THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
good drawing and natural movement, as does another of about 1200 in the cathedral library at Treves; best of all is that of Henry the Lion, formerly in the cathedral treasury at Prague but now in the possession of the I hike of Cumberland, and the Merseburg Vulgate. A brilliant period for miniature-painting was opening; but its tone was characterized rather by breadth than by depth, and the more popular it became, the more the profound symbolism of the early times disappeared. Illustration was now bestowed less on Bibles than on books "used in public worship, until at the end of the Middle Ages artistic interest once more covered the whole Bible; but new life really came into this branch of illustration with the invention of wood-engraving.
The transition to illustrated Bibles for the people
is seen in the Biblia pauperum of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries — short representations of
the earthly life of Christ in simple
4. Biblia drawings, generally uncolored, ran- Pauperum. ging in number from thirty-four to
fifty. Each event depicted is accompanied by two antitypes from the Old Testament and by four prophets with appropriate citations, and the pictures are explained in Latin or in German. The most important examples of these " Bibles of the Poor " are those of St. Florian in Lower Austria, of the Lyceum library at Constance, in the Vienna and Munich libraries [and in the ducal library at Wolfenbiittel].
With the invention of printing and engraving, especially wood-engraving, both the Bible and art became common property. Reproductions of the Biblia pauperum, which now first became really accessible to the "poor," are among the most ■celebrated of early block books. The German Bibles before Luther (Augsburg 1477, Cologne c. 1480, Nuremberg 1483, Ltibeck 1494) ha^e woodcuts. Finally Dtirer, with the wonderful vision which could realize even the majestic pictures of the Apocalypse, raised Biblical illustration to its highest dignity. With the vernacular text, eagerly sought after as it was, a great variety of illustrations went hand in hand. Luther recognized their importance to the Reformation cause and promoted illustration zealously, and Melanehthon drew rough sketches, which he gave to Lucas Cranach for execution. Bible-illustration has never had such a vogue as in the first half of the sixteenth century. The most splendid
5. Illus- edition was published by Krafft of trated Wittenberg in 157G and 1584. With
Bibles of the middle of the century Biblical the Refor- illustrating took a new direction, when mation line-engraving gradually forced woodand Later, engraving into the background. The latter was used mainly for cheap popular editions, while artistic tendencies were mainly displayed by the former. In 1607 the fifty-two pictures from the logge of the Vatican, the so-called Raffael Bible, engraved by Badalocchio and Lanfranco, were published, followed by another important series of line-engravings, the Icnnrs biblical and Ilistoriu sacra published by Merian at Frankfort, 1025-27, and a long list of similar works in Germany, France, and Italy. In the eighteenth
century wood-engraving almost entirely died out, except for cheap ephemeral productions, while lineengraving flourished in the hands of the Dutch school, who shared the renown of the French. German art was mainly imitative, and produced little that is noteworthy in Biblical illustration. Good editions, on the other hand, were published during this period in Holland by Mortier, 1700; Danckers, 1700; Luyken, 1740; Schots, 1749. In France the best were those of Basnage, 170.5, and Martin, 1724. In England, besides the Oxford Bible of 1717, there were the editions of Royaumont, 1705; Clarke, 1759; and Fleetwood, 17G9. In all these the Dutch-Flemish spirit appears, with its wide, free, joyous life; the fundamental principles of illustration are based on imitation of painting; Rubens, and Rembrandt for etching, are the highest authorities. In the nineteenth century Bible-illustration took a new impulse from England. The modern romantic manner and straining after effect entered into it, largely as a result of the great Holy Bible with Engravings from Pictures and Designs by the most Eminent Artists, published in London, 1800. [This, however, had been anticipated by the Historical Part of the Holy Bible with illustrations engraved by John Cole (London, 1730) and a volume with the same title illustrated by John Sturt, as well as by the James Tittler Bible (4 vols., 1794-95). It was followed by a series of efforts, such as the Pictorial Bible by Charles Knight, with woodcuts (London, 1828-29, New York, 1843), another of the same name, but with steel engravings (London, 1847-49), a numerous series of Bible Picture Books issued by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Religious Tract Society, and Bible Illustrations, issued by Frowde (London, 1896).]
The interest in the Orient which came up with Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, in alliance with the strong realistic tendency of the century, brought in a wholly new sort of illustrated Bible, like Brown's Family Bible (London and New York"), with views of towns and landscapes in addition to historical pictures. Later, wood-engraving revived reached once more an unexpected height of excellence, and succeeded in getting in touch with the great masses of the people. 6. The Notable products of this revival Nineteenth (in Germany) were Oliver's Bible of
Century. 1834 ; Overbeck's forty fine illustrations to the New Testament (1S41); the Cot ta edition of 1850, with 175 wood-engravings after the first artists of Germany; and, best of all the German editions, that published by Wigand (Leipsic, 1852- 1860), with 240 illustrations by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (Eng. ed., Leipsic, 1855-60; London, 1869). The technically brilliant but too theatrical designs of Dore won great popularity. The Germans have recently published several noteworthy edit ions, such as the " Pfeilstiicker Bible " in 1SS7, with many explanatory archeological drawings, and the " Star Bible " published by Hinrichs (Leipsic) in 1S02, with reproductions of classical pictures for the Old Testament and Hofmann's for the New. [One of the latest attempts at Biblical illustration is the work of the French artist J. J. J. Tissot (d.