-. 
THE INFLUSNCE OF GR~7!( .;:~T ON :MODERN ART. 
4 
Allie Beebe . 
.. 
Table of Contents. 
I . The reasons for Gre ece being such an art producing 
state . 
II . History of the Age of Pe~iclos , the best period 
of' art. 
III . The influence of Greec0 on ancient peoples. 
1. Her colonies in the Asia Yinor, Africa 
and the Aedean Sea. 
2. The spread of Greek art into Fgypt through 
the agency of the Macedonian Empire . 
3 . The making of Rome tP.e center of Greek art 
at the lime of the Roman Empire. 
IV . The extant art and literature. 
:, v. The inf'luence of Greek art on modern art . 
1. The I~alian Renai ssance. 
2 . French Revival . 
3 . Netherland schools of art . 
4 . American awakenin.e;. 
5 . Germany ' s share in the Europea1 Revival . 
Table of Contents. 
I . The reasons for Gre ece being such an art producing 
state . 
II . History of the Age of Pe~iclos , the best period 
of' art. 
III . The influence of Greec0 on ancient peoples. 
1. Her colonies in the Asia Yinor, Africa 
and the Aedean Sea. 
2. The spread of Greek art into Fgypt through 
the agency of the Macedonian Empire . 
3 . The making of Rome tP.e center of Greek art 
at the lime of the Roman Empire. 
IV . The extant art and literature. 
:, v. The inf'luence of Greek art on modern art . 
1. The I~alian Renai ssance. 
2 . French Revival . 
3 . Netherland schools of art . 
4 . American awakenin.e;. 
5 . Germany ' s share in the Europea1 Revival . 
Bibliography. 
~ 
A History of' Greek Art. D~{ Tar-oell. 
Renaisance and Uodern Art. By Goodyear. 
History of' Ancient Art. By Winckelman. 
The Early Renaisance. By Hoppin. 
Influence of' Greece on Roman Art. Reber. 
A History of Rome, By Botsford. 
Life in Ancier.t Athens, By Tucker. 
A History of' Greece, By Bots:ford, 
The Attitude of the Greek 
Tragedians Toward Art. By Huddilston. 
Schools and kasters 
of' Sculpture. By Radclif:fe. 
Greek Painters' Art. By "i!eir. 
Influence of Greek Art on Modern . 
The natural c~1ses which made Bellas the 
source of art for all succeed~mg centuries ade the 
advantages of beautiful surroundings such as a clear 
atmosphere and scenic mountains, history with its 
sentimental tr~ditions and myths, the location as a 
central state, radical derivations, political changes, 
and environments. -~Je~9 owned the Ae~ean islands 
and was really part of three continents, so it received 
the best inTluences from the oldest countries bordering 
on the Mediterranean sea, yet it had an individuality 
of its own. The race elements were strong in their 
tendency toward art. The aboriginal Greeks were artistic 
in temperament, also a union of the Dorians and Ionians 
gave force to the artistic inclination. Influences frmm 
every direction came together and f , und a deep rich 
nationality and culture within, so study of Greek art 
is the best means for the cultivation of the artistic 
taste. 
Greece was productive of art in every period 
of its history, yet there stands out one which is called 
.. the "Golden Age": the age of Pericles from 430-:.530 B.C • 
2 
Art reached perfection, the objective forms moulded 
the lives of the people by keeping before them ideals 
of beauty and grace. The people h~d a rwal love of 
art ~nd were just critics,for education and art were 
inseparable, alsp the aesthetic sense was instinctive wtth 
them. This instinct was developed in the gymnasia where 
music, archrntocture, sculpture, painting, dancing, 
rhetoric, and poetry were taught. On every side were 
beautiful public buildi~gs and monuments erected just 
as an expression of their inner life. There are three 
means of instructing mankind of past happenings: plast&c 
art, poetry, histor~ and graphic art. 
In this treatise on the influence of Greek 
art, only that of scuppture and painting will be con-
sidered, not that they are more important but the sub-
ject must be limited, for there are so mnny phases of 
art. A short history of sculpture and painting during 
the age of highest attainment will give a back-ground 
for the treatment and a clee.r insight into the perfection 
of Greek art which led other nations to imitate. The 
innate sensitive:e-()f the Greeij mind to beauty made areek 
art differ from Egyptian, Oriental, and Roman arld in thms 
consisted the unequaled artistic genius of the Greeks. 
3 
-
(Lt.· ... '\ 
f:t was an intel~ectu~l quality of an intellectual 
a.1.. 
people1 i1.8 well(their art was) an expression of duty 
t\ 
as worship, so consequently deep and much devoted to-
a perfect idea in mind not a sensuous decoration, a 
working out of a deeper inner principle-. We feel t h~ 
tr~th and the moral power of the Greek conception of 
beauty. 
Pheidias was at the head of the wonderful 
attaimments of plastic arts, especially sculpture. 
