Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/798

* SCULPTURE. 724 SCULPTURE. I, r.-;;iMii;iu ;illai ( U87 ). wliox- iiu'iisurcd and sciiTms'work shows soini' lluliaii iiilUicme. as dots to a greater extent that of Tiliuau Kieiiien- ciehneider (141)01531). the chief master of the Wiirzbiiig sehool. The work of the Swabian school is characterized by a greater grace and charm, as may he especially seen in the choir stalls of the Minster at Ulni, carved by Jiiig iSvrlin. This is even more the ease in liavaria aiid Tyrol, where the chief master, Michael raulier"(d. 14',t8). displays a German naturalism modilied hy a highly developed sense of the beau- tiful, much like Italian work. In Middle and Northern Germany the pre- vailing intlucnee radiated from the Netherlands, producing an art which was pictorial in execu- tion and crowded in composition. The stone monuments of the middle Rhine have perished, but along the lower Rhine and in Northern Ger- many wood-carving was very generally ])rac- ticcd, the finest surviving monument being the beautiful carved altar of Schleswig (151.5-21), by Hans Hriiggeniann. Its powerful naturalism and high dramatic action show distinct Dutch in- lluence. Fine stone-carving was also done in the mining district of Saxony, near the Bohemian boundary, as may be seen in the beautiful portal of the Church of Annaberg. After about 1530 foreign artists were most- ly employed, Italians in the south, Netherland- ers in the north. The Thirty Years' War put an end to all artistic activity. The greatest German artist of the Baroque period, during which for- eign artists were cliietly employed, was Andreas Schliiter (1C64-1714), active chiefly at Berlin. Though the monumental character of his work shows the influence of Bernini, his conception of form and general treatment were derived from the Netherlands. Raphael Donner (1002-1741) held a similar position in Austria, but his re- action against the Rococo w'as based on the study of nature and the antique. OriiEK Countries. The sculptures of the Netherlands were largely destroyed during the Reformation. Here the northern Renaissance began earlier than anywhere else — at the end of the fourteenth century, even preceding the revival of painting. The centre from which this revival proceeded was Dijon, in Burgundy, where under the patronage of the dukes a number of im- portant masters were active, the chief among whom was the Dutchman Claux Sluter. While still Gothic in the draperies, his figures display a powerful naturalism, combined with a high plastic sense. This naturalistic art domi- nated the Netherlands during the fifteenth cen- tury, and it was not until the sixteenth that the Italian influence appeared. It manifested itself chiefly in the charming decorations, but. although good wiirk was produced, no individual artists of prominence are recorded, except Jean Bou- logne, whose art was practically Italian. In the seventeenth century the school of Antwerp came into prominence. Francois Duquesnoy (1594- 1644), the chief master, has been compared to Rubens, and in spite of his training in the Ital- ian Baroque he maintained some dignity of stvle. His pupil, Artus Quellinus (160n-8S), active chiefly in Amsterdam, had a wide influence in Germany. In the eighteenth century sculpture in the Netherlands declined, the Flemish school showing increasing mannerism, while the Dutch vras more naturalistic. To the early Netherlandish influence prevail- ing in Spain, succeeded, in the fifteenth century, a transitional, semi-Italian style. Italian artists continued to be summoned to Spam, and in the si.xteenth century a more monumental style, the chief characteristic of which is richness of deco- ration, arose. Sculpture found wide employment in rich altars, retables, and reredoses. The best known representative of this high Renaissance is Berruguete (d. 15til), whose fantastic style was modeled upon Michelangelo. Similarly man- nered were the brothers Leoni, chief sculptors to Philip II. In the seventeenth cenliuv a realistic reaction, corresponding to that in painting, origi- nated in Andalusia (Seville), the chief repre- sentative of which was Martinez Montaues, who sought above all to express energy and character. His pupil Alonzo Cano (1601-67) continued this style in works of an ascetic religious char- acter. In the eighteenth century mannerism reigned supreme. England depended almost entirely upon impor- tation during this period, of Netherlanders dur- ing the fifteenth century, and of Italians during the sixteenth. It remained barren soil during the two following centuries as well, the only names of note being Nicholas Stone, who was associated with the architect Inigo .Jones, and Grinling Gibbons (d. 1721), a Dutchman associated with Christopher Wren. Flaxman belongs to the fol- low-ing epoch. IIODERX SCl'LPTl'RE. The reaction upon the extravagancies in form and feeling of Baroque sculpture took the form of a return to classical simplicity. The antique was followed more closely than ever before, as well in subject as in form. Sculpture lost its religious character and became private and aris- tocratic. With the increasing prominence of na- tional and democratic movements, a demand for a more natural art arose. Finally, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, sculpture began to occupy itself with the actualities of life. The earliest leader of the classical reaction was Antonio Canova (1757-1822), whose life work was done at Rome, where he came under the influence of the movement originated by Winckel- inann. His earliest works were in the Baroque, the spirit of which is still evident in his .statuary of a classical character, and his art represents the transition from the Baroque to the more purely classical spirit of Bertel Thorwaldsen ( 1770-i844). A Dane by birth, but a Roman by adoption, the latter became the greatest representative of the classic in modern art. As Canova had excelled in statuary, so he in re- lief, using the purest Greek work as his models, and producing the highest class of work possible to one expressing himself in the dead forms of a past epoch. From Rome the influence of these men radiated throtighout Europe, transforming sculpture. France. The chief representatives of the clas- sical school in France were Antoine Denis Chau- det (d. 1810), whose best works were of an ideal character, and Francois Joseph Bosio (d. 1845) and .James Pradier (1702-1852), who attained a higher technical perfection by a tendency toward sensiious treatment. Some of Pradier's many piipils manifested within their classical forms a fendency toward naturalism. Corresponding with the Romantic reaction in painting there came a similar tendency in sculp-