TREES IN PAINTING 205 



varied life, akin to, yet widely different from, our 

 own, that renders modern landscape painting 

 possible. But not until the close of the Middle 

 Ages was this modern spirit born. Christianity 

 in its early days, did not, because it could not, 

 eradicate the animistic belief It has not yet, 

 as we already know, been wholly eradicated. 

 The spirits still lived on, though mainly as evil 

 spirits, against whom the Christian, as in the 

 supposed case of Mr. Briton Riviere's knight, 

 could defend himself by use of the formulae of 

 his faith. Still, even under these conditions, 

 there was some advance in the direction in 

 which art has now gone so far, gone, indeed, 

 in purpose, if not in actual achievement, to the 

 utmost limit. We do, to-day, seek to represent 

 nature as it is and for its own sake. 



In the Catacombs, which preserve for us very 

 early, if not the earliest Christian art, the style 

 is Graeco- Roman ; and, indeed. Pagan myths 

 are often used in the wall and ceiling-paintings 

 with a Christian significance ; as, for instance, 

 when Orpheus, charming the wild beasts with 

 the music of his lyre, symbolises Christ subdu- 

 ing the wild passions of the human heart. 

 Scenes from the Old and New Testaments are 



