figures--some in full dress, others without clothing--which were placed
upon the tombs of Christians, and they think that this usage is but
an instinctive return to the customs of the ancient Etruscans, who
represented upon the top of the tomb the body of the deceased, either
bent double or in a sitting position, or stretched at full length or
leaning upon his elbows, according as he had been laid in his grave.
The early funeral sculptors, as unskilful as they were ignorant,
copying only some particular model set before them, fashioned merely
an imperfect and roughly executed figure, with scarcely any approach
to bas-relief. In process of time the statue became better defined,
and, in the reign of Louis VII., was altogether in alto relievo. The
monks of the Abbey of St. Germain des Prés did for their benefactor,
King Childebert, what Suger had done for the illustrious dead who had
for several centuries been interred in the basilica of St. Denis, and
erected a cenotaph with a life-like figure of the monarch, the artist
hollowing out the upper part of the tomb in the shape of a basin, so as
to make the features stand out. The king is represented holding in one
hand a model of the small church which he had founded, and in the other
his sceptre.
With the advent of Gothic architecture, towards the middle of the
twelfth century, the tombs were decorated with vaulted arches in the
shape of quarter-foils, and these arches were afterwards made to
serve as a framework within which the bas-reliefs were placed. Within
the pointed arch of one is represented a monk mourner, one of those
who were hired to assist at the funeral ceremonies. The figure lying
upon the table was called the _gisant_, as is proved by old
account-books containing the following item: “So much to a certain
person for having carved the figure of a gisant.” The essentially
French art of funeral architecture and sculpture reached its apogee in
the fifteenth century, and nothing can be more perfect or beautiful
than the tombs of the dukes of Burgundy at Dijon, and of the dukes of
Berri at Bourges.
After the thirteenth century, one or two lions, or a dog, were placed
at the feet of the gisant; and the war ballads relate that these
symbolic animals were termed _cagnets_ or _cagnons_--the lion
being the emblem of force, and the dog of fidelity (_léauté_).
The tomb of a personage of rank or wealth was often decorated with
secondary figures, carved in relief in marble or stone--sometimes the
Virgin, or some saint, or some scene from the Old or the New Testament;
upon one side the personification of the virtues, upon the other,
mourners, or perhaps the family of the deceased. Thus there are carved
figures of the princes and princesses of the second House of Burgundy
around the tomb of Philip de Marle at Lille; a funeral ceremony was
represented upon that of Philip the Bold at Narbonne.
In the fourteenth century, the sculptors surmounted the tomb with
a bed, upon which a figure of the deceased was carved, with a kind
of stone dais or canopy; two angels with outstretched wings held a
spread-out veil, upon which they were bearing aloft a small naked
figure, standing erect, and meant to represent the soul of the
deceased person. In other monuments, the angels had a censer, with
which they are scattering incense upon the soul of the departed, as
at Neuilly-sur-Marne, upon the tomb of the famous preacher Foulques,
who died about the year 1200. In others, the angels are represented
holding the helmet and shield of the deceased, bearing up his train, or
presenting him on their knees an open prayer-book. The tomb of Philip
Pot (Fig. 358), formerly in the abbey-church of the Cistercians, was
supported by eight statues of women dressed in mourning. Some of the
statues placed upon the tombs were carved out of hard limestone instead
of marble; those of Charles VII. and his consort were of alabaster. In
many cases the hands and the head only were of alabaster or marble,
and the rest of the body of stone. The tomb of the Sire de Barbazan,
who died in 1432, was entirely of bronze; that of Charles VIII. at St.
Denis, constructed of the most valuable marble, had on it the statue
of that prince in bronze, flanked by four angels, each with the royal
shield.
[Illustration: Fig. 358.--Tomb of Philip Pot, Grand Seneschal of
Burgundy, who died in 1494; formerly in the Abbey of Citeaux, now
in the Museum at Dijon. The knight is laid out upon a sepulchral
stone, which is being borne up by eight mourners, each of whom
carries on the arm a shield of his family alliances.]
From this period French art had to give place to Italian art, which
Charles VIII. had brought back as a trophy from his expedition to
Naples, and which eventually took root in France, and expanded with
all the splendours of the Renaissance until the close of the sixteenth
century. Foreign artists began to distinguish themselves in the
composition of tombs. Francis I., who had been struck with admiration
by the monuments of this kind at Florence, Rome, and Milan, determined
to have some equally remarkable in his own kingdom. The tomb of Louis
XII., the _chef-d’œuvre_ of a Florentine artist, served as a type
and a model for those of Francis I. and Henry II., which were completed
with still greater magnificence by the French artists Pierre Bontemps
and Germain Pilon, under the superintendence of Philibert de Lorme.
These funeral monuments are the most marvellous of all that have been
produced by French, in imitation of Italian, art (Fig. 361).
[Illustration: Fig. 359.--The beheaded Knight holding his
fleshless head in his hands.--A bust in the Namur Museum, dating
from 1562, with this inscription: “A day will come when my
account will be squared” (“Une heure viendra qui tout paiera”).
