Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

560
SCULPTURE
[ENGLISH.
Torri
giano
had settled in London, named Bartholomew Lambespring,
assisted by several other skilful artists.
Six- At the beginning of the 16th century sculpture in Eng-
teenth jan(j was entering upon a period of rapid decadence, and
ury‘ to some extent had lost its native individuality. The
finest series of statues of this period are those of life-size
high up on the walls of Henry YII.’s chapel at West¬
minster and others over the various minor altars. These
ninety-five figures, which represent saints and doctors of
the church, vary very much in merit: some show German
influence, others that of Italy, while a third class are, as
it were, “archaistic ” imitations of older English sculpture
(see fig. 7). In some cases the heads
and general pose are graceful, and
the drapery dignified, but in the
main they are coarse both in design
and in workmanship compared with
the better plastic art of the 13th and
14th centuries. This decadence of
English sculpture caused Henry VII.
to invite the Florentine Torrigiano
(14721-1522) to come to England
to model and cast the bronze figures
for his own magnificent tomb, which
still exist in almost perfect preserva¬
tion. The recumbent effigies of
Henry VII. and his queen are fine
specimens of Florentine art, well
modelled with life-like portrait heads
and of very fine technique in the
casting. The altar-tomb on which
the effigies lie is of black marble,
decorated with large medallion re¬
liefs in gilt bronze, each with a pair
of saints—the patrons of Henry and
Elizabeth of York—of very graceful ______
design. The altar and its large bal- Fig. 7.-statue (life-size)
dacchmo and reredos were the work of St Thomas of Canter-
of Torrigiano, but were destroyed bury in Henry Yii.’s
during the 17 th century. The chaPeb Westminster,
reredos had a large relief of the once ncUy <^ed.
Resurrection of Christ executed in painted terra-cotta, as
were also a life-sized figure of the dead Christ under the
altar-slab and four angels on the top angles of the bal-
dacchino; a number of fragments of these figures have
recently been found in the “ pockets ” of the nave vaulting,
where they had been thrown after the destruction of the
reredos. Torrigiano’s bronze effigy of Margaret of Rich¬
mond in the south aisle of the same chapel is a very
skilful but too realistic portrait, apparently taken from a
cast of the dead face and hands. Another terra-cotta effigy
in the Rolls chapel is also, from internal evidence, attri¬
buted to the same able Florentine. Another talented
Florentine sculptor, Benedetto da Maiano, was invited to
England by Cardinal Wolsey to make his tomb; of this
only the marble sarcophagus now exists and has been used
to hold the body of Admiral Nelson in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Another member of the same family, named Giovanni, was
the sculptor of the colossal terra-cotta heads of the Csesars
affixed to the walls of the older part of Hampton Court
Palace.
During the troublous times of the Reformation sculpture,
like the other arts, continued to decline. Of 17th-century
monumental effigies that of Sir Francis Vere (d. 1607) in
the north transept at Westminster is one of the best,
though its design—a recumbent effigy overshadowed by
a slab covered with armour, upborne by four kneeling
There were once no less than 107 statues in the interior of this
chapel, besides a large number on the exterior; see J. T. Micklethwaite
m Archseologia, vol. xlvii. pi. x.-xii.
Seven¬
teenth
century.
figures of men-at-arms—is almost an exact copy of the
tomb of Engelbert II. of Vianden-Nassau.2 The finest
bronze statues of this century are those of Charles Villiers,
duke of Buckingham (d. 1634), and his wife at the north¬
east of Henry VII.’s chapel. The effigy of the duke, in
rich armour of the time of Charles I., lies with folded
hands in the usual mediaeval pose. The face is fine and
well modelled and the casting very good. The allegorical
figures at the foot are caricatures of the style of Michel¬
angelo, and are quite devoid of merit, but the kneeling
statues of the duke’s children are designed with grace and
pathos. A large number of very handsome marble and
alabaster tombs were erected throughout England during
the 17th century. The effigies are poor and coarse, but
the rich architectural ornaments are effective and often
of beautiful materials, alabaster being mixed with various
richly coloured marbles in a very skilful way. Nicholas
Stone (d. 164 <), who worked under the supervision of Inigo
Jones, appears to have been the chief English sculptor of
his time. The De Vere and Villiers monuments are usually
attributed to him.3 One of the best public monuments
of London is the bronze equestrian statue of Charles I. at
Charing Cross, which was overthrown and hidden during
the protectorate of Cromwell, but replaced at the Restora¬
tion in 1660. It is very nobly modelled and was pro¬
duced under Italian influence by a French sculptor called
Hubert Le Soeur (d. Ifl/O). The standing bronze statue
of James II. behind the Whitehall banqueting room, very
poorly designed but well executed, was the work of Grinling
Gibbons (1648-1121), a native of Holland, who was chiefly
famed for his extraordinary skill in carving realistic fruit
and flowers in pear and other white woods. Many rich
and elaborate works of his exist at Trinity College, Oxford,
at Cambridge, Chatsworth, and several other places in
England. In the early part of the 18th century he worked
for Sir Christopher Wren, and carved the elaborate friezes
of the stalls and screens in St Paul’s Cathedral and in
other London churches.
During the 18th century English sculpture was mostly in Eight-
the hands of Flemish and other foreign artists, of whom eenth
Roubiliac (1695-1762), Scheemakers (1691-1773), andceutl,ry-
Rysbrack (1694-1770) were the chief. The ridiculous
custom of representing Englishmen of the 18th and 19th
centuries in the toga or in the armour of an ancient
Roman was fatal alike to artistic merit and eikonic truth;
and. when, as was often the case, the periwig of the Georgian
period was added to the costume of a Roman general the
effect is supremely ludicrous. Nollekens (1737-1823), a
pupil of Scheemakers, though one of the most popular
sculptors of the 18th century, was a man of very little real
ability.4 John Bacon (1740-1799) was in some respects
an abler sculptor. John Flaxman5 (1755-1826) was in
England the chief initiator of the classical revival. For
many years he worked for Josiah Wedgwood, the potter,
and designed for him an immense number of vases covered
with delicate cameo-like reliefs. Many of these, taken
from antique gems and sculpture, are of great beauty,
though hardly suited to the special necessities of fictile
ware. Flaxman’s large pieces of sculpture are of less
merit, but some of his marble reliefs are designed with
much spirit and classic purity. His illustrations in outline
to the poems of Homer, Aeschylus, and Dante, based on
drawings on Greek vases, have been greatly admired, but
2 See Arendt, Ch&teau de Vianden, Paris, 1884.
3 The Yilliers monument is evidently the work of two sculptors
working in very opposite styles.
4 An interesting account of many English sculptors of this time is
given by Smith, Nollekens and his Time, London, 1829.
5 See Flaxman, Lectures at the Royal Academy, London, 1829. His
designs on a small scale are the best of his works,—as, for example, the
silver shield of Achilles covered with delicate and graceful reliefs.