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.i ii i iii )i
w
j
i
m m wwi //( (Apollo),
divinities of
ancient
Etruria,
Hcrcla (^Hercules), Tinia (Bacchus),
Thalna (Juno).
ASSYB/AN SCULPTURE.
59
Wefirst
see that in giving this
emblem
to the mes-
sengers of the Most
High, the old legends of the
Christian era introduced no
more of a novelty
than the marquises of the CEil-dc-Boeuf when theyput red heels to their shoes.
At
the British
Museum
there are but two Assyrian
objects which are neither in the form of tablets nor
of slabs.
One
is
a statue found at Kalah-Shergat,
the only one asof
> et
discoveredItis
in
the excavations
Assyrian;
towns.
headless
and
muchit
damagedis
it
represented a king on a throne, but
of no interest to the artist or archaeologist exceptits
from
own
insignificance.
The
other,
which
is
far
more important, isdecreasingin size
a small obelisk of blackish marble,
of about two metres high, cut into four sides, and
towards the top.it
In addition to
ten lines of cuneiform writing,reliefs,
has twenty bas-
with a great
manyIt
figures of animals, lions,
rhinoceroses,
monkeys, horses,
carrying presents.
&c., led by men must have been a trophy of
victory and conquest, representing offerings broughtto the king
by the subject people.so
Andof a
as the
intention
is
very
clear,in
the
little
obelisk
oi
Kalah-Shergat
may,
the
hands
future
Champollion, become a guide to the deciphering ofthe hieroglyphics of the cuneiform character.**
Dr. Hincks already asserts that the two hundred and ten lines of
GO
ASS FBI AN SCULPT CUE.
The English and French museumstiles
cjntaui
many
or bricks with inscriptions in this cuneiform
writing (the letters of which are shaped like the
heads of
nails),
called Keilschrift
by
the Germans,
and arroiv-headed character by the English. Throu2[h the efforts which have been mads sincethe time of the traveller Chardin,
by Niebuhr the Dane, Grotefead, Rask, Lassen, E. Burnouf, by Colonel Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks in England, and by MM. Jules Oppert and Joachim Menant at the same time in France, modern science will. perhaps, at last discover the meaning of this writing, and learn to decipher it as it has the hiero.
glyphics of Egypt.
Weand
will
conclude by noticing the clear proofs
in
the Louvre that Assyrian civilization had a greatdirect influence
upon that of the Greeks. Theseornamented with a sunkenin relief.
proofs are, so to speak, written on two silver giltcups, one of whichfrieze,is
and the other by subjects
TheseCitium,
cups were found
in the ruins of the ancient
a town of the island of Cyprus.
Their Assyrian
the Assyrian writing contain the royal annals during a period otthirty-one years,
and that amongst the:
tributaries of the king
of
Assyria are enumerated successively
Jehu, king of .Samaria (calledB.C.
by Racine
in Athalit the
proud Jehu), and Hazael, who was made
king of the same country by the prophet Elisha, about SS5
ASSYBJAN SCULPTURE.originis
61
quite
evident.
They
are
of the
samein
shape as those held by the king of Assyriabas-reliefs of
the
Khorsabad and Nimrod.
as well as of;
the bronze cups found in those palaces
besides
which, the subjects of the friezes of the cups and
those of the bas-reliefs are identical, the symbols
and theengraved
details are the same.
When we
look at
these Asiatic cups,silver
we can fancy whatlike,
that vase of
was
which Achilles proposed
as a prize at the race at the funeral of Patroclus,
the vase brought
by
sea
by the Phoenicians
to
Troas, and which was of exceeding beaut)\ (Iliad,
Book
xxiii.)
We
understand also how merchants of Tyre and
Sidon brought similar vases and other products of Assyrian art, not only to the Archipelago and thecontinent of Greece, but even as far as Sicily andCentral Italy, where flourished the art of the Etruscans,
who were
as
renownedkeramic
for theirart.
works
in
bronze
as for those in
62
CHAPTER
III.
ETRUSCAN SCULPTURE.
WEtive
must now say a (ew words on Etruscansculpture before passing to Greece.
Etruria, a near neighbour of our own, situated at
the gate of Gaul, can also pride itself on a primicivilization,
which although at
first
purely-
national, except for a slight Asiatic element, sub-
sequentlyfinallyit
fell
under Greek
influence,
andwith
wasthe
absorbed into that of Rome, after giving tocreed andsuperstitions, together
its
rudiments of every art and industry.thisin
Pliny asserts
twenty passages.
The most
important
was every kind of metal work, the chasing of jewels of gold and silver, thenational art of Etruria,
casting
of
bronze
statues,
the
manufacture
of
armour,
altars,
tripods,
and
all articles
made within
the hammer.the
There are three of great valueFlorenceis;
[/^si
at
the
little
statue called;
Idolino,
wliich
probably
a
Mercury
the
ETRUSCAN SCULPTURE.
03
ChimcBra, with a lion's head on the shoulders, agoat's
head on the back, and a dragon's head at the end of the tail and lastly, the beautiful and cele;
brated statue of a magistrate haranguing the people,
Fig. 6.
Statue of the Infant Apollo with a Duck.(Museumof Antiquities, Paris.)
whichrelics
find many other of this great industry in most of the museums,is
called the Orator.
We
the Louvre amongst others, but
they are gene-
64
ETRUSCAN SCULPTURE.
rally mixed with the Grecian and Roman bronzes. The Campana collection, recently obtained, has,
however, supplied us with interesting specimens ofthis
hitherto
little
knownmere
Etruscanterra-cottas,
art.
Thethey
greaterare
number much better
are
yet
preserved than the marbles and
bronzes, and give a very fair notion of what the
sculpture of ancient Etruria was before the
Roman
conquest and subjugation.busts,
There are a great manywearing crownsthese
most of them ofBut of
divinitiesall
and diadems.plastic art, the
monuments oflight
one which throws most
on the
confused and mysterious history of the Etruscanpeople,is
certainly the
ornamented sepulchre calleda funeral couch repose
the Lydian tomb.
On
two
half-recumbent figures, one of a man, the otherof a
woman, in Asiatic costume, which circumstance must have given the name to the tomb, asit
is
evidently Etruscan.
It
is
agreed that this
precious(the
monument
is
earlier
than the ruin of CoereCervetri),
more ancient Agylla, the modernis
that
to say, that
it
belongs to the fourth century
before the Christian era.
But the term Etruscanvery
art will
probably remindpaintedcall
many
readers of thoseit
carved and
vases which
has long been the fashion tois,
Etruscan.
It
however, a mistake to apply this
ETRUSCAN SCULPTURE.
f:r>
term to the greater number of objects indicated byit.
It is true that
the twelve patriarchal states of
the ancient Etruscan
league
extended from the
Magra
to the Vulturnus,
from Verona to Capua.cities;
But they formed a mere confederacy ofEtruria, properly solimits ofcalled,
didit
not
exceed theto the south
Tuscanyin that
itself.
Nowof
was
of
Rome,
part
Magna
Graecia called
Apulia (the modern Puglia), that the numerous
and beautiful so-called Etruscan vases were manufactured,
which are really
all
of Hellenic origin.
We
only allude to them here on account of their
name.It is also
easy to class these valuable products of
early Italian industry according to their dates and
places of manufacture.peculiarities,
Such are
their
striking
thata
their
age and source
may
be
decided atEtruria
glance.
The
earliest,
those
from
proper, chiefly foundall
at
Cervetri {Caere,
Agylla), are
black,
and either without orna-
ments or with clumsycolour.
figures in relief of the
samea
Others,
also
Etruscan,
although called
Egyptian andbetter
Phcenician
easternwhitepainted
would bedark
term
have
nearly
grounds, within
figures of
men and animalsin
red.
The next
date in the history of keramic art are
those vases called primitive, with pale grounds and
F
60
ETJiUSCAN SCULPTURE.
no ornaments, but zones or horizontal divisionscrossed by concentric semicircles.
Vases of a date
posterior to that of the latest already
have been found
in
a
enumerated more southern neighbourhood:
round Rome,
at Vulci, Canino,
and
in the Basilicata.
They have red or orange grounds, with figures of men only, painted black. All the subjects of thesereliefs
and paintings are mythological, and areborrowed from the worship of Bacchus, the
chiefly
polymorphousforms and
and
polynomial
god
(of
many
many
names).
To
this
age and country belong the rhytons, orin imitation
drinking cups shapeddifferent
of the heads oflaterstill
animals
;
and,
lastly,
and
farther south in
ancient
Apulia, were
fabricated
the celebrated vases of Nola, so
called
because
they were found
in large
numbers
in
the neighbour-
hood of that Augustusdied,
city of the
Campagna, which wasin
defended by Marcellus against Hannibal,
whichin-
and
St. Paulinus
is
said to
have
vented bells
{campajicB).
