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Didron Adolphe Napoléon, Stokes Margaret. Christian Iconography or the history of Christian art in the Middle Ages. V. 2: The Trinity. Angels. Devils. Death. The soul. The Christian scheme. Appendices PDF

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Preview Didron Adolphe Napoléon, Stokes Margaret. Christian Iconography or the history of Christian art in the Middle Ages. V. 2: The Trinity. Angels. Devils. Death. The soul. The Christian scheme. Appendices

s CHEISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY; os, THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN ART IN THE MIDDLE AGES. BY THE LATE ADOLPHE NAPOLEON DIDRON. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY E. J. MILLINGTON, AND COMPLETED WITH ADDITIONS AND APPENDICES MARGARET STOKES. IN TWO VOLUMES. Vol. II. THE TRINITY: ANGELS: DEVILS: DEATH: THE SOUL: THE CHRISTIAN SCHEME! APPENDICES. WITS NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1891. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. PAGE The Trinity 1 History op the Doctrine of the Trinity . . 1 Definition of the Divine Persons .... 6 Manifestations of the Trinity 13 Worship of the Trinity 28 Chronological Iconography of the Trinity . . 34 Attributes of the Trinity ...... G3 Iconography of Angels ....... 85 Iconography of Devils 109 Iconography of Death . .153 Iconography of the Soul .... 173 Iconography of the Christian Scheme . . .188 MythologicalLegendsintheSpeculumHuman*Salvationis 211- Influence of the Drama on Iconography .... 233 Medieval Art and the Antique 244 Appendix I.: Additional Notes ...... 255 Appendix II.: 'Byzantine Guide to Painting' . . . 265 Appesdix III.: Text of the Biblia Pauperum . . . 403 Descriptive List of Illustrations in Vols. I. and II. . 431 Index 440 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS TO VOL. II. PAGK As Ansel Assisting the Creator 14 The Trinity in combat with Behemoth and Leviathan . 17 The Trinity at the Baptism op Christ .... 19 The Trinity op Evil 22 The Trinity op Absolute Evil 23 Figure op Time with Three Faces 25 The Trinity in Three Human Persons op identicalFigure 42 The Three Divine Persons fused one into the other . 44 The Trinity under the Form op Three Circles. . . 46 The Divine Triplicity, contained within the Unity . . 51 The Three Faces op the Trinity on one single Head and one single body 53 The Three Divine Faces with two Eyes and one single. Body 57 The Divine Persons distinct 64 The Holy Ghostdescendingpromthe Fatheruponthe Son 69 The Holy Ghost proceedingprom theFatherand the Son, and re-ascending prom the Son to the Father . . 70 The Holy Ghost, not proceeding either from the Father or the Son 72 The Three Divine Heads within a single Triangle . . 73 The Trinity in One God supporting the World. . . 76 The Trinity in one single God holding the Balances and the Compasses 78 The Trdsity in Human Form with Cruciform Nimbus and Aureole of Flame 81 Seraph of St. Francis 90 Thrones: Fiery Two-Winged Wheels..... 91 Sculptured Angel, Chartres, Thirteenth Century . . 92 Angels (Piero della Francesca) 93 Angel without Feet or Legs 94 Angel of the Ascension ....... 95 vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Six-winged Angel holding Lance,Wings grossedon Breast, ARRAYED IN ROBE AND MANTLE . 97 Angels from Cathedral of Chartres. 100, 101, 102 St. John the Baptist . 108 Lucifer before the Fall .... . 109 Fall of Lucifer...... . 111,112 Fodr-headed Demon ..... . 113 Personification of Eiver .... . 115 Fire Demon. ...... . 117 Satan in Missal of Poitiers . 119 Devil in Campo Santo, Pisa . 120 Persian Devil ." 122 Egyptian Devil . 123 Turkish Devil . 124 Satan with Serpent Horns. . 125 The Abyss ....... . 127 Christ tempted ...... . 128 Temptation of St. Paphnctius . . 129 St. Juliana and the Devil. . 130 Demons on the Tomb of Dagobert . 131 Chartres: the Demon in Man . 133 The Demon as Satyr ..... . 134 Beast with Seven Heads .... . 137 The Devil as Serpent .... . 