Dinanderie

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DINANDERIE


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SoiiHi Door of the BaptisteryF I o re 11 o e

.

By Andrea Pisano.


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DINANDERIEA HISTORY AND DESCRIPTIONOF MEDIi^VAL ART WORK INCOPPER BRASS AND BRONZE

m-

J. TAVENOR-PERRYAUTHOR OF'A CHRONOLOGY OF MEDIAEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE'

ETC. ETC.

WITH ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & SONS44 & 45 RATHBONE PLACE

1910[All rights reserved


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DEC. ART

Printed by Ballantyne, Haxson .2^ Co.At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh


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f'iKOR4TIVEAKT

PREFACEDiNANDERiE was the name used during the Middle Ages todenote the various articles required for ecclesiastical or domesticuse made of copper or of its alloys, brass and bronze, withwhich the name of Dinant on the Meuse was so intimatelyassociated ; and as we have no word in modern English whichwould in the same way embrace all branches of this importantart work, we have adopted it as the most convenient for ourpurpose.

Numerous books have appeared of late years treating of thegold- and silver-smith's craft, and of the various objects madein the precious metals ; iron work, both constructional andartistic, has been even more fully dealt with, while pewterand lead work have not been forgotten ; but no attempt hasvet been made adequately to describe the widely extended artof the coppersmith, although our museums and the churchtreasuries of the Continent abound in beautiful works executedin copper, brass and bronze. Mr. Drury Fortnum in his bookon Bronzes deals slightly with one branch of our subject ; butas he includes in it both the ancient and modern periods oithe art, the proportion available for the description of medievalwork is but scanty.

Although it would be impossible in a single volume to domore than give a general view of the whole subject, with anaccount of the more important varieties of objects made in thosemetals during the medieval period, this has been done in asufficiently detailed manner to make it an introductory hand-book to this most interesting subject.


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vi PREFACEThe greater number of the illustrations in the text are

from sketches made by the author ; while, with the exceptionof some Italian doors, most of the plates are produced fromphotographs of objects or casts in the British or Victoria andAlbert Museums expressly taken for this work.

The thanks of the author are due to the Earl of Ilchesterfor permission to sketch and publish the remarkable bronzestoup preserved at Holland House ; to Sir George Birdwood,K.C.I.E., C.S.I. ; to Mr. W. H. James Weale, the greatauthority on Flemish art and archeology ; to Mr. W. W.Watts, the head of the metal work department of the Victoriaand Albert Museum, and to many others for kind advice andsuggestion ; and to Mr. H. C. Andrews, assistant in the libraryof the same museum, for a large number of the photographshere reproduced.


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CONTENTSINTRODUCTORY

HISTORICAL

DESCRIPTIVE

BIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX .

PART I

PART II

PART III

I'AGEI

SI

97

219

223


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSPLATES

South Doors of the Baptistery, Florence1. The Crystal of King Lothair2. The Chair of Dagobert ....3. Bronze Statue of S. George, Prague .4. Font, S. Bartholomew, Liege5. Font, S. Martin, Hal ....6. The Gloucester Candlestick7. Two Bronze Mortars, in the V. and A. Museum8. Portable Altar, from Hildesheim9. Portable Altar, from the Abbey of Sayn

10. Ciborium, in the V. and A. Museum .11. Two Monstrances, in the V. and A. Museum12. The Shrine of S. Sebald ....13. Figure of Thaddeus, from the Shrine of S. Sebald14. Reliquary, in the V. and A. Museum .15. Reliquary in Form of a Shrine, in the V. and A.16. Altar Cross, in the V. and A. Museum17. Processional Cross, in the British Museum .18. Processional Cross, in the V. and A. Museum19. Processional Cross, from Glastonbury Abbey20. Two Censers, in the V. and A. Museum .21. Paschal Candlestick, Milan Cathedral22. Paschal Candlestick, Essen....23. Paschal Candlestick, in the V. and A. Museum24. Altar Candlesticks, in the British Museum .24. Aquamanilie, in the British Museum .

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSPLATE25. Corona, Hildesheim ....26. Chandelier, in the V. and A. Museum27. Crosier, made by Brother Hugo of Oignies28. Crosier, in the V. and A. Museum29. Crosier, in the V. and A. Museum30. Crosier, in the V. and A. Museum31. Crosier, in the V. and A. Museum32. Lectern, S. Martin, Hal ...33. Book-cover, in the V. and A. Museum34. Font, Hildesheim ....35. Bronze Ewer, in the V. and A. Museum35. Cistern, from Augsburg36. Two Brass Ewers, in the V. and A. Museum37. Two Aquamanilles, in the V. and A. Museum38. Bronze Doors, Hildesheim39. Bronze Doors, Augsburg .40. Bronze Doors, Verona41. Bronze Doors, Ravello42. Bronze Doors, Pisa ....43. Bronze Frieze to South Door of Baptistery, Florence44. Porta del Paradiso, Florence .45. Head on Doors of Lausanne Cathedral45. Head, in the V. and A. Museum46. Head, from Brazen-head Farm, Essex46. Head, from Lake Nemi47. Tomb of Count Hermann at Romhild48. Tomb of Count Otto at Romhild

Face page 1 441461+71481481501501601641 68176176178178182184188190192194195200200202202209214

DRAWINGS IN THE TEXTFIG. PAGE1. Dinant a Hundred Years Ago . . . . . . . -152. Bouvigne and Dinant . . . . . . . . .183. Bronze Doors, Temple of Romulus, Rome . ..... 254. Door Panel and Head, Aix-la-Chapelle ...... 27


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSIIG.5. Pine-Coiic, Aix-Ia-Chapelle6. Pine-Coiie, Rome7. Pail, Aaborg, Denmark8. Pail, Bavenhoi .9. Altar Candlestick, Trier

10. Ornament, Oland11. Ornament, Gotland .12. Carving in Tympanum, Houghton-Ie-Sprin13. Boss of Viking Shield, Gothenburg14. Head, Void Borre, Norway15. Head, Vimose .16. Sanctuary Ring, Durham .17. Head, Le Puy .18. Christussaule, Hildesheim .19. House of Peter Bladelin, Bruges20. Sanctuary Ring, S. Julian, Brioudc .21. Lectern, S. Lconard-des-Champs, Honfieur22. Effigy of the Black Prince, Canterbury23. Coronet from the Effigy of the Black Prince24. Belt from the Effigy of the Black Prince25. Bronze Railings, Aix-Ia-Chapelle26. Pyx, Sens Cathedral ....27. Reliquary, V. and A. Museum .28. Reliquary, Sens ....29. Processional Cross, Mainz30. Figure, Processional Cross, Schatzkammer, Austr31. Censer, Louvain32. Censer, Italian .33. Censer, German34. Censer in Italian Sculpture35. Golden Candlestick, Arch of Titus, Rome36. Candelabrum, SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, Rome37. Paschal Candlestick, Magdeburg38. Paschal Candlestick, Xanten

XIPAGE2829313132323233333435363763748284929292ICO107119120125126129130132133136137139140


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Xll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSFIG.39. Paschal Candlestick, Beresford-Hope Collection40. Paschal Candlestick, Bamberg .41. Knop on Candlestick . ....42. Knop on Candlestick, with Enamel .43. Base of Candlestick .44. Altar Candlestick, Brunswick45. Altar Candlestick, Diisseldorf46. Altar Candlestick, Limoges47. Chandelier, Temple Church, Bristol .48. Stoup, Holland House, Kensington49. Stoup, Eltenberg ....50. Stoup, Toulouse ....51. Lectern, S. Stephen, S. Albans .52. Lectern, S. Germain, Tirlemont53. Lectern, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice54. Font, Linkoping ....55. Font, Sebaldskirche, Nuremberg56. Font, Louvain .....57. Aquamanille, V. and A. Museum58. Head on Rail of Doors, Augsburg59. Cross on Door Panel, Atrani60. Part of Inscribed Panel on Bronze Doors, Ravello61. Sanctuary Ring, Mainz Dom62. Head, Lorenzkirche, Nuremberg63. Head on Doors, Ravello ....64. Head or Knocker, Augsburg65. Head on Door, Westeras, Sweden66. Bell, S. Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street, Durham67. Tomb of Mary of Burgundy, Bruges .68. Tomb of Charles the Bold, Bruges69. Group, from the Maximilian Monument, Innsbruck70. Arthur of Britain, from Monument, Innsbruck .71. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, from Innsbruck


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PART IINTRODUCTORY


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CHAP. PAGEI. GENERAL VIEW 3

II. DINANT AND THE MOSAN TOWNS . . . . loIII. THE ORIGINS 24IV. THE MATERIALS 39V. THE PROCESSES 44


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DINANDERIECHAPTER I

GENERAL VIEWIt has been too commonly believed that the barbarian hordeswhich descended on the Roman Empire from the north andnorth-east of Europe and gradually broke it to pieces were theinveterate foes to all civilisation, and wilfully destroyed thecities and edifices of the settled lands. Such raids as those ofAttila and his Huns through Western Europe and, later on,those of the Danish pirates in our own country, v^-hen wantondestruction was intentional, were comparatively rare ; since theGoths, the Lombards and the Franks, who overran Italy andGaul, came with the intention of settling in those provinces,and therefore did not stupidly destroy that which they intendedto utilise for their own benefit.When Theodoric the Goth captured Rome he was especiallycareful of her monuments, taking all the remains of ancient artunder his own protection by appointing a city architect, whowas not only charged with the care of all public edifices, butwas provided with a revenue for their restoration, and, withregard to any new buildings required, he was instructed to studythe style of the old and in no way to deviate from ancientmodels. At Ravenna, which Theodoric made the capital ofhis kingdom of Italy, and where there were no old buildingsto serve his purposes, he erected his great palace, the remains ofwhich exist to this day, and he built for himself a tomb-house


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4 DINANDERIEin imitation of Hadrian's mausoleum which is as massive andmay be as enduring. Whatever may have been their habitsin their original home, the Lombards who, after the Goths,spread over Italy, became themselves great builders, and underByzantine influence founded an architectural school remarkablefor its vigour and the richness of its ornamentation. At thevery time that King Pepin was engaged in breaking up theLombard power in Italy, a Lombard prince, Arrige Duke ofSalerno, was engaged in building for himself a stately palacein that city adorned with all the architectural graces of theperiod, and at the same time surrounding the port with wallsto protect it from the attacks of the Prankish king.

