11 THE tstorp of ©ur 3Urti* VOL. I. 1 : <€,Ms:j& THE istorp of * I89O. PREFACE. The volumes now before the reader— 'The History of Our Lord, as Exempli- fied in Works of Art'— were reserved by the late Mrs. Jameson as the more important section, as well as the natural completion, of the series already con- tributed by her to the literature of Christian Art. This Work, of which she had written a portion, was cut short by her death in the spring of 1860. I was requested by her publisher and by her family to continue and complete it. For this task I was fitted in no other way than by a desire, to the best of my power, to do homage to her memory. The interval has since been devoted by me to a special study of the subjects here treated, during which time I have enjoyed every possible advantage, at home and abroad, that could facilitate my labours, excepting that of uninterrupted leisure. To this latter circumstance, therefore, the delay in the appearance of the Work is to be attributed. At the same time those at all conversant with the extent, in- terest, and comparative obscurity of this study, are aware that the devotion of a life would have only sufficed to do it justice. As it is, these Volumes serve little more than to indicate those accumulated results of the piety and industry of ages, and the laws, moral, historical, and pictorial, connected with them, which have created a realm of Art almost kindred in amount to a kingdom of Nature. I must now explain the condition of Mrs. Jameson's MS. when first entrusted to me. I found a programme— contained on one sheet of paper— Of the titles and sequence of the different parts of the subject ; also a portion of the manuscript in a completed state, though without the indication of a single illustration. For what was still unwritten, no materials whatever were left! By her sisters— the Misses Murphy— who have shown the utmost desire to assist me, I was furnished with many note-books and journals. PREFACE. These, however, threw no light on Mrs. Jameson's intentions as regards the treatment of the large portion still unexecuted j it was evident that she was accustomed to trust to the stores of her rich mind, and to her clear memory, for an index to them. Under these circumstances, I was left to do the work m my own way. How inferior that way has been to Mrs. Jameson's, I wish to be the first to point out. A few words must especially be said upon the order of the Work. In the short programme left by Mrs. Jameson, the ideal and devotional subjects, such as the Good Shepherd, the Lamb, the Second Person of the Trinity, were placed first • the Scriptural history of our Lord's life on earth next; and, lastly, the Types from the Old Testament. There is reason, however, to believe^ from the evidence of what she had already written, that she would have departed from this arrangement. After much deliberation, I have ventured to do so, and to place the subjects chronologically. The Work commences, therefore, with that which heads most systems of Christian Art— the Fall of Lucifer and creation of the World— followed by the Types and Prophets of the Old Testament, Next comes the history of the Innocents and of John the Baptist, written by her own hand, and leading to the Life and Passion of our Lord. The abstract and devotional subjects, as growing out of these materials, then follow, and the Work terminates with the°Last J udgment. In the number of subjects treated, also, I have deviated from the programme, though chiefly in adding to them. My excuse, if needful, is, that having taken monuments of Art for my guidance, I have simply followed their teaching. Still, I am desirous to explain that this Work comes before the Public with no pretension to completeness, but, rather, with the avowal of very great inequality of description and illustration. One deficiency, of which I may anticipate the notice, consists in the comparative omission of the mosaics in the early Roman churches, the history and representation of which have been so thoroughly given by well-known writers as to induce me to seek my examples in less-worked mines of Art. I take this opportunity of expressing my obligations to the gentlemen in various Art departments of the British Museum, especially to Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Franks ; also to the Hon. Robert Curzon, Dr. Rock, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. George Scharf; and to Mr. Stewart, of King William Street, to whom I am specially indebted for the assistance afforded me in the use of early and valuable works. As regards the numerous Illustrations, many of which have the recommen- dation of being new to the Public, I am anxious to add that I owe the exe- cution of the etchings, with the exception of two, to Mr. Edward Poynter, that PREFACE, V 11 of by far the larger number and more important of the drawings oc wood to Miss Clara Lane, and the engraving of the blocks to the labours of Miss Mateaux and Mr. Cooper. It only remains to explain that the portion of the Work which, to a large circle of readers, will have a twofold interest, will be found to be strictly separated from that supplied by myself. Mrs. Jameson's text will be at once recognised by the insertion of the initials, A. J. at the top of every page, and at the beginning of any interpolated paragraph. E. E. 7 Fitzroy Square, March 26. 1864. CONTENTS OF THE FIEST VOLUME. INTRODUCTION. FaQB Early Symbolical Forms of Christian Art . . . .10 Christian Sarcophagi . . . . . , .13 Mural Paintings in Catacombs . . . , . .16 Mosaics ....... . 18 Doors of Churches . . . , . . .20 Ivories .......... 21 Enamels ......... 25 Miniatures and early Block Books . . . . .25 Portraits of Christ . . . . . . .31 The Fall of Lucifer and of the Rebel Angels . . . .54 The Creation of Angels . . . . , . .62 The Creation of the World .... .66 The Days of Creation . . . . . . .75 The Creation of Adam . . . . . . .86 The Sleep of Adam, and the Creation of Eve . . . .93 The Marriage of Adam and Eve . . . . .98 Eve listening to the Serpent ...... 100 The Fall ......... 102 Adam and Eve hiding in the Garden . 109 The Lord accusing Adam and Eve ..... 109 The Coats of Skins . . . . . . .111 Giving Adam a Spade, and Eve a Spindle . . . .111 The Expulsion . . . . . . . .112 Adam and Eve in their Fallen Condition . . . .115 Abel ......... 118 VOL. I. a X CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. PAGE Adam and Eve lamenting over the Body of Abel . . .121 Lamech kills Cain ....... 123 Enos . . . . . . . . .124 Enoch . . . . . . . . .124 Noah . . . . . . . . .126 Abraham and Isaac . . . . . .133 Lot . . . , . . . .139 Hagar ......... 141 Rebekah . ..... ... 143 Isaac receives his Bride Rebekah ...... 145 Abraham ......... 147 Jacob . . . . . . .• . 149 Joseph ......... 156 Moses ......... 171 Joshua . . . . . . . . 187 Judges . 192 Gideon . ..... . .192 Jephthah . . . . . . . . . 194 Samson . ........ 195 Samuel . ... ..... 199 David . ...... . 201 Solomon ......... 216 Elijah and Elisha . . . . . . .220 Job ......... 225 Daniel and the Three Children ...... 232 Nebuchadnezzar's Dream ...... 235 Bel and the Dragon . . . . . . . 237 Jonah ......... 238 The Prophets . . . . . . . .240 The Sibyls . . . . . . . .245 The Murder of the Innocents ...... 259 Joseph the Husband of the Virgin ..... 273 Christ disputing with the Doctors . . . . .277 John the Baptist ........ 281 The Temptation in the Wilderness ..... 310 Angels minister to our Lord in the Wilderness . . . .315 The Money-Changers expelled from the Temple . . .316 Christ as Teacher ....... 318 Christ teaches in the Temple (or the Synagogue) . . . 321 Christ preaching from the Ship ...... 322 The Tribute Money . . . . . . .323 Christ in the House of Martha and Mary .... 325 Christ blesses little Children . . . . . . . 328 The Woman taken in Adultery ...... 332 Christ and the Wow-u of Samaria . . . . . 337 CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. xi PAGE The Transfiguration ....... 340 The Miracles . . . ..... 347 The Marriage at Cana of Galilee ..... 354 The Raising of Lazarus ....... 356 The Raising the Widow's Son . . . . . .361 Jesus heals the Daughter of the Woman of Canaan . . . 363 Christ heals the Centurion's Servant ..... 364 The Pool at Bethesda . . . . . • -367 The Blind are healed . . . • • • -370 Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes . • . . .370 The Miraculous Draught of Fishes ..... 372 The Calling of the two first Apostles, Peter and Andrew . . . 374 The Parables of our Lord ...... 375 The Rich Man and Lazarus ...... 379 The Doom of the Wicked Rich Man . . . . .380 The Prodigal Son 382 The Good Samaritan ....... 388 The Wise and the Foolish Virgins ..... 390 The Householder who hired Labourers for his Vineyard . . 394 The Unmerciful Servant ...... 395 The Blind leading the Blind . . . . . -396 The Tree which bore Good Fruit and the Tree which was Barren . 396 The Pearl of great Price. ....... 396 Th* Lost Drachm , . . . . * - 397 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIKST VOLUME. Those marked with an asterisk have not been engraved be^r* 5 . *1. Scutum Fidei, or Shield of Faith. Ancient ivory. 2. Emblem on early Christian Signet Ring. 3. Ceiling in Catacomb. Bottari. 4. Page from ' Biblia Pauperum.' *5. Abgarus Portrait of Christ. Prince Consort's Collection. *6. King Abgarus receiving miraculous Portrait. Prince Consort's Collec- tion. *7. Veronica before Emperor. Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan. 8. Classic Head of Christ. 9. Byzantine Head of Christ. *10. Byzantine Head of Christ. Anglo-Saxon Head of Christ. *12. Head of Christ. *13. Head of Christ. •14. Head of Christ. *15. Head of Christ. *16. Lucifer in Rebellion. MS. Mr. Holford. 17. Creation of Angels and Light. Monreale. *18. Sol and Luna. Bible de JVoailles. Bibliothe'que Imperiale, Paris. *19. Diagram of Creation. Anglo-Saxon MS. B. Museum. *20. First Day. Division of Light from Darkness. Mosaics. St. Marh's, Venice. *21. Christ blessing Seventh Day. Mosaics. St. Marh's, Venice. 22. Spirit moving on Face of Waters. Monreale. 23. The Lord resting on the Seventh Day. Monreale. 24. Creation of Fishes and Birds. Orvieto. 25. Creation of Animals. Orvieto. 26. Creation of Light. Raphael. xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME. 27. Creation of Adam. Orvieto. *28. The Living Soul. Mosaics. St. Mark's, Venice. 29. The Breath of Life. Monreale. 30. Creation of Adam. Ghiberti. Bronze doors, Florence. *31. Christ giving Adam Spade and Keys. Bible Historiee. Paris. 32. Extracting Adam's Rib. Orvieto. 33. Creation of Eve. Orvieto. 34. Creation of Eve. Ghiberti. Bronze doors, Florence. 35. Marriage of Adam and Eve. Speculum Salvationis. 36. Eve listening to Serpent. Speculum Salvationis. 37. Christ giving Adam Wheatsheaf and Eve Lamb. Sarcophagus. 38. The Fall. Raphael. 39. The Temptation. Lucas Cranach. 40. Adam and Eve hiding. JV. Pisano. Orvieto. *41. The Lord accusing Adam and Eve. Bible de Noailles, Paris. *42. Angel giving Spade and Spindle. MS., B. Museum. 43. Expulsion of Adam and Eve. Raphael. Loggie. 44. Adam and Eve. Raphael. Loggie. *45. Adam. Statue on Milan Cathedral. *46. Cain and Abel. Bible Historiee. Paris. *47. The Lord accusing Cain. Bible Historic. Paris. *48. Adam and Eve lamenting over dead Body of Abel. Mr. BoxaWs Speculum. 49. Lamech and Cain. Lucas van Leyden. *50. Translation of Enoch. Bible Historiee. Paris. 51. God appearing to Noah. Raphael. Loggie. 52. Isaac carrying Wood. MS., B. Museum. 53. Abraham and Melchisedec. Memling. Munich* 54. Abraham entertaining Angels. Benozzo Gozzoli. Campo Santo. 55. Bebekah and Eleazar. Benozzo Gozzoli. Campo Santo. 56. Angels taking Leave of Abraham. Benozzo Gozzoli. Campo Santo. 57. Jacob's Dream. Raphael. Loggie. *58. Jacob wrestling. Bible Historiee. Paris. 59. Joseph dropping Wheat in River. MS., B. Museum. *60. Jacob receiving Joseph's Garment. Mr. BoxaWs Speculum. 61. Joseph's Dream. Raphael. 62. Joseph recognised by his Brethren. Ghiberti. Bronze doors. *63. Meeting of Jacob and Joseph. Ancient ivory. Arundel Society. *64. Jacob blessing Joseph's Children. Bible Historiee. Paris. *65. Finding of Moses. Bible Historiee. Paris. *66. Sister watching Infant Moses. Bible, B. Museum. 67. Moses' Choice. Giorgione. Uffizj. 68. Moses untying Sandal. Wall Painting, Catacomb. *69. Moses and Burning Bush. MS., Liege Library. *70. Israelites striking the Doorposts. Bible Histories. Paris. 71. Overthrow of Pharaoh. Ancient sarcophagus. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME. 72. Moses striking Rock. Ceiling in Catacomb. 73. Moses receiving the Law. Ancient sarcophagus. *74. Burial of Moses. Bible de Noailles. Paris. 75. Joshua's Vision. MS., Vatican. 76. Joshua arresting Sun and Moon. MS., Vatican. 77. Gideon and Fleece. Speculum Salvationis. M. Berjcau. *78. Samson overcoming Lion. Mr. Boxall's Speculum. 79. Samson drinking from Jaw-bone. Guido. Gallery, Bologna. *80. Presentation of Infant Samuel. Mr. Boxall's Speculum. 81. David with Sling. Ceiling, Catacombs. *82. David with Harp. Greek MS. 83. David between Knowledge and Prophecy. Greek 3/S. 84. David and Head of Goliath. Guido. *85. Triumph of David. Pesellino. Marchese Torrigiano, Florence. 86. David's Triumph. Matteo Rosselli. Pttti. *87. Nathan before David. Mr. BoxalVs Speculum. *88. David playing on the Bells. MS. Mr. Holford. 89. Translation of Elijah. Ancient sarcophagus. 90. Elisha. Painted window. Lincoln College, Oxford. 91. Job. Fra Bartolomeo. Uffizj. 92. Job. Bellini. Belle Arti, Venice. 93. Almighty appearing to Job in Whirlwind. Blake. 94. The Three Children in the Furnace. Wall Painting, Catacoml-s. *95. The Three Children in the Furnace. Mr. Boxall's Speculum. 96. [Nebuchadnezzar's Dream. Speculum. M. Berjeau. 97. The History of Jonah. Ancient sarcophagus. 98. Prophet Isaiah. Gaudenzio Ferrari. 99. Sibyl and Emperor. Garofalo. Vatican. 100. Sibylla Cumana. Baldini. 101. Sibylla Libyca. Michael Angelo. 102. Prophet Jeremiah. Michael Angelo. 103. Sibylla Cumana. Raphael. 104. Sibylla Cumana. Andrea del Castagno. Ujfizj. *105. Innocents as Martyrs. Choral Book. S. Ambrogio. Milan. *106. Massacre of the Innocents. Fra Angelico. Choral Book. S. Marco. *107. Innocent. Luca della Bobbia. Florence. 108. Joseph and Infant Christ. Guido. *109. Joseph's Dream. Mr. Boxall's Speculum. 110. Christ disputing with the Doctors. Spagnoletto. Vienna UaUery. 111. Virgin with Christ and Baptist. Luini. Lugano. 112. John the Baptist. Memling. Munich Gallery. *113. Baptist and Bishop. Drawing by Bellini. B. Museum. *114. Infant Baptist on the Lap of Virgin Mary. Brentano Miniature. 115. Baptist in the Wilderness. Bugiardini. Bologna GaHcry. *116. Baptism. MS., 13th century. Bologna. 117. Baptism. Verrocchio. Accademia, Florence. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME. 118. Burial of Baptist. Andrea Pisano. Doors of Baptistery, Florence. 119. Baptist taking Leave of Parents. Fra F. Lippi. Prato. 120. The Temptation. Lucas van Leyden. 121. Christ Teaching. Luini. National Gallery. 122. Christ in House of Martha and Mary. Jouvenet. Louvre. 123. Christ blessing little Children. Rembrandt. 124. The Woman taken in Adultery. Mazzolino di Ferrara. Pitti 125. Christ and the Woman of Samaria. Ancient sarcophagus. 126. Transfiguration. Fra Angelico. S. Marco. Florence. 127. Conversion of Water into Wine. Ancient sarcophagus. 128. Miracle of Loaves and Fishes. Ancient sarcophagus. *129. Miracle of Loaves and Fishes. MS. Mr. Holford. 130. Christ healing the Blind. Ancient sarcophagus. 131. Christ healing the Woman. Ancient sarcophagus. 132. Christ healing the Lame. Ancient sarcophagus. 133. Baising of Lazarus. Fra Angelico. Accademia, Florence. 134. Christ healing Woman. Paul Veronese. *135. Prodigal Son. Mr. Boxall's Speculum. 136. Prodigal Son. Guercino. 137. The Wise and Foolish Virgins. Speculum. M. Berjea-,1. 138. Lost Drachm. Domenico Feti. Pitti. (Ejfejjtngs. Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. A.th century . . .to face page *Ivory Gospel Cover *Ivory Diptych. \Uh century *Creation and Fall of Angels . *Diagram of the Universe. English miniature. \kth century Moses striking Rock. Poussin *David killing Lion. Byzantine miniature. 9th century ♦Nathan before David. David Repentant. Byzantine miniature. 9th century *Innocents with Patron Saints. Florence . Ghirlandajo. Church of the Innocents, Scutum Fidei, or Shield of Faith (ancient ivory). Introduction, Sources and Forms of Christian Art. The history of our Lord, as represented in Art, is essentially the history of Christian Art. Round His sacred head, encircled in early mediaeval forms with the cruciform nimbus, all Christian Art revolves, as a system round a sun. He is always the great centre and object of the scene ; since whether represented, according to the taste of the artist, or the requirements of the patron, as Infant, Youth, or Man — as Teacher, Physician, or Friend— as Victim and Sacrifice— as King or Judge — He is always intended, under every aspect, real or ideal, to be looked upon as God. For no philosophy, ' falsely so called,' intrudes into the domain of Christian Art — no subtleties on His human nature, no doubts of His Godhead, no rational interpretations of His miracles. Christian Art pre-eminently illustrates faith in Christ as ' God manifest in the flesh,' as < the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world ; ' and without these great fundamental truths of Christianity there is no Christian Art, either in fact or in possibility. In the history of Christ as traced in Art we have therefore pri- marily to look to those forms which are most Christian, or which, in other words, imply most faith and reverence in the mode of con- ception. For though Christ continued to be ostensibly the object represented in pictures executed for churches and chapels, yet there came a time when Art itself, rather than its divine theme, became VOL. I. b 2 HISTORY OP OUR LORD, evidently, both to artist and spectator, the centre of adoration. There are none who feel deeply the intention and power of Christian Art who will not confess, on looking at the works of the greatest masters of the 16th century, that the sense of religious edification keeps no pace with that of their technical beauties; but that, by a strange paradox, the excellence of the means has become apparently fatal to the sacredness of the end. We say apparently, for such a deduction would be as false in theory as unfair to Art. It is true, as we shall have abundant evidence to show in the course of this work, that the clumsy and ignorant efforts of early mediaeval Art convey a far deeper spirituality and reverence of feeling than is shown in any ckef-d'osuvre of the 16th century. But this proves only a fact, not a law. It would be indeed dis- tressing to believe that earnestness of intention could only be combined with infant Art, and the reverse with Art full-grown ; and all common sense protests against such a conclusion. It is doubtless legitimate matter of surprise that the ignorant artist should have done any justice to the faith that was in him ; but it is self-evident that no hand can be too skilled for the service of the highest requirements and forms of expression. We must rather acknowledge the causes for such a seeming anomaly to lie in circumstances without, and not within, the artist's studio — in the history of Eeligion aud her external forms, and in the morals and modes of thought which prevailed at given periods. To enter into so large a theme is, however, quite beyond the scope and purpose of this work, and we take this early opportunity of disclaiming all judgment except such as is suggested by Art itself. Art faithfully reflects all those outward influences which raise or debase her aim, sanctify or degrade her use. The student of history may trace these influences up to their various sources, and show us why it was that the artist might be expected to exhibit certain characteristics at certain epochs ; but our business is to confine ourselves, as far as the necessary connection of all history with itself will allow, to the proof that he did exhibit such characteristics. If each explorer faithfully perform his part, they will converge at the same point, and scarcely lose sight of one another on the way. The first object of Christian Art was to teach. St. Augustine called pictures and statues 'lihri idiotarum, v or 'the books of the simple.' INTRODUCTION. 3 Art was then, like an alphabet, made use of as a sign, not as an ornament. In this form she was employed to set visibly forth the great rudimental facts of Christian doctrine. But it was far different when the multiplication of the means of teaching by a direct process superseded the primitive use of the picture. By that time also, in the providential fitness of all things, Art had outgrown her hieroglyphic state, and as she was no longer wanted, so she. was no longer fitted for that phase of teaching. Her vocation had risen with, her powers, and the far more intellectual task was opened to her of refreshing the perception of those truths which were already known. Properly speaking, the craft of the printer was the enfranchisement of the artist : it took all the previous mechanical drudgery from him, and set him free for the more congenial occupa- tion of adorning that doctrine which he had before been required to teach. It must be owned that in this sense— the sense of Chris- tian feeling— the Italian masters who flourished after the inven- tion of printing did very inadequate justice to the greatness of the opportunity. We need to steal no glance at the student of history to convince ourselves that the real service of religion was not the aim of the southern artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. It is sufficient to state the mere fact, that the zenith of the powers of Art added scarcely a new subject to the repertory of the artist. Before tracing the history of our Lord through monuments of Art bequeathed to us by the schools of various countries, and spread- ing over a space of time little short of the whole Christian Era, it must first be admitted that the materials for this history in Art are only properly derivable from Scripture, and therefore referable back to the same source for verification. In this respect the earlier works afford almost unalloyed interest to the Christian student. The early Fathers pored over the words of Scripture, and gathered from them every moral symbol and allusion that pious diligence could suggest. But they left the sacred text inviolate, even from devout speculation, according to the great rule afterwards laid down by the venerable Bede : < We cannot know that on which Truth keeps silence.' The Art, therefore, which immediately succeeded the expiration of classic influences, viz., that of the 10th and 11th centuries, is so characterised bv close adherence to the letter of i 4 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. Scripture, as scarcely to be understood without the Bible in hand. But no student of Christian Art can proceed far without perceiving that whereas certain periods bear witness to generations of artists who followed the guidance of Holy Writ with implicit obedience, other periods as unmistakably show the addition of non- Scriptural materials, as well as the alteration of the Sacred Text itself. We come, in short, to the indications of Legend — always traceable from the picture to the opinions and writings current at the time. All legend concerning our Saviour is based, it may be observed, on the principle of filling up what the Gospels have left unsaid. Thus those portions of our Lord's life which the wisdom of Scripture leaves unaccounted for, are especially the objects of fabrication by the authors of the apocryphal Gospels. By these we mean certain spurious writings, not tending to edification, rejected by all Christian Churches; and, therefore, not admitted even among what our Church calls the apocryphal books. These were of ancient date, compiled in the first ages of Christianity, and revised and circulated from time to time in manuscript, and subsequently in print. Little, for instance, is said by the inspired writers of the infancy of our Lord, less of His boyhood, nothing of His childhood. The so-called 1 Gospel of Infancy,' therefore, supplies an account of the Child while yet in the cradle, of His life in Egypt, of His boyhood in Judasa, and of His miracles throughout these different ages. This work has the negative merit of being neither directly grafted upon nor mixed with any portion of Holy Writ ; though, like all the writings of this class, it is carefully interlarded with Scriptural passages and allusions, so as to increase the appearance of pro- bability. The art, therefore, which illustrates it, and which is insignificant in character and amount, is, as we shall see, entirely distinct from the legitimate range of Christian subjects. But it is different with the so-called ' Gospel of Nicodemus,' or 'Acts of Pilate' — purporting to have been found among the documents of the Roman governor — which, taking the main circumstances of our Lord's condemnation and crucifixion as a foundation, encumber the text with a large amount of extraneous matter, directly mingling with the sacred narrative. This forces its way in various forms on to the surface of Art, more especially in that mysterious fact of our Lord's mission to the spirits in prison (1 Peter iii. 19), largely dwelt upon INTRODUCTION. 