Unlike those of the agroin brick
romano, the vases of Nola have the figuresor antiquejet'ed {rosso antico),
on a clear and shiningsurpassinall
black
ground.
They
others
in
elegance andsubject,
variety
of form,
choicenessgrace,
of
beauty of design,fact,
in taste, spirit,
and
ease
;
in
they
fulfil
the true requirements of
ETRUSCAN SCULPTURE.art.
67
Their perfection was so great th.l they soondoivje.'^tic
ceased to be regarded as mere
utensils,
and became decorative luxuriespictures.It is
like statuesfirst
and
remarkable that atfor
the ancientsin clay;
made
all
their vessels
household use
the jars or amphorcB, called ^pa/iois
Is
it
an athlete contendingthat the affection
title,
we must remark
Detween master and pupil, and the gratitude of theSo great that the teacher
was
called father.
"it
is
doubtful,
when we
find the father's
latter, were often " So that," says Pliny, added to the artist's name,
whether that of the true or adopted
])arent
be intended."
GRECIAN SCULPTURE.for theit
101 Is
boxing prize
in the
Olympian games
?
a warrior in a real battle,
tending on footof thesethree
who seems to be conwith a mounted foe ? The choice explanations remains open. The
form and attitude are very beautiful, the execution is delicate and bold, and the energy of strength inaction, as seen in this dancer, athlete, or warrior,
reminds us of two celebrated groups at Florence
and Rome, which belongbeeinnincfof
to the:
the
decadence
same epoch, at the we allude to the
Wrestlers and the Laocoon.
In our notice of the Vemis of Melos and the Huntress Diana, we alluded to the services rendered to art by polytheism. In speaking of theAchilles
and the Gladiator, we may remark that
national education and customs aided to complete From their infancy the superiority of Grecian art.
men
practised gymnastics
naked
;
athletes wrestled;
naked on thevictors
stage
and race-course
and the
were represented naked
in the statues raised
to their
honour by the pride of
their native cities.
This spread a general knowledge of plastic anatomy,of the play of the muscles, and the fitness of thelimbs, according to the laws of their construction,for the various functions of the
body.inin
It
was by
the examination of his naked figure the (lance, the throwing of the quoit,
the race,
wrestling
102
OREUIAN SCULPTURE.
and boxing, that the master of the gymnasium decided for what a youth was fit. The exceptionalman, whose proportions wereperfect,
and whose
powers were well balanced, was declared pentathlon(five,
or perfect-powered), fitted for the five exer;
cises
his
wastaste,
perfect beauty.
Hence arose therage forphysical
commonand
the
universal"
beauty, calleduseful."
by Socratesit
the result of the good
In the solemn games of Olympia, of
Nemaea, or of Corinth,
was not only the;
citizens
who
wrestled before assembled Greecein
the States the persons
themselves contended for the prizes,of the choicest of their sonscontests, as;
and
to these public
to
the processions which bore their
offerings to the great divinities, they sent their
most
beautiful
young men " in order," says Plato, " to Zeno give a good impression of their republic." f' and Socrates calls beauty the "Flower of Virtue;
said, "
My
eyes turn towards the beautiful Autoly-
cus, as to a torch
burning at midnight."
From
this
double current of ideas tending to the same end, which led to the public games and the religious the law of beauty creeds, sprung a unique law
by which the sculptors of the statues of athletes They had a and gods were entirely bound.hundredliving
models before their eyes,
in
the
schools where dancing and wrestling were taught,
GRECIAN SCULP TUBE.andlovein the beautiful
103
was
learnt.
women of Ionia, from whom What is beauty A " blind man's?
question," replies Aristotle.
We
must
not, however,
imagine that physicalGreece to the exclusion
beauty was soughtof moral excellence.
after in
On
the contrary, as remarked
by
Aristotle,
the
Greeks required indications ofin
intelligence
and goodness, andskill;
addition to those of
health, power,
they knew that without
them mere bodily
gifts
were ofresults.
little
worth, andto
might lead to prejudicial
They wished;
knowbody
of a virtuous soul in an agile
and powerfulcor-
mens sana in corpore sano
and, according
to Plato, he alone
washis
beautiful
whose mental"
respondednatural
with
bodily perfection.ofthis
As
a
consequence"
philosophy,"
says
M. Louis Menard,
we
find, in
the effective worksis
of Grecian sculpture, that
man
always reprepath ofjust,
sented as above passion, and stronger than suffering.In
leading minds
along the enchanted
boauty to the conception of the true andas to translate them, in her plastic art,
Greece so blended the laws of art and conscience
the
by one and same expression." Honours and rewards were not then awarded only to victorious athletes andall
heroic warriors, but toLrilliant success of
who obtained
sufficiently
any kind in
literature
and
art,
KMas well as in
GliECIAN SCULPTUBE.
games and war to become the pride
of their country.*
We
will
now continue our review
of Grecian
works of
art in the Louvre,
Aphrodite, the type of supreme beauty, had sogreat a charm for the artists of Greece, and they
were able to vary her statue
in
so
many
different
ways without radically altering the form, that the number of images of Venus is greater than that of The Louvre all the other divinities put together.contains eiehtcen statues and three busts of this
goddess.
After the
another
Venus
Vants of Mdos, we come to Victrix, not now victorious on
MountSheof a*
Ida, but vanquishing
Mars by her charms.
holds his
sword with the timid awkwardnessside Cupid, like an inquisi-
woman, and by her
their great citizens, and amongst them their more honours and rewards than did any other ancient or modern people their gratitude and lijjerality -were alike "There vas a theory in the act of recompense," says excessive. Emeric David, " and the honours accorded by the Athenians were graduated in such a manner that there was ceaseless emulation. Proclamation in the tlieatre of the name of the man they desired to honour proclamation at the public games a crown conferred by
The Greeks loaded
great artists, with
:
;
;
a crown conferred by the people ; a crown given at the fetes of the Panathenrea ; a portrait placed in a national palace ; a support in the Prytaneum ; support granted to portrait in a templethe senate;;.
the father, the children, to the descendants of the hero for ever ; a statue in some public place ; a statue in the Prytaneum ; a statue in
the
temple of Delphis
;
a
tomb; public
games and
periodical
celebrations at the tomb."
OnECIAN SCULPTURE.tivc child,is
105
trying on the hchnet of the
God
of
War.
A
Venus Genitrix, a beautiful statue of theart,
best era of
which combines
all
the usual cha:
racteristics of the
mother of the Graces
the appleears
of Paris
in
her hand, one
breast bare, the
pierced to receive the valuable rings, and the tunicfitting
to the limbs so as to
show
their graceful
outlines.teles
A
draped Venus, with the
name
of Praxi-
written
on the
plinth,
supposed to be aninhabi-
imitation of the clothedtants ofto rival
Venus which the
Cos demanded of the illustrious statuary, A the nude Venus of Gnidus (Cnidus).is
libertine Venus, which, as restored,
crushing under
foot a
human
foetus,
typifying the destructive effect
of vicein
that
upon mankind. The Venus of Aries, found town in 165 1. This was another Venusremarkablefor
Victrix,
the beauty of the head,Inleft
decked with gracefulof the helmet of
ribbons.
restoring
the
arms, Girardon put a mirror in the
hand, instead
Mars
or yEneas.
The Venus ofher feetis
Troas, an imitation of a celebrated .statue from the
temple of
this
Phrygian town
:
at
a
pyxis, or jewel-case.]
Two Marine
Venuses, one
ising
from the waves at her
birth, the other called
]
upl.x-a,
or goddess of fortunate voyages, etc.is
If
Venus represents physical beauty, Minerva
ihc type of moral perfection.
On
this account,
and
too
GUECIAS StULFTUllE.
as protectress of Athens, she was as great a favourite with the Greeks as the sea-goddess.statues are plentiful everywhere;
Hetthe
there are nine inwill
the
Louvre, amongst which
we
notice
Fig. g.
Pallas of
Velletri.
(Museum
of the Louvre, Paris.)
Pallas of
Velletri, semi-colossal,
wearing a helmet,
with a mitopon (closedthe a;gis on
visor),
a lance in her hand,
her breast, modestly confining the
GRECIAN SCULPIUJIE.tunic,
107
and an
ample pcplum
falling to
the
feet.
The
severe and noble attitude of this fine statue,
the fTowing folds of the long draperies, the calm
and sweet expression of the majestic countenancein
the martial head-dress, are as characteristic as
her symbols of the goddess of armed peace, of thearts,
of letters, and of wisdom.
The Minerva with
the Necklace, another Pallas in armour, of the exalted
style peculiar to the
age of Pheidias, supposed to bein
a copy in marble of the Athenagreatsculptor, also
bronze by the
she
is
called tlie beautiful, because adorned with the pearl necklace usually
reserved for Venus.
A
Minervaidol,
Hellotis (whoseis
helmet
is
decked with myrtles), which
probably a
copy of some old woodenstuffs,
draped with heavy
plaited in perpendicular flutings on the body.
