MRS. JAMESON'S SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.
THESE two volumes supply a very able and interesting manual to the comprehension of a large branch of art,—those legendary pictures of the Roman Catholic faith which form the staple of the earlier schools, in- cluding the great schools of Italy. For its purpose the book is well planned. The introduction opens to the reader the general scope of the subject ; an account of the manner in which the legends originated ; the relation which art bore to the legends—the painting being later in point of time, and distinguished into two classes of pictures historical and pic- tures used for purely devotional purposes; with sketches of the emblems and attributes by which the personages of the better-known legends are indicated, and a section on the significance of colours for the same purpose. " The legendary art of the middle ages," says Mrs. Jameson, " sprang out of the legendary literature of the preceding ages. For three centuries at least, this literature, the only literature which existed at the time, formed the sole mental and moral nourishment of the people of Europe. The romances of chivalry, which long afterwards succeeded, were confined to particular classes, and left no impress on art beyond the miniature illuminations of a few manuscripts. • • • " Of the prevalence and of the incalculable influence of this legendary litera- ture from the seventh to the tenth century,—that is, just about the period when modern art was struggling into existence,—we have a most striking picture in Guizot'e Histoire de la Civilisation. As after the siege of Troy,' says this phi- losophical and eloquent writer, 'there were found in every city of Greece men who collected the traditions and adventures of heroes, and sung them for the recreation of the people, till these recitals became a national passion, a national poetry, so at the time of which we speak the traditions of what may be called the heroic ages of Christianity had the acme interest for the nations of Europe. There were men who made it their business to collect them, to transcribe them, to read or recite them aloud, for the edification and delight of the people. And this was the only literature, properly so called, of that time.' "Now, if we go back to the authentic histories of the sufferings and herd= of the early martyrs, we shall find enough there, both of the wonderful and the affecting, to justify the credulity and enthusiasm of the unlettered people, who saw no reason why they should not believe in one miracle as well as in another."
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"The legendary art of the three centuries which comprise the revival of learning was, as I have said, the reflection of this literature, of this teaching. Considered in this point of view, can we easily overrate its interest and importance ? "When, after the long period of darkness which followed upon the decline of the Roman Empire, the fine arts began to revive, the first, and for several ages the only impress they received, was that of the religious spirit of the time. Pamt- ing, sculpture, music, and architecture, as they emerged one after another from the ' formless void,' were pressed into the service of the Church. But it is mistake to suppose, that in adroitly adapting the reviving arts to her purposes, in that magnificent spirit of calculation which at all times characterized her, the Church from the beginning selected the subjects, or dictated the use that was to be made of them. We find, on the contrary, edicts and councils repressing .the popular extravagances in this respect, and denouncing those apocryphal versions of sacred events and traditions which had become the delight ot the people. But vain were councils and edicts; the tide was too strong to be checked. The Church found herself obliged to accept and mould to her own objects the exotic elements she could not eradicate. She absorbed, 80 to speak, the evils and errors she could not expeL There seems to have been at this time a sort of compromise between the popular legends, with all their wild mixture of Northern and Classical superstitions, and the Church legends properly so called. The first great object to which reviving art was destined, was to render the Christian places of worship a theatre of instruction and improvement for the peo- ple; to attract and to interest them by representations of scenes, events, and per- sonages, already so familiar as to require no explanation, appealing at once to their intelligence and their sympathies; embodying in beautiful shapes (beautiful at least in their eyes) associations and feelings and memories deep rooted in the very hearts, and which had influenced in no slight degree the progress of civilization, the development of mind. Upon these creations of ancient art we cannot look as those did for whom they were created; we cannot annihilate the centuries which lie between us and them; we cannot, in simplicity of heart, forget the artist in the image he has placed before US, nor supply what may be deficient in his work through a reverentially excited fancy. We are critical, not credulous. We no longer accept this polytheistic form of Christianity; and there is little danger, I suppose, of our falling again into the strange excesses of superstition to which it led. But, if I have not much sympathy with modern imitation of medieval art, still less can I sympathize with that narrow Puritanical jealousy which holds the monuments of a real and earnest faith in contempt: all that God has permitted once to exist in the past should be considered as the possession of the present; sacred for example or warning, and- held as the foundation on which to build up what is better and purer. It should seem an established fact, that all revolutions in morals, in government, and in art, which begin in the spirit of scorn, and in a sweepingdestruction of the antecedent condition' only tend to a reaction. Our Puritanical ancestors chopped off the heads of Madonnas and saints, and paid vagabonds to smash the atoned windows of our cathedrals ;—now, are they coming back to us, or are we not rather going back to them?"
Mrs. Jameson's first chapter is devoted to Angels; tracing their earliest appearance in the Old Testament ; describing the changes which their aspect has undergone, both in the legends and in the progress of art; and glancing at the figures of ancient art, Greek or Egyptian, from which painters of the modern time have borrowed any portion of their designs. In the particular instance, indeed, the reference to the Egyptian model is not happy : the figure adduced does not represent a creature of an angelic- character, but the Goddess of Truth ; her wings are not "a symbol of power" or of "swiftness," but of providential care, as personified to the Egyptian apprehension in the maternal vulture. The angel bearing the moon, at page 25, is very interesting, as exemplifying a transitory stage connecting modern Christian art with ancient Pagan art. The figure belongs to the Greek painting of the twelfth century ; the action and the arrangement of the drapery are borrowed almost slavishly from the Bac,chanti of the Vases. Many other examples of this transition occur in the course of the book, both in the text and the illustrations. The legend of St. Hippolytus is a curious specimen ; the name and some incidents in the fate of the Christian martyr belonging to the story of Theseus and his profligate wife. The gradual evolution of the angel from the uncouth figure of the degenerate and dowdy Bacchante, through the stiff forms of the Greco-Italian time, into the beautiful and majestic beings who guard the spheres in the pictures of Raphael, is well traced. It is
interesting to note in a specimen of the Greek painting "Jacob struggling with the Angel," at page 40, an early effort to escape from the stiff manner of the corrupt Greek art into more active design.
Another section of this first chapter is devoted to a more minute ac- count of the seven Archangels, with still more particular descriptions of three, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael.
In a similar way the author devotes the succeeding chapters of the book to the personages of legendary art, in classes, as follows,—the Evangelists ; the twelve Apostles ; the Doctors of the Church; the un- classified Saints, Mary Magdalen, Martha, Lazarus, Maximia, Marcella, Mary of Egypt, and the beatified Penitents ; the Patron Saints of Christendom ; the early Martyrs; the Greek Martyrs ; the Latin Martyrs ; the early Bishops ; the Hermit Saints; and the Warrior Saints of Christendom.
The text is illustrated by a.number of wood-cuts, mostly of separate figures, taken- from the best or most characteristic specimens of le- gendary paintings. There- are besides several copies of pictures etched by the authoress ; serving, as she modestly points out, to explain the mode of treatment and the general scope of design, rather than to convey a fall conception of the beauties. To the visitant of picture-galleries, the work will furnish, in the most accessible form, a large amount of infor- mation, without which it is impossible to understand the pictures that form so considerable a portion of all collections ; for they should be un- derstood not only with reference to the technical treatment and the par- ticular object of the painter, but also with regard to the progress of art and the necessities under which the painters of each epoch worked. The book does more. In explaining the progress of the legendary-influences, it describes a tangible form of what was really the progress of opinion : and without some such explanation, derived from sources widely scattered, it is impossible to appreciate the effect of that art which in its cruder specimens looks so puerile. "All the productions of art," says Mrs. Jameson, "from thelime it has been directed and developed by Christian influences, may be regarded under three dif- ferent aspects: 1. The purely religious aspect, which belongs to one mode of faith; 2. the poetical aspect, which belongs to all; 3. the artistic, which is the individual point of view, and has reference only to the action of the intelleeton the means and material employed. There is pleasure; intense pleasure, merely in the considerationof art as art; in the faculties of comparison and nice discrimina- tion brought to bear on objects of beauty; in the exercise of a cultivated and re- fined taste on the productions of mind in any form whatever. But a threefold-or rather a thousandfold pleasure is theirs; whoto a sense of the poetical unite a sympathy with the spiritual in art, and who combine with delicacy of perception, and technical knowledge, more elevated sconrce,a of pleasure, more variety of as- sociation, habits of more excursive thought."
More than "pleasure," let us say in passing: it is placing the influ- ence,of art too low if we call it by so trivial a name. The general drift of Mrs. Jameson's criticism, which is never obtrusive, always intelligent and pertinent, is to show that art brings into force influences of aligher and even sterner kind.
One remark is suggested by the-immense number of legendary pic- tures, most of them painted to order : they were to the painter of earlier days much what portrait-painting is to our own day—the staple of his trade, by the help of which he "made the pot boil." Unlike the painter of our day, however,, the artist of the great schools found time to get through this drudgery of his business- and yet to execute large and am' bitious works. At that early period, no such alternative presented: itself to the painter as that which is now presumed. to be necessary—subsiate enee or fame : the two were not incompatible.
Tales are scattered through the book, interesting either from their beauty, their force, or their quaintness. If our memory does not de- ceive us, however; the authoress has thought it necessary in some cases to Smooth away the quaintness of the original; as in the legend of St. George of Cappadocia. Mrs. Jameson calls the following story "wild and wonderful": to us it reads marvellously like some of the sancti- monious swindlings recorded by the earlier Italian novelists.
