and intaglios on which were incised effigies of the Holy Family, and
incidents in every phase in that series of events that never has been
equalled in historic interest in the records of time: the birth, life,
trial, sufferings, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.
Elaborate details characterized the cameos picturing the triumphs of
that Christian emperor and the portraiture of his mother Helena.
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: 589]
[Illustration: 580]
[Illustration: 590]
[Illustration: 578]
[Illustration: 575]
BYZANTINE CHRIST.
The annunciation, the visitation, the birth in the manger, the
adoration of the wise men and the magi, the bearing of the cross, the
crucifixion, etc.
With the Byzantine epoch we meet with the Emperor Constantine as we
turn from the first period of decadence, in fact, almost demise, of the
art of the incisori.
The justice, energy, and enterprise of Constantine showered benefits on
all industrious men in the Eastern Roman world. Skilled workmen, spared
from the absorbing conflicts of war, anew devoted themselves in peace
to their mechanical avocations.
Prosperity ruled and was assured to the people. Foremost among
these artisans were the gem-engravers; the demand for their glyptic
productions, and the amount produced, was phenomenal.
The dignity of Constantine’s successful empire was sustained by a
retinue of courtiers; luxury characterized all the imperial decorations
of his palace.
His willing subjects supplied his demands and gratified his refined
tastes by zealously executing his liberal commands in all branches of
art, and especially in the art of gem-engraving, which contributed
largely to the court adornment.
Recognizing the near relationship between gems and coins, we here
see that Constantine, shortly after he had established his empire in
Byzantium, removed the pagan emblems from the coins of the empire,
and issued others on which he caused to be impressed the legend
illustrating and recording the peculiar incident of his conversion; to
this was added a phœnix, emblematic of the renovation of his empire,
together with the monogram of Christ, and the Angel of Victory, which
in his vision had directed his course at the time of his conversion to
Christianity and triumph over the pagan enemy.
At the time of his baptism at Nicomedia he clad himself in a white
robe, and from that time he never resumed the imperial purple.
This incident was also engraved, and formed the subject of a design on
a later coin.
The engravers employed by Constantine were incisori of the highest rank
of that period; none others were in favor. They executed portraits
of his family, of his wife Fausta, of his sons, and of himself--in
combat, in bust, on horseback, in imperial power; always laureated, and
principally on cameos, very few intaglios being cut at this time.
Several important examples have survived the rack and ruin of time,
and may be seen in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, the British
Museum at London, the Royal and Imperial Collections of Vienna and St.
Petersburg, and in my collection.
These unique gems, those commissioned by Constantine, however, form a
small proportion of the glyptic harvest from the Byzantine period. With
Constantine commences the series of scriptural cameos, which continue
during several years in Byzantia.
The great number of cameos preserved from this epoch bearing scriptural
subjects, which were ordered and engraved for reliquaries and every
description of vessels, and for the adornment of altar book-bindings,
for church and cathedral ceremonies, far exceeds in quantity those
imperial portraits, and to an appreciator of distinctive specialties in
a representative art collection they are more interesting.
[Illustration: BYZANTINE.]
After a few heads of Christ attributed to the Sassanians, we meet
in the reign of Constantine the first gem portraits of our Saviour.
These sacred portraits, even at times rudely rendered, have often more
divinity in them than many similar subjects of a later period.
The distinctive, most characteristic, Byzantine gems are the large
series of scriptural cameos, designed in relief for the ornamentation
of the sacred vessels and other paraphernalia on the altars of the
churches at the Byzantine capital.
[Illustration]
MEDIÆVAL.
The era in the decline in art was sensibly marked in the glyptic
branch. The very rude and often grotesquely drawn designs we meet in
this long period, the Middle Ages, may well be termed the dark days.
The eras of art in the history of nations have been marked by the
same changing characteristics; light has invariably been succeeded
by darkness; there are shadows ever following the bright rays of the
sun. This day of imagery and sculpture, feeble at its dawn, radiant
in its morning, powerful in the glory and effulgence of its meridian,
deteriorated as evening advanced, faded in the twilight, was at last
veiled in the long period of decadence--the Middle Ages, the night of
art.