The early Franks in Gaul retained for a long time the semi-nomadic life of their ancestors, and the kings of the Mero-vingian dynasty resided on their great farms at a distance fromthe cities ; but though they required no palaces, they weregreat builders of churches, and both Queen Brunehault and KingDagobert are celebrated for their patronage of the arts. Besidethis the Merovingians were too much engaged in their domesticquarrels, since the death of each king led to a fresh divisionof their states, to require or even to care for any public officialbuildings ; and it was only when the Carlovingian dynasty,which succeeded them, became firmly established, that a revivalin architecture and the attendant arts became possible. But,while in Italy architecture had lived and progressed through allthe changes of governments, in these northern provinces, whenthe time and opportunity for a revival occurred, a new stylewith new methods had to be imported from a foreign country.

This revival, which was inaugurated by Charlemagne, tookplace at a fortunate juncture, for at that moment his friendPope Adrian I. was busily engaged in Rome in restoring manyof the ancient buildings and churches, and was importing fromGreece and elsewhere artists skilled in metal and mosaic work


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GENERAL VIEW 5for their decoration. In these labours Charlemagne also asso-ciated himself, as we find that for the repairs of S. Peter'sbasilica he presented the Pope with great timber beams andsome thousands of pounds weight of lead for repairing the roof,besides assisting him in lining the interior of the shrine withplates of beaten gold which depicted scenes from sacred history ;and his share in this transaction was immortalised in an inscrip-tion on the shrine itself, which said that Charles, of all kingsthe greatest, shall receive from Peter's hands the City's banner.

With such an experience as he must have acquired duringhis frequent visits to Italy, and his observation among the re-mains of ancient art, it is little wonder that, when he decidedto found his northern capital at Aix-la-Chapelle, he determinedto make it as far as possible similar to what he had seen inRome ; and although the church he built is far removed fromthe basilican type of S. Peter's, being without doubt a copy ofSan Vitale at Ravenna, he decorated it with marbles, mosaicand bronze work like the Roman churches, and thus foundedthe Art-school of the North which, submerged for a while be-neath the flood of the Norman raids, re-emerged to establishitself on the banks of the Rhine and the Meuse.

But while Charlemagne was able, and indeed compelled, toimport his architecture as well as his marbles and mosaics, themetal work with which he so lavishly adorned his church wasnot to be obtained in that manner, nor, as we shall presentlysee, was this necessary ; and although the suggestions for thebronze doors, the pine-cone fountain, and the wolf came fromRome, Rome itself had been despoiled of all its spare bronzeby its own emperors. Indeed, Adrian I., when he was restor-ing S. Peter's, was compelled to rob a temple at Perugia ofthe doors of bronze which he provided for the bell-tower ofStephen II.

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6 DINANDERIEto have passed away in the time of Charlemagne, for the manu-facture of articles of bronze was still an active industry inScandinavia and along the Baltic coasts of Germany. In mostparts of Europe the use of iron had early superseded that ofbronze ; but in the extreme north, although the later and basermetal had been introduced and was employed for many im-portant purposes, the nobler material was still undoubtedly usedfor most objects requiring ornamentation. The result was thatthese northern artificers possessed a facility in the working ofbronze unknown in the south ; and though they used iron fortheir sword-blades and for many other purposes where its specialvalue was evident, they made their sword-handles and sheathsand most of their domestic implements and ornaments of bronze.It may have retained in their eyes some of those superior andsacred associations which seem to have clung to it in other andolder countries. Thus in the Book of Deuteronomy we findthat when the people were ordered to build an altar of stonesto the Lord, this special injunction was laid upon them, Thoushalt not lift up any iron upon them ; and in Rome in ancienttimes the priest of Jupiter was only suffered to shave himselfwith a bronze knife ; while, when the site of a new townwas to be set out, it might only be ploughed round with aploughshare of bronze.

The bronzes of Scandinavia, which were contemporary withCharlemagne, belonging as they did to an epoch long sub-sequent to the introduction of iron, were of a most varied andbeautiful character ; yet their manufacture and use at this lateperiod is proved by the very numerous bog-finds, the resultsof which are to be seen in the museums of Copenhagen,Stockholm and Gothenburg, where they have been found associ-ated with Greek and Roman coins, many of which have beenused in their fabrication and in the bracteates. The buckles,clasps, fibuls and ornaments, and the jewellery of both men and


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GENERAL VIEW 7women are of exquisite and varied design, frequently gilt ordamascened, enriched with additions of gold and silver, orinlaid with amber or enamels. The weapons and armour ofbronze were also often richly ornamented ; the breastplates, thehelmets, and the shield bosses being sometimes decorated inhigh relief with the figures of men and animals.

But it is not only the high artistic merit of these variousobjects which is so remarkable, as the enormous quantity ofmanufactured bronze thev must have represented in use atone and the same time. During his thirty years' war with theSaxons of Westphalia and Northern Germany, the quantity ofbronze-mounted weapons which must have fallen into the handsof Charlemagne was quite enough to enable him to lavish thematerial on his new church at Aix-la-Chapelle without seekingto draw any supplies from Rome or elsewhere, and may indeedhave suggested to him the disposal of it in such a manner.The reasonable presumption ot Mr. Drury Fortnum, in hiswork on Bronzes, that the conquered and converted Saxonsmight have offered their discarded weapons and ornaments asex votos to the churches, might very well account for theenormous number of ecclesiastical objects of an early datemade in this metal still remaining. And thus it was, whennew abbeys and churches were founded and the necessity forfurnishing them occurred, there was plenty of bronze availablefor the purpose, as well as skilled workmen accustomed to itsmanipulation.

At the end of the tenth century all Christendom wasoppressed by the fear of an overwhelming catastrophe ; for thebelief was almost universal that the year 1000 would usherin the long-toretold millennium and the end of the world.But when that dreaded year had passed and nothing unusualhad occurred, hope revived and new churches began to be built,or the old ones to be restored, architecture and her attendant


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8 DINANDERIEarts became again active, and the brilliant period of medievalart then commenced.

In the Netherlands, which had already been influenced bythe revival of Charlemagne's time, first the Walloon and laterthe Flemish towns began to develop a capacity for organisedtrade which has made their names famous for ever. Althoughthe finer arts of the goldsmith and enameller were mainlypractised within the walls of convents, so that the authorshipand provenance of much work has been lost, in the LowCountries these, with all other crafts, passed into the hands oftrade guilds, and often became associated with particular townsand localities ; and thus it was that eventually many of theproductions themselves became known by the name of the placein which they were principally manufactured. From Arrasfirst came those wall-hangings which we still know as arras,and the Italians as arazzi ; the finer sorts of napery whichwere ornamented with a regular pattern in the weavingobtained the name of diaper from Ypres, the place where theywere first made ; while the finely-spun linen we call cambriccame from Cambrai. The name of Gand or Ghent has beenperpetuated in the French gants and the English gauntlet ; andin the same way, though we shall presently see that Dinantwas neither the first nor the last town to be engaged in themanufacture of brass and copper ware, those products wereknown throughout Europe and the Levant as Dinanderie.This word was used for all copper work as well as brass orbronze, whether beaten or repousse, which was mainly em-ployed for domestic purposes, such as was, in an inventory of1389, described as a '' haterie de cuyvre' much as we nowa-days say a batterie de cuisine ; as well as for work prepared bycasting and engraving, and sometimes by enamelling, which wasmore usually devoted to objects required for ecclesiastical use.And although in France, as well as in other countries, a large


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GENERAL VIEW 9quantity of such objects were produced, we find that even therethe words dynon and dynant were used as synonymous with potterd'airain, or a brass potter. Thus it was that Dinant and theother Mosan towns, having been the first to avail themselves ofthe revival in art due to the influence of Charlemagne, were notonly the first to profit by it, but received the credit for muchof the art work which was carried on elsewhere in later times,when they and their factories had fallen into desuetude.