This sinister cry of vengeance was no doubt addressed by the
widow or the family of the victim to his murderer.]
[Illustration: Fig. 360.--Tomb of Louis, Duke of Orleans, and
Valentine of Milan, his spouse; executed by order of Louis
XII.--Formerly in the Church of the Celestines, Paris; now in the
Church of St. Denis. (Sixteenth Century.)]
Having passed in review the various kinds of funeral monuments in vogue
during the successive epochs of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,
we may proceed to consider certain accessory works of art; some of
which we are only acquainted with by written evidence; which is,
however, too detailed to permit of any doubt as to their having
existed. Such are the covers (_coopertoria_, _coopercula_)
under which were hidden the tombs, often plain and humble, of martyrs
and saints in ancient churches. These covers were often lined with
sheets of metal richly chased and enriched with precious stones. None
of them, unfortunately, are now extant, and it is only from the ancient
chroniclers that we learn of the marvels of art produced by St. Eloi
in the reign of Dagobert. Coming down nearer to our own day, tombs
were surmounted by a _ciborium_, or small cupola. This was made
of carved wood, and sometimes of stone, notably in the fourteenth
century. Thus the tomb of Marguerite of Flanders, daughter of Philip
the Long, was ornamented with open carving of the Gothic order. In most
cases a small edifice, with seven or eight supporting columns, was
erected over the tomb, and all the resources of art were employed upon
its decoration. During the period of _architecture rayonnante_,
these light and elegant constructions consisted of arches surmounted
by pointed gable-ends, which themselves served to unite the main
supports of the work, which was vaulted and topped with a roof.
Erections of this kind are still to be seen in the south of France,
above the graves of Innocent VI. (Avignon Cathedral) and of John XXII.
(Bourg-de-Villeneuve). The tombs of Charles VI. and Charles VII., at
St. Denis, were shut in, so to speak, by similar constructions. In
accordance with a usage which dates back to the very earliest times,
the tombs of the Middle Ages were often placed in the hollow of a wall
arched inward, so as not to be in the way of the worshippers, nor to
interfere with the celebration of divine service.
[Illustration: Fig. 361.--Tomb of St. Remigius, erected (1526 to
1530) in the church dedicated to him by Robert de Lenoncourt,
Archbishop of Rheims. Around the monument, which has been
destroyed, were niches containing marble statues of the twelve
peers of France; to the right, the lay peers in royal robes and
with crowns upon their heads, bearing the insignia of royalty; to
the left, the ecclesiastical peers with the sacred symbols.]
We have already stated that, to prevent the churches from being
overcrowded with tombs, stone or marble tablets--they were of painted
wood sometimes--were fixed upon the wall just above, or not far from,
the grave, with an epitaph and sculptural ornaments. Some of these
tablets were mounted upon two columns attached to the wall, or placed
upon a pillar.
Before the time when statues on tombs were represented in a kneeling
posture, the sculptor often represented the deceased in an attitude of
prayer, and this figure was placed upon a console at a short distance
from the grave, in the chapel belonging to the family or brotherhood.
The figures thus reproduced in relief always wore the costume and
insignia of their profession, as is shown by certain monuments of the
reign of Charles V.
[Illustration: Fig. 362.--Mausoleum of Philip II., King of Spain,
near the high altar in the Escurial. This group of gigantic
statues in bronze gilt is by Leoni. The king, kneeling in front
of a _prie-dieu_, is arrayed in a mantle, upon which are
represented the coats-of-arms of his different states. Beside him
are his three wives--Elizabeth of France to the left, next to her
Anne of Austria, and, to the right, Mary of Portugal. Behind him
is his son, Don Carlos.--“Iconografia Española,” by Carderera.]
The flat tombs consisted of a slab six feet six inches long, either of
some hard stone or of marble, let into the ground or the pavement above
the coffin (Fig. 363). Upon the slab was originally carved the cross,
no matter what might be the condition of the person interred, with a
crozier for a prelate and a sword for a knight. These objects were
reproduced with considerable skill by carving them out of the stone and
plastering the hollow with red or black cement, which had the effect
of making their outline more distinct. In the twelfth century, the
flat tombs were decorated with a bordering around the stone, similarly
engraved, and intended to form a fillet within which came the epitaph,
with the name of the deceased and the date of his death. Later still,
as in the case of raised tombs, the figure of the deceased came to be
represented on them. This was so in the time of Louis VII., the statues
being made to represent the image of the deceased in the dress of his
particular station in life, with his hands crossed upon his breast;
and, subsequently, lions and dogs were added as accessories--the whole
being carved _into_ the stone. The figure of the deceased was
often surrounded with architectural devices. At first the figure was
placed under a colonnade; subsequently a very complicated edifice
was erected, with the statue of the deceased erect in the foreground
(Fig. 364). The hands and feet were often cemented on in white or
black marble. Flat tombs made either of brass, silver, or bronze were
also used, the last-named metal being much in vogue in the thirteenth
century; for example, we find it in the tomb of Ingerburga, wife of
Philip Augustus, at St. Jean-en-Ile, near Corbeil; in that of Blanche,
wife of Louis VIII., at Maubuisson; in that of Marguerite, wife of St.
