Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

the west-end people cannot get to it, that— that-in short, it is something that never was before, and therefore cannot prosper. We differ from these objectors. We believe, if the plans are carried out, that the structure itself will be a great improvement on the old edifice, presenting three transepts instead of one, and an arched nave. The fall

of the ground on one side has led to a clever arrangement of the building, with deep recesses in the ends of the transepts, and an open corridor, the whole length of the intermediate parts, containing sculpture. Within, there will be courts fitted up to illustrate the architecture of the various periods of the world's history, including an Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Byzantine, Alhambraic, Mediæval, Renaissance, and Elizabethan court, each under the direction of competent men. If, as we have said, these plans are carried out as proposed, the new Crystal Palace will be the most extraordinary structure in the world; and if so, it will not lack patronage. As to the distance, the company will arrange so as to obviate that objection before it is ready to receive the public; it will be a matter of time, not of distance. "The west-end people" will be able to get to it with much more ease and rapidity, and at less expense, than the Parisians incur in their transit from Paris to Versailles. We drove, in a one-horse "fly," from Waterloo-bridge through Camberwell and Dulwich in about three-quarters of an hour; and the inhabitants of Belgravia would find the route much shorter by crossing over Vauxhallbridge. Nothing can be more delicious than the drive, after you escape from "mere London." Dulwich, with its fine old college, its beautiful collection of pictures, its magnificent trees, its deep-plashy pools, its quaint-garlanded houses, -is well worthy a pilgrimage; and is only three-quarters of a mile from the site of the vast undertaking, which commands a panorama of one of the richest landscapes in England.*

At present, the railway station is 200 feet

"The site chosen for the re-erection of the Crystal Palace is an irregular parallelogram of 300 acres, extending from the Brighton railway, where it has a frontage of 1,300 feet; between the Sydenham and the Anerley stations, to the road which borders the top of Dulwich-wood, where it has a frontage towards the road of 3,000 feet. The fall from this point to the Brighton railway is 200 feet. It was at once felt that the only position for the new building was on the summit of this hill, and immediately adjoining the road. The building, placed in this commanding position, will be visible from London on the one side, and from a vast extent of country on the other."-The Times.

below the summit of the hill; but the great magician, Sir Joseph Paxton, has determined that one of the glass wings of Crystal Palace the Second shall shelter the railway terminus, so that visitors will descend from the carriages in the palace itself! This is only one of the wonders promised by this very extraordinary man, to whom the word "impossible" suggests "something to be overcome." It will be highly interesting to those upon whom the beautiful country, viewed from Penge-park, on the 5th of August, 1852, burst so unexpectedly, to see the change promised by the 1st of May, 1853. Terrace-gardens, adorned by fountains and statuary; jets, rivalling "the Emperor," at Chatsworth; cascades; fountains; baths of sea-water, renewed by each flowing tide, and conveyed in pipes across the country; the brightness and magnificence of the erection itself; the profusion of hardy and half-hardy plants; Loddige's magnificent collection of palms; all these, and a thousand other "things of beauty" and of interest, congregated upon, and crowning, that glorious Kentish valley!

The ceremony of the 5th of August was as simple as the occasion was grand. Flags of all nations were unfurled upon their lofty staves, enclosing a vast area, sloping down the hill; and around this, hundreds of ladies, in every variety of brilliant summer costume, were seated. The band of the Coldstreams on the hill, and the Artillery band in the valley, floated the air with music. Within the circle was a gigantic flag-staff, upon the top of which the flag of England was closely furled. Beside this, the pillar was slung, ready, at a given moment, to drop into its socket. Soon after half-past two, the procession advanced. Six workmen, bearing a large and handsome banner, inscribed, "Success to the Palace of the People," were followed by Mr. Laing, M.P. (the chairman of the Crystal Palace Company), Mr. F. Fuller, and the other directors. The column was immediately raised, and inserted in its socket, three young lads assisting at this operation.

When this was completed, the British flag slowly and gracefully unfurled, and the bands burst into that anthem which creates fresh enthusiasm every time it is performed. When the burst of loyalty had subsided, the chairman spoke, not long, but well, saying a great deal in a few words, and explaining what the intentions and hopes of the company which had planned this wonderful erection When this was concluded, the feelings of the assembly took another direction, and a rush was made to the refreshment tent, where

were.

tables were prepared for 600 people, and all was on a scale of princely magnificence.