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CHAPTER IIDINANT AND THE MOSAN TOWNS

The river Meuse, which has a total length of some 550 milesand runs for a hundred miles of its picturesque course througheastern Belgium, rises in the high ground of the plateau ofLangres, near Montigny-le-Roi, in the department of Haute-Marne, and eventually empties itself into the North Sea byDordrecht in Holland. Although its course through Belgianterritory is comparatively short, the Meuse must be reckonedas the most considerable river of that country, not only for itssingular beauty and the importance of the towns on its banks,but for its many historical associations. At a time when theDender, the Scheldt, and the Lys oozed and trickled throughthe half-reclaimed marshes and sandy heaths of Flanders, thevalley of the Meuse was the busy haunt of workers andmerchants ; and the rocky heights on the river's banks werealready crowned with the castles and fortresses of the Austrasiannobles. From its source the river runs in a direction slightlywest of north, and, passing through the French towns of Verdunand Mezieres, enters Belgium just below Givet, whence itformed, in media2val times, the imperfect division between theterritories of the Count of Namur and the Bishop of Liege.This Belgian portion of the river is exceedingly beautiful, thebanks rising in lofty and broken walls of limestone full ofcurious caverns at the feet of which the numerous towns andvillages lie squeezed in between river and rock, while thesummits are often clothed in luxuriant foliage surroundingthe ruins of some ancient castle.


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DINANT &> THE MOSAN TOWNS iiThe valley contains but few traces of the Roman occu-

pation, as any buildings which may have been erected duringthat period were entirely destroyed in the early and manyinroads of the northern barbarians ; but of the Roman roads,which were not so easily obliterated, numerous vestiges survive.One main military road, that from Boulogne to Cologne,crossed the Meuse at Maestrichtthe Trajectus Mosae of theRomans ; and although the bridges of Huy and Namurare locally believed to be of Roman foundation, the one atMaestricht, which was formed of stone piers with the roadwaylaid on level wooden beams, is the only one that can rightlyclaim that antiquity. The restoration and consequent pre-servation of these ancient roads was due to the capable butnotorious Merovingian Queen Brunehault, the daughter, thesister, the mother, and the grandmother of kings, who reignedor governed in Austrasia for forty-eight years ; and these roads,generally known in Belgium as Brunehault pavements, are,as well as any other buildings exceptionally strong, great orancient, usually attributed to her. It was perhaps due to herinfluence that the Austrasian nobility began to settle along thevalley of the Meuse, which resulted in it eventually becomingthe cradle of the Carlovingian race of kings and a centre for therevival of the arts which took place later on under Charlemagne.Pepin, the founder of the family, who was the first Mayor ofthe Palace to Dagobert I., and afterwards Duke of Austrasia,had a castle at Landen, some few miles from Liege, where hefrequently resided ; and for this reason he is known as Pepin ofLanden, to distinguish him from his more famous grandson, theson of his daughter Begga and Ansigise the son of S. Arnolphus,Pepin of Heristal.

Heristal, or Herstal, is now but a mean manufacturingsuburb of Liege, which great commercial city owed, however,its origin to its contiguity to that ancient castle. But its


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12 DINANDERIEearly importance was chiefly due to the murder therein ofLambert, Bishop of Maestricht, who afterwards became thepatron saint of the city, by the partisans of Pepin's con-cubine Alpaida and her famous son Charles Martel. Pepinhad another palace on the Meuse at Jopille, nearly oppositeto Herstal, where he died ; and during the troubles whichensued after his death we hear but little more of this districtuntil his grandson, Pepin the Short, deposed the last rotfaineant of the Merovingian race, and became the first kingof the Carlovingian dynasty.

With the advent of Pepin's famous son Charlemagne beginsthe art history of the valley of the Meuse ; and to his careand influence are due the foundation of some and the eventualimportance of all the cities and towns along its banks, whichimportance some of them maintain to the present day. Hehimself frequently visited, and sometimes stayed for lengthenedperiods, at the family castle of Heristal ; and when not engagedin any of his warlike expeditions or in his frequent visits toRome, he usually resided in the country of Juliers, betweenthe Meuse and the Rhine, while in the immediate neighbour-hood, on the ruins of the Roman town of Aquisgranum, hefounded his northern capital of Aix-la-Chapelle, and thereinbuilt the great minster which was to form his tomb-house.

Aquisgranum, urbs regain,Sedes Regni principalis.

The story of the iewel known as the Crystal of KingLothair, now after many adventures safely housed in theBritish Museum, of which we give an illustration (Plate I.),throws not a little light on the condition and state of cultureof the inhabitants of the valley and its neighbourhood in thecentury following the death of Charlemagne. This jewelconsists of a circular plaque of rock crystal about four and a


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DINANT


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14 DINANDERIEremarks in his View of the State of Europe, that Hberty neverwore a more unamiable countenance than among these burghers,who abused the strength she gave them by cruelty and in-solence. The smaller the townand none of those alongthe valley of the Meuse, except Liege, grew to any greatsizethe more irritating it became ; and while singly notown was strong enough to do serious harm to another, theywere able to do petty injuries which still further inflamedtheir passions and crippled their trade, until at last the inter-vention of their over-lords brought about their punishmentand ruin.

The politics of these towns were of an extremely parochialand short-sighted character, and were entirely swayed by thedictates of their trade unions, unlike the greater free cities,such as Cologne, Bruges and London, which were governedby their merchants and traders, who shaped their policyaccording to the requirements of their customers in foreigncountries ; whilst these Walloon towns on the Meuse, occupiedby a hot-tempered Celtic population, were ruled by artisans,members of some predominant guild, who in their narrowignorance sacrificed their own interests for the sake of cripplingthe trade of rival towns. One result was that whenever theirover-lords were quarrelling among themselves, although thecauses of the controversy in no way concerned the townsindividually, they gladly seized the opportunity it gave themof damaging a rival, and in the end their over-lords ruinedthem.

Although Dinant was neither the oldest nor the mostimportant of the Mosan towns, for Maestricht and Liege ascathedral cities were of much more consequence, and itsnear neighbour Huy was of much older foundation, Dinantseems early to have taken the lead among them ; and thismay be attributed not merely to the exceptional skill and


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DINANT

just below the point where it receives the little riverLesse, and sixteen miles above its junction with the Sambre,It is dominated by a lofty limestone cliff, now crowned bya modern but dismantled fortress, and is squeezed into thecontracted space of ground which lies between its base andthe river (Fig. i). In the centre stands the Church of NotreDame, which contains the only ancient work which has sur-vived the devastations of war, fire and flood which the town


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i6 DINANDERIEhas so often undergone. It consists of a nave, with aisles,transepts and choir, and has at the west end a fine squaretower surmounted with a fantastic spire, which soars aloftas if vainly trying to rival the height of the adjacent crags.The town itself has been rebuilt many times, and has beenof recent years very much modernised ; while the picturesqueold bridge was removed during the last century, and a moreconvenient but most incongruous structure of iron andstone was built in its place. The people of the town borein modern times the character of much foolishness like thatwhich attaches to the wise men of Gotham ; and the in-scription which they had placed on their old bridge recordingits date was considered evidence of this : Ce pontfutfait iciOf the origin of the town it is impossible to speak withany certainty, but from references made to it in the cosmo-graphy of the anonymous writer of Ravenna in the seventhcentury under the name of Dinantis, we find that it was inexistence at that date ; it is also spoken of in charters of thetime of Charlemagne, and occurs as Deonant in the treatybetween Charles the Bald and Louis of Germany in 870.By the middle of the eleventh century it appears to haveattained to the relative importance it afterwards held amongthe Mosan towns as a centre for the manufacture of copperware ; and among the importations received at Cologne duringthe year 11 04 is specially mentioned batterie de cuivre fromDinant. In the middle of the thirteenth century the superiorquality of the productions of the place had become proverbial ;and they spoke of the copper ware of Dinant, of the swordsof Cologne, and of the crucifixes of Limoges as of equalexcellence of manufacture.

