Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/99

ART. arts is especially important in ancient times before the Greeks had drawn the East and West so close together. So, Egyptian art and Assyro-Babylonian art possess distinctly national styles. Minor nationalities like the Hittites and Phœnicians are, it is true, strongly influenced in their art by elements borrowed from these two great civilizations; but not sufficiently so as to cast national traits into the shade. In any case, whether national or stylistic traits predominate, it has been thought best to trace the history of art separately under each principal country.

The next group of articles gives classes of gen- eral subheads: (1) of style – as, for instance, of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian under Architec- ture; of Early English Decorated and Perpen- dicular under Decorated Style: Perpendicular; (2) of branches of art from the point of view of material; for instance, carpentry and masonry, as branches of architecture: bronze, terra- cotta, ivory, and wood-engravixg, goldsmith's work, engraving and enamel, as branches of sculpture; mosaic, fresco, tempera, manu- scripts, illumination of, tapestry, and stained glass, as branches of painting: (3) of classes of monuments from the point of view of their use. Under Architecture, the general headings of religious, civil, and military, where these themes are treated historically, are each subdivided: religious architecture into such heads as temple, church, cathedral, monastery, bap- tistery; civil and domestic architecture into such as city, forum, palace, building, villa, mausoleum, theatre, amphitheatre, circus, bath, town-hall, arch triumphal, aqueduct, bridge; military architecture into such as acopoplis, citadel, camp, castle. Certain sub- titles are somewhat more special than these: such as the names of structures confined to a certain style like obelisk and pyramid in Egyptian art, or those confined to a religious sect and style, like alcazar, caravanserai, khan, minaret, and mosque in Mohammedan art, or the cata- combs in Early Christian art: such also are subordinate buildings or parts of buildings, like cloister, chapter-house, and dormitory, which are parts of a monastery, or keep, bailey, tower, bastion, and barbican, which are parts of a castle: apse, choir, nave, transept, crypt. clearstory, which are parts of a church. Similar classes of works obtain also under sculpture and painting. For example, in sculpture come pul- pit or ambo, tomb, reliquary, chalice, cross, herm, etc.; in painting are such terms as fresco, triptych, etc. Next, class (4) includes works of sculpture and painting classified ac- cording to subject, the general rules of which are laid down in two general articles, one on mythology in art, for the ancient world, and one on Christian iconography, for the period be- ginning with the Christian era. The history of the artistic treatment of each such important theme is given under separate heads, which are enumerated in these two articles. Such are the myths and types of the Olympian gods, the chief exploits of personages like Hercules. Theseus, and Perseus, and the heroes of the Iliad and of Greek tragic poets, not to mention great historic personalities. Similarly, for Christian art, the types and events of the life of Christ, the Virgin and the Apostles: themes like the Nativity, Crucifixion, and Last Judgment. Other general articles in this series are Portraiture, Landscape, etc.

Class (5), technique of the arts, comprises the oreatest number of separate heads. A few of the articles are of some length, such as column dome, arch, vault, molding, including both definition and history, but the majority consist of brief definitions, as in the case of such architectural members as architrave, frieze, and cornice, composing the classic entablature, as well as dentil, fascia, corona, mutules, de- tails of this entablature, and cable molding, palmette, and other moldings and ornaments of the same. Reference to the comprehensive arti- cles will secure complete references to the smaller units. The great majority of such tech- nical terms belong to the field of architecture, and include all the building implements under such heads as axe, drill, hammer, crane, der- rick, dressing, staging, quarry. The processes of sculpture are explained under carving founding, relief sculpture, alto-rilievo; those of painting under drawing, perspective, encaustic painting, tempera, fresco, etc.

Class (6) consists of articles illustrating ''man- ncrs and customs'' in which art and artistic forms of industry have at least an important part Some are general, historic, and descriptive, as costume, furniture, burial, brick, armor, jewelry, and under such headings will be found references to the more specific headings: in this field especially it is impossible to distinguish between art and archæology. The next series, class (7), consists of a topographical treatment of monuments. In the case of every city or town containing monuments of unusual importance and significance in art-history, the conventional guide-book information, which is sufficient in ordinary cases, is abandoned for a systematic scholarly treatment. Such is the case in cities like Venice, Rome, Athens, Cairo, Florence. It is the same with places like Pompeii, which il- lustrate any period with great fullness. Ancient sites that are now mere ruins — like Baalbek, Palmyra, Babylon, Selinus, Carnuntum — are described. Even single works are picked out for separate description: ancient monuments, such as the Parthenon and the Pantheon: the Egyptian temples at Edfu, Karnak, and Philæ; the mediæval monasteries of Monte Cassino Certosa, Cluny, Melrose; the chateaux of Chambord, Chenoceaux; the Villas Medici Lante, Giulia; the palaces of the Doges, the Pitti Strozzi, Louvre, Luxembourg, Tuileries; the churches Saint Peter, Saint Paul; the Alhambra, and many more. Finally, class (8) comprises the biographies of the most prominent personalities in art history, not merely the men who are popularly known, but all those who have been leaders and contributed original work. Such men have usually been referred to in the general historical articles, but details have been in each case reserved for the biographies. Such men were: In Greek architecture. Ictinus and Mnesicles; in Roman architecture, Apollo- dorus; in Byzantine architecture, Anthemius; in the Italian Middle Ages, Arnolfo di Cambio: in French Gothic, Robert de Luzarches; in Renaissance, Brunelleschi, Bramante, Lescot, and De L'Orme. In the fields of sculpture and painting the leading men are too numerous to mention. and will be enumerated in the general articles on these subjects.

To recapitulate, any one wishing to gain information in this field can get access to the mass