Mr. Laing, Mr. Scott Russell, and Sir Joseph Paxton spoke to the several toasts, and soon after, the assembly broke up; though many seemed disposed to linger around the plans and drawings, which were displayed in another tent, and to enjoy what, to the London citizen, was as the gush of pure mountain air. So far, this great undertaking is launched on its way, and as we have faith in the brains which conceived, and the hands that can execute, we believe it will be brought to a glorious termination. But there are two propositions connected with the under-current of this mighty whole, which we cannot but regard with anxiety: the first is, as to the grounds being entirely, and the palace partially, open to the people on the Sabbath-day. We know the arguments for, but we know the COMMAND against Sabbath-breaking, and we know how some say that Sabbath-breaking consists in so and so, and others exclaim no, "not that, but this." For ourselves we say, that recreation is not Sabbath-breaking, but merry-making is; and that money-making and money-changing of all sorts is at open war with Sabbath peace. If Penge-park is to be open at all on Sunday, it should be as Hyde-park and St. James' are simply as LUNGS for the people; and for this there should be no charge; if there is a charge, no matter how small, it is, to all intents and purposes, Sunday-trading, and for this, as a christian people, we can offer no excuse. We cannot punish the tradesman who keeps his shop open for sales on Sabbath-days, and permit the Crystal Palace Company to charge for admission to their park and gardens.

Again, there should be no sale of any species of intoxicating fluid within the precincts of the Crystal Palace at any time. The restriction on this point at Crystal Palace the First in no way lessened the number of visitors. It promoted that peace, good order, and good behaviour, which so eminently distinguished the

multitudes who flocked to imbibe beauty and instruction from its contents. The recreation afforded by Sir Joseph Paxton's plan is purely intellectual; and no mis-called "refreshment," tending to excite the passions and weaken the judgment, should be sanctioned by the company. We cannot express ourselves too strongly on this point, when we say, that if the sale of intoxicating fluids is permitted within the enclosures of Penge-park, a little time will see it degenerate into a daylight Vauxhall, from which the more respectable classes will be obliged to withdraw. What parents could take their children for amusement, or instruction, to a place where their enjoyment would have a chance of being destroyed by the intoxication, or "excitement," of that class of men who kill time with cigars, and their almost invariable accompaniments? If the directors permit the sale of spirituous liquors, they degenerate into tavern-keepers.

It is because we are deeply and earnestly anxious for the success of this great undertaking, that we dwell upon the two points upon which must depend its popularity. A large portion of English mothers will desire to take their children to the Crystal Palace for instruction, a still larger, for amusement and health. The patronage of the fashionable world will entirely depend upon the non-violation of their tastes, and the patronage of the people's world upon pleasure and instruction; they are learning how to appreciate the beauties of nature and of art, and have acquired, of late, much more instinctive knowledge of the graces, as well as the proprieties of life, than the higher classes believe. Let us, moreover, not forget the very large number of the middle and humbler classes who repudiate the use of intoxicating drinks.

The Crystal Palace will come before the world as a great teacher, a great amalgamator, a combination of ALL that can be desired by the highest civilization--and a civilizer of the uncivilized. One scene of inebriety would destroy the confidence of thousands.

CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY.*

FEW books could have appeared at a more opportune period than the present volume, and, although the policy of translating a book before the original is completed is, generally speaking, questionable, the information conveyed by the work of M. Didron is too precious to be kept longer from the English reader. However, the first volume is complete in itself, and does ample justice to the subjects enumerated in the title-page.

Every student of art is aware how minute and how varying are the features by which the comparative antiquity of its productions is measured. The beard of a Hercules, the arrangement of the hair in a female figure, and the most trifling change in the folds of a drapery, will oftentimes settle a question upon which we have no historical means of deciding, and teach us not only what conception the ancients formed of particular objects, but how they gradually arrived at their perfect and artistic embodiment.

The author of the present publication is well known on the continent as an archæologist of great learning and ability; and the present work supplies what was hitherto a desideratum in the history of art-viz., a systematized description of those leading features of decoration, which are our best guides in determining the real antiquity of productions ascribed to the ingenuity of the middle

ages.

The great predominance of certain peculiar ornaments, either in the architectural or illuminated decorations of this period, and the modifications of those ornaments-in which, however varied or amplified, the leading symbolical features are never lost-forms a most interesting study, whether it be regarded as an antiquarian test, or as enabling us to judge of modern productions in a similar style, by a just and authentic standard. The decorations surrounding the head, or the whole person, and sometimes whole groups of figures, whether circular, oval, triangular, or in any other form, are in all cases modifications of the nimbus, the aureole, and the glory. It may, however, be observed, that the aureole is but an enlarged form of the nimbus, the nimbus a diminished aureole. Both denote glory, honour, and strength; but the nimbus, whether radiating from, or encircling the head, is unquestionably the earliest in its origin. The story of a flame encircling the head of a future hero is as old as the days of Virgil; and, if we go into mythological antiquity, we shall find an approach to the same idea in the representation of Apollo darting forth rays of light from his head. Nor is the Hindoo mythology deficient in examples of the nimbus.