The importance to the Dinantois of their alliance with theHansa League was very great, for it not only made themsupreme among the Mosan towns, but gave them exceptional


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DINANT ^ THE MOSAN TOWNS 17advantages in their trade with Germany and England. It notonly enabled them to procure without difficulty from the formerthe copper produced in the Harz mountains, and from the latterthe tin almost as necessary for their finer work, but it estab-lished a market in both of these countries for the sale of theirmanufactured articles. It enabled them also to obtain the mostfavourable treatment in the matter of tolls and dues ; and thespecial rates for their work are mentioned in the tariff ofDamme, the port of Bruges, which was legalised by a chartergranted in 1252. Another result of these arrangements wasthat Dinant became a recognised emporium for the sale of theraw materials which were required by other towns engaged ina similar business, not only the tin and copper imported fromabroad, but the calamine which was found in large quantitieson the right bank of the river. Thus we find that when Philiple Hardi, Duke of Burgundy, was building his Abbey Churchof Champnol, near Dijon, one Nicholas Joseph, a native ofDinant who was engaged on the bronze sculpture, paid severalvisits to the town to purchase materials for his work, amongwhich are mentioned 3500 livres and 1400 livres of calamine,and 2100 livres of copper.How all these advantages, which the diligence and fore-thought of their ancestors had procured for the Dinantois, weredissipated in their petty quarrels with their neighbours has yetto be told. In the middle of the thirteenth century the towns-people, instead of attending to their legitimate business, werewasting their energies in broils with Huy and Liege, and whentheir over-lord, the Bishop, intervened in the interests of peace,they patched up their quarrel with the two towns only to jointhem in attacking the Bishop ; but, as might have been ex-pected, he showed himself to be too powerful to be so treated,and they were eventually glad, after many losses, to purchasean ignominious peace, and take out a new and less favourable


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i8 DINANDERIEcharter of freedom. It was during this period of unrest,when perhaps the accumulating orders of the merchants andtraders in copper ware were lying neglected, that a rival factorywas started on the other side of the river, under the very nosesof the Dinantois, at Bouvigne ; and the immediate result ofthis rivalry was not only to steal away some of the business, butto corner a commodity on which the manufacture of Dinantdepended almost as much as on the metal (Fig. 2). It is to be

Fig. 2.Bouvigne and Dinantremembered that Dinant was within the province of the Bishopof Liege, while the opposite bank of the river belonged to thecounty of Namur, whose Count was glad to welcome withinhis borders a colony ot craftsmen who could carry on solucrative a business as that of the coppersmiths. Most of thematerials required in their work were as easily procurable onhis side of the Meuse as on the other, while he had within hiscounty a stratum of plastic clay which was used by the Dinantoisfor making both their models and their crucibles ; and this clay,which was locally known as derle, was not to be found on the


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&' THE MOSAN TOWNS 19side of the river. Thus it was that the Dinantois found

not only confronted with a rival factory which couldout the same goods as theirs, but suddenly cut ofF from one

the essentials to the process of their manufacture. Hencerage which inspired them against Bouvigne was not merelyoutcome ot trade jealousy, as it has generally been represented

be.About this same time occurred the stupid but destructiveWar of the Cow, which broke out in 1273 between NamurLiege, and quickly involved all the neighbouring states, in

the Dinantois naturally sided with their over-lord thesince this course enabled them to attack Bouvigne ; andafter two years of fighting the war was put an end to

the intervention of the King of France, the squabbles be-the two towns continued. These troubles were further

by the action of the Count of Namur in closingderlieres or clay-pits at Andoy, Mozet and Maizeroul, fromthe Dinantois had hitherto obtained their clay ; and laterin 1328, granting the exclusive rights to draw the clay fromderliere of Andoy, and a monopoly of all other pits which

afterwards be opened, to the mestier de la baterie deAlthough both the Bishop and the Count endea-

to prevent the quarrels between their turbulent towns,the outbreaks should embroil their respective states, the warthem continued as active as ever ; and the two towns

this time erected offensive castles to annoy each other.Dinantois built a great tower opposite to Bouvigne, whichnamed Mont Orgueil, and Bouvigne retaliated by build-on the hill opposite a castle which became known later

Crevecourt. An incident occurring about this time seemsindicate that Bouvigne had become a refuge for renegade

or that it had induced some skilled workmen ofby the offer of better pay, to settle in their town. A


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20 DINANDERIEparty of Dinantois had sallied forth over the bridge to damageor burn the part of Bouvigne lying outside its walls, but it wascaptured, and its leader, one Pierre Doivre, hanged by its captorGuillaume Doivre, who was supposed to be the son of thevictim. The case was apparently considered a flagrant one,for the Bishop interfered, and Guillaume and his companionswere compelled to do penance in the Church of Notre Dameat Dinant, and afterwards to make a pilgrimage to Cyprustheisland of copper.

Pope Urban VI. in vain endeavoured to arrange a per-manent peace between the rival towns ; and Bouvigne stillfurther aggravated the Dinantois by erecting, in 1383, anadvanced castellated work on the banks of the river oppositeMont Orgueil. Dinant was, however, about the same timeengaged in other and domestic troubles, as at the beginning ofthe fifteenth century it was, with the other towns of the province,in revolt against the Bishop of Liege ; but Jean sans Peur, theDuke of Burgundy, came to his assistance, and in 1408 defeatedthe insurgent towns with disastrous results for Dinant, as itwas heavily fined, its castle and all its defences were destroyed,and fifty of its leading inhabitants were taken as hostages forpeace and interned at Arras for three and a half years.

In 1 42 1 Jean III., the then Count of Namur, transferredall his rights in the county to the Duke of Burgundy, so that,when trouble again broke out between the two towns, theDinantois had to deal with the powerful Philip le Bon, whowas notoriously ruthless in the treatment of his own cities whenthey troubled him, and was not likely to show much considera-tion to so troublesome a neighbour as Dinant. Not alarmed,however, by this, or showing a bold front, the Dinantois in1430 made a powerful alliance with Liege, Huy, S. Trondand Tongres, and, having hired some German troops, theyattacked Bouvigne in force and ravaged the opposite banks


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^ THE MOSAN TOWNS 21the river, but seem to have failed in their attempt on the

of Crevecourt. The siege of Bouvigne was also un-; and a truce for tw^o years was arranged, converted

next year into a permanent peace, which provided for theof the castle on Mont Orgueil, which the Dinantois,

to their treaty with their Bishop, had rebuilt.In spite of so many warnings and defeats, the Dinantois

began their attacks on Bouvigne, and Philip, findingthe Bishop of Liege was unable to control his town, tookmatter into his own hands, and determined, once and forto put an end to their intolerable insubordination. He sent

army of thirty thousand men under the Count of Charleroymake a regular siege of the place ; but the truculent in-

far from being frightened, hanged the messengershe sent to summon them to surrender ; and it wasafter a six days' siege, given over to fire and pillage

three days, and what was left after that, save only the ruinsthe church, was pulled down. Of the inhabitants, eight

were tied in couples and drowned in the rivertheof the Meuseand the remainder were scattered tar

wide over the neighbouring cities.Many of the Dinantois who were skilled workmen, driftedFlanders and founded the factories of Brussels, TournayMiddelburg, which carried on to even greater excellence

art of Dinanderie ; but perhaps the greater number settledthe town of Huy, a little lower down the river, and connected

with its old-established factories among a people tothey were allied by kinship and a common head. As toritself, a partial rebuilding took place three years after

siege ; but it never recovered its importance, and it nowa picturesque memorial of one of the crimes committed

the name of liberty.Huy, to which so many of the dispossessed Dinantois retired.


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22 DINANDERIEis situated on the same bank of the Meuse, but some eighteenmiles below the junction of the Sambre with that river. Inantiquity as well as in early importance it ranked higher thanDinant, and the first examples of Dinanderie seem to haveemanated from its factories. It was in existence and burned byAttila in the fifth century, and was rebuilt by Charlemagne in779, who made it the capital of a county ; he conferred it onone Bazin, the nephew of Alpais, the mother of Charles Martel,who built there the first castle. The earliest church was raisedon the site of an ancient chapel founded in the fourth century,and was consecrated in 1066, but that was superseded by thepresent magnificent structure erected mainly between the years131 1 and 1377. The town claims to have received a charterof freedom in the year when the first church was consecrated,and to have been, at that early date, filled with rich and noblefamilies ; and it is also a boast of the townsfolk that the daughterof a Huy furrier was the mother of our William the Conqueror.It may be mentioned that at Huy the decoration of the wareby champleve enamel was practised at an early date, as is shownby the triptych from Alton Towers, now in the Victoria andAlbert Museum, made in the middle of the twelfth century byGodfrey de Claire of Huy.

Verdun, situated on the Meuse at the point where it firstbecomes navigable, is another town in which the manufactureof Dinanderie was carried on at an early period, and itsantiquity may be even greater than that of Huy. It wasalready a place of importance in the time of Charlemagne ;and when, after his death, his empire was divided between histhree grandsons, Louis, Charles and Lothair, it was here, in 843,the partition took place by the Act known as the Treaty ofVerdun. Like Huy, it early developed the art of enamellingon bronze ; and it was by one of its workers, Nicholas ofVerdun, that the beautiful antependium to the altar of the


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ri.ATK I

THE CRYSTAL OV KING LOTHAIR


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DINANT & THE MOSAN TOWNS 23Church of Kloster Neuberg by Vienna was made between theyears 1168 and 1186. Verdun was always a place of im-portance, and was one of the celebrated Three Bishoprics ;and it is considered by many to have been the place whencethe art of champleve enamelling spread to Paris and thenceover France.

As might have been expected, a large number of thewandering Dinantois took refuge in their own chief city, Liege,but they do not appear to have established there any factories ;but at Namur, on the opposite bank of the river, some manu-facture of Dinanderie seems to have been carried on. Itappears, however, most probable that this was established bycolonists from Bouvigne, as it seems scarcely likely that theDinantois would, except under compulsion, have sought anasylum in a hostile city. But whatever trade may have sur-vived among the Mosan towns after the fall of Dinant soonlanguished and died out ; and now the valley has become againa sequestered spot, the haunt of the traveller in search of thepicturesque. No longer do the rocks re-echo the tinkling ofthe anvils or the hissing of the metal in the moulds, for theage of bronze has long since passed away; but in theengineering shops of Seraing and the ordnance works of Liege,the clatter of the machinery and the roar of the furnaces undertheir heavy pall of smoke witness that on the Lower Meuse the age of iron still rules.


