Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/299

 ECCLESIASTICAL ECCLESIASTICAL their cloisters, each at liis own worli ; each generation of monks in the footsteps of the former, hiding the individual identity in the name of the order and con- tent, as the work was done for the greater glory of God, that while the work should remain, the monks themselves should be forgotten. Few things are more striking in considering this period than the singleness of aim and devotion to duty which characterized these artists and led them to have no desire to perpetuate their own names, but simply to carry out to the best of their ability the allotted task for the glory of God and His Church. Partly, of course, the reason was that the dignity of personal labour was not fully realized, but the reason for this anonymity lies mainly in the facts already stated, that the work was religious work, that the aim was a religious aim, and that the identity of the person did not matter, so long as the Church was properly served by her faithful. There is one other aspect of the artistic work of the pre-Renais- sance time to be alluded to. It is by no means con- fined to the pre-Renaissance period, but extends through the succeeding centuries, and it should ex- tend to all the artistic labour of the present day, but it is more especially a feature of the period under dis- cussion. It is that determination which is never sat- isfied with the work which has been done, but which is always straining forward for finer and better work. It is that element of untiring energy and ever-quick- ening desire for perfection which has always charac- terized the greatest art-workers of the world, and it finds its earliest and perhaps its strongest development in this period. The early Italian painters fall into two groups: the first, that which may be called the group of the minia- turists or illuminators, as, for example, Enrico, Ber- linghieri, and Oderico; the second, the very primitive Eainters, such as Margaritone, Spinello, Uccello, Cima- ue, Duccio, Memmi, Lorenzetti, and the various early masters of the schools of Siena, Padua, and Verona. The predecessors of these artists, for the most part, worked without any reference to nature, under Byzan- tine influence, copying slavishly the methods fixed by the Greek Church. Their pictures, whether they il- lustrated scenes from the Sacred Writings, the legends of the Church, or the lives of the saints, were designed and painted according to fixed rules. Their work wasinferiortothat of the Byzantine workers in mosaic, but followed the same conceptions of art; in every way, in attitudes, compositions, types of face, folds of drapery, and even as regards colour, it was guided by the definite rules of tradition, so that the painter was little more than a mechanic. Still, despite what may be termed the ugliness of this particular school, there was a strong spirit of devotion exercising the minds of the artists, and they were able to put a certain amount of sympathy into their hard, angular productions, thus showing that their works were painted with re- ligious sentiment, and with a desire to evoke that sen- timent in others. Margaritone was one of the first to break through the hard crust of rules, and although his work does not show any very striking advance upon that of his predecessors, yet in his pictures and in those of the earliest painters of Siena, we begin to find the desire to paint a Mother of God bearing some liv- ing semblance to a Mother of Man. There is a strug- gling towards tenderness and sweetness of counte- nance, a desire to represent raiment gently floating in easy curves, and a greater command of sentiment, to- gether with a simplicity in stor"-teHing, which mark this primitive school, and prepare the way for the fore- runner of natural treatment, Giotto himself. Period of the Ren.i,ssance. — The great era of transition from the Middle Ages to modern times which is called the Renaissance may be divided into the three periods of the Early Renaissance, Full Renaissance, and Late Renaissance. Here again the influence of the Church is found just as strong and as definite as in the past. The growing desire to have magnificent churches created the necessity for other workers in art. The first years of this period give in Italy the earliest workers known by name in fresco, and in port- able pictures, Cimabue, Orcagna, Giotto, and others. In their "frescoed theology", decorating the churches of Assisi, Siena, Pisa, and other parts of Italy, is seen the beginning of the long list of painters whom the Church enlisted in her service. In bronze work Ghi- berti produced the gates of the Baptistery of Florence, and with the appearance of Brunellcschi a new school of architecture for ecclesiastical buildings arose. In this period belongs also the introduction of print- ing, and here again, just as emphatically, the Church took the lead. The earliest printers were churchmen, belonging to a religious order, the earliest books those of religion — the first actual printed sheet being the In- dulgence of Pope Nicholas V — followed by a long list of religious and liturgical works. Sacred Scriptures, and patristic literature. In the Low Countries the Van Eycks developed the methods of oil-painting and there arose a great school of artists, among whom were Van der Goes, Van der VVeyden, Bouts, Cristus, Mem- ling, and others, who formed the transition from the Gothic school. Their most important works were altar- pieces, and in some cases all their paintings were of a religious character, while in others the paintings not religious were portraits of the various patrons who had commissioned the altar-pieces, or who had had their own private chapels decorated by these artists; there- fore the intimate connexion between art and the Church was just as close as ever. Towards the close of the Early Renaissance period is found the work in sculpture of Donatello and those of his school, Desiderio da Settignano, the Rossellini, Duccio, Verrochio, and Mino da Fiesole; almost all the fine work of these men was for ecclesiastical pur- poses. Here and there are single detached statues, as for example the one of St. George by Donatello, but then it must be remembered that these were figures of saints, and intended for buildings more or less of a re- ligious character, or for those erected by guilds dis- tinctly religious, while some of the sculptors named, as for example Duccio of Perugia, were only known by the work they executed for the decoration of churches. During this period among the workers in Germany were Adam Kraft, Veit Stoss, and the Vischers, who are associated with the superb tabernacle, the series of Stations of the Cross and the great bronze shrine in Nuremberg, all objects intimately connected with re- hgious work. In England, the tomb of Henry V, and that of Henry VII by Torrigiano, both at Westminster, must not be overlooked. Every branch of artistic craftsmanship was at this time employed for the bene- fit of the Church. Finiguerra, CJhiberti, and others were at work at the great silver altar of the Florentine baptistery. The jewellers, Cihirlandajo, Verrochio, and Francia were making jewels for altar vestments, medals for the great ecclesiastics, and pictures for the churches, Luca della Robbia was preparing his vitri- fied enamel medallions, that he might present the Blessed Virgin and her Child in attitudes of the most perfect tenderness on the exteriors of the churches, and on the corners of the streets, while other potters W'Cre marking the sacred emblems on their finest pro- ductions, or painting religious scenes upon their vases and majolica plates. The Arras tapestries of France, the English tapestries of Coventry, and the Van Eyck tapestries of Flanders, were being woven for the hang- ings of the churches, while Benedetto da Maiano was bringing his intarsia work to perfection that he might apply it to the decoration of the choir-stalls in the great churches of Italy. It was at this time that the great monastic painter Fra Angelico decorated the cells of San Marco with his perfect representations of the great events in the Divine Tragedy, while Gozzoli, Lippi, and Ghirlandajo adorned the churches, and Perugino, Pin-