5 in the Gospel of Nicodemus, and rendered by Art under the subject of Christ's descent into Limbus. The writers, also, of scholastic history, such as Peter Comestor in the twelfth century, without precisely infringing upon the text, yet contribute, by their strained and whimsical commentaries and interpretations, to adulterate the sources to which the artist looked for guidance. Again, as regards especially the sufferings, death, and interment of our Lord— of which Scripture, as if purposely to interdict the exercise of morbid imaginations, gives an outline unexampled in simplicity and reticence — the reveries and ecstacies of saints and nuns, as well as the sermons of preachers, have been directed to heighten the effect of some portions of the text, and to fill up supposed gaps in others. The Life of Christ, for example, by St. Bonaventura, in the 13th century, and the Revelations of St. Brigitta of Sweden in the 14th, which we shall have frequent occasion to refer to, with many others, have embodied this aim. Art bears, accordingly, witness to the currency of writings which, except for their impress thus retained, are, in great measure, consigned to oblivion. Even in the best and most legitimate examples of the class of literature which proceeded from the fervid minds of that time, anxious to stem the natural wickedness of man, the chief aim was to exhort the reader to look, not on the holy life and teaching of the Lord, but almost solely on His sufferings— to gaze upon them, to pause, to contemplate, to realise the dreadful truth, dressed up for him with every ingenuity of description, till he was told that his heart, unless of stone, would stream in torrents from his eyes. These were the contemplations by which devotion was to be stimulated, and which the painters were naturally required to translate into positive images. Far be it from us, in the self-glorification of our century, to despise the form in which these earnest appeals were made, or the means inculcated for a life of sanctity. Wisdom was justified of her children. These pious writers gave rules which to the world seem always foolishness, but which, if seriously followed, could but weaken the temptations of the flesh and create a spiritual element. From the 13th to the 16th centuries, it may be observed, the in- clination among southern races was to add to the text of Scripture ; 6 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. from the 16th to the 19th century, with northern races, the incli- nation has been to take from it. The first fact may be characterised as the natural tendency to superstition ; the latter as the natural tendency to infidelity. Between the two, Scripture stands firm, for Art as for morals. For without entering further into the merits or demerits of the writings to which we have alluded, it may be at once laid down as a principle that the interests of Christian Art and the integrity of Scripture are indissolubly united. "Where super- stition mingles, the quality of Christian Art suffers ; where doubt enters, Christian Art has nothing to do. It may even be averred, that if a person could be imagined, deeply imbued with assthetic instincts and knowledge, and utterly ignorant of Scripture, he would yet intuitively prefer, as Art, all those conceptions of our Lord's history which adhere to the simple text. He would shrink from exaggerated and degrading representations of His sufferings, as doing violence to the true principles of the artist. He would prefer to see the Blessed Virgin standing by the Cross in dutiful though agonised resignation, rather than sinking upon the ground, and thus diverting the attention both of the actors in the scene and the spectators of the picture from the one awful object. He would feel that St. Veronica, primly presenting her cloth to the overburdened Saviour, was peculiarly de trop — morally and pictorially. All preference for the simple narrative of Scripture he would arrive at through Art — all condemnation of the embroideries of legend through the same channel. And if an unconcerned connoisseur would so judge merely in the interests of a favourite pursuit, how much more must a believer take umbrage at alterations in the text, which, however slight, affect the revealed character of our Lord ! The circumstance, for example, of Christ's carrying His Cross on the way to Calvary, is not only a fact in that part of His history, but a moral which He thus illustrates for our example. An alteration of the text, there- fore, which makes Him falling, sometimes even prone beneath it, as He is represented at certain periods, affects a vital point in our Lord's character, and invalidates an inestimable precept given for our daily encouragement. On the other hand, additions to Scripture given in positive images, if neither prejudicial to Art nor inconsistent with our Lord's cha- INTRODUCTION. 7 racter, are not in themselves necessarily objectionable; but will, according to their merits, be looked upon with indulgence or admi- ration. The pictures, for instance, representing the disrobing of our Lord— a fact not told in Scripture, yet which must have hap- pened — will be regarded with pathetic interest. The same will be felt of Paul de la Roche's exquisite little picture, where St. John is leading the Virgin home ; for such works legitimately refresh and carry on the narrative in a Scriptural spirit. Nay, even episodes which are more purely invention — such as the ancient tradition of the Mother of Christ wrapping the cloth round her Son, previous to His crucifixion ; or again, the picture by Paul de la Roche of the agony of her and of the disciples, represented as gathered together in a room while Christ passes with His Cross — even such imaginary episodes will silence the most arrant Protes- tant criticism, by their overpowering appeal to the feelings ; since in neither case is the great duty of Art to itself or to its divine object tampered with. The same holds good where symbolical forms, as in Christian Art of classic descent, are given, which embody the idea rather than the fact. For instance, where the Jordan is represented as a river god, with his urn under his arm, at the baptism of our Lord ; or when, later, the same event is accompanied by the presence of angels, who hold the Saviour's garments. Such paraphrases and poetical imaginings in no way affect the truth of the facts they set forth, but rather, to mortal fancy, swell their pomp and dignity. Still less need the lover of Art, and adorer of Christ, care about inconsistencies in minor matters. As, for example, that the en- tombment takes place in a renaissance monument, in the centre of a beautiful Italian landscape, and not in a cave in a rock in the arid scenery of Judasa. On the contrary, it is right that Art should exercise the utmost possible freedom in such circumstances, which are the signs and handwriting of different schools and times, and enrich a picture with sources of interest to the historian and the archaeologist. It is the moral expression that touches the heart and adorns the tale, not the architecture or costume ; and whether our Lord be in the garb of a Roman citizen or of a German burgher (though His dress is usually conventional in colour and form), it matters not, if He be but God in all. 8 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. One principle in Art, though apparently obvious, is yet so liable to be misunderstood by the general class of readers, to whom this work is addressed, as to excuse some explanation. All will agree that the duty of the Christian artist is to give not only the temporary fact, but the permanent truth. Yet this entails a discrepancy to which something must be sacrificed. For, in the scenes from our Lord's life, fact and truth are frequently at variance. That the Magdalene took our Lord for a gardener, was the fact ; that He was the Christ, is the truth. That the Roman soldiers believed Him to be a criminal, and therefore mocked and buffeted Him without scruple, is the fact ; that we know Him through all these scenes to be the Christ, is the truth. Nay, the very cruciform nimbus that encircles Christ's head is an assertion of this principle. As visible to us, it is true ; as visible even to His disciples, it is false. There are, however, educated people so little versed in the conditions of Art, as to object even to the nimbus as a departure from fact, and, therefore, an offence to truth ; preferring, they say, to see our Lord represented as He walked upon earth. But this is a fallacy in more than one sense. Our Lord, as He walked upon earth, was not known to be the Messiah. To give Him as He was seen by men who knew Him not, would be to give Him not as the Christ. It maybe urged, that the cruciform nimbus is a mere arbitrary sign — nothing in itself, more than a combination of lines. This is true; but there must be something arbitrary in all human imaginings of the supernatural. It is like religion itself, where something also must be assumed, and something granted. Art, for ages, assumed this sign as that of the Godhead of Christ, and the world for ages granted it. It served various purposes ; it hedged the rudest representations of Christ round with a divinity which kept them distinct from all others. It pointed Him out to the most ignorant spectator, and it identified the sacred head even at a distance. Further, it is a mistake to suppose that a picture can convey the double sense of Christ as He appeared to those around Him, and as He is beheld through the eye of Belief. Art, by its essential conditions, has but one moment to speak, and one form of expression to utter. If, therefore, we require to see Christ 'without form or comeliness,' we cannot in the same picture behold Him as f the express image INTRODUCTION. 9 of the Father, full of grace and truth.' The Eastern Church, as we shall see, is supposed to have maintained the first definition of our Lord's person— the Western the second ; but neither of them imagined that, in the sense of Art, they could be given together. Thus there must be always a compromise, between what we have termed temporary fact and permanent truth, and that at the expense of the least important of the two. And this compromise, which is the soul of Christian Art, is not proper to that only. It is the soul also, in the strictest sense, of all Art. What is the Drama with- out it ? There is alway s the fact for the actors, and the truth for the spectators. That Othello sees in Iago an honest man is the fact ; that we see him to be a villain is the truth. The real object of the play is always outside the boards. The poorest romance recognises this necessity. This involves far greater skill in the dramatist or novel writer, for the spectator or reader has to be satisfied that the difference between his view and the actor's view is well accounted for. The painter has no such difficulty ; he cannot, if he would, represent one image to the actor and another to the spectator, for he has but one image to give at all. We must, therefore, in the task that is before us, keep in mind that the object of Christian Art is the instruction and edifica- tion of ourselves, not any abstract and impossible unity of ideas that cannot be joined together. Early Art never loses sight of this instinct. Pictures, as we have said, were the ' books of the simple.' The first condition, therefore, was that the books should be easily read. Having thus seen certain moral excellences appertaining to early Christian Art— its faithful adherence to Scripture, and its true instinct as to its duty— we shall be the more justified in bringing it largely before the reader in a research intended to define the true standards of religious modes of representation. It is not only that from these simple and nameless artists have descended those Scrip- tural types and traditions which constitute the science of Christian Art, but that in them we find the subject, and not the art, the chief aim of their labours. Art was for many centuries, where not affected by classic influences, too undeveloped to allow its votary to expand and disport himself in the conscious exercise of mechanical skill. He therefore suited his art, such as it was, to his subject: later vol. i. 10 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. painters may be said to have done the reverse. The transition from the one to the other, considered in a general way, is a curious scale, beginning with moral and ending with physical indications. Thus reverence is seen first, endowing scenes devoid of almost every other quality with a pious propriety, which, if not Art, is its best foundation. Then came a certain stereotyped dignity of forms, descended from Byzantine tradition; to this followed expression of feeling and dramatic action, as with Duccio and Giotto ; next the true variety of the human countenance, as with Fra Angelico; and then all these qualities together, heightened by greater skill in each, as with the great Quattro-centisti of Florence, Padua, and Venice. These found their height of culmination in Leonardo da Vinci, and partially in Eaphael, who threw down the last barriers of difficulty between a painter's hand and mind, and in whom, therefore, subject and Art may be said to have had equal part. From this time commence the triumphs of Art proper— the glories of colour, the feats of anatomical skill, the charms of chiaroscuro, and the revels of free-handling; ail claiming to be admired for themselves, all requiring the subject to bend to their individualities. Here, therefore, there is little to say, however much to delight in. This is Art alone— as much as, in another sense, the Dutch school is Art alone— taking its forms from elevated or from homely nature, and accordingly producing works before which, to use a too familiar phrase, the mouth of the connoisseur waters, but, with very few exceptions, the eye of feeling remains dry. Eaely Symbolical Forms of Christian Art. Before entering more particularly into the great subject of our re- searches—the pictorial History of our Lord and His Types— we must briefly point out some of the classes, cycles, and series of Art, through which this subject has descended to us, and from which we have derived most assistance in the course of these labours. It is by no means, as we have hinted, in the works of what are called the old masters only that the materials for study are to be found. The pith of Christian Art lies rather in forms and objects far anterior in date to any pictures now existing, and which, owing to the researches of INTRODUCTION. 11 archseologists and the formation of museums, are daily being rescued from further destruction. And first we must point out some of the minuter forms under which the desire to exhibit the ideas belonging to the new faith showed itself. In the first centuries of Christianity, Art is supposed to have suffered complete suppression as regards all manifestation of Christian feeling. The early converts consisted of two races— of Jews, to whom every species of graven image was, by law and habit, an abomination; and of Roman Gentiles, who, with the old idolatry, necessarily abjured the forms that embodied it. So rigorously, for these double reasons, was the abstinence from Art enforced, that, like as with other commodities forbidden by policy or religion, the strictest measures were enacted against the pro- ducers. Whatever convert to Christianity, originally an artist, returned to his former craft, was considered an apostate, and denied the rite of baptism— a ceremony not partaken of, in the first ages of the Church, until after years of conformity. It was not, however, in the nature of a people who lived in the atmosphere of beautiful and ideal forms, to close their minds longer than was absolutely necessary against them. The first signs of life given by the fettered but never extinguished element, and exhibited cautiously and timidly, were seen in small objects, such as incised gems and signet rings. These bore the mask of a symbolism intelligible to a race accustomed to decipher ideas under the most abstract forms. In many instances a familiar Pagan image was even permitted under the sanction of a new and higher meaning. The symbol of the Fish, the most frequently seen, appears to be of strictly Christian origin. It had several homogeneous meanings. It alluded to the regenerating waters of X^T^s baptism. It typified the believer as the 'little fish' caught by those whom Christ had appointed to be the \z == - = ^r fishers of men. It expressed also the person of Christ 2 Emblem on r _. , , , /-wt #« j • early Christian Himself, who is called 'the Fish by early Christian S i gn etring writers; and it especially obtained favour from the mystical combination of letters forming the Greek word for fish, which represented in an acrostic form the Greek sentence, 'Jesus 12 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Christ, Son of God, Saviour.' Accordingly, the symbol and the anagram are sometimes given separate, oftener together, as in our illustration. The Ship was another purely Christian symbol, indicating the Church, in allusion to Noah's Ark. Instances occur where the symbol of the ship is seen resting on that of the fish— the Church on its head. The Papal signet ring, called the ' Ring of the Fisher- man,' preserves in part this allusion, the Pope being seen in a boat, drawing a net from the waters. This is, however, as may be sup- posed, of a far later date. The Dove was an antique symbol of innocence, adopted by our Lord in the text, 1 Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.' It may therefore be supposed to have been used by Christians in the same sense. It was also the Scriptural sign of the Holy Spirit. The Anchor was a well-known antique civic emblem, originally understood to signify a safe harbour, and therefore, later, a flou- rishing city. With the Christians it set forth one of the great evangelical virtues — Hope. The Lyre was the attribute of Apollo and the Muses. It is easy to see how it passed into the service of the Christian under the ideas of praise and thanksgiving to God, and of persuasion to man. In this sense Orpheus and his lyre are both retained in Christian classic Art as the symbol of our Lord, and of the power of the Gospel. We have mentioned these symbols first, their early date being ascertained by an epistle from Clement of Alexandria (died 216), in which he prescribes all these images as proper and decorous to be worn in rings by the Christians. Many others may be enumerated, such as the Palm-branch, the Peacock, the Phcenix, the Crown — all symbols of Pagan origin; the Monogram, and the Cross, of which further ; and also, and principally, the Scriptural symbols of our Lord— the Lamb, and the Good Shepherd— which will be separately described. History as yet has failed to define the precise dates of objects on which these last-mentioned symbols appear— such as monumental slabs, lamps, glass drinking- vessels. But it may be safely assumed that the increase of Art, especially in the shape of luxurious drink- INTRODUCTION. 13 ing-vessels, points to a proportionate increase of security, and also to a growing relaxation of discipline, in favour of Pagan habits and images, where such could be indulged without any dereliction of Christian principle. Christian Sarcophagi. This brings us to the first regular cycles of Christian Art, embodied in larger forms, and discovered upon the exploring of the Catacombs of Rome, which are believed to have been reopened, after the lapse of ages, in the 16th century. They consist of white marble sarcophagi, richly decorated with bas-reliefs — now forming a part of the Christian Museum of the Vatican — and of paintings still existing on the walls and ceilings of these subterranean chambers. The subjects here delineated, especially those of an earlier date, represent scenes from the history of our Lord, His miracles, and the great doctrines of the Christian religion — Faith, Atonement, Eesurrection — set forth by biblical types, or, in other words, by events taken from the Old Testament, illustrating the chief truths contained in the New. Here the genius of Pagan or classic Art reigns without restraint, showing an elaboration and beauty of design and execution only compatible with periods of perfect security. For there is no difference, except in the choice of subjects, between the general form and mode of decoration of the earlier sarcophagi commemorating the death of a Christian, and those devoted to the Pagan dead. Accordingly, a sarcophagus, believed to be one of the first examples, and of which the date is ascertainable, is that of a proconsul of the name of Junius Bassus, known to have died in 359, or thirty-four years after the Council of Nice. We give an etching of the whole monument (Bottari, vol. ii. tab. xxviii.), and a merely general explanation, for each subject will find a more particular description in its place. Our Lord is here seen in the centre of the lower range celebrating His one earthly triumph as He entered Jerusalem. Above, He sits enthroned in heavenly state, for His feet are upon Earth as His footstool, which is represented under the form of 14 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Tellus, with the firmament symbolised by an arch of drapery above him. The volumen, or book of Wisdom, is in Christ's hand. Two figures, probably Apostles, are at His side. The learned are much divided on the precise meaning of this subject, some having maintained it to be Christ disputing with the Doctors— an idea which the symbolism of the Earth quite refutes. May it not possibly mean the Transfiguration ?