These people, so credulous and so trusting in these token-stones, by
degrees formed themselves into groups, at first of two or three, with
ties of pious friendship; subsequently these associations gradually
increased in the numbers of their adherents until the growing fanatic
idea of closing one’s eyes on the sinful world was the incentive which
formed at first asylums, and soon after monasteries; and the monastic
life became popular; wavering men, feeling themselves too weak to
face the temptations of the world, resorted to these holy retreats
and there sought God. Few reasonable men can be truly happy without
occupation, and, happily for us, these recluses saw the importance and
the historic interest of engraved gems. Many interesting intaglios were
thus spared from loss and destruction.
The numerous orders of monks during this barbarous epoch collected
all that possibly could be saved from the destroying avalanche, and
with great diligence transcribed on parchment types of the existing
literature.
The laborers in the limited field of art in the Middle Ages were these
dwellers in monasteries. To them we are indebted for some rude fibres
in the fabric with which this period of darkness is canopied; they
walked under it in the simplicity of monastic life; and to us at least
it conveys the lesson that man has forgotten so much, knows so little,
and has so much to learn.
Their intaglios were generally of a spiritual and devotional
character, though some of them relieved the tedium of cloister life by
creating in _basso-rilievo_ on bone and ivory the most ludicrous and
mirth-provoking designs.
The subjects of the engraved gems of the eighth, ninth, tenth, and
eleventh centuries are to a great extent unmeaning figures and
heads--portraits of unknown personages, now and then reproductions of
ancient Roman emperors and military heroes of historic renown, yet
poorly rendered and bad in execution.
There are also many inexplicable subjects, portraying groups of three
four, five, and six figures, evidently intended to commemorate events
in history; also mythological processions, both in rude intaglios
and equally mediocre cameos, giving triumphs of Silenus and Bacchus,
portraying these heroes in forms, the drawing of which would raise
blushes on their cheeks could they return to earth and be allowed
to criticise their effigies. Silenus, even full of wine, would have
growled and remonstrated, and would have pronounced some of them absurd
misrepresentations; they, however, are very interesting, if only on
account of their contrast with the examples of Greek and Roman glyptic
art.
[Illustration]
In this epoch, again, we find instances of the sensitiveness of the
numismatic branch of the art of gem-engraving, for the models of all
pieces of money are intaglios, and thus far they are related to the
glyptic art; and it has always been the first industry giving evidence
of a decline.
The view of these relics of cloister art convinces us that they of the
dark ages did not contribute the truly beautiful.... Yet shadows pass
“with time and the hour.”... Night is passing, ... comes the gray, ...
comes the dawn, ... comes the morning light. Creatures that at evening
ceased their song, tune now their pipes and sing again; they chant anon
the requiem of the Night of Art; and yet anon, they sing the coming
of the light. They celebrate at last, with hope, the renewing of all
things beautiful in art. The orb of day gilds the horizon; man beholds
the aurora of approaching day.
RENAISSANCE.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under the encouragement
of the Medici family, skilled artisans again emigrated to Italy
as coadjutors in the great revival of all that was beautiful in
gem-engraving.
They created, for the glyptic phase of art, a position almost as
important as it had enjoyed in the first century A. D.
It is not surprising that comparatively so few engraved gems have
been handed down to us when we consider the tides of the last twenty
centuries as a great sea which has borne to the shores of civilized
Europe, and later to America, specimens of ancient art creations--that
sea, at times placid, yet ever and anon turbulent with devastating
storms, whose iconoclastic waves broke upon the ancient sites of
antiquity, destroying treasures that thus have been irreparably lost to
archæological science and to our museums.
As a child becomes restless with the consciousness of coming day before
it fully wakes from sleep, man, weary of this night of ignorance and
the atmosphere of barbarism--fretful on his couch under the yoke of
tyranny, striving to shake it off while yet enveloped by the shades
of error, rose up to seek an element he knew not, a light he dreamed
would come!
