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 PREACHERS

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PREACHERS

secondo nuove richerche" in "Repertorium fiir Kunstwissenschaft", XX, 1S97, 174; Caffi, "Delia chiesa di Sant' Eustorgio in Milanc", Milan, 1841; Valle, "S. Domenico Maggiore di Napoli", Naples, 1854; Milanese, "Le Chiesa monument ale di S. Nicolo in Tre\'iso", Treviso, 1889; Mortier, "Notre Dame de la Guercia", Paris, 1904; Ital. tr. Ferretti, Florence, 1904; Orlandini, "Descrizione storiea della chiesa di S. Domenico di Perugia", Perugia, 1798; Biebrach, "Die holzgedeckten Franziskaner und Dominikanerkirchen in Umbrien und Toskana", Berlin, 1908).

France followed in Italy's footsteps. Here men- tion must be made of the Jacobins of Toulouse (Carriere, "Les Jacobins de Toulouse", 2nd ed., Toulouse, 8. d.); St. Jacques de Paris (Millin, "Antiquites nationales", Paris, 1790, III, 1); St. Maximin in Provence (Rostan, "Notice sur I'cglise de Saint-Maximin", Brignoles, 1859); Notre-Dame- de-Confort at Lyons (Cormier, " L'ancien convent des Dominicains de Lyon", Lyons, 1898). A compre- hensive account of the architectural work of the Dominicans in France may be found in the magnifi- cent pubhcation of Rohault de Fleury, "Gallia Dominicana, Les convents de Saint-Dominique en France au moj-cn-agc" (Paris, 1903, 2 vols, in 4°). Spain was also covered with remarkable monuments: St. Catherine of Barcelona and St. Thomas of Madrid were destroyed by fire; S. Esteban at Salamanca, S. Pablo and S. Gregorio at Valladolid, Santo Tomas at Avila, San Pablo at Se\'ille and at Cordova. S. Cruz at Granada, Santo Domingo at Valencia and Saragossa (Ma^tinez-^'igil, "La orden de Predica- dorcs", Barcelona, 1886). Portugal also had beau- tiful buildings. The church and convent of Batalha are perhaps the most splendid ever dwelt in by the order (Murphy, " Plans, elevations, sections and \'iews of the Church of Batalha", London, 1795; de Con- dei.xa, "O mosteiro de Batalha em Portugal", Paris, 1892; Vascoucellos, "Batalha. Convento de Santa Maria da Victoria", Porto, 1905). Germany had beautiful churches and convents, usually remarkable for their simplicity and the purity of their Unes (Scherer, "Kirchen und Kloster der Franziskaner und Dominikaner in Thuringen", Jena, 1910; Schneider, "Die Kirchen der Dominikaner und Karmeliten" in "Mittelalterliche Ordensbauten in Mainz", Mainz, 1879; "Zur Wiederherstellung der Dominikanerkirche in Augsburg" in "Augsburger Postzeitung", 12 Nov., 1909; "Das Dominikaner- kloster in Eisenach", Eisenach, 1857; Ingold, "Notice sur I'eglise et le convent des Dominicains de Colmar", Colmar, 1894; Burckhardt-Riggenbach, "Die Dominikaner Klostcrkirche in Basel", Basle, 1855; Stammler, "Die ehemalige Predigerkirche in Bern und ihre Wandmalerein " in "Bemer Kunst- denkmaler". III, Bern, 1908).

Whatever may be said to the contrary the Domini- cans as well as other mendicant orders created a special architectural art. They made use of art as they found it in the course of their history and adapted it to their needs. They adopted Gothic art and assisted in its diffusion, but they accepted the art of the Renaissance when it had supplanted the ancient forms. Their churches varied in dimensions and richness, according to the exigencies of the place. They built a number of churches with double naves and a larger number with open roofs. The distinct characteristic of their churches resulted from their sumptuary legislation which excluded decorated archi- tectural work, save in the choir. Hence the pre- dominance of single lines in their buildings. This exclusi\-ism, which often went as far as the suppres- sion of capitals on the columns, gives great lightness and elegance to the naves of their churches. Wiile we lack direct information concerning most of the architects of these monuments, there is no doubt that