— our Lord's other triumph on earth— with Moses and Elijah on each side, and the Earth, on which they are supported, typifying the < high mountain ' on which the scene occurred. On one side of this, a subject extending through two compart- ments, is Christ before Pilate, who is preparing to wash his hands. This is a very beautiful composition. On the other side is a scene called the Repentance of Peter, supposed to be represented by that moment when they say unto him, ' Surely thou also art one of them ; for thv speech bewrayeth thee ' (Matt. xxvi. 73). Farther on is the Sacrifice of Isaac, always typifying in him- self the willingness, and in the lamb the fact, of the sacrifice of Christ. Below this is Job; according to St. Jerome, a figure of the suffering of Christ. Next to him our First Parents, after the Fall —being the sin which points to the Atonement. Then Daniel in the Lion's Den— a type of Faith, and also of the Resurrection ; and, finally, a man bound and led by two men, supposed to be Peter going ^ to prison, or a figure of the persecution suffered by the Christian Church. This subject, however, maybe considered as still unexplained. Thus we have here a cycle of consecutive ideas, all centering in Christ, as the great Author and Finisher of our faith, and express- ing trials and tribulations— overcome, repented of, and atoned for —from the fall of Adam and Eve to the denial of our Lord by St. Peter. Nor must we omit the sheep, minutely sculptured on the pedi- ments and flat arches of the lower range, which most curiously set forth our Lord and His types in a form not seen elsewhere. For though both Shepherd and flock are, as we shall see, frequently given under the form of sheep, yet nowhere have we seen such a INTRODUCTION. 15 series of literal acts and figurative forms. These will immediately explain themselves to the reader on reference to the etching. On the one hand is a sheep striking a rock with a rod, whence flows water; another sheep prepares to drink from it. On the opposite corresponding arch is the same animal receiving the table of the Law from a hand in the clouds, an attendant sheep, meant for Joshua, standing at a distance. Nearer the centre is the Miracle of the Loaves — a sheep, also with a staff or rod, as the symbol of power, striking baskets in which are loaves. Opposite this is the Baptism, most curiously given — one sheep standing with its fore- leg on the head of another, who is half immersed in a stream, while above is a bird, with a ray of light reaching from its beak to the head of the animal personifying the Saviour. On the extreme right of the spectator is the raising of Lazarus — a sheep touching with a staff the upright figure of a mummy ; on the extreme left are the remains of a scene supposed to represent the Three Children in the Furnace. Such a series as this characteristically sets forth the mental as well as visual habits of those to whom such art was addressed, and who preferred to perceive the idea through a symbolical rather than actual form; for the evidence of other sarcophagi, in which most of the same episodes are given under more natural conditions, shows that only the love and habit of the ideal suggested these. To return to the larger subjects. Many of them are frequently repeated, with slight variations, in the art of the Catacombs : some sarcophagi show only the miracles ; others, Christ sending forth His disciples. Some are adorned with branches of vine and clusters of grapes, in allusion to our Lord's words, * I am the true vine.' In many, the classic impersonation of natural objects is seen, such as the figure of Tellus in our etching, or that of the Jordan represented as a river god in the ascension of Elijah. Some writers have believed that the application of such symbolism marks the monuments of Gnostic Christians, known to have been more lenient in their feelings towards Heathendom. 16 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Mueal Paintings in Catacombs. The ceilings of the Catacombs also afford cycles of very remark- able character. We give an illustration of one, in which numerous 3 Ceiling in Catacomb. (Bottari, vol. ii. tab. cxviii.) events from the Old and New Testament are given, all pointing to the ideas of Pardon, Regeneration, and Resurrection, to the power of INTRODUCTION. 17 Christ to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and raise the dead, and all centering in the figure of the Good Shepherd carrying His sheep, with other sheep resting round Him in the centre. Five of the subjects are from the Old Testament, and three from the New. They are as follows : — Noah in the Ark with arms extended, welcoming the Dove which bears the Olive-branch of Peace ; the Ark being generally a mere box floating on the water, but here floating in a boat. Moses striking the Rock. Jonah in the act of being swallowed by the Fish — here a great dragon of fabulous character. Jonah ejected from the Fish's Mouth. Daniel between the Lions. Some have interpreted his figure as intended for the form of a cross, and thus holding the lions at bay; but this idea belongs to a later period of symbolism. Here the figure was probably only dictated by the space, which is a despotic ruler in all Art. Christ restoring Lazarus to life — a subject always giveu in this form in classic Christian Art. The Miracle of the Loaves. The Lame Man taking up his Bed and walking. The birds may be interpreted as symbols of the human soul, feeding on fruits of Paradise. The ceilings of the Catacombs are varied in form, but not much in subject. The walls show a more gradual change of representa- tion. The cycles we have described contain, as we see, no indications of our Lord's sufferings. There are no mockings, or flagellations, or crucifixions, hitherto seen ; nay, no weariness of body or sorrow of mind — facts for which we must forbear to seek causes in the fear of enemies to the faith, the period for which was past, but only in the inherent conditions of classic Art, which interdicted scenes of terror, pain, or distress. Thus even in forms, no longer timid, and not always symbolical, Christianity was seen under a mask ; for no one will believe that these gentle and serene images really reflected the state of the Christian's course, or that of the social world around. But the Art of which Christians availed themselves had been de- veloped by a race, of whose gods, dignity and repose, beauty and VOL. i. d IS HISTORY OF OUR LORD. youth, were the highest attributes. And there is no doubt that these long-descended ideas harmonised too well with the ineradicable art-instincts of the Gentile Christians not to have contributed to that sentiment of reverence towards the Saviour's person which is the refreshing distinction between early and later Art. It is assumed also, and with great appearance of probability, that this category of subjects, restricted chiefly to signs of our Lord's bene- ficence, and of the earthly rescue of His chosen servants in the Old Testament, were the more welcome as contributing to reconcile new converts to a scheme of religion, otherwise too self-sacrificing in its main features for those who were still babes in doctrine. The date of the Art of the Catacombs, commencing, at all events, as we have seen, with the 4th century, is supposed to spread over a space extending to the 11th. A corresponding addition and change of subjects, tending to the more purely historical, is visible, which is chiefly seen on the walls. The Adoration of the Magi appears, the literal scene of the Baptism, one example of the Crucifixion (of which more in its place), and the introduction of saints. These continue to bear more or less the impress of classic Art— which is indeed traceable outside the Catacombs up to the 12th century, and which, having given its strength and its prime to glorify the deities of the Pantheon, thus fittingly expired in the service of the one true God. Mosaics. The workers in mosaic took up the same class of subjects in the light of day which were being carried on in the darkness of the Cata- combs, and continued and developed them long after those pious and mysterious underground labours had ceased. With these minute and durable materials, composed of cubies of various-coloured stones, terra cotta, and vitrified substances, the walls and cupolajs of ancient basilicas and churches were covered, offering the largest and most monumental forms in which Christian Art has ever been embodied. These materials, as we know from many an ancient pavement left by the Romans in this country, were, as well as the rules of style, derived from antique practice, though it is certain that their larger use, for walls and historical subjects, belongs entirely to the Christian INTRODUCTION. 19 epoch. Christian mosaics of a decorative and symbolical character, such as the vine and the grape, in S. Costanza, near Rome, are traceable back to the 4th century, but their complete application to figures and groups, and their technical splendour, burst forth first, both in Ravenna and in Rome, in the 5th century. These continue the cycles of typical incidents, differing in choice though not in kind. For to the Sacrifice of Isaac are added the Offerings of Abel and Melchisedec, Abraham entertaining the Angels, Moses and the Burning Bush, and single figures of Prophets and Evangelists. The Baptism, also, with the Jordan as a river god, takes its place in the separate baptistries then erected. The basilica form of early churches, the long nave, the grand arch terminating it, and the semi-domed tribune or apse, into which this arch conducted, greatly contributed to dictate the subjects. On each wall above the arches of the nave are seen, as in S. Apollinare Nuovo, at Ravenna, processions, on the one side, of the male figures of confessors and martyrs ; on the other, of the female. The Arch of Triumph shows above, the Agnus Dei, or the head of Christ, with the symbols of the Evangelists, or the four rivers of Paradise, and in the spandrels — for instance, on the arch of S. Paolo-fuori-le-Mura, at Rome, partially rescued from the fire of 1823 — the twenty-four elders offering crowns. The twelve on the one side have their heads covered, the twelve on the other are bareheaded ; signifying, the first, the Prophets of the Old Covenant, who saw the truth as through a veil ; the second, the Apostles to whom, in the New Covenant, it was clearly re- vealed. Finally, the dome of the apse exhibits the Saviour stand- ing in glory, with the founders of the Church, or patron saints, in adoration on each side. Above, the hand of the Father is holding a crown, while a bird like a phoenix, as in the churches of S. Cosmo and Damian, and S. Prassede, at Rome, on a palm-tree, denotes the Holy Spirit. Thus the whole imagery of the Church may be said to have flowed towards this culminating idea of Christ in glory ; beginning with the records of the faithful, on the walls of the nave, passing through the apocatyptic vision, or the second coming of Christ, on the Arch of Triumph, and ending with the largest idea of the Godhead, the fulness of the Trinity itself, on the most sacred part, the dome of the apse. 20 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. To the Art of the mosaicists, also, we are indebted for the preser- vation of some of the earliest conceptions of the first chapters in Genesis. The Fall of our First Parents had been given with ideal simplicity on Christian sarcophagi, and on the walls of the Cata- combs ; but it needed that infusion of various elements consequent on the overthrow of empires — which counterbalanced the rudeness of their forms by the larger play of the imagination — to represent the more indefinable ideas of the first acts of Creation. We see these given in series in the vestibule cupolas of St. Mark's at Venice, and on the walls of the Cathedral of Monreale ; the one believed to belong to the 11th, the other to the 12th century. In these there is a harmony between subjects and materials, as respects a certain rudeness and grandeur, which totally vanishes in the flowing lines and more pretentious colouring of the later examples of mosaic work. For after the restriction which the dignity and repose of classic feeling had imposed upon the mosaicist had passed away, it needed the very deficiencies of early mediaeval Art to replace them. The incongruity between the later development of the Picturesque, and these stern rudimental materials, is at once felt in the unsatisfactory impression produced by modern examples of mosaics ; as in other parts of St. Mark's at Venice, which were restored in the 17th century. A late Venetian picture, given in mosaic work, is like a rope-dancer in a suit of armour. On" this account it is that the stiffness and immobility of Byzantine Art are more tolerable in this garb than in any other. Doors of Churches. The doors of ancient churches, cast in bronze or brass, or carved in wood, offer pages of curious interest to the student of Christian Art. On one door are the chief typical events of the Old Testament, on the other the actual incidents of the New. Such doors are traceable chiefly to the 11th century, when, the expectation of the millennium having passed away, churches were extensively built or repaired. Of such age and class are the brazen doors at Benevento in the Neapolitan territory, the bronze doors of S. Zeno at Verona, aud the old oak doors of S. Maria in Capitolio at Cologne ; to all INTRODUCTION. 21 of which we shall have occasion to refer. In each of these, the sufferings of our Lord — His capture, flagellation, and crucifixion — are rendered; events which had obtained a footing in Art by that time. The ancient church of S. Paolo-fuori-le-Mura, at Rome, destroyed by fire in 1823, possessed doors of the 11th century, of a curious workmanship called Agemina, consisting of bronze tablets inlaid with silver wire. Engravings of these, taken before the fire, fortu- nately exist. 1 These doors were executed by Byzantine artists, and it is curious to compare them with the rude forms of those in the north of Italy, and still more with those on the other side of the Alps. Ivories. We now come to a smaller department of materials. From an early date in Christian history, a class of objects, also of classic origin and treatment, was preparing invaluable stores for the future student of Christian iconography. The application of ivory to pur- poses of flat sculpture, known even in Nineveh, was familiar to the Romans. These served to portray, in delicate forms and portable sizes, subjects of mythological and historical import, and consisted generally of two tablets, which opened and folded together by hinges, and were carved in low relief on the outer sides. In the 4th and 5th centuries, the use of these double tablets, or diptychs, was generally appropriated to the portraits of Roman consuls, who presented them as gifts to their friends and patrons ; hence the name of consular diptychs, by which such ancient specimens as still survive are known. About the same time the Christian Church appears to have availed itself of the same forms in ivory, for ecclesiastical purposes ; the inside surface being inscribed with the names of eminent individuals, and the outside sculptured with religious subjects. On some occasions the consular diptych appears to have been transformed into an ecclesiastical diptych, the portrait of the consul being converted by slight changes into that of King David, and the inscription, by a palimpsest process, altered to correspond. But 1 D'Agincourt's Storia dell' Arte. Sfculpture. 22 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. whether originally consular or ecclesiastical, these objects, from their detached nature, have rarely survived, or one leaf has been preserved and the other lost. It was different with another class of ivory objects of Christian use, namely, the sculptured tablets applied as book-covers to the Sacred Volumes. Their purpose, as a material safeguard to early manuscripts of the Scriptures, contributed, doubtless, in turn, to their own protection ; for the larger number of the earliest speci- mens of ivories now existing are of this class. We give an etching of one of a magnificent pair of Gospel covers, preserved in the Treasury at Milan, and belonging, it is supposed, to the 6th century. The subjects show, in some respects, an independence of the Art of the Catacombs, which points, perhaps, to a different part of the Koman Empire for their source. Some of them will be difficult of interpretation to an inexperienced eye. We therefore give the general meaning, reserving description of particular subjects for their respective places in this work. In the corners above are the angel of St. Matthew, and the bull of St. Luke, each, seraph-like, with six wings. In the corners below, the busts of those Evangelists. The two others are on the reverse cover. In the centre is the Agnus Dei. Above the centre, the Nativity. The ox and the ass admirable, and Joseph with a carpenter's saw, scarcely differing from those now in use. In the centre below, the Massacre of the Innocents. The other subjects commence at the left hand above, and terminate on the right hand above. The Annunciation. The Virgin drawing water — a tradition of which signs occur in other early representations. The Three Kings seeing the Star — which is above, on the border. The Baptism. The Entry into Jerusalem. Christ before Pilate. The Magdalene with the Angel at the Sepulchre. The use of ivory book-covers continues all through the mediaeval ages. They embody gradually the scenes of our Lord's suffering, and represent, as we shall see, some of the earliest specimens of the Crucifixion. We refer the reader to the etching. jFrnsmnr ^wem. 0\C&t6etry. Milan Cathedral. INTRODUCTION. 23 Meanwhile the ecclesiastical diptych reappears in the field with some alteration of feature. For, for obvious reasons, the bas-reliefs, which are much more deeply cut than those of the early time, are on the inner sides, and thus, when closed together, protected from injury. These took their place on the altar, in the early part of the 14th century, and are chiefly devoted to cycles of the Passion. The scheme of these cycles is traceable originally to the Life of Christ, by S. Bonaventura, a Franciscan monk of the 13th century, which was afterwards divided under seven heads, according to the hours of our Lord's Passion as solemnised by the Church. Thus Vespers are represented, according to some versions, by the Last Supper ; Compline, by the Agony in the Garden ; Matins, by Christ before Caiaphas ; Prime, or the first hour, by Christ before Pilate ; Tierce, or third hour, by Christ crowned with Thorns ; Sext, or sixth hour, by Pilate washing his Hands ; and None, or the ninth hour, by the Crucifixion. Great latitude, however, was taken in the arrangement, and any choice, and any number of subjects, seem to have been permitted, provided they belonged to the category of the Passion, which ex- tended, as will be seen, from the Entry into Jerusalem to the Ascension. We give an etching of a beautiful Italian diptych with the follow- ing range of subjects, beginning, be it observed, from the left hand below : — 1. Judas receiving the Money. 2. Judas pointing out Christ. 3. Judas drawing near to kiss Him. 4. Judas hanging, with his Bowels out. 5. Christ in the Grasp of a Soldier. 6. Peter cutting off Malchus' Ear. 7. Pilate wiping his Hands. His attendant with a jug. 8. Christ bearing His Cross. Simon helping. 9. Crucifixion. 10. Descent from Cross. 11. Entombment. 12. Maries at Tomb. Angel seated on it. Guards asleep. 13. Christ appearing to Magdalen. 14. Christ delivering Souls from Limbus. 24 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Ivories of this description are comparatively numerous, and are met with of Italian, French, and German origin. The ivory triptych was another form of Art which also took its place on the altar. It answered, indeed, the purpose of an altar picture, having a centre, with two wings which closed over it. The centre sometimes contains the Crucifixion ; the wings, other scenes from the Passion, or the figures of Prophets. This class led naturally to an amplification of the same form. Large altar-pieces, occupying the whole width of the altar, and composed of numerous parts, like the complicated pictures of the same class, were formed entirely of sculptured ivory, or bone, divided by architectural features, and surmounted with canopies. A magnificent specimen, of the latter part of the 14th century, executed by the monks of Poissy for Jean de Berry, brother of Charles V. of France, and for Jeanne de Boulogne, his wife, is in the Louvre. It contains the history of our Lord from the Annunciation, and that of John the Baptist, in forty-four compartments. The largest and one of the most ancient forms of ivory, applied to Christian Art, is the throne or chair of S. Maximian, Arch- bishop of Ravenna from 546 to 556, preserved in the Cathedral of Ravenna. The back and sides are covered with reliefs, inside and out, giving the history of Christ, and that of one of His chief, types, the Patriarch Joseph. Caskets in ivory also furnished occasion for Christian Art. A circular box in the Berlin Museum points to an origin not far removed in time from the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus in the Catacombs. Another casket in the treasury of the Cathedral of Sens, of which a fac-simile exists in the Arundel collection, bears also the stamp of the earliest classic Christian character. It sets forth the lives of the two great types of Christ, Joseph and David. Other objects in ivory which contribute to Christian Art will be referred to in this work. INTRODUCTION. 25 Enamels. Enamels are another class of materials in which Christian Art has found means of expression. We only allude to that form of enamels which are applied, mosaic-like, to metals, not to such as are spread smoothly on the surface of porcelain, which are of too late a date to be valuable in the sense of subjects. Both descriptions were manu- factured at Limoges : those applied to metals, in the 12th and 13th centuries ; those executed like paintings, from the 16th century. The art of the first-mentioned kind has no antique traditions, not having been discovered until an early period of Christianity, when it was largely practised by Byzantine artists. Objects decorated with this kind of enamel have taken similar forms, and set forth much the same class of subjects as the ivories. Covers of the Sacred Books, consisting of metal, generally copper gilt, are frequent. Shrines and reliquaries are also numerously found in treasuries of churches— or in their present next best asy]um, museums— encrusted with enamels of figures of prophets, apostles, and saints. Altarpieces exist of elaborate designs, the Crucifixion in the centre and scenes from the Passion around. The forms of Art, owing to the rigid conditions of the materials, have a certain stiffness, sometimes conducive, as in mosaics, to grandeur, and, from the same cause, are limited in detail and variety. The special beauty, however, of enamels lies in their colours, which rival those of jewellery. Every kind of ecclesiastical ornament and utensil has derived colour and lustre from the application of this Art, and in many instances enamels of an early and unknown date are found preserved and reset in goldsmith work of a later and certain period. MINIATURES 1 AND EARLY BLOCK BOOKS. Richer than any other source hitherto considered, and almost as ancient, we may now advert to the so-called miniatures, or illu- 1 We remind the reader that it is principally by the labours of Dr. Waagen that attention has been called to the department of miniatures. We owe frequent obligations to him in the course of this work. VOL. I. E 26 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. minations, of the Scriptures and ancient religious books, which literally supply galleries of curious and beautiful conceptions, often within the compass of a few inches, and for the most part the work of unknown minds and hands. Even after the varied and accumulated forms of destruction, common to all things, and more especially to monuments of religious Art — ignorance, neglect, and cupidity, war, fire, and time — have done their worst, the number of these books is still fortunately Legion. For no church treasury, or convent choir of any pretensions to wealth — no royal or noble personages of piety, pride, or taste — failed to reckon these precious volumes among their choicest possessions. Here, on these solid and well-nigh indestructible parchment folios, where text and pic- ture alternately take up the sacred tale — the text itself a picture, the picture a homily — the skill of the artist has exhausted itself in setting forth in positive images the great scheme of salvation. Sometimes these miniatures spread in solemn hierarchy over a whole page ; oftener, and truer to their name, they nestle in the spaces of initials, or capital letters, and in the medallions of intri- cate borders. Now they look upon us with the forms, costumes, and even the countenances as of another world ; then again they claim affinity by some touch of that common nature which makes all men kin. Nowhere is space lost, either within or without these venerable, silver-clasped and jewel-embossed volumes, whose very covers, as we have seen, afforded a field for special branches of artistic handicraft. Nor was all this labour spent in vain : their homes for centuries were in the silence of the sanctuary; their authors have mingled with the dust of the convent cemetery ; over them have passed the rise and fall of the kingdoms of this world; but through them history has been transmitted with a continuity and fulness not to be found in any other forms of Art, or, it may be said, in any form of literature. For pictures have speech and meaning where text is obsolete or obscure. 