the tree, which forms the chiefly decorative portion of the
sculpture,--fig in the one case, vine in the other,--was a necessary
adjunct. Its trunk, in both sculptures, forms the true outer angle of
the palace; boldly cut separate from the stonework behind, and branching
out above the figures so as to enwrap each side of the angle, for
several feet, with its deep foliage. Nothing can be more masterly or
superb than the sweep of this foliage on the Fig-tree angle; the broad
leaves lapping round the budding fruit, and sheltering from sight,
beneath their shadows, birds of the most graceful form and delicate
plumage. The branches are, however, so strong, and the masses of stone
hewn into leafage so large, that, notwithstanding the depth of the
undercutting, the work remains nearly uninjured; not so at the Vine
angle, where the natural delicacy of the vine-leaf and tendril having
tempted the sculptor to greater effort, he has passed the proper limits
of his art, and cut the upper stems so delicately that half of them have
been broken away by the casualties to which the situation of the
sculpture necessarily exposes it. What remains is, however, so
interesting in its extreme refinement, that I have chosen it for the
subject of the first illustration [Footnote: See note at end of this
chapter.] rather than the nobler masses of the fig-tree, which ought to
be rendered on a larger scale. Although half of the beauty of the
composition is destroyed by the breaking away of its central masses,
there is still enough in the distribution of the variously bending
leaves, and in the placing of the birds on the lighter branches, to
prove to us the power of the designer. I have already referred to this
Plate as a remarkable instance of the Gothic Naturalism; and, indeed, it
is almost impossible for the copying of nature to be carried farther
than in the fibres of the marble branches, and the careful finishing of
the tendrils: note especially the peculiar expression of the knotty
joints of the vine in the light branch which rises highest. Yet only
half the finish of the work can be seen in the Plate: for, in several
cases, the sculptor has shown the under sides of the leaves turned
boldly to the light, and has literally _carved every rib and vein upon
them, in relief_; not merely the main ribs which sustain the lobes of
the leaf, and actually project in nature, but the irregular and sinuous
veins which chequer the membranous tissues between them, and which the
sculptor has represented conventionally as relieved like the others, in
order to give the vine leaf its peculiar tessellated effect upon the
eye.