PREFACE

The visitor who frequents the art galleries and churches of Europe soon learns to distinguish certain saints in a picture by certain symbols; but unless he has a knowledge also of the meaning or story that is conveyed by these symbols, the real beauty and significance of the early works of art are lost. To arrive at this knowledge, however, it is necessary to consult so many books that these become a serious encumbrance to one, going from place to place. It is hoped, therefore, that this handbook, designed for the use of the student and the traveller, may supply a genuine need.

A closer study into the meaning of the early works of Christian art is only another outcome of the keen revival of interest in biblical history that is everywhere manifesting itself to-day; and indeed one cannot view those pictured stories of the past, those naïve and lovely examples of an earlier faith, without a broadening sympathy that finally deepens into tender reverence the more one comprehends.

Believing that a clearer idea of the whole religious series of pictures will be obtained, the subjects here considered are treated generically rather than alphabetically. Thus, the symbols of the Godhead are given first; then the symbols of the Archangels, the symbols and legends of the Madonna, of John the Baptist, the Four Evangelists, the Apostles, and the Four Latin Fathers, and after that follow the legends of certain saints.

The general symbols and what they expressed in religious art are given; also when symbols were used as emblems, and when they were merely attributes, and what characteristics or incidents in the life of a saint they expressed.

A considerable portion of the book is devoted to the symbols and legends of the Madonna and what these were supposed to express in the Church and in the life of Christ. The subjects of the historical and devotional pictures in which she appears, with or without her divine Son, are given as they come in their natural order.

The book includes a brief description of the significance of colours as employed in the early religious pictures, as well as an account of the general plan of dress and arrangement that was followed, more or less arbitrarily, by the artists of a given period. The monastic orders are given and the habits worn by the members of the different orders are described, who thus (by their dress) may be readily distinguished in pictures.

For use and reference in the galleries, an alphabetical list of symbols is placed in the fore part of the book, followed by an alphabetical list of all but the more obscure saints, with their distinguishing emblems. Only the legends of the best known saints, who are constantly found in art, have been touched upon, the aim being to bring together in compact form only those facts and legends pertinent to Christian art. No attempt has been made to locate or describe any of the famous works of art, except as they are indicated under the illustrations, as this has been well and ably done in the guide books of Baedeker, Hare, and Grant Allen.

In preparing this book the works of Mrs. Jameson, Didron’s Christian Iconography, Lord Lindsay’s Sketches of Christian Art, and the Golden Legend in French and English have been largely drawn upon.

E. E. G.

New York, January, 1911.