Florence: first, the partisans of Savonarola, known as Piagnone or Weepers. These advocated liberty and the restoration of the Republic and lamented the corruption of morals and the decay of prosperity in the city. Second, the Arrabbiati or Compagnacci. ‘These were aristocrats under the cover of political partisanship, and they indulged in violent and unbridled passions. They aimed at establishing an oligarchy and were disgusted with the pseudo-irresponsible monarchy of the Medici, but they dreaded equally the extreme democracy of Savonarola’s views. Finally, there was the Bigi party, supporters of the Medici. Of the three parties, the first and third sided against the second, and the second dreaded the first more than the third. To understand with what fatalism Savonarola was hurried on to his martyrdom, we must realize what bitter forces were at work against him and how he became a victim of these forces engineered to compass his destruction and death. Yet Fra Girolamo was not without friends. Indeed he had so swayed the whole city at one time to his teaching that he was designated the ‘‘Pastor of Florence.”’ He had also found innumer- able friends among the poets and artists of the day. Among these were Pico della Mirandola, Politian, Landini, Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi, Baccio Della Porta (Fra Bartolommeo) and Luca della Robbia. Meantime Savonarola continued his sermons, which 118 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART were appalling exigeses on certain passages in the Apoca- lypse, from which he deduced with the accent and authority of a prophet a great crisis in the Church. In 1494 Charles VIII came down from France and on November 19 of that year Piero and Giuliano dei Medici fled from Florence through the Porta San Gallo. A kind of theocratic democracy was then established in Flor- ence based on the political and social doctrines of Savonarola. The deadly work meanwhile of the factions in the political life of Florence did not abate. On Ascension Day, 1496, while Savonarola was preaching in the Cathedral, the Compagnacci raised a disgraceful riot, interrupted his sermon, and even attempted to take his life. He was summoned to Rome by the Pope, but refused to go, and some time after was excommunicated. Now it should be understood here, as Villari, the Italian historian points out, that Savonarola’s attacks were never directed in the slightest degree against the dogmas of the Catholic Church, but solely against those who corrupted them. The “Triumph of the Cross” when written by Savonarola was intended to do for the Renaissance what St. Thomas Aquinas had accomplished for the Middle Ages in his Swmma Contra Gentiles. Savonarola began now to talk of a future Council of the Church. He would appeal to the princes | of Christendom: the Emperor Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Henry VII of England, the King of Hungary, and ‘“‘that most Christian King,’ Charles VIII of France, to summon a general Council, depose the simoniacal usurper who was polluting the Chair of Peter, and reform the Church. This was the last straw. There was talk of Florence being put under an interdict SAVONAROLA AND ART 119 and the Signoria or Civil Government knew that this would ruin the commerce of the city, so they bowed before the storm and forbade Savonarola to preach again on the following morning. On May 22, 1498, Savonarola and his two companions were condemned to death ‘“‘on account of the enormous crimes of which they have been convicted,’”’ and on May 25 they were hanged and their bodies burned. We do not think it is a question here of justifying the course of Savonarola or a question of condemning Pope Alexander VI for his crimes. We have to deal simply with the circumstances and conditions of the times which brought about his tragic fate. The writer knows from having lived for some time in the City on the Arno that nearly every Florentine is pro-Savonarola. Only ten years after his death Pope Julius II ordered an examination to be made into the grounds of the sentence passed on Savonarola by Alexander VI, and while this examination was going on St. Philip Neri implored God that this champion of Christian faith might not be subjected to the second condemnation. Raphael was the first to undertake the apotheosis of Savonarola by placing him among the illustrious doctors of the Church, in his great fresco of the Disputa in the Camera della Segnatura, in the Vatican. May we repeat here that Savonarola never questioned or attacked any dogma of the Catholic Church; nor is there any warrant for erecting his statue at the foot of Luther’s monument at Worms as a reputed “forerunner of the Reformation.” CHAPTER XV THE GREAT ART TRIUMVIRATE OF THE RENAISSANCE The bright dawn of Renaissance Christian art that glorified chisel and brush in the hands of a Niccola Pisano, a Giotto, and an Orcagna in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, has now grown into the culmina- tion of a full noontide splendour as we reach the close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century. Masolino and Masaccio, Ghiberti and Donatello, Gentile da Fabriano and Fra Angelico, Ghirlandaio and Botticelli, the Bellinis and Perugino—all these have contributed to the development of Christian art through a period of wellnigh three centuries, till at last beauty and grace, strength and sublimity, wedded to perfection of technique, find expression in the great masterpieces of a Leonardo da Vinci, a Michelangelo, and a Raphael. The note of naturalism and decadence introduced into painting by a Fra Lippo Lippi and a Botticelli was counterbalanced by the work of a Perugino, a Giovanni Bellini, a Fra Angelico, and a Benozzo Gozzoli, so that while painting and sculpture during those centuries did not always pursue the transcendental aim of Christian art, they never became fully seduced from the spiritual source of inspiration; nor were they fully wanting at any time in the chrism of Christian faith. All this time, too, the Sienese School, especially under the influence of 120 ART TRIUMVIRATE OF RENAISSANCE § 121 Perugino, while falling behind the painters of the Florentine School, remained faithful to the old tradi- tions of Christian art and contributed to its progress and development. Individual painters and sculptors continued to add something new and valuable to art. We have referred already to the work of Masolino and Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence, which became a very nursery of Italian Renaissance painting; to the work of Ghiberti and Donatello; the influence of Gentile da Fabriano and Fra Angelico and Perugino of the Mystic School. In 1490 Ghirlandaio executed a fresco in the choir of Santa Maria Novella, which is perhaps the most magnificent of its kind in Florence. As to Botticelli, he occupies a unique place among the painters of Florence. It will be remembered that during the closing years of the nineteenth century there was a Botticelli vogue in art. Born in 1447, Sandro Botticelli became one of the most intellectual and thoughtful painters of the day. He could paint the soul. Ralph Adams Cram says that the culmination of mediaevalism and the inception of modernism centre in Botticelli. Botticelli was amongst the Florentine painters who went to Rome to execute frescoes for Pope Eugenius IV. He is the only painter of the time whom Da Vinci mentions in his treatise on painting. Notwithstanding, however, that Botticelli has painted many religious paintings, his work, as well as that of Fra Lippo Lippi, shows a step towards a secular treatment of religious subjects. It is interesting to compare the treatment of the Annunciation by the three painters: Simone di Martino known also as Memmi of Siena, Fra Lippo Lippi and Botticelli. That of Martino is a most mystical treatment, while that of 122 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Botticelli in the Uffizi is a wonderful one; as a critic says, ‘‘a marvellous rendering of a moment.’ One of Botticelli’s best known paintings is his ‘‘Madonna of the Magnificat.’? It will be observed that in all Botticelli’s Madonnas there is a tinge of melancholy. There is, too, about all Botticelli’is Madonnas a certain haunting charm and elusive mystery which, with a certain vague yearning, make their fascination today. In the art life of Leonardo da Vinci there are three periods: the Florentine period, the Milan period, and his period of wandering. Born in Vinci, a little town between Pisa and Florence, in 1452, Leonardo’s genius, the most versatile in the whole history of art (he was painter, sculptor, architect, musician and poet) ripened at a time when almost every city in Italy had a school of painting and could boast of masters, and when, too, Italian art was about to reach perfection. This great epoch now being ushered in witnessed in art technical mastery, classic perfection, and ideal beauty of ex- pression. The genius of Da Vinci was universal. As a critic says, he endowed the flesh with spirit and the spirit with a longing that aspires. When a boy Da Vinci was placed in the bottega of Verrocchio in Florence, where he had for fellow-pupils Lorenzo di Credi and Perugino. Here he worked for some years, at least as late as 1476. He was admitted to the Guild of Painters in 1472. It was in Florence that Leonardo executed the cartoon of St. Anne, now in London, as well as the pic- ture, identical in subject but differing in composition now in the Louvre. There, too, on the wall of the Sala del Consiglio in the Palazzo della Signoria, he began the Battle of Anghiari; and there he painted his marvellous portrait of Mona Lisa, the wife of Francesco del ART TRIUMVIRATE OF RENAISSANCE 128 Giocondo, and perhaps the St. Jerome in the Desert, now in the gallery of the Vatican. Mona Lisa, or Lisa Gherardini, which was her real name, was a Neapolitan, and in 1495 married Zanobi del Giocondo. Mona Lisa occupies in modern art the place that the Venus of Milo does in ancient art. Sometimes this painting is known by the title La Gioconda. A few years ago Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, but later found in Florence. We are now in the century of Italian art—the fifteenth—that particularly honoured woman, whether the ingenuous Madonna of Fra Angelico, or the Venuses with a Madonna smile of Botticelli, or the haughty patrician or proud proletarian woman of Pollaiuolo and Ghirlandaio, or the princess of Pisanello. Leonardo’s earliest masterpiece is the Adoration of the Magi, which is in the Uffizi. To his early period