1 The pencil speaks the tongue of every land.' The very variety of these volumes permits of only general mention. Singly or collectively the canonical books of Scripture have been the main object of the work of the miniaturist : Genesis, Joshua, the Psalter, the Apocalypse, the Pentateuch, the Gospels, separately or together; the whole Bible; later, the Missal and the Breviary; INTRODUCTION. 27 the Office of the Virgin, and Books of Prayer. These spread over a space of time extending from the 5th to the 15th century, while every race, Greek and Latin, Byzantine and Carlovingian, French, Netherlandish, Anglo-Saxon, Irish, English, German, and Italian, who have acknowledged the Cross and felt after Art, have set their individual mark on these monuments of devotional labour. Accordingly, for the antiquary and connoisseur, seeking to unravel the intricate threads of national character, there is no such help as that afforded by ancient miniatures, while to the student of Christian Art they are indispensable. For in them are found the great centres of harmony with modes of Art of shorter duration, more limited range, and more perishable nature ; from the types which emerge from the darkness of the Catacombs, as from the womb of the earth, through the abstract conceptions of a pro- founder, though outwardly ruder time, to the more strictly his- torical scenes of our Lord's Life and Passion; the interstices between each class, as well as each class itself, being filled up and enriched with a closeness and abundance only possible under the conditions of this more manageable form of illustration. Thus here may be traced, with peculiar accuracy, where old traditions cease and new ones start into life — when a fresh subject takes timid root — how adherence to Scripture slackens, and legend and heresy creep in— till these in themselves become, to a practised eye, the landmarks of certain periods and races. To enumerate the subjects, though not without a plan, would be impossible : our frequent allusions to them in the coming pages will, however, give some idea of their variety. But out of these more definite religious books grew a number of others of a more fanciful class, in which a succession of subjects and types was laid down on the same principle of correspondence between Old and New Testa- ment, and with a conventional precision never departed from. We mean such works as the ' Stories from the Old and New Testament,' or ' Biblia Pauperum,' and the 4 Speculum humanae Salvationis ' — the latter supposed to have proceeded from the Order of the Benedictines. These, having employed the patient scribe and minia- turist during the 14th century, were in the 15th taken up and multiplied, both text and pictures, by those great new powers of type and block printing of which they are some of the most con- 28 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. spicuous first fruits. Curious and interesting as these works are, they were not, as our readers will often have occasion to see, best calculated to recommend the edifying purpose of a series of Chris- tian illustrations. As the invention of printing drew near, the deterioration of pictures as the ' books of the simple ' as gradually proclaimed its necessity. Embodying, as they do, the whimsical and artificial interpretations of scholastic history, their types, while far more numerous, are nowhere so faithful and impressive as when they adhere to the early traditions. Otherwise the allusions 4 Page from ' Biblia Pauperum.' (14th century.) are often of a strained and far-fetched character, gathered at all hazards from the apposition of various parts of Scripture, and dictated, it would seem, occasionally, by no other rule than the jingle of words, the coincidence of numbers, and the likeness of locality. Thus the wicked and unfilial Absalom, hanging on the tree, becomes the type of the Saviour on the Cross. The King of Ai, taken from the tree where Joshua had hung him, represents the Descent from the Cross. Eeuben searching for Joseph in the well is a type of the Maries at the Sepulchre ; the death of the sons of Eli, that of the Murder of the Innocents, &c. Legend also is introduced, the sources of which it would be difficult to trace, INTRODUCTION. 29 and great repetition occurs, the same plate sometimes serving for opposite purposes. As Heinecken 1 says, ' These books were the fashion of the day, and provided there were but pictures, no one cared whether they squared with the subject or not.' Nevertheless there is a certain completeness of principle as regards Art, which renders the study of these volumes conducive to the understanding of more fragmentary representations — the text and scroll (or Legend, as it is technically called) preventing all ambiguity as to meaning. We give a page from the ' Biblia Pauperum ' (see woodcut, No. 4). The figures of the prophets — in each case in- tended to represent those who foretold the particular event in the centre — point forward to the scheme of the Van Eyck altarpiece, and forwarder still to the traditions that guided even Michael Angelo in his Sistine ceiling. In this plate we see Isaiah above, on the right hand, holding the legend (thus translated) : i He was opprest . . . yet He opened not His mouth ' (liii. 7). Opposite to him David : ' They pierced my hands and my feet' (Ps. xxii. 16). Below, on the right, Habakkuk : ' He had horns coming out of His hand : and there was the hiding of His power ' (iii. 4). Opposite to Habakkuk, Job : 1 Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook ? ' (xli. 1). The ' Speculum Salvationis ' has two subjects on each page, with a Latin or German text in blank verse below. We refer our readers to the end of this work for a complete list of the plates in each of these books. In the different classes of Art enumerated in this short survey, we have restricted ourselves to those which are principally referred to in the coming pages. To attempt to instance or describe all that exist would be far beyond our limit, where each class in turn might fill, and has filled, volumes of separate study. The sculpture attached to church architecture has its peculiar cycles : ancient painted glass is rich in the same. Embroidered vestments transmit the sacred story. Every crozier, candelabrum, foot of crucifix, and ecclesiastical utensil, however small, gives opportunity for Christian Art; and even a series of our Lord's Passion has found place within the compass of a walnut-shell. We therefore only point out the connection of subjects between all forms of 1 Idee d'une Collection d'Estampes. 30 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Art, which can only be understood by the thorough knowledge of a few. After the invention of printing, also, few new classes arose. The series by the German engravers — headed by Martin Schon and Albert Durer — we shall have frequent occasion to speak of. As to the great series of fresco paintings, the grandest form, in some respects, in which pictorial Art has ever appeared, they are devoted far less to the Life of our Lord than to the Legends of the Saints ; in which character they have been fully treated in the admirable series of works by the late Mrs. Jameson, of which these are intended to be the concluding volumes. It is no object of this work to give a history of Greek or Byzan- tine Art, though there will be many occasions on which we shall require to define the difference between Eastern and Western schools. For this purpose we refer to the Manual of Byzantine Art discovered at Mount Athos by M. Didron, and edited by him under the title of ' Guide de la Peinture Grecque.' INTRODUCTION. 31 Portraits of Christ. Descriptions of our Lord's outward appearance, as given in the Old Testament, whether figuring His sorrows and sufferings, or His glory and majesty, are all of a moral and symbolical kind. Allusions of a more positive nature could only be expected in the sacred record of that time when He dwelt among men. We search, however, in vain for the slightest evidence of His human, individual semblance in the writings of those disciples who knew Him so well. In this instance the instincts of earthly affection seem to have been mysteriously overruled. He whom all races of men were to call brother, was not to be too closely associated with the particular lineaments of any one. St. John, the beloved dis- ciple, could lie on the breast of Jesus with all the freedom of friendship, but not even he has left a word to indicate what manner of man was that Divine Master after the flesh. Nevertheless, one of the first thoughts that suggest themselves in the study of the History of our Lord in Art is the devout and pardonable speculation as to the character of His human person ; and the possibility of His features having been in some way handed down through intervening centuries is a vision which a pious mind unwillingly relinquishes. Legend has, in various forms, supplied this natural craving, but it is hardly necessary to add, that all accounts of pictures of our Lord taken from Himself are without historical foundation. We are therefore left to imagine the expres- sion most befitting the character of Him who took upon Himself our likeness, and looked at the woes and sins of mankind through the eyes of our mortality. And we best arrive at the solution by considering what expression is that which was never believed to belong to Deity before. It is in vain, therefore, to impute to our Lord, as His chief physiognomical distinction, the expression of grandeur, for this was possessed by the gods of the Pantheon in the highest form of human conception ; or of dignity, for the same reason ; or of power, beauty, or grace. But one thing those gods lacked — being only the work of men's hands, and the images of their fancy — and that was the expression which the natural man, HISTORY OF OUR LORD. in the awful distance between himself and a supreme and unap- proachable Being, can. never, untaught, attribute to Deity. That very quality it was which our Lord came down to make manifest. And accordingly, while He is depicted as on earth, the expression of sympathy, however blended with grandeur, dignity, power, beauty, and grace, becomes the leading characteristic which we are bound to demand at the hands of Christian Art. It must be owned that the fulfilment of this demand requires gifts of a class seldom possessed by man. The pictures of Christ, therefore, seldom satisfy the eye equally of taste and faith. Great pains have been taken by modern investigators to elucidate the question of the portraits of Christ, and all that it will ever be possible to elicit on the subject is probably known. The first representations which are mentioned appear to have been executed in gold and silver, and to have been placed in the houses of the heathen, where they were regarded on the same footing as those of other wise and good men. Thus the images of Abraham, Orpheus, and Christ, as founders of different religions, were placed by Alexander Severus (died 210) in what Gibbon calls his i private chapel,' where he is said to have propitiated them with incense and sacrifices. Also Marcellina, a woman of the Gnostic sect, who are believed to have united heathen and Christian tenets, is related by St. Augustine to have worshipped the images of Homer, Pythagoras, Christ, and St. Paul. In neither case are these images described. But we hear more particulars of a bronze group formerly at Cassarea, which consisted of a male figure standing and extending the hand to a female kneeling before him. This was seen and described by Eusebius (died 340), who adds that it was reported to represent the figure of our Lord, with that of the woman healed by touching the hem of His garment. Later writers added weight to this supposition by asserting that Julian the apostate, from contempt for the Christians, overthrew the figure of Christ, and erected his own in its stead, which, in the vengeance of Heaven, was imme- diately destroyed by lightning. But the fact of the intention of the group, and with it, therefore, the act of Julian, is contradicted by internal evidence of a far more reliable nature. For had such a statue of our Lord been known to exist, there is no doubt that in the intimate union which prevailed among the early Christian con- INTRODUCTION. 33 verts, mention would have been made of it in the writings of the Fathers of the first three centuries. That a group of this form was seen "toy Eusebius is undeniable ; also, that his description should, in after times — when the subject of Christ and the same woman was represented in the Art of the Catacombs — be so interpreted, is quite to be comprehended. But the more likely hypothesis as to the original intention of a group, executed at that early time, is that it represented the city or province of Csesarea under the allegorical figure of a female kneeling, and doing homage to the empeior of the time. This was a usual form of respect under the Koman sway, and groups tallying in every way with the description given, by Eusebius are found on coins, especially on those of the Emperor Adrian, elected emperor a.d. 117. At all events, neither this statue nor the images related to have been reverenced by the heathen were reputed to have been taken from Christ himself, or from any traditional descriptions of Him. Otherwise, with such to refer to, no controversy could have arisen as to which of the Scriptural allusions to His person were most literally to be under- stood. The fact, however, of such a controversy between the early Greek and Latin Fathers has been magnified by later writers into dimensions which Art by no means corroborates. That opposite opinions did exist there is no question ; but these seem rather to have resulted from the opposite circumstances of succeeding epochs than from any actual difference in contemporaneous ideas. Two apparently opposite views might be gathered from Scripture. There were the pathetic words of Isaiah : ' Who hath believed our report ? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground : He hath no form nor comeliness ; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him ' (liii. 1, 2). And there were the exulting words of the Psalmist: * Thou art fairer than the children of men : grace is poured into Thy lips : therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever. Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, most mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty' (Ps. xlv. 2, 3). In the 2nd and 3rd centuries it was natural that the humble and persecuted followers of Christ should attach themselves most to the passages which describe Him to be, as they then were, poor and VOL. I. F 34 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. miserable, and bearing outward signs calculated rather to avert than to attract the attention of the world. An Epicurean philosopher, Celsus — of the time of Adrian and Antoninus Pius — went even so far as to deride the Christians for maintaining their God to be small, ill-formed, and of a mean aspect. There is, however, no evidence that they carried their self-abasing ideas of Christ to this extreme, though Origen (born a.d. 186) and others openly affirm that He was devoid of all external beauty. But in the 4th century, the triumph of Christianity over its ene- mies brought an equally natural change of feeling. In proportion as they ceased to be oppressed and despised, the image of their Founder increased in loftiness and beauty. When Christendom was represented by one of the most powerful monarchs that ever sat on a throne, Christ was no longer the type for misery and worldly insignificance. The words of the Psalmist were now felt to supply the right ideal of One no longer despised on earth, but exalted in heaven. St. Jerome, especially, inveighs against the earlier view, not only basing his argument on the words of the Psalmist, but contending that had our Lord not possessed some- thing divine in His face and eyes, the Apostles would never have followed Him so readily as they did. Above all, Art began then to exercise her irresistible arguments, filling the eye with a standard of youth and beauty as regards the person of Christ, in which classic Christian Art stands alone. It appears that this view was even shared by the Jews, and curiously used against us ; for Bishop Miinter 1 quotes a learned Kabbi of the 15th century, who, resting on the tradition of his people, maintains that the Messiah mentioned by Isaiah could not be the Christian's Christ, for He was known to have been a beautiful and blooming youth. Thus the so-called controversy between the East and the West as regards the Person of Christ may be rather looked upon as the different opinions unanimously entertained at different epochs, — those of the earlier time being, as it happened, expressed chiefly by Greek writers, those of the later time by Latin. How soon reputed traditions of our Lord's outward appearance began to prevail, it would be impossible to define. That description 1 Miinter, Sinnbilder. See vol. ii., ' Christus-Bilder,' from which learned and lucid essay we have chiefly taken our authority on this subject. INTRODUCTION. 35 to which most importance is attached was not discovered earlier than in the writings of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, who lived in the 11th century. It consists in a letter purporting to have been addressed to the Senate of Borne, and describing Christ, by one Publius Lentulus, friend of Pilate, and his predecessor in the government of Juda?a, The list of the Eoman procurators proves this last assertion to be false, and history has passed the same verdict on the letter itself. It is admitted, however, to have been possibly fabricated as early as the 3rd century, and from its tenor there is no doubt of its having proceeded from a Christian source. We translate it in full from the Latin, in which form the archbishop had preserved it. ' In this time appeared a man, who lives till now, a man endowed with great powers. Men call Him a great prophet ; His own disciples term Him the Son of God. His name is Jesus Christ. He restores the dead to life, and cures the sick of all manner of diseases. This man is of noble and well-proportioned stature, with a face full of kindness and yet firmness, so that the beholders both love Him and fear Him. His hair is the colour of wine, and golden at the root — straight, and without lustre — but from the level of the ears curling and glossy, and divided down the centre after the fashion of the Nazarenes. 1 His forehead is even and smooth, His face without blemish, and enhanced by a tempered bloom ; His countenance in- genuous and kind. Nose and mouth are in no way faulty. His beard is full, of the same colour as His hair, and forked in form ; His eyes blue, and extremely brilliant. In reproof and rebuke He is formidable ; in exhortation and teaching, gentle and amiable of tongue. None have seen Him to laugh; but many, on the con- trary, to weep. His person is tall ; His hands beautiful and straight. In speaking He is deliberate and grave, and little given to loquacity. In beauty surpassing most men.' Another description is found in the writings of St. John of Damas- cus, a Greek theologian, who flourished in the 8th century, and warmly espoused the cause of images during the iconoclastic struggle. This is also taken from earlier writings, though it is probably of later date than the letter of Lentulus. He says that Jesus was of stately growth, 'with eyebrows that joined together, 1 Put for Nazarites. 3(5 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. beautiful eyes, curly hair, in the prime of life, with black beard, and with a yellow complexion and long fingers, like His mother.' Though there is little to supply a portrait in either of these somewhat differing descriptions, which are probably only examples of others of the same class, yet they seem to have been soon and not unnaturally followed by pictures, for the credibility of which various evidence was resorted to. St. Luke was asserted to have been a painter, and to have taken our Lord from life — St. Peter to have drawn Him from memory — and Nicodemus, though a ruler of the Jews, with whom graven images were forbidden, was pro- nounced to have been a sculptor, and to have carved the Holy Image at Lucca. Pilate also was declared to have secretly taken a portrait of Christ. A vision of our Lord himself is believed to have ap- peared at the consecration of the ancient church of St. John Lateran, which gave rise to the mosaic there preserved; and miraculous por- traits — or, as the expression is, ' pictures of Christ made without hands ' — such as the impression of His divine countenance upon the winding-sheet, or upon His robe, or other textures, appeared, duly attested, in various parts of Christendom. By the 6th century every principal Christian community had some sacred image of this kind to show, till, at the time of the iconoclastic feud, their very number and variety became an evidence against them. For which, it was asked, was the true portrait among so many ?— that possessed by the Bomans ? or that represented by the Hebrews ? or that treasured by the Greeks ? or that worshipped by the Ethiopians ? — since all in turn maintain that Christ had borne the features of their particular race ! Thus it need only be observed, that at the seventh General Council held at Constantinople in 754, all the pictures purporting to have descended direct from Christ or His Apostles were condemned. On the score of Art, the stories of the portraits of our Lord produced by the impression of His features upon cloth require more particular attention. That connected with King Abgarus of Edessa is by far the earliest. The short apocryphal Gospel, entitled ' Christ and Abgarus,' is mentioned by Eusebius, and is still extant. It is headed, ' A Copy of a Letter written by King Abgarus to Jesus, and sent to Him by Ananias, his Footman, to Jerusalem, inviting Him to Edessa.' It begins with greetings from Abgarus to Jesus, 'the good Saviour,' of INTRODUCTION. 