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CHAPTER IIITHE ORIGINS

We have already indicated the possible source from whenceCharlemagne drew the great supply of metal he required forthe bronze work at Aix-la-Chapelle, but it is not quite so easya task to explain how he obtained the designs for his work,or whence he procured sufficiently skilled workmen to carrythese designs into effect. It is obvious that the general ideain his mind was to imitate objects he had himself seen inRome, for three at least of the bronze castings which remainto this day may be identified as intended copies of existingRoman originals, although when we come to examine themwe shall see that they differ vastly from their classic prototypes.These objects were the two-leaved doors, the fountain in theform of a pine-cone, and the wolf.

Of these the most important, as well as the most ambitious,work was the pair of doors which he placed at the originalentrance to the church, as nothing like them had beenattempted in Western Europe since the Emperor Hadrianhad set up those under the portico of the Pantheon when herestored the building, about 124, after the fire which prettywell destroyed it in iio. Although bronze doors were madeby the Emperor Justinian for his great Church of Sta. Sophiain Constantinople, one at least of which is still remaining atthe south end of the narthex, nothing of the sort was againattempted in the eastern capital until Staurachios executed thefamous series of bronze doors in the twelfth century for thePantaleone family of Amalfi. Charlemagne therefore essayed

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THE ORIGINS 25to execute a novel and difficult task, and it is interesting to

Fig. 3.Bronze Doors, Temple of Romulus, Rome

inquire whence he derived the idea for the work. He may


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26 DINANDERIEhave seen the bronze doors which Pope Adrian brought fromPerugia, and have made them his model ; but as they haveperished, we are unable to institute a comparison. The onlyother bronze doors standing in Rome during the time ofCharlemagne's visits to the city are standing to this day as hesaw them, and are those of the Pantheon and the little Templeof Romulus in the Forum ; and although there is but littlesimilarity between the doors of Aix-la-Chapelle and either ofthem, in the extent of their enrichment, they are most likethe doors of the Temple. From the drawing which we giveof the latter of these Roman examples in their present state(Fig. 3), it will be seen that each leaf is in two large panelswith a double enriched moulding running round each of them,while each leaf of the doors of Aix-la-Chapelle is cut up intoa number of small panels and is much more ornamented.

But a remarkable addition was made to these German doors,of which no hint was given by the classic examples, for theorigin of which it is as difficult to account as it is to explainhow it was that it became an important feature on all greatchurch doors, at least in Germany, France and England, at alater period. This was the knocker in the form of an animal'shead, holding a ring in its mouth, which subsequently developedinto the so-called Sanctuary ring. Each leaf of the Aix-la-Chapelle doors bears one of these in the form of a lion's head,surrounded by a beautifully modelled floriated border, but thering which hangs from the mouth has no boss to it, and wasclearly never intended to serve as a knocker (Fig. 4). Thetwo classic examples of doors which we have mentioned showno trace of having borne such an ornament, nor have we anyrecord that such masks were ever affixed to the doors oftemples ; and the only hint we have of the ancient use ofsuch a feature is given by the late Professor Donaldson inhis work, Examples of Ancient Doorivays, in which he gives


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THE ORIGINS 27a drawing of a bas-relief of the front of a tomb where

Fig. 4.Door Panel and Hkad, Aix-la-Chapelle

the two doors are furnished with similar heads and rings.


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28 DINANDERIENot only would it be interesting to discover the reason

for this remarkable innovation, but also to trace the modelswhich, no doubt, Charlemagne intended to have imitated.The lion's head was a favourite subject with Roman sculptorsand architects, and frequently appears on cornices and enrichedmouldings, and sometimes formed the mask of the waterspoutsround the atria of Roman houses. A few years since somemost beautiful examples of heads of lions and other beasts castin bronze and holding rings in their mouths were recoveredfrom the bottom of Lake Nemi in the Alban Hills, whichare supposed once to have formed mooring-rings to the pilesof a wooden landing-stage ; but these must have disappearedbelow the waters of the lake long before the time of Charle-magne's visits, and could never have served for his models.The imperfect reproduction of the celebrated pine-conewhich now, displaced as it is from its original position, looks

very meaningless (Fig. 5), was anattempt on the part of Charlemagneto reproduce an important cere-monial feature which he had ob-served at S. Peter's, of which thebronze pine-cone formed a principalpart. He had arranged in front ofhis church at Aix-la-Chapelle anatrium similar to those he sawbefore the great churches in Rome,and, following their example, he hadplaced in the centre of it a water-bason with a fountain. The one hesaw at S. Peter's had been erected

by Pope Symmachus (498-514), and consisted of a squaretabernacle with a dome of gilt bronze supported on porphyrycolumns, and surrounded by a marble bason, which was

Fig. 5.Pine-ConeAix-la-Chapelle


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THE ORIGINS 29

t J-

filled by water spouting from the dome above. Beneath thecanopy was placed the great bronze pine-cone, now standingin the Giardino della Pigna of the Vatican. This pine-cone,of which we give an illustration(Fig. 6), was generally supposed tohave once crowned the mausoleumof Hadrian, but more probably wasone of the ornaments of the artificiallake which Agrippa made in theCampus Martins near the Pantheon ;and it still bears engraved aroundthe lower rim the name of its sculptor,Publius Cincius Calvius.

There can be but little doubt thatthe bronze wolf, if wolf it be, and nota bear, as suggested by Dr. Bock inhis Das Heilighthum zu Aachen^ wasintended to be a reproduction at leastof the idea of the celebrated wolf ofthe Capitol, although its attitude isquite different. In the time of Charlemagne this curiousfigure, which had not then, perhaps, received the additionof the twin bovs, was preserved in the Lateran Palace ; andas it was even at that time regarded as the symbol ot Rome,we can quite understand how it was the newly crowned Emperorof the West desired to erect this mark of his power in hisnorthern capital.

The classic influence which Charlemagne's bronze work atAix-la-Chapelle exercised on the metal designers of Germanywas perceptible two centuries later in the revival under BishopBernward at Hildesheim ; but before tracing this further,we must first consider the influence of the native school ofbronze workers in Northern Europe, which was far from being

Fig. 6.Pine-Conk, Rome


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30 DINANDERIEextinguished, and presently made itself more powerfully feltthan the exotic ideas introduced from Rome.

The Celtic inhabitants of Gaul were well acquainted withthe art of making bronze ornaments before the Roman occu-pation, and such work continued to be carried on after thePrankish Conquest, and showed but little alteration in its maincharacteristics. But the workers had learned from Rome theidea of manufacturing more important articles ; and we havein the so-called Chair of Dagobert (Plate II.) evidence that atthat date some classic influence was still apparent. It has beenassumed by some, however, that the chief part of this object,which is in the form of a curule chair, was actually Romanwork ; while others attribute it to S. Eloy, Dagobert's Masterof the Mint, the work having been completed in the twelfthcentury by Abbot Suger. The bronze work, however, onwhich the Merovingian artists were chiefly engaged were theenriched portions of weapons and buckles, fibute and otherornaments for dress, and these they frequently further adornedwith a rude sort of champleve enamel. In England a verysimilar sort of bronze work prevailed among the Saxons, butshowing, perhaps, more distinctly Scandinavian influence. InIreland the metal was equally in common use, as is found,for instance, in the bells of cast bronze, which had supersededthose formed of riveted iron plates ; and the celebrated bell otArmagh, which is one of the series, bears an inscription whichfixes the date of its making as about the end of the ninthcentury.

But while these examples show us that the people ofWestern Europe were still familiar with the use ot bronze torall purposes for which this metal was suitable, it is to the extremenorth that we must look for the true origin of Dinanderie. Thepeople of Scandinavia, as we have already stated, had froma very early period a wonderful proficiency in working in


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Plate IITHE CHAIR OF DAGUBIiKT


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THE ORIGINS 31casting objects of a considerable size with ornamentsin high relief. And they displayed this remarkablenot only in their weapons and warlike accoutrements,

in innumerable domestic objects which have survived today, many of which might have formed the models for theproduced later on in the Mosan towns. Among these are

great number of vases, pots, or chaldrons, the uses of whichnow be accurately determined. These were often of an

Fig. 7.Pail, AABORf., Denmark Fig. 8.Pail, Bavenhoigraceful shape, and we reproduce two examples of

from Du Chaillu (Figs. 7 and 8). The former of these,is ornamented with delicate engravings, was found in

bog near Aaborg, in Denmark ; it stands about eleven inchesand is ten inches in diameter, and the engraving shows a

borne on a ship which has zoomorphic terminations at eachThe second of these vessels is a vase or pail which mighthave passed as an early piece of Dinanderie, and was found

a grave at Bavenhoi in Himlingoi, Zeeland. It has an


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DINANDERIEelegant outline and is without engraving ; but very many others

discovered in various bog-finds are richlydecorated with figures and ornamentsin relief, and many bear the religioussymbol of the Svastica.

