THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE HISTORY OF PAINTING VOLUME I. r^'' iv 1 > ^ ) * 3 HISTORY OF ANCIENT, EARLY CHRISTIAN, AND MEDIEVAL PAINTING FROM THE GERMAN OF THE LATE Dr. ALFRED wo LT MANN PROFESSOR AT THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF STRASSBURG AND Dr. KARL WOERMANN PROFESSOR AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, DUSSELDORF Edited bv SIDNEY COLVIN, M.A. SLADE PROFESSOR OF FINE ART IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 1 894. r • « ■ « c c t • /' » e c • , ' ' Kb. EDITOR'S PREFACE. In the study of painting, as in so many other studies, the critical and historical spirit of our age continues to be ev^er more and more actively at work. Since we have learnt to realise how large and vital a part of the genius of the past survives in the images of the painter, the labours of many industrious inquirers have been constantly directed towards the solution of chronological, personal, and technical problems connected with every period and phase of the art. At the same time, the inherent attraction of the subject has drawn towards it a constantly increasing measure of popular interest and curiosity. Hence there has made itself felt the need of an adequate general History of Painting, in which the scattered results of research should be collected and set forth for the benefit alike of the student and the general reader. This need one of the most distinguished of the several dis- V tinguished German historians of art, the late Professor Woltmann of ^ Strassburg, undertook a few years ago to satisfy. The first volume of his work, carrying the subject from the dawn of ancient Egyptian down to the transformation of Italian mediaeval civilisation, is now laid before the English public. The standard general book on the subject has hitherto been the Handbook of Dr. Kugler, which, in its successive English editions, had the advantage of translation and revision by thoroughly accomplished hands. The present work not only represents the existing state of knowledge better than that of Kugler, but follows a more compre- hensive i^Ian, inasmuch as it prefixes to the story of Christian painting ^ the story of painting as practised in Ancient Egypt, the Asiatic Empires, \(^ Greece, and Rome; a portion of his task which Professor Woltmann iV confided to a highly instructed colleague. Dr. Woermann of Dusseldorf. Professor Woltmann's own share of the book is especially dis- vi PREFACE. tinguished for its copious and original treatment of the various European schools of miniature-painting, mural painting, and mosaic, in the Early Christian and Middle Ages. A knowledge of these comparatively obscure branches of the subject is in truth essential to the understanding both of the genius of those ages themselves, and of the steps by which painting, in the days of its humility, determined the choice and matured the conception of those themes which in the days of its glory were destined still to occupy it. Speaking generally, it may be said with confidence that the narra- tive now set before the reader will be found to be the most complete and trustworthy History of Painting yet written. The untimely death of Professor Woltmann, in the early spring of this year, has prevented the conclusion of his undertaking by his own hand. But it is being carried on from the materials which he had prepared, and with the assistance of other writers of authority, by his colleague, Dr. Woermann ; and the present volume will be followed within a few months by a second containing the history of painting in its great age, the age of the Renascence. For the English text as it hereinafter appears, it is proper to say that the Translator and the Editor are alone responsible. It has been their endeavour to convey in the clearest and simplest form the facts and information provided by the authors. For that purpose allowance has been made for the difference which exists between German and our own modes, not of expression only, but of thought ; and the letter of the original has often been sacrificed for the sake of presenting a statement or an idea in the shape that seemed most suited to English apprehensions. With the facts and judgments of his authors it would have been presumption in the Editor to tamper ; and he has been careful to mark with brackets [ ] the very few instances where he has introduced an addition or interpolation into their text or notes. For the rest, he has considered it within his province to venture upon an occasional abridgment or transposition, and has consulted his own ideas of order and lucidity in such matters as chapter-headings, the indication of leading dates, and the divisions and headings of paragraphs. Trinity College, Cambridge, Mav 1880. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. PART I. PAINTING IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. BOOK I. PAINTING IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. CHAPTER I. EGYPT. Nature of the art of painting .... Earliest monuments of known date Egypt : its geograpliy and history . Variations of style in the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms ...... Architectural aspect of ancient Egypt Relations of Painting and Relief Sculpture in Egyptian art Absence of perspective in Egyptian painting . Various modes of compensating for absence of perspective ...... General system of composition Canon of human form ..... Deficiency of individi-al character ; skill in portraying movement ; use of symbolism Deficiency of facial expression Treatment of animals Treatment of vegetation Treatment of water •System of colouring in Egyptian painting Division of laljour ; technical methods Character of the results .... PAGE 3 4 4 4 5 6 7 7 9 II II 12 13 13 >3 14 15 16 Religious subjects I'AGE 16 Domestic subjects 18 Landscape ... • . , 19 Various forms of painting in Egypt 19 Illustrated MSS 19 Caricature ...... 20 General character recapitulated 21 CHAPTER n. THE MONARCHIES OF WESTERN ASIA. Geographical centres .... The three Monarchies .... Remains of the First Monarchy Remains of the Second Monarchy . Assyrian fresco-paintings Assyrian tile-paintings .... Scale of colouring ..... Assyrian sculptured reliefs Composition in Assyrian sculptured reliefs Remains of the third Monarchy Babylonian tile-paintings Description of lost s]iecimens . Shortcomings of Egyptian and Assyrian com pared with Greek painting . 22 22 22 23 23 24 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 viu CONTENTS. BOOK II. PAINTING IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME. PAGE 35 35 36 36 CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY. Relation of painting to sculpture in Greece Relation of existing remains to the recorded masterpieces of the art ... . History of painting according to literary records to be separated from the same history ac- cording to existing remains History of Roman not to be separated from history of Greek painting .... Distance between achievement of Greeks and Orientals greater in painting than in sculpture 37 CHAPTER II. GREEK AND ROMAN PAINTING ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT WRITERS. Origin of Greek painting ; probable derivation from weaving and embroidery . . 38 Anecdotes of the ancient writers ... 39 Probable date of the improvements attributed to Eumaros and Kimon ..... 39 Polygnotos ; his date and career ... 40 His works at Athens, Plataiai, Thespiai, Delphi 40 Pictorial character of the works of Polygnotos and his school . . . . . . 41 Their ethical and ideal character ... 42 Judgments of the ancients concerning Poly- gnotos 43 Agatharchos of Samos, scene-painter and de- corator ....... 43 Agatharchos the founder of perspective and landscape-painting ..... 44 Rapidity of his execution .... 44 Apollodoros of Athens . .... 45 Wall-painting and easel-painting ... 45 Apollodoros the first complete painter . . 45 Subjects of his works ..... 46 Their character ...... 46 The Older Attic school succeeded sifter the Peloponnesian wars by other schools . . 46 The Ionian school ; Zeuxis of Herakleia ; his character and career ..... 47 Subjects and style of his works . . 47 Parrhasios of Kphesos ; his rivalry with Zeuxis 48 Style and character of his works ... 49 Testimonies of antiquity Timanthes ; his picture of Iphigeneia The Dorian school of Sik^-on . Eupompos ...... Pamphilos ...... Melanthios ...... Pausias . ..... The Theban-Attic school Nikomachos ...,,, Aristeides ....... Euphranor ,...., Nikias Other painters of the Hellenistic Age ; Apelles ; his career as portrait-painter in the service of Alexander ; his subsequent career ; his pic- ture of Calumny ; his Aphrodite Anadyomene Other allegorical and mythological works and portraits by Apelles ..... Characteristics and anecdotes concerning Apelles Their general result ..... Protogenes ; his works at Rhodes and Athens ; his character and fame . . . , Antiphilos ...,-.. Theon of Samos .,..., Aetion . . . Helena . . The Rhopographi ; Peiraiikos Exhaustion of creative power and individual genius ....... Exceptions ; Timomachos ; his date and cha- racter ....... Rise of landscape-painting .... Demetrios and Serapion .... Greek Painters at Rome ; Ekphantos, Damo- philos, Gorgasos, Dionysios, Laia, Dorotheos Painters of Roman birth ; Fabius Pictor, Tur- pilius, Titidius Labeo, Q. Pedius, Amulius The decorator Ludius, Studius, or Tadius Criticisms and descriptions of jiictures by the rhetoricians of the Empire .... PAGE 49 50 51 51 51 52 52 S3 53 S3 54 55 57 60 61 62 62 63 63 64 64 64 64 65 65 65 66 66 67 68 CHAPTER III. EXISTING REMAINS VASE-PAINTINGS. Figured vases ; their place in ancient sepul- chral furniture ...... Their number, origin, and forms ... 70 Earliest or so-called Pelasgic ware . . . 71 CONTENTS. IX Orientalising ware ...... Introduction of human figures ; the Dodwell vase ....... The Francois vase ..... The regular archaic or black-figured style Characters of this ware : the "strong" style Question between true archaic and pseudo archaic examples .... Subjects represented on vases of tliis class Black-figured gradually superseded by red figured ware ..... Development of the red-figured style from severity to decline . ,. Question whether red-figured vases were origin ally polychrome ..... Technical process of vase-painting in this style Relation of the designs to the works of con temporary painting .... Subjects of the designs .... Athenian funeral vases painted in colours on a white ground Post - Alexandrian vases; the "rich' or " Apulian" style in Lower Italy . Subjects and character of Apulian vases . Extinction of the art of vase-painting 71 72 73 74 74 76 76 77 78 78 80 80 80 80 82 83 85 CHAPTER IV. EXISTING REMAINS CONTINUED ENGRAVED BRONZES, MOSAICS, PAINTINGS ON STONE, MINIATURES. E.NGRAVED Bronzes 86 Toilet-cases and mirrors . . . . . 86 Their origin ; examples of mirrors found in Greece ....... 86 Ciitre or toilet-cases found at Prreneste . . 88 The Ficoroni cista ..... 89 Designs on Etruscan mirrors ; their artistic character ; their sul)jects . . . , 90 Mosaic ; invention and first ajiplication of the art 92 Mosaic patterns and mosaic pictures ; ex- | amples of both found in. various regions . 93 Dale of the first mosaic pictures ; the oikos asaratos of .Sosos ..... 93 The Capitoline Doves ..... 94 Rarity of mosaics applied to wall-decoratif)n ; their frequency as applied to pavement-deco- ration ; examples ..... 94 The Battle of Issos from the Casa del Fauno, Pompeii, probably after a painting by Helena of Alexandria ...... The Nile mosaic at Palestrina Landscape mosaics and other miscellaneous examples ....... Paintings on stone ; these the only remain- ing easel pictures of antiquity Paintings in red outline on stone from Pompeii The Niobe of Pompeii ..... The so-called Muse of Cortona The Amazon sarcophagus of Corneto Miniatures : the name given to all illustrations of MSS Preserved examples belong exclusively to the decadence ....... The Milan Homer ...... Two Virgils at the Vatican .... MSS. of Terence at the Vatican, Paris, and Oxford MS. of Nikander at Paris .... CHAPTER V. EXISTING REMAINS CONCLUDED- MURAL PAINTINGS. Mural paintings in general .... Etruria The archaic period ..... Contending native and Greek influences . Examples at Veii, Caere, Corneto, and Chiusi ; extending probably from the sixth to the fourth century 11. c. . Free Period ; third century B.C. Native and Greek influences still in rivalry Examples at Orvieto and Vulci Tomba ddF orco at Corneto ; its paintings bi)tli in the free and in the late or Etrusco-Roman style ........ Other examples of the Etrusco-Roman style . Rome and its NKiciiiiouRnooi) . Relative number and importance of wall- paintings found here ..... Account given of liie art by Vitruvius Fanciful style wliicli he condemns prevalent in existing remains ..... Paintings whicli have peiished sini c ihcir discovery ....... Examples from tombs; from liatlis ; from villas Conclusions from them ..... Paintings still preserved in collections or in situ 95 97 98 98 99 99 99 100 lOI 101 lOI 101 102 102 103 104 104 104 104 107 107 108 109 Id) IO<) 1 ID III III 112 112 113 "3 CONTENTS. The Lateran, Rospigliosi, and Albani collections Vatican collections ; the Aldobrandini Marriage and the Odyssey landscapes Fragments in foreign museums Roman wall-paintings in situ ; villas Landscapes attributed to Ludius at the J'i//a (j(i Galliiias ..... Paintings in the house of Livia on the Palatin New discoveries in the P'arnesina Gardens General result ..... Lower Italy Magna Gnecia ; Paestum The buried cities of Campania ; wall-paintings in situ and in the Naples Museum Their abundance .... Their decorative character and arrangement compared with the account of Vitruvius Division according to decorative character an arrangement ; first group Second group Third group .... Fourth group Fifth group .... Division according to subject ; rude devotiona or ritual pieces . Mythology ; tales of the gods Mythology ; tales of the heroes Daily life ; rade Romano-Campanian works Daily life ; refined Hellenistic works PAGE "3 114 "5 117 117 118 119 120 120 121 121 122 122 124 125 125 125 126 126 127 129 131 132 Caricature ...... Landscape ...... Landscape with mythology Still life Questions concerning the painters of these Campanian wall-decorations Their position ..... Their nationality ..... Their technical methods Merit of their works as independent pictures As examples of decorative composition , As examples of decorative colour ■r- CHAPTER VI. CONCLUSION. General result of a comparison of existing remains with ancient writings Standard of perfection in painting . Not approached by Oriental races . But attained by the Greeks in the period between Polygnotos and Apelles Greek deficiencies in the science of perspec- tive And in atmosphere ..... Attainments of Greeks in comparison with those of modern painting .... Decline of the art . PAGE 132 132 135 135 135 136 136 137 137 138 138 140 140 140 140 141 141 141 142 PART II. PAINTING IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN AND MEDIEVAL WORLDS. BOOK I. CHAPTER L PAINTING IN THE CATACOMBS. EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. Their construction , Their furniture Attitude of the early Christians towards art . 1 51 Early Christian art to be best studied at Rome and in tombs . . . . .152 Origin of the name Catacombs . . .152 Purpose and history of the Catacombs ; their re-discovery . . . . . .152 Some more important than others for the history of painting 153 Their painted decorations Introduction of Christian symbolism Pictorial and unpictorial symbols . Christian significance given to Pagan motives Types of Christ Type of the Virgin .... Types of the Apostles .... Costume ...... Choice of subjects from the Old and New Testaments ...... 153 153 153 154 154 154 156 156 156 157 157 CONTENTS. XI Ritual or sacramental pictures Figures of grave-diggers and other personages Decorative distribution and setting of the pictures ....... Works in S. Domitilla ; S. Agnes ; S. Lucina Arrangement according to formal and decora- tive rather than according to mystical or symbolical correspondence .... Condition, merits, and style of the Catacomb paintings ....... Their cheerfulness of spirit .... Drawings on gilt glass ..... Recapitulation ; painting in tlie Catacombs as compared with contemporary Pagan work . General decline ...... CHAPTER II. MOSAICS. Rome before a.d. 550 ..... Practice of mosaic derived by early Christian from Pagan Art ...... Examples in the Catacombs .... Mosaic applied to the interior decoration of churches ....... Mosaic designed and executed by dilTerent hands Purely ornamental character of Christian mosaic till after the time of Constantine . Introduction of doctrinal representations ; S. Nilus ....... Fine example in Churcli of .S'. Piidentiatia Type of Christ in mosaic ])ictures . Temporary revival of art under Constantine and his successors ..... Mosaics at S. Sabina ..... Decline of the Classic spirit in Chrislian Art . Mosaics in Santa Maria Alaggiore . In the Basilica of S. Paul .... Calamities of the fifth cenluiy ; temporary return of prosperity under the Ostrogothic rule Mf)saics of SS. Cosmas and Damian Influence of antique sculpture Symmetry (jf design ; ajiproach of formalism . Other examjjles of mosaic in Milan and Naples, and especially at Kavknna Rome the true centre of the art ; but the Rav- enna mosaics the more connected and the lietter preserved ..... San Giovanni in Jonte ..... PAGE 158 158 161 I '2 163 164 165 165 165 166 166 166 167 167 167 169 169 170 170 170 171 171 172 172 173 173 174 SS. Nazarus and Celsus Xo sign of Arian heresy in mosaics of Arian Baptistery (San/a A/aria in Cosnwdin) San Apollinarc iVuoiio ; mosaics both of the Arian and Orthodox period S. Vitalis ; portrait groups ; Bible pictures A falling-off from earlier work Influences of barbarism and monachism . Growing monotony and rigidity Nothing specifically Byzantine in the work of this age in Italy ..... Byzantium Influences of the Court and of classical models S. George of Thessalonica Monastery of Mount Sinai Lost mosaics of secular and historical subjects Mosaics of purely ornamental design ; their increasing frequency after the Iconoclastic schism ....... Italy after Justinian .... Mosaics oi San Apollinare in Classe at Ravenna Mosaics of this period at Rome San Lorenzo fuor le Altira .... S. Theodore ....... S. Agnes Oratory of S. Venantius .... CHAPTER III. MINIATURES. Meaning of the word miniature Antiquity and prevalence of this mode of de corating MSS. ..... Religious MSS. in particular . Uniform choice of subjects for pictures . Dedicatory pictures .... Ornament ...... Borders of the Eusebian canons Technical ]irocess and mode of jiroduclion Early examples of Greek workmanship . The Vienna Genesis .... The Vienna Dioskorides Examples of Western workmanship Examples of Syrian workmanship . Introduction of the subject of the Crucifixion Iconoclastic schism .... Consequent separation of the Greek and Latin churches, and close of the Classical Period of Early Chrislian art .... PAGE 174 176 178 179 180 180 181 181 iSi 182 182 183 184 184 1S4 185 1 85 185 186 186 1 88 188 188 189 189 189 189 190 190 190 192 '94 '94 194 '95 196 Xll CONTENTS. BOOK II. MEDIEVAL PAINTING. Section I. — Early Period (about a.d. 700-950). CHAPTER I WESTERN PAINTING IRISH AND GERMANIC MINIATURES. PAGE New style arising from the contact of barbaric with Roman elements .... 201 No early mural paintings or mosaics left by the Celtic or Germanic Races . . .201 But abundance of illuminated MSS. . . 201 The Irish monks ; their skill in decorative writing ....... 202 Style of these decorations .... 202 Choice of ornamental forms .... 202 Human heads and figures rudely treated as mere parts of a pattern .... 203 Excellence of ornamental workmanship not- withstanding ...... 203 Examples of Dublin, Oxford, Lichfield, Lam- beth, Wiirzburg, and S. Gallen . . . 205 Style of illumination among Franks, Visigoths, and Burgundians ..... 205 Occasional combination of Irish with other styles 206 Combination of Irish ornament and Early Christian figure-drawing in Anglo-Saxon style 206 CHAPTER II. WESTERN PAINTING THE CARO- LINGIAN AGE. Introductory — Encouragement of art by Charles the Great 207 Lost mosaics and mural paintings . . . 208 Position of Charles towards the question of images 208 Miniatures ; style of the Frankish miniature- painters in his age ..... 209 The £van£e/iarmm of Godesscalc . = .210 Similar books in Abbeville, London, and Vienna 210 Bibles executed by order of Alcuin . . . 211 The style culminates under Lothair and Charles the Bald 212 Dedicatory portraits in books prepared for royal personages . . . . .212 PAGE Secular MSS. of this period . . . .214 Instances in which the Frankish manner tends to assimilate itself to the Irish . . . 214 MSS. bearing the signature of the scribe or painter . . . . . . .215 Geographical centres of the art . . . 2.15 Monastery of S. Gallen. . . . .215 General character of Frankish Art under Charles and his successors . . . . .216 Italy; progressive degeneracy of Rome . 218 Artistic activity notwithstanding . . . 218 Lost mosaics of S. Susanna and the Lateran . 218 Mosaics of SS. Nereus and Achilles . . 219 Of S. Praxedis . . . . • '219 Oi Satita Cecilia in Trastevere . . . 219 OfS. Mark 219 Of S. Ambrose at Milan .... 219 Rudeness of Italian miniature-painting in this ae:e ........ 220 CHAPTER III. BYZANTINE PAINTING AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE ICONOCLASTIC SCHISM. Introductory — Political revival in the Byzantine Empire ...... Desire to keep up the classic spirit and to en courage art ..... Byzantine art in the ninth and tenth centuries superior to Italian, but incapable of further advance ....... Miniatures. ..... The Paris Sermons of Gregory Nazianzen The Paris Psalter ..... The Vatican Topography of Cosmas The Vatican Life of Joshua . The Paris Evangeliarium Commencement of decadence about a.d. iioo Psalter of Basil II. at Venice . The Vatican Menologitim Classical spirit still surviving in personifications Decadence exemplified in MS. of S.John Chry^ sostom written for Nikephoros Botaniates Final ascendency of formalism and asceticism 221 222 222 223 223 224 226 226 226 227 227 227 227 228 228 CONTENTS. xiu New taste for crowded figures on a minute scale ........ New taste for initials formed out of animals Initials fomied out of hgiire-subjects Appearance of Western influence in some Byzantine MSS. of the thirteenth century Petrifaction of the art notwithstanding Its continuance in the same lifeless shape Other forms of Byzantine art in the early Middle Age ; MOSAICS Revival under Basil I Lost mosaics of the Kainom-gion . ^ S. Sophia . . . . ; . Distribution, subjects, and style of the mosaics Their technical workmanship .... Mosaics of the declining period in other Greek churches ....... Portable mosaic pictures of this period . Examples at Paris and Florence Mechanical subservience to tradition Paintings on Wall and Panel. Enamels and Textile Products Abundance and mechanical character of mural paintings in churches, chapels, and monas- teries PAGE 230 230 231 231 231 2'?I 232 232 233 233 234 235 236 236 236 236 236 236 237 237 237 237 238 238 2.^,8 239 Abundance and mechanical character of port able paintings on panel ... Enamel-painting ; not to be here considered Textile products ..... Their abundance and dissemination The Monk Dionysios and The Mount Athos Handhook ...... Manuel Panselinos ...... Subjects of the first division of the Handbook Whole range of sacred subjects enumerated in second division ...... Narrative pictures from the Old and New Testaments ...... 239 Kxhibitive and symbolical groups and single figures 239 Ceremonial pictures ..... 240 Allegorical pictures ..... 240 Third Division of the Handbook ; disposition of several classes of pictures . . . 241 Influence of Byzantine Art abroad . 241 Mohammedan races . . . . .241 Races converted to Christianity . . . 241 Slavonic races, especially Russia . . . 242 Various epochs of Russian popular art . . 242 Its servile and unchanged character at the pre- sent day 243 BOOK II. MEDIEVAL PAINTING. Section II. — Central or Romanesque Period (about a.d. 950-1250). CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. General character of this period . , .251 Origin of the name Romanesque . . .251 Excellence of architecture . . . .251 Relative inferiority of sculpture and painting . 251 Inadequate resources of these arts throughout tlie Middle Age 252 Comparative skill of Western and Byzantine Artists 253 Progress, consequent upon the revival of archi- tecture, from a Rude to a Severe style in the other arts 253 Relative share of laymen and ecclesiastics in the practice of the arts .... 254 Position of the Cluirch towards art . . 254 Spirit of the monkish artists .... 254 Influence of the Court next to that of the Church 255 Tradition of artistic training in monasteries ; the Schcdiila of Theophilus . . . 255 Other extant treatises ..... 256 Division of subject according to teclinical varieties, and not according to nationality . 256 Amid the unity of Christendom Germany at this period has the pre-eminence . . 256 CHAPTER II. miniatures. Germany before a.d. 1050, especially the Sa.xon Court; intellectual revival under Otlio I. ; corresponding revival of llie manual arts , 257 Examples of the debased condition of average miniature-i)ainling in the tenth century - 258 XIV CONTENTS. Example of a better class of work under classical influence ....... Conspicuous improvement due to encourage- ment of Saxon Court ..... Italian influence discernible in new style Influence derived from intercourse and rivaliy with Byzantium ...... Examples of the new taste in the libraries of Paris, Gotha, Munich, and Trier Appearance of Greek inscriptions in these MSS.,' but not on that account the work of Greek hands Character of their decorative designs Character of their figure designs List of subjects illustrated in the three Gospel- books of Munich, Gotha, and Trier . Later MSS. illustratingthesame movement ; gos- pel-books written for the Emperor Henry II. Other examples from Cologne, Hildesheim, etc. Example from Regensburg .... Other MSS. painted for Henry II. Gospel-book of Henry IV. at Cracow Decline of miniature-painting wiih decline of Empire ...•••• France ; French miniature-painting compara- tively rude in this age .... Examples from Auxerre and Noailles Examples from Limoges and S. Sever . Rigid style prevalent till near the close of twelfth century ....•• Spain ; crude style akin to the Irish and early Frankish long prevalent .... Assimilation to Southern French style in thirteenth century England ; influence of Carolingian work from the ninth centuiy ; new and improved Anglo- Saxon style Character of this style ; examples . Examples of a Special school at Winchester . Transformation of this style after the Norman Conquest ....... The Netherlands ; character of Nether- landish work determined chiefly by German and in a less degree by French and English influence .....•• Examples ....... Germany after a.d. 1050; degeneracy of German work at this date .... Popular and provincial schools Example of Bohemian work .... Revival under the house of Hohenstaufen The destroyed Hortus Deliciariim of the Abbess Herrad of Landsperg I'AGE 260 260 260 260 260 261 261 263 265 269 271 271 273 274 275 276 276 277 277 278 279 279 279 280 281 282 282 283 283 283 284 284 Example from Bruchsal Example from Salzburg . Examples from Saxony . From Brunswick .... Thirteenth century ; appearance of a new taste in figures New taste in initials Introduction of fantastic motives Their place, origin, and significance MSS. containing pen-drawings only Illustrated MSS. of profane poetry MSS. executed by the monk Conrad of Scheiern Division of labour between scribe and illu minator ...... The scribe Heldebert and the mouse PACK 287 287 288 289 290 290 293 293 294 295 295 297 297 CHAPTER III. PAVEMENTS, TEXTILE PRODUCTS, PAINT- INGS ON WALL AND PANEL. Mosaic ; employed in this age for pavements only ..... ... 299 Germany ; crypt of S. Gereon at Cologne . 299 France ; Church of Cruas .... 299 Various substitutes for stone mosaic = . 300 Textile Products ; Byzantine works and Northern imitations ..... 300 The Bayeux Tapestry ; its subject . . - 300 Its character ....... 301 Subjects from Marcianus Capella, etc. . . 303 Mural Paintings; numerous in this age, but few remaining . . . , . 303 Their technical method ..... 303 Their artistic character ..... 304 Their subjects more and more exclusively re- ligious ....... 304 Examples ; Schwarzrheindorf . . . 304 Brauweiler 305 Soest ; Liigde ; Methler ; Miinster . . 307 Halberstadt; Goslar ..... 308 Brunswick 308 Regensburg ; Perschen ; Forchheim ; Prague 309 Examples in Austria ; Lambach ; the Cathedral at Gurk 309 Wall-Paintings of this period less common in France ; examples at Liget, Poitiers, and S. Savin ...... 311 Holland; Wall-paintings of the demolished church of Gorkum 31 1 Paintings on Timber Roofs and Panels ; formerly numerous, but few remaining . 311 CONTENTS. XV Oldest examples at Zillis in Switzerland . Ceiling of S. Michael's Church, Hildesheim . Introduction of painted panels or aiilepettdia for altar-fronts ...... Examples from Soest, Liin, Worms, and Cologne ....... CHAPTER IV. PAINTINGS ON GLASS. Introduction of glass-painting Its origin ; question of priority between France and Germany ..... Its technical methods Its decorative style and treatment . Eleventh-century windows at Augsburg and Wenweiler ..... Eleventh-century windows at Le Mans . Twelfth-century windows at Angers and St Denis ...... Twelfth-centurv windows at Chartres and Vendome ...... Windows of the same period at Canterbury Later examples at Strassburg and elsewhere in Germany . . .... Grisaille system of glass -painting adopted to conform with the Cistercian rule ; examples in France, Germany, and Switzerland . CHAPTER V. ITALY. Introductory ; anarchy of Italy in this age Degeneracy of the clergy Cities and a few monasteries the only homes of art . Character of architecture Character of sculpture and painting Rude native or Italo-barbarous style; eleventh century wall-paintings at Rome . Mosaic pavements in North Italy . Mosaic pavements in South Italy . Rude Italian miniatures; MSS. of the liymu Exultet ....... MS. poem in honour of the Countess Matilda No improvement except that due to Hyz.intine influence ; relations of Hyzantium and Italy . PAGE 312 312 314 314 316 319 317 317 318 319 319 321 321 321 322 324 325 325 325 326 326 326 327 327 328 328 Introduction of Byzantine productions and designs to Venice .... Bronze doors ordered from Byzantium for churches and monasteries in South Italy in the eleventh centurv ..... But manufactured by native Italian masters in the twelfth Stimulus given to art by Desiderius, Abbot of Monte Cassino ..... Nothing left of the monastery as embellished by his order ...... Extant remains of this Age ; Lower Italy . Wall -Paintings of San Angela in Formis at Capua ....... Probably executed by Italians under Greek influence ....... Wall-Paintings at Foro Claudio, Calvi, and Barletta Rarity of pictures in glass mosaic Frequency of decorations in marble mosaic ; their analogy with similar work at Rome Rome a.nu Central Italy; revival of glass mosaic in the twelfth century Mosaic pictures in church of S. Clement Of Santa Maria m Trasteverc Of San I a A/aria Nuova ... Style of these mosaics Evidence in them of Byzantine influence, per- haps communicated from Lower Italy . Mosaics of the beginning of the thirteenth cen- tury in and about Rome .... Mosaic of the Cathedral of Spoleto . Other and ruder mosaics of the same class Panel-paintings, and especially cnicifixes, under Byzantine influence ..... Sicily; assimilation of Greek and Arab elements ; industries of silk and weaving Embroidered imperial robes of Sicilian manu- facture ....... The art of mosaic under the Norman dynasty ; ]>alace of Roger I. at Palermo The Cappclla Palatina ..... The Cathedral of Monreale .... ( "liaractcr of these mosaics .... Total decline of ait m .Sicily in the thirteenth century ....... Venice ; her leaning towards Byzantine art The mosaics of S. Mark's ; their rich but heterogeneous character .... Mosaics at Murano and Torcello Mosaics at Trieste and Pareiizo Conclusion ....... 330 331 331 334 334 334 334 335 335 335 336 33S 338 339 339 339 340 340 341 341 343 343 344 344 344 345 345 340 XVI CONTENTS. BOOK II. MEDIAEVAL PAINTING. Section III.- Final or Gothic Period (about a.d. 1250-1400). CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. PAGF Transformation of art in the thirteenth century 355 The Romanesque age an age of German as- cendency ; the Gothic, of French . . 355 Unbroken spiritual unity of Christendom ; Church, knighthood, and bourgeoisie . . 356 Art passes from the hands of the priests into those of the trade corporations . . . 356 The Confraternity and the Guild . . -357 Scope allowed to individual treatment . . 358 Limits set to individual self-assertion . 358 New spirit of civic energy and life . . . 358 Of scholastic subtlety and ingenuity . . 359 Of human symi^ithy and affection . . . 359 Expression of sentiment the great aim of Gothic painting ....... 359 The studies of Gothic painters ; the sketch- book of Villard de Honnecourt . . . 359 Predilection of Gothic painting for flowing forms, swaying movements, and sentimental tenderness . . . . . . .3^° Its reflection of chivalrous and feminine ideals . 360 Its introduction of jest and mockery . . 360 Tendency of these characters towards exag- sreration in the course of the fourteenth century ....... 3^^ Signs of an incipient and incongruous realism . 361 Attempts to represent tlie third dimension . 361 CHAPTER 11. MINIATURES. French School until 1350; The art of illuminating as practised at this time in Paris 362 Technical characteristics .... 363 Style of figures, faces, and borders . . . 363 Examples of transition to the new style . . 364 Of the new stjle fully worked out ; Psalter of S. Louis . ..... 364 Tarther developments in the fourteenth century 364 Bibles histori.'es ...... 365 Life of S. Denis illuminated for Philip the Long 367 PAGE Introduction of drokries into the borders of religious MSS. . . . . .367 Illuminated MSS. of secular and legendary' subjects ....... 368 Influence of French illumination upon English 369 Germany until a.d. 1350; German minia- ture-painting at this time influenced by but inferior to French ..... 369 Early examples . . . . . -370 Later examples ; illustrated collections of i^Z/ww^/zV^/iT ; increasing French influence . 371 MSS. of the Biblia Paiipcnim and other Bible illuminations . . . . . -372 MS. Passio)tale written for the abbess Kuni- gunde of Prague ..... 374 French School after 1350 ; first attempts at complete pictorial treatment . . . 374 Encouragement of the art by Court and Royal princes 375 Names of the artists ; frequently Flemish . 376 Early examples of this Franco-Flemish work executed for the French princes . . , 376 More advanced examples .... 377 The Livre des merveilles du vionJc . . . 377 MSS. from the Libran,- of the Due de Perri ; Bible, Hour-book, and Psalter . . .378 Characteristics of these works ; their choice of subjects ....... 380 O ffice of the Virgin at the BibliotJieque Mazarine 381 Prayer-book in the collection of the Due d'Aumale - 381 Translations from the Italian ; classical subjects 382 Sketch-book of Jacques Daliwes . . , 382 English work at this time ; its subservience to the French 382 Germany after a.d. 1350 ; new school at Prague under patronage of Charles X. and his Court 382 Character of this school 383 Examples at Prague ..... 383 Patronage continued by Emperor Wenzel ; ex- amples at Menna ..... 385 Their character ...... 385 Their reference to the person and habits of the Emperor ....... 386 Missal of Sbinco Hasen von Hasenberg . . 386 CONTENTS. XVI I MSS. executed for the Austrian Court . Inferiority of average productions in this age CHAPTER III. PAINTINGS ON GLASS. Painting an art of popular appeal only as ap- plied to architecture ..... Increasing importance of painted windows in the Gothic style : their distribution and de- corative plan ...... Examples ; Chartres ; story of the Prodigal Son General leaning towards the familiar and realistic Transept windows at Chartres Windows in other cathedrals of Northern and Central France ...... Somewhat inferior work in Southern France . French Switzerland and the Duchy of Bur- gundy ....... England ....... Germany ....... Change of style and introduction of architec- tural forms into glass-pictures Beautiful examples in Cologne Cathedral Windows of Strassburg Cathedral . Other examples in various parts of Germany . France ; glass of this period most frequent in Southern cathedrals ; in use also for private houses ....... Technical advances of glass-painting in the fourteenth century ..... In the fifteenth ...... At the Renascence ; glass-painting violates its true conditions as it becomes more elaborate and accomplished PAGE 386 388 389 391 391 391 391 392 392 392 393 394 394 395 396 396 396 CHAPTER IV. PAVEMENTS, TEXTILE PRODUCTS, PAINT- INGS OX WALL OR PANEL. Pavements ; unimportant character of their decorations in this age .... 398 Mural Paintings : little place for them in developed Gothic style ; scanty remains in France ....... 398 Encouraged by the Court in England ; existing remains inconsiderable .... 399 Frequent but of coarse execution in Germany Character of German mural paintings E.xamples from the thirteenth century From the fourteenth ; Ramersdorf . Cologne ....... Upper Rhine and German Switzerland . Fanaticism and religious terror Personifications of Death in painting Painting in private dwellings ; subjects of chivalry ....... Examples, Castle of Runkelstein . Textile Products ; tapestries and painted cloths for secular use ..... Tapestries and embroideries for Church use . Paintings on Wood in General; origin and use of the painted Altar-shrine Technical methods of painting on panel . Examples rare before a.d. 1350 ; more frequent afterwards ....... School of Prague ; foreign artists in em- ploy of Charles IV. ..... Mosaic in Prague Cathedral .... Wall-Paintings in KatharittcncapcUe and Mon- astery of S. Jerome ..... Question as to their origin .... Other wall - paintings ; possibly the work of Nicolaus Wurmser of Strassburg Local school at Prague ; paintings in Kreuz- capelle ; their subjects and character . Their authorship ; Magister Theodoriciis Other analogus works ..... School of Cologne ; its sentimental and en- thusiastic spirit in contrast with the austere spirit of the Prague school .... Magister Wilhclmus ..... Character and sentiment of this School . Its correspondence with the religious mysticism of which Cologne was a centre . Altar-piece from church of S. Clare Similar examples at Berlin ; Munich ; Nurem- burg ; Cologne Museum .... Idyllic and Courtly Madonnas Example at Frankfort ..... Remaining Schools of Germany ; West- phalia ; Swabia ...... Ilcsse and Middle Uliinciand Bavaria ........ Example in private possession at Vienna Schools of France and the Nether- lands; tlicir works of this period rare, re- sembling those of the Lower Rhine . Example in the Museum at Dijon . 399 399 400 400 401 401 402 402 403 403 404 404 405 405 406 406 406 407 408 40S 408 409 411 411 412 413 413 414 415 416 417 417 417 41S 419 419 420 XVIU CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. ITALY. Introductory ; It.ily in this age takes the lead m painting, and especially in mural painting Genius of the Italian pojnilation Political conditions New life of art ; its local centres Social conditions . CiMABUE AND Duccio ; revival of art in Tuscany about a.d. 1250 ; Niccola Pisano Improvement of painting slower than that o sculpture ..... Fanciful accounts of Ghiberti and Vasari Cimabue ; Vasari's account here confirmed by Dante Madonnas of Cimabue at Florence and Paris His mural paintings at Assisi . His mosaic at Pisa ; and his death His minor Florentine contemporaries ; Coppo di Marcovaldo ; Andrea Tafi Masters of other cities ; Margaritone of Arezzo Guido of Siena ..... Duccio of Siena ; his famous altar-piece . His style and merits .... His Disciples Segna and Ugolino . Roman 'Mosaics ; survival of the traditional practice of this art Pietro Cavallini Jacobus Torriti ; his Mosaics at the Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore Philippus Rusuti ..... Injured mosaic at Naples Giotto ; his contemporary fame ; his birli life, and death ..... Literary evidences as to his character His early series of frescoes in the Upper Church of Assisi .... His works at Rome .... In the Arena Chapel at Padua ; their date Their subjects Their style ; tyjies and proportions Draperies Composition . Colour . Naturalness . Dramatic truth and energy Analogy with Dante in the use of familiar images ....... Traces of other works at Padua and Ravenna Frescoes in Lower Church at Assisi 423 423 424 425 425 425 426 426 426 426 427 429 429 430 430 430 433 433 433 434 434 435 435 435 435 436 437 437 438 438 439 440 440 440 443 444 444 Marriage of S. Francis and Poverty Allegory of Chastity Of Obedience .... Artistic character of these allegories Other frescoes in Lower Church Lost works at Rimini and Naples . Frescoes at Florence ; Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels Paintings on panel General relation of Giotto to his predecessors Pupils and Followers of Giotto ; their training and traditions as described by Cennino Method of fresco . Method of tempera Duration of apprenticeship Trade organisation Taddeo Gaddi ; his altar-pieces at Berlin and Siena .... His frescoes at Florence and Pisa Maso ; his frescoes at Florence The less known followers of Giotto ; Stefano Giottino, Puccio Capanna, BufFalmacco Bernardo di Daddo .... Jacopo da Casentino .... Giovanni da Milano .... Agnolo Gaddi ..... Orcagna ; his Frescoes in Saafa Maria iVovella His altar-pieces Traini .... Frescoes of uncertain authorship ; refectory of S. Croce ..... Spanish Chapel ..... The Dominicans and their relation to art Glory of Thomas Aquinas Allegory of Church Government Secular and civic allegories ; lost examples School of Siena ; Simone Martini His frescoes in the Public Palace at Siena Other works at Assisi, Naples, Orvieto, Pisa, Florence, Liverpool . Simone at Avignon Lippo Memmi Ambrogio and Pietro di Lorenzo Panels by Pietro at San Ansano, Florence Siena, and Arezzo Frescoes by Ambrogio at Siena Allegory of Good Government Allegory of Tyranny Panels by Ambrogio di Lorenzo Various Masters of the declining Sienese School Taddeo Bartoli ...... 444 445 446 446 447 447 447 448 450 450 451 451 45* 452 452 452 453 453 454 454 455 455 456 456 459 459 459 460 460 462 463 463 464 464 466 466 466 467 468 468 470 470 472 472 CONTENTS. XIX The Campo Santo at Pisa, and Expira- tion OF THE School of Giotto ; history of the Campo Santo .... Errors of ^'asari ..... Order of execution of the frescoes . Triumph of Death ..... Last Judgment and Hell The Hermit Life ..... Story of S. Ranieri .... Stories of SS. Ephysius and Hippolytus . Subjects from the Book of Genesis . Spinello Aretino ; his frescoes at San Miniato Niccola di Pietro Cierino Don Lorenzo ..... Gherardo Stamina .... Other Provinces ok Italy ; frescoes at Naples Mosaics at Messina .... Umbria and the Marches : Ottaviano Nelli Alegretto Nuzi ..... Weakness of the Bolognese, Modenese, and Venetian schools .... Comparative excellence of the Paduan and Veronese ; Altichiero and Avanzi Their frescoes in Chapel of S. Felice, Padua In Chapel of S. George .... Guariento ...... MiNl.VTUKES ; comparatively unimportant, not withstanding their excellence, beside the other productions of Italian art in this age • , 472 473 473 473 475 475 476 477 477 477 478 478 478 478 479 479 480 480 480 480 482 484 484 Work stimulated in the thirteenth century by French influence ..... 485 Independent and of thorouglily Italian charac- ter by the fourteenth .... 485 Recorded names of illuminators ; Oderigi of Gubbio ; Franco of Bologna ; Don Silves- tro 486 Examples of their age and spirit, but not of their hands ...... 487 Bologna a chief seat of the art . . . 487 Illuminated MSS. of Dante and Petrarch . 488 Sicilian fourteenth-century MSS. . . . 489 Italian illuminators in the employ of French Patrons ....... 489 Conclusion 490 CHAPTER VI. THE MAHOMMEDAX RACES. Art of the East essentially decorative . . 492 The Prophet concerning images . . . 492 Mutual influence of Eastern and Wesicrn arts after Moslem conquest .... 492 Animal design in Arab embroideries . . 493 Figure paintings in the Alhambra . . 494 Analogous representations first in AraV)ic and later in Persian MSS. .... 495 Chinese and Japanese painting not included in scope of present work .... 496 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME. — 1 « » » ( 1. King Rameses II. with his sons at the storming of a mountain fortress. From a rock-cut chamber at Abou-Simbel ..... 2. Building of the Temple of Ammon. From a sepulchral chapel at Abd-el-Oma 3. Harp-player. From an Egyptian painting .... 4. Harp-player. From an Egyptian painting .... 5. Satyrical representation.* From a papyrus in the British Museum 6. Fragment of an Assyrian tile-painting ..... 7. Assyrian relief ........ 8. Sacrifice of Iphigeneia. From a Pompeian wall-painting 9. Id rescued by Hermes from the custody of Argos. From a wall-painting in the Palatine at Rome ....... I o. Greek vase-painting of the earliest style. From a vase found at Athens . II. The Dodwell Vase (Munich) ...... I 2. Death of the children of Priam. From a vase of the black-figured style . 13. Bowl for mixing wine (KpaWjp) ; red-figured ware of the archaistic style . 14. Jar for storing wine {a-Tajwos) ; red-figured ware (Munich) I 5. Croesus on the funeral pile. From a vase of red-figured style at Paris . 16. Red-figured vase (o^6^a<^oi') ; Paris ..... 17. Scene in the Under world. From a vase of the style of Lower Italy 18. Richly decorated amphore ...... 19. Engraved bronze disk ....... 20. Engraved mirror from Crete ...... 21. Group of Argonauts. From the engraved toilet-case known as the Ficoroni Cista 22. Etruscan engraved hand-mirror ...... 23. Doves seated on a bowl. From a mosaic picture at the Capitol . 24. Alexander and Darius at the battle of Issos. From a mosaic picture at Pompeii 25. Niobe. From a picture on a slab of marble at Pompeii 26. Etruscan wall-painting ....... 27. Human sacrifice offered by Achilles to the shade of Patroklos. From an Etruscan wall-painting ....... 28. The Aldobrandini Marriage. From a wall-painting in the Vatican 29. NcKvta — Landscape illustration to the Odyssey. From a wall-painting discovered on the Esquiline at Rome ...... 30. Ritual Scene. From a wall-painting at the Palatine 31. Return of a Warrior. From a wall-painting found at Pivstum 32. Pompeian wall-painting ...... PAGE 8 10 16 17 20 24 27 50 56 72 73 75 77 78 81 83 84 87 88 90 92 94 96 100 107 108 114 116 119 121 123 XXll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 33- 34. 35- 36. 37- 38. 39- 40. 41. 42. 43- 44- 45- 46. 47- 48. 49- 50- 51- 52. 53- 54. 55- 56. 57- 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73- 74- 75- 76. 77- 78. 79- 80. Pompeian wall-paintiui; ..... Demeter enthroned. From a Pompeian wall-painting . . Nest of Cupids. From a Pompeian wall-painting , . Judgment of Paris. From a Pompeian wall-painting Death of Laokoon. From a Pompeian wall-painting Flight of ^neas ; a caricature. From a Campanian wall-painting Landscape. From a Pompeian wall-painting The Good Shepherd. From a painting in the Catacomb of S. Agnes Moses. From a painting in the Catacomb of S. Agnes . Gravedigger. From a painting in the Catacombs Decoration of a roof. Catacomb of S. Domitilla Decoration of a roof. Catacomb of S. Lucina . Mosaic picture. Church of Santa Pudenziana . Mosaic picture. Church of SS. Cosmas and Damian The Good Shepherd. From a mosaic picture in the sepulchral chapel of Galla Placidia at Ravenna ..... Plan of Mosaic decorations. From Church of S. Vitalis, Ravenna Justinian, Theodora, and attendants. From a mosaic picture at S. Vitalis, Ravenna Mosaic picture. From Church of S. George at Thessalonica Mosaic picture. From Church of S. Agnes at Rome Joseph and Potiphar's wife. From a MS. of Genesis at Vienna . The discovery of the herb Mandragora. From a MS. of Dioskorides at Vienna S. John the Evangelist. From the Gospel-book of Maeiel Brith Decorated initial. From a MS. at Laon Decorated initial. From a Bible of Charles the Bald at Paris Figure of Christ. From a Gospel-book of Charles the Great at Paris The Emperor Lothair. From a Gospel-book at Paris Army going out against the Syrians. From the Golden Psalter at S. Gallen The Prophet Ezekiel. From a MS. of Gregory Nazienzen at Paris David as a Shepherd. From a Psalter at Paris The Emperor Nikephoros Botaniates. From a MS. of S. John Chrysostom at Paris ....... Decorated initial . Mosaic picture. From entrance of S. Sophia, Constantinople The Archangel Michael. From Church of S. Sophia, Constantinople Death of Pompey. From a MS. of Lucan at S. Gallen . Nations doing homage to the Emperor. From a Gospel-book at Munich The Emperor Otho II L From a Gospel-book at Munich S. Mark. From the Codex Aicreiis at Paris The Emperor Henr>' II. From a missal at Nuremberg Christ on the Cross. From a Gospel-book at Niedermiinster Crucifixion. From an Evangeliarium at Berlin Ascension. From the Betiedictionale of Aethelwold David. From the Psalter of Notker Labeo at S. Gallen Last Supper. From an Evangeliarium at Wischerode . Allegorical figure of Pride. From the lost MS. of the Hortus Deliciarwn by the Abbess Herrad of Landsberg .... Annunciation. From an EvangeliariutH at Bruchsal Calendar. From the Psalter of Landgraf Hermann at Stuttgart Decorated initial. From a Psalter at Paris Decorated initial. From a Mater Verborum at Prag PAGE 24 [27 39 30 31 ^33 34 55 58 59 [60 [61 i68 [72 /5 178 78 83 86 91 [93 204 205 209 21 1 213 217 224 225 229 231 234 235 259 262 263 264 270 273 275 281 283 2S5 286 288 291 292 293 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxiii PAGE 296 298 ^02 81. The Wise \'irgins. From a MS. at Prague .... 82. Scribe and illuminator at work. From a MS. at Prague 83. Normans felling timber and building ships. From the Bayeux tapestry 84. Christ between the Apostles and Evangelists. From the apse of the Lower Church at Schwarzrheindorf ..... 85. Samson victorious over the Philistines. From the roof of the chapter-house at Brauweiler ........ 2,^7 86. Wall-painting. From the Cathedral at Gurk . . . . .310 87. Painting. From the roof of S. Michael's Church at Hildesheim . . 313 88. The Maries at the tomb. From an antependium or painted altar-front from Soest . . . . . .314 89. King David. From a window in Augsburg Cathedral . . -319 90. Window. From the Cathedral of S. Denis . . . . .320 91. Figure of Henr>^ L in west window of Strassburg Minster . . . 323 92. Illuminative page. From a MS. in the Vatican library of a poem by Donizo in honour of the Countess Matilda ...... 329 93. Plan of wall-painting at .V^;;; ^//^'•t'/t' z« /v^rw/j- (Last Judgment) . . 2>;^2> 94. Mosaic picture. Yxoxn the. a^se. oi Santa Maria Nteova, 'Rome . . 337 95. Mosaic. From the Capella Palatino, Palermo . . . .342 96. Letter B. From the Psalter of S. Louis . . . . -365 97. Death of S. Benedicta. From the Treasure-book of Origny . . - 366 98. Caricatures. From the border of a French MS. Bible at Stuttgart . . 368 99. Travellers at sea. From a MS. of Tristan at Munich .... 370 100. Conradin going out hawking. From a MS. collection of Minneleider at Paris . 371 1 01. Parable of the robbers. From the /'^^■^■/(jwa/^ of the Abbess Kunigunde . 2>7Z 102. Border. From great Psalter of the Due de Berri . . . -37 5 103. Birth of the Virgin. ?'rom the Grandes Heurcs of the Due de Berri . . 379 104. Caricature. From the Grandes Heures of the Due de Berri . . . 380 105. Annunciation. From the .i'J/^?/^*?/.? of Archbishop Arnestus of Prague . . 384 106. Ornament. From the Bible of the Emperor Wenzel at Vienna . . 385 107. Story of the Prodigal Son. From a painted window in the Cathedral at Chartres 390 108. Painted window at Konigsbeden ...... 393 109. King Charles of Provence. From a window in Strassburg Cathedral . . 395 I 10. Angels. From a painting formerly in the roof of the church at Ramersdorf . 400 111. Angel driving back the souls of the condemned. From a painting formerly in the roof of a church at Ramersdorf . . . . . .401 1 12. S. Augustine. From a painting on wood, probably by Master Dietrich at Vienna 410 113. Annunciation. From an altar-piece of the Clares in Cologne Cathedral . 414 114. Madonna with the bean-flower, Cologne Museum . . . • 4i5 115. Madonna and Saints. P'rom a painting in the Town Museum at Frankfort . 4'6 116. Madonna and Cliild with S. Elizabeth and S. John. From a picture in private possession at X'icnna . . . . . . .419 1 17. Madonna known as the Madonna di Ruccllai. From a painting by Cimabue in Santa Maria Novella., Florence . . . . . .428 118. Madonna and Child with Angels. From the altar-piece of Duccio in the Cathe- dral at .Siena . . . . . . • -43' 119. Burial of the Virgin. From the altar-piece of Duccio in tlie Cathedral at Siena 432 120. Joachim with the Shepherds. From a fresco by (".iotlo in the Arena Chajiel at Padua ......••• 439 121. Presentation of tlie Virgin in the rcmplc. From a fresco by (iiotto in the Arena Chapel at Padua . . . • • • • -44' xxiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE 122. Resurrection of Lazarus. From a fresco by Giotto in the Arena Chapel at Padua 442 123. Marriage of S. Francis to Poverty. From a fresco by Giotto in the Lower Church at Assisi . . . . . . . . .445 I 24. Allegory of Obedience. From a fresco by Giotto in the Lower Church at Assisi 446 125. The head of John the Baptist brought to Herod. From a fresco of Giotto in the Peruzzi Chapel, S. Croce, Florence ..... 449 1 26. Christ and Mary enthroned. From a fresco by Orcagna in Santa Maria Novella, Florence . . . . . . . . -457 127. Glory of S. Thomas Aquinas. From an altar-piece by Traini at Pisa . . 458 128. Allegorical and historical figures. From a fresco of the Glory of S. Thomas Aquinas in the Spanish Chapel, Florence . . . . .461 129. Madonna and Child with Saints. From a fresco by Simone Martini in the Public Palace, Siena . . . . . . . .465 1 30. Allegory of Good Government. From a fresco by Ambrogio di Lorenzo in the Public Palace, Siena ....... 469 131. Head of Concordia. From the above fresco of Good Government by Ambrogio di Lorenzo . . . . . . . . .471 132. The Triumph of Death. From the fresco at the Campo Santo, Pisa . . 474 133. The miraculous Release of S. George. From a fresco by Altichiero Avanzi in the Chapel of S. George at Padua . . . . - . .483 134. S. George and the Dragon. From a fourteenth century MS. in the archives of S. Peter's at Rome ........ 488 135. Lions and Camels. From a German Imperial embroidered robe of Arab work- manship at Vienna ....... 493 136. Hunting and pleasure scenes. From a painting in the roof of the Alhambra . 495 PART 1 PAINTING IN THE ANCIENT WORLD BV KARL WOERMANN. BOOK I. PAINTING IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. B CHAPTER I. EGYPT. Nature ot the Art of Painting — Earliest monuments of known date — Egypt : its geography and history — Variations of style in the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms — Architectural aspect of ancient Egypt — Relations of Painting and Relief Sculpture in Egyptian art — Absence of perspective in Egyptian painting — Various modes of compensating for absence of perspective — General system of composition — Canon of human form — Deficiency of individual character ; skill in portraying movement ; use of symbolism — Deficiency of facial expression — Treatment of animals — Treatment of vegetation — Treatment of water — System of colouring in Egyptian painting — Division of labour ; technical methods — Character of the results — Religious subjects — Domestic subjects — Landscape — Various forms of painting in Egypt — Illustrated MSS. — Caricature — General character recapitulated. Miraculous is the power of painting, which on a flat surface of limited size can represent, even to ilhision, all the spacious world with its wealth of forms and colours. Whatever towers aloft to heaven and whatever clings humbly to the earth — whatever stands near and large as well as whatever dwindles remote and small — the blackest darkness and the brightest light — all these painting is able to grasp within the four corners of a frame, or to fling down upon a sheet of paper which a breath may blow away. The secret of these miracles lies, as we all know, in the natural construction of the human eye, on the retina of which, as on a plane surface, the objects of sight image themselves side by side. Thus, in the words of the physio- logist Helmholtz, " it is because the objects of sight, as our glance sweeps out over them, present themselves to us as though arranged on a flat surface, that we are able to recall their appearance to the eye by drawing and painting executed really on the flat." The capacity, then, of rightly fixing upon a plane surface the appearances of things according to their forms and colours is the first condition of all high success in painting, the richest and most many- sided of all the manual or shaping arts. Simple as the optical laws of right painting may seem to those who have once mastered them, nevertheless to generations upon generations of men who strove to paint, those laws remained unknown. Painting in its accomplished form — painting in the full consciousness and full exercise of its own capabilities — is the youngest among the kindred arts. But the history of painting is bound to include within its scope not only the efforts of the art's maturity, but also those of its infancy among the early nations of the world. 4 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Those very races whom we especially designate as the classic races, as the ancients, themselves regarded with awe the people of Egypt, that land of wonders immeasurably more ancient still. To them Egypt seemed the home of all venerable, all immemorial traditions of human civilisation. The most recent research confirms their belief to this extent at least, that it finds upon Egyptian soil the earliest monuments of human activity for which it is possible to fix a historic date. The history of painting, then, must have its starting point, like other histories, in the Valley of the Nile. Egypt proper consists of a long and narrow oasis lying between the yellow sands of the Lybian desert and the barren mountains of the Red Sea coast. Beginning about the lower spurs of the mountain-terraces of Nubia, near the cataracts of Assouan (the Syene of the Greeks), the territory follows thence the course of the sacred river, which by its mysterious inundations is the one fertiliser of the almost rainless land, down to the marshy region where its waters find their way into the Mediterranean. The political Egypt of history moved, indeed, in the reverse direction — from the mouths of the Nile upwards to the Nubian mountains. Memphis, the capital of the " Old Kingdom," lay but a short distance above the point where the river branches into the Delta, opposite the site of the modern capital, Cairo ; and the mighty pyramids of Gizeh, which from the citadel of Cairo you can still see emerging over the horizon, are the tombs of Pharaohs who ruled over the same soil almost five thousand years ago. Farther up the river, in Upper Eg}-pt proper, lay the city of the hundred-gated Thebes. Thebes was the capital of the so-called " Middle Kingdom," from the eleventh dynasty down, and more specifically of the " New Kingdom." It was from this seat that the New Kingdom went out to the overthrow of the foreign sovereignty of the Hyksos, which had then main- tained itself for centuries over the lower Valley of the Nile. The monuments of Thebes, the mighty ruins of her temples, palaces, and tombs, to this day extend far along either bank of the river, and during the lapse of three thousand years and more have retained, beneath the perpetual azure of the Egyptian skies, the luminousness of their ancient colouring. It was these same monarchs of the Theban period who pushed their way with horse and chariot still farther to the south, and planted within the territory of Nubia, beyond the boundaries of Egypt proper, monuments destined to be the bulwarks of civil- isation against the negro hordes. Some of these monuments, as for instance those of Abousimbel (Ipsambul), rival the remains of Thebes herself in majesty and splendour, so that the historian of the art of Egypt is compelled to pursue his subject even into those inhospitable wilds. It has been a question of much and learned debate whether it is really permissible to speak of the history of Egyptian art as a history of changes in style corresponding to changes of period and circumstance. The debate must now be regarded as having been decided in the affirmative. At any rate, we ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 5 may establish a true principle of distinction between the art of the Old Kingdom, which reached its highest point under the sixth dynasty, and that of all succeeding periods. In the art of the former epoch the human body was conceived under proportions comparatively broad, squat, and sturdy ; 'but no uniform or unalterable canon — and this is the essential distinction — had yet imposed its constraints upon design. Some of the works of sculpture brought to light b}- Mariette from the tombs of the ancient Memphis exhibit a realism of individual life and character completely at variance with all our preconceived notions as to the invariable conventionality of Egyptian art. Under the eleventh dynasty, with which some scholars begin a Middle Kingdom, the human proportions become slenderer. The chest is still broad and powerful, but the body is drawn in, the arms and legs become relatively thin, while the face retains the low retreating forehead, the upward-sloping cut of the eye, the thick lips with their half-sensual, half-mechanical smile. Above all, every figure is now mathematically designed according to a prescribed canon of numerical proportions between the parts. Under the New Kingdom, from the eighteenth dynasty down, this type and this canon undergo but little change ; but there is an advance towards technical perfection, and the stir of new poli- tical movements among the dwellers of the Nile Valley seems to impart some- thing of new life and inspiration to the historical representations of art. Even in the da}\s of the Ptolemies, when Egypt had become politically Hellenised, the canon of proportions remained essentially the same, although we can discern slight divergencies, and although a foreign influence and an imitative intention are perceptible in a feeling for rounder and more flowing forms. Nevertheless all these phases of art after the eleventh dynasty are phases of merely superficial variation, and the difference between one and another is so slight as almost to disappear when we consider the enormous spaces of time in which such differences occur. Egyptian history reckons by dynasties where we reckon by individual potentates, and counts by thousands of years where we count by hundreds. If we leave out of view the remote age in which Memphis was the scat of empire — and this age was not taken into account by the ancient Greeks in their own estimate of things P^gyptian — we are justified, first as last, in speaking of the stability of Egyptian art as having been such as almost to exclude the idea of historical development.^ The impulse of artistic creation in the ancient Egyptians was very strong, and it was abov^e all things an impulse to the creation of monuments of vastness. Architecture was the ruling art in the Valley of the Nile. In that narrow space, during the great days of Egypt, there stood probabl)' a more prodigious number of the mightiest buildings than ever stood in such a space elsewhere. From Bcni-Hassan downwards throughout Lower Egypt it is true that almost the only monuments which remain arc monuments raised above ground to the dead, or subterranean places of burial. In this region the temples and ])alaces 6 HISTORY OF PAINTING. of the primeval dynasties have perished, partly from the very excess of their antiquity, partly from the comparative variability of the climate, and partly from the fact that political revolutions have been more frequent and more violent here than farther inland. On the other hand, of the colonnaded courts, the halls of pomp, the proudly towered sanctuaries, built by the Theban dynasties in Nubia and Upper Egypt, quite enough has been preserved to our own day to give us a lively insight into the architectural aspect anciently borne by those regions. The point which strikes the attention first of all in regard to all these prodigious buildings — those below as well as those above ground, those of the Old and Middle Kingdoms as well as those of the New — is that architecture here universally absorbs into her own service the other manual arts of sculpture and painting. In Egyptian art, the painted relief, considered as sculpture, is raised but very little from the field, and scarcely differs in treatment from painting properly so called — from the art, that is, of representing solid objects on a flat surface. The painted reliefs of the Egyptians come, therefore, legiti- mately within the scope of the present enquiry. We find all the wall-surfaces of their buildings, inside as well as out, all cornices, all shafts of columns, decorated in colours, whether laid really on the flat within outlines previously drawn, or whether disposed upon spaces carved in real though low relief, or whether, finally, upon spaces treated in that kind of sunk or apparent relief which is peculiar to Egyptian art {Kotkavd'y\v(f>a, bas-i-eliefs en cretix, versenkte Reliefs, ScJieinreliefs : — in this last case the decorated surface does not really project from the face of the wall, but owes its appearance of projection to the outlines being incised and the retreating parts of the figures cut away). Of the vast subjects which decorate the outer walls of the temples of Nubia and Upper Egypt, the greater part are executed in this method of sunk or apparent relief. The chief application of painting to true flat surfaces which occurs in the monumental art of Egypt is in the decoration of sepulchral chambers, as for instance those of Beni-Hassan (twelfth dynasty) : here, as in other tombs, with the exception of occasional subjects from the Ritual of the Dead, the scenes depicted are almost exclusively taken from the private and everyday life of the people. Painting executed strictly on the flat occurs again in the decorations of a variety of objects discovered in tombs of the early period, and especially by way of illustration or vignette to the papyrus rolls employed for writing. For our present purpose we need not spend time upon the minor works of Egyptian painting, but may limit our attention to what is by far the most important class of such works, the great monumental representations executed on the walls of temple-palaces or tombs." When we have said that there is little essential difference of character between those which are pure paintings on the flat, and those which are paintings on a ground more or less relieved, we have already pronounced the verdict of the former considered ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 7 from the pictorial point of view. For paintinsr cannot be combined in any degree with rehef, without forfeiting its own specific prerogatives. It is not that rehef is treated by the Egyptian artists, as Ghiberti treated it in the fifteenth century, according to the laws of painting, but that painting is treated according to the laws of relief ; or more strictly, that painting and relief in one are emplo\-ed to produce representations merely in outline and effects purely decorative. Neither the principle of the painter nor the principle of the relief sculptor is really carried out. The Egj-ptian artist applies his combined arts, one might almost say, hieroglyphically ; his one object, to which all artistic effect is secondar)', is to be clear and intelligible, and to tell so that all may understand it the story which he undertakes to tell. Least of all do we find in Egyptian work an}- trace of perspective, or any attempt to conjure up by imitation on the flat a portion of the world's phenomena in their true appearance and relations. When two figures have to be represented behind one another, this is often done by simpK' doubling the outlines of the first figure ; the natural consequence is that the farther of the two looks larger than the nearer. Sometimes the figures which are intended to be in the rear are shown emerging higher b}' half a length than those intended to be in front ; and sometimes, again, the rear rank is ranged clear over the front rank, with the feet of the former above the heads of the latter. It can hardly be held that these conventions have reference to the real law of sight according to which objects as they recede seem to lie one above another up to the horizon. Nay, in many scenes all possibilit}' of right perspective is excluded beforehand by another primitive convention, according to which superiority of rank is indicated in the picture b}- superiority of size. We find this especially in the great battle-pieces of the nineteenth dynasty, in which the king himself is accustomed to appear at the head or in the midst of his army, overtowering by many lengths all other personages whether of friend or foe. An interesting example occurs in the coloured work in hall- relief on the side wall of the first chamber at Abousimbel (Fig. 1). The gigantic Tharaoh storms along in his war chariot with its prancing steeds, in the act of discharging an arrow against the mountain-citadel of his enemies. He is followed immediately by his three sons, who stand in like manner with drawn bows upon their chariots, and are represented one exactly above another, so as to leave a clear interval, if not between each charioteer, at lea.st between the back of each horse and the feet of those above him ; and yet the height of all three together only just equals the stature of their sire. •• Naturally this absence of perspective, which throws so strangely out the grouping of even a few figures close to one another, tells with tut^fold effect where the background is regularly filled in, or where continuous land.scapc is attempted. In tiie latter case the countr\' is depicted in ground-plan like a map. Of this treatment the battle-pieces at Abousimbel and in the Temple ITISrORY OF PAINTING. of Rameses at Thebes furnish ver}' interesting examples. In one of the first we have a river- bed drawn in ground-plan, and within the river-bed an island or tongue of land defended by a wall and ditch ; the fortifications of the island are indicated by six battlemented towers drawn in elevation, and ill the same way the camp with the royal tents is drawn partly in ground-plan like the river- bed, partly in elevation like the towers. The same methods are combined in the ground- plan representation of a river and fortified island, and the profile representation of a battle- medley on the shore, with zig- zag lines for waves, which occurs in the Temple of Rameses at Thebes. Another very singular substitute for perspective occurs sometimes in the paintings of the twelfth dynasty in the tombs at Beni- Hassan. Fa- vourite scenes here are scenes of fishing and fowling among marshes. The fisher or fowler stands upright beside the watfer, which is indicated by a per- pendicular zigzag pattern in black at his feet. And in order to bring to the level of his eye the fish which he has to catch, or the water-bird which he has to shoot swim- ming, the piece of water in which the one or the other occurs is carried up perpendi- cularly in an isolated column to the required level. What Fiii. I. ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 9 remains, however, the most characteristic feature of Egyptian drawing, is that curiously mixed system in which the general landscape is drawn in ground-plan like a map, and its individual features in elevation like a picture ; while it seems to depend simph- on considerations of symmetry or convenience in dis- tribution, in what direction the base-lines of various objects shall be made to run, and therefore whether they shall stand upright, or on their right or left sides, or upside down. This fashion is clearly set before us by a well-known painting in a funeral chapel at Abd-el-qurna, representing the building of the Temple of Ammon (Fig. 2). Among other incidents, some figures, coloured yellow, are drawing water in great jars from a square pond. The reader will observe that this pond is drawn in ground-plan and surrounded b}' an edging of grass, which the painter has represented of equal width — that is, in ground-plan also — on all four sides. And beyond the edging of grass he has wished to represent shady trees surrounding the pond, six on each side of the square, and has had no hesitation in drawing each row of six at right angles to the line which bounds that side of the pond upon which it grows ; so that all four rows point different ways, and onl)- the top row stands upright. It cannot be denied that the painter by this method attains the object of making himself understood ; but as to any other, any properly pictorial object, it is obvious that at such he makes no attempt, and for such he is entitled to no praise. It is understood, then, that in Eg}'ptian painting there is no question of enclosing separate and complete pictures within determinate limits. What we find in the pictures that cover the whole height of these enormous wall- spaces is essentially an arrangement of scenes in horizontal tiers one above another, such tiers being usually wider below and narrower above. Nevertheless figures larger than the rest interrupt now and then the continuity of the tiers ; and the general scheme of the decorations is governed by no severe principle of regularity. When the conditions of symmetry have been sufficiently complied with in the arrangements of lines and colours at certain points — as, for instance, at the huge gateways where men passed in beneath the symbolic sun-globe with its extended wings — when this has been done sufficiently to insure decorative effect, the arrangement of the figure subjects remains to a large extent free, and admits of much variation, in spite of the continual recurrence of similar figures marching this way or that in stiff procession. Hence the assertion of the great historian of art, Schnaase, that in Egypt decorative painting and sculpture are not really subordinate to architecture, but independent, merely finding in the wall-surfaces provided by architecture an opportunit}- for their own free devices. Or again, if we consider that the primary purpose of all these great paintings seems to be to commemorate actual events for posterit)^ ; na)- more, that their subjects are sometimes actually taken from the endless hierogl\-phic inscriptions which share the same walls with them, and occasional!}- encroach upon their C lO HISTORY OF PAINTING. IZ ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. II field ; so that, if these great decorations are in part the servants of architecture, they are at least as much the servants of history, — if we consider this, we shall understand \vh\- another distinguished writer, Semper, speaks of the storied walls of the Egyptian palaces as so many " colossal writing-tablets," and calls their painted decorations so much colour-rhetoric, as distinguished from colonr- imisic, that is, from painting which is purely architectural Enough has been said to show that in reference to the monuments of Egypt there can be no question of the complete effects or mature processes of painting, regarded as an art having either the purpose or the means adequately to translate upon a flat surface the facts of nature and of space.' Let us pass now from the consideration of the general system of composition which we find in these works, first to their treatment of individual forms, and next to their treatment of colour. We have already spoken in general terms of the typical conception of the human form which prevails in Egyptian art. In the history of Egyptian paint- ing we fail to encounter that comparatively realistic treatment which we have mentioned as characteristic of the earliest Egyptian sculpture. Both in paintings on the flat and in the works of the kindred art of sunk relief, we have to do from first to last with an established canon of human proportions, though it is true that the earliest sunk reliefs until the sixth dynasty show signs of more freedom and naturalism than those of later times. Even then, nevertheless, this art already exhibits some of the regular characteristics of Egyptian painting, and among others, that of a confusion between the side and the front views of the human figure. This confusion arises partly from want of feeling for perspective, and parti}' from the desire of representing action intelligibly. The consequence is, that the bewigged and strangely tired heads, with their conventional, often artificial beards, are almost always drawn in exact profile, while the breast is shown in full front and the lower part of the body again in profile. This dis- tortion naturally produces a perplexing effect upon the eye. Further, the adoption of a mathematical canon naturally excludes the possi- bility of sharply discriminating individual characters. To discriminate even age from youth is more than we are usually enabled to do. Nevertheless this uniformity does not extend so far as to obliterate distinctions of race. The various nationalities known to the Egyptians are indicated by clearly marked types, and the negro, his colour apart, is distinguished not less characteristically from the Egyptian than from the Asiatic. One of the royal tombs of the New Kingdom affords a good instance of such a grouping of various races. Again, it has been remarked with reason that, just as at first sight we fanc\' that all Chinamen, all Negroes, or all Malays, are alike, but upon further acquaintance are able to recognise their individual features, even so the student of Egyptian art learns in course of time to distinguish better among the physiognomies that at first he thinks so uniform. It is, however, on!)- of the i)ortraits of kings 12 HISTORY OF PAINTING. that this remark holds good ; the general multitude of figures of one and the same race show no less regularity in their rigid features than in the propor- tions of their bodily structure. Steeped in conventionality, however, as are the forms, the movements of figures in Egyptian art are full of life and spirit ; not anatomically correct, but speaking and unmistakable. True, in repose or in slow advance, both feet are made to rest along the ground. But in the repre- sentation of running or any rapid movement, the point only of the foot is made to touch the ground ; the legs, and with them the arms, which in repose hung quite stiffly by the side, are designed in the attitudes and movements of every variety of occupation. The Egyptians are thus capable of telling with clearness any kind of story by means of pictures ; or if their knowledge of nature in any instance fails them, they know how to make up for it by a system of symbolism not less clear and obvious. Thus, in a large class of representations intended to exhibit the king as conqueror over many alien communities, such conquered communities are brought together in a kind of tangle, so as almost to look like a single creature, many-legged, many-armed, and many-headed, which the king grasps by a single top-knot composed of the hair of all the heads twisted together, in order to cut the heads themselves off the bodies at a single blow of his sword. The Egyptians, then, are only capable of representing naturally individual figures and actions, and even in this, tradition keeps their naturalism within narrow bounds ; while as soon as knowledge derived from observation fails them, which it does in all extended efforts, they have recourse either to the kind of symbolism we have just mentioned, or else to those devices in lieu of perspective described farther back. Another natural consequence of the deficient command of the Egyptians over individual form and feature, was that they could not assign to each of their several gods, as the Greeks with so much mastery assigned to each of theirs, an appropriate and distinguishable type. In default of this power, the painters of Egypt employed a symbolism which may, from its correspondence to the religious ideas of the people, have been not less plain to them than the significance of the tj'pes of Greek art was to the Greeks. Their mode of expressing the differences between one god and another was by fastening the heads of different animals upon human bodies, and fastening them often in a very inorganic and tasteless way ; as when, for instance, we see the thin Ibis-neck of the god Thoth growing from the broad shoulders of his trunk in a fashion as comical as it is monstrous. But the greatest of all the deficiencies in Egyptian art is its deficiency in the power of depicting the affections of the mind as expressed upon the features. One face wears almost always the same fixed and invariable expression as another. A king, whether we see him engaged in prayer or sacrifice, or con- fronting the enemy in the onset of battle, or marching in triumph after his victory, or sitting upon the seat of judgment in the character of an avenging deity, invariably bears upon his countenance the same character of inexpressive ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 13 and conventional rigidity, beneath which our modern eyes seem to detect some- thing of a sensual and self-complacent smile. It is by gestures only, and especially by the gestures of the arms, now raised in entreaty, now extended to avert some visitation, now upheaved in menace, — it is by these alone that the emotions of the personages are wont to be indicated. From all this it is clear that Egyptian art fails the more the higher it aspires. It is incapable of anything like a worth}- realisation of the divine. It is almost incapable of representing any of the movements of the human spirit. It is not even capable of adequately representing the physical life of man, of which the true beauty can only be rendered by an art which has freed itself from the shackles of conventionalism. These shortcomings of Egyptian art affect us much less in the represent- ation of animals, because, as has been justly said, we are most of us, in our observation of animals, content with recognising the type, and do not descend to individual particulars. And the various types of animal life arc apprehended by Egyptian art in a very lively and natural manner ; nay, even the individual actions of their lives are often vividh' copied, as when a calf in the meadow obeys the calls of nature, or when peacocks sit in a fig-tree and pluck the fruit, or when goats leap up to catch the twigs of trees. In like manner the vegetable world is often characteristically enough represented. Sometimes, indeed, as in one of the great pictures at Karnak, the trees seem as childishly drawn as in an old Nuremberg toy -box ; but in other instances, as in the court of a small temple of the age of Rameses II., at Beit-Ualli in Nubia, we find them ver}- natural and well characterised. We see a troop of defeated negroes taking flight for some palm -groves, and the palm-trees are very faithfully delineated with their crop of fruit, their broad leaves and scaly stems ; monkeys sit in their summits ; within a hedged enclosure a woman is busy over household tasks ; other women and children run out to meet the piteous company of the fugitives ; and altogether we seem to look upon a very lively picture of the tropical groves of Ethiopia. Not, of course, that Egyptian art, by its general laws, admits anything resembling the drawing or grouping of various trees in pictorial ma.sses. Spacious gardens are indeed represented, but in the aforesaid manner, their extent being indicated in ground-plan, and the individual trees, gates, pavilions, potted shrubs, and the like, being drawn in outline and standing this way or that according to fancy, though more commonlx- upright than not. Water has been called the eye or the soul of landscape, and ICgyptian art is just as little able to express, in the higher sense, the character of water as it is to represent the eye or the scjul of man. In this particular, indeed, rigid convention reigns supreme, and for thcnisands of years a strip of blue, filled perpendicularly with zig/cag black lines, was taken as standing for water, and 14 HISTORY OF PAINTING. the dififerent kinds of water in the country were indicated, as the case might be, by fishes, crabs, turtles, crocodiles, hippopotami, or the like. Thus marshes are indicated sufficiently for the artist's purpose by beds of water-flags, lotus, or papyrus, and by the many-coloured water-birds which inhabit them ; we see how the reeds are bent by the nests, full of eggs and young, which hang from them, and which the weasel and ichneumon climb their stems to rifle. To turn to the Egyptian system of colouring, it is as little possible to speak of any true pictorial treatment of colour in their art as of any true per- spective system of drawing. As there is no attempt at a continuous or natural background, the various figures are simply relieved upon the general tint of the wall. This, as at Pompeii, is generally coloured dark along the dado, where flowers are represented growing, but over its main area is more commonly brilliantly light. This uniform-coloured background, while it governs the architectural impression of the whole wall, and gives it a kind of decorative unity, on the other hand breaks up the pictorial unity of the scene represented in it. Pictorial unity being thus excluded, and no attempt whatever being made at modelling or chiaroscuro, we can hardly speak of the " colouring " ot the work as a whole, but only of the particular tints which are distributed upon its several parts. These tints are applied on the principle of imitating nature, so far as the observation of nature and the knowledge of pigments made such imitation possible. The Egyptians painted male figures of their own race a reddish brown ; horses the same ; whereas women were from the very earliest times painted yellow, or at any rate a lighter brown ; negroes were tinted black, Asiatics yellow, and once we find a figure with a white skin, blue eyes, and yellow hair. Patterns both various and pleasing are painted on the coloured stuff's with which the races are respectively clothed. These stuffs are often so thin as to be transparent ; and the one instance of something like true pictorial effect which we find in Egyptian art is where the bodies, as seen through these transparent tissues, are painted in a whiter shade of their own colour, or else in a new colour lighter than their own. Fo-r the rest, the scale of colour and number of pigments at the command of the Egyptians were too limited for them to attempt more than the merest approximation to the local colouring of nature. Sometimes, however, a marked deviation from nviture is due not to poverty of resources but to other considerations. This is the case especially in the representation of divinities. To represent the supernatural, the Egyptian mind had recourse, fantastically enough, to the ?