Evening star., 1936-11-25
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
MARGARET GERMOND.
THE BIBLE IN ART. New York: covici-
Friede.

The greatest story In the literature Of
mankind. translated by the artists Of
every age and of every school of express
sion In the Christian era, into visual
interpretations of the scenes and events
recorded in the most widely read and
the least understood book in the world
has within the past few days been pre-
sented in handsomely executed volume
which attains q new high level of edi-
torial and artistic scholarship in the
field Of religious publications. The work
has been compiled and edited by Clifton
Hardy, and is composed Of nearly eight
hundred reproductions of the paintings
of famous artists who have during the
twenty centuries of the Christian era
found inspiration In the life OF Christ
and in the oldest recorded story OF mans
belief in his affinity with q universal
power. Twelve of these reproductions
are in full-page color plates.
Mr.. Hardy, who is distinguished
commentator on art and whose articles
on this subject receive wide publication
in the United States, has collected and
arranged this extraordinary gallery OF
famous paintings and other pictorial art
works in accordance with the chrono-
logical order of Biblical events, selecting
the most notable pictures on each subject
and placing them in relationship with
the Scriptural story which inspired them.
Grouped in this manner. with q brief
editorial comment on each painting and
its artist and accompanied by the
Scriptural text from which the in
| spiration sprang, consecutive pic
torial history of the known world, as
recorded in the Bible, is unfolded through
| a series of graphic interpretations-some
| of them resplendent and some OF them
crude-by unidentified as well as by
| world famed masters Of color and brush.
Beginning with the Genesis, thirteen
| pictures tell the story OF the making OF
the heaven and the earth: the institution
| of light and of its separation from dark
ness; the division of the land from the
| sea: the creation OF the sun, the moon
| and the stars; the bringing forth OF
| living creatures upon the earth and IN
| the waters of the earth; the creation OF
| man and the molding OF woman from
| rib OF that noble manifestation OF GODS
| handiwork. Represented in this group
| are the works of such notable artists OF
! the sixteenth century as Gerard de Jode,
| Raffaello Santi, Michelangelo Buonar-
| roti, Lucas Cranach, Paul Bril- and Mi
|
! Martin and Hans Thoma of the nine
teenth century. In this group as IN
| many of the others, several different
paintings have been selected to illustrate
| the same event And by this plan OF
| portrayal the broadest possible oppor-
| tunity is afforded for comparison OF
| tine variety of visionary ideals of divine
subjects, inspired first by the stories of
| those who perhaps had known Jesus
| and His disciples and later by the teach
ers and propounders of the new faith.
| The oldest of these art works, OF course,
deal with the events Immediately con-
cerning the life of Christ.
In numerous instances the primitive
! paintings and the mosaics of the early
| Christians, depicting scenes glorif1ed in
| later centuries by Raphael Michelangelo
and other great masters are presented
beside their respondent companions.
| The arrangement adds not only to the
| attractiveness and value of the volume
as an outstanding contribution to Biblical
| lore, but makes it possible to study with
a more intelligent understanding the
| concepts of the artists of many nations
who have in the changing eras of
! Christian civilization undertaken to give
10 fluUidtlity oOlllC ChPASooaoh oA
| the spiritual as well as the material
| meaning of Scriptural episodes that to
| thousands, even in this enlightened age,
| lies hidden in the great Book upon which
every Christian nation is founded.
Pictures relating to religious subjects
| rank among the Oldest forms OF ex-
pressed art, for 1t must be remembered
| that reading was not common privilege
even so late as five hundred years ago.
| and that only through illustrations in
graphic form was it possible to reach
! the understanding of those who were
| not permitted or could not afford to sit
at the feet of those illuStri0uS intellectual
I giants whose lives spanned the eras OF
! preparation for the advent of Christ, or
| of those who in succeeding ages sought
| to follow the great teachers OF the new
| philosophy. Inspiration came by word
| of mouth alone, and with the growth OF
| Christianity and the desirability OF
spreading more widely among laymen
| knowledge of stories contained in the
| ancient manuscripts which centuries
later were to be recorded collectively in
the Bible as We know it today, artists OF
| the various nations in which the church
| had been established furnished the only
| literature that was permissible or under
| standable to the human race in general.
There was no travel in those days and
practically no knowledge in one country
of the racial characteristics or the COM
mon customs of another. 1t was natural
| that the Greek, German. Dutch, Italian,
Spanish, French, English and other
artists should conceive the subjects of
| their inspiration in such terms of beauty
| and power as were locally familiar.
| But the extraordinary natiOnalistic and
! racial incongruities which mark the great
ma jority of the vast store of Biblical
| paintings have failed even in this mod
ern age to detract from their spiritual
quality or lessen their artistic value.
In the chronological perturbation Of
| the Bible, as presented by MIR. Hardy, the
more widely renowned masterpieces dat
| ing from the twelfth to the nineteenth
centuries tell the story, inasmuch as
/ Old Testament history was virtually un-
known in the earlier years of the Chris
| tian world. The order runs from Genesis
| to Isaiah, includes the minor prophets
| Daniel and Jonah, and then skips to
| the New Testament with series which
| begins with the birth of the Virgin Mary
| and moves on to the annunciation and
| the birth of Christ and then carries
| through to the Revelations.
Scenes descriptive of the nativity mum.
Der no less than thirty-three, and include
| paintings by Fra Filippa Lppi, Roger
| van der Weyden Fra Angelica Iuca