As a style, apart from its subject--or content beauty; as the manifestation of a mighty will--who can help admiring this art of Christianity? If only its ideal had been a possible one, and one which would have required no rhetoric, seduction, or emotional oratory, accompanied by the ringing of all the precious metals, to support it until the end; it might have ascended to the highest pinnacle of art in simplicity, restraint and order. Into simplicity, however, it was never able to develop, while its constant need of explaining made it to the very last retain more or less realism in the presentation of its ideal type. [7] On this point see Kraus, _Geschichte der christlichen Kunst_, Vol. I, pp. 41, 46 et seq. Muther, _Geschichte der Malerei_, Vol. I, p. 13. Woltmann and Woermann, _History of Painting_, Vol. I. pp. 151-156. Paul Lacroix, _Les Arts au Moyen Age et à l'Epoque de la Renaissance_ (Ed. 1877, Paris), p. 254. [8] See J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, _The History of Painting in Italy_ (Ed. 1903), Vol. I, p. 4. Woltmann and Woermann, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 156. [9] Woltmann and Woermann, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 156. [10] J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, _op. cit._, pp. 14, 15. [11] For a discussion of the material causes of the change of type, see Milman, _op. cit._. Vol. IX, p. 324. [12] Crowe and Cavalcaselle, _op. cit._, Vol. I, pp. 24, 25. [13] Woltmann and Woermann, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 185. [14] Woltmann and Woermann, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 230. [15] See an interesting discussion on the early Christian attitude towards art in Kraus, _Geschichte der christlichen Kunst_, Vol. I, pp. 58 et seq. See also Milman's conclusions on the subject, _History of Latin Christianity_, Vol. II, pp. 345, 346. [16] See his letter to Leo the Isaurian, quoted by Milman, _op. cit._, Vol. II, pp. 358-361. See also the Rev. J. S. Black's article on "Images" in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ (9th Edition). [17] The Rev. J. S. Black says, in his article on "Images," above referred to, that even as early as the fourth or fifth centuries there is evidence of the tendency to enlist art in the service of the Church, while Woltmann and Woermann (_op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 167) quote the following instance: "When St. Nilus (A.D. 450) was consulted about the decoration of a church, he rejected as childish and unworthy the intended design of plants, birds, animals, and a number of crosses, and desired the interior to be adorned with pictures from the Old and New Testaments, with the same motive that Gregory II expressed afterwards...." [18] Kraus seems to be of the opinion that this suppression of primary sexual characteristics in paintings was not at all uncommon in the Middle Ages. See _Geschichte der christlichen Kunst_, Vol. II, p. 280. [19] _Modern Art_, Vol. I, p. 24. 3. The Gothic Building and Sentiment.