The glory, properly so called, is applied by M.

Christian Iconography; or, the History of Christian Art in the Middle Ages. By M. Didron, Sec. du Comite Historique des Arts et Monuments. Translated from the French by E. J. Millington. Vol. I., comprising the History of the Nimbus, the Aureole, and the Glory; the History of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. With numerous illustrations. London: H. G. Bohn.

† Especially as the author of a most interesting work under the following title:-Manuel d'Iconographie Chretienne, Grecque, et Latine, avec une introduction et des notes, par M. Didron, de la Bibliotheque Royale, etc. Traduit du manuscrit Byzantin, Le guide de la Peinture, par le Dr. Paul Durand. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1845.

Didron to the union of the nimbus and the aureole -an arrangement which, although somewhat artificial, is perhaps calculated to prevent some confusion.

Did our limits permit, it would be interesting to trace the progress of these symbols, especially of the nimbus, in their application and design-to observe the comparative rapidity with which they gained ground in the east, and its lavish application to all sorts of figures, until it sank into a mere decoration, apart from their deep figurative meaning, and gradually fell into disuse. It is observed by M. Didron that, "even on the vases procured from China and Japan, which we see exposed for sale in old curiosity shops, we often find figures of persons of a secular character, adorned with the nimbus, and that it sometimes even surrounds the head of those monsters of fantastic beasts which seem to growl at us from our brilliant porcelain, and bear so strong a resemblance to Christian devils, or the open-mouthed gurgoyles of our cathedrals.” (p. 153.) In the west, on the contrary, the introduction of these ornamental attributes was not only more gradual in its introduction, but was subjected to more reverential limitations. M. Didron is inclined to look upon the prevalence of light in the eastern nations as the main reason of this, and his remarks are so interesting, that we unhesitatingly transfer them to our pages.

"That the nimbus is a luminous fluid has been abundantly proved. In the fifteenth century, with us, this mystic head-tire, adorning the heads of the saints, appears, in the monuments cited, like an expansion or unfolding of flamboyant rays, or the beams of a glowing sun. Now, every image, allegory, symbol, or metaphor even, must be borrowed from the imagery, or, to speak more correctly, from the reality of nature. The ideal is transformed into the corporeal. I feel, therefore, convinced that the nimbus was first attached to the heads of intelligent and virtuous persons, from its analogy with that radiation which we may observe to be exhaled by natural objects, in the most mature and energetic periods of the year. In summer, during the hours of noon-tide heat, everything radiates in the field; all nature emits light; a brilliant vapour rises from the earth, floating around the ears of corn, and the topmost branches of the trees. This flame plays around the plants, like that which caressed the hair of the youthful Iülus, or the young Servius Tullius, or which descended on the heads of St. Henri and St. Léger. Every branch and flower, every group of trees, the summit of each distant hill, or rocky eminence, seems gilded by an aureole -a kind of natural and universal nimbus. Now what with us is but an accidental appearancewhat in our climate is seen but rarely, at certain seasons, and on certain days of intense heat, is in the east an habitual occurrence."

But it must also be remembered, that the more gloomy cast of mind which distinguished the western nations, and the rigour of their devotional character, was better calculated to preserve these symbols to their more solemn uses, and to contemplate their intrinsic meaning and purpose, rather than their subserviency to general ornament.

Some idea of the importance of these symbols, in

testing the antiquity of medieval productions, may be formed from the fact, that at the close of the sixteenth century, the nimbus almost wholly vanished from the heads of divine personages, and that the churches of Paris, for example, those of St. Germain-des-Prés, St. Sulpice, the Ste. Chapelle, St. Germain-l'Auxerrois, St. Eustache, and St. Etienne-du-Mont, &c., embrace every form and variety of the nimbus, during a period of seven, nay, perhaps nine centuries.

If the subject be one of some difficulty, the reader may safely anticipate considerable assistance from M. Didron's work, in treading the mazy paths of medieval antiquity. Everything that clearness of description-sometimes, it must be confessed, degenerating into tautology-can do for the illustration of this interesting department of archæology, has been done in the volume now before us. Moreover, the heaviness of description is relieved by the happiness of the poetical and legendary digressions in which the author not unfrequently indulges.