He was educated as a painter but early preferred 
sculpture. His statue of Athena, about fifty foet high, 
showed the deification of sacred womanhood and the divimity 
of Athens. There were many statues of Athens, some of 
bronze, and some of chryselephantine. He was not only 
a moulder of single figures, but also a designer of 
grand groups which made Greece the art centAr of the 
world. Some or his metopes record in Parian marble the 
exploits of Hercules and those of Theaens. The work 
of the artists was just fragments: the improvements 
of Acropolis were made during the reigh of Pericles. 
Pheidias lived at Athens, so yhat city was the pre-
eminent center of the art schools of Greece . Sculpture 
• is considered the most characteristic and most perfect 
4 
of Attic art, and the art which no one to the present 
time has ever equaled. Pheidias and Praxiteles tower 
far above any other of the world's sculptors in their 
rendering of countenances and character and the detailsim 
of physical beauty, yet true to nature in the appear-
ance of muscles and veins. 
The reason :for the taste survivinga.e long 
in its keenness, a~ter the limit of loftiness had 
been reached, was that the subjects poDtrayed were 
democratic, also the spirit in which the works were 
presented, was genial to the whole world. Every concept 
or group of concepts representect,appe ~led to both the 
emotions and the intellect, for they were in a ~cord with 
the higher grain of human nature. "The gods, the B 
exploits o:f gods and men, the figures of men and women 
serving as striking types o:f health and beauty, these, 
together with such action as conduced to the display of 
dignity, majesty, beauty and healhh, were subjects of 
~" 
sculpture". Religion is common to all peoptes, worship 
is an instinct, and as Greek art sprung :from aeligion, 
its influence has lived long after the works have 
crumbled away. 
* ' Life in Ancient Athens' By Tucker. 
5 
Another reason for the superiority and 
long-la~ting quality or Hellenic art, consisted in 
the idea of rivalry for there were a great number of 
small states each of which had its own local tutelary 
gods and goddesses, consequently each tried to surpass 
the others in excellency of the presentation o~ its 
divinities. 
Painting was also a highly deyeloped art 
of the highest state of the 'Golden Age'. Up to this 
time art was going up an incline and afterwards it was 
proceeding down a demline of perfection. Polyquotus 
and Zeuxis were the light s during this most flourishing 
period of painting . All their most signifi~ant paintings 
have been destroyed, yet literature records their accomp-
lishments, so that we can obtain a fair description of 
their ability as artists and re~lize their capacity in 
designing beautiful frescoes with minute and massive 
pictures as they worked on the porches of the temples 
especially. It was said that Zeuxis and Parrhasios 
could depict nature so truly that birds were deceived by 
their painted objects and they too were misled, Zeuxis' 
bunch of grapes attracted the birds and Parrhasios 
veiled one of his paintings with a curtain which appeared 
so real that Zeuzis tried to draw it aside to see the 
6 
the picture. The excellence of their work was due to 
adherence to the reality, tasteful shading,consistant 
·. coloring and accurate proportions. the painting was done 
on walls, porches, ceilings and vases. 
Just after the greatest period of art in 
Greece , the interest began to spreadJbecause the deepest 
conaentration had passedlso necessarily the field widened. 
As the political power grew and reached into other peopies 
and continents, so the aesthetic influence accompanied tt. 
The Greek rule covered many colonies and conquered 
tribes in Asia Minor , Africa, the Aegean Islands and 
Greece itself. The Greek artists traveled about and 
founded schools of art. Zeuxis and Parrhasios moved 
about, during their work here and there throughout the 
Xingdom. Apelles, the most famous of Greek painters 
of the fourth centure Before Christ, lived at Ephesus. 
During the reign of Alexander, Athens and 
other centers of art lost significance and new ones 
were created in the East. After a time, Rhodes and 
Pergamium changed their spirit of art from religious 
to secular representations which were demanded to 
ornament palaces and private houses. Although there 
was an increase in variety yet not in elevation of 
~spirit . The work at Rhodes is attested by literary 
7 
sources and by artists' inscriptions th8re. The Selen-
cidae,, who possessed a kingdom east of Asia Mdmor and 
north of Syria, took the Greek art to Asia,where it 
flourished in a new field. A Greek school of art 
flashed up in Syria but soon died out when the Greek 
influence was removed. 
The Greek supremacy c~cr ~h~ several 
countries gm.ve u. L N 1 •,,:;..i.td orrcrt P~, ; tvfor the sproacl 
of the art influence , for U :ere was constant dee.J J ~~s 
and associations between the colonies and Greece proper. 
The Athenian empire in the middle of the third centure 
before Christ prcvjded nn i'llpetn· f' r .. "'Xtrmdir.6 ,..,ha 
aesthetic wave still further ever to Byzac1ine and 
all the Jc1 -r1 • ' '"'Y.1'1.d the Propontis,also over Macedon. 
No definite instances of art schools founded in different 
sections of the empire at this time, yet there was with-
a 
out doubtAsubtle permeation of the aesthetic atmosphere 
from Greece as a center, or really Athens, the master of 
the world in art. Pericles at the head of the Maritime a 
~>npire-454-4~.i:L B .c. colonized rr.uch and peace reigned 
both among the allies and citizens. Never before or 
afterwards was there equal oppor-.:. ·J.ni ty for commerce or 
f'or qvJ.et country 12.f'e. The political and social con-
* History of Ancient Art. By Winckelmann , 
e 
ditions of the peoples determined the advantages of 
guidibg the outer colonies in any intellectual or 
emotional work. 
In the rise of Macedon 338 B.O.>Alexander 
its king founfied an immense empire, covering Greece , 
Egypt, Asia Minor , Syria and a vast :field into Asia 
proper. The point of interest for our subject is 
concerning Egypt . d ur1ng the Macedcn,:yrr-ule . Alexand  r1.a ~~*  
became the chief center of Greek sculpture and paint-
ing. Greek and Greek civilization became established 
in the interior of the country. The Egyptians had 
defore this a distinct 2,1 ·:. of their own, however they 
incorporated the new ideas of' perf'ecting art productions 
and thonoughly assimulated them for pr~ctical purposes, 
so that the art cf' -'-,hA t 'iTCl countries bcr c .JlrJl 1 iari ties 
thereafter. GrePce finally :ftu'..lrisl1ec again and in 
abv.rid 1.~ce, '="tP,t ues and pictures were everywhere, af '., --. 
\lexandeta had played ~6r role aR thA Athens of Africa. 
A world empire, the Romans, came into exist-
tLCt, -ot.1d carried culture, of course including art, to 
all pa:1··~ s of the wide-spread counLry. L~ 146 B. C. 
Greece and Macedon became as Roman province, and the 
Kingdom of Pergamium in 133 B.C. all of which established 
* A History of Greek Art. by ~&l~~:~ 
....'  
- ~-.1Jj · =<u.., .Jchools after t1'e f'.10del . Those political xkxg 
cl-i..1:139s made no difference in the cause of art. Greek a:t-t 
went on, only transfering its chief seat to Rome. So what 
is called Roman sculptlilre is Greece sculpture under 
Roman rule. At first necessarily'* Rome did not appreciate 
Greek's aesthetic productions , soon the intense sense of 
beauty of the Parian sculpture reached the hsart of' 
the people• Finally the cupo~ior esteem in the 
Greek painters were held by the Roman indicates the 
influence mf ~hn art of the conquered over the minds 
oi' tre C",~l'i_ ')':.'I'Ors . Fro',1 the beginnir. . s', ".,h ~ Lone of 
Roman sculpture was affected by Greecian as well as by 
Etruscan art, which was supposed to . e an imitation 
of very antique Greecian forms. The temples of Diana 
in its sculpture and decorations was built by 5ervius 
'Tul]ius after the manner of the temple of 1\.rteni1' 's of 
Massalia . I11 493 B, C. two Greeks of 1 ovro:-- Italy, 
Gorgasos and Damophilos, decorated th temple of C6r0s 
with figures of terracotta. In the earliest times ~he 
former employed the latter or the conqueror employed 
the conquered even in small towns, for instance, at 
Ardea, not far from Row~ ,was a temple of Juno decorated 
by the pencil of Marcus Lidius a Greek of Aetolia . 
* Hi ~tory of Ancient Art . By Winckelmann. 
' Influence of Greece on Roman Art . Reber. 
10 
The most admirable works in Rome belonged to the 
Greek patterns im form,proportion and grace. The 
Roman art is not to be distinguished from the Grecian, 
for the former did not found distinct L v t ,I , ::., out were 
merely followers of Bellas which possessed dif o~ont 
styles fi:itxmt of art in the different periods of its 
history. Schools outside sprung up and adopted one of !ZIii 
more of s t yles at a time. The Etruscan artists were 
,. 
teachor s at first then came the Greeks themselves as 
instructors. 
r~ the Second Punic !ar, the republic to~k 
on a different form and made an alliance with the Greeks 
and a love for their art awakened again. Claudius 
Marcellus was the first to take Grecian statues and 
works of a rt to Rome from Syracuse and with them 
decorated the Capital and the temple near Porta Oapena, 
so also after the capture of Capua the same kind of 
transportation took place, carrying the art productions 
away as spoils of war. After the conquest of Macedonia, 
Lucina Quinetius took to Rome from Greece a large supply 
of sta tues in bronze and marble, along with many abtistmc 
vases. At the time of Luoins Scipio the Romans intro-
duced the Grecian deiti e $ even under Grecian names. 
11 
Greek priests were employed and naturally they insisted 
on images of the divinities to be as similar to their 
native ones as possible, ~o Greek artiots had a 
opportunity there to work. In beneral the paintings 
and statues of the greatest beauty were secured,gradu:l~y, 
the Romans, with such results of skill in the public 
buildings, temples and private dwellings everywhere, weee 
inspired to the expent that they determined to have thetr 
children educated in Greek art and obtained Crc~~ 
_;r~ists as 1Latructors. 
The most patent agency in promoting the 
sproad of Grecian and hu.1-:-.11 cu) t 11rr We.-'"' ~r:, I,oman 
empire which bound the larl6.G r'ar and wide into sub-
ject ion tc 01, t, .JJ.f-·2::.1s. power, Rome. Greece and. Italy 
were close in geographical locations, similar in 
climate, being in about thG saP1e latitude an1 both 
peninsulas of the Mediterranean Sea, so naturally their 
interests were t~e aame, since both had developed the 
highest state of civilization and art attained its 
lofty state in both nations and their influence com-
. bined swept ov0r the rc1J 1 • Many of the provinoas were 
new, yet they were prepared for the revival of later 
history. Spain, France, Portugal, Britany, and Ger~any 
12 
of modern nations were included in the great wc.Plrl 
empire . 
The empires and peoples already mentfuoned 
as having been affected by the aesthetic bemperament 
and works of the two classic nations were really con-
tempory with tbem, so the artistic spirit wrought its 
share directly in ancient times . Between antiquity 
and the dawn to the modern . age , there was a dark and 
destructive veil dravm, no historian re a orded the deeds 
and thoughts of humanity; it was a period of chaos. 
From the remnantE o-:' 1ntiquity , sprung a revival of 
culture, in all of its phases in the twel~ th century . 
But f'ew fragments of the vast storehouse o:f 
sculpture arid paintings were left , scattered thrcughout 
the once rich centers o:f art , to inspire t h e modern 
nations . In 1~aality , there are two main sclu~c0s of 
kr..  ouledge and inspiration on the subject of a.rt , the 
:fragments of ant:Lque handiwork and literature the 
record of artists and their accomplishments . Greek 
literature abounds in references to both great paintings 
and sculpture and. their authors . Although most of the 
examples of art were lost , yet enough Bemains in Greece 
and elsewhere to furnish us a fair idea o:f the methods 
of execution, use of color and shading, and some of the 
subjects depicted and personages carved . To become 
7 
13 
familar with these references we must read the ~reek 
and Latin poets, dra~atists and historians, such as 
Aristotle, Plutarch , Quintilian, Lucian, Cicero and 
Pausanias , all of whom have animated their descriptions. 
To see the real fragments it is necessary to visit 
Greece, Lower Italy and even Egypt to round out know-
ledge acqu'ired in c1ose 0 {t-1iBJ,JR1Hrnti2titmuseums of 
America and Europe . 
Pausanias * tells of the paintings of 
the Amazons and of the fight between the Centaubs and 
Lapiths . Pausanias' writings are of peculiar interest 
to students of Greek art for he tells of the above 
mentioned paintings on the walls, made by Polygnotos, 
also the six important evcmts of the Trojan war. 
Folygnotos ' masterpieces are at Delphi in the Assembly m 
room. Literature gives the historical events as facts 
and embues the readers with the siirit of the aestheti c 
objects, as they are described, so both the intellect 
and the emoyions are appealed to• 
The tragedians of ~reece had a close 
sympathy with the reality of art productions. 
Euripides 'whc j_ntroduced the tr:.1,gedy in Greece 
* Greek Painters' Art. By Weib. 
'The Attitude of the 
Greek Tragedians 'l'mvards Art · F.ucltlilston. 
14 
had a taste for Greek art, so the art-spirit pervates 
his tragedies. He is said to have been an artist 
be:fore he was a dramatist which might account for his 
interest in art. His point of view was that of a 
painter, especially, ~~peciaiiJ in his fine feelings, 
for architecture, plastic art · and painting . The art mf 
his time is reflectod in his plays, in his albusions 
to temples and embroidered robes worked in rich color. 
These were depicted in painting too and sometimes it is 
difficult to decide which has the more influence upon 
succeeding art, the x:e:vie ·..,. of remains or the vivid and 
picturesque descriptions in words, at leaBt both can 
be called agents in the distribution of the art spirit. 
· Aeschules, in his Eumenides especially in 
the latter part of it, centers his thoughts about the 
old images of Athena , which the Greeks worshiped very 
intensely. "The Aechulean manner was to ma1rn the grand, 
grander; the impressive, more impressive; which facaulty 
showed his fnterest in art". He also gives testimeny 
of two paintings which were very important in Athenian 
art. His presentations show a familari tJ· with the real 
picture s for his nEumenides " is in harmony with pictures 
on vases, in the nAgamemmon" the impres :, ions were 
15 
created by contact with paintings, hie descriptions of 
the sacrifice of Iphigeneia and other wall scenes were 
inspired by actually seeing the works. Many of the other 
noted and extant writings mf the Ancients reflect the 
tempera~ent of the race even as far as the pr e nant cen-
tury. 
