Hurll Estelle M. The Bible Beautiful: A History of Biblical Art

Boston: L.C. Page & Company, 1905. — 336 p.Though the Bible is composed of many parts, written in different periods of the world's history, it is regarded throughout Christendom as a single book. It was from this point of view that the early Christian artists began to illustrate it. Their first care was to show the relation between the Old Testament and the New. In the process of time, they developed a complete pictorial plan which extended from Genesis to Revelation, from Creation to the Day of Judgment. With this great motive as an inspiration, they fashioned their mosaics, carved their cathedral fronts, designed their stained glass windows, ornamented their bronze doors, and frescoed the walls and ceilings of their churches. Century after century they laboured to translate the sacred story from one form of art into another, until at last the world's noblest literature was matched by the world's noblest painting. The aim of this book is to trace the development of Bible illustration from the crude pictures of the catacombs to the great art which embodied in visible form the Bible Beautiful. The story is carried through the art of various countries, and is brought down to the work of the present day. By covering so much ground, even in this brief way, we are able to get some sense of the continuity of our subject, some idea of its place in the whole history of art. And, as we go along, we can scarcely fail to see that no one can understand the great art monuments who does not know his Bible. It may perhaps be equally true - such indeed was Buskin's belief - that no one can in any large sense understand the Bible itself until he has learned to read the art commentaries upon it. The illustrations are from subjects of the Old Testament story and the life of Christ. They include some familiar favourites which no reader would willingly spare, and some rare and beautiful subjects less generally known.