374 The Evolution of Painting. 



It was in the eastern part of the empire that the fight 

 regarding images waxed hottest. In 726 A. D. the Emperor 

 Leo III published an edict against image worship. This 

 was followed by a decree of the Council of Constantinople 

 condemning all worship and use of images, and excommuni- 

 cating all persons who violated the decree. Thousands of 

 statues and paintings were destroyed; artists were im- 

 prisoned, and some of them were drowned or burned. Eiot 

 and massacre were common, and occasionally the contest 

 amounted to civil war. The struggle lasted more than a 

 century and finally disrupted the empire. 



Many of the early fathers held views of the most extreme 

 character. Clemens Alexandrinus gave it as his opinion 

 that ladies broke the second commandment by using look- 

 ing-glasses, because they thereby made images of themselves. 



But the Church party favoring the use of images finally 

 triumphed. The Pope opposed the iconoclastic movement 

 from the start. In 787 a general council at Nice decided 

 that pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, angels and saints, 

 might be set up in churches. This was subsequently con- 

 firmed by a synod at Constantinople, and later by the 

 Council of Trent. The practice of placing pictures of sacred 

 objects in the churches was fully established both in eastern 

 and western Europe. This was of great importance to art. 

 The encouragement which Italian artists received by their 

 employment in the decoration of churches was one of the 

 leading factors in the development of painting in Italy. 



Some superstitions of the middle ages are curiously illus- 

 trated in the history of painting. Many paintings were 



supposed to have been miraculously produced. Some came 

 down from heaven; others were dug out of the earth; 

 others were capable of reproducing themselves. Some could 



cure disease ; others helped to win battles in war. Many 

 Madonnas were attributed to St. Luke the Evangelist, and 

 a picture of the Saviour was supposed to have been pro- 

 duced by Christ himself. This picture was captured by the 

 Saracens, and was afterward sold to Constantinople for the 

 handsome sum of twelve thousand pounds of silver. Several 

 of the Madonnas by St. Luke are still extant. This evangel- 

 ist seems to have had a great reputation everywhere as a 

 painter, and he was the patron of many art schools. One 

 of the statutes regulating the corporation of painting at 

 Sienna was headed as follows : " In the name of the Al- 

 mighty God and of his blessed Mother, the Holy Virgin 



