lofty dome ere Pisa aspired to have one also. Many a Tuscan ship,
launched upon the sea for conquests of a new kind, brought from Greece
an infinity of monuments, statues, bas-reliefs, capitals, friezes, and
various fragments; and the Tuscan people, the best organised race in
Europe for fully appreciating all the beauty of form, were called upon
to draw their inspiration from the relics of ancient works of Art. The
enthusiasm became general. In 1016, Buschetto, regarded as the first
architect of his time, undertook the building of the Cathedral of Pisa,
where ancient fragments are still conspicuous amid the works of more
modern creation: a kind of holographic testament the benefit of which
the followers of the art of Phidias have thus handed down to posterity.
The pupils of Buschetto, accepting the impulse of his masterly hand and
reproducing his ideas, soon spread all over the peninsula, and the
cathedrals of Amalfi, Pistoia, Siena, and Lucca arose, the Byzantine
character of which differed from the Lombard style presented by the
Cathedral of Milan. One might almost have fancied that the bosom of the
earth brought forth statues which, as if by enchantment, peopled every
pedestal; and that from heaven descended the ray which animated them
with their sublime expression. The art of casting in bronze, hitherto
almost unknown in Italy, became naturalised there as much as the art of
carving in stone.
While in the West the Arts were making such a spring, in the East they
had relapsed into the lowest stage of debasement, at the period when
Byzantium was simultaneously threatened by the Bulgarians and the
Crusaders; although for a time they had appeared to revive, owing to the
zeal of Basil the Macedonian, Constantine VIII., and some of their
successors. Eastern sculpture disappeared when the Latins sacked the
ancient capital of the first Christian emperor (1204).
At the approach of the thirteenth century, which was destined to be the
great age of Christian architecture and sculpture, artists no longer
looked, as they had hitherto done, towards Byzantium, they depended on
themselves; and although some hesitation might still be felt, they found
all round them models they could imitate, traditions they could follow,
and masters to whom they could listen. Christian art had now an
independent existence, and the various schools asserted their styles in
a way which became every day more clear, more powerful, and more
original.
“The style of the head of Christ at Amiens” (Fig. 281), says M.
Viollet-le-Duc, writing on this subject, “fully deserves the attention
of
[Illustration: Fig. 281.--“The _Beau Dieu d’Amiens_;” a Statue of Christ
in the Front of the Cathedral of Amiens. (Thirteenth Century.)]
sculptors. This carving is treated in the same way as the Greek heads
called Eginetic. There is the same simplicity of model, the same purity
of outline, the same style of execution, at once broad and delicate. It
well represents the features of Christ as a man: a blending of sweetness
with firmness, a gravity devoid of sadness.”
This is not the place to assert any minute comparisons between different
manners and styles; even the bare enumeration of the many monuments to
which this fervent age gave birth might prove wearisome. We call it a
“fervent age,” and fully are we justified, for, at a time when a whole
world of artist-sculptors of ornaments and figures were devoting
themselves to the most delicate and marvellous works of sculpture (Fig.
282), none seemed desirous of displaying his own personal distinction.
We find, for instance, numerous sculptors setting aside all claim to
individual merit, and carrying this self-denial so far that, instead of
their own names, they inscribed that of the Virgin Mary on the carvings
of the churches which they had enriched with their finest works: “Hoc
panthema pia cælaverat ipsa Maria.”
In Germany, Christian art became specially enthroned in Saxony; and
Dresden, which has been justly styled the German Athens, can date back
her architecto-sculptural adornments to the tenth century. On the banks
of the Rhine, at Cologne, Coblentz, and Mayence, we find again the
school of Saint-Gall, which, having been planted in 971, under the
auspices of Notker, Bishop of Laodicea, left its stamp, during a period
of two centuries, in a series of remarkable works.
England, as early as the seventh century, had called to her aid some of
the French “masters in stone” and best workmen, and she subsequently
continued to do so for the building and ornamentation of her finest
religious edifices. William of Sens, a very skilful artist (_artifex
subtilissimus_), proceeded, in 1176, to rebuild Canterbury Cathedral.
Norman and French artists also restored the abbeys of Croyland and
Wearmouth, and York Cathedral, already enriched with Byzantine and
French sculpture.
