The Catholic Encyclopedia; An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church Volume 11

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ... the deep and tender sentiment lacking in the school of the Low Countries, a popular mysticism derived, not from books, but from the interior treasures of the soul. The school which produced (c. 1380) the Clarenaltar of Cologne and (c. 1400) the delightful little "Paradise" of Frankfort obviously possessed but mediocre gifts; its sense of form was often defective, but even the piety of Angelico did not speak a purer language. A superior plastic education produced the work of Stephan Lochner, the fine Dambild (1430), the "Madonna of the Violet," and the marvellously sweet "Madonna of the Rose Garden." From this school was descended the most famous of the Northern mystics, the tender and graceful Memling (q. v.). In his work a new aristocracy, that of sentiment, transfigures the Flemish opulence. The same moral delicacy and familiarity with Divine things sweeten and spiritualize the works of Gerard David, and especially of Quentin Massys, who became a painter through love. At the end of the fifteenth century there was no German town or province which had not its local school. For a long time only two of these were known or regarded: that of Cologne, with its anonymous masters, the Master of the Passion of Lyversberg, the Master of the Death of Mary, the Master of the Holy Family (Heiligensippe), and, most powerful of all, the Master of the Rartholomdusallar; and the school of Nuremberg, with its two famous painters, Wohlgemuth and Pleyden wurff. But In reality no corner of Franconia, Suabia, Alsace, or the Tyrol remained sterile. It was a popular art, localized, sentimental, and extremely incorrect, often coarse in form, but refined in soul even to affectation, and which in its pious imagery expressed better...