139 The Temptation of Adam and Eve . 140 Vampire, Campo Santo, Pisa . 141 Demon on tiie Casque of Goliath . 142 Diabolism, Himorocs Figures of. . 143,144 Exorcism ..... . 145 Seal of Lucifer ...... . 147 Writing of Asmodeus ..... . 148 Impiety: Amiens Cathedral . 149 Covetousness: Amiens Cathedral . 150 Thanatos . 154 Triumph of Death ..... 156, 160, 161 Death as a Woman ..... . 158, 159 Death as a Demon ..... . 162 Wicked Soul cast into Hell . 164 Satan of Job, Campo Santo,Pisa . 165 The Ladder of the Soul .... . 167 Death as a Crowned Skeleton on Tomb . . 169 Death as Ecce Homo ..... . 169 Death and the Fool . 170 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. vii PAGE The Dance of Death ........ 171 Death as a Skeleton ........ 172 Psyche in despair, seated on a Rock and bewailing the Flight of Cupid ........ 174 The Butterfly and the Soul . . . . . 175, 176 Martyrdom of St. Stephen: Sculpture on Porch of St. Trophimus at Arles ....... 177 Soul borne to Heaven by Angels ..... 178 Weighing of Souls in the Balance .... 179, 180 Hermes lifting the Soul from the Shades . . . 181 Hermes leading a Soul to Charon . . . .181 St. Michael and the Dragon .... 182, 184, 185 Adoration of the Cross 196 Descent of Christ into Hell ...... 198 Samson and the Lion 198 David slaying Goliath 198 Christ and the Human-headed Serpent .... 201 Hercules and the Human-headed Hydra .... 202 Daniel among Lions; Habbakkuk and the Angel . . 210 The Legend of the Ostrich 215 The Souls of the Martyrs Dionysius, Kusticus, and Eleu- thertos appear as Doves ...... 239 Bas-relief at Notre Dame, Paris • . • . . 241 CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY. THE TEINITY. The three Divine Persons are merged in one single God, just as thethreeimages representing them combine to form one single group. The doctrines of our holy faith, and the works of art—Theology and Iconography—walk hand in hand, the one in describing, the other in pourtraying the Trinity. The three Persons hare hitherto been each con sidered separately. It now remains only to exhibit them groupedtogether,unitedbetweenthemselves,andrepresented as Trinities. HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. The doctrine of the Trinity, which had been almost entirelyunknowntothePagans,andbutimperfectlyrevealed tothe Jewishrace, wasmadeclearly andcompletelymanifest from the very earliest origin of Christianity. It unfolded itself in all its extent,and with all the various and import ant resultsconnectedwith it, duringthe successivecenturies, ofthe Christian era, and conformablywith them. Consider able research and enquiry has been made as to the ideas entertained by Pagans on the subjectofthe Trinity, and the amount of knowledge possessed by them of the unity of the divine essence, and the triplicity of persons, or hypo stases. Plato appears to have foreseen the Christian doc trine, but only as objects perceived at a distance, which the eyecanscarcely reach,orseizesbutimperfectly. Thedoctrine attributed to that Greek philosopher, and which seems rather to be deducible from his general theory, than openly vol.n. B 2 CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY. avowed by himself, is that the divine triplicity ought to be called Goodness, Intelligence, and the Soul or cause of all things.* The Platonists, and the philosophers of the school of Alexandria in particular, delighted in scrutinising, eluci dating, filling up, and amplifying beyond measure, the idea ofthe master. Plotinus and Longinus,who are followed by Jamblichus and Porphyry, admit one single God in three persons; butNumeriusinsists uponthree Gods. Numerius acknowledges theFather, the Creator, and the World.f He seems to make of each of these three Gods a trinity of Idealism, Intelligence, and Power. Amelius and Theodore also discover three Trinities in that of Plato, and pretend that there are three Goodnesses, three Intelligences, three Souls.J Seneca seems to approximate to the doctrine of Christianityin a curious passageofhis writings, in which he names, as primal cause of every event, first—God, who can doallthings;next—incorporealReason,bywhichthegreatest works are performed; lastly—the Divine Spirit circulating throughout everything. To these three moving causes he adds Fatality or Destiny, thatis tosay, the reciprocalunion ofthese causes and theirmutual combination.