The Open court . after the fash-ion of a calf-bearing virgin with the child findsits prototypes in various mater-nal deities, such as the Egyp-tian Isis, nursing Horus, and theGreek Mother Earth, Gaea Ku-rotrophos. An independent spiritof Christian art develops firstin peculiarly Christian symbols,among which the favorite sub-jects are the lamb, the fish,^ andthe dove. In addition we findthe chrisma, the monogram ofChrist, a combination of XP,the two first letters of the wordXpiaroz and the A and £1, sym-bolising God as the Beginningand End of all things. When gradually the better c
The Open court . after the fash-ion of a calf-bearing virgin with the child findsits prototypes in various mater-nal deities, such as the Egyp-tian Isis, nursing Horus, and theGreek Mother Earth, Gaea Ku-rotrophos. An independent spiritof Christian art develops firstin peculiarly Christian symbols,among which the favorite sub-jects are the lamb, the fish,^ andthe dove. In addition we findthe chrisma, the monogram ofChrist, a combination of XP,the two first letters of the wordXpiaroz and the A and £1, sym-bolising God as the Beginningand End of all things. When gradually the better classes of Romansociety began to join the Church, the Christian sarcophagi almostrivalled in elegance and beauty of design their ancient classicalprototypes. But the further north we come, the rarer are orna-mented stone coffins. The sole instance in Germany is the sarco-phagus of Treves, representing Noah in the ark. The artists workis almost crude, but it shows a pious spirit and possesses the charmof The Calf-Bearing Hermes.(From Denkjniilcr des klassischenAlferthmns.) 1 The word fish (IX©Y2} was anagramatlcally interpreted to mean Iijo-oCs Xpio-rb? ©eoOYibs 2(i)T^s, Jesus Christus, Gods Son, the Saviour. THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF DEATH. 757 The most famous piece of art of this kind is perhaps the sar-cophagus of Junius Bassus, who died in 359 at Rome. Here pagansubjects are replaced by illustrations of Biblical events, such asDaniel among the lions, Jesus preaching, the Saviours entry intoJerusalem on an ass, etc. The technique is quite pure in style andas rich in execution as the best pagan work. It shows warmth ofsentiment in the disciples and earnestness in the attitude of those
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