"-On the 25th of February 1340, there fell out a wonderful thing-in this land; for during three days the waters rose continually, and in the night there was fearful rain and tempest, such as had never been heard of. So great was the storm that the waters rose three cubits higher than had ever been known in Venice; and an old fisherman being in his little boat in the canal of St. Mark, reached with difficulty the Rive di San Marco; and then he fastened his boat, and waited the ceasing of the storm. And it is related, that at the time this storm was at the highest, there came an unknown man, and besought him- that he would row him over to -San Giorgio Maggiore, promising to pay him well; and the fisherman replied, How is it possible to go to San Giorgio? we shall sink by the way !' But the man only besought him the more that he should set forth. So, seeing that it was the will of God, he arose and rowed over--to San Giorgio Maggiore; and the man landed there, and desired the boatman towait. In a short while he returned with a young man; and they said, 'Now row towards San NicolO di Lido.' And the fisherman said,' How can-one possibly go so far with one oar?' And they said, 'Row boldly; for it shall be possible to thee, and thou shalt be well paid.' And he went; and-it appeared to him as if the waters were smooth. Being arrived at San NicolO di Lido, the two men landed, and returned with a third; and having en- tered into the boat, they commanded the fisherman that he should row beyond the two castles. And the tempest raged continually. Being come to the open sea, they beheld approaching, with such terrific speed that it appeared to fly over the waters, an enormous galley full of demons (as it is written in the chronicles, and Marco Sabellino also makes mention of this miracle): the said bark ap- proached the castles to overwhelm Venice, and to destroy it utterly. Anon the sea, which had hitherto been tumultuous, became calm; and these three men, having made the sign of the cross, exorcised the demons, and commanded them to depart; and immediately the galley or the ship vanished: then these three men commanded the fisherman to land them, the.one at San Nicola di-Lido, the other at San Giorgio Maggiore, and the third at San Marco. And when he had landed the third, the fisherman, notwithstanding the miracle he had witnessed, desired that he would, pay him ; and he replied, ' Thou art right; go now to the Doge, and to the Procuratore of St. Mark, and tell them what thou heat seen; for Venice would have been overwhelmed had it not been for us three. I am St. Mark the Evangelist, the protector of this city; the other is the brave knight St. George; and he whom thou didst take up at Lido is the holy Bishop St. Nicholas. Say to the Doge and to the Procuratore that they are to pay you; and tell them likewise that this tempest arose because of a certain schoolmaster dwelling in San Felice, who did sell his soul to the Devil, and afterwards hanged himself.' And the fisherman replied, 'III should tell them this, they will not believe me.' Then St. Mark took off a ring, which was on his finger, which ring was worth five ducats, and he said, Show-them this, and ten them when they look in the sanctuary they-will not find it'; and thereupon he disappeared. The next morning, the said fisherman presented him- self before the Doge, and related all he had seen the night before, and showed him the ring for a sign. And the Procuratore having sent for the ring, and sought in the usual place, found it not: by reason of which miracle, the fisher- man was paid, and a solemn procession was ordained, giving thanks to God, and to the relics of the three holy saints who rest in our land, and who delivered us from this great danger. The ring was given to Signor Marco Loredano and to Signor Andrea Dandolo the Procuratore, who placed it in the sanctuary; and, moreover, a perpetual provision was made for the aged fisherman above-men- tioned."
A shrewd old fellow ! But his story has been taken in good faith, and is the subject of two celebrated pictures by Giorgione and Paris Bor. done. The fine legend of St. Christopher invites extract ; but it is too long. "The legend of Mercurius " is briefer.
"Julian the Apostate, who figures in their sacred romances not merely as a tyrant and persecutor, but as a terrible and potent necromancer who had sold him- self to the Devi; had put his officer Mercurius to death, because of his adhesion to the Christian faith. The story then relates that when Julian led his army against the Persians, and on the eve of the battle in which he perished, St. Basil the Great was favoured by a miraculous vision. He beheld a woman of resplendent beauty seated on a throne, and around her a great multitude of angels; and she com- manded one of them, saying; Go forthwith, and awaken Mercurius, who sleepeth in the sepulchre, that he may slay Julian the Apostate, that proud blasphemer against me and against my son ! ' And when Basil awoke, he went to the tomb in which Mercurius had been laid not long before, with his armour and weapons by his side; and, to his great astonishment, he found neither the body nor the wea- pons. But on returning to the place the next day, and again looking into the tomb, he found there the body of Mercurius lying as before; but the lance was stained with blood: 'for on the day of battle, when the wicked Emperor was at the head of his army, an unknown warrior, bareheaded, and of a pale and ghastly countenance, was seen mounted on a white charger, which he spurred forward, and; brandishing hislance, he pierced Julian through the body, and then-vanished as suddenly as he had appeared.* And Julian being carried to his tent, he took a handful of the blood which flowed from his wound, and flung it into the air; ex- claiming with his last breath, Thou bast conquered, Galilean! thou heat con- quered ! ' Then the demons received his parting spirit. But Mercurius, having performed the behest of the blessed Virgin, reentered his tomb, and laid himself down to sleep till the Day of Judgment.'" *" Julian was killed by a javelin flung by an unknown hand."—Gibbon.
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