some have even attempted to create a sort of monopoly for it in these respects, assuming it to he the only architecture solidly based on logic and reason.
These are exaggerated statements, which may be excused, coming as they do from persons defending a just cause, but who, roused by opposition, sometimes overstep the bounds of careful discrimination. Looking at the matter coolly, it may he asserted that there never was a noble architecture without good construction, nor good construction without logic and reason. The Parthenon of Athens, the Pantheon of Rome and that of Paris, are as logical in their way as the cathedrals of Laon or Beauvais. The Gothic groined vaulting, which was, moreover, derived from the Romanesque or Byzantine vault, is a very happy solution; the Byzantine dome is not less successful; and that of St. Peter’s has its own merits. It would be easy to multiply comparisons of this sort; it would be useless in the eyes of men endowed with any wise impartiality. Nor shall we have the cruelty to analyze too minutely certain dispositions of the Middle Ages which, we are told, are wholly unique and wrought a revolution in construction; in reality, the Gothic architects seem to have been quite guiltless of these clever and subtile inventions in constructive science, for examples of them are, to our knowledge, more than rare. These miracles of ingenuity most often prove, on examination, to be at best only mediocre solutions.
It has been claimed also that the Gothic is our national style par excellence; according to this dictum all our other architecture is merely copied from foreign sources. We cannot agree to this proposition; moreover, it would be well to come to a clear understanding as to the use of terms here; a national art in the Middle Ages presupposes the existence of a nation, and one cannot speak of a nation, or of nationality, in France, until a much later date; not, in fact, until just the period when Gothic art was doomed, and was even on the verge of disappearing forever. But it is unquestionably true that the Gothic style is one of the most purely original styles, and that it has borrowed as little as possible from without. It is the production of a new race possessed of creative genius, during its period of unimpaired vigor; but it must be acknowledged that this race constitutes but a relatively unimportant element of the French blood. In applying the term, national art, to works reared on our soil by men coming as conquerors from the far-away lands of northern Europe, we forget that the same title might be given, with as good authority, to Gothic art in England, and, perhaps, with even a greater show of reason, to the same style in Germany.
Why should we dwell on the quarrels of controversialists who, though certainly sincere, are yet imprudent? One fact remains undisputed, namely, the beauty and grandeur of Gothic art. It has left admirable productions in more than one country. Those found in some parts of France figure among the oldest, the most beautiful and the purest. The race which created this style is not foreign to us; it was among us, in contact with our civilization and refined, cultivated and developed by it, that the conquerors were trained and here that they were able to create their masterpieces of art; then, they were gradually drawn into the crucible, wherein Gallo-Romans and Franks were fused, to constitute at last the strong French nationality. Cannot that suffice?
[To be continued. ]
Another Wonderful Clock. — Another marvellous piece of mechanism has, says the Jeweller and Metalworker, recently been exhibited in Paris. It is an eight-day clock, which chimes the quarters, plays 16 tunes, playing three tunes every hour, or at any interval required by simply touching a spring. The hands go as follows: One once a minute, one once an hour, one once a week, one once a month and one once a year. It shows the moon’s age, rising and setting of the sun, the time of high and low tide, besides showing half-ebb and half-flood. A curious device represents the water, showing ships at high-water tide as if they were in motion; and, as it recedes, leaves them high and dry on the sands. The clock shows the hour of the day, the day of the week, the day of the month, and the month of the year. The mechanism is so arranged as to make its own provisions for long and short months. It also shows the signs of the zodiac, and the difference between sun and railroad time for every day in the year.
ETRUSCAN ART. 1 — III. W
HILE the Etruscans have not left us any architectural work of capital importance, we possess a sufficiently large number of documents which enable us to affirm that they had much taste in plastic art. From the time that they emerged from barbarism they strove to give to all objects which they used forms both bizarre and elegant, and to fashion them in such a way as to give them an agreeable aspect. Even the objects which we discover in the tombs of the first epochs bear testimony to this taste. The porringers, vases, amphoras, lamps, all are modelled first with a rude art and then with a degree of fineness which continually takes on more perfection. One remarkable trait is that the Etruscans especially excelled in the art of modelling in clay and that the ancients always spoke in flattering terms of the terra-cotta statues made in Etruria, a fact which does not prevent our discovering occasional pieces of sculpture in marble or in bronze which have a certain value. The fetiches, the household articles, the stelœ, are often decorated with designs. We also see in museums a great number of sarcophagi, on the lids of which are found a female figure in the attitude of repose. Often these sarcophagi are also covered with bas-reliefs, which almost always represent the funeral games and have an incontestable interest; but pieces of sculpture of real value are rare. I will mention among others the statue of the orator, found near Lake Trasimene, which is to-day in the Museum at Florence. The orator is in the act of haranguing a crowd. But for the great fault, in a man who is supposed to be speaking, of having his mouth closed, his attitude does not lack for breadth or movement. Amongst the bas-reliefs the most remarkable are those upon the cinerary urns which are found in the museums at Florence, representing Ulysses passing before the rocks of the sirens; the one representing Actæon devoured by his dogs and that whereon we see the death of Echelas and Polynices, which are also at Florence; the bas-relief on the sarcophagus found near Perouse, where the artist has reproduced a procession proceeding to a tomb for the purpose of accomplishing a sacrifice and two which can be examined in the Micali collection, which represent the agony of an old man and a scene of separation. The first of these bas-reliefs is on an alabaster urn, and the other on a sarcophagus found at Chiusi.
