Plate I

BYZANTINE AND EARLY CHRISTIAN

THE term Gothic was applied originally as one of contempt in the fifteenth century by the architects of the Renaissance, who attempted to reproduce the ancient architecture of Rome, and considered MediÆval Art, which had ruled all departments of design throughout Europe during the three preceding centuries, to be no better than the invention of the Barbarians, the Goths, and the Vandals, who overran the Roman Empire in the fourth century. During the three previous centuries the persecuted converts to Christianity were driven to take refuge in any hiding-place available. In Rome they descended to the Catacombs, the underground workings of the ancient Roman stone quarries, consisting of narrow, low passages, their aggregate lengths amounting to hundreds of miles. There they quarried out of the rock their chambers for assembly, where they gathered for worship in the light of torches or lamps, and excavated recesses for the burial of their dead. These chambers were imitated in the form of the Crypts (hidden chambers) existing under some churches and cathedrals. (Compare Plate I., Figs. 1 and 2.) The walls of the catacombs have rude incised inscriptions and carvings revealing the Christian Faith by symbols, such as the cross, suggesting the Crucifixion—the emblem of sacrifice; the circle, the line without end, the symbol of Eternity (Plate I., Fig. 3); the triangle, trefoil, and triquetra, symbols of the Trinity (Figs. 6, 7, and 8); the quatrefoil of the four evangelists (Figs. 9 and 10). The fish was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, because the letters of the Greek word icthys, when used as an acrostic, gave the initials of the words—Jesus, Christ, God, Son, Saviour (Plate I., Fig. 11). This symbol was extensively adopted in the decoration of baptismal fonts.

The Vesica piscis (Latin, the bladder of a fish) (Plate I., Fig. 5) was used as a nimbus or glory to surround the figure of a sacred personage in sculpture and in painting. Its name shows the use of Latin terms in the Roman Church as distinguished from the Greek in Byzantium, which was an ancient Greek city adopted by Constantine, the Christian Emperor, as the capital of the eastern division of the Roman Empire under the new name of Constantinopolis—the modern Constantinople. But the term “Byzantine” has been retained in matters relating to art. Plate I., Figs. 15 and 16, show the Greek Cross, which is a version of the Greek letter chi combined with the letter rho (similar to the English P). This symbol represented the name Christ, and was the Christian standard, the Labarum, chosen by the Emperor Constantine.

Plate I., 3A. The sacred monogram generally found in church decoration stands for the Latin phrase Jesus hominum Salvator—“Jesus, the Saviour of men.” The Greek letters IHS (iota, eta, sigma) gave the first three letters of the name Jesus.

In the plan of an English cathedral or cruciform church, the symbol of the Latin Cross is made the basis of its form (Plate XI., Fig. 1). (The Byzantine or Greek Cross has the four limbs of equal length.) The Nave, N. (Latin, navis, a ship, a symbol of the Church), is built from west to east. The Choir or Chancel, which is screened off by a Cancellum or lattice, is in continuation of the Nave to the east end. This in some cathedrals includes the Lady Chapel, which was in mediÆval times dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

In several churches and some cathedrals the head of the Cross, the Chancel or Choir, is not in line with the Nave, but is slightly inclined to one side—not in all cases the same side. Two explanations are given for this, one being its orientation—i.e., the axis of its length points to the rising of the sun on the day of its foundation, which does not coincide with that of the Nave, the Chancel having been commenced at an earlier or later date and different season of the year. The other theory is that it symbolises the head of Christ falling on one side in death.

Plate I., Fig. 14 (from the “Grammar of Ornament”), shows an ornamental design composed entirely of early Christian symbols. Plate I., Figs. 12 and 13, carved ornament and a capital bearing crude resemblance to an ancient Ionic capital. Both Figs. 12 and 13 are under the influence of Greek and Roman Art without reference to symbolism.

Plate I., Fig. 4, shows a chevron (a French military ornament), a decoration dating back to ancient Egypt, where it symbolised the waves of the Nile, and was adopted in many later periods, and became conspicuous in the Norman arches of English architecture.