also belongs his Annunciation in the Louvre. In 1481 Leonardo was called to the Court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan, and his first Florentine period closed. During his first Milanese period from 1482 to 1499 Leonardo executed the Equestrian Statue of Sforza and painted the Virgin of the Rocks and his great fresco, the Last Supper, which is in the refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie near Milan. Leonardo painted two Virgins of the Rocks; one is in the Louvre and the other in the National Gallery, London. Art critics in general are of the opinion that Leonardo painted the one in the Louvre first, though Julia de Wolf Addison, the art historian, holds the opposite view. The Last Supper is perhaps the most famous painting in the world. The subject of the Last Supper had been 124 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART already painted by several Italian artists, amongst others by Ghirlandaio, whose painting is in the refectory of the Convent of Ognisanti, Florence, and by Andrea del Castagno, whose presentment of the subject is in the refectory of St. Appollonia in Florence, and Giotto has also a Last Supper painted in Padua. All three are frescoes. Da Vinci’s conception of the subject is the same as that of the earlier masters of the Renaissance, but differs from that of Giotto’s. | Da Vinci’s Last Supper at Milan is wonderful for its variety contributing to unity. For this is the law of nature as well as art, that all parts should conspire to oneend. Da Vinci has arranged the Apostles, mobile as waves, in groups of three at the side of Christ, with His arms wide, motionless as eternity; and while the eye centres on the sweet, sad, and superhuman figure of the Nazarene, Christ says truly, with ineffable sorrow, comforted by divine charity and resignation, ‘One of you will betray Me.” It is doubtful if Michelangelo in his ‘‘Pieta” or “Christ’? or Raphael in his ‘Transfiguration’? ever reached the height of art in this painting. It may be interesting to know that the Oberammergau Passion Players follow closely Da Vinci’s grouping in their presentation of the Last Supper. We may note here that no other artist has attained Da Vinci’s place in the world of art with so few works to his credit. This supreme artist spent his closing years chiefly at Milan. In 1516 he accepted an invitation of Francis I of France to come to France as court painter, and died at Cloux, near Amboise, in April, 1519. There are men whose personality is greater than their work. Such was Michelangelo. Born near Arezzo, in ART TRIUMVIRATE OF RENAISSANCE = 125 Casentino, March 6, 1475, this mighty genius, who was the very incarnation of a sublime and superhuman ideal- ism, is truly, by art and spiritual kinship, the son of Dante, as Phidias is of Homer, and Raphael of Petrarch. As with Dante, so with Michelangelo, if we would under- stand his art, we must know the man. Our problem, then, is to gain some conception of a majestic personal- ity. His conceptions were the conceptions of a veritable giant in intellect and imagination. Sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, his creative work is an image, a reflection of a master mind scaling the great heights of art, and in apocalyptic vision giving form to the mighty dreams of his soul. It is said that Dante tried to trans- late the politics of eternity into the terms of temporal power and mediaeval theology; but Michelangelo suc- ceeded in translating the great verities of life, under their sublimest form, into the terms of eternity. At fourteen years of age Michelangelo was placed in the studio of Ghirlandaio, who at this time was engaged on his great frescoes, in the Church of Santa Maria Novella. The progress of the young art student was so rapid that in a short time Ghirlandaio remarked: ‘Already this youngster knows more than I.” About this time Lorenzo the Magnificent of the Medici was filling his gardens with classic sculpture, and established a school for plastic art under Bertoldo, a pupil of Dona- tello. Lorenzo sought among the artists for their cleverest pupils, and Ghirlandaio reluctantly parted with young Michelangelo. These were busy days of study for Michelangelo, who availed himself of every opportunity to gain a knowledge of sculpture and painting from the work of the great masters who had preceded him, He copied the frescoes of Masaccio, in 126 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART the Brancacci Chapel; studied the sculpture of Dona- tello; and it is said that, in order to gain absolute truth for the sake of his art, he studied anatomy in the hospital of Santo Spirito. A relief called the ‘‘Madonna of the Steps,” in the Casa Buonarroti, Florence, shows something of the touch and spirit of Donatello. His patron, Lorenzo dei Medici, having died in 1492, our young artist left Florence for Bologna and Venice, remaining more than a year in the latter city. Return- ing to Florence, he found the city stirred to its depths by the preaching of Savonarola. He did not, however, follow his fellow-artist, Bartolommeo, and throw his studies of the nude into the penitential fires. A statue of St. John the Baptist, in Berlin, and a Cupid, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, it is said, belong to this period. | In 1496 Michelangelo left for Rome, his visit being for the purpose of collecting a bad debt. Here he remained five years. The ‘Drunken Bacchus” in the National Museum, Florence, is one of his earliest Roman works, but his fame was made by his first great work, the celebrated ‘‘Pieta,’’? which is in a chapel in St. Peter’s in Rome. Michelangelo in this masterpiece enunciates the principle of sculpture that the marble is not merely to represent form, but to express thought and soul. In this masterpiece of sculpture Michelangelo united the grace and sublimity of the Virgin with the profound physical truth of a dead Christ. From his art dreams in the Eternal City Michelangelo was summoned to his home city, Florence, (1501) which was now filled with tumult and conflict. The Medici had been expelled, and, with patriotism all afire, he entered into the defence of the city. It was about this ART TRIUMVIRATE OF RENAISSANCE 127 time that he produced his colossal David, which, after standing four centuries in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, was removed to the Academy, Florence, in 1874. There are two smaller works, the Madonna and Child, in Notre Dame Bruges, and the tondo in the Bargello, Florence, which also represent Michelangelo’s earlier art years. Meantime the great sculptor was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II and given a commission to execute for the successor of St. Peter a mausoleum. Soon huge blocks of marble arrived at the Vatican, but suddenly troubles arose which resulted in Michelangelo’s hastily quitting Rome for Florence, leaving behind him the message: ‘‘Most Holy Father, I was this morning driven from the palace by the order of your Holiness. If you require me in the future, you can seek me else- where than in Rome.” This truly reveals the proud, hasty, irritable, and independent character of the great sculptor whom only the great warrior Pope Julius II understood. The work on the promised mausoleum stretched on and covered the period of several Popes, until it reached its final compromise in the work now found in the Church of St. Peter in Chains, in Rome, a facade with the well-known Moses in the centre, and on each side the figures of Rachel and Leah, signifying active and contemplative life. A critic holds that this Moses needs for setting Mt. Sinai and the great heavens above, just as the spirit in David needs space and the open air. Referring to Michelangelo’s Moses, Taine, the French critic, writes: ‘‘Moses is a living colossus and my first impression, on seeing it, was that if it arose the world would be ruined.” Pope Julius II next turned his attention to the dec- 128 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART oration of the Vatican and the rebuilding of the great Basilica of St. Peter’s, the foundation-stone of which had recently been laid. He had summoned Raphael, through the advice of his relative, Bramante, from Florence, and commissioned him to adorn the walls and ceiling of the Camera della Segnatura of the Vatican, at the same time entrusting the fresco work of the vault of the Sistine Chapel to Michelangelo. To this order — from the Holy Father Michelangelo demurred, main- taining that he was asculptor, nota painter. But Pope Julius, however, would take no refusal. The descriptive motif in these marvellous frescoes, now considerably injured, is the great drama of Creation. the passion and tragedy of the Fall, and the human incidents in the Deluge. It will be observed that there is a unity of thought in the decoration of the ceiling. In the triangular curves between the windows are the Prophets and Sibyls; in the corner spaces the Serpent in the Wilderness, David and Goliath, Judith and Holo- fernes, and the Hanging of Haman. “It is,” says a critic, ‘‘a wonderful ensemble and one scarcely realizes that not only the scenes themselves are the work of the artist, but that he has also created their noble setting of sculpture and architecture.”’ The confusion and tumult prevailing in Florence, recalled the patriot, Michel- angelo, to his mother-city, on the Arno, as director of the fortifications. And now, after having reached fifty years of age, Michelangelo was called upon to work on the tombs for the Medici, in the Chapel of San Lorenzo, which he had himself designed for the purpose. The Medici and Julian tombs are perhaps this master’s greatest sculp- tural undertakings. The two Medici princes were ART TRIUMVIRATE OF RENAISSANCE = 129 Giuliano and Lorenzo, the son and grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent. The two dukes are represented seated; Giuliano with the raised head of action, and on the opposite wall Lorenzo, his face under a helmet in shadowed meditation. Beneath Giuliano are the two colossal mysterious figures representing Day and Night. Below Lorenzo are the superb figures of Dawn and Evening. Against a third wall, opposite the altar, is placed a Madonna and Child of the same heroic mould. All the great soul of Michelangelo is in these tombs of the Medici; in these unfinished stones which a writer says one should admire on his knees. In 1535, when sixty years of age, the great artist was called to Rome by Pope Paul III and commissioned to complete the Sistine Chapel by the decoration of the end opposite to the entrance with a picture of the Last Judgment. His crowning work in architecture was the cupola of St. Peter’s, whose prototype, however, he found in Brunelleschi’s cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Michelangelo was primarily a sculptor, then a painter, and then an architect and poet. As a critic tell us, his genius created with as great pain as the mother who gives to the world the fruit of life. He saw beyond time, beyond historical space, and beyond the age and events of his own time. He delineated man, but not the man of history, of a particular time and place, but ideal, eternal man, with powerful limbs and immortal thought. His place is beside Aeschylus, Dante, Shakespere, and Beethoven. Reverent and religious, irritable and irascible, imbued with the most devoted filial piety, Michelangelo is unquestionably one of the greatest personalities, one of the most illustrious names in the 130 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART world of ancient or modern art. He died in Rome at the age of eighty-nine, a few weeks before his ninetieth birthday, February 17, 1564, and his body being borne to his beloved Florence, now rests in the Church of Santa Croce. Raphael is the third of the great art triumvirate of the Renaissance. While not so brilliant or versatile as Leonardo da Vinci, or so profound as Michelangelo, | Raphael possessed qualities which made more universal appeal to the world than did the extraordinary art gifts of either Leonardo or Michelangelo. Raphael Sanzio was born on Good Friday, March 29, 1483, in the little mountain town of Urbino. His was a happy home in this little town, perched on a rocky sum- mit, standing clearly defined against the soft Italian sky. His father, Giovanni, was himself a lover of beauty, a painter, and a poet. It is true that he was not a great artist, though by some critics he has been given a place among Umbrian masters. Educated in the school of the Marches, with its half Umbrian and half North Italian bent, Raphael, at the age of seventeen, entered as an assistant in the bottega of Perugino, at Perugia, in 1500. He had as fellow student, Pinturicchio, by birth a Veronese. His master, Perugino, was then in the height of his glory. The influence of his first masters is plainly seen in Raphael’s early work; the peaceful gentleness of Timoteo Viti, the dreamy mildness and devotion of Perugino, and the decorative tendencies of Pinturicchio. This period in the art-life of Raphael may be designated the Peruginesque Period. Belonging to this period are the Crucifixion in London, the Coronation in the Vatican, the Knight’s Vision in London, St. Michael ART TRIUMVIRATE OF RENAISSANCE = 131 and St. George in the Louvre, the Terra Nuova Madonna in Berlin, and the Marriage of the Virgin (Lo Sposalizio) in the Brera, Milan. In 1504, Raphael, armed with a letter of introduction to the gonfaloniére, Soderini, went to Florence, where the shrine of art was now resplendent with the work of a Leonardo da Vinci and a Michelangelo. ‘These were dark and terrible years in the history of Italy, albeit in the realm of art it was the very culmination of the glory and splendour of the Renaissance. Imagine the city on the Arno, with its Baptistry of San Giovanni, its Campanile and its memories of the immortal Dante, housing at the same time within its gates as guests three such great and gifted souls as Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. When the latter reached Florence he found naturalism in its very peak of triumph. Savonarola had been vanquished. Raphael chose his friends among the vanquished party, forming a close intimacy with Fra Bartolommeo and Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, whose work he influenced through the spiritualism of the Umbrian School, meantime gaining from them in exchange a new vigour in tone of colouring. Raphael spent four busy years in Florence, assimilating all that was best in the art around him. During his stay in Florence he began his series of Madonnas, which are the charm of Christian art. Here, too, he painted his Assumption, which is in the gallery of the Vatican, and the Deposition from the Cross, now in the Borghese, Rome. In all these paint- ings it will be seen that he has never broken with the traditional style of the Umbrian School. Between 1506 and 1508 the fertility of Raphael’s pencil was most marked. ,To this period belong the Madonna of the 132 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Duke of Alba, in Leningrad; the Casa Tempi Madonna and the Madonna di Canigiani, both in the Munich gallery; St. Catherine of Alexandria and the Ansidei Madonna, both in the National Gallery, London; the Madonna del Baldacchino, destined for the Church of Santo Spirito, Florence, now in the Pitti Palace; The Entombment, in the Borghese, Rome, which was painted for the Church of San Francesco, Perugia; La Belle Jardiniére, in the Louvre; Madonna of the Grand Duke, in the Pitti; Madonna of the Gold-finch, in the Uffizi; the Madonna of the Meadow, in Vienna; and the Cowper Madonna. In 1508 Raphael visited his natal town, Urbino. Pope Julius IJ, who had ascended the Papal Throne in 1503, aimed at restoring Rome to its rightful place as the Capital of the civilized world. He it was who pro- jected the building of St. Peter’s and the decoration of the Vatican. For this purpose he summoned to his aid the greatest architects, sculptors, and painters of the time. The architect, Bramante, had recommended to the Pope Raphael, a young artist of twenty-one years of age, whose youthful portrait, spiritual and feminine, painted by himself about this time, may be seen in the Uffizi, Florence. Raphael was commissioned to decorate the rooms of the apartments of the Pope. Already at the invitation of Pope Nicholas V and Pope Sixtus IV, Pier della Francesca, Signorelli and Perugino had worked on these. The first room painted was the Stanza della Segnatura, so called because the Papal Briefs were formerly signed and sealed here. Raphael commenced by painting the ceiling and four walls of this room, called the Segnatura, on the surface of which he represented four great ART TRIUMVIRATE OF RENAISSANCE = 133 compositions, which embraced the principal divisions of the encyclopedia of the period: namely, Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, and Jurisprudence. It may really be compared with the allegorical epic of Dante. It is a composition without a rival in the whole history of painting; a witness for all time to the eternal glory of the Catholic faith and Christian art. Of the four, perhaps, Theology and Poetry are the most remarkable. The first fresco is Theology (called the Disputa). This really is a picture of the life of the Church and an affirmation of the Dogma of the Real Presence. This composition consists of two great divisions, Heaven and Earth, which are united to one another by that mystical bond, the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The personages whom the Church has most honoured for learning and holiness are ranged in picturesque and animated groups on either side of the altar on which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. St. Augustine dictates his thoughts to one of his disci- ples; St. Gregory in his pontifical robes seems absorbed in the contemplation of his celestial glory; St. Ambrose, in a slightly different attitude, appears to be chanting the Te Deum; while St. Jerome, seated, rests his hands on a large book which he holds on his knees. Peter Lombard, John Scotus Erigena, St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Anacletus, St. Bonaventure and Pope Innocent III are no less happily characterized; while behind all these illustrious men whom the Church and _ succeeding generations have agreed to honour, Raphael has ventured to introduce Dante with a laurel crown, and, with still greater boldness, the friar Savonarola. Parnassus, which allegorically represents poetry, is, as Mr. Gillet says, in the Catholic Encyclopedia, a synthesis of Humanism. 434 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART It shows a mountain-top crowned with laurel, where Apollo, surrounded by the Muses, his divine daughters, plays on the lyre; Homer sings, and about the inspired blind man is gathered his ideal family: Virgil leading Dante, Petrarch below conversing with Anacreon, Alcaeus and the wonder- ful Sappho. Thus on the poetic mount, beside the source of Helicon, the dream of Humanism is fulfilled. Additional frescoes by Raphael are those representing the School of Athens; Jurisprudence, representing symbolically the virtues, Moderation, Fortitude and Prudence; the Fire in the Borgo; the Mass of Bolsena; the Oath of Pope Leo III; The Coronation of Charle- magne by Pope Leo III; the Departure of the Hun Attila from the Walls of Rome, and the Deliverance of St. Peter from Prison. Other works belonging to Raphael’s Roman period are: the Aldobrandini Madonna in London and the Foligno Madonna in the Vatican Gallery. His Donna Velata in the Pitti Palace, Florence, was the model for both his Madonna of the Chair, in the Pitti, and the Sistine Madonna in Dresden. In Madrid, is his Holy Family with the Lamb; in the Academy of St. Luke, Rome, the Violin Player; in London, the Madonna of the Tower; and in the Louvre, the Madonna of the. House of Orleans. The Madonna of the Rose and the Madonna of the Fish in Madrid are said by some art critics to be the work of pupils. Add to these Raphael’s St. Cecilia in Bologna and his magnificent Transfigura- tion in the Vatican, which was not quite completed when the great artist passed away in 1520, at the early early age of thirty-seven. ART TRIUMVIRATE OF RENAISSANCE = 135 The Sistine Madonna, now in Dresden, was painted 1516-17 for the high altar of the Church of San Sisto at Piacenza, hence the name, Sistine Madonna. This superb painting is the apotheosis of motherhood. In this beautiful Madonna Raphael has made the nearest approach to painting the soul that has ever been achieved. The Roman period 1508-20 was the most glorious period in the art-life of Raphael. Then it was that he created perfect art, uniting as no other ever did the plastic perfection of form with the refinement of Christian sentiment. Other painters were greater in draughtsmanship, in colour, yet not, in composi- tion; but Raphael surpasses all in his incomparable sense of beauty. He crowns and closes the Umbrian or Mystic School, and to him is reserved the glory of having carried Christian art to its highest perfection. CHAPTER XVI RACIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHRISTIAN ART There is no more fascinating subject than the study of racial contributions to art and literature. Art, viewed through a national or racial temperament, becomes doubly interesting. It is like studying the inheritance of children in a family group, noting their temperament and traits of character, and tracing this inheritance to their forbears. Both art and literature reflect this racial temperament, especially in its spiritual element. This is the chrism of the soul. Emotion is universal; it is common to every race, every nation; but the conception and mould differ as well as the degree of intensity which marks the creative and fashioning moment of inspiration. This chapter will, therefore, be devoted to a consideration of the racial contributions that have, from time to time, been made to Christian art. ‘These contributions of course will be under differ- ent forms; now it will be the glorious conceptions of the soul, as they embody themselves in a mighty Cathedral; now Carrara marble will take voice and form under the fiery chisel of a Michelangelo; now the brushes of a Fra Angelico and a Raphael will clothe with the raiment of emotion and the soft hues of colour the beauteous dreams of the soul. It was not, however, so much racial differentiation as the spiritual, social, and intellectual ideal of life that 136 RACIAL GIFTS TO CHRISTIAN ART 137 distinguished Florentine, Venetian, and Umbrian art from each other. If, for instance, we compare the Umbrian, Venetian, and Florentine Schools, it will be found that the Florentine excelled in design and repre- sentation of form and felt the beauty of antique sculpture; the Umbrian School excelled in the expression of pious emotions and pure affections of the soul; it abounded in contemplative and mystical painters, but disdained the treasures of classical antiquity; while the Venetian School excelled in colour and had a passion for attaining perfection in it. Venice, amid her lagoons, was wrapt in a kind of Oriental dream. This beauty of colour, this love of pageantry enters into the work of her great masters. Notwithstanding this, Venice was not pagan at heart. What painters have made greater contributions to Christian art than the Bellinis, Titian, Tintoretto, Giorgione, Veronese and Palma Vecchio? It is true these Venetian painters did not have the religious or pietistic impulse of a Fra Angelico; and it is equally true that the decorative effect is primary in much of their work; but their themes are religious. Nor did they subordinate the spirit of these themes to the mere exploitation of their art. By far the greatest of Venetian painters is Titian, who justly earned the title of ‘‘the universal confident of nature.’’ He combined the qualities of Giovanni Bellini, Jacopo Palma, and Giorgione, of whom the first-named was his teacher. Rounded completeness stamps all . Titian’s work. He concentrated the multiplied pictorial gifts of the Venetian School and made himself inter- preter of a greater total of emotions than any of his predecessors. His great painting of the Assumption of 138 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART the Virgin, which was painted for the Church of the Frari, is now in the Academy at Venice. Furthermore, no painter, either before or after him, has known so well, how to interpret the beauty of woman as Titian, whose type of woman differs completely from the severe Virgin of Botticelli, the sphinx of Da Vinci, and the sweet Virgin of Raphael. Titian’s is full of warmth and full of life and its pleasures. It may be noted here that in no other place can Titian be studied and appreciated so well as in the Prado, Madrid. This great congress of masterpieces possesses no less than forty-two of his paintings. The racial contribution of Italy to Christian art has, indeed, been very notable. Her great architects have translated their dreams into a St. Peter’s, a St. Mark’s, and a Santa Maria del Fiore; her sculptors have given voice and form to the majesty and grace, nay to the sublimity that throbs in and animates her chiselled marbles; while the brush of her painters has glorified the canvases that reflect the eternal dreams of a Fra Bartolommeo, a Fra Angelico, a Perugino, and a Raphael. North of the Alps there has been, too, a goodly racial contribution to Christian art. England, during the great “Ages of Faith,” when this land was known as ‘““Mary’s Dower,” reared her glorious Gothic Cathedrals - which are the despair of modern architects. Sculpture, however, in England has always been an orphan, while her painting, a very late blossoming in the centuries, has never been touched by the chrism of faith. France, stirred early in life by the very noblest impulses of faith when the religious knighthood of high emprise touched altar and throne, has made a wealth of racial RACIAL GIFTS TO CHRISTIAN ART 139 contribution to Christian art. She it was that nursed and cradled through the centuries the true ideals of Christian architecture; so that today France possesses, without a question, the finest cathedrals, considered structurally or artistically, in the world. Nor is the sculpture of these cathedrals less a part of the splendid racial contribution of France to Christian art. The racial contributions of Germany and the Low Countries, Belgium and Holland, to Christian art are also conspicuous, albeit that the religious revolt in Germany early in the sixteenth century made impossible the progress of Christian art, crushing out the idealism of faith and chilling all the ardour in religious life and art and letters. This was the killing frost that nipped in the bud the first awakening of the great Renaissance in the land of the Minnesingers. But before this blast of negation had swept the land of the Elbe and the Rhine, the warmth of faith had reared a Cologne Cathedral and had touched the souls of the anonymous masters of painting of the Cologne School, whose tra- ditions of spiritual beauty in art were not entirely ignored or forgotten in later days by a Wholgemuth or a Diirer. The tradition of religious painting was never broken in Belgium. Memling and the Van Eycks preserved and handed it down to a Rubens and a Van Dyke. It is the glory of the Flemish School of Painting that it possesses in Peter Paul Rubens one of the great painters of the world. His is the great racial contribution of Belgium to Christian art. His Descent from the Cross in the Antwerp Cathedral is worthy of a place beside Raphael’s Transfiguration, Titian’s Assumption, and Murillo’s Immaculate Conception. 140 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART When we turn to Spain we find that its racial con- tribution to Christian art is strikingly great. Spanish genius is said to be assimilative rather than creative. Can this not also be said to some extent of the genius of any people? There is no more borrowing in Spanish art than there is in Italian or Flemish or English art. There was as much and even more intercourse between the artists of Italy and the artists of France and Belgium as between the artists of Italy and Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. If there is one thing which has marked the Spanish people through the centuries, it is character, and character begets indi- viduality and initiative. Spanish art then is essentially a native art, developing from ideals of Spanish painters. But few Italian, Flem- ish, or German artists visited Spain to introduce new outside influences. ‘Titian in the days of Charles V was one of the few with whose work outside their own the Spaniards were familiar. As a matter of fact, in Italy the Flemish artists were constantly coming, and in Germany and Holland the Italians frequently made visits. Furthermore the Spanish Inquisition, of which we hear so much, had no more to do with the Spanish painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than it had to do with Calderon’s great dramas or Cervantes’ world novel, Don Quixote. Superficial writers and biased art-critics disturb at all times the wisdom and truth of art and letters. The racial contribution of Spain to Christian art, as we have already said, is quite marked. Murillo alone painted no less than thirty Immaculate Conceptions. Many of these are in the Provincial Museum at Seville. Nor is Murillo, as Ricketts, the art historian, says, RACIAL GIFTS TO CHRISTIAN ART 141 “vague and vulgar.”’ Murillo understood the ecstasy of Catholic Spain. He understood his own Andalusia. He was a man of great natural gifts. But an art gallery is not the place to study the paintings of Murillo. Spanish pictures do not seem at home in a crowded gallery. Painted for the Church by men to whom God and the Saints were more than art, they seem to demand their own environment of chapel, church, or cloister. This gospel and purpose of art, as pursued by Spanish painters, is set forth by Pacheco, artist, historian, and teacher of the great Velasquez, in these words: ‘‘The chief end of works of art is to persuade men to piety and bring them to God.” Spain held firmly to the early teachings of the Church that all art should minister to the soul. It is because of this that the racial contri- butions of Spain to Christian art are so considerable. It is because of this that the glorious dreams of a Murillo, a Zurbaran, and an El Greco glorified by brush and pencil adorn not alone the museums of Seville and Madrid, but the chapels and sacristies and cloisters of the great cathedrals of Spain. CHAPTER XVII THE CHIEF ART GALLERIES OF EUROPE WITH THEIR PAINTINGS The student of art, whether it be architecture, sculp- ture, or painting, will find that this art is widely distributed in many quarters of Europe. The great churches belong not to one, but many countries, the sculpture is found wherever genius has set up its shrine and is now housed in church and museum, while paint- ing has sometimes found a home not in the national galleries alone, but in church and cloister and among the private collections of art connoisseurs. To get the best out of art study we should know at least where the great masterpieces may be found. Every museum has a share of these masterpieces, and we hope in this extended chapter to tell not only the story of the founding and development of each art gallery, but add thereto a list of its important paintings. To Rome then we turn, with its Papal patronage of art, not only as the centre of the spiritual life of the world, but as the crowning synthesis of much that is highest and best in the art world of Italy. Its museums are so many, however, and its wealth of art so overwhelming that we shall indicate here only its most notable sculp- ture and paintings. 