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: 624]
[Illustration: 601]
[Illustration: 634]
[Illustration: 1358]
[Illustration: 632]
[Illustration: 621]
[Illustration: 631]
[Illustration: 616]
RENAISSANCE-MEDICI PERIOD.
He burst the cords that bound his strength; he pierced the clouds
which dulled his vision, and, leaving his prison-house, reached forth
his fearless arm, and pushing aside the sombre folds of the long
intervening veil, peered into the outer world of progress, and in the
gray gloom he descried a distant terrace. With rapid strides, through
furrows of popular prejudice and cinders of past magnificence, over
crumbled arch and fallen pillar, frieze, and pediment, he sped his way;
nor flagged nor halted, till the summit reached, he stood and gazed
with earnest look out into the coming time; he beheld in the vista
before him many streams flowing into the sea of the future. In the
horizon gleamed again the omen of coming day; it was the harbinger of a
new birth.
The light of truth flashed upon his mind, discovering to him his
freed intellect. Unlike the denizens of the earlier age of luxury and
repletion, he stood a thinking man, refreshed, invigorated, and ready
for work; and quickly he applied himself; called forth his kinsman; his
voice was heard throughout the land; men awoke everywhere and wrought
in the ateliers of the new life.
Through the air came strains as of music, from creaking of timber,
cracking of stone, the carol of the painter, hammer and anvil, plashing
oar, wheel and shaft, mallet and chisel, and with the new demand upon
the gem-engravers came--the Oratorio of the Renaissance.
With this awakening came another influx of skilled artisans into Italy,
not to compete, as before, in the great established art market of the
world. Now they came in response to appeals for master-workmen, came to
instruct, to encourage the new birth; to lead the drowsy ones out into
the full light of day, the day of a rising constellation in which once
more shone brilliantly a meritorious school of gem-engravers.
Though Germany, France, and other nations shared in the work, Italy
guarded the cradle of the Renaissance, and as a faithful, loving
parent, watched the developing features of the youth, which grew apace,
reading there the promise of a growing power that was destined to lead
future generations to excellence and prosperity in art.
Italy accomplished the first great work of this period by furnishing
models for both industrial and fine arts, infusing vitality into other
nations. The influential families of the Medici and Farnese, Popes Leo
X. and Paul III., many cardinals and nobles, were instrumental in the
revival of gem-engraving; especially Lorenzo de Medici contributed to
its redevelopment and growth by inducing artists to devote themselves
to its practice and bestowing on them his liberal patronage.
The vigorous manner of artists of this period is so marked that even in
the reproduction of antique designs a connoisseur can recognize their
peculiar style. Their original works are highly meritorious, attaining
a great degree of excellence. Many rose to eminence; some, not content
with rising in the firmanent of the dawning effulgence, aspired to
positions in the bright constellation of fame, producing engraved gems
for the ornamentation of costumes, armor, inlaying and embossing of
vases, tankards, etc.
[Illustration]
SUCCEEDING DECLINES AND REVIVALS.
Constant encouragement was given to this branch of art-industry
throughout the fifteenth and part of the sixteenth century; but after
the death of the Emperor Charles V., in 1558, recurred another period
of decline. Private and royal accumulations of art works were again
the victims of depredation; cabinets and museums were pillaged and
scattered by military marauders, as one after another the great cities
of the Continent of Europe were besieged and conquered.
The glyptic, of all the arts, was the most easily affected by the
changing fortunes of nations.
These circumstances compelled artists to give their attention more
particularly to church architecture, to the production of large
devotional basso-rilievos for the altar, and sculptured figures, which,
though representing sacred subjects, were often too voluptuous in form,
and lacking the essential qualities of true art.
In the last twenty years of the eighteenth century gem-engraving
received fresh impetus; new practitioners were enrolled from Germany,
England, and France.