The other source of inspiration is the 
actual works themselves which has survived through 
2~ny centuries. The number of the relics of art are 
increasing through excavations by men competent to 
judge of the original form and character. The exposureo 
to the wind and rain gradually destroyed works, also 
the people who did not appreciate art melted the 
statues and defaced the pictures. However, about 
Rome and in Herculanean some paintings executed at 
the time of the Caesars, were found in their ruined 
palaces and in the baths of Titius. Often it is difficult 
to detor~in ~ whether or not the relics are the work of 
Greek or Roman hands yet no matter which for it emther 
is directly or indirectly Grecia~ handiwork. 1r€ 
2ar thenon metopes are in the national museum, Athens. 
Other wobks are in the museums at Dresden, Bologna, 
the British,Acropolis and Vatican Muse1ms.* Praxiteles 
* A History of Greek Art- By Tarbell· 
16 
who moulded an infinite number of statues and bas-
reliefs, is now revE'l::"9nved on account of only one 
remaining , the group , "Niobe and Her Children". The 
Sidon Sarcophagus of Phenicia , sixteen of which were 
of Greek workmanship with reliefs , are now in Const a n-
tinople, a place of grAat consequence to every student 
and lover of Greek art . The Ephesian Temple of Artemas , 
the most extensive and sumptuous columnar edifice ever 
erected by a Greek architect probably decorated by 
Scor,1::1.:: 8r Praxiteles was found through the efforts of 
tbe excavators who were working for the I3ri t ish 1,1useurn. 
The most beautiful portrait statue in modern possession 
is the Lateran Sophocles at Rome . Lysippus who was the 
last sculptor of importance in Greece, moUlded his 
statues in bronze, so many have been preserved, the 
statues of Alexander are the most importa~t . 
ronatantl~, rostorations and reproductions 
are made , so that Greek art has expanded to cover an 
ext ensive part of the modern developement of art . 
OccaBionly, new survivals are discovered , in 1506 at 
Rome "Lar,, coon and Hi..s Sons" was found , "Apoll<l> of the 
Belvedere " remains also . 
No Greek painting of the highest order 
17 
has been preserved, yet the testimony of ·Greek and 
Roman writers has achieved remarkable results , fior 
the imagination guided b)' descriptions and the few relie s, 
haa produced much of the modorn art. The painted decora-
tions upon the earthen vases though an inferior soBt of 
Gree:{ art, exist, having been found in tombs and sanc-
tiaries of Grecian ar-d Italian sights , recent excava-
tions are briggi~g to light many new or really very old 
suggestions or discoveries . The Francois vase, decorated 
by Clitias, has resemblance to both the archaia reliefs 
and the paintings on vases. Examples of pctralt were 
found in Egypt, \"r°r~er:e the clir.1ate is such as to prevent 
rapid destructton of paintings . 
J Some individualR who have had a deed 
sympathy with the artists and have felt a loss when 
the cities which contained some -aluable products, 
were destroyed, have ta~rnn action to prPver:t ·· rt 
from bei~~ ent1rel ~ 2~op t ~~aJ by the enemy. Lord 
Elgin ,~} an English ambassador in 1800, who saw that 
the Turks were likely to plunder and pulverize the 
precious relics, asked permission to remove them to 
his own country at his own expeI'-sc . Afterwards, the 
%" Schools and HastRrs of Sculpture"-Badcliffe. 
18 
British gc,~~~~ent bought them for thirty-five thousand 
pounds and retains them in the british mus9 urn now . 
There was some i ntention of carrying them back to the 
~- Acropolis, b\lt to as sume U1c:i£' safty they were kept., ln 
the Mus4- um , although the point of view i s different in 
the Musa.um that in the Acropolis , yet ,.,any visit the 
relics who would not go the Greece to see t~em , so 
.. science and art has gaine d by the tr~nsfer. :tilJ ut 
Athens are many remains of Pedimental sculpture but 
they are merely ruins compared eith the Pristine 
freshness of such as '' The First Sudden Appearance 
of At r.e n':1. 1\mong Lhe Olympians 11 , which group showed 
the goddess in the center in the act of rushing for -
ward with her spear before the other deities . All of 
these figures were arranged to show complete mastery 
of the har monious symmetry as e}:ists in no other phase 
of ancient art so complete. 
We have by this time a solid found:· tion and 
a clear comprehension of the existing relics and the 
literature of' the IJreeks which were the potential 
reserve for the great inspiratjon to modern artiRts . 
As in literature , t h ere were revivals in art in the 
19 
different nations. The Early henaissance * began in 
the fifteenth century and it has, in reality, not yet 
passed away, but it is still continuing in s culpture 
and painting for the relation aan be definitely traced 
out with some research. This renaissance relates to 
Italy and to the influence of Italy on foreign countries. 
It only revived a few phases of the general art. Note 
every traveler hact access to the paintings of Raphael 
• 
and the statues of Michael Angelo, yet cs.9t s , copies, 
and photogtaphs have been scattered throughout the 
civilized world. This gives Italy the reputation as a 
specialist in art, other nations, as Spain, France, 
England and America and Germany profitect by its advance 
and finally took her pl .3.ce. There were two divisions 
of the Renaissance period, one the developement and the 
other the spread of the s~Ptit. Reynolds and Gamsborough 
in England; Washington Allston, Copley, Gilbert sturart 
and Rembrandt Peale of America; are the c r ntimua.tiotl and 
survival of that of "Old Masters ". 