/;/natural, and, not content with giving their gods the heads of brutes, proceeded to paint them — perhaps according to some profound principle of colour-symbolism which we are no longer able to fathom — in vivid hues of red, yellow, green, or blue. Where the sense of perspective is wanting, as we have said, in all things, for aerial perspective as expressed by gradations of colour we of course cannot look. And thus the whole system of Egyptian colour is contrary to ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 15 the principles of the true pictorial representation of nature. At the same time it serves all the better to characterise under various conventional types the several classes of person and object represented, and thus works hand in hand with the art of drawing as practised on kindred principles b\- the same race. Just as no free or complete pictorial effect could be produced by these means, so the hands emplo}-ed were, we must understand, not those of artists in an)- higher sense of the word, but only those of craftsmen possessed of technical skill and training. Moreover, the pictures as we see them were not even, we know, carried out in any case by one hand. The \-arious crafts in ancient Egypt were strictly organised in guilds, and se\erc penalties forbade all encroachment b}- the members of one guild upon the functions of another. Thus it appears that one group of work- men was told off to face the stone of the walls with the plaster prepara- tion which was used as a ground for all kinds of painting. Another group drew the outlines in red. Another, in cases where the method of sunk relief was in favour, hollowed out these outlines. A last group was charged with the actual la^'ing on of the colour, which was always done upon a white ground, and it is even probable that for the laying on of this white ground a separate group of hands was employed. As to the technical processes of Egyptian painting, they seem to have been those of distemper in its simplest form. The vehicle emplo}'ed was gum-water, and fresco seems not to have been known. Some examples are preserved in which, the work having stopped short at one or other of the various stages of manipulation we have described, those stages can be traced back and examined. On the other hand, we have also pictures representing Egyptian artists at their work ; some, whose business it is to prepare the ground, stand with their paint-pots by their side and brushes in their hand ; others, who have palettes suspended from the arm, we must con- clude to be the painters properly so called, whose task it was to complete the picture by giving it variety of colour. The museum at Morence possesses a wooden tablet which is of the utmost interest inasmuch as it seems to be a palette with the remains of painting materials upon it. On this we find onl)' seven colours, black, green, dark and light red, dark and light yellow, and light blue ; but we know that at least brown and white were in use besides. The processes of Egyptian painting, like most other processes to which a similar division of labour is applied, were carried out with much care and cer- tainty to a point of uniform and smooth completeness. But their result carries, as might be expected, the corresponding stamp of con\cnti(~)iialit\-, want of inspiration, and constraint, whereby the greater part of I^g\plian art stands bound in the fetters of Oriental bondage, with the art of painting properly so called arrested in its infancy, and the art of outline-drawing, itself b\' no means devoid of spirit and liveliness in motive, tied nevertheless to the service of a kind of colossal picture-writing or moiuimciilal annals. If, therefore, the eye i6 HISTORY OF PAINTING. lingers with interest upon the strange and manifold aspects of life thus recorded, it is the subject rather than the fashion of the record which attracts us. The reader will ha\e realised by this time that Egyptian art is after its manner an art of clear and lively illustration, and indeed we owe to it a very living and varied insight into the phases of a picturesque and long vanished primeval culture. The scenes painted on Egyptian walls have been appropriately classed under three heads — religious, historical, and domestic. Of these, the religious class is that which lies farthest from our sympathies. In these brute -headed divinities, blue or green, we can take no pleasure for themselves, while their sacrificial ceremonies soon pall upon us by their repetition and their uniformity, and many of the mysteries represented remain mysteries to our eyes none the less that Egyptologists profess to have deciphered them. Still we do not fail to appreciate a certain character of lofty and tranquil solemnity which prevails in many scenes of dedication and procession. Among the most interesting are those which refer to the worship of the dead, the transport of mummies in funeral barges, rites of burial, the weighing of departed souls in the scales of Vudgment, and the like. Such scenes of religion and ritual are most frequent ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 17 in the funeral monuments of the New Kingdom. In connection with them the deceased is generally introduced in his own likeness. The historical class of paintings, on the other hand, naturally interest us in the highest degree, although here too we must admit the fault of a certain monotony in the frequent representation of similar subjects. Such great historic scenes occur for the most part on the walls of the huge structures of the eighteenth Fig. 4. and nineteenth dynasties in Nubia and Upper Egypt. They are mostly executed in sunk relief To this class belong the striking paintings of the terrace-temple of Dcr-el-baheri, in Upper Egypt, representing the naval expedition against Arabia conducted by the sister of Thotmosis III. in the eighteenth dynasty.^ The expedition defiles along superposed strips of water, each strip alive with turtles, lobsters, and fishes ; and there is a peculiar animation in the scenes which show us how the masted and richly rigged ships in part lie moored to the trees of the bank to receive their freight of boot}', and in part are already being sped by swelling sails and strong rowers upon the homeward voj'age. There has been preserved a disproportionate number of scenes from the life of Ramescs II. ; but it has been proved that this vainglorious sovereign, a royal forger on a grand \) 1 8 HISTORY OF PAINTING. scale, in many instances caused his own name to be substituted for those of his predecessors on the monuments that celebrated their exploits. It was while he was still young that Rameses caused the chief incidents of his reign to be de- picted at Abousimbel, in Nubia. The victories which he won over an Asiatic confederation, in the fifth year of his reign, and which were sung in an epic poem by Pentaur, which is preserved in the British Museum, are depicted upon various monuments at Beit-el-Ualli, in Nubia, at Luxor, and at the Temple of Rameses in Thebes. The real glory of this prince, about whose name so much renown has centred, ends with his early campaigns. The chief enterprises of his later years were slave-hunts, which he carried on in Ethiopia for the sake of securing the hundreds of thousands of labouring hands that were needed to satisfy the building mania which possessed him. Transports laden with negro captives are shown on many of his monuments, and bear a startling resemblance to the illustrations of the slave-traffic lately made by Schweinfurth from life in the same regions ;* and thus we see how, aloof from the main highroads of western civilisation, the same scenes of barbarism have gone on repeating themselves through thousands of years. Some campaigns of the third Rameses, on the other hand, are represented in scenes of much simplicity and liveliness on the walls of a temple at Medinet Abou in Thebes. They show us, among other things, how the Pharaoh goes lion-hunting in a jungle of sedge or papyrus, and again how he takes part from the shore in a fight going on at sea, stepping over corpses of the dead and discharging arrows from his bended bow. In spite of the shortcomings we have discussed, there is both life and movement in these pictorial military reports, as we may call them. It is in tombs, and especially in the tombs of the Old and Middle King- doms, that we encounter the domestic class of subjects ; among which we have already mentioned, as deserving the name of true paintings, those belonging to the twelfth dynasty at Beni- Hassan. These are scenes of which the purpose is to set before our eyes the life of the deceased ; hence they repro- duce, with clearness and simplicity, all the manifold aspects of private existence in ancient Egypt. Hunting and fishing incidents are represented in the bas- reliefs of the sepulchral chambers of the Pyramids as early as the time of the fourth and fifth dynasties. Scenes of fruit-gathering, primitively enough ren- dered, occur in the fifth dynasty ; the sixth introduces animated idyllic pictures of the life of herdsmen and woodmen. Pictures of the same kind, more natural and lively still, occur in the caves of Beni-Hassan already mentioned, and show us the dealings of man with nature as a cultivator of the soil, surprising us often by little touches of truthful and even humorous observation. Nor are these all the incidents of private life that are familiar to Egyptian painting ; we are introduced besides to a variety of arts and crafts, to scenes of music and dancing, of navigation, trade, the tribunals, gymnastic and military exercises, and much more. We see women busy over the preparation of perfumes ; ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 19 tumblers, with yellow skins and their hair in plaits, playing ball with black balls ; bald-headed harpers ; female mourners at the funeral ; in short, innumerable persons of every sort and condition in the exercise of their several callings. Landscapes proper, landscapes for their own sake, are naturally foreign to Egyptian art, although we find extensive background views of the kind already described, and although the garden scenes which find their place in some of the great figure compositions almost produce, if you regard them b}- themselves, the effect of independent landscapes (we speak especially of certain works of the twelfth dynasty at Beni- Hassan, and of the eighteenth at Tel-el- A marna).^ They enable us to form interesting conclusions as to the s}'mmetrical Egyptian mode of laying out gardens, usually in strict and intelligent obedience to prac- tical ends. At least in the views that have been preserved, utility has evidently held the first place in the plan, though pleasure-grounds have been introduced also in suitable places. Thus the wall-decorations of the Egyptian painters spread before our eyes a whole world of war and peace, of devotional and secular occupation, and give us a picture of the ways and doings of the race almost more complete than either Greece or Rome has left us of their own. At any rate, thanks to the durability of their processes and the dryness of their climate, the Egyptians have bequeathed to us far greater areas covered with works of the painter's art than all the other and younger races of heathen antiquity. In comparison with the number and importance of these monumental paintings of the Egyptians, it is hardly worth while to draw attention to the different kinds of painting which cover almost all the other objects of their handiwork that have been brought to light, and especially their coffins, or mummy-cases, both inside and out. On the other hand, it would well repay the student to examine in detail the pictorial representations that occur in the written papyrus scrolls ; but to do this is alike beyond the limits of our space and the present state of Eg}'pto- logical knowledge. Enough that ^ch occasional illustrations and vignettes introduced in the papyri evidently- serve the same purpose as the miniatures in early Christian and mediaeval manuscripts. In a word, they are strictly the oldest book-illuminations in the world. They consist usually of somewhat rude outlines, drawn, like the text, with a reed pen in red or black ; but some- times we find them instead painted with a brush in several colours, and occa- sionally even rolls are found which are full of such paintings and nothing else. The scenes represented belong chiefly to the Ritual of the Dead, the writings upon which they occur having been found for the most part in toinbs, and constituting, in the words of Lepsius, a kind of funeral passport designed to secure for the deceased a favourable reception at the man}' gates of the celestial regions. These subjects occur in exceptional excellence in the Turin copy, the most complete of several that have been found, of the book specifically 20 HISTORY OF PAINTING. known as " the Book of the Dead." Another celebrated set of miniatures is that which adorns a papyrus-roll found at Thebes by the P>ench Expedition in 1798, and now in the Louvre. The series consists of a number of ritual scenes with figures of gods, men, and animals. It is noteworthy that these pictures resemble certain mediaeval minia- tures in being painted in bright colours within black outlines. The illustrations in this case occupy the upper border of the manuscript, and this is a common arrangement. But sometimes they are introduced by way of occasional pictures separately in the text, and a pap}TUS at the Louvre shows clearly how in such cases the scribe has left the required space for the picture. Often, again, the pictures occupy an entire roll. There exists one roll more than twenty yards long, which represents nothing but funeral ceremonies painted in bright colours and heightened with gold.^ Caricature is a branch of art which we should not have supposed conform- able to the serious and measured attitude of the Eg}'ptian mind ; but that it was not unknown we learn from a pap}'rus in tlie l^ritish Museum which exhibits, in a- slight, free, and far from conven- tional style of drawing, a parod}' of the bas-reliefs carved b}' the direction of Rameses II L for the commemoration of his exploits, on the walls of his palace at Medinet-Abou. Cats and rats fighting stand in the parody for the heroes, and a lion toying among gazelles for the king in his harem." Thus these drawings and paintings on the papyri, though they teach us nothing new '^■\- 5- ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. . 21 about the style and mode of treatment of Egj-ptian art, confirm our impres- sion of the range and variety of its subjects. In truth there was no theme from which the artists of Misraim shrank ; whatever they could conceive they held themselves free to represent. But such representations, as we have by this time fully learnt, are in their essential scope no more than a kind of picture-writing. In the real writing of the Egyptians, the characters, and sometimes the signs for entire words, consisted of figures of actual objects. It was a natural step from this to set forth com- prehensive narratives and reports of events in the form of pictures on a large scale. A painted chronicle — such was the real character of Egyptian painting throughout the whole of its history. Independent artistic aims the art could not pursue for lack of means ; nor could it hope to acquire those means when it had once given up the comparative truth to nature which is observed b)- the oldest school of sculpture, and allowed itself to be bound in the bonds of tradition, convention, and canon. Lepsius calls the art of Egypt " a child, a strictly, heedfully, narrowly brought up child;" and the child in truth never grew nor became of age. The network of sacerdotal prescription, which among that race enmeshed all the movements of man's life, paralysed in art also the power of individual progress and the chance of individual eminence ; it is therefore no wonder that out of all that multitude of toilers there emerges no single one above the rest, that we have no name of an Egyptian painter to record, and that if the arts of Egypt may be said to have a history, yet history of her artists there is none. CHAPTER II. THE MONARCHIES OF WESTERN ASIA. Geographical centres — The three Monarchies — Remains of the first Monarchy — Remains of the second Monarchy — Assyrian fresco-paintings — Assyrian tile-paintings — Scale of colouring — Assyrian sculptured reliefs — Composition in Assyrian sculptured reliefs — Remains of the third Monarchy — Babylonian tile-paintings— Description of lost specimens — Shortcomings of Egyptian and Assyrian compared with Greek painting. The great Mesopotamian plain is the geographical starting-point of the arts of Western Asia, arts of which the common progress and development came to a close about the time of the Persian wars. The countries which invented and propagated st)les were Babylonia and Assyria. These styles, with their strongly-marked characteristics, imposed themselves first upon the Persians when that people entered upon the political inheritance of Mesopotamia, next upon the Asiatic coasts of the Mediterranean, and from thence, as is now on all hands acknowledged, w^ent forth to exercise a powerful influence upon the arts of Greece herself in an early stage of their development. As for the painting of these races, although scarcch^ any vestiges of it are left, we can nevertheless prove that this art played a considerable part in the cities of Mesopotamia, and even formed a conspicuous element in the external decorations of their palaces. Mesopotamia, that is to say the country between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, exhibits two separate seats of a very ancient civilisation : in the south, Chaldea, with its renowned capital of Babylon ; in the north, Assyria, with its not less renowned Nineveh. We all know how the exploration of these cities of Babylon and Nineveh is an achievement of our own century, for which we are indebted to the enterprise and acuteness of the great English and French scholars and excavators in this department, Rawlinson, Layard, Oppert, and others.^ During the centuries of the greatness of these countries, to which the conquests of the Persian Cyrus put an end, the ruling influence came at two separate periods from the south, and at one period from the north. The order in which we have to consider the arts of the three mighty monarchies, following the course of their chronology, is this: I, Old Chaldea; 2, Assyria; 3, New Babylon. Of the oldest of these kingdoms, the only monuments that remain are con- fused heaps of brick ruins. Among such ruins, those of Mugheir, Warka, and Abu-Scharein are especially attributed to the primeval kingdom of Chaldea. ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 23 At Warka there is preserved an interesting fragment of the coloured surface- decoration of an external wall, in the shape of a mosaic pattern composed of sections of little red, white, and black rods, glazed on the surface, and having a carpet-like effect. It has been attempted, indeed, to show that the whole system of wall-surface decoration in Babylonian and Assyrian art was a develop- ment from woven rugs or hangings, that weaving in many colours was among the earliest industries of those countries, but that figure subjects were in the first instance not woven into the pattern of such hangings, but worked upon them in embroidery.^ The history of painting begins naturally with the intro- duction of figure subjects. Of these the ruins of the primeval cities of Chaldea preserve no trace as applied to exterior wall-surfaces, neither have we any written evidence on the matter. The interior walls, on the other hand, of certain chambers in Abu-Scharein do show traces of painted decorations upon a plaster surface. In one of them there could be made out the figures of two men, one tall and the other short, and the taller bearing upon his wrist a bird very rudely executed in red ; and it is to the first Chaldean period that Rawlinson ascribes this attempt. The second great monarchy of Mesopotamia was the northern, the Ass}Tian, of which the ascendency began about B.C. 1 400. The ruins of its palaces have been recovered chiefly at the three sites of Nimrud, Koyundschik, and Korsabat, in the neighbourhood of the present commercial town of Mosul on the Tigris. Here too the ruling art was architecture, to which sculpture and painting served in subordination. The relations of the handmaid arts to their superior we find to be constant and uniform ; and of those relations, thanks to the combined efforts of Assyriologists and architects, we can form a distinct and well-grounded conception. The lower course of the walls of the huge palaces of the kings, built usually of sun-dried bricks, were encrusted, both inside and out, with great plates of alabaster or calcareous stone richly decorated w ith reliefs. This system of facing the walls at the same time increased their stabilitx', and contri- buted a system of ornament of no small value antl iini)ressiveness. This decorated lower course, or sculptured podium, so to speak, of the structure sometimes con- sisted of several tiers, one above another, of slabs carved in relief; and above these the upper part of the walls was ornamented again, both outside and in, with paintings sometimes executed on a plaster ground, and sometimes in encaustic direct upon the brick. Of such Assyrian paintings, however, the remains actually preserved arc slight and merely fragmentary. As to the paintings on a plaster ground, they seemed to have belonged exclu- sively to the inner wall-surfaces. The mound of Ninnud is rich in evidences of walls having been dul)- prepared to receive such paintings ; but of the pictures themselves hardly a trace is preserved. The reports of the excavations, indeed, contain no iiifre(jucnl nicnlion of fragments of painting found upon the plaster, but go on lU) less often to say how they disappeared almost immediately 24 HISTORY OF PAINTING. after they were brought into contact with the air. No strict technical examina- tion of these remains seems to have been made at the time, but it has been conjectured that they were executed in distemper. Neither is much said about their subjects. " Monsieur Place," says Oppert, in his Lecture on the Principles of Assyrian Art, " found some frescoes (.'') at the entrance of the harem of Sargon. Outside the earthen wall had been built a stone wall plastered with lime. On this were painted rosettes, lions, gods, and other subjects. My travelling com- panion. Monsieur Thomas, saw and copied them, and has thus preserved their record ; for when I came to Nineveh a year later, I saw the wall indeed still in its place, but the coating of lime with its paintings had only survived for a few days the excavation which withdrew them from the interment in which they had lain protected for two thousand five hundred years." Fig. 6. Of Assyrian painted tiles there have been preserved fragments of somewhat more importance. They too come chiefly from the ruins of Nimrud. Unfor tunately, however, no single one of such tiles has been recovered quite unbroken, still less has it been possible to put together the whole of any subject, which was in each case made up of many such single tiles. Single pieces only have been saved, with fragments of trees, animals, and human figures on them. The largest of these fragments, found at Nimrud, represents three figures walking behind one another, and the front half of a fourth personage facing the first of the ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 25 three (Fig. 6). This first figure we recognise by his tiara as a king returned from the chase or from battle ; he puts to his Hps the cup of welcome which has been handed by the ser\^ant facing him ; or, according to another explana- tion, he offers a drink-offering. Two servants follow ; first a beardless eunuch with a sword, bow, and quiver ; next, a bearded spear-bearer, with pointed cap, short coat, and bare legs. These figures are only nine inches high. Others seem as a rule not to have been larger than this, so that the whole of each could be represented on a single tile. There have been found, however, the separate parts of some figures of which the size shows that each must have covered several tiles. Layard found one tile at Nimrud on which was depicted part of a face that must have belonged to a figure three feet high ; but this is mentioned as an unusual size. The existing remains, which furnish examples of painting perhaps as good as any that Assyria produced, enable us to draw very interesting conclusions as to the style and treatment of such representations. What immediatel}- strikes us is the use of a broad, strong outline, resembling that of certain mediaeval paintings. This is alwa)'S a sharp and distinct band of colour, contrasting not only with the colour of the background, but also with that which it encloses ; nay, contrary to the practice of all other schools, this broad outline in Assyrian painting is lighter than the rest of the picture, being pale yellow, or even white. Only where finer outlines appear, as round the head of the largest Assyrian fragment already mentioned, are they indeed of a darker brown. For the rest, the Assyrian scale of colour was very limited ; and there is as little trace to be found here as in Egyptian art of any blending of colours, or of the employment of light and shadow, modelling, or anything in the nature of chiaroscuro. The outlines are broadly filled in with a few simple tints. The ground from which the figures stand out is pale olive green, reddish, or blue. The flesh is painted of a yellow hue, and it is rarely that this tone is sufficiently broken with red, as it is in the larger fragment we have mentioned, to produce any real effect of flesh -colour. Besides these, brown and black were used, according to Rawlinson, for hair, e}'es, and eyebrows, and sometimes for bows and sandals ; men, chariots, vessels, weapons, helmets, wing-feathers, gold ornaments, and sometimes horses, were painted yellow ; other horses, shields, feathers, fishes, and dresses, blue ; white appears in the eyes, in the linen shirts of men, in the tiaras of kings, and other objects, also in horses and buildings ; olivc-grcen seems only to appear in backgrounds, red only in certain parts of the royal head- dress, orange and lilac in the plumes of winged monsters. Evidently the scale of pigments known to the Assyrians was not sufficient to represent all objects in their natural colours. We must only think of their colouring as an appro.ximate imitation of reality ; for we can hardl}' imagine the AssNM'ians to have been really dressed in such few and quiet colours as would appear by these tile-paintings. To complete such idea of the character and s}-stcm of Assyrian painting as ]•; 26 HISTORY OF PAINTING. we have been able to form from these scanty fragments, we shall do well to glance at their sculptured work of the same period, — we mean at those great relief-slabs which have withstood the lapse of time so far as concerns their carven substance, though not, unfortunate!}', in the freshness of the soft colouring with which originally they were entirely covered. The subjects of such sculpture are taken wholly from the life of the king. But while in Egyptian painting the religious relations of the king to the gods hold a conspicuous place, the scenes which the Assyrians thought worthy of being immortalised in art were almost entirely of a worldly nature. The despotism of Asia suppresses sacerdotal ambition. The walls are filled with reliefs of great public ceremonies^ hunting or battle pieces, processions of conquerors returning with the spoil, and triumphal revels. M)'thic and symbolic monsters apart, the imitation of nature is evidently the watchword of the Assyrian. Although single classes of objects, as trees, may be treated even more conventionally here than in Egj^pt, still there is nothing of the rigid and universal obedience to a prescribed scheme which we find there. True, figures in repose stand with both feet flat upon the ground, one before the other ; true, the chest is often represented in front view in a manner which cannot be reconciled with the profile position of the head and legs ; true, we scarcely find a trace of individuality or animation in the features ; but all this is not the con- sequence, as it is in Eg^'pt, of a prescribed and unalterable canon. Conven- tionalism does not rest here on authoritative laws, but on the natural limits of the powers of representation. Accordingly, the short, strong, muscular, often too fleshy t)-pc of the Assyrian race as it really was, with the Semitic head and aquiline nose, thick lips, full cheeks, heavy puffed eyelids, and bushy highly- arched brows, reflects itself distinctly in the art of the country. An advance is plainly noticeable, within comparatively few centuries, from the rigidit}- and uncouthness of the archaic style, which represented the muscles of the leg stand- ing out separately, almost like a pattern embroidered on leather, to a freedom and truth to nature which almost approach the art of Greece. The best works, especially animal pieces, show such a close observation of nature combined with such a realistic power of representation, that Oppert has for this reason called the Assyrians the Dutchmen of antiquity. For the history of painting, the inquiry which most concerns us in connec- tion with these reliefs is, What system of grouping the parts of a great composi- tion do they exhibit, especially of grouping them in relation to the background .'' ' It must be premised that the Assyrian artist, like the Egyptian, had for his first object to tell his story clearly, simply, and in chronological sequence. The Assyrian succeeded best ; many symbolical expedients of Egyptian art he was able to cast aside, and his arrangement of great compositions is conspicu- ously simpler and more like nature. Particularly the connection of the action with its scener)' is often exhibited in a manner much more adapted to produce ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 27 upon the eye something like a true idea of space. It is plain, indeed, that the Assyrians had no just idea of the laws and limits of relief as distinguished from painting, for they constantly and with great ostentation attempt in their reliefs to throw up the principal action against a complete natural background ; a task properly to be undertaken by painting alone, and one which Greek painting itself only undertook after a period of probation in which it had acquired the necessary technical strength and freedom. Naturally this attempt of the Assyrians failed ; their art shows a greater feeling for perspective than that of Egypt, but no scientific knowledge of it. The mixture of ground- Fig. 7. plan and elevation does not occur regularly as in Egypt ; but similar arbitrary devices are not wanting : we do find occasionally trees, hills, and towers, drawn with their tops downmost, and constantly trees drawn at divergent angles from the hills on which they stand. Moreover all these backgrounds produce an overcrowded effect, and in the representation of man\' things, as in the brushwood on a mountain side, the artist is apt to repeat what looks like a regular stamped or stencilled pattern, producing an effect quite at variance with his realistic endeavours in other points. Water, on the contrary, though still conventional, is treated with much greater freedom than in Egypt. In place of spaces filled with stiff, regular, upright zigzags, there appears a free wave-line, varied here and there by formal spirals, which are irregularly dis- tributed where the sea is figured, but repeated at equal intervals where rivers are meant (Fig. 7). In the sixth century before our era, the supremacy of Assyria in the Mesopotamian regions was superseded by the renewed empire of Babylon, which reached the height of its prosperity under Nebuchadnezzar. The art of this Neo- l^abylonian period followed essentially the principles which had been developed by the Assyrians, principles originally received by them in their turn, most likely, from the priincNal empire of C'haldea. A difference in the building materials proper to the more southerly region of Babylon produced somewhat different 2 8 HISTORY OF PAINTING. conditions in monumental art, the only art of these nations with which we are acquainted. Alabaster and limestone, which the Assyrians could quarr}- in the neighbouring mountains, the Babylonians had not got. They could not therefore, like their northern neighbours, face the lower parts of the walls of their palaces with slabs carved in relief; and it is quite by exception that such carvings are found in the ruined cities of Babylon. On the other hand, the Chaldeans had at command a far finer clay for making tiles than the Assyrians, and hence this industry was carried to perfection. External walls were almost entirely faced with glazed tiles, and the art of painting and enamelling such tiles was carried to great excellence. Oppert expressly declares that the tile-painting of Nineveh is to that of Babylon as water-colour to oil^ The walls of Babylon, then, shone with a deeper, warmer, and more varied splendour than those of Nineveh ; or, as Rawlinson says, by the side of Assyria, her colder and severer sister of the north, Bab}'lon showed herself a true child of the south, rich, glowing, careless of the rules of taste, only desiring to awaken admiration by the dazzling brilliance of her appearance. The coloured and glazed tiles of Babylon, however, were far from being always ornamented in imitation of nature. Man)- must only have carried a regular carpet-like pattern ; others seem to have been coloured in plain colour. Instances of this last treatment have been found in the famous terrace-temple of Borsippe, near Babylon, the ruins of which were discovered at the modern Birs-Nimrud. But we know, both from ancient writers and from remains, that many other buildings of the mighty capital were decorated with tile-pictures properly so called. Among ancient writers, there is the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel, who speaks^" (chap, xxiii. 14, 15) of " men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity." Semper thinks these words must refer to tapestries ; we prefer, how- ever, with most other critics, to understand them of enamelled tile- paintings. Among Greek writers, Diodorus Siculus, following Ktesias, reports thus of the scenes figured on one of the walls of Babylon :^^ — " Here were various kinds of animals represented on baked tiles to the life both in colour and drawing ;" and farther on, in describing another wall : — " Animals of all kinds were figured on the towers and walls, and both as regards colour and truth to nature were rendered according to all the rules of art. The whole represented a chase full of animals of the most varied kinds, each more than four cubits in size. 1 n the midst was Semiramis discharging a javelin from horseback at a panther, and close beside her was her husband Ninus in the act of spearing a lion." The Greek writer seems, as has been justly observed, to have taken the eunuch who usually accompanies the king for his wife ; and indeed we should not have been able to attach any great importance either to our Hebrew or our ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EAST. 29 Greek witness in the matter, if their evidence had not been confirmed partly by the analogy of the Assyrian hunting reliefs, partly by existing fragments of Babylonian tiles. It is not unusual to find such fragments among the ruins of Babylon. Oppert had collected a whole cargo of them for the Louvre, which how- ever sank in the Tigris soon after it was got on board. He describes them thus : — " The plain-coloured fragments would not have surprised us, as we knew of their existence, and the sight of Mohammedan mosques and minarets had accustomed us to the employment of glazed tiles of this character. But we found many-coloured fragments also, which evidently belonged to a scheme of encaustic decoration in low relief. We found, among others, pieces of which the ground was blue and the raised parts yellow ; on these raised yellow parts was drawn in black outlines a system of conventional lumps, like that which indicates a wooded mountain country on the Ninevite bas-reliefs. The raising of the tile-surface made this part of the representation more conspicuous ; it was a combination of painting with the lowest possible relief. We found several pieces of this kind representing mountains or woods. Other fragments showed a system of bluish wave-lines, as if intended to represent water ; others bore the remains of walls and natural trees. Another class of painted tiles carried portions of animal subjects ; thus we found a horse's hoof and parts of a lion, the mane and tail in particular. A broad black line drawn across a blue ground ma\- very well have stood for a huntsman's spear. Again, we saw a human eye drawn full in front, although what remained above the eye seemed to belong to a face drawn in profile. M. Fresnel supposed this, not without reason, to be the eye of either the king or the queen who, according to Ktesias, were depicted on the palace walls. Other remains of a human figure completed the interesting collection which we made at the excavations at the Kasr." This account confirms the statement of the Greek writer, as well as our own supposition, that the backgrounds represented on Mesopotamian tile- paintings must have been like those on Assyrian carvings. Oppert's description also makes it clear from the outset that these tile-paintings were, in strictness, works not on the flat but in relief, yet in relief so slight as not esscntiall}' to interfere with their pictorial character. As compared, then, with the strides which wc shall see the art of painting make in Greece, the work of all these eastern nations stands at the same backward and primitive stage. While architecture and sculpture in Egypt and Mesopotamia arc in almost full possession of their resources, and fall short of perfection rather in consequence of certain national characteristics than for want of technical maturit)-, painting has not )-ct mastered the alphabet of its own science and power. As tliese races understood it, paint- ing was an art (liffcring scarcely if at all from relief, by which disconnected figures were drawn, often lieljilessly enough, in outline, and then conventionally 30 HISTORY OF PAINTING. tinted ; an art to which it had not become clear how a single figure seen from different sides, or even seen from one and the same side, could be correctly represented on the flat, and which was quite inadequate to depict larger compositions with natural backgrounds and all the combinations necessarj' to a true picture. 'The Egyptian as well as the Assyrian artist had some dim feeling that there existed a possibility of imitating on a flat surface a portion of the outer world in all particulars as it appears to our eye ; but their efforts to solve the problem failed. It may seem strange that neither Egyptians nor Chaldeans, who were good mathematicians as well as close observers of natural phenomena, should have made out the laws of perspective. But this is only one of a hundred cases in which knowledge that seems close at hand has lain for centuries undiscovered. Eastly, the artist of the ancient East did not understand how to depict the emotions in the face. Hence the painting of the Eg\-ptians and Mesopotamians was wanting in that Ethos which delighted the Greeks in the work of their own painters even when technically it was scarcely more advanced. Hence, too, the figure-painting of the nations of which we have thus far spoken, successful so far as concerns its special purpose of exhibiting a clear and comprehensive chronicle of events, is at the same time no more, so far as it concerns its artistic effect, than a piece of tapestry or embroidery done into stone, and can only be estimated according to the value it may have, with its conventional or fantastic figures, as a piece of coloured wall-decoration. APPENDIX. 1. The chief authorities to be consulted for tliis subject are : — Lepsius, Die Chronologie der ALgypter. Brugsch, Histotj-e d''Egypte, 2d. ed. Lenormant, Les origines de la Civilisation. Maspero, Histoij-e des Petiples de r Oriait. Schnaase, Geschichte der bildenden Kilnste (2d. ed.), I. §§ 241-384. 2. The following are amongst the most important works illustrating Egyptian painting : — Gau, Anti' quith de la Niibie. Rossellini, / Monitmenti delP Egitto e dclla A'libia. Lepsius, Deiikmdle?- aus ^gypten 7ind ALthiopieii. Prisse d' Avenues, Atlas pour rHistoire de PArt Egyptien. As the text in some of these great publications is wanting or incomplete, and as, in any case, it is not always made clear as to which of the three classes a given illustration belongs, — viz. (i.) painted bas-relief, (2.) painted KoiXaudyXixpov or sunk relief, and (3.) painting on the flat — so there is the better reason for not too strongly insisting on these distinctions in the text. 3. See Diimichen, Historische Inschriften altiigyptischer Denkmdler. 4. See Schweinfurth, Ivi Herzen von Afrika, vol. ii. p. 433. 5. For particulars concerning these works, consult K. Woermann, Die Landschaft in der Kitnst dei- alien Vblker (Munich, 1876). 6. Bruno Bucher, Geschichte der technischen A'iinste, vol. i. p. 1 74. 7. Both the original scenes and their caricatures are figured in Lepsius, Ausrvahl der wic/itigsten Ui-ktinden, PI. xxiii. 8. The chief publications are the following : — Layard, The Motiuments of N'inei'eh (1849-53.) Botta and Flandin, Monuments de Ninive (1849-50). Place, Ninive et FAssyrie (1867). Consult also — J. Oppert, Expedition scientifiqne en Mesopotaniie, vol. i. (1863). Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, 2d ed, 1871. Lenormant, Les Antiquites de Babylone et de PAssyrie, 1868. Schnaase, Geschichte de?- bildenden Kiinste, 2d ed. i. 146 sqq. Reber, Kiinsigeschichte des Alterthums, 1 87 1, p. 45 sqq. Oppert, Griindziige der Assyrischen Kiinst, 1872. And compare Semper, Der Stil, §§ 65, 67, 68, 69; and Liibke, Geschichte der Plastik, 2d ed, 1871. 9. Semper, in the work referred to above, has made himself especially the champion of this theory. Diod. Sicul., Biblioth. Hist. ii. 8. 10. Ezekiel xxiii. 14, 15. 11. Diod. Sicul., Biblioth. Hist. ii. 8. BOOK 11. PAINTING IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Relation of painting to sculpture in Greece — Relation of existing remains to the recorded masterpieces of the art — Histor}' of Painting according to literary records to be separated from the same history according to existing remains — History of Roman not to be separated from history of Greek painting — Distance between achievement of Greeks and Orientals greater in painting than in sculpture. It is an acknowledged fact that on the soil of Greece art first shook off all her fetters, and grew strong in deliberate freedom till she became a power able alike to delight the mind and senses of man, and to satisfy and elevate his moral being. In this high estimate of the arts of Greece, it is usual to give the first place to sculpture ; nay, it has been said and repeated to satiet}', that the genius of the race was above all things a plastic genius, and that the plastic feeling, or feeling which finds its natural expression in sculpture, pervades all the other arts of the Greeks as well, and asserts itself in their poetry and archi- tecture not less than in their sculpture itself And it is true that towards sculpture everything seemed to direct the powers of the Greek — the landscape which surrounded him, his own physical beauty, the customs of his life, the forms and temper of his religion. It is true, again, that he brought sculpture to perfection much earlier than he did painting. But it would be a great mistake to infer from the splendid genius of the sculptors of ancient Greece that her painters were more doubtfully gifted. Classical literature would of itself make such an opinion improbable ; for ancient writers have left praises not less enthusiastic of painters than of sculptors. Polygnotos, Zeuxis, Parrhasios, Timanthes, Protogenes, and Apelles arc just as celebrated in prose and verse as Myron, Pheidias, Praxiteles, Skopas, and Lysippos. Just as many marvels are related of the works of painters, and of the point of illusion to which they imitated nature, as of the triumphs of the plastic art. If, then, doubts as to the merits of Greek painting have been entertained, they must have been suggested by the fact that so (c\v remains of this art have been preserved to us from classical antiquit}'. We must steadily insist on the fact that no single work of an\- one of tlie famous painters recognised in the history of Greek art has survived to our time ; ami that we cannot from actual inspection form a judgment as to the merits of ;m\- one of the Greek paintings extolled by ancient authors. The* nuinhi-r of ancient paintings l)y this time recovered from the soil is indeed vcr\' large. Out of Greek and Italian tombs have been brought to light inan\- thousand vases adorned with painted figures. 36 HISTORY OF PAINTING. We can count by hundreds the ancient mosaic pavements with pictorial designs which have been discovered on both sides of the Alps. Painted stone tablets and sarcophagi are by no means rare. But it is above all from the thousands of ancient mural paintings which have been recovered from the soil of Italy, partly in Etruscan tombs, partly in Rome and its neighbourhood, partly in Lower Italy, and especially in the Campanian towns destroyed by Vesuvius, that we can form a really lively conception of what the painting of the Greeks and the Italians was like. Of all these pictures, however, there is not, perhaps, one which can be identified with any work noticed by ancient authors ; in not one can we recognise with certainty the repetition of the motive of any design known to us from other sources. It is true that modern archaeologists have often tried to recognise in mural paintings and mosaics now extant repetitions of original pictures celebrated in the history of ancient art ; and with a certain degree of success ; in some cases such a connection has been shown to be highly probable, but positive certainty has never been attained. In any case, these possible imitations of great masterpieces, like all the ancient paintings that have been preserved to us, are works marked by the conventional st\'le which might be expected from decorative craftsmen, and we must be very cautious in any attempt to argue from their technical treatment to the style of original works by the great artists of antiquity. True, many of these ornamental vase-paintings, decorative mosaics, and wall-pictures, were clearly produced by workers whose skill came very near to being real and free art, and who were conscious enough of their own powers to put their names to their work (in the case, that is, of man\- vase-paintings and some few mosaics). But not one of the names pre- ser\-cd upon existing works is among those celebrated in the literary history of art. Under these circumstances, the difficulty of writing a connected history of painting in classical antiquity is evident. The natural method of a his- tory of art — that of illustrating, explaining, and if necessary correcting, the literary records concerning artists by comparison with their existing works — is of course put almost out of the question. But the employment of such works for the elucidation of our literary records needs not to be altogether given up, although they can only serve in a ver}- few instances to establish the definite character of any artist. At the outset, therefore, the history of Greco-Roman painting according to ancient writings must be separated from its history according to existing remains. The former, which will here be treated first in a separate chapter, will constitute a brief documentaiy history at once of artists and of art in the higher sense. The latter, with which we ^shall deal in separate chapters later on, will be really only the history of certain decorative branches of art-industry ; branches, however, which in the absence of other materials are of the highest importance for our study. In architecture, it is possible to make a distinction between Greek and ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 37 Roman art ; but scarcely in sculpture, and not at all in painting. Not but what the paintings discovered on Italian soil present plenty of native elements, which it is possible to separate from the elements introduced from Greece, and to which we shall in due place call attention. Nevertheless, in the history of ancient artists, those of Rome come but as an appendix after those of Greece ; and in the account of their works, though a few may have to be put aside as untouched b}- the Greek spirit, yet with the vast majority, even of those found on Italian soil, it is not so. Of the vases found in Italy, most must be regarded as of Greek manufacture and decoration ; of the mural paintings, most belong manifestly to the Hellenistic age ; they are the work of Romans, but of Romans having no other ambition but to tread as closely as they can in the footsteps of the Greeks. Indeed, what would be the reverse of true for sculpture is true for painting — that upon Italian soil have been found the remains which give us our best idea of what had once been the technical capabilities and mastery of Greek art. And one inference at any rate is certain, that in pictorial resources, such as the employment of linear and aerial perspective and the like, not to speak of the matters of intellect and invention, the masterpieces of ancient art at its best cannot possibly have been less accomplished than are the ordinary wall decorations of Rome and Campania. - By comparison with the East, Greece, it must be understood from the first, la\-s the art of painting upon new foundations as distinctly as she does any of the other arts. Nay, while in sculpture the Greeks had onl}^ to ennoble by their own clearer genius and higher instinct of style the results already gained by the Eg\'ptians and Assyrians, in painting they effected nothing short of a revolution, which they may not have followed out, as the moderns have followed it, to its last and most complex consequences, but by right of which they }-et deserve the glory of having first made painting a truthful mirror of realities. Naturally, this revolution was not effected all at once. We can follow it through a whole series of successive phases. We shall see how Greek painting at first only differed from Egyptian and Assyrian by a spiritual difference, and not b)- any technical superiorit}- ; and then how it freed itself from one disabilit}- after another, by steps not more sure and rapid than they are easy to trace ; until at last it differentiated itself completely from sculpture, w ith which it had been at first bound up, and like sculpture, though centuries later, stood in the cxcfcise of all its long latent resources, self-accomplished, separate, and free. CHAPTER II. GREEK AND ROMAN PAINTING ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT WRITERS. Origin of Greek painting ; probable derivation from weaving and embroidery — Anecdotes of the ancient Writers — Probable date of the improvements attributed to Eumaros and Kimon — Polygnotos ; his date and career; his works at Athens, Plataiai, Thespiai, Delphi — Pictorial character of the works of Polygnotos and his school — Their ethical and ideal character — ^Judgments of the ancients concerning Polygnotos — Agatharchos of Samos, scene-painter and decorator — Agatharchss the founder of per- spective and landscape-painting — Rapidity of his execution — Apollodoros oi Athens — Wall-painting and easel-painting — Apollodoros the first complete painter — Subjects of his works — Their character — The Older Attic School succeeded after the Peloponnesian Wars by other schools — The Ionian School — Zeuxis of Herakleia ; his character and career ; subjects and style of his works — Parrhasios of Ephesos ; his rivalry with Zeuxis ; style and character of his works — Testimonies of antiquity — Timanthes ; his picture of Iphigeneia — Tiie Dorian School of Sikyon — Eupompos — Pamphilos — Melanthios — Pausias — The Theban- Attic School — -Nikomachos — Aristeides — Euphranor — Nikias — Other painters of the Hellenistic Age ; Apelles ; his career as portrait-painter in the service of Alexander ; his subsequent career; his picture of Calumny; his Aphrodite Anadyomene — Other allegorical and mythological works and portraits by Apelles — Characteristics and anecdotes concerning Apelles — Their general result — Protogenes ; his works at Rhodes and Athens ; his character and fame — Antiphilos — Theon of Samos — Action — Helena — The rhopographi ; Peiraiikos — Exhaustion of creative power and individual genius — Exceptions ; Timomachos ; his date and character — Rise of landscape-painting — Demetrios and Serapion — Greek painters at Rome ; Ekphantos, Damophilos, Gorgasos, Dionysios, Laia, Dorotheos — Painters of Roman birth ; Fabius Pictor, Turpilius, Titidius Labeo, Q. Pedius, Amulius — The decorator Ludius, Studius, or Tadius — Criticisms and descriptions of pictures by the rhetoricians of the Empire. The origins of Greek painting are wrapped in obscurity. It is probable, however, that the earliest kind of pictures on the flat were the representations either woven into or embroidered upon figured stuffs of various colours, and that in these decorative industries the Greeks in the first instance imitated the Asiatic races, who had practised them from time immemorial.^ Homer speaks several times in the Iliad of tissues thus artistically woven, as the robes of Helen and Andromache, and the veil of Hera, in which are many a " wondrous image " of Athene's weaving. And in the Odyssey we hear of the rich em- broiderv on the front of the garment of Ulvsses : — About the skirts a hound a freckled hind In full course hunted ; on the foreskirts, yet, He pinch'd and pull'd her down, when with her feet And all her force she struggled hard for flight, Which had such life in gold, that to the sight It seem'd the hind itself for every hue, The hound and all so answering the view, That all admired all. {Od. xix., 228 sqq. ChaPMAN's transl.) ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 39 We have to suppose that the subjects thus figured consisted of rows of animals conventionally treated, flower and leaf ornaments, and also scenes of hunting and battle ; and that their st\lc was essentially that of the West Asiatic schools. It is true that proof of the existence of such originals is lost in prehistoric darkness ; but our inferences concerning them are confirmed by the systems of ornament which we find on actual remains of earthenware ; and, coming within the range of history, it happens that two of the earliest recorded names of Greek artists are the names of famous weavers, Akesas and Helikon. The attempt, however, to follow out this and kindred industries in detail would lead us too far for our present purpose, which compels us to limit our attention to the arts of brush and stylus, to drawing and painting proper. Several ancient \\riters have left us their views concerning the origin and development of these arts. They have it that the first drawing was silhouette- drawing, and relate either how a Greek youth traced the outline of the shadow cast by his horse in the sun, or else how a maiden taking leave of her lover outlined his likeness from the shadow which he cast upon a wall. Next, the\' say, some one had the idea of filling up an outline so drawn with colour, but onl}- with one colour (monochrome) ; a third defined the several parts of the bod\- within the general outline ; a fourth learnt how to distinguish men from women, antl in general one of several figures from another within a group thus drawn in outline ; and the author of this last improvement is handed down under the name of Eumaros. The next great step in advance is attributed to Kimon of Kleonai, who is said to have achieved the correct drawing of profiles, and to have distinguished figures in profile from those in full face, making them look back, or up or down, according to nature, and in general adding to them a new freedom of life and variety of movement. Ac- cording to Brunn, this change in profile-drawing refers to the mode of treating the eyes, which in Assyrian, Egyptian, and the oldest Greek art, had been represented in the side view as they are really seen only in front. Kimon is also thought to have been the first to represent the folds of the drapery and the veins of the human body. The first originators before Eumaros and Kimon are variously named ; but such names, being quite unhistorical, may be left out of account.^ Tradition places at a comparatively late period of Greek history the development thus shadowed forth. Such a course of development is quite natural, and ma\' therefore be accepted — particular anecdotes apart — as prob- able ; the more so as we seem to find corroborative evidence in Oriental art, in I^truscan wall-painting, and in the earliest vase-painting. Kimon of Kleonai is thought U) have been practising his art as late as the time of the Persian wars. According to this view, Greek painting would have been technically not a whit further developed than Ass}'rian or l^g\ plian until towards the middle of the sixth century before our era ; so that the assertion of the I\gyptians 40 HISTORY OF PAINTING. that they had discovered painting six thousand years before the art reached the Greeks — an assertion which PHny thought to dismiss with contempt — seems to ourselves after all b}- no means impossible. We do actually know of Egyptian painting thousands of years older than any Greek. Pliny would have done better if, instead of throwing doubts upon the antiquity of painting in Eg\'pt, he had insisted on the credit due to the Greeks for bringing the art, within a single century from their first primitive attempts, to a degree of perfection which the Egyptians never reached through tens of centuries. If we cannot say that Greek painting made in the hands of Kimon of Kleonai the decisive advance which separated it for good from the whole art of the East, it did certainly make such advance in the hands of the famous Polyg- notos. Polygnotos was an elder contemporary of Pheidias, and had for his patron the statesman Kimon, the predecessor of Perikles. He conducted the pictorial decorations of the public buildings of Athens and the neighbouring cities after the Persian wars. His is the first immortal name in the history of painting, and with it some of the ancient writers themselves make the history of painting begin. Polygnotos was born in the island of Thasos, and was the son and pupil of a painter of the island, Aglaophon. We cannot actually determine the }-ear in which he came to Athens, an}- more than the }'ear of his birth or death. We must be content to know that he flourished between the 75 th and 80th Olympiads (B.C. 475-455). Having undertaken and carried out without payment certain great series of public paintings at Athens, he was rewarded with the right of citizenship in that state. And his general fame in his own day was so great that the Amphiktyons gave him the right of free entertainment in the Hellenic cities, and that poets like Simonides celebrated him in their songs. He was the head of a school, or at least a group of painters aiming in the same direction, who gathered round him in Athens. In conjunction Avith these the Thasian artist carried out the great mural paintings with which the public buildings of Athens were decorated during the supremacy of Kimon. Polygnotos was the leader and inspirer of the work, and among his associates at Athens the two most important were Mikon and Panainos, the latter a near relative of the great sculptor Pheidias. The works with which this group of painters adorned the city by the Ilissos, when she rose in renewed splendour from her ruins, were the following : — First, a series of four great battle scenes in the Stoa Poikilc, or Painted Gallery, in the market-place ; of these the Taking of Troy, by Polygnotos, and the Battle of Theseus and the Amazons, by Mikon, belonged to the cycle of heroic legends ; the battles of Oinoe and Marathon to the real and freshly-remembered past of Greek histor>'. Second, various passages from the life of Theseus, principally by Mikon, in the Theseion, or temple of that hero. Third, the Wedding of Kastor and Polydeukes with the daughters of Leukippos, by Polygnotos, and the Return of the Argonauts, by Mikon, in the temple of the Dioskouroi. Fourth, a more ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 41 extensive series in the PinakotJiekd, or picture gallery proper, a building united with the Propylaia or portico of the Akropolis ; of this series, as Brunn has shown, it is probable that six subjects taken from the Trojan cycle, and forming three corresponding pairs, were by the hand of Polygnotos himself But it was not onl\- in Athens that Polygnotos painted with his companions. Works of his were also to be seen in Plataiai and Thespiai in Boeotia. A certain Onasias was his assistant in the former of these towns ; but the works at Thespiai were attributed to the master alone. The most important works carried out by Polygnotos alone, indeed those which even in antiquity seem to have been looked upon as the standard masterpieces of the great painter and of his whole school, were the wall-paintings in the LescJic or assembly room of the Knidians at Delphi. Pausanias has left us the fullest descriptions of them, and not a few artists and scholars have occupied themselves in our own century with their reconstruction.^ On the right-hand wall going in were figured the destruction of Troy and the departure of the Greeks. Imagine the fight still raging between single com- batants ; Epeios still in the act of tearing down the wall of the conquered city ; Kassandra still seated on the ground and clinging to the Palladion, while the wailing Trojan women are making ready to depart with their captors ; the tent of Menelaos beside the Trojan shore is ready struck, and the ship of the victorious hero is being laden for departure. In this long-extended scene, the house of Antenor, represented on the left of the spectator, stood for the city of Tro)', while the sea must have reached from the right of the picture nearly to the centre of its foreground. On the opposite or left-hand wall was represented the under world as described by the epic poets ; Ulysses upon his mission to Hades to question the spirit of Teiresias concerning his return ; and a multitude of all manner of shapes besides, the shapes that people the kingdom of the dead, disposed in symmetrical groups of the happiest invention and arrangement. Orpheus with his lute seems to have been seated, under a willow in the midst. On the extreme left, Charon, the ancient ferryman, steered his skiff over the waters of Acheron ; while on the right Sisyphos strained every nerve to roll his rock up the steep declivity, and Tantalos endured all the pains that Homer fabled of him. Let us consider as closely as we can the technical style of these paintings, and inferential!)' of all other wall-paintings b\' Polygnotos and his contem- poraries. However few indications the old writers may have left us as to the style of this ancient school, they must suffice to give us to some extent a clear conception of it. First of all, we must bear well in mind that, however decided an advance in the treatment of details these paintings showed over the whole mass of Oriental art, they were )'et just as far from being really complete pictorial representations as the wall-pictures of tlic Assyrians and Egyptians themselves G 42 HISTORY OF PAINTING. The paintings of the school of Polygnotos consisted of still isolated groups, not bound together by any natural background, but thrown up in profile against a conventional ground of a single colour, probably in most cases white. In the matter of background features, whether of landscape or otherwise, the masters of this school did no more than pick out and represent single objects, such as a house, a tree, a piece of water, or the like, in a manner intended not to recall the locality to the eye, but merely symbolically to suggest it. Again, they insured the recog- nition of single figures by writing their names close to them in the picture, a custom which the ancient painters never quite abandoned. Moreover they had no knowledge of chiaroscuro, no skill in managing fine transitions from one colour to another, but had to make the most of a scanty range of local colours yielding only an approximate imitation of nature. Within these limits, how- ever, it is clear that they used the brush with fancy and ingenuity ; thus we hear that Polygnotos painted the body-eater Eurynomos blue-black, the fishes of Acheron shadowy grey, and the pebbles of the river-bed so that they could be seen through the water. If we study the earlier class of Etruscan wall- paintings upon a white ground, and the Greek painted vases of the early or "strong" style, we can form a tolerably just idea, in regard to many of these formal points of style, of the character of this school of painting. Their works, we may infer, combined the principles of strict rhythm and of symmetry with freedom both in the design of individual groups and in their general dis- tribution, whether in tiers or otherwise, over the surface of the wall. Thus they far surpassed in excellence of composition the ancient arts of the East ; they surpassed those arts still further in the feeling of beauty with which individual human forms were represented in full control over their own movements, as well as in the beauty and pliancy of fold with which broken draperies were made to accommodate themselves to and reveal those forms ; they surpassed them most of all in the nobility and expressiveness of the human features, which in the hands of this school of Greek painters become for the first time the mirror of the soul. Hence an ancient poet could say of a Polyxene by the great master of this school, Polygnotos, that she carried in her eyelids the whole history of the Trojan war ; and hence the after-tribute paid to the same master by Aristotle when he says that his works are pre-eminent for etJios, that is to say for a clearly determined spiritual character in the individual heroes. For a painter of heroes, and nothing but heroes, was Polygnotos, w^hereas some of his com- panions painted historical pieces proper, and began already to aim at something approaching portraiture of the personages they represented. But such por- traiture we cannot suppose to have gone as yet beyond a somewhat generalised and ideal resemblance. Love of the ideal, desire to lift the spectator above prosaic reality by beauty of form, by majesty of gesture, by power of spiritual expression, — such were doubtless the essential principles of the style of these ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 43 contemporaries of the divine Pheidias. It has been said with justice that the history of ancient painting differs from the history of ancient sculpture in this, that while in sculpture the utmost spiritual beauty and sublimity went hand in hand with the utmost technical perfection of which the art was capable, in painting the highest spiritual and the highest technical points were reached, not together, but at different points of time. The age of Polygnotos was an age which aimed at beauty and greatness, at the noble and sublime, in all the pro- vinces of artistic creation. The impress of these ideal aspirations of the spirit it stamped upon its painting no less than upon its sculpture ; but painting in this age was still a mere system of tinted outline design, and only entered into possession of its full technical means in a later generation, when the arts in Greece were no longer bent upon their ideal mission in the same high earnest as of old. Under these circumstances it is natural that very different judgments should have been formed of Polygnotos and his associates in the later ages of antiquity itself, according as the critic regarded their work from the point of view of its technical completeness or of its spiritual character and invention ; since, with all its great qualities, it is clear that such work must have failed in many of those preliminary conditions without which it could not have risen to the many-sided freedom of true pictorial beauty. •Pol}-gnotos had a younger contemporary, in whom we must seek the leader of a real revolution b\--and-by effected in Greek painting, — a revolution by which the art was enabled to achieve great and decisive progress towards a system of representation corresponding with the laws of optics and the full truth of nature. 'This was Agatharchos of Samos, who, like Polygnotos, was a native of a distant island and found his career at Athens. Agatharchos was first of all a scene-painter for the theatre. For the theatre, illusion has at all times been in some degree a necessity. The Greek stage, with all its complicated appa- ratus of masks, buskins, and the rest, was still less able than the modern to dispense with decorations. We know that the plays of yEsch}-lus required no inconsiderable amount of scenic preparation, and that such preparation was presumably carried to its farthest point under Sophokles. It seems that the rear wall of the stage was covered over its whole surface ^\•ith a great set piece, upon which the scene of the action was painted, just as we are used to .see it to-day. The side scenes to right and left were severally constructed in the form of a revolving prism of three faces, and these completed the decoration of the Stage, w hich was of no great depth. The usual background of a Greek tragedy consisted of an architectural scene such as a temple, a king's palace, or the like ; but at the extremities of this, it is clear that landscape-distances must often have found ])lace as well. .And sonicliines the whole scene consisted of a picture 'of a camp, or of a landscape pure and simple. In scene-painting as thus jjracliscd, we accordingly find the origins, not on!)- of all rc^presentation of 44 HISTORY OF PAINTING. determinate backgrounds, but also, and more especially, of landscape-painting. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of the invention of scene- painting as the most decisive turning-point in the entire history of the art, and Agatharchos is named as the master who, at the inspiration of ^schylus, first devoted himself to practising this invention. It is possible, however, that he only worked for the later plays of that great perfecter of Greek tragedy, and probable that he continued to work in like manner under his successor Sophokles, That the labours of Agatharchos were not confined exclusively to stage- painting, we know from the story which tells how he decorated, or at least was to have decorated, the dwelling-house of Alkibiades. He was obliged, runs the tale, to decline the commission of Alkibiades on the score of over-work, whereupon that arrogant young commander caused him to be locked up within his house, in order to force him to the task. According to one version, this high-handed measure succeeded, and the painter, having completed his work, was handsomely rewarded and dismissed ; according to another, he gave his captor the slip. * At any rate, we may surmise that the paintings of Agath- archos for the interior of houses were of the purely decorative kind, akin, both in subject and mode of treatment, to scene-painting ; that he painted, or was capable of painting, figures we nowhere learn. _ Partly from the nature of the case, and partly from the accounts of ancient writers, we are enabled to form a tolerably exact notion of the character and place of Agatharchos in the history of painting. * In the first place, it is clear that scenes painted in imitation of nature for the decoration of a theatre could not have answered their purpose of illusion unless they had been laid out, to some extent, according to the rules of perspective. And in fact the ancient writers mention that Agatharchos left a treatise upon the right manner of scene- painting, and that it was from him that the philosophers Demokritos and Anaxagoras took the hint which first set them inquiring seriously into the laws of perspective. No doubt the parts of stage perspective at this time made out were most likely only the elementary rules for objects seen in full front, and the contemporary practice of Agatharchos would have failed to satisfy, at any rate in complicated cases, the requirements of our modern knowledge. At the same time, it cannot be doubted that the principles of foreshortening and the use of lines converging towards a vanishing point had been discovered, and this progress was quite enough to mark a new period and a new departure in comparison with the previous practice alike of Greece and of the East, and to produce an effect of illusion undreamt of till now among men who, like the contemporaries of Agatharchos, had grown up in absolute ignorance of per- spective. » It is clear, in the next place, that a manner of treatment compat'atively broad and picturesque, and radically different from the precision and rigidity ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 45 of the earlier outline manner, will have been demanded both by the extent of the surfaces to be covered in scene-painting, and by the nature of the objects represented. Such a manner will naturally have tended to degenerate towards slightness and sketchiness ; and accordingly we find an ancient anecdote which represents Agatharchos as set down by a reply of the celebrated younger master, Zeuxis, to whom he had boasted of his rapid rate of work. In general, we may with certainty assume that the art of Agatharchos offered in all points, alike as to subject, origin, and mode of treatment, a diametrical contrast with the art of Polygnotos. Judged b}- the standard of artistic excellence, the palm would doubtless fall to Polygnotos, but we must not for- get that in the innovations of Agatharchos lay the seeds of a great and fruitful revolution for the whole art. What was now wanted was the advent of a figure-painter who, taking his inspiration from the stage with its movement of figures in front of a determinate background of natural scenery, should place at the disposal of painting, in all its uses, that mode of representation with which the public was already familiar in stage use alone. Such a figure-painter in fact arose among the Greeks towards the end of the fifth century B.C., at the beginning of the Pelo- ponnesian wars, in the person of Apollodoros the Athenian. Those ancient writers, who, like PIin\-, treat the histor\- of painting from a technical point of view, speak of Apollodoros as the first painter worthy of real fame.'* WY^ must above all bear in mind that the art we have so far spoken of (scene-painting apart) was of a monumental character. Into the vexed question which was long ago vehemently discussed between the PVench archaeologists Letronne and Raoul-Rochettc,'^ as to whether Polygnotos and his associates painted directly on the wall, or on wood panels let into walls, we will not enter, since it is a question which can hardl\- be decided from the cxidcnce at our command. As in any case these paintings were from the first intended for mural decoration, and bore distinctly the character of mural painting, we can, and are clearK' entitled to, regard these masters exclusively as wall-painters, in contra- distinction to the painters of portrait or easel pictures. Not that easel-painters did not exist b\' this time ; Aristophon, a brother of Polygnotos, was such a painter ; but there were, and could be, none of an\' great fame, inasmuch as that absence of the indispensable technical conditions of perfect painting, which made itself the k;ss felt in great wall-jjictures because of their severe archi- tectural composition, because of the symmetry of their groupings, and even because of the decorative charm of their still conventional s\'stem of colouring, would, in pancl-painlings, bi- (lc])rived of these compensations, and show itself in ail its nakedness. I'ancl-p.u'iitiiig in fact demanded the exercise of tho.se conquests which had been won, fijr the jjurijoses of stage-decoration, in the first instance by Agatharchos. It was Apollodoros, as we have said, who first adapted these conquests to 46 HISTORY OF PAINTING. smaller works, in which he combined landscape and figures ; no wonder, then, if Pliny heaps praises on him in such terms as these — that he was the first to give the appearance of realit\' to his pictures, the first to bring the brush into just repute, and even that before him no easel-picture {tabu la) had existed by an}- master fit to charm the eyes of the spectator. Apollodoros was the first to give his pictures a natural and definite background in true perspective ; he was the first, it is emphatically stated, who rightl\^ managed chiaroscuro and the fusion of colours. Hence he earned the title of skiagrapJios, or shadow- painter. He will have also been the first to soften off the outlines of his figures, and thus no longer to draw and tint mere!}-, but, in the true .sense of the word, to paint with his brush. For this reason we may, with l^runn, in a certain sense call iVpollodoros the first true painter. Of the subjects of his pictures we know little. He seems to have taken them, — with the exception, however, of a priest in prayer, — from heroic legend. The mo.st interesting of his pictures seems to have been one of Ajax in his ship struck by lightning, a subject which of itself would point to a pictorial treat- ment of the background, as well as of the light and shadow. But we must be on our guard against supposing that the improvements effected by Apollodoros and his school, in the relations of foreground and back- ground, were equivalent to those effected b}- the brothers Van Eyck in the development of modern painting. We must rather infer, from the evidence both of ancient w ritcrs and of the few remaining fragments of wall-painting which it is possible to suppose copied from originals of a time earlier than Alexander, that in the great days of Greek painting, the backgrounds of pictures, however natural and distinct, served simply as an unattractive foil to the figures, to which the\' were kept in the .strictest subordination. Nay more, we can be sure that the old principle of the monochrome background was by no means abandoned all at once in favour of the new principle of the natural background. White generally takes the place of sky, or even encroaches more than a true sky upon the features of the landscape. And in general, we must of course remember that, in the progress of Greek painting, many phases which to our- selves would seem primitive and elementary must have been novelties of a kind to make no small stir in their own da}-. Such a stir was deservedly made b}- the work of Apollodoros among his contemporaries. At the same time his manner of painting must have been in some respects hard and im- perfect b}' comparison e\cn with that of his immediate successors ; and hence he will have seemed, to use the very words of Plin}-, no more than the gatekeeper who threw open the gates of painting to the renowned inheritors of the art. During the period of which we have thus far spoken, between the Persian and the Peloponnesian wars, Athens had taken the lead in the arts no less than in the politics of Greece. It is true that the great painters whose acquaintance we make in this period, and some of whom, like Apollodoros, lived to be wit- ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 47 nesses of the Peloponnesian war, were by no means all Athenians by birth. But Athens was the chief seat of their industr}-. We can therefore, with some accuracy, class them together under the name of the Older Attic School, though within this school Polygnotos represents one main tendenc}- and Agatharchos another. The Peloponnesian war caused Athens to forfeit her supremacy. With her decline the art of painting branches off into several schools, having their seats at various centres of Hellenic culture. The chief of these schools, which we find establishing themselves while the Peloponnesian war was still in progress, and maintaining their separate existence until new conditions came into operation in the time of Alexander, are, in order of seniority — i,the Ionian ; 2, the Sikyonian ; 3, the Theban- Attic. Nevertheless, in this interval of nearly a century, there appears more than one individual painter of eminence who cannot very well be positively included in either of thesb schools. For instance, of the Ionian school, Zeuxis and Parrhasios are named as the chief masters, while Timanthes leads us from it to the Sik\-onian. Yet Zeuxis, as we shall see, belonged only in an incomplete sense to the lonians. Zeuxis, Parrhasios, and Timanthes are the three Greek painters who per- fected a sj-stem of pictorial representation adequatel)- rendering on the flat surface the relief and variety of nature, in other particulars if not in colour. And this is only an apparent contradiction ; since a pictorial treatment, in con- tradistinction to the old outline style, is quite possible in monochrome. So it is said of Zeuxis that he occasional!)