DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.69711#0037
Ill
THE CHAIN OF WESTERN ART FROM THE
BYZANTINE TO POST-IMPRESSIONISM
IN tracing the influences which cause that inner urge
to express itself in art, we find them, as always, be-
longing to the great spiritual forces that continue to
unfold and develop the spirit of man. It is the rec-
ognition of these forces which alone enables one to differ-
entiate between the art of a fleeting moment, an extraneous
expression of art which may be the idiosyncrasy of an
individual often very gifted, and those lasting expressions
which show the steady and constant development of a
spiritual force which is finding an outlet through an ever
growing group of individuals.
It was therefore not strange that in the 5th Century
a.d. there developed out of the East, in Constantinople, a
new art known as the Byzantine Art, which
received its impetus from the early Greek Chris- Byzantine Art
. . T • r 1 6th to 12th
tian Church. It was a strange union of early Centuries
Christian reserve with the oriental love of color.
The Jewish Religion, from which the Christian Church
sprang, had never allied itself with the art of painting
or sculpture. It was not, therefore, until the conversion of
other nations to Christianity that the religious scruples or
customs in giving expression to these arts were overcome.
During the first centuries the prevailing art of the
country was utilized, and little difference is to be found
between the Roman, Greek, or early Christian art of that
period, as is illustrated by the paintings on the walls of
the catacombs at Rome; an example of which is shown
here (Fig. 4), where the fresco representing a ‘Madonna
and Child’ might easily be taken to represent a Greek
19
THE CHAIN OF WESTERN ART FROM THE
BYZANTINE TO POST-IMPRESSIONISM
IN tracing the influences which cause that inner urge
to express itself in art, we find them, as always, be-
longing to the great spiritual forces that continue to
unfold and develop the spirit of man. It is the rec-
ognition of these forces which alone enables one to differ-
entiate between the art of a fleeting moment, an extraneous
expression of art which may be the idiosyncrasy of an
individual often very gifted, and those lasting expressions
which show the steady and constant development of a
spiritual force which is finding an outlet through an ever
growing group of individuals.
It was therefore not strange that in the 5th Century
a.d. there developed out of the East, in Constantinople, a
new art known as the Byzantine Art, which
received its impetus from the early Greek Chris- Byzantine Art
. . T • r 1 6th to 12th
tian Church. It was a strange union of early Centuries
Christian reserve with the oriental love of color.
The Jewish Religion, from which the Christian Church
sprang, had never allied itself with the art of painting
or sculpture. It was not, therefore, until the conversion of
other nations to Christianity that the religious scruples or
customs in giving expression to these arts were overcome.
During the first centuries the prevailing art of the
country was utilized, and little difference is to be found
between the Roman, Greek, or early Christian art of that
period, as is illustrated by the paintings on the walls of
the catacombs at Rome; an example of which is shown
here (Fig. 4), where the fresco representing a ‘Madonna
and Child’ might easily be taken to represent a Greek
19