37 whose cures, without the use of medicine or herbs, the king has heard.. He therefore earnestly begs Him to make a journey to Edess.a, to cure him of a disease under which he is suffering ; adding, ' My city is indeed small, but neat, and large enough for us both.' Our Lord replies that He cannot come, for that He must fulfil the ends of His mission amongst the Jews; but adds, that, after His Ascension, He will send one of His disciples, 1 who will cure your disease, give life to you, and all that are with you.' This is the end of the story, in which no mention is made of any picture. The date of this version is the fourth century. In the 8th century, St. John of Damascus alludes to a further tradition, that Abgarus, out of pure love to our Lord, had desired to possess His picture ; and by the 10th century, the request for the picture is connected with the disease of the king, and desired as a means of cure. 1 In all dates the legend has many forms. According to one, Abgarus, instead of a messenger to invite, sends a painter to portray Christ. But the painter finds an insurmountable difficulty in the light which beams from the Lord's countenance. Christ, knowing the thoughts of the messenger, takes His robe, and pressing it to His countenance, leaves a perfect portrait upon it. This He sends to King Abgarus, who is cured thereby. Another version of greater circumstantiality and variety is edited by the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (died 959), who states his materials to have been derived from written documents and from oral tradition. It is as follows : — ' Abgarus, King of Edessa, suffering from the twofold infliction of gout and leprosy, withdrew from the sight of men. Ananias, one of his servants, returning from a journey to Egypt, tells him of the wonderful cures by Christ, of which he had heard in Palestine. In the hope of obtaining relief, Abgarus writes to Christ, and charges Ananias, who was not only a good traveller but a skilful painter, that if Christ should not be able to come, He should at all events send him His portrait. Ananias finds Christ, as He is in the act of performing miracles and teaching the multitude, in the open air. As he is not able to approach Him for the crowd, he mounts a rock 1 Die Sage vom Unsprung der Ch.ristus-Bild.er, von Wilhelni Grimm, p. 32. We take our sketch of the Abgarus and St. Veronica legends chiefly from this learned source. 38 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. not far off. Thence, lie fixes his eyes upon Christ, and begins to take His likeness. Jesus, who sees him, and also knows in spirit the con- tents of the letter, sends Thomas to bring him to Him, writes His answer to Abgarus, and gives it to him. But seeing that Ananias still lingers, Jesus calls for water, and having washed His face, He wipes it on a cloth, on which, by His divine power, there remains a perfect portrait of His features. This He gives to Ananias, charging him to take it to Abgarus, so that his longing may be satisfied, and his disease cured. On the way Ananias passes by the city of Hierapolis, but remains outside the gates, and hides the holy cloth in a heap of freshly made bricks. At midnight the inhabi- tants of Hierapolis perceive that this heap of bricks is surrounded with fire. They discover Ananias, and he owns the supernatural character of the object hidden among the bricks. They find, not only the miraculous cloth, but more still ; for, by a mysterious virtue, a brick that lay near the cloth has received a second impress of the divine image. And, as no fire was discoverable except the light that proceeded from the picture, the inhabitants kept the brick as a sacred treasure, and let Ananias go on his way. He gives King Abgarus the letter and the cloth, who is immediately cured.' A picture in the collection of the late Prince Consort, formerly at Kensington Palace (the choicest works of which have now, in fulfilment of His Koyal Highness' s wish, been presented by Her Majesty to the National Gallery), shows a curious series of this legend, by a late Byzantine hand, though probably, in the un- changeableness of all subjects belonging to the Greek Church, taken from a much earlier work. This points to further variations of the same theme. In the centre is the head of our Lord on a cloth (see woodcut, No. 5), the hair divided in the middle, and the beard forked, so far agreeing with the description by Lentulus. Within the cruci- form spaces of the glory are three letters— intended to represent O UN, the Being— often introduced, in Greek Art, round the head of our Saviour. The inscription below the head, in the faulty Greek common to works of this class, represents the words to ayiov fj,avBv\iov (the holy cloth). Around this are ten small pictures representing the legend. These are of no merit, and very obscure in meaning, but one of them, of which we give an illus- INTRODUCTION. 39 Abgarus Portrait of Christ. (Prince Consort's Collection. ) tration the size of the original (see woodcut, No. 6), represents King Abgarus in bed, receiving the miraculous picture from the hands of the messenger. In the time of the Imperial editor of this last story, the original cloth was at Constantinople; another at Rome, in the church of S. Sylvestro ; a third at Genoa; a purposely con- trived false copy in the hands of King Chosroes of Persia, who re- quested it for the healing of his possessed daughter ; while the brick also, which possessed the photogra- phic power of impressing its image on the nearest object, was still at Hiermiolis whpnCP it bfld fnrnishpfl 6 King Abgarus receiving miraculous J-lltJItipoilb, Wnente It ndU. IUrniSlieU Portrait. (Prince Consort's Collection.) 40 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. fresh images to other cities. It may be added, that the replica of the cloth still exists in S. Sylvestro at Eome, and has had copies taken from it in the more common way, one of which forms the frontispiece of Grimm's essay. Here Art, as in many cases, upsets all tradition by incontrovertible evidence of her own, and proclaims this sacred picture to be a weak and ill-drawn work of the 16th century. Before quitting the subject, the Emperor Constantine adds another version, which connects the legend of Abgarus with that, better known, of St. Veronica, who was destined to carry the subject over from the schools of the East to those of the later West. We give it. As Christ was proceeding on His weary way to Calvary, and the sweat running down in bloody drops from His face, He took a piece of linen from one of His disciples, and having wiped His face, the divine image was found impressed upon it. Thomas kept the cloth, and, after the Ascension of Christ, made it over, as he had been ordered, to Thaddeus, who was instructed to bring this picture, not painted with hands, to King Abgarus, so as to fulfil the words of Christ. But Thaddeus lingers first in Edessa, in the house of a Jew of the name of Tobias, with the view of making himself first known to Abgarus by his miracles. Accordingly he heals the sick by calling on the name of Christ. Abgarus hears of him, and hoping that he is the disciple whom Jesus had promised to send, summons him to his presence. As Thomas enters, he lifts the picture to his forehead, and so bright a light proceeds from it that Abgarus, terrified, and not thinking of his lameness, leaps from his bed, and goes to meet him. He takes the cloth, presses it upon his head and his limbs, and feels himself strengthened. The leprosy begins to disappear, only upon the king's forehead do a few marks remain. As Thaddeus converts him to the truth, he becomes stronger and stronger, and when he is baptized, the last marks disappear from his forehead. Abgarus is only prevented by the Roman domination from making war upon the Jews. In every way this edition of the legend leads us to that of St. Veronica, always connected in the earlier times with the destruc- tion of Jerusalem. Many versions of this also exist, all bearing the same general features, which we may condense in the following form. INTRODUCTION. 41 Veronica was the woman who had been healed by touching the hem of Christ's garment. She greatly longed for a picture of Him. She therefore brought a cloth to Luke, who was a painter. When the picture was finished, both thought it very like, but when they next saw Christ, they found that His face was quite different. Veronica wept, and Luke painted another picture, and then a third, but both were less like than the first. Then God heard the prayers of Veronica, and Christ said to her, * Unless I come to your help, all Luke's art is in vain, for my face is only known to Him who sent me.' Then He said to the woman, ' Go home and prepare me a meal; before the day is over, I will come to you.' Veronica joyfully hastened home and prepared the meal. Soon Christ arrived, and asked for water to wash. She gave it Him, and also a cloth to wipe with : He pressed it to His face, and it received a miraculous portrait of His features. ' This is like me,' He said, 'and will do great things,' and He gave it to her. Meanwhile Caesar reigned at Rome in great majesty. Sometimes the tale makes it the Emperor Tiberius, sometimes the Emperor Vespasian. Whichever it was, each was afflicted with a dreadful malady. Tiberius had worms in his head ; Vespasian, a wasp's nest in his nose. It was an awful sight. The emperor hears of a Great Physi- cian in Judasa, who heals every sickness. He sends a messenger to Jerusalem, who finds that the Jews have killed the Physician three years before. The messenger questions Pilate, who is greatly alarmed, and he and the Jews mutually accuse each other. Then the messenger inquires for Christ's followers : they bring him Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, and, lastly, Veronica. He demands to see the portrait of Christ. She first denies that she has it, then owns that she keeps it locked up, and afterwards fetches it. The messenger adores it, and begs her to lend it to him to take to the emperor. She consents on the condition of going with it herself. They therefore depart by sea for Rome, and have a marvellously short passage. Veronica is received with honour, and taken before the emperor. The messenger explains that the Great Physician has been killed by Pilate and the Jews, and that he has brought a woman who possesses a miraculous portrait of Him. She holds up the cloth, the emperor believes, and is immediately cured. We give an illustration from a book of pen-drawings of the vol. i. a 42 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. 14th century at the Ambrosian Library at Milan, which contains a complete series of this legend (woodcut, No. 7). In the next picture the same subject is repeated, but wasps are falling, as big as pigeons, from the emperor's head, and going into a hole by the side of the throne. With this miracle the cure Veronica before Emperor. (Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.) is complete. Pilate is then cast into a dungeon, where he kills himself, and his dead body is thrown into the Tiber, where it is attacked by horrible demons. Vespasian, being perfectly recovered, determines with his son Titus to revenge the death of Christ upon the Jews. They take a great army and besiege Jerusalem. The Jews are slain by thousands, till the bodies cannot be buried. At length Jerusalem is taken, and vengeance follows. The captives are crucified, the four soldiers who divided the robe are each cut in four qiiarters, and the rest are sold for thirty pence apiece. This is the substance of the earlier Veronica legend, in which the INTRODUCTION. 43 miraculous picture is properly the ' volto santo ' (a well-known form of imprecation in the Middle Ages — ' God's image '), and not the ' sudarium,' which is the name proper only to the later version. Eepresentations even of this earlier legend do not begin before the 14th century, which makes it probable that the story was not known until that time, when the apocryphal Gospels came again into repute. For the Greek name of Bernice (latine Veronica) is given in' the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus to the woman who was cured by the touch of Christ's garment. The etymology of the word probably supplied the idea of the transfer of the long-known Abgarus story to this female saint, called indiscriminately Bernice, Beronica, and Veronica — Vera Icon signifying in hybrid Greek the sacred picture. 1 The picture itself is called also 1 a Veronica.' The earlier story may be always recognised in Art by the less suffering look of the head, and also by the absence of the crown of thorns, which has no business to be seen when the occasion is not connected with the procession to Calvary. The cloth is some- times held by the saint herself, as in the Cologne picture, No. 687 in the National Gallery, or by angels. The later story is of more meagre character. Veronica is no longer the woman who was cured, but simply a daughter of Jeru- salem, whose house stood on the way to Calvary. Seeing our Lord pass, on His way to be crucified, she compassionated Him, and taking her veil from her head gave it Him to wipe His distressed face. He returned it to her with the sacred image impressed upon it. This version is recognised by the Eoman Church, and is related in the 'Acta Sanctorum.' Her house is also shown in the Via Dolorosa at Jerusalem. The history of this saint as regards this simpler legend has been given by Mrs. Jameson. We may also allude here to a carved image of our Lord, long worshipped- at Lucca, where it still exists, — attributed to the hand of Nicodemus. Dante alludes to it in his twenty-first Canto, where, in the fifth circle of Malebolge, the public peculators are punished : — Here the hallowed visage saves not (Qui nou ha luogo il santo volto). 1 By the same rule, vespa, a wasp, indicates the origin of Vespasian's terrible com- plaint. 44 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. As far as respects Art, a reference to the image shows it to be a work possibly of the 14th century. A picture of Christ as dark as a Moor — from Canticles, 1 1 am dark but comely,' a verse applied to the Church — is sometimes seen on a Veronica cloth. It appears to be strictly of modern origin, and was probably taken from the much-darkened Byzantine representa- tions. No legend of a black face as associated with Christ exists. In considering the points of divergence between the earlier and the later character of these legends, we can but be struck by the consistency, even in their difference, with the source and history of Art. The desire for a portrait of the Eedeemer, and its miraculous powers, are the same with each; but in the Abgarus and early Veronica stories these powers are applied to the gifts of healing ; being thus in strict keeping with the Art of the Catacombs, where our Lord's beneficent miracles are the main subjects. On the other hand, in the later Veronica legend, this purpose is entirely dropped, and the tale is only calculated to bring into strong view the sufferings of our Lord, which, by the 15th century, had almost superseded every other historical illustration of His life. Indeed the more exaggeration is given to the subject of the Passion, the more sure, as we shall have occasion to see, are we to find St. Veronica and her veil present. "We have not hitherto mentioned the character and physiognomy given to Christ. It is usual to dwell upon a so-called type of our Lord's head, derived from remotest antiquity, and continued in one unbroken descent to the masters of Italy and Northern Europe. But this idea has obtained a prominence not sufficiently warranted, to our view, by the only authorities on which it can rest, namely, by works of Art. At all events, if we seek to establish the theory of a type of Christ, it must be admitted with very great limitations ; such as being confined to the Byzantine school only, and as con- sisting even there of nothing more than the division of the hair down the centre of the head — and that feature sometimes failing — and of the long curls on the shoulders ; these last being doubtless in allu- sion to Jesus as the true Nazarite. And even this distinction loses its meaning by being extended in great measure to all heads alike — to Adam and Eve, to patriarchs and prophets, to disciples and apostles — except where, as in the case of Peter and Paul, they INTRODUCTION. 45 possessed far more marked types of their own— to John the Bap- tist, and to angels and archangels. Not even the pointed beard — bifurcata, mentioned in Lentnlus' letter — is by any means a constant feature. In the miraculous picture impressed on cloth, and preserved in the sacristy of St. Peter's, at Eome, and in another, professing equal antiquity and supernatural origin, to which we have alluded, in S. Bartolomeo, at Genoa, of both of which careful drawings have been recently made, 1 the beard is scrupulously and strongly divided into three points, one on each side and one in the centre. Let us here retrace our steps a little, and glance at the more prominent classes of physiognomy given to Christ in the strivings of early Christian Art. The first known conception of the Saviour's features (there were, as we have seen, no portraits) was inspired by the lingering feeling for classic forms, and is found in the earlier monuments of the Roman Catacombs. Here the type of Christ (woodcut, No. 8, over leaf) is simply that of youth, and of the expression proper to that period. Christ accordingly appears before us clad in that tender sweetness of unsuffering and unforeboding youthfulness, which only gains pathos from our sense of its ideal untruth. Here we seek for no expression of sympathy, for sorrow has not been known, nor even for that of sanctity, where innocence is paramount. Still in the well-nigh im- possibility of duly embodying the double idea of the Godhead and the Manhood, we look the more approvingly on these early represen- tations; which only attempt the first. For classic Art gave young and beautiful forms to Christ, as she had before given them to the pagan gods, siuch being the highest conception she possessed of divine purity; as we give them still and have given them throughout all Christian ages to. angels. It is thought, too, that the title of ' Son of God,' acting upon minds accustomed to associate this relationship with the great and ever-juvenile demigods of antiquity, conduced at first to invest our Lord with the attributes of youth. However this may be, that, again, cannot be strictly called a type of Christ which is not confined to Him. The youthful being who stands touching an upright mummy with his staff, or gently smiling before the judgment-seat of Pilate, is known to be the Lord by his act and 1 See Art Journal, No. 77, May 1861. 46 HISTORY OP OUE LORD. position; but the figure of Moses unloosening his sandals, or Daniel, erect between two lions, or David holding a sling — and here more rightfully — is in many instances equally as young. Admitting, however, the type of the Christ in the earlier examples of the Cata- combs to consist in youth, there fails even that very slender sign, supposed to be the indispensable distinction — the divided hair. Here, like the heads of Bacchus or Apollo, the hair is short, clustering and united in front, though somewhat longer behind. "We give an illustration from an early sarcophagus in the Catacombs. Even as time advanced, and the apparent years of our Lord advanced with it (for in the first centuries of Art the age given to Christ becomes a date), the head of Christ, though bearded and furrowed, keeps its 8 classic Head of Christ, undivided hair. We abstain from instancing here those two so-called portraits of Christ, existing on the walls of the Catacombs of Rome — and curiously distinct from all other representations of Him there — which are generally cited as fixed points from which all heads of Christ diverge. Investigation shows both these pictures to be surrounded with too much obscurity, as to intention and period, to be taken as any safe data. The first, forming the centre of a ceiling in the catacomb of St. Calixtus, is, in the absence of all nimbus, only conjectured to be Christ ; the second, on a wall in the catacomb of S. Ponziano, is an example of the mechanical and forbidding, and decidedly later phase of the Byzantine concep- tion : both, excepting the one distinction of the divided hair, are too widely different in feature and expression to allow of any theory of a common origin. Little, therefore, can be gathered from heads thus uncertain in intention, vague in date, opposite in character, and, above all, in the ruined state to which time and injury have reduced them. •* In the wide realm and long reign of Byzantine Art — though in many respects allied with classic traditions — we enter into another distinct form of the human countenance, and therefore of that of the Lord. The hair divided in the centre of the forehead may here be said to constitute an unfailing sign of identity. At the same time INTRODUCTION. 47 there was nothing in this feature to prevent the utmost possible difference in every other. We find, accordingly, in the works of Byzantine origin, as much diversity as might be expected from the differing conditions to which Art was subjected — from the mere mechanical reproduction of the same ever-copied and ever-deterior- ating pattern, to the work of such artists who, though conforming in treatment of subject to the overruling laws of the Greek Church, yet infused into it a feeling for beauty and elevation of character. That the first-named class of works should exist in far greater abundance than the latter is only natural, and it is to them that the so-called type of Christ's head in Byzantine Art is traceable. We see, therefore, our Lord, as in our illustration (No. 9), in- vested with the harshest features, and the meanest and most forbidding expression — with His face furrowed with lines of age rather than thought, and of sourness rather than sorrow — a conception, in short, directly opposed to any view of His nature, and which may be partially ascribed to the obdurate materials, such as mosaic and enamel work, in which the head of Christ was often rendered. On the other hand, however, and though not often, yet frequently enough to raise a strong protest against the general con- demnation passed by some authors on Byzantine Art, 1 we meet with examples of 9 Byzantine Head of Christ. Eastern conceptions of the head of the Saviouf, which, for beauty and grandeur, are unequalled, perhaps, by the efforts of any time. We take an illustration (No. 10, over leaf), to which, however, no woodcut can do justice — from a MS. in the British Museum (Harleian, 1810) of the 12th century, con- temporary, it is believed, with the head given above. Here Christ has assumed a solemn and stern aspect, always more or less charac- teristic of the Art of the Greek Church. He is no longer, as in our classic illustration, the God of a race who deified the pleasures of this life, or the expression of an Art whose highest principle was 1 For example, by M. Rio. 48 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. 