- painted in monochrome, and later writers emphatically count all three masters among those who used a simple and elementary scale of colour. But b}' others the\- are just as emphatically described as the perfecters of those technical conditions to \\hich Apollodoros first led the way. Zeuxis was born at Herakleia, probably the town of that name in Lower Italy, but he must have early entered upon the career of a wandering artist, as we find him appearing in various places. At Athens he formed his st\-le imder Apollodoros ; his earlier teachers are unknown to fame. He seems to have made his final home at Ephesos, and to ha\e passctl the greater part of his life there. He is said to have been the first painter whc) excited public attention by his extravagance in spending the ample means which he acc^uired. At the Olympic festival he appeared in a garment bearing his name woxen in letters of gold into the pattern. Towards the end of his life he gave away his works, as he was of opinion that the)' were simpl)- be)-ond jjrice ; whereas, at an earlier time of his career, he had adopted the thoroughly modern ])ractice of taking cntrance-monc)' from those who came to see an)- of his famous pieces. His ])ride is described as ([uite on a lexel with his love of displa)-. He inscribed one of his works with the verse : — lUDjiijinrai. Tis //.|)y." " 48 HISTORY OF PAINTING. In another epigram Zeuxis simply pronounced himself unsurpassable. He is said to have died, literally, of laughing at one of his own pictures repre- senting an old woman. We know the subjects of a dozen or more of his works. Among these may be mentioned as the most famous, the Zeus enthroned among the other gods, a picture praised by Pliny ; the Centaur family disporting themselves on the soft turf, minutely described by Lucian ; the Helen, painted for a temple of Hera at Kroton, where the citizens allowed him to make choice from among the fairest maidens of the town, in order that from their various beauties (he is said to have chosen five) he might compose his ideal Helen ; his Penelope, who appeared as the personification of all household virtues ; and lastly, the famous bunch of grapes which he executed, as we shall see, in rivalry with Parrhasios. Besides these Zeuxis painted, among divinities, Eros, Marsyas, and Pan ; among heroes, Herakles, Alkmene, Menelaos ; and of pictures of every-day life, an athlete, a bo}- with grapes, and the old woman already mentioned. In exact opposition to Polygnotos, the great monumental wall-painter, Zeuxis, the panel-painter, represented only single events. But he tried above all things to make these attractive by the charm of novelty and grace. With depth of expression and moral earnestness he has little or nothing to do ; his endeavour is by the brilliant use of the brush to rival nature herself, although he continues, in the true spirit of ideal art, to divest her of all accidental ugli- ness. He so far outstripped Apollodoros in the treatment of light and shadow, that some writers have described him as the true discoverer of chiaroscuro. If we could but see his work to-da}-, we should doubtless be ready to confirm the immense fame which he enjoyed through all antiquity.^ Parrhasios, the rival of Zeuxis, was born at Ephesos. At first a pupil of his father Euenor, he too seems to have completed his education as an artist at Athens. For Athens, at any rate, he worked, and perhaps received the freedom of that city as a reward for his painting of the national Attic hero, Theseus. The names of Parrhasios and Zeuxis are often coupled ; but we can gather from the ancient writers that though the general tendencies of their work were the same, yet the st}-le of Parrhasios was distinguished from that of his rival by several well-marked characteristics. Many looked upon his art as an advance upon that of Zeuxis, and once at least the latter had himself to admit as much. This was when Zeuxis had painted some grapes so naturalh' that the birds were deceived and flew to peck at them ; Parrhasios then painted a curtain as if hanging in front of a picture, with such absolute reality that even Zeuxis was deceived, and asked his competitor whether he would not begin by drawing the curtain from his work. Anecdotes of this kind, whether true or not, are in any case happy, and serve to characterise the style of the artists about whom they are told. From this history of the grapes and curtain we can infer with certainty that Parrhasios ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 49 as well as Zeuxis laid the greatest stress on carrying out to the point of actual illusion the deceptive likeness to nature. That he outstripped Zeuxis in this direction is testified not only b\- this story, but b}- the criticisms of antiquit)^ which ascribe to him, besides much subtlety and grace in facial expression, and besides a great research and ingenuity in his theory of human proportions, a special care for modelling and rounding, even to deception, the contours of his figures ; " for," says Pliny on this subject, " the contours so round themselves and vanish away, that they seem to promise something behind, and even suggest what they conceal." Besides, it appears from this and other sayings of ancient writers, as well as from his choice of subjects, that Parrhasios, in contradistinction to the typical themes of Zeuxis, liked above all things to represent motives of dramatic interest. To his principal works of this kind belong the simulated madness of Ulysses ; the strife between Ulysses and Ajax for the armour of Achilles ; the anguish of Philoktetes on Lemnos ; scenes from the tales of Meleagros and Telephos ; lasth', the representation of the Attic State or Demos, which Demos he personified, according to some, in a single figure, and according to others in a number of figures, but at any rate in such a manner as to suggest all its good and all its evil qualities in dramatic and well-studied combination. As Demos was brought upon the stage about the same time by Aristophanes in his play of The KiiigJits, we may safely infer that it was as a single per- sonage that he figured also in the painting of Parrhasios. Of single gods and heroes he chose out Hermes, Prometheus, Herakles, and Theseus. As subjects rather of genre or every-day life, we hear of a Thracian nurse carrying a child on her arm, and two boys, one of whom seemed to personify the simpleness, and the other the pertness, of his )-cars. In the same spirit must have been conceived the portrait of a high priest of Rhea, and another priest with a garlanded boy holding a censer beside him. To the same class belong the famous curtain with which Parrhasios outdid Zeuxis, and the small licentious pieces which, according to Pliny, he used to paint for his own delectation. Sublimity, morality, and ethical greatness do not seem to have been the aim of Parrhasios. Manners grew more lax and sensual, and art followed them. When, therefore, Ouintilian declares that the forms of gods and heroes painted by Parrhasios set a standard to his successors, in virtue of which he was st)'led the legislator of these things, this must refer especialK', as is shown b}- all we have said, to the contours and proportions he gave to the human figure. If Parrhasios out-rivalled Zeuxis in some particulars, he tried too to outdo him in self-glorification concerning his art and in ostentatiousness of demeanour. He flaunted about in a purjjle robe, with a gold wreath on his head and gold clasps to his sandals; he i)ainlc(l his own portrait, and called it the god Hermes; he celebrated himself in |)rosc ami verse as a descendant of Apollo and one of the kings of art ; he gave himself the title Jiabrodiaitos, with reference to his 5° HISTORY OF PAINTING. delicate livinj^, which scoffers changed into " rJiahdodiaitos',' from his living by his pencil. As Parrhasios had beaten Zeuxis, so Timanfncs, the third artist in this succession, is said to have outdone Parrhasios, to the latter's great annoy- ance, in a pictorial competition of which the subject was the contest between Ajax and Ulysses for the arms of Achilles. The birthplace of Timanthes is variously given, but was probably the island of Kythnos. His competition with Fig. 8. Parrhasios took place at Samos. He seems, however, to have lived at a later period of his life at Sikyon. The most famous of his works was the Sacrifice of Iphigeneia. The maiden was represented standing before the altar on which she was about to be offered up, and a deep compassion was expressed in the faces of all the bystanders. The graduated scale of intensity, in the expression of pain upon their several countenances, especially struck the ancients as some- thing new in art. Valerius Maximus says that Kalchas stood with looks of sorrow, Ulysses gloomily downcast, Ajax weeping, Menelaos wailing aloud, and ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 51 to indicate the last climax of grief, Agamemnon, the father of the victim, was represented with his head veiled from view. We possess a Pompeian wall- painting (Fig. 8) which is simpler than most of such pictures, and which agrees with the above account, in so far as it includes a sorrowful Kalchas and a veiled Agamemnon. The other incidents differ from those in the picture of Timanthes ; still we may assume that from it our Pompeian example is, if but indirectly, derived.^ From the description of this Sacrifice of Iphigeneia, which was one of the most celebrated of all pictures in antiquity, we can to some extent understand the verdict of ancient writers, who, high as they place the artistic skill of Timan- thes, prize yet higher his suggestive invention, declaring emphatically that in his works, and in his alone, the spectator seems to see more than is actually there. If we have therefore to think of him as an artist on the same general level of technical perfection as his contemporaries Zeuxis and Parrhasios in the qualities of mind and moral significance, we must probably suppose his work to have surpassed theirs. If we have been approximately right in treating Parrhasios, Zeuxis, and Timanthes as representatives of an Ionian school of painting in the age of the Peloponnesian war, we have still further evidence of the existence of a Dorian school which flourished in the Peloponnesian town of Sikyon, during the same age and later, — in the period, speaking generally, between the end of the Pelo- ponnesian war and the death of Alexander the Great. This group is the first that deserves to be called, in the full sense of the word, a school ; since the masters who composed it are the first of whom we learn that they made the training of pupils a regular part of their profession, and accordingly laid parti- cular stress upon academical correctness, which they cultivated theoretically with the help of mathematics, and practically by conscientious study of nature.^ Eupompos is considered the founder of the Sikyonian school. We know nothing more of him than that he was a contemporary of Parrhasios and Timanthes, and that he was held in high repute at Sikyon ; that he painted a gymnastic winner with his palm ; and that he expressed the opinion that the artist who wished to succeed must go first of all to nature as his teacher. His pupil Pamphilos brought the school to maturity. The course of teaching in his studio is said to have lasted twelve years, and the fee was a whole talent. The renowned Apelles was among his pupils. It was Pamphilos who recognised and introduced the necessity of scientific study for the painter, especiall}' the sciences of number and geometry ; it was through his influence that the teaching of drawing was established in all the boys' schools of Greece ; it was he, again, who gave a new development to the method of encaustic painting in wax. This method li.ul been occasionally employed before ; but it ^^'as from the time of Pamphilos only that it took its place on equal terms beside the method, hitherto universal for easel-pictures, of distemper. In this process of 52 HISTORY OF PAINTING. encaustic, the colours were prepared in little rods heated red hot and laid on with the spatula ; its difficulty made it suitable only for small pictures, but the brilliancy of the result gave it a place in ancient art analogous to that of oil- painting among the moderns. Of the works of Pamphilos we only know, I, a family picture; 2, a historical picture representing the history of the Athenians at Phlius ; 3, a painting from the epic cycle, described as " Ulysses in his boat." He seems to owe his fame more to his powers as a teacher than as an original painter. " It is not so much," says Brunn, " on his artistic skill, or how much he could do, as on his artistic science, or how much he knew, that stress is laid in the mention of Pamphilos." Next after Pamphilos came his pupil Melanthios, who inherited from him the bent towards investigating the scientific foundations of the pictorial process. In the matter of composition, the first place is said to have been readily conceded to Melanthios by his famous fellow-pupil Apelles. Yet we know of only one picture by Melanthios, and that only by name. And even this seems according to Plutarch to have been painted by the master not alone, but in co-operation with his pupils. It represented Aristratos, tyrant of Sikyon at the time of Philip of Macedon, standing beside the car of the goddess of Victory ; and when at a later time under Aratos all effigies of tyrants were destroyed, the work of Melanthios owed a partial preservation to nothing but the fact that another painter scraped out the figure of Aristratos, and painted in a palm-tree in its place. The chief practical representative of the Sikyonian school of Pamphilos was Pausias. He too was one of those whose technical improvements in his art made a great impression on his contemporaries. For instance, it is quoted as a novel and striking effect, that in one of his pictures the face of Methe (or personified Intoxication) was visible through the transparent substance of the glass out of which she drank ; and as a thing more admirable still, that in a great picture of a sacrifice, the sacrificial ox was drawn in bold foreshortening, with such skill that the eye seemed able to measure his length. At the same time Pausias developed, it seems, a more natural method of representing the modelling of objects by the gradations of a single colour, instead of using, as his predecessors had done, one distinct colour to represent the lighter or projecting parts of solid objects and another to represent their darker or retreating parts. It seems to have been by the technical capabilities of encaustic that Pausias was led on to these improvements in the colourist's part of his art. He did so much to perfect this method that Pliny calls him the first who became distinguished in it. It was, we learn, a slow method ; and hence the pictures of Pausias were all taken from familiar life, and on a small scale ; we find them expressly contrasted with the monumental works of the battle-painters, and the famous Sacrifice above mentioned is the only example quoted of his powers on the great scale. His favourite themes, according to Pliny, were " boys," that is, no doubt, scenes ot ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 53 child life. He also painted a picture of his mistress Glykera, in the character of a weaver or seller of garlands ; a famous work, which among other things earned for him the earliest reputation as a flower-painter which we meet with in the history of art. Among the many paintings of this Sikyonian school which the /Edilc Scaurus at a later period transported to Rome, were several works of Pausias. Their technical refinement, and the nature of their subjects, destitute of all ethical interest but drawn fresh from life, seem to have had special attractions for the later Romans. On the other hand it was alleged against him, what indeed we should naturally expect, that he was not particularly successful in a restoration which he was commissioned to execute of the mural-paintings of Polygnotos. Taking all these facts into consideration, we can feel tolerably certain as to the place and character of this painter in the history of art. As a teacher, also, he enjoyed a considerable celebrit}'. However, the independent importance of the Sikyonian school seems not to have survived his scholars and successors, who form the connecting link with the post-Alexandrian age. To the third school of Greek painters, which flourished in the fourth centur}- B.C., we have given, following Brunn, the name of Theban-Attic. We use this double name because this school, originating in Thebes, after the rapid decline of that city took root without breach of continuit)- first at Corinth and then at Athens. In contrast to that severe academic exactness and thoroughness (called by the Greeks cJirestograpJiy) which distinguished the Sikyonian school, we find in the Thcban-Attic school a greater ease and versatility, and an invention more intent upon the expression of human emotion. We can only here notice their four chief painters, of whom Nikomachos and Aristeides were established at Thebes, Euphranor in Corinth, and Nikias in Athens. Nikomachos, who was living about B.C. 360, and was the pupil of his father Aristaios, is, so far as we know, the first Theban painter of note. In asserting that the fame of Nikomachos by an unkind fate fell short of his deserts, an ancient writer has assured that very fame for all time ; though, unfortunately, our details concerning him are scanty. Among his paintings, of which the subjects seem to have been entirely derived from Greek m\'thology, the most celebrated were — a Rape of Proserpine, Victory ascending to heaven in a four-horse chariot, Kybele riding on a lion, a Skylla, and then, on a more familiar level, a company of Bacchants surprised by Satyrs. Nikomachos seems to ha\e been celebrated for the '-apidity and facility of his brush. In a few days he finished for the before-mentioned tyrant Aristratos the pictorial decorations of the monument of the poet Telestes. But it is expressly noted that this studied and showy velocity of handling was not allowed in an\- way to impair the completeness and beauty of the result. Aristeides, the son or brother and in either case the scholar of Nikomachos, was the only famous artist of the name ; so that we max- waive the question 54 HISTORY OF PAINTING. whether it was or was not also borne by another and older master. Of the works of Aristeides we can form a clear idea, since their subjects, described by Pliny, correspond with the general verdict passed by that writer on their merits. Thus we are told that in a representation of the taking of a town (perhaps Troy) Aristeides represented the dismay of a mortally wounded mother whose child still craves for the breast. Another of his subjects, apparently mythological, was a, woman hanging herself out of love for her brother ;^ another was a tragic actor ; another, again, a sick man, " esteemed above measure." It is evident from these accounts that Aristeides specially devoted himself to the repre- sentation of the affections of the mind, and to those, above all, which spring from bodily pain. This view is confirmed by the statement of Pliny that Aristeides was the first to express the feelings of the human mind and senses, as well as the throes of pain. And hence we are not surprised by the remark of the same author, that the colouring of this painter was somewhat hard ; for, as Brunn observes, we see in modern art that the painters who lay the greatest stress on the representation of the mental affections are often careless in their colouring. The fame of Aristeides may be inferred from another account, according to which he stipulated for a thousand minae for a great picture of the battle with the Persians. As there were a hundred figures in this picture, he would have been paid at the rate of ten minae a figure. The whole sum, reckoned in our currency, may be calculated at about i)i8 50. At a later period Attalos, King of Pergamos, offered a hundred talents (more than ;^20,000) for the Dionysos of the same painter, one of his most celebrated works, which was preserved at Rome in the temple of Ceres. The third distinguished painter of this school, who was a pupil of Aristeides and celebrated also as a sculptor, was Euphranor. Euphranor ranks among the most many-sided and thorough artists of antiquity. He worked in Corinth, and seems to have combined the excellencies of his Theban master with those of the neighbouring school of Sikyon. We only hear of four of his pictures, but these prove his versatility. In a representation of the twelve Olympian gods he entered on the domain of religious painting proper. A Battle of Cavalry was evidently a historical painting ; in a picture of the simulated madness of Ulysses, Euphranor drew from the tales of the heroes a motive of physiological interest ; and finally his Theseus with the personifications of Democracy and the Demos must be regarded as a subject political and quasi-allegorical. To all these pictures peculiar qualities are ascribed. It was said, for instance, of his Theseus, that he looked as if he had been fed on beef, while the Theseus of Parrhasios looked as if he had been fed on roses. In his picture of the twelve gods, Euphranor is said to have given to his Poseidon such an air of majesty that he had no higher expression left for Zeus These traditions correspond with the general judgment of Pliny, that Euphranor was the first painter to do justice to the type and cha- ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 55 racter of the Greek hero (but the first only, we must understand, amon^ the later schools — among those who had completely mastered the technical condi- tions of their art). He is also said to have studied human proportions, and to have left treatises both on this subject and on colour ; though it was thought that the limbs and heads were too large in proportion to the slender bodies of his heroes. He is always put in the first rank of painters, and the traditions as to his works are in accordance with what we are told of his style. We must think of him as an artist as far removed as possible from the effeminacy of the decadence, but rather as characterised by manly force, and as know- ing also how to turn to account opportunities of psychological expression, such as that given by the Ulysses subject aforesaid. Euphranor had, it seems, worked for Athens ; at any rate, it is entirely at Athens that we can trace his school ; a school of which the chief name, Nikias, is only that of the pupil's pupil of the master. Nikias the Athenian is connected in the history of art with the vexed question how far " polychromy," colour-tinting, was applied by the ancients to marble statues. When the great sculptor Praxiteles was asked which of his works in marble he valued most, he is said to have answered, " Those on which Nikias has set his mark ;" and Pliny explains this expression by the comment, " So much importance did Praxiteles attach to the circuinlitio applied by Nikias." ]^ut apart from this question, what is the precise meaning of this word circum/itw, i.e., surface-tinting or wash, a question which need not detain us here, Nikias ranks amongst the most distinguished artists of antiquity. His wealth was such that when King Ptolemy offered him sixty talents for his picture of the visit of Ulysses to the under-world, he declined the royal offer and gave the picture to his native city. Moreover, he was so entirely absorbed in his art as to forget all earthly wants, and is said to have had often to ask his slaves whether he had bathed, breakfasted, and the like. With regard to his technical excellencies, his chiaroscuro is especially praised, and he is said to have set great store upon the quality of relief in a painting ; two properties which naturally coincide. But Nikias was not one of those painters who, in their love for the mere metier, maintain the principle that is of no consequence what the artist paints, but onl\^ how he paints it. On the contrary, he used to say that the subject as such was as essential a matter in painting as the fable in poetry ; and he gave a practical illustration of this law when he declared that the artist should choose a worthy theme, and not fritter away his skill on insignificant objects such as birds and flowers, but rather paint battles of caxalry and sea-fights. In par- ticular his women were admired, also his animals, and especially his dogs. The list of his works which has reached us contains a whole series of heroines, but we slK;uld expect from the general tentiency of the master that these would be only the chief figures in compositions illustrating their respective myths. When Pliny, however, specifically describes as "large" pictures his ('al\-ps(), lo, 56 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Andromeda, and also his portrait of Alexander, \vc must assume that these Avere distemper pictures ; while those which Pliny previously mentions must have been works in encaustic, and were certainly on a smaller scale, as, for i:/lL^,U . 'as wisely that he confined himself to the painting of that which he could paint best. In faithful imitation of nature he was second to none ; he was first of all in refinement of light and shade, and consequent fulness of relief and completeness of modelling. One of his technical innovations, intended to promote this very effect, was to introduce the use of a transparent coat of dark glazing or varnish over his completed tempera-pictures. But the gift in which he was pre-eminent was, as he himself expressed it, that indefinable gift of grace, — that charm of beauty which fills the spirit of the beholder with yearning sweetness, — and with this, that happy dexterity of hand which made him say that Protogenes was his superior in all things save one, and that was in knowing when to stop. Protogenes, it appears, could not refrain from over scrupulous and laborious finish, hence the saying, Mamnn dc tabula ; "leave off in time," That the touch of Apelles was just as sure as it was light, is, on the other hand, attested by a tale to the effect that, calling upon Proto- genes for the first time, Apelles found him not at home, and left a token o himself in the shape of a line drawn with colour upon the table. When Protogenes came home, he guessed at once who the caller had been, and pro- ceeded to draw a still finer line of another colour, along and within the line of Apelles. Over this finer line, however, and dividing it, Apelles drew a third which was finest of all, and then Protogenes confessed himself beaten. Of the constant practice in drawing which our master imposed upon himself, we have evidence in the statement that he never passed a day without making studies; whence the saying, Ntilla dies sine linea ; " never a day without a line." In the personal character of Apelles we discern, as has been above made clear, great modesty and a ready acknowledgment of the merits of others — cjualities in strong contrast with the pride of a Zeuxis or a Parrhasios. Thus, he is said to iiav-e been the first to recognise the deserts of Protogenes, and to have done the latter an essential service by buying up his unsold pictures, and giving out that he was going to sell them as his own. On the other hand, he knew well how to set dou n the pretensions of the officious. He is said to have advised even Alexander to be silent in his studio, that the apprentices who mixed his colours might not laugh at him. Bui the cobbler, to whose criticism about the shoe-latchet of one of his figures Apelles willingly deferred, when he ventured to find fault with the leg of the same figure was answered with the saying which has since become classical, "Cobbler, keep to yo\w last." 62 HISTORY OF PAINTING. A greater number of characteristic anecdotes have come down to us of Apelles than of any other artist of antiquity. I do not set so slight a value as some critics on these records, since there is a certain harmony among them, and taken together they seem to give a tolerably clear idea of the personal as well as the artistic character of the master. Apelles was in all points a child of his age. For strong ethical sublimity and ideal grandeur in the spirit of Polygnotos, the time had lost its power. Astonishing technical perfection in the illusory imitation of nature, but withal an effect proper to stir the senses rather than the mind, and in the sphere of the mind, an appeal rather to the ingenuities of reason than to the simplicities of emotion,— these were the qualities demanded by the age from art, Apelles met these needs and sentiments to the full, and his own and after ages have rewarded him by making his the most popular name among all the painters of the old world. The greatest of the contemporaries of Apelles was undoubtedly the above- mentioned Protogenes. By birth a Karian or Lykian, Protogenes practised his art in Rhodes. We have already learned some touches of his character, as shown in his relations with Apelles. He is said also to have been very poor, and according to one rather improbable account, to have been a ship's painter, and so in fact a thorough pictor ignotus, up to his fiftieth )'ear, when Apelles recognised and proclaimed the merit of his pictures. The confidence of Proto- genes in his own powers increased ; for when Demetrios made war against Rhodes, the artist not only did not think of moving from his little garden, which was in the midst of the enemies' camp, but went so far as to make answer to the astonished king that he surely was making war against the Rhodians and not against the arts. Demetrios is even said to have refrained from burning the town, to spare a famous picture of the master's which was there. The most celebrated paintings of Protogenes were his lalysos and his Satyr taking rest. lalysos was an ancestral hero in Rhodes ; and as other subjects painted by the master, such as Kydippe the mother of lalysos, and Tlepolemos, are also taken from the heroic legends of the island, it seems prob- able that he painted a whole series from the same cycle. In Athens, he painted a celebrated picture of the Attic heroes Paralos and Hammonias, of which we can form no very clear idea. We are also told of portraits by his hand ; among these was one of the mother of Aristotle. So far, however, was he from following the friendly advice of that philosopher, that he should devote his art to commemorating the campaigns of Alexander, that he only grouped the great Macedonian with Pan in one of his pictures. The lalysos of Protogenes is by far the most frequently mentioned of all his paintings. In this occurred the dog whose foaming mouth the master is said to have got so like nature by throwing a sponge at his picture in desperation. In this too, was the partridge, which though only a piece of secondary detail, so riveted the attention of unprofessional spectators by ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 63 its extraordinar}- realism that the artist, in annoyance, is said to have scraped it out. To reach the highest degree of illusion in detail seems to have been the great aim of this master ; and like the Italians of the fifteenth century, who described such realism as " terrible," so an ancient writer said that he could not look at the realism of Protogenes without a certain shudder, iwti sine qiiodavi horrore}- According to the opinion of the ancients, Protogenes had attained this startling truth of imitation by the most anxious extreme of carefulness. He painted very slowl}' : for years he would sit at the same panel, going over it again and again, partly, as it seems, with the idea of making his work more durable. We discern here an obvious justification of the friendly criticism of Apelles concerning his rival, that this excess of pains robbed his work of charm. We also discern, in the growing love of the age for realism, an obvious reason why Protogenes was placed on a level with the greatest masters of the world. Antiphilos, who has also been mentioned before, was by birth a Hellenistic Egyptian ; he worked at Alexandria, and was a jealous and successful rival of Apelles. He must have been a versatile and skilful painter ; for we learn that he not only painted large historical and mj'thological pictures in tempera, such as a famous Hesione, Hippolytos, Kadmos and ^uropa, Dionysos, Alexander and Philip in the presence of Athene, but also ^^;/r^-pictures, probably encaustic and on a smaller scale, such as a Boy blowing the fire. Women dressing wool, and so forth ; indeed he even tried his strength in caricature proper, by caricaturing a certain Gryllos, with a visible allusion to his name (which means pig) ; from which the whole of such caricatures received in Greek the name of Grylloi. The pictures of Antiphilos seem to have been painted chiefly with a view to specific effects, as for instance the illuminated interior in the picture of the boy blowing the fire. He was especially celebrated for facility. Pliny, however, only ranks him among the first of the second order of i)ainters. We are now already in quite a new world of art — a world which reflects the essential change which has come over the spirit of the time. A still more characteristic representative of the age was Theon of Samos, who was especi- ally distinguished for what the Greeks called phantasies. A Madness of Orestes was among his most famous pictures. What we are to understand by the term phantasies becomes quite clear from an account given by <^lian of a warrior painted by Theon in full armour and in the critical action of attack. He represented him quite alone on the panel, and with so much liveliness that he seemed as if plunging forward out of it. To complete the illusion, Theon never exhibited his picture without first throwing the minds of the spectators into the right key by sounding a shrill flourish of trumpets, and then suddenly drawing the curtain. The principle of illusion which even Protogenes had kept subservient to ends artistic at least, if not sublime like 64 HISTORY OF PAINTING. those of Polygnotos, becomes thus with Theon an end in itself, and art degenerates into legerdemain. To this time also belonged probably Action, whose famous picture of the marriage of Alexander with Roxane we know from a detailed description by Lucian. Painters of the Renaissance have attempted to create this picture anew from the description, and especially Soddoma, in an exquisite work preserved in the Villa Farnese at Rome. As a companion to this we are told of a Marriage of Semiramis from the same hand. The element of luxurious passion in these paintings bespoke the spirit of the Alexandrian time. A female Greek artist called Helena, the daughter of an Egyptian Timon, is also mentioned, but only by one and that not a very trustworthy authority, as having lived at the time of the battle of Issos. She is said to have painted a famous picture in commemoration of that victory. If this account may be trusted, it can scarcely be asserted with greater probability of any Greek painting recorded in ancient literature than of this, that we possess a reproduc- tion of it executed in later days of antiquity. We refer to the famous Pompeian mosaic, to which we shall return below (see pp. 95-97). To this epoch, finally, should be assigned the development of that school of painting in little, of which the representative names are Peiraiikos, Kallikles, and Kalates. The most celebrated of these was Peiraiikos. Pliny says of him, " I do not know whether he, who was behind few in artistic finish, did not purposely condescend to mean subjects ; since in treating such he was the foremost name of all. He painted barbers' shops, cobblers' booths, asses, eatables, and such like, from which he received the surname of rJiypat'ograpJios (that is, rag-and-tatter painter — probably an ironic twist of the term rhopo- grapJios, for toy painter or painter of small and trivial subjects). In these things he attained a finished perfection, so that they were sold for higher prices than the large pictures of many other masters." Peiraiikos must there- fore be regarded as a painter oi genre and still-life. We see, therefore, that about B.C. 300, at the beginning of the Hellenistic age, or age of the DiadocJii, as those kings were called who divided among them the dominions of Alexander, Greek painting had already extended its achieve- ments to almost all conceivable themes with the single exception of landscape. Within the space of a hundred and fifty years the art had passed through every technical stage, from the tinted profile system of Polygnotos to the properly pictorial system of natural scenes enclosed in natural backgrounds, and thence to the system of trick and artifice which aimed at the realism of actual illusion by means beyond the legitimate scope of art. The creative power of Greek painting was as good as exhausted by this series of efforts. In the following centuries the art survived indeed, as a pleasant after-growth, in some of its old seats ; but few artists stand out with strong individuality from among their contemporaries. Only a master here and there ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 65 makes a name for himself. The one of these whom we have here especially to notice is Timomachos of Byzantium, an exception of undeniable importance, since even at this late period of Greek culture he won for himself a world-wide celebrity. According to Pliny, Timomachos was contemporary with Julius Caesar, who paid a large sum for two famous pieces by his hand, an Ajax and a Medea. It has been shown, however, that Pliny probably confused the date of the purchase with that of the artist's career, which must be placed in an earlier century. The Medea about to kill her children, and the Ajax resting from his madness, were the most famous of the master's w^orks, and were most likely pendants. The Medea especially has been not less praised in song and epigram than the Aphrodite of Apelles. An echo of the original perhaps remains to us in certain Pompeian wall-paintings. The Iphigeneia in Tauris and the Gorgon of the same master were also celebrated ; and lastly a fencing master (or whatever character is signified by Pliny's agilitatis exejxitator), and a family portrait piece are mentioned as the work of the master. The chief occupa- tion of his art seems therefore to have been with mythological themes from tragedy. From all that we are told of these paintings, Timomachos must have avoided in them the limitations as well as the defects of many of his renowned forerunners. He seems to have shown a happy tact in choosing the right moment for representation, as when he showed Medea and Ajax not actually engaged in, but the one just before, and the other just after, the act of blood. He knew how also to express with delicacy and depth the characters and emo- tions appropriate to these subjects, so that his works, it seems, may have surpassed in ethical and tragical effect all those even of Zeuxis, Parrhasios, or Apelles. • One branch of art indeed, namely landscape, seems to have first risen into importance at this time of decline in Greek culture. ^^ We can gather with certainty from poetry and literature that it was in the age of the Diadochi that the innate Greek instinct of anthropomorphism, of personifying nature in human forms, from a combination of causes was gradually modified in the direction of an appreciation of natural scenes for their own sake and as they really are. For the first time, therefore, art, which must technically have been well able to cope with the natural representation of landscape ever since the time of Agatharchos, could now apply itself to this task under favourable conditions, and as a pictorial end in itself We have evidence that this actually happened. Vitruvius states that among the ancients (and under this name he includes the Hellenistic Greeks of the age following Alexander) an important part in the art of decorative wall-painting was played by the representation of natural scenes, as harbours, promontories, coasts, rivers, wells, straits, temples, hedges, mountains, flocks and herdsmen, and also " wanderings of Ulysses with land- scape backgrounds," that is to say, scenes taken from the Odyssey of Homer. K 66 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Expressions are also used of several artists of this period — as of Demetrios, an Alexandrian who worked at Rome between B.C. i8o and 150, and Serapion, who worked there about fifty years later — which makes it probable that these artists, who painted no figures, did paint landscapes as well as other scenic representations. No doubt this kind of work, which we shall meet with frequently in our study of existing wall-paintings, was never carried as far as by the moderns ; indeed it seems to have scarcely got beyond the superficial character of decorative work. The artists last named were employed, as we have said, at Rome, though they were of Hellenistic stock. What more the ancient writers tell us of painting in Rome is little enough, but shall be here briefly stated.^* It is an interesting fact that, while all the sculptors of note who worked in Rome betray a Greek origin by their very names, we meet, among the painters who are recorded to have worked there, with Latin names as well as Greek. Painting, which must have flourished during a certain period in Etruria, from whence Rome derived her art before the influx of Greek culture, seems from the first to have found a favourable soil on the banks of the Tiber. Not, how- ever, to exaggerate the aptitude of Rome for this art, we must remember that the names of Roman painters which come to the surface belong, with one exception, to a time when Greek culture already ruled supreme in central Italy ; and that neither among the Roman painters themselves, nor the Greek painters living in Rome, were there any of such renown as to be susceptible of com- parison with the Greek masters above mentioned, from Timomachos upwards. Ancient writers mention a whole series of wall and panel pictures without so much as naming the artists who painted them ; and works of this class, executed in commemoration of historical events, were obviously more prized by the Romans for their subjects than for their artistic merit. The earliest painters mentioned in Rome were Greeks, as for instance the legendary Ekphantos of Corinth, and in historical times, Damophilos and Gor- gasos. Of later Greeks who painted in Rome, the above-named Demetrio^ and Serapion had for contemporaries Dionysios and Sopolis, known as the best portrait-painters in the city ; but Laia or Jaia, a female artist from Kyzikos, earned higher prices for portraits, and was much sought after because of the rapidity and power of her work. Besides these, we have only to notice the Dorotheos whom Nero thought worthy to copy the Anadyomene' of Apelles. The first person of Roman birth mentioned as having exercised the art was a member of the illustrious Fabia gens, who from his profession received the name of Fabius Pictor. His large figure pieces in the temple of Salus. painted in the year A.U.C. 450, were praised for their care, freshness, and simplicity. They are said to have possessed the firm and delicate outline of the ancient, in combination with the brilliant colouring of the later, schools of Greece. The Philistines of Rome seem, however, to have looked askance upon ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 67 Fabius because he made painting his profession. Romans of noble birth gave up, therefore, trying to become artists. Mention is made of one painting by the tragic writer Pacuvius, who thought he could disregard this sentiment in his capacity of poet. It was not till the time of the emperors that all such vulgar prejudices disappeared. But we have little to record except the bare names of most of the Roman painters of this period ; as Turpilius, who painted with his left hand ; Titidius Labeo, the ex-Praetor and Proconsul, who only won contempt with his small and amateur performances ; Q. Pedius, who was put to learn painting because he was dumb, but who died in consequence ; and Amulius, who is described as a serious, severe, and at the same time ilourishing artist. The Roman emperors who practised the arts themselves were of course the merest amateurs. There is only one Roman painter of really great interest ; this is Ludius, as we shall call him according to usage, although the alternative readings Tadius or Studius perhaps deserve the preference. He was a contemporary of Augustus, and Pliny says of him, " Ludius, too, who lived in the age of the divine Augustus, must not be cheated of his fame. He was the first to bring in a singularly delightful fashion of wall-painting ; villas, colonnades, examples of landscape-gardening, woods and sacred groves, reservoirs, straits, rivers, coasts, all according to the heart's desire ; and amidst them pas- sengers of all kinds on foot, in boats, driving in carriages or riding on asses to visit their country properties ; furthermore fishermen, bird-catchers, hunters, vintagers ; or, again, he exhibits stately villas, to which the approach is through a swamp, with men staggering under the weight of the frightened women whom they have bargained to carry on their shoulders ; and many another excellent and entertaining device of the same kind. The same artist also set the fashion of painting views, and that wonderfully cheap, of seaside towns in broad day- light." We may take it as certain that Pliny was mistaken in thinking that Ludius was the Jirs/ to paint this kind of subject. We have already seen that, accord- ing to Vitruvius (a much older writer), " the ancients " had treated subjects exactly similar. That for which we may clearh- give credit to Ludius is for having taken a leading part in introducing, or at least in rc\i\ing, this st)-lc of painting in Rome, and he may also have been the actual inventor of some of those motives in landscape decoration which Pliny mentions but Vitruvius does not, — such as the villa scenes with humorous incidents, and the garden views, of which great numbers have been in fact discovered upon ancient walls in Rome and Pompeii. Ludius is probably the only painter celebrated b\' the ancient writers, an example of wliosc handiwork actual!)- exists. This is the famous wall-painting of Prima Porta in Rome, representing the entire plan of a garden on all the four walls of a room. Now, as this kind of garden piece is emphatic- ally attributed to Ludius by riin\', — as, further, the saloon in cjuestion was part of a villa which belonged U> the Imperial fainil}' in his time, and would 68 HISTORY OF PAINTING. doubtless therefore have been put into the hands of the decorator in most repute, — and lastly, as the technical finish of the work surpasses that of all other existing antique wall-paintings, — the opinion advanced by Brunn, that it is from the hand of Ludius himself, must not hastily be set aside. However that may be, we must remember that the landscapes of this master were but decorative w'ork, the only half-artistic superficiality of which Pliny practically admits when he goes on to contrast with the reputation won by workers like Ludius, that of the true masters who painted not on wall, but on panel according to the wisdom of the ancients. We hear of no famous painters more in the late time of the Empire. The creative power of art was declining throughout the Greco-Roman world. Never- theless, we find detailed descriptions of paintings among the works of the rhetoricians of the Empire much oftener than in earlier writers. So far as these descriptions concern particular paintings of celebrated old masters, we have already made use of them in our narrative. But most of the works described by the rhetorical writers are purely anonymous, indeed in many cases it is clear that the picture has been invented by the man of letters as a peg whereon to hang his eloquence. The chief descriptions of paintings belonging to this age of literature are those which were published as separate works by Philostratus the elder and Philostratus the younger, contemporaries of Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and their successors. Some scholars believe ever}'thing described by the two Philostrati to be pure invention, others hold that such paintings really existed, and bring them forward categorically to illustrate the ancient notices of painters and their works.^'' The belief of the present writer is that there are no grounds for doubting the real existence of the works of art detailed by these writers, or at least of the picture gallery at Naples described b}' Philostratus the elder. But I think it impossible to trace, in the anonymous works composing the galleries of which we read in these pages, copies of those masterpieces by great artists of which the bare names are elsewhere recorded, least of all, of masterpieces of the schools before Alexander, We must, on the whole, take the descriptions of Philostratus merely as interesting evidences of the condition of Greco-Roman painting in the late age in which they were written. They contain, indeed, many indications of a decline in the art. The subjects include some of nearly all classes with which we have above made ourselves acquainted. But the softer, the amorous elements tend to predominate, and landscape backgrounds, or subjects which are no more than mere incidents in a landscape, play a greater part than we can suppose to have been the case in the true classical painting of the Greeks. Be this as it ma)', the study of these descriptions — a study which attracted Goethe, but upon which we must not here enter in detail — will always be fruitful towards our understanding of the painting of the ancients. If the above is the general view of the development and characteristics of Greek and Roman painting which we derive from a consideration of written ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 69 notices alone, how much will that view gain in clearness and completeness by a stud}- of the actual works which still exist. These we shall consider in the next chapter. But, as has been said before, we must be cautious how wc use them for reconstructing to the mind's eye individual masterpieces of renown, since our remains one and all belong not to the highest sphere of art, but to the sphere of daily handicraft ; and since, moreover, even those which seem at first sight the most important have all been found on Italian soil, and the great majoritx' at least belong to an age of decadence. Finally, the limits of our survey must be kept in proportion to the space at our command, as well as to the relative importance of the material in a general Histor}- of Painting. CHAPTER III. EXISTING REMAINS — VASE PAINTINGS. Figured vases ; their place in ancient sepulchral furniture — Their number, origin, and forms — Earliest or so- called Pelasgic ware — Orientalising ware — Introduction of human figures ; the Dodwell vase — The Fran(^ois vase — The regular archaic or black-figured style — Characters of this ware: the "strong" style — Question between true archaic and pseudo-archaic examples — Subjects represented on vases of this class — Black-figured gradually superseded by red-figured ware — Development of the red-figured style from severity to decline — Question whether red-figured vases were originally polychrome — Technical process of vase-painting in this style — Relation of the designs to the works of contemporary painting — Subjects of the designs — Athenian funeral vases painted in colours on a white ground — Post- Alexandrian vases; the ''rich" or "Apulian" style in Lower Italy — Subjects and character of Apulian vases — Extinction of the art of vase-painting. By a touching instinct of piety, the ancients loved to make the tombs of their dead into copies, as comfortable as possible, of the dwellings of the living. Hence the custom of laying beside departed friends in their graves the weapons, clothes, ornaments, and utensils that had belonged to them in life. Among such sepulchral furniture, vases of painted earthenware have been brought to light in great numbers in many parts of Greece and Italy. The designs figured on such vases are among the most important of our materials for the history of ancient art, more especially of painting, though it must always be borne in mind that they are works, not of high art, but only of comparatively humble decorative industr}'.^^ The number of such figured vases, of all sizes and shapes, which are by this time distributed among the various museums of Europe, may be reckoned as twenty thousand at least, and this number implies a corresponding variety in the subjects of mythology and daily life which adorn them. The importance of vase-painting depends, indeed, partly on this very variety of subject, partly on the fact that the examples preserved enable us to follow the development of the art, in an almost unbroken chronological order, through its several stages from prae-Homeric days down to its expiration in the second century before Christ. The forms of these vases, the style and subjects of their painted decora- tions, still more the inscriptions which occur on many of them, leave no doubt as to their Hellenic origin — an origin which is moreover confirmed in great part by the sites where they have been found. Vast quantities have, indeed, come to light in Etruria, and a few in other non-Hellenic districts ; but of those excavated in Etruria, the majority are identical in character with others ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 71 found in Greece itself, and were evidently imported thence ; while a smaller class bespeak not less evidently the attempts of native Etruscan industries to enter into competition with Greek. The examples of such competition which have come down to us are neither rare nor hard to recognise, and the)- prove that the result of the experiment was not happy. We can only concern our- selves here with the vase-paintings, — and thc)- are in truth a vast majority among the whole, — which were really executed in Greek workshops. The lover of art takes as much delight in the forms of these vases as in their painted decorations ; indeed the decoration is always so strictly adapted to the form that it cannot be properly understood, at least so far as concerns its system of border lines and distribution on the curved surface, except in con- nection with laws of constructional form. In this place we can hardly dwell on such questions of technical principle, but have rather to do with the figured designs on the vases simply as such. It is only within the last few years that a certain kind of ware has been recognised as the most ancient of all, and ascribed to the so-called Pelasgic, prse-Hellenic, or prae-Homeric period, a period as yet untouched by oriental influences.^" Ware of this kind has been found at many sites of the ancient Greek world, and chiefly in the tombs of Attica. The colour of the clay is a light reddish' yellow, and the paintings on it of a uniform dark brown. Figures of any kind, when they occur at all, are entirely subordinate to ornament ; but the vases of this period arc in fact commonly quite covered with simple rows of geometrical patterns and abstract linear arrangements of the kind which seem to be the common property of all primitive races, as zigzags, chequers, circles, dots, and so forth. Occasionally this symmetrically disposed network of merely linear ornament leaves spaces or bands free for the introduction of figures or animals. None but domestic animals and European game occur ; the panther and lion of the East have not yet made their appearance. Among human subjects mythology finds no place, but only scenes from real life, as processions, funerals, sea-fights, reflecting the primitive manners and customs of these coast populations. Everything is simply treated in silhouette, or indeed in a style which can hardly be dignified with the name of silhouette, so childish and rude seem these primitive attempts of Greek painting (Fig. 10). It must not, however, be taken for granted that all vases in this style really date from the times which we call pra^-Homeric. It is the style it.self which in its first inception we attribute to this period, and not each particular example ; since the productions of evcr}--day handicraft may cling for centuries to a traditional system of decoration, while the works of serious art have changed their character with the progress of the times. If the vases of which we have just spoken may be ascribed to a prae- Homeric age, those of the second period may be regarded as belonging to about the supposed age of Homer. They are easily distinguished from the first, in 72 HISTORY OF PAINTING. contrast with which they exhibit, as is proved by a direct comparison with examples of Assyrio-Babylonian ware, unmistakable marks of Oriental influence. In this class also the decorations encircle the vase in tiers or bands ; but the designs now employed belong almost exclusively to the order of conventionally treated animal or vegetable forms. The animals are arranged in rows as in a frieze, and the Asiatic lion and tiger, with fantastic sphinxes, griffins, and sirens, fill almost as conspicuous a place as stags, goats, swans, and other domestic creatures. The vegetable forms, which occur interchangeably with these regular rows of conventionalised animals, are turned in like manner into formal patterns. Thus the palm tree becomes the palmetto ornament, as we see Fig. lo. it also in Persian reliefs ; a flower cup, looked at from above, takes the shape of a rosette, and from one side, that of a fantastic floral pattern. The empty spaces in the animal friezes are filled in according to fancy with rosettes and crosses. The decorative workman in this style has a positive horror of empty spaces. The whole vase must be evenly studded with ornaments painted in dark brown, broken occasionally with white and violet, and relieved on the light yellow ground of the clay. The total effect is generally harmonious. Human figures scarcely appear on the vases which belong in strictness to this Orientalising class, but begin to make their appearance on examples of a somewhat later kind, which mark a transition from this to a more developed style of art. The most characteristic example of such transitional work is the famous Dodwell vase of the Munich collection, of which the body, it is true, only bears rows of animals in the Oriental style above described, but the cover ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 73 is adorned with a hunting scene, and even shows inscriptions in a very ancient form of alphabet (Fig. i i). The manufacture, it is plain, did not stand still between those most primitive periods of all, with their strongly-marked charac- teristics, and the much later ages to which belong the great mass of vases in our collections, whether painted with black figures on red, or with red figures on black. At various sites, specimens have been found which evidently date from one period or another, though from which cannot be exactly determined, within this long interval. The transition was a gradual one, and it would carry us too far to attempt here to trace it in detail. ^^ To the subsequent development of the art belong those numberless vases which lead us down from about the time of the Persian wars to about the time of Alexander the Great. These are painted at first with black figures on a red ground, and subsequently with red figures on a black ground. Fig. II. The normal manner of the black-figured period is preceded by examples of a still severer archaism. This phase is represented at its richest in the splendid vase which is known as the Francois vase, after its finder and first possessor, and is now the gem of the Florence collection. The multitu- dinous figure subjects, which make of this vase a complete picture-book of epic mythology, are here again arranged in horizontal tiers. The principal subject on one of the centre bands is the procession of the gods to the marriage of the sea-goddess Thetis with Peleus. On the neck are depicted the chariot-races ordained by Achilles at the funeral games in honour of his friend Patroklos. The personages are everywhere identified by careful inscriptions, which in this style take the place of the rosettes and stars of the Oriental style in helping to fill and decorate the field. The general effect of the vase as a piece of decora- tive workmanship is good, but taken in detail the style of painting is still very uncouth ; the actions sometimes too vehement and sometimes too stiff; and as a matter of course all the deficiencies a.ssert themselves here which we shall indicate more particularly in speaking of the next, the regular black-figured class of ware. But in the faithful and careful execution of the whole, we recognise L 74 HISTORY OF PAINTING. the signs of a keen artistic feeling. The makers have thought it worth while to put their names to the work, and the potter who fashioned the vase signs him- self Ergotimos, the painter who decorated it, Kleitias. The form of letters used in the inscriptions belongs to the alphabet which became obsolete in the 8oth Olympiad. The workmanship cannot be assigned to a later date than B.C. 500. Next in order come the black-figured vases of the archaic, early rigid, or, . as it is sometimes called in English, the strong style. (It would be more correct to speak of this as the " oligochrome " than as the " black-figured " style, since in fact it employs several colours, though few.) The vases of this style (except so far as they may be products of later imitative work) were manufactured from about B.C. 500 till towards the days of the Peloponnesian war, then to give place in their turn to the almost exclusive prevalence of the red-figured style. They are in part, therefore, contemporary with the work of the great painters Polygnotos, Mikon, and their group, but according to the natural tendency of a mere ornamental industry to lag behind the progress of the higher forms of art, it was a long w^iile before the vase-painters turned to account the conquests achieved by those famous masters. Inscriptions bearing the names of the painters are found on many vases of this style. Among those of most esteem we may reckon Exekias, Amasis, Xenokles, In point of technical skill, the black-figured vases which belong to the genuine archaic style are very perfect examples of the potter's art. The natural pale tint of the clay is heightened by painting to a lively yellowish red, upon which the deep black colour and lustrous varnish employed for the figured decorations throw themselves up in vigorous relief The painter was accustomed to incise the outlines of his figures on the clay ground with a sharp tool ; having next filled in with black the outlines thus traced, he would again incise with a pointed instrument the inner lines and markings of the figure, which naturally had to show white upon the black (Fig. 1 2). But the artist was by no means satisfied with this effect alone. Attempts were made to compass variety of colour, although such attempts did not — and indeed could not so long as black was the prevailing colour of the design — get beyond a very limited and conventional scale. The additional colours used were white and a dark red. The naked parts of the female figures were painted white, whereby they were at once distinguished from the invariably black figures of the male personages. Horses were either white or black ; fruit upon the tree was painted white ; red served to define clearly all manner of details, such as hair, crests of helmets, manes, the variegated pattern or border on a garment, and so forth. Nor was the difference between black and white the only means adopted to distinguish male from female personages. A conventional difference was adopted in the treatment of the eyes ; those of men being drawn round, with two little strokes at the sides, and those of women long and almond-shaped, and ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 75 set as if seen in front, although the face was drawn in profile. Attempts made to give a front view of the whole face generally failed. Under such conditions anything like expression or pla\- of feature was still, of course, out of the question. The cast of draper)-, too, is still quite undeveloped ; garments, for the most part, hang straight like sacks, or cling smoothly to the outlines of the figure ; the plan of rigid symmetrical folds was not adopted until the early days of the next or red-figured style in vase-painting. Fig. 12. Moreover, the conception of the nude is in the work of this period more or less conventional. The body is on the whole meagre, often to such a point that the abdomen disappears ; on the other hand the shoulders, hips, and thighs project powerfully. To this conception of form corresponds a kindred conception of action. In motives expressive of repose the design seems rigid and uncouth, in those expressive of action harsh and violent. The compositions on these vases have more freedom than those on the very earliest kinds, but they are still treated in the spirit of relief or silhouette, and are as far as possible from being pictorial. So little trace do they show of any attempt at natural and definite background, such as had been intro- duced in the art of the regular painters on wood since Apollodoros, that all local features are reduced to mere symbolic indications. The groups are very simple, and similar motives are repeated to represent different subjects. The majority of the vase-paintings of this period represent an art which has not yet reached the standard, or turned to account the improvements, of Kimon of Kleonai, but has stopped about the point which we may suppose to have been attained by Eumaros (see above, p. 39). I'or the rest, it must be noted that 76 HISTORY OF PAINTING. we find within this class work of very various degrees of excellence. The best examples, with all their awkwardnesses, exhibit a certain freshness and direct- ness of conception, a loving solicitude in the execution, and a thoughtful observation of life. The worst are mere daubings, and daubings of the most crude and careless kind. In this connection we must not leave quite unnoticed an important but difficult question which has been lately raised. It used always to be assumed as self- evident that the great majority of the vases of the severe style with black figures were original works of the fifth century B.C., and only a few were supposed to betray the intentional imitation of the early style by the workmen of a much later period. But a great authority. Professor Brunn, has recently endeavoured to prove that the real proportion which subsists between the genuine and the imitative work in this style is the reverse of that hitherto supposed. In his view the great majority of such vases discovered in Etruria are not genuine works of the fifth century at all, but imitations fabricated for the express purpose of exportation in the second and third centuries B.C. Etruria, however, is in fact the region where the great majority of all the vases of this style have been excavated. At the same time, even the best that have been found there show a great inferiority to some of the same style discovered at Athens itself; and Professor Brunn has supported his views with so many arguments drawn from style, palaeography, and history, that they may well gain an increasing number of adherents. If now we consider the subjects which are represented on vases of this class, and which, even if we follow . Brunn's view, we must suppose the imitators of the archaic style to have adopted, along with their general principles of design, from the genuine works of that style — if now we consider these, we cannot fail to be astonished at their richness and multiplicity. Their range embraces nearly the whole spiritual and physical life of Hellas. At the same time, it is easy to detect a preference for certain special themes over others. Among gods, Dionysos is most frequently represented, either marching with his frenzied train, or reposing beneath a bower of vines (in this kind of Dionysiac vase, let us observe by the way, it is common to find branches laden with grapes or other fruits so trailed over the field as to fill up all vacant spaces). Among heroes, the chief part belongs to Herakles. At the same time vases of this kind, on the one part, both set before us often enough representations of the other Olympian gods, sometimes in relations which we can hardly explain from want of acquaintance with particular forms of worship, and, on the other, furnish a complete mirror of the heroic world of Greece as that world had been bodied forth in epic poetry. And the plain narrative character which belongs to the epic style is always preserved in these pictures. Finally, other vases of this period exhibit the daily life of the Greeks, now in its earnestness and discipline, now in its joyousness and abandonment. The gymnastic exer- ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 77 cises of youth, games and contests of all kinds, and anon also marriages, feastings, jovial drinking-parties, groups of men hunting, groups of women at the toilet or the bath, musical exercises of the young, and so forth — all these we find depicted. In a word, these wares are the product of a time and of circumstances when a flourishing school of painting occupied itself with all that can offer an artistic interest to man ; and of that school the vase-painters have handed us down a humble reflection. After the class of vases in which black is the prevailing colour of the figures, there follows, still as the product of the same school of design which we are Fig- 13- discussing, the other and more numerous class in u hich the entire ground is painted black, while the figures, for which space has been reserved in laying this ground, present themselves wholly in the natural red colour of the clay, with their inner markings drawn in black lines (Fig. i 3). This style, however, does not suddenly supersede the earlier one. There was a period when vases of both kinds were made together ; in fact thore exist specimens decorated on one side with red figures on a black ground and on the other side with black figures on a red ground. It has, indeed, been proved that the later or red-figured style had been introduced in fictile art as early as the Persian wars. But it was only after the beginning of the Pcloi)onnesian war that the red-figured manufacture entirely superseded that with black figures, which remained in abeyance until a deliber- ate revival undertook to su])piy wares in imitation of the older st\-Ic to suit the 78 HISTORY OF PAINTING. taste of foreign customers. Among the potters whose vases we find decorated sometimes with red and sometimes with black figures, we may quote the names of Nikosthenes and Panphios, and as leading manufacturers of the red-figured kind alone, those of Duris, Epiktetos, and Euphroneos. These red-figured vases afford us examples of a progress from archaic rigidity through all stages of the development of the Hellenic and Hel- Fig. 14. lenistic styles of design. The earliest exhibit a thoroughly harsh and rigid style of drawing, a stiff formality in the cast of drapery, a conventional treatment of the hair, and that forced and strained vehemence of action which bespeaks the effort after a freedom not yet attained. Gradually, however, the style advances towards real freedom, acquiring more life and at the same time more repose. The faces gain expression, the draperies a noble flow, the bodies beautiful proportions, the movements a harmonious rhythm. The artist succeeds in representing heads and limbs correctly from the most varied points of view, and with foreshortenings that grow bolder as time goes on. For a while also there reigns along w^ith these improvements that solemn earnestness of conception which is the special mark of the highest style. Vases of this kind are calculated to give us an idea of the manner of Polygnotos. ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 79 By and by there appears an element of increased grace and freedom, and we find vase pictures which belong in every respect to the most complete and beautiful examples of design which have been produced under the conditions proper to this art (Fig. 14). At last, in the course of the fourth century B.C., freedom degenerates into a pursuit of effects attractive rather than dignified. Charm, however, with purity of form, continues long to attend upon this style, which only begins after the age of Alexander to exhibit those negligences which are the symptoms of decline. It is true that the greater part of those red-figured vases of the early or strong st}-le, which have been found not in Greece itself but in Etruria, bear marks of carelessness not easy to account for in the work of the early period. Mence Brunn's supposition that they are not really original works of the fifth centur\', but deliberate repetitions of the style of that century, fabricated in a later age ; a supposition which is naturally supported by the same arguments which apply to vases of the black-figured class. With reference to the vases with red figures, another question of much importance has lately been raised.^^ It has been contended that the pictures which now appear in the red colour of the clay on a black ground \\ere all originally painted with a diversity of hues, and that pigments, of which traces are still here and there to be found in greater or less quantity, have in the course of time either flaked off or otherwise disappeared from the surface of the great majority of vases of this class. Evidently this view, if it could be established, would completely alter our idea of the aspect originalh' borne by this kind of ware ; but the theory is one which will hardly find accepiance to the extent which it claims. What is really certain is, that in the time of the free development of the art, the Greeks did paint a certain order of vases in diverse colours on the black ground. Sometimes a rich gilding was added to heighten their ornamental effect. This kind of ornamentation with gold and colours is perhaps best preserved on some vases found at Kertch and now in the collection at St. Petersburg ; but these are by no means the only cases in which signs of an original polychrome treatment arc to be discerned. It is certain, furthermore, that there is a specific class of wares (to which wc shall presently return) having their ground laid in white pipeclay instead of the usual black, and that for the decoration of these vases, which in some early examples still exhibit figures drawn in black, a polychrome treatment came very soon to be employed. But, lastly, it is not less certain that the over- whelming majority of vase-pictures with red figures on a black ground show no traces of having originally been decorated according to any complete poh'- chrome system at all. The only variety of colour is obtained by the use of white and dark red, employed in the same way, only much more sparingly, as upon the black-figured vases ; but the majority of the class now under discus- sion, including the finest examples, fail to show even such slight applications 8o HISTORY OF PAINTING. of colour as this. In face of plain appearances it is impossible to regard the matter as one admitting of question. The following was the process employed in producing these pictures. The design was first sketched on the surface of the still unbaked vessel ; the inner markings, lines, and hatchings, being put in with a pen, the masses of dark, in hair, ornaments, and so forth, with a brush. Next, all the spaces between the figures were filled in with black, which the painter laid on with a full brush, working from the outlines of the figures outwards. It is next these outlines that the colour lies thickest. Where black hair or other masses of dark form part of the design of the figures, it was necessary to leave a margin of the colour of the clay in order to detach such masses from the black of the ground. After all this came the firing. We have said that the red-figured vases of the style which combines severity with beauty may be supposed to give us an idea of the manner and design of Polygnotos. From this point onwards the art of vase-painting ceases to exhibit a progress parallel with the progress of the higher order of painting. Apollodoros had already painted pictures with determinate backgrounds, and had been followed and surpassed by Zeuxis and Parrhasios. But vase-painting never adopted this reform. Its pre-occupation at this particular period was rather the pursuit of an extreme simplicity, inasmuch as the finest of the red figures often detach themselves in complete isolation, almost as if floating in air, from the plain black ground which covers the body of the vase. There is no essential difference between the range of subjects illustrated in the paintings of the red-figured vases down to the days of Alexander, and that which had prevailed in those with black figures ; there is only an increasing richness and multifariousness. All the conceptions of mythology were turned to account, and latterly sometimes in versions to which tragic poetry had first given currency. But historical scenes were also represented, as, for instance, Croesus on the funeral pile, which we find on a beautiful vase of the severe style (Fig. I 5). Daily life, too, furnished now as in the previous period an endless abundance of motives ; neither is the licentious element absent. But in the finest examples the endeavour of the artist has been to compass charm through simplicity ; the design consists often of no more than a single figu'-e or a pair of figures, and the ornamental borders and patterns are also much simplified in comparison with those of earlier periods. A special class of Athenian vases of this period consists of those painted in various colours on a white ground. Most of them are in the shape of lekythi (XrjKvdoi) or slender oil jars ; they are very various in size, and have been found principally in tombs at Athens. These white Athenian lek\thi seem to have been manufactured especially for the service of the dead, since the subjects depicted on them refer exclusively to death. Most commonly the\^ show the stele, or memorial column of the dead, beside a mound which is ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 8i often overgrown with brushwood, and the kindred of the deceased adorning the column from either hand with garlands. But often too Charon, the ferry- man of the under world, is depicted with his boat, in which case the water and the rushes are added as well. Generally speaking, the style of design is more Fig. 15. pictorial in this than in other classes of vase-painting, and shows more decidedly the influence of the higher art of the time ; characteristics to which the white ground would naturally be more favourable than the black. Nevertheless in this style, too, the outlines have been drawn with the pen before they were filled in with colours. But in the colours themselves there is considerable varict)'. It is sometimes said that blue occurs less commonly than red, but that is only because the red i)ignicnt possesses the quality of incorporating M 82 HISTORY OF PAINTING. itself with the prepared ground of the clay more firmly and therefore more lastingly than the blue. After the time of Alexander the Great, the whole civilisation, and with the civilisation the art, of Greece took another direction. The great days of Athens had gone by. The work of the Athenian vase -painters was for the future chiefly limited to copying designs of an earlier style for export to Etruria. In Lower Italy, on the other hand, the art struck out an independent Fig. 1 6. career, especially in Apulia ; whence the general name " Apulian " is some- times given to the wares of this late style, which is also known as the " rich " style. The vases of this South-Italian manufacture on the one hand bespeak clearly the inspirations of the Hellenistic age, and on the other show a certain admixture of elements more distinctively national and Italic. At the same time they are properly described as Greek, since they are the work either of the Hellenic populations in Lower Italy or of native populations Hellenised. The vases of this class, of which the richest collection is naturally that in the museum at Naples, are commonly of imposing size, and covered with a very rich system of ornamentation. The figure subjects are often again arranged in rows as in the oldest ware, and rich wreaths of vegetable ornament cover the neck and handles. There are many links of resemblance between the style proper to this new international Hellenism and the old Orientalising ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. ^3 style; even the old habit of filling empty spaces with rosettes now recurs The whole impression is meant to be gay and splendid, but to us seems in most cases overloaded. Fig. 17. The subjects represented on these rich vases are again connected with the service of the dead ; but the memorial structure, which forms the central point of the picture, is here seldom a simple s^r/c, but more commonly a rich temple- like building or heroon, around which the friends of the deceased arc intro- duced in numbers and grouped with pictorial freedom (Fig. 1 7). The most frequent scenes, however, in this style are scenes from heroic legend, and among these the myths in which most figures come into action are preferred. The underworld appears under various aspects ; sometimes the palace of Hades and Persephone forms the central feature of the design ; sometimes the chief prominence is given to the tale of Orpheus, and Herakles leading off the three- headed hound of hell is seldom absent. Among the favourite subjects on this class of vases are also battles of Greeks against Amazons and Centaurs. Of the heroic myths properly so-called, this style treats chiefly those handled in later tragedy, especially by Euripides ; a preference which is in direct contrast to 84 HISTORY OF PAINTING. that of the old black-figured style, which drew its subjects chiefly from epic poetry. Thus Iphigeneia, Paris, Kadmos, Qiidipus, Medea, Pelops, play leading parts in the pictures on the Apulian ware ; the Judgment of Paris, which occurs on vases of all styles alike, is also a common subject now. A great predilection Fig. i8. is shown for the personified powers of nature. Pompous scenes of sunrise set before us anthropomorphic representations of natural phenomena, which are unique of their kind. So also the mythic company of the divinities both of sea and land receive rich and various treatment. Among themes of mere humanity, love scenes occur most commonly, and luxuriance is, as a rule, the character of the subjects chosen in this style as it is of their mode of treat- ment. The great groups which form the leading compositions on these vases are very differently arranged from those of all earlier periods. A stately colonnaded building usually forms the centre of the design, and round about it numbers of figures are grouped right and left, above and below. The multitude of the figures in these compositions is indeed astonishing. When the personages proper to the story are not enough to fill the space, the artist invents supernumerary figures at discretion. Inscriptions added to these often ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 85 enable us to recognise them as personifications such as were popular at this time, but often also, in the absence of such inscriptions, they are ver}' difficult to identify. In the arrangement of the figures, those placed below are meant to be considered as in front, and those above as behind — an intention, however, which is not carried out by any diminution of the upper figures in perspective. The different places of the scene are indicated b)' ground lines, from which grasses, herbs, or flowers, are often represented as springing. Such lines, again, are frequently replaced by rows of white or yellow dots, between which stones and rocks are scattered according to the requirements of the scene. In such particulars the older style of vase-painting, w^hich worked in simple profile, had often had to employ modes of compromise with the pictorial principles of the easel-painters, of which the effect was curious enough ; but in this late ware it is certain that the designers renounced complete pictorial perspective only in the just interests of the decorative laws imposed upon them by the form of the vase and the constructive necessities of the case. The treatment of the figure in this style is free to the point of arbitrariness, the forms, as a rule, too soft and flaccid for refinement, and not unfrequently disfigured by false drawing. An extreme facility of hand is universal. A love of the subtle and far-fetched betrays itself in variety of posture, often accompanied with skilful foreshortening, as well as in fanciful and richly embroidered draperies which remind us of theatrical costumes and were often in fact copied from them. We discern everywhere a striving after effects and surprises. In this, as in the previous style, vases are commonly painted with a black ground, the figures being left the colour of the clay. But the effect is also heightened with the addition of other colours, although these, when they are restricted, as usually happens, to shaded work in white, yellow, brown, and especially in red, blend harmoniously with the dominant colour of the clay ground and do not look too bright or various. Bright and various colours, including even blue and green, do, however, in occasional instances occur in this style. Among masters of the style may be mentioned the names of Assteas, Lasimos, and Python. Vases of this latest character may be traced down to about B.C. 65. The manufacture of painted vases then disappears. The Romans did not encourage it. But the art had lasted long enough to give us a faithful reflec- tion, if only with the imperfections proper to a humble industry, of the graphic arts of Greece in the several phases of their history. CHAPTER IV. EXISTING REMAINS CONTINUED — MISCELLANEOUS. Engraved Bronzes —Toilet-cases and mirrors — Their origin; examples of mirrors found in Greece Cistas or toilet-cases found at Prseneste — The Ficoroni cista — Designs on Etruscan mirrors ; their artistic character ; their subjects — Mosaic ; invention and first application of the art — Mosaic patterns and mosaic pictures ; examples of both found in various regions — Date of the first mosaic pictures ; the oikos asaratos of Sosos — The Capitoline Doves — Rarity of mosaics applied to wall-decoration ; their frequency as applied to pavement decoration ; examples — The battle of Issos from the Casa del Faicno, Pompeii, probably after a painting by Helena of Alexandria — The Nile mosaic at Palestrina — Landscape mosaics and other miscellaneous examples — Paintings on Stone ; these the only remaining easel-pictures of antiquity — Paintings in red outline on stone from Pompeii — The Niobe of Pompeii — The so-called Muse of Cortona — The Amazon sarcophagus of Cometo — Miniatures : the name given to all illustra- tions of MSS. — Preserved examples belong exclusively to the decadence — The Milan Homer — Two A'irgils at the Vatican— MSS. of Terence at the Vatican, Paris, and Oxford— MS. of Nikander at Paris. I. Engraved Bronzes. — In studying the painted vases of the ancients, we had to consider examples coming from widely scattered sites. On the other hand, the products of the industry with which we have next to deal come for the most part from a comparatively limited region : we mean those examples of bronze ware of which the surface is ornamented with in- cised outline designs. These works of the graving tool, which the Italians call graffiti, may be regarded as the forerunners of the modern art of metal engrav- ing. The objects so decorated, with which we have chiefly to deal, are of two kinds — viz. (i) Toilet-cases; these are now commonly known simply as cistcE, but used to be called mystic cistae, because erroneously supposed to have been intended for use in the mysteries ; and (2) Mirrors, which by a similar error were formerly taken to be sacrificial plates. Every one now acknowledges the true cli^racter of such objects as being no more than respectively ordinary dressing or jewel cases and mirrors. The greater part of these engraved objects in bronze have been found in central Italy, partly in Etruria and partly in Latium. They were formerly supposed to be almost unknown in Greece. So recent a scholar as Gerhard could express his surprise that mirrors of Greek origin had been found possess- ing the utmost beauty of form, and with their handles most artistically wrought, but none with designs engraved upon their surfaces. Later dis- coveries have invalidated this view. One example from Greek soil has been known for some time, in the shape of a bronze disk found in the island of -^gina and now in the museum at Berlin ; this is engraved in the severe ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. S? archaic style with figures of young men engaged in athletic exercises. A re- markable disk adorned with the same subject, found in Sicily and now in the British Museum, has lately been made extremely well known (Fig. 19). In this example we find on the one side a }-outh with the halteres, or weights used in jumping, and on the other side a similar youth with a javelin, both drawn in a good archaic style which we may refer to the fifth century B.C. To these examples others of the same kind attach themselves.