Dissertation on the Paintings of the middle Age. 41 



I shall mention three causes of their destruction. Their 

 most ancient enemies were the Iconoclasts, or breakers oF 

 images, whose ravages spread far and wide : the second 

 cause was the cupidity of persons, who destroyed them 

 for the sake of the ornan\euts in gold and precious stones 

 which surrounded thtni : and the third cause of their 

 destruction, of all otners the most afflicting, wa< that 

 jealousy of their plagiarists, who not only aniiihiiated them, 

 but endeavoured to propagate a contempt for imager which 

 they nevertheless did not cease to consult, to imitate, and 

 to lay under daily contribution. Finally, such was the 

 influence of these disdainful enemies, that under Pope 

 Julius they tore down without remorse from the walls of 

 the Vatican a fresco by Perugino, to make room for one 

 which Raphael was to execute, — although the latter, equally 

 commeiidable for a great and enlightened mind, nobly op- 

 posed it. We may conceive therefore that these paintinj_>s 

 are very rare in Italy, and even throughout Europe. 



Of the Styles and Schools of t lie Paintiiigs of the middle 

 Age. 



It belongs to those only who are familiar with the cera, 

 the various dates and styles, to fi^rnish ideas worthy of the 

 public attention on the above topics: but as I conceive that 

 an artist may have views and comparisons which may 

 escape the observation of the mere virtuoso or antiquary, 

 I have undertaken the task of making some classifications. 



I am aware that it is of very little consequence to arvists 

 to know precisely at what tin)e, and in what places, certain 

 parts of the art of painting were abandoned, resumed, and 

 lost again : but they will confess, I trust, that there are in- 

 direct ways of advancing the arts, and that none can be 

 blamed in particular; and they must also admit that, al- 

 though these views may not be new to every person, they 

 mav nevertheless possess some interest, since they bring 

 to light the causes of the progress as well as those of the 

 decline of the grand art of painting. 



By the term middle age, I mean the £era which embraces 

 the first period of the decline of the empire under Con- 

 slantinc the Great, and whicfi coming down in the first 

 place to the ninth century, which ternunated the persecu- 

 tions against the Iconoclasts, embraces the period of the 

 revival of the arts in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 

 when the famous modern nKHSters flourished. 



Amid the obscurity which veils more or less the histo- 

 rical facts of ihcic limes, the progress of the art of painting 



may 