The present volume, from obvious financial reasons, does not contain the whole of what M. Didron has already published; but we must take a brief notice of some still more interesting subjects which it includes-viz., the history of the portraits of the three persons of the Trinity, and the valuable chapter on the archæological signs which enable us to distinguish the representations of our Saviour.

The different age of Christ and of his mother, as they are variously represented, is by no means one of the least interesting guides in distinguishing the relative antiquity of portraits or other representations. "In the long series of monuments," our author observes, "two iconographic facts are seen to develop themselves side by side. The figure of Christ, which had at first been youthful, becomes older from century to century, in proportion as the age of Christianity itself progresses. That of the Virgin, on the contrary, who was originally represented in the catacombs as from forty to fifty years of age, becomes more youthful with every succeeding century, until, at the close of the gothic epoch, her age appears to be not more than fifteen or twenty. In proportion as the son grows older, the mother is represented as more youthful. Towards the thirteenth century, Jesus and Mary are of the same age, about thirty or thirty-five years. The mother and child, who have thus met, as it were, afterwards separate, and thence continue to diverge still more widely one from the other."

M. Didron proceeds, with mingled erudition and clearness of discrimination, to point out some still more certain signs of distinction, not only in the portraits of Christ, but of other divine personages. Indeed, the main value of his book is its chronological accuracy. We need scarcely allude to the loose use of the term "middle-aged," to designate anything between the sixth or seventh and the seventeenth centuries; nay, sometimes, a still greater interval. But the work of M. Didron is, in this respect, as nearly perfect as can be expected, if we consider the difficulties attendant on the study. The loss of some monuments, the imperfect preservation, or, still worse, the officious alteration, of others, will always invest the science of archæology with a degree of obscurity. Nor is this very un

certainty devoid of its advantages-at least, of its means of exciting pleasurable feelings. To elicit something like rules of criticism from materials so variable and uncertain-to place the works of different ages side by side, and trace the development of man's handicraft from rudeness to perfection, and, in turn, to lament over its retrograde condition, when unkindly influences prevailed, and when ignorance and apathy bedimmed the imagination, and held back the pencil of the artist-is surely a study most akin to man's nature, most calculated to employ those faculties of discrimination and preference which are his most distinctive and most valuable characteristics.

A taste for mediaeval art, not always attended with the happiest results, has arisen of late years; but, whatever may be our doubts as to a free revival of medieval symbolism, it cannot be denied that its impressive quaintness has never been surpassed, and that, without adopting its superstitious glamour, we may advantageously take a leaf out of the book of the middle ages, if we would make our churches ecclesiastical in their outward character. If art has any rightful connexion with religion, (and, as the visible exponent of the Beautiful, such a connexion cannot be denied,) every work becomes valuable which places within our reach the parent examples of particular styles, which assigns the time and origin of those examples, and, by unfolding the history of symbols, teaches us, as we contemplate their varying and changeable character, to look only to their inward meaning, not, in the spirit of iconolatry, to forget the Creator in the images of our own device.

To return to M. Didron. His work, from the great variety of his materials, is equally useful to the architect, the painter, the sculptor, and the student of history. Nor will those who contemplate visiting the cathedrals of the continent find it an unsuitable introduction to an acquaintance with the statuary and decorations of those wondrous monuments of mediaeval industry. But we have one fault to find with our author. Like too many of his countrymen, he talks lightly of serious matters. Without wishing to impugn his honest belief in the faith he professes, and without in the slightest degree desiring to lay a charge of intentional irreverence, we must express our regret that many expressions-harmless enough, no doubt, to French ears-have not been softened in translation. If there is one fault that will keep the work from being generally read, it is a freedom of language, often approaching flippancy, and conveying the idea of a religion of art only, not of a theory of art humbly and fitly subservient to the adornment and honouring of God's worship.

In other respects, the present publication is quite satisfactory. The translator has added many notes of a useful character; and the numerous woodcuts, while they are "the identical ones used by M. Didron," (Preface p. iv.) vie with the French impressions for spirit and accuracy. Altogether, the book is a highly interesting one, and deserves the attention of all who would trace the rise of mediæval out of the ruins of pagan art-the triumph of Christian over heathen symbolism.

BOOKS AND THEIR AUTHORS.

SHAKESPEARE.-In the dearth of literary announcement, which characterizes the present period of the bookselling world, we may notice somewhat fully a gigantic private undertaking, by a literary gentleman, whose industry seems unbounded. Mr. HALLIWELL, whose labours in medieval literature are sufficiently well known, has announced his intention of producing a new edition of Shakespeare, in twenty folio volumes, which are to contain entire reprints of all the novels and tales on which the plays are founded; copious descriptive notes, archæological, biographical, and literary, tending to elucidate the poet's meaning and allusions; thus giving the reader an idea of what may have been floating through the mind of the poet when writing. For this purpose, about a thousand illustrative engravings are to be given, consisting of every antique object alluded to, whether of every day use in Shakespeare's time, or in that which he has fixed as the period of his various dramas; antique views of places named by him; monumental effigies or personal relics of characters mentioned. So that the works of Shakespeare, the greatest of all uninspired authors, may be elucidated by the learning of the student and the pencil of the archæological draughtsman. The selection and superintendence of the engravings is to be consigned to F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A., who, together with Mr. Halliwell, has devoted much time and thought to the collection of materials at home and abroad. Nothing fanciful is to be engraved, or any attempt at meretricious picture-making allowed, the engravings being, in fact, pictorial notes on the text of the dramatist. Mr. Halliwell's intention is also to avoid the tiresome controversial notation which has now so seriously overlaid the text, and to restrict himself to pure elucidation. In this, we think, he acts with the best judgment; for when we consider how the greatest critics have failed in their conjectural emendations, we must own to much scepticism generally. When Dr. Johnson, restricted by the knowledge of his own time, writes, in allusion to Shakespeare's description of the hurried workman in "King John," standing in shoes which

"His nimble haste

Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet," and tells us that the mind of the poet, in this instance, seems to have been confused by the confusion he is describing, for that "each shoe will equally fit either foot," he but betrays his own want of acquaintance with the constant ancient custom of shoes being made to fit each foot alone. The eminent and learned critic, Bentley, reading the lines describing the attendant who so woe-begone,

Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night," having his mind over-filled with classical allusion, proposes to give a proper name to the man, and "restore" the passage thus:

so Ucalegon!!

Drew Priam's curtain," &c. &c.

A "restoration" that would not a little surprise the bard, could he again "revisit the pale glimpses of the moon." But poets themselves have been equally unfortunate in their "emendations." Wit

ness Coleridge, who, in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," proposes to alter Pistol's language in reply to the immortal Sir John's declaration, that Mrs. Page has "legions of angels" at command; and who says :

So many devils entertain, And to her boy,' say I." Coleridge would force a scriptural allusion, improper in every sense, thus:

Dr.

[ocr errors]

So many devils enter'd swine,
And 'to her boy,' say I."

Farmer's anti-poetic temperament induced him to consider Hamlet's fine lines

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we may,"

as a mere metaphor which occurred to the poet, from his familiarity with the phraseology of the makers of wooden skewers, who rough-hewed, and shaped their ends, for the use of the townsmen of Stratford-on-Avon ! Commentary is, therefore, only useful when it is strictly confined to elucidate the text from fact alone; and if Mr. Halliwell and Mr. Fairholt, conjointly, will do so, by giving reprints of the literature of the Shakesperian age connected with his dramas, and representations of actual objects, places, or persons mentioned by him, we shall then possess an edition combining the reading of the student and the knowledge of the archæological draughtsman; and one that will be of great value in clearing absurdities in the text; forming also a body of Shakesperian literature and illustration, a sort of cyclopedia to which the student may turn with advantage at all times. Such a work can, however, only be appreciated and supported by the few, and to them the appeal is made. Mr. Halliwell proposes to publish it for subscribers alone, and they are limited to 150. The unwearied researches of many years Mr. Halliwell confidently hopes will be thus rendered available to combine in one edition every source of useful illustration, where, even if there be something redundant, much will remain suggestive of familiar explanations of obscurities and mere popular uses." The idea is most comprehensive, and we hope to find it as completely carried out.

66

Mr. JERDAN has issued the second part of his interesting autobiography: it includes the period of his life between the years 1814 and 1818; consequently, we are not introduced to many of the celebrities who belong more immediately to our own time; the value of the work will therefore increase as it proceeds. This part is full of valuable gossip: a large number of remarkable persons are noticed; some of them are introduced at full length, of others there are only slight sketches; but in all cases something is given which is worth recording, and ought to be remembered. Much is new, too-as will be supposed, concerning the personnel of the writer. It is only just to him to say, that he does not spare himselfnay, he is rather more severe than others will be on his own "short-comings "—his sins of omission and commission-his main purpose being, as he tells us, to "point a moral." The following passage

[ocr errors]
« НазадПродовжити »