Spain and Portugal, the soil of which had long been the theatre of an
inveterate conflict between two races embracing two irreconcilable
religions, were destined to inherit from these very struggles the
creation of a singularly characteristic style of art. In adopting the
Byzantine style, the Moors had deprived it of its character of simple
earnestness, and made it to harmonise with the tendencies of their
refined sensualism. Even when Christian art was able to exercise an
undivided rule, it could not fail to be influenced by the buildings
erected by the Moors; and the fact that this alliance of architectural
and sculptural styles succeeded in producing masterpieces is well
attested by the cathedrals of Cuenca, Vittoria, and some portions of
those of Seville, Barcelona, and Lugo in Galicia.
[Illustration: Fig. 282.--Statues in the South Porch of Bourges
Cathedral. (Twelfth Century.)]
Sicily and the kingdom of Naples followed the movement made in other
countries of Europe; but here, again, was felt the influence of various
foreign importations. Some of them were of Greek origin, coming from
Byzantium; some northern, from Normandy, and perhaps also from Germany;
most, however, from Spain, and especially from the important school of
Aragon.
“Nicolas of Pisa,” says Emeric David, “was born towards the end of the
twelfth century, in a town then peopled with Greek masters and the
pupils of those masters, and full of Greek monuments of every age; a
town which might be called altogether Greek. He had the good sense to
disdain the productions of his own time and to devote himself to the
more elevated contemplation of the _chefs-d’œuvre_ of ancient Greece.
This proof of undoubted discernment, and a high degree of taste on his
part, could not but lead to very marked progress. But a premature study
of the antique is not so sure a guide to the desired end as the
contemplation of nature, to which Guido of Siena, his contemporary, and
a little later Cimabue and Giotto, taught perhaps by his errors,
assiduously applied themselves.” There can, however, be no doubt that
the first development of Christian sculpture in Italy must
unquestionably be referred to Nicolas of Pisa. He had, nevertheless,
some rivals who were well worthy of competing with him. Among these were
Fuccio, sculptor of the magnificent tomb of the Queen of Cyprus, in the
Church of San Francesco at Florence; and also Marchione of Arezzo, who
in 1216 carved his name over the doorway of the church of that town.
Giovanni of Pisa, son of Nicolas, who sculptured many beautiful works at
Arezzo, Pistoia, and Florence, and even surpassed himself in the Campo
Santo at Pisa, perhaps the most remarkable monument in Christian Europe,
has been placed by some far below his father in rank as a sculptor, on
account of an accusation made against him of having abandoned the Greek
style. But this renunciation was, in fact, a real trait of genius, and
actually constitutes his glory; for, by neglecting form to some extent,
he was enabled to carry religious idealism and power of expression to
its very highest limits. We must, therefore, consider Giovanni and
Margaritone, pupils of Nicolas; Andrea Ugolino, pupil of Giovanni;
Agnolo and Agostino of Siena; and the celebrated Giotto, who was at once
architect, sculptor, and painter, as real regenerators of the art.
Indeed, we might call these great artists the creators of Christian
sculpture in Italy--that art in which simultaneously shone forth
seriousness of composition, grace and ease of attitude, simplicity of
imitation, elevation of sentiment; in short, all the great harmonies of
a style which seemed to breathe forth a hymn of love and faith.
Thanks to the studios of Agnolo and Agostino, Siena, a small town which
calls to mind the ancient Sicyone, so weak in a political point of view
and yet so learned and polished, was for some time the rival of Pisa, up
to the period when Florence absorbed the artistic splendour of the two
cities. Florence, as the home of the Arts, became the centre of
radiation, whence artists took their flight over the whole of Italy, and
from Italy spread among all the nations of Europe.
Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the churches of Florence, on
which the fraternities combined their efforts, and some of the civil
buildings of this rich and flourishing city, were filled with statues.
