Evening star., 1898-12-24

feeling. they were content in this, the most
important function of their art to Law
aside their invention, their independence
and their nationality. and to be at one in
accepting humby from other hands the
likeness of Christ.
From the fourth to the seventh century
the artists who wrought in mosaics in the
basilicas inherited that likeness from the
catacomDS. They were Byzantine artists
who reproduced with slight differences of
style plainly marked and characteristic
likeness. transmitted. as all tradition. from
generation TO generation. 1t was fortunate
that the chief characteristic of that Byzan-
tine art should have been the perpetuance
of a certain model carried out in every de-
tail in perfectly formal and hieratic way.
1t IS to the limitation of the materials out
Of which the beautiful mosaics Of the ba-
silica were designed and to the artists who
made them that We are indebted for the
preservation of the likeness during the
dark centuries of the middle ages. Serene,
solemn, dlgnihed they are priceless in
heritance 10 the Christian and to the artist.
Proof In Lock of Hair.
When there became two centers of au-
thOrity. at Rome and at COnstantinople.
the Greek church prohibited the making of
images of Christ and sanctioned the like
ness only III the form of paintings. These
old. smoky, black Icons that We see yet in
the monasteries of Russia and European
and Asiatic Turkey have all come down to
Us from TIKI, period. In the Roman world
the images Of Christ in all forms were al
ways allowed, and the curious and sgnifi-
cant fact is that both Greek and Roman
churches retained the same likeness. Both
show at once the derivation of their like
ness of our Lord from some common type
The fact that fn the Greek pictures there
is Invariably q slender lock of hair de-
tached from the and falling in the
center of the forehead shows conclusively
that there was traditional likeness from
which no artist dared to depart even in
detail.
Now it Is obvious that this traditional
likeness must of necessity have been based
upon something tangible. When the Greek
and Latin artists made their pictures uf
Christ they had to satisfy people who be-
iieVed devoutly in some older likeness they
possessed and with which they We're IA
miliar. The people would have been no
more content with new invention to rep
resent their Christ than their forefathers
would have been content to receive ideal
heads from the Greek sculptors they en-
ployed when they asked for portraits of
! their Caesars. Clearly the traditional like
ness was derived from the catacombs The
dark corridors of those underground sane
tuaries We're the records of the life Of gen.
| erations of the early and prosecuted Chris
tians. The pictures that covered the walls
OF these chapels and graves, made for the
eyes of those Christians, are of one doing
the acts that Christ alone did and bearing
the attributes that Christ alone bore pic
lures that to them at least represented
their Lord.
Wonderful Portrait.
The most beautiful. and, at the Same
| time; the most divine and most human, of
j them all is the Calistian portrait. This
loveliest and most precious of the remem-
brances of our blessed Lord is. according
to most competent authorities, the work of
Roman artist. a portrait painter. who
! must have himself seen Christ. But the
authenticity of the commonly received
| likeness depends upon no one particular
example. There are frescoes in the Vatican
and in the Lateran museum in the cata-
| combs of SIS Achili, a Nero of about the
| same period, which exhibit exactly the
same striking type. 1t is touching to think
| that these likenesses were painted over
the graves Of the martyrs so that the face
| OF their Redeemer might overshadow the
place where they lay until once more they
should see Him as they had seen Him be-
fore they fell asleep.
Besides frescoes and mural engravings. the
| catacombs are rich in anagrams, chaIices
| paterae of glass, in bas reliefs in mosaics,
enamels and cloth pictures these last most
fragile shadows upon linen. give here ex-
ampies of each one Of these. The cloth pic
| ture which is now one of the most precious
relics of the Church Of San Bartolomeo,
Genoa, is said to have been drawn by st.
| Luke who was an artist, and sent by the