The ornamentation of much of thisScandinavian work is remarkable for itsinterlacing serpentine folds with zoo-morphic terminations, which we seealmost exactly reproduced in earlybronze work in Germany and France,such as, for instance, the little candle-stick from Trier (Fig. 9). This peculiarform of decoration, common both toCeltic and Scandinavian work, is foundin the wonderful series of early Irishmanuscripts, where the extraordinarylacertine combinations of interlacing

bands, curved eccentrically one within another, have never beenexceeded for richness and variety. It appears in the gilt bronze

Fig. 9.Altar Candlestick,Trier

Fig. 10.Ornament, Oland Fig. II.Orna.ment, Gotland

ornaments of Scandinavia at an early date, as may be seen in thebelt-mountings found in Oland and Gotland (Figs. 10 and 11),


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THE ORIGINS 33is continued in much of the surface ornament of Norman

as in the tympanum of an arch at Houghton-le-

FiG. 12.Carving in Tympanum, Houghton-i.e-SpringSpring, County Durham (Fig. 12); and we shall presently

its reappearance as a leading characteristic ot the earlierecorations of Dinanderie. As an example of interlacing work

Fig. 13.Boss of \'iking Shield, Gothenburgwithout animals' heads, we give a bronze boss of a Viking shieldin the Gothenburg Museum (Fig. 13).We have already spoken of the heads which Charlemagne

c


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34 DINANDERIEhad placed on the doors of Aix-la-Chapelle, and explained theprobable source of his inspiration, since those masks wereevidently intended to represent lions' heads as they appear inmany Roman examples, though we find that a large number ofthe great heads which were placed on the church doors of theeleventh and twelfth centuries could never have been suggestedby these classic models. But we find in the zoomorphicterminations of the interlacing folds of Scandinavian bronzesremarkable dragon-like heads, and in all such decorative work

Fig. 14. Head, Vold Borre, Norwaya tendency to introduce grotesque faces, as well as thoseserpentine forms and heads, which were perhaps intended toconvey some religious symbolism. The skill with which theseNorthern artificers portrayed some of these heads shows boththeir cleverness in the treatment of the metal and the fertilityof their imaginations, since they could never have modelled fromlife such a creature as, for instance, that which appears on thegilt bronze ornament on a horse-collar which we reproducefrom Du Chaillu (Fig. 14). But more remarkable still is thegriffin-like head which formed part of the treasure found inthe Vimost bog, near Odense, in the island of Fyen, which


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THE ORIGINS 35we here give (Fig. 15). A comparison of this with thecelebrated Durham Knocker (Fig. 16), and the similarmask on the door of the Cathedral of Le Puy (Fig. 17),compels the recognition of the Scandinavian rather than theclassic origin of these examples of Dinanderie. Indeed, Cahier,in hh Melanges archeologiques, in speaking of these dragon shapes

Fiu. 15.Head, Vimose

which form so remarkable a feature in early candlesticks,admits that all these subjects bear the imprint of Scandinavianmythology.

The great dragon which now crowns the belfry of Ghent,and which previously served as the vane to the belfry ofBruges, has been cited as an example of the fondness of theNorsemen for draconic forms ; and though it may be regarded


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36 DINANDERIEas a great specimen of Dinanderie, though of uncertain prove-nance, it reached Belgium too late much to influence themetal workers. It is constructed of gilt copper plates rivetedon to a framework of iron, and measures some lo to 12 feet

Fig. 16. Sanctuary Ring, Durhamover all from head to tail. It was once fixed over Sta. Sophiaor one of the gates of the Palace of Bucoleon at Constantinople,and was brought home by some returning Brugeois, to whomBaldwin IX. had given it in 1204. It is said that originallyit belonged to a Viking ship, part of the fleet of King Sigurd,


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THE ORIGINS 37

Fig. 17.Head, Le Puy

by whom it was presented to the Emperor, and bv his ordersixed over the church. The truth of the legend has beendenied, but it had this much in its favour, that the dragonhas a much more Scandinavian than Byzantine appearance.Charlemagne had also placed a vane over his church at Aix-la-Chapelle in the form of a gilteagle, some 10 feet across, whichCarlyle says in his Fi-edcrick theGreat, turned southward when theKaiser was in Frankenland, east-ward when he was in Teutsch oreuton-land ; and in fact pointing

out the Kaiser's whereabouts toloyal mankind.

Under these Roman and Scandi-navian influences alone the earliestbronze work which succeeded on Charlemagne's revival ofthe arts in Northern Europe was carried on ; but towardsthe end of the tenth century a third and very differentinfluence was brought to bear upon it by the skilled workmenintroduced into North Germany from Constantinople by theEmpress Theophano, the daughter of the younger Romanus,Emperor of the East. She became the wife of the EmperorOtho II, when he was only seventeen years old, but after hewas crowned as co-emperor with his father, Otho the Great ;and after her husband's early death she became Regent ofthe Empire for her son, Otho III. Her personal influenceand that of the artists she imported had considerable influenceon S. Bernward and the school of North German bronzeworkers, the story of which we shall tell later on ; but theByzantine fashions, which so much affected the early art ofGermany, was but slightly felt on the work of the Mosantowns, of France, or of England.


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38 DINANDERIEFrom this slight review of the artistic character of the

bronze industry which was being vigorously carried on inthe time of Charlemagne, and in the years anterior to it, itcan be seen that, when he wished to decorate his new churchwith the remelted spoil of his enemies' weapons, he couldhave had no difficulty in finding skilled workmen able tocarry the ideas of his architect into execution. Indeed, hadhe not been able to find the workers among his own country-men, it is difficult to see whence he could have procured them,for the art was dead in Rome and almost forgotten in Con-stantinople. But it fortunately still lived in the North, andpermitted the Emperor to adorn his tomb-house with thebeautiful metal work which still embellishes it, and to carryon the ancient traditions to guide the metal workers of themedia?val period in the production of their Dinanderie.


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CHAPTER IVTHE MATERIALS

When any great manufacturing industry establishes itself andflourishes in a particular locality, it may he reasonably ex-pected that the cause is to be found in the exceptional supplythe place affords of one of the principal ingredients used inthe process of that manufacture ; and although many casesmay be cited which would seem to controvert this theory,an inquiry into the facts of the case will generally showthat, in the main, it is essentially correct. Neither coppernor tin is found to any appreciable extent in the neighbour-hood of Swansea, although its principal business is in copper-smelting and the manufacture of tinned plates. The claywhich forms the basis of the pottery industry ot NorthStaffordshire is not found in that county, but has to be broughtfrom Dorset, Devon or Cornwall. But in both of these casesthe most important element in the production ot the work,was the fuel ; and it was found cheaper to bring the materialsnecessary for the manufacture to the coal than to carry thatto the places wherein they found the copper, the tin, andthe potters' clay.

The manufacture of Dinanderie in the valley of the Meusewas a very parallel case to these ; although the industry, earlyseated there, flourished through the greater part of the MiddleAges, in spite of the complete absence of copper and tin, whichfrom all antiquity were considered essential to the productionof bronze. The explanation of this, however, is simple ;for we shall find that the people of the Mosan towns were

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40 DINANDERIEable to realise that which was only figuratively promised tothe Children of Israel in their wanderings, for they lived ina land out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

The bronze from which the weapons and implements ofprehistoric times were made, as well as that employed forthe more artistic work of ancient civilisation down to thedawn of the Middle Ages, was composed almost exclusivelyof copper and tin in varying proportions ; and although leadis found in much of the Egyptian, Assyrian and Phoenicianbronze, added probably for the purpose of adulteration byeffecting a saving in the tin which was the more expensivemetal, this, as well as other substances found by analysisto exist in these ancient bronzes, were generally accidentalimpurities resulting from the imperfect refining of the copper.Although zinc, under the name of cadmia, is spoken ot byPliny as a necessary ingredient of brass, its presence has neverbeen traced in prehistoric bronzes or in the most ancient worksof art ; although traces of it, in sufficient quantity to suggestthat its presence was not accidental, have been found in coinsof imperial times.

