The golden age of classic Christian art, by Jean Paul Richter and A. Cameron Taylor.

Preface

This study is an attempt to appreciate a large and homogeneous group of classic pictures from the points of view of art, archaeology, and theology, from each of which aspects they are of unique value.

The date of the great pictorial cycle of mosaics decorating the interior of the basilica of S. Maria Maggiore, Rome, has been hitherto universally accepted as fixed by the inscription on the Arch, as of the fifth century therefore. At the commencement of our studies we accepted this natural and apparently well-established conclusion ; but on com¬ paring the pictures in question with the works of art of the fifth century, both pictorial and plastic, and the theology they embody, with that of the great fifth-century theologians, Jerome and Augustine, we found that their artistic affinities were with the more classic art of the Antonines and their successors, and that the theology they clearly reflect was that of the age of the Apologists.

Our work, which was considerably advanced before this opinion grew into a conviction, had to be thrown on one side therefore, and our studies recommenced from a new standpoint.

Nor was the task on which we were embarking an easy one, as it was necessary to both project and design the path through the country which we were hereafter to explore as pioneers.

The first principles underlying the critical analysis of the pictorial material had to be discovered.

Two types of fact had to be investigated : (i) the specific type of thought embodied, for the successive phases in the evolution of Christian theology are of a marked character, and represent points of view which never recur in precisely the same form ; (2) the artistic character, not only of the general effect of the pictures, but of their component parts, for in the course of centuries these mosaics have

PREFACE

been so often restored and interpolated as to have acquired something of the nature of palimpsests composed of strata of very varied character, any one of which would be most misleading if taken as a basis for the appreciation of the picture, still more of the series, as a whole.

The outcome of our researches was surprising. We were forced to antedate the mosaics in question by some two centuries.

During the last half of the past century three archaeologists of note, Padre R. Garrucci, Giovanni Battista de Rossi, and Prof. Ainalof, have published important works on these mosaics. Padre Garrucci’s opinions are in large part reproduced in de Rossi’s publication. Prof. Ainalof approached the subject from a quite independent and Russian point of view. In the appendices we give a resumd of the opinions of the last named writers, opinions often incompatible with ours, and not always noted in the text, the aim of which is constructive, not destructive.

The illustrations published by the two Italian archaeologists are too inaccurate to subserve any artistic purpose, or to give any idea of style. We have used those of Garrucci merely as indications of the general disposition of the figures and masses, and have supplemented them with coloured reproductions of almost all the surviving fragments of the original pictures, and of several of such interpolations as are characteristic of their times.

These reproductions were made either from coloured tracings, or from water-colour paintings on a photographic basis. Their prepara¬ tion was attended by innumerable difficulties, not the least of which was due to the position of the pictures above the architrave of the Nave, and above the High Altar at which the ritual of the Church is daily celebrated. We were able to bring this part of our work to a successful conclusion, thanks to the courtesy and aid of the late Mons. P. Crostarosa, and of Mons. Pinchetti, Canons of the basilica, who advised the Chapter to permit the erection of scaffoldings (dis¬ figuring, and sometimes inconvenient though they were), for limited and intermitting periods of time; or, when this was not feasible, to permit us to be let down through the ceiling in a cage, and to continue our work thus suspended before the object of our studies. We also owe much to the courage, resource, and skill of the artist whose services we were fortunate enough to secure, Signore Carlo Tabanelli, illustrator

VI

P R E F AC E of Mons. J. Wilpert’s magnificent work on the pictures in the Roman catacombs. His water-colours, which were made under conditions of great discomfort, and sometimes even of actual danger, have been admirably reproduced under his direction in the three-colour process by Signore Giulio Danesi, of Rome.

We have further to express our gratitude to His Eminence Cardinal Francesco Vannutelli, to Mons. J. Wilpert, to Padre Ehrle, to Dr. A. Haseloff, to Prof. Ch. Hiilsen, to Baron R. Kanzler, to Prof. E. Petersen, to Prof. A. Morani, under whose superintendence some of the pictures in the Nave were reproduced, to Fraiilein E. M. Stiffel, who kindly translated Prof. Ainalofis Russian treatise for our benefit, to Commendatore C. Tenerani, and to Dom-Vicar Dr. Wiegand.

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Contents

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER PAGES

I. Method . I_7

Part I

THE PROTOTYPICAL DECORATIONS OF THE NAVE The First Typological Series : Abraham

I. Introductory . 55—57

II. Abraham, Melchizedek, and Christ . 58-66

III. Abraham and the Three Angels . 67-80

IV. The Separation of Lot from Abraham . 81-88

The Second Typological Series : Jacob

I. Introductory . 89-96

II. Jacob and Rachel, Leah and Laban. — Esau . 97-119

Jacob’s blessing. — Esau receives Isaac’s blessing. — Rachel announces Jacob’s arrival. — Jacob enters Laban’s household. — Jacob serves for Rachel. — Jacob asks the hand of Rachel. — Jacob’s marriage with Rachel. — The compact between Jacob and Laban. — The dividing of Jacob’s sheep from those of Laban. — The incident of the rods. — God commands Jacob to depart. — Jacob communicates the command of God to Leah and Rachel. — Jacob sends messengers to Esau. — The meeting of Jacob and Esau.

III. Jacob as Shepherd and Bridegroom : a Type of Christ .... 120-125

IV. Hamor, Shechem, and the Sons of Leah . 126-136

H amor and Shechem before Jacob. — Jacob and his sons. — Negotiations between the King of Shechem and the sons of Leah. — Hamor and Shechem address their subjects. — The typological significance of the relation between Hamor and Shechem and the sons of Leah.

ix

CONTENTS

CHAPTER The Third Typological Series : Moses

I. Introductory

II. The Adoption of Moses

III. Moses among the Philosophers ....

IV. Moses’ Marriage ....

V. The Calling of Moses ....

VI. Passage of the Red Sea .

VII. The Covenant between God and His People

VIII. The Miracle of the Quails ....

IX. The Bitter Waters of Marah ....

X. The Rejection of the Embassage of Israel by Edom

XI. The Defeat of Amalek .

XII. The Mission of the Envoys .

XIII. The Stoning of Moses .

XIV. The Second Covenant, and the Passing of Moses

PAGES

142-150

XI. I

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

1 he Fourth Typological Series: Joshua

Introductory ....

The Passage of the Jordan .

Jesus' Envoys .....

Joshua before the Angel of the Lord .

The Return of the Envoys ....

The Fall of Jericho.— The Procession of the Ark The Siege of Gibeon. — Delivery of Gibeon .

The sudden Appearance of “Jesus" Nave.— Pursuit of

Hailstorm .

The Staying of Sun and Moon ....

the Enemy. — The

The Condemnation of the Five Kings.— The Division of the Spoil The Typological Aspect of the History of Joshua

212-214

215-221

222-225

226-229

230-231

232-238

239-243

244-250

255-257

258-272