sentations of God the Father are not very common nor, as a rule,
very expressive of the most vivid religious ideals; while Christ,
usually not as God, but as man or child, and the Virgin Mary are the
constant themes of the most devout religious art, not to speak of the
numerous saints who correspond more or less to the gods of a
polytheistic system. Philosophical thought was antagonistic to
anthropomorphism, which, as we have seen, was the most characteristic
feature of popular religion in Greece, and which was essential to Greek
religious art. As soon as the human form is a mere symbol, no longer
regarded as the express image of the god and the embodiment of his
individuality, it loses touch with reality. And this reality in the
relation of the god to his image must be believed in by the people, and
at least through the people by the artist, if religious art is to
preserve its vitality.

CHAPTER III

CONDITIONS OF RELIGIOUS ART IN GREECE

The Greeks possessed, as we have seen, to an exceptionally high degree
the vivid anthropomorphic imagination necessary for the expression of
their conception of the gods in their art; we have also noticed the
conditions which encouraged or restricted such representation, and the
influences that affected its nature. Given the desire to represent the
character and individuality of the gods in human form, the next question
we have to consider is how far their art, and especially the art of
sculpture, was capable of giving effect to this desire. The answer lies
mainly in the history of Greek sculpture, which can only be touched on
here in the barest outline. But, at the outset, it is necessary to
remove a misconception which is prevalent at the present day, and more
especially in England, owing partly to the dominating influence of a
great critic. Mr. Ruskin's _Aratra Pentelici_ is full of the most
admirable and suggestive appreciations of Greek sculpture in its more
technical aspects; but side by side with them are found passages such as
the following: "There is no personal character in true Greek art;
abstract ideas of youth and age, strength and swiftness, virtue and
vice--yes; but there is no individuality." Or again: "The Greek, as
such, never expresses personal character, while a Florentine holds it to
be the ultimate condition of beauty." If this criticism were just, it
would follow that any study of the relation of religion to art in Greece
would lose most if not all of