Apollo, the usual type of manly beauty, affordedas
sculptors.
much scope as Venus for the skill of Grecian The French museum also contains nineis
statues of this god, including that of the Sun, with
rays about the head, which
not, strictly speaking,
an Apollo, but Helios, the son of Hyperion and Thy ia, who was only worshipped at Rhodes and Corinth.
Although four of the nine are Pythian Apollos, the best in the Louvre is one of the two called Lycian,because the attitude, that of repose, with the arms folded above the head, and the serpent crawling at
108
QREVJAN SVULPTUHE.feet,
the
are suggestive of the Lycian Apollo, toraised
whom Athens
a
celebrated temple.
We
must also admire the young Apollo
Saiiroctonos, or
Fig. lo.
Hacchus.
(Museum
ot
the Louvre, Paris.
Lizardrestored,
slayer, theis
head of which, although only
antique, supposed to be a
good copy of
the bronze Saiiroctonos of Praxiteles.
(J
n E CJA 1 : bcuiri uue.
luy
and scantily clothed, as Fontaine would express it, a Diana may always be recognised by theAgile,tunic raised above the knees, which has gained her
Fig. II.
Mercury.
(Museum
(;f
the Louvre, Paris.)
the
name
of the Fah'-Hinbcd goddess.
Of
the six
sis-
ters of the
Huntress Diana
inis
the collection of the
Louvre, the Diana of Gabii
the most celebrated.
110
GRECIAN SCULPTURE.to be fasten-
With a graceful movement she appearsing her chlamys()(Xa/xu'i,
a linen mantle caught to-
gether on the shoulder).
Ofis
the three statues of
Bacchusone
in
our museum, one
the Indian or bearded;
(irwyov) Bacchus,in repose,
and the two others are Grecianivy,
the other drunken, both wearing the
CredemnoH, or diadem withbut a fawn's skin.
and no garment
Three Hercules, amongst others
a semi-colossal group, in which the god of strengthholds his delicate child Telephus in his powerful arms, with the hind which suckleshim.it
close besidein
Three Mercuries, one with Vulcan,arts
whicha
group the gods of the mechanical
are in
manner united. As Vulcantwofigures
is
not here deformed, the
were long taken;
for
Castor and Pollux,
or for Orestes and Pyladesugliness,
but the Greeks hatedto the Parcae, the
and gave beauty even
Eumenides, to Nemesis and to the Gorgon.Cupids, all charming.
Threebow,per-
The one
trying hisface,is,
with a graceful body and a bright archhaps, a copy of the bronze statue
made by LysipAnotherstill
pus
for
thefull
town of Thespiae.of tender grace,is
younger,
considered a t}pe
of infant beauty
by Winckelmann, and may be aitself
copy of the one which Parium prideshaving received from Praxiteles.sphffirist
ona
The
third
is
kicking
a
ball
as
he
springs
along.
GRECIAN SCULPTUHE.Butterflies, the
Ill
emblems
of the soul, were, however,affections.
the usual toys of the god of the
A
Nemesis, interesting from the position of the right
arm, which
is
so bent as to represents a cubit, the of the Greeks.
common measure
The
allegorical
proportion of merit and reward, this metre was the
type of the goddess of distributivesolitary Jupiter, coarse, short, heavy,
justice.
A
and of clumsy
execution.
The small numberartists
of statues of the
king of the gods found anywhere, would seem to
imply that Grecian
despaired of representing
him
in all his
serene and majestic beauty, after the
Olympian Jupiter which Pheidias translated from averse of
Homerhis
:
"He
bent his brows, the hairall
shook uponbled"
immortal head,the
Olympus tremmasterpieces,itself,
that
Jupiter,
chief of
which should have been as eternal as artv/as destroyed at the taking of
but
Byzantium by thefive of the
crusaders of Baldwin.In the
Louvre there are butFirst the colossal
nine
Muses which form the familymosyne.from the theatre of
of Apollo
and MneIt is four
statue of Melpomene,at
Pompey
Rome.
metres high, and none of the entire statues bequeathed to us by antiquity are of greater dimensions.colossi,
Fragments alone suggest the idea of largersuch as the Hippomacin of Lysippus, or the
112
G 11 ECIAN SOUL P TURK.brazen Apollo raisedhis pupil Chares.in the tragic
gigantic
over the
port
of
Rhodes bysize, this
In spite of her massive
Muse
buskin
is
as graceful
and elegant as the Farncsc Flora, the giantess ofNaples.
A
Urania holding up the
skirt of her tunic
with her
left
hand, which really rather resembles
iini'iiiiii
"
It'll. ':ii[i
iiini iii!iiiiiiiii(iiiiiniably mentioned(i
of that
520
1570), who
is
very favour-
by Vasari as the author of the on anatomy, published at Rome book drawings in a in 1554 by Doctor Juan de Valverde, and of twoanatomical statues highly esteemedin
the schools,II.:
had scarcely returned to Spainfor
when
Philip
did
him what Charles V. did for Berruguete he him with several works in the old Alcazar at Madrid, and the new Pardo palace, and to mark his royal approval, nominated him his sculptor inintrusted1562,
and
his
painter in
1563.
Like Berruguete,
Becerra was a greater sculptor than painter.
Ceanpre-
Bermudez does notticular
hesitate to say that in this parall
he excelled
the Spanish artists
who
those
ceded him, and that he was surpassed by none of who succeeded him. His masterpiece is said
to be a statue of
Our Lady of
Solitude (Nuestra
Senora de
la
Soledad), which was ordered
by the
SPANISH SCULP TUBE.InfantaPhilip243
Dona
Isabellain
de
la
Paz,
daughter of
II.,
and placed
the chapel of the conventat
of
the
Brothers
Minimes*
Madrid.
Many-
miraculous tales \vere told of this statue and col-
by the monk, Fray Antonio de Arcos, in a book published expressly in 1640 but confininglected;
our criticism toimpossibleto
its
artistic
excellence alone,this
it
is
deny that
statue,
inall
whichvividly
tenderness, suffering, and resignation are
expressed,in the
is
a work worthy of the greatest namescenturies.II.
most famous
To
the age of Philip
and Charles V. belongin
also the
two celebrated tombs erected
the reign
of the emperor and
by
his orders in the old chapel
royal {capilla real) of the
cathedral of Granada.
In one repose the Catholic sovereigns, Isabella ofCastille
and Ferdinand of Aragon, whose marriage
united the entire Peninsula in one monarchy, from
which Portugal was subsequently again separatedin
;
the other, their daughter, Juana la Loca (Joanna
the Crazy), and her husband, Philip theof Austria, father
Handsome,V.,
and mother of Charles
to
whomof
their
combined inheritance gave the empire
Germany, with the Iberian kingdom and the Indies. These tombs are both sculptured in white
marble, and on each are statues of the famous pair* Religious order of St. Francis
de Paula.
(Tr.)
244
SPANISH SCULPTURE.inclose.
whose royal dust they
The
first is
a solid
socle or pedestal, the enlarged base of which givesit
an appearance of strength andis
solidity, whilst
the other
finer,
that the styles
more delicate, and elaborate, so of the two tombs correspond withtheir
the
character
of
respective
tenants,
who
would seemfor thelast
to be resting on them, as beds of state, time.
Looking
at
theseit
fine
tombs
from an
artistic
point of view,
is
impossible to
avoid a mental comparison with those of Charlesthe Bold andat Bruges,
Mary
of
Burgundy
in
Notre
Dame
and again with those of the dukes of
Burgundy, Philip the Hardy and John the Fearless, which were transferred from the old Carthusianconvent of Dijon to the museum.teresting toIt
would be
in-
draw a parallel between these six tombs, French, Flemish, and Spanish, made for princes of the same family, in the course of a century and a half For my part, I certainly prefer those at Granada to;
those at Bruges
and those
at Dijon, at
which are the
most
ancient, to the
tombs
Granada.
For a
long time the last-named enjoyed the advantage ofstanding in a vast and beautiful chapel, the walls,
pavement, and roof of which were entirely com-
posed of black stone, the
pilasters, voussoirs,
and
pendentives being marked out in fine gold
lines,
the white tombs alone standing out from the dark
SPANISH SCULP TUBE.and solemn surroundings.
245
The
canons, however,it
considered the chapel royal too gloomy, and had
whitewashed from top to bottom.pavement,colour,all
The tombs,all
roof,
and walls
are
nowin
of
one
equally bright,
and
the
universal
whiteness nothing stands out but the black cassocksof the clergy.
At Granada another Spanishwho,like
was born, Berruguete and Becerra, has been comartist
pared to Michael Angelo, because he cultivatedthe three arts of design.C^uno
His name was Alonzo
(1601 1617).
