The Evolution of Painting. 373 



education, the effect of the new religious ideas was at once 

 apparent. Christianity opposed the pagan mythology and 

 idolatry, and the early Christian artists were not allowed to 

 represent the Deity in human form. This led to the use 

 of symbols. Christ was represented by a lamb ; the Holy 

 Ghost, by a dove ; purity, by a lily ; immortality, by a pea- 

 cock ; sin and paganism, by a serpent or dragon ; zeal or 

 fervor of soul, by fire ; God was sometimes represented by a 

 hand pointing to a cloud. In 692 a council of the Church 

 authorized the direct representation of Christ instead of a 

 symbol. 



Many of the early church fathers considered the second 

 commandment a prohibition of all painting and sculpture, 

 and an effort was made to enforce it. Good Father Tertul- 

 lian did not hesitate to denounce artists as persons of " in- 

 iquitous occupations." He expresses himself in the follow- 

 ing vigorous language : " There was a time past when the 

 idol did not exist ; the sacred places were unoccupied and 

 the temples void. But when the devil brought in makers 

 of statues and images and all kinds of likenesses on the 

 world, all the raw material of human misery and the name 

 of idols followed it. And ever since then any art which 

 produces an idol in any way is the source of idolatry. It 

 makes no difference whether the workman makes it in clay, 

 or a sculptor carves it, or if he weaves it in Phrygian cloth, 

 because it is no consequence as to the substance an idol is 

 formed of, whether it be plaster, or colors, or stone, or brass, 

 or silver, or canvas." Furthermore, Tertullian did not hesi- 

 tate to prove his faith by his works. He would not allow any 

 artist to be baptized until he had foresworn his art, and if 

 any artist was found in the Church he was excommunicated. 



The opposition to painting and sculpture was based 

 principally upon the fact that it was supposed to promote 

 idolatry. The war against " images " extended over a large 

 part of the Christian world at one time or another. The 

 use of sacred pictures in churches aroused the greatest op- 

 position. St. Augustine says there were many worshipers 

 of tombs and pictures in his day ; that the Church condemned 

 them and strove to correct them. Sirenus, Bishop of Mar- 

 seilles, ordered all the images in his diocese to be destroyed. 

 Among the decrees promulgated by the Council of Illiberus 

 in Spain is the following : " It is ordered that there be no 

 pictures in church, lest that which we worship and adore 

 be painted on the walls." 



