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A HISTORY OF ART FOR BEGINNERS AND STUDENTS
Painting--Sculpture--Architecture
With Complete Indexes and Numerous Illustrations
by
CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT
Author of "Handbook of Legendary and Mythological Art,"
"Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, Architects and Their Works,"
"Artists of the Nineteenth Century," Etc.
[Illustration]
New York
Frederick A. Stokes Company
MDCCCXCI
Copyright, 1887,
by Frederick A. Stokes,
Successor to White, Stokes, & Allen.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
ANCIENT PAINTING, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA, 1
EGYPT, 3
ASSYRIA, 9
BABYLON, 11
ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY, 13
MOSAICS, 34
PAINTINGS ON STONE, 36
VASE-PAINTING, 36
CHAPTER II.
MEDIÆVAL PAINTING, FROM THE BEGINNING
OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA TO THE RENAISSANCE, 41
THE EARLY PERIOD, 42
THE CENTRAL, OR ROMANESQUE PERIOD, 50
THE FINAL, OR GOTHIC PERIOD, 54
CHAPTER III.
PAINTING IN ITALY, FROM THE BEGINNING
OF THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT CENTURY, 72
CHAPTER IV.
PAINTING IN FLANDERS, HOLLAND, AND GERMANY, 155
CHAPTER V.
PAINTING IN SPAIN, 207
CHAPTER VI.
PAINTING IN FRANCE, 234
CHAPTER VII.
PAINTING IN ENGLAND, 249
INDEX, 305
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Harp-player (from an Egyptian painting), 3
King Ramesses II. and his Sons Storming
a Fortress (from Abousimbel), 5
Fragment of an Assyrian Tile-painting, 10
Sacrifice of Iphigenia
(from a Pompeian wall-painting), 16
Etruscan Wall-painting, 22
Human Sacrifice Offered by Achilles to
the Shade of Patroklos (from an
Etruscan wall-painting), 24
The Aldobrandini Marriage
(from a wall-painting in the Vatican), 26
Landscape Illustration to the Odyssey
(from a wall-painting discovered on
the Esquiline at Rome), 28
The Flight of Æneas (from a wall-painting), 30
Demeter Enthroned
(from a Pompeian wall-painting), 31
Pompeian Wall-painting, 32
Nest of Cupids
(from a Pompeian wall-painting), 33
Doves Seated on a Bowl (from a
mosaic picture in the Capitol, Rome), 35
Niobe (from a picture on a slab of
granite at Pompeii), 37
The Dodwell Vase, 38
Scene in the Lower World (from a vase
of the style of Lower Italy), 39
Moses (from a painting in the
Catacomb of S. Agnes), 43
Decoration of a Roof
(Catacomb of S. Domitilla), 44
Justinian, Theodora, and Attendants
(from a mosaic picture at S. Vitalis,
Ravenna), 46
The Discovery of the Herb Mandragora
(from a MS. of Dioskorides, at Vienna), 48
King David (from a window in
Augsburg Cathedral), 51
Window (from the Cathedral of St. Denis), 52
Figure of Henry I. in west window of
Strasbourg Cathedral, 55
Birth of the Virgin (from the
Grandes Heures of the Duc de Berri), 57
The Annunciation (from the Mariale of
Archbishop Arnestus of Prague), 59
Painted Window at Konigsfelden, 60
Portrait of Cimabue, 61
The Madonna of the Church of
Santa Maria Novella, 63
Portrait of Dante, painted by Giotto, 65
Giotto's Campanile and the Duomo (Florence), 67
Fra Angelico (from the representation of
him in the fresco of the "Last
Judgment" by Fra Bartolommeo), 74
An Angel (Fra Angelico), 77
Christ (Gio. Bellini), 81
Madonna (Perugino), 83
Leonardo da Vinci, 85
The Last Supper (Da Vinci), 88
Mona Lisa (Da Vinci), 91
Portrait of Michael Angelo, 95
The Prophet Jeremiah (Michael Angelo), 101
Statue of Moses (Michael Angelo), 102
The Madonna del Sacco (Sarto), 106
Portrait of Raphael, painted by himself, 109
The Sistine Madonna (Raphael), 113
St. Cecilia Listening to the Singing
of Angels (Raphael), 117
Portrait of Titian (Caracci), 122
Portrait of Lavinia (Titian), 125
Portrait of Correggio, 133
Upper Part of a Fresco by Correggio, 136
Lower Part of a Fresco by Correggio, 138
Communion of St. Jerome (Domenichino), 142
Aurora (Guido Reni), 144
Beatrice Cenci (Guido Reni), 146
The Anchorites (Van Eyck), 157
The Sibyl and the Emperor Augustus
(Van der Weyden), 159
Rubens and his Second Wife, 163
The Return from Egypt (Rubens), 166
Portrait of an Officer (Hals), 178
One of Rembrandt's Portraits of Himself, 182
The Lecture on Anatomy (Rembrandt), 183
Burgomaster Meier Madonna (Holbein), 191
From Holbein's Dance of Death, 193
A Scene from Dürer's Wood Engravings
of the Life of the Virgin Mary, 196
The Four Apostles (Dürer), 200
Laughing Peasant (Velasquez), 217
The Topers (Velasquez), 219
The Immaculate Conception (Murillo), 226
Arcadian Shepherds (Poussin), 235
The Sabine Women (David), 241
Death of the Duke of Guise (Delaroche), 243
Sir Joshua Reynolds, 250
The Marriage Contract (Hogarth), 253
Muscipula (Reynolds), 256
Portrait of Turner, 272
Nantes (Turner), 276
Illustration from Rogers's Poems, 285
The Slave Ship (Turner), 289
The Eagle and Dead Stag (Landseer), 297
PAINTING.
CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT PAINTING, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
In speaking of art we often contrast the useful or mechanical arts with
the Fine Arts; by these terms we denote the difference between the arts
which are used in making such things as are necessary and useful in
civilized life, and the arts by which ornamental and beautiful things are
made.
The fine arts are Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Poetry, and Music,
and though we could live if none of these existed, yet life would be far
from the pleasant experience that it is often made to be through the
enjoyment of these arts.
In speaking of Painting, just here I wish to include the more general idea
of pictures of various sorts, and it seems to me that while picture-making
belongs to the fine or beautiful arts, it is now made a very useful art in
many ways. For example, when a school-book is illustrated, how much more
easily we understand the subject we are studying through the help we get
from pictures of objects or places that we have not seen, and yet wish to
know about. Pictures of natural scenery bring all countries before our
eyes in such a way that by looking at them, while reading books of travel,
we may know a great deal more about lands we have never seen, and may
never be able to visit.
Who does not love pictures? and what a pleasure it is to open a magazine
or book filled with fine illustrations. St. Augustine, who wrote in the
fourth century after Christ, said that "pictures are the books of the
simple or unlearned;" this is just as true now as then, and we should
regard pictures as one of the most agreeable means of education. Thus one
of the uses of pictures is that they give us a clear idea of what we have
not seen; a second use is that they excite our imaginations, and often
help us to forget disagreeable circumstances and unpleasant surroundings.
The cultivation of the imagination is very important, because in this way
we can add much to our individual happiness. Through this power, if we are
in a dark, narrow street, in a house which is not to our liking, or in the
midst of any unpleasant happenings, we are able to fix our thoughts upon a
photograph or picture that may be there, and by studying it we are able to
imagine ourselves far, far away, in some spot where nature makes
everything pleasant and soothes us into forgetfulness of all that can
disturb our happiness. Many an invalid--many an unfortunate one is thus
made content by pictures during hours that would otherwise be wretched.
This is the result of cultivating the perceptive and imaginative
faculties, and when once this is done, we have a source of pleasure within
ourselves and not dependent on others which can never be taken from us.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--HARP-PLAYER. _From an Egyptian painting._]
It often happens that we see two persons who do the same work and are
situated in the same way in the world who are very different in their
manner; one is light-hearted and happy, the other heavy and sad. If you
can find out the truth, it will result that the sad one is matter-of-fact,
and has no imagination--he can only think of his work and what concerns
him personally; but the merry one would surprise you if you could read his
thoughts--if you could know the distances they have passed over, and what
a vast difference there is between his thought and his work. So while it
is natural for almost every one to exclaim joyfully at the beauty of
pictures, and to enjoy looking at them simply, I wish my readers to think
of their uses also, and understand the benefits that may be derived from
them. I have only hinted at a few of these uses, but many others will
occur to you.
When pictures are composed of beautiful colors, such as we usually think
of when we speak of the art of painting, the greatest charm of pictures is
reached, and all civilized people have admired and encouraged this art. It
is true that the remains of ancient art now existing are principally those
of architecture or sculpture, yet there are a sufficient number of
pictures in color to prove how old the art of painting is.
EGYPT.
Egyptian painting is principally found on the walls of temples and tombs,
upon columns and cornices, and on small articles found in burial places.
There is no doubt that it was used as a decoration; but it was also
intended to be useful, and was so employed as to tell the history of the
country;--its wars, with their conquests and triumphs, and the lives of
the kings, and many other stories, are just as distinctly told by pictures
as by the hieroglyphics or Egyptian writings. We can scarcely say that
Egyptian painting is beautiful; but it certainly is very interesting.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--KING RAMESSES II. AND HIS SONS STORMING A FORTRESS.
_From Abousimbel._]
The Egyptians had three kinds of painting: one on flat surfaces, a second
on bas-reliefs, or designs a little raised and then colored, and a third
on designs in _intaglio_, or hollowed out from the flat surface and the
colors applied to the figures thus cut out. They had no knowledge of what
we call perspective, that is, the art of representing a variety of objects
on one flat surface, and making them appear to be at different distances
from us--and you will see from the illustrations given here that their
drawing and their manner of expressing the meaning of what they painted
were very crude. As far as the pictorial effect is concerned, there is
very little difference between the three modes of Egyptian painting; their
general appearance is very nearly the same.
The Egyptian artist sacrificed everything to the one consideration of
telling his story clearly; the way in which he did this was sometimes very
amusing, such as the making one man twice as tall as another in order to
signify that he was of high position, such as a king or an officer of high
rank. When figures are represented as following each other, those that are
behind are frequently taller than those in front, and sometimes those that
are farthest back are ranged in rows, with the feet of one row entirely
above the heads of the others. This illustration of the storming of a fort
by a king and his sons will show you what I mean. The sons are intended to
be represented as following the father, and are in a row, one above the
other (Fig. 2).
For the representation of water, a strip of blue filled in with
perpendicular zigzag black lines was used. From these few facts you can
understand how unformed and awkward Egyptian pictures seem if we compare
them with the existing idea of what is beautiful. There appear to have
been certain fixed rules for the use of colors, and certain objects were
always painted in the colors prescribed for them. The background of a
picture was always of a single, solid color; Egyptian men were painted in
a reddish brown, and horses were of the same shade; women were generally
yellow, sometimes a lighter brown than the men; negroes were black, the
Asiatic races yellow, and but one instance is known of a white skin, blue
eyes, and yellow hair. The draperies about the figures were painted in
pleasing colors, and were sometimes transparent, so that the figures could
be seen through them.