His father was aart of his trade,
commonaltars
carpenter,
who made ancall retables.
and was a
joiner {ensamblador) of those
huge decorated
which wetoSeville
When Alonzo Cano wenthis
and took up
abode amongst the
who founded the school of this Athens of Andalusia, he made up his mind to do somethingmasters
more thanfather;
learn to put a rotable together like hisfact,
in
to
compose oneand
entirely himself,;
with
its its
columns, statues, and picturesarchitect, sculptor,
to be at
once
painter.
This was
how he becamein sculpture
a threefold
artist.
He
took lessons
from a certain Juan Martinez Montailes,;
but at once departed from his master's styleasall his
and
works are remarkablenobility of form,
for a simplicity of
attitude, a
and a good
taste in
24G
SPANISH SCULP TUBE.
arrangement unknown before him, we must conclude that he studiedin
preference the few statuesat Seville, in theif
and Greek busts which were thenpalace of the
Dukes
of Alcala, at least
we
sup-
pose that he mastered the antique without havingseen Italy.
About
1635,
Alonzo Cano erected the highis
altar
of the church of Lebrija, whichbeautiful works of the kind.
one of the moststatue of the
The
Virgin holding the Holy Child, which occupies thecentral niche of the retable,is
especially admirable.all
His other sculptures, nearly
in
wood, are
dis-
tributed in different churches at Seville, Cordova,
Granada, and Madrid, where somestill
proudly shown.taste with
of them are Alonzo Cano combined a
fastidious
a very hot
temper.
It
is
related of him, that being at the point of death, he
threw a crucifix which was offered toclumsily carved, andcross.
his lips in the
face of the officiating priest, because he thoughtit
died
embracing a plain
woodenIt
mayin
extinct
be said that the art of statuary became Spain on the death of Alonzo Cano.
Its cultivation
was neglected, the
carving, even of
simple wooden ornaments, was discontinued, andretable.
soon no one could be found able to set up a church The two great sisters had expired to-
SPANISH SCULP TUBE.gether.
247his
At
the
same timeas
that
Goya madereturnedthe
unexpectedsculptor,
appearance
a
painter,
a young
who hadFrance,
doubtless just
fromjustly
Italy or
suddenly
produced
famous group of Daoiz and Velarde (the two chief victims of the 2nd of May, 1808), which has beenkept ever sinceSola, thein the
Mitseo del Rey.group, died
Antoniobefore
author of this
he
attained maturity.least
No
one took up
his chisel, at
with
anya
success,
and
at
the
Universal
Exhibition not
single Spanish
work obtainedof
any
distinction
in
the
open competition
the
sculptors of every nation.
Therewhichalludeat
is,
however, a kind of scnlptnredeserveslittle
in
Spain
least
to
be mentioned.in
Wepaste,
to
the
figures
coloured
manufactured at Malaga, Granada, and Valencia.Thisstyle,
though small,
is
pleasing,
andat
it
has
been practised
by someis
true artists.
In one of the
rooms of the Academy of San Fernandofor instance, therefigures,
Madrid,little
a long series of these
rather larger
than
usual,
being about a
quarter the size of
life,
which are of perfect workintofifty
manship.groups,
They
are
divideddifferent;
or sixtyof
representing
incidents
the
Massacre of
the Innocents
and
their author,
Juan
Gincs of Valencia, flourished
in the first half of the
248
SPANISH SOULPTUBE. The;
present century.
details
of these groups areis
of an infinite variety
the execution;
strangelyfault,
and wonderfully powerfulit is
and
if
they have a
that they are too exactly copied from nature,
as the colours onfigures.
them make them lookprove,
like
wax
They
however,
that
Spanish
sculpture might have kept pace with the progressof painting, hadafterit
not been so entirely neglectedhis beautiful works.
Alonzo Cano produced
249
CHAPTER
IV.
GERMAN SCULPTURE.
OCULPTURE*^ditionally,
was
cultivated
even
less
in
Germany than in Spain during the Middle Ages. Indeed we may assert, almost unconthat
not
a
single
piece
of statuary
was contributedartist
to the
common
until the present century.
of the Rhine to those of the
German From the banks Niemen we shall findstock by a
no works of the
chisel but a few decorations of
no
particular style in the old Gothic cathedrals.
It is
but a popular legend which attributes the delicatestone carvings, which adorn the tower of the wonderful cathedral of Strasburg, erected
by Erwin
of
Steinbach, to his daughter Sabinahistory has preserved the
;
and althougharchitects
namesI
of
someof
of the
same
age, such as
Puchspaum, author of the
Saint
Stephen of Vienna,different in the
know
no other
sculptor besides this daughter of Erwin of Baden.It
was
time of the Renaissance.
2cO
GERMAN SCULPTURE.Germany thenpractised their art:
Sculptors from
even
in Italy, for
Vasari says explicitly
"
Nicolas
of Pisa surpassed the
Germans who worked withartists,
him."
But these modest
simple artisans,
did not put their
names
to their works, so that the
Calvary of Spires and the copper Baptistery ofSaint
Sebald
at
Nuremberg,
are
by unknownlater, is
authors.
We
know, however, that the beautiful
fountain
of Nuremberg, erected rather
by
Sebald Schuffer, and that the long bas-reliefs ofthe Passion in the
same townKrafift.
are the
work of Hanstoo,is
Decker andthe beautiful
Adamtomb
At Nuremberg,
of St. Sebald, which has justly
established the fame of Peter Vischer.
This tomb
combines a number of figures of
saints, apostles,
andfoot
angels, with
many
others which belong not tohistory."
Christianity
but to
universal
At
the
of
St.
Sebald's
tomb,"
says
Woltmann,
"Vischer has grouped the heroes of Judaism and ofheathen antiquitycradledtritons,in;
children play with lions or are;
the calyx of flowerssatyrs, the
a host of sirens,
and
entire ancient
mythology,
defile
before our eyes.
The whole
universe ad-
vances to render praise to the Saviour." Vischerleft his
Peter
own
portrait in the dress of a;
work-
man amongst
these figures
and
it
must be remem-
bered that he lived very near the time of Albert
GERMAN 8CULFTURE.Durer,so that he
251
does not belong even
to
tneart.
Renaissance, but to the golden age of
German
In the room leading to that devoted to Frenchstatuary inin
the
museumroom,
of
modernaccount
sculpture
the
Louvre, whichtheforeignit
mightonof
appropriately beof
called
the
variety of objects
contains,art
a few small speci-
mens of Germanthe sixteenth
plastic
the
fifteenth to
century have been collected..''
Can
they be called sculpture
I
think not, for they dorelief,
not include one statue, one high
or one piece
of large proportions and grand style.figuresin
All are
little
very low relief
Neither marble norelse-
bronze are used, but materials not employedwhere.
They
are rather carvings than sculptures,is
and not one
accompanied by
its
author's name.
The
hung on the walls in the embrasures of the windows a Descent from the Cross, in yellow copper the Triwnph of Maximilian, delicately and carefully carved in wood the Repose infollowing are: ;;
Egypt, after Albert Diirer, another tedious work,cut in the hard calcareous stone called hone-stone;
some armorial bearingshard stone, theaquafortis,relief
slightly incised
on the sameThis was a
being obtained by the use of
and afterwards coloured.
revival of the old process
which led to the discovery
of lithography.
252It
GERMAN 8CULPTURK.
was the same during the age of the three schools of German painting at Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Dresden, represented by Albert Durer,Holbein, and Lucas Kranach.arose
Not a
single sculptor
capableif
of
competing
with
these
great
masters, and
we wish
to find a piece of sculpturetheir canvases,like
worthy to be compared toturntoartists of Italy,artist.
we must
one of themselves, who,aspired to
the great
becoming a universalin
Albert Diirer executed sculptures
wood
and such are the grandeur of style and skill of workmanship, that they may be considered true works of art in spite of the unsuitablein ivory,
and
ness
of the
material
employed.
In
theis
smallalittle
museum
at Carlsruhe, for instance, there
ivory group in high and low relief of three nudefemales, which might be called the Three Graces,
only one of them
is
a dignified matron, and
on
the ground a fourthis
woman, not
so well preserved,
distinguishable,
a round dance.
who is apparently taking part in The figures are not only correctlyfull
proportioned, they are so
of graceful and pleas-
ing beauty, thatthe celebratedforgeryis
we are not surprised to discover monogram cut in relief also, so that
impossible
so
often traced on austere
paintings and powerful engravings.Diirer has proved that vigour
Here Albert
was not the only
G Eli MA N SCULP TUBE.characteristic of his masculine genius.
2'
3
With thecuriosityit it
graver or brush
in
hand he was Dorian, ivory madeit
him
Ionian.
The namethe
bears, the
awakens, andinspire,
admiration which
ought to
combine
to render this
group of inestimableof the two
value.
