DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51584#0013
GIOVANNI CIMABUE.
9
and art revived, it was, if not in a new form, in a
new spirit, by which the old forms were to be
gradually moulded and modified. The Christians
found the shell of ancient art remaining; the tra-
ditionary handicraft still existed; certain models
of figure and drapery, &c., handed down from
antiquity, though degenerated and distorted, re-
mained in use, and were applied to illustrate, by
direct or symbolical representations, the tenets of
a purer faith. From the beginning, the figures
selected to typify our redemption were those of the
Saviour and the Blessed Virgin, first separately,
and then conjointly as the Mother and Infant.
The earliest monuments of Christian art remaining
are to be found, nearly effaced, on the walls and
ceilings of the catacombs at Rome, to which the
persecuted martyrs of the faith had fled for refuge.
The first recorded representation of the Saviour is
in the character of the Good Shepherd, and the
attributes of Orpheus and Apollo were borrowed
to express the character of him who “ redeemed
souls from Hell,” and “ gathered his people like
sheep.” In the cemetery of St. Calixtus at Rome
a head of Christ was discovered, the most ancient
of which • any copy has come down to us: the
figure is colossal; the face a long oval; the coun-
tenance mild, grave, melancholy; the long hair,
parted on the brow, falling in two masses on either
shoulder; the beard not thick, but short and di-
9
and art revived, it was, if not in a new form, in a
new spirit, by which the old forms were to be
gradually moulded and modified. The Christians
found the shell of ancient art remaining; the tra-
ditionary handicraft still existed; certain models
of figure and drapery, &c., handed down from
antiquity, though degenerated and distorted, re-
mained in use, and were applied to illustrate, by
direct or symbolical representations, the tenets of
a purer faith. From the beginning, the figures
selected to typify our redemption were those of the
Saviour and the Blessed Virgin, first separately,
and then conjointly as the Mother and Infant.
The earliest monuments of Christian art remaining
are to be found, nearly effaced, on the walls and
ceilings of the catacombs at Rome, to which the
persecuted martyrs of the faith had fled for refuge.
The first recorded representation of the Saviour is
in the character of the Good Shepherd, and the
attributes of Orpheus and Apollo were borrowed
to express the character of him who “ redeemed
souls from Hell,” and “ gathered his people like
sheep.” In the cemetery of St. Calixtus at Rome
a head of Christ was discovered, the most ancient
of which • any copy has come down to us: the
figure is colossal; the face a long oval; the coun-
tenance mild, grave, melancholy; the long hair,
parted on the brow, falling in two masses on either
shoulder; the beard not thick, but short and di-