illing to tolerate any other God beside her)
replace the religion of the masses? Was a reformation imminent? Would
the traditional religion be transformed into metaphysical eroticism,
dethroning God, enthroning a goddess? It is impossible to say in what
direction the spiritual history of Europe would have developed if Dante
had been merely a metaphysical lover, and not also an orthodox
theologian; if instead of penetrating to the vision of the divine
secret, he had fainted before the face of Beatrice....

The religion of woman and the dominant religion came to terms. This
compromise was possible because the Christian pantheon included a female
deity who, although she had not hitherto played a prominent part, held
an exceptional position: this was Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer. From
A.D. 400 to A.D. 1200, her rank had been on a level with the rank of the
antique goddesses; now the new emotion enveloped and revivified her. The
rigid, soulless image with the golden circle round the head slowly
melted into sweet womanhood. In Italy this sentiment inspired wonderful
paintings of the Madonna, and was responsible for the development of
portraiture in general. The hold of the overwhelming tradition was
broken. Rejecting the universal conviction that the historical Mary had
resembled the Mary of Byzantine art, the artist, under the dominion of
his woman-worship--which surpassed and re-valued all things--drew his
inspiration from the fulness of life. I do not agree with Thode that we
are indebted to the legend of St. Francis for the modern soulful and
highly individualised art. Its source must have been the strongest
feeling of the most cultured minds, and that was undoubtedly spiritual
love. The Jesuit Beissel wrote with deep regret: "Every master almost
formed his own conception of Mary, but in such a way that the hieratic
severity of earlier times disappeared but slowly." And he continued: "It
is true, the artists' models were the noble ladies of their period; not
only on account of their kindly smiling faces, but also on account of
the charming coquetry with which their hands drew their cloaks across
the bosom." And the art-historian, Male, says: "It is a remarkable fact
that in the thirteenth century the legend, or the story, of the Virgin
Mary was depicted on the doors of all our (_i.e._, French) cathedrals."

The difference between the Catholic and the Protestant world-principles
is strongly marked in this connection. C