The execution of Egyptian paintings was very mechanical. One set of
workmen prepared the plaster on the wall for the reception of the colors;
another set drew all the outlines in red; then, if chiselling was to be
done, another class performed this labor; and, finally, still others put
on the colors. Of course nothing could be more matter-of-fact than such
painting as this, and under such rules an artist of the most lofty genius
and imagination would find it impossible to express his conceptions in his
work. We know all this because some of these pictures exist in an
unfinished condition, and are left in the various stages of execution;
then, too, there are other pictures of the painters at their work, and all
these different processes are shown in them. The outline drawing is the
best part of Egyptian painting, and this is frequently very cleverly done.
As I have intimated, the greatest value of Egyptian painting is that it
gives us a clear record of the habits and customs of a very ancient
people--of a civilization which has long since passed away, and of which
we should have a comparatively vague and unsatisfactory notion but for
this picture-history of it. The religion, the political history, and the
domestic life of the ancient Egyptians are all placed before us in these
paintings. Through a study of them we know just how they hunted and
fished, gathered their fruits, tilled the soil, and cooked the food,
played games, danced, and practised gymnastics, conducted their scenes of
festivity and mourning--in short, how they lived under all circumstances.
Thus you see that Egyptian painting is a very important example of the way
in which pictures can teach us; you will also notice that it is not even
necessary that they should be pretty in order that we may learn from
them.
Another use made of Egyptian painting was the illustration of the papyrus
rolls upon which historical and other documents were written. These rolls,
found in the tombs, are now placed in museums and collections of curious
things; the paintings upon them may be called the oldest book
illustrations in the world. Sometimes a single color is used, such as red
or black; but others are in a variety of colors which have been put on
with a brush. Indeed, some rolls exist which have pictures only, and are
entirely without hieroglyphics or writing characters; one such is more
than twenty yards long, and contains nothing but pictures of funeral
ceremonies.
The ancient Egyptians were so serious a people that it is a pleasant
surprise to find that some of these pictures are intended for jokes and
satires, somewhat like those of the comic papers of to-day; for example,
there is one in the British Museum, London, representing cats and rats
fighting, which is intended to ridicule the soldiers and heroes of the
Egyptian army.
One cannot study Egyptian painting without feeling sorry for the painters;
for in all the enormous amount of work done by them no one man was
recognized--no one is now remembered. We know some of the names of great
Egyptian architects which are written in the historical rolls; but no
painter's name has been thus preserved. The fact that no greater progress
was made is a proof of the discouraging influences that must have been
around these artists, for it is not possible that none of them had
imagination or originality: there must have been some whose souls were
filled with poetic visions, for some of the Egyptian writings show that
poetry existed in ancient Egypt. But of what use could imagination be to
artists who were governed by the laws of a narrow priesthood, and hedged
about by a superstitious religion which even laid down rules for art?
For these reasons we know something of Egyptian art and nothing of
Egyptian artists, and from all these influences it follows that Egyptian
painting is little more than an illuminated alphabet or a child's
picture-history. In the hieroglyphics, or writing characters of Egypt, it
often occurs that small pictures of certain animals or other objects stand
for whole words, and it appears that this idea was carried into Egyptian
painting, which by this means became simply a picture chronicle, and never
reached a point where it could be called truly artistic or a high art.
ASSYRIA.
The remains of Assyrian painting are so few that they scarcely serve any
other purpose than to prove that the Assyrians were accustomed to decorate
their walls with pictures. Sometimes the walls were prepared with plaster,
and the designs were painted on that; in other cases the painting was done
upon the brick itself. The paintings on plaster were usually on the inner
walls, and many of these which have been discovered during the excavations
have disappeared when exposed to the air after their long burial from the
sight and knowledge of the world.
Speaking of these pictures, the writer on art, J. Oppert, says that some
paintings were found in the Palace of Sargon; they represented gods,
lions, rosettes, and various other designs; but when he reached Nineveh,
one year after these discoveries, the pictures had all disappeared--the
colors which had been buried twenty-five hundred years lasted but a few
days after they were uncovered.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--FRAGMENT OF AN ASSYRIAN TILE-PAINTING.]
Assyrian tile-painting was more durable than the wall-painting; but in
all the excavations that have been made these have been found only in
fragments, and from these fragments no complete picture has been put
together. The largest one was found at Nimrud, and our illustration is
taken from it. It represents a king, as we know by the tiara he wears, and
two servants who follow him. The pictures to which the existing fragments
belong could not have been large: the figures in our picture are but nine
inches high. A few pieces have been found which must have belonged to
larger pictures, and there is one which shows a part of a face belonging
to a figure at least three feet high; but this is very unusual.
The Assyrian paintings have a broad outline which is of a lighter color
than the rest of the picture; it is generally white or yellow. There are
very few colors used in them. This does not accord with our notions of the
dresses and stuffs of the Assyrians, for we suppose that they were rich
and varied in color--probably they had so few pigments that they could not
represent in their paintings all the colors they knew.
No one can give a very satisfactory account of Assyrian painting; but,
judging from the little of it which remains, and from the immense number
of Assyrian sculptures which exist, we may conclude that the chief aim of
Assyrian artists was to represent each object they saw with absolute
realism. The Dutch painters were remarkable for this trait and for the
patient attention which they gave to the details of their work, and for
this reason Oppert has called the Assyrians the Dutchmen of antiquity.
BABYLON.
In Babylon, in the sixth century B.C., under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,
the art of tile-painting reached a high state of perfection. The
Babylonians had no such splendid alabaster as had the Assyrians, neither
had they lime-stone; so they could not make fine sculptured slabs, such as
are found at Nineveh and in other Assyrian ruins. But the Babylonians had
a fine clay, and they learned how to use it to the best advantage. The
city of Babylon shone with richly colored tiles, and one traveller writes:
"By the side of Assyria, her colder and severer sister of the North,
Babylon showed herself a true child of the South,--rich, glowing, careless
of the rules of taste, only desiring to awaken admiration by the dazzling
brilliance of her appearance."
Many of the Babylonish tiles are in regular, set patterns in rich tints;
some are simply in solid colors. These last are found in the famous
terrace-temple of Borsippê, near Babylon. We know from ancient writings
that there were decorative paintings in Babylon which represented hunting
scenes and like subjects, and, according to the prophet Ezekiel, chap.
xxiii., verse 14, there were "men portrayed upon the wall, the images of
the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their
loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to
look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their
nativity." Some writers assume that this must have been a description of
tapestries; but most authorities believe them to have been glazed
tile-paintings.
A whole cargo of fragments of Babylonish tile-paintings was once collected
for the gallery of the Louvre at Paris, and, when on board a ship and
ready to be sent away, by some accident the whole was sunk. From the
descriptions of them which were written, we find that there were portions
of pictures of human faces and other parts of the body, of animals,
mountains, and forests, of water, walls, and trees.
Judging from what still remains, the art of painting was far less
important and much less advanced among the Eastern or Oriental nations
than were those of architecture and sculpture. It is very strange that
these peoples, who seem to have observed nature closely, and to have
mastered the mathematical sciences, made no steps toward the discovery of
the laws of perspective; neither did they know how to give any expression
of thought or feeling to the human face. In truth, their pictures were
a mere repetition of set figures, and were only valuable as pieces of
colored decorations for walls, adding a pleasing richness and variety by
their different tints, but almost worthless as works of art.
ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY.
The painting of Greece and that of ancient Italy are so much the same that
it is almost impossible to speak of them separately; the art of painting
was carried from Greece to Italy by the Etruscans, and the art of ancient
Rome was simply that of Greece transplanted. If Greek artists were
employed by Romans, certainly their works were Greek; and if Romans
painted they aimed to imitate the Greeks exactly, so that Italian painting
before the time of the Christian era must be considered together with that
of Greece.
In architecture and sculpture the ancient Greeks accepted what had been
done by the Egyptians and Assyrians as a foundation, and went on to
perfect the work of the older nations through the aid of poetic and
artistic imaginations. But in painting the Greeks followed nothing that
had preceded them. They were the first to make pictures which were a
life-like reproduction of what they saw about them: they were the first to
separate painting from sculpture, and to give it such importance as would
permit it to have its own place, quite free from the influence of any
other art, and in its own way as grand and as beautiful as its sister
arts.
There are writers who trace the origin and progress of Greek painting from
the very earliest times; but I shall begin with Apollodorus, who is spoken
of as the first Greek painter worthy of fame, because he was the first
one who knew how to make his pictures appear to be real, and to follow the
rules of perspective so as to have a background from which his figures
stood out, and to shade his colors and soften his outlines. He was very
famous, and was called _skiagraphos_, which means shadow painter.
Apollodorus was an Athenian, and lived at about the close of the fifth
century B.C. Although he was a remarkable artist then, we must not fancy
that his pictures would have satisfied our idea of the beautiful--in fact,
Pliny, the historian, who saw his pictures six hundred years later, at
Pergamos, says that Apollodorus was but the gatekeeper who threw open the
gates of painting to the famous artists who lived after him.
Zeuxis was a pupil of Apollodorus, and a great artist also. He was born at
Heraclea, probably in Lower Italy. When young he led a wandering life; he
studied at Athens under Apollodorus, and settled in Ephesus. He was in the
habit of putting his pictures on exhibition, and charging an admittance
fee, just as artists do now: he called himself "the unsurpassable," and
said and did many vain and foolish things. Near the end of his life he
considered his pictures as beyond any price, and so gave them away. Upon
one of his works he wrote, "Easier to carp at than to copy." It is said
that he actually laughed himself to death from amusement at one of his own
pictures, which represented an old woman.
Zeuxis had a rival in the painter Parrhasius, and their names are often
associated. On one occasion they made trial of their artistic skill.
Zeuxis painted a bunch of grapes so naturally that the birds came to peck
at them. Then Parrhasius painted a hanging curtain, and when his picture
was exposed to the public Zeuxis asked him to draw aside his curtain,
fully believing it to be of cloth and concealing a picture behind it. Thus
it was judged that Parrhasius was the best artist, for he had deceived
Zeuxis, while the latter had only deceived the birds.
From these stories it appears that these artists tried to imitate objects
with great exactness. Parrhasius, too, was a vain man, and went about in
a purple robe with a gold wreath about his head and gold clasps on his
sandals; he painted his own portrait, and called it the god Hermes, or
Mercury; he wrote praises of himself in which he called himself by many
high-sounding names, for all of which he was much ridiculed by others.
However, both these artists were surpassed by Timanthes, according to the
ancient writers, who relate that he engaged in a trial of skill with
Parrhasius, and came off the victor in it. The fame of his picture of the
"Sacrifice of Iphigenia" was very great, and its one excellence seems to
have been in the varied expression of its faces. The descriptions of this
great work lead to the belief that this Pompeian wall-painting, from which
we give a cut, closely resembles that of Timanthes, which no longer
exists.