The foundation of the municipal palace in 1282, and that of the
cathedral in 1298, made these two wonderful edifices real museums of
sculpture, in which, among the works of Eastern artists, those of
Giovanni of Arezzo and Giotto are distinguished. Agostino and Agnolo of
Pisa executed at that time some magnificent examples at Santa Maria in
Orvieto, San Francisco in Bologna, and in the subterranean Church of
Assisi, &c. Lastly, Andrea of Pisa, a contemporary of Giotto, as he died
only in 1345, extracted from antiquity all that Christian sculpture
could borrow from it; that is, he combined sublimity both of form and
expression. At Pisa, the chancel of Santa Maria a Ponte; at Florence,
the campanile and the high-altar of Santa Maria de’ Fiori, and a door of
San Giovanni; in the Cathedral of Pistoia, the tomb of Cino, are all of
them so many masterpieces; above which, however, the old Pisan master
proudly classed the works of his son Nino. This young artist, who carved
the monument of the Scaligers at Verona, became, in fact, the worthy
follower of the school which recognised Andrea as its chief. Jacopo
della Quercia and Niccolo Aretino enriched also with magnificent works
the towns of Siena, Lucca, Bologna, Arezzo, and Milan, as well as
Florence. But when, in 1424, the tomb closed over Jacopo della Quercia,
the lofty destinies of the art seemed to come to a termination, and soon
rapidly declined. In Venice, at the death of Filippo Calendario, which
occurred in 1355, Italian sculpture had already lost much of its
nobility and vigour of style.
Italian sculpture (Fig. 283), as remarked by Emeric David, raised
itself to the height of the sublime by merely striving after a simple
and exact imitation of nature. It was by the same course of action that
French sculpture always emulated its Transalpine rival; but, in order to
attain the same end, the imitation followed a different path. In Italy,
Art raised itself to the ideal by an attentive study of Greek forms;
while on this side of the Alps, when sentiment required it, form was, if
not sacrificed, at least neglected. French art showed more respect for
the orthodoxy of Christian thought; she did not introduce into the
sanctuary of the Holy of Holies any of those profane and material ideas
that might have been inspired by the marbles of Greece. In spite of the
pointed architecture which everywhere prevailed, French sculpture,
replete with a certain eloquent unction, preserved for a considerable
period the Byzantine style in the appearance of the head and in the
delicacy of draperies; without, however, altogether renouncing its
individuality of character, and without ceasing to seek for models
peculiar to its own soil.
[Illustration: Fig. 283.--Bas-relief on one of the Bronze Gates of St.
Peter’s at Rome, representing the Coronation of the Emperor Sigismund by
Pope Eugène IV., in 1433. (Sculpture of the Fifteenth Century.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 284.--Statuette of St. Avit, in the Church of
Notre-Dame de Corbeil, demolished in 1820.
(Eleventh Century.)]
Unfortunately for the personal glory of the French sculptors, the
historians of the time have scarcely taken the trouble to record their
names. In order to discover but a few of them, learned men of modern
days have been compelled to undertake laborious researches; while many,
and those the most remarkable--worthy, no doubt, to be compared with the
greatest Italian artists--are and must remain ever unknown (Fig. 284).
The Italians were more fortunate; to them Vasari, their rival and
contemporary, has raised a lasting monument. In French art, the list of
the sculptors of so many masterpieces must come to a close when we have
mentioned Enguerrand, who, from 1201 to 1212, commenced the Cathedral
and the Church du Buc, at Rouen, and had for his successor Gautier de
Meulan; Robert de Coucy, chief of the body of artists who, in 1211,
caused the Cathedral of Rheims to rise loftily from the earth; Hugues
Libergier, who rebuilt the ancient basilica of St. Jovin; Robert de
Luzarches, the founder, in 1220, of the Cathedral of Amiens, continued
after his death by Thomas de Cormont and his son Regnault; Jean, Abbot
of St. Germain-des-Prés, who in 1212 undertook the Church of St. Cosme,
Paris; that of St. Julien le Pauvre being restored and adorned with
sculpture at the same date, from the designs of the abbot and the
“brethren” of Longpont (Fig. 285); Jean des Champs, who in 1248 worked
at the ancient Cathedral of Clermont; lastly, the two Jeans de
Montereau, who at one time as military architects, at another as
sculptors of sacred subjects, were at the command of St. Louis, and
produced some extraordinary works both of construction and sculpture.
Alsace manifested no less enthusiasm than France for the new
architectural system, and sculpture was also subject to a similar
development. From Basle to Mayence, the slopes of the Vosges and the
long valley of the Rhine, became full of edifices enriched with
sculpture and peopled with statues. Erwin of Steinbach (who died in
1318), assisted by Sabina, his daughter, and William of Marbourg, were
the most renowned masters in these parts.
[Illustration: Fig. 285.--Bas-relief formerly over the Doorway of St.
Julien le Pauvre, Paris, representing St. Julien and St. Basilissa, his
wife, conveying in their boat Jesus Christ under the figure of a Leper.