142 PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES 148 Masterpieces of Art in Rome Sculpture Antinous— Antinous— Apollo Belvedere— Apollo Slaying a Lizard— Apoxiomenos— Ariadne Sleeping— Augustus, young— Augustus from Prima Porta— Cecilia, St. by Maderno— Daphne and Apollo by Bernini— Disk-Thrower— Disk-Thrower— Eros; Praxiteles— Fanciulla D’ Anzio— Faun (“the Marble’’?)— Faun, Dancing— Gaul Dying (The Dying Gladiator)— Horse Tamers— Juno Ludovisi— Juno of the Palatine— Laocoon— Marcus Aurelius (bronze)— Meleager— Mercury Belvedere— Moses, Michelangelo— Pieta, Michelangelo— Pliny’s Doves (mosaic)— Pompey— Sophocles— Thorn Extractor (bronze)— Torso Belvedere— Venus, Canova— Venus, Birth of— Venus of the Capitol— Venus of Cnidos— Venus of Cyrene— Wolf— Paintings Aurora, Guido Reni Pallavicini— Coronation of the Virgin, Raphael— Crucifixion, Guido Reni— Capitoline Museum Vatican Museum Vatican Museum Vatican Museum Vatican Vatican Vatican Vatican Church of St. Cecilia Borghese Museum Vatican Museum National Museum Vatican Museum National Museum Capitoline Museum Borghese Museum Capitoline Museum Quirinal Hill National Museum National Museum Vatican Museum Capitoline Hill Vatican Museum Vatican Museum Church of St. Peter in Chains Basilica of St. Peter Capitoline Museum Palazzo Spada Lateran Museum Capitoline Museum Vatican Museum Borghese Museum National Museum Capitoline Museum Vatican Museum National Museum Capitcline Museum Rospiglioso Palace Vatican Pinacoteca, Church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina 144 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Danae, Correggio— Borghese Gallery Fornarina, Raphael— Barberini Gallery Glory of the Eucharist, Raphael— Stanza in the Vatican Innocent X, Velasquez— . Doria Gallery _ Last Judgment, Michelangelo— Sistine Chapel Madonna di Foligno, Raphael— Vatican Pinacoteca Psyche and Love, Raphael— Stanza, Vatican School of Athens, Raphael— Stanza, Vatican St. Jerome, Domenichino— Vatican Pinacoteca — Sacred and Profane Love, Titian— Borghese Gallery Transfiguration, Raphael— Vatican Pinacoteca Important Paintings vn the Pittr Palace There are two chief art galleries in Florence, the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi. Both contain a wealth of art and are deserving of careful study. Both contain also many of the great masterpieces of the Venetian and Florentine painters. The Pitti Palace was begun in 1441 by Luca Pitti, a wealthy and ambitious rival of the Medici and Strozzi, a successful merchant and a leading politician. Here will be found the paintings of such important artists as Raphael, Tit'an, Rubens, Tintoretto, Peru- gino, Velasquez, Botticelli, Veronese and Fra Lippo Lippi. Madonna of the Chair— Raphael Madonna of the Grand Duke— Raphael Vision of Ezekiel— Raphael Madonna of the Baldacchino— Raphael Pope Leo X— Raphael La Donna Velata— Raphael Angelo Doni— Raphael Bella— Titian Magdalene— Titian Marriage of St. Catherine— Titian Howard, Duke of Norfolk— Titian Venus and Vulcan with Cupid— Tintoretto Descent from the Cross— Tintoretto Pallas and the Centaur— Botticelli Madonna of the Rose— Botticelli Adam and Eve— Albert Diirer Mars preparing for War— Rubens The Four Philosophers— Rubens PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN Holy Family— Madonna and Child The Virgin Enthroned— Pieta— The Madonna of the Pomegranate— Madonna and Child— Philip IV of Spain— The Concert— Nymph and Satyr— Magdalene— The Deposition from the Cross— St. John Asleep— GALLERIES Rubens Murillo Fra Bartolommeo Fra Bartolommeo Fra Lippo Lippi Fra Lippo Lippi Velasquez Giorgione Giorgione Perugino Perugino Carlo Dolci 145 St. Benedict among the Saints in Heaven—Veronese The Three Maries at the Sepulchre— Young Bacchus— Cardinal Bentivoglio— The Holy Family— Veronese Guido Reni Van Dyck Andrea del Sarto Important Paintings in the Uffizi The Madonna of the Gold-finch— Venus Reposing— Flora— The Birth of Venus— Judith— Calumny— The Madonna of the Magnificat— The Coronation of the Virgin— Primavera— The Annunciation— The Holy Family— The Madonna of the Harpies— The Coronation of the Virgin— The Virgin Adoring the Child— The Adoration of the Kings— Durer’s Father— The Flight into Egypt— The Holy Family— The Entombment— The Visitation— The Annunciation of the Virgin— Adoration of the Magi— Moses rescued from the Waters— Raphael Titian Titian Botticelli Botticelli Botticelli Botticelli Botticelli Botticelli Botticelli Michelangelo Andrea del Sarto Lorenzo Monaco Fra Lippo Lippi Ghirlandaio Albert Diirer Correggio Titian Van der Weyden Albertinelli Lorenzo di Credi Lorenzo Monaco Paolo Veronese Important Paintings in the Academy of Venice Venice is the art city of the Bellinis, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and Carpaccio, It remained 146 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART longer under the Byzantine spell and influence than any other city of northern or central Italy. The Vivarini of Murano were the first to throw off the yoke of the Byzantine traditions. Of the Venctian painters of Christian art, Giovanni Bellini, who was the teacher of Giorgione and Titian, has the truest and deepest and most touching piety. Giorgione, however, may be regarded as the first great Venetian of the Renaissance. Veronese could not paint a satisfactory Madonna. For this his art was too scenic. The Presentation in the Temple— Titian The Assumption— Titian Paradise— Antonio and Giovanni Vivarini St. Barbara— Bartolommeo Vivarini Madonna and Child— Alvise Vivarini Madonna with the Two Trees— Giovanni Bellini Madonna of San Giobbe— Giovanni Bellini Madonna with St. Catherine and Mary Magdalene— Giovanni Bellini Madonna and Child— Jacopo Bellini Miracle of the Holy Cross— Gentile Bellini St. George and the Dragon— Andrea Mantegna Miracle of St. Mark— Tintoretto Death of Abel— Tintoretto Portrait of a Man— Tintoretto The Annunciation— Antonio Veneziano The Annunciation— Veronese Venice Enthroned— Veronese Holy Family— Veronese Ursula’s Dream— Carpaccio Parable of the Rich Man— Bonifazio Adoration of the Magi— Bonifazio Fisherman Returning the Ring to the Doge— Paris Bordone St. Joseph with Child Jesus, accompanied by Four Saints— Tiepolo St. Helena Finding the Holy Cross— Tiepolo Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew— Ribera Christ and the Daughter of the Woman of Canaan— Palma Vecchio PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES 147 Important Paintings in the Imperial Gallery, Vienna The Imperial Gallery in Vienna is not inferior to the best galleries of northern Europe. Most of the Schools —German, Flemish, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish, are well represented here. Such masters of painting as Velasquez and Rubens are well represented, as is Holbein, by several portraits. Rembrandt appears but little here, though both Van Dyck and Durer are repre- sented. Rubens may be studied here in the St. Ildefonso altar-piece and a number of other paintings. The Miracle of St. Ildefonso— Rubens Helen Fourment— Rubens The Worship of Venus— Rubens Christ Mourned— Rubens Cimon and Iphigenia— Rubens Portrait of the Artist— Rubens The Holy Family under the Apple Tree— Rubens St. Ambrose and the Emperor Theodosius—Rubens Diana and Callisto— Titian Danae— Titian The Madonna of the Cherries— Titian Johann Frederik of Saxony— Titian The Gipsy Madonna— Titian Ecce Homo— Titian The Entombment— Titian A Nymph and Shepherd— Titian The Conversion of St. Paul— Peter Brueghel (the Elder) Peasant Wedding— Peter Brueghel (the Elder) The Way to Calvary— Peter Brueghel (the Elder) The Apostle St. Paul— Rembrandt Portrait of the Painter— Rembrandt Ganymede borne through the air by the Eagle— Correggio Susanna and the Elders— Tintoretto David with the Head of Goliath— Giorgione The Three Philosophers— Giorgione Madonna and Child— Hans Memling Adoration of the Trinity— Diirer Martyrdom of Ten Thousand Christians—Diirer 148 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART The Feast of the Rose Garlands— Diirer Madonna and Child— Diirer Venus and Vulcan— ; Van Dyck ’ Samson and Delilah— Van Dyck Venus and Vulcan— Van Dyck Virgin and Child Enthroned— Van Dyck Prince Carl Ludwig— Van Dyck The Madonna of the Meadow— Raphael Infant John the Baptist— Murillo The Madonna under the Orange Tree— Cimabue Pieta— Andrea del Sarto Important Paintings in the Hermitage, Leningrad The Hermitage Museum in Leningrad was founded by Catherine the Great, originally in a small pavilion attached to the Winter Palace, in 1765. The Hermitage gallery is composed of several celebrated collections of paintings. One of these is known as the Walpole col- lect on, which was purchased in 1779 for £35,000. The Gallery at present contains between 1600 and 1700 pictures. The Italian School is represented in the gallery by 331 pictures, the Spanish by 115, the Flemish, Dutch, and German by 944, the English by 8, the French by 172, while the specimens of native art are 65 innumber. The gal ery is especially rich in the Spanish and Flemish collections, having no less than 20 Murillos and 6 Velasquezes, 60 Rubens, 34 Van Dycks, 40 Teniers, 41 Rembrandts, 4 Ruisdaels and an equal number of Snyders. | The Hermitage is generally regarded as one of the finest art galleries in Europe. In Spanish works it is only excelled by the Prado and the Louvre; and only in the Louvre is the French School better represented. As to the Flemish it is at least equal to that of any other European collection, while in Dutch paintings, espe- cially in examples of Rembrandt, it ranks first of all. PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN Abraham Entertaining the Angels Unawares— Joseph’s Coat of Many Colours— The Holy Family— The Return of the Prodigal Son— The Denial of St. Peter— The Descent from the Cross— The Danae— Rembrandt’s Mother with her Bible— Sobieski— Madonna and Child— Expulsion of Hagar— GALLERIES 149 Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rubens Rubens Jesus in the House of Simon the Pharisee—Rubens Virgin and Child— Portrait of Helen Fourment— Venus and Adonis— Philip IV of Spain and his Wife— Mary Magdalene Washing Our Saviour’s Feet— Holy Family— The Assumption— Immaculate Conception— St. Peter in Prison— Annunciation— Jacob’s Ladder— Vision of St. Anthony— Benediction of Jacob— St. Joseph and the Christ Child— Jacob’s Dream— Boy with the Dog— Adoration of the