Copper, which forms the largest proportion of both ofthe alloys known as bronze and brass, is one of the mostwidely distributed of metals, and it frequently occurs in largeand almost pure masses, in which state it has the colour,hardness and malleability of the refined metal as we are accus-tomed to see it. In this state it may have been used to someextent in the earliest ages, as it was undoubtedly by the NorthAmerican Indians before the introduction of Eastern civilisa-tion ; but it was too soft in that pure state to serve manypurposes, and even where some knowledge of the art of meltingit had been acquired, the difficulty of casting the metal, withoutthe addition of some hardening alloy, rendered it valueless.How the discovery that a mixture of tin with the copper


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THE MATERIALS 41formed the hard alloy known as bronze was made it is un-necessary to inquire into here, but it was no doubt knownong before the PhcEnicians sought out the tin-mines of Corn-all, if indeed that legend be true. An analysis of the lacus-

bronzes of the Savoy district shows that they resulteda melting down of copper pyrites and tin-stone, and not

the fusion of already smelted ores ; and the former of thesehave been obtained locally in the valleys of the Are

the Isere, and the latter in the course of trading.The sources from whence the copper required by the

towns was supplied were mainly two, either overseaScandinavia or overland by Cologne from Goslar in theMountains ; and of these the latter was the most im-From the second half of the eleventh century thewere seeking for ciihre brut from bevond the Rhine,

the Emperor Frederick I. granted by charter specialto those of Liege and Huy for procuring both tin

copper at Cologne, and other charters, dated 1 1 7 1 , i 203 and121 I, extending these privileges more particularly to Dinant.

mines from which the copper was procured were thosethe mountain of Rammelsberg, near the ancient imperialof Goslar, which owed its importance to the discovery

gold and silver in the same mountain in the time of Otho Lmines have been worked for at least eight hundred years

; and no doubt long before then, in prehistoric times,the copper for making the bronze weapons of the

Germanic tribes, as well as a sufficiency of tin for theIn the tariff which prescribed the dues to be received at

the port of Bruges, authorised by the Countessof Constantinople in 1252, we find copper from

mentioned among the imports ; and as it occurs inlist in association with the chaudrons of Dinant, it was


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42 DINANDERIEdoubtless destined for use in the Mosan towns. The minesfrom which this copper was procured were most likely thoseot Falun in Darlecarlia, which were perhaps as ancient as thoseof Rammelsberg, and in the time of Birger Jarl, at the endof the thirteenth century, were being worked by the merchantsof Liibeck for the benefit of the Hansa League and its alliedtowns, of which Dinant was one.

In this same tariff of Damme we find mentioned the im-portation of tin from England and Bohemia, and it may havebeen also obtained to a limited extent from the Rammelsberg ;but it was always costly and difficult to procure, and the dis-covery of a valuable substitute in abundance along the banksof the Meuse and in the Ardennes soon made it an almostnegligible consideration. It is highly probable that, althoughzinc was unknown as a distinct metal until comparatively moderntimes, it had long had a currency in metallurgy, and that itwas the earth to which Aristotle refers as being fused withcopper instead of tin to produce the light-coloured metal whichwas described as x^Xkov?. As it was certainly known to theancients under the name of cadmia, since Pliny refers to itas /apis, ex quo Jit as, cadmia vocatur,'' it is remarkable that sofew traces of it have been discovered in the analyses of ancientbronzes ; and it is more than doubtful if it came into anygeneral use during the classic period.

The re-discovery of the material and the revival of its usein the early work of medieval times may be the result of chance,and due to the accidental presence ot calamine, with whichthe local limestone abounded, when old bronze weapons werebeing melted for refounding. At all events, whether the dis-covery of the metallic value of the calamine was accidentalor not, it was quickly found to be equal to tin for the purposeof making the smaller objects of Dinanderie, and that the alloythus made was superior to the ordinary bronze in colour and


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THE MATERIALS 43other respects. Moreover, it was cheap, since it abounded

the immediate neighbourhood and was to be had almost tordigging ; thus it became a most important element insuccess of the industry. Theophilus, writing of it in the

century, speaks of it as a well-known essential to theof brass, but describes it, not as a metal, but as

red or yellow stone which is to be finelv ground and mixedwith the copper, and the two melted together. This

is found in great abundance in the Vielle MontaigneLiege on the right bank of the Meuse, and in the formelectric calamine in the Altenberg by Aix-la-Chapelle ; sowith this wealth of the material about them, the Mosanmay be said to have been able, literallv, out of their

to dig brass.


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CHAPTER VTHE PROCESSES

Although the manufacturers of Dinanderie were generallyknown as batteurs de ciiivre, their operations embraced a largenumber of processes besides the beating or hammering of copperinto shapes and the preparation of its two important alloys,brass and bronze. A skilled workman of the craft had to beable to arrange his metal in such a manner as to make itmalleable for hammering or beating into moulds, or suitablefor casting into shapes, and at the same time to prepare itwith an eye to its eventual decoration by gilding, niello orenamel. Indeed, he had to be himself his own modeller,founder, enameller and gilder, and be as capable of handlingthe hammer as the burin.

The first process was in the preparation and mixing of themetals in their due proportions to form the alloys required,all the details of which are set forth by Theophilus in hisDiversarum artium schedula. The copper, as well as the tin, bythe time it reached the workman was, no doubt, so far fitfor use as to require no further smelting or other preparation ;but in the case of copper, if the articles to be made from it,whether used by itself or as a component part of brass or bronze,should eventually require to be gilt, it had to be carefullyrefined to extract from it any lead it should chance to contain.If the objects to be fabricated were of such a character thatthey could be produced by the hammer, chisel and graver alone,such as reliquaries, book-covers and hollow vessels afterwardsto be gilt, they were generally made from pure copper ; and

44


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THE PROCESSES 45many of the most beautiful examples of Dinanderie were

formed. If, however, they were to be of a heavy and moreless solid character, or if they were to be decorated withwork, or champleve, or cloisonne enamels, they would

be formed of brass or bronze cast in moulds.The preparation of the brass and bronze was a work requir-considerable care and experience, and was, as a rule, carriedby each workman in his own atelier. In the case of

as the copper and tin of which it is formed werein a sufficiently pure state tor immediate use, regard

had to be paid to giving to each its due proportion in the; but in the case of brass, the zinc not having been already

from the ore, the exact proportions of the two metalsnot be so readily ascertained. The calamine was there-

ground into a powder and mixed with the copper, whichalso broken up into small pieces, and the two wxre thustogether ; and if the result was not satisfactory, further

was added until brass of a suitable quality was

Having by these means obtained the necessary material formanufacture, the workman had now a choice of two courses

he might adopt for the fabrication of his ware, as theor the character of the article to be made might

The simplest, and perhaps the most ancient, mannerthat of first forming the metal into thin plates and

it into the shapes required ; and from this being acommon method among the workers they became knownthe name of batteiirs. The metal plate being prepared, the

was commenced by bossing up or beating out from thethe main protuberances required for the design by means

a hammer having a rounded head. The main details of thesuch as the forming of the eves, the markings of theand the articulations of the fingers and toes, were chased


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46 DINANDERIEon the face of the work, and the finer Hnes sculptured out withthe chisel. Where this finishing work was particularly delicateor very heavy, and was likely to affect the contours of theprojections already beaten out, the hollows of the back werefirst filled up with resin or some other such substance, whichwas afterwards melted out, of sufficient hardness to resist theblows or pressure of the chasing tools.

Perhaps one of the best examples of this mode of treatmentto be adduced is the well-known retable of Coblenz, a work ofthe twelfth century, now at S. Denis, having been carried offto France by the Revolutionary forces. It consists of sixpanels or compartments, each containing two of the apostlesseated, and over the two central panels is the half figure ofChrist, blessing with His right hand, and in His left holdinga book inscribed Pax vobis. Of this beautiful work all thepanels are undoubtedly ancient, but the dividing columns andmuch of the frame may be a modern restoration ; and all theold work is formed of sheets of copper repousse in high reliefand gilt. The detailed work of the figures has been formed byplacing the sheets over a model prepared in some hard materialand beating down the general surface to fit it, forcing the metalinto the folds of the drapery or the hollows of the features witha blunt point of wood or iron. After this process the modelhas been removed and the hollow space filled up with leador resin, and then the finer work, which the harder surfaceof the model would have resisted, worked on the face by thechasing tools. Not only is the whole surface of the workrichly gilt, but the nimbi are all decorated in enamels.

This mode of forming raised ornaments was carried to greatperfection, but ultimately led to a considerable degradation ofthe art, when machinery was imported into the manufacture.Dies of hard wood or steel, such as those used by bookbindersfor stamping leather, were formed, and small pieces of thin


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THE PROCESSES 47were laid over these and beaten into the hollows. Theornaments thus formed w'ere then soldered on to the face

other work in so exact a manner as to make the wholeas if cast in one piece. Much of the beaten workalso soldered together, as in the case of small vessels or

where the stems, feet, or other projecting partsfastened on to the body of the object in this manner.

But by far the most important branch of the work inand brass was executed by the founders, and included

fonts, lecterns and candlesticks, as well as the greater workssculpture, and smaller articles such as censers. The mannerwhich these were produced is verv clearly described by

; but the art is as old as the manufacture of bronzeStone moulds for the casting of spear-heads have been

among lacustrine remains ; and the more difficultof preparing the moulds with wax, known as the cire

process, must have been understood by the early workersbronze of Scandinavia. It is simple to describe, but re-

the greatest care and experience successfully to carryeffect] A rough model, called the core, formed of broken

or pounded crucibles, well compacted together andto the finished form of the object to be cast,

smaller, was first made, and after being thoroughly dried inoven, it was overlaid by a thin coating of wax, the surfacewhich was exactly modelled to represent the finished casting.

the wax casing and into the core were inserted smallof iron, well secured, and then over the face of the waxspread a coat of plaster or liquid clay, thin at first so as not

disturb the wax, but made sufficiently thick by added layersstrong enough to be able eventually to hold in the weightmolten bronze. Vent and duct holes having been made

this outer casing, the w^hole was again thoroughlythrough, until all the wax had melted and run out


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48 DINANDERIEthrough the duct holes, when the internal core was left sus-pended by the little iron bars with a hollow space all roundit between it and the outer casing, and into this the moltenmetal was poured, and the casting was made.When the whole had been allowed gradually to cool, theoutside mould was broken off and the inside core raked outthrough convenient spaces left for the purpose, and the castingstood complete ready for the finishing touches of the chisel andthe burin. But this process, which looks in the descriptionso simple, became difficult and hazardous when the object tobe cast was pierced by an open-work design, as was generallythe case with censers, candlesticks, and the like, and portionshad to be left in varying thicknesses and masses. The dangerthen was lest the whole should cool unevenly and result infractures ; and it speaks highly both for the care and skill ofthese early mediseval founders that they were able to produceso many perfect and important works by this method.

