Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

Cathe¬
dral
facades.
562
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 jierdue process
for metal casting is seldom practised in England, and this
Fig. 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-
sipied ^by Sir Edwin Landseer, are a melancholy example
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 fatjades
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 j 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 Arohseological
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
I raser s Mag., April 1861; many good illustrations of English mediaeval
sculpture are scattered throughout the volumes of Archseologia, the
Archaeological Journal, and other societies’ “Proceedings.”
[french.
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 facade.
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
of the form. The sculptured
doors of the north and south
aisles of Bourges cathedral are lines °f columns behind ; all
fine examples of the end of once covered with painting and
the 12th century, and so were 8°ld‘
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 thephir-
golden age of sculpture; while still keeping its early dignity teenth
and subordination to its architectural setting, the sculpture century,
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 wrork on the fagade 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-/0, of more developed style, is remarkable for dignity
combined with soft beauty.1 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 transej)t 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.
SCULPTURE
Fig. 10.—Statues on jamb of
central west door of Chartres
cathedral, 12th century; speci-
desierned to