Shepherds— Madonna of the Duke of Alba— The Connestabile Madonna— St. George— The Adoration of the Magi— Mary Magdalene— Ecce Homo— Pope Paul III— Rubens Rubens Rubens Rubens Rubens Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Raphael Raphael Raphael Botticelli Titian Titian Titian Madonna and Child with Mary Magdalene—Titian Portrait of Isabella Brandt, first wife of Rubens— Sir Thomas Wharton— Archbishop Laud— Philip IV— The Duke of Olivarez— Dispute of the Doctors— St. Francis— Van Dyck Van Dyck Van Dyck Velasquez Velasquez Guido Reni Guido Reni 150 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART The Virgin at School— Guido Reni The Virgin as a Child— Zurbaran Ecce Homo— Ribera Descent from the Cross— Veronese Finding of Moses— Veronese Cardinal Reginald Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury Sebastian del Piombo St. John the Evangelist— Carlo Doleci Judith—- Giorgione SS. Peter and Paul— El Greco Virgin and Child and SS. Dominic and Thomas Aquinas— Fra Angelico Madonna— Leonardo da Vinci Holy Family— . Leonardo da Vinci Holy Virgin— Francia Important Paintings in the Berlin Museum This gallery is the result of purchases made during the past century. The nucleus of the gallery is made up of the Giustiani collection purchased in 1814, the Solly collection bought in 1821, and a selection of pictures from the royal palaces in 1829. ‘There are two rooms representing Italian Primitives and many pictures by such painters as Squarcione, Mantegna, Bellini, Cossa, Signorelli, Pollaiuolo, Fra Lippo Lippi, and Botticelli. There is, too, a good representation of sixteenth-century masters such as Raphael, Correggio, Lotto, Titian, Giorgione, Tintoretto, and Tiepolo. The Flemish School is represented here by the Van Kycks, Bouts, Christus, Memling, Van der Weyden, Metsys, and Gossart. There are 26 Rubens and 12 Van Dycks. The Germans are here in Cranach, Holbein, and Direr and the Dutch in Steen, Frans Hals, and Rembrandt. There are 26 paintings of the latter. The Mocking of Christ— Van Dyck Nymphs Surprised by Satyrs— Van Dyck Portrait of a Genoese Lady— Van Dyck Madonna and Child (Solly Madonna)— Raphael Madonna and St. Jerome— Raphael PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES 151 Madonna, Child, and St. John— Madonna Terra Nuova— The Colonna Madonna— Anslo the Mennonite Preacher— Susanna— Saskia— ’ Daniel’s Vision— Man with the Golden Helmet— Portiphar’s Wife accusing Joseph— Old Man with the Red Cap— Isabella Brandt— Conversion of St. Paul— The Repentant Magdalene— Venus and Adonis— St. Cecilia— The Raising of Lazarus— St. Sebastian— Raphael Raphael Raphael Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt Rubens Rubens Rubens Rubens Rubens Rubens Rubens Diana with Nymphs surprised by Satyrs—Rubens Madonna and Child— Portrait of a Man— Madonna and Child— Rest in Egypt— The Fountain of Youth— Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg— Portrait of Jacob Muffel— Portrait of Jerome Holzschurer— Madonna of the Finch— Portrait of a Young Woman— Madonna and Saints— The Magdalene— Madonna, Child and Donor— Dead Christ with Angels— Portrait of a Young Man— St. Dominic and St. Francis— The Last Judgment— Portrait of Giuliano dei Medici— The Smoker— Martyrdom of St. Agatha— Mariana, Sister of Philip IV— Three Musicians— St. Bonaventure— Madonna and Child with SS. Mark and Luke— Titian’s Daughter, Lavinia— Portrait of a Man— Nurse and Child— Fra Lippo Lippi Hans Holbein (the Younger) Cranach (the Elder) Cranach (the Elder) Cranach (the Elder) Cranach (the Elder) Diirer Diirer Diirer Diirer Carpaccio Quentin Metsys Gentile Bellini Giovanni Bellini Giorgione Fra Angelico Fra Angelico Botticelli Terborch Tiepolo Velasquez Velasquez Zurbaran Tintoretto Titian Frans Hals Frans Hals 152 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Important Paintings vn the Dresden Gallery This has been a famous gallery for many years. Here is found the celebrated Sistine Madonna. Augustus ITI, whose reign extended from 1733 to 1763, began by making additions to this gallery. He, as well as his successors, picked up a large number of celebrated canvases. In this gallery will be found the splendid Cucina pictures by Paolo Veronese, the three superb Palma Vecchios, the Venus of Giorgione, The Tribute Money of Titian, the Lottos, the Tintorettos. Except in Parma, Correggio can be best studied here. The elder Cranach and Diirer and Holbein are also well represented. There are too the Rembrandts and 12 Ruisdaels and several good Steens and Vermeers to be seen. Likewise the Ferrarese School is represented here. Of the Flemish School there are 26 by Rubens, 6 by Jordaens, and 26 by Van Dyck. The French School, beginning with Claude and Poussin, is better seen here than any place outside of Paris. The Sistine Madonna— Raphael The Holy Family— Mantegna Baptism of Christ— Francia Abraham offering up Isaac— Andrea del Sarto The Four Fathers of the Church— Dosso Dossi Minerva and Neptune— Garofalo Madonna and Saints— Titian The Tribute Money— Titian The Girl with the Fan— Titian Holy Family— Titian The Man with the Palm— Titian Marriage at Cana— Veronese Madonna of the Cuccina Family— Veronese Adoration of the Magi— Veronese Death of St. Clara— Murillo St. Rodriguez— Murillo St. Bonaventure praying before the Papal Crown— Zurbaran St. Peter delivered from Prison by an Angel—Ribera PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES Diogenes with the Lantern— Ribera St. Agnes— Ribera The Rescue— Tintoretto The Holy Family— Tintoretto Six Women with Musical Instruments— __ Tintoretto Jacob saluting Rachel— Palma Vecchio St. Jerome— Rubens Mercury and Argus— Rubens Venus Sleeping— Giorgione Madonna of St. Francis— Correggio Nativity or Holy Night— Correggio The Cheat— Correggio Magdalene— Correggio Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist— Lotto Venus Reclining with Cupid— Guido Reni Count of Olivares— Velasquez Portrait of a Man— Velasquez Venus Reposing— Poussin Pan and Syrinx Poussin Acis and Galatea— Claude Lorrain The Love Feast— Watteau A Garden Party— Watteau Mr. Will James— Reynolds Christ Healing the Blind Man— El Greco The Baptism of Christ— Francia Manoah’s Offering— Rembrandt Saskia with the Red Flower— Rembrandt 153 Important Paintings in the Pinacothek, Munich This is one of the best known galleries in Europe. Albert V (1550-79) brought together the first collection of pictures and William V helped to increase it, but the great impulse came from Maximilian, first elector of Bavaria. In 1805 the paintings of the Dusseldorf Gallery were removed to Munich to escape being taken to Paris. It was at this time that the Munich Gallery gained possession of so many of the paintings by Rubens. The addition of the Boisserée Collection of Rhenish Art in 1827 added greatly to the representation of German art in the gallery. 154 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Rubens and Van Dyck are especially well represented and Rembrandt fairly well. Among the Italians are Fra Lippo Lippi, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Andrea del Sarto. There are 3 Raphaels and 8 Titians, with Palma Vecchio’s Faun, Lotto’s Marriage of St. Catherine, and several pictures by Tintoretto including Christ in the House of Mary and Martha. | Death of Seneca— Rubens Madonna and Child— Rubens Fall of the Damned— Rubens The Last Judgment— Rubens Battle of the Amazons— Rubens Rubens and His First Wife, Isabella Brandt—Rubens Helen Fourment and her Son— Rubens The Conversion of St. Paul— Rubens The Lion Hunt— Rubens Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus— Rubens Christ on the Cross— Rubens The Entombment— Rubens Portrait of a Turk— Rembrandt Raising of the Cross— Rembrandt The Ascension of Christ— Rembrandt Portrait of the Painter— Rembrandt The Tempi Madonna— Raphael The Canigiani Madonna— Raphael — Portrait of an Architect— Tintoretto Christ in the House of Mary and Martha—Tintoretto Card Players Quarrelling— Jan Steen Portrait of Charles V— Titian Vanitas— Titian Portrait of a Man— Titian Madonna and Child— Titian The Crowning with Thorns— Titian Portrait of a Venetian Noble— Titian Portrait of a Young Man— Velasquez Portrait of the Painter— Velasquez Adoration of Kings— Veronese St. Luke Drawing the Virgin— Roger van der Weyden Boy and Dog— Terborch Portrait of a Man— Terborch Portrait of a Woman— Terborch Marriage of St. Catherine— Lotto The Last Supper— Giotto Christ on the Cross— Van Dyck PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES 155 Portrait of George Petel— Van Dyck Portrait of Duke of Pfalz-Neuburg— Van Dyck Madonna, Child and St. John— Van Dyck St. Francis of Assisi— Zurbaran The Betrayal— Resurrection of Christ— Thierri Bouts Thierri Bouts Madonna of the Rose Garden— Francia Portrait of St. Bryan Tuke— Hans Holbein Deposition— _ Diirer Portrait of the Painter— Diirer Lucretia— Diirer Portrait of Oswald Krell— Diirer Young Satyr playing on a Syrinx— Palma Vecchio The Disrobing of Christ— El Greco Street Urchins— Murillo The Seven Joys of the Virgin— Memling Annunciation— Master of the Life of the Virgin Presentation of the Virgin— Master of the Life of the Virgin A Drinking Shop— Portrait of a Young Woman— Michael Sweerts Bartolommeo Veneziano Carpaccio Petrus Christus Madonna, Child and St. John— Madonna, Child and St. Jerome— Important Paintings in the Rigks Museum, Amsterdam This gallery contains the most important collection of Dutch pictures in the world. In truth this collection is so Important that without reference to it Dutch art cannot be comprehended in whole or in part. The paintings too as pictorial documents are illustrative of Dutch history. No need to say that this gallery is rich in Rembrandts, Frans Hals, Paul Potters and Ruisdaels. The nucleus of the collection was the various pictures from the palaces of William V which were brought together in Amsterdam in 1808 under King Louis Bonaparte. The Night Watch— Portrait of Elizabeth Bas— The Jewish Bride— Rembrandt Rembrandt Rembrandt 156 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Syndics of the Cloth Hall— Rembrandt Portrait of a Young Lady of Rank— Rembrandt Portrait of a Young Man— Albert Cuyp The Jolly Toper— Frans Hals The Merry Andrew— ‘Frans Hals Helen Fourment— Rubens Noli me Tangere— Rubens After a Drinking Bout Jan Steen The Sick Lady— Jan Steen The Dancing Lesson— Jan Steen Horses in a Field— Paul Potter The Holy Trinity— Garofalo Prince William II and the Princess Mary—Van Dyck Old Woman Spinning— Nicholas Maes Portrait of Kortenaer— B. Van der Helst Banquet of the Civic