.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