Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/367

 X] THE ANTIQUE IN MEDLEVAL ART 349 by many considerations. Yet definite antique influ- ences upon mediaeval art may be pointed out, as well as the survival of antique themes in the art of the Middle Ages. The evolution of mediaeval sculpture and painting is analogous to that of mediaeval archi- tecture, and the three branches of art present some broad analogies to the history of mediaeval literature. From the time of their first appearance the northern races possessed certain artistic faculties, they built primitive structures, they carved and they painted. As they came in contact with Roman civilization and were converted to Christianity, their building, their carving and painting, were brought into comparison with the art and methods of the antique. They adopted the antique forms of church, architecture. But the antique Christian basilica at Rome was con- structed according to Roman methods out of material at hand in Rome and the vicinity. The northern peoples did not have the materials for concrete, and could not apply Roman methods, although they adopted the plan of the basilica. Hence an initial modification in methods of construction, while the plan of the basilica was adopted. Through the needs of mediaeval churches and the necessities and possi- bilities of northern methods of construction, the partly borrowed and transitional Romanesque styles were developed, and at last the full originality of the Gothic. In sculpture and painting, as in architecture, the native traits and faculties of these northern peoples affected their appreciation and appropriation of the Christian-antique and the Byzantine styles. Their