376 The Evolution of Painting. 



Titian. Michel Angelo was especially condemned because 

 in the Last Judgment he pictured "the angels without 

 wings and the saints without clothes." 



But the baneful influence of superstition was not con- 

 fined to southern Europe. In Flanders, as late as the six- 

 teenth century, there was a wholesale destruction of paint- 

 ings by religious fanatics. And the slow development of art 

 in England was largely due to the influence of religion. On 

 this subject an English historian says : " It is mortifying 

 to reflect that the ^Reformation, favorable as it was to the 

 exercise of the human intellect and the general cause of 

 human liberty, had in this country at least a very chilling 

 effect upon the state of the fine arts. In the reign 'of 

 Edward VI images and pictures were not only ejected 

 from the churches, but the people were taught to hold in 

 abhorrence all graphical representations of sacred objects. 

 Queen Elizabeth went further, and issued a decree for 

 obliterating all such delineations on the walls of churches 

 by whitewashing them and inscribing sentences of Holy 

 Writ in the room of these figures. When, about seventy 

 years afterward, the spirit of Puritanism gained the ascend- 

 ency and broke down all the barriers of the Constitution, 

 civil and ecclesiastic, the ornaments in the churches were 

 among the first objects of spoliation and destruction ; the 

 churches were converted into barracks for soldiers and 

 stabling for horses ; everything of value was carried off, and 

 men were hired by the governing powers at a daily stipend 

 to tear down crosses and images wherever they could be 

 found, and to break in pieces the beautiful paintings in the 

 church windows ; all sacred pictures were commanded to be 

 destroyed by an express ordinance of parliament." 



It will thus be seen that the history of art has been 

 intimately associated with that of religion ; while at times 

 religion has been the chief opponent of progress in art, on 

 other occasions it has been the chief source of encourage- 

 ment. 



In surveying the history of art, one is forcibly impressed 

 by the fact that in nearly every country the rise of painting 

 has been almost immediately followed by a decline. In 

 some countries these changes have been repeated several 

 times. Some of the causes are easily observed. Prominent 

 among these may be mentioned a decadence of morals, 

 barbaric invasions, civil war, conquest by foreign powers, 

 loss of free institutions, plagues, and famines. Another 



