THE CHURCH AND ART 299 



in the heart of Italy— St. Apollinare-in-Classe, San Vitale, and 

 St. Apollinare Nuova, are the glories of the sixth century, 

 while the older churches of Rome and Sicily and St. Mark's 

 of Venice show painting and mosaic in all its greatness. 



The architecture of the Greek and Roman churches of that 

 and the subsequent periods is better to be appreciated from 

 the interior than from without. The glory of mosaic grows 

 upon one who studies St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, the 

 churches of Santa Pudenziana, and Sta. Maria Maggiore in 

 Rome, and the Palatine Chapel in Palermo and the Cathedral 

 in Monreale in Sicily. There one can see what a magnificent 

 mantle of art it spreads over the whole church building. One 

 may trace it from the fifth century until the nineteenth; as 

 well as in the magnificent reproductions of modem paintings 

 in the mosaics of the Vatican and St. Peter's. For a jewel, a 

 flashing gem of almost modern mosaic art, I have never seen 

 anything to surpass the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, for the 

 entire chapel, from floor to ceiling, is one glowing mass of 

 beauty, telling the story of a saint and a gospel at every turn. 



As the Western Church continued her conquest of heathen 

 and barbarian Europe, she evolved a new order of art, that 

 of architecture of the Romanesque and Gothic form. The 

 building forms of Italy and Greece (where the sun shone 

 gloriously and vividly) made too dark the buildings destined 

 for worship in the more northern climes. There more light 

 was needed in the interior. Then came airier structures, with 

 pinnacles and spires, great wide window spaces and huge por- 

 tals, soaring roofs and flying buttresses, a lace work of mar- 

 ble and light stone. One has to pause with amazement at the 

 industry and art which covered all the North of Europe, and 

 the Isles of England, Ireland and Scotland with these mag- 

 nificent specimens of art, which we can do little better than 

 copy. The cutting of huge windows in the Gothic cathedral 

 made wall painting and mosaic well-nigh impossible, but it in 

 turn gave birth to another form of art. These huge openings 

 were filled with glass, upon which designs in colors were in- 

 troduced, and thus stained glass as an ornament in churches 

 and a replacement of mosaic among the Northern nations came 

 into being. The Church claimed them all for her own and 

 made them tell to the worshippers the story of her mission 

 and message to the world. 