The Catholic Church may have preserved 
many of the paintings and sculptures which had a 
religious significance for tb this d~y from its estab-
lishment it has had its idols of worship. It wa s a 
w Renai ssance and Modern Art. Goodyear. 
20 
persistent institution even through the latter part of h 
the middle ages. Michael Angelo was the most famous of 
sculptors of the Italian Renaissance and made his 
reputation in connection with the cath' edral of Saint 
Peter. Raphael painted decorations for the Vatican, 
th8 school of Athens, Plato and Arissotle, Apollo, 
Madonna in the Meadow, Betrothal of Mar~, and Joseph 
and the Transfiguration so we se0 a number of his 
works were for the cathedrals, as Michael Angelo's 
Last Judgment was for the decoration of the Sistine 
Chapel. Debinci who lived near Florence fun the f'ifteenth 
also caused his na~e to last through his last Supper, 
Virgin and st.Anne, and La Groconda. These three who 
represent one school were in some respects moFe excellent 
than the Ancients, at least they were unrivaled by any 
modern artists, so pre:ference has been given to them in 
the treatise, although there was a school previ ous to 
the one they represented. 
Masaccio must preeeed a Raphael; a Thiberti 
and a Donatello must introduce a Michael Angelo. These 
predicessors discovered that art is realiyy. The great 
creative genius to briR~~ii!n§p to the revival period 
was Masiccio. In the Branac~i Chapel of the church of 
Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence where Wasacci 
21 
painted his twelve frescoes , which are the highest 
expression of' his genius , inperf'ec t and bol d-outlined , 
we find the cradle of' modern painting . Botticelli , 
Lorenzo do Credi , Lionardo da Vinci , Perugiuo , Michael 
Angelo, Fra Bartolommes , and Raphael went the r e to 
reverently study. In Masiccio's i mportant works, 
there war a simple power and grandeur never before 
seen in painting . By a stud y of' ancient masters or by 
the same i ntuit i on which moved them to noble deeds , he 
restored t h e ideal be '3.u.ty of' the human f'orm, and by 
copying the body itself, as the Greeks did , drawing it 
with correctness and putting the appearar.ce of' animation 
in the figures attained to perf' r ction in art. "1he 
expression of' his heads is so true that he painted 
souls as well as bodies" . For the first time , too , 
in painting the landscape began to as :=; ume some sig-
nificance and there are in Masaccio's frescoes 
touches of natural scenery and a sense of aerial 
perspective is developed. 
While Masaccio was the leader of' the 
Florentine school in painting , Donatello and Ghilberti 
rivalled each other in sculpture . * The bronze doors 
* The Early rtenaissancs- By Hoppin. 
22 
of the Baptistery in Florence b e 3un i n 1~25 are their 
great e st worlc and the best monu:nents of art of' the 
modern character . Donatelle worked more with glazed 
terracotta slightly colored, than the others did . His 
spirit of beauty , excellent in the refined lovliness of' 
f'emale heads and joyous grace of his~ youthful figures 
proves itself in the exhibition of the marble freize 
in the Florentine cathedral . Luca della Robbia's sweet 
countena nces of the .Madonna was not even surpas?,ed by 
Raphael . One of' his most famous works 'Vas the orname n-
tation of the bronze doors of another ~lorentine 
cathedral . eis one of the b e st t ypes o:' tl:.e e a rly 
renais'3.l:.ce , i t s innocence, joyfulness and freedom, 
when it united a reverent spirit witha lofty · enthus iasm 
of antiquity and a new awakened love for nature . These 
schools found the clue to the secret of beautifyl art 
alone through the study of the ancient artists , who 
possessed and guarded it , at least in plastic art . 
"Ifl the genius of the ancients had posressed itself of 
true art princ i pl es, hacl showed the road to what is per-
fect, then the impulse of the Harly Renaissance was in 
the right direction in following the antique which led 
back to the original sources of art and nature . ~ 
23 
189780 
Although the antique art was bound by blind worship of 
an oppressive form, the art of the Renaissance was 
loos~~-in the efirit of °Christ ian ideas which placed 
the ar..cient art as an emblem of idolatry. Finally art, 
as one of the absolute , nedeasury manef'estations of' the 
hUJ>1a.n rr.ind and of natural 6enius , was again recognized, 
so the attention was turned toward the once flourishi~ 
nation, but then to some of its surviving specimens 
which were produced by an arbitrary and dogmatic sp:trtt 
which allowed no freedom. Nature once more aserted i~ 
self by the help of the antique and art came back t ·o 
life~ Painting really continue~ from antiquity to the 
present time without a break, for the mosaic formed 
the intermediate step during the middle uses , and the 
Old Greeks practised with sfuccess ~nd on acco1mt of its 
permanant nature mueh was extant, yet painting took 
on a new life and a fervor aR Fl result of the renaissance 
and it germinated from a few live coals, found in the 
remnants of Greek art. The early renaissance of ancient 
art made a preparation for pPrfect art in new life, 
skill of execution, accurate drawing and rich coloring. 