Some of these resided many years in England, pursuing their profession
assiduously and profitably. In this period quantities of intaglios
and cameos were reproduced from the most salable antique subjects. To
supply the wants of enthusiastic amateurs frauds were freely committed,
by close imitation, and the insertion of signatures of celebrated Greek
and Roman engravers, though the age produced artists of the highest
ability and honor.
The works of Natter, Sirletti, Pickler, Marchand, Pistrucci,
Santarelli, and others come to us so directly from their hands that
we feel they almost belong to our day, and we think of them as of
acquaintances.
[Illustration]
Many of the gems of Giovanni Pickler compare favorably with the
finest incisions of the Greek, and even with the work of the renowned
Dioscorides.
During the latter part of the eighteenth century and the commencement
of the nineteenth, monarchs and noblemen indulged in making collections
of gems to such an extent that the list of patrons increased
competition, and fabulous prices were obtained from such buyers as the
Empress Catherine II. of Russia, the Prince Frederick of Prussia, the
Duke of Orleans, George III., the Empress Josephine of France, and
many of the English nobility, among others the Dukes of Devonshire and
Marlborough.
Almost until now no plea has been offered for glyptology as a factor
contributing historical data. The mass of scientists have been
contented with musty old volumes, and these little message-bearing
stones have been regarded as nothing more than curious ancient articles
of luxury, yet you will remark we do not look on them in that light; we
recognize, as we justly should, each and every piece as part of a great
story, recording and illustrating many epochs and eras in this world’s
history, and patiently we have been seeking to replace each fragment
into its proper place in the inscribed diagram, until we are convinced
that we read thereon many things that no manuscripts or books have
communicated to us.
SOME TYPES OF REMARKABLE GEMS.
My entire collection in the Free Museum of Science and Art of the
University of Pennsylvania must be examined to see types of all these
epochs. It may be well to notice here three or four very remarkable
gems of which monographs have also been published.
BACCHUS AND ARIADNE.
Ariadne is seated on the rocks of Dia, where Bacchus found her; at her
feet is her panther. Bacchus bears in his hand a thrysus; his javelin
with its point in the form of a pine cone; his head wreathed with ivy
and grape leaves; his hand lovingly placed on sad Ariadne’s shoulder,
who has just been deserted by Theseus. Bacchus, deeply in love (which
is indicated by the figure of Cupid), says to her, “I shall care
for thee.” The panther at the feet of Ariadne is emblematic of the
principal and most important incident in her life, her love for Theseus.
Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, King of Crete. She fell in love with
Theseus when he went as one of the seven youths whom the Athenians were
obliged to send every year with seven maidens to Crete to be devoured
by the Minotaur.
Ariadne provided Theseus with a sword with which he slew the Minotaur,
and with a thread which enabled him to find his way out of the
labyrinth; they then fled to the island of Naxos (Dia), where Theseus,
warned by a god in a dream, deserted her. Bacchus arrived opportunely
from India, finding Ariadne in a state of grief and consternation,
which even added to her charming beauty; he quenched her tears,
consoled her, and took her to himself. This exquisite gem is a fine
representation of Renaissance work (see plate on p. 81).
JUPITER ÆGIOCHUS.
Among examples of antique glyptic art, by referring to my late work on
“Engraved Gems: Their Place in the History of Art,” you will find an
extended notice of the superb ancient cameo on chrysoprase of Jupiter
Ægiochus. It is the eighth of importance in the remarkable antique
cameos that have been preserved from the early centuries after Christ.
It is of remarkable dimensions, being 167 millimetres in height by 130
millimetres in breadth.
It is of the close of the epoch of Marcus Aurelius or the earlier years
of the reign of Commodus. The style is that of the Græco-Roman art. The
work is very beautiful for that epoch, and there rests in this head of
the master of the gods an accent of grandeur in which one feels the
reflection of the original Greek of the better centuries, imitated here
by the engraver of the Græco-Roman age.
[Illustration:
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
JUPITER ÆGIOCHUS.]
