Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Art And The Builders Of Monte Cassino, Ceremonious Dedications, Master Workmen, Etc., In The Middle Ages.
patched to Byzantium and the Egyptian metropolis for workmen whose renown had rendered them celebrated in the Occident . Through their handicraft the new church was richly adorned with mosaic cubes , the infinite variety of colour and design of which , according to the unstinted praise of a contemporary writer , gave the
structure a striking resemblance to the animate bloom of a luxuriant garden , as well as a living similitude to mankind and animals . A curious fact now comes to view . It is stated in this connection , because this art for more than five hundred years had been intermitted or lost to Latin Masters , "Latinitas magistra ; " therefore , in order to
preserve it henceforth Le Strolz , the zealous prior of Monte Cassino , selected the most apt of a large number of lads in the Monastery and had them thoroughly educated in mosaic work by those masters whose skill had reproduced there the most elegant specimens of Grecian and Arabic culture ,
Instruction to this aggregation of apprentices was not restricted to musive art , but the presence of such talented masters was utilized for the proficient cultivation of these future artificers in all cognate branches of inlaid workmanship in gold , silver , etc ., ivory , ebony , wood or stone . The result of this enlightened policy may be readily
inferred . Upon the departure of the elder craftsmen , the monastery of Monte Cassino possessed great numbers of cleverest workmen , " studiosissimos prorsus artifices de suis sibi paravit . " This interestingevent , long anterior to the close of the eleventh century , establishes the means of a safe conclusion as regards the method of propagating
and preserving styles of art in the convents of Mediaeval Europe . It also reveals the careful vigilance of the Romish sacerdoty in maintaining the highest types of artistic excellence among the monastic inmates , oblati or log—for such is the evident signification of the chronist whom we follow—in strict development of aptitude displayed by them .
In the year 1082 Desiderius ordered a detachment of craftsmen competent to the elaborate preparation of chapter heads for marble columns in the officinas of his convent at Capua , sculptors drawn without doubt from the monastic craft domiciled in the chief Priory of Monte Cassino .
As connected with the subject of the progress of Architectural Art during the middle ages , it may be stated here that from the earliest periods of the Christian Church the Synodal decretals required a third part of all gifts or tithes to religious bodies to be devoted to the maintenance or construction of sacred structures . Subsequent to the
eleventh century this fund subserved a great purpose—under Episcopal control : for the payment of wages to organizations of secular builders , 3 ? 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Art And The Builders Of Monte Cassino, Ceremonious Dedications, Master Workmen, Etc., In The Middle Ages.
patched to Byzantium and the Egyptian metropolis for workmen whose renown had rendered them celebrated in the Occident . Through their handicraft the new church was richly adorned with mosaic cubes , the infinite variety of colour and design of which , according to the unstinted praise of a contemporary writer , gave the
structure a striking resemblance to the animate bloom of a luxuriant garden , as well as a living similitude to mankind and animals . A curious fact now comes to view . It is stated in this connection , because this art for more than five hundred years had been intermitted or lost to Latin Masters , "Latinitas magistra ; " therefore , in order to
preserve it henceforth Le Strolz , the zealous prior of Monte Cassino , selected the most apt of a large number of lads in the Monastery and had them thoroughly educated in mosaic work by those masters whose skill had reproduced there the most elegant specimens of Grecian and Arabic culture ,
Instruction to this aggregation of apprentices was not restricted to musive art , but the presence of such talented masters was utilized for the proficient cultivation of these future artificers in all cognate branches of inlaid workmanship in gold , silver , etc ., ivory , ebony , wood or stone . The result of this enlightened policy may be readily
inferred . Upon the departure of the elder craftsmen , the monastery of Monte Cassino possessed great numbers of cleverest workmen , " studiosissimos prorsus artifices de suis sibi paravit . " This interestingevent , long anterior to the close of the eleventh century , establishes the means of a safe conclusion as regards the method of propagating
and preserving styles of art in the convents of Mediaeval Europe . It also reveals the careful vigilance of the Romish sacerdoty in maintaining the highest types of artistic excellence among the monastic inmates , oblati or log—for such is the evident signification of the chronist whom we follow—in strict development of aptitude displayed by them .
In the year 1082 Desiderius ordered a detachment of craftsmen competent to the elaborate preparation of chapter heads for marble columns in the officinas of his convent at Capua , sculptors drawn without doubt from the monastic craft domiciled in the chief Priory of Monte Cassino .
As connected with the subject of the progress of Architectural Art during the middle ages , it may be stated here that from the earliest periods of the Christian Church the Synodal decretals required a third part of all gifts or tithes to religious bodies to be devoted to the maintenance or construction of sacred structures . Subsequent to the
eleventh century this fund subserved a great purpose—under Episcopal control : for the payment of wages to organizations of secular builders , 3 ? 2