(Thirteenth Century.)]
The extraordinary advance that French sculpture made in this age was
assisted--if not as regards the higher style of work, which could do
without this help, at least in respect to the minor details of the
art--by the institution of the fraternities of the _Conception
Notre-Dame_. In many towns the sculptors of images and the painters, the
moulders, the _bahutiers_, or carvers in wood, horn, and ivory (Fig.
286), were all united under the same banner. In Germany and Belgium also
existed _hanses_, or guilds, which were in direct communication with
those of Alsace, and who accepted as guides French artists of known
ability; as, for instance, Volbert and Gérard, architect-sculptors, who
were simultaneously engaged in the construction of the Church of the
Holy Apostles, Cologne.
[Illustration: Fig. 286.--Fragment of a small Reredos, in carved Bone
(Fourteenth Century).
Presented by Jean, Duc de Berry, Brother of Charles V., to the church of
the ancient Abbey of Poissy.
(Museum of the Louvre.)]
With respect to the works commenced or finished in the fourteenth
century, the only difficulty is to make a choice among these wonderful
monuments of Art; which, however, must be looked upon as the last
manifestations of Christian art, properly so-called. We must, however,
point out the polychrome sculptures of Chartres, of St. Remy, Rheims;
St. Martin, Laon; St. Yved, Braisne; St. Jean des Vignes, Soissons; of
the Chartreux, Dijon. In this ducal city we find, in 1357, Guy le Maçon,
a celebrated
[Illustration: Fig. 287.--“Le Bon Dieu,” in the old Chapel of the
Charnier des Innocents, Paris.
(Fifteenth Century.)]
sculptor; at Bourges, about the same date, Aguillon, of Droues; at
Montpellier, between 1331 and 1360, the two Alamans, John and Henry; at
Troyes, Denisot and Drouin of Mantes, &c. Beyond France, Matthias of
Arras, in 1343, laid the foundations of the Cathedral of Prague, which
was to be continued and finished by another French artist, Pierre of
Boulogne. Arrested as our attention must be by the statues and
bas-reliefs which were multiplied under the porches, in the niches (Fig.
287), and on all the tombs, we can cast but a very cursory glance on the
immense number of wood-carvings, figures in ivory, and movable pieces of
sculpture, executed by artists who may be divided into two very
distinct classes, the Norman and the Rhenish; all of other schools
appear to have been nothing but imitators of these.
In 1400 the _Maître_ Pierre Pérat, architect of three cathedrals, who
was at once both civil engineer and sculptor, and one of the greatest
masters of whom France can boast, died at Metz, where he was interred
with all the honours due to his wonderful talents. Just at the same time
a memorable competition was opened at Florence. The object in view was
to finish the doors of the Baptistery of St. John. The formal
announcement of the competition, which was made all over Italy, did not
fail to call forth the most skilful artists. Seven of these were
selected, on account of their renown, to furnish designs: they consisted
of three Florentines--Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello, and the
goldsmith, Lorenzo Ghiberti; Jacopo della Quercia of Siena; Nicolo
Lamberti d’Arezzo; Francesco da Valdambrina; and Simone da Colle, called
_de’ Bronzi_. To each of these competitors the republic granted one
year’s salary, on condition that, at the end of the period, each of them
should furnish a panel of wrought bronze of the same size as those of
which the doors of St. John were to be composed. On the day fixed for
the examination of the works, the most celebrated artists of Italy were
summoned. Thirty-four judges were selected, and before this tribunal the
seven models were exhibited, in the presence of the magistracy and the
public. After the judges had audibly discussed the respective merits of
the works, those of Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, and Donatello were
preferred. But to whom of the three was the palm to be awarded? They
hesitated. Then Brunelleschi and Donatello retired apart and exchanged a
few words; after which one of them, commencing to address the assembly,
said:--“Magistrates and citizens, we declare to you that in our own
judgment Ghiberti has surpassed us. Award him the preference, for our
country will thus acquire the greater glory. It is less discredit to us
to make known our opinion than to keep silence.”
These doors, at which Ghiberti worked for forty years, with the
assistance of his father, his sons, and his pupils, are perhaps the
finest work we have in sculptured metal.
