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813 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Sculpture
in Italy art released itself from the traditions of the Middle Ages, and in the process individualism, for which Humanism (q.v.) had victoriously fought, led
i. The inspiration and thence to an increasing Renaissance richness of creations, in which the
in Italy. deep content of life was exhibited. As compared with Greek art, which drew from the same source, the Christian is distinguished by an effort to portray the inner life and not mere external beauty of form. Plastic art, recognizing its task, released itself from the limits imposed by architecture and then imparted some of the freedom thus gained to painting. The artists were encour aged, moreover, by native enthusiasm, the nobility, both secular and ecclesiastical, serving as patrons. Thus the Church offered no opposition, and plastic art was allowed free scope in the churches. Even mortuary monuments, which hitherto had followed the old style, joined the new movement. Monastic structures, in spite of conservative tendencies, fol lowed on, and the workmen were now found among the laity. A higher idealism guided the hand of the artist, who conceived his work in the spirit of a holy service. While the artists were many, they were united in this conception of their province, though individuality was not submerged. While the most varied material was employed, marble was most highly regarded; there was also much use of many-colored terracotta, rendered durable by glazing or enameling. Florence was the leader, where Lorenzo Ghiberti (d. 1455) and Donatello worked, in whom the strength of invention and ex ecution which characterized the new era unfolded itself. In the latter full yielding to nature and reality, elevation almost to harshness, grace even to delicacy flow together in the harmony of art. Por trayal of the human form was recognized as the highest result here; while the influence of the clas sical was felt, it was rather by assimilation of its ideals than by imitation. As Florence was the cen ter in the early Renaissance, so Rome became the center in the "high Renaissance," containing, as it did, not merely the remains of antiquity but also the recollections of a great history. The incarna tion of the ideals and powers of this later period were concentrated in Michelangelo Buonarotti. None had so great power in forcing the marble to express his will; he created a new era in the exal tation of the common forms into the gigantic, where in nature was expressed but after the type of civi lized man. Examples of his art are the Pieta, David, Moses, and the dying slave, each exemplifying a phase of his art which has its own excellencies and greatnesses. It was inevitable that such a man should influence not only his own time but also dominate largely the future through his inspiration of other artists.In Germany not only the views but the social and especially the cultural organization of the Middle
Ages still obtained, and where new z. New Ger- motives and pictures came in, these
man Era. were of a religious character. There were lacking the keen spirit, the gener ous patronage of the rich, and the immediately work ing influence of antiquity that were present in Italy.There was no attempt at the great and monumental; but in place of this, there was an appreciation of reality and of the truth of the phenomenal, without earnest effort after or concern for an ideal of beauty. The nude was not employed, the draperies of figures being heavy and abundant and in the fashion of the period. Yet there was earnestly sought the combination of internal and external truth, the expression of the personal, perception of the spiritual. Art is here the expression of common life and speaks a popular language, dwelling upon sacred history and the history of the saints; Mary was not the queen of heaven but rather the lovely virgin or the agonized mother. But these aims were sometimes marred by a repellent materialism. The sculptor and the painter united forces and together produced such works as altar-pieces and the like. The period between 1450 and 1530 is the second period of bloom in German plastic art. Everywhere were created great altar-pieces, the joint production of painting and sculpture, while the registers of corporations exhibit numerous names of artists, though there were no such prominent centers of influence as were Florence and Rome in Italy. As the center of the Frankish school, however, Nuremberg must be named. The carvings which came out of the workshop of Michael Wohigemut show the first traces of the new movement, and in the work of his younger contemporary Veit Stoss this movement reached its culmination. The medium was wood, and the aim was sharp definition and a conception of reality. Examples of his work are the altar of Mary in Cracow, the greeting of the angels in the Church of St. Lorenz, and creations in the Jakobskirche in Nuremberg. With him should be mentioned as the master in stone work Adam Kraft (b. about 1450; d. 1509), who had an archaistic bent which he used in. pieces that exhibit a devotional restfulness, as shown in his Seven Stations and his group of the crucifixion, while in the celebrated chapel of the sacrament in the Lorenzkirche a feeling for the decorative and mastery of technique are combined. A third name is that of Peter Vischer (b. about 1455; d. 1529), the author of numerous works, with whom his sons collaborated. He excelled both his contemporaries in largeness of conception and feeling for beauty, though between him and Adam Kraft significant relations existed. Toward the latter part of his life he came under the influence of the Renaissance, but retained his Teutonic traits, as is shown by his chief work, the men~orial in the Sebalduskirche (completed 1519). A man held in highest honor was Tilmann Riemenachneider (d. 1531), artist in both stone and wood, and a great body of disciples attest his eminence. Swabia participated in this development of German art, although painting was there more favored. Ulm JSrg Syrlin, father and son, developed a significant activity; to the son was ascribed the high altar at Blaubeuren, one of the masterpieces in this line of Christian art, with which must be named the crucifix in the chief church at NSrdlingen. The Tyrol produced in this period Michael Pacher, a man of high artistic capacity. On the Lower Rhine home production was stifled by the importation of art work from the Netherlands, and what work was done there was patterned after the models thus ob-