-^ Moreover, we have Fig. 19. quite lately become acquainted with a special but not numerous class of mirrors, found for the most part in Corinth, and engraved with designs of a character genuinely and unmistakably Greek. The earliest known of these represents two veiled women; on the second appears the genius of cock-fighting ; on a third the figure of a female Bacchant. On the other hand, a mirror lately discovered in Crete shows a winged genius of less purely Greek aspect (Fig. 20). Having said thus much of these examples of pure Greek metal-engraving — examples few indeed, as yet, but of the utmost importance as proving that the Greeks took the lead in this as in other branches of art — we have now to turn to the works of the same class discovered in Italian soil. These cannot indeed be compared with the Greek works in freshness and originality of style, but they have been found in much greater numbers, and have been longer and better known. 88 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Let us take first the engraved metal caskets of the kind commonly known as Praenestine cistas, because they have been found for the most part at Prjeneste, the modern Palestrina."^ It has been supposed that the scenes repre- sented upon them were originally picked out in various colours within their incised outlines, but this conjecture is not borne out either by their appearance or by the condition in which they were found. It is more conceivable that the F\ . j,qi or background, that the several figures are kept almost clear of one another on the same plane, and their contours arc only very occasionally allowed to cross or overlap. In spite of this, every group is instinct with fire and spirit, and the forms and expressions belong to a period of completely developed artistic freedom. That symmetrical formality of composition is evidently chosen de- liberately, because it seemed suitable for the decorative purpose of the work. The colouring is of a corresponding character. The figures on the sides stand out on a lilac ground, those at the two ends on a ground of black ; their colours are simple, but brilliant and of an enchanting harmony.^^ The place of discovery of this sarcophagus, and the Etruscan character of its inscriptions, leave no doubt that it is a work of native art-industry. Although the influence of Greek feeling is perceptible in every line, there is scarcely any ground for ascribing the execution to a Greek hand. We may regard these pictures, which no one can look at without wonder and admira- tion, as the most perfect examples that have come down to us of Etruscan painting penetrated through and through by the Greek spirit. Their date may be set down as the third century B.C. IV, Miniatures. — Under the title of miniatures the history of art under- stands all illustrations of manuscripts. That this branch of art, so nearly related to caligraphy. is ver}' ancient, we have learnt from the instance of Egyptian papyrus rolls already noticed. Similar illustrations to the text of manuscripts were known to the scribes of the Greco-Roman world. We know that doctors and architects were in the habit of adding explanatory illustrations to their scientific works, and that Marcus Varro, for instance, adorned his great biogra- phical work, the Imagines, with seven hundred portraits of Greek and Roman celebrities. The only classic miniatures which now exist have their origin in the de- cadence of Greco-Roman art. As this is not the place to speak of Christian manuscripts, even when they belong to the period and the artistic tradition with which we are properly concerned, we have only to mention briefly the most im- portant existing illustrations of Greek and Roman poetical works. The most purely classical forms and motives are those which we find in the set of fifty-eight miniatures cut from a lost manuscript of the Iliad, whicli probably dated from the fourth or fifth century a.D., and is preserved in the Ambrosian Library at Milan.*^ The illustrations follow the text from the first book to the last. The compositions are feebly distributed amongst the land- scape backgrounds, which are often wide and scattered. The single forms and the actions are also crude and awkward, but the draperies are still treated in a completely antique manner, and the broad full colouring shows the remains of true pictorial feeling. Next to these examples may be placed those of an approximately con- temporary period, the codex 3225 of Virgil in the Vatican containing fifty UWraSlTY OF CALIFCRWIA ip2, HISTORY OF PAINTING. ' ' ' pictures illustrating partly the Bucolics and Georgics and partly the yEneid. In some of these landscape bears the chief part. The figures are stunted, the heads expressionless with large staring eyes. The colouring is thickly laid on, and the high lights put in with gold. A much later manuscript of Virgil in the Vatican Library is another numbered z'^^7. It contains sixteen paintings which even in the costumes already betray influences of the Middle Age ; the drawing is bad and devoid of character.^* On the other hand, the manuscript of Terence in the Vatican Library is famous. At the beginning of each play there is a painting of masks set up in rows under a portico sustained by two columns, but various scenes of the action are depicted in illustrations let into the text. The names are written over the personages. These pictures are considered to be imitations, done in the ninth century, of classical Roman originals. The Terence of the BibliotJieqiie Nationale at Paris is scarcely later.^^ But even the miniatures of a twelfth century manu- script of the same author in the Bodleian at Oxford still show repetitions of earlier motives with a touch of mediaeval character. The miniatures of a Nicander preserved in the BibliotJieqtie Nationale are held on the other hand to be copies after originals of the third and fourth centuries.^^ Little as such works as these may satisfy the fastidious eye of a period rich in works of mature art, they have nevertheless a great historical interest as representing the last offshoots of the artistic practice of antiquity. CHAPTER V. Existing Remains concluded — Mural Paintings. Mural paintings in general — Etruria — The archaic period — Contending native and Greek influences — Ex- amples at Veil, Ccere, Corneto, and Chiusi ; extending probably from the sixth to the fourth Century B.C. — Free period ; third Century K.c. — Native and Greek influences still in rivalry — Examples at Orvieto and Vulci — Toniba dell' ono at Corneto ; its paintings both in the free and in the late or Etrusco-Roman style — Other examples of the Etrusco-Roman style — Rome and its Neighbourhood — Relative number and importance of wall-paintings found here — Account given of the art by Vitruvius — Fanciful style which he condemns jiievalent in existing remains — Paintings which have perished since their discovery — Examples from toml)s ; from baths ; from villas — Conclusions from them — Paintings still pre- served in collections or in situ — The Lateran, Rospigliosi, and Albani collections — Vatican collections ; the Aldobrandini Marriage and the Odyssey landscapes — Fragments in foreign museums — Roman wall- paintings in si/it ; villas — Liindscapes attributed to Ludius at the Villa ad Galli)ias — Paintings in the house of Livia on the Palatine — New discoveries in the Farnesina Gardens — General result — Lower Italy — Magna Gr?ecia ; P;vsUim — Tiie buried cities of Campania ; wall-paintings i)i situ and in the Naples museum— Tlieir abundance — Their decorative character and arrangement compared with the account of Vitruvius — Division according to decorative character and arrangement; first group^Second group— Third group — Fourth group — Fifth group — Division according to subject ; rude devotional or ritual pieces — Mythology; tales of the gods — Mythology; tales of the heroes — Daily life; rude Romano-Campanian works — ^^Daily life ; refined Hellenistic works — Caricature — Landscape — Land- scape with mythology — Still life — Questions concerning the painters of these Campanian wall-decora- tions — Their position — Their nationality — Their technical methods — Merit of their works as independent pictures — As examples of decorative composition — As examples of decorative colour. Among pictures properly so called which have come down to us from anti- quit}-, nniral paintings hold beyond comparison the most important place. True, most of these are only the journeyman work of house-decorators ; never- theless they give us the most distinct idea of the progress made in the technical parts of painting by the ancients, and the great numbers in which the)- have been found testify clearly to the delight taken by those nations in the coloured ornaincntation of their buildings. Inasmuch, however, as many of these paintings have perished soon after their excavation from the effects of the air, we must not confine ourselves e.vclusively to those which still exist, but must also occasion- ally consider some which, though found during the last few centuries, are now onl)' known to us by engravings. Scarcely any ancient wall-paintings of note have come to light elsewhere than on Italian ground ; though a certain niunbcr of insignificant examples have been found at various western sites, more especially Trier {Trives) ; perhaps tlic most interesting being a half-length of a girl, of a Bacchanalian 104 HISTORY OF PAINTING. character, which has the appearance of being a portion cut out of a larger painting of Italian origin ; this is now in private possession at Cologne.^" Italian wall-paintings fall naturally into three principal groups, according to the places of their discovery, namely, i, Etruria, 2, Rome and Central Italy, 3, Lower Italy (especially Campania). I. — Etruria. — To our own century belongs the re-discovery of the ex- tensive cemeteries of the cities of ancient Etruria, comprising millions of sepulchral chambers, thousands of which, on being opened, have been found to be furnished with vases, mirrors, toilet-caskets and vessels of all kinds, and a certain number also to be decorated with wall-paintings. The same spirit which laid vases, implements, and ornaments in the vault with the dead, took thought also for the artistic decoration of the place of sepulture, which often consisted of several distinct chambers. It is only, however, a minority of the Etruscan tombs that are thus decorated with paintings ; examples so decorated have been found in the necropolis of Tarquinii (near the Corneto of to-day), in that of C^ere (now Cervetri), in Clusium (now Chiusi), in Vulci, Veii, and Orvieto.^^ Few of these wall-paintings can give us unmixed delight now ; but they are of great interest in the history of art as examples of the peculiar Etruscan st\-le, strongly influenced by Greek precedents, yet determined by the current of national tendencies. Moreover, they are . the only class of mural paintings which enable us to follow the art in an almost unbroken continuity from its most primitive attempts to the formlessness of the decline. The oldest examples are those in the so-called Grotta Campana at Veii. In four spaces, each about 5 I inches wide by 32 to 38 inches high, and each surrounded with a border, we find on a yellowish-grey ground primitive pictures of men riding on long-legged parti-coloured horses, and behind them panthers seated, or the like. The sub- jects, as well as the ornamentation and the coarse decorative style, recall the early vases of the Orientalising type. The drawing is childish beyond belief, the colouring quite arbitrary, and restricted to brown, red, and yellow. These are the only wall-paintings to be found in Italy which probably date from before B.C. 500. Next in antiquity follow some paintings on terra-cotta plaques found in a tomb at Caere.^^ They are examples of Etruscan archaism, which aims at literal truth to nature in scenes of daily life, but only attains it within the limits imposed by very scanty technical knowledge. The scenes are sometimes taken from the worship of the dead ; as a burial, a sacrifice, a procession of men and women moving stiffly and awkwardly from either side towards a variegated altar of archaic outline in the midst. A winged daemon sometimes carries the deceased in its arms. The composition is severely symmetrical, and like that of a bas-relief The forms are all shown in profile, the eyes being still drawn without perspective, as if seen from in front ; the proportions ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 105 are squat ; the figures relieved in a few dull colours, as reddish brown, yellowish brown, yellow, and black, from the white ground. The women are painted lighter than the men. There is no question yet of modelling or shading. In these examples we thus find painting at about the same stage which the ancient writers describe as having preceded, in the history of Greek art also, the stage reached by Kimon of Kleonai. They probably belong to a period earlier than B.C. 500. Placing these paintings of Veii and Caere in a separate class as the most ancient of all, we must next turn to a great family of pictures in Etruscan tombs which are marked in common b}- the characters of the cramped archaic style, but which subdivide themselves according to date and place into various minor groups. Among these groups, one is shown b}- its more developed style to be of later date than another ; one shows more of the Greek, and another more of the native Etruscan influence. The chief examples of the entire family are fur- nished by the tombs of Corneto and Chiusi. On the whole, the native realism tends to prevail in the earlier, the Greek idealism in the later examples of this general class. The subjects belong in all cases to the same somewhat narrow cycle. In decorating the tomb, the artist has limited himself to what lay nearest at hand, and has dealt almost exclusively with the worship of the dead. The laying out of the body, sacrifices in honour of the departed, the games which form part of his funeral ceremonies — these are constantly recur- ring themes ; and again feasts, and companies of men and ^\'omen enjoying themselves in festal dances among verdant trees and flowers to the sound of h-re or flute, — subjects intended most likely to shadow forth the existence of the deceased in paradise. There are at Corneto three tombs which exhibit the native archaic st}-le in its most characteristic form. These are — (i). The Grotta del Morto :^^ here the corpse is depicted on one wall lying on the bier, while relations enshroud and weep over it. The other walls are adorned with scenes of mirth and dancing. The drawing is archaic but spirited, and the scale of colours does not go beyond red, black, grey, and white. (2). The Grotta dell' Iscrizioni :^^ the subjects here are hunting and dancing, with races, athletic games, and dice play, also lions, deer, and leopards : the colours are various and fanciful ; a stag, for instance, appears striped like a harlequin, and of the lions' manes one is yellow and the other blue. Plain red posts stand for trees. The men wear only loin-cloths, and their movements are full of life. (3). The Grotta del Barone .-^^ a simple frieze containing figures of divinities well designed on a large scale, and represented as distributing the prizes of victory. The colours arc lively, and the trees have blue-green leaves attached to their red stems. The style is better than in the former instances, and full of individual life in spite of its archaic severity. On the whole, in the decoration of these tombs the art of painting presents itself still in a primitive stage. True, the artist P io6 PIISTORY OF PAINTING. occasionally tries to vary the profile of his figures by introducing one in front view, and he everywhere strives after the characters of natural portraiture and living movement ; but the conscientious strenuousness of the early style is still paramount. To the same style belong essentially the decorations of (4) the Grotta del Vecchio}^ The very beautiful paintings of (5) the so-called Grotta dei Vasi Dipinti^^ mark, on the other hand, the transition of a later group. On the one wall we see figures full of modesty and charm reclining like brother and sister at the meal, and on the other a dance beneath the myrtles. The details, such as the dog under the couch, are handled with affectionate care. The complete mastery of form and freedom of outline shown in this elegantly archaic style seems to point to a Greek influence. In the next group of tombs at Corneto, in which the paintings illus- trate a further change of transition from rigidity to freedom, the Greek influence is unmistakable, though the national realism of the Etruscans continues from time to time to react. The phases of this action and re- action between Greek example and native instinct are somewhat involved, so that it would be hazardous to base upon the evidences of style an exact chrono- logical succession for the various tombs. While the forms are everywhere freer and nobler, the actions more measured, the draperies more richly folded, the system of colour is still uncertain. Nature and freshness on the whole gain ground. The lips are painted red, and in some cases even the redness of the cheek is indicated upon the lighter tint of the skins of women ; the ground is usually white, but in one instance brown. In most of the pictures the person- ages wear garlands in the Greek fashion. If the former group of tombs prob- ably belongs to the fifth century B.C., these may be ascribed to the fourth. The best of them illustrate that stage of art's progress which we are accustomed to associate with the name of Polygnotos. But if the advance of technical knowledge in Etruscan painting on the whole ran parallel with that of Greece, still we have every reason to suppose that the innovations of any one of the famous Greek masters would have taken at least half a century before it made its way into the practice of the decorators of the tombs of Etruria. Our last group comprises the following principal tombs: — (i). the Grotta del Citaredo^^ so called from the figure of a citharcedus, or lute-player, of singular beauty, which appears in a dancing scene upon its walls. The eyes are still painted without regard to perspective ; the upper part of the thigh is still unnaturally strong; the gestures are still too vehement, but the figures have lost something of their Etruscan realism. The Greek ideal is making its way. (2). The Grotta del Triclinio^'^ on the side walls of which is a company of dancers, the men painted dark and the women light, who disport themselves in lively movements under trees of various kinds, upon which perch many-coloured birds. On the rear wall is painted a banquet. The colours are still in some degree ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 107 conventional, and being distributed in regular and equal interchange, give a decorative unity to the general effect. The treatment of the forms is excep- tionally archaic, but the careful refinement and precision of the execution give to this group the most pleasing appearance among them all. (3). The Grotta della Querciola}* In one tier is represented a luxurious feast, in another a boar- hunt in a wood — the wood being indicated by a {q\\ sparse trees (Fig. 26). The conflict between the native art and the invading genius of Greece is thought to be especially exemplified in these works. (4). The Grotia del Corso dcllc BigJie^^ Here are represented sports, dances, races, and junketings. FifT. 26. The chariots are drawn by pairs of horses of which the colours are blue or green, and red ; the drawing is remarkably free ; and the draughtsman seems to have deliberately adopted a treatment more archaic than was natural to him. Thus the tombs of Corneto give us a good general view of the character of Etruscan tomb-decoration in the archaic period. Those of Chiusi illustrate the art in a somewhat different course of development ;^'' since here we find one school' which from the first loves to follow Greek models, and side bv side with it, in different tombs, another school which maintains a decisive!}^ indcpentlent national character. Perhaj^JS the earliest of all these paintings in which it is to be noted that the eye is rightly drawn in profile are those of the so-calletl "Tomb of 1833" at Chiusi, which belongs to the time of the disappearance of io8 HISTORY OF PAINTING. archaism. But space fails us to discuss more fully the decorations of these and some kindred sepulchral chambers. The love of adorning the walls of sepulchral chambers with paintings by no means ceased, however, in Etruria with the archaic period. Distinguished from all the examples above mentioned, we find at le^st as numerous a series belonging to the time of the fullest freedom of art, which in this country can- not certainly have begun before the third century B.C. In this period we find the native school — in v/hich, with its inherent realism, freedom soon tends to degenerate into coarseness — holding its own on equal terms against a not less decisive current of Hellenistic tendency. The two opposing prin- ciples assert themselves sometimes in separate pictures wherein the one or the Fig. 27. other prevails exclusively ; sometimes — and these are the most instructive instances — in one and the same picture. The works of this mixed character are in some sort akin to the creations of that Tuscan school of the Renascence which flourished on the same soil sixteen or seventeen centuries later, and which in like manner sought to bring its own realistic feeling for form into harmony with the results of its renewed study of classical antiquity. The sepulchral decorations of this free style are very clearly marked by the know- ledge of the human form exhibited in them, by their command of all varieties of action, their ability to represent figures in the desired foreshortening, their re- production of the true colours of nature, and often also their modelling in light and shade. It is particularly worthy of remark that, in accordance with the ever-growing Hellenism of the age, the creations of Greek mythology begin also at this time to find a place among the paintings of Etruscan tombs. We can only call attention to a few of the most important examples. ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 109 Passing by the two sepulchral chambers opened by Conestabile at Orvieto in 1863,"'^ the later of which shows clearly the work of two different hands, let us turn at once to the most interesting and characteristic works of the epoch in question. Several of the tombs of Vulci belong emphatically to this class, and in the first rank the great tomb, composed of seven different chambers, which was opened by Francois in 1857.^^ In several of the chambers we find pictures of various scenes of Greek mythology — the Rape of Kassandra, Polyneikes and Eteokles, Nestor and Phoinix. The most significant works, however, are those in the square chamber at the end of the tomb. On one side is represented a human sacrifice, such as was long customary in Etruria at funeral ceremonies. Naked and half-naked men of native Etruscan type, most of them bearded and with individual and often repulsive features, are seen stabbing with swords their victims, who writhe in gestures of terror and entreaty. On the other side, as in some sort the prototype and justification of the former scene, we see the legendary human sacrifices paid by Achilles before Troy to the shades of his friend Patroklos. Charon, armed according to the Etruscan conception with a hammer, stands ready to receive the sacrifice prepared for him. In this great group the types of face are more classical than those of the Etruscans on the other side. But the Etruscan language is used for the inscriptions, which specify the names of Agamemnon, Achilles, and the rest. Of all the existing works of antiquity, none reminds us so much as this of modern realistic art ; we might imagine ourselves to be looking at a picture painted in the spirit of Andrea del Castagno. The expressions of the various faces, the trickling blood, the agonised movements, are rendered with a realism almost appalling. Since, nevertheless, the human forms are treated on a foundation of Greek principle, the result of these pictures is not only to make us shudder but also to hold us with a spell of power. Among the tombs of Corneto, the most interesting example of this free period of art is one only excavated in 1868. This is the so-called Toinha del Oreo ;'''" it consists of three chambers, and all three must have been decorated by different artists. The first exhibits on one side one of the usual banquet scenes, and on the other side a sacrifice to the dead in preparation. The Etruscan Charon, the d;emon of the under world, is there with his attributes of wings and hammer ; iiis flesh is greenish, his nose long and sharp, and he gnashes his teeth grinning. It is remarkable that in the banquet scene the figures are surrounded with a dark blue border, intended partly no doubt to relieve their light colouring from the sombre ground, but partly also to suggest the shadows of the king-dom of tlarkncss. Although this chamber seems to be the earliest of the three, its paintings belong to the time of free art. The forcshortenings of both bodies and faces arc skilfully treated, the brush-work has breadth and pictorial qualit\- ; tiie only thing wanting is completeness of chiaroscuro modelling, although the high lights are left to stand out in white. no HISTORY OF PAINTING. Most important for their subjects are the paintings of the second chamber ; they represent the whole kingdom of the dead, with Pluto and Persephone presiding on the northward wall, and besides them, on the same or other walls, the whole series of the daemons and heroes who according to immemorial Greek tradition were the denizens of the realm of Hades. The treatment, at least that of the principal personages, bespeaks a brush working with perfect freedom and in complete command of chiaroscuro. The sepulchral paintings of Etruria can certainly not have reached the perfection which we here observe before the days of Apelles. The third chamber is evidently much later still. In a niche we see Ulysses in the act of boring out the eye of the Cyclops Polyphemos. The style is not only perfectly free, but lax even to caricature. We may refer it to the Roman time, especially since its treatment corresponds with that of a grim winged typhon painted in another tomb, the so-called Grotta del Tifone, discovered in 1832, which by its surroundings we know to be Etrusco-Roman.^^ According to Helbig, there is a third sepulchral chamber which ought to be reckoned among this series — that, namely, lately opened by the Countess Bruschi. Tarquinii had become a Roman municipal town, and Etruscan art, as Brunn says, had undergone like Etruscan polity the influence of Rome. In the earliest days of the Empire, the Greco-Roman style of wall-painting, as we find it represented in innumerable examples at Rome and Pompeii, extended itself over the whole of Italy. The last-named group of Etruscan wall-paint- ings shows that the influence of the same style had penetrated to that branch of art also. The mural pictures of Etruria are thus the only class of remains in which we can trace the development of the art of painting continuously through all its phases. Nothing more need be said to prove their importance in the history of art. II. — Rome and its Neighbourhood. — The mural paintings of Rome offer to the student an interest almost exactly contrasted with that offered by the same class of monuments in Etruria. The characteristic of the Etruscan work is monotony of subject together with variety of style — that variety which results from continuous historical development. The paintings on the walls of Roman buildings, on the other hand, belong almost exclusively to a single period, namely the last days of the Republic and of the Empire ; they illustrate only the completely Hellenised stage of Roman art ; and their charm lies in the multifarious interest of their subjects and beauty of their motives. The number of wall-paintings which have been excavated in or about Rome, from the days of Leo X. to our own, is very considerable. Some of them have been found in tombs, but the greater part on the walls of villas, palaces, and baths. The majority of the whole number have perished since their discovery, and their lineaments are only preserv^ed in engravings. Most ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. m of those which still remain have only been brought to light in the course of the present century. In comparison with the multitudes of similar paintings found at Herculaneum and Pompeii, those which belong to Rome itself possess, in the history of art, a value upon which enough stress is not usually laid. The architect Vitruvius, who lived about the time of Augustus, gives us a short sketch of the history of mural decoration from the Alexandrian a^-e.^^ He speaks with regret of a change which had come over the style of these paintings in his own time, that is, in the early days of the Empire. At first, he says, the custom of wall-painters had been to imitate marble incrustations, in combination sometimes with architectural members. Later, but still in the good old time, it had been the fashion to paint upon the walls imitation buildings, columns, and pediments ; adorning, for instance, open chambers with backgrounds, corridors with landscapes, other places with mythological subjects; in a word, it had been usual to decorate walls with pictures corresponding to things really existing in nature, " But," continues Vitruvius, " the objects which the ancients took for their models from reality, are despised by the corrupted fashion of the present day. We now-a-days see upon our walls not so much copies of actual things as fantastic monstrosities ; thus reeds take the place of c(jlumns in a design, ribboned and streamered ornaments, with curling leaves and spiral tendrils, take the place of pediments ; diminutive temples are supported upon candelabra, vegetable shapes spring from the tops of pediments and send forth multitudes of delicate stems with twining tendrils and figures seated meaninglessly among them ; nay, from the very flowers which the stalks sustain are made to issue demi-figures having the heads sometimes of human beings and sometimes of brutes." The development of fashion in mural decoration thus described as having taken place in the Greco-Roman world, we are able to follow in the extant ex- amples of the Campanian cities as well as in those of Rome. Most, indeed, of the paintings of Herculaneum and Pompeii exhibit, as wc should have expected from their date, the later grotesque style with which Vitru\'ius finds fault so bitterly. Along with these, however, we find isolated examples of the older, and some, indeed, which seem to correspond to the oldest, manner which his words describe. In Rome, on the other hand, wc are enabled to trace clearly, and in very character- istic examples, a middle phase in the history of the art — a transition, that is, from the fashion of covering the space to Ix; decorated with imitations of architectural masses and divisions, to the more modern fashions of fantastic patterns and devices. The latter, the grotesque system of decoration, was exemplified on the walls of the ruins of the Golden House of Nero, beneath the ll.ilhs of Titus. These decorations, which receive their name of " grotesc[ue " from the grottoes or excavated chambers where they were found, were seen and copied by Raphael and Giovanni da Udine, who transplanted the method to the l(\i^,^'ie of the Vatican I'alace. The earlier and scx-erer st}-Ie, which depicted on the 112 HISTORY OF PAINTING. wall architectural structures capable of real support and resistance, is illustrated in the painted pillars which divide the series of Odyssey landscapes discovered in I 848-50, on the Esquiline at Rome (see below, p. i i 5 sqq.); the mere subjects of this series show that it belongs to the first of the classes mentioned by Vitruvius. On the other hand, the pictures in the House of Livia, discovered in 1869 on the Palatine, belong to a mixed style between the naturalistic and the fantastic manner ; while the painted pilasters of a mural decoration lately unearthed on the Ouirinal present again a more strictly architectural effect.^^ Pictures properly so called seldom occupy the whole surface of a wall, but usually form component parts of a scheme of decoration architecturally sub- divided ; and in the lightest kind of work such pictures are simply let in like framed vignettes. Their artistic value can only be estimated in connection with the scheme of which they form a part ; but in this connection it is better to post- pone their discussion until we come to the Pompeian examples, which are much more numerous than the Roman, For the present, then, let us limit ourselves to some of the most important wall-paintings in Rome and its neighbourhood, considered as pictures only, and without reference to their place in a larger decorative scheme. For a review of the paintings recovered, but afterwards again lost, in and about Rome from the times of the Renascence to our own, the old publications on the subject furnish our only available materials. To deal with these materials in detail would be beyond our present scope. Besides, the figures given in the books in question are not always free from suspicion. Pietro Santo Bartoli, for instance, an antiquarian who did good service in the latter half of the seventeenth century in engraving and publishing the remains of early Roman paintings, has been suspected, not without reason, of having made his very numerous drawings (which were engraved and made public for the first time after his death) useless for the purposes of strict historical study by taking too great liberties in interpreting and adding to the originals. We must, nevertheless, pause long enough for a glance at the general results of this branch of exploration.^*^ Among places of sepulture where such paintings have been found, a special importance attaches to the Tomb of the Nasones, among the chief adornments of which may be mentioned a great Judgment of Paris in an extensive land- scape, a tiger hunt, a boar hunt, and a stag hunt ; and the pyramid of Sestius, in which were some very graceful single figures of girls, one reading, one play- ing the double flute, one dancing to the tambourine, and so forth. Among great public buildings, the Baths are those which have yielded the principal remains of this kind. In the baths of Titus great and small paintings of all sorts have been found, and several dozens of them published. Among these are scenes of Greek mythology, as Dionysos accompanied by Muses, the parting of Hippolytos and Phaidra, and Ares with Aphrodite, as well ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 113 as scenes which were rightly or wrongly referred to Roman history, as Mars appearing to Rhea Silvia, and Coriolanus taking leave of his mother. But more numerous than either of these classes were incidents of daily life, as birth and marriage, vintaging and the harvest wain, youths going out to and coming back from war, sacrifices, and single figures of all sorts. The Baths of Trajan, again, are said to have yielded at least one of the five large and interesting pictures first published in 1S40 from drawings in the Campana collection ; in these we might seem to have before us great compositions of the sixteenth century, of the school, say, of Raphael.'"'' To the class of lost Roman paintings belong also those of Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, from which drawings were made at the beginning of the present century by Marco Carloni. These were ten large and somewhat loosely composed de- signs from Greek and Roman mythology, the action in each case passing in the foreground of a spacious landscape. Again, the large and interesting landscape excavated beneath the palace of Palestrina, and published in 1676 by Holstenius under the title of " Nympha^um," had perished by the time of Winckelmann.^^ It is thus clear that if all the mural paintings were still preserved which have been found, and perished again, in Rome since the Renascence, they would supply us with rich stores for the history of painting in the last da}-s of antiquity. As it is, we must content ourselves with inferring thus much from our knowledge of what has disappeared, — that throughout the ages of the Roman Empire mural painting held a leading place in the adornment of all kinds of buildings, — that its range of subjects was almost unlimited, inasmuch as it turned to artistic account whatever was suggested by mythology and history, by landscape, by the daily life of humanity, or the airy sport of wandering fancy, — but that in this extensive range the class of subjects created by Greek invention prevailed, just as the Greek feeling for form, although in deterioration and decay, prevailed in their embodiment. The paintings which still remain form a separate class, and their character confirms and vivifies the impression already gathered from the accounts of those we have lost. In 1764 Winckelmann was acquainted, from personal inspec- tion, with only twelve examples of Roman mural painting, the most famous of which were the so-called Aldobrandini Marriage and the life-sized pictures of Rome enthroned and Venus reclining, in the Barberini I'alace. This state of things has been completely altered by the excavations carried on in the course of the last and present generations, and there arc now a considerable niimlxr of ancient wall-paintings to be .seen in and about Rome. Of these, some have been left upon the walls where they were found ; some, with tlic plaster ground upon which they were painted, have been removed from the wall and placed in museums. Among Roman collections, that of the Latcran contains pictures of the period of decadence, removed frorti tombs at Ostia ; of these we may take as an Q 114 HISTORY OF PAINTING. example of a mythological subject, a picture of the under world, with Orpheus and Eurydice, Pluto and Persephone, Oknos with the rope-eating she-ass,^'* as well as the door-keeper {Janitor), designed with the severe symmetry of a relief; and as an example of carefully executed still life, the picture of a partridge sitting on two apples. The Rospigliosi Pa- lace also contains wall-paint- ings, and among them some from the Baths of Constantine, which were reproduced in the early publications. In the \^illa Albani is preserved the charming id}'llic landscape found in 1764 on the Via Appia, and published and discussed by Winckelmann. I^ut the most interesting series of pictures removed from the wall is that con- tained in one of the halls of the Vatican gallery. The figures of heroines famous for their strange loves, among them Pasiphae with her bull, Phaidra, Myrrha, Kanake,and Skylla, are identified by in- scriptions. These figures are distinguished by thcughtful- ness of expression, but other- wise do not belong to the choicest remains of ancient painting. But the often-de- scribed Aldobrandini Marriage (Fig. 28) must be specially mentioned in thisplace."*^ This Fitr. 28 ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY "5 is a long picture, containing ten figures composed like a relief, indeed almost like a frieze, before a very simple background. The groups divide naturallj' into three. In the middle the veiled bride is seated upon the nuptial couch with her head modestly bent down. A woman half-draped and garlanded sits beside her ; a third holds ointment and a bowl in readiness. The bridegroom, also garlanded, and with the upper part of his body bare, waits on a threshold at the head of the couch — no doubt the threshold of the nuptial chamber. In the further room, on the left of the spectator, are women preparing the bath ; and in the ante-room on the right, three more performing a sacrifice with songs and lute-playing. This painting, which was discovered in 1606 near the Arch of Gallienus, and named after its first possessor, Cardinal Aldobrandini, may well be a copy of a better original. The version before us is composed, not pictorially, but yet with taste ; it exhibits several individual motives of much beauty, soft harmonious colouring, and is instinct with that placid and serious charm which belongs only to the antique. In technical execution, however, the work is insignificant, and in no way rises above the slightness which marks the ordinary handling of the Roman house-decorators in similar subjects. The most interesting pictures in the Vatican Library are without doubt the large and famous Odyssey landscapes excavated on the Esquiline in 1848- 1850.''^ These consist of six complete pictures and the half of a seventh, with portions of another unfortunately quite dilapidated. The figure-episodes in these paintings are of great interest as illustrating almost exactly the Homeric text. The first three, with the contiguous half of the fourth, represent the adventure of the Laestrygones. The tale of Kirke extended from the middle of the fourth probably to the end of the dilapidated sixth, and next came the sev^enth and the sole remaining half of the eighth, with an illustration of the Nekyia, or visit of Ulysses to the under world (Fig. 29). The whole series, as it now stands, illustrates a continuous section of the poem (from Od. x. 80 to xi. 600). Most of the figures are identified, even to superfluity, by Greek inscriptions. A further interest attaches to these pictures if they are looked upon as part of a once homogeneous scheme of decoration which ran round the lower part of the walls of a large room in a kind of frieze or dado, divided by painted pilasters in bright red. But the several landscapes arc not terminated at the pilasters ; on the contrary, both lines and colours may be clearly traced as running on from picture to picture, so that, except for the break caused by the pilasters, we should be led from one subject to anothcr by unperceived transitions. The predominant colours in the pictures them- selves are yellowish brown and greenish blue, and from these the brilliant red pilasters, which bring the whole into decorative unity, stand out with telling effect. But the special value of these works lies in their character as land- scapes. The countr\- of the Laestrygones, bordered with its jutting yellow crags, the wide blue inlet of the sea, from the mountains overhanging which the ti6 HISTORY OF PAINTING. giants hurl destruction upon the Greek ships ; the court of Kirke's Palace, shown Fig. 29. to be the central picture of the series by the perspective treatment of the dividing pillars ; lastly, the mighty opening in the rocks on the sea-shore, ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 117 which proclaims itself the entrance to the nether world, and with vivid pictorial effect lets a broad ray of light stream into the dark and thickly-peopled kingdom of shadows, — all these furnish examples of completed landscape painting, for which, up to the time of their discovery, we should not have given any age of antiquity credit. Vitruvius, as we have already seen, reckons Odyssey-landscapes of this kind among the class of subjects with which corridors used to be decorated in the good old times, before the introduction of the corrupt grotesque. Hence we may attribute the invention of the designs before us to the Hellenistic period ; but the masonry of the walls they decorated shows that the execution of these particular examples belongs to the last days of the Republic or the first of the Empire. Though the conception of nature is entirely decorative, and though the system of colour, which even renders the main facts of aerial perspective in a broad conventional way, is rather arbitrarily selected to enforce the required sentiment than carefully copied from the individual truths of nature, still this decorative conception is both grandiose and agreeable, and by no means wanting in poetry. These paintings stand alone among all the works of antiquity which still exist. Other fragments of Roman wall- painting are to be found scattered among various collections ; for instance the beautiful figures with Greek inscriptions of a tomb in the Campagna, from among which the Aphrodite and Myrtilos have lately been published.''- Several others are in the Louvre. But besides the examples thus collected in public museums, there arc also in and about Rome a series of paintings preserved where they were originally found, and on the very walls upon which they were painted. First, a few of the tombs in the neighbourhood of Rome have retained their painted decorations. The so-called " second " tomb of the Via Latina contains in its first chamber the remains of a large mountain landscape with wild beasts, in its principal chamber a rich ceiling, with a mixed decoration of plaster-work and painting, in which eight small and beautiful landscape pieces are interesting from their peculiar treatment of perspective. This tomb is ascribed to the time of the Antonines.''^ A later date must be assigned to the small paintings, discovered in 1838, which are arranged in tiers in the Columbarium of the Villa Pamfili. Every imaginable scene of mythology, ritual, daily life, and landscape, is here thrown in a slight sketchy manner upon a white ground, bearing witness to the ease and certainty with which the brush was managed by even the j()urnc\-mcn of the late time, in accordance with the hereditary traditions of their craft. Among the ancient villas in the neighbourhood of Rome, a chamber in the so-called P'i//a ad Gallinas of Livia, excavated in 1863, is remarkable for an important example, which may be considered as representing to perfection the whole class to which it belongs. This is a great picture of a luxuriant gaidcn, covering all four walls of the room, so that the spectator seems to himself stand- ing, as it were, in the midst of a fine pleasure-ground. The aim here — in du'cct ii8 HISTORY OF PAINTING. opposition to that of the Odyssey landscapes — is reaHstic as well as decorative. Immediately above the wainscot, a narrow strip of grass is painted as a fore- ground to the whole, enclosed by a railing. Between the rails birds like hens walk about, grass and herbs sprout, and gaily-coloured flowers bloom ; in curved recesses of the fence stand the principal trees of the picture, dark vigorous pines, and at one side an oak, with a bird's nest charmingly placed in the midst of its branches. The whole background is filled with a thick and pleasant grove of palms and fruit-trees of all kinds, which are quite character- istically drawn, and spring from an undergrowth of rose bushes and other flowering shrubs ; in the farthest distance are cypresses. The horizon is indicated by a green stripe behind this rich and blossoming thicket, above it rises the blue sky. Human personages do not o.xur, but numbers of bright- coloured birds fill the grove with life and movement. The execution, though broad and flowing, is naturalistic, careful, and exact. It is not impossible, as Brunn has already observed, that these decorations may be original works of the painter Ludius (if that was his real name), since according to Pliny he was the inventor of this style, and since, at the time when he lived, the building in which they occur was the property of the Imperial family. They would, in that case, have a quite peculiar interest as the only existing paintings from the hand of an artist known to us through the ancient writers. But the conjecture can- not be proved. Within the city of Rome itself the great Baths preserve few remains of their original paintings ; the chief fragments, passing over a few less note- worthy, are those found in the imperial palaces on the Palatine, excavated for the first time at the instance of Napoleon III. Not to dwell on those of a building on this site which has been longer known, the Baths of Livia, and still less on some little pictures found in the palace of Caligula, — the House of Livia above all exhibits in its various chambers some well-preserved and remarkable paintings.*^* The largest room, the tablinum, contains two mytho- logical subjects. One is lo watched by Argos and set free by Hermes (the treatment may possibly be derived from the ancient painting by Nikias, the contemporary of Alexander, see above, p. 57). The other is conceived in the true Hellenistic spirit, and has the effect of a vast mythological landscape ; it depicts the story of the loves of Polyphemos and his beautiful sea-nymph Galateia. The monstrous giant, bridled by Eros, stands breast-high in the water between cliffs ; Galateia looks round at him mockingly as she rides away on a sea-horse. At a little distance two of her companions start up in surprise from the water. A third tall-shaped picture shows a Roman street with high many-storied houses, and a variety of personages appearing on balconies and loggie. A woman and child walk in the street below. Smaller pictures in the same room represent every-day scenes from the life of women. In the Triclinium or dining-room, on the other hand, we find two large fantastic landscapes, the ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 119 central points of which are composed b}' small temples standing amid their sacred trees on steep cliffs. Another chamber in the House of Livia shows a long low landscape-frieze, which is of the highest interest, though treated almost in monochrome, with brown shadows and white lights on a yellow ground ; it represents more vividh- than the description of an\' writer the animated street- life of an ancient provincial town. In quite recent years, again, various wall- paintings have been brought to light in different parts of Rome, among which FiS- 30. the most interesting seem to be representations of old Italian m\-lhs from a tomb on the Ivsquiline."'' [In the course of the excavations in the garden of the h'anicsina Talace, necessitated b\' the new embankment of the Tiber, a set of chambers and corridors has within the last (cw mcjnths been brought to light, of which the painted decorations seem t(j surpass e\er\thing hitherto found in konic.'' We hear of a corridor with its walls ])arte(l off 1)\- greenish pilasters, and in the panels betw^een them, traces of delicate figures and landscapes on a white "•round ; oC a small ricliK- decorated chamber ])arallel with this corridor, containiuL'' on its Icfl-hand wall a sbghth' executed 'i'oilet of X'eiuis, said to be I20 HISTORY OF PAINTING. of extraordinary beaut)-, with nuptial and festival scenes in compartments above, and figures of divinities on bright red fields at the sides : — of another chamber opening out of this last, with a highl\'-finished Nurture of Bacchus, and on either side a figure holding up a picture of a woman playing a lyre, and Victories above : — of a third with figures of divinities on red grounds, and other subjects, including a beautiful figure of a young girl seated on a table, on black grounds : — and again of a larger hall, with landscapes divided by a fanciful architecture of slender columns, friezes, and festoons. In connection with one of these sets of pictures appears the signature of a painter, Seleukos.] The study of Roman wall-paintings thus at once yields an illustration of the accounts of ancient writers, totally different from any we were able to obtain from the minor classes of artistic production before discussed. We have here to do with an art developed to complete freedom ; an art which applies the laws of conscious and scientific perspective, indeed, only to the drawing of architectural objects in front view, but in more complicated cases works with an intuitive sense of perspective which generally proves sufficient ; an art which had full mastery over the rules of modelling and of light and shade, and was quite as much at home in large and crowded compositions as in daintily ornamental single figures. And if about all these paintings there seems to cling a certain superficiality and slightness of routine workmanship, we must remember that they are not the masterpieces of famous artists, but only examples more or less skilful, and always anonymous, of a flourishing art- industry. Although a considerable number of vase-painters considered them- selves of sufficient importance to put their names to their paintings, we find no mural painter either in Rome or Pompeii [except the above-named Seleukos] who has done as much. But what models must these excellent decorators have had at their command — what traditions must have been cherished in their work- shops — what wealth of individual artistic instinct must have survived in them — when the best of their works, among which mechanical duplicates are never found, have for us even now such a living charm, and when it was not till the latter centuries of the Empire, long after all the famous artists were no more, that a final decadence set in, and this art of mural painting relapsed like all others into primitive rudeness ! III. — Lower Italy. — A true Hellenic life had made its home in the great towns founded by Greek colonists on the coasts of Lower Italy, long before either the Romans themselves had become fully imbued with Hellenism, or all the rest of Italy had submitted to conquering Rome. In these towns the Greek language, Greek art, and Greek manners were scarcely less cherished than in Greece itself. For this reason we see noble remains of real Greek temples standing down to our own day, not only in Sicily but also on the mainland, especially at Paestum, the ancient Poseidonia ; and many a noble specimen of Greek sculpture has been recovered in the same localities. ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 121 Painting, however, is the most perishable of arts ; and even in the towns of Magna Grsecia proper, very scanty remains of mural paintings have been discovered. But we must pause over some which were unearthed at Paestum, and are now preserved in the museum at Naples (Fig. 31). Scenes simple but full of subject are depicted in lively colours on a white ground ; warriors returning from the field ; women receiving them and offering them refresh- ment ; countr>'men who, having remained at home and welcomed back the conquerors with rejoicings, are now returning to their work. Among the warriors we are struck by a bearded standard-bearer ; among the unarmed horsemen, by a youth who rides joyfully along on a fiery horse. That this is Fig- 31- Greek art, though it cannot be proved, seems probable. Paestum lost its independence as a Hellenic community when the Lucanians conquered it in the fourth century iJ.c. ; the costumes in the work before us arc therefore Lucanian and not Greek ; the profiles too are not pure, or at least not ideal Greek, but show something of national individuality. Yet the style of these paintings, which stands on the threshold of complete freedom, may on the whole be pronounced more strictly Greek than that of any other existing wall-paintings. Neither is there anything to prevent us from supposing them to be the production of a Greek artist in the pay of one of the Lucanian conquerors. They are marked by that grace of inward life, combined with outward repose, which belongs to the work of no other people.*'' Leaving these interesting examples of early jjainting in Lower Ital}', we approach a somewhat uniform but extraordinarily rich and extensive range of materials, in the shape of mural paintings of the Campanian cities of Stabi.u, K 122 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Herculaneum, and Pompeii, which were destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79. These paintings, which have been gradually restored to light since the middle of the last century, are partly to be found removed from their original walls and preserved in the museum at Naples — in the ground-floor of which they fill whole galleries — and partly on the same walls for which they were originally painted. At Stabicne, where the excavations have been long abandoned, there remain no paintings to be studied on the spot ; and few at Herculaneum, where the most important finds were made at first, but where the excavations are carried on but slowly now. In Pompeii, on the other hand, where, from the favourable nature of the ground, the exca- vations have since the beginning of the present century assumed the chief importance, the great majority of the wall-paintings still adorn the very walls to which the decorator first applied them. In the catalogue of the mural paintings of Campania completed by Dr. Helbig in 1867, that distinguished scholar, who has rendered signal ser\-ice in the classification and criticism of this class of ancient monuments, reckoned the total number of examples at almost two thousand.*'^ Among these, however, were not included innumerable small pictures of minor importance, — as for instance hundreds of small landscape pieces ; and the diggings energeti- cally carried on during the last ten years have yet further increased by several hundreds the number of pieces worthy of being counted in the list. Our business, in the present place, can only be to bring out certain general aspects of the interest presented by this vast mass of material. It cannot, in the first place, be too much insisted upon that this whole class of work is merely so much ordinary chamber decoration. And decora- tion of this kind was a matter which the Greeks had from of old had much at heart. F"or our knowledge of the art, however, as it was practised in the days before Alexander, we are left almost entirely to conjecture, as no examples remain and as the remarks of Vitruvius do not go back so far. The examples actually accessible to study between Rome, Herculaneum, and Pompeii, numer- ous as they are, do not represent any style earlier than that of the Hellenistic age of the Diadochi. Dazzled by their immense abundance and variet}-, it was impossible for students at first to distinguish among them various phases of development. All seemed free fanc}', humour, and caprice. It is onh' lately that, assisted by the remarks of Vitruvius on the history of the art since the Diadochi, it has become possible to distinguish, especially in the Pompeian work, differences of style corresponding to successive epochs.*''^ For the various ways of dividing off the decorated surface of a wall, in use before the reed -like pilaster objected to by Vitruvius came into fashion, let the reader be referred to p. 6^ above. But even within this later system of lightly- fanciful decoration, which is the system principally prevailing at Pompeii, suc- cessive variations can be discerned. First, in place of the regular and stable ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 123 painted half-columns and pilasters of the earlier style, are substituted the incapable reed-like or candelabrum-like supports of which we have spoken. But the form and limits of the general design are not yet violated. Next, the new system of slender supports is developed until the whole architectural composi- tion becomes transformed into something as fantastic and airily light as a modern structure in glass and iron. But regular divisions of wall-space are still left free within this fanciful framework. Lastly, the framework intrudes upon Fig. 32. the wall-spaces it is designed to enclose, and the whole surface is overrun with arbitrary combinations of slender and impossible architecture. We can hardly venture, however, to claim a regular chronological succession for all these variations. The great bulk of the examples which especially concern us, because they consist in part of real figure or landscape pictures, preserve in all cases the twofold structural division of the wall ; its horizontal division into a dado, generally coloured dark, an upper frieze, generally light, and not un- frequently white,"and a broad brightly-coloured band between the two ; and its vertical division by means of fancifully painted stri^jes in place of the old pilasters, of which the effect is to di\i(lc the middle band or main course into several panel-shaped compartments somewhat higher than they are wide. 124 HISTORY OF PAINTING. The prevailing colours of these panels are red, yellow, black, and white, more rarely blue and green. In many houses the decoration does not go beyond this division of the walls into parti-coloured fields, with the addition of patterned borders and little ornaments of figures or plants occupying the centres of the several panels. More interesting and characteristic, however, are those architec- tural designs with their tall reed- like columns, their cornices incapable of support, their ribboned ornaments where the pediments should be ; painted structures of which the perspective has neither beginning nor end, and which cover the whole surface of a wall, ex- cept the smaller or greater panelled spaces purposely left free, with what is rather a great net-work of ornament than any true architectural design. The whole style bears the same relation to what Vitruvius calls the good old style, as the Rococo does to the true Renascence ; and though we may think there is some truth in this verdict of the Roman architect and critic, we cannot help being strongly attracted by the exuberant and never identical fancy, the dazzling colouring, the im- perishable charm of these Pompeian decorations. The properly pictorial part of the ornament, which is our main concern, occurs in the most various relations to the general scheme of which it forms, as the case may be, a larger or smaller part. According to the nature of these relations the pictures may bedivided in- to different groups. As the first group we may take those which cover all four walls, or one entire wall, of any given room, and, in so doing, often supersede altogether the customary division of dado, frieze, and intervening course. It is only landscapes which are so treated, and especially great park scenes, such as those of the Villa ad Gal- linas, and of not a few chambers in Pompeian houses. These park views form a characteristic ornament for the cooling rooms in baths ; they are also favourite subjects upon garden walls, where they are painted evidently to give an enlarged impression of space, to do away by a pleasing illusion with the sense of wall, and to give a feeling of the open country amid the cramped dwelling-places of the town. Fi: K- J J- ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 125 A second group is formed of mural paintings which, though large, only occupy parts of whole walls, being separated by pilasters, so that several can find their place side by side on the same wall. These pictures do not aim at illusion in the same degree as those of the first group. Only in such cases as the before - mentioned Tridhiium of the Roman house on the Palatine, where the object was to imitate real views seen through open windows in the wall — only in such cases are the pictures calculated to produce an effect of illusion on the person within. In this second group landscape subjects still predominate. In it we find especially those " coast towns in the open, most cheaply done, and most charming to the view," which Pliny mentions as an invention of the Roman Ludius ; also hunting scenes ; and desolate mountain scenery with wild beasts ; and mythological scenes with spacious backgrounds, as the Polyphemus and Galatea in the so-called Casa della caccia antica, Diana and Actaeon in the Casa di Salliistio, and the wounded Adonis in the house called after him. As a third group we may regard those wall-paintings which, as Helbig has shown, imitate panel-pictures let into the walls. They are of moderate size, surrounded with a well-marked frame, and are generally placed in the centre of the main decorative compartment of the wall. They owed their origin, no doubt, to the imitation of jDanel-pictures. In earlier times the famous panels of great masters had really been inserted in chamber walls. In Pompeii marks have in some cases actually been discovered showing that these panel-shaped frescoes have been cut out of one wall and re-inserted in another. But as a general rule it was thought sufficient, at the time when it was the fashion to ornament spaces with a homogeneous scheme of pictorial decoration, to introduce imitations of this kind in the places where really good panel-pictures might have been inserted. In reality the imitations thus introduced were superficial and often capriciously altered copies of masterpieces known in other places. Hence they so often contain those mythological subjects, the frequency of which give their main interest to the whole class of Campanian mural paintings. A fourth group is constituted by pictures having a very inferior claim to an independent rank as works of art. These only pretend to be accessory elements in decoration, and inseparable from it ; they belong directly to those flimsy painted semblances of architectural structures into which they are let, in the shape of little panels or vignettes, without adding anything beyond a merely ornamental effect. Sometimes they appear as suspended between high, slender, painted columns ; sometimes as if they were placed in front of the balustrades of the basement ; sometimes raised upon the cornice, and again suspended under the little pediment of the painted .structure. The subjects they represent have no independent importance. They arc little views from nature, still life, etc. But we must also include in this group those real fric/xs 126 HISTORY OF PAINTING. on a larger scale in which caricatured representations of Egyptian life pre- dominate, and which occur not unfrequently. As a fifth group we may reckon all pictures inserted by themselves, with- out framing or connected background of their own, into any scheme of decora- tion. To these belong all the human figures which, like the little vignettes above mentioned, serve merely as ornaments or ornamental personages enlivening an architectural design. Such figures sometimes look out over a balustrade, sometimes balance themselves in the most impossible positions on a tendril, some- times wander like sleep-walkers high up on a jutting cornice. Anon they open a door into the empty space of the coloured wall behind, and anon they crouch meditatively on a staircase of the imaginary pleasure-house. Strange and quaint is often their effect, but always ornamental and pleasing, l^ut it is not only amid this framework of counterfeit architecture that wc find such unconnected figures or little groups. We also find them hovering quite detached upon s[mces which the framework encloses — slim floating forms with light flowing draperies, or spirited outlines of the nude, slight, but firm and full of skill. Figures and small groups of this kind are found in great numbers at Pompeii. It is often difficult to assign names to these shapes of youth and maiden ; but some of them may be identified as Seasons, Muses, Hours, and Graces, or else as .Satyrs and Bacchants. In these designs, in which there is unlimited play for the fancy, we also find Centaurs, Tritons, and demi-brutes. What is striking is that even landscapes also, without enclosure or completeness of background, and without sky, though not without an attempt at perspective, appear painted on the red, yellow, black, or white ground of the wall which everywhere shows through them. This immense variety in the ornamental or decorative position held by the several classes of Campanian wall-paintings implies a no less variety of subject. Here also we may affirm as a rule that everything was treated that fancy could invent or legend hand down ; everything that daily life could bring before the eye, or that nature herself with all her delights could offer. A distinctive character, however, can be assigned to all this material ; and it is not to be supposed that the choice was made at haphazard. The least interesting of all the pictures in this class are the ritual pictures proper, the devotional paintings which, like many of the Catholic effigies of saints, were painted for street corners and such-like places, and like them too generally by inexperienced hands. Such were those assemblies of which one example, at a street corner in Pompeii, includes all the twelve Olympians ; or single divinities, among whom Mercury naturally plays an important part in a mercantile town like Pompeii. Jupiter, Minerva, Venus, and Mars were, till lately, found each represented only once in this manner, while Mercury occurred twelve times. To this class belong further the pic- tures of Lares, Penates, and Genii, placed over real or painted altars, or in little ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 127 shrines erected in private dwellings for household worship. The genii of the place were often symbolised by snakes taking refuge at the altar. As all these pictures were painted purely on religious and not at all on artistic grounds, they possess in point of fact no merit as works of art, and ma\- be neo-lected Fig- 34- in comparison with the mass of others which, although conceived and executed by house decorators, were works of real if not indeed of high art. The most important, in many respects, of all the Campanian wall-paintings arc those which represent on a somewhat large scale, gcncrall}- in the form of counterfeit panel-pictures, some scene from mythology or historj'. It is curious that strictly historical pictures, like the Issos mosaic, appear never, or as good as never, among wall-painting.s. The picture in which Scipio and Sophoiu'sba are supposed to be recognised is an isolated case, and for that \ery reason may J 28 HISTORY OF PAINTING. well be otherwise explained.'^ Though Pompeii was inhabited by Romans, and although by the time when most of the Pompeian paintings were executed the Roman historical myth of ^neas had been worked out and made familiar by Virgil, still the number of those paintings in which subjects from the ^-Eneid can be recognised is altogether insignificant. Helbig counts but five such in his catalogue, and even these are not all identified with certainty. All the other subject -pictures of the Campanian wall-paintings (and they may be counted by hundreds) illustrate Greek mythology, partly the history of the gods, partly the tales of the heroes. The cycles of nearly all the greater gods arc represented. The most famous example from the cycle of Zeus is the picture of his solemn marriage, found in the Casa del Poeta at Pompeii, and preserved in the museum at Naples.