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052 - 21 Christian Art · Short History of the Christian Church

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  Speaker 1: Part two, Chapter twenty one of Short History of the
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  Speaker 1: Christian Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter twenty one Christian art. Christian
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  Speaker 1: art in the medieval Church was patronized in all the
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  Speaker 1: centers of thought. The monasteries were not wanting in even
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  Speaker 1: this larger field of intellectual development. Saint gall in Switzerland
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  Speaker 1: and Fulda in Germany excelled all places north of Italy.
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  Speaker 1: For some time the former stood at the head. Totilo
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  Speaker 1: lived there. He was the Michelangelo of his time, being architect, painter, poet,
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  Speaker 1: and sculptor. The furniture for the sacred buildings grew into
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  Speaker 1: more artistic shapes as the Middle Ages advanced. The brass
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  Speaker 1: candelabra were of rich details. The wooden stalls and seats
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  Speaker 1: for the clergy and the choir were richly carved in
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  Speaker 1: all possible devices. The pulpits grew to be a vast
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  Speaker 1: mass of exquisite stone or wood in sculpture, and the
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  Speaker 1: screen between the nave and the high altar was frequently
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  Speaker 1: a place of metallic open work, at once rich and beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: Each part of the sacred building was adorned with all
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  Speaker 1: the skill known to the art of the times. The
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  Speaker 1: churches during the early part of the Middle Ages were
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  Speaker 1: modeled after the Classic type. The basilica ruled throughout Christiandom,
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  Speaker 1: but in time the pointed ceiling and arch came into
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  Speaker 1: use and marked the final transition north of the Alps
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  Speaker 1: to the magnificent Gothic. The Goths, who ruled in Ravenna
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  Speaker 1: employed the Byzantine style. These churches are still preserved, and
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  Speaker 1: because of their rich and numerous mosaics, are the best
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  Speaker 1: sources for the study from ecclesiastical structures of the earliest
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  Speaker 1: Christian Usages. The tenth century was the darkest period so
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  Speaker 1: far as art is concerned. In the Middle Ages, there
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  Speaker 1: was a universal stagnation. There was a pause in the
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  Speaker 1: building of churches and a disposition to depart from the
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  Speaker 1: Romanesque style and to adopt the Gothic. In the eleventh
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  Speaker 1: century there were evidences of a reviving taste, but in
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  Speaker 1: the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the revival was in full force,
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  Speaker 1: not only in architecture but in all departments of art.
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  Speaker 1: There was a general casting away of Classic models, and
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  Speaker 1: the Gothic style became universal. The Christian mind seemed disposed
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  Speaker 1: to abandon all relationship with the Greek and Roman public buildings.
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  Speaker 1: The very reminders of them were avoided. The place where
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  Speaker 1: the Christian worshiped was, to the believer of the later
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  Speaker 1: medieval period, a rich and living growth. There must be
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  Speaker 1: flowers and leaves and vines in all the rich luxuriance
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  Speaker 1: of a German forest. The great window must not be
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  Speaker 1: of transparent glass, but colored with all the tints of
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  Speaker 1: the rainbow, so that the rays falling on the stone
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  Speaker 1: floor of the cathedral might suggest the falling of the
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  Speaker 1: light through the leaves and branches of great trees upon
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  Speaker 1: the forest floor. Then the window itself must be a
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  Speaker 1: repetition of nature in her happiest mood. The rose window
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  Speaker 1: became in all Gothic architecture the particular object in which
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  Speaker 1: the poetic fancy and artistic skill succeeded in the creation
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  Speaker 1: of one of the most beautiful objects ever used for
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  Speaker 1: the advancement of a sacred building. During this period, the
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  Speaker 1: cathedrals of Cologne, Strasburg, Speyer and other places were built.
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  Speaker 1: The Colonne Cathedral was modeled after designs of Conrad of Hochstaden.
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  Speaker 1: It was begun in the thirteenth century and finished in
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  Speaker 1: part at the end of the fifteenth It was not
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  Speaker 1: till this century that the completion of this wonderful structure
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  Speaker 1: was seen. It was dedicated October fifteenth, eighteen eighty, in
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  Speaker 1: the presence of Emperor William the First and his Protestant court,
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  Speaker 1: the Catholic archbishop of the city being in exile, Erwin
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  Speaker 1: of Steinbach was the architect of the Strasburg Minster. It
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  Speaker 1: was begun in twelve seventy, but Erwin died before the
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  Speaker 1: completion of his undertaking. His daughter Sabina took his place
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  Speaker 1: and carried on the work. The Minster, however, was not
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  Speaker 1: finished until the fifteenth century. Glass painting for the ornamentation
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  Speaker 1: of sacred edifices came into use in the eleventh century
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  Speaker 1: with the growing taste for Gothic architecture. It was first
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  Speaker 1: used in the monastery of Tigerncy on a lake of
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  Speaker 1: that name in the Bavarian Highlands, and from that beginning
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  Speaker 1: it extended wherever the Gothic style was used in architecture.
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  Speaker 1: The plastic arts revived simultaneously with the medieval architecture. Nicholas
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  Speaker 1: of Pisa, who died in twelve seventy four was the
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  Speaker 1: master in the ornamental uses of gold and copper. His
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  Speaker 1: genius made such rich and beautiful adaptations of these metals
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  Speaker 1: as to attract many into the same profession. Painting came
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  Speaker 1: into use, largely for the ornamentation of the interior of
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  Speaker 1: the sacred edifices. The Germans learned the art from the Italians,
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  Speaker 1: the latter having derived their models from Byzantium. But the
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  Speaker 1: Italians improved upon their Byzantine originals. These were stiff and formal,
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  Speaker 1: but in Italian hands they became soft and pleasing. Guillunta
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  Speaker 1: of Pisa, Simbawe of Florence, and Guido of Siena were
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  Speaker 1: the first Italians to take away the sharpness of the
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  Speaker 1: Byzantine style and to clothe the images of Jesus and
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  Speaker 1: the Mother with that gentleness and attractiveness which culminated in
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  Speaker 1: the masterpieces of the School of Raphael. End of Chapter
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  Speaker 1: twenty one