Guard— B. Van der Helst The Pantry— Pieter de Hooch Landscape— Ruisdael Important Paintings in the Brussels Museum One is not disappointed in going to the Royal Museum at Brussels to study Flemish art. There is also a good representation here of the Primitives of Flanders. Burgundy and the French borderland. Of the early Flemish art one finds there the Adam and Eve of Van Kyck, the tragic Pieté of Van der Weyden, and a St. Sebastian by Memling. In fact Flemish art of all time is well represented here. The two great Flemish painters, master and pupil, Rubens and Van Dyck, are represented here and an opportunity is given here also to get a proper idea of Jordaens. There is, however, little of Rembrandt in this gallery, though Hals and Vermeer and Maes, of the Dutch School, are represented by some very good portraits. Aeneas Hunting— Claude Lorraine Adam and Eve— Cranach (the Elder) Adoration of the Magi— Gerard David The Enumeration at Bethlehem— Peter Brueghel Christ in the House of Mary and Martha—Peter Aertsen St. Sebastian— Memling PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES 157 Satyr with Peasants— Jacob Jordeans Allegory of Fecundity— Jacob Jordaens Triumph of Bacchus— Jacob Jordeans Susanna and the Elders— Jacob Jordeans Portrait of Francois Duquesnoy— Van Dyck Adam and Eve— Hubert Van Eyck Portrait of an Old Woman— Rembrandt Coronation of the Virgin— Rubens The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin— Rubens The Woman taken in Adultery— Rubens St. Francis Protecting the World— Rubens The Ascent of Calvary— Rubens Adoration of the Magi— Rubens Venus at the Forge of Vulean— Rubens Portrait of Helen Fourment— Rubens The Kermesse— Tenier (the Younger) The Village Doctor— Tenier (the Younger) Portrait of Jean Hoornebeck— Frans Hals The Emperor Otho making Reparation for His Injustice— Thierri Bouts Legend of St. Anne— Quentin Metsys Important Paintings in the Antwerp Museum We naturally look to the Antwerp gallery as a good place to study the work of Rubens and Van Dyck. Nor are we disappointed in this hope. In truth this art gallery is in every way very satisfying to the student of Flemish art. It has not only a good representation of these two great Flemish masters, but it possesses a goodly number of paintings of the earlier and lesser Flemish artists. Last Communion of St. Francis— . Rubens Education of the Virgin— Rubens Christ between Two Thieves— ‘ Rubens Christ on the Cross— Rubens The Dead Christ— Rubens Pieta— Rubens Portrait of Jan Malderns— Van Dyck Entombment— Van Dyck Christ on the Cross— Van Dyck John the Fearless— Hubert and Jan Van Eyck 158 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART A Dutch Nobleman— Frans Hals Meleager and Atlanta— Frans Hals Spinelli— _Hans Memling Deposition— Quentin Metsys Portrait of a Woman— Rembrandt Drinkers— Tenier (the Younger) Bishop of Paphos Presented to St. Peter by Pope Alexander VI— Titian Annunciation— ; Roger Van der Weyden Portrait of Philippe de Croy— Roger Van der Weyden Triptych of the Seven Sacraments— Roger Van der Weyden Sermon on the Mount— Peter Brueghel (the Elder) Visit to the Farm— Peter Brueghel (the Elder) The Wedding Procession— Peter Brueghel (the Younger) The Way to Calvary— Peter Brueghel (the Younger) . Massacre of the Innocents— Peter Brueghel (the © Younger) The Dauphin—Son of Francis I— Jean Clouet Adam and Eve— Cranach (the Elder) The Holy Woman— Gerard David The Way to Calvary— Peter Aertsen Important Paintings in the Louvre, Paris This is the largest collection of pictures in Europe and in many respects the most famous. The private collection of Francis I was its first nucleus. Then Louis XIV added to it and placed the paintings in the Louvre. At one time half the masterpieces of Europe were in Paris. The gallery contains many paintings of the early Renaissance artists and of the High Renaissance it — possesses many of the works of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgione, Veronese, Titian, Palma Vecchio and Lotto. Spanish painting is represented by Murillo, Ribera, El Greco, Goya and Velasquez. The German painters Holbein and Cranach, the Flemish Rubens and Van Dyck and the Dutch Rembrandt and Hals are also represented here as well as some Flemish Primitives. PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES 159 St. Michael and the Dragon— La Vierge au Voile— St. George— La Belle Jardiniere— The Virgin of the Blue Diadem— The Holy Family of Francis I— St. John the Baptist in the Desert— Portrait of Balthazar Castiglione— Portrait of Jeanne of Aragon— The Virgin of the Rabbit— The Holy Family— The Repast during the Flight— The Entombment— St. Jerome— The Pilgrim of Emmaus— Christ being Crowned with Thorns— Francis I— The Man with a Glove— Erasmus— Archbishop Warham Portrait of Richard SouthweH— Nicholas Kratzer— Anne of Cleves— The Kitchen of the Angels— The Virgin of the Rosary— A Little Beggar Boy— The Birth of the Virgin— The Immaculate Conception— The Holy Family— Ambassador to Spain— The Angelus— The Gleaners— Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels— La Vierge aux Donateurs— The Marquis of Aytona— Portrait of the Painter— A Venetian Senator— The Burning of Sodom— Susanna and the Elders— Calvary— Holy Family— Wedding Feast of Cana— The Repast at the House of Simon— The Pilgrim of Emmaus— St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata— The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine— Fra Bartolommeo Raphael Raphael Raphael Raphael Raphael Raphael Raphael Raphael Raphael Titian Titian Titian Titian Titian Titian Titian Titian Titian Holbein Holbein Holbein Holbein Holbein Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Murillo Millet Millet Rembrandt Van Dyck Van Dyck Tintoretto Tintoretto Veronese Veronese Veronese Veronese Veronese Veronese Veronese Giotto 160 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART The Annunciation— Fra Bartolommeo A Young Spanish Woman witha Fan— Goya The Penitent Mary Magdalene— Guido Reni Christ Carrying the Cross— Luis Morales The Gipsy— Frans Hals The Holy Family— Andrea del Sarto Charity— Andrea del Sarto Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery—Lotto St. Jerome in the Desert— Lotto The Holy Family— Lotto The Virgin of the Rocks— Leonardo da Vinci La Belle Ferronniere— Leonardo da Vinci La Gioconda— Leonardo da Vinci St. John the Baptist— Leonardo da Vinci The Virgin, the nfant Jesus and St. Anne—Leonardo da Vinci The Virgin in Glory— Verrocchio The Triumph of St. Thomas— Benozzo Gozzoli The Virgin of the Victory— Mantegna Victory of Virtue over Vice— Mantegna Parnassus— Mantegna The Virgin and Child— Pinturicchio St. Sebastian— Perugino Madonna, Christ and St. John— Botticelli The Holy Family— Perugino The Combat between Love and Chastity—Perugino The Coronation of the Virgin— Fra Angelico Christ on the Cross— Francia The Holy Family— Luini The Sleeping Antiope— Correggio The Infanta Marguerita Maria— Velasquez Philip IV in Hunting Costume— Velasquez Don Pedro Moscoso de Altamira— Velasquez The Assembly of Artists— Velasquez St. Francis and a Novice— El Greco The Entombment— Ribera The Dead Christ on the Knees of the Virgin— ' Carracci The Hunt— Carracci The Funeral of a Bishop— Zurbaran The Flight of Lot— Rubens Christ on the Cross— Rubens Portrait of Marie de Medicis— Rubens Birth of Louis XIV at Fontainebleau— Rubens Coronation of Marie de Medicis— Rubens Apotheosis of Henry IV— Rubens Henry IV commits the Government to Marie de Medicis— Rubens PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES Dante and Virgil in Hell— 161 Eugene Delacroix The Marriage at Cana— Gerard David A Rustic Concert— Giorgione Shepherds in Arcadia— Poussin Important Paintings in the National Gallery, London This is one of the best galleries in Europe possessing as it does three thousand pictures. It began with the Angerstein collection in 1824. This has been augmented by the gifts of various English collections, and additions have also been made to it from time to time by pur- chases made either by public subscription or Govern- ment grant. It was through these means that the gallery has secured such notable paintings as Raphael’s Ansidei Madonna, the Titian Ar:osto, and Holbein’s Duchess of Milan. Among the old masters Italian pictures take the lead. There is, too, a very good representation of Italian Primitives and the fifteenth century painters of Italy are represented by Fra Lippo Lippi, Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi, Perugino, Costa and Mantegna; while Crivelli, the Paduan painter, is better represented here than in any other European gallery save that of Milan. Annunciation— Duccio Two Apostles— Giotto Coronation of the Virgin— Orcagna Battle of St. Egidio— Uccello Entombment of Our Lord— Michelangelo Ansidei Madonna— Raphael The Madonna of the Tower— Raphael Bacchus and Ariadne— Titian Portrait of Ariosto— Titian Virgin of the Rocks— Annunciation— Leonardo da Vinci Crivelli Adoration of the Magi— Fra Angelico Vision of St. Helena— Veronese Vision of St. Bernard— Fra Lippo Lippi Mercury and Venus instructing Cupid— _Correggio 162 THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Madonna della Casta— Correggio Annunciation— Fra Lippo Lippi Madonna with St. George, and Angel and the Donor— Memling A Canon and his Patron Saints— David Madonna and Child with St. John— Fra Bartolommeo The Ambassadors— Holbein Duchess of Milan— Holbein The Judgment of Paris— Rubens The Nativity— Botticelli A Betrothal— Velasquez A Jewish Rabbi— Rembrandt Portrait of a Man— Frans Hals Holy Family— Murillo Dona Isabel Corbo de Porecel— Goya Bacchanalia— Poussin Embarkation of St. Ursula— Claude Lorrain Portrait of Herself— La Brun Portrait of Mrs. Siddons— Lawrence The Parson’s Daughter— Romney Corn Field— _ Constable The Village Festival— Wilkie The Gleaners— Millet Crossing the Brook— Turner The Fighting Temeraire— Turner The Death of Nelson— Turner Aeneas Relating Her Story to Dido— Turner The Garden of the Hesperides— Turner The Garden of the Shepherds— Turner The Field of Waterloo— Turner The Graces Decorating a Statue of Hymen—Reynolds Heads of Angels— Reynolds The Age of Innocence— Reynolds Portrait of Admiral Keppel— Reynolds Mrs. Siddons— Gainsborough The Hay Wain— Copley The Marriage Contract— Hogarth Ophelia— Millais Shoeing the Bay Mare— Landseer The Horse Fair— Rosa Bonheur Important Paintings in the Prado, Madrid In proportion to the number of paintings, the Prado has perhaps more masterpieces than any other art gallery in Europe. It is not only the place—almost the PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES 163 sole place—to study Velasquez, but it is a good place to study Titian, Rubens, and Van Dyck. The Prado is not like the Louvre a treasure-house of the art of the world. It is rather the gallery of a collector or a group of connoisseurs. It is indeed a splendid patrimony that is enshrined in the Prado. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Spain was closely allied with the Courts that were the great centres of art. It was in these years that the accumulation of the masterpieces that are the supreme glory of the Prado began. Even in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella there was much art appreciation at the Court of Spain, the latter being a great collector, especially of religious art. Charles V became a patron of art and through the great Venetian painter Titian enriched the Prado with a fine representation of the great Italian colourists. Titian is really the spiritual father of the Prado and is superb here in his paintings. Z—Then when Rubens came to Madrid on an embassy he brought amongst other things as gifts to the King a number of famous pictures. This was the very time that Velasquez was court painter at Madrid. Later Velasquez went to Italy to select paintings for the Prado. It was at this time that this great master painted the portrait of Pope Innocent X, now in the Doria Gallery in Rome. Let us say here that it is generally conceded by art critics that of the three great portrait painters—Rembrandt, Titian, and Velasquez—the great Spanish master stands at their head. In his Surrender of Breda, Velasquez has un- questionably given us the greatest historical painting in the world, 164 YHE GENESIS OF CHRISTIAN ART Madonna and Child with St. Bridget and St. Hulpus— Titian The Bacchanals— Titian The Empress Isabella— Titian The Garden of Venus— Titian The Entombment of Christ— Titian Philip II— Titian The Emperor Charles V— Titian Original Sin— Titian The Holy Family with the Lamb— Raphael Spasimo di Sicilia— Raphael Holy Family with the Lizard— Raphael The Cardinal— Raphael Madonna of the Fish— Raphael Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary— Murillo The Virgin with the Infant Jesus in Her Lap—Murillo Rebecca and Eleazar— Murillo The Martyrdom of St. Andrew— Murillo A Galician Woman Counting Money— Murillo The Child Jesus as Shepherd— Murillo Woman Spinning— Murillo Father Cabanillas— Murillo The Children with the Shell— Murillo The Adoration of the Shepherds— Murillo The Three Graces— Rubens The Garden of Love— Rubens The Ronda— Rubens Maria de’ Medici— Rubens The Holy Family— Rubens Andromeda and Perseus— Rubens The Surrender of Breda— Velasquez The Spinners— Velasquez Los Borrachos (the Revellers)— Velasquez The Adoration of the Kings— Velasquez Don Baltazar Carlos— Velasquez Aesop— Velasquez Menippus— Velasquez Las Meninas— Velasquez The King in Uniform— Goya The Drinker— Goya The Queen in a Mantilla— Goya The Family of Charles I[V— Goya Disasters of War— Goya Charles [V— Goya The Annunciation— Fra Angelico The Death of the Virgin— Mantegna The Annunciation— El Greco PAINTINGS IN EUROPEAN GALLERIES 165 The Holy Family— El Greco The Ascension— E] Greco St. Paul— El Greco Portrait of a Man— El! Greco The Crucifixion— El Greco Betrayal of Christ— Van Dyck Crown of Thorns— Van Dyck The Plague of Serpents— Van Dyck Portrait of the Painter— Diirer Hans Imhof— Diirer Portrait of a Man— Holbein The Virgin and the Child Jesus— with St. Anthony and St. Roque— Giorgione The Penitent Magdalene— Ribera The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew— Ribera St. Andrew— Ribera St. Bartholomew— Ribera Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi— Ribera Mary Queen of England— Antonio Moro Philip II— Antonio Moro The Battle of Sea and Land— Tintoretto The Triumph of Religion— Jan van Eyck Moses Saved from the Waters of the Nile—Veronese The Adoration of the Kings— Memling Madonna and St. John— Andrea del Sarto Santa Casilda— Zurbaran The Child Jesus Asleep on the Cross— Zurbaran INDEX Aix-la-Chapelle, 62 Albi, Cathedral of, 63 Amiens, 76, 79 Amsterdam, 155 Andrea del Sarto, 152, 165 Anglo-Saxons, 62 Antwerp, 77, 92, 157 Apostles, Church of the, 63 Aquinas, Thomas, 118 Architecture, 13, 15, 22, 26, 27 Arezzo, 124 Aristotle, 12 ff. Art: in ancient world, 11 ff.; the dawn of Christian art, 19 ff.; Roman, 23; Germanic, 28; Byzantine, 29 ff.; The Blessed Virgin in art, 31 ff.; saints in art, 39 ff.; development of the Chris- tian idealin art, 52 ff.; Byzantine and Romanesque art, 58 ff.; full awakening of Christian art,65ff.; evolution of Gothic, 70 ff.; Cath- olic Church and Italian Renais- sance, 80ff.; where art seeds were quickened, 1386 ff.; mystic school, 109 ff.; racial contribu- tions, 136 ff.; galleries of Europe, 142 ff. Asia, 11 Asia Minor, 11 ff. Assisi, 90, 103 ff. Avignon, 102 Babylon, 11 Barcelona, 78 Belgium, 139 Bellini, 91 Berlin, 150 Blessed Virgin, The, 31 ff., 38, 68, 138 167 Boccaccio, 104 Bologna, 97 Botticelli, 34, 120 ff., 144, 145, 151 Bruges, Cathedral of, 00 Brussels, 92, 156 Burgos Cathedral, 78 Byzantine art, 29 ff., 35, 55, 57 ff., 89, 91, 103 Byzantium, 25, 26 Canterbury Cathedral, 75 Carcassone, 63 Castile, 77 Catacombs, 20, 21 ff. Catholic Church and Italian Ren- aissance, 80 ff. Catholic Encyclopedia, The, 85 Chaldea, 11 Charlemagne, 63 Chaucer, 82 Christ in art, 20, 21, 22 Church of Santa Constanza, 24 Cimabue, 79, 86, 101 ff., 111 Clusium, 17 Cologne, 76, 92 Colours in art, 40 Constantine, 22, 24 Constantinople, 24, 25 ff. Cordova, Cathedral of, 61 Correggio, 103, 150, 153 Cram, Ralph Adams, 27, 70 Dante, 31, 44, 74, 81, 88, 102 Da Vinci, Leonardo, 89, 120 ff., 150, 160, 161 Dei Medici, Lorenzo, 114, 128, 129 Divine Comedy, 31, 44, 70, 82, 88, 102 Dominicans, 73, 105 Donatello, 98, 99, 120 168 Dresden, 152 . Duccio, 79,86 ,__. Diirer, Albert, 93, 150, 152, 165 Durham, Cathedral of, 62 Egypt, 11, 86 El Greco, 164, 165 England, 62, 1388 Ktrurian art, 88 Etruscans, 17, 18 Feudalism, 62 Flanders, 156 Florence, 87, 97, 103, 113, 116, 122, 124, 144 Fra Bartolommeo, 83 Fra Lippo Lippi, 83, 85, 88, 114, 121, 145, 151, 161 France, 138 Franciscans, 49, 73 Galleries, chief art, 142 ff. Germanic art, 28, 138 Ghent, 92’; Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 97, 103, 120 Gillet, Louis, 23, 85 Giotto, 79, 99 ff., 115, 161 Gizeh, Museum of, 12 Gothic Cathedrals, 67 ff., 70 ff. Gothic, evolution of, 71 ff. Gothic sculpture, 94 Goya, 164 Hals, Frans, 155 Hermitage, The, 148 History of Art, 72 History of Gothic Art in England, 75 Holbein, Hans, 155, 158, 161 Humanism, 114, 1383, 134’ Iconoclasm, 54, 55 Iffley, 62 Ile de France, 73 Immaculate Conception, 106 Italian Gothic, 77 Italy (of the Communes), 13 La Gioconda, 123 Last Supper, The, 123, 124 INDEX Lincoln Cathedral, 78 Lombard, 64 London, 161 Lorenzetti, 89 Louvre, The, 158 Lucca della Robbia, 100 Luxor, 12 Madonna, 31 ff., 100, 123 Madrid, 162 ff. Maison Carée, 14 Martino, 102 Masons’ guild, 69 Masterpieces, location of world’s: Rome, 1438; Florence, 144; Vi- enna, 147; Venice, 145; Lenin- grad, 148; Berlin, 150; Dresden, 152; Munich, 153; Amsterdam, 155; Brussels, 156; Antwerp, 157; Louvre, Paris, 158; Na- tional Gallery, London, 161; Prado, Madrid, 162 Memphite remains, 12 Michelangelo, 98, 103, 120, 124 ff. Middle Ages, 65, 86 Milan, 64, 123 Millet, 159, 162 Mona Lisa, 122, 123 Moors, 64, 77 Moslem, 64 Murillo, 106, 148, 149, 159, 164 Museum of St. John in Lateran, 21 Mystics, 109 Naples, 110 Natali and Vitelli, quoted, 72 National Gallery, 161 Niczea, Second Council of, 54 Nimbus, the, 50 Normans, 62 Orcagna, 105 Padua, 103 Paris, 158 Painting, mystic school of, 109 ff. Parnassus, 133, 134 Parthenon, 14 INDEX Pavia, 64 Pericles, 13 Perugia, 90 Perugino, 103, 110, 120 Peterborough, Cathedral of, 62 Petrarch, 102 Phidias, 13, 14, 52 Pieta, 124 Pinacothek, The, 153 ff. Pisa, 95 Pisano, Niccola, 79, 86, 89, 95 ff., 120 Pitti Palace, 144 Poetry of Christian Art, 54 Pompeii, 16, 17 Porsena, tomb of, 17 Prado, The, 162 ff. Praxiteles, 13, 14, 52 Prior, Edward S., 75 Provincia Romana, 56 Race, 136 ff. Raphael, 35, 110, 120, 128, 144, 145, 148, 149, 150, 151, 154, 158, 159, 161, 164 Ravenna, 25, 26, 32, 53, 59 Rembrandt, 147, 149, 151, 153 ff., 162 Renaissance, Italian, 80 ff., 118, 121. Rijks Museum, 155, 156 Reynolds, Joshua, 162 Romance art, 67 Romanesque, 57 Romans, 14 Rome, 91, 92, 110, 142, 143 Ruben’s, 144, 145, 147, 149, 151, 153, 154, 156, 157, 160, 164 Ruskin, John, 85, 88, 106, 111 Sainte Chapelle, 79 Saints in art, the, 39 ff. San Giovanni, 88 San Lorenzo, 88 Savonarola and art, 113 ff. Sculpture, 74 ff., 143 Sibyls, the, 50 169 Sicily, 60 Siena, 77, 87, 90 Spain, 140, 141 Speyer, 76 St. Agnes, 21 St. Anthony of Padua, 47 St. Augustine, 42, 43 St. Callista, 21 St. Catherine of Siena, 46, 47 St. Clement, Basilica of, 22, 24 St. Cyprian, 26 St. Cecilia, 45, 46 St. Benedict, 43, 72 St. Francis of Assisi, 41, 68, 103, 109 St. Dominic, 42, 68, 107, 116 St. George of Cappadocia, 50, 99 St. John the Evangelist, 45, 99 St. James the Greater, 49 St. John Lateran, 24, 25, 104 St. John Baptist, 44, 45, 98 St. Louis, 49, 67 St. Mary Magdalene, 48 St. Mark’s, 55, 60, 61, 91, 138 St. Mark’s, Basilica of, 30 St. Mark, 22, 99 St. Matthew, 22 St. Michael, 41 St. Luke, 22 St. Peter, 22, 46, 99 St. Peter’s (Basilica), 24, 138 St. Thomas Aquinas, 43, 82 St. Teresa, 48 Strasburg, 76 Summca Theologica, 70, 82 Tintoretto, 144, 146, 147, 154 Titian, 137, 138 ff., 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 151, 152, 154, 158, 159, 164 Toledo, 64, 78 Toulouse, 63 Transfiguration, The, 124 Tréves, Cathedral of, 63 Triumph of the Cross, 118 Turner, 162 Tuscan, 64 Tuscany, 109 170 INDEX Twelve Apostles, 21 Velasquez, 154, 164 Twelve Labours, The, 116 Venetian School, 91 Venice, 91, 110, 137, 145, 146 Uffizi, 144, 145 Verona, 64 Umbrians, 110 Vetii brothers, House of, 17 Virgil, 17 Van Dyck, 148, 149, 150, 156, 157, ® 159, 165 Westminster Abbey, 76 Van Eyck, Hubert, 92 Worms, Cathedral of, 63 Van Eyck, Jan, 92 Vatican, 92, 143 Zurbaran, 151, 152, 165 bx ae fag ay ne eet, ; \ ‘ae! ak Re One 5 oa, ty ae if fc \ id Wy 4 MLS Wits ate wae “¢ ES URRA Te ARn YN 5 a ATS Tas , oh 4 a “hi } , Lae AVE? Nh A > AMY ‘Ob fee x ’ aed Y Pa yt ye rat whe (rs BAA” ¢ Tuna bids Oe’ a: at AIR D AN ae SF ty he es fey fe iets Php * ! ‘ etn ¥ qi ef OUP de A Ys > INU. S.A Date Due i: = 0a Le ; | Come . 4 7 Bi Beer mai, ba Bo iS Si F a ty © Ag he . : ee Me : ah Bes esi the Pe Aa ey ESih s N7832 .036 The nt of Christian art, n Theological Seminary—Speer Lib NUN 1 1012 00142 6586