516 Mr. H. Hardinge Cunynghame [March 1, 



us well into the sixteenth century. But a great change was at hand. 

 Under the influence of the revival of classicalisin, and in the hands 

 of Carpaccio, the Bellinis, Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, painting 

 assumed the most exquisite forms. The Florentine architects infused 

 the spirit of classical ornament into Lombard and Gothic architecture, 

 so as to produce a new style, of which the scuola of St. John the 

 Baptist at Venice or the tombs of the Scaligers at Verona are ex- 

 amples. In the hands of Ghiberti, Donatello, and Lucca Delia 

 Bobbia, sculpture and modelling rose to new forms of beauty, while 

 the genius of Michael Angelo crowned the work by his majestic 

 creations. 



If the influence of the classical movement had stopped here, it 

 would have been productive of unmixed good, and might have resulted 

 in a new and beautiful style, which would have gone on developing 

 for centuries. Unfortunately, however, the taste for classical learn- 

 ing passed due bounds, and took such a hold upon art as to destroy 

 its vital energies. Classical history or fable almost monopolised the 

 subjects of pictures; classical costume became universal. Madonnas 

 were made to resemble goddesses. The dignified angels with pris- 

 matic wings of the fifteenth century gave place to infant Cupids. If 

 the nude was to be represented, artists could think of nothing better 

 than the Judgment of Paris, or Berseus and Andromeda, or the 

 chaste Lucretia, who was frequently represented as having prepared 

 for death by divesting herself of all her clothing. The Judgment 

 of Solomon, and the History of Susanna, afforded subjects for courts 

 of justice ; the Queen of Sheba coming to Solomon flattered the 

 vanity of a pope or a prince — all, however, being in classical costume. 



In desperate endeavour to give some modern interest to this hack- 

 work, it became usual to put the heads of the patrons of arts on the 

 bodies of .ZEneas, Julius Caesar, or Alexander ; and where modern 

 battles were painted, the combatants were represented either naked 

 or in the dress of Boman soldiers. 



Thus began the reign of pedantry, in which art was admired, not 

 because it gave pleasure or profit to the spectator, but because it 

 afforded an opportunity for the display of classical learning. For 

 what interest could the ordinary mind take in such scenes ? Who 

 cares about the Birth of Venus, or the Bape of Europa, except as a 

 means of displaying beautiful nude figures ? How wearisome, even 

 when done by the greatest artist, appears the well-worn " Fame " upon 

 a tomb, with a trumpet and a wreath of laurels, or " Batience " upon 

 one side of a monument smiling at " Grief " upon the other. Such 

 art as this was deficient in soul. It had ceased to draw its inspira- 

 tion from the social or religious life and feelings of the people. It 

 appealed no longer to the masses, but only to a group of illuminati. 

 Its roots were severed from ordinary human pleasures and aspirations, 

 and its death became only a question of time. It died hard, poison- 

 ing by its corruption the art of all Europe, and ending with death- 

 heads and skeletons on tombs, grinning satyrs, stone clouds, empty 