many of the men who supervised the construction of its churches and convents were members of the order and they even assisted in works of art outside of the order. Thus we know that Brother Diemar built the Dominican church of Ratisbon (1273-77) (Sighart, "Gesch. d. bildenden Kunste im Kgn. Bayern", Munich, 1862). Brother Volmar exer- cised his activity in Alsace about the same time and especially at Colmar (Ingold, op. cit.). Brother Humbert was the architect of the church and con- vent of Bonn, as well as of the stone bridge across the Aar, in the Middle Ages the most beautiful in the city (Howald, "Das Dominikaner-Kloster in Bern von 1269-1400", Bern, 1857). In Italy architects of the order are known to fame, especially at Florence, where they erected the church and cloisters of S. Maria Novella, which epitomize the whole history of Florentine art (Da\adsohn, "Forschungen zur Gesch. von Florenz", Berlin, 1898, 466; Marchese, "Me- morie dei pii insigni pittori, scultori e architetti domenicani", Bologna, 1S78, I). At first the order endeavoured to banish sculpture from its churches, but eventually accepted it and set the example by the construction of the beautiful tomb of St. Dom- inic at Bologna, and of St. Peter of Verona at the Church of St. Eustorgius at Milan. A Domini- can, William of Pisa, worked on the former (Berthier, "Le tombeau de St. Dominique", Paris, 1895; Beltrani, "La cappella di S. Pietro Martire presso la Basihca di Sant Eustorgio in Milano" in "Archivio storico deir arte", V, 1892). Brother Paschal of Rome executed interesting sculptural works, e. g. his sphinx of 'Viterbo, signed and dated (1286), and the paschal candlestick of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, Rome ("Romische Quartalschrift", 1893, 29).

There were many miniaturists and painters among the Preachers. As early as the thirteenth century Hugh Ripelin of Strasburg (d. 1268) was renowned as a painter (Mon. Germ. Hist.: SS., XVII, 233). But the lengthy Ust is dominated by two masters who overshadow the others, P'ra AngeUco and Fra Bartolommeo. The work of Era Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole (d. 1455) is regarded as the highest embodiment of Christian inspiration in art (Marchese, "Memorie", I, 245; Tumiati, "Frate Angelico", Florence, 1897; Supino, "Beato Angelico", Florence, 1898; Langton Douglas, "Fra Angelico", London, 1900; Wurm, "Meister und Schiilerarbeit in Fra Angelicoa Werk", Strasburg, 1907; Cochin, "Le Bienlieureux Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole", Paris, 1906; SchottmuUer, "Era AngeUco da Fiesole", Stuttgart, and Leipzig, 1911 (Fr. ed., Paris, 1911). Fra Bartolommeo be- longs to the golden age of the Italian Renaissance. He is one of the great masters of drawing. His art is scholarly, noble, and simple and imbued with a tranquil and restrained piety (Marchese, "Memorie", II, 1; Franz, "Fra Bartolommeo della Porta", Ratisbon, 1879; Gruyer, "Fra Bartolommeo della Porta et Mariotto Albertinelh", Paris-London, s. d.; Knapp, "Fra Bartolommeo della Porta und die Schule von San Marco", Halle, 1903). The order also produced remarkable painters on glass: James of V\m (d. 1491), who worked chiefly at Bologna and William of Marcillat (d. 1529), who in the opinion of his first biographer was perhaps the greatest painter on glass who ever lived (Marchese, "Memorie", II; Mancini, "Guglielmo de Marcillat francese insuperato pittore sul vetro", Florence, 1909). As early as the fourteenth centurj' Domini- can churches and convents began to be covered with mural decorations. Some of these edifices became famous sanctuaries of art, such as S. Maria Novella and S. Marco of Florence. But the phenomenon was general at the end of the fifteenth centurj', and thus the order received some of the works of the great- est artists, as for instance the "Last Supper" of