Evening star., 1924-12-25
The North Window
ny LEILA MECHLIN

ligious art. To what great extent
has Christianity Influenced she de-
devopment Of art? The Holy Babe of
Bethlehem. whose birthday Is today
celebrated In every land, brought into
the world not only peace and Joy
but beauty. 1t was the Christian
Church that first nurtured the art OF
painting and some of tho most beau
tiful paintings that have ever been
produced are of the Christ Child and
of incidents in the life of our Savior.
Moreover, many of these were paint
ed for the church, partly. perhaps, by
way of illustration, but doubtless
with what might be termed a holy
zeal. Cimabue's Madonna, purposed as
an altar piece for the Church of
Saint Maria Novella in Florence, was
the streets of that city In triumphant
procession before emplacement in the
sacred edifice.
1t Is in Florence that we find the
works of Fra Angelica. whose Joy IL
was to decorate the walls of his mon
astery. st. Marks. with religious
themes. At the academy In Florence
for many years, but now in the Uffizi
and Pitt Galleries, are to be seen
those reInarkable paintings by
Ghirlandajo of the visit of the
Kings Of the Wise Men-marvef-
Gus paintings. primitive in their
beauty in color and composition
and real dignity Of aspect, pictures
to which one always returns with
pleasure and fresh emotion. Then
there are the Botticellis-those su-
premely spiritual works which seem
to conserve the soul of reverence with
the least parade Of medium. And
what also of the Bellinis, the Peru
ginos, the Filippo Lippis and the host
OF others? How glorious a company
they are; how variously the great
theme has inspired themi
Discussing this subject in The
Field OF Art" in the December
Scribner's Magazine, Royal Cortissoz
declares that IAN age Of faith and
nothing less is mirrored in the ten
derness of a Duccio or Giotto," and
goes on to say: The pictures of Fra
Angelica are of so much saintIiness
ell compact, and the NON is as child :
like as the spirit of his immortal
work" But Mr.. Cortissoz reminds us
that the exaltation to which these
painters gave expression was not: pc
cul1ar to any one school, but rather
an element, depending for its perfect
exploitation wholly upon the in
dividual. The church was there to
supply the theme and the occasion.
The artist was there to make the
most of both, according as he was a
man of imagination and transcendent-
ally man of his hands" there is no
such thing. says Swinburne, as an
inarticulate poet" There is no such
thing" says Mr.. Cortissoz, "as a great
painter who cannot paint and paint
superlatively we'll"
OF all the religious paintings of
the past Royal Cortissoz ranks as
foremost Raphaers Sistine Madonna
This picture" he says, survives as
triumph Of religious exaltation, an
Interpretation of divine motherhood
chiefly because, to express II bluntly
1t is so magnificently and monument
ally put together, because the man who
made 1t was SO intensely the artist :,
In other words, and quite correctly
this greatest of all themes has in
spired the greatest of all artists In
fact 1T requires the greatest of all
artists to adequately give II express
sion. Great art, like great literature
must be universal in its appeal il II
would hope to live. The appeal of the
Christ Child and the mother is of this
order-the appeal of infancy O: in
nocency and of motherhood.
X *x X
1t was not the painters alone of the
renaissance and of the primitive
period who used this theme. The Del
la Robbias in their sculpture and
faience, groups and medalfions, most
beautifully set it forth, more beauti-
fully in many instances, it would
seem, than the painters of their own
time. And how simple was their ex-
preston, their medium pottery, blue
and white, yellow and green; their
purpose in measure decoration. In
| many instances around the sacred
group are borders of gayly colored
flowers and fruit, and yet not one iots
in reverent beauty is taken away
from the expression of the work as
whole. Before the simplest of these
even the casual visitor stands today
as 1T were, with uncovered heaC in
recognition of the sacredness of the
subject, the spirit which pervades
the work
Time and space will not permit even
mention of the greatest masterpieces
of paipting which found their inspira.
tion In the Christmas theme, such AT
Coreggio's Holy Night" Velasquez
and Murillo's Alteration of the Shep.
but curiously enough, 1t has to do al.
most entirely with the past. With the
exception of illustrative works, such
as those by Hofmann, Portaels anC
Plockhorst, there have been compare.
lively few notable religious pictures
painted in the last century or more
Edwin II. Blashfield, the dean OF
American mural painters and the dis
tinguished president of the Nationa
Academy of Design, painted some
years ago a picture familiar to al
through reproduction, Christina,
Chimes" but this was a picture oj
angels ringing the Christmas bell.
and therefore can scarcely go in thi.
category. John Lafarge painted "Tht
Halt of the Wise Men," large and
beautiful easel picture, but his grea,
religious painting is The Ascension,
in. the Church of the Ascens sion, ir
New York This Mrs. Cortissoz, hi.
biographer, rightly ranks as the no.
| blest work of this great painters ex.
traordinary imagination-religi
painting in it's highest estate, 6
sublime work of art.
Why, then, have we not more great
religious paintings in America? Not
because the theme has lost its power
| but rather that We have not brought
| painters OIL tHS CdllD6T OF lnOSe
who have in the past SO nobly given
| 1T Interpretation. They are yet to
come.
X X y
1t is to Christianity that we owe
our Gothic cathedrals, that most per-
feet expression of all the arts. Wor-
ship is instructive with man. The art
artisans of the Gothic period found
opportunity for the full expression OF
their art in the erection and beautifi-
cation of these houses of worship dedi-
Gated to the glory of God. The
Gothic sculpture and the glorious
stone cuttings were largely produced
| to illustrate religious themes for a
people many of whom could not read