To understand
the sudden decline
great sisters in Germany,
that there the Protestant religion, less
we have only to remember showy thanarts,
the Catholic,
checked the progress of the
whilst the terrible Thirty Years'
War {i6iS 1648),
with
its
attendant
ravages and desolation, soon
followed to complete their ruin and deal their deathblow.
In speaking of
German
sculpture,
as
of
painting,interval
we must
therefore pass over the entire
between the three schools already men-
tioned, which
became
extinct with their founders,at the
and the renaissance attemptedtheir followers.
beginning of
the present century by Overbeck, Cornelius, and
A
marble group of importance, and worthy
of
the notice of visitors for
many
reasons,
was placed
amongmodern
the plaster casts of celebrated ancient andstatues at Frankfort-on-the-Main,
by onestill
of
richest bankers of that
commercial
city, in
whichbe
the cradle of the Rothschild family
may
seen
in
the Judengasse (Jews' Street).
We
allude
l;54
GERMAN SCULPTURE.Ariadne on1
to
the.
Panther, signed, Danneckcr,is
of
Stuttgart,at least
8 14.
This Ariadne
very celebrated,
on the borders of the Rhine, from Mann-
heim- to Coblentz.pride themselves on
Theits
hihabitants of Frankfort
possession,
and have treated
^^>-|il|i,i|g|ij|jl^.^j^liPli"i-
I
^^^iiilfiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiii
III!
III! II
mil
FiJ,^ 49.
Ariadne on the Panther.
By DaunecKer.
(Frankfort-on-the-Main.)
it
as the Neapolitans did the great mosaic of
Poma finerepu-
peii,
reproducing
it,
as a national glory, in bronze,in stag's horn.it
plaster, ivory,
and evenI
It isits
work, certainly, but
thinlc
far
beneath
GERMAN SCULP TUIIK.tation.1l\\q
255imi-
Ariadne
which appears to be anfull
tation
of an
antique fresco, Nereis carried by alength on the back of
Monster
is
stretched at
a panther,
or, rather,
chimera, for the mythologicalis
animal which supports hercreature.
not a
known
living
Her
attitude
is
graceful and
pleasing,
although slightly distorted.figure of the beloved of
The upper
part of the
Bacchus
not yet deserted,andnotthe
but triumphantlimbs.
;
is
less
beautiful than the lower
The;
legs are very fine, both in design
execution
the torso
is
also very good, butto
equal to the legs
and the head appearsAriadnebroad.is
me
feeblest part of the group.
guilty of
the vulgar gesture called turning up the nose ; her
forehead
is
narrow,
her chin
The
artist
evidently intended to give her the antique shape,
the Greek type of facein
;
but he has only succeeded
producing a cold and clumsy imitation.is
Thetoo
studied style of coiffure
a failure alsois
;
it is
modern, too coquettish, nor
the
execution re-
markablyfor
delicate.
Wewe
need not go back to theDannecker's Ariadne
great age of the Donatellos and Michael Angel os
comparisons
:
find
iz.x
surpassed by the Magdaleiie and Terpsichore of his
immediate predecessor, Canova, and it is excelled by many later works bearing the names of Rauch, Schadow, Schwanthaler, Rietschel Kiss Drake,
256
GERMANetc.
."SCULPTURE.its
Begas,
NeverthelessIf I
fame
is
justifiable,
and
easily explained.its
were to be asked to statemerit,I
chief
and most indisputableIts
should
answer:
date,
1814.
After theall
interminablethe artsinlay-
wars of the Empire, during which
dormant, Germany greeted their revival
this
Ariadne with as much joy and pride asitself.
peacethe
It
was the glory of thehis
artist,
and
is still
honour ofsance.
work
to
have inaugurated
this renais-
The Belvedere
of Vienna possesses one of the
best productions of this
GermanFleece,
revival, the
Jason
carrying away the Goldeji
by Joseph Kaeschmann, executed at Rome in 1829, in the more graceful than powerful style of the Canovas andThorwaldsens.
Amongst
the
monstrosities
sur-
rounding
it,
this
Jason appears an incomparable
masterpiece.
At
the
same
time, but at Berlin, Christian
Rauch
(1777 1857) not only openeda school.
a studio, he foundedat
The work which placed himall
once atis
the head of
the sculptors of Germany,
the
tombtiful
at Charlottenburg, of Louisa, called the beau-
queen, wife of Frederick Williamhis
III.,
and
mother of the present king andhe
predecessor.
Rauch represented her reposing on her tomb, and
made another
statue of her on foot for Potsdam.
Fig. 50.
Bronze monument erected to the memory of Frederick theGreat.
By
Christian Ranch.
(Berlin.)
GERMAN SCULP TUHE.This queen was his benefactress;
257
she removed
him to Rome, where he made rapid progressunder theenlightened guidance of
from the obscurity of the palace, and sentin
him
his art
the
learned
William von Humboldt.
On
his return to Prussia,
Ranch devoted a long life to the production of a number of great works, mostly portraits. The bestof these numerous statues and busts are, the bronzestatues
of
Generals
Scharnorst,
Bulow, Yorck,at
Blucher, of
King Maximilian of Bavariaat
Munich,at
of Luther
Wittemberg, of Albert DiirerVictories inhis
Nuremberg, and six marblehalla, etc.
But the chief work of
Walwhole life wasthe1851,in
the magnificent bronze
monumentin
erected to the
memory
of Frederick the Great,
the
grand square (Unter den Linden) of Berlin.base of the pedestal, whichis
The
is
twenty-five feet high,
surrounded by the chief characters of Frederick's
reign, including
men
of letters, such as
Kant and
Lessing, as well as warriors, like Ziethen and the
Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
;
whilst the king himself,
on horseback, seems to tower above the city which
owes
its
pre-eminence to him, and over the wholetrnt:
of that mighty monarchy of which he was thefounder.
Weit
said that Christian
5tiU exists, carried
Rauch founded a school on by his pupils, amongst:
S
>58
GERMAiJ SCULP'lUliEKiss
whom Augustusof the
and Frederic
Drake
are
especially distinguished.
The
latter
is
the author
charming
high-reliefs
which embellish the
pedestal of the statue of Frederick William III in
llinili!iliiilinwilliil!llltlll!l*lkffillWNRiM
Fig.
The Amazon, 51.
by Aug. Kisa
(Berlin.)
the
T/iiergarten of Berlin,
and the former of theof thefull
Amazon on horsebackin
attacked by a lioness, placed
front
of theis
peristyle
museumand
Thislife.
bronze group
splendid,
of action
GERMAN SCULPTURE.The warrior-maidendesert,
?59
of the Thermodon, excited by;
anger rather than by terror
the
queen of thehorrible
chnging to the horse's neck with teeth andthe horse, quivering beneath herall
claws
,
embrace, are
most powerfully rendered, and
Fig. 52.
Goethe and
Schiller.
form an admirable whole.
We!
are
tempted to
address the horse as the Greek poet did that of
Lysippus
:
"
What
a grand head
what flames are
emitted from his nostrils!
If the rider touch
him
260
(iKUMAN SCULPTURE.
with his heels, he will carry him onwards, for the
bronzeto find
lives."
(Grec. Anthol.)fault
I
venture, however,I
one
with this beautiful statue.
do
not approve of the rough locks worn
beneath herface with
Phrygian cap.
by the heroine They surround herthe
a kind of aureola, which
material
renders
stiff
and
heavy, and
they give her theser-
appearance of a Gorgon with the headdress ofpents.
Unfortunately an early death prevented Kiss
from making a companion statue to his Amazon.After the Prussian Ranch, Ernest Rietschel,a
Saxon (1804sculpture.
1
86i),
took
the
lead
in
Germa
Amongsthim:
others, the
following works
are ascribed to
a line group of the
Madonna
adoring Iut Dead Son, which the Italians called aPieta;
the marble statues of the four great sculpin
tors of Greece, placed;
the facade of the
new
museum of Dresden andin 1857,
the beautiful bronze group
of Goethe and Schiller, which
was
cast at Munich,
platz
by Herr Miillcr, and now adorns the Theate?-Whilst preserving the approat Weimar.express thetill
priate character of each of the illustrious friends,
Rietschel has endeavoured to
warmdeath,
and
tender affection
which united them
and which nothing, not even their success and fame, The great minds of both poets were could alter.above jealousy.
GEBMAX SCULPTURE.Thereputation ofin
261
German sculpture is worthily own day by Herr Frederick Drake, who gained a valuable prize at the Universal Exhibition, and by Herr Reinhold Begas, who wouldsustained
our
certainly have been successful
had he competed.
Dane Thorwaldsen (Albert Bartholomew, 1770 1844), as we cannotWiiwill
now speak
of the
devote a chapter to one man.
He was
the con-
temporary and
rival of
Canova, and they are justly
classed together as theperiod, including the
two great sculptors of thelast
end of the
century andin Italy,
the beginning of the present.