^^ Very few of the wall-paintings of Lower Italy breathe such a spirit of quiet majesty or holy solemnity as this does. On the contrary, an effeminate and sensual character generally predominates in them, corresponding to the levity of the time and place. So we find in the remaining pictures from the myths of Zeus, that his love-passages are the favourite theme ; or else it is the heroines whom the father of the gods made happy with his love that we find represented, as Danae, Leda, Europa, or lo under the spell of her doom. In accordance with the same tendency, those among the other gods were especially preferred who embodied life's cheerfulness and enjoyment : Apollo, Aphrodite, Bacchus. Apollo appears almost always as the Citharcedus, occasionally also in his prophetic character, and a large number of pictures are occupied with the love-adventures of this god. Aphro- dite, the goddess of love, who was even honoured and painted in a special form as tutelar goddess of this love-stricken city, under the name of Venus Pompeiana, plays likewise an important part. At one time she appears deck- ing herself, at another sailing, child of the foam, upon her shell, or upon the back of some sea-monster over the blue surface of the waves. Her marriage with Ares is portrayed in nearly two dozen paintings, and her adventure with Adonis nearly as often. Eros himself, the little-winged god, the son and play- fellow of Aphrodite, is represented innumerably often. In the mind of the post-Alexandrian age, this god had already been multiplied for good into endless Erotes or Amoretti. Little love-gods of this kind were con- stantly represented in humorous and malicious positions. A painting of a Market of Loves found at Stable, and now in the museum at Naples, attracted very justly much attention at the time of its discovery ; as did also the Nest of Loves found at Pompeii (Fig. 35). Bacchus appears exclusively in his later and youthful form. His bringing home of the forsaken Ariadne from Naxos is a favourite subject, but the figures of his thiasos, of Sileni, Satyrs, Bacchants, appear of course in all possible forms, situations, and predicaments, sensual and burlesque as well as occasionally more serious. Of the secondary deities, according to the same spirit, Selene and Endymion, Polyphemos and Galateia, ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 129 are the favourites. Among motives suggested by foreign forms of belief, a series of Egyptian subjects is remarkable. The Egyptian goddess Isis had X A.. R B Fig. 35- a temple of her own at Pompeii, and her worship had strongly impressed the imagination of the time. The same considerations which determined this school in its choice among the myths of the gods, held good also as to the talcs of the heroes. From the epic cycle, scarcely any pictures occur of the sanguinary scenes before Troy. The Judgment of Paris (Fig. 36), on the other hand, appears constanll>- in s I^O HISTORY OF PAINTING. various treatments. Achilles is oftencst represented in youth ; several ex- amples of his education by the centaur Cheiron. probably copied from a group in marble, and his discovery on the island of Sk>-ros, among the daughters of Lycomedes, appear even more frequently. The release of Chryseis, the rape Fig. 36. of Briseis, and the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, all occur in the very same house with the above-mentioned Marriage of Zeus. From the striking dignity and beauty of these great compositions, the house in which they were found received the name of the Poet's House {casa del poetd). A Death of Laokoon (Fig. "^j) has also been recently discovered. Among other heroes Herakles was much too ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. i-,i 0' populai to be left out. Several of his exploits have been immortalised in these paintings. Many other subjects have evidently been taken from tragedy : to this class belong representations of Medeia in the act of slaying her children. Phaidra and Hippolytos, the punishment of Dirkc, Niobe, and others. With these may be classed Phrixos and Heile riding his ram in the midst of the sea, Fig. 37. and Narcissus falling in love with his own reflection was n.iluriiliy a subject quite after the hearts of these painters. Turning to the class of pictures which take their subjects from daih' life, these, as we should expect, exhibit the same light and cheerful spirit. We may, with Ilelbig, divide such genre pictures into two principal groups, of which one may be called tlic I Icllcnistic, and the other the Romano-Campanian group. The latter hold to the fdrmcr the same technical n-lation as is held by the rude devotional subjects to the rest in the inythologic or i)oetic 132 HISTORY OF PAINTING. class of work. Most of them are roughly painted, and with direct reference to the spaces they are practically intended to fill, so that here and there they look almost like inn or shop signs, and cannot be counted as works even of higher craftsmanship, much less of real art. Thus we find scenes of tavern jollity, fullers at work in their factories, and grossnesses of the brothel. The cos- tumes are those of real life. The ideal nude of Greek art never occurs. The artisan element prevails in the choice of subjects ; mechanics at their several occupations, men riding and driving, incidents of the market, bakers, fish- mongers, porters, rope-dancers, all conceived in a rough realistic style and executed for the most part without grace or distinction. To this class belong those pictures of the brutal gladiatorial life which occur particularly on the podhini of the amphitheatre, but also in various other places, at Pompeii. Quite different are \\\q genre pictures of what we have called the Hellenistic class. These include many of the most delightful of all the Campanian wall- pictures. Their materials are not so much taken from real life as from life as it appeared to the fancy of the artist. A certain idealism governs their treatment, which, far removed from the coarseness of many Dutch ^rw;r-painters of the seventeenth century, turns away from the more unpleasing accidents of literal fact. Ideal principles of composition and form, including the introduc- tion of the nude in cases in which it would not appear in real life, invest these scenes with a rare and lofty charm. They are full of a fresh and simple beauty, which must have lent incomparable magic to the lost originals of which they are but feebler reproductions. The scenes are chiefly from the life of women, youths, and children. But characteristically enough, we miss alto- gether those groups of youths stripped for the exercises of the gymnasium and the wrestling-school, which occur so constantly on Greek vases. A softer and more effeminate age is reflected here. A woman, for instance, sits lost in love-dreams, with Eros leaning at her side ; or two women are engaged in friendly dialogue ; or a girl sits at her painting or her music. Scenes of the toijet, too, are not forgotten. Then there are youths and rnaidens assembled at festive gatherings ; or explicit love scenes of more or less levity ; as well as groups of poets and actors, and occasionally actual stage scenes, especially one lovely concert piece which breathes the purest, spirit of Greek art. To the same division, lastly, belong many of those small groups or single figures which are among the most beautiful examples of Campanian painting. The ancients had always been alive to caricature, and practised it in vase painting and drawing ; nor is it absent from their wall-paintings. It usually takes the form of comically significant scenes from animal life. Among these is a well-known caricature of ^neas escaping from Troy with his son Ascanius holding his hand, and his father Anchises on his shoulder (Fig. 38). Monkeys often stand for legendary heroes. We have already learned from the ancient writers that from the time of ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 133 Alexander painting by no means limited itself to figure-pieces only. Accord- ingly we find among the Campanian wall-pictures, in contrast with the subjects hitherto described, a great number of landscapes, animal paintings, and subjects of still life. As regards landscapes, their number is so great that Winckel- mann could in his time declare that most of the Herculaneum paintings repre- sented landscapes, " harbours, summer-houses, woods, fisheries, and views ;" and though we may not be able now to say that landscapes compose the majority, still they compose a ver\' considerable part, of the whole stock. This we have already observed to be the case at Rome, where the park scenes of the Prima Porta and Odyssey landscapes from the Esquiline are among the most important piiiiiiiilip^^ Fig. 38. wall-paintings that exist; and it is the case with regard to mosaic pictures as well. Instead of assuming, then, as used to be done, that the ancients did not trouble themselves about landscape, wc are in a position to prove that, at least in the early days of the Empire, this was a favourite branch of art. Although the motives which we find in this class of Campanian picture are extraordinarily varied, still we discover running through them all a distinct general character of lightness, cheerfulness, and charm. It is not the wild, lonely, or grandiose aspect of nature that we find here ; with the exception of a few deserts tenanted only by wild beasts, and selected for their sake, these landscapes always bear distinct traces of human activity. Country shrines and sanctuaries, from the simple sacred tree hung with dedicatory offerings to the great temple before which the cowherd feeds his flocks, are rcprcsentetl with a sentiment full of 134 HISTORY OF PAINTING. idyllic peace. Village scenes, with broad and peopled streets adorned with statues, occur alternately with vistas of city architecture. Views of towns are generally taken from the water-side, and from the crowded quays we see har- T"ig. 39- hour works built out into the sea, which is alive with every variety of large and small craft. The villas, built close to the shore round the beautiful Bay of Naples, come out in these pictures with all their peculiar charm. The garden landscapes before mentioned were so much the fashion that at one time, accord- ing to these views, everyone seems to have had the garden wall of his villa ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 135 decorated in this way. Over all these scenes alike is spread the same pure blue vault of sky. Clouds and special effects of light are avoided, but the light and shadow sides of individual objects are sharply distinguished, and cast shadows distinctly rendered. It cannot be proved that particular localities are faithfully reproduced. This is probably the case, however, in one view of the square in front of the amphitheatre of Pompeii, which bears evidence of a rough hand little troubled by any Greek instinct of linear arrangement, and was cer- tainly not invented for the sake of mere pictorial effect. The scenery of Lower Italy finds, however, on the whole a just, though a somewhat broad and con- ventional, reflection in these works ; especially the coast scenery with all the monuments which human industry, love of splendour, and religious devotion had erected, — with these, and with the whole bright range of out-door activities which we still see carried on in the same enchanted regions. Here, as at Rome, the most beautiful and interesting lanclscapes are those which contain mythological episodes. The myths most commonly used to give animation to landscapes were the Judgment of Paris, the Rescue of Andro- mede, the Fall of Ikaros, the Punishment of Dirke, and others — all, of course, myths in the poetical invention of which a landscape background is from the first conceived as playing an essential part. When the incidents of the myth pointed to a given locality, the painter, who could scarcely ever have seen it, of course invented a landscape according to his own fancy, generally one appropriate to the action, but not unfrequently, misled by his decorative pur- pose, one which fails to be appropriate. Lastly, among pictures of still life, we find every object that has been treated by the modern painters of the seventeenth century — kitchen utensils of all sorts, fish and flesh, dead and live fowl, lobsters, crabs, mussels, fruit in the richest variety, flowers and foliage, vessels and ware of every shape, transparent glasses (the rendering of which is recorded as an achievement of later Greek painting), cans, pots, and the like. But we also find objects peculiar to antiquity, as toilet caskets, rolls of manuscript, and all kinds of writing materials, masks, sacrificial implements, and so forth. It is impossible to determine which of these things were painted for their own sakes, and which with a purely orna- mental purpose. If, now, we inquire what position in the history of art is held by this whole mass of most various and most interesting work, we must first determine the time of their execution. As a lower limit we can fix with certainty the date of the destruction of the three cities by the fatal eruption of Vesuvius, namely A.D. 79. None of these Campanian wall-paintings can be of later date than that. For those at Pompeii we may also fix a higher limit with some confi- dence. The most ancient wall decorations may belong to about B.C. yS ; but the majority must be of much later date, for in a.d. 63, fifteen years before the complete destruction of the city, it had already suffered very disastrous injury 136 HISTORY OF PAINTING. from an earthquake. Therefore it is probable that the greater part of the eScisting wall-paintings of Pompeii belong to the rebuilt city, that is, to the years between A.D. 63 and 79. This of course gives no clue for the paintings of Herculaneum and Stabiae. Special research into their style and manner may make it possible to assign something like a certain date to these also ; but for the present such research has not been carried far enough to yield any positive results. The painters of these works were Campanian handicraftsmen, who did not consider themselves artists in the higher sense of the word, as we can tell by the fact that, as, with one exception at Rome, so here, none of them has ventured to put his signature to his work. Nevertheless, some were extremely skilful decorators, and their works fall very little short of the quality of true fine art. But most were no better than indifferent workmen ; and others never got beyond the merest daubing. It is by mistake that some students have been disposed to recognise in the paintings of Pompeii no more than three or four different hands in all. Whether these craftsman were of Greek, Roman, or Oscan origin, it is impossible to say. On some few pictures Greek inscriptions have been found. In any case the spirit of the work is certainly Hellenistic. The best paintings must be considered as imitations of Greek originals ; but as it has only been possible in a very few cases to refer them back with any probability to re- corded prototypes by known masters, in like manner it has scarcely been made probable that such prototypes belonged to an earlier time than that of Alex- ander. The subjects and designs of most of the paintings have far rather the character of the Hellenistic age of his successors. When, for instance, a paint- ing like that of lo guarded by Argos and rescued by Hermes is found not in Pompeii only, but also in Rome, it is evident that the painters of both have followed a common original. But even within the Campanian towns them- selves we find many repetitions of the same picture, always with more or less variation, and this shows that the painter had no great respect for the original, which, indeed, he may sometimes have scarcely seen for himself, so that he dealt with its composition according to his own humour and the exigencies of his particular decorative task. We may perhaps even conjecture that the designs have sometimes been supplied by pattern books and models passed from hand to hand in the workshop. Moreover, those figures and little panels which form an inherent part of the painted architectural design, then the latest style of decoration, belong also according to their place of discovery to the time of the Empire ; and the land- scapes, among which repetitions are scarcely ever found, can be only generically, and that only in part, copies of the Hellenistic models. That the specific views, both large and small, of this class were designed in Campania is proved by their close resemblance to the coast scenery of that country. ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 137 It is possible that the trade of house decoration in Rome and Lower Italy- was generally conducted by Greeks. But in any case, the great mass of decorative paintings and single pictures which show Hellenistic influence, stand, both in conception and form, in such striking contrast to those rude devotional pieces and pieces from every day life which we have described as Romano- Campanian ^'•^;/;r-paintings, — and no less to views of places like the amphi- theatre view, — that on the ground of such contrast alone a clear distinction may be established between native painting and Hellenistic work. By what technical method these paintings, which have withstood the ravages of nearly two thousand years, were fixed upon the walls, is a much vexed question. It has been debated over and over again whether they were done in fresco, with wax, resin, or distemper, or by some mixed mode of treatment. Recent researches have to some extent cleared up the matter, and at any rate disposed for good of the claims both of resin and wax. One careful inquirer, Donner, holds that the medium is almost exclusively buon fresco, both in the ground and in the work which is painted on it with so much thickness of impasto, and which sometimes breaks separately away. But as artists them- selves have held and still hold, as the result of personal inspection, different opinions on the nature of the processes employed, a decision is difficult to arrive at. Our own view is that fresco holds by far the first place in the execution of these wall-paintings, but not the exclusive place claimed for it by Donner. With reference to the portions painted in solid impasto, which, when they break away, disclose intact the coloured preparation beneath them, it seems more likely that they were laid on the prepared ground after it was already dry, and by means of a different vehicle. When we are told of the great durability shown by these paintings, we must remember that most of them, in Pompeii at least, were probably painted only a short time before the destruction of the city ; that a great many have been found in a very bad condition at the time of their excavation ; and that, after being deprived of their earthy protection, they usually fade and disappear very quickly unless special precautions are taken to protect them. Lastly, if we are asked what, judged by the standard of modern critical opinion, is the artistic merit of all these pictures, we have virtually given the answer in our repeated assertion that they do not rise above the level of skilful decorative handicraft, and that even within these limits the quality of their execution is very unequal. We shall find the most unmixed satisfaction in the single, often floating, figures and groups which stand out without definite background from the coloured surfaces of the wall. Pure forms and pleasing motives are here free to affect us without the presence of any disturbing element. The ancient genius, which was inclined by nature rather to the plastic than to the pictorial, had here only to make its own, ui) to a certain point, the technical acquisitions of the period between Apollodoros and Apelles. In the pictures T 138 HISTORY OF PAINTING. * having definite backgrounds and a complete pictorial purpose, the evident blunders in perspective, the false foreshortenings, rudely managed distances, and inefficient conduct of light and shade, are often very disturbing. The skill of the craftsman did not reach far enough to give to these larger compositions the necessary qualities of recession and pictorial relief. Nevertheless, with all their shortcomings, these comparatively humble works enable us to infer that the mastery attained in the higher branches of painting over the technical secrets of the art must have been very considerable, more considerable than we should perhaps feel justified in asserting if we drew our opinions only from ancient writings. If, taking another point of view, we regard these remains of mural painting in the light in which alone they were meant to be regarded, as inherent parts of larger schemes of coloured decoration, we shall begin to enjoy them in a more unprejudiced spirit, and estimate at their true value many apparent conventionalisms in their composition and colouring. First — as to composition, we must observe the important part played by the principle of balance, whereby the paintings of the several walls of an apartment are designed as pendants to one another. Not unfrequently, and especially in the best houses, pieces of about the same size, and placed in the same position on the several walls, are characterised as pendants by their subjects ; inasmuch as they depict various scenes of one myth, or kindred scenes from different though analogous myths, or groups which repeat the same idea in another shape, according to a practice common to the art of all times and races. But very much oftener the choice of two works as pendants rests on purely decora- tive grounds, such as the external similarity of their composition, the corre- spondence of linear arrangement in their landscape, the resemblance of their figures in number, position, or costume ; so severely did the ancients require balance and symmetry in pictures intended in the first instance for wall decora- tions,^^ Indeed, to satisfy this decorative instinct, scenes which called for no landscape background were often provided with one nevertheless, or figures were added to or taken away from femiliar subjects, merely for the sake of making two pendants balance one another. We can appreciate the ancient wall-paintings more intelligently since it has been shown that the deviations which we frequently find in their treatment of one and the same subject — deviations which had hitherto been set down to arbitrary whim or ignorance of the decorator — are thus governed by a definite principle. Next, as to colour. Here also the principal object of the painter was to produce a harmonious unity. Each detail was subordinated to the general effect. Hence it was above all things necessary that each separate picture should harmonise with the colour of the wall from which it stood out. To do justice to a real masterpiece of independent painting, the colour of the wall upon which it was hung, or into which it was inserted, would, as a matter ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 139 of course, be arranged to suit it. But where the picture is only a part of the decoration of the wall, the reverse would naturally take place. As the ground of the particular wall was red, yellow, blue, green, black, or white, the colouring of the picture, if it was to keep its place at all, would have to be arranged accordingly. On a black or white ground, the purest natural colours would of course predominate. And on coloured grounds it is striking to notice how skilfully, sometimes with an instinctive observation of optical laws which have been discovered and formulated by modern science, the artist has known how to give his picture the right tone and scheme of colour. The backgrounds especially were kept very simple in obedience to this principle*. A picture often seems as if it were painted almost in monochrome, grey on grey, blue on blue, or brown on brown. Just as often it may be really in monochrome, but taken in connection with the general tone of the wall may nevertheless produce an effect of various colour. Whether, then, with \'itruvius, we condemn this whole style of trivial chamber decoration, or whether we bring an impartial eye to its charm and its richness of colour, we cannot at any rate deny that, whatever the value of tlie separate pictures in tliemselves, they are introduced into the general scheme with a very high degree of decorative skill. CHAPTER VI. CONCLUSION. General result of a comparison of existing remains with ancient writings — Standard of perfection in paint- ing — Not approached by Oriental races — But attained by the Greeks in the period between Polygnotos and Apelles — Greek deficiencies in the science of perspective — And in atmosphere — Attainments of Greeks in comparison with those of modern painting — Decline of the art. If we endeavour, in conclusion, to harmonise the conclusions derived from an examination of the existing remains of Greco-Roman painting with the written statements of antiquity on the subject, we shall find ourselves in presence of a eeneral result of the richest and most brilliant kind. The achievement of the Greeks in painting, as in all other arts, was one, as we have already said, which it is almost impossible to over-rate ; and their deserts come out in the clearest manner if we compare their works with those of the Oriental nations. As a measure of the degree of perfection attained at any given time by painting, — apart from the higher intellectual characteristics which that art and sculpture in their accomplished forms possess in common, — we have all along taken the amount of correctness with which the painter succeeds in represent- ing upon a flat surface a portion of the actual visible world as it really seems. Colours and forms have, according to this standard, to be expressed with equal completeness, just as they are in fact reproduced with equal dis- tinctness on the retina of the normal human eye. The laws of linear, as well as those of atmospheric or colour perspective, must be observed with conscious and deliberate accuracy. The utmost beauty of nature as she is or might be must confront us, from within the narrow limits of the coloured and illuminated surface, with a power to impress and to delight us equal to her own. Painting in this complete sense of the word has never been known to the Oriental races. They have, according to their natural gifts, both founded and rightly applied the arts of architecture and sculpture. But in painting they have been mere gropers, and have never arrived at an inward and outward unity of representation, or to one which reproduced a portion of the visible world on wall or panel in correct perspective and colour. Along this road it was reserved for the genius of Greece to lead the way. Ancient writings as well as existing remains bear witness that Greek painting too had its childish and primitive beginnings, in outlines without colour, and with no forecast of the dormant powers it possessed. But little by little these powers ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY. 141 were awakened. One discovery after another was made, one difficulty after another overcome. Even Polygnotos had reached a point in his art at which no master of any other race had ever stood. Among Oriental nations, fine art had never separated itself from common handicraft, and masters died nameless. It was in free Greece that artists first grew to world-wide fame and world- wide power of giving delight. Polygnotos was the earliest painter who stood upon this pinnacle, though his, in truth, was as yet no unshackled art, and though perspective, light-and-shade, and the natural treatment of colour were still quite undeveloped. But soon after Polygnotos these secrets were mastered and changed the character of painting. One problem after another was solved ; Apelles reached the highest point of technical knowledge attainable by the Greeks ; and if we compare the ancient texts with the most accomplished of the existing mural paintings, humble examples of daily handicraft as these are, we shall have no doubt that Greek painting had at last fully acquired the power to produce adequate semblances of living fact and nature. It is indeed probable that the more complicated problems of scientific perspective, such as were discovered in the fifteenth century, were not yet fully solved by the Greeks. But artists chose motives in which these difficulties were not much noticed, and intuition in many cases supplied the want of science. If we find even in slight repetitions of ancient pictures that the perspective, though never perfectly correct, very often approaches correctness, we may well believe that the artistic instinct of Apelles and his contemporaries suf- ficed where tiieir knowledge may have failed. It is moreover obvious, as Helbig has already insisted, that the Greeks never fully acquired that feeling for the vitality and charm of atmosphere which often plays a principal part in modern painting. The different moods which depend on different densities of the atmosphere, on rain-clouds mounting up the sky, on the position of the sun, on the manifold changing effects of light — these moods which we are at first inclined to identify with our own varying moods of sentiment, the Greeks took in with less closeness of observation, or at any rate with less sympathy, than ourselves. As a rule, they placed their horizon abnormally high according to our ideas, and distributed the various objects over an ample space, in clear and equable light. At Pompeii, we may no doubt point to some pictures with a sunset glow, but we must be careful, in these exceptional cases, not to mistake for an atmospheric motive that which is in truth 'only a decorative motive in the .sense we have already mentioned. And after all, this deficiency or limitation could only be much felt in kuulscapc, and would not tell one way or another upon great figure compositions. As for the relation of ancient Greek painting to modern painting as it has been practised since the .sixteenth century, — we may be sure, after what has been .said, that if it were granted us to look upon some great series of masterpieces by a Greek artist, we should not be struck by any technical shortcomings in 142 HISTORY OF PAINTING. his work, but should place it without hesitation by the side of the most finished performances of all times or races. It is true that in certain orders of work we might perhaps perceive errors of perspective and weaknesses of colouring ; and if the old Greek masters could see some of the most accomplished modern pictures, they would doubtless themselves acknowledge that, though we may not have attained the noble style and feeling for beauty which their choicer works possess, we have still made advances and opened fields unknown to them in the pictorial grasp of nature, and in the mode of reproducing her aspects with technical correctness on a plane surface. The high renown of having been the first to create a true art of painting, will, however, not in future be denied to the Greeks. This art owes them, indeed, more even than the other arts, in which their productions did not so much exemplify anything new in itself as the best that could be done upon foundations already laid. But the attainments of the mighty art of Greece fell away gradually and were forgotten. Painting petrified or stiffened into routine. More than fifteen hundred years had to pass over the world before a second age of painting should come round like its first great age in Greece ; and the highest achieve- ments of this later time owed no small part of their glory and perfection to the renewed study of those of antiquity. APPENDIX. 1. For a discussion of the primitive textile industries of the East, and their relation to the general history of art, see Bottiger, Archdologie der Malerei ; and more particularly, Semper, Der Stil, 2d ed. 2. The foundations of a connected history of Greek painters were laid by Brunn in his Geschichte der griechischen Kiinstler, vol. ii. A new edition of Prof. Brunn's work is understood to be in preparation ; in the meantime a large number of monographs have added to our knowledge of the subject. The original sources from ancient literature (of which the most important is Pliny, Hist. N'at., b. xxxv.) have been collected by Prof Overbeck in \\\% Aiitike Sclu-iftqudlen, Leipzig, 1868. 3. For instance : Goethe, Polygnofs Gemdlde (in vol. 28 of Hempel's ed.); Riepenhausen, Peinttcres de Polygnote, etc., Rome, 1826 ; Otto Jahn, Die Gemdlde des Polygnotos, Leipzig, 1841 ; F. G. Welcker, Com- position der Polygnotischen Gemdlde, Berlin, 1848; W. Gebhardt, Die Co7nposition der Gemdlde des Polygitot, Gottingen, 1872. Naturally, the critical student will find himself unable to place implicit confidence in any of the reconstructions which have so long afforded a tempting occupation to archaeologists. Neither are we sufficiently informed concerning the technical method of those early Greek mural decorations, which may either have been painted direct upon the wall or upon movable panels subsequently let in. 4. For a further discussion of the position of Agatharchos in the history of art, see particularly Brunn, ii. 81 sqq. ; also Woermann, Die Laiidschaft in der Kiinst der antiken Vdlker. 5. J. A. Letronne, Lettres d'nn auliquaire a un artiste, Paris, 1836- 1 840; Raoul Rochette, Peifitiires antiques, 1836; Lettres archeologiques, 1840. 6. To Prof. Brunn the student is peculiarly indebted for the manner in which he has enabled us to realise the artistic character of Zeuxis, GescJi. der griech. Kiinstler, ii. 75-97. 7. Compare Brunn, ii. 126 ; Helbig, Untersuchungen iiher die Campanische IVandmalerei, pp. 65, So, 81, 326-39. And see Archdologische Zeitimg, 1869, PI. 14, for a mosaic of this subject found in Cata- lonia, which seems more nearly related than the Pompeian example to the original of Timanthes. 8. Compare Brunn, ii. 130-158, 289-293; Urlichs, Rheinisches Museum, xvi. 1861 ; Wustmann, ibid, xxiii. 1868; Michaelis, C. T., Arch. ZeiiJing, N.F. viii. 1S68, pp. 31 sqq. 9. Byblis, according to the suggestion of Dilthey ; but Urlichs understands the whole p.assage differently. See /v'//,///. .)///.r., 1870, pp. 151, 507; 1S71, pp. 283, 590. 10. See Engelmann, Arehdol. Zeitimg, 1871, p. 37, PI. xxx. ; Helbig, Uniersuchungen, p. \^\ sqq. 11. See P>rulin, ii. 202 sqq., and in 'Meyer's Kiinstler-Lexikon, sul>7'oee AY>tt BidLtti7to della Commissione arckeologica communale di Roma, 1877; PI. i, 2,3. 56. The most important and most easily accessible publications are the following : — Bartoli, P.S. and F., Le pitture antiche dclle Grotte di Roma e del Sepolcro de'' Nasoni, with text by BeUori and De la Chausse, Rome, 1706; Bartoli, P.S., Gli antichi sepolcri owero Mausolei Romani, Rome, 1727; Ponce, N., Collection des tableaux et arabesques antiques trouves a Rome dans les thermes de Titus; Penna, A., Viaggio pittorico della Villa Adriana di Tivoli, 1826. 57. Mon. deir Inst., iii., PI. 9, 10, 11, 21, 22. 58. Holstenius, L., Vetus pictum Nymphatim exhibens, Rome, 1676. 59. [This subject of a man twisting a rope of straw, and a she-ass eating it as fast as he twists it, had been originally painted by Polygnotos, and was supposed to be an allegory of bad housewifery. See Pausanias, x. 29, 2 ; Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxv. 33 ; Diod. Sicul. i. 97.] 60. See Bottiger, Die Aldrobandinische Hochzeit, Dresden, 18 10. 61. Published in chromolithography, with comments, by Woermann, Die Odysee-landscha/ten vom Esquilin. 62. By E. de Chanot in Gazette archhlogiqtie, 1875, PI. 5, 6. 63. See Mon. delP Inst., vi. PI. 49-53. 64. See Revue archeologique, xxi. (May 1870). A collection of photographs taken from drawings after these pictures is sold under the title Plati et peintiires de la maison paternelle de Tibire Cesar. 65. Bull, deir Inst. 1876, pp. 5, 6 sqq. 66. [See F. Barnabei, The Academy, N.I. No. 370 (July 26, 1879).] 67. Mon. deir lust., viii. PI. 21. 68. See Helbig, W., Die Wandgetndlde Campanietis, nebst einer Unterstuhung iiber deren Technik von Otto Donner, Leipzig, 1868 ; and Id., Unteisuchungen iiber die campanische Wandmalerei, Leipzig, 1873. Early publications on the subject, including the great illustrated works, are very numerous ; the following are among the most important: Le antichith d'' Ercolano, Naples, 1757-1792, vols. i. ii. iii. iv. vii. ; Zahn, W., Die schonsten Ornamente und merkiuiirdigsten Gemdlde aus Pompeji, I/erculanum, und Stabiae, Berlin, 1838-1852 ; Temite, IVandgemiilde aus Herculanum und Pompeji; Raoul Rochette, Choix de peintiires de Pompei, Paris, 1844 ^1^- > Museo Boi-bonico, from vol. i., 182410 vol. xvi., 1857 ; Niccolini, Le case ed i monutnenti di Pompeii, 1854 ^.^ij?.; Gell, W., Pompciana, London, 1824 and 1832 : Giornale degU Scavi di Pompei, a periodical in progress since 1868 ; Presuhn, E., Pompejanische Wanddecorationen, Leipzig, 1877. 69. Students are principally indebted for these results to the judicious researches of A. Mau ; see Giornale degli Scavi, ii. pp. 386-395, 439-456, and Bull. delV Inst., 1874, p. 141. 70. See Helbig, Catalogue, No. 1385. 71. Helbig, Wandgemdlde, No. 114; Museo Borbonico, ii. 59. 72. This important principle in the Pompeian wall-decorations has been ascertained and illustrated by Ad. Trendelenburg, in Arch. Zcitiing, 1876, p. I sqq., 79 sqq. u PART II. PAINTING IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN WORLDS. BY ALFRED WOLTMANN. BOOK I. EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. CHAPTER I. PAIN.TING IN THE CATACOMBS. Attitude of the early Christians towards art — Eai'ly Christian art to be best studied at Rome and in tombs — Origin of the name catacombs — Purpose and history of the catacombs ; their re-discovery — Some more important than others for the histoiy of painting — Their construction — Their furniture — Their painted decorations— Introduction of Christian symbohsm — Pictorial and unpictorial symbols — Christian significance given to Pagan motives — Types of Christ — Type of the Virgin — Types of the Apostles — Costume — Choice of subjects from the Old and New Testaments — Ritual or sacramental pictures — Figures of grave-diggers and other personages — Decorative distribution and setting of the pictures — Works in S. Domitilla ; S. Agnes; S. Lucina — Arrangement according to decorative rather than according to mystical or symbolical correspondence — Condition, merits, and style of the catacomb paintings — Their cheerfulness of spirit — Drawings on gilt glass — Recapitulation ; painting in the catacombs as compared with contemporary Pagan work — General decline. Early Christian art does not differ in its beginnings from the art of anti- quity. The technical means, the conception of nature, the feehng for form, are the same. The only perceptible differences are those differences of subject which betoken the fact that art has now to embody a changed order of religious ideas ; and even from this point of view, the classical connection is but gradu- ally and at first imperfectly severed. Christianity, however, occupied a different position in regard to art from that which classical antiquity had occupied. The image-worship of the ancient religions was essentially opposed to the spirit of the new ; and it was only through Pagan influences that such worship by degrees found its way into Christianity. At the outset Christianity, as was inevitable from its Jewish origin, had no need for art. In many quarters the aversion to works of material imagery expressed by a father of the church like TertulHan — the antagonism to the idolatries of antiquity — remained long unabated. Yet when Christianity, far outstepping the narrow circle of Judaism, had been taken up by classically educated Greeks and Romans, the prejudice against works of art could not continue to be general, nor could Christendom escape the craving for art wliich is common to civilised mankind. The dislike of images used as objects of worship did not include mere chamber decorations, and while independent sculpture found no footing in the Christian world, or at least was applied only to secular and not to religious uses, painting, on the other hand, found encouragement for purely decorative purposes, in the execution of which a characteristicall)' Christian element began to assert itself by degrees. The domain of Early Christian art extended over the whole Roman 152 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Empire wherever Christian communities arose, especially in the large towns where art-industries in general had long been carried on, and where the Chris- tian communities contained a greater number than elsewhere of members belonging to the upper ranks of society, and therefore possessed of cultivation and a love for art. Provincial and local differences are at first lost in the uniform general character of the work produced ; since all over the Roman Empire there reigned the same principles of design, though the power of execution might be greater in one place and less -in another. First, of course, stood Rome herself, the capital of the Empire, the inheritor of the culture of three quarters of the globe. While ancient art at Rome was still, though in decadence, creating splendid monuments, public buildings of immense extent and magnificence, sumptuous memorials and statues. Christian art was already stirring, though at first quietly beneath the ground, in those early and humble activities which in our own day can only be connectedly studied at Rome. Of this as well as of all foregoing ages of art, tombs give us the most faithful and complete idea ; in them has Iain hidden and preserved that which on the surface of the earth has perished. The name " catacombs " for the underground cemeteries or ourial-places of the ancient Christians was, in the first instance, merely local ; one particular burial-ground at Rome, that of S. Sebastian, was called Coeineteritmi ad cata- cumbas, and from this the name later became general.^ Even in times when the religion of the Christians no longer shared the protection which Judaism enjoyed in the Roman Empire, but was suspected and persecuted, the burial-places of the sect still profited by the full legal protection assured to tombs of all kinds by the pious sentiments of the Romans towards the dead. Cemeteries, which were the property of private Christian families, or of particular burial societies formed upon the model of the Roman funeral colleges, could be laid out without concealment, and within them neither interments nor the celebration of anniversaries was prohibited. Inside the circuit of the ancient walls of Servius Tullius burial was illegal ; the Christians had therefore to establish their cemeteries outside this circuit, and as they did not, according to the prevalent practice of the Romans, burn their dead, but buried them like the Jews, they took advantage of the condition of the soil in the neighbourhood of Rome, and selected these underground places of burial ; over which, however, they erected chapels to which they built handsome entrances, so that these were in no way withdrawn from public view. It was not until an edict of Valerian (a.D. 257) prohibited religious meetings in these places, and until persecution did not always pause at their thresholds, that the necessity for concealment arose. After the recognition of Christianity by Constantine the old cemeteries fell more and more into disuse, but for centuries they still con- tinued to be places of pilgrimage and reverential regard. From the ninth century, however, after the passion for relics had occasioned their wholesale EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 153 spoliation, the catacombs were neglected and forgotten, until at last, at the end of the sixteenth century, the re-discovery of " subterranean Rome " began. The researches of Bosio at that date, the studies of Seroux d'Agincourt at the end of the last century — studies directed especially to the history of painting — and in our own day the methodical investigations of De Rossi, have finally disclosed to us their secrets. These cemeteries are the only places in which we find remains of Christian paintings of earlier date than the close of the fourth century, and it is only the examples which belong to this early period which can claim our attention here. The additions made in later ages may be passed over, inasmuch as those ages can be better judged by the monuments they have left above ground. For the history of painting the most important Christian cemeteries of the first centuries are those of Priscilla on the Via Salaria, of Domitilla or SS. Nereus and Achilles on the Via Ardeatina, and of Pra^textatus on the Via Appia. The largest of all the catacombs is that of S. Callixtus, founded at the end of the second century, and situated opposite that of Praetextatus. Near these lie the catacombs of S. Sebastian already mentioned. Finally, the cemetery of S. Agnes at the opposite end of the city, on the Via Nomentana, is especially noteworthy. In regions remote from Rome the catacombs of S. Januarius at Naples and those in Alexandria should be mentioned.'^ The narrow and intricate passages of these subterranean cemeteries, regular in the earlier but narrower and more winding in the later examples, are con- ducted one above another at various levels, and have their rows of loculi or recesses for receiving the dead in either wall. Now and again they open out into sepulchral chambers of an approximately square shape cut out of the tufa {ciibiada), of which two are often placed opposite each other, or several are collected in close proximity. These furnish the occasion for painted decorations. In Christian graves we are used to find all kinds of household ware, personal and toilet ornaments, coins, toys, and the like, given, quite in the spirit of antiquity, to the dead person to take with him from this life into the next ; and in just the same spirit these subterranean chambers of sepulture are also adorned with a system of painted decoration intended to make them resemble the apartments of an earthly house. It is precisely in the earliest cemeteries that a purely decorative style of painting is often found, which is undistinguishable from the usual work of antique house decorators. Graceful vine branches with Cupids adorn a ceiling in the oldest part of the Tomb of Domitilla, and in the same place remains of landscape have been found playing a part in wall-decoration. In the so-called Crypta Quadrata of the cemetery of Praetextatus, which is not quarried out of the stone but regularly vaulted, and of great antiquity, the four compartments of the ceiling contain only roses, asters, grapes, and laurel branches alive with birds — plants, that is, which probably symbolise the four seasons ; and in the X Christ ^^, the T which was the oldest form of the cross, the ship as an 154 HISTORY OF PAINTING. lower zones corresponding subjects of daily life — flower-gathering, reapers at their work, vintage, and olive-gathering. The ante-chamber of the first catacomb at Naples contains, with a charming decorative division of the ceiling space, two fluttering doves with an olive branch in the central medal- lion, and round about this slender gazelles, panthers in the act of springing, little sea-horses, vases with roses, and birds balancing themselves on twigs. In the sequel, too, not only dolphins, birds, and masks, remain as regular elements of decoration, but even motives from classical mythology, as Tritons and little winged genii, are introduced frankly among the leaf ornaments. Along with these, however, shapes and images of Christian signification begin by degrees to make their appearance. With the first Christian symbols as they appear incised, painted, or raised in relief on tombstones, vessels, and sarcophagi, — as the monogram of emblem of the church, the fish, which, by a play upon the letters composing the word t%^u9, was intended to symbolise Christ, — with all these a history of painting has naturally nothing to do. They constituted no more than a kind of picture-writing, understood by the members of the community, and recalling to them the fundamental doctrines of their religion. But when the dove is turned into an emblem of the Christian soul, the lamb with the banner of victory into a symbol of Christ, when a flock of lambs is taken to represent the Apostles or a Christian community, the peacock immortality, the hart at the water-brooks the longing of the Christian for holiness, then the decorative and artistic point of view is involved as well as the religious. The ancient love of depicting animal life survives in these symbolic representations ; for indeed such pictures of animals were customary in classical precedent before it pleased the Christian mind to discern in them symbols of special significance. Besides these we soon find other symbols of religion which have assumed true pictorial form, and are designed with a true painter's motive. At first these are taken over direct from classical antiquity ; particularly the two ever-recurring incidents of Orpheus and of the Good Shepherd, which appear as emblematical representations of Christ. Orpheus, in antique garb and wearing the Phrygian cap, sits on a rock and strikes his lute while tame or wild animals, especially lions, lie submissive at his feet, and thus stands as a symbol of the controlling power of the Christian doctrine (Fig. 43).^ The subject of the shepherd carrying the lamb on his shoulders is painted with an allusion to Christ's parable of the Good Shepherd, but has its immediate pre- cedent in the antique ; namely, in those figures of every-day shepherds which we find both in Pompeian mural paintings and elsewhere, and in the statues of Hermes Kriophoros^ i.e. Hermes carrying a ram on his shoulders as the protecting god of flocks and herds. One of the supposed Christian statues in EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 155 the Lateran is really an original Hermes of this kind. But in this instance only the formal part of the antique conception is respected, and no mythological connection is kept up between the Christian subject and its prototype. The shepherd appears in such Christian pictures as a youth of pleasant aspect in FifT. 40. country dress, generally with the attribute of the syrinx or shepherd's pipe, and at his feet the crook, besides milk-jars, and sometimes also lambs (Fig. 40). The constant repetition of such subjects was no doubt due to their agreeable character and peculiar fitness for decorative purposes. Again, just as banqueting scenes appear in antique tombs and on sarcophagi, so also we find like subjects depicted on the walls of Christian sepulchral chambers, with a symbolic refer- 156 HISTORY OF PAINTING. ence to the happiness of the heavenly love-feast. A subject taken straight from real life is that of the fisher, with an allusion to Christ's similitude of the Apostles as fishers of men. But besides these we find figures which belong exclusively to Christianity, and especially the figure of its Founder, which is brought before us not only in symbolic but in actual lineaments. However much some of the early Fathers might hold to the opinion that Christ had walked the earth as a servant, w'ithout form or comeliness, art was still too much imbued with the classical spirit of beauty to be at home in the treatment of such a conception. As no historical portrait of Christ was known, so artists did not endeavour to construct one, but set themselves to realise his divine nature, and accordingly created an ideal of a beardless, youthful Saviour, which approaches closely to the kindred types of the classical gods and heroes. In this likeness, and with short hair, Christ appears at the raising of Lazarus and other miracles. A rather different type, which is afterwards handed down through the art of the Middle Ages, appears on the gilt glasses found in the catacombs (of which we shall speak by and by), though not on their mural paintings ; in this Christ appears in like manner youthful and bearded, but with long hair, which flows over the shoulders behind, and is cut in front in a smooth, straight line across the forehead. The bearded type becomes common in later times, but this we shall be able to study above ground, in the earliest mosaics, better and in a more original shape than in the catacombs. Mary appears in the catacomb pictures as a Roman matron, generally praying with uplifted hands {Oralis, Adorante). A similar figure with lambs at her feet, so as to form a kind of counterpart to the Good Shepherd, may however be equally well taken for a personification of the Church. Mary is also represented later as sitting with the Child in her lap, but even then she sometimes has her hands raised in prayer, without holding the Child, as in a picture in the cemetery of S. Agnes. The Apostles, especially Peter and Paul, appear as ancient philosophers, without special attributes ; but for these two are soon developed types which present a certain contrast to each other. Ecclesiastical writers on art have from this fact conjectured the existence of a tradition as to their personal appearance founded upon real portraits. An examination of the monuments shows us, on the contrary, whence the types in truth originate. The famous bronze statue of S. Peter, in his great church at Rome, the object of such veneration that in the course of centuries the foot has been worn away by the kisses of the faith- ful, is in fact an antique statue of a consul, which has been transformed into a Peter ; it has curling hair and a thick, closely-cut beard, characteristics which have accordingly been retained ever since in figures of Peter, while to Paul, simply for the sake of contrast, has been assigned smooth hair and a long beard. The prophets were in like manner depicted after the type of ancient philosophers, with scrolls of writing. EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 157 The dress of the sacred personages in these paintings is the Roman tunic with the palHum thrown over it, and sandals on the naked feet. The simpler philosopher's habit consisting of the pallium only, which leaves the upper part of the body bare on one side, appears only occasionally in early pictures. The nimbus or glory round the head, for which also there exists antique precedent, as it had been in use for divinities since Alexander, and afterwards for human potentates,* appears round the head of Christ for the first time in the fourth century, and later round those of Saints also ; after which a cross comes to be generally drawn for distinction upon the nimbus of the Saviour. The choice of scenes from the Old and New Testament, in which the figures of Christian tradition appear, is as yet but limited. The properly pictorial motives in Scripture are not yet discovered. Painting is not yet epic, but only symbolic ; it does not seek to set forth actions or events, but only to draw the Christian mind to the contemplation of certain doctrinal conceptions, certain fundamental religious ideas, and especially to the virtues of the sacraments. The Passion of Christ, which in later times becomes the dominant theme of Christian art, is not repre- sented here, and it is particularly to be remarked that no picture of the Cruci- fixion appears before the seventh century. The shrinking of Early Christian art from subjects of martyrdom is an after-note of classical feeling, to which it was repugnant to exhibit a deity in the moment of humiliation and of capital punishment in its most shameful form. Christ is depicted in his supernatural power, in his ministry on earth, and especially in the performance of his miracles. So the man sick of the palsy, who takes up his bed and walks, bears testimony to the purifying power of baptism ; the raising of Lazarus, to redemption and the victory over death ; the multiplication of loaves, or the miracle at the marriage of Cana, to the sacrament of the Eucharist. Subjects from the Old Testa- ment also arc chosen with symbolic reference to the Christian doctrines. The fall of Adam and Eve testifies to the sinfulness of man. The story of Noah is not exhibited in regular pictures, but he is represented standing half out of an ark (which is only conventionally indicated by a small chest open at the top), and holding in his hands an olive branch and dove symbolical of the divine peace insured by baptism. The same sacrament is typified by Moses striking water from the rock (Fig. 41), or again by Peter in the same position as leader of t^he new Israel. Moses loosing his .shoes from off his feet before the bush seems to shadow forth the holy fear in.spired by the Christian mysteries. The prophet Jonah, cast forth by a dragon-like fish, is the oft-recurring type of the Resurrec- tion of Christ. Jonah is also often shown resting under the gourd and waiting in vain for the destruction of Nineveh, probably as a warning .symbol to those who murmur against the dispensations of God. The events from the stor)' of Jonah arc sometimes dejMCted in a connected cycle. Abraham in the act of offering up Lsaac typifies the death of Christ. David as conqueror is also a type of Christ. Daniel naked in the lion's den, anel the three young ^s HISTORY OF PAINTING. men in the fiery furnace, are symbols of trust in the divine help in time of need. Christianity has also a class of ritual or devotional pictures of its own no less than Pagan antiquity. The efficacy of the sacraments is extolled not only by means of Scripture stories, but by illustrations of the liturgical actions Fig. 41. themselves ; for instance, the imposition of hands by the priest, or the conse- cration of the bread, with the emblematic fish lying beside it on the table. The every-day personage of the grave-digger, fossor, occasionally occurs ; sometimes in a modestly subordinate character ; sometimes standing above his own grave with lamp and pick-axe in his hand, like the grave-digger Diogenes of our illustration (Fig. 42). For the rest, it had been, as we know, the custom of antiquity to indicate the rank and position of the deceased on his tomb, and by pictures of implements the craft which he plied. Finally, although the sufferings of martyrs were not represented, we seem to recognise, in a picture EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 159 in the catacombs of S. CalHxtus, a member of the Christian confession before the tribunal. In the division of the space to be decorated, the extravagantly fanciful kind of pseudo-architectural device which we found in the Pompeian wall- paintings has no place in the Catacombs. The pictures are enclosed and the space laid out in compartments and with borders of the simplest design, as stripes or astragalus or leaf-patterns. But the general aspect of an ordinary iiniiuniiuuiiiiiiiniMiiiminniiniiiiimiiinniMiiiMiiiiuuimiuniiiiiiiiiimmimmiuiiBiiiimaiiiiumiiin^^^^ Fig. 42. chamber is kept up in the decoration of these Christian just as much as in that of the earlier Pagan tombs. The mrosolia, or niched recesses vaulted with a semicircular arch, in which the sarcophagi are ranged on either wall, the ceilings, the wall-surfaces themselves when they are not too much broken up by openings made to receive the dead, combine to form a properly related whole; and the ceiling in especial affords opportunity for a complete harmonious design. Such designs are composed about a centre, with a strictly architectural division of the parts. Thus, on a ceiling in the cemetery of Domitilla (Fig. 43), Orpheus appears in an octagonal central panel, and the eight compartments which sur- round this octagon, and of which the outer margins form so many sections of a circle, contain the following subjects: — David with the sling, Moses striking the rock, Daniel in the lion's den, the raising of Lazarus, and alter- i6o HISTORY OF PAINTING. nately with these Scripture scenes are four compartments with figures of animals, namely oxen and rams. The ceiling from the cemetery of S. Agnes, the central picture of which is the Good Shepherd of our previous illustration (Fig. 40), contains, in four rectangular compartments surrounding an Orans, or Virgin in prayer, the Fall of Man, Moses striking the rock, and Jonah sleep- ing under the gourd ; in the angles there are, in separate compartments, birds perching on branches, tall vases rise next to these, and light leaf ornaments as well as doves symmetrically balancing each other form a circle round the Fig. 43. centre-piece. The antechamber of the second catacomb at Naples shows in the centre an octagon, with a hovering Victory holding a palm-branch. The skilfully divided outer compartments contain winged genii with banderoles, female figures winged and hovering, masks, vases of flowers, vines, griffins, lions, gazelles, sea-horses, and in three larger pictures, the Fall of Man, then (as it seems) the Sower of the parable, and finally a representation, as yet unex- plained, of three damsels building a tower. The second-century ceiling of S. Lucina, reproduced by De Rossi (Fig. 44), contained in the centre a picture, now almost destroyed, representing probably the Good Shepherd, and sur- rounded alternately with two other pictures of the Good Shepherd, and two of the Virgin in prayer; but besides these, within exquisitely designed compart- EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. i6i ments, we see branches with leaves and flowers, birds, masks, and floating genii, such as appear on the walls of Pompeii. The element of Christian doctrine insinuates itself here but very discreetly, and indeed in a manner hardly per- ceptible to the uninitiated. Hitherto it has been generally thought that in the selection and composition of separate scenes the symbolical principle was uppermost, and that each cycle Fig. 44. of pictures formed a kind of religious puzzle, or sermon skilfully composed in the characters of art. But a comparison of these with other antique wall-paintings goes far to qualify this supposition, and leads to the conclusion that here also the purely decorative purpose counted for a good deal. Recent studies have estab- lished the existence in ancient wall-paintings of a principle of formal symmetry according to which subjects are often placed together without reference to any inward correspondence of meaning between them, but simply because by their external correspondence they serve to balance each other in the composition 1 62 HISTORY OF PAINTING. (see above, p. 138). This principle we find still at work in the catacombs. The commentators have hitherto searched for some mystic inner connection between the Raising of Lazarus and Moses striking the rock. The reader, however, has only to look at the illustration (Fig. 43) to perceive how the correspondence of the two motives — in each case a draped figure with the right arm similarly raised in the act of miracle — was of itself enough to determine the choice of the irrelative positions. There is just the same sort of correspondence be- tween the nude figure of Daniel and the heroic youthful David. Neither is it necessary to look for any symbolic intention in the animal subjects of this same ceiling ; it may rather be taken for granted that the bull and the ram, which appear each of them once standing and once reposing, form simply part of a scheme of landscape and figure decoration without ulterior meaning. Again, with regard to the correspondence of the subjects of Jonah and the Fall, on the second ceiling which we have described, there is at least the coincidence that both involve the representations of naked figures under a tree. When we find Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace continually balanced with the Adoration of the Magi, we must seek the reason in the fact that in each case the personages are three in number and wear the same kind of Asiatic costume — Phrygian caps, short tunics, and trousers. It is true that the object of spiritual teaching was not forgotten, but within this general scope the decorative artist was allowed greater freedom at this early period of Christian art than afterwards. The paintings of the catacombs have suffered sorely. Many have been destroyed in the attempt to remove them ; what remains is perishing more and more, and can be seen in no sufficient light. Such as they are, however, these paintings possess a significance and a charm which it is impossible not to feel. The men who worked in the catacombs were not artists ; they were simple handicraftsman, but the artistic tradition of antiquity still lingered in their practice. The same men would probably have used more care and finish in work done above ground. In these sepulchral chambers, lighted but dimly by occasional shafts or lamps, they did not employ the finished Greco-Roman method of painting on a carefully laid preparation, but contented themselves with a rapid mode of execution on a dry ground {al seccd). They never thought of making special studies for the task at any given time before them, or of going back to nature, but worked quickly with an assured routine, a broad and bold conduct of the outlines, and a vague handling which did not pause over details. But in this decorative style they still wrought with some of the old skill. They still possessed some of the true antique feeling for the human form ; their proportions are generally good, and even their treatment of the nude is often competent enough, witness many of their figures of Daniel ; Moses put- ting off his shoes beside the burning bush often bears a lingering resemblance to the ancient statues of Hermes fastening his sandal ; even Jonah as he lies or crouches naked under his gourd is often a figure, however imperfectly carried EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 163 through, yet quite naturally and flowingly designed. Many figures oi Adoranti retain a classic charm in their carriage, gesture, and inclination of the head. In spite of conventionalised detail, not a {q\n draped figures, like the Moses of Fig. 41, are marked by a real nobility of style. Simple situations, for which the artists often recur to ancient models, are constantly repeated, and exhibit attitudes and movements of agreeable liveliness and artistic freedom. With a happy linear arrangement, and much skill in adapting the composition to the space to be filled, we find in the earlier period comparatively few serious faults in foreshortening, perspective, and the like. The elements of the composition, it is true, are extremely restricted, and all the harder problems of the art, all complication of background and representation of retreating planes, are avoided. A traditional feeling for light and shade enables the workman to model his figure sufficiently if not powerfully ; his animal forms are still fairly well understood ; the trees, which, together with the ground on which the figures stand, are introduced to indicate an open-air scene of action, are treated in a somewhat generic but still natural manner. The execution is proportioned to the conditions of the task, and it is only later that rudeness of handling and uncouthness of form prevail. The colouring is clear and harmonious upon a uniform light ground. The chief, the essential charm of the decorations of these sepulchral chambers, consists in their blithe serenity ; they are as cheerful as if they had been designed for living households. Death is thought of here with no admix- ture of terror, no touch of gloom or self-abasement ; and this is specifically a note not of the Christian but of the classic genius. If there is allusion to the mysteries of redemption, it is an allusion that comes gently upon the spirit in comforting and poetic symbols. Besides the art of mural painting, there is another variety of graphic art which it is proper in this place to mention briefly. Among the most valuable objects found in the catacombs are those of gilt glass {pondi d'oro), usually bottoms of goblets, dating from the third or fourth century. These are figured with subjects of the simplest kind — heads or single .figures of Apostles, Peter and Paul as a pair. Scriptural scenes like those of the wall-paintings, figures of deceased persons, above whom the Saviour holds the crown of Life, and also profane subjects such as hunting scenes or a victor on his chariot.'' Glass paintings properly so called these are not, but drawings scratched with a point on a leaf of thin gold laid upon a round of glass, and then covered with another round which is fused by heat into a single substance with the first. To sum up our observations on the paintings of the catacombs : they contain no trace of any artistic tendency that can be called specifically or distinctively Christian. We cannot even assent to the opinion that in these works it is possible to discern a superiority of Christian over contemporary Pagan art, a superiority resting on the difference between the Christian and i64 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Pagan conceptions of the universe ; still less that in the Christian representations the pictorial element and the perspective element play a greater part than in the others.^ Our conclusion rather remains that only in the nature of the subjects with which the painter had to deal does a new element, a specifically Christian element, enter in ; while into his practical mode of embodying them there enters no such element, and with all its imperfections the style of these early Christian paintings does not break through or depart from the circle of classic art. But the earliest of these paintings are the best, and they deteriorate with the general deterioration of classic culture. Early Christian painting, like the contemporary art of the Empire in general, is the art of a decadence, and it shares the general history of that decadence. For this the presence of Christianity is not responsible ; the break-up of the old world was rather a break-up from within. The inheritance of Greek culture was an external possession ; upon its inward secret the Roman world had lost its hold. The tradition of art was handed on more and more superficially ; each generation loosened more and more its hold upon antiquity's true grasp of nature, which was no longer kept up by the habit of study at first hand in contact with the sources of reality. The trick of reproducing forms from mere memory is followed by indifference to structural truth, next perishes the knowledge of the forms themselves, next goes soundness of workmanship and the dexterous practice of the hand. The neglect of nature was indeed a habit which Christianity, though it did not introduce, encouraged, because it was of the essence of Christianity to lay more stress upon the meaning of the symbol than upon its form. We are now approach- ing the point when all the conquests made by Greece in the kingdom of painting, its style and its conditions, through centuries of development, had been thrown away little by little, and when a posterity which knew not of those conquests had brought back the art to its infancy. CHAPTER II. MOSAICS. Rome before a.d. 550 — Practice of mosaic derived by Early Christian from Pagan art ; examples in the catacombs — Mosaic applied to the interior decoration of churches — Mosaic designed and executed by different hands — Purely ornamental character of Christian mosaic till after the time of Constantine — Introduction of doctrinal representations ; S. Nilus —Fine example in the Church of S. Pudentiana— Type of Christ in mosaic pictures — Temporary revival of art under Constantine and his successors — Mosaics at S. Sabina — Decline of the classic spirit in Christian art — Mosaics in Sa>tta Maria Mas^giore — In the basilica of S. Paul — Calamities of the fifth century ; temporary return of prosperity under the Ostrogothic rule — Mosaics of SS. Cosmas and Damian — Influence of antique sculpture — Symmetry of design ; approach of formalism — Other examples of mosaic in Milan and Naples, and especially at Ravenna — Rome the true centre of the art ; but the Ravenna mosaics the more connected and the better preserved — Saji Gicrvanni in fonte — SS. Nazarus and Celsus — No sign of Arian heresy in mosaics of Arian baptistery (Santa Alaria in Cosmedin) — San Apollinare Nnovo ; mosaics both of the Arian and the orthodox period — S. Vitalis ; portrait groups ; Bible pictures — A falling off from earlier work — Influences of barbarism and monachism — Growing monotony and rigidity — Nothing specifically Byzantine in the work of this age in Italy — Byzantium ; influences of the court and of classical models — S. George of Thessalonica — Monastery of Mount Sinai — Lost mosaics of secular and histori- cal subjects — Mosaics of purely ornamental design ; their increasing frequency after the iconoclastic schism — Italy after Justinian — Mosaics of San Apollinare in Classe at Ravenna — Mosaics of this period at Rome — Sa7i Lorenzo fuor le mura — S. Theodore — S. Agnes — Oratory of S. Venantius. Rome before a.d. 550. — Ancient Christian art possessed no perfection which was not handed down to it from classical antiquity, and from antiquity also it derived the technical knowledge of mosaic' Though most of the ancient mosaics that exist were pavements or floor decorations, still this art had been occasionally employed for wall decorations as well, even in Pagan antiquity ; and its employment in this manner became far more frequent in Early Chris- tian art, which could not shake off the increased tone of material splendour characteristic of the decline of the Roman period. Even in the catacombs a number of ornamental pavements in a purely classic style have been found, and besides these, isolated instances of real mosaic pictures, such as the medal- lions with the portrait busts of Flavins Julius Julianus and his wife Maria Simplicia from the cemetery of S. Cyriacus. These bear the true character of Roman fourth-century portraiture ; they arc now in the Chigi Library. At this time the art of mosaic was developed for use above ground also, and obtained a new importance as an architectural decoration. The ancient temple with its outer steps and colonnades had given open welcome to the approach of men. Not so the new Christian house of God. which stands closc-wallcd and 1 66 HISTORY OF PAINTING. silent, and only when you are within begins to reveal pomp and splendour. The upper walls of its nave are carried upon marble columns, taken in many instances from antique monuments ; all spans not vaulted are covered with a coffered roofing enriched with bronze and gilding ; the floor and wainscoting are inlaid with marble mosaic in large patterns symmetrically worked out [opus tesselatiuH and opus sectile), while the upper wall-surfaces are decorated with figure designs executed in another method of mosaic, by laying together minute cubes of stone or glass. This completes the rich effect of the interior. In the circular form of church, these mosaic decorations cover alike the central dome and the vaultings of the surrounding gallery and of the niches. In the basilica form, they spread over the inner side of the entrance wall ; they range down the long parallels of the side walls above the nave arcades, between and above the windows ; they climb, if the basilica has a transept, above the transept arch ; they gleam upon the arch of the tribune, and lastly find their goal and termination in the semi-dome of the apse. The same kind of decoration some- times occurs on the external face of the building also. Mosaic, though it may constitute a monumental and almost unalterable form of decoration, is of course no art directly practised by the hand of the creative artist, but only a laborious industry which, by fitting together in- numerable minute blocks, produces a copy of an artist's original design or coloured cartoon. Still the quality of the work is less slight and common here than in the paintings of the catacombs. The mosaic workers may proceed mechanically, but not so flimsily and carelessly as the decorative painters ; the choice and arrangement of the pattern is not left to them ; they work rather under strict artistic control, and from models which represent the best skill of their time. At first there prevails a purely ornamental character in the style of the classic wall-paintings, as we may see in the Roman monuments of the time of Constantine or his immediate successors. In the Baptistery of the Lateran, an apse of the former entrance-hall shows golden tendrils beautifully designed, and amidst them doves and other Christian symbols on a dark blue ground.^ In the Baptistery outside the Porta Pia, which afterwards became the memorial chapel of Constantia the daughter of Constantine {d. a.d. 354), the vaulted roof of the gallery is decorated to imitate a pleasant vine-arbour at vintage- time, with little winged genii sporting about, loading wains or pressing fruit ; there are also birds, busts, a figure of Psyche, and side by side with all these appear such unmistakable Christian symbols as the lamb with the milk- jars and the cross. The mosaic in the dome too, which has long ago per- ished, was decoratively divided by Caryatids, which formed in a manner the ribs of the dome, and from which classical ornaments ascended ; between these were Scriptural or symbolical representations, and as a lower border, a strip of sea with fish, water-fowl, and genii sailing in boats and throwing nets.^ EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 167 This decorative style, with its playful symbolism, did not in the long run suit the seriousness of the Christian spirit. When S. Nilus (a.D. 450) was con- sulted about the decoration of a church, he rejected as childish and unworth}- the intended design of plants, birds, animals, and a number of crosses, and desired the interior to be adorned with j)ictm-es from the Old and New Testa- ment, with the same moti\e that Gregory II. expressed afterwards in the follow- ing words : — " Painting is employed in churches for this reason, that those who are ignorant of the Scriptures may at least see on the walls what they arc un- able to read in books."^*^ From this time accordingly church pictures become no longer purely decorative ; they serve for edification, for instruction, for devo- tion. With this object Christian art makes the great step from mere symbolic suggestion to real representation. Pictures of this kind appear in the Roman basilicas from the end of the fourth century, which is the earliest date that can be assigned to the most beautiful of all the mosaics in Rome, that namely, in the apse of S. Puden- tiana, on the Esquiline. In other such cases a verbose inscription in verse usually names the donor, and makes certain of the date ; this is wanting here, but we know that a restoration of the church was effected under Pope Siricius {d. A.D. 398), In the centre of the mosaic a bearded Christ .sits enthroned, his right hand lifted in the act of teaching, an open book in his left ; a little lower down sit the Apostles in a semicircle (now only ten in number, since a restoration of the church in A.D. 1588); their gestures and features are full of expression, as if they were moved and inspired by the words of Christ. The two women standing behind them with wreaths in their hands evidently stand for the Church of the Gentiles and the Church of the Jews, and have reference to Peter and Paul, who sit next to the Saviour.'^ The figures in this composition are distinguished by felicitous arrangement, by the union of freedom with severe symmetry, by a vital pictorial interdependence of the several figures ; while a background is provided in the shape of an open .semicircular hall or court, above which ri.se stately buildings. On a hill immediately above the figure of the Saviour rises a huge cross ornamented with precious stones ; and in the air float the .symbols of the Iwangelists (Fig. 45). The bearded type of Chri.st is here particularly noticeable, as this is one of the earliest instances where it occurs. The origin of this new conception, which takes its place side by side with the beardless ideal type, is not ascertained. It is impossible not to recognise that there were points of resemblance between the anticjue conception of Zeus and the Christian idea of the Deity ; and these will not have failed to influence the embodiments of art. Still, any direct transference of the type of Zeus to Christ must be considered quite excep- tional. Witness the legend Creferred to A.D. 462) of a painter who.se hands withered away because he gave the features of Jupiter to a picture of Christ. " In looking at a picture like this of Christ in the character of teacher, we EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 169 rather feel that some type of an ancient philosopher has been taken for a model. The bearded Christ occurs more frequently in the fifth century ; but the repre- sentation continues to fluctuate until at last the classic cast of features disappears, and a severe and solemn type, with lofty forehead, short parted beard, and long hair, becomes established for good and all. He is still represented sometimes with light hair, and sometimes with dark. The latter mode was founded on a description of Christ's person in the letter of Lentulus, a forgery of the Middle Age. The head in S. Pudentiana has, however, but little in common with this t}'pe. It is just as classical as the style, the drawing, the cast of drapery especially, and all the other features of this mosaic. In presence of a creation like this mosaic we cannot but perceive, not only that the decadence of antique art since the time of Constantine has come to a temporary halt, but even that a certain new impulse has made itself felt. This was indeed no mere matter of chance, but the consequence of conscious care and encouragement. The increased activity of architecture, more especially its activity in raising structures destined for the service of the new religion, had aroused a demand for better- trained powers. Libanius relates how in his time the young men forsook the schools of the rhetoricians and philosophers at Antioch, and streamed in crowds to the studios of the painters.^^ Laws were enacted by Constantine (a.d. 334 and 337) to pro- mote the training of architects, and to grant them specific exemptions, as well as to painters, sculptors, and workers in mosaic. In A.D. 375 the Emperors Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian promulgated an edict granting important privileges to " professors of painting."^'* The schools of art now once more encouraged the observance of traditions ; strictness of discipline and academical training were the objects kept in view ; and the student was taught to work not independently by study from nature, but according to the precedent of the best classical models. The mosaic of S. Pudentiana illustrates the result of all this renewed activity. As the remains wc have of classic painting are merely subordinate and decorative, we cannot precisely tell what relation a work like this mosaic bore to the best paintings of the later classic period. We may perhaps assume that it had some advantage over these from the sincerity and conviction with which the artist had grasped the spiritual meaning of his sub- ject. It reminds the modern spectator of the best works of the Renascence. Next in chronological order come the mosaics of the great basilica of S. Sabina on the Aventine. These belong to the time of Pope Celestine I. (a.d, 422-433); the only portions preserved consist of the marble incrustations above the nave arcades, and a mosaic on the inside of the entrance-hall, consisting of a large dedicatory inscription in gold on a blue ground, enclosed between two female figures of fine proportions and draped with classical dig- nity on a gold ground ; these arc personifications (as the inscription states) of the Church of the Jews and the Church of the Gentiles. z tyo HISTORY OF PAINTINCx. Immediately after this time the classical style began to lose its purity. During the gradual decline of Rome and the ever-increasing decay of antique culture, the mastery over form diminishes, but at the same time the Christian spirit grows more at home in its own characteristic range of ideas, and the circle of subjects embodied by Christian art becomes more extended. Thus narrative pictures from history begin to make their appearance, though as yet they onh- occupy a modest position compared with those which merely exhibit types and personages without action, and which we shall therefore call, by way of distinction, exhibitive pictures, — a position, namely, by themselves in a frieze over the upper windows of the nave. In the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore this cycle of narrative scenes above the windows dates (except for some few subjects introduced later) as far back as the time of Sixtus III. (a.D. 432-440). On one side we have the history of our first parents, on the other that of Moses and Joshua. The treatment still has echoes of an antique feeling, akin to that of the reliefs on the column of Trajan, but the work is without coherence in the composition, and on too small a scale for proper effect. The pictures of the arch of the tribune are enclosed in like manner in small separate compartments, arranged in four rows. The throne of God, the symbol of his omnipotence, occupies the centre over the crown of the arch between Peter and Paul ; then follow scenes from the infancy of Christ, beginning with the Annunciation to the Virgin, which balances that to Zachariah ; lastly, underneath, the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem represented by groups of walls and buildings.^^ Next in point of date should come the transept arch in the great basilica of S. Paul, which, according to the inscription, received its mosaic decorations under Pope Leo I. (about A.D. 440) through the instrumentality of Galla Placidia, sister of the Emperor Honorius. The impression this work produces in its present condition is highly barbaric for such a date. It was, no doubt, much restored after the great fire of 1823, but even in reproductions made before that it seems to show a character unusual at that early period. It consists of a single composition from the Apocalypse ; in the centre is a colossal bust of Christ encircled by a rainbow ; at each side are the symbols of the Evangelists, and under them the four-and-twenty elders holding out their crowns ; and last and lowest, Peter and Paul.^*^ The personage of Christ, represented with a beard, a low forehead, eyes sloping down at an angle towards the nose, heavy upper lip and moustache growing too high, is intended to have a leonine majesty, but to our eyes borders on the ogreish. The gigantic scale of the picture is designed to supply the spiritual greatness which has been missed. The bowed figures are stiff, the colouring monotonous, and the gold ground unusual for this period, though it appears again in the vaulting of the little chapel of S. John the Evangelist in the Baptistery of the Lateran, which received under Pope Hilarius (a.D. 461-468) a purely decorative mosaic ornament of the earlier kind, with flowers, fruits, birds, and the Lamb of God in the centre.^'^ EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 171 During the fifth century, while state and cit}- declined more and more, while the prosperity of the few perished with that of the many, and Rome herself had twice undergone the horrors of plunder at the hands of Visigoths and \'andals, one power held out hard against the storms — the Church. Her wealth, especiall)' in landed property, was increased by the gifts of the faithful, and she was able to bind faster than ever to her service whatever remained of declining artistic talent in Rome. When prcscnth', after repeated devasta- tions of Italy, after the fall of the Western Empire and a period of complete disorganisation, peaceful and orderly conditions returned, coupled with a deliber- ate pursuit of classic culture, under the rule of the Ostrogothic kings, the art of Rome revived also. Thus it came to pass that under Pope Felix III. (a.D. 526-530) a work could be produced such as the mosaics of the Church of SS. Cosmas and Damian in the Forum.