Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/588

Rh 562 SCULPTURE [FRENCH. Cathe- dral worthy to rank with the best examples of any period, and remarkable for a profound knowledge of human anatomy (see fig. 9). Unfortunately the real cire perdue process for metal casting is seldom practised in England, and this Fio. 9. Bronze statue of an athlete and python, by Sir Frederick Leighton, P.R.A., in the South Kensington Museum. statue, as well as all other bronze works produced in Eng- land, suffers much from the disagreeable surface which results from the rude method of forming the moulds in sand. The colossal bronze lions in Trafalgar Square, de- signed by Sir Edwin Landseer, are a melancholy example of this. 1 France. During the 12th and 13th centuries the sculp- ture of France was, on the whole, the finest in the world, and was there used in the greatest profusion. The facades of large cathedrals were completely covered with sculptured reliefs and thick -set rows of statues in niches. The whole of the front was frequently one huge composition of statu- ary, with only sufficient purely architectural work to form a background and frame for the sculptured figures. A west end treated like that of Wells cathedral, which is almost unique in England, is not uncommon in France. Even the shafts of the doorways and other architectural accessories were covered with minute sculptured decora- tion, the motives of which were often, especially during the 12th century, obviously derived from the metal- work of shrines and reliquaries studded with rows of jewels. The west facade of Poitiers cathedral is one of the richest ex- amples ; it has large surfaces covered with foliated carving 1 On English sculpture, see Carter, Specimens of Ancient Sculpture, London, 1780 ; Aldis, Sculpture of Worcester Cathedral, London, 1874 ; Cockerell, Iconography of Wells Cathedral, Oxford, 1851 ; Stothard, Monumental Effigies of Britain, London, 1817 ; Westmacott, "Sculp- ture in Westminster Abbey," in Old London (pub. by Archaeological Institute), 1866, p. 159 sq.; G. G. Scott, Gleanings from Westminster, London, 1862 ; Colling Art Foliage, London, 1865, with good ex- amples of mediaeval decorative sculpture ; W. B. Scott, British School of Sculpture, London, 1872; W. M. Rossetti, "British Sculpture," in Fraser's Mag. , April 1 861 ; many good illustrations of English mediaeval sculpture are scattered throughout the volumes of Archteologia, the Archaeological Journal, and other societies' " Proceedings." cathedral, 12th century; speci- ally designed to suit vertical lines of columns behind ; all once covered with painting and gold. and rows of colossal statues, both seated and standing, reaching high up the front of the church. Of the same century (the 12th), but rather later in date, is the very noble sculpture on the three western doors of Chartres cathedral, with fine tympanum reliefs and colossal statues attached to the jamb -shafts of the openings (see fig. 10). These latter figures, with their exaggerated height and the long straight folds of their drapery, are designed with great skill to assist and not to break the main upward lines of the doorways. The sculptors have willingly sacri- ficed the beauty and propor- tion of each separate statue for the sake of the architec- tonic effect of the whole f agade. The heads, however, are full of nobility, beauty, and even grace, especially those that are softened by the addition of long wavy curls, which give relief to the general stiffness Fia 10- -Statues on jamb of r iu t rm. i j. j central west door of Chartres of the form. The sculptured doors of the north and south aisles of Bourges cathedral are fine examples of the end of the 12th century, and so were the west doors of Notre Dame in Paris till they were hopelessly injured by " restoration." The early sculpture at Bourges is specially interesting from the existence in many parts of its original coloured decoration. In France, as in England, the 13th century was theihir- golden age of sculpture; while still keeping its early dignity teeuth and subordination to its architectural setting, the sculpture cent ur; reached a very high degree of graceful finish and even sensuous beauty. Nothing could surpass the loveliness of the angel statues round the Parisian Sainte Chapelle, and even the earlier work on the facade of Laon cathedral is full of grace and delicacy. Amiens cathedral is especi- ally rich in sculpture of this date, as, for example, the noble and majestic statues of Christ and the Apostles at the west end ; the sculpture on the south transept of about 1260-70, of more developed style, is remarkable for dignity combined with soft beauty. 2 The noble row of kings on the west end of Notre Dame at Paris has, like the earlier sculpture, been ruined by " restoration," which has robbed the statues of both their spirit and their vigour. To the latter years of the 13th century belong the magnificent series of statues and reliefs round the three great western doorways of the same church, among which are no less than thirty-four life-sized figures. On the whole, the single statues throughout this period are finer than the reliefs with many figures. Some of the statues of the Virgin and Child are of extraordinary beauty, in spite of their being often treated with a certain mannerism, a curved pose of the body, which appears to have been copied from ivory statuettes in which the figure followed the curve of the elephant's tusk. The north transept at Rheims is no less rich : the central statue of Christ is a work of much grace and nobility of form ; and some nude figures for example, that of St Sebastian show a knowledge of the human form which was very unusual at that early date. Many of these Rheims statues, like those by Torell at West- minster, are quite equal to the best work of Niccola Pisano. 2 See Ruskin, The Bible of Amiens, 1878.