. The complete works . s are trenched and en*closed on the four sides, to mark that the waters which nowwander in waste, and destroy in fury, had then for their prin*cipal office to water the garden of God. The description is,however, sufficiently apposite and interesting, as bearing uponwhat I have noted respecting the eminent fence-\o\h\g spirit oithe mediaevals. § 18. Together with this peculiar formality, we find an in-finite delight in drawing pleasant flowers, always articulatingand outlining them completely ; the sky is always blue, hayingonly a few delicate white clouds in it, and in t
. The complete works . s are trenched and en*closed on the four sides, to mark that the waters which nowwander in waste, and destroy in fury, had then for their prin*cipal office to water the garden of God. The description is,however, sufficiently apposite and interesting, as bearing uponwhat I have noted respecting the eminent fence-\o\h\g spirit oithe mediaevals. § 18. Together with this peculiar formality, we find an in-finite delight in drawing pleasant flowers, always articulatingand outlining them completely ; the sky is always blue, hayingonly a few delicate white clouds in it, and in the distance areblue mountains, very far away, if the landscape is to be simplydelightful ; but brought near, and divided into quaint over- °§/!^ d «1 o o jS> 1 ip\ O|0 (s|oIl J (ojjsjj* ^y^M k _ 0 — o •^Z5 w- O ojaUK ]ff 0 jE vE u b yp^VK 4 c ©zj u 0 0 o o <o 0 u ■J^ o 6 u U1 0 ^ o 6 - 6 lo 2 J o ol o o1 o o 0 0 *3 o Po o C °. 5 o cr c. Ci 2 o J o 5 6 ol 6 o o d 5 o M i> a . ^b&^. 7 Botany of 13th Century. (Apple-tree and Cyclamen.) VOL. III. J I. THE FOREST. 203 hanging rocks, if it is intended to be meditative, or a place ofsaintly seclusion. But the whole of it always,—flowers, castles,brooks, clouds, and rocks,—subordinate to the human figures inthe foreground, and painted for no other end than that ofexplaining their adventures and occupations. § 19. Before the idea of landscape had been thus far devel-oped, the representations of it had been purely typical ; theobjects wdiich had to be shown in order to explain the scene ofthe event, being firmly outlined, usually on a pure golden orchequered color background, not on sky. The change from thegolden background, (characteristic of the -finest thirteenth cen-tury work) and the colored chequer (which in like manner be-longs to the finest fourteenth) to the blue sky, gradated to thehorizon, takes place early in the fifteenth century, and is thecrisis of change in the spirit of mediasval art. Strictly s
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