The story of Iphigenia says that when her father, King Agamemnon, killed
a hart which was sacred to Diana, or Artemis, that goddess becalmed his
fleet so that he could not sail to Troy. Then the seer, Calchas, advised
the king to sacrifice his daughter in order to appease the wrath of Diana.
Agamemnon consented; but it is said that the goddess was so sorry for the
maiden that she bore her away to Tauris, and made her a priestess, and
left a hart to be sacrificed instead of Iphigenia. In our cut you see
Calchas on the right; two men are bearing the maiden to her doom, while
her father stands on the left with his head veiled from sight (Fig. 4).
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. _From a Pompeian
wall-painting._]
Zeuxis, Parrhasius, and Timanthes belonged to the Ionian school of
painting, which flourished during the Peloponnesian war. This school was
excelled by that of Sikyon, which reached its highest prosperity between
the end of the Peloponnesian war and the death of Alexander the Great.
The chief reason why this Dorian school at Sikyon was so fine was that
here, for the first time, the pupils followed a regular course of study,
and were trained in drawing and mathematics, and taught to observe nature
with the strictest attention. The most famous master of this school was
Pausias; some of his works were carried to Rome, where they were much
admired. His picture of the garland-weaver, Glykera, gained him a great
name, and by it he earned the earliest reputation as a flower-painter that
is known in the history of art.
Nikomachos, who lived at Thebes about 360 B.C., was famous for
the rapidity with which he painted pictures that were excellent in their
completeness and beauty. Aristides, the son or brother of Nikomachos, was
so good an artist that Attalus, king of Pergamos, offered more than twenty
thousand pounds, or about one hundred thousand dollars, for his picture of
Dionysus, or Bacchus. This wonderful picture was carried to Rome, and
preserved in the temple of Ceres; but it no longer exists. Euphranor was
another great painter, and was distinguished for his power to give great
expression to the faces and a manly force to the figures which he painted.
Nikias, the Athenian, is said to have been so devoted to his art that he
could think of nothing else: he would ask his servants if he had bathed or
eaten, not being able to remember for himself. He was very rich, and when
King Ptolemy of Egypt offered him more than sixty thousand dollars for his
picture of Ulysses in the under-world, he refused this great sum, and gave
the painting to his native city. Nikias seems to have greatly exalted and
respected his art, for he contended that painters should not fritter away
time and talent on insignificant subjects, but ought rather to choose some
grand event, such as a battle or a sea-fight. His figures of women and his
pictures of animals, especially those of dogs, were much praised. Some of
his paintings were encaustic, that is to say, the colors were burned in;
thus they must have been made on plaster or pottery of some sort. Nikias
outlived Alexander the Great, and saw the beginning of the school of
painters to which the great Apelles belonged--that which is called the
Hellenic school, in which Greek art reached its highest point.
Apelles was the greatest of all Greek painters. He was born at Kolophon;
but as he made his first studies at Ephesus he has been called an
Ephesian: later he studied in the school of Sikyon, but even when a pupil
there he was said to be the equal of all his instructors. Philip of
Macedon heard of his fame, and persuaded Apelles to remove to his capital
city, which was called Pella. While there Apelles became the friend of the
young Alexander, and when the latter came to the throne he made Apelles
his court-painter, and is said to have issued an edict forbidding all
other artists from painting his portrait. Later on Apelles removed to
Ephesus.
During the early part of his artistic life Apelles did little else than
paint such pictures as exalted the fame of Philip, and afterward that of
Alexander. He painted many portraits of both these great men; for one of
Alexander he received nearly twenty-five thousand dollars; in it the
monarch was represented as grasping the thunderbolt, as Jupiter might have
done, and the hand appeared to be stretched out from the picture. This
portrait was in the splendid temple of Diana, or Artemis, at Ephesus.
Alexander was accustomed to say of it, "There are two Alexanders, one
invincible, the living son of Philip--the other immutable, the picture of
Apelles."
Later in his life Apelles painted many pictures of mythological subjects.
He visited Alexandria, in Egypt; he did not win the favor of King Ptolemy,
and his enemies in the Egyptian court played cruel practical jokes upon
him. On one occasion he received an invitation to a feast at which the
king had not desired his presence. The monarch was angry; but Apelles told
him the truth, and appeased his wrath by sketching on the wall the exact
likeness of the servant who had carried the invitation to him. However,
Ptolemy remained unfavorable to him, and Apelles painted a great picture,
called Calumny, in which he represented those who had been his enemies,
and thus held them up to the scorn of the world. Apelles visited Rhodes
and Athens, but is thought to have died in the island of Kos, where he had
painted two very beautiful pictures of the goddess Venus. One of these is
called the Venus Anadyomene, or Venus rising from the sea. The emperor
Augustus carried this picture to Rome, and placed so high a value on it
that he lessened the tribute-money of the people of Kos a hundred talents
on account of it. This sum was about equal to one hundred thousand dollars
of our money.
The art of Apelles was full of grace and sweetness, and the finish of his
pictures was exquisite. The saying, "leave off in time," originated in his
criticism of Protogenes, of whom he said that he was his superior except
that he did not know when to leave off, and by too much finishing lessened
the effect of his work. Apelles was modest and generous: he was the first
to praise Protogenes, and conferred a great benefit upon the latter by
buying up his pictures, and giving out word that he was going to sell them
as his own. Apelles was never afraid to correct those who were ignorant,
and was equally ready to learn from any one who could teach him anything.