10 Byzantine Head of Christ. the sense of repose, but He is a Being so far fitted for Christian worship as embodying the great fact of Sacrifice and Suffering, though combined with a sternness which forbids all thought of sympathy. But whether this sternness rises into beauty or sinks into ugliness, the same form and ex- pression will be found more or less to per- vade every other head accompanying that of Christ, thus showing that the type was that given to the general human physiognomy in that particular school and period, and not to the separate person of our Saviour. This diversity also bears witness against the supposed principle, too sweepingly assigned to the Greek Church, of repre- senting Christ as devoid of all beauty. It would be impossible to follow with any accuracy the compli- cated history of the Art which proceeded from Byzantium. In the refuge and encouragement afforded by Rome at different times to schools of Greek artists, from the iconoclastic period — the early part of the 8th century — to the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1206, the cards of Art were too intricately shuffled to be, perhaps, ever clearly sorted out. Perhaps the broadest definition of the beginnings of Western Art, as opposed to Eastern, may be said to consist in its unmitigated rudeness. The time of Charlemagne and his dynasty — what is called the Carlovingian period — offers little that is not equally barbaric in design and execution. In the convulsions of kingdoms, Art had returned to the quarry whence she had sprung, and had to be hewn out afresh, and by very different hands. Here Christ, like all around Him, is a mere grotesque deformity in shape and expression ; or if the head occasionally rises into a kind of stony solemnity from the nega- tion of all expression, the effect may be traced in part to some Byzantine influence. The Anglo-Saxon period, which, in respect of Art, seems to mingle both classical reminiscences and Byzantine traditions with a grandly fantastic native element, offers more interest. Christ is here more strictly separate ; the disciples have one class of features, INTRODUCTION. -it- being chiefly given with classically formed profiles, the angels and archangels another- and Christ a third. This is of an abstract and weird character, conveying a strange sense of the supernatural, perfectly in keeping with the abstract nature of the more general conception, which represents our Lord in glory. The head rises grandly above the stony stare, the divided hair is cinctured with a fillet and jewel, and the beard is formed into three points. The lines are few and equal, as if by a hand accustomed to incise them on a harder material. (See head in diagram of creation, woodcut No. 19.) Another form, with a bushy wig of hair, of which we annex an illustration (No. 11), is more fantastic, though not without a certain grandeur. This is taken from an Anglo-Saxon MS. in the British Museum, of the year 1000. (Biblia Cotton. Tiberius, C. VI.) We now enter streams of Art too numerous and self-intersecting to be pursued in this brief notice. The n A u g io-saxoa Head of Christ, human head here serves of course, as in all Art, to distinguish one school from another, but it would be perilous to attempt any nicety of connoisseurship. We annex, however, a few illustrations of closely connected schools and times. The small illustration (No. 12) is from a French Bible of the 1 3th century, ornamented with above 1000 pen-drawings, in the British Museum. It represents the upper part of Christ's figure in the act of creation. The youthfulness of the con- ception renders it peculiar. Our next specimen (No. 13, over leaf) is English in origin, taken from a psalter (Biblia Begia, 2 A. XXII., in the British Museum, of about the 12 Head of Christ, year 1250. This is reduced from a head half the size of life. Here the fact that the type of Christ's head is the same as that of contemporary persons is strikingly borne out, for VOL. I. H 50 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. 13 Head of Christ. the head of Henry III. (1216-72), discovered on the wall of the Windsor cloisters, is curiously identical in form and expression, though more rude. Our next woodcut (No. 14) is from a Belgian MS. — the Psalter and Offices — belonging to Mr. Holford — pronounced to be of about the year 1310. This is also simply the head, which serves as a frontispiece to the various events of the canonical hours. Our illustration is the size of the original, which, except as being- larger, differs in no way from an also separate head of John the Baptist which precedes it by a few pages. The fourth woodcut (No. 15) is from an English MS. belong- ing also to Mr. Holford, of the early part of the 14th century, in which Christ as Creator is reproving our disobedient parents. Other illustrations of Christ in this work will supply ample proof of the diversities of representation during this and previous centuries. Generally speaking, however, and without affecting any precision, there is a sort of analogy between the heads of Christ and the generally received characteristics of the principal northern nations, even to this time. The conception of Christ's countenance in English miniatures has a certain earnest down- rightness, in French works it is decidedly gay, while the German have an expression of thought. "With all alike, the person of our Lord, when represented in the act of ascension, or in glory, has a certain abstract countenance which gives elevation to the most diverse fea- tures ; but when seen among men, there is not hing by which He can be so distinctly and certainly identified as by the necessary and seldom absent cruciform nimbus. We seek, therefore, in vain for a sole and continuous type of our blessed Lord during those periods when the faculty of representing individual expression was yet undeveloped. As long as Christ was depicted like other men, io iieud of cimst. 52 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. and other men like Him, He cannot be said to have had a char- acter of His own. No type, strictly speaking, therefore, could begin till Christ stood isolated by the personal individualities of those around Him. This power was partially reserved for the Italian masters of the renaissance of Art, which began in the 13th century. That they should have reverentially retained the few characteristics transmitted through the Byzantine forms — the divided and falling hair, the forked beard, the somewhat lengthy face — was but natural : their business was to vary other faces, not that of our Lord. But even that cannot be said to have been successfully done until the true painter of the human soul arose. Fra Angelico is admitted to have been the first who attained the wondrous gift of expression, by which each individual received a separate existence. He therefore may be said to have been the first who isolated Christ. Whether the character given to the Lord rose in proportion with that of those around him, is another ques- tion. We need but to look at the picture by Fra Angelico in the National Gallery, to see that while surrounded with greater variety, and higher types of individual beauty, earnestness, and devotion, than almost any other known picture presents, the head of the Christ is negative and unmeaning. Other instances, however, show that while the Frate's pious hand seems lamed when address- ing itself to that awful countenance, yet the expression at which he aimed was that most proper to Christ — the divine sympathy towards the human race. It is to be regretted that the great painters of the beginning of the 15th century — Florentine, Paduan, Venetian — have left so few models of their conception of the Lord's head. The Madonna and the Infant reign supreme at this time ; the Entombment and the Ascension also present His dead or His glorified features ; but our Lord as He walked among men is scarcely seen. It would seem as if, in the first triumphs over the living face of one of the most powerful and beautiful races of men, they shrank* from a head in which something better than the pride of the eye and the power of the brain was demanded. The great Florentine giants of the 15t.h century — Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghir- landajo, the Lippi — have hardly left a conception of Christ in His living manhood — nor Bellini, nor Mantegna. Nevertheless, the INTRODUCTION. 53 15th century did not elapse without bequeathing the profoundest conception of the Son of Man which mortal hand has ever executed. Most (of our readers will think of that dim ghost of a head, still lingering on the walls of an old refectory in Milan, which, like its divine original, has suffered the contempt and injury of man, yet stiill defies the world to produce its equal. .Leonardo da Vinci's Cena is confessed to have been a culminating point in Art : in nothing does it show this more than in surrounding Christ with the highest forms of intelligence, earnestness, beauty, and indi- viduality in male heads, and yet preserving the Divine Master's superiority to all. We will not attempt to analyse the causes for this, though perhaps the intense pathos of that sympathising look may give a clue. After . this there are few heads of Christ, as living., on which we dwell with that sadness of admiration which is the evidence of their affinity to our higher part, though the utmos t pathos has been given to the dead features j as, for instance, in the Christ in the large Pieta, by Perugino, in the Pitti, and that in the same subject by Francia, in the National Gallery, which are both of a very high order. Nor could Raphael run hiis course without setting the stamp of his mind on this sacred head. But this does not come within the category of conceptions of Cmri&t as man ; for his exquisite head in the Disputa embodies Christ, though seen with His wounds, as in glory. As Art exulted more and more in her mechanical triumphs, the likelihood of a true homage to that head diminishes. The juicy and facile brush of the Venetian school scarcely rises above a courteous and well-liking benevolence of expression, and Christ in Titian's Tribute Money falls even below that standard. Albert Diirer, how- ever g;rand in his Man of Sorrows, is most so when he hides the face. Flemish Art passes from the meanest and ugliest concep- tions, in the engravings of the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16>th century, to the handsome, florid, earthly head by Rubens, and that, more refined, but scarcely more spiritual, by Van Dyck ; while the highest conception of latter days was reserved for that Dutchman who occasionally transfigures vulgar forms with a glory that Ihides every blemish; so that Christ, under the hand of Rembrandt, though not beautiful, and not dignified, has yet a holiness which scarcely any other master has attained. 54 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. The Fall of Luctfek and of the Rebel Angels. Ital. La Caduta di Lucifero e de' suoi Seguaci. Fr. La Chute des Anges. Germ. Der Sturz der Engel. The Fall of Lucifer and of the rebellious augels occupies the first place in the chronology of Sacred Art, as the Day of Judgment the last. The fact of angels who ' kept not their first estate ' is alluded to, rather than expressly told, both in the Old and New Testament. In this manner it is employed by Isaiah (xiv. 12) as a metaphor of the prophesied fall of the kings of Babylon, 6 How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning ! ' — a fall from heaven being both a Hebrew and classic figure for expressing a great and sudden calamity. In this sense also, as an allusion, it is used by St. Peter (2 ii. 4), who says, ' For if Grod spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judg- ment,' so He ' knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.' But, beyond these purposes of metaphor and illustration, no hint is afforded in the Scriptures of the mode and period of so stupendous an event, which thus, in the reticence of Revelation, is left to concern us no more than as a mysterious warning, and as a clue to the comprehension of the final judgments prophesied against the powers of Evil in the book of the Revelation. Whether, therefore, the rebellion in heaven was the beginning of evil, and the region to which the apostate angels fell the first insti- tution of hell, are questions on which speculation is useless. Here, as throughout this work, we cannot too often recall the words of Bede, ' we cannot know that on which truth keeps silence.' The existence of evil, however, in the shape of the temptation which caused our first parents to err, has been accepted by early Theology iu evidence that the fall of the angels preceded the creation of the world. St. Augustine (4th century), by a curious theory, founded on those strained typical comparisons so greatly in favour with both early and medieval Fathers, goes so far as to opine that the creation of the angels took place on that first day, when God said, ' Let there be light/ and their fall on the second day, when He 1 divided FALL OF LUCIFEIl. 55 the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament ' — on which subject we shall have more to say. Having thus supposed that the angels fell before man was made, Theology went further still, and a scheme was sug- gested which ingeniously connects the Creation of the World and the Fall of Man with the forfeited estate and ruined natures of Lucifer and his companions. With the true naivete of fable, it is related by the writers of the 12th century, and doubtless by others of an earlier date, that Man was created by God to repair the breaches in heaven occasioned by the lapse of so many angelic spirits. That for this reason he became the object of Satan's especial malice, who saw in his ruin the means of revenging himself on the Almighty. Further, that having succeeded in tempting him to fall, the plan of man's recovery was devised by the Second Person of the Trinity, urged on to it by the remon- strances of the angels, who complain that the caves of Tartarus alone are replenished by the race of Man, but not, as had been intended, the thrones of heaven. 1 This was a scheme so generally accepted, that even a Life of Christ was considered legitimately to begin with the Fall of Lucifer. Here we find the scheme of our Milton's 'Paradise Lost;' — by Addison and other critics attributed to the unassisted inspiration of his genius, but which, imbued as he was with Italian literature and art, must have been so familiar to him, as a theological tradition, as to require no acknowledgment of its origin. The Archangel Raphael thus relates to Adam the announcement — on the return of the Son, victorious with His saints — of the divine intention to create a new race in place of those spirits whom Lucifer had drawn after him : — But lest his heart exalt him in the harm Already done to have dispeopled Heaven, My damage fondly deemed, I can repair That detriment, if such it be to lose Self-lost, and in a moment will create Another world, out of one man a race Of men innumerable, there to dwell, Not here, till by degrees of merit raised, They open to themselves at length the way St. Bonaventura. Vita ChristL 56 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Up hither, under long obedience try'd, And earth be changed to Heav'n, and Heav'n to Earth, One kingdom, joy and union without end. Paradise Lost, book viii That Art, as well as Poetry, should receive the impress of these theological ideas was rationally to be expected, and thus the fall of the Angels — and sometimes, as we shall see, their creation — is found consistently heading various series of the Creation of the World and the History of Adam and Eve. The character and personality of Lucifer himself was a frequent subject with the fervid preachers of the 11th and the succeeding century. The great haughty spirit, who, in right of his rank as seraph, had stood above the throne of God— 'Above it' (the throne) * stood the seraphim ' (Isa. vi. 2) — was held up like a hero of FALL OF LUCIFETt. 57 wickedness in the ears of an imaginative race, invested with all those far-fetched analogies and comparisons which in those days doubtless formed the charm and strange moral of such tales. His crime, according to the curious interpretation of the 12th century, consisted in not being content to stand — there, where only the highest order of angelic beings were privileged to stand at all — but, in a blasphemous ambition, to assume a position in heaven proper only to the Holy Trinity. For Isaiah saith, < How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God : I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation ' (xiv. 12, 13). This presumptuous desire to sit — in opposition to his duty to stand — is the prominent figure under which St. Bernard presented the apostasy of Lucifer to his hearers. We meet with traces of this idea in Art, namely, in a Bible Historiee of the 13th century, belonging to Mr. Holford; where Lucifer, a grand and disdainful figure, is seated on a throne, while three angels, standing by, look on with gestures of surprise. We give a fac-simile of the figure of Lucifer (woodcut, No. 16). To this there followed an ingenious speculation on the symbolism of his wings, for, like all seraphs, as described by Isaiah, Lucifer had six wings ; two with which to hide his face — or, as being one of God's counsellors, the purposes of Deity ; two with which to hide his feet, or, in other words, the messages of the Most High ; and two with which to fly. In these two last lay the respective causes for hie power and for his fall. For by the two centre wings, according to St. Bernard, 1 not affirming, but conjecturing and opining,' were represented — by the one the light of Nature, and by the other the ardour of Grace. By the one the seraphim shone with intellect, by the other they glowed with love. But Lucifer, inclining only to intellect — true light-bearer, as his name bespeaks — preferred, in his pride, to shine rather than to burn, to use one wing and not both; for the shining glorified himself, while the burning rendered homage to God. Thus disdaining to stand where it was forbidden him to sit, and unable to fly with only one wing on which to lean, there remained no other alternative, in this inexorable syllogism, than for the perverse seraph to fall — that fall from which, having VOL. I. i 53 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. been tempted by bis own innate pride, and not, like his victim, man, by evil counsels from without, he forfeited all power of recovery. The following is another version of the origin of that pride which came before the seraph's fall. It is related that when the angels were created, Lucifer was the first who broke out into a hymn to the thrice holy Creator, to which all the other angels immediately responded. For this G-od gave him praise, which so elated his proud spirit that he began to aspire to be equal with God, and to persuade his fellows to join him in rebellion. And here the angels are described as having thought and acted much as mortal men would have done ; for some took his part at once, but others pre- ferred to remain neutral, and await the event, with the intention of siding with the strongest in the end. These were called the Doubters, and they received justly the same punishment, being cast out of heaven with the rest. Lucifer is also said to have been distinguished from the rest by a large crown, which seems to have belonged to him in the quality of light-bearer. 1 Of this idea we see traces in the crown some- times worn by the serpent when tempting Eve. The subject of the Fall of the Angels required too great a deve- lopment of the mechanical powers of Art to be treated otherwise than rarely and meagrely by the early artists. Nevertheless, no con- temptible example is found in a Bible of the 10th century, in the British Museum, where the subject occupies the whole of the first page. The scene is very dignified. The Deity — for there is no nimbus to indicate which Person of the Trinity — sits solemnly in an almond- shaped glory, upheld by two angels ; while two more hide their hands, in token of respect, beneath their drapery. From the threshold of heaven the angels are seen falling in attitudes indicating no small knowledge on the part of the unknown artist of nine centuries ago. They are in human forms — denuded of wings and drapery — the angel stripped till nothing but the man is left. Their faces are caricatures — those lowest being the most hideous ; Lucifer himself lies beneath, brutified already with a tail — his person enveloped, strange to say, in an almond-shaped glory, which a red dragon seizes in his jaws and encircles with his coils. This is a unique instance, it is believed, of Satan thus encircled with an attribute hardly seen even sur- 1 Fabricius, vol. i. p. 37. FALL OF LUCIFER. 59 rounding the persons of angels. But here all its glory is dimmed. It is dull and dark, and was probably introduced to distinguish the arch-rebel from his followers. On other occasions greater dramatic action is given to the powers above. Michael, as the captain of the armies of the Lord — or three archangels, as in Cimabue's ruined fresco in S. Francesco at Assisi, are made striking with their lances, from the semicircle of heaven, at two or three falling figures in strange postures of foreshortening. In an early example, 1 Michael stands alone, with a small falling figure on each side with flapping wings, like empty sails which have lost all buoyancy — and as if, according to the quaint moral, Nature and Grace alike failed to support them. Generally Lucifer, already transformed into a dragon-like form, lies below ; sometimes he is un- distinguishable in a flight of figures descending like wounded birds, and turned simply by change of colour into angels of darkness. 2 In other examples, the presence of the Almighty under the form of Christ is introduced, presiding over the scene of discomfiture, as if the archangels acted under His immediate orders. The presence of Christ also is proper to the Greek Church, which places the fall of Lucifer immediately before the creation of Adam, and which, accord- ing to the * Guide,' gives in greater detail the principle of gradual brutification. i Le Christ assis comme un roi sur un trone, et tenant rfivangile ouvert a ces mots : " J'ai vu Satan tombant du ciel comme un eclair." Tout autour, les chceurs des anges dans une crainte profonde. Michel se tient au milieu, disant sur un cartel : " Que notre maintien soit plein de crainte, adorons ici le roi notre Dieu." Au-dessous, des montagnes ; au milieu d'elles, une grande ouverture, au-dessus de laquelle on lit cette inscription, " Le Tartare." Lucifer et toute son armee tombent du ciel. Tout en haut, ils paraissent tres-beaux ; au-dessous, ils deviennent anges de tenebres ; plus bas, ils paraissent plus tenebreux et plus noirs ; plus bas encore, ils sont a moitie anges et a moitie demons ; enfin ils deviennent entierement demons noirs et hideux. Tout en bas, sous tous les autres, au milieu de l'abime, le diable Lucifer, le plus noir et le plus affreux de tous, etendu sur le ventre, et regardant en haut.' This dramatic metamorphosis, which in its gradual nature seems 1 Denkmaler der Kunat des Mittelalters in Unter-Italien, von Schultz und Quast, xxxix. 2 D'Agincourt. Pittura, pi. 1. 60 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. to point to Milton's nine days' length of fall — probably also tradi- tional in origin 1 — is seen curiously illustrated in a miniature of the 13th century, 2 which furnishes an exact illustration of the Greek text. Here, as the rebellious hosts fall over the precipice of heaven, they have still celestial forms and attributes — the glory, the wings, and the stole. A little lower down the change commences — the features become animal — glory and wings disappear ; as they enter the fatal gulf a tail has sprouted — hands and feet are turned into paws — nails into claws — and by the time they reach the bottom the transformation from the angel to the monster is complete. The fall of Lucifer is found in all forms of the 1 Speculum Sal- vationist always commencing the History of the World. In an early German edition the homeliness of character, and the absence of all imagination, render this subject almost irrecognisable. Christ sits on a chair, holding the globe and cross in the right hand, and with an action of almost burlesque astonishment in the left. At His feet is a figure like an ourang-outang, with long arms, about to swing itself, apparently headforemost, into space, while two angels, scarcely less hideous, with long poles, poke at him from behind their singing-desks. As Art gradually grew more equal to cope with so difficult a theme as the Fall of the Angels, the subject became, in great measure, confounded with scenes from the Apocalypse, or replaced by the Legend of Antichrist which prevailed in the 15th century. This last was embodied by Luca Signorelli at Orvieto. As a phase in Christian history, however, Michael Angelo, who, unspiritual as was his conception of all Christian subjects, adhered with a fidelity, obsolete in his time, to the traditionary schemes of Art — (witness the scheme, both as a whole and in detail, of the Sistine ceiling) — Michael Angelo intended to have executed the Fall of the Angels on the great wall facing that of the Last Judgment, thus making these two subjects, consistently with early usage, the beginning and the end of the History of the Creation. There is no doubt that the 1 An apocryphal book of Genesis, of about the year 1458, appended to a German Bible, gives a more early version of this same idea, showing the multitudes that fell, rather than the time of falling : ' Da regnete es drei Tage und drei Nachte nichts als lauter Teuffeln herab.' Quoted in Fabricius, vol. i. p. 38. 2 Psautier de St. Louis. Arsenal, Paris. FALL OF LUCIFER. fii i&sk would have afforded the most congenial exercise for his powers, and one in which a stern conception of God's anger towards angelic rebels would not have been so repugnant to the feelings as the character he has given to the Saviour in his Last Judgment. By all painters since Michael Angelo's time, the Fall of the Angels, properly speaking, has been ignored ; for Raphael's mag- nificent Michael combating Satan, in the Louvre — Guido's picture of the same, in the church of the Capucini at Rome — Franz Floris' well-known work at Antwerp — the Cavaliere d'Arpino's picture in Stafford House, and all that may be mentioned, showing angels fighting with demoniacal forms, are all various versions of that ' war in heaven, when Michael and his angels fought against Satan. ' Nay, even to take an early example, the so-called fall of Lucifer, executed (1407) by Spinello Aretino in his ninety-third year, in S. Maria degli Angeli at Arezzo, is really the Fight of St. Michael with the Seven-headed Dragon of the Apocalypse. For the contest in heaven, which may be supposed to have preceded the fall of the apostate hosts, can only be conceived as Milton conceived it, as be- tween angels and their rebellious fellows. Had Milton written, like Dante, at the dawn of a great period of Art, it may be presumed that the sublime images of his pen would have been turned to fertile account. As it is, no painter has risen to that grand conception of the great adversary, swelling with pride and wicked disdain, mea- suring himself in fight unspeakable with the prince of angels, till the angelic throng retired in speed from their vicinity Unsafe within the wind Of such commotion ; such as, to set forth Great things by small, if Nature's concord broke, Among the constellations war were sprung, Two planets rushing from aspect malign Of fiercest opposition in mid sky Should combat, and their jarring spheres confound. Paradise Lost, book vi. As for Rubens' magnificent pictures — sometimes misnamed the Fall of the Angels — no traditions of Art or words of Scripture can be applied to them. Mere cataracts of figures are these, unparalleled in knowledge of drawing, and in the poetry of the horrible — men and demons, serpents and foul monsters, interlaced with those lumi- 62 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. nously coloured female figures, the introduction of which it was not in Kubens to resist, and which prove the subject to have been intended for the Fall of the Damned. Even the idea of the Last Judgment is incompatible with a Saviour who casts thundeibolts like Jove, and with a Michael whose shield, like the antique fable of the Gorgon's head, annihilates all on whom its baneful light is turned. Here, therefore, the mind must be content to look only for triumphs of human skill — for Art in its most gorgeous pride of the eye, but not for sacred history, or even for the traditions of what may be called sacred fable. Thus far we have considered the Fall of Lucifer as a separate subject. It also takes its place as the terminating scene of a series rarely met with, illustrating the Creation of Angels. Such a series exists in a remarkable miniature at Brussels 1 of about the date 1475. Six small pictures are here grouped in one page (see etching). 1. First we see an abstract female figure of Wisdom, a type of Christ, seated on a throne, holding a scroll in her hand, on which is inscribed 1 Ab initio et ante secula creata sum,' in allusion to the passage 1 Ab seterno ordinata sum, et ex antiquis, antequam terra fieret ' — * I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was ' (Prov. viii. 23). 2. The next below shows the Three Persons of the Trinity, the Second Person with a cruciform glory in the centre, as the active agent of all creation. They are concerting together to make the angels. 3. The third subject represents three angels, habited like deacons, already created ; each humbly kneeling before a Person of the Trinity and receiving their injunctions. 4. Here the Trinity are seated, pointing in gestures of sorrow to the scene of rebellion going on below. 5. This picture is very effective. Lucifer, the crowned seraph, is in the midst of a ferment of excited angels, — red-hot, not with love, but with rebellion, with rampant wings. He holds a scroll in his hands — ' In ccelum ascendant ' — ' I will ascend into heaven ' (Isaiah xiv. 13). In the foreground are seated four angels in white, in atti- tudes of deep dejection ; one looking over the edge of the picture into the gulf below, with hands expressive of astonished dismay. 1 Library of the old Dukes of Burgundy. Bible, 2 vols. No. 9002. CREATION OF ANGELS. 6. This lower scene is the moral of the tale. Lucifer, crown foremost, is falling with outstretched arms into the jaws of hell, represented literally, being like a great boat filled with fire, into which demons are hastening the fallen seraph's descent. We return to the theory of St. Augustine, 1 by which he supposed the angels to have been called into being on that first day, when God said, ' Let there be light,' and to have fallen on the second day, in which, 4 God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament,' — this last act being considered a type of the division of the good angels from the bad. This idea — in other words, the connection between Satan or Lucifer and the second day — was curiously enlarged upon by the early schoolmen, 2 who have preserved in their disquisitions traces of Jewish thought and usage. For why, they ask, does it happen that of the second day alone it is not recorded that i God saw that it was good ? ' The answer is that the Jews believed that on that day the angel Lucifer became the devil Satan, and that therefore the second day was alone of the six days not good in God's sight. A curious represen- tation of this simultaneous creation of light and of angels is seen in the series of wall-paintings, representing the Creation, in the choir of the cathedral at Monreale (woodcut No. 17, over leaf). Here the Almighty sits on a globe, not typifying our world, but rather in the sense of the heavens, which are His throne, and which rests on waters ; for ( The Lord sitteth upon the flood ; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever ' (Ps. xxix. 10). His right hand is extended, His left holds the volumen. Before Him, in adoring postures, stand the angels, with spikes of light projecting beyond them — a radiant company, who truly seem to have burst into light find existence at the same moment. But such ideas as these are rarely seen in monumental forms, being scattered here and there in miniatures and old engravings. 3 On some occasions a slight change in the arbitrary type, which has been made significant of the fall of the angels, has been intro- duced — likening their rejection from heaven, by a rather more intelligible idea, to the division of the light from the darkness, and 1 Confessions, 1. xiii. c. 15. 2 Couiestor, fol. 2. 3 Zani, vol. ii. p. 173. 64 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. 17 Creation of Angels and Light. (Monreale.) not to that of the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and thus placing it on the first day. A curious Bible of the end of the 13th century, in Paris, 1 furnishes full authority on this system of interpretation. Here fact and type in small pictures, and Scripture and gloss in text, are given side by side. Thus the Second Person of the Trinity is seen creating light on the one side, and angels on the other. Below the first is written : ' Et Dieu dit, Lumiere sois faite, et Lumiere fut faite ; ' below the other the following explanation : ' La creation de lumiere emporte [importe] la creation des anges, car ils ont lumiere d'entendement ' (understanding). Again God is seen dividing light from darkness under the semblance of a half-eclipsed 1 Bible Historide. Bibliotheque Impe'riale. Franyais, No. 167. CREATION OF ANGELS. 55 spnere, and m the next picture the angels are falling, the text being, ' Et Dieu vit que la lumiere etait bonne, et divisa la lumiere des tenebres, et appela la lumiere jour, et les tenebres nuit;' and the gloss which here grasps at another moral analogy : ' La division de la lumiere des tenebres importe la division des bons anges des mauvais, et signifie la division des vertus et des vices.' There is another way also in which Art has recorded the legen- dary connection between the angels and the creation of this world. It would appear that as the light was called day — as the word day, or dies, was derived from a Greek word meaning brightness— and as angels are in Scripture always invested with the quality of brightness — for example, when Cornelius saw a man stand before him in bright clothing — that by a too far-fetched logic, the angels were made typical of the days. This is a solution which is evident when we study the series of the creation — one of the most curious existing — in the mosaics of St. Mark's, where each day in suc- cession is personified by an angel, a fuller description of which, with woodcuts, will be given in the account of the days of Creation. VOL. [. 66 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. The Creation of the World. We have thus briefly considered those acts of Omnipotence con- nected with the creation and fall of angels which Theology has supposed to have happened before, or to have been coeval with, the creation of our world, and which have left their impress on Art. This department alone would furnish abundant and interesting matter for the iconographist. The limits of this work permit of little more than the indication of the existence of the subject. That these scenes and those we are about to consider as illus- trating the creation of the world and of our race, should, however, enter into the scheme of this work, will be obvious to all. The connection between the History of the Creation and the History of our Lord is immediate. In all religious Art, as in all sound theo- logy, Christ is the Creator, in the active and visible sense, on the First Day, as truly as He will be Judge on the Last Day. This doctrine is frequently asserted in the Scriptures — indirectly in the Old Testament, directly in the New. God's declaration to Moses, ' For there shall no man see me and live ' (Ex. xxxiii. 20), shows that His appearances to Adam and to the patriarchs were not in His own person. This declaration is repeated in the broadest terms in the New Testament, * No man hath seen God at any time ' (St. John i. 18). The direct assertion that the powers of creation were vested in the person of Christ is also contained in the words com- mencing the Gospel of St. John, 6 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him ; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.' This all-embracing authority for the chief mysteries of our faith is again repeated by St. Paul as regards the creatorship of Christ, 1 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ ' (Eph. iii. 9). Finally, such being the warrant for this dogma, it takes its place among the articles of the Nicene Creed : ' Being of one substance with the Father ; By whom CREATION OF THE WORLD. 67 all things were made.' 1 Here, therefore, we find full indication of the system of early Art, which, with reverent consistency, never represented the Person of the Father, except by the Hand from a cloud, or from a portion of the circle which typifies heaven ; and which invariably shows us the Son, ' the express image of the Father,' as the outward and visible manifestation of God, whether in the creation of the world and of our race, or in the various other occasions, of which we shall speak, in the Old Testament, where the presence of the Almighty is made known to man. To early theology the days of Creation were abundantly suggestive of those types in which contemplative minds found occupation and delight. In a general way, the Scripture language, which typifies good by light, and evil by darkness, was amplified with equal whimsicality and ingenuity. Next, the six days were morally analysed ; the his- tory of the world being considered a sort of mirror of the history of the Creation, and therefore divided into six periods. The first, from Adam to Noah, the evening of which was the Deluge ; the second, from Noah to Abraham, the evening of which was the con- fusion of tongues ; the third, from Abraham to David, of which the evening was the wicked reign of Saul ; the • fourth, from David to the Babylonian Captivity, the evening of which was the sins of the Jews, which drew upon them this judgment; the fifth, from the Babylonian Captivity to the Coming of Christ, the evening of which was typified by the wickedness and blindness which hid the true Messiah from their sight ; the sixth, from the first coming of Christ to His second coming to judge the world, the evening of which these ancient commentators express by the question, ' When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith upon the earth ? ' Finally, they considered the whole Creation a type of the eternal existence of God, who is from everlasting to everlasting, having neither beginning nor end ; for on the first day they observed that no morning is mentioned, and on the seventh, in which the saints entered into rest, no evening. Besides these types, a number of theories as regarded the Persons 1 The belief that the world was created by the Word, and that it was the same myste- rious manifestation of God which conversed with Adam and the patriarchs, appears in the earliest Jewish writings. See Cruden's Concordance : introduction to ' Word.' (58 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. and modes of Creation were propounded, the earliest based on reve- rential and literal examination of the words of Scripture, though diverging later into assumptions, and leading to deductions to us fanciful, and in the sense of edification unintelligible. 4 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' This was regarded as indicative of the agency of the Father summoning forth something where nothing before had been, and that at a period indefinite in time before the days of Creation began. But the first Person having thus furnished the materials, the task of further operation was delegated by Him to the Second Person, or the 'Word.' For here the inspired language is no longer 'God created,' but 'God said'' — the same form of utterance being preserved throughout the six days of Creation. Later theologians departed from this child-like, however quaint, exposition of the great facts of the first page of Genesis. The presence of the Trinity — sufficiently clear in another sense to all commentators — and the exact part each took in the great work, were defined with that spirit of force and fanciful speculation which, in the 12th and 13th centuries, took the place of the former simplicity. According to them, three acts, each characteristic of one of the Three Persons, were necessary to the formation of the machine of the world — the act of creating, of distinguishing, and of ornamenting. The first, which called the heavens and the earth out of nothing, belonged to the Father. The second, which comprehended the three first days, and saw the division, or, as it was termed, the distinction, of light from darkness — of the waters under the firmament from the waters above the firmament, and of the gathering together of the waters, and the appearance of the dry land— was assigned to Christ. The third act, which comprehends the three last clays, and in which the heavens were adorned with lights, the firmament with fowls, the waters with fish, and the earth with animals, and, finally, with man, were pronounced the work of the Holy Ghost. In this category of creative acts, not borne out in the first instance by Scripture, as reference will immediately show, were seen the great and separate attributes of the Trinity : by Creation, the Omnipotence; by Distinction, the Wisdom; by Adornment, the Goodness ; or, as given in another of the numerous forms in which the changes are rung upon this theme, the Omnipotence of the CREATION OF THE WORLD. 69 Father, by producing; the Omniscience of the Son, by distinguish- ing ; and the Benevolence of the Holy Spirit, by influencing. We give this as a specimen of the kind of rhetoric, mistaken for logic, which, as we shall have occasion to show, affected Art as much as it did Theology. In this instance, however, no impression has been left upon Art, which, up to the 14th century, exhibits the person of our Lord — or intends the person it represents to be in- terpreted as His — as engaged in every act of Creation. The fact that Art attempted to render these acts at all, is a no little curious phase in her history. That Poetry, with her powers over motion, space, and time, should aspire, and chiefly by a close but diffuse paraphrase, to give expression to the monumental utterances of Genesis, was natural, because possible ; yet demanding such a com- bination of the highest qualities as only to have been worthily done once. But that Art should venture upon ground interdicted to her by the very conditions of her nature, speaks of times when Piety was more developed than the agents she employed. Milton, repeating the fiat of the Almighty, ' Let there be light,' adds :— And forthwith Light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep ; and from her native east To journey through the aery gloom began. Thus conjuring up a mental image of which movement is the great feature. And again, in the emerging of the dry land, and growth of herb and tree : — He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned, Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad Her universal face with pleasant green ; Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowered, Opening their various colours, and made gay Her bosom swelling sweet : and these scarce blown, Forth flourished thick the clustering vine. Paradise Lost, book vii. Here the sense of fragrance is added to that of movement and of continuous action, while chief and foremost in both quotations is the knowledge of that previous moment — indispensable for the 70 HTSTORY OF OUR LORD. expression of this subject. But Art has no previous moment, no power of expressing the Nothing that was, before the Something that is ; therefore, strictly speaking, no power of exhibiting an act of Creation. For what she holds up to our view has neither Past nor Future — only one moment of the permanent Present, power- less even to say when itself began. If she gives us light, we have no means of ascertaining that darkness has been before ; if she shows us herbs and trees, we know not but that they may have stood there for ages. It is well such reasonings were postponed till Art, or rather its votaries, grew older, wiser, and prouder. For there are uses, as we shall see, in the mental growth of nations, even for the infancy of Art— that true infancy, we mean, when innocence goes hand in hand with ignorance. Mankind truly seem to have been like children in these matters, asking questions impossible of solution. And Art can only be compared to a good mother, doing her best to answer in some tangible analogous form ; remote enough from the truth, yet supplying something intelligible to the eye, and with a certain naivete that has a charm of its own. The farther back we trace these subjects, the more are we struck by that spirit, which disarms a too easy criticism by supposing a kindred child- likeness in the spectator. But there are acts in this dim beginning of all things, in which Art and Poetry may be said to be equally helpless. For how should either treat that great assertion of almighty power: 'In the be- ginning God created the heavens and the earth?' accompanied as it is by a context which instantly places a veto on all modes of human conception — 'And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.' Before the might of this sentence, which to our infinite apprehension thus sternly dashes out what it has just imaged forth, every language of Art is silent, Formless! empty! dark! to God's eye alone this teemed with all things ; to ours it offers nothing. Here Art and Poetry, as we shall see, were driven to much the same devices. We will first consider those efforts of Art, more or less rude and reverent, which have grouped the earlier days of Creation into one picture, or rather diagram, of which there are various examples. These are chiefly found in early miniatures. The earliest we know CREATION OF THE WORLD. 71 is a large drawing of the 10th century in the 'Bible de Noailles' at Paris. 1 This presents a combination of maplike and caligraphic signs, with reminiscences of classic imagery of a rude but intelligent kind. Here we see the heavens, 1 ccelum,' divided into four parts, each studded with stars. Below, on one side, showing the French origin of the work, is the word ' Abisme,' written above a great head, with streams flowing from it, in and on which are already f fish and fowl. On the other side is the earth, 4 terra,' rude enough Sol and Luna. (' Bible de Noailles.' Bibliotbeque Impenale, Paris.) in outline, but already bearing the plant that has seed within itself after its kind. Above, on each side of the heavens, are the full- length figures of Dies and Nox (woodcut, No. 18), supporting the bust-length effigies of Sol and Luna in circles, and holding them with an effort and submissiveness, showing the literal words of Scripture, which are generally the only clue to such representations — ' The sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night/ Bibliotbeque Impe'rinle. 72 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Another humble picture, still more diagrammatic in character, but of a higher class of thought, we take from a grand Anglo- Saxon miniature in the British Museum, 1 of about the year 1000. Here no classic imagery helps the artist in his tale, but such acts of the first days as were reducible to form are given, accompanied by those types and symbols relating to the mystery of Creation, and to the agency of the Second Person, which are found scattered in other parts of Scripture. This is a kind of problem, to be worked by the eye of Faith and Scriptural research. God is here in the person of Christ, holding the sphere of the world. His 19 Diagram of Creation. (Anglo-Saxon MS. British Museum.) head encircled by a fillet, and His hands alone visible — the seats of wisdom and divine activity. The right hand, the source of all life, natural and spiritual, holds the compasses and the scales— both symbols of Almighty power, which aid the eloquence of the inspired writers in expressing acts beyond human descrip- tion. The figure of the compasses is taken from that magnificent passage in Proverbs (chap, viii.) ending with these words : ' When 1 Tiberius, C. IV. CREATION OF THE WORLD. 73 He prepared the heavens, I was there : when He set a compass upon the face of the deep.' The symbol of the scales is derived from Isaiah xl., where the prophet turns suddenly from the tenderness of the good shepherd carrying the lambs, to the omnipotence of Jehovah creating the world, ' who comprehended the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.' Of one of these devices to image forth the mechanism of divine power Milton has also made use, where he describes ' the Omnific Word,' on the wings of cherubim uplifted, riding far into chaos: — Then stayed the fervid wheels, and in His hand He took the golden compasses, prepar'd In God's eternal store, to circumscribe This universe, and all created things : One foot He center'd, and the other turn'd Round through the vast profundity obscure ; And said, ' Thus far extend, thus far thy bouuds, This be thy just circumference, World ! ' Paradise Lost, book vii. But this device of the Compasses has not the same propriety in poetry. In the Scripture language it is a figure, in Art a symbol ; but here it becomes an actual thing actually used, and, as such, an absurd human implement to place in the grasp of Omnipotence. To return to the diagram. The two trumpet-like forms proceeding from the mouth of the Creator are not easily interpreted, unless supposed to typify the double command, ' Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters : ' at all events, this is the chief intention of this part of the subject ; the segment of a circle in the centre being intended for the firmament, between waving lines of water above and below, while the dove, also with the cruciform nimbus, which is frequently seen, and part of the Vesica glory visible around it, standing with flapping wings, shows the Spirit of God which moved on the waters. If there is much in this diagram which only the pious innocence of early Art could suggest, we see its ignorance, too, in the thumb on the wrong side of the right hand. There is a representation of the early works of Creation among VOL i. L 74 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. the ruined frescoes by Cimabue, in the Church of S. Francesco at Assisi. He, in the 13th century, also in part resorted to classic imagery to express the subject. 1 By the 14th century, however, the literal translation into Art of the words of Scripture gave way, as regards the subject, to those theological speculations, the offspring of the schools, which mixed up astronomy and astrology in their conjectures on things beyond the reach of human reason. According to the schoolmen, the whole frame of Nature consisted of two parts — the one celestial, the other elementary. The celestial was divided into three principal heavens, the empyreal heaven, the crystalline heaven, and the firmament. In the firmament, again, were contained the seven orbits of the seven then known planets — Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Yenus, Mercury, and Luna. Next to these planets came the spheres, or the four elements — Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. Thus there were nine celestial circles, and four elementary spheres. 2 In these consisted the whole machine of the world, reaching, as St. Bonaventura terms it, 'from the hinge of the highest heaven to the centre of earth.' Art has reproduced this with perfect fidelity, in what the Italians call ' II mappamondo,' being a nest of concentric circles, the inten- tion of each indicated by signs or words. Christ sits in the action of Creator, above the great disk, as seen in our etching. "We take the illustration from a magnificent miniature of the 14th century in the British Museum, 3 which gives most of these divisions, end- ing with i Infernus,' or the Jaws of Hell, in the centre. A mappamondo, on a gigantic scale, was also seen on the walls of the Campo Santo, now nearly obliterated. This, which is of the 15th century, by Pietro d'Orvieto, shows a variety and extension of the idea, but far less thought and system. First in order in concen- tric circles are the nine angelic hierarchies. Then come the three heavens : the first, or empyreal, void of all sign; the second, or crys- talline, containing the signs of the Zodiac, at that time popular arbiters of human destiny ; the third, or firmament, with the indi- cation of stars. Then ensue an arbitrary succession of diminisliing circles, ending in the centre with a little landscape of Europe, 1 See Piper. 2te Abtheilung, p. 20. 2 These theories were familiar to Milton at an early age. See Hymn to the Nativity, stanza xiii. ;i Arundel, 80. DAYS OF CREATION. 75 Asia, and Africa. The disk is upheld by a huge figure, from which all signs of the Second Person, or symbolism of Creation, have vanished. Vasari speaks of this as a grand invention — i Un Dio Padre, grande cinque braccia,' with the orbs of the celestial and natural world in His embrace ; evidently unconscious how little novelty there was in the idea. To our view such a form is unspeak- ably inferior to those in which the piety of early Art endeavoured to convey the mysteries of Creation to our eyes. Days of Creation. For the representation of the Days of Creation in separate order, we have to look to the serial forms in which these subjects were given, and which, for the causes assigned, abounded only in early Art. One of the most important of these series is found in the mosaics of the small cupola in the right-hand vestibule of St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice, known to have been executed in the 11th century. We have alluded to them in connection with the angels, typified as days, p. 65. These give such quaint and naive forms of illustration, and so completely represent this class of subjects, that we describe them briefly in succession by way of example— the number of subjects in different circles increasing with the expansion of the cupola. FIRST CIRCLE. 1. Spirit moving on the waters. Dove with glory over a vague space of dark waving lines. 2. The Creator, with cruciform nimbus. An angel with outstretched wings and arms above a red globe : a black globe on the right ; each with rays of light from them ; the angel being darker on the side next the dark globe. ' And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day ' (see woodcut No. 20, over leaf). 3. The Creator with a sceptre. The dark globe in midst of waters ; two angels present. 4. The Creator separating waters. The black globe on one side, and on the other a space of waters, divided by a cross-shaped 76 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. 20 First Day. Division of Light from Darkness. (Mosaics. St. Mark's, Venice.) causeway of land. ' And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. . . . And the evening and the morning were the second day.' 5. Same figure creating trees and plants— the apple-tree conspi- cuous. Three angels present. i And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit And the evening and the morning were the third day.' SECOND CIKCLE. 1. The Creator standing : before Him a globe studded with the sun, moon, and stars. Four angels present, ' And God made two great lights ; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night : He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven. . . . And the evening and the morning- were the fourth day.' 2. The Creator with space of water before Him, in which are seen fishes, and birds flying above. 3. The Creator with five angels, each standing on a globe with stars DAYS OF CREATION. 77 And God said, ' Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth. . . . And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.' 4. The Creator with animals in couples before Him. 5. The Creator with six angels, and a dark formless figure, which He is touching. 1 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind. . . . And God said, Let us make man in our image. . . . And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.' 6. The Creator sitting on a throne, three angels on each side of Him, and blessing another angel (the seventh day), who bends 21 Christ blessing Seventh Day. (Mosaics. St. Mark's, Venice.) before Him. ' And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made ; and He rested on the seventh day fromall His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.' Thus God is seen in our illustration (No. 21) literally blessing the seventh day under the form of an angel ; in whom, it may be observed, the absence of wings — the others being- all winged — ingeniously typifies the inactivity of the Sabbath. Thus we see that the nameless designer of these mosaics (11th century), however backward in technical knowledge, was on a par with any period in power of felicitous allusion. HISTORY OF OUR LORD. There is another interesting series of the Days of Creation,, painted on the walls of the choir of the Cathedral of Monreale, and alluded to p. 63. These belong, possibly, to the beginning of the 13th century. We give a woodcut (No. 22) of the first, which represents the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters. Here a decided decline from that true sim- plicity of imagery which dictated the symbol of the balance and the com- pass is apparent. Christ is seen leaning forward from the circle of heaven, His arms extended. From beneath Him issues the divine ray, or afflatus, along which the Dove is seen descending. This afflatus rests on a great human head in the midst of the agitated waters, whence also they seem partially to proceed. This head, or rather face, may be con- sidered at first sight a relic of that classic impersonation which clothed the elements of nature in human forms. But it is far more probably an attempt to literalise the very words of Genesis — the same in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin, as in English — ' the face of the waters. ' 1 This is an instance of an error which we shall see too frequently in medi- aeval Art, by which no distinction was made between the embodiment of a symbol addressed to the eye, and that of a mere figure of speech, or, as in this instance, of a word of double meaning. The compass and the balance may be considered as emblems of 1 In the Hebrew Bible and in Symmackus (Greek Bible) the word used both for the ' face of the deep ' and the 'face of the waters ' is the same figurative term, put instead of surface. In the Septuagint, and in the Vulgate, the word face is applied to the deep, ' super faciem abyssi,' but not in the second passage, which is thus expressed, ' Spiritua Sanctus ferebatur super aquas.' DAYS OF CREATION. 79 almighty power, and thus explain themselves; the face in the midst of the waters requires an explanation to put it back again into the words from which it had been falsely translated, and does not suggest an idea to sight even then. For < the face,' as all know, is only another word for surface, and in no way is in- tended, even in language, to convey the idea of a human counten- ance. The fallacy is further seen by the fact and the type being here together, for we have the surface of the waters besides the great face. God resting on the Seven th Day. (Monrcale.) In this same Monreale series the seventh day is also represented, and with a simplicity and effect derived solely from the literal representation of the text, 'And Gpd rested on the seventh day.' The Creator is seen seated on the globe of heaven, His hands resting on His knees, in the action of one reposing after labour. Around Him are signs of the natural world, plants and trees, while His upcast eyes remind us that it is the Son who has thus executed the will of the well-pleased Father. 80 HISTORY OP OUR LORD. As we advance in time, those single acts of Creation naturally became most prominent which were most amenable to direct illustration. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Dove moving- over the waters became the sole type of the opening words of Genesis. Another subject which also obtained the artist's preference was that of the Creation of the Sun and Moon. Classic impersonation, as we have before seen, lent its help here. An example from the 10th century is seen in a miniature in the British Museum, 1 where the Creator appears in the most animated action, as if dancing, while He extends His arms to call into being the two orbs, which are represented as bust-length figures with torches, and drawn, both exactly alike, by red oxen. The action of the extended arms calling the sun and moon into existence on each hand, is a composition by no means unfrequent in miniatures, 2 and was thus handed down to Michael Angelo, who adopted it in the Sistine Chapel ceiling. 3 In other acts of Creation the very improvement in Art was to their disadvantage. In the naivete of early helplessness, the figure of Christ standing before, or pointing to a brown hillock, or a space of blue lines, supposed to represent water, had been readily admitted to typify rather than represent the Creator calling the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters sea. But when the same subjects are directly represented by a figure in perfect drawing, with a small plot of garden ground, or a little pond equally true to na- ture, before him— or when, by way of the creation of fishes, the Lord stands by a winding stream, admirably given, holding in His hand a salmon-trout, or pike, which He seems to have just caught rather than created— we feel the age of innocence and ignorance alike to be passed, and the imagination no longer consents to such delusion. One subject which frequently occurs in the 13th and 14th centuries, from the particular meaning given it by ancient commentators, was the work of the third day, when God said, ' Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,' &c. This herb was interpreted to 1 Cotton. Claudius, B. IV. 2 One may be observed iu a Bible at Brussels, in the Library of the old Dukes of Bur- gundy, where almost the same animated action is preserved in the Creator. 3 The same incident occurs in the mosaics of the cupola in the Baptistery at Florence. DAYS OF CREATION. SI mean exclusively corn, as in Genesis iii. 18, ' Thou shalt eat the herb of the field; ' and in Psalm civ. 14, < He causeth the herb to grow for the service of man.' Christ as Creator is therefore seen in these early works with a verdant world around, but especially with a small plot of ripe corn before Him, ' yielding seed ' for another harvest, to which His act of benediction is directed. And this observation applies the more to those earliest acts of Creation, necessarily typified by a repetition of the same forms, where a figure is seen touching, or holding, or pointing to a spherical form, either light or dark, according as it is meant to represent light, or the firmament, or the earth — or half eclipsed, as in the Division of Light from Darkness. That such hieroglyphics, set forth with all the maturer beauties of Art, should have existed late into the 14th century, was owing to no causes of ignorance or innocence in powers of conception, but to a stimulus given to them by the types and interpretations of the later schoolmen. To them the whole outward creation served but as a commentary on the one sole text, 'the Church.' In a French Bible to which we .have often alluded, the distant tide of the Eeformation is heard swelling in the very anxiety here shown to proclaim the stability of the Roman Church, and the excellence of the monastic orders. Carrying on the fanciful connection between light and darkness and good and bad angels, the monkish commentators drive their specu- lations beyond all limits of moral tension. The firmament in the midst of the waters is the Church firm among dangers ; the divi- sion of the waters is ' la dissevrance des bons et des mauvais.' Again, the appearance of the dry ground is also the Church rejoic- ing in her stability. The creation of birds, by an extraordinary stretch of fancy, represents those who withdraw into a life of con- templation, and think £ aux biens du ciel ; ' that of trees, the Christians who bear fruit ; while the sun, the moon, and the stars do duty as emblems, the first, of the great prelates, the second, of the monks, and the third, of the common people. It is incredible what immense labour and time have been bestowed in illustrating such ideas as these by innumerable finely-executed miniatures, and explaining them by a corresponding amount of most delicate caligraphy — incessant repetition being inseparable from both. We now turn to Art proper, which presents but few instances of VOL. I. m 82 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. these subjects. As the development of its powers gradually out- stripped the short-hand process of early efforts, the acts of the first days, except in such cases as we have just iDstanced,. were gradually omitted. The curious sculpture on the west front of the cathedral at Orvieto, executed, it is supposed, by followers of the Pisani, is perhaps the most important series of the Days of Crea- tion existing. Here, in some measure doubtless owing to the conditions of sculpture, which does not admit of subjects requiring colour, the series commences with the Creation of Fishes and Birds on the fifth day (see woodcut, No. 24). 24 Creation of Fishes and Birds. (Orvieto.) Here the Creator is seen attended by two angels, who accom- pany Him throughout, and seem, by their expression and actions, intended to suggest the emotions proper to the scene. Thus they hover behind Christ as He stands on the brink of a stream blessing the fish who are disporting in it, while the birds stand on the opposite cliff in a stiff row, as if awaiting the divine mandate. In this scene the eagle and the goose are easily recognisable ; while some songster of the grove alights with outspread wings on a bush close by, and in the distance a hawk stands by itself. Our next woodcut (No. 25) gives the sixth day. Here the same figure, attended by the two angels in gestures of admiration, is DATS OF CREATION. 83 seen blessing the animals, who stand in two files before Him. In front are the smaller quadrupeds -the goat, the pig, and two species of long-haired sheep, which remind us of similar fancy animals, doubtless then cultivated in Italy, which appear in pic- tures by old masters. 1 Behind them are the ox, the horse, and, farther from us, the lion and the camel. A dog, that dumb friend of man, is seen beneath the ox, his well-known companion. It would be difficult to point out another series of these subjects, of any importance, in the 15th century, and in the 16th, the con- nection between the days of Creation and the History of Christ, as seen in Art, vanishes altogether. In the Sistine ceiling the true theological idea is entirely repudiated. Though one of the last of painters in adhering to the schemes of traditional Art, as in the introduction of the Sibyls and Prophets in the Creation, and of the sun and the moon at the Crucifixion, yet from Michael Angelo we trace the great starting-point of departure in respect of Christian doctrine and feeling. The Creator is here the Author of Life, the Ancient of Days, the vague Jove-like impersonation of the First Cause — in short, that forbidden thing in Christian Art which 1 One in Mantegna's Triumphs at Hampton Court ; another in the Basaiti, No. 599, in the National Gallery. 84 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. Italians have since that time familiarly denominated the ' Padre Eterno.' Grandeur of forms and broadness of intention here take the place of those qnaint literal renderings, which are inexplicable without the words of Scripture, but so fertile with them. In the proud majority of Art a point had been reached where the two were utterly incompatible. Whether Michael Angelo has been most right or most wrong in his conception will probably never be de- cided. A child, with the Bible in its hand, can read those early forms ; rhapsodists have so widely differed as to the great Floren- tine's intentions as to bequeath to us the unsettled question whether one of the most remarkable figures in these acts of Creation is intended for the figure of the Deity or for that of Chaos. 1 Raphael, in his Vatican Loggie, has followed the same taste, vitiated, whatever the Art, as regards religious truth. An old man with flowing beard and scarf, flying above the upper portion of a globe, on which great trees are growing, or holding a conventional sun and moon in each hand, suggests neither fact nor type, nor any other idea. Yet the greatest of painters is vindicated in one of these series — the Creation of Light— where the powers of imagination and the ripe resources of Art leave the lisping literal'ities of early limners far behind. Here the Almighty is seen rending like a thunder- bolt the thick shroud of fiery clouds (see woodcut, No. 26), letting in that light under which His works were to spring into life. Not that this really approaches a whit the nearer to the revealed fact. To the unassisted reading of the eye it tells no especial tale ; it may just as well be interpreted as the Almighty amid clouds and fire and thick darkness on the top of Sinai, or as an episode in the Battle of the Giants. It leaves, however, a grand image in the sense of Art on the eye, and criticism on other points is silenced. Not so with the Creation of the Animals, the fourth subject in the Loggie. Here we are reminded that the formality of the 1 Some writers suppose that the back view of a figure in the same compartment of the Creation of Sun and Moon, speeding away with a magnificent velocity, is intended for the Almighty hurrying to create the dry land. Quatremere de Quincy calls it « le Pere kernel chassant le genie du Chaos.' We entirely agree with him, for the position and action, however grand, are strangely derogatory if applied to the Deity Himself. DAYS OF CREATION. 2t> Creation of Light. (Raphael.) Orvieto sculpture, with the animals standing in a row, awaiting, as it were, the power of moving, is far more impressive than Raphael's conception of the horse and tiger with their heads just emerging from the ground, and the rest of their bodies still buried beneath the sod. As single pictures, few subjects from the Days of Creation can be quoted, except in the case of those masters who selected the Creation of Animals as a scope for their particular excellence. Jean Breughel is conspicuous here, with his landscape teeming with animal life in every form. Little interest beyond the beauty of the execution is excited, however, by these large Happy Families, who eye each other with a suspicious blandness, not altogether uusuggestive of the approaching rupture. 86 HISTORY OF OUR LORD. The Creation of Adam. Ital. La Creazione