Stained Glass.

The nimbus , as an attribute , serves to denote a holy person , as a crown does a king , and a crozior a bishop . It is therefore of very great importance that this peculiarity should bo particularly noticed , as it bears the same relation to this branch of Christian art as the fingers , bones , mammals , etc ., do in zoology . The nimbus proper , as I have said before ,

is confined solely to the head ; the aureola is tho vescia piscis , or other form , which surrounds the body ; and the glory is the combination of both in one figure . The word nimbus is of Greek derivation , and is to water ¦ —to wet . It also signifies ( with the Latin word nubis ) a cloud , and it is in this latter sense that we use the word ;

although some artists lose sight of that fact , and instead ol surrounding the head with a cloud , or vapour , sometimes make it opaque , or luminous , or even transparent . The nimbus may be found used in pagan mythology , but the aureola may almost be said to be a Christian attribute , and was originally restricted almost exclusively to the Divine person and Virgin Mary . They are both intended for glorification or deification .

In all cases artists have selected the head , as the proper position for the nimbus—that being the chief point of attraction . In scri pture the head is the part that receives most mention and honour . Christ is the head of the church —the man is the head of the woman , < fcc ., —and one of the early fathers of the church has declared that " religious places

are those within which the entire body of a man , or at least his head , is buried , because no man can have two sepulchres . But the body , or any member without the head , cloth not make the place where it is buried reli gious . " * The spirit of Christianity seems therefore to give every honour to the head , making it the especial seat of the soul . To the head

belong all the faculties of taste , smell , sight , cfec and , above all , " thought . " The lion owes his title of king of the forest , to his head—and man , from carrying erect his head , and directing his gaze freely and naturall y towards heaven , is likewise said to derive his rank therefrom , as the chief of created beings . A fine head can ennoble an ugly formbut

, there can be no true beaut y in a fine form , with an ugly head . Anatomically considered , in the head is concentrated the entire man—the seat of beauty and intelligence . In ancient history wc read of the rewards bestowed upon men who have benefited their country—upon , heroes who have saved their country , or carried its arms successfully into

that of its enemy ; and the greatest of these rewards was that of the crown , be it of oak , laurel , or olive ; it was by this decoration that they were made like unto their fabulous deities . These crowns may , in fact , be deemed to be the forerunners or types of the Christian nimbus . It is easy to fancy how , in the first rise of Christianity , when martyrs shed

their blood in witness of the faith which they proclaimed , their fellow Christians should be anxious to render their names as illustrious as possible , and confer upon their memories the greatest honours ; and being fully alive to the customs of their Pagan forefathers , the representations of their martyrs , rudely though they may have been executed ,

were adorned with crowns , suspended by the divine hand , or else by angels descending from heaven . And as the crown of tlie king is so much superior to that of his nobles , theirs decreasing in proportion and grandeur as their rank decreases , so is it with the nimbus in Christian archteology , representing the attributes of the FatherSonand HolGhostthen the

, , y ; Virgin , the angels , saints , and holy men . As the crown is tlie emblem of civil power , and used to distinguish the man who is placed at the head of his country—so is the nimbus of divine power and of reli gious and ecclesiastical authority . During the first four centuries , however , the nimbus was but sparingly applied , and even the divinity itself was mostly

represented divested of this attribute . * When however the * The "body may be buried anywhere , but the head nowhere , save in holy and consecrated ground , in tho church or cemetery .

church at Borne had attained to greatness , she took steps to organize her personalities and powers , and when once she freely adopted the nimbus as a characteristic of holiness , it was constantly ajyplied , ancl so firm a hold did it take upon the delineators of sacred subjects , that even at the present clay no artist would think of putting up stained glass windows

representing the divinity or holy personages , without the distinguishing attribute consecrated to their use . At first it was represented as a disk , very fine and attenuated , and mostly transparent . In the twelfth , thirteenth , and fourteenth centuries it became less in size , but much more opaque , more like a plate at the back of the head

than any thing else , so that nothing could be seen through the body colours , so profusely were they applied . In the following century it became materialised , yet , nevertheless the arfcists never seemed to wish to lose sig ht of the fact that a ray of light was that which was required . With the nimbus , howeverfrequently applied to the Virgin , all light was

, abolished , ancl instead of the field being kept luminous , it was filled in with representations ofprecious stones , & c . Subsequently the true idea of the nimbus was revived , and Italian arfcists in the sixteenth century painted the nimbus as of old , and completely expressive of the object which it was oriinallintended to convey . In the present day

g y the transparent nimbus is correctly delineated , although , antique forms and ideas are adopted , but confined solely to the circular form , with or without diverging rays of light . The nimbus proper is of many forms and shapes , having

depended . much upon the taste of the artist producing it ; but when it is of any other form than that of circular it is usually accompanied by rays of light from the head . ^ ringing forth at the back , and extending

beyond the line of circumference . The circular form is , however , that generally met with ( Jig . 1 ) . In some instances the outer circle alone

appears but in others the field of L ^ " '" Sf ^" the nimbus , or the disk , is filled in plain , or with foliage or radiating lines . Sometimes we find them with a double circle merely ( Jig . 2 \ This may often be met with

iu France ancl Germany , as also Jig . 1 or the single line ; the triangular shape , however ( Jig . 3 ) , is but seldom seen there , although common enough in Italy and part of Greece . In Itussia also it has been found ; some of the figures in the iconoclasts , or rood screens , being so decorated . I have not heard of

this form being adopted in this , plain circulm . nimlu > t - wilh country ; neither have I met with double ring . Circa loou .

an example of this , or of the double triangle , which forms a star of six points ( fig . 4 ) , an emblem familiar to most members of tho Masonic Craft . The lower point is hidden by the head . This is taken from a

fresco at Mount Athos , forming part of a' very interesting painting , in which the Father , Son , and Holy Ghost arc delineated . In Antwerp there is a nimbus of five points

( fit / 5 ) , the lower part of whicli is 1 'lam triangular nimbus , w J / ' l Circa liGO . likewise concealed . * Before the sixth'century we have no well authenticated example of the nimbus , ancl ifc is never constantly figured until after the eleventh century .