Educated
whither he was enabled to go by a drawing prize
awardedof theirstyle, the
to
him,
studying the same models as
Canova, with the same opinions on the practiceart,
and forming himselfartist
after the
samethepre-
Danish
necessarily resembled thealso,
Venetian.
Thorwaldsen,
counteractedItalianart,
influence of Michaelferring, like
Angelo on
Canova, grace to power, and delicacyavoiding, like his rival, the affec-
of execution to boldness and originality of thought,at the
same time
tation of Bernini.
WhenMany
still
young, he became
known byproduction
a colossal statue of Jason bringing others followed thisat
homefirst
the Golden Fleece.:
a colossal
Mars, v/hich
once became
famous
;
an Adonis, which Canova himself called
262
GERMAN SCULPTURE.masterpiece;
a
the
Graces,
the
Muses,for
Venus,
Apollo,
Mercury ,
then a j\Iadon7ia
Naples,
Christ
and
the
Twelve Apostles
for the cathedral of
at
Copenhagen, the equestrian statue of Poniatowski Warsaw, that of Gutenberg at Mayence, etc.bas-reliefs asrelief
Thorwaldsen was as successful withwith works infull
A
great
many by himand1
have been reproduced
in casts or engravings,
GERMAN SCULPTURE.Thorwaldscn devoted part ofthe foundation of ahis
263
large fortune to
museum
at
Copenhagen.
This
building bears his name, and contains a considerable
number
of the diverse works which rendered
him
illustrious.
264
CHAPTER
V.
FLEMISH SCULPTURE.
WEuseless,
gave the name of the Painting of theLozv Countries to thesister
schools
of
Flanders and Holland, looking upon them as twomanifestations of one
grand
style.
It
would betitle forlittle
however, to try .and find a
common
the two schools of sculpture, which was but
and verynotat
indififerently cultivated inall
Flanders, and
in
Holland.
Possessing
no marblestone,
quarries,
no copper-mines, not
even
and
drawing her very timber supplies from
abroad,
Holland appears from theanartfor
first
to have renounced
which
nature
had
denied
her
the
materials.
No
sculptor rivalled Lucas van Leyden,Potter, nor
Rembrandt, and PaulChevalier
were there anyor marble
statuettes or carvings equal to the porcelain of the
Van
der Werff
The bronze
statues in the public squares,
museums, or town-hallsartists,
of certain
Dutch towns, are the work of foreign
so that
we have only
to treat of Flemish sculoture.
FLEMISH SCULPTURE.It is at
265
Bruges, the town rendered illustrious bythe. brothers
Hemling and
Van Eyck,
that
we
find
not merely the best but the only proofs that the artof sculpture was practised in Flanders at the
sameoil-
time as that of painting.
Whilst Jan
Van Eyck
was inventing and teaching the process ofpainting,
some
artist
fellow-countrymen were work-
ing
in
wood, marble, and bronze.
Onis
entering theat
church of Notre Dame, the visitor
once con-
ducted to the celebrated tombs of Charles the Bold
and
his daughter,
Mary
of Burgundy, from which
the movable planking
is lifted
with great care and
ceremony.
These two tombs are simply blackon which reposeeffigies in gilt copper. in
marbleCharles
slabs,is
warlike costume, wearing a beautifully
chased
suit of
armour, the ducal crown, and the
badge of the Golden Fleecefounded at Brugesin
an
order of chivalry
1429 by
his father, Philip the
Good, the collation of the insignia of which hasbeen divided between the king of Spain and the
emperor of Austria since the death of Charles V. The duke's helmet and gauntlets lie beside him,
and
his feet rest
on a
lion.
Round
the frieze are
arranged the coats of arms of his different dominions;
on the sides of the
slab, those of his con-
temporary sovereigns, of the emperor, kings, dukes,counts,
crowned
prelates, etc.,
and on the surface
is
266
FLEMISH SCULPTURE.this enterprising
engraved the motto of
and per-
severing prince, Je I'ay ampris, bien en aviengne.It
the words pronounced
would have been well to inscribe on his tomb by Duke Rene of Lorrainethe corpse of Charles was found after the
when
battle of
Nancyof
:
Voire dine ait Dieu, bean cousin,
car vons avez fait moult
manxrests
et doulenrs.
Theis
head of
Maryfeet
Burgundy
on a large cushion,
and her
on two small lapdogs.
Her
statue
chiefly remarkable for the delicate carving of the
draperies and clothes.twenty-five, fromafall
Mary
died, as
we know,
at
from her horse, and her
tomb, made several years before that of her father,is
the better of the two.copper, and thelittle
The branchesangels of the
of the trees
in
same metalall
which support the armorial bearingsments,in fact
are of the most delicate execution.this
the orna-
But although
tomb
of
Mary
of
Burgundy
maywe
surpass those of her son, Philip the Good, and
oi her daughter-in-law, Joanna the Crazy, which
noticed in the cathedral of Granada,
it
is
by
no means equal to those of her ancestors, John theFearless and Philip the Hardy,
Dukesthe
of Burgundy,
now
in
the
museum
of Dijon.
All the details ofpointedarches
these
Lilliputian
buildings,
three feet high, the cloisters, in which pace figuresfifteen inches long, the pinnacles, the little angels,
o 3
C
CC-
o 3
FLEMISH SCULPTURE.
267
the marble and alabaster lacework, are remarkable,
not only for exquisite finish and perfection of work-
manship, but also for elegance of design, harmonyof proportions,
and suitable arrangements.is,
Theare
statuettes of the mourners, that
of the prayingpalace,
monks and weepingreally wonderful.
officers
of
the
There are eighty smallis
figures,
each of which taken alone
a
little
masterpiece,
and seen together,
their
beauty and excellence are
enhanced by contrast.ordinary variety, areall all
The
attitudes,
of extra-
natural, the
expressions
true and
full
of feeling, whilst the style of the
heads, the
fall
of the draperies, and the delicacy ofall
the execution, surpass
that
we should havewill
ex-
pected from the age in which they were produced.
These tombs, theGoujon,relics
details of
which
bear com-
parison with the bas-reliefs of Ghiberti and of Jean
may
well be considered the
most precious
of
the period
immediately preceding the
great Renaissance.I
mention them here because they are connectedart.
with Flemish
TheClaux
first
named, that of Philipis
the Hardy, finished in 1404,
the work of threeassisted
Flemish
artists,
Sluter,
by
his
nephew, Claux de Vou.sonne, and by Jacques deBaerz,all
three image-makers to the
duke of Burwas erected
gundy.
The tomb
of Jolin the Fearless
268
FLEMISH SCULPTURE.by a Spanishartist,
forty years later
Juan de
la
Huerta, a native of Daroca in Aragon,
who was
aided by two Burgundian artisans, Jehan de Drogues
and Antoine Lemouturier.Charles and
I
could not find out atthe tombs offor-
Bruges who were the authors of
Mary
;
their
names are probably
gotten there now.
WePalaisjuries
must not leave Bruges withoutde Justice.delibe;.!eis
visiting the
In
the
room
in
which
the
the famous chimneypiece ofis
carved and sculptured wood, of which the castthe Louvre.this
in
There
is
ais
legend connected withsaid
chimneypiece.
It
thatto
a
certain
Hermann Glosencamp, condemned I know not what misdeed, askedproduce onelast
death for
permission to
specimen of
his handicraft.
He
was a wood-carver.
With the
aid of his dausfhter
he undertook this famous mantelpiece, which saved
him from the gallows, and gained his full pardon. The statues which embellish it are nearly the sizeoflife.
In the centre
is
Charles V., on foot and
in
armour, holding a naked sword in one hand andthe globe in the other.
On;
the right are his great-
grandfather, Charles the Bold,
and Margaret ofleft,
England,parents,
his
third wife
on the
his
grand-
Mary
of
Burgundy and Maximilian ofCupids, armorialbearings,
Austria.
Spirits,
and
FLEMISH hCVLP'lUBE.different
209
fill up the spaces between these and complete the general decoration above the frieze of the chimneypiece, which latter represents the history of Susannah in very low alabaster bas-reliefs, and is by a certain Guyot de
ornaments
five statues,
Beaugrant.
It
would be
difficult to
excel the good
taste of the arrangements
and the beauty of the
workmanship ofto
this masterpiece.
No
artist,
even
save his head, could haveI
done better thancareful not to say
Hermann Glosencamp.the art of
am
cou/d do better, for the art of sculpturing in wood,
Germany
as well as of Spain, of theis
North
as well as of the South,
almostit
lost
;
and when
we lookreeretis
at the fine
worksit
has produced, our
increased that
should hav^e been so
completely abandoned.
BetweenI
this
age and the beginning of our own
find
no other Flemish work to mention worthy
of being classed
amongst the wonders of sculpture, and Rubens, Vandyck, and Teniers had no sculpIn our tors to rival them more than Rembrandt. own day Messrs. Gallait, Leys, and others, are considered the renovators of painting, as these artists
were formerlyGeefs, Fiers,
;
and with them we must
class Messrs.
Sopers, and Wiener, who are equally
eminent and successful revivers of sculpture.
270
CHAPTER
VI.
ENGLISH SCULPTURE.
THE
first
British
thing we see when we enter the Museum, to visit the basalt and por-
phyry images of Egypt, the alabaster slabs ofAssyria, and the marbles of Halicarnassus and the
Parthenon,
is
the pediment of the
modernfifteen
building,
which contains from twelve tofigures, the
allegorical
work of the most celebrated sculptorSir
of
England,
Richard
Westmacott.
Taken
separately, these marble statues are not without
a certain merit, for they are finely and carefully
executed
;
more
so,
indeed, than the point of view
requires, as they can only be seenat a distance.
from below andin
But as a whole they are wanting
harmony, grace, and dignity, and a more strikingand unpardonable defectsubject they representIf theis
the pretension of the
the Progress of Civilization. English had chosen this subject for the chief
entrance of the docks of London, the naval arsenal
ENGLISH SCULPTUBE.at
271
Woolwich, the observatory of Greenwich, or thethese placesthat
northern railway, nothing could have been moresuitable,forit
is
in
they can
prove the superiority of the present over the past,
and the continuous progress of mankindretical
in
theoarts,
andis
practical
sciencegift
;
butartist
in
the
talent
an individual
an
cannot transsoul.
mit his talent at his death any more than his
And
does modern London hope to have excelled?
ancient Greece
A strangethe
mode
surely of proving
the progress of civilization, to place English and
Grecian artparison
in
juxtapositionbrick
to
challenge comofSir
between
architecture
Robert Smirke and the marble buildings of Ictinus
andIn
Callicrates
betweenin
this
tympanum by
Sir
Richard Westmacott and the pediments of Pheidias!
my
brief review,
a former work,
of the
richest collections in
London, including the nationalsculpture.is
museum,to find
my
readers were doubtless surprised not
a word on"
But what can be
said
.''
Where
there
nothing," says the popular
proverb, " the king loses his rights," and so doescriticism.
Except
for
an inferior marble statue of
the painter, David Wilkie, the National Gallery contains as yet nothing but pictures;
and
I
have met
with no single work worth mentioning by a nativesculptorin
any public or private
collection
or
272
ENGLISH SCULF'IUBE.It is
drawing-room.parks,
the
sameI
in
the public gardens,
and
squares.
Could
write a description
of the bronze equestrian statue
of the
Duke
of
Wellington, erectedresidence,
in
Piccadilly in front
of his
and opposite that other grotesque statueperfectly
representing this illustrious statesman and warrior
on foot as a Fighting Achilles, which
is
nude and perfectly blackis
.''
The;
equestrian statuethatis
seen in
profile,
not full-face
to say,
it is
placed sideways on the miserable triumphal arch
which serves as a pedestal, and
it
most resemblesit
Punch mounted on Balaam'stoif
ass
at least soOnthe
has
been caricatured by the witty Charivari of London,
whose pagesI
it
properly belongs.
the whole,
am
not
mistaken
and
few pieces ofthis
London appear to confirm the English work with good taste andstatuary inin second-rate styles.
view
real success
In painting they excel in;
water-colours, either cabinet-pictures or portraitsin engraving,in
mezzotinto,
copperplate,
or
the
Keepsake
;
in sculpture, in
bust portraits.
In the
true national
museum
of sculpture, Westminster
Abbey, we
shall find this last assertion justified.
In the chapel of
Henryin
VII.,
the
largest
and
most profusely decoratedinstalled,
the old monastery of
the west, where the knights of the Bath are
nowof
we
find the
best and
earliest
piece
ENGLISH SCULPTURE.
273
sculpture which England can pride herself on possessing
tomb of the founder of the chapel. It is the work of the celebrated Florentine, Pietro Torregiano, whose tragic history we have already
the
related.
On
the tomb, which
is
of black basalt,
covered with various ornaments and surrounded by a rich and massive chantry of cast brass, reclinethe effigies of
Henry VII. and
his queen, Elizabeth.
We
will
not
attempt to review thoroughly
the
other
ten
or twelve
chapels of the abbey, but
briefly notice the principal tombs, not according to
their positions, but according to the rank occupiedin the
world by the
illustrious
dead whose ashes
they cover.
First, then,
royal personages.beth,
we will complete the list of Here we find the great Eliza-
whose marble statue immortalises the round eyes and hooked nose, the cold, imperious, andhaughty
manner
characteristic
of
the
maiden
queen
;
Maryand
Stuart,frail
more;
beautiful,
lovable,
more
Edward
V.
more and hisII.,
brother Richard,
both assassinated;
Charles
the restored monarch, not far from the instrument
of his restoration. Generalcalled to the thronehis wife,
Monk;
;
William
III.,;
by the glorious Revolution Queen Anne and, lastly, George II., who prepared his own grave in the vault of Henry VI I. 's chapel.
Mary
;
T
274
ENGLISH SCULPTURE.is
Westminster, however,of England,it is
not only the
St.
Denis
also the Pantheon.
All the
men
who have renderedor
great services to their country,
whose works have made them illustrious, share the honour and the fame of those whom accidentor birth called to the throne.warriors amongst
There are but fewlook in vain for the
them
;
we
Black Prince, Talbot, Marlboroughin St. Paul's,
Nelson
rests
almost alone.officers
Westminster containsin action
more simple
who
died
than great
naval or military commanders.
Near the gorgeous
monumentelegant
to Captain
bas-relief
sea-piecerest
James Cornewall, with its beneath a pyramidGeneralWolfe,Field-
shadedonePaoli,
by
palms,
marshal Lord Ligonier, and Major Andre,* withforeigner,
the
Corsican
chief
Pasquale
de
who was
hospitably received by the English
even
in their national temple.
TheI
statesmen,
who were more numerous
in
England, are also better representedshall not
in the abbey.
enumerate the eminent
politicians of the
Tudors and Stuarts, but pass on
to those of our
own age
Lord Mansfield, whose magnificent mausoleum was erected in 1805 by: ;
Lord Stanhope
* This Major Andre was unjustly shot as a spy by the Americanr., on October 2nd, 1780. A monument was erected to him in the Abbey, but he was not buried there, as M. Viardot implies. (Tr.)
ENGLISH SCULPTURE.Fiaxman,the
275
great
illustrator
of
Homer and;
Dantetwo
;
the earl of Chatham, father of Pittrivals,
the
illustrious;
William;
Pitt
and CharlesGeorgethe forerunner
Fox
the
orator
Grattan
and,
lastly,
Canning, the successor ofof Robert Peel.
Fox and
to
Amongst these numerous men little known beyond
sepulchral
monuments
the Channel, there areof
some commemorating namescelebrity, before
more European
which the foreigner pauses with
greater respect.
antiquary
;
Sir
Such are Camden, the learned Godfrey Kneller, who was courtII. to
painter under five kings, from CharlesI.,
George
and who
filled
the mansions of Great Britain
with historic portraits ;* the chemist, Sir
Humphrynot,itsit
Davy, to
whom
trade;
and philanthropy owe asis
much
as science
James Watt, who didbut;
true, invent steam,
who
controlled
power
and regulated
its
use
William Wilberforce, a good
man and
true philanthropist,
separated from Howard,and, lastly, the
who ought not to be who rests in St. Paul'sIsaac
;
great
Sir
Newton, whose
* More modem painters, such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and David Wilkie, are buried in the
vaults of St. Paul's.
In the centre of theit,
same buildingis true,it:
rests also
under a plain slab it the following magnificent sentence engraved upon tnonununtum, circums/>ki.^'the architect
who designed
but withrei/uiris
^'
Si
276
ENGLISH SCULPTUBE.like the
tomb,
sanctuary of God, should be, not
in
a
building, not in a country, but in the universe, the
laws of which he recognised and laid down.
On examining
his statue,
which
is
a fine work by
Scheemakers, we are struck by his resemblance toanother great workerofa
wide views
Michaelcertainly,
Angelo.for his
Newton washis
handsomer man,in
nose was not broken;
his
youth by a
choleric rival
face,all
too,
isI
gentler and
more
thoughtful
;
but for
that,
repeat, the resem-
blance
is
striking in the general outline of the head,
in the lines of the face, in the features, in the entire
appearance.
Beneath the statue of Newton aretaiiUimque
inscribed the true and beautiful words, Sibi gratu-
lenUir
nwrtales
talc
extitisse
;*
and
lower down, Hiimani generis decus.^of the Pajitheon of England which delightful and suggestive was the most foundparttransept,
The
I
south
or
Poets'
Corner.