It is said that on one occasion, when Alexander was in his studio, and
talked of art, Apelles advised him to be silent lest his color-grinder
should laugh at him. Again, when he had painted a picture, and exposed it
to public view, a cobbler pointed out a defect in the shoe-latchet;
Apelles changed it, but when the man next proceeded to criticise the leg
of the figure, Apelles replied, "Cobbler, stick to your last." These
sayings have descended to our own day, and have become classical. All
these anecdotes from so remote a time are in a sense doubtful; but they
are very interesting--young people ought to be familiar with them, but it
is also right to say that they are not known to be positively true.
Protogenes of Rhodes, to whom Apelles was so friendly, came to be thought
a great painter. It is said that when Demetrius made war against Rhodes
the artist did not trouble himself to leave his house, which was in the
very midst of the enemy's camp. When questioned as to his fearlessness he
replied, "Demetrius makes war against the Rhodians, and not against the
Arts." It is also said that after hearing of this reply Demetrius
refrained from burning the town, in order to preserve the pictures of
Protogenes.
The ancient writers mention many other Greek painters, but none as
important as those of whom we have spoken. Greek painting never reached a
higher point than it had gained at the beginning of the Hellenistic age.
Every kind of painting except landscape-painting had been practised by
Greek artists; but that received no attention until figure-painting had
declined. Vitruvius mentions that the ancients had some very important
wall-paintings consisting of simple landscapes, and that others had
landscape backgrounds with figures illustrating scenes from the poems of
Homer. But we have no reason to believe that Greek landscape-painting was
ever more than scenic or decorative work, and thus fell far short of what
is now the standard for such painting.
The painting of the early Romans was principally derived from or through
the early Etruscans, and the Etruscans are believed to have first learned
their art from Greek artists, who introduced plastic art into Italy as
early as B.C. 655, when Demaratus was expelled from Corinth--and later,
Etruscan art was influenced by the Greek colonies of Magna Græcia. So it
is fair to say that Etruscan art and early Roman art were essentially
Greek art. The earliest artists who are known to have painted in Rome had
Greek names, such as Ekphantos, Damophilos, and Gargasos. Later on in
history there are painters mentioned with Latin names, but there is little
of interest related concerning them; in truth, Ludius (who is also called
by various authors Tadius and Studius) is the only really interesting
ancient Roman painter of whom we know. He lived in the time of Augustus,
and Pliny said of him: "Ludius, too, who lived in the age of the divine
Augustus, must not be cheated of his fame. He was the first to bring in a
singularly delightful fashion of wall-painting--villas, colonnades,
examples of landscape-gardening, woods and sacred groves, reservoirs,
straits, rivers, coasts, all according to the heart's desire--and amidst
them passengers of all kinds on foot, in boats, driving in carriages, or
riding on asses to visit their country properties; furthermore fishermen,
bird-catchers, hunters, vintagers; or, again, he exhibits stately villas,
to which the approach is through a swamp, with men staggering under the
weight of the frightened women whom they have bargained to carry on their
shoulders; and many another excellent and entertaining device of the same
kind. The same artist also set the fashion of painting views--and that
wonderfully cheap--of seaside towns in broad daylight."
We cannot think that Ludius was the first painter, though he may have been
the first Roman painter, who made this sort of pictures, and he probably
is the only one of whose work any part remains. Brunn and other good
authorities believe that the wall-painting of Prima Porta, in Rome, was
executed by Ludius. It represents a garden, and covers the four walls of a
room. It is of the decorative order of painting, as Pliny well understood,
for he speaks of the difference between the work of Ludius and that of
the true artists who painted panel pictures and not wall-paintings. After
the time of Ludius we can give no trustworthy account of any fine, Roman
painter.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--ETRUSCAN WALL-PAINTING.]
The works of the ancient painters which still remain in various countries
are wall-paintings, paintings on vases, mosaics, paintings on stone, and
certain so-called miniatures; and besides these principal works there are
many small articles, such as mirrors, toilet-cases, and other useful
objects, which are decorated in colors.
We will first speak of the mural, or wall-paintings, as they are the most
important and interesting remains of ancient painting. We shall only
consider such as have been found in Italy, as those of other countries are
few and unimportant.
The Etruscan tombs which have been opened contain many beautiful objects
of various kinds, and were frequently decorated with mural pictures. They
often consist of several rooms, and have the appearance of being prepared
as a home for the living rather than for the dead. I shall give you no
long or wordy description of them; because if what I tell you leads you to
wish to know more about them, there are many excellent books describing
them which you can read. So I will simply give you two cuts from these
Etruscan paintings, and tell you about them.
Fig. 5 is in a tomb known as the _Grotta della Querciola_. The upper part
represents a feast, and the lower portion a boar-hunt in a wood, which is
indicated by the few trees and the little twigs which are intended to
represent the underbrush of the forest. If we compare these pictures with
the works of the best Italian masters, they seem very crude and almost
childish in their simplicity; but, if we contrast them with the paintings
of the Egyptians and Assyrians, we see that a great advance has been made
since the earliest paintings of which we know were done. The pose and
action of the figures and their grace of movement, as well as the folding
of the draperies, are far better than anything earlier than the Greek
painting of which there is any knowledge; for, as we have said, these
Etruscan works are essentially Greek.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--HUMAN SACRIFICE OFFERED BY ACHILLES TO THE SHADE
OF PATROKLOS. _From an Etruscan wall-painting._]
Fig. 6 belongs to a later period than the other, and is taken from a tomb
at Vulci which was opened in 1857 by François. This tomb has seven
different chambers, several of which are decorated with wall-paintings of
mythological subjects. A square chamber at the end of the tomb has the
most important pictures. On one side the human sacrifices which were
customary at Etruscan funerals are represented: the pictures are very
painful, and the terror and agony of the poor victims who are being put to
death make them really repulsive to see. On an opposite wall is the
painting from which our cut is taken. This represents the sacrifices made
before Troy by Achilles, on account of the death of his dear friend
Patroklos. The figure with the hammer is Charon, who stands ready to
receive the sacrifice which is intended to win his favor. Your mythology
will tell you the story, which is too long to be given here. The realism
of this picture is shocking in its effect, and yet there is something
about the manner of the drawing and the arrangement of the whole design
that fixes our attention even while it makes us shudder.
