PAINTING OF THE ROMANESQUE PERIOD.
Although there is usually a very close connection between the various branches of the Fine Arts, their fluctuations in style, revivals, and decay corresponding in most cases, the condition of painting during the entire Romanesque period is a remarkable exception to this rule; for, while there was a new birth, first in architecture and then in sculpture, paint ing remained almost stationary. In fact, in Germany, at the close of the tenth century, when Carlovingian and Byzantine influences were still felt, its condition was better than during the eleventh century and the early part of the twelfth, when it relapsed into a more barbarous state, to rise again toward the close of the twelfth century in preparation for the Gothic development.
Early in Germany: revival of painting took place in Germany at the close of the tenth century. UndLi the ctrong. and wise rule of the ()tilos and Henry II., Germany became in e‘ cry respect the foremost nation of Europe, and in the arts she took pro4rtssire steps which were followed by other nations only after a con siderable interval of time. The codices of Otho II. and Otho III. at Pari:, Gotha, Munich, and Treves are the best examples of the art of this period; for, though they show painting on a small scale, they are wonderfully \Veil preserved. III these examples reminiscences of Byzan tium and of the Carlovingian period are manifest, but there is more artistic spirit, a better understanding of form, a more harmonious decoration, than in any previous works. The maintenance of these finer qualities, however, was of short duration, as, being produced to meet the require ments of the refined taste of the court, they were artificial, and were not founded on any national development; nor was there anything of a cor responding character in other countries.
D•Z*11015MCniS —Both in France and in Italy the painting of the eleventh century is barbarous. This was a consequence of the new impulse, of the casting away of preceding traditions, and of the beginning of new methods. In Italy, among Lombards, Latins, and Greeks of the lower empire, so many different elements were at work that the productions of its art, taken together, resemble a mosaic patchwork. In the South the stiff Italo-Byzantine
forms are prevalent in their most impressive aspect, while less artistic developments of ,the same style are found in many other parts of the pen i nsul At this time Rome was a great centre of fresco-painting. In the earlier period, up to the close of the ninth century, mosaics had been the favorite form of church decoration; but this was no longer the case during the Romanesque period, when the art of mosaic-work was not so generally practised. Important frescos of the eleventh and twelfth cen turies exist at S. Urbano aila Caffareila, and especially at the Basilica of San Clemente.
The Classic Frescos subject chosen from the series of San Clemente at Rome (p1. 28, Jig. 3) represents one of the miracles performed by the relics of the saint. We see the interior of the church, with the altar, over which the tabernacle rises, and near which an anchor is hung. Around the church is represented the sea full of fishes. The front group includes a womau who stoops down to embrace and take up her child; she is repeated standing, while a bishop, followed by a long procession, is approaching her with signs of amazement. The explanaticn is as follows: The church where the bones of the saint lay, being built close to the water's edge, was often completely overflowed, and, this happening once on the anniversary that brought crowds of worshippers to the shrine, a woman who had laid her infant by the altar forgot him in her flight until too late. On her return at the next anniversary, to her joy she found, on the same spot, her child alive and unharmed.
This entire series differs essentially from the stiff and barbarous Italo Byzantine works of the period; there is considerable grace about the figures and an attempt at expression in the faces. They arc not merely outlined, but are well and strongly formed, and there is often a classic beauty about the drapery and heads, especially in the figures (not shown in our illustration) of the donor and his wife—a quality which we per ceive in Byzantine miniatures of the tenth and eleventh centuries, and which was doubtless due to an Eastern influence.