Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/686

Rh 646 WOOD-CARVING Sosianus, from Sosius the prefect of Syria, who presented it to the temple (Pliny, //. N., xiii. 5 and xxxvi. 4). Pausanias (ii. 24) mentions another early wooden statue at Argos, that of Zeus Larissseus, which was remarkable for having three eyes. A very elaborate example of cedar-wood carving enriched with gold and ivory is described by Pausanias (v. 17 to 19). This was a coffer dedicated at Olympia by the children of Cypselus, tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century B.C. It was decorated with bands in relief, with scenes from the lives of various gods and heroes. A cedar box, with two carved dogs attached to it, was found at Mycenae by Dr Schliemann, and is now in the museum at Athens. During the most nourishing period of Greek art wood was sometimes used for important plastic purposes, as, for example, the colossal statue of Athene at Plataea, carved by Phidias. The figure was of gilt or plated wood, with the exception of the nude parts, the face, hands, and feet, which were of Pentelic marble. Roman. Of the wood-carving of the Roman period almost no important examples now exist ; but the carved panels of the main doors of S. Sabina on the Aventine Hill are very interesting specimens of wooden relief- j sculpture of early Christian times, dating, as the costumes show, from the 5th century. The doors are made up of a large number of small square panels, each minutely carved with a scene from the Old or New Testament ; the whole feeling of these reliefs is thoroughly classical, though of course in a very debased form. Mediaeval. The most remarkable examples of early mediaeval wood-carving are the doorways of wooden churches of Scandinavia and Denmark, dating from the 9th to the 13th centuries. These are framed with great planks or slabs of pine wood, the whole surface of which is covered with rich and intricate patterns of interlacing scroll-work, mixed with figures of dragons and serpents, designed with extraordinary wealth of invention, and of the highest decorative value. The relief is very low, except where occasionally a monster s head projects from the general level ; and yet the utmost vigour of effect is gained by the grand sweeping curves of the leading lines. These are masterpieces of wood-carving, designed and executed with the most perfect sense of the necessities of the material. Fig. 2 shows part of the architrave of a door from Aal church, Norway, dating from the 12th century. Unhappily almost the last of these interesting wooden churches have been destroyed in recent years, and merely the wrecks of their grand wooden sculpture have been occasionally pre served in some museum ; some very valuable casts of these are in the South Kensington Museum. English. For various ecclesiastical purposes a large amount of important sculpture in wood was produced in Britain throughout the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation every church had its rood-screen, surmounted by a large crucifix between two standing figures of St Mary and St John. These were of wood, except perhaps in some of the richest cathedral or abbey churches, which occasionally had the rood made of silver. A very large number of churches also had retables over the various altars, with reliefs carved in wood and decorated with gold and colours. Many examples of this class still exist in Germany and Spain, but almost all the English examples perished under the iconoclasm of the Reformation. 1 Another important class of wood-carving was that of large recumbent effigies from tombs, of which a good many examples still exist. One of the earliest is that of Robert, duke of Normandy, in Gloucester cathedral, 1 Only three English examples of the figure of Christ on the rood are now known to exist. One of these was recently found built up in the rood- staircase of a small church in Wales. It is a work of the 14th century, carved roughly, but with much spirit. illustrated in SCULPTUKE, fig. 5 (vol. xxi. p. 558). It is a work of the 12th century, but was broken to pieces, and is now much restored. Like most wooden sculpture in England, it is carved out of oak. The finest example of English wood sculpture is a life-sized effigy in the south choir aisle of Aber- gavenny church, that of the young knight George de Cantelupe (d. 1273). The face is a portrait of very high plastic merit, and the whole treatment of the figure, with the graceful drapery of its tunic, and its care fully carved armour, is very remarkable as an example of the very high level of excellence that was reached by the Eng lish contemporaries of Niccola Pisano. The usual treatment of these woodeu figures was to cover the whole surface with a thin coating of gesso or fine stucco, in which various details or ornaments were modelled or stamped in relief, and then richly decorated with gold and colour. A similar treatment was adopted for all the wooden sculpture of the mediaeval period throughout Europe. The church at Abergavenny, already referred to, also contains part of what once must have been a very large and magnificent example of wooden sculpture. This is a colossal recumbent figure of Jesse, and formed the lower part of what was called a &quot;Jesse tree.&quot; Out of the recumbent figure grew a great tree, on the branches of which were figures of the illustrious descendants of Jesse s line. Merely the stump of this tree now remains, springing from the side of Jesse, but when complete the whole tree must have reached high up towards the roof, with its network of branches form ing a sort of screen behind the high altar very rich and magnificent in effect, when the whole was perfect with its brilliant coloured decora tion, and the stained glass of the large east window seen dimly through the open branches of the tree. The existing figure of Jesse, which is 10 feet long, is cut out of, a solid block of oak ; a figure of FIG. 2. Part of the Carved , , ,. P , Architrave of a Door from an angel at the head is worked, out of the same piece of wood. 2 Another very important application of wood-carving was for the decoration of the church stalls, screens, and 2 See a valuable monograph on the church of Abergavenny by Octavius Morgan, published by the Cambrian Archaeological Society. For an account of other wooden effigies, see Arch. Jour., xi. p. 149 ; and on existing rood figures, a paper by J. T. Micklethwaite in the Proc. Soc. Ant. for 1886, p. 127.