Show TIE IlCTURE OF CHRIST lion the Fare or Oar aTlor line linen Deplete AMUUCtN Foam 2foi SO 1SS9 Correspondence of the DEEP rir a One face appears Inn tho centuries of Christian history ant in the art of every European nation as the picture of the worlds Beloved On the damp and gloomy wall of the catacombs ofeepuhiure cud worship wor-ship In i the monuments of Uie primitive tine ChrIstian church on tliejiortals and In the apses of ancient Byzantine Byzan-tine basillcs In stately cathedrals of the middle ages In the proud galleries gal-leries of tliy worlds art and eel on the humble wall of the lowliest homes or iu tho cherished books of the poor lint strange and order ful face arrests the mind with a celestial thought and ehanns the Imagination with the hope that we may hereafter e IIm as lie Is > Whether dCJ > ice Iu the coarse rude lines of the earliest sketches or In the flnlhed ouches of the masters mas-ters skill whether sad and painful will divine and human sorrow or glorious Ju heavenly triumph the saute far is always presented The hole of Christendom is enriched by these uicmoiials of a divine visitation visita-tion Witfi endless nations of lineaments and expression there has always ln preserved a faithful adliereiiee to the general typo of some > ancient Hen I I tie midst of classic nf though about the icrixi of its decline Uicresud denlv iieared the inure rl a I strange but complete i > cr onalitv difTeriiig from all pagau ideal I was the Christ He had come Into the world and lived and labored among men who chcrisheil His mem ory and they desired to levine t the nll etocoraesJmei Jllctun remInder of His human fcniblnnce The Jews wet averse t portraiture portrai-ture Thtj would not even have their own image or likeness for fear of the second violating Stl commandment com-mandment I Ae cannot I expect therefore to find any picture the bivior from the hands of any of His lersunal I followers uf the Ifebren r The story that Itike was a painter as well a a physician was an Invention In-vention of the Middle Ages when Luke was the artists guild saint and when many painter were christened with his mine The guostIma a set of philosophers ill the frt ages of phiopICr claimed that tlity knew enerythting about religion hey were thus the opposite t of the I agnotics I of our elav i There are very early IraJllioi that those gnostics reduced the first pictures and inn of our Inl and not as ideal henries like the l ny thologi and poetry of their day but givIng likenessof a lan who was peculiarly individual l and ttrik jug In appearance Tlie earliest t of which we have knowledge were in the for of gems jewel for i ereoual wear or amulets for secret charms nnd metal Imat Gems and amulets are still i amulel nr tl pre served but the Images which were said to have been ordered by Ton tins THatc are know only bJ tri dillon The glass acrameal vessels ves-sels of tin catacombs ore the tarh est oljects of the kInd mentioned InrtftnlrcliIstorJwiihyetre mains illtaff Swnw nt 41 Mill to be found in their etches i in Uie seimlchres where they vrerede poitcd w Hh the bodies of the primi tine Roman ChrIstians Thc were known before the time of Ten tulliau who was born A D ItO for he speaks of them as having been mipersedcd by vessel of metal in hue day He describes sonic of the GocUShcpherdfyniboIswhichal pearce on the chalices or cups for the eucliarbtic wine nnt on then the-n or plates for the bread In one case he I eritlcises a picture of r Christ which he had seen ag f In crcun < wanting In n < mbLnC II thouh ri ht hmln it I l tnitlfin ills Sand i Tins tn i implied i I that at true type was well 1 known at lioit to i intelligent Cur tIana and that symbolical book was an to o tablished Idea Thu oldest legend connected with the most ancient > ortrait like lie Ilrrtlke 111 tire of which we h ivu any know I edge relates to one Abgar ITchamo Abganis KIuj of Ixlcfa a in Mrs opotamfa Hewn CaLI illandhav leg heard of the fame of Jesus as un a healer lie hent a messenger from l frm his rock fortres1 city In the desert of Jcrusilm implorin the mighty One to come mid heal him Anon tile kings messenger was his terre tar an J a painter l n well hi fCr was Ia instructed to bring a picture of the wonderworker if lie could not in duce Him to come in person tolde sn at Jerusalem b Arriving Jers1IeD Arena meets thus Savior who tells Ah1 He cannot leave His le cnnot e Hi work t go on such an errand Anan then resorts to his art tries t paint a portrait of the face of Christ nut fails But Jesus iu ac lily gives him Ic a hm napkin upon which He in wiping His face has imprinted the holy image of HH counten Once OnceAllan idventurea Allan returns and wonderful and many strange happen to him and to the p but the holy Image always llcur protect IUtg Itself and him and confounds his nnt cnfounts enemies until ho finally reaches titChrcrCfleeijftile aud J presence