§ Comparing this text with what Greek mythologyteaches in reference to the three great divinities, who, the offspring ofone common Father, are the supreme heads of the world * "Tbed,6vovs,or,6K6yos,f)ifnixV Se"theEtudes%wrlaTheodiciede Platonetd'Arktote,parM.Jules Simon,pp. 148, 151, 175. In the Greek paintings of Mount Athos, the philosopher Plato is constantly represented amongstthenumberofthosePaganswhohadaknowledge,althoughimperfect, ofthetruth. Heisanoldman,withalongbeard,andappearstobeuttering thefollowingwords,whicharepainted on a rouleauthat he holdsin hisleft hand: "The old isnewand thenewold,the Fatherisin the Son,and the Son is in the Father. The Unityis divided into three, and the Trinity re-unitedinone." ThelanguageisnotliterallythatoftheGreekphilosopher, butitisattributed to him byByzantin?artistsaspresentingtheresultof his doctrine. + "rioT^p,iroiTjr^s,irohjjua." J See a thesis in M.Jules Simon, entitled Commentaire da Timie de Platon,parProclus,p. 105. § "Id actum est, mihi crede,ah illo, quisquisformator universifuit,sive ille DEUS est,potensomnium ; siveincorporalisRATIO,ingentiumoperum artifex; sivedivinusSP1RITUS,peromniamaxima,minimaetaequaliinten- tionediffusus; sive FATUM et immutabili9 causarum intersecohsrentium series."—Ap.Senecam,De ComolationeadHelviam,cap.viii. HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 3 which they share between them, it mustbe confessed that the doctrine of the Trinity was at least vaguely known to the Pagans. In fact, amongst the Hindoos, a divine "Tri- mourti" directs all the phenomena of the Universe.* Amongst the Greeks, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto reign upon the three different stages composing the edifice of the world. At the summit, in the highest region of the air, hovers Jupiter, the king of heaven; in the centre Neptune, com mandingthe sea; at the foot, Pluto governs earth and hell, which form his covering. They are all three sons of one single parent, of the old Saturn, himself the son of Ccelus and Terra. When any Greek deity associates in himself universal functions, he generally has three different names. Thus the femininepower, correspondingwiththethree male divinities who have just been named, is called in heaven Luna, Diana on the earth, Hecate or Proserpine in hell. The ancients, those more especiallywho were scholars of Pythagoras, and scrutators of celestial arithmetic, delighted to repeatthat Godregardedwith favour an uneven number, andmore particularly the numberthree. Thenumberthree, which can be divided only by itself, or by the unit, was the image ofGod, who can be compared only with himself,that is to saywith the absolute Unity. The Pagans seem to have imagined that nothing couldbecomplete unless itwere capable of being divided by three, and thus presenting itself to the mind under a threefold aspect; beauty was symbolised by the three Graces; life, by the three Fates; justice by the three Judges; and vengeance by the three Eumenides. Any combination whatever, in use among the Greeks, willbe found to be divisible into three members; thus every column has a basement on which the shaft is fixed, andthe shaft againissurmounted by a capital. The above ideas concerning numbers, and the mysterious properties of the number three, prevailed during the entire ' The Hindoo "Trimourti" is composedof Brahma,Siva,and Vishnoo. Brahmapresidesovertheearth,andisthecreativegod; Sivaisthedestructive god,andreignsoverfire; toVishnoo,theconservativegod,belongstheempire of thewater,uponwhich hemoves.—M.Guignaut,ReligionsdePAntiquM, vol.i.,c. 2and3. B2

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