The Evolution of Art. 307 



porches that dignified the approaches to the summit of the 

 Acropolis, alike attest the intimate dependence of art upon 

 the patronage of the worshipful impulse in man. 



And may it not be asserted with equal truth that to-day 

 the commanding influence of the mother Church is largely 

 dependent in turn upon the art creations of which she so 

 freely avails herself ? He who, susceptible to deep religious 

 awe, enters some great cathedral of to-day, is divided in 

 homage between his supernatural sense of the divine pres- 

 ence and his appreciative delight of that which the cun- 

 ning skill of human art has devised for its embellishment. 

 Poetry marries itself to music in the deep-swelling harmony 

 and rhythmic flow of sentences which answer from the organ 

 loft above to the dim recesses of the chancel in the apse. 

 The deeply groined roof, planned by the skillful architect, 

 is glowing far above with the transcendent brilliancy of the 

 sunlight which brings in strong relief the enchanting figures 

 of departed saints with which the painter has crowded the 

 stained windows of the clearstory. From all these brilliant 

 accessories of art, does not the belief of the actual presence 

 of the Christ in the wine and water of the host derive much 

 of its supernatural conviction, and would not the same cere- 

 monies, transferred to the barren simplicity of a Quaker 

 church, lose much of their influence upon man's emotional 

 nature ? 



However this may be, the fact remains that in no age, at 

 least of the Christian era, has the Church divorced from 

 her services the aid of art. And if time sufficed, it might 

 be approximately demonstrated that this art environment 

 has in all ages been largely shaped and colored by the domi- 

 nant religion of its time. 



The huge monolithic temples and excavatory tombs of 

 ancient Persia were the tangible expression of their simple 

 pagan beliefs, and the wonderful temple at Karnak, on 

 whose rugged pylon, sixteen centuries before the Christ was 

 born, Thothmes the Third had carved the history of his mili- 

 tary expeditions, and within whose spacious outlines two 

 cathedrals as large as St. Peter's of Rome could be builded 

 represented faithfully the prevailing temper of that the- 

 ology which dedicated its walls to Chons, the Deity who 

 possessed the highly convenient attribute of expelling evil. 

 There was no room in an age when the millions were bur- 

 den-bearers, and the few wearers of purple, for art to lift 

 itself toward heaven, and to these people was unknown the 