king ant t him display the IlpIy precious face The monarch is i instantly healed c aud converted t ChrIst He nnt wrte letter t to his Savior who sends him an answer This letter anti reply aro pels preserved In the apoerj lha go pelsThis This unique picture w iUi its long Syrian face bright ej cs and spirilcli lrl expression was known In the prim itirt Christian Church probably t Tertulliau and doubtless to Muse nnt 10ubt Eur bins born AD 320 who mentions I In his works mentons There was crlnlJ n first picture VVc know of no oue earlier than thIs and i was itt cucrished image which the Greek Grk painters in Syria the gno lc ant the early Chris Ian Uanartlits tn ar1 copied In every variety of work from the iewel for n ri to a mosaic or n tutue Whatever became of the original picture with its miraculous legends his Oriental type was early brought t Homo by some copies from the cast and we find i running parallel ant the Itoman classic te which was printed probably before the true wa one was known in tonic Tho primi tire cLotie type was Idealized from the Apollo and Orpheus conceptions and was represented with rpTnt WJI Gung beardless ac short hair and short tunic That such representations were intended for Christ Is evident I and from thedesigning and thcmlracles other work whlrii Ip i > But this class of ideals is uU idel I the work of Roman painter who were jet believers the old myth ology and had not broken loose from their pagan conccftions These continued rlTn frequent until the fifth century although there were many work of otherwise classic art jet remaining which the a Nazarene type with long hahn and full beard is preseuted A feenllinental variation of ho church Hef ajj > enretl in the primitive concerning the personal I I beauty ot the Savior Some ulfler criers which then arose still prevail between the Ideals of the Oriental or Greek Church and these of tho west era or Roman Church The Oriental oilier excepting only John of Cane Ca-ne Insiited that as prophesied by Isaiah In the 53d chapter He was without r or ctraicllne ian i-an when we see Him there I no hiezeulyln Him that wo fliould desire de-sire Him therefore He must horn ben uncomely antI thus the early Greek rttt paintnl Him TheIr succciiors the Byzantine painters a a school and their modern Imitators in the Greek Church still preterro this IdM The lioninn fathers on tho contrary con-trary on the authority of the 45th Psalm held that He iter55 fairer than tlC children of men and mutt have inherited more than tho royal beauty of David Accordingly they desired to sec Him as they helen Ho was tho chtcfest amoiu ten thousand1 and the Ono I alloccthcr lovely a in the poeUc rhapsody of the canticle As Ciltlstianlty prevailed I nnd conqtiered olie nation after another the Christ Ideal In Its plctural forms went with the missionary and church One of the barly fatlicrs mentiohs alto that the dllTerent bishops brought their forte pic tutus jewels and Images t the great ecclesiastical councils At Iiowezt Byzantium I at I1cY = lb Ilavenua which seas tie Italian capital of the Greek Empire Christian Chris-tian art once free preserved anti gradually Improved bite abc ni typ while creating Uicso grand I works which were to b the models and Inspiration of all later art The council of Constantinople in G9 decreed that Christ might bedlrectly reiiresrnted in art and that such prescntaJou was oreferable tb the symbollliut which hadj Income nirtic and bewildering to the ignorant Grvgor I iu T3 > uys that men expended their estates to hare the sacred stories represented in paintings They took stringer and pagans t look at these where iicy could point out with tic finger and to edify tames as to lift Uiclr hearts and minds to lcd The position of the Itouian Church was that I Imapes and ltd Icr Hubs of thai ideal clidii l > y which art ha riveted the union letwecn the visible and the Invisible life All the complex resentments of Christianity Chris-tianity to tlie fle through I lie senses are the eilvlnrhy eloquent appeals geniUs In tlioEanctJar Adrian I recognUiii Chritas the new Adam and a model of beauty ant xrfecllon of form decreed that Jlothotild 1 I IKJ represented with nil the beauty of art As early as the Pth cehtur pictures pic-tures had become fco unlvervil that riiotius the learLed J jotrhixh of ComtauUnoic said that every I nation iiottravcd Christ with its jiecullar national feature Hut in all thtte works there were some unvarying un-varying ideil element long grave features the unshorn > azarcue lock mid the tiushicn Iieard Whatever vurlitioiis the favorite national concciitioin 11113 liar exhibited ex-hibited in particular I works the In lndl Ie coiiHrvatini of the Byzantine relied with its untie rioting formula has rigidly Iatng Comll ba rlghl pr nC and repeated continually the rl indent tip Their petrified art his fUthfuUy brought U clown to our own day Whio there