Excerpt from German, Flemish and Dutch Painting<br><br>Classic ideal in its treatment of sacred subjects. The ancient Greek had delighted to paint the beauties of the human form in pictures Of sensuous loveliness. The monks of Byzantium treated the subjects of their Art with the sternest asceticism, endeavouring to teach the subjection of the flesh to the Spirit. Shut out from the world, which was in a state of transition, the Old order changing, and giving place to new, these monks laboured at a form of Art which never advanced but in time took the place of the Classical Christian school, which entirely disappears from the later paintings in the Catacombs.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.