Works
Kraus was a man of brilliant and versatile talents, a scholar of great learning, a clever and elegant writer, and, in spite of ill-health and the acute bodily sufferings of his closing years, an author of wonderful productivity, who delighted in his work. After a few translations from the French (van Hemen, de Ravignan, and Lacordaire) he began his independent literary career with small works on the history of early Christian literature in the first centuries and the Middle Ages, among them: "Ægidius von Rom" (in "Oesterreichische Vierteljahreschrift für kath. Theologie", I, 1862) "Observationes criticae in Synesii Cyrenaei epistulas" (Sulzbach, 1863); "Studien uber Synesios von Kyrene" (in "Theologische Quartalschrift, XLVII, 1865; "Der Briefwechsel Pauli mit Seneca" "Theologissche Quartalschrift", XLIX, 1867), and later "Ueber das Martyrium des h. Ignatius von Antiochien" ("Theol. Quartalschrift", LV, 1873).
Of the edition of the "Opera omnia" of Thomas à Kempis, undertaken by Kraus, only the first volume appeared ("Opuscula", Trier, 1868). Another series of writings, published in the "Bonner Jahrbucher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden" and in the "Serapeum", deals with particular features of the history and archeology of Trier.
In this manner Kraus was led on to the study of Christian archaeology in general, and then to Christian art in all its aspects, thus reaching the field of research for which he seemed particularly qualified, and in which he was to accomplish his best work. Among other larger or smaller publications we may mention: "Beitrage zur Trierischen Archaologie und Gesehichte. I, Der heilige Nagel in der Domkirche zu Trier" (Trier, 1868); "DieKunst bei den alten Christen" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1868); "Die christliche Kunst in ihren fruhesten Anfangen. Mit besonderer Berucksichtigung der neuesten Resultate der Katakomben-Forsehung popular dargestellt" (Leipzig, 1872); "Ueber den gegenwartigen Stand der Frage nach dern Inhalte und der sedeutung der römischen Blutampullen "(Freiburg, 1872); "Das Spotterucifix vom Palatin" (Freiburg, 1872); "Roma sotterranea: Die römischen Katakomben. Eine Darstellung der neuesten Forschungen, mit Zugrundelegung des Werkes von J. Spencer Northcote und W. R. Brownlow" (Freiburg, 1873; 2nd ed., 1879); "Ueber das Studium der Kunstwissenschaft an den deutschen Hochschulen" (Strasburg, 1874); "Ueber Begriff, Umfang, Geschichte der christlichen Archaologie und die Bedeutung der monumentalen Studien far die historische Theologie. Akademische Antrittsrede" (Freiburg, 1879); "Synchronistische Tabellen zur christlichen Kunstgeschichte" (Freiburg, 1880).
These were followed by the works which constitute Kraus's chief claim t fame: "Kunst und Alterthum in Elsass-Lothringen. Beschreibende Statistik im Auftrage des kalserlichen Oberprasidiums von Elsass-Lothringen herausgegeben" (4 vols, Strasburg, 1876–92); "Beal-Encyklopadie der christlichen Alterthümer" (2 vols., Freiburg, 1882-6); "Die Kunstdenkmäler des Grossherzogthurns Baden" (vols. I — VI, 1, Freiburg, 1887-1904 — continued by other authors); "Die christlichen Inschriften der Rheinlande" (2 vols, Freiburg, 1890-4); and lastly his masterpiece: Geschichte der christlichen Kunst" (vol. I and the first half of volume II (Freiburg, 1896–1900). The second half of volume two, which brings the description of the Italian Renaissance to a close, was published by Joseph Sauer in 1908. This work combined the results of all Kraus's labours in the field of art. Its chief merit lies in the description of the connection of art with the general and religious culture of the different periods.
Other important publications belong to the special history of art: "Die Wandgemälde der St. Georgskirche zu Oberzell auf der Reichenau" (Freiburg, 1884); "Die Miniaturen des Codex Egberti in der Stadtbibliothek zu Trier" (Freiburg, 1884); "Die Miniaturen der Manesseschen Liederhandschrift" (Strasburg, 1887); "Die mittelalterlichen Wandgemälde im Grossherzogthum Baden" (with H. von Oechelhäuser, vol. I, Darmstadt, 1893); "Die Wandgemälde der Sylvesterkapelle zu Goldbach am Bodense" (Munich, 1902).
Kraus's literary leanings were directed especially towards Italy. After a close study of Dante, covering years of labour, he published "Dante. Sein Leben und sein Werk. Sein Verhältniss zur Kunst und Politik" (Berlin, 1897). Somewhat earlier he had published "Luca Signorelli's Ilustrationen zu Dante's Divina Commedia" (Freiburg, 1892).
His collected "Essays" belong to Kraus's most brilliant literary efforts (vols. I and II, Berlin, 1896 and 1901); they are of a literary, historical, and political character, and the majority appeared originally in the Deutsche Rundschau; particularly noteworthy are the essays "Antonio Rosmini" — for whom Kraus had a particular veneration — and "Francesco Petrarca in seinem Briefwechsel".
Compared with literature and art, Kraus's work on church history takes second place. His "Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte fur Studierende" (lst ed. in 3 parts, Trier, 1872-5; 4th ed., 1896, French translation: "Histoire de l'Eglise par F. X. Kraus traduite par P. Godet et C. Verschaffel" (4 vols. Paris, 1891-2) contains much that is excellent, but has also serious defects. It is distinguished by clear and perspicuous arrangement, based more or less on that of the well-known manual of the Protestant historian Kurtz, and its narrative. One misses the objectivity of the historian, the author showing in many instances the influence which his liberalizing views exerted over his judgment. At the second edition of 1882, Kraus was compelled by the pope to withdraw and revise it. The revised edition appeared in 1887 with the ecclesiastical imprimatur.
The first edition of the church history was followed by the "Synchronistische Tabellen zur Kirchengeschichte" (Trier, 1876) and "Charakterbilder aus der christlichen Kirchengeschichte" (5 parts, Trier, 1877), which were designated the fourth and fifth divisions of the ecclesiastical history, but had really the character of separate works.
Among his less important ecclesiastico-historical works are "Briefe Benedicts XIV. an den Canonicus Francesco Peggi in Bologna 1727-1758" (Freiburg and Tübingen, 1884; 2nd ed., 1888): "Medicean Rome" in Cambridge Modern History, II (Cambridge, 1903), 1-35. Mention should also be made of his preparation of the tenth edition of Alzog's "Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte" (2 vols., Mainz, 1882), and his "Gedachtnissrede auf Johannes Alzog, Professor der Theologie an der Universitat Freiburg" (Freiburg, 1879). His political rather than his ecclesiastical views are reflected in "Die Erhebung Italiens im 19 Jahrhundert: Cavour" (Mainz, 1902 — "Weltgeschichte in Karakterbildern", vol. V).
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Famous quotes containing the word works:
“My first childish doubt as to whether God could really be a good Protestant was suggested by my observation of the deplorable fact that the best voices available for combination with my mother’s in the works of the great composers had been unaccountably vouchsafed to Roman Catholics.”
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“We all agree now—by “we” I mean intelligent people under sixty—that a work of art is like a rose. A rose is not beautiful because it is like something else. Neither is a work of art. Roses and works of art are beautiful in themselves. Unluckily, the matter does not end there: a rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind.”
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“You are always looking for already-felt emotions, just as you like to get an old pair of trousers back from the cleaners, which seem new when you don’t look too closely. Artists are cleaners, don’t let yourself be taken in by them. True modern works of art are made not by artists but quite simply by men.”
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