^^ In the arch of the tribune appear the Lamb of the Apocalypse on the throne between the seven candlesticks, angels, the symbols of the Evangelists, and fragmentar}' figures of the elders. The Apocal}'pse is at this time the favourite source for representations of the Church triumphant, a subject in which the cycle of mosaic pictures generally culminated at this point of the building. The picture in the apse follows that of the tribune-arch, forming the quiet close of the series, and generally taking the shape of a simple dedicatory picture, in which were figured, besides the Redeemer, who remains the principal personage, the patron saint and the founder of the church. In the present case Christ appears not, as at S. Pudentiana, enthroned, but uplifted on clouds. His gesture is full of power, and he alone wears the nimbus. To his feet draw near Peter and Paul, leading forward Cosmas and Damian ; and at the extremity of the composition, on either side the founder. Pope Felix (this figure has been restored) and S. Theodore, behind whom rises a palm-tree. On one of the trees sits a phoenix crowned with a star, a symbol of immortality borrowed by Christian art from antiquity. A frieze-like border under the principal picture contains the Lamb of God standing on a rocky ground above the four rivers of Paradise, and approached by twelve lambs, symbolising the Apostles, who draw near from the cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem (Fig. 46). The ground is blue with a slight indication of clouds, and a golden glory at the top. The importance of the principal figure is symbolically enhanced by the large scale on which it is drawn. Cosmas and Damian on their parts arc somewhat smaller than the Apostles, to whom they are to be regarded as subordinate. The bearded figure of Christ already bears the stamp of the later type, and no longer shows the free classical character which gives us pleasure in the mosaic of S. Pudentiana. The types of the other figures, too, arc severe, reserved, and almost gloomy. The attitudes, with all their fixed solemnity, are still expressive and not devoid of freedom, the draperies anti([ue, excepting that of the two saints of date then recent, who wear a contc-mjxirar)' costume overladen with 172 HISTORY OF PAINTING. ornament and without nobility of cast. A careful study of nature is still appa- rent in the lambs of the lower border. But what we miss in this picture, if we compare it with that of S. Pudentiana, is the true pictorial arrangement, the vital connection of the single figures with one another in the composition, the appropriate relations of the figures to their background. The antique models in use at this time were evidently chiefly works of sculpture. According to Cassiodorus, there were still existing in Rome, in the Fig. 46. time of Theodoric, a whole population of statues. Antique statues of gods, orators, and consuls have been the favourite models preferred for these Christian figures, in motives, attitudes, and gestures, as well as in drapery. An exclu- sively statuesque style gradually develops itself in mosaic design ; the drawing and modelling of single figures are still excellent, but the instinct for perspec- tive arrangement disappears, and with it the sense of the characteristic differ- ences between sculpture and painting. It had taken centuries of development for Greek art to find its way to the formation of a complete pictorial style ; and this conquest was destined now to be lost in the hands of a race still governed by classical traditions. Nearly a thousand years had to pass away before the art of Christendom was to be in a position to win back again what had been thus lost ; and in order to do so, it had to begin once more at the very beginning, and again repeat all the stages of a primitive practice. In the basilica of SS. Cosmas and Damian, and in the monuments of the period immediately following, we find single figures of much power arranged in strict EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 173 symmetry and exactly balanced. No community of action, nothing but a community of meaning and nature, connects the figures ; they stand merely exhibiting themselves severally before us, and seem to be conscious that the eyes of the community, nay, of all Christendom, are upon them. Architectural or landscape backgrounds, such as were formerly customary, are to be found no longer. It is only when the beauties of Paradise are to be expressly symbolised that we see a meadow studded with flowers, graceful palm-trees rising symme- trically aloft, and four springs issuing from the ground in the centre to typify the four rivers. The characteristic aim of the designer is, however, to let his figures appear without any surroundings either on a dark blue ground, as in the present case, or on a gold ground, as in S. Pudentiana. But with the full development of this style the danger of stiffening into formalism is already at hand. Among Roman mosaics, that in SS. Cosmas and Damian is the last of real artistic value ; immediately after this begins the distinct decline of Early Christian art. II. — Ravenna. — Mosaics of the classical period of Early Christian art are also preserved in other Italian towns. In Milan the chapel of S. Satirus off the church of S. Ambrose, and of S. Aquilinus off that of S. Lawrence, contain noteworthy mosaics of the fifth century,^'* In Naples the stunted dome of the small square Baptistery of San Giovaruii in fonte, close to the cathedral, though spoilt by restoration, deserves notice for its rich decorations ; it belongs to the time of Bishop Vincentius, the latter half of the sixth century. Festoons of fruit, rich ornaments, and birds, form the border of the figure composition, a small part of which only is preserved. "° Lastly, Ravenna became a distin- guished seat of Italian art after Honorius, on the invasion of the Visigoths, had transferred thither the Imperial residence (a.D. 404). In no other place can we now find such a complete and connected illustration of the Christian art of this period.""^ The Ravenna mosaics produce such a powerful impression that those at Rome are often depreciated in comparison with them. Nevertheless, Rome was always the chief centre of this art in Italy, and it was from Rome that Ravenna received her first impulse to artistic activity ; so that the development as well as the decadence of the art are subject in both places to the same conditions. The opinion expressed by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, that Ravenna, exhibits a superiority due to its closer connection with the Greek world, is neither confirmed by an examination of the monuments, nor sufficiently estab- lished by history. But Ravenna is important for this reason, that its monu- ments were neither so much devastated in later times, nor so spoilt by showy restorations, as were those of the Imperial city. The mosaics of Ravenna are for the most part better preserved, and they form a more connected series, than those at Rome. 174 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Thus at the outset we find in the Baptistery of the orthodox, San Giova)ini hi fonte, what we should rarely seek for in Rome, — a well-pre- served example of a complete scheme of interior decoration on a large scale.""^ This dome-rooofed octagonal structure (of the time of Bishop Neo, about A.D. 425-430) contains in the spandrils of its lower arcades some vine ornamentation of complete beauty, and in each division an oval with an excellent draped figure of a Saint, very greatly superior to similar draped figures in plaster which stand between the arcades of the upper story. On the border at the spring of the dome, the mosaic begins again, first with a frieze containing a series of views of colonnaded churches, each with a nave and two aisles, which are in- tended as symbols of the church itself ; then on the vaulting, the twelve Apostles in a circle, who, with crowns in their hands, close in towards one another in a solemn ring. Over their heads hang draperies, and between them spring up conventionalised flowers to indicate that the scene is laid in Paradise ; their heads have the individual character of Roman portraits. The round in the middle is occupied with the baptism of Christ. In the figure of John the Baptist, the knowledge of the human form and the nobility and expressiveness of gesture are astonishing. The Jordan is personified in antique fashion as a river-god. The mosaics in the church of SS. Nazarus and Celsus are of equal artistic value ; this church had been a sepulchral chapel of the Empress-Regent Galla Placidia [d. A.D. 450), who had erected it during her own lifetime."^ The dome over the intersection of nave and transept contains a cross and the symbols of the four Evangelists ; the transepts themselves are decorated with figures of Apostles. The field of the arch over the end wall of the choir is divided by a window, on the right side of which is S. Lawrence walking towards the glowing stake and bearing a cross on his shoulder ; the representation of the actual martyrdom is thus avoided ; on the left side is a shrine with the four Evangelists, The finest picture is that which fills the arch over the entrance. The Good Shepherd, clad in golden tunic and purple mantle, sits reposing amid a rocky coast-land- scape, the left hand raised to hold the golden cross-surmounted staff, the right stretched with a kindlv "csture across the bosom to caress a lamb. The animals are more inadequately treated than in SS. Cosmas and Damian in Rome, but the principal figure still exhibits an antique sweep and flow of line (Fig. 47). Here the Good Shepherd is represented not only as a symbol of redemption, but as the personal Christ himself ; as is shown by his nimbus, cross, and solemn attitude, in contrast to the every-da}' aspect which he wears in the catacombs. The ground is blue throughout ; vine branches, garlands, and meander ornaments form the border. The vigorous artistic activity of Ravenna continued after the city had be- come the capital of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy (a.d. 493). Theodoric not onh- strove to prolong the culture and to protect the monuments of antiquity, 176 HISTORY OF PAINTING. but also to patronise and encourage the art which he found already existing among the native inhabitants ; and although the Goths were Arians, the toler- ance of the king nevertheless established a good understanding with the Roman Church, until Pope John yielded to the instigations which reached him from Byzantium against those heretics (a.D. 523). We are therefore not aware of any subject in the mosaics of the Ostrogothic period at Ravenna which points to a peculiarity of doctrine, or of any divergence in their style compared with the Roman mosaics, except such as naturally follows from their later origin. The mosaic in the dome of the Arian Baptistery {Santa Maria in Cosmedin) corre- sponds in subject altogether with that in the orthodox Baptistery, but the st}-le is already much farther removed from classical tradition.^^ In the scene of the baptism, the motive of the S. John is lamer, his attitude awkward, and the Jordan is figured, as often happens in the representation of river-gods, with cray-fish claws attached to his head. The drapery of the Apostles, who fill the circle which surrounds the centre picture, is treated in a more conventional manner ; palm-trees rise between the single figures, which advance from both sides towards a magnificent throne, the symbol of the divine judgment. The basilica of San Apollinare Nuovo, formerly known by the name of ^. Martinus in coelo aureo, which was the Royal Chapel of Theodoric and is contiguous to his palace, has lost its ancient apse, but still possesses a complete mosaic decoration in the nave."^ Of the series of pictures ornamenting the side walls, let us consider first the middle and upper courses, which belong to the Arian time. Beside and between the windows stand thirty full-face figures of dignified Apostles and Saints in niches ; in the character of the heads and of the drapery they are nearer to the best period than the pictures in the Arian baptistery. Above the windows on both sides runs a frieze of narrative pictures, separated by the heads of some niches below, in the shape of small semi-domes divided by pairs of doves, and containing figures of Saints. Each side contains thirteen compositions ; on the north we find the works and miracles of Christ, which are interrupted in the fourth space by a picture of Christ, not in action, but stationary, between the sheep and the goats. This is especially good in style, in the others the treatment is cramped by the circumstance that the con- ception is too much imbued with the spirit of sculpture, as is also the case in mosaics of the same period in Rome ; the principal figure seems to address itself separately to the spectator, instead of taking a part in the action. There are only a few figures in the design, the crowd of disciples being generally indicated by one who is their leader. The Christ is of the youthful type beardless, and with long hair. The more symbolic than dramatic treatment of the catacomb pictures is still apparent here, but their soft flow of line is lost. In the pictures opposite these the type of Christ is entirely different. He EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 177 is older and bearded, but fair ; his expression is dignified, and his superiority over the other personages is at once shown by the fact that he stands half a head taller than most of them. The story of the Passion is here set forth, beginning with the Last Supper, at which all the figures are reclining round an S-shaped triclinium, and a fish is used as a symbol of Christ instead of the bread and wine. Not only the crucifixion itself, but the scenes of persecution, the scourging and mocking, are missing in this series ; immediately after the Bearing of the Cross follow in order the Maries at the tomb, the walk to Emmaus, the risen Christ among the Apostles. According to the Liber Pontificalis of Ravenna, Bishop Agnellus (about a.d. 553-556), under whom the church became Catholic, caused to be executed not only the mosaics of the tribune now destroyed, but also those on the side walls of the nave, with the procession of Martyrs and Virgins. The later origin of this series of pictures, the lowest immediately over the arcades, is confirmed by their style. On the north advances a long train of female, and on the south of male, Saints, all in white robes, and with crowns on their veiled heads, the women with golden mantles. They are proceeding from the city of Ravenna, which is indicated by a view of the royal palace and the harbour, and direct- ing their steps in the one case towards Mary, and in the other towards Christ, who sit enthroned opposite each other between four angels. The whole is designed under the influence of antique bas-reliefs ; the balance of the two sides is strictly maintained ; on each there is the same tranquil advance, the same regular distribution of figures in the space, the same uniform height for seated and for standing figures. But though the general impression may be solemn and noble, yet the motives of the single figures are timid, the drawing of the heads feeble, and the modelling inadequate. The two periods to which the pictures in San ApolUnare Nuovo belong are thus sharply defined, however closely they may approach one another. Here, as in Rome, the classical period of Early Christian art passed away with the close of the Ostrogothic rule and the assumption of power by the Byzantines. The period immediately following that in which the Catholic creed had gained undisputed ascendancy was a highly productive period in Ravenna, and the works which we must next examine are, for the most part, anterior to the frieze just described. The oldest of the mosaics in the private chapel of the arch- bishop's palace, especially the busts on the arches, date as far back as the time of Bishop Maximian, as is testified by the appearance on them of his monogram.^" The four angels carrying a shield w ith the monogram of Christ, in the vaulting of the vestibule, show a motive which uc find repeated with greater beauty in the church of S. Vitalis. The rest is patchwork of a later date. The mosaics obtained for the Berlin Museum from the dismantled church of San Michele in Affricisco (consecrated A.D. 543) are not yet on view. According to published reproductions, the arch of the tribune contained r. 2 A 178 HISTORY OF PAINTING. bearded Christ between angels with trumpets, and the apse a Christ beard- less, bearing the attribute of the book and surrounded by angels.^'^ Lastly, the most important creation of this period is the large and well- preserved series of pictures in the choir of S. Vitalis. "^ This church was begun A.D. 526, under Bishop Ecclesius, and completed A.D. 547, under Bishop Maximian (Fig. 48). In the semi-dome of the apse (i) appears Christ enthroned on a gold ground above the sacred rivers of Paradise, attended by two angels, by S. Vital is, to whom he gives a crown, and by the founder, Bishop Ecclesius, who carries a model of the church. The latter is a true Roman portrait for individu- ality of character ; Christ still appears under the ideal type, which has naturally become by this time more and more formal, of a beardless youth. This dedicatory picture is better, because founded on better models, than the two corresponding ceremonial pictures on the lower wall of the apse at each side of the windows ; these represent the Emperor Justinian with Bishop Maximian, and the Empress Theodora ; the Emperor and Empress advance to meet each other in magnificent court costume, and followed by a numerous suite (Fig. 49). Justinian never was in person in Ravenna, but he appears m 3 / ^X^ /^4^-N\ 11 ''ft 1^ 6 5 1 ^fe 8 7 9 m. 11 /^^x B /_'° \ 2 ■ c\r\ r\ . 1 H V 1 Fig. 48. Fig- 49- here with his wife in the character of donor because of his rich gifts to the church. His features bear distinctly the portrait character which Early Chris- tian art was able long to maintain under the influence of Roman traditions, and EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTINCx. 179 quite coincide with those of the bust preserved in a side chapel of the church of S. ApolHnaris as being a fragment of the original mosaics of the entrance wall. They equally agree with the effigy on his coins. The features of the successive Emperors were well known in all parts of the Empire, as their effigies were sent broadcast through the lands immediately after their accession. The features of the Bishop are also highly characteristic. The costumes are quite as strongl}^ marked as the figures themseh^es, and as in representing these sumptuous court dresses antique models of drapery could be of no use, so their treatment is petty and dry. The several groups, too, in each picture, are not clearly enough developed, the figures are monotonous in attitude and carriage of head, and bear the stamp of a ceremonial formality."^ In the adjacent altar-sanctuary the mosaic of the vaulting (3), which is essentially decorative, surpasses all the rest. Four wreaths of fruit, each sur- mounting a peacock standing on a globe, divide the vault into as many com- partments, in each of which stand four angels in noble and expressive attitudes, supporting the central medallion in which is figured the Lamb of God. The mosaics on the walls to right and left balance each other in a strictly symme- trical arrangement. The face of the upper arch (4) is only filled with ornaments; the spaces to right and left of the upper window (5, 6) contain figures of the Evangelists as old men, with their symbols. Over the crown of the lower arcade (7) float two angels in the air with the cross. The adjacent spandrils show, on the side next the body of the church (8), a figure of the prophet Jeremiah, and opposite, that of Isaiah ; on a broader field next the apse appears Moses on Mount Sinai, a beardless ideal figure raised above a group of common people, which by its rudeness proves how unskilful was the art of this age as soon as it was thrown without precedent upon reality. Opposite this group is Moses loosing his sandals from off his feet before the burning bush, and underneath Moses in the character of a shepherd among his sheep. Lastly, the great arched space over the arcades (10) contains certain scenes from the old Testament which the Epistle to the Hebrews designates as types of the death of Christ ; on one wall is Abraham entertaining the three angels, as well as Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac ; on the opposite wall Abel with the lamb and Mclchisedek with the bread-offering on either side of an altar. l^usts of Saints and Apostles, and originally one of Christ also, on the broad arch leading to the space under the dome, bring the whole series to a conclusion. However grand the effect which this series always produces as a whole, it nevertheless stands on a lower artistic level than the earlier work. The figures and motives are at their best when the artist has been able to make use of older and more perfect models — as in the design of Christ and the angels in the apse, Abraham offering up Isaac, and Moses loosening his sandals over the altar ; and at their worst when he has been thrown more strictly on his own resources, as in the sorry figure of Abraham ministering to the angels. The drapery is gcner- i8o HISTORY OF PAINTING. ally very careful, but already begins to be stiff, and the outlines are heavy. In the scenes of sacrifice for instance, the dogmatic purpose stifles the pictorial representation of the action. Much space is given to landscape, but it is a land- scape which fails to satisfy from its total want of true perspective. Moreover the mass of green, taken together with the prevailing white of the draperies, renders the tone of colour very monotonous. The age when Justinian, being Emperor of the East (a.D. 527-565), had also brought back the West into subjection, is an important period in the history of art, as it was then that the continuous living influence of antique culture was ex- tinguished. The barbarians, who had been held in check for a time by the powerful rule of the Ostrogoths, now broke irresistibly forth. Uncivilised Lom- bards established themselves firmly in Italy. The ideal spirit of early Christen- dom disappears beneath dogmatic formalism. Superstition, Saint -worship, relic-worship — polytheism, in fact, under another form — become naturalised. Monachism becomes a regular institution of the Church. Asceticism lays hold of the souls of men, searing instead of ennobling their natural impulses. As in the domain of law, to which its highest achievements belong, the age of Justinian made an end of free and constructive activity by a process of codification, co-ordination, and settlement, so in art the age was content to reproduce what had been handed down without exhibiting any original creative impulse. Forms, design, and drapery, conform more and more to a set system, and rigidity, stiffness, and constraint predominate more and more in composition. Movements seem no longer inspired by an active will, emotional life expresses itself no longer in the features. As the characters, so also the gestures become typical merely ; their language becomes of the narrowest range. Ever the same is the action of an advancing foot, the turn of a head, the uplifted hand of a speaker. The habit of an independent study of nature had long been giv^en up, but now the power of understanding and selecting among artistic precedents begins to disappear also. The nude is more and more avoided in consequence of a rigid and prudish modesty which here comes in to second the growing incapacity of art. The dramatis persona: of Christianity, among whom the artist has to take his subjects, are of a nature to encourage the monotony of expression towards which this period gradually feels its way. Within their limits austere dignity and solemn holiness prevail, as in the persons of Christ, the Apostles, and Mary, who is always represented not as a young girl but as a matron. Pure beauty can scarcely find a place here, or at least only in the ideal forms of angels, noble youthful beings who appear with soft flowing draperies and unshod feet. The classical feeling for form has often, both at this time and later, life enough yet to make amends for the narrow range of Christian images by the introduction of free ideal figures and personifications in the antique style ; but however frequently such inventions may find place in illuminated manu- EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. i8t scripts, they very seldom occur in the monumental art of church mosaics. In these the dogmatic and didactic tendency are uppermost. We must however be on our guard against designating this style, which develops itself in Italian works from the time of Justinian, as Byzantine. Such a designation would involve the mistake of supposing that the Italian artists had made a breach with native practice, and that new models and new powers had been imported from Byzantium with the Byzantine conquest. There is nothing to betoken or to prove such a change. Greek inscriptions do not once appear on the mosaics executed at Ravenna in the days following Justinian, though in other and later works such inscriptions do serve to establish up to a certain point the fact of their Greek authorship. The historian of art should make it his business to define the idea of Byzantine art more precisely than has usually been done. In the Early Christian centuries the art of Byzantium is not distinguishable in character from that of Italy. In the same way that the Greco-Roman style belonged to the whole civilised world, and held sway equally in Italy, Gaul, Africa, Syria, and Greece, so Christian art also had everywhere at first the same homogeneous character. We shall not arrive until later at the moment of a real artistic severance between Byzantium and the West. But when such severance happens, we shall find that the characteristic of the eastern as compared with the western work is b)^ no means its greater rigidity and formality ; but rather its firmer hold on antique practice and tradition. III. — Byzantium. — Declining Rome had long been thrown into the shade by the new capital of the world which Constantine had founded on the frontier of Europe and Asia. The little Greek seaport Byzantium had been trans- formed into the Imperial capital Constantinople. Where the narrow strait of the Bosphorus expands towards the Propontis, arose the " New Rome," well placed for commerce, which poured into her lap the treasures of two quarters of the world, and well protected from all attack. Between the sea and the deeply indented harbour of the Golden Horn, the city, arising at the word of a despot, branched far over hill and dale. Walls and colonnades, conduits and hippo- dromes, baths and public buildings, stood soon completed ; the towns of Greece and of the East had to yield up their most precious treasures, their monu- ments of marble and bronze, even their manuscripts and libraries, to enrich the new imperial city. A great population was artificially attracted, and in this place of luxury artistic talents of every kind found a field for exercise.'**' Byzan- tine art, no less than the Western art of the same period, lies under the influ- ence of antique tradition. Bui in Hyzaiitiuin that tradition was preserved much longer uncorrupted than in the West, and kept ali\'c b}- the multitude of models of good periods accumulated in the city since its foundation. Constantinople was spared the invasions of the barbarians. The lu.\ur\- of the Court, which had its home in the residential city of tiic ICmperor, was favourable to artistic i82 HISTORY OF PAINTING. production. Under these circumstances the skill of the mosaic workers main- tained a higher general level here than elsewhere, and was distinguished by excep- tional qualities of soundness and precision. The examples of monumental painting which remain to us in the shape of mosaic are indeed very insufficient to enable us to judge of the character and history of Byzantine painting in general in the first centuries after the founding of Constantinople. Such examples are in fact few, and their dates uncertain. The accounts of B}'zantine painting given even in our best histories of art repose on mistaken assumptions which assign to an early period works belonging to a later. The chief monument of art due to Justinian is the church dedicated in Constantinople to the Hagia Sophia or Divine Wisdom, the second person of the Trinity. This was begun in A.i). 532 after an older building of the age of Constantine had perished during the Nike-xeheWxoVi. It is now transformed into a Turkish mosque ; the mosaics are only partly visible, being covered with whitewash, but at the last restoration (a.d. i 847) what remained was uncovered for a time, so that copies could be made. All the varieties of decorative practice of which the New Rome was mistress, unfolded themselves in the interior of this church. In those parts of the scheme that were directly connected with the architecture, the system of surface ornament, or as it were, monumental carpeting, prevailed below, in the shape of an incrustation of coloured marbles ; above, over the cornices and on the vaulted roofs and arches, in that of a mosaic of coloured glass. But our materials do not enable us to be certain how much, or indeed whether any, of the existing work dates back to the time of Justinian himself. The greater part evidently owes its existence to later restorations and additions; we can therefore only speak of the mosaics of S. Sophia in a later portion of our book. The circular church of S. George at SalonicJii (Thessalonica), now also turned into a mosque, gives us, however, still some idea of the style prevalent in mosaics at the time of Justinian. The rectangular niches of the lower building are filled with fruits, branches, and birds ; the dome is decorated with single figures of solemn saints, and over them is depicted a stately architecture enlivened by a number of birds symmetrically disposed, and relieved against a field of gold (Fig. 50).'' The mosaics in the church of the monastery of Mount Sinai, which have been described by recent travellers, are no doubt important, but their date is unknown. Over the arch two flying angels hold busts of a beardless Moses, and of S. Catherine ; at the sides we see Moses before the burning bush, and Moses with the tables of the law on Mount Sinai. The apse contains a grand picture of the Transfiguration, surrounded by a border of busts of prophets and saints.'^" There was another order of mosaic pictures which has entirely disappeared EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 183 - — the secular and historical pictures in the palaces of the Emperors. The exploits and career of the despot formed in Bxv.antium, as thc\- had done long ago in the palaces of Oriental and Hellenistic monarchs, the principal subjects Fig- 50. of wall-decoration ; but we must be content now to know them onl\- throui^h ancient descriptions. In the CJialkc — the great hall of pomp of Justinian's palace — were depicted the \ictorics of his army in y\frica and Ital)', conciucsts of cities, and finally the return of I'clisarius, wlio, at the head of the arm\', was seen presenting captive kings and trophies of battle to the l'jn])eioi- ;ind Empress amid their senators."'^ 1 84 HISTORY OF PAINTING. That purely decorative style which we have seen in the earliest Christian mosaics of Italy, lived on at Byzantium also in the ornamentation of secular buildings. We still possess a brilliant example of this taste, not, however, in Byzantium itself, but in a monument of Islam : the mosque Qoubet-es-Sakrah at Jerusalem. The coloured glass mosaic in the spandrils of the arcades belongs to the original building, completed A.D. 691; it consists of conventionalised plant ornaments, vases, and jewels, on a gold ground bordered by inscriptions and geometrical patterns ; the style is really classical, and the techincal execu- tion entirely Byzantine.^^ After the iconoclastic schism in the eighth century, this ornamental style of mosaic began to be more elaborately applied in Christian churches. Now that men had banished devotional pictures and figures of Saints from the house of God, but did not like to leave them quite without decoration, they were habitually adorned with plant ornaments, animals, and especially with birds. What had formerly been but a delightful accessory now became the principal subject. This change had, however, no influence on the Western world. IV. — Italy after Justinian. — The mosaics produced in Italy from the end of the sixth century ought not to be called Byzantine, if it were only for the reason that they begin to show signs of barbarism, as is proved even by the monuments of Ravenna and Rome. We find the signs of such decadence in the pictures of Sail Apollinare in Classe, the great basilica of the former seaport of Ravenna, Classis, which now stands solitary in the fields. The nave shows no indications now of early work, and even the mosaics of the choir by no means date as far back as the building of the church, which was consecrated a.d. 549. The busts of Matthew and Luke, and the freely -designed figures of the archangels Michael and Gabriel with banners, on the piers of the tribune-arch, are among the best in the building. The medallion over these contains a stiff and unpleasant picture of Christ ; it is surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists, and a frieze of lambs coming out of the two cities. On the semi-dome of the apse, the hand of God appearing over the cross between Moses and Elias furnishes a sym- bolical representation of the Transfiguration ; under this, in priestly dress, and with arms stretched out in supplication, stands S. Apollinaris as the central figure, with lambs advancing towards him from either side. The floor and background of this division contain indications of a rocky landscape with trees. Between the windows on the lower wall we find the four Bishops of Ravenna, Ecclesius, Severus, Ursus, and Ursicinus ; at the side, the three sacrifices of the Old Covenant, as in S. Vitalis, and opposite these a ceremonial picture : Bishop Reparatus (a.d. 6y2-6'jy^ receiving a confirmation of ecclesiastical privileges from the Emperor Constantine \Y . and his brothers Heraclius and Tiberius. EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 185 The date of these mosaics is established by this historical event, and those in the arch appear to be scarcely more ancient ; those in the semi-dome might, however, have an earlier origin. The play of mystical symbolism is here carried to an extreme, and as, consequently, considerations other than artistic prevai in the work, so its treatment is dull and lifeless. The severe training of the period of Justinian is gone, and the pictures bear witness to the decay which had fallen upon Ravenna since the establishment of the Exarchate. The age of Justinian had left no creation of art in Rome ; but the fol- lowing epoch, and especially the seventh century, was all the more productive. The intei-val between these mosaics and those in SS. Cosmas and Damian is great, but the decline into barbarism was not yet so marked at Rome as that which we have just described at Ravenna, It is true that the independent spirit of the earlier time had disappeared from the treatment, which is now poor and conventional : for the lack of inner life and significance, amends are attempted to be made by material splendour, brilliancy of costume, and a gold groundwork, which has now become the rule here as well as in Byzantium. Pope Pelagius II. (a.D. 578-590) had erected the basilica of 5^;/ Loj-enzo fuor le Diura after the Byzantine conquest, and as his inscription testifies, under the very swords of the Lombards. The only part of the present building which dates from that time is the choir, which w-as formerly the nave, and had its apse to the west, at the junction of the present nave and choir. The dedicatory mosaic on a gold ground filled the arch over the apse, but now, since the orientation of the church has been reversed, it decorates the back of the same arch. The bearded Christ, now no longer sublime and dignified, but worn and emaciated, is seated on the globe ; on the right stand Paul, Stephen, and Hippolytus ; on the left Peter and Lawrence, the latter receiving the model of the church from Pope Pelagius, who is drawn on a smaller scale ; lower down in the picture we discern the towns of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.'^*" The com- position of this badly preserved and restored picture is poor, the figures want solidity and power. The mosaic in the apse of the small circular church of S. Theodore, at the foot of the Palatine, resembles this last in style and composition. Peter and Paul lead up two Saints, one of whom is the patron of the church.^' Christ seated on the globe now becomes a favourite motive ; he appears in this position not here only but also in one of the side apses of S. Constantia, and holds a book, while a beardless figure bows down before him. The opposite niche contains the youthful beardless Christ standing on clouds with awkwardly extended legs, and supported by Peter and Paul ; the latter receives from the hand of the Lord a scroll with the wcjrds DoDiiniis paccin dat. Four lambs, two palm-trees, and two circular buildings to indicate the town, complete the composition.'"*^ The workinanship of these pictures is rough, and their motives ungainly ; the)' have no date, but may hehjng to about .\.l). 600. 2 1; i86 HISTORY OF PAINTING. The picture in the apse of S. Agnes, outside the Porta Pia (built by Honorius I. A.D. 625-638), shows more correctness of treatment, but without more invention. Pope Honorius, the founder, and another Pope, perhaps Sym- machus, stand at each side of S. Agnes, at whose feet hes the sword with which she was slain, as a symbol of her martyrdom, while the flames which could not hurt her play around them.^^ The figures, though stiff and slender, at least stand upright ; the features of the saint are regular, but lifeless and weak in modelling ; but the decorative effect of the whole is fine, owing to the careful treatment of state costumes, the rich colouring, and the gold ground. Fig. 51- The deliberate purpose with which these elements were worked up is shown by the pompous inscription under the picture (Fig. 51). Henceforth, the superficial and unequal character of mosaic workmanship increases quickly, as we see in the Oratory of S. Venantius adjacent to the Baptistery of the Lateran, built under Popes John IV. and Theodore (A.D. 640-649).''*' In the apse, between two angels and beneath a half- figure of the Saviour in the act of blessing, appears the Madonna (whose worship takes continually a greater place) as Orans, surrounded by six saints and two doves ; the arch contains two figures of saints, and over them are the two towns and the symbols of the Evangelists. Smaller and still poorer remains will be found in Saji Stefauo rotojtdo,^^ — a cross enriched with precious stones, and above it the bust of Christ, as well as a symbolical representation of the crucifixion between SS. Primus and Felicianus, placed here by Pope EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 187 Theodore, to whose time it must therefore belong. Then in 5. Petrus ad Vincula we find a bearded figure of S. Sebastian in rich court costume, which is not without dignity, but the workmanship is barbaric ; this belongs prob- ably to the time of Pope Agathon (a.d. 6'j%-6Z2)}- Of the mosaics in a magnificent oratory of the mother of God in S. Peter's, built by Pope John VI. (a.d. 705-707), and by him enriched with pictures from the lives of Mary, Christ, and S. Peter — of these all that remains is a fragment of the Adoration of the Magi in the sacristy of Santa Maria in Cosuiedin ; it is less formal than the example last mentioned, but indifferently executed.'*^ CHAPTER III. MINIATURES. Meaning of the word miniature — Antiquity and prevalence of this mode of decorating MSS. — Religious MSS. in particular — Uniform choice of subjects for pictures — Dedicatory pictures — Ornament ; borders of the Eusebian canons — Technical process and mode of production — Early examples of Greek workman- ship — The Vienna Genesis — The Vienna Dioskorides — Examples of Western workmanship — Examples of Syrian Workmanship — Introduction of the subject of the Crucifixion — Iconoclastic schism — Con- sequent separation of the Greek and Latin churches, and close of the classical period of Early Christian art. By "miniatures" are meant the pictures executed in manuscripts by the illumi- nator or viiniator, so-called from the name of the pigment minhan (cinnabar), for even in a manuscript where there was no richer ornament it was usual at least to paint the divisions of the text and the initial letters red. These rubrics, so-called from riibruvi (red), are the first steps in the art of illumination. The custom of ornamenting manuscripts with pictures dates back, as we have already seen, from antiquity. It was practised in Italy, but to a much greater extent in Byzantium, where it was encouraged as a luxury by the splendour-loving inhabitants of New Rome. Constantine had already founded a public library, which was increased by his descendants, and restored by the Emperor Zeno {ci. a.d. 49 1 ) after a fire. Books which were executed for people of wealth and position were often splendidly ornamented by the colouring, often in purple, of the vellum, as well as by the use of colours in the text, such colouring being generally in red, or sometimes in gold and silver to enhance the effect. Regular picture-illustrations were presently added."** Such pictures are found in religious as well as secular works. Botanical and astronomical writings contain illuminations intended rather to illustrate the subject than merely to adorn the manuscript. The same may be said of manuscripts of Greek and Roman poets, as before mentioned, in which pictures after antique models continue to occur far on into the Middle Age ; con- spicuous examples are a fragment of the Iliad in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, the writing of which shows that it probably originated in Italy, and a Virgil (see above, p. loi) in the Vatican.*^ But by far the greatest number of illuminations of really artistic value are to be found in books of religion, — books which have for the most part belonged to or been presented to religious establishments by persons of distinction. The pictures in books having the same contents always exhibit the same EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 189 choice of subjects in their illustrations. Moreover, it often happens that the pictures as well as the text of an early manuscript are copied in later times ; so that even in the choicest books it may be hard to tell to what extent the illu- minations are original, and to what extent repeated from earlier models. Thus an Evangeliariuui, or copy of the four Gospels, regularly contains pictures of the four Evangelists, either erect with books in their hands, or else seated at desks. Their types vary ; they are either bearded or beardless, middle-aged or old ; S. John is always represented as an old man. In the earliest examples they generally appear without their familiar symbols. Other subjects also appear illustrating the conceptions of religion in the manner wc have called exhibi- tive, apart from story or action ; among them sometimes a Majestas Dei, or picture of Christ enthroned, surrounded usually with the elliptical glory, which from its shape the Italians call mandorla (almond), and holding the book of life, while he uplifts his right hand in the gesture which used to be taken as that of blessing, but is really that of teaching or expounding. While a repre- sentation of this kind always preserves the tranquil solemnity which we have seen in the mosaics, the narrative pictures from Bible history are carried to a point of much greater freedom. Here the artist's attempt to represent real actions, and the attempt, especiall}' in the earlier times, is quite successful. The Old Testament too is not treated here merely as a type of the New, but independ- ently. A great variety of such pictures appears in manuscripts of separate books of Scripture, in theological writings. Psalters, and Prayer-books. And the personages of religious tradition are in many cases associated with per- sonifications of places, of the affections of the mind, of abstract ideas, which are inheritances from antique modes of thought, and maintain themselves down to a later period. Dedicatory pictures constitute a class by themselves in manuscript illustra- tion. In religious as well as .secular books executed for some great personage, especially one of the reigning family, the owner of the book often appears solemnly enthroned and surrounded by real or allegorical figures. These subjects also are treated with reference to antique models. In connection with figure designs in manuscripts must be considered also their decorative patterns. The borders of the large single pictures are at first somewhat simple; but the "canons" or tables of parallel passages, habituall}' placed before the text in Gospel-books, are ornamented with peculiar richness and always with the same design, which appears in l^y/.antine as well as Western manuscrij)ts, and is found as early as the sixth century.'"' Each table is enclo.sed by an arch carried on richly coloured and gilded columns, and abox'e the enclosing arches or ijcdiments are binls or other animals symmctricall}' facing each other, and general!)- arranged on cither side of a vessel or fountain from which they make as if about to drink. It is not necessary to look for a symbolical meaning in this device, as, besides peacocks and doves, there often I90 HISTORY OF PAINTING. appear cocks, partridges, and other creatures, treated with considerable realism, and showing a pleasure in the contemplation of animal life. Human figures, whether of a religious or an every-day character, sometimes replace the customary pair of animals. This system of ornament is directly copied from the real decora- tions of the inner walls of buildings. The earliest still existing model for them is found in the plaster-work between the windows of the Catholic Baptistery at Ravenna, where we sec in like manner over the pediments symmetrically placed birds on each side of a basin, also quadrupeds and human figures. Neither in the Early Christian manuscripts of Italy nor in those of Byzantium do we find any other system of ornament except the architectural designs above described. Here are none of those border-patterns in beautiful penmanship, nor those rich initial letters, which we shall find later in the manuscripts of the Middle Age. The initials here are painted slightly larger than the text, but are quite simple and without ornament. The technical method consists of painting in body-colour on vellum, the vellum being occasionally covered with a thin plaster preparation on which the o-old is laid. The outlines are drawn in with the brush, and the first sketch of the design, which can be discerned in injured examples, entirely disappears under the broad and thick ii)ipasto of the colouring, the general tone of which is light, often breaking almost into white ; fine gradations of tone are rendered in the flesh parts, and the high lights are laid vigorously on. These productions are very unequal, and in the longer manuscripts several hands of varying capacity may almost always be recognised. On the whole, the illumination of manu- scripts was in this period somewhat mechanically carried on, latterly principally by priests and monks, but in Byzantium also in the workshops of lay book- sellers and scribes. The names of the painters do not usually appear on the pictures. The oldest specimen of artistic importance is of Greek origin — a fragment of the book of Genesis, of about the end of the fifth century, now in the Imperial Library at Vienna.^" It contains twenty-four leaves illuminated on both sides, in most cases with pictures arranged in two rows on purple vellum. The execution is slight, almost superficial, but yet shows certainty of touch. We still find here a close observation of the life of men and animals ; the figures show con- siderable power of bodily expression and movement ; they are of sturdy build (for slenderness of proportion is not, as often supposed, the sign of Byzantine as distinguished from Western art, but rather of a later period as opposed to earlier). In the scenes from the story of Adam and Eve, even the nude is still successfully treated, without much refinement of execution. The indica- tions of the landscape, the trees for instance, still show some feeling for nature, particularly in the first pages ; architecture, furniture, and costume, are antique, only that shoes are worn, and in the case of Potiphar's wife the dress is a rich court costume with sleeves, gold trimmings, purple mantle, and a lofty diadem. N til 192 HISTORY OF PAINTING. The stately female figure which stands beside her in the scenes in which she accuses Joseph to her husband and shows the torn cloak as evidence (Fig. 5 2), is evidently an allegorical figure — one of those personifications in the antique spirit, which for the rest are common enough. Thus wc see the Nymph of the Well reclining beside Rebecca ; and the figure of Metaiioia (Repentance) of somewhat more than human stature, accompanying Adam and Eve on their expulsion from Paradise. This group is particularly expressive ; Eve hangs her head in shame, while Adam turns to look back. The conception of Esau with the dog sniffing at his game-bag is remarkable for its naturalism, Joseph dreaming on his couch is altogether classically treated. His escape from Poti- phar's wife furnishes the occasion for interesting scenes of ancient life in the women's apartments — handmaidens about their tasks, and children waiting or playing with them. Then follows Pharaoh at table, his cup-bearer handing him the wine, the company reclining round on an S-shaped triclinium, and opposite them musicians playing on cymbals and flutes. The vigorous life in every part of this picture is remarkable, and even the minor figures are no mere super- numeraries. Of superior execution is a copy of the botanical treatise of Dioskorides in the same library, the date of which can be fixed, since it was written for the Princess Juliana Anicia, granddaughter of Valentine III. and daughter of Placidia and the Senator Olybrius, who was Emperor of the West for a short time, A.D, 472, She died at Constantinople A.D. 527, early in the reign of Justinian. The manuscript must therefore date from the beginning of the sixth century. On the dedicatory picture, which has unfortunately suffered much, the Princess sits enthroned between two allegorical personifications of Insight and Magnanimity ; a genius representing Desire for the Wisdom of the Creator (tto^o? cro^/a? KTiarov) hands her a book, and beside him kneels a veiled female figure doing homage, personifying the Gratitude of the Arts {ev^apcarla re')(yo)v). A plaited border, — two lozenges and a circle, with per- sonifications of the Arts in the intervening spaces, — surrounds this picture. The style is altogether antique, only that the cast of the draperies is in some parts too poor ; the colouring stands out rich and luminous from the blue ground, and is heightened by a brilliant wax varnish.'*^ The five preceding pages also contain large pictures on one side ; the first a peacock spreading its tail, while the second and third represent six famous doctors of antiquity, the first group seated at the feet of their teacher, the Centaur Cheiron, the second at the feet of Galen, and these groups are not arranged in pictorial perspective, but are balanced in architectural symmetry. In the fourth picture (Fig. 53) appears the author, Dioskorides, in white robes on a chair of gold, and before him stands a female figure in golden tunic and red mantle, the personification of the art of Discovery (evpeo-t?) ; she is presenting the legendary mandrake root {alrawi) to him, and between them the dog who has pulled up the root EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 193 falls dead according to the legend. The head of Dioskorides expresses joy at the discovery. In the fifth picture Discovery stands in a niche of a pillared hall holding the mandrake, while on one side a painter sits at an easel painting it, and on the other Dioskorides writes down its description.^^ The numerous large drawings of plants that follow in the text are not less valuable ; accuracy and a close study of nature are here joined to a modest but masterly and Fig. 53- delightful style of execution. The snakes, beetles, and birds, towards the end of the book are equally skilful, but treated more drily. The splendid dedica- tory picture suffices to prove that we have to do here with an original work, and that the illustrations are not merely copies of earlier models. Just as the painter has reproduced the plants directly from nature, so has the author of the introductory pictures freely followed his invention ; tiic treatment through- out proclaims the hand of a master. The illustrations to the book of Genesis were interesting but sketchy ; while these, on the other hand, are carried out v/ith all the certainty and finish of which the period was capable. The coming 2 C 194 HISTORY OF PAINTING. decadence no doubt betrays itself, here too, by many marks of incorrectness, but the power inherited from antiquity can still be felt. The survival of classical art in Early Christian times is nowhere so clearly manifest as in this work. A similar style is found in the Western manuscripts of the same period, though none of them reach the same degree of excellence as the Vienna Dioskorides. Some badly preserved illustrations of the history of Saul on a few leaves of a Latin Bible are quite antique in style (these are in the Royal Library, Berlin ; they belong to the sixth century, and were found pasted in old bindings at Quedlinburg). The men and horses are well drawn ; the heroes of the Bible appear in the guise of Roman generals ; the execution is precise and neat. A Bible from the monastery of Montamiata, in the Laurentian Library at Flor- ence, belongs to the same period.^'^ In the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, is a Latin Gospel-book of the seventh century, evidently also of Italian origin. S, Luke is the only one of the Evangelists whose effigy remains in this work ; he is represented sitting within an architectural frame of charming design, in a thoughtful attitude of good effect. In spite of such dignity of motive as we see in the uplifted right arm, we already perceive here the crude ascetic character which belongs to the mosaics of this date. In the pediment of the border reclines the bull, the symbol of S. Luke ; the side-borders contain small Scripture scenes between two columns. All that exists of the book besides these is a page with small scenes from the Passion of Christ.^^ We find the same richness of architectural border, and also the tendency to elaborate narrative representation, in a Syrian Gospel-book in the Laurentian Library at Florence, which was written A.D. 586 by the priest Kabala in the monastery of S. John at Zagba in Mesopotamia. This manuscript contains the first ascertainable example, and one of the most brilliant, of the illuminated border afterwards employed throughout the whole of the Middle Ages for enclosing the tables of canons. In the side-borders of these architectural designs there are spaces for small figures and scenes from the Bible stories, to which are annexed two more pages of larger pictures of the same kind, more especially the Crucifixion ; a subject of which this is one of the first examples. Early Christian art had formerly avoided this subject, and been content to indicate the sacrifice of the Saviour by symbols instead of actually representing the shameful punishment of death. But now, as the practice of crucifixion fell gradually into disuse, and at the same time the classical sentiment grew feebler among the Christian races, this subject also became one of the recognised Chris- tian series.^^ In the picture to which we refer, Christ appears fastened to the cross by four nails, the arms in a horizontal position, so that his body is not really hanging. Neither is it naked, but attired, according to a conception which prevailed for some time thereafter, in a long purple robe. On either hand we see the crucified malefactors, and below, S. John, the Maries, the officer holding up the sponge, and the soldiers casting lots for Christ's raiment. EARLY CHRISTIAN PAINTING. 195 A separate compartment lower down contains the Resurrection, the Maries at the tomb, and the Saviour appearing to the women. On the other side of the page follows the Ascension. These pictures show a certain originality and imagination in the motiv^es, but the execution of the figures has become rougher, the drawing more sketchy, the colouring is unequal and often very crude, with uncertainty and coarseness in the outlines.^^ It is not surprising that works executed in outlying provinces should be wanting in the purity and finish which held out longer in the chief centres of antique culture, and more especially at the imperial court at Byzantium. Even here, however, the classical period of Early Christian art soon came to a sudden close. Its occasion was the outbreak of the iconoclastic schism in the beginning of the eighth century. The earliest Christians, strong in the conscious- ness of worshipping God in spirit and in truth, did not fear the influence of pagan idolatry ; but since the definitive triumph of the new faith, the pagan elements within the pale of Christianity itself had found a continually increasing field of action ; and when the nations of Islam, who confronted the Christian world from the seventh century, flung the reproach of idolatry against their enemies, that reproach was not without real justification. Images had been introduced into churches first for ornament, teaching, and edification ; but image-worship soon crept in unawares. The reverence for the divine and spiritual being was trans- ferred to the image, which was honoured with incense and obeisance. Then there were certain images accredited with a mysterious origin, as the picture of Christ at Odessa ; the legend concerning which was that Christ had left the impress of his features on a canvas and sent it to Abgarus, king of Odessa. Even before the end of the sixth century, pictures " not made with hands " (d-X^eipo'jroirjTot) appeared in many places, and even increased and multiplied in a miraculous manner. These were soon rivalled in sanctity by the supposed portraits of the Madonna by the hand of S. Luke, whom tradition had as early as the sixth century represented as a painter. This superstition had gradually taken root, and by degrees grew to such a height that the more earnest spirits became alarmed. The gibes of the Mohammedans, into whose hands fell the sacred images in the towns of tiic Holy Land, were not without effect. The Emperor Leo III., the Isaurian, an unlettered warrior who had raised himself from a humble station to the throne, published an edict against image-worship, A.D. 726. His first steps were taken with moderation, and only with a view of removing a stumbling-block. But the movement once begun, he and his descendants had to accept the full consequences of their convictions. Opinions were divided among the educated classes. The enemies of images liatl tiic people against them. Supported, however, by the power of the Empire, they carried their point in the ICast. Armed bands destroyed the sacred pictures in the ciuuches of Constantinople as well as in those of the provinces. Painters, like the inijiik Lazarus, were thrown into prison and maltreated. It ig6 HISTORY OF PAINTING. was not that art itself was to be suppressed ; we have seen in what forms mosaic decoration was permitted in holy places. But yet this crisis was pregnant with consequences for the future of painting in Byzantium, which was henceforth to be deprived of the subjects on which it had been chiefly employed for centuries. In Italy, however, the views of the iconoclasts could not prevail. Pope Gregory II. directly opposed the commands of the Emperor, to whom he denied any authority in matters of religion. In doing this he had the people of Italy as well as the Western clergy on his side. Thus the schism concerning images, which appears at first sight a purely theological question, became the occasion for the separation of the Greek and Latin Churches, for the foundation of the temporal power of the Papacy, for the disruption of Italy from the main body of the Empire, and lastly, for the erection of a new Empire in the West. From this time too Byzantine and Western art took two different roads. Barbarism had made earlier and deeper inroads into the arts of the West than into those of the East, but they maintained themselves notwithstanding ; and the Church of Rome, in continually extending the conquests of Christianity, opened out at the same time continually new conquests for art. With the iconoclastic schism, then, the classical period of Early Christian art may be considered to have closed. Our study has now brought us to the threshold of the Middle Age. APPENDIX, ♦•« — - 1. For the art of the catacombs consult Bosio, Roma sotterranea, 1634; Bulletiitto di archeologia cristiana, Rome, 1863 foil.; Rossi, G. B, de', Roma sotterranea cristiana, 3 vols, Rome, 1864-1877; Northcote, J. S., and Brownlow, W. R., Roma sotterranea, London, 1869, new ed. ; Perret, L., Cata- combes de Rome, 6 vols., Paris, 1 851 -1855 (with beautifully executed but not quite trustworthy illustra- tions). And for the subject of this as well as of the next following chapters — Schnaase, Gesch. der hild. Kiinste, 2d ed., 6 vols., Diisseldorf, 1869 fol. ; Kugler, Hattdbiich der Geschichte der J\/alerei (English transl. edited by Sir Charles Eastlake, 4th ed., revised by Lady Eastlake, London, 1874) ; [Hemans, C. L, A History of Ancient Chi-istianity and Sacred Art in Italy, London, 1866] ; Seroux d'Agincourt, Histoirede r Art par les monuments, 6 vols., Paris, 181 1-1823 ; Garrucci, Raffaelle, Storia dcW arte cristiatia nei priini otto secoli della chiesa, 4 vols., Prato, 1874 ; the catacombs in vol. ii. (uncritical but copiously illustrated). 2. For the catacombs at Naples see Schultze, V., Die Katacomben von S. Gennaro dei Poveri in Neapel, Jena, 1877. For those at Alexandria, Wescher, C, in the Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 1865 ; with remarks by Rossi. 3. Another view of the meaning of these pictures is that they refer to the Orphic mysteries, and spring from the same vein of thought which produced the pseudo-Orphic poems with their anticipations of Christianity. See F. W. linger in Ersch and Gruber's E7tcyclopa:dia, ist series, xxxiv. 382. 4. See Stephani, Nimbus tiftd Strahlenkranz, St. Petersburg, 1859. 5. See Perret, op. cit., PI. 21-33 ; ^'^^ Garrucci, Vetri ornati di figure in oro trovati nei cimita'i de' cris- tiani primitivi di Roma. 6. This is the opinion of Schnaase, Gesch. der bild. Kiinste, 2d ed. iii. 102. 7. For the history of mosaics in general see Labarte, J., Histoire des arts industriels, etc., vol. iv., Paris, 1866; Crowe and Cavalcaselle, I/ist. of Italian Fainting, vol. i. ; Burckhardt, Der Cicerone, 4th ed. ; Ciampini, J., Vetei-a tnonumenta, in quibtis prcrcipue musiva opera illustrantur, Rome, 1690-99. For Rome in particular, the Liber Pontificalis of the librarian Anastasius, in Muratori, Script, rer. Ital. iii.; Gregorovius, Gesch. der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, 3d ed., vols. i. and ii. ; Platner, Bunsen, etc., Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, 1 830- 1 842 ; Rossi, G. B. de', ilZ/^w/a fm/'/rt«/ (chromolithographic illustra- tions in course of publication) ; (jutensohn und Knapp, Denkmdlcr der christl. Religion, Rome, 1822 (outline drawings) ; Garrucci, vol. iv. ; Barbet de Jouy, Les mosdi(jues chritiennes des basiliques et des eglises de Rome, Paris, 1862, and review of the same liy Vitet, m fournal des Savants, 1862, 1S63. 8. See Hlibsch, Die altchristlichen Kirchen, Karlsruhe, 1863, PI. 26. 9. See the illustration, after an old copy, in Garrucci, PI. 204. 10. Nilus, Ep. iv. 61 ; Gregory, Ep. no, vii. ind. 2. 11. See Lefort in Rev. archivl., 1874, Feb. p. 96; chromolithograph in Labarte, PI. 121; the restored parts indicated in Garrucci, PI. 208. 12. See Piper, Mythologie der christl. Kunst, i. 117, and §15 generally. 13. Libanius, De professoribus ; quoted by Emcric-David, Ilistoire de la peinture an moyen 6ge, Paris, 1842, p. 14. 14. See Richter, J. P., Die Mosaiken von Ravenna, Vienna, 1878, c. iv. 15. Figured in Seroux d'Agincourt, PI. 14, 15, Valentini, A., La patriarc. basilica Liberiana, Rome, 1839; Garrucci, PI. 211-222. 16. .See Gutensohn and Knajip, PI. 41 ; Forster, E., Denkmale ital. Malerei, i., PI. 10 ; Garrucci, 237 ; the figure in Ciampini (PI. 68) shows that in his time large portions of the work were wanting. 17. Garrucci, PI. 238. 18. Lbid. PI. 253. 19. Ibid. PI. 234. 198 HISTORY OF PAINTING. 20. Chronicle oj the Bishops of Naples, cited from Muratoii by Schulz, A. W., Denkmdler der Kunst des Mittelalters in Unteritalien, iii. 6, 13 ; Garrucci, PI. 269 sq. 21. See Qimst, A. F. v., Die altchristliche Bauwerke von Ravenna, Berlin, 1842 ; Rahn, R., in Jahrbiicher fiir Kunstwissenschaft, vol. i. ; and Richter, J. P., Die Mosa'iken von Ravenna, Vienna, 1878. 22. See Koehler, II., Polychrome Mcistenverke der monutneutalen Kitnst in /(alien ; Garrucci, PI. 226- 228. 23. Quast, PI. 2-6 ; Garrucci, PI. 229-233. 24. Garrucci, PI. 241. 25. Ibid. PI. 242-252. 26. Garrucci, PI. 222-225. 27. Ciampini, P'el. Man., ii. PI. 17. 28. Garrucci, PI. 258-264. 29. Figured in Forster, DenkmdLr, i. PI. 7, 8. 30. Consult Schnaase, vol. iii.; and Unger, F. W., in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopddie, sect. I, 84, 85. 31. Some have assigned these pictures to the time of Constantine, because of the severe design of the build- ing and the purely classical style of the draped figures ; but the author considers a later source more probable. The true pictorial feeling of an earlier time is here already superseded by the sculpturesque style ; the architecture, a copy of a timber structure with columns, architraves, and small domes, is, it is true, still classical, but the details, as the combination of Ionic volutes with rude capitals of trapezoidal shape, be- speak the stvle first adopted by Byzantine architecture in the sixth century. This view is shared by Unger, in Ersch and Grither, Ixxxiv. 407. Chromolithograph in Texier and Pullan, Architecture byzantine, London, 1864, PI. 30-34. 32. See Ebers, Durch Gostu zit»i Sinai, Leipzig, 1872, p. 273. 33. Procopius, De aedificiis, i. 10. 34. See Vogiie, Comte M. de, Le temple de jfernsaletn, PI. 21, scji/. 35. Theophanes continuatiis, in Corp. Script. Hist. Byz. xxxiii. p. loo. 36. Garrucci, PI. 271. 37. Ibid. 2_-2. 38. Ibid. PI. 207 ; also figured in Rev. airheol. 1875, where Miintz repeats the opinion of Crowe and Cavalcaselle, rejected, as the author thinks with justice, by Schnaase, that this is a work of the fourth century, 39. Garrucci, PI. 207 ; the heads of the two popes are restored. 40. Ibid. PI. 272, 273. 41. Ibid. PI. 274. 42. Ibid. PL 275. 43. Ibid. PL 279-2S2. 44. For the general history of miniature-painting, see Wattenbach, W., Das Schriftivesen in Mittelalter, 2d ed. Leipzig, 1875 ; Seroux d'Agincourt, op. cit. vol. v. and atlas; Labarte, Jules, Histoire des arts indiistriels, vol. iii. and atlas; [Denis, F., Histoire de P ornementation des tiiannscrits, Paris, 18S0] ; Waagen, in his various books of artistic travels and researches ; Silvestre, Faleographie iinive)-selle, Paris, 1841 ; Westwood, Palaeographia sacra pictoria, London, 1843; Shaw, H., The Art of Illumin- ating as practised ditri7tg the Middle Ag-es, etc., illustrated by Owen Jones, London, 1849; Palseographical Society, Facsimiles of A/SS. and Inscriptions, edited by E. A. Bond and E. M. Thompson, London, 1873 and subsequent years ; and for Byzantine MSS. in particular, Montfaucon, B. de, Palceographia GriBca, Paris, 1708. 45. No. 3225 ; the Palneographical Society has published reproductions of the Iliad (PL 39, 40, 51) and the Virgil (PL 117). 46. [These " canons" are the lists or tables, ten in number, of passages which correspond in all four Gospels, or again in any three of them, or again in any two, and lastly, of passages in which each Gospel fails to correspond with any other, Mhich were drawn up by Eusebius, and are regularly prefixed to a MS. Evangeliarium or copy of the four Gospels.] 47. The MS. has suffered. Coloured reproductions in Labarte, PL 77. Unsatisfactory cuts after photo- graphs in Garrucci, PL 1 12-123. Compare the somewhat similar designs from a Bible in the British Museum, Garrucci, PI. 123, 124. 48. Labarte, PL 78. Louandre, Pes arts sotnptnaires, Paris, 1857, vol. i. PI. 2, 3. 49. On the interpretation of the third and fifth of these pictures, see Brunn in Ritschl's Opuscula, iii. p. 576 sqq.; and Jahn in Abhandlungen der S'dchsischen Gesellsc haft der Wissenschaften, v. 301 sqq. 50. Garrucci, PL 126, 127. 51. Ibid., PL 141 ; Palaeographical Society, PL 3^' 34, 44- 52. See Stockhauer, Knnstgeschichie des Kreuzes, Schaffhausen, 1870. 53. Labarte, PI. 80; Agincourt, PL 27 ; Garrucci, PL 128-140. BOOK II. M £ D I .E V A L PAINTING. SECTION I. EARLY PERIOD (About a.d. 700-950).' CHAPTER I. WESTERN PAINTING IRISH AND GERMANIC MINIATURES. New style arising from the contact of barbaric with Roman elements — No early mural paintings or mosaics left by the Celtic or Germanic races — But abundance of illuminated MSS. — The Irish monks ; their skill in decorative writing — Style of these decorations — Choice of ornamental forms — Human heads and figures rudely treated as mere parts of a pattern — Excellence of ornamental workmanship notwithstanding — Examples of Dubhn, Oxford, Lichfield, Lambeth, Wiirzburg, and S. Gallen — Style of illumination among Franks, Visigoths, and Burgundians — Occasional combination of Irish with other styles — Combination of Irish ornament and Early Christian figure-drawing in Anglo-Saxon style. Christian painting, so far as we have as yet followed it, has been but an echo of antique art, and its practice has lain exclusively in the hands of those nations who had raised and sustained the edifice of classical culture. Meanwhile new barbaric races had entered upon the stage of the world's history, and wherever they came into contact with the antique culture upon the soil of the Roman Empire, had adapted the arts of Rome to their use, holding fast at the same time to their own hereditary modes of expression and technical processes. The instincts of these nations assert themselves in painting as well as in the other arts, and at first in a form altogether original and opposed to the style of Early Christian work in Italy and Greece. But presently the two styles come into contact, and from the union of barbaric and classical elements there gradually arises a new style, the true style of the Middle Age. Roman art and culture had extended their sway to the western and northern provinces of Gaul, Spain, Germany, and Britain. From Rome those races had in due course also received their Christianity, and among them art employed, in the service of the new faith, forms transmitted by classical tradition and types consecrated in the Early Christian art of Italy. The new religion required stately churches enriched with splendid ornament. The Courts of the bar- barian kings adopted the luxury of Rome, which soon pervaded their ways of life, their dress, the furniture of their dwellings and halls of festival. Painting was called in to decorate churches and palaces alike with pictures of sacred and profane history. But of such Early Christian works in these countries nothing remains ; although many accounts of them are to be foimd in historical writings, and although there is no doubt of tiie fact that over all that part of the world, and more especially in the kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, in Gaul, and in the Riiineland, mural painting and mosaic were commonly practised. Illuminated manuscripts, on the other hand, constitute a branch of artistic 2 I) 202 HISTORY OF PAINTING. activity in which the native taste and instincts of the Celtic and Germanic races come out in complete originality. Our examples go back as far as the seventh century, and belong in part to various Germanic races, but in still greater part to the Irish, in whose hands this native tendency received its most characteristic expression. Ireland, the island seat of a Celtic population, had been converted to Chris- tianity since A.D. 430, but was never occupied by the Romans, and escaping the cataclysms of national migrations, enjoyed a peaceful development of the Christian life. Here arose a spiritual temper determined by the principles of asceticism and monasticism, with severity of discipline and profundity of theo- logical learning, which v/as afterwards communicated to other lands — to England, Scotland, and the Continent — by wandering monks from Ireland. One conse- quence of this condition of things was a zealous cultivation of the penman's art." The Irish monks wrote with uncommon skill, and with a turn for artistic cali- graphy which contrasts strongly with the Continental writings of the period. Painting in their books is essentially a development of decorative writing, — of the designs of initial letters, which were often very large, or the ornamental filling- in of spaces on the page. The intimate connection of these paintings with the writing itself makes it seem probable that as a rule the illuminator and writer were the same person ; there is, however, a Gospel-book in the Cathedral Library at Trieste, bearing the inscription Thomas Scribsit on the paintings. The style of these decorations is chiefly geometrical ; linear patterns like those of plaited, woven, or embroidered work, being combined with the circular forms appropriate to work in metal. This style is common to various nations in their primitive stage, to the Indo-Germanic nations particularly. It appears in what have been supposed to be the earliest painted vases of the Greeks before they felt the influence of the races of Western Asia, and it maintained itself for more than a thousand years longer in the bronze and iron manufactures of northern Europe.^ Such similarity of form is the more readily explained, inas- much as bronze work was also carried on in Irish monasteries ; often indeed the two arts were practised by the same hand, as in the case of Dagaeus {(i. A.D. 586), who is mentioned in a Cashel Calendar at once as a scribe and as a worker in bronze and iron. The same style was transferred to the decoration of floors, walls, and barbaric costumes ; its last and most refined phase occurs in the illuminations of French manuscripts. The elements of artistic ornament in manuscripts are first those borrowed from textile art, as plaits, bows, zigzags, knots, geometrical figures in various and symmetrically developed combinations, crosses, chequers, and lattice-work ; next, those taken from metal-work, as spirals, and nail-heads let into borders ; thirdly, the simpler kind of animal forms, as bodies of snakes, birds' heads on long necks, lizards, dogs, dragons, and the like, in which the geometrical and ribbon patterns continually terminate. In the same way animal forms accom- MEDIEVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 203 modated to the linear scheme, and reproduced in the shape of simple patterns, occur on the ancient Greek vases already referred to. On the other hand, the Irish manuscripts show no sign of the foliage-work which formed the origin of the principal motives in the classical style of ornament. Lastly, as a fourth element, comes in the attempt to represent the human figure. But the knowledge of the human body, which descended to the heirs of antique culture, and survived traditionally far on into the decadence — this know- ledge was absent among the barbaric races. They treated body and head alike merely as part of a pattern, in a manner altogether arbitrary, and without observation or comprehension of tiie natural forms, or the capacity for truly copying them. Figures are symmetrically made up of bows and knots. Faces, taken always in full front, are mere patterns. Nose and mouth consist of certain constantly recurring flourishes ; each eyebrow is drawn in a continuous stroke of the pen with one side of the nose, and close into the angles formed by their junction are set the round and staring eyes. The mouth consists of a single flourish parallel with the nostrils, and slightly depressed in the middle. Hair and beard are formed of spirals, often ending in plaits which grow out formally like horns. The body consists of a mass of intertwisted rolls, from which emerge conventional arms and feet. The indication of costume is limited to a capricious arrangement of coloured surfaces, which are no doubt intended to represent a tunic and cloak, but are scarcely to be recognised as such, for one part of the same garment often exhibits different colours, for the sake of a decorative counterchange. In the same way single parts of the body are painted in colours contrary to nature : arms, legs, and hair are red or blue. Animals, such as the symbols of the Evangelists, are treated in like manner ; thus the body of S. Mark's lion in the Gospel-book of S. Columban is patterned in red and green lozenges like a harlequin's jacket. The face and hands are always left uncoloured ; there is nowhere any trace of modelling ; the figures, too, are left flat. This style comprises not only single figures, like those of the Evangelists (Fig. 54), but also larger designs, such as the Madonna and Child surrounded by angels, David slaying Goliath, and the Crucifixion. In seventh -century examples the figures are quite rough, flat, and childish, but their drawing is not yet so mere a freak of ornamental penmanship as it becomes in the manu- scripts of the eighth century, when the system of actual flourishes and knots which we have just described appears for the first time. The figure pieces are in every case incorporated into the general design b\' means of a broad rich border. They are drawn with the pen, and then coloured in bright and har- monious colours. But though such figures without form or expression may be repulsive, ugly, and barbaric, the products of narrow monkish asceticism, still the technical treat- ment of these miniatures is by no means primitive. So far as concerns their purely ornamental portions, we observe a true feeling for surface decoration, with 204 HISTORY OF PAINTING. delicacy and precision of design, taste, and even a pleasing play of fancy. In the initial letters, borders, and full-page decorations, we are surprised by the delicate rhythmical flow of the design, the judicious balancing and agreeable distribution of masses, the relations of the central masses to the broad borders and the narrow separating bands. Not less refined is the feeling for colour, though this is limited to the simplest scale of red, blue, green, yellow, with the Fig- 54- ground black and the borders white, only occasionally admitting more broken tones, such as violet and pink, but never gold. In the separate compartments the leading colours interchange in happy modulation with that of the ground. Everywhere we find an inexhaustible variety of combinations calculated to charm the eye, and the allusive play upon human figures and natural facts is only intended as a part of that charm. ' " The picture," says Schnaase, " was only regarded in the light of so much ornamental writing ; it was enough if its meaning could be understood, — that is to say, if the spectator felt himself MEDL^VAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 205 reminded of a sacred personage or scene, and was aware that all this wealth of ornament was used for its glorification." Two Gospel-books of the seventh century in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, that of S. Columban and the Book of Kells, belong to the earliest and most important examples of this style. Among the masterpieces of the eighth and ninth centuries, in which the system of drawing figures in knots and flourishes is first carried to the full extent that we have described above, are the similar book written by Mac Kegol {d. a.d. 820) in the Bodleian at Oxford : that of S. Chad at Lichfield in the Capitular Library, that of Maeiel Brith, son of Mac Durnan, in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth Palace, from which our illustration (Fig. 54) is taken; and lastly, the Psalter in S. John's College, Cambridge, with a large picture of the Crucifixion. This art was also practised in the Irish monasteries on the Continent. S. Kilian brought it to WiJrzburg, where some manuscripts of this kind are still preserved in the University Library. S. Gallen was one of the chief centres of the school. It is of course not possible to decide whether the numerous Irish manuscripts in the library there were chiefly gifts brought from Ireland or works executed on the spot. The largest and most magnificent is that numbered 5 1 ; the ornamentation is of the utmost delicacy, but the Gospel pictures are repulsive and monstrous, especially the larger designs of the Crucifixion and the Day of Judgment. The illumuiated manuscripts of the Franks, Visigoths, /^ and Burgundians, of the same period, exhibit a somewhat different style ; their workmanship, like that of the Irish, is pure caligraphy, but consists of an elaborate enrichment of the initials, first with simple penwork, and then in water colours lightly laid on. Here also the chief motives are ribbon plaits, scroll-work, and linear arrangements, which often, however, develop into simple leaf patterns, such as could hardly be quite strange to these nations from their contact with antique art. Sometimes the shape of the letter is formed wholly or in part of the body of such animal, fish, bird, and snake, as could be conveniently adapted to it. Such initials are classified according to their forms as ichtliyouiorphic (fish-shaped), ornithoidic (bird- shaped), and so on (Fig. 55). Gradually these fan- tastic attempts got farther, and animal forms of another kind are found — strange monsters, single or fighting with each other, human hcad.s, and combinations of the forms of man and brutc.^ This .style lasted anic^ig the Franks till towards the end of the eighth century. To this time belongs the Sacraincntarium of the Abbey of Gellonc, near Toulouse, which contains, besides initials formed of J'ig- 55- 2o6 HISTORY OF PAINTING. fishes or semi-human monsters, coloured drawings of the Madonna, the Evange- lists with animals' heads, and a grievously rude and formless Crucifixion.^ Here and there on the Continent the Irish style appears in combination with the Prankish or the Early Christian, as in the Gospel-book of S. Willibrod, the Apostle of Friesland, in which gold, generally foreign to the Irish work, appears in connection with tender broken tones of colour.^ In a manuscript of the same class by a writer named Thomas, in the Cathedral Library at Trier, gold and silver also appear among conventional ornaments of an otherwise Irish character ; and the canons have an architectural bordering after the Early Christian model. Early Christian types appear sometimes even in the figures, as in the busts of the Apostles at the tables of canons. Irish miniature-painting was directly continued by the neighbouring race of the Anglo-Saxons, whose works in their ornamentation correspond closely to the Irish, but in the figures soon betray a knowledge of Early Christian precedents. An example of this may be seen in the Cuthbert-book, or Evangeliarium of Lindisfarne, in the British Museum :' this is a Latin book with interlinear gloss in Anglo-Saxon, written, according to an inscription at the end, by Eadfrith to the honour of God, S. Cuthbert, and all the saints of the island of Lindis- farne. The monastery on this island, of which Eadfrith was abbot (a.d. 698- 721), was an Irish foundation. The decorations of the manuscript bear also a strongly Irish character, only that the tone of colour is more delicate, with a slight use of gold; but the pictures of the four Evangelists show a certain knowledge of Early Christian and especially of Byzantine models, while the inscriptions on these (o 07609, often wrongly spelt) point to a knowledge of Greek manuscripts. These figures in their barbaric clumsiness remain far removed from their models, but at least they are no longer mere flourishes, — their author has at least intended to depict human beings. If the faces and bodies are with- out expression, they are at any rate not altogether symmetrical, or always seen in full face ; they have real organs with some attempt at movement, and the undraped parts are true flesh-colour. The cast of drapery, however character- less, the thrones and accessories, show also the influence of Early Christian models. But the technical treatment is diflerent ; here is no careful painting in body- colour, but only an outline drawn in with the pen, and the simplest local tinting ; no modelling of the flesh parts ; and the shadows in the draperies expressed by difference of colour, as scarlet on green. This style continued to prevail in England till the beginning of the tenth century. CHAPTER II. WESTERN PAINTING— THE CAROLINGIAN AGE. Introductory — Encouragement of art by Charles the Great — Lost mosaics and mural paintings — Position of Charles towards the question of images — Miniatures ; style of the Prankish miniature-painters in his age — The Eva^igeliaj-imn of Godesscalc — Similar books in Abbeville, London, and Vienna — Bibles executed by order of Alcuin— The style culminates under Lothair and Charles the Bald — Dedicatory portraits in books prepared for royal personages — Secular MSS. of this period — Instances in which the Prankish manner tends to assimilate itself to the Irish— MSS. bearing the signature of the scribe or painter — Geographical centres of the art — Monastery of S. Gallen — General character of Prankish art imder Charles and his successors — Italy; progressive degeneracy of Rome — Artistic activity not- withstanding — Lost mosaics of S. Susanna and the Lateran — Mosaics of SS. Nereus and Achilles — Of S. Praxedis — Of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere — Of S. Mark — Of S. Ambrose at Milan — Rudeness of Italian miniature-painting in this age. The traditions of antiquity had almost entirely died out in the kingdom of the Franks when Charles the Great {Charlemagne) assumed the reins of government (King of the Franks, A.D. 768 ; Emperor of the Romans, A.D. 800). But the personal will of that great ruler, by whose side worked men of enlightenment in the Church, put an end to the progress of barbarism. Classical antiquity was once more deliberately apprehended as the source of all knowledge and all power. The Frankish king established a new empire in Italy, which lay at his feet. Rome and Ravenna presented to the astonished gaze of the Franks the splendour of the Early Christian monuments, their colonnades, their mosaics. The works of classical antiquity, too, became once more objects of admiration or reverential awe. The desire for collecting arose ; precious objects, works of art, manuscripts, were brought from Italy ; antique gems, coins, and vessels in precious metals, as well as Oriental carpets, came into favour as objects of luxury and as gifts. Popular education, as well as the studies of the learned, which were based on the literature of antiquity, seconded the revival of art. As Charles, however, encouraged native manners and costume, and collected the popular songs of Germany, .so too the forms and elements of native and popular taste in matters of art were cultivated in his time. Architecture, bronze-casting, various pro- cesses of plastic art, painting, and art-industry, were carried on with energy. Great workshops were established at the residential city of Aachen {Aix-la- Chapelle), which was celebrated by poets as a second Rome ; they were put under the superintendence of Einhart [Egin/iard), a scholar skilled in the technical pro- cesses of many arts, who in the Royal Academy went by the name of Hozaleel, after the builder of the Tabernacle, and side by side with whom worked a 2o8 HISTORY OF PAINTING. number of learned ecclesiastics, like Ansigisius, the abbot of Fontanelle. The large monasteries took their part, both by teaching and exertion, in promoting the revival of the arts. The most important monuments of the time of Charles the Great have either perished or been robbed of their glories, like the Royal Chapel at Aachen. But up to the beginning of the last century there still existed here a mosaic of Christ enthroned on the globe surrounded by angels ; underneath, on a much smaller scale, stood the four-and-tvventy Elders casting down their crowns.