It is an interesting circumstance, which merits particular attention,
that the cameo Zulian coming from Ephesus and this Jupiter Ægiochus are
certainly of the workmanship of Asia Minor.
Early in this century this cameo made part of the celebrated Northwick
Collection of England. Afterwards it was acquired by a wealthy
connoisseur in France, and later passed into the possession of M.
Feuardent, Paris, when, with his permission, an engraving of it
appeared, with five quarto pages of text and notes, in the _Gazette
Archæologique_, Paris, 1877, edited by Baron J. De Witte, Membre de
l’Institut and François Lenormant.
M. Adrien Longperier, the distinguished glyptologist and savant of the
Institut de France, some thirty years ago made a study of this gem,
and seriously contemplated its acquisition for France; he urged the
French Government to authorize its purchase for the collection in the
Salle des Pierres gravées in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, or for
the Museum of the Louvre. Several other museums also negotiated for
its purchase, but the late owner being firm in his demand, the price
caused them to delay, and now it belongs to America, being part of my
collection.
THE TRIUMPH OF CONSTANTINE.
Among the most important and interesting antique gems in my collection
is one engraved when Constantine held the Roman Empire in Byzantia,
which came into the possession of the Court of Russia.
The Empress Catherine II., wishing to confer a great favor and special
reward on an ambassador to her court from her remarkable collection in
the Museum of the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, presented this antique
gem to him in 1785. Twenty-five years afterwards, at his death in
Greece, it was sold, and was piously guarded during thirty years by a
collector in the Hellenic peninsula. After that it became the property
of Bieler in Styria.
I came into possession of this remarkable gem after more than five
years’ negotiations with its owner, and subsequently with his heirs.
It is a cameo of great importance in itself. Prof. C. W. King, of
Trinity College, Cambridge, England, said, “It is by far the most
important of all similar works of the Lower Empire hitherto published.”
It is of very considerable dimensions (6 × 4 inches), being the
eleventh in point of magnitude of those already existing in any
cabinet. It is a maculated sard, dark-reddish amber color, with slight
white, dark sepia, and burnt sienna spots or maculation.
The subject is a Triumph of Constantine. This portrait of that
Byzantine Emperor is considered very faithful. As I have often
remarked in connection with the numismatic phase of my subject, we can
in this case establish the likeness of Constantine by confronting it
with the fine gold coins of his realm and reign.
[Illustration]
Among the auxiliary figures on the gem is Constantine’s mother Helena,
she who found the true cross; also Crispus his son, and his wife Fausta.
The Emperor is being crowned by a Victory, who stands behind him borne
in a triumphal car, the four horses walking and led by a soldier in
front. Constantine holds the reins in his left hand, but in his right a
roll of paper (volumen), instead of the customary eagle-tipped sceptre.
In the front of the group is a standard inscribed “S. P. Q. R.,” the
bearer of the staff being concealed by the horses of the car; as are
also the lictors, whose fasces are seen elevated in the air above the
horses’ backs, in the upper field of the composition. Behind the car
stands Crispus and Fausta, both in front face; Crispus is pointing to
the labarum, and evidently relating to Fausta all the circumstances of
its introduction into the scene. At the opposite end of the gem stands
Helena, who, with the soldier leading the quadriga, forms a balance to
the other pair.
Much labor and skill have been expended by the artist upon the face of
the triumphing Cæsar, in order to leave no doubt as to his identity,
and with such success that the well-known Augustus-like profile of
Constantine may be recognized at the first glance.
RELIGION ON STONES.
We have found here unquestionably information not to be obtained
from any other source. If ancient engraved stones had never been
unearthed or found, we would have been ignorant to-day of much that
is interesting and important concerning the historic chain which
now connects us with the traditions of men in the incipiency of art
thousands of years before the era of manuscripts.
We hold and esteem the Holy Bible not only as our guide and as the book
of God’s laws, but also as one of the most perfect compends of the
history of the world from all known time. The earliest mention of the
profession of gem-cutting is in the thirty-first chapter of Exodus,
from the first to the fifth verse, inclusive: