Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/713

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WINDESHEIM
651
WINDESHEIM

the painter Dietrich and the archaeologist Heyne. In 1754, after Winckelmann had become a Catholic, the king, to whom he had dedicated the work just mentioned, took more interest in him and granted a pension which enabled Winckelmann towards the end of 1755 to undertake his long-desired trip to Rome. By a careful study of the collections of paintings at Rome, the libraries, the remains of ancient architecture, and especially the collections of anticiuities at the Capitol, the Vatican, and the villas of the Borghesi, Medici, Ludovisi, etc. Winckelmann became the greatest authority in archæology, a position which he maintained for many years. The painter Mengs did much to encourage his Classical taste, and Cardinal Albani, whose counsellor in learned matters Winckelmann became, proved himself a munificent patron. Winckelmann supervised the buildings erected by the cardinal, enriched his collections, and made known their value. He spent considerable time in Florence, cataloguing the collection of engraved gems belonging to Baron von Stosch. Of more importance were his journeys of investigation to Southern Italy, during which he studied the antiquities of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Pæstum. He was not able to make his much-desired visit to Sicily and Greece, yet this did not prove very detrimental to his life-work and his reputation. Although his history of art is based almost entirely upon the study of Roman works of art or Roman copies of Greek originals, yet with prophetic glance he had grasped the genuine spirit of antiquity.

As the first literary guide to ancient art, Winckelmann won such fame that several succeeding generations were satisfied to accept his deductions and criticisms without paying much attention to newer discoveries. As a matter of fact, the "Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums" (Dresden, 1764; with notes upon it, Dresden, 1867) compels admiration not only for the industry of the author, who completed the great work while producing other books on various subjects, but, above all, for the spirit in which he grasped and presented, in general correctly, the conception of art of classic times. Occasionally, however, his views arc one-sided and extreme. In 1766 a French translation of his history of ancient art was printed at Paris and Amsterdam. In the first part of the work he takes up aesthetic questions and treats of the origin and form of art, and of the different tjTies under which it appeared in various nations. According to him the first and most important point in works of art is the idea embodied, whether original or partly borrowed; the second is beauty, that is, the variety in the simplicity; the third, technic. In the second part of the history, Greek art alone is discussed and it is brought down to the time of the Emperor Severus and Constantinople. Winckelmann's "Monumenti antichi inediti" (2 vols., with 216 plates, Rome, 1767) is a masterpiece of interpretation and explanation. The great archæologist died a devout and sincere Catholic (Historisch-politische Blätter, 1858, 299 sqq.)

Justi, Winckelmann sein Leben, seine Werke, seine Zeitgejtoasen (2 vols.. Leipzig, 1866 and 1872): Stark, Systematik u. Gesch. der Archaologie der Kunst (I vol., Leipzig, 1880).

G. GIETMANN.


Windesheim, an Augustinian monastery situated aboui I'liiir miles south of Zwolle on the I.s.sel, in the KingdiMii of Holland. The congregation of canons regular, of which this was the chief house, was an offshoot of the Brethren of the Common Life and played a considerable part in the reforming movement within the Catholic Church in Holland and Germany during the century which preceded the Reformation. The Brethren of the Common Life, who did not form an order or congregation strictly so called, had become obnoxious to the mendicant friars, and the object of their attacks. To remedy this, Gerard Groot,


when on his deathbed (1384), advised that some of the brethren should adopt the rule of an approved order (Chron. Wind., 263). His successor, Florence Radewjns, carried this advice into effect. Six of the brethren, carefully chosen as specially fitted for thework, among them John, elder larother of Thomas a Kempis, were sent to the monastery of Eymsteyn (founded 13S2) to learn the usages of the Augustinian Canons. In 13S6 they erected huts for a temporary monastery at Windesheim, and in March of the following year commenced the building of a monastery and church, which were consecrated by Hubert Lebene, titular Bishop of Hippo and auxiliary of Utrecht, on 17 Oct., 1387. At the same time the six brethren took their vows. The real founder of the greatness of Windesheim was Johann Vos, the second prior (1391-1424), under whom the number of religious was greatly increased and many foundations were made. The first of the.se were Marienborn near Arnheim and Niewlicht near Hoorn (1392). These two houses with Eymsteyn and the motherhouse were the first members of the congregation or chapter [capitulum) as it was then called. It was approved and received certain privileges from Boniface IX in 1395. The constitutions added to the Rule of St. Augustine were approved by Martin V at the Council of Constance. An annual general chapter was held at Windesheim "after the fashion of the brethren of the Carthusian Order", at which all the priors proffered their resignation. The prior of Windesheim was the superior prior, or head of the congregation, with considerable powers. After 1573 a prior-general was elected from among the priors of the monasteries. The choir Office at first followed in general the Ordinarium of I'trecht (for the reform of the Windesheim liturgical books by Radulfus de Rivo, Dean of Tongres, see Mohlberg, op. cit. infra). The Windesheim Breviary was printed at Lou vain in 1546.

The life of the canons was strict, but not oversevere; we are told that a postulant was asked if he could slecj) well, eat well, and obej- well, "since these three points are the foundation of stability in the monastic life". The constitutions exhibit in many points the influence of the Carthusian statutes. The canons wore a black hood and scapular, with a white tunic and rochet; the lay brothers were dressed in gray.

By 1407 the congregation numbered twelve monasteries. In 1413 it was joined by the seven Brabant houses of the Groenendael Congregation, of which the famous mystic Ruysbroek had been a member, and in 1430 by the twelve houses of the Congregation of Neuss in the Archdiocese of Cologne. When the Windesheim Congregation reached the height of its prosperity towards the end of the fifteenth century, it numbered eighty-six houses of canons, and sixteen of nuns, mostly situated in what is now the Kingdom of Holland, and in the ecclesiastical Province of Cologne. Those which survived the Reformation (they still numbered 32 in 1728) were suppressed at the end of the eighteenth or beginning of the nineteenth century. Uden in Holland is the only survivor at the present day (Heimbucher, 11, 43). The destruction of Windesheim itself began in 1572, when the altars in the church were destroyed by thepeoj)leof Zwolle; the suppression came in 1.581. There are now practically no remains of the buildings. The last prior of Windesheim, Marcellus Lentius (d. 1603), never obtained possession of his monastery.

The Windesheimers numbered many writers, besides copyists and illuminators. Their most famous author was Thomas a Kempis. Besides ascetical works, they also produced a number of chronicles, of which we may mention the "Chronicle of Windesheim " by Johann Busch. An emendation