DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9188#0057
The Lamps of Greek Art 4T
inspiration for art from early Christianity ; on the contrary,
Christianity would work upon it as a blighting influence.
If we examine the remains of Christian art in those early
centuries, in sarcophagus and mural painting, we find that it
merely copied the contemporary pagan art, only changing the
subjects portrayed, and introducing a further development
in the symbolic interpretation of ordinary scenes.
Christianity offered almost no field for the exercise of Greek
anthropomorphism. The latter was closely bound up with
polytheism and hero-worship. The Christian Apostles and
Saints, who took the place of the pagan Deities, were men who
had lived on the earth and whose deeds belonged not to
mythology but to history, although at the time the line between
history and mythology was not clearly drawn, and history was
largely diluted with myth. A few impersonations of nature,
such as river-gods, lingered on in the paintings of the Roman
catacombs. And winged genii were common there, whether
cupids or cherubs it would be hard to say. But there was no
realm into which artistic fancy could stray, filling it with
super-men and super-women. Angels might be portrayed ;
but they all came from the Jewish angelology ; and there
was no artistic tradition as to their types : it was only later
that the types of Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and others were
distinguished.
The second principle of Greek art, balance and symmetry,
had almost disappeared in pagan art in the Antonine age.
The reliefs of triumphal arches and of sarcophagi are crowded
with figures inserted without order or method. Even the mural
paintings of Pompeii have escaped from control ; and show no
purposeful arrangement. Law and order have given place to
individual fancy, unless in cases where earlier schemes are
adopted. And with artistic arrangement has disappeared all
attempt to idealize, to produce forms nobler and more beautiful
than those seen every day. The figure of Antinous is the
inspiration for art from early Christianity ; on the contrary,
Christianity would work upon it as a blighting influence.
If we examine the remains of Christian art in those early
centuries, in sarcophagus and mural painting, we find that it
merely copied the contemporary pagan art, only changing the
subjects portrayed, and introducing a further development
in the symbolic interpretation of ordinary scenes.
Christianity offered almost no field for the exercise of Greek
anthropomorphism. The latter was closely bound up with
polytheism and hero-worship. The Christian Apostles and
Saints, who took the place of the pagan Deities, were men who
had lived on the earth and whose deeds belonged not to
mythology but to history, although at the time the line between
history and mythology was not clearly drawn, and history was
largely diluted with myth. A few impersonations of nature,
such as river-gods, lingered on in the paintings of the Roman
catacombs. And winged genii were common there, whether
cupids or cherubs it would be hard to say. But there was no
realm into which artistic fancy could stray, filling it with
super-men and super-women. Angels might be portrayed ;
but they all came from the Jewish angelology ; and there
was no artistic tradition as to their types : it was only later
that the types of Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and others were
distinguished.
The second principle of Greek art, balance and symmetry,
had almost disappeared in pagan art in the Antonine age.
The reliefs of triumphal arches and of sarcophagi are crowded
with figures inserted without order or method. Even the mural
paintings of Pompeii have escaped from control ; and show no
purposeful arrangement. Law and order have given place to
individual fancy, unless in cases where earlier schemes are
adopted. And with artistic arrangement has disappeared all
attempt to idealize, to produce forms nobler and more beautiful
than those seen every day. The figure of Antinous is the