Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/688

Rh 648 WOOD-CARVING Italian. During the mediaeval period wood was often used by the greatest sculptors of Italy, especially for crucifixes and statues of saints for ecclesiastical purposes. Fig. 3 shows a magnificent example of the school of Nino Pisano, dating from about the middle of the 14th century. It is a colossal figure of the Angel of the Annunciation, said to have once be longed to Pisa cathedral, and now one of the chief treasures of the South Kensington Museum. It is very remarkable for the delicate beauty of the face, and for the sculp turesque simplicity of the folds of the drapery. The original wings were prob ably much larger than the present ones, which are restorations. Many fine roods or crucifixes of life size still exist in the churches of Italy. One attributed to Donatello is preserved at Florence, in the church of S. Croce ; another by Brunelleschi still exists. Nothing like the magni ficent oak open roofs and choir screens of England were made in Italy. The latter were usually of marble or of metal, and the roofs were of the plain king-post construc tion, usually concealed by vaulted or panelled ceil ings. Towards the end of the 15th century, and especially in the first half of the 16th, wood-carving of the most elaborate and magnificent sort was largely used to decorate church stalls, wall-panelling, doors, and the like. A very important school of this branch of art was founded by Raphael, whose designs were used or adapted by a large number of very skilful wood-carvers. The shutters of &quot; Raphael s Stanze&quot; in the Vatican and the choir stalls of the church of S. Pietro de Cassinesi at Perugia are among the most beautiful examples of this class of carving. 1 The work is in slight relief, carved in walnut with the graceful arabesque patterns which Raphael developed out of the newly discovered remains of ancient Roman wall-painting from the palace of Nero and other places. 2 Fig. 4 shows a FIG. 3. Colossal Statue of an Angel in the South Kensington Museum. FIG. 4. Example of a Carved Walnut-Wood Panel ; school of Raphael. panel with carving of this school, which is always remark able for its high finish and delicate cameo-like execution. Spanish. Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries was specially remarkable for the production of large and 1 Bergamo, Ornati del Coro di S. Pietro dei Cassinesi, Rome, 1845. 2 See Finochietti, Scultura in Ley no, Florence, 1873. elaborate retables, carved with statues and reliefs, very like those of contemporary Germany. Alonso Cano and other sculptors frequently used wood for large statuary, which was painted in a very realistic way with the most startling life-like effect. Danish. Denmark also possessed a school of able wood- carvers, who imitated the great altarpieces of Germany. A very large and well-carved example still exists in the metropolitan cathedral of Roskilde. French. In France during the mediaeval period wooden sculpture was produced which was very similar in character to that of England, and was decorated with similar colour ing. Many of the French cathedral and abbey choir stalls are works of the utmost magnificence. Those at Amiens are specially remarkable. Fig. 5 shows an example of the delicate tracery work of the 15th century. In the 16th century many wood-carvers in France imitated the rich and delicate work of the Raphaelesque school in Italy, and much wood-work of great refinement was pro duced, very different from the coarsely effective work of Elizabethan and Jaco bean England. 3 In the 18th century large sums were spent on elaborate wooden panelling for rooms, the walls being divided into series of spaces with rococo fram ing, formed by applied scroll-work, made up of many fantastic and in congruous bits of curved mouldings, which were usually gilt. The general effect was very inartistic, and was unredeemed by any beauty of detail. The intermediate spaces were sometimes filled with tapestry or paintings designed by Watteau, Boucher, or other popu lar artists. German. In Germany, during the 15th century, wood was used for the most important sculp turesque purposes, such as large triptychs or retables made up of many reliefs, with sacred subjects, and statues of saints, the whole framed and canopied with rich Gothic &quot; tabernacle work.&quot; See SCULPTURE, vol. xxi. p. 565. Fig. 6 shows a fine example of one of these retables, said to be the work of Veit Stoss, now in the South Kensington Museum. As in England the whole of the wood was covered with fine (jesso, and then richly gilt and painted with vivid colours. Nothing could exceed the decorative effect of these great retables, rich with minute sculpture and carved foliage, and shining with gold and brilliant colours, some of which were mixed with a transparent varnish medium, and applied over a ground of gold leaf, so that the metallic lustre shone through the transparent pigments over it. Stall ends and panels were enriched with carving of the highest order of merit ; life-sized human figures are often introduced at the ends of the book-rests, and large surfaces 3 See Roumiev, Sculpture en Bois .... I jZglise des Peres Jacobins, Paris, n.d. (17th cent.); and Pascal, Boiseries sculpUes de Xotre- 7)ame de Paris, 1855. FIG. 5. Traceried Panel in Oak ; French work of the 15th century.