The ancient wall-paintings which have been found in Rome are far more
varied than are those of Etruria; for, while some of the Roman pictures
are found in tombs, others are taken from baths, palaces, and villas. They
generally belong to one period, and that is about the close of the
Republic and the beginning of the Empire. Modern excavations have revealed
many of these ancient paintings; but so many of them crumble and fade away
so soon after they are exposed to the air, that few remain in a condition
to afford any satisfaction in seeing them. But fortunately drawings have
been made of nearly all these pictures before they fell into decay.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE ALDOBRANDINI MARRIAGE. _From a wall-painting
in the Vatican._]
Some of the ancient paintings have been carefully removed from the walls
where they were found, and placed in museums and other collections. One of
the finest of these is in the Vatican, and is called the Aldobrandini
Marriage. It received this name from the fact that Cardinal Aldobrandini
was its first possessor after its discovery, near the Arch of Gallienus,
in 1606.
As you will see from Fig. 7, from it, there are three distinct groups
represented. In the centre the bride veiled, with her head modestly bowed
down, is seated on a couch with a woman beside her who seems to be
arranging some part of her toilet, while another stands near holding
ointment and a bowl. At the head of the couch the bridegroom is seated on
a threshold. The upper part of his figure is bare, and he has a garland
upon his head. On the right of the picture an ante-room is represented in
which are three women with musical instruments, singing sacrificial songs.
To the left, in another apartment, three other women are preparing a bath.
This is charming on account of the sweet, serious way in which the whole
story is placed before us; but as a painting it is an inferior work of
art--not in the least above the style which we should call house
decoration.
Although ancient writers had spoken of landscape paintings, it was not
until 1848-1850, when a series of them was discovered on the Esquiline in
Rome, that any very satisfactory specimens could be shown. These pictures
number eight: six are complete, of the seventh but half remains, and the
eighth is in a very imperfect state. They may be called historical
landscapes, because each one has a complete landscape as well as figures
which tell a story. They illustrate certain passages from the Odyssey of
Homer. The one from which our cut is taken shows the visit of Ulysses to
the lower world. When on the wall the pictures were divided by
pilasters, and finished at the top by a border or frieze. The pilasters
are bright red, and the chief colors in the picture are a yellowish brown
and a greenish blue. In this scene the way in which the light streams
through the entrance to the lower world is very striking, and shows the
many figures there with the best possible effect. Even those in the far
distance on the right are distinctly seen. This collection of Esquiline
wall-paintings is now in the Vatican Library.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--LANDSCAPE ILLUSTRATION TO THE ODYSSEY. _From a
wall-painting discovered on the Esquiline at Rome._]
Besides the ancient mural paintings which have been placed in the museums
of Rome, there are others which still remain where they were painted, in
palaces, villas, and tombs. Perhaps those in the house of Livia are the
most interesting; they represent mythological stories, and one frieze has
different scenes of street life in an ancient town. Though these
decorations are done in a mechanical sort of painting, such as is
practised by the ordinary fresco painters of our own time, yet there was
sufficient artistic feeling in their authors to prevent their repeating
any one design.
One circumstance proves that this class of picture was not thought very
important when it was made, which is that the name of the artist is rarely
found upon his work: in but one instance either in Rome or Pompeii has
this occurred, namely, in a chamber which was excavated in the gardens of
the Farnesina Palace at Rome, and the name is Seleucus.
We have not space to speak of all the Italian cities in which these
remains are discovered, and, as Pompeii is the one most frequently visited
and that in which a very large proportion of the ancient pictures have
been found, I will give a few illustrations from them, and leave the
subject of ancient, mural paintings there. Many of the Pompeian pictures
have been removed to the Museum of Naples, though many still remain where
they were first painted.
The variety of subjects at Pompeii is large: there are landscapes, hunting
scenes, mythological subjects, numerous kinds of single figures, such as
dancing girls, the hours, or seasons, graces, satyrs, and many others;
devotional pictures, such as representations of the ancient divinities,
lares, penates, and genii; pictures of tavern scenes, of mechanics at
their work; rope-dancers and representations of various games,
gladiatorial contests, _genre_ scenes from the lives of children, youths,
and women, festival ceremonies, actors, poets, and stage scenes, and last,
but not least, many caricatures, of which I here give you an example (Fig.
9).
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--THE FLIGHT OF ÆNEAS. _From a wall-painting._]
The largest dog is Æneas, who leads the little Ascanius by the hand and
carries his father, Anchises, on his shoulder. Frequently in the ancient
caricatures monkeys are made to take the part of historical and imaginary
heroes.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--DEMETER ENTHRONED. _From a Pompeian
wall-painting._]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--POMPEIAN WALL-PAINTING.]
Fig. 11 shows you how these painted walls were sometimes divided; the
principal subjects were surrounded by ornamental borders, and the spaces
between filled in with all sorts of little compartments. The small spaces
in this picture are quite regular in form; but frequently they are of
varied shapes, and give a very decorative effect to the whole work. The
colors used upon these different panels, as they may be called, were
usually red, yellow, black, and white--more rarely blue and green.
Sometimes the entire decoration consisted of these small, variously
colored spaces, divided by some graceful little border, with a very small
figure, plant, or other object in the centre of each space.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--NEST OF CUPIDS. _From a Pompeian
wall-painting._]
Fig. 10, of Demeter, or Ceres, enthroned is an example of such devotional
paintings as were placed above the altars and shrines for private worship
in the houses of Pompeii, or at the street corners, just as we now see
pictures and sacred figures in street shrines in Roman Catholic countries.
In ancient days, as now, these pictures were often done in a coarse and
careless manner, as if religious use, and not art, was the object in the
mind of the artist.
Fig. 12, of a Nest of Cupids is a very interesting example of Pompeian
painting, and to my mind it more nearly resembles pictures of later times
than does any other ancient painting of which I know.
MOSAICS.
The pictures known as mosaics are made by fitting together bits of marble,
stone, or glass of different colors and so arranging them as to represent
figures and objects of various kinds, so that at a distance they have much
the same effect as that of pictures painted with brush and colors. The art
of making mosaics is very ancient, and was probably invented in the East,
where it was used for borders and other decorations in regular set
patterns. It was not until after the time of Alexander the Great that the
Greeks used this process for making pictures. At first, too, mosaics were
used for floors or pavements only, and the designs in them were somewhat
like those of the tile pavements of our own time.
This picture of doves will give you a good idea of a mosaic; this subject
is a very interesting one, because it is said to have been first made by
Sosos in Pergamos. It was often repeated in later days, and that from
which our cut is taken was found in the ruins of Hadrian's villa at
Tivoli, near Rome; it is known as the Capitoline Doves, from the fact that
it is now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Few works of ancient art are
more admired and as frequently copied as this mosaic: it is not unusual to
see ladies wear brooches with this design in fine mosaic work.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--DOVES SEATED ON A BOWL. _From a mosaic picture in
the Capitol, Rome._]
A few examples of ancient mosaics which were used for wall decorations
have been found; they may almost be said not to exceed a dozen; but
pavement mosaics are very numerous, and are still seen in the places for
which they were designed and where they have been during many centuries,
as well as in museums to which they have been removed. They are so hard in
outline and so mechanical in every way that they are not very attractive
if we think of them as pictures, and their chief interest is in the skill
and patience with which mosaic workers combine the numberless particles
of one substance and another which go to make up the whole.
Mosaic pictures, as a rule, are not large; but one found at Palestrina,
which is called the Nile mosaic, is six by five metres inside. Its subject
is the inundation of a village on the river Nile. There are an immense
number of figures and a variety of scenes in it; there are Egyptians
hunting the Nile horse, a party of revellers in a bower draped with vines,
bands of warriors and other groups of men occupied in different pursuits,
and all represented at the season when the Nile overflows its banks. This
is a very remarkable work, and it has been proved that a portion of the
original is in the Berlin Museum, and has been replaced by a copy at
Palestrina.
PAINTINGS ON STONE.
It is well known that much of the decoration of Greek edifices was in
colors. Of course these paintings were put upon the marble and stone of
which the structures were made. The Greeks also made small pictures and
painted them on stone, just as canvas and panels of wood are now used.
Such painted slabs have been found in Herculaneum, in Corneto, and in
different Etruscan tombs; but the most important and satisfactory one was
found at Pompeii in 1872. Since then the colors have almost vanished; but
Fig. 14, from it, will show you how it appeared when found. It represents
the mythological story of the punishment of Niobe, and is very beautiful
in its design.
VASE-PAINTING.
Vase-painting was another art very much practised by the ancients. So much
can be said of it that it would require more space than we can give for
its history even in outline. So I shall only say that it fills an
important place in historic art, because from the thousands of ancient
vases that have been found in one country and another, much has been
learned concerning the history of these lands and the manners and customs
of their people; occasionally inscriptions are found upon decorated vases
which are of great value to scholars who study the history of the past.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--NIOBE. _From a picture on a slab of granite at
Pompeii._]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--THE DODWELL VASE. _At Munich._]
The Dodwell vase shows you the more simple style of decoration which was
used in the earlier times. Gradually the designs came to be more and more
elaborate, until whole stories were as distinctly told by the pictures on
vases as if they had been written out in books. The next cut, which is
made from a vase-painting, will show what I mean.
The subject of Fig. 16 is connected with the service of the dead, and
shows a scene in the under world, such as accorded with ancient religious
notions. In the upper portion the friends of the deceased are grouped
around a little temple. Scholars trace the manufacture of these vases back
to very ancient days, and down to its decline, about two centuries before
Christ. I do not mean that vase-painting ceased then, for its latest
traces come down to 65 B.C.; but like all other ancient arts, it was then
in a state of decadence. Though vase-painting was one of the lesser
arts, its importance can scarcely be overestimated, and it fully merits
the devoted study and admiration which it receives from those who are
learned in its history.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--SCENE IN THE LOWER WORLD. _From a vase of the
style of Lower Italy._]
From what we know of ancient Greek painting we may believe that this art
first reached perfection in Greece. If we could see the best works of
Apelles, who reached the highest excellence of any Greek painter, we might
find some lack of the truest science of the art when judged by more modern
standards; but the Greeks must still be credited with having been the
first to create a true art of painting. After the decline of Greek art
fifteen centuries elapsed before painting was again raised to the rank
which the Greeks had given it, and if, according to our ideas, the later
Italian painting is in any sense superior to the Greek, we must at least
admit that the study of the works of antiquity which still remained in
Italy, excited the great masters of the Renaissance to the splendid
achievements which they attained.