On the completeness of the casting depended, to a greatextent, the amount of work which had yet to be expendedupon it by the chisel ; but a large amount ot finish had alwaysto be given to the more important works by engraving, as, for

instance, in the inscriptions which so frequently occur on allDinanderie, in the articulation of the leaves, the hatching ofthe grounds, and other such work as could not be producedin the casting. In the case of the so-called Gloucester candle-stick (Plate VI.), and those from S. Michael's, Hildesheim,which so closely resemble it, the casting is in one single piece,and nearly the whole of the raised work has been executed inthe casting without being subsequently touched up with thechisel, and only the lettering and some other engraving havebeen added afterwards by the burin.

Although many of the smaller pieces of beaten work whichwere made in separate parts were put together with solder.


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THE PROCESSES 49was not the case with the larger pieces of cast work, such

lecterns and candlesticks. Some of the later fonts also hadpedestals and bowls in distinct castings ; and in the caseLouvain the pedestal itself was built up in a number of

pieces. In the great paschal and other candlesticksin the lecterns there is generally a rod of copper or iron

up the stem, which unites all the lengths and knopsand holds them in position by a screw and nut at

bottom. The large space left in the pedestals of thehas at times served as a useful hiding-place fordocuments and other things, as was the case with

eagle lectern of Southwell Cathedral, which once stoodthe choir of Newstead Abbey. The monks of the Abbeythe dissolution had vainly endeavoured to conceal all their

in the stem of the lectern ; and there they werecarefully rolled up, when it was fished out of the Abbey

in the course of the last century.Much of the Dinanderie, particularly such as is of Frenchwas decorated in champleve or cloisonne enamels,

altar candlesticks, reliquaries, pyxes and similar; but although there seem to have been establishedfor this class of work, especially at Huy and Verdun,

must be regarded as to a great extent accidental or ex-to the work, and therefore beyond the scope of our sub-

There was, however, one mode of decoration practised byschools and at all periods on which much of the Dinanderie

for its effect, and which was essential to its properThis w^as the gilding, which became so marked

feature in the art that a large number of these gilded copperbronze objects are frequently ranked among the products ofgoldsmith's craft.The process ot gilding on copper and bronze is very care-explained by Theophilus ; and the care with which it

D


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50 DINANDERIEwas executed, as well as the perfection of the materials used,have made it so enduring that although gilded objects havebeen lost or buried for centuries they have been, by simplywashing them with an acid to clear off the oxidisation, atonce restored to their pristine splendour. The articles whichwere most usually wholly or partially gilt were reliquaries,retables, crosses and crosiers, and the metal divisions of theenamels ; and where these articles are still in use they retainnearly all their original brilliancy. The numerous effigiesforming parts of sepulchral monuments, so many of whichstill remain, were also generally gilt ; and that of Margaret,Countess of Richmond, can still be seen in Westminster Abbeymuch in the state in which it was left by Torregiano.

The medium employed in the gilding was mercury, andwhere it was only used occasionally or in small quantities itmay not have proved very deleterious to the workers ; butthat it caused them much injury is shown by the historyof the tomb of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, in NotreDame, Bruges. In that case the sculptor had to provide,beyond the 14,000 florins which he was to receive for hisown work, for a payment of 40 florins to each of his work-men as compensation for the loss of his teeth, caused by theprocess of gilding the tomb.


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PART IIHISTORICAL


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CHAP. PAGEVI. THE SCHOOLS 53Vn. GERMANY 57Vni. THE NETHERLANDS 68IX. FRANCE

77X. ENGLAND 86XI. ITALY AND SPAIN 94


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CHAPTER VITHE SCHOOLS

In giving the history of the rise and progress of the copper,brass and bronze industries, and of the changes they underwentin the course of time in their form, style and decoration, forvery many reasons it will be most convenient to arrange itunder the heads of the geographical divisions of the countriesas they are known to us at the present day ; although it mustnot be forgotten that the boundaries of some of these countrieshave varied from time to time, and now differ very much fromthose which existed at the commencement of the medievalperiod. But at the same time the local peculiarities whichappear in much of the work, make any such distinction,whether for arrangement or comparison, inexact, and at timesapt to be misleading.

Many French archsological writers have been content todivide the work into two important schools only, the Rhenishand the French, or, as others more definitely call them, theRhenish and the Limousin, and to arrange all the bronze andenamel work of Western Europe under these two heads ; butit is scarcely necessary to say that such a broad division,however satisfactory from a French point of view, cannot beaccepted either as correct or even as convenient.

From the beginning of the eleventh century, if not earlier,when these objects of brass and bronze manufacture began tobe manufactured for civil and ecclesiastical uses, we find thatthey were produced by skilled lay artists working singly or inthe association of guilds, as well as by members of conventual

53


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54 DINANDERIEbodies ; and this in varying proportion in different countriesand at different periods. It was in the great Benedictinemonasteries that the artistic crafts were fostered and exercisedduring the closing centuries of the first millennium ; and it wasin the scriptoria and workshops of these and other reformedorders that the traditions of the earlier workers were preserved,and which made possible the handbook to the arts and craftsproduced by the monk Theophilus in the early part of theeleventh century, entitled Diversarum artium schedula. Thiscircumstance necessarily increases the difficulty of making anysatisfactory geographical arrangement, since it is evident thatthe several monastic bodies of any one order having close andfrequent intercourse with allied chapters in other countrieswould have the character of their work affected by suchassociation and to some extent stereotyped by the usages andtraditions of their particular order. On the other hand, thelay associations would be much less trammelled by traditionalmethods, and tend to develop peculiarities of their own inworking and design which would lead gradually to the forma-tion of a distinctive style. In the Mosan towns, in Flanders,and perhaps on the Rhine, the work seems early to havefallen almost entirely into the hands of lay artists, and theearliest names of Walloon workers which we possess, such,for instance, as Regnier of Huy, appear to be those of laymen ;whereas in England and France, at least to a much later date,all such work which has survived to our own time seems tohave been produced within the convent walls.

The lay associations or guilds, particularly those of townswhich became allied to the Hanseatic League, did a largeamount of export business ; and it is clear that when newchurches were being built in this country, or old ones werebeing restored, recourse was had to the markets of the LowCountries, which were stored with the furniture which became


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THE SCHOOLS 55necessary. The fonts of blue Tournay stone, carved withreHefs from the story of S. Nicholas of Myra, to be foundat Winchester and other places in England, which used to beregarded as the work of early Norman sculptors, are a casein point ; and in the same way, by some means which answeredto our modern trade catalogues, the makers of Dinanderiespread a knowledge of their wares in this country among thosewho might be desirous of adorning their churches, and thusmade known to them what they could procure. Thus we findthat when the Abbots of Holyrood, to repair perhaps the wasteof some English raid, wished to present their church with anew font and lectern, they obtained them from abroad ; andthe lectern which was given by Abbot Creighton, after he be-came Bishop of Dunkeld, is fortunately preserved at S. Albansto this day.

But this general exportation of Dinanderie must have con-siderably affected the character of the local styles in the countriesimporting the ware, where imitations of the foreign goods woulddoubtless be attempted. Moreover, among some of the morepushing and mercantile of the factories, the modern idea ofmaking the wares to suit the taste of the foreign market un-doubtedly grew up, as was the case with the so-called Limogesenamel manufacture, much of which was prepared in imitationof the styles of the Rhenish provinces ; thus adding to thedifficulty of any geographical arrangement.

The history of the progress of the manufacture in any onecountry, however complete, must show many interruptions andbreaks in continuity due to circumstances which only thegeneral history of the country will disclose. We have seenin the story of the Mosan towns how, after flourishing for threecenturies with exceptional success and brilliancy, the turbulenceof the workers and their internecine strife scattered the industryand its craftsmen over Flanders and Brabant, and inflicted a blow


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56 DINANDERIE |to its prosperity from which it never recovered. In France theHundred Years' War and the devastations of the Jacquerie ragedwith peculiar fierceness through the provinces in which theenamelled Dinanderie, known as Limoges ware, was produced ;and this put an end for so long a time to its production, thatwhen again it was revived it had entirely lost its originalcharacter. In England, although there were no great manu-facturing centres to be disturbed by the civil troubles of theWars of the Roses, the art of bronze sculpture, which nativeartists had brought to such perfection under the Plantagenets,was dead in the time of the Tudors ; and the bronze effigiesproduced in England at the end of the Gothic era were thework of an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance. Germany canshow a magnificent series of sculpture in bronze fr

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