hare I liitn iufiuKoclfUicefiiii feattircsnml til I Ulliula I 111 liir ronl flrll U q lands tItLe steady adliereucu t the archltjpu ha also been umlutaiued 1 with more or less fidelity In all countries The free genius of art lias i rev cllctl In the Ideal beauties of the tliemo of the divine man but thcscicwand r olctun mission of the Greektocred art lion been t he faithful to the old ever protesting agaln the tie wAlt w-Alt nations have given their licit I art Hurts to the Christideal The same objects have inspired them I all i to cI and to convert souls as well I n to embellish houses of worship our anccttors were prolflblj ac iuainlod with the antiquities and prcvalcntartof the countries they had left Kntlaud in the days of the pilgrim father had nothing to boast of in native vacred Most of 1U work had been l done by foreigners for-eigners Holland had known some I great painters but they had brought mot of their ideals I aiii 1 Mihccts lt front Italy The samema b said of Kruice in that age Gentian art has always been roalMIc but not Uie Ilo Icot ant eel mtrl Hir national faces home recites and I v ell know u nlnreK hnvi Io ni > elated with nlntot nil Ihe racred themes I our own lime such masters as Uhiic and Xlmmernnnn of Munich picture Chnst ts rein cling I In the huinUe peasant life of the IJ Hide eel lortrurffcio I Last Supper as Inn familiar TfTr mal cottage with the cliaracterMIc tIC of a group of his friends re s rom precnllngtlie discliie I They I arc like n common people who heard JlimglicIIj iiiir faces are In deed common hut they are noble and dcvouL I la not history but it Is sentiment beautiful and in pinng The same reahsni h teen in recent Italian art antl eve l among the work of aicii French i master > ns hills fort and Malg than rain realistic English art 1 rather archaic It should be remembered l I b rmembl too that when art Ia unking its way in Kuroi almost a thousand years it was an clement in religion cement caching gion t people While they learned to understand Chrislianit in Mich r oljcctivelessous thej nl learned 1 also to prcelate the achiev encnts of art In representing the obitxts they loll In reverence American menial art begau with Iicnjamin West well named the noneer of the Western world iu the treatment of Glpl themes Ills greatest original Uie me and one of the grandot in sacred art Is christ rr I rejected Iliad the nr privilege to see and admire it in the Aendenn of Fine Arts In Xcw Yor AItlI Savior eeelid1 spurned of men and even revIkdbvHismri I I uu nounceil 1 hJ the high priest of Ilh Fathers lieu e stands bound and bnd ald crowned with Uterus In the midst of a tumultuous and wild tumu1uous and wlt throng In the awful desolation of llatOI a com plete nnd final rejection Meekly Cl tubmksivr Ho Mauds rcigned even to the terrible Igne cCu bIas phemy charged by a Jewish priest He opens not Ills mouth liven Pilate scorns the ab surd accusation of treason al of making Himself a King and I teciii to wtrh to release Him but the nation which He came to rave rejects Him and the Roman gee fe cruorwcnkl hulls Him over to Uicir murderous will The swagger Ing triumph of the Saer priest who accuses and denied this r lelll tle very Hmfl 1 z tra t with the gentle IU Mibmisslon Wll cn of the Mighty One who yields Him self to save bJ the cross rather than rtlcr thnl rule upon Uio throne This type of ace Is rather iTllt1ir50f fnffa c cIahe rS but milder anti swetter than the ordinary Greek ideal Tbe Truciflxisii Bestirrer rclfxIol lou nud Ascension Tlrn were he signed byhhi ma non Wer I named t jcnr was a ant years In nr ago exhibited In Berlin Tile trium I I pliant and smiling face of I con Iuerr apier to the angels cnI Situ lboltUfm I fn t i death leading ml1tlI b Miu captive UUUUS OI Thus remarkable rmlk le profile of Christ as in the Chrit represented above named picture has fur its starting nme joint one of the numerous similar numerus sirIr concep tons which prevailed in cncp teeuUi ntury and items ff associated i with Uie tradition I of the Emerald Vcrnlcle The legend usually ae companing this profile i a fol beet The only true likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ taken anllnIorJeWChrt from the portrait carved tken prrt on an em erald by order of Tiberius ni Cesar I which emerald the Emperor of 1 mIte Turk nf > iTi 1110 Emprr tl nrI JhJ U OUl OI tilU treasury of Constantinople to tr Iri tto Pope Innocent VIII for the redemption of his hi brother taken capUvo b Christians ten cple by the I I I a great and beautiful work a divine study Ito image of the Bon of G not In godhood which man cannot picture but in manhood noble dignified chaste mnnbo nolll tlgnll clmte laving fyin niajvsUc pathcUtschaacrintlng bt huereltwLue t worshipful But who can I Ideal picture all these attributes in ono Met Vet more than nil this Ye Inor thal ni huLuhiu was I the Christ of God Go DR En ISIACSON |