The church in the catacombs : a description of the primitive church of Rome : illustrated by its sepulchral remains . In this often-repeated subject, the Christian mightbehold the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God, andthe interposition of Divine power on his own accurate rendering of Bible history is not to beexpected in these ancient works: it is often difficultto suppose that their authors had access to theinspired THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 263 The hand is sometimes encircled by clouds, as if tosignify more strongly its symbolic character. Thisfigure of Moses receivin
The church in the catacombs : a description of the primitive church of Rome : illustrated by its sepulchral remains . In this often-repeated subject, the Christian mightbehold the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God, andthe interposition of Divine power on his own accurate rendering of Bible history is not to beexpected in these ancient works: it is often difficultto suppose that their authors had access to theinspired THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 263 The hand is sometimes encircled by clouds, as if tosignify more strongly its symbolic character. Thisfigure of Moses receiving the law, as well as that ofAbraham, occur on sarcophagi in theVatican library, The prohibitions of the Fathers against visiblerepresentations of God may be seen in BinghamsAntiquities of the Church : even Paulinus, whogreatly promoted the employment of sacred art inchurches, stopped short of this impiety. He speaksof the three Persons of the Trinity as being repre-sented by a Lamb, a Dove, and a Voice fromHeaven. According to Milman, the French haveclaimed the happy boldness of first introducingthe Father in human form. This assertion is madeupon the strength of an illuminated Bible, attributedto the ninth century. It has been already stated that no gloomy sub-jects occur in the cycle of early Christian art: somevery slight and doubtful exceptions have beenfound. The dismal pictures of Sebastian, St. Peter,and St. Paul, copied
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectchristianartandsymbolism
