During the Gothic period of architecture schools of sculpture grew up in most countries of Europe, and sculpture was profusely distributed in every part of the church edifice, especially in the exterior.
•1. Fourth Period (16th to 19th centuries).— The in- troduction of the use of oil in painting, the invention of chiaroscuro, the growing devotion of the age to classicism, the decadence of Christian life in the church, all contributed to change the character of Christian art. What was gained in technical knowledge was lost in inspiration. After the sublime compositions of
the massive genius of Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel and the Transfiguration by Raphael, religious art fell from its pure character of the preceding cen- tury into a depth of sensuousness and extravagance. For the next century, what then existed that was no- ble in art was to be sought mostty north of the Alps. During the eighteenth century an almost entire blank marks the history of religious art.
5. Fifth Ptriod (19th century). — At the beginning of this century art had sunk (like the society of the age) to the lowest sensuousness, and was separated almost entirely from its divine mission. Overbeck, Cornelius, and Schnorr, in Germany, tried to stem the tide, and return art to the mission it filled from the second to the fifteenth centuries. Their labors were seconded later by such artists as Ary Schcffer and Flandrin in France, and Hohnan Hunt, and Millais in England. The Cyclus of Revelation, now being pre- pared by Cornelius at Berlin, is perhaps the most com- plete work of Christian art ever undertaken. Sculp- ture has not been imbued as much as painting with the religious feeling of its earlier histoiy.
6. Protestant A rt. — The Roman Church has always availed itself of all the fine arts in its worship. Ihe Frotestant Church in Germany, while cutting away every work of Roman tendency, has always retained a free use of the arts of painting and sculpture, which were rejected by the Reformers in England and Hol- land as inherently Popish in nature and tendency, and as opposed to the second commandment. Ameri- ca has inherited this feeling from the two countries (Holland and England) from which she was colonized. The art of engraving, however, is freely used in loth countries to illustrate religious books and periodicals, and even the Bible itself, though the same work would give offence if painted upon the walls of a church. In the Church of England there is a strong tendency to return to the use of sculpture and painting in fill- ing up the walls of the cathedral and other churches.
7. The history of religious art has recently been studied with great zeal. In the Roman Church gen- erally the opinion prevails that a return to the art of the Middle Ages, and that alone, can bring back the golden ape of art. Art associations are especially nu- merous in France and Germany, the literature on re- ligious art is becoming veiy extensive, and periodi- cals exclusively devoted to it have been established in both countries. The Protestant churches of Germain' are generally in favor of making a more extended use of art for religious purposes than has been the case heretofore. The church diet of Elberfeld, in 1851, discussed the question of Protestant Art Unions, and in 1853 several evangelical societies were established, In 1858, a paper (Christliches Kunstblatf) devoted to the
; cultivation of religious art from a Protestant point of view was established by Schnaase, the author of the best "History of Plastic Art," in connection with Schnorr von Karolsfeld, the director of the art-gallery
i in Dresden, ar.d Gruneisen, court preacher at Stutt- gardt.
8. Literature. — The best work on the history of Christian art, though not extending over the entire field, is Schnaase, Geschichte der bildenden Kimstc (Dusseldorf, 1844-G6). Other works: Kiipler, Hand- l)in h der Ktmsfgeschichie (Stuttgardt, 3d ed. 1855; Eng- lish translation [partial] in Bohn's librarj*, Historical Manual if Sculpt., Paint., Ar<h., anc. ami mod.. Lond. 1852); Kinkel, Geschichte der bildenden Kunste bei dm CAristlichen V&lkern (Bonn, 1845); Lord Lindsay, Sketches of the History of Christian Art (Lond. 1847, 3 vols. 8vo) ; Geschichte </' /■ Mak ret (Berlin. 1847, trans- lated into English); Ltibke, Kmstgeschichte (Stutt- gardt, 1864); Geschichte der Plastik (Leipzig, 1863); Piper, Mytholotjii >ind Symbolik der t'hristlii hi v Kvnxt (Weimar, 1851 66); Mrs. Jameson; Lit/end* ,f Chris- tian Art. i le. (Host. 1866); Wornum, Epochs of Paint- fag (London, 1865); Jarves, Art Studies (N. Y. 18G1).
ART
439
ARTAXERXES
ARTS, Jewish (nb"*2, maiiseh', work, as elsewhere rendered), Exod. xxx, 25 ; 2 Chron. xvi, 14 (t:-xi'>1, elsewhere "craft," "occupation"), Acts xvil, 29; Wisd. xiv, 4; xvii, 7 (ipyov, "work"), Eeclus. xlix, 1 (TToaomo, to do, "practise"), Acts xix, 19. (See Cleghorn, Hist, of Anc. and Mod. Art, Edinb. 1848; Rochette, Lectures on Anc. Art, Lond. 1854; Gugler. Kunst der Hebraer, Landshut, 1G14; De Saulcy, Hist, de VArt Judaique, Par. 1858.) See Artificer.