At the date when Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Brunelleschi, and their
pupils were the representatives of Florentine sculpture, the French
school also produced its masters and its works of Art. Nicholas Flamel,
the famous
[Illustration: Fig. 288.--“St. Eloi, Patron of Goldsmiths and Farriers.”
A Sculpture of the Fifteenth Century, in the Church of Notre-Dame
d’Armançon, at Semur, Burgundy.]
writer (_écrivain_) of the parish of St. Jacques la Boucherie,
ornamented the churches and mortuary chapels of Paris with mystical and
alchemical (_alchimiques_) sculptures, of which he was the designer if
not the actual artist. Thury executed the tombs of Charles VI. and
Isabelle of Bavaria; Claux Sluter, author of the “Ruits de Moïse,” at
Dijon, assisted by James de la Barre, multiplied the works of monumental
sculpture in Burgundy (Fig. 288). In Alsace, under the impulse of King
René, himself an artist, the sculptor’s art produced examples bearing
the impress of a remarkable individuality. In the district of Messin,
Henry de Ranconval, his son Jehan, and Clausse, were distinguished. In
Touraine, Michael Columb executed the tomb of Francis II., Duke of
Brittany; Jehan Juste, that of the children of Charles VIII., as
introductory to the mausoleum of Louis XII., which he executed between
1518 and 1530, for the basilica of St. Denis; a German, Conrad of
Cologne, assisted by Laurent Wrine, master of the ordnance to the king,
cast in metal the effigy for the tomb of Louis XI. In Champagne appeared
Jean de Vitry, sculptor of the stalls of the Church of St. Claude
(Jura); in Berry, Jacquet Gendre, _master-mason_ and _figure-maker_ for
the Hôtel de Ville, Bourges, &c.
At the end of the same century, Peter Brucy, of Brussels, exercised his
art at Toulouse; the inspiration of the Alsacian artists was developed
in the magnificent sculpture of Thann, Kaisersberg, and Dusenbach; while
Germany, achieving but a late independence, sheltered the faults of her
early genius under the illustrious names of Lucas Moser, Peter Vischer,
Schühlein, Michel Wohlgemuth, Albert Dürer (Fig. 289), &c.
In sculptural works, as in every other branch of art, historical
sentiment and faith seemed to die out with the fifteenth century.
Mediæval art was subjected to protest; the desire seemed to be to
re-create beauty of form by going back to the antique; but the
emphatically Christian individuality was no longer reached, and this
pretended _renaissance_, in which even earnest minds were induced to
gratify themselves, only served to exhibit the feeble efforts of an
epoch that sought to reproduce the glories of a vanished age. In the
time of Charles VIII. and Louis XII., Lombarde-Venetian art, the
affected and ingenious imitation of the Greek style, was introduced into
France; it suited the common people, and pleased mediocre intellect. The
sculptors who came at that period to seek their fortunes at the court of
the French kings worked exclusively for the aristocracy, and vied with
one another in adorning, with an ardent infatuation for Italian art, the
royal and aristocratic palaces which were being built or restored in
every direction, such as the Châteaux of Amboise and Gaillon. But they
failed to do any injury to French artists, who still remained charged
with the works of sacred sculptures; and their style became but
slightly, if at all, influenced by this foreign immigration. Even
Benvenuto Cellini himself failed to exercise much effect on the vigorous
schools of Tours, Troyes, Metz, Dijon, and Angers; his reputation and
his works never passed, so to speak, beyond the limits of the court of
France, and the brilliant traces they
[Illustration: Fig. 289.--“St. John the Baptist preaching in the
Desert.” Bas-relief in Carved Wood by Albert Dürer.
(Brunswick Gallery.)]
left behind them were confined to the school of Fontainebleau. Ere long,
some zealous artists from all the principal centres of the French
schools left their country and betook themselves to Italy; among these
were Bachelier of Languedoc, Simon and Ligier Richier of Lorraine,
Valentine Bousch of Alsace, and Jacques of Angoulême, who had the honour
of a victory over his master, Michael Angelo, in a competition of
statuary (many of the former artist’s works now exist in the Vatican);
Jean de Boulogne, and several others. Some of them, after they had
become celebrated on the other side of the Alps, returned to their
native country, bringing back to it their own native genius matured by
the lessons of the Italians. There was, therefore, always a French
school that preserved its individual characteristics, its generic good
qualities and defects, which are so well represented in the sculptures
of the Hôtel du Bourgtheroulde, Rouen (Fig. 290).