It found nature with delightful simplicity throu.:;h the 
concentration of attention on antiquity which went to 
24 
nature as an e xhaustless spring of knowledge and 
inspiration . Greek asthetics was simplf delight in 
nature , for their mind had a keen sensitiveness to the 
pee~eption of beauty in nature . Doubtless they copied 
what they saw in the public games , Pheidias was a free 
citizen among citizens , so the same with all these arti t ts , 
their nodels wa Be from re~l life , which revealed the 
hidden laws of nature which later artists have strove 
for in vain . Antiquity was an the inspiration rather 
than a domination of the a b tistic spirit . Italian art 
at firAt was a Slavish copying of Greek art a nd not until 
later did the Itanials develope an individual artistic 
spj_rit which necessarily is an outcome of l dmg imitation. 
' and technical training . 
Raphael began by Pcrupulously imitating 
Perugius and af'ter-wards towered up and now stands as 
the supreme artist of modern times . Botticelli, a 
representative of te Florentine school of a later date , 
with his freedom and vivacity felt deeply the influence 
of the classic revival , especially in his choice of 
subjects for he was the first to paint upon a theme other 
than purely religious . Al l the new artists of note 
took an apprenticealh.ip in the art-principles laid down 
25 
by antiquity and when they had laid a good foundation mm 
' 
they let their own individuality show itself'. If modern 
artlst ~ had the artistic spirit or genius, there would 
be a f'lood of art pro(luctions as exceJ.lent as that of tilm 
Greece in ~he golden age and the nation would be 
prevaded with the spirit. Claudius Popien said "To follww 
tradition is going right, art oust be a chain,---- all 
Renaissarce consists in fastening a new link to that which 
hung on the past". It is an advantage to go th the 
~asterp~eces at Rome and ahe museums to study frescoes 
and other relicR to get the technique of art. 
Among the most important schools was that 
one at Constantinople, contemporary with the Italian 
school. After the capture of Constantinople by the 
Venetians, the Greek artists who had been ther since the 
spread of ancient empires , left there and scattered over 
Western Europe. They became the accredited artists of 
the church and set the stamp of their style upon all 
ecclesiastical art, especbally painting. Giotto, 
through a study of antiquity and an unscientific 
observation of nature marked a decline. 
The most important centers and schools of' 
the ~arly Renaissance have been mentioned. They were mo~e 
26 
confined to certain parts of Fu.rope and Asia than the lnter 
Renaie~ance which will next be dealt with , 
The French schools are the most ~mportant 
of recent times. During the eighteenth centuri , the 
second Renaissance r0ached its climax , it started more 
easily than the first did, because there was an abun-
dance of material which gave examples, some frqm antiquity 
remained and a vast amount was left from the late Italian 
Renaissance, whicb probably had planted insig, nif'icaLt 
schools which flouriGhed then after a long d0velopment. 
The true ~rt must have been the ancient for all accom-
plishments owe their saccess to antiquity and this i~uth 
is impressed by the eighteenth century revival whrn 
Winckelmann and Yerrning throush the study of ancient art 
arrested the decadence of art and produced a ne'N tempoqt ry 
renaissance. These men do not sta~d alone , for there weee 
many other sculptors and nen of artistic tal ents , led by 
tho antique masters, yet comparatively few minds 
France were inspire<i by natur·e i t,self. Paul Huet who 
lived froml745 to 1811 , was the earliest to catch the 
new spirit . He was a true Frenchman and is called tte 
,. orie;inator of' the romantic r~n-.t:;..ssn ncr. His two pupols , 
27 
Dupre and Rousseau overcame much in t~e revolution 
of landscape paint in_§; in which the art frePd itself 
from cla~sic indulgence , nevertheless they had wrung 
the secret.-3 :'ror tre Gr'-":;i: --;-~-.-,1-'"', ,.,,., thf't they hart a 
sv.f'ficient foundation to brabch out upon new sugges-
tions of~ored by nature and by inner impulsion . 
In general , ~odern art is oN a decline , 
for there is no creative power but merely imitation nith 
no initiative . Gustave Rodolph Boulanger , a painter of 
pictures and frescoes , was a master in a French classic 
school. i.J.11:_C 1 ·E.f crrr.ed modern art by going back t.o the 
antique , but neglected nature. 
In France landscape painting had its 
beginning in the Italian cl[~Feic school of art which was 
the ·beginning of French painting in all of its lin~P. 
" ~he sour·ce of river of French art flowed through the 
imaginary field of Greece a nd Rome before it reached 
the soil or France . Nicolas Poussin , a great name in 
the be 6 inning of landscape painting , was embued wi t h 
the best antique model,, then known and with and with 
the Ital ian masters , since he was a pupil of Domemchino. 
