dull wonder that these triumphs of trickery and bad art have created has given them a singular vogue. The whole idea is so wrong-headed, so perverse, so without a possibility of justification, that it is a waste of time to condemn it in detail. . . It is bad, thoroughly and hopelessly bad, and that is all one can say... To show the false position the art of glass-staining occupies nowadays let me speak of an incredible occurrence I know of. Certain people who were proposing to give a memorial window, and who had a liking for the painter Millet, asked a certain firm of glass-painters to make a window representing "The Sower," and, instead of refusing the commission, it was accepted with alacrity. Now no one subject could be chosen which was less adaptable in stained glass than this particular picture; and yet the work was cheerfully undertaken, without the least regard to the absurdity of the idea. Not only this, but, at the instigation of the donors, the glass-maker copied the well-known picture; and because the man in whose memory the window was to be erected wore a beard, they showed this beard in Millet's picture. Could anything be more preposterous and disheartening? Yet this is an example of what is asked for and gotten at this time; and it shows how totally false is the attitude of the public and the makers of glass toward this most noble and exalted form of religious art."

Let us, then, in closing this section emphasize strongly this important principle drawn from the material employed in the making of the decorated window, that stained glass must not be unnaturally forced to represent that for which it is not adapted. Just as some men have a Divine call to preach and others are clearly marked out as scientists, painters and sculptors, and are of but little use in the world unless they exercise themselves in these callings; in like manner glass has certain qualities and adaptabilities which manifestly fit it for positive effects. Study these carefully and use them to secure legitimate results and the reward will be a thing of beauty and a joy forever; abuse them

by endeavoring to make them render a service for which they were never adapted, and the result will be disappointment and chagrin.

The true function of a stained glass window is emphatically not pictorial representation, as shown above, but decoration. This principle remains true in spite of the fact that "to every person who will regard a window as the decoration of a wallspace, superb above all other forms of mural decoration by reason of its translucence, there is an indefinite number who view it only as a picture." Art principles are not fixed by the counting of noses in estimating majorities. This decorative character of the stained glass window we must strongly emphasize in a consideration like this, especially so on account of the perversity and the persistence with which the majority regards a stained glass window as simply a picture in glass. To accord the window its proper artistic treatment, we must understand its true function. The decorated window is simply and purely the decoration of a wall-space made translucent by means of colored glass. It is simply a mural decoration. The first object in the insertion of windows is to keep out the weather; the second is to admit light. They continue the wall-surface, and are consequently simply a part of the wall made translucent. The art of the decorator applied to this part of the wall-space gives us the decorated window.

Since the function of the stained glass window is simply decorative, it must extend the flat surface of the wall without any attempt at perspective or modelling. Any device or art by which the impression of perspective is given is to be condemned in a window. To endeavor to produce the impression that it is a hole in the wall, which it is not, is deception, and cannot be tolerated by the true artist. Yet who has not seen windows which give representations of landscapes with mountains and clouds in the back-ground, and with lambs skipping on green meadows intervening between the foreground and the mountains in the rear?

This is not decoration, but an attempt at realistic representation to which glass does not artistically yield itself and which must be studiously avoided by the artist when working in this medium.

Since glass may be used legitimately only for decorative purposes, the designs and the figures on decorated windows must be conventional and not naturalistic. "Now the law of ecclesiastical decoration is that everything should be both decorative and symbolic. Every angel and archangel, every saint, be he martyr or confessor, every prophet, every king, has his proper symbolical vestment and his special attributes. Our Lord Himself, when He is portrayed in glory is clothed in the splendor of both the royal and the priestly vestments that show forth His twofold glory of Priest and King. The impulse that leads to rebellion against these vestments, these attributes, because of some fancied association is not one that needs to be considered; for even the Christian style of architecture-nay, even all art itself-falls under the same condemnation."

The window-spaces are necessarily broken up by the mullions and the tracery. The decorative scheme must not be extended over and beyond these natural barriers. These are essential limitations beyond which a representation dare not pass. Who has not already seen a window, divided by a sash-bar in the middle, yet wholly covered by the figure of an angel, or saint, or other worthy?

This principle of limiting the figure or design to the open spaces determined by the mullions and the tracery, however, is not violated by the representation in a double or triple window of a scene which demands the introduction of several prominent figures, if the different ones are confined to their proper limiting spaces. The whole may be appropriately unified by a homogeneous treatment of the canopy-work in such a way as to bind the whole window into unity.

Owing to the fact that the peculiar characteristics of stained glass are especially aggressive, the principle of subordination and

restraint is often neglected in using this form of decoration. It dare not assert itself in such a way as to distract the attention from everything else. It must naturally hold its place without insolence or insistence. It is simply a means to an end, a small part of a great whole. The otherwise charming effect of a beautiful church may be spoiled by the wrong treatment of its windows. This subordinate part of the architecture may insolently thrust itself forward in such a way as to take the chief place in our consciousness somewhat after the manner of a strong voice with a peculiar timbre in an untrained choir. There is an architectural harmony in every properly constructed church. When this harmony is impaired by a wrong treatment of the windows, a fundamental principle has been violated.

In conclusion let us remember that we are dealing with art when we contemplate the principles which govern the use of stained glass. Art ought to make the impression of beauty, and the contemplation of art-forms should give us pleasurable impres sions. Much that wrongly passes for art has been imposed upon the Church. It is to be hoped that the day is not far distant when the true principles of art in decoration may be understood by the many, so that there may be an end of the reign of what is cheap, tawdry and positively ugly; and that our sanctuaries, with the growth of our appreciation of the beautiful and the true in art, may grow into a closer correspondence with the heavenly beauties of the spiritual blessings which are mediated in them through the Means of Grace.

Chicago, Ill.

ELMER F. KRAUSS.

SACRED MONOGRAMS-THE CHRISMA AND

THE HOLY NAME.

THE CHRISMA.

f

FROM the glyptic art we learn, according to Chabouillet,* that the earliest forms under which the Christians allowed themselves to represent the Saviour were purely emblematical-the Good Shepherd, the Dove, and the Fish. In the Second Century Clement of Alexandria gives Christians some advice: "Let the engraving upon your ring be a dove, a fish, or a ship running before the wind; or a ship's anchor, which Seleucus had cut upon his signet. If the device represents a man fishing, the wearer will be put in mind of the Apostles, and of the little children drawn up out of the water. For we must not engrave upon it idols, which we are forbidden even to look upon; nor a sword or bow, for we are followers of peace; nor a drinking cup, for we are sober men."

The earliest manifestations of Christian painting frequently exhibit pagan models in the attempt to typify the Saviour. Thus he is represented as the Orpheuss of the new faith, charming and taming ferocious animals by the sound of his lute. When Christian art first dared to court the light of day under Constantine,

*Antique Gems and Rings, by C. W. KING.

+ Pædagogus, iii, 11.

Note in History of Miniature Art, by J. L. PROPEST.

§ A Greek mythical poet, who with his lyre enchanted everything that had life. Even in Hades the charm of his music caused the torments to cease.

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