In the way of curiosities, I ought also to mention a cinerary urn in travertine, covered with polychrome stucco, belonging to the tomb of the Volumni at Berouse. This urn is a beautiful composition; it bears winged figures at the corners, and exhibits, as do a great number of marble Etruscan tombs, a bed of state, upon which lies extended a personage of importance. But the most characteristic thing which it presents is the polychromy which had such vogue in Greek sculpture and of which traces have been found in the accessory sculptures of the Parthenon. Upon the lid of a sarcophagus at Vulci, we see two figures, a man and a woman embracing one another, probably spouses; this design has an extremely distinguished air. The countenance of the woman in particular is of remarkable beauty. In the Museum at Florence can be admired a terra-cotta statue of Apollo, which comes from the pediment of Luni, and represents the peculiarity of departing farther from the consecrated type which Grecian sculpture had bestowed on this god, which allows us to suppose that we here find ourselves in the presence of a truly indigenous work, pure from every foreign influence. But the three most beautiful pieces of Etruscan statuary are without doubt the bronze Minerva found at Avezzo, the Mars discovered at Todi, in Umbria, and the Apollo, also in bronze. The Minerva, which is in the Florence Museum, is stamped with great majesty. Her robes are draped with a consummate richness of effect and her attitude breathes nobility. This work is certainly of Greek origin or Greek inspiration. I cannot say as much for the Mars of Todi, which in nothing resembles the ideal which Hellenic artists have transmitted to us as the god of war. As to the Apollo at Ferrara, it is very Etruscan, not only because he bears on his left leg Etruscan characters, but particularly because his features express a peculiar conception, very individual and differing in everything, like the fragments at Luni, from the typical Apollo of the Greeks or the Romans. In spite of these isolated specimens which have real value, it is to-day still impossible to form any exact idea of the history of Etruscan sculpture. We know neither the chronology, nor the schools, nor the names of the artists and all that we can understand of the styles does not yet
1 Continued from No. 798, page 23.
These are exaggerated statements, which may be excused, coming as they do from persons defending a just cause, but who, roused by opposition, sometimes overstep the bounds of careful discrimination. Looking at the matter coolly, it may he asserted that there never was a noble architecture without good construction, nor good construction without logic and reason. The Parthenon of Athens, the Pantheon of Rome and that of Paris, are as logical in their way as the cathedrals of Laon or Beauvais. The Gothic groined vaulting, which was, moreover, derived from the Romanesque or Byzantine vault, is a very happy solution; the Byzantine dome is not less successful; and that of St. Peter’s has its own merits. It would be easy to multiply comparisons of this sort; it would be useless in the eyes of men endowed with any wise impartiality. Nor shall we have the cruelty to analyze too minutely certain dispositions of the Middle Ages which, we are told, are wholly unique and wrought a revolution in construction; in reality, the Gothic architects seem to have been quite guiltless of these clever and subtile inventions in constructive science, for examples of them are, to our knowledge, more than rare. These miracles of ingenuity most often prove, on examination, to be at best only mediocre solutions.
It has been claimed also that the Gothic is our national style par excellence; according to this dictum all our other architecture is merely copied from foreign sources. We cannot agree to this proposition; moreover, it would be well to come to a clear understanding as to the use of terms here; a national art in the Middle Ages presupposes the existence of a nation, and one cannot speak of a nation, or of nationality, in France, until a much later date; not, in fact, until just the period when Gothic art was doomed, and was even on the verge of disappearing forever. But it is unquestionably true that the Gothic style is one of the most purely original styles, and that it has borrowed as little as possible from without. It is the production of a new race possessed of creative genius, during its period of unimpaired vigor; but it must be acknowledged that this race constitutes but a relatively unimportant element of the French blood. In applying the term, national art, to works reared on our soil by men coming as conquerors from the far-away lands of northern Europe, we forget that the same title might be given, with as good authority, to Gothic art in England, and, perhaps, with even a greater show of reason, to the same style in Germany.
Why should we dwell on the quarrels of controversialists who, though certainly sincere, are yet imprudent? One fact remains undisputed, namely, the beauty and grandeur of Gothic art. It has left admirable productions in more than one country. Those found in some parts of France figure among the oldest, the most beautiful and the purest. The race which created this style is not foreign to us; it was among us, in contact with our civilization and refined, cultivated and developed by it, that the conquerors were trained and here that they were able to create their masterpieces of art; then, they were gradually drawn into the crucible, wherein Gallo-Romans and Franks were fused, to constitute at last the strong French nationality. Cannot that suffice?
