arch and pillar as a background for the glow of color with which the
artists of Constantine worked,--in a rigid convention as to form which
gives their figures an impressive air, but which is ill-suited to the
representation of the divine Mother and Child. Hence, in this, the
earliest manifestation of Christian art, it is the remembrance of the
majesty of a prophet, of the benign dignity of the mature Christ, that
I we carry away with us. Giotto, however, had no sooner freed himself
from the hampering conditions under which his predecessors worked,
than we begin to feel the human element enter into art. Down through
the centuries until to-day, the long procession of artists comes to
us: those of Italy first of all, birthplace of modern art, land where
time has touched everything with so reverent a hand that all has been
rendered beautiful.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD. MURILLO (SPANISH: BORN 1618?; DIED
1682).

This legion of valiant painters enlisted in the service of "that most
noble Lady and her Son, our Lord and Seigneur," have names which sound
sweet to the ear, as their work is goodly to the sight. Giotto, Era
Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Gentile da Fabriano, Ghirlandajo, names like
the beads of a rosary, commence the list, to which Botticelli,
Perugino, Raffaello Santi, Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto,
Correggio, Tiziano, Veronese, and, last of all, with a name like the
blast of a trumpet, the mighty Michael the Archangel, add their
syllabic charm. Then the painters of more northern lands bring the
tribute of their name and work; names less pleasing to the ear, as
their work has less beauty to the sight, but rich, both in name and
work, with honest intent and simple devotion.