1 Tlie Arcadian Shepherds I is t.he F.ost typic::il o:f his works, 
although his workR can ge found in almost a l l of the 
28 
large gal leries of Europe . 
Claude Lorraine, a contemporary,,  of Poussin was 
considered the chief' artists of 1 :1.ndsca pes . H9 r az .c .. " 
cf Italy than of France in characteristics. The excellea ce 
of his works consisted in the aerial perspectives , which 
carry the mind's eye i bto tho infinite , the coloring 
sometiMos calm , sometimes turbulent with .delicate sh8digg 
anci tbe :finish which wac: br-ight enough to nake Turne::: ':: 
1->ictures lo0Jc dnll . It seamed ae if the e.r:cient spirit 
pervaded 8V6ryxkiN~ attempt at art production ~ 
The French school of irrpresp 1 onists spent 
r.iuch tlbme and thought on archeology , and consequently 
it caught the deeper signifiqunce of the poetic life, 
tri.e relib~cus gnd tbe real life of the an cients . Although 
the painters had the right spirit , they were limited 
by the detailed modern subjects which were chosen , so 
t~ey were loosing the imaginative and spiritual qualitie s 
in which antiquity ex,: elled . -:_1;_,., r c jeetic picture o:f 
'Christ before Pihnc:' grows tiresome because he is 
represented as robed in modern style instead of his 
native. "Greek art* still exerts and ought to exert 
a conservstive influence over all ffianefestations of the 
* The Early Renaissance . Hoppin· 
29 
artistic spirit". 
Although France led in the new renais-
sance, it was not the only nation affected by the 
revival , ror Gerrany , the netherlands and England 
sha'ed in at, yet in a loss degree. The vigorous 
revival of art in the Netherlands in the firRt half 
of the seventeenth century which created the great 
Flemish and Dutch schools to which belonged Rens-
brar..dt, Frans Hals, TEirburg, and Jan Steen, was a 
return to the realistic and classic ide'1l:.mr.. 
The art moveme1~ ir England which had 
affected America wa~ tha Pde Rapdaelite revival 
of the latter part of the nineteenth century. This 
progresBive sws ep had a moral aim, and although the 
pagan influence was denied, there w~s a breath of 
Hellerism about it all, but especially ir the English 
sense of beauty we Pee the traces cf the Greeks . 
John Everett 1'!.illais, Dante Gabriel Hossetti ~ J. 
! -., 
Holman Hunt, Thomas Wool~en, and later F.Burne Jones, 
Alma Tadema, Frederick Leighton , George iatts and Turne~ 
get their spirit from the English Renaissance. Watt's 
pictures have been exhibited in America and they have 
had a grBat inr1uence on AFerican art. 
30 
Ger~any also experienced th same awakening 
in art . The intellectu.3.l ~-nq. iration of the Italian 
Renaissance had limited the s 11b,ie tn ,s , so some t hing 
new must be introduced and new interests took place 
since the peor,le at that time were eag0 r f'o1 · new 
sources of insp iration . The turni~g point in the 
history of the Renaissance and of modern art was the 
change in taste caused by a revival of study of Greek 
and Greek literature after 1750 . Gre ek rren of letters , 
driven into Italy by the Turkish conquest of the 
By z antine ~mpire in the fifteenth century , spre ~d and 
cultivated the study of \.. : rreek in Italy . Winckelmann, a 
Greek scholar mentioned above interpreted the statues 
at Rome as copies of the ~reek originals and wrote a 
histor~ cf art. The Romans were aroused to realize the 
fact of imitat ! on and thus the c tudy of ancient 
eculpt~re reacted on the s tudy of literature and the 
Greek authors were appreciated . Lessing followed 
Vi'incklemarin by making Homer superior to other authottB. 
The influence on Germany and finally on all Europe was a 
marked. Goethe and Schiller owed their greatness to 
the inspiration of Greek literature. Evert in cl d> clre a.nd 
f'urniture no style of design was then t..0Je1-e,ted 9xcq:t 
the imitation of the Greek . 
,".'  
31 
The revival was the most pronounced 
feature of European history during the last quarter 
of the eighteent.h century . In statuary, there was the 
same imitation o~ the master. The imitation of the 
Greeks [a,.s in the l~st fev. years begun to lose ground 
and yield to a unique modern style , which is led by 
the United States. 
Over two thousands of years of Greek 
influence have been exerting themselves upon every 
••  
ci·,ilized peor,le of the world. The agent has the 
different empires which have been ~ormed with dif-
ferent nations as the nucleus. W:t,at expression of I 
art was mere imitations at first has been ingrained I I 
.. into the very n a ture and soul of the imitators and 
cannot eaAily be erased . Through the practice of the 
technicality of the masters , modern artists have secured 
a graceful poise of their own , yet at the same time 
Old Greece and her influence will never be forgotten. 
Greece was the founder ~nrl the developer of the art of' 
the world, so let us acknowledge her as such.