GERMAN PAINTING OF TIIE RENAISSANCE..
The Gothic style of German painting was developed in small altar pictures, as the lack of wall-room in Gothic churches prevented the use of monumental fresco-painting. The two principal schools were at Cologne and Nuremberg. The art is essentially religious and full of a gentle fervor; it is devoid of strength and realism, but possesses soft ness, purity, and childlike innocence.
Stephen school of Cologne reached its perfection in the altar-piece which Stephen Lochner painted about 1426 for the high altar of the Council-house Chapel, and which has now secured its merited place in the Cathedral of Cologne. The altar-shrine consists of a centre-piece with wings, on the outside of which, when closed, we see the /1/:4-in and the Angel of the Annunciation. The open doors present on their inner side St. Gereon and his Legionaries and St. Ursnla and her lirgins modestly advancing, toward the central picture of the Adoration of the Magi ( pl. 3.1, Jic. 1), into which the wise men from the East have been transformed by the legend. The Madonna appears like a maiden copy of the child upon her bosom, and vet, childlike as she is, there is some thing royal in her demeanor among the kings. Two of them kneel before her—one hoary-headed, the other in the prime of manly beauty— behind whom a third, with the yearning expression of youth, waits until lie can present his gift. The attendants stand hack in a semicircular group, and are filled with devotion and joyousness. The composition is well balanced; the variety of the individual motives is developed in sym metrical harmony. The artist with rich, warm shades of color imitates fur, velvet, and golden ornaments. In this is observed the influence that is already being exerted by the school of Flanders, which flourished at this period.
Hubert van depth of thought and of symbolism in concep tion which find expression in Dante is united with realistic execution in Hubert van Evck (1366-1426) and his brother John, the painters of the large folding altar-picture in the Church of St. Bavon at Ghent. It consists of an tipper and a lower centre-picture, each with separate fold ing panels as wings, and represents the Church triumphant and the Church militant, heaven and earth. In the central picture of the
upper row, consisting of three panels, sits Christ in calm majesty, as the visible God, between the Virgin and St. John ; on the inside of the two wings, next the central picture, on either side, arc the Choir of the Angels ; next, on half-panels at the two extremities, are Adam and Eve as representatives of humanity.
The subject of the central picture below is the Adoration of the Lamb by all ranks and ages, and approaching it from the right and left wings are the Soldiers of Christ (pl. 34,fig. 3) and the Righteous Judges (fig. 2), then the Penitents, male and female (fig. 4), and the Hermits 5), conducted by the giant St. Chyistopher. We must content ourselves with these. But even here on this small scale we recognize the new tendency; the Christian and the Teutonic element pervade each other without admixture of ancient art, which was never lost sight of by Italians. Individuality of character, the expression of distinct moods of emotion, and the natural surroundings are accurately represented. The features of divinity are individualized; the scriptural figures are clothed in the dress of the artist's time and transferred into scenes of a familiar nature. The grass and trees of the foreground and the landscape of the background are executed with loving carefulness. Painting in oil has been discovered, and the employment of it is preferred. Its use spreads hence into Italy.
Hans the generation after Hubert van Evck, and under his influence, though a pupil of Roger van der \Veyden, Hans Memling (about 1430-1494), the artist of grace, rose into prominence. The Last Judgment, now at Dantzie, which is doubtless his production, exhibits freedom and boldness of action and a great progress in the treatment of the nude. We present his St. Christopher (fig. 6), who is here the yet unconverted giant Offerus carrying the Christ-child through the waves. The dark rocky gorge corresponds to the bold vigor of his spirit; the sun rising in the background symbolizes the Saviour, through whom light will come into the giant's inner life.