some instances also by their assumed correspondence with certain prophecies; indeed, the circumstances alluded to in the predictions of the Old Testament are not unfrequently blended in pictures with the facts of the New. The subjects called the Deposition from the Cross, and the Pietà (the dead Christ mourned by the Marys and Disciples, or by the Madonna alone), may be thus explained.* Hence, too, the never-failing accompaniments of the Nativity; † hence the "Wise Men" are represented as kings, and the Flight into Egypt is attended with the destruction of the idols. § Subjects of this class were sometimes combined in regular cycles, which, in the form they assumed after the revival of Art, probably had their origin in the selection of meditations for the Rosary (instituted in the thirteenth century): among these were the "Joys" || and "Sorrows" ¶ of the Virgin,

* Zechariah, xii. 10.

+ Isaiah, i. 3.

Psalm lxxii. 10, 11. Certain accessories in pictures of this subject are derived from Isaiah, lx. 6.

§ Isaiah, xix. 1. (See Comestor, Hist. Evang. c. 10.) The incident may have been directly borrowed from an apocryphal source, the "Evangelium Infantiæ." Circumstances adopted from similar authorities were sometimes interwoven with the subjects of the New Testament.

3. The Nati

|| 1. The Annunciation. 2. The Visitation. vity. 4. The Adoration of the Kings. 5. The Presentation in the Temple. 6. Christ found by his Mother in the Temple. 7. The Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin.

1. The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke, ii. 35.) 2. The Flight into Egypt. 3. Christ, while disputing with the Doc

с

and the principal events of the Passion.* Other themes common at the same time had their appropriate application; the history of St. John the Baptist was the constant subject in Baptisteries; the chapels especially dedicated to the Virgin were adorned with scenes from her life; † the hosts of heaven, "Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers," ‡ were sometimes introduced in

tors in the Temple, missed by his Mother. 4. Christ betrayed. 5. The Crucifixion (the Virgin and St. John only present). 6. The Deposition from the Cross. 7. The Ascension (the Virgin left on earth).

The "Seven Hours of the Passion" were:-1. The Last Supper. 2. The Agony in the Garden. 3. Christ before Caiaphas. 4. Christ before Herod. 5. Christ crowned with Thorns. 6. Pilate washing his Hands. 7. The Crucifixion (the centurion and others present). The more complete series eontained in addition to these and other subjects:-The Flagellation. The Ecce Homo. The Procession to Calvary, or Christ bearing his Cross. The Entombment. The Descent to the Limbus. The Resurrection. The Life of Christ contained, in addition to many of the above, the Baptism and Transfiguration. The Life of the Virgin, though interwoven with that of Christ, formed, for the most part, a distinct series. The subjects of all these cycles varied in number, perhaps accordingly as they were separately or collectedly adapted to the divisions. of the Rosary and Corona. The "Speculum Salvationis (Augsburg edition) assigns seven to each of the first three series, in the above order. five for each.

The more ordinary division was

+ See the "Evangelium de Nativitate Mariæ" and the "Protevangelium Jacobi." The subjects from the history of Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin (painted by Taddeo Gaddi, Domenico Ghirlandajo, Gaudenzio Ferrari, and others), are chiefly in the latter.

The orders of angels, as represented by the Italian painters,

cupolas; but the more customary subjects were the Ascension of Christ and the Assumption of the Virgin.* The subjects of the Old Testament were universally considered as types: their assumed ulterior meaning is frequently explained in glosses of MS. Bibles, and in the "Compendiums of Theology" which were in the hands of all ecclesiastics. These commentaries contained much that may be traced to the early Fathers; but during and after the revival of Art they were more immediately derived from the scholastic theologians, whose

appear to have been derived from a treatise "De Hierarchiâ cœlesti" (c. 7-11), which bears the name of Dionysius Areopagita, and may be traced to Jewish sources. St. Thomas Aquinas (after Dionysius) gives the nine orders of angels as follows: "Seraphim, Cherubim, Throni, Dominationes, Virtutes, Potestates, Principatus, Archangeli, Angeli." Vasari ventured to cover a ceiling in Florence with "Illustrations" of a still profounder lore the Cabala. See his "Ragionamenti " (Gior. 1.). Compare Brucker, Hist. Philosophiæ.

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* This last subject frequently adorned the high altar. The subject of the Death of the Virgin, which occurs in MSS. of the middle ages, as well as in pictures of later date, was gradually superseded by it. For the legend, see the "Flos Sanctorum" (Aug. 25), and the "Aurea Legenda:" both give the early authorities.

+ The most renowned of these doctors were of the Dominican order (de' Predicatori); the same fraternity afterwards boasted some distinguished painters (Angelico da Fiesole, Fra Bartolommeo, etc.), and on many accounts may be considered the chief medium of communication between the church and its handmaid, Art. Among the earlier commentaries on Scripture evidently consulted by the painters, was the Historia Scholastica of Comestor, already referred to.

All information respecting the legends and attributes of the

writings appear to have had considerable influence on the sacred Painting of Italy and Europe.

saints will be found in the series of Mrs. Jameson's works on Sacred Art. The English reader may also consult the first volume of Lord Lindsay's "Sketches of the History of Christian Art," London," 1847. Among French works, the "Essai sur les Légendes Pieuses du Moyen Age," by Alfred Maury, Paris, 1843, Didron's "Iconographie Chrétienne," Paris, 1843, and the "Manuel d'Iconographie Chrétienne," by the same author and Durand, Paris, 1845 (the latter work relating to the Greek Church), will be found useful. There is also a modern French translation of the Golden Legend. Various German writers have of late years contributed to facilitate the study of mediæval works of art. Among their labours may be mentioned the "Ikonographie der Heiligen" (Radowitz), Berlin, 1834; "Christliche Kunstsymbolik und Ikonographie," Frankfurt a. M., 1834; "Die bildlichen Darstellungen im Sanctuarium der Christlichen Kirchen," by Dr. J. G. Müller, Trier, 1835; "Die Attribute der Heiligen," Hanover, 1843; and "Die Heiligenbilder," by Dr. Heinrich Alt, Berlin, 1843. Other German works of the kind will readily be found in pursuing this study.

No. III.

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE MODERN GERMAN SCHOOL OF FRESCO PAINTING.*

THE present German School of Fresco Painters has been formed within the last twenty-five years. Its first essays were in a great measure the result of a general spirit of imitation which willingly adopted all that was associated with the habits of the later middle ages. It is here proposed to review the origin and progress of this spirit in the present century. The historians of modern German art have indeed traced its rise to earlier influences, but all agree that the circumstances about to be noticed greatly promoted the introduction of a reformed taste in Painting.

The efforts to create a new style of art, in Germany, in the beginning of the present century, were intimately connected with the struggle for political independence. The cathedrals and churches on the Rhine had been more or less desecrated and plundered, and the pictures by the early German masters dispersed and sold. The gradual recovery of these ended in the formation of collections of

*

[Extracted from a paper in the Appendix to the Report of the Select Committee on Fine Arts. 1841.-ED.]