[To be continued. ]
Another Wonderful Clock. — Another marvellous piece of mechanism has, says the Jeweller and Metalworker, recently been exhibited in Paris. It is an eight-day clock, which chimes the quarters, plays 16 tunes, playing three tunes every hour, or at any interval required by simply touching a spring. The hands go as follows: One once a minute, one once an hour, one once a week, one once a month and one once a year. It shows the moon’s age, rising and setting of the sun, the time of high and low tide, besides showing half-ebb and half-flood. A curious device represents the water, showing ships at high-water tide as if they were in motion; and, as it recedes, leaves them high and dry on the sands. The clock shows the hour of the day, the day of the week, the day of the month, and the month of the year. The mechanism is so arranged as to make its own provisions for long and short months. It also shows the signs of the zodiac, and the difference between sun and railroad time for every day in the year.
ETRUSCAN ART. 1 — III. W
HILE the Etruscans have not left us any architectural work of capital importance, we possess a sufficiently large number of documents which enable us to affirm that they had much taste in plastic art. From the time that they emerged from barbarism they strove to give to all objects which they used forms both bizarre and elegant, and to fashion them in such a way as to give them an agreeable aspect. Even the objects which we discover in the tombs of the first epochs bear testimony to this taste. The porringers, vases, amphoras, lamps, all are modelled first with a rude art and then with a degree of fineness which continually takes on more perfection. One remarkable trait is that the Etruscans especially excelled in the art of modelling in clay and that the ancients always spoke in flattering terms of the terra-cotta statues made in Etruria, a fact which does not prevent our discovering occasional pieces of sculpture in marble or in bronze which have a certain value. The fetiches, the household articles, the stelœ, are often decorated with designs. We also see in museums a great number of sarcophagi, on the lids of which are found a female figure in the attitude of repose. Often these sarcophagi are also covered with bas-reliefs, which almost always represent the funeral games and have an incontestable interest; but pieces of sculpture of real value are rare. I will mention among others the statue of the orator, found near Lake Trasimene, which is to-day in the Museum at Florence. The orator is in the act of haranguing a crowd. But for the great fault, in a man who is supposed to be speaking, of having his mouth closed, his attitude does not lack for breadth or movement. Amongst the bas-reliefs the most remarkable are those upon the cinerary urns which are found in the museums at Florence, representing Ulysses passing before the rocks of the sirens; the one representing Actæon devoured by his dogs and that whereon we see the death of Echelas and Polynices, which are also at Florence; the bas-relief on the sarcophagus found near Perouse, where the artist has reproduced a procession proceeding to a tomb for the purpose of accomplishing a sacrifice and two which can be examined in the Micali collection, which represent the agony of an old man and a scene of separation. The first of these bas-reliefs is on an alabaster urn, and the other on a sarcophagus found at Chiusi.
In the way of curiosities, I ought also to mention a cinerary urn in travertine, covered with polychrome stucco, belonging to the tomb of the Volumni at Berouse. This urn is a beautiful composition; it bears winged figures at the corners, and exhibits, as do a great number of marble Etruscan tombs, a bed of state, upon which lies extended a personage of importance. But the most characteristic thing which it presents is the polychromy which had such vogue in Greek sculpture and of which traces have been found in the accessory sculptures of the Parthenon. Upon the lid of a sarcophagus at Vulci, we see two figures, a man and a woman embracing one another, probably spouses; this design has an extremely distinguished air. The countenance of the woman in particular is of remarkable beauty. In the Museum at Florence can be admired a terra-cotta statue of Apollo, which comes from the pediment of Luni, and represents the peculiarity of departing farther from the consecrated type which Grecian sculpture had bestowed on this god, which allows us to suppose that we here find ourselves in the presence of a truly indigenous work, pure from every foreign influence. But the three most beautiful pieces of Etruscan statuary are without doubt the bronze Minerva found at Avezzo, the Mars discovered at Todi, in Umbria, and the Apollo, also in bronze. The Minerva, which is in the Florence Museum, is stamped with great majesty. Her robes are draped with a consummate richness of effect and her attitude breathes nobility. This work is certainly of Greek origin or Greek inspiration. I cannot say as much for the Mars of Todi, which in nothing resembles the ideal which Hellenic artists have transmitted to us as the god of war. As to the Apollo at Ferrara, it is very Etruscan, not only because he bears on his left leg Etruscan characters, but particularly because his features express a peculiar conception, very individual and differing in everything, like the fragments at Luni, from the typical Apollo of the Greeks or the Romans. In spite of these isolated specimens which have real value, it is to-day still impossible to form any exact idea of the history of Etruscan sculpture. We know neither the chronology, nor the schools, nor the names of the artists and all that we can understand of the styles does not yet
1 Continued from No. 798, page 23.