^ It is not certain that this mosaic dates from the time of Charles the Great, but the cha- racter of the design, especially in the vehement action of the figures, agrees generally with the character of the Carolingian miniatures. The art of mural painting was carried on more actively still, but of its pro- ductions in castles, churches, and monasteries, like Fontanelle, Fulda, Reichenau, and S. Gallen, wc know absolutely nothing to-day except from written descrip- tions and reports. Thus one Madalulfus of Cambray painted in Fontanelle under the abbot Ansigisius, and one Brunn in Fulda, under the abbot Eigil (a.D. 817-822). Thus, too, descriptions both in prose and verse have come down to us of the decorations in the palaces of Charles. Here, as in the palace of Jus- tinian, profane subjects were represented, especially the exploits of the sovereign ; at Aachen there were the Spanish Wars and the seven Liberal Arts ; at Ingel- heim several great series of paintings in the Royal Chapel, as well as in one of the halls of the palace. The former contained, in a number of separate pictures, the stories of the Old Testament, matched, in the relation of type and antitype, against as many stories of the New. The latter exhibited on one side the deeds, or rather according to the opinion of the artist the heathenish misdeeds of the ancient heroes, Cyrus, Minos, Phalaris, Romulus and Remus, Hannibal, and Alexander ; and on the other side the " Acts of the Fathers," — that is, of the Emperors Constantine and Theodosius, the Carolingian ancestor Charles Martel, and Pepin ; and lastly, of Charles the Great himself.^ Of the intellectual position taken up by Charles towards art we have a written w'itness in the "Caroline Books," which were composed by his direction, and by means of which he declared his views with regard to the iconoclastic dispute. His clear intelligence was incapable of overlooking the abuses of image-worship, and the heathen element contained in that practice. On this side the opinion of the Frankish king differed from that of the Italians, but he agreed quite as little with the fanatical image-breakers of the East. His conviction finds its best expression in the phrase, " We neither destroy pictures nor pray to them." He thus assigned to pictures their true position as being ornaments of God's house ; and their independent artistic significance, which had only been obscured by idolatry, was thereby again recognised. His conception of the functions of art explains why pictures of Frankish origin are ruder than contemporary Italian work, but at the same time they show an endeavour after life and movement. MEDLEVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 209 and are not so petrified and bound by convention as in Italy. We are surprised also by the verdict passed in the Caroline Books on the subject of personi- fications of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, Precipices and Rivers, as well as on monsters made up of man and brute combined. But the judicious view which rejected these as pagan abuses was too far in advance of its time, and did not yet prevail. On the contrary, such personifications and fantasies held out steadily through all the Middle Age. I. Miniatures. — The existing remains of Carolin- gian painting are limited to miniatures. To miniature- painting a strong impulse was given in the Carolingian age,^*^ and it exhibits more than any other branch of art the survival and bent of a specifically Germanic tend- ency. In the initial letters and borders, the older Prank- ish elements are to be traced in combination with the Irish characteristics of scroll-work, geometrical ornaments, leaf- work, and fanta.stic animal motives, but the effect differs perceptibly from that of Irish work, especially in the colouring, inasmuch as gold and silver are often applied on a purple ground (Fig. 56). Again, instead of the primi- Fig. 56. tively crude or curiously twisted human figures, we find independent figure pieces following Early Christian modeLs, but only in the princ)i)al features, and not in the style of the drawing, for the intellig'ence of the Franks did not extend so far. The proportions are uncertain, the hands large, with the points of the fingers turned outwards, the feet thick ; the type of the heads is an elongated oval, ^ith very highly arched eyebrows, large round eyes, a long nose widening at the point, and full if rather rudely drawn lips. Rich architectural forms, with coloured pillars of the Corintiiian and occasionally of tlu- Ionic order, splendid seats of antique shape, and striped tapestries, are favourite objects in the side-work and borderings, and copies of antique gems and coins appear in some manuscripts. The colouring 2 !•; 2IO HISTORY OF PAINTING. is usually hard and dull, but the surface has a brilliant glaze, no doubt caused by a wash of some varnish containing lime. The outlines have generally been drawn with the brush in light red, and a half tint next laid over all in body-colour of thick impasto, both light and shadow being solidly painted on afterwards. Thus, upon the even yellowish ground-tint of the flesh, the details of the body are marked in black, the eyelids in red, while the cheeks are coarsely modelled in a greenish colour, and the light down the side of the nose is laid on in white. In all sacred figures the draperies follow the antique, but they are generally badly understood, and the several motives only indicated with coarse black strokes. Knowledge of perspective is altogether absent, and the figures never stand out efficiently from the flat surface. A splendid work of ascertained date from the time of Charles the Great is a Gospel-book in Paris, executed for the Emperor and his wife Hildegard by a scribe named Godesscalc (a.d. 781).^^ The initials are magnificent, and every page is richly ornamented. Six larger pictures contain the Evangelists, Christ enthroned, and an allegory of the Fountain of Life, to which various animals draw near. The figure of Christ in full face and in the act of benediction, is of the youthful beardless type, with fair hair parted in the middle ; and, in spite of the dull wide-open eyes, has less rigidity than the other two heads, and more expression because of the slightly parted lips (Fig. 57). This figure is superior to the Evangelists, with their coarse extremities and awkward attitudes. A knowledge of Carolingian architecture, and modes of tapestry decoration may be gained from the backgrounds of these pictures. A still better example is the Codex Aureus in the Municipal Library at Trier. It was written by order of the abbess Ada. The Evangelists are all of the beardless ideal type, and, in spite of all shortcomings, the motives are free and grand. ' Closely connected with these are the Gospel-book from Saint-Ricquier or Centula in the Municipal Library at Abbeville, and one in Paris from Saint- Medard at Soissons, in which the Fountain of Life appears again with a splen- didly coloured canopy on columns ; as well as another in the British Museum, which, besides the Evangelists, contains small Scripture scenes let into some of its magnificent initials.^^ The Gospel-book of Charlemagne, among the Trea- sures of the Holy Roman Empire in the treasure-chamber at Vienna, is somewhat different. The book itself contains no proof of its date and origin, but cannot be assigned to a later period. What distinguishes it from all the other works of the time either of Charles the Great or of his followers, is the strong influ- ence of the classical Early Christian art in the pictures of the Evangelists, which in every case show an aim at nobility in the attitude and thoughtful- ness in the expression. Here the feet are clumsy too, the hands extravagantly large ; great mistakes occur, such as in the right hand of S. Matthew, which exhibits five fingers and no thumb ; still the cast of drapery is classical and free from pettiness. The sentiment is helped by the background, which MEDIEVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 211 consists mainly of landscape indicated in the simplest manner with rudely placed hills and trees ; the execution is extraordinarily broad, with brown shadows in the flesh, besides which there are but few colours — white in the draperies. ^ig- 57- vermilion, and gold. The initials are formed of pure geometrical figures, with- out foliage-work, or with only the faintest suggestion of it ; they are chiefly in gold with red borders, and filled in with blue.^* The Latin Bibles at Bamberg and Zurich ' show a higher stage of the art, and more finely elaborated initials, in gold and silver, with red framework on a colourless ground ; but when in the former we see the figures in the small 212 HISTORY OF PAINTING. scenes from the Old Testament wearing gold and silver draperies, this is but an outbreak of a barbarous taste for the lustre of precious metals. Both works were executed by order of the Emperor's learned favourite Alcuin ; the first con- tains a gold medal with his name, in the second a dedicatory inscription in verse is addressed to him. Hence they probably were executed in the monastery of S. Martin at Tours, of which Alcuin was abbot from A.D. 796 till his death, A.D. 804. In a Sacramejitariwn from Metz, written for Drogo, a natural son of Charles the Great, the initials are still more ornamental, and often filled in with Bible scenes of very original device.^*' The Caroiingian style of miniature-painting, however, only reached its highest point in the manuscripts executed for Lothair and for Charles the Bald, grandsons of the great Emperor, whose intellectual influence continued even after the decline and partition of his empire. The technical execution has scarcely changed, but the treatment shows greater care and precision. Broad horizontal bands of different colours interchange in the backgrounds, now as in earlier examples, and the effect of the draperies is often heightened by gold hatchings in the high lights. The brilliancy of effect, the splendour of ornament, and the character of the initials, remain the same. The drawing of the figures is still the weakest point. Large heads with staring eyes and uniformly broad round chins rest on narrow-shouldered trunks, the osseous structure of which is not understood, and which are generally characterised by being heavy and swollen in the lower parts. In spite of a good general cast borrowed from antique models, the drapery suffers by being too much broken up ; the movement of the limbs is uncertain, sometimes weak, some- times over vehement. Still we perceive the signs of a delight in the human- body, and an inventive touch in representing its movements ; the artists want to produce expressive effects, and as they were incapable of attempting this in the face, they do so with all the more energy in the attitudes and gestures of the body. At the same time, the range of subjects, v/hich up to this time had been very limited, becomes much more extended. Thus the manuscripts executed for kings generally contain large dedicatory pictures, in which the object always appears to be to give a true portrait of the exalted personage himself. Their princely vestments, the forms of their thrones and crowns, the costumes and armour of their suite, everything belonging to their state and court ceremonial, we find reproduced with perfect accuracy ; and even if the features of the king are typically treated, still their general aspect is characteristic, especially in the manner of wearing the hair and beard, so that the same personality remains recognisable whenever he recurs. We find the Emperor Lothair in a Gospel-book belonging to the Cathedral Treasury at Aachen, and in another at Paris which was written for S. Martin's in Metz soon after the treaty of Verdun (A.D. 843).^^ Lothair sits enthroned between his guards, with stern features and aquiline nose, but not without a certain dignity of gesture (Fig. 58). MEDIAEVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 213 He appears again, and this time alone, in a Psalter in private possession in Eng- land/* In a Prayer-Book in the Royal Treasury of Munich, Charles the Bald is depicted kneeling before a picture of Christ on the cross (an early example of the undraped treatment of the subject) which fills the opposite page. In another Prayer-Book in Paris, the same Emperor appears alone in a golden mantle.^^ In both the face is full, almost puffy ; but while in the Munich book Charles Fig. 58. appears shaven, in all other manuscripts, as well as in the Paris book, he wears a moustache. Manuscripts of greater size contain still richer compositions. In the Latin Bible at Paris, which was presented to the king in A.D. 850 by Vivianus, head of the abbey of S. Martin at Tours, this dignitary approaches Charles at the head of eleven ecclesiastics, while the king is surrounded by two courtiers and two soldiers ; above them we sec personifications of Erance and Aquitaine, and also the hand of God protecting his elect."" We find a kindred composition in the great Bible from San Callisto in the library of Sti^i Paolo fiior Ic vinra at Rome, which probably found its \\a\' there on the coro- 2 14 HISTORY OF PAINTING. nation journey of the Emperor (a.d. 875)." The striving after movement, so opposed to the Byzantine rigidity, is especially remarkable in the Codex Aureus from S. Emmeram in Regensburg, a Gospel-book written A.D. 870, which had been kept there since the days of King Arnulf, and is now in the library at Munich." Charles's left hand rests on his knee, the right is raised as if he were speaking ; the weak drawing of his legs is as noticeable as the same fault in the figures standing on each side, viz. two esquires, and the personifications Francia and Gotia {Aguitainc), each with a mural crown and horn of plenty. They are standing with a knock-kneed unsteady carriage. A canopy rises over the king in what is intended to be perspective, but the columns which ought to retreat appear to be in front of the throne and on the same level with the rest. Above this float two angels in the air, and the space still remaining empty inside the border is filled with the regulation verses in the style of the Court. No name can be assigned to the prince whose portrait appears at the beginning of the Canones Missae in Paris.^^ He is represented standing between two ecclesiastics with the hand of God holding a crown over him. The manuscript, which belongs to the best of the period, comes from Rheims. In Prayer-books pictures are generally scarce. The Paris example only contains two besides the dedicatory picture, viz. S.Jerome and David play- ing and dancing, besides his four players on the psaltery. The Gospel-book at Aachen is the only example of its class that contains a number of Scripture scenes. There is a far greater wealth of pictures in the Bibles, — particularly in those at S. Paul's in Rome, in the British Museum, ^"^ and at Paris. The illustra- tions begin with the legend of S. Jerome, the translator of the Vulgate ; farther on the Old Testament predominates ; but the best composition is again an ex- hibitive one, at the opening of the psalter, in which the antique style survives. David appears playing upon the harp, almost undraped, with only the chlamys, between two guards and four minstrels ; in the angles of the border appear busts of the Cardinal Virtues, Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance. In most of the manuscripts, in spite of short figures, dull features, and feeble extremities, we may observe a character of life and movement, often even an attempt at pathos in the gestures, and an endeavour by these means to produce a speaking effect. Manuscripts of secular writings also appear in this school during the ninth and tenth centuries ; Latin translations, for instance, from the botanical work of Dioskorides, and from an astronomical poem by Aratos, with representations of the constellations, in which classical models are more or less recognisable.''' Side by side with these works, which show the highest development of the Prankish style, are others which more nearly approach the Irish school in ornamentation, system of colour (though gold is not excluded), and drawing. Thus in a Gospel-book at Paris, the pictures of the Evangelists have mouths drawn with scarcely more than a single line depressed at the corners ; the curly MEDL^VAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 215 hair is arranged in massive formal bunches, the drapery, with long elaborate folds, floating ends, and fidgetted edges, is quite without character. The types in the similar book from S. Laurentius at Liittich [Liege) are even more barbarous."*" A Gospel-book of Francis II. at Paris stands very high from the splendour of its initials and borders wrought in gold and silver, fillings- in of white scroll- work on black, and birds in the corners after the Irish style. The pictures as well as the canons have the richest possible architectural borders, with slender columns and horse-shoe and pointed arches, in which the arcaded divisions of the Gothic style already seem to be suggested. Besides the pictures of the Evangelists, this manuscript contains an undraped figure of Christ on the cross presented with the spear and sponge.^*^ This taste continued to the tenth cen- tury, as we see in a Gospel-book in Paris, in which no gold appears cither in the initials or in the architectural borders of the canons or the pictures, however rich these are otherwise in colour and form, with lions, human heads, cowering figures at the base, and cleverly interlaced arches, among which the pointed arch already appears. But the figures of the Evangelists show the decadence of the style in their awkward bearing, and shapeless arms and legs, their ugly faces, and the meaningless motives of the drapery, as well as in the dingy colouring of their dark yellow flesh tones devoid of modelling."^ To some of the most important manuscripts written by royal command the name of the scribe or painter is attached. Thus the Gospel-book of Lothair in Aachen contains a portrait of the scribe, a monk named Otto. The Codex of Charles the Bald from S. Emmeram was executed, according to the verses on the last page, by two brothers, Beringar and Liuthard, both ecclesiastics. The latter is probably the same scribe Liuthard whose name is mentioned at the close of the Paris Prayer-book. In a Bible belonging to the same king, from S. Callisto, the scribe Ingobert boasts with much self-complacence, in some Latin verses,"'"* that he has overtaken and indeed surpassed the Italian draughtsmen, and in this opinion he is not mistaken, as a glance at Italy will soon show us. We have seen that the monasteries from which some of the most beautiful illuminated manuscripts came were S. Martin's in Tours and S. Martin's in Metz. Centres next in importance for this art in France and Lotharingia seem to have been Saint-Ricquicr in Picardy, Fontanelle, Saint-Denis, Rheims, Aachen, and Liittich ; and in Germany the great monasteries of Fulda, Reichenau, and S. Gallen. In monasteries of secondary rank much less important books were produced, often of a more barbarous and inexperienced workmanship, such as the two pictures in the Otfrid manuscript from Weissenburg, done by order of Lewis the German, about a.d. 868.^" A flourishing school of miniature-pamting developed itself, however, on German soil at S. Gallen. When the Irish style, which had been brought over to this place, came into contact with the Carolingian, a transforma- tion was accomplished, which can be discerned before the micUile of the ninth 2i6 HISTORY OF PAINTING. century under the abbot Grimald (from A.D. 841), and continues under his successor Hartmut. At the outset of this style we have a Gospel-book executed by the scribe Wolfcoz. A new phase is indicated in a Psalter written by Folchard, Avhich shows advanced ornamentation and complete technical skill in the initials, but yet remains crude and awkward in the figure-drawing, and this phase is also seen in the Psaltcriiivi Aurcujii, which is an example of the highest point attained by that school.'^^ The initials in the latter are of broader design than in the psalter of Folchard, but they are often extremely fantastic, and the effect of colour is peculiar, from the fact that the scroll-work, gilt through- out, is outlined with red, and combined with very few other tones, chiefly purple and green, and never blue. The figure pieces are not painted in body-colour, as in the rich manuscripts of the Carolingian Court, but are simply drawn, the parchment being left bare for the light parts of the draperies, which are only coarsely shaded, and ornamented or outlined with gold. But what strikes one above everything here is the independence and freedom with which the story is told. Though it may be true that the knowledge of form shown is but small, and the want of perspective often causes one group to seem to stand above another instead of behind it, — that the ground is only indicated by purple wave- like lines, from which spring a {q.\v separate blades of grass, and which adhere to the feet of the personages, often seeming to float high in the air with separate groups or figures, — still the events from the story of David are set forth with life-like ease and an intuitive perception of nature, as in the scene in which David feigns madness in the presence of King Achish, or the going forth of the army against the Syrians (Fig. 59). Even the horses in this picture, though coloured purple, green, and scarlet, betray a certain observation of nature. The painter is happiest where he relies entirely on his own power of representa- tion without using older models. The spirit of art survived long at S. Gallen. One of the abbots of the monastery named Salomo (A.D. 890-920) himself knew how to paint initial letters. Sintram, the designer of the uncoloured initials in the Evangcliuvi Longuni, w^as admired in all countries for his skill in writing. The principal workers at that time were Notker Bal- bulus the painter, and Tuotilo, so vivaciously described by Ekkehard IV. as "a man like an athlete, eloquent, and gifted with a clear musical voice, of austere life and yet of merry mood, so that the Emperor Charles the Fat cursed him who had made a monk of such a man ; he was skilled alike in all manner of workmanship, in architecture, carving (especially in ivory), metal working, and painting." ^^ But no painting by Tuotilo exists which we can identify with certainty. Here, as everywhere, a decadence in technical skill and conception set in contemporaneously with the fall of the Carolingian rule in Germany. While Carolingian architecture was still essentially Early Christian in charac- ter, following tradition in construction and plan, and leaning towards antiquity in details, Carolingian painting had, on the other hand, so far as we can judge MEDIAEVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 217 from miniatures, attained a greater degree of independence. The art had at command a highly-developed system of ornament, which it treated with masterly technical skill, and in which the original artistic bent of the Germanic races held its own and maintained its special character in face of the traditions of antiquity. In figure compositions it is true that this school employed subjects, types, and even individual motives, borrowed in the first instance from the Early Christian Fig. 59- art of Italy ; but at the same tmie it exhibited an original tendency, not content with repeating over and over again some rigidly established scheme of figures and combinations, but endeavouring to realise the appearances of living action and purpose. What fettered this endeavour was the low stage of knowledge. The figure had been released from the Irish system of flourishes and convolu- tions, but ignorance of form and of perspective hindered artists from clearly representing things as they were, in spite of their practised hands and great desire to be natural. This art was an art inspired and einjjlu}'cd b)- the Court, h'rom the Court the intellectual life of the epoch took its tone, and the principal monasteries, which were the seats of learning and of art, their direction. Thus it was, too, 2 F 2i8 HISTORY OF PAINTING. that the works of miniature-painters appealed only to a narrow and privileged circle, and that the development and decadence of the art are determined by the destinies of the ruling house. III. Italy.^^ — In the countries north of the Alps, the age of Charles the Great marks a new if still primitive development in art ; but in Italy we witness in this age only a progressive decline. Secular culture in Rome continually decayed ; her ecclesiastics were put to shame by the learning of the North ; Latinity fell lower and lower, and the Romans were left behind even by the despised Lombards. In art, too, the decline of the classical tradition grew every day more deplorable. If craftsmen had long ceased to have recourse to nature for them- selves, so too were the ancient models ever less understood and more mecha- nically and superficially followed. The art of mosaic was still energetically carried on, and now, as heretofore, had its chief centre in Rome. Even yet it furnishes an effective and splendid decoration for churches ; but drawing, forms, and expressions have become poorer and poorer. There is no longer an inde- pendent artistic aim ; the austere solemnity and dignity of the early works have departed ; and in spite of an unbroken tradition, the Roman school does not even preserve its old technical dexterities, but allows confused and barbarous elements to enter in. In spite, however, of this degeneracy, Rome was even more productive after the end of the eighth century than before. Increased resources flowed to the Papal See from its connection with the Carolingian emperors. Builders were busily employed, churches were newly decorated. Leo III., who had invited Charles to Italy, felt himself impelled, in the years during which the new Empire of the West was preparing to come into existence, to give an artistic expression to the alli- ance between the new political power and the spiritual power. In the mosaics of S. Susanna on the Quirinal, which have perished, the portrait of the great Prankish Emperor had already formed a pendant to the portrait of the Pope. This bond between the spiritual and temporal powers was still more speakingly symbo- lised soon afterwards in the decoration of the great dining hall {triclinium majiis) of the Lateran (a.d. 796-799). These mosaics have also been destroyed ; all we have is a copy of those in the great apse, put together (a.d. 1743) from drawings then existing ; this copy now adorns a great niche on the outside of the Scala Santa near the Lateran. An attempt has been made to preserve the original character ; we must not, however, base on this any opinion as to its style, and must be content with noticing the subjects treated. The vault of the apse contained the Saviour surrounded by his disciples ; the pictures on the arch face to right and left were occupied with the installation of the temporal and spiritual powers ; Christ enthroned with Sylvester and the Emperor Con- stantine ; Peter enthroned with Leo. III. and Charles ; Sylvester receiving the keys, Leo the stole, the Saviour in each case the banner.^* MEDL^VAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 219 After A.D. 800 Leo III. rebuilt the small basilica of SS. Nereus and Achilles next the Baths of Caracalla. The mosaics in the arch of the tribune still date from his time ; a Transfiguration of Christ, on the right the Annunciation, on the left the Madonna, with the draped Child and an angel. The central figures become more and more feeble, but on the other hand a richer treatment of the ornamental work begins.^^ Numerous works have come down to us from the time of Paschal, the next Pope (A.D. 817-824). At this period church-decorators often satisfied themselves with mere reproductions, as in S. Praxedis, where the mosaics of the apse are entirely copied from those in SS. Cosmas and Damian, but they are rigid, and without expression, with long spare figures, weakly drawn feet, empty draperies, and indifferent execution. In connection with Christ, Peter, and Paul, we find SS. Praxedis and Pudentiana, a holy Deacon, and Pope Paschal. There is also a representation of the New Jerusalem on the arch of triumph,^^ and, finally, a small chapel of S. Zeno, entirely decorated with mosaic. The apse mosaic of Santa Cecilia in Trastcvere is just as dependent on the same model ; Christ between Peter and Paul, besides SS. Cecilia, Valerian, Agatha, and Pope Paschal. Lastly, Santa Maria in Domnica (or dclla Navicella) was also built by the same Pope. Christ appears here in the arch with Angels, Apostles, and Prophets ; in the apse, in consequence of the growth of Mariolatry, the centre piece is the Virgin, with the Child seated stiffly on her lap, and draped, as is always the case with these works ; she is surrounded by youthful forms of angels, and at her feet is the pope. The figures are too large for the space ; their flatness makes them seem unimpressive, and quite secondary to the pretty leaf ornament and to the plants which grow up from vases at the sides.^' In the mosaics of S. Mark, the malformation of the figures, the weakness of drawing and carelessness of execution, are still greater. On the arch is a bust of Christ between the emblems of the Evangelists, and beneath, two prophets on consoles ; in the apse, again, there is a composition similar to that in SS. Cosmas and Damian, in which Christ appears with five saints at his side, and Pope Gregory IV. (A.D. 827-844) as the founder of the church. The poverty and want of meaning in the motives correspond with a failure of technical skill ; the inefficiency of the grouping spoils the design even where it is pure imitation, and the figures lose all connection with one another.^* Northern Italy can boast of a far finer mosaic of this century ; we mean that in the apse of S. Ambrose at Milan, which bears the marks of the native school in that i)lace, perhaps in connection with influences from Ravenna."'* The Saviour is solemnly enthroned between the splendidly apparelled standing figures of SS. Gervasius and Protasius ; above float the archangels Michael and Gabriel, with crowns in their hands. Under this there is a frieze of medallions containing busts of saints. Palm trees divide the principal group from two side pictures illustrating the legend of S. Ambrose, who stands first at the altar in 2 20 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Milan and then beside the bier of S. Martin at Tours, whither he has been transported by miracle. Above these scenes rise the cities of Milan and Turin, JSIcdiolamini and Ttironica, indicated by magnificent churches with domes. The motives in this work are better, and the drawing of the draperies better understood; the general scheme of colour on a gold ground is harmonious, the execution more equal ; but the signs of decadence still betray themselves in rigid expressions, heavy outlines, and weak modelling. Miniature-painting in Italy stood at this time far below the same art in northern countries. The Lombard writing, which had first been invented in the ninth century, continued to hold its own in many districts until the eleventh. The monasteries of Monte Cassino and La Cava, in which this art was car- ried on, are still rich in examples of it. The primitive style of Germanic ornamentation survives in the gorgeous initial letters ; they consist of scroll- work terminating in leaf-forms, and filled in with symmetrically arranged animals, especially dogs. The scale of colouring is light : scarlet, pink, light yellow, and blue on a gold ground. The figure compositions are always crude, ungainly in attitude, Avithout unity, with hideous noses and short upper lips, and drawn in coarse, slightly coloured outline. A striking example of this style may be seen in the manuscript of the Lombard Laws with portraits of the kings at La Cava, belonging to the beginning of the eleventh century.'^" CHAPTER III. BYZANTINE PAINTING AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE ICONOCLASTIC SCHISM. Introductory — Political revival in the Byzantine Empire — Desire to keep up the classic spirit and to encourage art — Byzantine art in the ninth and tenth centuries superior to Italian, but incapable for further advance — Miniatures — The Paris Sermons of Gregory Nazianzen — The Paris Psalter — The Vatican Topography of Cosmas — The Vatican life of Joshua — The Paris Evangeliariiim — Commence- ment of decadence about a.d. iioo — Psalter of Basil II. at Venice — The Vatican Mcnologium ; classi- cal spirit still surviving in personifications — Decadence exemplified in MS. of S. John Chrysostom written for Nikephoros Botaniates— Final ascendancy of formalism and asceticism — Ne\v taste for crowded figures on a minute scale — New taste for initials formed out of animals — Initials formed out of figure-subjects — Appearance of Western influence m some Byzantine MSS. of the thirteenth century — Petrifaction of the art notwithstanding — Its continuance in the same lifeless shape — Other forms of Byzantine art in the early Midtlle Age; Mosaics — Revival under Basil I. — Lost mosaics of the Kaiiiourgion — S. Sophia ; distribution, subjects, and style of the mosaics — Their technical workmanship — Mosaics of the declining period in other Greek churches — Portable mosaic pictures of this period ; examples at Paris and Florence — Mechanical subservience to tradition — Painiings ON Wall and Panel ; Enamels and Textile Products — Abundance and mechanical character of mural paintings in churches, chapels, and monasteries — Abundance and mechanical character of portable paintings on panel — Enamel-painting ; not to be liere considered — Textile products ; their abundance and dissemination — The Monk Dionysios and The Mount Athos Handbook — Manuel Panselinos — Subjects of the first division of the Handbook — Whole range of sacred subjects illustrated in second division — Narrative pictures from the Old and New Testament — Exhibitive and symbolical groups and single figures — Ceremonial pictures — Allegorical pictures — Third division of the Handbook ; disposition of several classes of pictures — Influence of Byzantine Art abroad — Mohammedan races — Races converted to Christianity — Slavonic races, especially Russia — Various epochs of Russian popular art — Its servile and unchanged character at the present day. At the close of the iconoclastic schism, a new political revival began in the Byzantine Empire, and affected fine arts as well as politics. External losses had followed in the train of intestine confusion, and the Arabs had con- quered not only Syria and Egypt, but in course of time Sicily also. Rome had shaken herself free and become the seat of a new empire. The wars against the powers of Islam and against the Bulgars, who had gained a footing on the Balkan Peninsula itself, still continued. But the Empire, though inter- nally shattered and reduced in its extent, gathered up its strength anew. The revival began with the Macedonian dynasty (from A.D. 867). Basil the Macedonian had made of crime a stepping-stone to sovereignty, as was usual in this despotic empire, but once in power, he behaved with the energy, resolution, and moderation of a born ruler, restored order and law, and reconstructed the finances and the army. The liyzantine Empire had still a greater territory than other kingdoms of Europe, and its capital was the largest in Christendom. The 222 HISTORY OF PAIi\TING. state was populous, flourishing, full of prosperity and inexhaustible resources, favoured by nature and by climate, and inhabited by a people who surpassed all others in industry and skill, and knew how to civilise even the barbarians who invaded them. The rivalry with the Mohammedan Khalifates, which tried to make the arts of Greece their own, reached Byzantium, and influenced in its turn the spirit of Greco-Christian culture. From the position of the capital city on the borders of Europe and Asia, Greek culture had here long since become imbued with Oriental elements. The Oriental bias also appeared in the rigid despotism of the government, met half-way by the servile disposition of the people ; in the pompous ceremonial of Court and Church ; in the sumptuous luxuriance of manners and costume, of life, usage, and art. The Byzantines still claimed the name of Romans and despised that of Greeks, although their connection with Rome had ceased, and Greek, which was from the first the language of the people and of literature, had at last driven Latin from the place of the official and business language. A conscious connection with the classic past pervaded the culture of the people, and they endeavoured to preserve classical forms even though the classical spirit had departed. The pursuit of science went hand in hand with that of art, and both were encouraged from the throne. Letters found distinguished patrons, like Caesar Bardas, uncle of Michael IH. The Emperor Basil L, himself without culture, felt his deficiency and had his son Leo (surnamed the Philosopher) educated by the learned Pho- tius ; he was also filled with enthusiasm for architecture, perhaps the noblest caprice of despots, and drew to his seat of empire every variety of artistic industry for the enrichment of his architectural creations. His nephew Constantine Por- phyrogennetos, a royal author, was also a lover of art, and even an amateur painter; his court biography records how he gave advice to painters and surpassed their works, so that his knowledge of an art he had never learnt seemed miraculous. This after-bloom of art, to which the revived use of pictures in churches furnished the most desired occasions, was to a certain extent a Renascence. While in Italy art was falling deeper and deeper into barbarism, Byzantium re-united the broken links of her traditional connection with classical antiquity and with the age of Justinian. While the arts of the West were carried on in new lands and with primitive modes of expression by the Germanic races, Byzantine art took up again its ancient inheritance of technical accomplishment, of established school traditions and classical style. For this reason, Byzantine painting in the ninth and tenth centuries still asserts its complete superiority in comparison with the hasty and incomplete though strenuous attempts of the West. But, just as through all the literary efforts of the Byzantines there has passed no creative current, — just as their activity is essentially of the com- piling and their knowledge essentially of the formal order, — just as their most encyclopaedic learning was bound up with the deepest superstition, and freedom of spirit they had none, — even so their inherited treasures of art lay in the hands MEDIEVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 223 of a people enslaved and debilitated by age, possessing no energy for new effort, and idly consuming its hereditary stores instead of making them bear fruit. The history of Byzantine art becomes the history of a gradual but continuous decline, which was never again stirred by a new spiritual movement. For that reason we shall be justified in this place in following its course down into times beyond the strict limits of our present period. I. Miniatures. — Miniatures remain, as before, the only kind of work of which examples of assured origin are preserved and accessible in sufficient num- bers to enable us really to study the history of Byzantine painting. Illuminated manuscripts of the latter half of the ninth century again show us the old merits in technical handling and general design ; only it becomes clearer than ever that the treatment of form, though still skilful, rests more upon tradition than upon nature. The modelling becomes weaker, as is to be expected at a time when sculpture 'was so far distanced by painting. Moreover the semi-Oriental cos- tumes of the Court by and by became universal, and their constant mechanical repetition takes the place of antique motives. The colouring too becomes con- ventional ; in the flesh parts a harsh brown tone alternates, according to sex and rank, with one verging into green in the shadows, the effect of which is delicate but not always wholesome. Faults of perspective became very obvious. Objects are piled one above another instead of receding into distance, and the diff^erence of size between near and far is not always proportionable. The two principal works of this period are to be found in the National Library in Paris. First, the sermons of S. Gregory Nazianzen, written for the Emperor Basil the Macedonian (A.D. 86y-S86). This book contains numerous illumina- tions, which are in bad condition, but it is still possible to see that the treat- ment is broad and skilful, and that they are painted either on a gold or very finely-toned green ground, from which the colours stand out in strong relief. The characteristic conventionalities just mentioned are strikingly evident here, but the power of pictorial embodiment is still considerable, the number and variety of the subjects is extraordinary, and we get quite as faithful a picture of the costume and aspects of life of this period as we do of those of the fifth century in the Vienna Genesis. A Christ enthroned, and the dedicatory pictures of the P2mperor and Empress, which have unfortunately suffered severely, are followed by scenes from the Old and New Testament, including the Passion ; and farther on martyrdoms of the Apostles, later legends, events from the his- tory of Julian the Apostate, and a representation of the second Council. Here too the proportions of the figures and many of the motives are still quite an- tique, but the expressions of the heads, though quiet and solemn, border upon the ascetic, and the movements often show a want of complete knowledge of the organic structure of the body. Ezekicl before the Lord (Fig. 60) is an unusually dignified example of this style.''^ 224 HISTORY OF PAINTING. A Psalter with commentary, of the beginning of tenth century, is still more important, and far more closely related to classical art ; it is also in good Fig. 60. condition, and contains fourteen large pictures, which with their simple borders of dull gold cover in each case the whole folio page ; it may be presumed that they have been taken from models of a better period. In the first picture David as a shepherd sits playiu':^ on the psaltery, while a beautiful classical female MEDIAEVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 235 figure, personifying Melody, leans with her left arm on his shoulder, the right arm resting carelessly on her lap. The head of a Nymph appears through the trees opposite, listening, and in the foreground the mountain-god Bethlehem rests in a bold attitude beneath a rock ; beside him are sheep and goats at ^ri?nT^i!! ::"!i::;:::::i!!:!!!t:::!!!:!i!i";:i! ::!;::it!!:; n;:;:i;:::;i:;it;!i!;i!:::;;i:::::!!» niiBMiHmninHiimmiDBHminflinnminmtimMiHmn^^f^^-^Q>^^>^^>^^>^^^^y^^^^^^^?^7T^^ ^eeiA- w^bn m ^R )>)^ ^>^ m4 y^^ ^^ ^4 ^^ ^^^ o^^s^ss^ fl Ktur^ Bff[»i /^ pit. Fig. 62. entirely, according to Oriental usage, wliicli is welcomed 1)\' the one-sidedness of the Christian morality of the age. When aiitiiiue dress is represented, the structure of the bod\' is still intended to be marked, but this is done quite mechanically; the rounded parts of the bod}' are (hMwii (piile flat, and covered 230 HISTORY OF PAINTING. with empty drapery, which by its poverty of fold and excess of ornament destroys the value of the principal motive, even when that is still happy. Modern state costume, again, was imitated with the utmost precision, and the artist strove to bring out the values of the tissue, embroideries, and jewels ; but the dress was drawn tightly and mechanically over the bodies, which accordingly seem like dolls stiffly stuck within it. In the types everything has given way to mere typical blankness and ecclesiastical asceticism. The charm of youth, the grace of womanhood, the energy and resolve of manhood, have disappeared. The solemn figures of saints appear with gloomy and morose countenances, devoid of all true human feeling, — in the phrase of Kugler, " in all their frowning solemnity incapable of any exercise of moral will." The classical type is swallowed up in ugliness. The forehead is high, bald, and often deeply wrinkled, the eyes fixed, staring, and in course of time mere ugly slits. The nose is long and broad, the lights on forehead and cheek-bones stand abruptly out. The mouth is small, but without vivacity, without the charm of a mouth that can speak ; the under lip is pushed up with an expression full of arrogance. The classical tradition held out longest in matters of technical practice, but did not develop itself further ; and the result, with all possible skill, neatness, and almost painful precision of handling, shows that the workman neither loved nor understood his work. From this time a taste arose for miniatures of smaller size and more dainty ornamentation. Thus a twelfth-century manuscript of the sermons of the monk Jacobus on the Festival of the Holy Virgin at Paris, has such a number of scenes that particular motives cannot on this scale be distin- guished, with attenuated figures not more than one and a half to two inches high.*^ Any signs of the antique style which still remain here are only to be found in certain nameless secondary figures which stand looking on, while the principal per- sonages are ascetically brooding in accordance with the mystical character of the book. The careful execution and rich colouring which are still found here can- not compensate for this. In the landscapes are trees with no trace of nature left, and yet there are actually attempts to represent the garden of Eden ; or again, ungainly buildings often indicate the scenery. One of these only gives an interesting front view of a Byzantine domical church, a splendid and richly- coloured building forming the background to some figures of saints. At this time appeared in Byzantine art a tendency, hitherto unknown, to compose ornamental initials out of beasts, birds, and dragons ; but the animals are not, as in the West, introduced effectively into a caligraphic ornament with conventional leaf-work, but themselves form the shape of the letter by simple combinations, and without further additions.''*" We have seen that the early Germanic manuscript-painting began with attempts of the same kind. Thus we find an ancient and effete civilisation laying hold of those primitive forms which the Germanic nations had left behind them several centuries before MEDL^VAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 231 About the same time something similar was attempted in other maimscripts ; for instance, in several copies of the Sermons of S. Gregory Nazianzen, of which that in the Vatican Library is indeed ascribed to the eleventh century ; but two corresponding examples in Paris belong only to the thirteenth.^^ The initials are chiefly composed of the same figures that reappear in the principal pictures, and represent Scripture scenes in little. While in the West the paint- ing of the Romanesque style at this period uses richly decorated initial letters enclosing fantastic figures, or sacred scenes and personages, here we have the figures themselves forming the body of the letter, and though not, like the animal- letters of which we spoke above, altogether devoid of orna- mental adjuncts, still with only the necessary minimum of such adjuncts (Fig. 63). Whether this innovation was due to Western influence or not may seem doubtful. But such influence may certainly be recognised in another characteristic seen in the Paris manu- script last mentioned. Not only do animals constantly occur in the borders, but we also find sportive incidents introduced in various places on borders that are left white : a boy fight- ing with a bear for instance, another boy climbing up a tree, and child's play of all kinds. This reminds us of the drolcrics of Western and especially of French manuscripts ; and it would be easy to account for an influence from that quarter, inasmuch as the book is dated in the year 6771 from the creation of the world — that is to say, A.D. 1263, soon after the age of the Crusades and the fall of the Latin Empire in Constantinople (a.D. 1 204-1 261), when French chivalry had firmly established itself there, and French chivalric taste had even affected Greek litera- ture. There exists in the British Museum a somewhat earlier manuscript, the Psalter of Melisenda, daughter of King Baldwin II. and wife of King Fulke of Jerusalem (a.D. 1131-1141), in which the author of the Byzantine miniatures has given his name in the Latin language and character {Basilius me fecit), while in the same work appear several pictures, and particularly initials, by a Western artist.^- Here, then, we have the two styles of East and West side by side in the same book ; and it is quite possible to conceive that a fusion of the two up to a certain point might have taken place later. But if Greco-Christian art borrowed at this time from Western models such sportive by-work as this, it borrowed nothing more ; it underwent no such permanently vivifying influence and no such inner revolution as it needed. The pictures in the last-named manuscripts have been growing weaker, duller, and more spiritless, and the colour harsher ; and we now find the execution, which had held out longer than anything else, falling off more and more, as in the story of Balaam, in Paris. How far advanced this decline actually was in the time immediately preceding the Turkish conquest, is shown by a work in Fig. 63. 232 HISTORY OF PAINTING. the Louvre, executed by order of Manuel Palaeologos. This Emperor had visited the Abbey of S. Denis during his residence in France (A.D. 1401), and seven years afterwards he sent thither as a present an ancient manuscript of Dionysios the Areopagite, with a newly painted dedication picture. ^^ In the upper part of this picture is a perfectly symmetrically treated Madonna with the Child in front of her, crowning the Emperor and the Empress Helena, beside whom stand their three children. Stony rigidity can no farther go, but with it is mixed a kind of unpleasant affected blandness. The heads are mere patterns, with slits for the eyes, and quite without modelling ; the dresses are pulled tightly down like bells over the forms, of which no trace is visible ; the feet are not to be seen, but from under each of these lifeless dolls appear the legs of a stool upon which they seem to be placed. The colours are rather bright in tone : red, light and dark blue, mixed with a great deal of gold, are dis- tributed in broad patches without shading. The art seems to have returned in its dotage to its first childish stages. But as the petrified Byzantine art in all forms continues to exist even down to the present day, unable either to live or die, so the miniature-painting of the Greeks lived on in the Western world after the fall of the Empire in A.D. 1453. At the Renascence, when an accomplished taste extended itself to book illustrations as well as to other things, the Byzantine illuminators who found their way into Italy or France were able to find admirers for productions how- ever little corresponding to the spirit of the time. They still continued merely to copy by rote, without learning anything even when they anxiously tried to accommodate their productions to the style of the West. II. Mosaics. — The framework or skeleton of our history of Byzantine painting has necessarily been constructed by the study of miniatures. Into this framework we must now fit whatever knowledge we derive from the remains of other varieties of the art. The love of the Emperor Basil I. for architecture was the cause of a new revival of mosaic in his reign, which also witnessed, as we have seen, a revival of miniature-painting. Of his independent creations nothing remains to us but descriptions in historical writings. These tell of church-decorations, especially those of the Nea or new basilica in the imperial palace at Constantinople, and also of secular subjects executed in the imperial chambers and halls of cere- mony. In the great hall of the palace Kainoiirgion the columns were covered with mosaics of vines and animals ; in the vaulted roof the Emperor was repre- sented on his throne, with his generals offering gifts of conquered cities ; and all round the walls were the " Herculean labours" of Basil himself, his battles and victories. In another chamber were to be seen the Emperor and his wife Eudoxia seated on the throne, with crowns and royal robes, and on either side their sons and daughters in similar dress, the books of sacred knowledge in MEDLEVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 233 their hands. The style, therefore, may have corresponded in typical solemnity to the dedicatory pictures of the manuscripts. The purely decorative style of mosaic also still existed ; not long afterwards, under Constantine Porphy- rogennetos, the Golden Triclinium of the palace was decorated with various flowers, richly coloured, and of such delicate workmanship that the room seemed like a bower of roses. We shall be better able to picture to ourselves a wall-decoration of this kind if we look at the borders of the canons in some of the Gospel-manuscripts of that period.^* To the time of Basil the Macedonian belong also many decorations, including perhaps the earliest, which remain in the church of S. Sophia, built by Justinian, and which were copied and published at the time of the last restora- tion. ^ This is the more probable, inasmuch as S. Sophia's is not likely to have escaped at the time of the iconoclastic disputes. In the interior there comes first a solemn figure of an angel with a sceptre and globe, in the barrel-vaulting next the principal apse. This is ascribed to the time of Justinian, but the form in which it has been published does not enable us to estimate it properly. In the semi-dome of the apse the Virgin is enthroned, with the Child standing before her. According to ancient accounts, the dome once contained Christ on the rainbow as Judge of the earth ; the four spandrils below it were filled by gigantic heads of cherubim. In the crown of each of the four supporting arches under the dome appears a medallion ; at the spring of the same arches on each side stands a simple figure above the cornice of the main pier. The western arch contains in the medallion a Madonna, with traces of the head of the Child, and at either side Peter and Paul ; these belong to the time of the Emperor Basil I., who caused the western apse to be restored. The subjects are described in his biography by Constantine Porphyrogennetos, The mosaics on the soffit of the north arch are still later ; in the medallion is a golden table, with book and cross ; at the sides John the Baptist and the praying Virgin ; at their feet John Palaeologos on his knees. Thus we see that the second half of the fourteenth century, the worst time of all, has also left its mark here. On the great lunettes at the north and south ends of the transept, in three courses beside and under the windows, stand dignified colossal figures of saints, martyrs, prophets, and angels ; none of these can be earlier than the eleventh century, though some of them may be of later date. A few remains are also to be still found in the gimaikeioii, or women's choir, over the side aisles ; the Out- pouring of the Holy Spirit, for instance, in one of the small domes. In the centre is Christ enthroned, and round him, in a very rigid style, the Apos- tles, arranged like the spokes of a wheel, with a flame above each head. In the spandrils are four groups of people with heads of a distinctly lower type and many-coloured garments, whereas the saints are all dressed in white. Lastly, the field of the arch over the central doorway leading into the church out of the narthex or vestibule is filled by a famous picture of an iMiiperor 2 11 234 HISTORY OF PAINTING. kneeling before Christ (Fig. 64). The Redeemer is seated on a magnificent throne, the right hand raised in the act of blessing, and the left holding the open book ; on each side is a medallion, with the busts of Mary and an angel respec- tively. The Emperor, who in the spirit of Byzantine ceremonial is in an attitude of servile prostration at the feet of Christ, is certainly not, as has been generally supposed, Justinian. There is no kind of resemblance between the beardless portrait of Justinian at S. Vitalis in Ravenna, and this bearded and grey-headed man. It is more likely to be Basil I., the restorer, as we know, of the western apse into which this entrance opens, and this opinion is supported by the miniatures of the time, especially the sermons of Gregory Nazianzen in Paris, expressly written for him. The portrait of the Emperor himself in this manuscript is unfortunately much injured ; but the enthroned Redeemer on the first page corresponds entirely with the same figure in the Fig. 64. mosaic ; it is the bearded type, but with a rounder face and broader forehead. The same agreement will also be found in the costumes and cast of drapery. The silvery lights in the robe of Christ indicate a silken material, the mantle is after the antique, but folded with painful care. The court dress of the Emperor bears witness to the Asiatic transformation of costume ; instead of a gold circlet, as in the picture of Justinian at S. Vitalis, he wears a diadem of pearls, a tunic with long wide sleeves reaching to the ankles, and a stiff and shapeless dalmatic loaded with heavy pearl embroidery and covering the body like a sack. The round medallions with busts are better done, especially the angel (Fig. 65), which still shows a pure and classic nobility of style ; the head of Mary, however, agrees with the type of the Madonna in the principal western arch under the dome, which certainly belongs to the time of Basil I. The technical workmanship of the mosaic still shows complete uniformity and precision. Harmony and a noble taste prevail in the choice and arrange- ment of the colours. Though heterogeneous both in date and merit, the mosaics of S. Sophia still give us some idea of the glory of the decorations MEDL^VAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 235 which culminated in them. Judiciously set in their well-proportioned com- partments and divisions, and separated by rich ornament, the several pictures, in their dignified repose, in their colouring, which is kept distinct and lighter than the rest of the decorations, take their place as the crown and climax of the whole. The grounds, gold throughout, and no longer showing any indication of land- scape, architecture, or special locality, come into constantly varying relations with the pictures according to the play of light on the vaultings — now, in full light, outblazing all the rest, and now, in shadow, subordinating themselves and forming the soberest of backgrounds. Remains of later Byzantine mosaics of the decadence, from the eleventh century down, are found in many Greek churches. That of S. Mary at Fig. 65. Bethlehem contains fragments of a great series of pictures, completed, accord- ing to an inscription, by the painter and mosaist Ephraim, A.D. i 1 69.'^*' Of the representations from the lives of Mary and of Christ, in the choir and transept, only three now remain either in part or in the whole. The principal pictures on the walls of the aisles (placed beneath figures of angels between the windows, and above a row of busts of the ancestors of Christ) were representations of the Councils, not figuring those assemblies really, as we sometimes find them figured, but symbolically, by means of an altar with a book upon it, and above, an inscription containing decrees of the respective Councils in question. The whole is surrounded by an architectural border, on the south side resembling somewhat that which commonly encloses the canons in the manuscripts, but on the north taking the form of a church like that we described in the picture from the Sermons of James. In the inscriptions of this series of pictures, 236 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Latin occasionally occurs as well as Greek, which is natural in a work that was produced under the authority of a Latin Bishop of Bethlehem, and corresponds with the mixture of languages in records and coins of that time from the Holy Land. We find, however, no Western influences in the style of the pictures themselves. After the tenth century were executed also many small portable mosaic pictures. One of these, of the eleventh century, containing the Transfiguration, is in the Louvre, and represents the Transfiguration ;^^ in the opera del duoino at Florence are two of later date belonging to the Baptistery, each containing six scenes from the New Testament. The style of the decadence as we became acquainted with it in the minia- tures — its mechanical copying of old patterns, the degradation of its forms, its lifelessness and rigidity, strike us even more painfully still in monumental works. In these great devotional pictures the imagination of the artist is even more strongly fettered ; everything is determined by church ceremonial and by the single aim at solemnity of expression. The artist has not to create anything from his own impulse ; he is merely looked upon as a craftsman whose duty it is to carry out the wishes of his ecclesiastical employers, and to adhere to their traditional prescriptions. The more mechanically an artist worked, the more he suppressed all individual feeling and motive in his creations, the better he was considered to fulfil his vocation. Even as early as the second Council of Nice (a.D. 787), the iconoclasts were confronted, by way of justification for images, with the maxim that " the composition of a picture is not the painter's own invention, but the law and approved tradition of the Catholic church, for what is ancient should be honoured, as S. Basil saith." in. — Paintings on Wall and Panel ; Enamels and Textile Pro- ducts. — Side by side with mosaic, and with the same decorative object, was practised the less costly and tedious art of mural painting, which preponderated in the multifarious productiveness of later centuries. The Byzantines had learnt from antiquity how to mix with care the plaster preparation for the wall, and how to work with elaborate technical skill. The churches of Syria and Greece contain vast numbers of these paintings. Mount Athos, with its numerous monasteries and its nine hundred and thirty- five churches and chapels, is a chief centre of their production, which is still carried on without interruption and in the same spirit as of old. It is here altogether a handicraft, and one that includes panel-painting as well as wall- painting. In the schools of Mount Athos there was never any question of original creation or individual knowledge. A mechanical scheme, based upon tracings of earlier works and dictated by prescription, was repeated by innumerable hands all working together in common, and the most extensive undertakings were thus completed in an astonishingly short time. The figures MEDL^VAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 237 drawn in light - coloured outline without shadow, modelling, or expression, always fulfil their purpose in the decorative design by their symmetrical arrangement in the space, the just gradation of their local colours, and their simple and tranquil lines of composition. They yield copious results as to Byzantine iconography, the immemorial traditions of which still last on in latter-day productions. But many of these pictures show also a strong Western influence ; the colossal figures of saints in the church at Karyes, on the east side of the mountain, dating according to their inscriptions from the fourteenth century, remind us of the Italians of that period and especially of the Sienese school. In later times use was occasionally even made of Western engravings, for instance of prints by Marcantonio.^^ Along with those kinds of decoration which have an inherent connection with architecture, and adorn its walls or vaultings, panel-painting for movable purposes was also cultivated. Byzantine works of this sort are extraordin- arily abundant ; they are sometimes to be found in Western churches and collections. Many are also preserved in the Christian Museum of the Vatican, and a few in the Berlin Museum. Most of these are later than the eleventh century, and were chiefly made for exportation, or even executed in the West by Byzantine craftsmen. Among them are many Madonnas, and especially those in various places ascribed to the hand of S. Luke ; and also single figures of Saints, scenes from the Passion and from sacred legend. In these works we find the late Byzantine character generally in its ascetic stiffness, and often in its positive repulsiveness. The vehicle employed is thick and resinous, and gives the pictures a general yellow tone, which is heightened by a solid varnish darkening with time into brown in the flesh parts, and forming a smooth and horny surface. The colour is laid on in harsh hatchings, the ground is always gold. A picture in the Vatican, worth notice for its size and handling as well as subject and signature, is a representation of the hermit life, with the death of S. Ephrem as the central incident ; it was painted by one Emanuel Tzanfurnari, in the eleventh century.^''^ Besides original pictures of this kind we find also innumerable forgeries, which helped the devotion of the faithful, and supplied them with devotional pictures in this primitive style imitated with more or less skill. The art of Enamel might from the nature of its results be associated w ith painting ; inasmuch as those results are due to the laying of an outline in metal, and the subsequent filling in of the spaces so marked off with coloured glass in a state of fusion. liut the process is essentially an industrial one, carried on in connection with goldsmith's work. It is onK^ an imitation of painting by a different process, and as its productions do not either b\- their style or subject yield anything necessary to the complclioii of this part of our study, we need not consider them at present. Textile art, in so far as it produces woven or embroidered figure designs, 238 HISTORY OF PAINTING. has a better right to consideration. This it did in ancient as well as in Christian times, adorning state costumes, carpets, hangings, and altar trappings with decorative animals, secular personages, and from an early date also with Bible scenes and the personages of Christian tradition. The characteristics and history of the technical processes of textile art do not concern our present study, but only its productions in so far as they exhibit pictorial designs of importance. The West, and especially Italy, made great use of these results of Byzantine art-industr)', of which we find many accounts in the " Book of Popes " of Anas- tasius. An admirable example of embroidery is the so-called Imperial dalmatic preserved in the sacristy of S. Peter's at Rome ; it is a silk diaconal robe of the eleventh century, with the second coming of Christ on the front, the Transfigu- ration on the back, the two incidents of the Last Supper, the distribution £)f the bread and that of wine, on the shoulders.*^*' IV. — The Mount Athos Handbook. — To the uninterrupted continuance of Byzantine art we have, besides the Neo-Greek church pictures already men- tioned, yet another and this time a written witness in the shape of the Mount Athos Handbook.^^ Travelling for purposes of research in A.D. 1839, the arch- aeologist Didron found in the hands of the painters of this famous monastic settlement a manuscript which formed the basis of their technical knowledge and principles of composition. He had a copy of this manuscript transcribed, and has published it. In this book a painter monk has written down the usage and tradition of his art as he knew them. He has signed himself at the end of the preface as " the least of painters, Dionysios, monk of Fourna-Agrapha." He relates how he went through his course of training at Thessalonica, and studied the works on the holy Mount of Athos, especially those, on wall and panel, of the famous Manuel Panselinos of Thessalonica, the painter whose glory, according to his punning surname, shone " like the full moon," and who by his wonderful art threw all other painters both old and new into the shade. He had been helped in his drawings by his pupil, Master Kyrillos of Chios, who was deeply learned in spiritual matters. Uncertain traditions place Panselinos in the eleventh or twelfth century, and according to a Russian manual of which we shall speak later, Dionysios himself is also to be counted among the famous old masters. But his date cannot be more definitely fixed than this, and his book has only come down to us in copies of the original text with many additions. But in any case we have here a record which dates many centuries back. The text is divided into three parts. The first conveys technical instruction, the second gives a list of the subjects proper for church painting, and the third part begins characteristically with an introduction on the mode of making tracings from pictures. The later Byzantine art knew of no other mode of study than this. Then follow recipes for preparing charcoal for drawing, brushes for lay- ing the plaster ground, for the mixing and preparation of colours, for varnish MEDL^VAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD., 239 and gilding. Panel-painting, oil-painting on canvas, and wall-painting are also treated. Hints for cleaning old pictures are giv^en. We find special informa- tion as to the "Muscovite" and the "Cretan" modes of working. With all this, allusions also occur to the art as practised in the West. The authors know of a Venetian and a French white, and they know too that the Venetians do not use gold leaf, but a varnish which in German is called " gold colour." One passage is specially important which sets forth a general scheme for the pro- portions of the figures. These proportions are slender, as indeed we find them in all late Byzantine work ; the body is to measure nine heads, and the height and breadth of the several members are in like manner fixed at so many times the length of head or nose. The second portion of the book, which is by far the most comprehensive, sets before us a thoroughly detailed survey of the whole range of sacred subjects. First come the nine angelic Choirs or Hierarchies ; then the fall of Lucifer ; then the stories from Genesis in great detail from the creation of Adam down ; the history of Moses ; scenes from the Book of Judges ; the stories of Samuel, David, Solomon, and the Prophets ; lastly, three pictures from the Book of Job, and one from the Book of Judith. The character pre- scribed in these cases seems to be an essentially narrative one. To Moses kneeling before the burning bush appear symbolically the Virgin and Child, as sometimes in Western paintings ; the bush which burned and was not consumed being taken as a symbol of the virginity of the mother of God. After the narrative scenes come single figures ; the Patriarchs ; the forefathers of Christ ; the righteous men and women of the Old Covenant ; Moses and the Prophets, with quotations from their writings ; lastly the sages of Greece — Apollonios, Solon, Thucydides, Plutarch, Plato, Aristotle, Philo, Sophocles, Thales ; and in the same connection, Balaam and the wise Sibyl, with inscriptions declaring them prophetic witnesses of the coming of the Lord ; and lastly the stem of Jesse. Then follow the New Testament subjects. In the picture of Christ's baptism, the naked figure of a man pouring water out of a vessel appears lying across the midst of the river, and looking timidly at Christ. That this figure was in truth a personification of the river Jordan had been forgotten even as early as when this compilation was written. The miracles of Christ are very fully illus- trated, and also the whole of the scenes of his Passion. A singular personification appears in the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit; the scene is to be figured as taking place in a loft, with the World, personified as a man crowned and throned, seated in a lower room of the house. After the miracles we find the parables of Christ; in most of these the figure of the Saviour appears as a tcaclier, at the same time the subject of the parable is not always pictorial))- or intclligibh' expressed. The next subjects are not of a narrative but of a pureK' and imposingly cxhibitive character. I. The divine Liturgy, that is to sa\- the Trinit\- : Christ enthroned in archiepiscopal robes beside the r'ather, the llol)' .Spirit in llie form 2 40 HISTORY OF PAINTING. of a dove surrounded b}- angels with censers, symbols of martyrdom, and so forth. 2. The whole spiritual kingdom : Christ enthroned in heaven surrounded by the Evangelists, their human bodies surmounted by their symbolic animal-heads, round them the angelic hierarchies, and lower down those of all the Saints and Martyrs with the personages of the old covenant. Between these two pictures is inserted a representation of the sacrament of the Eucharist ; and this time not in the guise of the Last Supper, which has occurred already, but in the form of a solemn distribution at an ecclesiastical ceremony performed by Christ in pre- sence of his Apostles. Then follows a series of pictures from the Revelation, the Coming of Christ, and the Day of Judgment. Eight scenes from the Life of the Virgin are so designed as to have special reference to her festivals. Then comes the Fountain of Life : Mary stands with the Child before a magnificent fountain, around which Patriarchs, kings and queens, princes and princesses, the outcast and the miserable, all assemble to drink and lave themselves. The two next pictures — "The Prophets above" and "In thee rejoice" — are a kind of illustrated hymns to the Virgin, who in the first is worshipped by Patriarchs and Prophets, and in the second by All Saints. To these are added four-and-twenty " stations " from the legend of the Virgin. The single figures of the New Testament begin with the Apostles. Their physical aspect is characterised in a summary and decisive manner : S. John as an old man ; but there is no question of farther attributes, except only books and scrolls. James the Less and Thaddeus are missing, and their places are taken by the Evangelists Mark and Luke. The Evangelists come in again, this time seated writing, and with them their symbols. Among the numerous Saints are many little known and peculiar to the Greek Church. With the Bishops and Deacons are ranked the Martyrs, among whom the warlike characters, and especially S. George, are prominent. Then follow the Anargyroi, or despisers of worldly wealth, — hermits, and those who do penance on pillars ; then the Christian Poets, with passages from their works ; the Just Ones, with the Emperor Constantine at their head; and the female Saints of all classes. After these come a number of ceremonial pictures : The Raising of the Cross by S. Helena ; the Seven Holy Synods, which were often painted in earlier times (as were the six first synods in A.D. 711, out of opposition to the heretical Emperor Philippicus Bardanes, at S. Peter's in Rome) ; and further the setting-up again of images at the end of the iconoclastic schism. Then come the miracles and martyrdoms of particular Saints, and first among them the Archangel Michael and John the Baptist. The book concludes with some motives for allegorical compositions, in which the didactic tendency strongly predominates over the pictorial: — i. The Life of a True Monk ; he is to appear in his cowl clinging to the cross, and round about him the symbols of his temptations, with inscriptions abundantly scattered over the whole. 2. The Heavenly Ladder: at the summit Christ, and at MEDLtVAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 241 the foot a dragon on the watch, with monks trying to ascend, but not all succeeding in the attempt. This same motive has been treated by Western art also, but with more freedom, in the Hortus Deliciarum of Herrad of Land- sperg. 3. The deaths of the Hypocrite, the Righteous, and the Sinner. 4. The Transitoriness of this life, a concentric composition allied to the Wheels of Time, the Earth, and Fortune in the mediaeval art of the Western world. In the innermost circle the World is represented as an old man crowned ; in the second circle are the four Seasons, symbolised by men in cor- responding positions ; in the third the Months embodied in the signs of the zodiac ; in the outer circle the seven Ages of Man — the children just getting on the wheel, the young man at the top of it, the old man below threatened by a figure of Death, while a dragon lurks close by ; at the side are angels turning the wheel. The last division of the book directs how pictures in churches are to be distributed and combined. Rules are also laid down for Baptisteries, which are to contain a picture of the Fountain of Life, with Old Testament types of baptism ; and also for Refectories, where, besides the Last Supper, are to be depicted the other repasts related in the New Testament, also the parables of Christ, if there is room, pictures from the Apocalypse, and at the lower end the allegory of the hermit life already described. The form in which the Handbook of Painting has come down to us makes it impossible to decide what portion of its contents are of ancient origin, or took their rise as far back as the tradi- tions of the better period of Byzantine art. At any rate it gives us an in- teresting compendium of Christian iconography as accepted not only in Byzan- tine art, but in many particulars also in the art of the West. W' ith the consideration of this book we may close our review of Byzantine art. It only remains to glance at those outlying countries whose art received direct influences from the centre of the Greek Christian world. V. — Influence of Byzantine Art Abroad. — As long as the Byzan- tine Empire fulfilled its task of preserving as much of the culture and art of antiquity as was possible under such altered circumstances of the world, so long had it an extraordinary influence not only on subject but also on neighbouring and conterminous countries. As our study is limited to painting only, the art of the Mohammedans, whose works in painting and mosaic were in the first instance decorative merely, does not at present come within our scope. Where later we find these limits overstepped, the change must be ascribed to contact with Western art. It is otherwise with those nations whom the influence of Byzantium con- verted to Christianity. In Armenian manuscripts for instance, we again encounter, though in degeneracy, the Byzantine style. Miniatures of Coptic and Ethiopian origin, though very rough, show evident signs of similar influence. 2 I 242 HISTORY OF PAINTING. Of the Slavonic nations, only those of the north-west received from Germany, with their civilisation and Christianity, their art also ; the Southern Slavs, so far as art is concerned, are on *the other hand a dependency of Byzantium, the Servians especially ; while in Croatia and Dalmatia Italian influences were mixed with the Byzantine. A Bulgarian chronicle in the Vatican, written a.d. 1350 for John Alexander, king of Bulgaria, shows the Byzantine style, but with completely barbarous treatment ; the figures are mostly short with large heads.*^" Church painting in Servia has preserved down to our own day a degenerate Byzantine style. From Byzantium Russia too received, with her Christianity, her art, which remained entirely in the hands of Greek workmen until the twelfth century .*^^ Sculpture was excluded from the churches, while they were covered all over with painted figure-subjects. Among the mosaics, those of Kiew are the most remarkable, and adhere most strictly to Byzantine tradition. Pictures on walls and on wood were also in demand. The tlironostasion, a wall covered with pictures of saints, separates the space devoted to the sacred ceremonies from the congregation. Religious pictures also belong to the necessary fittings of the houses. Miniature-painting was also in use, and here we find a system of ornament in which Asiatic motives are curiously worked out in connection with Byzantine.*** The amount of these artistic manufactures produced in Russia is enormous, and their spirit altogether mechanical. They attempt no more than an everlasting imitation of ancient patterns. Austere solemnity pervades them all. Old and serious types succeed better than women or youthful figures. The representation of living relations between human beings is unknown to this art ; witness particu- larly the Madonna, who invariably sits, as in the catacomb pictures, with uplifted hands, while the infant Christ on her lap, without the least trace of childlike expression, raises his hand in benediction. The Russian paintings are scarcely to be distinguished from later and less important Byzantine examples except by their inscriptions ; and even in these certain Greek expressions are preserved. In the earlier days special schools had their seats at Kiew, Pskow, Rostow, Wladimir, Novgorod, and Moscow. The earlier works are the best. By degrees the relations of Russia with the Byzantine Empire grew looser. The productions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries even have greatly fallen off, though there lived at the close of this period a painter, named Andreas Rubleff, whose name was revered in after times. During the fifteenth century, after certain approximations to the West had taken place, and a new style called the Friajsky (probably for Prankish) had for a while established itself, a strong reaction set in. Chapter 43 of the Stoglav, published by Iwan the Terrible (a.d. 1533-1584), contains directions for the art of painting. Although artists at that time belonged chiefly to the laity, they were under the strictest tutelage of the clergy, who chose the subjects to be painted, prescribed the manner of their MEDI.