Before
the
effigies of
kings or politicians;
we experience
a mere
cold curiosity
but
in this silent funereal
academy,
amongst the men whose memory will live for ever, and who still speak to us in their works, heart and mind alike burn within us we seem to be in the actual presence of the imposing assembly, and;
*
Lei mortals rejoice that such a great genius
otice existed.
t
Honour of the human
rcue.
ENGLISH SCULPTURE.
211
under the scrutiny of these acknowledged masters,
whom we
admire, reverence, and love.all
There,
in
a
narrow space, are collected nearly
the writers
who have renderedof
the rich and powerful literature
Englandat
illustrious,
and with
whom we
are
familiar through the lab')urs of our translatorscritics
and
least:
old
Ben Joason, Chaucer,\V.
called
the Eiinius of England, Spenser, William Shakespear,
John Milton, Thomas Gray, Butler,
Con-
greve.
Mason, Gay, Wyatt, Isaac Casaubon, Dryden,
Pope, Addison, Oliver Goldsmith, Rowe, Thomson,Sheridan.ing,
We
regret the absence of Swift, Field;
Sterne,
Hume, and Richardsonmodern
but of the
greatest authors four only are missing, two belong-
ing to past ages and two to
times.friar,
Theand
former are Roger Bacon, the learnedFrancisBritain,
Bacon, Lord High
Chancellor of Great
and the
still
greater author of the Instau-
ratio
Magna; andI
the latter, Byron andthat
Walterfor
Scott.
believe
a place
is
reserved
Macaulay.*
Thequite
sepulchre of the illustrious author oi Parais
dise Lost
not worthv of himto
;
the
little
tombgreatof theand Tr.
close
theit
door
is
shabby
for
so
a name.
Can
benow
that the reputationtilled,
* Macaulay's place
is
and
tl
e
names of
I'liaekeray
Charles Dickens must be added to
this
list
of illustrious authors.
278
ENGLISH SCULPTURE.injured
republican pamphleteer hasScriptural poet?
that
ofis
the
The
great Shakespearis
moreworklength
suitably treated.
His tombis
a remarkablefull
by Scheemakers, and hefigures.
represented at
on a pedestal decorated with symbols and allegorical
There
is
a natural nobility about this statue,stiffness,full,
without any theatricalto
but the face appears
me
too round, too
too smooth.
We
could
wish the immortal dramatic poet to have the long,grave,
and thoughtful countenance of
his
engraved
portraits.
At Shakespear'smarble,lies
feet,
beneath a simple
slab of black
Sheridan,
who might
have had a statue amongst those of the statesmen,
had he not preferred
to
remain with the authorslittle,
;
and opposite, a man who wroteShakespear
but was a
comedian, and doubtless a greater comedian than
David
Garrick.
His presence here
might be taken as a proof of the tolerance of Englishchurchmen, so often denied, did we not rememberthat the choir alone of the old
Roman
Catholicof
church
is
consecrated
tois
the dominant form
worship, whilst the rest
but a secular building.
AmongstPaoli,
the warriors the
we foundof
the Corsican the
amongst
men
letters
Swiss
Casaubon, and
now, in the Poets' Corner,
we meet
with another foreigner, a great poet, truly, although
he did not write
in
English, or
in
any spoken
ENGLISH SCULPTURE.tongue,
279
but
in
that
universal
language
called
music
:
wetheir
refer to the
Saxon, George Frederick
Handel.retain
Grateful to this fine genius, the English
reverence for his
name andin
works,
manyhis
of
them innocently imagining, on account ofLondon, that heHandel's monutheir
long residence and death
was actually
countryman.is
ment, by Roubiliac,
fantastical
and
theatrical.
In a kind of niche, or marble cabinet, the
German
composer stands beside a
table,
on which are spread
musical books and instruments, amongst others ahorn, doubtless to indicate that he introduced the
brass
instruments of his time into the orchestra.greatestfault
ThedoneI
of
the;
statue
is,
I
think,
the lowness of the foreheadjustice to the massive
the sculptor has nothis
head of
model
;
andI
am
justified in this criticism,I
not because
amhis
a phrenologist, but becauseportrait of Handel,in
have seen an authentic
which the vivacity of
somewhat whimsical humour, the energy of his determined disposition, and the fire of his prolificcreative genius are all clearly rendered.If,
now,
instead
of noticing
the
fame of theof art only,of
celebrities
admitted to Westminster Abbey, wev.'orks
were to consider the tombs as
we should haveremarkablefar
little
to
say.
Some
them
are
size rather than grandeur, for
odd
280
ENGLISH SCULPTURE.Thebest are
fancies rather than true originality.
the simplest, such as statues and busts, but none of
them appear to usnico at
to bear
comparison with the tombs
of the Medici at Florence, of Paul III. or Rezzo-
Rome, of Turenne
at Paris, or of
Marshal
Saxe
at Strasburg.
We
have already mentioned:
the principal
monuments Henry VII. by Torregianoof Newton,;
of the ancient, that of;
of the modern, those
of Lord Mansfield,wall,
by Flaxman, of Captain Corneand of Shakespear by Scheestatue of
makers and to them we must add the Watt by Chantrey, which is said to belikeness.
a perfect
There
are,
however, two other tombs,if
both of women, which deserve mention,account of the fame which they enjoy.of Elizabeth Warren, represents a
only on
One, thatgirl,
young
half
nude,
in
the semi-recumbent position of the
dalene of Canova.*
This figure appearsis
Magto meg-ar-
well studied, happily rendered, but what
perhaps
most admiredbe counted
is
the imitation in marble of acloth,
ment of coarse
of which the threads
may
ais
childish fancy, reminding us of the
Christ beneath the sJirond and the Fish in the net in*
This figure
not intended
to
represent
Elizabeth
Warren
herself, as the text implies,
but a houseless wanderer, with an infant
Elizabeth Warren was the widow of the Right Rev. in her arms. John WaiTcn, D.D., Lord Bishop of Bangor, and was remarkablefor her benevolence.-
(Trans.)
ENGLISH SCULPTUBE.the San Severe Chapel at Naples.
281for the other
As
tomb,
I
failed to
discover either the
nameit
of theis
sculptor or that of the person tocated,for
whom
dedi-
the
guides at Westminster hurry the
visitor past the
tombs,
much
as
Sancho Panza'sAll
doctor did the dishes at the governor's table.thattoI
could
make
out was that
it
had somethingin
do with a lady who was shut up so long
a
dungeon that she died on again seeing the daylight,
when her husband cameis
to rescue her.
This
scene
represented on the upper part of the
monu-
ment
;
beneath, lean Death, coming through the
half-open door, turns back and touches the expiringcaptive with his scythe.*It is
a strange, theatrical,in
and pretentious composition,*
the styleto a
of theto the
We
presume that M. Viardot alludes
monument
memory of Joseph Gascoigne Nightingale and
his wife, in the chapel
of St. John, St. Michael, and St. Andrew, by Roubiliac, described in the verger's guide-book in the following words: "The lady is
represented expiring in the arms of her husband
;
beneath,
slily
creeping from n tomb, the King of Terrors presents his grim visage, pointing his unerring dart to the dying figure, at which sight the
husband, suddenly struck with astonishment, horror, and despair, seems to cla^p her to his bosom to defend her from the fatal stroke.Inscription:
Here rest the ashes of Joseph Gascoignein the
Nightingale,
of
Mamhead,
county of Devon, Esq.,;
aged 56, and of I.ady Elizabeth, his wife of Washington, Earl Ferrers, who died August 17, 1734, aged Their only son, Washington Gascoigne Nightingale, twenty-seven. Esq., in memory of tiieir virtues, did by his last will order this
died July 20, 1752, daughter, and co-heiress
who
monument
to be erected."'
(Trans.)
282
EXGLISn SCULPTUJiE.
mausoleum of Maria Christina of Austria, erectedby Canova in the church of the Augustines Vienna but we must acknowledge that some;
at of
the details are very finely executed.
The
skeleton
of Death, for instance,the actionis
is
powerfully rendered andthe shadesit
good.in
When
of night
begin to gather
the spacious aisles
must form
an appalling apparition.English sculpture sent no choice work to theUniversal Exhibition, and only gained one insignificant distinction.
Ana
Italian artist,
educatedhigh
in
France,
Baron
Marochetti,
long held
and
undisputed
rank as
sculptor in
London, but
death has lately removed him from the country ofhis adoption.
288
CHAPTER
VII.
FRENCH SCULPTURE.
WEin
have already remarked that even
in Italy,
throughout the true Middle
Age
(from the
fourth to the eleventh centuries), there
was a longFrance
pause, during which the arts were almost entirely
abeyance.
In
Gaul,
which
became
under Clovis, bad taste anduniversal, mechanical
ignorance were so
and
intellectual
power so en-
tirely wanting, that, as
we
are told
Pepin the Short, Charlemagne, and Louis
by M. Menard, le Debon-
naire used antique engraved stones for seals, and
signed the decrees of their reigns with the impression of a Jupiter, a Cupid, or aIt