(Vol. iv., p. 422.).
A correspondent questions the accuracy of MR. CURZON's statement, in his
_Monasteries of the Levant_, that--
"The crucifix was not known before the fifth or sixth century, though
the cross was always the emblem of the Christian faith,"--
and asks for information as to its use, and the dates of the earliest
examples. Some twenty years ago I devoted some care to this inquiry, and
the result will be found in a chapter on the decline of the arts in
Greece, in a _History of Modern Greece_, which I published in 1830. To
that essay, but more especially to the authorities which it cites, I
would refer your correspondent; and I think, after an examination of the
latter, he will be disposed to concur with me, that Mr. Curzon's
statement is correct. It is in accordance with that of Gibbon, and
sustained by the same authorities as Basnage, to the effect that the
first Christians, from their association with the Jews, and their
aversion to the mythology of the Greeks, were hostile to the use of
images of any description in their primitive temples, in which they
reluctantly admitted the figure of the ignominious cross, as a memorial
of the Redeemer's death. At a later period, however, the veneration for
the _relics_ of departed saints led to the admission of their painted
_portraits_, and eventually to the erection of their images and effigies
in wood and marble. (_Gibbon_, chap. xxiii. xlix.) Reiskius states that
it was not till the fourth century after Christ that the latter
innovation began:
"Ecclesia vero Christiana tribus seculis prioribus ne quidem imagines
recepit aut inter sacra numeravit instrumenta. Sed demum sub finem
quarti seculi ea lege admisit ut in templis memoriae ac ornatus causa
haberentur."--Reiskius, _De Imaginibus Jesu Christi Exercitationes
Histor._, ex. i. c. i. sec. ii. p. 12.
Lillio Giraldi concurs with Reiskius:
"Illud certe non praetermittam nos dico Christianos ut aliquando
Romanos fuisse sine imaginibus in primitiva quae vocatur
ecclesia."--Lillius Gregorius Giraldus, _Historiae Deorum Syntage_, v.
i. p. 15.
The earliest images of Christ were those mentioned as being placed, by
Alexander Severus, along with those of Abraham, Jupiter, Pythagoras,
Plato, and Aristotle. (_Reiskius_, ex. vii. c. i. sec. i. p. 151.)
Constantine placed two equestrian statues of the Saviour in the Lateran
Church. But Molanus, who mentions the latter fact, insists that there
were existing about this period numerous statues of the Saviour, which
he would refer to the time of Pontius Pilate. (_De Historia SS.
Imaginibus, &c._, lib. i. c. vi. p. 65.)
The most ancient examples now remaining of the decorations employed by
the early Christians, are doubtless those found in the catacombs at
Rome. I have not access to any recent copies of these interesting
antiquities; but so far as my recollection serves, they contain no
example of a crucifix, or any literal delineation of the death of the
Saviour. In fact, even in these gloomy retreats, the vigilance of
persecution compelled the Christians to caution, and forced them to
conceal, under allegories and mystery, the memorials of their faith; the
figure of the Redeemer being always veiled under an assumed character,
most generally that of a shepherd bearing in his arms a recovered lamb.
This, which is the most common form of allegory of this period, occurs
in the catacomb of the Via Latina, in that of Priscilla in the Via
Salaria, discovered in 1776, both of which, according to Aringhi, are
amongst the oldest Christian monuments now remaining. (_Roma
Subterranea_, vol. ii. p. 25. 292.) In a sepulchral chamber in the
cemetery of St. Calixtus, Jesus is represented as Orpheus with a lyre,
as emblematic of the subduing influences of his life. But his death is
still more cautiously shadowed forth by the types of Jonas, Isaac on the
altar of Abraham, and Daniel in the den of lions,--examples of all of
which are numerous; and the cover of an urn figured by Agincourt
presents them all three. (_Histoire de l'Art par les Monumens_, vol.
iv.; _Dec. Sculp._, pl. v. no. 10.)
Art, after its decline in Rome, was later cherished by the Greeks at
Byzantum, and allegory in their hands, during the third and fourth
centuries, exhibited a much higher refinement than amongst the
degenerate Romans,--the divinity and _life_ of Jesus being represented
in their paintings by a youth of godlike mien and heavenly grace, with
his foot upon the mane of a lion, whilst his _death_ is still typified
by a lamb expiring at the foot of a cross, which it sprinkles with its
blood, and his _resurrection_ by a phoenix, which rests upon the summit
of a palm-tree, the emblem of his _victory_.
I have stated that even the _cross_, as an emblem, was admitted
"reluctantly" into the churches of the early Christians. The fact,
and the causes of this reluctance, are stated fairly by Gibbon
(ch. xx.), principally on the authorities consulted by Basnage in
his _Histoire des Eglises Reformees_, to have had their origin in
the idea of infamy and ignominy which they attached to the mode of
execution by crucifixion,--feelings analogous to those inspired by
a gallows or a gibbet; and it required a long lapse of time, even
after Constantine had abolished throughout the Roman dominions the
punishment which had prevailed for slaves and malefactors, but which
the Saviour of mankind had submitted to suffer, before the people
could be led to regard as a symbol for veneration that which had so
long been an object of horror and disgust. A most interesting account
of the subsidence of this feeling, and of its effects upon Sacred Art
whilst it prevailed, will be found in Emeric David's _Discours sur la
Peinture Moderne_, p. 115. It rendered allegory so indispensable, that
in the exhaustion of fancy it declined into conceits and puerility,
which finally brought the subject into contempt, and compelled the
hierarchy to exert the influence of the Church for its correction.
This led to a measure the record of which is strongly corroborative
of the statement of Mr. Curzon; namely, that A.D. 692, at the Quine
Sextine, or _Council in Trullo_, it was ordered that thenceforth
fiction and allegory should cease, and _the real figure of the Saviour
be depicted on the tree_. (_Can._ 82. _Act. Concil._ Paris, 1714,
v. iii. col. 1691, 1692.)
The Greeks complied, but with reluctance, to delineate the actual
crucifixion; and as, in the controversy which arose in the second
century, and never entirely subsided, regarding the beauty or deformity
of the Saviour's features, the Greek Church had espoused the side of St.
Basil, Tertullian, and Origen, who maintained that "he was without form
or comeliness," their artists exhibited such a spectacle of deformity on
the cross, that to the present hour a proverb compares a lean and ugly
person to "un crucifix des Grecs." The Latins and Italians, on the other
hand, whilst they were equally hostile to the literal exhibition of the
Redeemer's death, and _forbore for nearly a century_ to comply with the
orders of the Council _in Trullo_, adopted, as to his beauty, the party
of Celsus and Chrysostom,--quoted the expression of David, "thou art
fairer than the children of men,"--and painted the Saviour, albeit
suspended on the fatal tree, as a youth of heavenly mien; and instead of
the crown of thorns, the lance, and the sponge, they represented him
with a diadem, and insensible to suffering or pain.
These remarks, though they will no doubt be insufficient as an answer to
your correspondent, may perhaps direct him to authorities, the
consultation of which will satisfy his inquiry.