A TEXT-BOOK
OF THE
HISTORY OF PAINTING
BY
JOHN C. VAN DYKE, L.H.D.
PROFESSOR OF THE HISTORY OF ART IN RUTGERS COLLEGE AND AUTHOR OF
"ART FOR ART'S SAKE," "THE MEANING OF PICTURES," ETC.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
91 and 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
LONDON, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1909
Copyright, 1894, by
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
PREFACE.
The object of this series of text-books is to provide concise teachable histories of art for class-room use in schools and colleges. The limited time given to the study of art in the average educational institution has not only dictated the condensed style of the volumes, but has limited their scope of matter to the general features of art history. Archæological discussions on special subjects and æsthetic theories have been avoided. The main facts of history as settled by the best authorities are given. If the reader choose to enter into particulars the bibliography cited at the head of each chapter will be found helpful. Illustrations have been introduced as sight-help to the text, and, to avoid repetition, abbreviations have been used wherever practicable. The enumeration of the principal extant works of an artist, school, or period, and where they may be found, which follows each chapter, may be serviceable not only as a summary of individual or school achievement, but for reference by travelling students in Europe.
This volume on painting, the first of the series, omits mention of such work in Arabic, Indian, Chinese, and Persian art as may come properly under the head of Ornament—a subject proposed for separate treatment hereafter. In treating of individual painters it has been thought best to give a short critical estimate of the man and his rank among the painters of his time rather than the detailed facts of his life. Students who wish accounts of the lives of the painters should use Vasari, Larousse, and the Encyclopædia Britannica in connection with this text-book.
Acknowledgments are made to the respective publishers of Woltmann and Woermann's History of Painting, and the fine series of art histories by Perrot and Chipiez, for permission to reproduce some few illustrations from these publications.
John C. Van Dyke.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE List of Illustrations xi General Bibliography xv Introduction xvii CHAPTER I. Egyptian Painting 1 CHAPTER II. Chaldæo-Assyrian, Persian, Phœnician, Cypriote, and Asia Minor Painting 10 CHAPTER III. Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Painting 21 CHAPTER IV. Italian Painting—Early Christian and Mediæval Period, 200-1250 36 CHAPTER V. Italian Painting—Gothic Period, 1250-1400 47 CHAPTER VI.LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Velasquez, Head of Æsop, Madrid Frontispiece PAGE 1 Hunting in the Marshes, Tomb of Ti, Saccarah 2 2 Portrait of Queen Taia 4 3 Offerings to the Dead. Wall painting 6 4 Vignette on Papyrus 8 5 Enamelled Brick, Nimroud 11 6 " " Khorsabad 12 7 Wild Ass. Bas-relief 14 8 Lions Frieze, Susa 16 9 Painted Head from Edessa 18 10 Cypriote Vase Decoration 19 11 Attic Grave Painting 23 12GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY.
(This includes the leading accessible works that treat of painting in general. For works on special periods or schools, see the bibliographical references at the head of each chapter. For bibliography of individual painters consult, under proper names, Champlin and Perkins's Cyclopedia, as given below.)
- Champlin and Perkins, Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, New York.
- Adeline, Lexique des Termes d'Art.
- Gazette des Beaux Arts, Paris.
- Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel, Paris.
- L'Art, Revue hebdomadaire illustrée, Paris.
- Bryan, Dictionary of Painters. New edition.
- Brockhaus, Conversations-Lexikon.
- Meyer, Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon, Berlin.
- Muther, History of Modern Painting.
- Agincourt, History of Art by its Monuments.
- Bayet, Précis d'Histoire de l'Art.
- Blanc, Histoire des Peintres de toutes les Écoles.
- Eastlake, Materials for a History of Oil Painting.
- Lübke, History of Art, trans. by Clarence Cook.
- Reber, History of Ancient Art.
- Reber, History of Mediæval Art.
- Schnasse, Geschichte der Bildenden Künste.
- Girard, La Peinture Antique.
- Viardot, History of the Painters of all Schools.
- Williamson (Ed.), Handbooks of Great Masters.
- Woltmann and Woermann, History of Painting.
HISTORY OF PAINTING.
INTRODUCTION.
The origin of painting is unknown. The first important records of this art are met with in Egypt; but before the Egyptian civilization the men of the early ages probably used color in ornamentation and decoration, and they certainly scratched the outlines of men and animals upon bone and slate. Traces of this rude primitive work still remain to us on the pottery, weapons, and stone implements of the cave-dwellers. But while indicating the awakening of intelligence in early man, they can be reckoned with as art only in a slight archæological way. They show inclination rather than accomplishment—a wish to ornament or to represent, with only a crude knowledge of how to go about it.
The first aim of this primitive painting was undoubtedly decoration—the using of colored forms for color and form only, as shown in the pottery designs or cross-hatchings on stone knives or spear-heads. The second, and perhaps later aim, was by imitating the shapes and colors of men, animals, and the like, to convey an idea of the proportions and characters of such things. An outline of a cave-bear or a mammoth was perhaps the cave-dweller's way of telling his fellows what monsters he had slain. We may assume that it was pictorial record, primitive picture-written history. This early method of conveying an idea is, in intent, substantially the same as the later hieroglyphic writing and historical painting of the Egyptians. The difference between them is merely one of development. Thus there is an indication in the art of Primitive Man of the two great departments of painting existent to-day.
1. Decorative Painting.
2. Expressive Painting.
Pure Decorative Painting is not usually expressive of ideas other than those of rhythmical line and harmonious color. It is not our subject. This volume treats of Expressive Painting; but in dealing with that it should be borne in mind that Expressive Painting has always a more or less decorative effect accompanying it, and that must be spoken of incidentally. We shall presently see the intermingling of both kinds of painting in the art of ancient Egypt—our first inquiry.