^VAL PAINTING— EARLY PERIOD. 243 treatment, watched over the morality of the painters, and had it in their power to give or to refuse commissions. The bishops alone could promote a pupil to be a master, and it was their duty to see that the work was done according to ancient models. A manual of painting similar to that of Mount Athos, called Podliniick, insists on the strictest adherence to old traditions and patterns. In later times, pictures with neat but very attenuated diminutive figures in bright colouring became more and more the fashion in Russia. The tone became heavier in the flesh-colour, often a uniform brown, with abrupt lights and smooth execution. The love of rich materials increased, till at last, since the eighteenth century, it has become the custom to paint the flesh parts only, and to overlay all the rest with a coating of richly patterned metals. Thus we find that in Russian church painting an altogether degenerate, dead, and spiritless Byzantine style has maintained itself down to the present time. It was the very weakness of the later Byzantine art, which had nothing of independence nor any feeling of its own to express, — which sprang from no popular creative instinct but worked spiritlessly by rule and measure, — it was this very weakness which suited the servile temper of the Russians, and their incapacity for spontaneous effort. Neither have any other of the Slavonic nations succeeded in carrying to an independent development that Byzantine art of which they appropriated the external forms. APPENDIX, - > • » » c 1. [These dates are merely added as a rough aid to the reader's recollection. The period treated by our author in this section as the first period of the Middle Age proper, begins, broadly speaking, with the Iconoclastic Schism (a.d. 728), includes the whole Carolingian Age, and ends with the establishment of a powerful German kingdom under the Saxon dynasty (Henry the Fowler, A.D. 918, succeeded by his son Otho I., A.D. 936). But the anterior of these limits is overstepped in order to bring into the section the work of the Irish and German miniature-painters before the eighth century, and the posterior limit in order to pursue down to comparatively recent times tiie history of the unprogressive arts of Byzantium.] 2. Consult Waagen, in Deiitsches Kunstblatt, 1850, p. 83 ; Unger in Rti'ite cdthpte, i. 1871, p. 9, and the article Grotteske in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopddie, 1st series, vol. xciv. p. 188. The best repro- ductions are tliose in Westwood, J. O., Facsitnilcs of the Miniatures and Oniainents 0/ Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts, London, 1868, and Id., Pahvographia Sacra. Consult also the publications of the Palseographical Society; and Keller, Y,, in Mittheilungeti der antiquarischen Gesellschaft m Zurich, vol. vii. 3. See the Essays of Conze, m Sitzungsherichte der Wiener A kadentte, vols. Ixiv. p. 505, Ixxiii. p. 221, and Gottinger gelehrte Anzeigen, 1878, p. 385. 4. Good examples, beginning with the seventh centurj', are given in Fleury, Ed., Les nianuscrits a jniiiiatitres de la bibliothique de Laon, 2 vols. 4to, Laon, 1863-4. 5. Paris, Bihl. Xat., lat., 12,048. See Lacroix and Serre, Le moyen Age et la renaissance, vol. iii. 6. Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. 9389. 7. London, Brit. Mus., Cotton MSS., Nero, D iv. 8. See Ciampini, Vet. Mon., ii. 41 ; and after him, Werth, E. aus 'm, Rheinlands A'unstdenkmiiler des Mittelalters, PI. xxxii. II, and Garrucci, PL 282. 9. See Ermoldi Nigelli Carmen, iv. 181-282, in A/oti. Germ., ii. 505. 10. In tlie splendid Init unfinished publication of Count Bastard, Peintures et ornetnens des nianuscrits, excellent reproductions in colours are given of most of the examples mentioned in the text. See also Louandre, Les arts somptuaires. 11. Paris, Bibl. N'at., Nouv. acq. Lat. 1993. See Du Sommerard, Les arts au moyefi dge : album, series vii. PI. 39, 40 ; besides the works of Bastard and Westwood. 12. Reproductions in Kugler, Kleine Schriften, ii. p. 337. 13. Abbeville, Bibl. munic. ; Paris, Bdd. iVat., Lat. 8S50 ; London, />V//. J\/us. Ilarl., 3788 (see Humphrey, Illustrated Books of the Middle Ages, PI. ii.-iv.) 14. See reproductions in .Arneth, Denkschriften der kais. Akad. der Wissenschaften in Wien, vol. xiii. Waagen, Kutistdenkmciler in Wien, vol. ii. p. 409, is disposed to assign to the work a date not earlier than the time of Charles the Bald. 15. Bamberg, Royal Lilirary, A-I-5, Ziirich, Cantonal Library, C'l. 16. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Lat. 9428. See the work of Bastard and Silvestre, Paliographie universelle, vol. ii. 17. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Lat. 266. See Labarte, vol. iii. \>. 113. 18. See publications of the Palrcographical Society, PI. 93, 69, 70. 19. For the Munich Prayer-book, see Rahn, in Anzeiger fiir schweizerische Alterthumskunde, 1 878, Nos. I and 2. For that at Paris {Bibl. Nat., Lat. 1 152), Labarte, PI. 89. 20. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Lat. I. 21. See Seroux d'Agincourt, IM. 40-45. 22. Munich, Cimel, 55. Reproductions in Forster, Denkmale, ix; and Cahicr, N'ouveaux melanges d'' Arch'eologie, Paris, 1874, p. 48. Some of tiie miniatures have been repainted in the latter i)an of the tenth centurv. 246 . HISTORY OF PAINTING. 23. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Lat. 1141 : see the work of Bastard. 24. London, Brit. Mits., Addition. M.SS. 10,546. See Westwood, Palaographia Sacra. 25. e.g., a Dioskorides in Paris, Bibl. Nat., Lat. (old enumeration), atic.f. lat. 6862 : tenth century MSS. of Metos at Boulogne, Bibl. tmmicipale, 188 (Pal. Soc. PI. 96); Bern, Stadtbibl.; ninth century do., with designs merely drawn in pen, S. Gallen, Stiftsbibl., 250, 902. 26. Paris, Bibl. A^at., Lat., 8S49 ; Brussels, Bibl. de Bourgogne, 18,383. 27. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Lat. 257. 28. Paris, Bibl. N'at., Lat. 15,520, formerly Sorbonne, 1300. 29. * Ingobertus * * scriba fidelis Graphidas Ausonios aequans superansve tenore Mentis. 30. Vienna, Hofbibl. ; reproductions in the works of Westwood and Silvestre. 31. S. QaWtn, Stiftsbibliothek, cod. 10, 23, 21. For the part borne by this monastery in the minia- ture-painting of the Carolingian age, see Rahn, Geschichte der bild. Kiinste in der Schweiz, p. 130 sqq., and Id. Das J-salterijim aurentn von St. Gallen, 1878. 32. Casus S. Gain. cont. Man. Germ. Hist.; SS. IL, p. 94. 33. Consult Schnaase, Gesch. der bild. K'unste, vol. iii. p. 572 (2d ed.); Rumohr, Italienische Forsch- ungen, vol. i. ; Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Hist, of Painting in Italy, vol. i. 34. Figured in Gutensohn and Knapp, PI. 43; Garrucci, PI. 283. 35. Ibid., PI. 284. 36. See De Rossi, Mhs. Crist.; Miintz, E., m Pevue arch'eol., N.S., vol. xxviii. (1874); Garrucci, PI. 285-291. 37. Garrucci, PI. 292, 293. 38. Ibid., PI. 294. 39. Figured in Du Sommerard, Lcs arts an moyen age S. ix. PI. 19 ; comp. Mittelalt. Knnstdenkmdler des bsterreich. Kaiserstaates, vol. ii. p. 32. 40. Specimens of the first of these two MSS., in the new work, Paleogr. Alontecasinense ; of the second in Silvestre, Paleogr. univ., vol. iv. 41. Paris, Bibl. N'at., Gr. 510. Reproductions in Labarte, PI. 81 ; Louandre, Arts soviptuaires ; and Silvestre, Paleogr. univ., vol. ii. 42. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Gr. 139. Reproductions in Montfaucon, Palaogr, gra:c., p. 13, and Labarte, PI. 82. 43. Rome, Bibl. Vat. 699 ; the Elijah subject is figured Agincourt, PI. 34. 44. Rome, Bibl. Vat., Palat., Gr. 405 ; the Joshua subject is figured Agincourt, PI. 28-30 ; Paloeogr. Soc, PI. 108. 45. Paris, Bibl. A'at., Gr. 70; see Silvestre, vol. ii. and Labarte, PI. 84. Books of a similar kind are Paris, Bibl. Nat., Gr. 64 ; Munich, Cimel. B. 4; and Vienna, Hofbibl., Suppl. Kollar, vi. 46. Venice, Bibl. Marc., cod. xvii. ; see Labarte, PI. 85 sqq. 47. *Rome, Bibl. Vat., 161 3 ; London, Brit. Mus., purchased at the Borrel sale. The former of these two books contains 430 miniatures, and on various pages the following names of illuminators : — Georgios, Simeon, Michael Mikros, Menas, Nestor, Michael Blachernita, Simeon Blachernita, Pantaleon. Speci- mens in Agincourt, PI. 31-33. 48. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Coislin, 79. Specimens in Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Coisliniana, Paris, 17 15. 49. Paris, Bibl. iVat., Gr. 1 208 : see Labarte, PI. 87, and for a similar MS. in the Vatican Library (1162), Agincourt, PI. 50, 51. 50. Series of examples in Montfaucon, Pahrogr. Gnec, p. 254. 51. Rome, Bibl. Vat., 469 (see Agincourt, PI. 49) ; Paris, Bibl. Nat., 543, 550. 52. London, Brit. Mus., Egerton, 11 39. 53. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Gr. 1128; Louvre, Mus&e de la Renaissance, livres^ 53. 54. Theophanes continuatus, pp. 332 sqq., 456. Compare Paris, Bibl. Auit., Gr. 64 ; (see Labarte, PI. 83). 55. Salzenberg, Altckristliche Baiidenkmdler von Constantinopel, Berlin, 1854; selections in Labarte, PI. 118 sqq. 56. Vogiie, M. de, Les iglises de la Terre Sainte ; Paris, i860, p. 64, PI. 3-5. 57. Labarte, PI. 120. 58. See Richter, J. P., in Zeitschrift fiir bild. Kunst, vol. xiii. p. 205. APPENDIX. 247 59. Agincouit, ri. 82 ; and see Bunsen and Plainer, Besclireibung der Stadt Rom, ii. 2, 375. 60. See Didron, Annales archeologiqiies, i. 152, with figures; Bock, Fr., Kleinodien des heil. ront. Retihs deutscher Nation, Vienna, 1864, PI. 18 sqq. (splendid reproduction in colours); and compare Bock, Gesch. der litiirgischett Grwdtider des Mittelalters, Bonn, 1 859-1 871. 61. See Didron and Durand, Manuel d"" ko)iographie chretienne grecqtie et latine, Paris, 1845 ; Schafer, G., cp/itTjceta T^s ^uypaipiK^s, k.t.X. 1 855. 62. Agincourt, PI. 61. 63. Consult Schnaase, Gesch. der bild. Kilnste, and Unger in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopddie ; also the result of new researches in Moscow, by Theodor Busslaieff, published by !• P. Richter in Unsere Zeit, new series, vol. xiii., 1877. 64. See Boutovsky, V. de, Histoire de rorneinent russe du X. an XVI. siecle, Paris, 1870; and Viollet-le-Duc, E., V art russe, Paris, 1877. BOOK II. MEDIEVAL PAINTING. SECTION II. CENTRAL OR ROMANESQUE PERIOD (About a. d. 950-1250).' ' CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. General character of this period — Origin of the name Romanesque — Excellence of architecture — Relative inferiority of sculpture and painting — Inadequate resources of these arts throughout the Middle Age — Comparative skill of Western and Byzanthie artists — Progress, consequent upon the revival of architecture, from a Rude to a Severe style in the other arts — Relative share of laymen and ecclesiastics in the practice of the arts — Position of the Church towards art — Spirit of the monkish artists — Influence of the Court next to that of the Church — Tradition of artistic training in monasteries; the ScheJula of Theophilus — Other extant treatises — Division of subject according to technical varieties and not accord- ing to nationality — Amid the unity of Christendom Germany at this period has the pre-eminence. We now enter upon the period of the " Romanesque " style, which opens towards the end of the tenth century and closes in the course of the thirteenth. This period of art coincides with the most momentous phenomena of mediaeval histor)', — the development of political life on a new foundation, that of feudal- ism — the culmination of the Imperial power, as an actually governing power in Germany, Italy, the Slav territories bordering upon Germany, and for a time also in the province of Burgundy, and as the highest secular authority in relation to all other Christian States, — the complete extrusion of the influence of the Byzantine Empire from the politics of the West, — the prodigious expansion of the power of the Church under the protection of the Empire — her internal reforms, and presently her uprising against the secular authority, — the momentous conflict between the spiritual and the temporal powers, — the daring aggression of the former, — the defeat of the latter, but her perpetual resistance notwithstanding defeat, a resistance drawing inexhaustible vitality from the national and patriotic elements in the German kingdom, — the culmination of religious enthusiasm and of the genius of romantic warfare in the Crusades. The term Romanesque, to which modern writings on the history of art have given currency, refers in the first instance to that style of architecture which, like the languages known as the Romance, was derived from Rome. But the designation is applicable no less to the other fine arts in the period now before us, since they are imbued with the same spirit, and since they come under the influence of the prevailing architectural system ; to the monumental constructions of which, indeed, they are directly attached and subordinated. Architecture in this age was a noble art, pursued in accordance with fully realised aims and fully developed laws. Its productions were complete in their kind. Painting and sculpture, on the other hand, were still at a primitive stage. The races by whom these several arts were practised hatl but lately, we 252 HISTORY OF PAINTING. must remember, emerged from barbarism. First of all we find them acquiring from teaching and the study of models the purely technical parts of architectural and other handicrafts. They add new dexterities to those they already possess ; they preserve their capacity for giving to technical products the form and decoration suitable to their material, mode of workmanship, and destination. They make progress in architectural construction ; practice making up in many points for want of science. The individual forms of ancient architecture they are able in a general way to grasp ; these they reproduce, not correctly or exactly indeed, but rudely and imperfectly, preserving nevertheless the general features. With classical forms as thus assimilated they combine their own native systems of ornament, in which geometrical elements prevail, and show themselves cap- able of working out their designs so that form shall correspond to construction. But a prevailing bent towards the technical and ornamental parts of artistic practice, together with the power of approximately reproducing ancient models, is an endowment which, though it may be sufficient for success in architecture, is insufficient for success in sculpture or painting. These arts, which have for their task to reproduce the organic forms of nature, demand the most accurate power of ocular perception, the most penetrating grasp of the object and knowledge of its organisation, the full realisation of its aspect. The rudeness and imperfection of mediaeval attempts arise not so much from manual as from mental shortcomings, — from the bluntness of sense which fails to see natural appearances with precision because it does not fully realise them in conscious- ness, and from the servitude of spirit which fails to assert the right of personal impression and interpretation as opposed to tradition and authority. Hence it is that sculpture and painting in the Middle Age are still like the sculpture and painting of children. . The Church was the teacher of the nations, and sought to raise them out of barbarism, establishing in their midst discipline, morality, and orderly activity, and teaching them skill in handicrafts and a certain measure of knowledge. But spiritual freedom the Church could not impart, since at the ver}- roots of the Christian spirit lay the conception of man's unworthiness, of the nothingness of his own strength, and his dependence upon a mysterious and higher power. With all this was bound up the doctrine of the original sinfulness of man's nature, which certainly could not in itself form any subject for the imagery of art. For the Middle Age, then, sculpture and painting were but a kind of picture-writing, which taught the story of redemption to those who could not read for themselves, and served before all things as an instrument for imparting religious information. The true mission of art, which is to give complete expression to the spiritual by means of sensible appearances appealing to contemplation not merely by what they suggest but by what they visibly are, — this mission it remained beyond the power of the Middle Age to fulfil. The art of antiquity is an art of self-contented repose, because in it MEDL^VAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 253 the spiritual contents correspond harmoniously with the outward form. In the creations of the Middle Age, on the other hand, there makes itself felt a purpose striving for expression and yearning to unfold the highest, yet everywhere coming to light imperfectly, everywhere foiled and crippled by the inadequacy of its own resources. Byzantine art stood in no more independent relation to nature, and proceeded from no more free or spiritual interpretation, than the art of the West ; its creations were not determined by personal impression and observa- tion, but by tradition and authorit)^ Still its general level was higher than that of Western art at the same time, because it preserved longer the traditions of antiquity. But the art of the West struggled towards improvement in the hands of young and vigorous nations, while Byzantine art, of which the survival was merely mechanical, went back. In the midst, however, of the groping awkwardness, the shapeless ugliness of the pictures belonging to the beginning of the period we arc now about to consider — qualities which make them appear crude even compared with the products of the Carolingian age — -they still show frequent traces of fresh and genuine feeling, even though expressed with vagueness, inefficiency, or exaggera- tion. Such feeling leads by degrees to improvement, first in technical skill, afterwards in style also. The brilliant revival of architecture led the wa)' for a revival of the other arts. The instincts that liavc been trained to appreciate law and proportion in architecture seek for law and proportion in the appearances of organic nature also, and cannot rest satisfied with the old uncertainty and capriciousness of form. But as mediaeval art had no spontaneous feeling of its own for nature, it proceeded to treat natural objects, not according to the laws of their own being, but according to principles of .symmetry and regularity borrowed from architecture. Instead of the weak bodily proportions, the squat forms, the ungainly or exaggerated movements, more order and repose appear ; the body is shaped in accordance with certain canons of proportion ; in grouping and arrangement, as well as in gestures, .s}'mmetry and architectural severity prevail. In connection with the works of architecture, the other manual fine arts gain a character of assurance and stability. This archi- tectural character runs through all except the most primitive paintings of the period, and is to be discerned even in the miniatures and mere ornamental pen-work of manuscripts ; the slightest of which is generally conceived just as if it had been intended for the decoration of large wall-spaces. In this way mcdi.eval art made its first great step, — the step, as we ma\- define it, from a Rude to a Severe style. Hut even at this point the artist is still under the ban of the traditional and the l)pical, and it is only at the close of this epoch that we shall find artistic conceptions striving to free themselves from such bondage, and U) fight their way to the e.\pressi(jn of jjersonal feeling and observation. But the final or free style, which is the goal towards which 254 HISTORY OF PAINTING. these efforts pointed, could not be attained except under a phase of intellectual culture more advanced than that of the Middle Age. The practice of art during the Romanesque period lay principally in the hands of ecclesiastics, although recent researches tend to prove that this was by no means so exclusively the case as was formerly supposed." Among artists mentioned in inscriptions, the number belonging to the priestly order is in truth not great, while among those mentioned in historical writings it is far more con- siderable, precisely because the chroniclers themselves were generally ecclesiastics, and naturally thought those names most worthy of notice which did honour to their own profession. Lay artists were no free agents, but servants in the employ either of a spiritual or a secular master. When we find appended to the name of an artist no mention of his sacred calling, but only the name of his home or birthplace, we may regularly- conclude that he is a layman. In a few cases, however, the birthplace may also be added to the name of an ecclesiasti- cal artist, and occasionally one such may follow the custom of lay craftsmen in styling himself master {inagister)? One branch of art alone, that of illuminat- ing manuscripts, was entirely carried on by monks, because of its close connec- tion with the art of writing. The writing-room or scriptorhan of a monastery was placed next to the church and in communication with the library — as we find it, for instance, in an old ground-plan of the monastery of S. Gallen. In this room the work of illuminating was also carried on. For the rest, although not the sole centres of work or education for artists, the monasteries, from the great extent to which art was used for ecclesiastical purposes, were certainly the chief places for their meeting and higher training, especially north of the Alps, where the lingering influence of antiquity was feebler than in the south, and the clergy were the great depositories of learning and classical tradition. Bishops, abbots, and other dignitaries of the Church were the great patrons of art. They suggested the works to be undertaken, and superintended and dictated their conduct. When, however, we find an inscription or a passage in a chronicle naming any such high personage as the author of a work of art, and even when using the expression fecit in connection with him, this means not that he was the actual artist, but merely that he gave occasion for the work, commissioned it, or paid for it. But such patrons were in many cases experts also, and occupied themselves with the technical processes employed in carrying out their orders ; sometimes introducing new methods ; sometimes themselves practising one or another, or several at once ; for the culture of the Middle Age was many-sided, and its craftsmanship knew nothing of the division, in our sense of the words, of labour. S. Bernward, bishop of Hildesheim, is the most brilliant example of a monk highly skilled in art at the beginning of this epoch. The fact that he was a learned man, devoted to the " nobler studies," justifies in the eyes of his biographer Thangmar the love he bore to the " lesser, the so-called mechanical arts." First of all, Bernward was a master of penman- MEDLEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 255 ship, and as illuminating and writing were so closely connected, he also practised to admiration the art of painting. He attempted other arts as well, such as working in metal, goldsmith's and jeweller's work, though he did not always succeed to the point of complete mastery in them all. But he had all these arts carried out in his workshops by skilful pupils, whom he instructed and superin- tended, allowing them also to accompany him on his travels to court, that they might extend their knowledge and observation. Works of this kind were undertaken by the monks for the service of the Church and glory of the Most High. Commercial views, ideas of material gain and competition, never came into question. Individually they worked with technical precision and faithful diligence, in joyful freedom from material cares, but also entirely without the true spontaneous impulse which animates a man's entire personality and braces to the highest point every power of his nature. Their productions were held in honour, regarded as a pride of their church, and often thought worthy of mention in written records. Ecclesiastical discipline extended itself also to lay artists when they were employed upon work destined for church purposes. Next to the encouragement given to art by the Church, we must remember that given by the Court. Courtly magnificence called in the powers of art both to minister to its own luxury and to furnish religious offerings and dona- tions. Bishops stood in close and continual relations to the Court ; the\' were the highest dignitaries of the kingdom, the most influential statesmen and supporters of the throne ; the Court was the assembling point where all the costliest treasures were to be seen, where the best models from distant countries were to be studied, and from whence new artistic impulses flowed forth to the various seats of ecclesiastical power and activity. Of the artistic education disseminated by the monasteries we have evidences in writings, as well as in the works of art themselves. The tradition was, in part, a literary one ; rules and recipes were handed down, copied, collected and classified, by generation after generation. The most important compilation of this kind is the ScJiedida diversaruvi artium of Theophilus, which Lessing was the first to estimate at its proper value. The earliest manuscript of this book, in the library at Wolfenbuttel, dates as far back as the twelfth century. The author calls himself in the preface humilis presbyter, a humble priest. There is no doubt that he was a German, as we find occasional German expressions in the Latin text. The name of Theophilus is most likely assumed. Accord- ing to a statement in a seventeenth-century handwriting on the title-page of the second oldest manuscript of the book, preserved in the Royal Library at Vienna, the author was a Benedictine monk called Rugerins.^ Theophilus differs from the author of the Mount Athos in this, that he does not treat of the style, sub- jects, or arrangement of pictures, but only of technical processes, and of the.se in the most various branches of art and art-industry. The first book refers par- 256 HISTORY OF PAINTING. ticularly to painting ; dealing with pigments, their preparation and mixture, and their application according to what it is proposed to represent, and including painting on parchment, that is miniature-painting, as well as painting on wall and panel. The author also speaks of the preparation of gold leaf, the laying on of gold or silver, and incidentally of the preparation of tinfoil. The vehicle recommended for miniature-painting is gum-water for most colours ; for Spanish green, unmixed wine ; for minium, white lead ; for carmine, yolk of egg. Walls are to be painted not by the method properly caWed /n'sco, that is on a freshly- laid preparation of wet lime, but on a lime preparation that has been allowed to dry and then been slightly damped again. Lessing assumed that oil-painting was practised as early as the time of Theophilus ; but it was only known for coating surfaces, as in house-painting, and not for properly artistic works. The second book treats of glass-painting in connection with glass-manufacture. Another receipt-book of some importance is that of the so-called Ajionymus Bernensis, unfortunately only a meagre fragment. It contains the hints of an unknown author on vehicles, especially on distemper prepared with egg, which is but slightly touched by Theophilus, and also on the colouring of initial letters. The editor of this treatise considers its author to have lived in the ninth century ; but the handwriting belongs to the eleventh. In the treatise entitled " Heraclius on the colours and arts of the Romans," the two first books, which are in verse, may be assigned to the tenth century. The third book, which is a prose addition of the twelfth or thirteenth century, is the only one that treats of painting.^ Although the nations of the Western world were formed into separate states from the middle of the ninth century, and from that time forth had a distinct historical development, it will be best, in a general survey of mediaeval painting, to divide the objects of our study, in the first place, according to the technical class to which they belong, and only in the second place according to nation- ality. It is true that strong distinctions of style occur between different nations, and even between different populations, districts, and localities in the same nation. But these distinctions are not so prominent in painting as in architecture. The unity of Christendom, which was the ruling fact of the Western world during this period, was no mere ideal conception, it was a vital reality. Art in this age shows, more than anything, that the elements of culture are the same everywhere. It is, however, intelligible enough that Germany, the seat of the Imperial power, the nation politically predominant, should be somewhat in advance of other countries in the development of her arts, although the Romance nations were the heirs of an older civilisation. For the present we shall find the other nations — France, England, Spain — holding a secondary place. Italy last of all, from her pecu]iar position in relation to the arts, demands to be considered by herself. \ \ CHAPTER II. MINIATURES.^ Germany before a.d. 1050, especially the Saxon Court; intellectual revival under Otho I. ; corre- sponding revival of the manual arts — Examples of the debased condition of average miniature-painting in the tenth century — Example of a better class of work under classical influence — Conspicuous improvement due to encouragement of Saxon Court — Italian influence discernible in new style — Influence derived from intercourse and rivalry with Byzantium — Examples of the new taste in the libraries of Paris, Gotha, Munich, and Trier — Appearance of Greek inscriptions in these MSS. ; but not on that account the work of Greek hands — Character of their decorative designs — Character of their figure designs — List of subjects illustrated in the three Gospel-books of Munich, Gotha, and Trier — Later MSS. illustrating the same movement ; Gospel-books written for the Emperor Henry II. — Other examples from Cologne, Hildesheim, etc. — Example from Regensburg — Other MSS. painted for Henry II. — Gospel-book of Henry IV. at Cracow — Decline of miniature-painting with decline of Empire — France ; French miniature-painting comparatively rude in this age — Examples from Auxerre and Noailles — Examples from Limoges and S. Sever — Rigid style prevalent till near the close of twelfth century — Spain ; crude style akin to the Irish and early Frankish long prevalent — Assimilation to Southern French style in thirteenth century — England ; influence of Carolingian work from the ninth century ; new and improved Anglo- Saxon style — Character of this style ; examples — Examples of a special school at Winchester — Trans- formation of this style after the Norman conquest — The Netherlands ; character of Netherlandish work determined chiefly by German, and in a less degree by French and English influence — Examples — Ger>lany after a.d. 1050 ; degeneracy of German work at this date — Popular and provincial schools — Example of Bohemian work — Revival under the house of Hohenstaufen — The destroyed Horijis deliciariwi of the Abbess Herrad of Landsperg — Example from Bruchsal — Example from Salz- burg — Examples from Saxony — From Brunswick — Thirteenth century ; appearance of a new taste in figures — New taste in initials — Introduction of fantastic motives — Their place, origin, and significance — • MSS. containing pen-drawings only — Illustrated MSS. of profane poetry — MSS. executed by the monk Conrad of Scheiern — Division of labour between scribe and illuminator — The scribe Heldebert and the mouse. I. Germany before a.d. 1050, especially the Court of Saxony. — In Germany an intellectual revival began under the kings of the house of Saxony The first task of these energetic rulers was to set the shattered empire again on firm foundations, to keep down separatist tendencies, to ward off the incursions of the Hungarians ; besides which the duty was imperatively forced upon Otho I. of interposing in the chaos of Italy and of reinstating the Imperial authority at Rome. And it was as early as the reign of this great sovereign that there sprang up a new culture, which, as in tiic time of Charles the Great, was based upon the stud)' of classical antiquit)'. Learned Italians, like Gunzo of Novara and Liutprand of Cremona, were attracted to the Court ; German ecclesiastics in like manner betook themselves to classical studies. At the same time a stricter discipline was enforced within the Church, and set a limit to the passion 2 L 2s8 HISTORY OF PAINTING. for enjoyment and ostentation among the members of the spiritual body. Archbishop Brun of Cologne, a brother of Otho I., represented the highest culture of the time alike as scholar, statesman, and priest. The Imperial Chancery became a nursery for distinguished bishops, and in the Court schools a carefully educated younger generation grew up. Otho I. had grown to man's estate as a warrior, but his son and grandson, the second and third Emperors of the name, received a literary education. Greek was studied whenever there was an oppor- tunity of doing so, as, for instance, through Brun of Cologne, or the Duchess Hed- wig of Swabia — for women also had their share in the new learning. It was not always easy to bring Christian ideas into harmony with the study of antiquity, which was therefore approached with scruple, but nevertheless bore good fruits. The skilled Latinity of the Carolingian age had been lost ; the new literature which was now springing up after scores of years of intellectual abasement was but slowly and painfully able to assimilate the new learning, and in form often remained heavy and redundant ; but it had the advant- age of treating in a learned language popular subjects regarded from a national and patriotic point of view ; of this the most striking example is furnished by the historian of the Saxons, Witikund of Corvey. The new development of the manual arts connected with this intellectual revival took a similar direction. An idea of the condition of painting in the tenth century may be formed from a Psalter now in Stuttgart, which contains a great number of slightly tinted pen -drawings. The style is extremely barbaric, the short figures with large heads and shapeless hands stand feebly on their legs ; the colour is very dirty, still the action is always lively and speak- ing to the eye, though often vehement to exaggeration. Antique motives still predominate in dress and furniture. In a manuscript at Munich, which contains the famous prayer in old High German, there are pen-drawings from the legend of the Finding of the Cross which are still cruder. Some slightly tinted drawings in the manuscript of Lucan at S. Gallen are characteristic of the manner in which scenes from profane history were rendered. Instead of a pictorial arrangement, a map-like treatment of the scene is employed, as in Egyptian painting and relief, with the sole object of telling the story to the eye. In the picture of the landing and death of Pompey at Pelusium, the sea with its conventional wave-lines, and the ship with its figures, are drawn perpendicularly, but the other groups are drawn out on three tongues of land which all protrude from left to right (Fig. 66). At the same time the incidents themselves are figured in a lively manner enough. Extremely primitive and harshly coloured are the pictures in a Prayer-book from the monastery of Priim at Treves, written under the direction of the abbots Hilderick {d. A.D. 993) and Stephan (d. A.D. looi) by order of the monk Wicking. Many reminiscences of Early Christian art still appear in these slight narrative MEDI.^VAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 259 pictures. A copious productiveness at the same level as this was continued into the eleventh century," But even before tliat time we find a striking instance of the influence of antiquity in the Gospel-book of S. Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg {A.D. 923-973), now in the Munich Library. The Evangelists are depicted here with much Fiji. 66. more expression, and though the cast of the drapery is weak, the hands and feet are better understood ; a type of head with high cheek-bones and wide staring eyes runs through the work ; the treatment is neat and the modelling careful. Gold and silver are used in the thrones, borders, and draperies, red and green predominate in the initials.*^ But this work was only the forerunner of a new phase of art which began in the course of the tenth century, and made sudden and extraordinary progress under the influence of superior models. Its i)roductions were, 26o HISTORY OF PAINTING. as in the Carolingian period, due to Court influences, and came into existence in the immediate neighbourhood of the Imperial house, or else in such famous monasteries as stood in close connection therewith. In the time of the Carolingians German}- had received the classical tradition from Italy, and now again, under the Saxon dynasty, something was assuredly gained by a renewed intercourse with Italy.^ But Italian art was too dead, and had fallen away too much technically, for its influence on other races to be decisive. A certain momentary wave of Byzantine influence, which came over the art of the Saxon Court, was on the other hand of more effect. The nations of the West were indeed not only separated b)- distance from Byzantium, but also by differences of ritual and manners from the Greeks in general, whose haughtiness they met with rough aversion, as we see by the antagonism and bitterness expressed in the report of Liudprand, who was sent by Otho I. as an ambassador to the Byzantine Court. But for all this the Western world recognised the civilisation and artistic skill of Byzantium, and the precious products of that skill were favourite objects of commerce, desired and treasured on all hands. The spirit of rivalry inspired by Byzantine models seems, how- ever, to have been the only shape in which the influence of the Eastern capital made itself felt. Traces of Greek artists having actually carried on their work on this side of the Alps are scarcely to be found. They could not have done so, except in the most passing and occasional wa)', without having left deeper marks behind them. One of these exceptional cases arose when Hedwig, the future Duchess of Swabia, having been betrothed, while still a child, to a Greek prince, Greek teachers were sent to teach her the language, and with them a Greek eunuch to paint her portrait.^*^ Moreover, Greek monks made settlements, as did the Scotch, in various regions ;^^ and some also travelled singly through the lands, and sometimes craved hospitality in Western monasteries. It is always possible that among such wandering monks some may have been artists. But com- merce was a more effectual means of communication, and the first circumstance of real importance for the spread of a knowledge of Byzantine art in Germany was the marriage of Otho II. with the Greek princess Theophano. That princess arrived with a great following and with gorgeous presents, and in this way the more refined manners and customs of the Greeks, as well as their surprising skill in the most varied branches of art, were brought home to a people who were already beginning to awaken under the intellectual efforts of the age. And thus in the works produced near the Court a new taste suddenly sprang up, while elsewhere the established art systems of Germany went on quietly in their old way. The new taste was especially to be noticed in the ivory carvings of book-bindings and in the works of the enameller and goldsmith, as well as in the illuminations of a number of manuscripts which were principally MEDIEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 261 executed for persons of the royal household. The oldest of these is perhaps a Gospel-book written in gold letters, now in Paris, in which the page with the initials for the text of S. Matthew contains four gold medallions of the three first rulers of the house of Saxony — Henry the Fowler (twice over), Otho I., and Otho 11.^- The book may therefore belong to the time of the latter Emperor, or of his son. With a book executed for Otho II. at ]\Iagdeburg, having his own and his Greek wife's portrait on the cover, we are acquainted only through the account given b}' Thietmar;''^ but the }-oung Otho III. and his mother Theophano appear in a similar manner in chased work on the cover of a Gospel-book at Gotha.^^ This manuscript is also in gold letters, and is even richer in pictures than the Paris book, and not far behind it in artistic merit. Allied to both these is a book of the same description at Munich, with a large dedicatory picture on two pages facing each other (Figs. 6"] and 6^). On the right-hand page the youthful beard- less Emperor is on his throne, with two bishops on one side and two warriors on the other ; on that opposite, four female figures advance towards him doing homage. These are personifications of Rome, offering tribute in a dish, Gaul with a palm branch, Germany with the horn of plenty, and Slavonia with a golden globe or disk. The book is one of two manuscripts that came at one time to Bamberg as gifts from Henry II.; hence the picture had generally been considered to be the portrait of Henry ; who appears, however, in other Bamberg manuscripts with a more powerful face and short full beard. Though the art of the Middle Ages was incapable of giving an actual portrait, it always kept to one particular and definite t\'pe for each person, so that we must take this for a portrait of Otho HI., in whose case the youthful t\'pe and the presence of Rome as one of the subjugated provinces are exactly in place.^^ Finally, to the same group belongs the Gospel-book of Archbishop Egbert of Trier (.\.D. 977-993) in the Public Library at that place ; it was executed at Reichenau b)' the monks Kerald and Heribert, who are represented in the dedicatory picture handing over the book to the archbishop. One of the characteristics of these books is that, besides Latin, we also find Greek inscriptions occasionally on the pictures ; but they are generally incorrectl}' written, as on the first page of the Gospel-book in Paris. In the Gotha manu- script the page with the initials to the Gospel of S. Luke contains copies of Greek coins with portraits of the Emperor, and the name of Constantino incorrectly spelt in the surrounding inscription (KnN( "W.WHIN). An unusual amount of decoration appears in this manuscript, Ik mi the large coloured imitations of Oriental stuffs with patterns, (jrnaincnts, and conxcntional animals which cover two whole pages at the beginning of each Gospel. It is ajiparcnt that the artist was not indeed a Greek, but a Western, who had before his eyes the suinpuious productions of Bjv.antium. The architectural borderinir of the canons, the character of which had been 262 HISTORY OF PAINTING. determined even In Early Christian art, is treated here_with particular beauty and precision, and exhibits already in some of its details the richest motives of Romanesque architecture. The columns are slender, with gold or coloured shafts, sometimes fluted either perpendicularly or spirally, and are often carried by two animals or by crouching human figures ; in the capitals, strongly pro- jecting calyx-forms prevail ; the acroteria or finials above the arches and pediments are formed of symmetrically arranged animals — lions, panthers, pheasants, Fig. 67. herons, foxes gnawing at grapes, and also of stone-cutters at their work, vine- dressers, archers, and Centaurs. The richest architectural designs are those with arches, screens and dog-tooth mouldings, and curtains looped back, which, as in the Paris manuscript, are raised like a building over the portrait of each Evangelist, and contain their symbols in the tympanum (Fig. 69). The thrones, too, are magnificent, like that of the Emperor Otho, a chair with crossed legs and animals' heads (compare Fig. 68). The desks, cushions, and carpets are always executed with the greatest care, but the perspective puzzles the artist, as in the Paris manuscript for instance, where S. John's chair appears in profile, but the chair back is in front view. The framework of the pictures MEDLi:VAL PAINTING- CENTRAL PERIOD. 263 is also formed with Romanesque leaf-work on a coloured meander pattern, and often adorned with medallions containing personifications of the four Cardinal Virtues, the four Elements, the four Quarters of the heavens. Besides all these various kinds of ornament, the fashion of adorning initials with leaf- work, scrolls, and fantastic animals — a fashion developed in the Carolingian school and unknown to the Byzantines — continues to prevail in forms of much richness and beaut\-. All this shows distinctly, not that Greek artists had an Fig. 68. actual share in these works, but onl\- that the new tendency of the age towards the higher forms of luxur}-, together with the influence of imported models, had led to a rc\-ival of art. The character of the picture subjects confirms this. Their technical method shows a great improvement ; the old mode, which was ratlu-r one <>f drawing than painting, is replaced b\' genuine bod\'-col()ur i)ainting in a lii^ht and rather cool ke\-, w ith much use ot broken tints and delicate feeling for harmonx- of coloui- ; tiie flesh tones are \-ellowish, with a moderate amount of shading. The oKl unccrtaint}- in the propoitions has been overcome; in the slender wcll-formetl figures antl classical style of the drapery, as well as in the technical improvements, we may perhaps detect the 264 HISTORY OF PAINTINCx. Ch. 's^-Tzef'iGf '^^^ J Fig. 69. signs of a study of Byzantine models. The drapery is best understood in the Paris manuscript, elsewhere it is often petty in detail, and consists of a too uniform and mechanical simplification of antique motives. The same models 'leem to be indicated by the dignity of the single figures, which suits with the MEDIEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 265 religious earnestness of this time. The heads are, no doubt, generall}- uniform and without beauty. But compared with the utter want of expression of the faces in Carolingian work, the Christ enthroned in the Paris manuscript (page 7) seems touched with a certain nobiHty of inspiration ; the Evangelists too, here as in other examples, are solemn and impressive ; John even wears a certain aspect of emotion, as if penetrated by a sudden illumination. The S. Mark with his monkish tonsure, priestly robes, and the features almost of a portrait, asserts at the same time an attitude of independence towards the Byzantines (Fig. 69). Neither is there much in common with the Greek t}-pe in the monstrously projecting jaws of the personified Nations in the dedicatory picture of the Munich manuscript (Fig. 67). In the three manuscripts we have men- tioned, as well as in most of those we shall connect with this group, Christ is of the youthful beardless type which had also prevailed in Carolingian work, while in Byzantine art the bearded type had gained the ascendancy. The three Gospel manuscripts at Munich, Gotha, and Trier contain a great number of narrative illustrations. In the Gotha manuscript each single figure of an Evangelist is preceded by four pages containing pictures arranged in three rows. Before S. Matthew come scenes from the childhood of Christ until the beginning of his ministry; before S. Mark, his ministry and miracles; before S. Luke, his parables ; and before S. John, his death and resurrection. In the two other books the compositions are as a rule on a larger scale, but the choice of subjects is much the same, and even the individual motives very similar. Though the scheme of iconography followed in these books corre- sponds in great part with that laid down in the Mount Athos manual, we must regard its systematic adoption as due not so much to any revival of Byzantine influence (since a similar scheme already occurs occasionally in work of the Carolingian period) as to the growing spirit of system in the theology of the age. In order to gain, once for all, a connected view of the customary selec- tion of New Testament subjects, or scheme of Gospel iconography, so far as its consideration falls within our present scope, let us give a tabular view of the Gospel illustrations contained in these three important manuscripts. The initial G. stands in the following table for Gotha, M. for Munich, and T. for Trier. The Annunciation (G. M. T.) The Marriage with Joseph (M.), or, as a more frequent alternative, The Visitation (G. T.) The Dream of Joseph may next be introduced (T.) The Nativity. The Virgin lies on a bed, and close to her the Child in swaddling clothes, and of a disproportionately large size (G. M. T.) The feelings of Joseph are distinctly expressed by his brooding attitude (T.) ; some buildings usually stand for Bethlehem ; tlie ox and ass U^ok out from the stall. The Angel appearing to the Shepherds is always depicted in combination with this scene. 2 M 266 HISTORY OF PAINTING. The Adoration of the Magi takes places under a stately edifice ; they wear short tunics and boots, and generally crowns, instead of the earlier Phrygian caps (G. M. T.) With this may be combined their following of the star (T.), or their dream and departure (G.) Here follow occasionally The Presentation in the Temple (G. T.) Joseph's Dream, and the Flight into Egypt (G.) The Massacre of the Innocents. Herod is always represented on his throne, giving the order for the deed (G. M. T.) This scene presented difficulties to the artists of that day, from the vehemence of the action ; but although we find many of the gestures cramped, and the naked children .often seem to have escaped unhurt, still there are moving incidents of grief in some figures of half- naked despairing women. Christ teaching in the Temple (M. T.) The Baptism of Christ, in which the waves of the river rise like hills about the body of Christ up to his chest, and generally two angels wait with his clothes on the bank (G. M. T.) The Temptation, depicted in separate incidents. The conception of Satan is not an ignoble one: he is in human form, but winged and of a tawny brown colour, and wearing only a purple chlamys (G. M.) The actual ministry of Christ next begins with The Calling of the Apostles, and the Marriage at Cana (G. T.) The Sermon on the Mount. This composition is divided into two rows ; in the upper sit the Apostles besides the Saviour, in the lower the people, both men and women (M.) Next follow the miracles of Christ, and first The Healing of the Leper (G. M. T.) and his Purification (M.) The Centurion of Capernaum before Christ (G. T.) This is a scene of much dramatic expression, and may be followed by The Healing of the nobleman's son as a separate scene (T.) The Healing of the blind man (G. T.) The Healing of the man born blind (G. M. T.) The pool of Siloam, in which he has to wash, is visible in the rear as a high-walled fountain with a spout in the shape of a peacock, inscribed Aqueductiis Syloae. The Canaanitish woman (G. T.), with an admirable expression of modest supplication in (T.) The Healing of the Woman with an Issue of Blood (G. M. T.) The Man sick of the Palsy at the Well (G. T.) The Man sick of the Palsy who was let down through the roof (G.) The Man sick of a Dropsy (G. M.) The Mother of Peter's wife (G. M.) The Man with the withered hand (T.) The Ten Lepers, of whom only the Samaritan returns to give thanks (G.) MEDL^VAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 267 The Driving out of the Devils, who are seen riding in the Hvehest manner on the backs of the swine, and jumping with them into the water (G. M. T.) Tlie Raising of Jairus's Daughter (T.) The Raising of the Widow's Son (G. M.) The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, which is composed alwaj-s in a s\-mmetrical or monumental manner (G. M. T.) Christ sleeping on the ship, with dark horned heads as personifications of the Winds (G. M.' T.) Christ walking on the waves and stretching out his hand to Peter (T.) ; and lastl}-, The Raising of Lazarus, who appears still wrapped like a mummy in the grave-clothes, and standing upright in the grave, while Mary and Martha kneel beside it, and people in astonishment, including one who holds his nose, com- plete the design (G. M. T.) Of the remaining incidents of the life of Christ on earth we find first of all His meeting with the Woman of Samaria (G. T.) The Woman taken in adultery (G. T.) Mary Magdalene wiping the feet of Christ with her hair in the presence of Martha and several Apostles (M. T.) Christ seated in the midst of his Apostles reproving the Pharisees (T.) Christ driving the money-changers from the Temple (M. T.) Christ blessing Peter in the presence of the other Apostles, and delivering the keys to him (M.) Christ weeping for Jerusalem; and below, in the same picture, the siege of Jerusalem and a mother killing her child (M.) Christ praising the widow's mite (M.) Christ declaring to the Jews that he will build the temple again in three days. A stately edifice is shown in the background (T.) Christ blessing the children. A group nobly and symmetrically composed beneath an arch (M.) The Transfiguration ; in which Christ stands with his hand solemnly raised. The hand of God appears above him, and the amazement of the disciples is strikingly expressed (M.) Lastly, among the Gospel stories is included Herodias dancing, and the Beheading of John the Baptist (M.) Among the parables comes first The Good Samaritan ; the different incidents of the parable being united in one picture (M.) The parable of the Vineyard, which is depicted in its several episodes with the greatest detail (G). The parable of the Wedding-Feast. The feast itself occupies the upper part of the picture, while in two tiers below arc the guests who have excused 268 HISTORY OF PAINTING. themselves from coming, together with the objects furnishing them with their excuses ; on the other side are the halt and maimed being called in (G.) The story of Dives and Lazarus is told with similar fulness : beneath, the scene with Dives at table and Lazarus at the door, two lower tiers showing the deaths of both, the soul of Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, and the soul of Dives in hell (G.) The incidents of the Passion run as follows : — Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Zaccheus is always to be seen in the tree, and the artist, having no idea of perspective, has no other way of depicting the people who cast their clothes in the way than by placing them in a lower row from whence they seem to be reaching upwards (G. M. T.) Christ washing the disciples' feet. This is one of the finest of the compo- sitions. A stately building forms the background ; the motives of the Apostles, who are very well grouped, are extremely varied ; in the figure of a disciple loosening his sandals a completely classical motive appears, and the deprecating gesture of St. Peter is full of life (N. T.) The Last Supper does not appear in any of these three books. The agony in the Garden of Olives (M.) The betrayal of Christ, with the wounding and healing of Malchus ; the expression of Peter's anger and Christ's sorrow are often life-like enough (G. M. T.) Christ before Caiaphas (G. M. T.) Peter denying Christ (G. M. T.) Christ before Pilate (M. T.) The scourging of Christ (G. T.) Christ crowned with thorns (G.) Christ presented to the people, in a large dramatic composition (T.) The bearing of the Cross, so designed as to show Simon of Cyrene advancing by himself with the cross, and Christ led behind him (G. T.) The Crucifixion (G. M. T.) The main features of this subject correspond in all three books ; the cross of Christ is painted gold, and is further distin- guished by its shape from the simple T-shaped crosses of the malefactors. All three crucified figures are clothed in long tunics ; that of Christ is generally purple ; he is fastened to the cross with four nails, without any footboard ; over the cross appear disks with the weeping heads of the Sun and Moon ; at the foot of the cross two soldiers cast lots for Christ's raiment ; on one side appear Longinus and Stephaton with the sponge and spear, or one of them at least ; a little farther off stand Mary and John ; lastly, two servants at either side, with hammers to break the legs of the thieves, may complete the composi- tion (G). Together with this last episode, however, those of Longinus and the death of Christ are sometimes carried into a second picture by themselves (T.) The Descent from the Cross, with Joseph and Nicodemus (G. M. T.) The Entombment (G. M. T.) MEDIEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 269 The Maries at the grave ; an angel in a long tunic, with the right hand uplifted in the action of prophecy, the left holding a sceptre (G. M. T.) Various appearances of Christ after the resurrection, as the walk to Emmaus, the supper at Emmaus, the Saviour appearing to the Apostles, the manifestation at the Sea of Tiberias (T., and in most cases also G.) Mary Magdalene at the feet of Christ in the Garden (G. M, T.) The Incredulity of Thomas (G. M. T.) After the resurrection the Saviour is generally dressed in a white tunic and light green cloak (T). Christ charging the Apostles (M. T.) ; and lastly, The Ascension (G. T.), a large and nobly-designed piece. Christ, with the sceptre and cross in his left hand, floats aloft within a inatidorla, and grasps with his right hand the hand of God, which draws him upwards ; beneath are two angels pointing with solemnity to the Saviour, and Mary and the eleven Apostles stand by with expressive gestures (T.) The fresh impulse thus given to German painting in the days of Otho II. and Otho III. continued for a time, though not with the same force. Allied to the group of manuscripts we have discussed, though rather more mechanical in treatment, is a second richly-adorned group, presented by King Henry II. to the cathedral of Bamberg. The execution of the architectural ornament of the canons and borders is the same, but a chessboard pattern appears in some places as background ; the initials are in the same style, but more coarsely executed. The figures are often more attenuated, with small heads and feebler motives. The conception of sacred subjects is generally the same ; the youthful t\-pe of Christ predominates, but no longer exclusively. Greek inscriptions still appear on the pictures, but more rarely. The dedicatory pic- tures are still the most striking. In the great Evangeliarium, the dedicatory verses at the head of which expressly mention Henry as donor, we find that king and his consort Kunigunde receiving the crown of life from the Saviour ; at the sides are Peter and Paul, and below, once more, the Nations bringing tribute ; but this time Germany stands upright in the middle between two figures which probably symbolise Gaul and Rome, while six other nations are represented by busts.^^ In a missal still preserved in the Bamberg Library we find the king presenting the book to the Virgin Mary. There is a beautiful missal at Munich, in which King Henry, represented as before with a short brown beard, receives the crown of life from a bearded Christ;^" two angels present the s^vord and spear, while S. Ulrich and S. h^mmeram bear up the king's arms on cither side (Fig. 70). The presence of the latter saint makes it probable that this work was produced in .St. lunnicrain at Regcnsburg, and this is the more likely from the fact tliat a second dedicatory picture is evidently copied from a corresj)onding picture in the Codex Aureus of Chaiks the Bald, which was already at that time at S. l^nuiUTaui. The king is here enthroned under a magnificent canopy between two retainers and four personified Nations. 27° HISTORY OF PAINTING. t\g. 70. In two other Gospel-books at Munich the Evangeh'sts are very imposing by the dignity of their motives, especially in the second, which also contains a typical representation of a singular kind.^*^ Out of an elliptical glory grow four MEDIEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 271 medallions ; that at the sides contains busts in a classical style of Sun and Moon, that at the top a grey-haired bearded head standing for the Sky, and that below an Earth with long hair and hanging breasts. Above the Earth, and borne up b}' her raised arms, grows the tree of life, with mushroom-shaped leaves, and on it stands the majestic figure of the youthful Christ, holding the branches with his left hand, and the disk of the \\orld with his right. The angles contain the symbols of the four Evangelists, which are supported b)' the four rivers of Paradise, personified in busts of a t\-pe corresponding to that of the Earth. This is a symbol of Christ's sacrifice, since, according to the legend, the cross on which Christ was crucified was made from a branch of the tree of life, which Seth had planted on the grave of Adam. In later times the cross was often represented, even in pictures of the Crucifixion, as the green stem of a tree with branches. In the manuscript of this group which contains the greatest number of narrative pictures from the Gospels,^'* older models are general]}- followed, and only a few new scenes arc introduced, as the Last Supper, the appearing of the Angel to Zacharias and the birth of John, the death of the Virgin, and the Last Judgment. Similar tendencies are shown by a book of the same class from S. Gereon at Cologne f^ by three others, very roughly executed, in the cathedral treasur}- at Hildesheim founded by S. Bernard, one of which was finished A.D. loi i by the writer Guntbald ; also by a fifth, of finer quality but unknown origin, at Munich.-^ There is a remarkable endeavour in these works to produce splendid architectural designs, within which the figures are arranged in severely regular composition. The first picture, showing Christ enthroned between Peter and Paul within a rich border, is followed by one of Mary in the Temple, a portico with four columns, level architrave, and low pediment. From above an angel floats down towards Mary, thus making of the picture at the same time a Presentation and an Annunciation ; and on the plinth of the building Joseph's dream is further depicted. In the next picture, which has no border, the bearded figure of a king delivers written scrolls to fourteen persons. It is doubtful whether this is meant for Christ with the Apostles and Evangelists, or God the P'ather with the Prophets. In the birth of Christ the bathing of the Child is represented. The stoning of Stephen, the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (in a hall), the trial ami execution of Peter, and several scenes in a two-storeyed building, are spcciall\- vvorth notice. A very important and peculiar example of the work of this period is a Gospel- book from the Abbey of Niedermiinster at Regensburg {Rotislnni), on which Greek as well as Latin inscriptions occur on tin- pictures, which in each case fill a wliolc page, and have completely the character tjf tapestry designs, a character similar to that which we shall presently have to studx- in Romanesque and earlx' Gothic painted glass.'-^- A centre-piece with the principal picture is separated from the wide border, which is interrupted at the angles, and generally also half-way up 272 HISTORY OF PAINTING. each side, by smaller round or square pictures let in. Antique leaf-work, broad bands of inscriptions with explanatory leonine verses, borders with geometrical ornaments, form the framework, between which conventional lions, griffins, and so forth, are used for filling in, and in some cases buildings appear. The figures are ^v•ell proportioned, only the hands are often too large, and, in accordance with the spirit of that style, there is very little modelling or shading. The colours are laid on evenly and solidly, and harmonise with the abundance of gold in the backgrounds and borders. The first page contains the Hand of God in a triangle, in neighbouring compartments four crowned female figures in repose, and in the angles of the frame the Cardinal Virtues, with their usual attributes. On the second page, the Madonna with the draped Child is enthroned in the central round, beneath which appears the abbess of the convent presenting to her the book. A monogram shows that this is Uota, a contemporary of Henry H., and sixth abbess of the convent, which was founded A.D. 960. Allegorical demi-figures appear in four medallions and four square corner compartments : these are probably Virtues again ; some are crowned and some have banderoles with inscriptions. The third page is still more striking : the Saviour is on the cross in a purple robe with the priest's stole, a crown on his head, and thus triumphant though in agony ; he wears a beard, although appearing in smaller pictures in the same book according to the youthful type ; the feet are nailed separately to a large foot- board. Beneath the cross stand two figures ; on one side a crowned woman, symbolising Life, looks upward with raised hands, and on the other Death, with bandaged mouth, and broken sickle and spear, a gaping wound in his shoulder, is in the act of sinking to the ground. In two semicircles in the border we see Law departing with her scroll and sacrificial knife, and Grace crowned and bearing the sacramental cup above her crown. The contra-position of Church and Synagogue, so frequent in later pictures of the Crucifixion, is thus already to be found here, only each is represented by two separate symbols, the Jewish dispensation by Death and the Law, the Christian by Life and Grace. In the angles of the border appear, above, the Sun and Moon, and below, the rent veil of the temple and the opened graves (Fig. 71). In the next picture the border only is arranged as before, while the inside is designed so as to give more space to the composition. Here, the founder of the monastery, the sainted Bishop Erhard of Regensburg, stands at the altar with an ecclesiastic, under a ciborium, which is drawn in very childish perspective. The pictures of the Evangelists are purely decorative. Over the circle that encloses them appear their symbols, and below them is one of the rivers of Paradise : the corners of the border con- tain small biblical scenes. The pages containing rich initial letters are also furnished with borders of the same kind. The precision of the workmanship, and the taste with which the style, once adopted, is carried out, renders this work one of the most precious memorials of the period. MEDLEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. ^73 l-ig. 71. 1 liis character of work comes to a close witli some examples executed in the early days of the Franconian d)-nasty (a.D. 1034-1 i 25), as for instance the Evan- geliariuui of Henry II. in Brcint 11, from llic abbey of Kchternach.-'' That the 2 \ 274 HISTORY OF PAINTING. same tradition still endured here which had formerly inspired the Gotha manu- cript, is shown b}- the numerous pictures from the Gospels ; among which there are also several of the parables. The youthful t\'pe of Christ is still maintained. The two opening pictures represent the visit to Echternach of Queen Gisela and her son Henry III. The two final subjects are a view of the monastery as a stately hall, with two monks writing, and a dedicatory picture of the abbot appearing before the monarch on his throne. The manuscript must have been executed before his coronation as Emperor A.D. 1 046, for the inscriptions in the picture only give him the title of King, and celebrate him as being in the flower of his age, which indeed could scarcely be inferred from his portrait. The second of these inscriptions runs — and the last- Heitiricton regem ittvenili Jiore Jittetitem, Ad landet)i regni conservat gratia Christi. Hie rex Heitiricics niilli pieiate secujidtis, Regnwn itistitia regit et pietate paterna. A book of the same class at Berlin, having on the last page the portrait of a king on his throne, with his armour-bearer, and a monk presenting him with the book, probably refers to the same Emperor ; though unfortunately his face is just the part that has suffered most, but the hair and beard can still be seen, and are unusually black, which would be appropriate to his surname of " Henry the Black." Farther on are twenty-three other pictures, some vignettes and some larger pictures, chiefly biblical scenes, with plain circular- borders. The Saviour on the cross is still characteristically represented without a beard (Fig. 72), although he appears with a beard elsewhere in the same book ; he still wears a long tunic as in the former manuscript, and seems not to be hanging or even fastened with nails to the cross ; Mary and John stand on either side. The heads, large out of all proportion, and staring eyes, are ugly, and even frightful in expression. The cross is coloured green and blue, and the ground purple. The types are thoroughly barbaric, the hands large, and the colours general!)' broken, with yellowish flesh-tints and reddish or greenish shadows. Compared with earlier manuscripts, we find here a very obvious decadence.-^ More important and less barbaric is a Gospel-book in the cathedral treasury at Cracow, executed for Henry IV. at S. Emmeram in Ratisbon. On the first page the sovereign sits unattended on his throne, in a short tunic, with the pallium, and a crown similar to that in the picture of Otho III. at Munich ; the characteristics by which he is known are a large moustache and the hair cut straight over his forehead ; the arms stiffly raised in a symmetrical position hold up the imperial globe and a short sceptre. Then follow chiefly in two rows under simple round-arched arcading, archangels, various saints, three ancestors of the monarch — namely King Henry (Henr}' II. i"), the Emperor Henry (Henry III. .'), and King Conrad (Conrad II. ?), S. Wolfgang and MEDLEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 275 several other bishops and abbots of Bavaria, and of Ratisbon in particidar. S. Emmeram occurs three times. The Redeemer in the uiandorla is of )-outhful tj'pe, but as Saviour on the cross he is bearded, the cross is of sih'er, and has a large footboard. The design is characterised b>- broad round heads with short noses, fat hands, weak movements, and mechanical drapery ; a s\-stcm of green clods represents the ground. Thus we find this school, of which the activity was put forth essentially in the service of the reigning dynasty, and which had its seats at a {g.\^ of the chief Fig 72. -./. ,^ X y monasteries, lasting just as long as the greatness of the Empire itself remained unbroken. Latterly we have seen it show symptoms of decline. Instead of advancing step by step, its first productions were the best. This is easily ex- plained, inasmuch as the school took its origin not from spontaneous popular impulse, but from the deliberate patronage of privileged classes. Nevertheless it at first yielded some striking results — results of which the (|uah't\- was affected, no doubt, by foreign models, but affected in a degree which uc need not exag- gerate. \Vc have seen that this art was not in an)- sense a Byzantine art, and that Byzantine elements came in fact but little into question. The luxur\- of Court and Church, indeed, encouraged Byzantine importations, and on ni;m\' ot the splendid bindinc^s of these manuscripts we find goldsmith's work, enamel, and 2 76 HISTORY OF PAINTING. ivory-carving of Eastern origin. And whatever could be learnt from the superiority of the Greek scribes in the dexterities and traditions of their craft was gladly assimilated, but assimilated in connection with an original mode of treatment. The art which we have been studying joins on, then, at first, with the earlier Carolingian work ; it progresses farther in the same path : it absorbs the tradition of the Early Christian period with its classical elements ; it surpasses in feeling and technical accuracy anything of which the ninth century had been capable. Inspired by the great political development of the German Empire and the new impulse to intellectual culture, it brings forth works which distance alike what had gone before and what followed next after, II. France. — At the beginning of the Romanesque period, France was more backward than Germany. The degeneracy of the later Carolingian period reflects itself in the barbarism of its paintings. The Empire of Charles the Great broke up under separate feudal lords. The most pros- perous departments, like Provence, became for a time independent territories. Norman invaders from over seas established themselves at the mouths of the great rivers ; there was no power to drive them away, and their assimilation could only be accomplished gradually. So sharp were the antagonisms between the various populations, that even the stronger rule of the Capetians could but slowly promote the cause of unity. Although a vigorous life displa}^ed itself at this time in French architecture, in which the special characteristics of the different provinces were strikingly brought out, yet the capacity for pictorial art was very much lower, alike in the north, which is richer in Germanic elements, and in the south, where Latin traditions were at the same time finding a noble expression in the art of building. Painting in solid body-colour disappears in French illuminated manuscripts from the end of the tenth century. The pictures are limited to rough pen-drawings, with flat harsh colouring, and little shading in the faces ; there is no attempt at modelling, but only patches of red colour roughly laid on. Barbaric feeling appears in the uncouth figures with large extremities, childish gestures, and empty faces with staring eyes. Even such German books as the Stuttgart Psalter are superior to these. The Commentary of Haymon on Ezekiel, written by Heldric, abbot of S. Martin's at Auxerre A.D. 989-1010, is characteristic of the style. Its colour is dull and dirty, gold is not employed ; and echoes of the Irish taste still remain in the ornament. A folio Bible in four volumes from Noailles stands on about the same level, both as to colouring and drawing ; it has a great quantity of pictures arranged in several rows, many of which however, have been cut out.^'' At the beginning is figured the Globe, with personifications of Day and Night, figures nearly nude carrying MEDLEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 277 on their heads the disks of the Sun and Moon ; beneath them Chaos (Abyssiis) shown as water with fish in it, and above, a human head. Adam and Eve appear in the following- picture, deplorable figures out of all pro- portion ; in the picture of the Fall, the feet and head of Eve are seen in profile, and the body and pendant breasts in full front ; the figures are alternately very short or absurdly long. The ground beneath their feet is indicated in a manner that had become common to the Romanesque style in other countries too. But the treatment is especially barbarous in this case ; the ground, drawn in wavy lines, breaks itself up here and there into separate clods of earth, green or coloured, on the tops of which the figures walk about. In the initials as well as in the architectural ornaments we see the working of a disordered fancy, especially addicted to monstrous animals. More tolerable is a Bible from Saint-Martial at Limoges, with pictures in tiie initial letters, and a rather more severe, though already ascetically dry, mode of drawing in the figures.^*^ This begins soon to be the standard mode of ornamen- tation for Bibles, and is maintained all through the Middle Age; but it seems to be more general in France than elsewhere. The pictures are chiefly limited to the filling-in of the large initial letters at the beginning of each book. The capital I in the first verse of Genesis generally covers a whole page, and con- tains separate medallions with the incidents of the Creation, and sometimes also the Fall, with Christ on the cross by way of allusion to the Redemption. Scenes with only a few figures open the books of the Old Testament ; and some particular Psalms {Beatus vir, Doiiiuius illnininatio iiiea, Quid gloriaris, Sah'um vie fac, Exultate, Cantate, Dixit Doniinus, Dixit iiisipicns, and so on) have their established initials, with figures representing ahva)s the same subjects. At the beginning of the Prophets, Gospels, and Epistles, a picture of the author is always to be found in the capital letter. A fragment of a twelfth-century Bible is thus ornamented ; also a New Testament from S. Martin of Limoges belonging to the same period, but rather more advanced ;-" in this the initial at the head of the Gospel according to S. Luke contains the Magdalene anointing the feet of Christ, the J of S. John's Gospel has the baptism of our Lord, and at the beginning of the book are canons enclosed with architecture of a severe st}le, as well as busts of Christ and the Apostles in medallions let into the spandrils. The motives are crude, the style stiff and unwieldy, and the expressions painful. Without being on a higher artistic level, an Apocalypse from Saint-Sever in Gascony shows at least more richness of colour, and an abundance of singular paintings. All attempts to change the Ruile into a Severe st\lc turn, in P'rance, to rigidity ; and this \\c also find to be the case in liic monumental sculpture of the most widely separated provinces, until the close of the twelfth century — until the beginning, therefore, of the Gothic st)le. This might seem at first sight surprising in a country which made such great and rapid advances 278 HISTORY OF PAINTING. in architecture, if the paintings of the time did not themselves show us that the fault lies precise]}' in this exclusive predominance of the architectural spirit. Among the same class of manuscripts, a rich twelfth-century missal from the abbey of S. Denis deserves mention.-^ The first picture, with the Saviour and angels in the inaiidorla, shows an apparently beardless type, or at least with only a thick dark outline to the chin, but the face is not youthful. The Saviour on the cross is naked, bearded, and with the figure much distorted ; Mary and John are in the usual attitude of mourning with one arm raised to the face. The figures are attenuated, the hands large as before, the eyes small, with high arched brows, the drapery poor, without expression. An advance upon earlier works shows itseli first in the coloufing, and in stronger shading and modelling. In the ornamentation a return is perceptible to the better traditions of Carolingian times ; scrolls in gold, red, and black, predominate in the borders, and coloured foliage, in which recourse is less frequently had to fantastic shapes of brutes, in the rest of the ornament. At this stage stood the art of painting at S. Denis, shortly before the abbey was destined to become the chief centre of the movement which brought about a new epoch of art in France, under its great statesman-patron Suger. III. — Spain. A style of illumination corresponding to the Irish and ancient Frankish style was introduced into Spain by the Visigoths and long maintained itself there, although the figure-paintings did not rise beyond a ver\- primitive stage.-'^ The initials, \\hich form the chief ornaments of these books, still preserve the same antiquated st}-le, even in the eleventh centur\-. The}- are formed of scroll-work, animal forms — especially fish, dogs, birds — some leaf-work, and a few other motives, such as imitations of weapons. A cross often appears as title- page, with the Alpha and Omega depending from its arms as ornaments, and enclosed by an architectural border, the columns and arches of which are entirely finished off in scrolls. The preference for the horseshoe arch is to be explained b}- the influence of Hispano-Moorish architecture. The figures are childishly crude in proportions, as well as in draperies and movement ; most of the heads are too small, the legs pitiful, and usually seen in profile while the body is in full front. Large initials of the simplest kind occur in the Martyrology written (a.D. 919) at the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeua. Peculiarl\- rich in pictures is a Commentary of the Apocalypse executed by Beatus Presb}-ter in the abbey of Valcarado (A.D. i 109) for the abbey of Sebastian at Gilos in the diocese of Burgos.^^ Here one of the principal pictures contains, for instance, a representation of God the Father after the type of Christ on his throne. This is enclosed in a circle ; in an upper and lower frieze are the four-and-twenty elders ; at the bottom reclines S. John, the circumstance of whose vision is indicated by a black line drawn from his mouth to the eagle at the feet of the Lord. The youthful type of Christ appears occasionally in the work of this MEDLEVAL PAINTING— CENTRAL PERIOD. 279 school. The limbs scarcely extricate themselves an}-\vhere from among the fanciful spiralh--folded draperies. The nose is only a line ending in a curl, the forehead small and retreating ; the gestures of the gigantic hands are entirely conventional, and there is no attempt at modelling. But though drawing and colouring recall Irish models, they do so in connection with a feeling for architectural form unknown to the Irish designers. Then begins, just as in architecture, a gradual approach to the st}le of Southern France, as we see in an Apocalypse of the twelfth century at Madrid ; though a taste for the ancient style continued even in the thirteenth century, witness a Vulgate written A.U. 1240, with numerous pictures on a gold ground ; this is also at Madrid. IV. England. — That earliest kind of Anglo-Saxon work, of which the character had been determined by Irish example, scarcely survived the ninth century. At this period Carolingian influences began "to prevail, leaf-work to be used in the ornamentation, initials to be designed in a style approaching the Continental, and figures to be no longer composed of fantastic rolls and flou- rishes. Thus began a second period of Anglo-Saxon art, which lasted till the eleventh century, and the creations of which are the best, next to those of the Court artists of Saxony, which had as yet been produced by Western miniature-painting. A new intellectual life had arisen in England since Alfred had become the saviour of his people, driving from their strong places the Vikings who were oppressing the land, founding a national king- dom, and bringing even those Danes who remained behind under the laws and ordinances of his dominion. Alfred himself resuscitated the studies that lay so low ; he had made himself master of the highest culture of the day, and taken the first place among the prose-writers of Germanic tongue. Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon language, or Latin books with Anglo-Saxon interlinear glosses, often have an importance for the history of^art not second to their importance for the study of language. Their enrichment consists usually only of drawings made with the pen in black, or also in red, blue, or violet, sometimes slightly shaded with a brush, but with a scratchy and uncertain treatment. The lanky figures, with attenu- ated limbs, lifeless heads, and wild fluttering draperies with fidgett}- creases at the edges, are often exaggerated in their movements ; but with all this rawness of treatment, the compositions, often containing man)' figures, show a surpris- in