Louis, and in that of Blanche, their daughter, at St. Denis. Prince
Louis, son of St. Louis, is also buried in that church, his tomb being
in copper enamelled.
[Illustration: Fig. 363.--Flat Tomb of Sibylle (wife of Guy de
Lusignan, King of Jerusalem), who died in 1187. In the church
at Namèche, near Namur. The inscription, half effaced, may be
translated as follows:--“Here lies the rightful heiress of
Samson (a village near Namur), who was descended in a direct
line from the King of Jerusalem. Let us pray God for her soul’s
consolation.”]
Many tombs were far more sumptuous. Those of Louis VIII. and Louis
IX. were in silver-gilt, decorated with carved figures. Alphonse de
Brienne, Comte d’Eu, had a tomb of copper-gilt enriched with enamel. It
was probably at about the same period that the chapter of the Abbey of
St. Germain des Prés (Paris) covered with mosaics and filigree-work the
ancient tomb of Fredegonde; for it is difficult to believe, in spite of
Mabillon and Montfaucon, that this tomb dates back to her death at the
end of the sixth century.
[Illustration: Fig. 364.--Flat Tomb of Alexandre de Berneval,
architect of the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen, and of his
pupil.--In the Church of St. Ouen. (Fifteenth Century.)]
In the fifteenth century the English, masters at that time of a
considerable part of France, laid hands upon these plates of copper,
silver, and gold to convert them into coin; others which escaped
spoliation were melted down during the Revolution, so that we must
look to England and Belgium for flat metal tombs still in a state of
preservation.
Such are the chief characteristics of funeral monuments in the Middle
Ages and down to the period of the Renaissance. These monuments, many
of which are still extant, throw great light upon the costumes of their
time. We must now proceed to speak of the cemeteries, or places of
public burial, in which tombs above ground were legally permitted as
soon as the Church had established its authority. Burials within the
churches were, in fact, a special privilege for the rich, who were able
to purchase it in perpetuity. The presence of these graves in buildings
intended for public worship was, moreover, in accordance with the very
essence of Christianity, by reason of the practice already alluded to,
of placing the body of some saint beneath the altar.
The primitive Latin Church, in the second and in the early part of the
third century, performed the ceremonies of worship in the cemeteries of
the Christians, that is to say, in the crypts and the Catacombs. The
Christians, in imitation of the pagan custom of converting old quarries
into places of common burial, called _hypogea_, sought refuge,
during persecution, in some disused quarries near the gates of Rome,
and there they celebrated their rites in secret and buried their dead.
These are the Catacombs, which constitute a regular subterraneous town,
and the galleries of which, composing an immense labyrinth, have been
opened in the neighbourhood of and in close proximity to the ancient
roads which radiated from Rome towards the surrounding districts.
The appropriation of these Catacombs for Christian burial-places
unquestionably dates from the first century of Christianity. The best
known and the most famous are those which extend beneath the basilica
of St. Sebastian, and form part of what was called the Cemetery of
St. Calixtus, beneath the Appian Way. Since the sixteenth century,
when these Catacombs were first explored and thoroughly studied, this
generic name has been given to all excavations which have led to the
discovery of Christian graves. Each catacomb was called after the
martyr whom the faithful had interred there during the persecutions,
and whose relics have been found beneath altars, which were chiefly
erected and decorated during the eighth century.
[Illustration: Fig. 365.--Crypt of the Chapel of St. Agnes,
in the Catacombs at Rome, set apart for the interment of
Christians.--From M. Perret’s work, “Les Catacombes de Rome.”]
The Catacombs are composed of very narrow galleries, from ninety-seven
centimetres to one metre thirty centimetres in breadth (thirty-eight
to fifty-one inches), cut irregularly through the stone. These
galleries, most of them very short, crossing each other in such a way
as to form an inextricable maze of streets and crossways, had an arched
roof supported by masonry here and there. At intervals there were
chambers, or _cubicula_ (Fig. 365), hollowed out by the Christians
to serve as chapels or oratories; these were either quadrangular
or circular, of small dimensions, and often decorated with fresco
paintings of different epochs dating from the first to the fourth
century. But little fresh air could penetrate into these galleries by
the openings which had been made here and there, and also through old
shafts situated at intervals of about three hundred yards from each
other, which had been used in working the quarries. In the lead-lined
partitions, the graves, most of which are still intact, were ranged in
rows one above the other. Each grave was a hollow of about the size of
a human body hewn lengthwise in the side of the gallery and closed with
a large brick, or with a stone or marble slab, set in cement. Five or
six bodies--sometimes as many as twelve--were so placed one above the
other. The paintings (Fig. 366), the sculptures, and the mosaics of
the Catacombs, are the first products of Christian art as it shook off
the traditions of paganism, and the subjects represented are generally
taken from the Holy Scriptures; such as the Leaving the Ark, Abraham’s
Sacrifice, Jonah, the Good Shepherd, the Raising of Lazarus. Many very
touching funeral epitaphs have also been discovered on them.
[Illustration: Fig. 366.--Funeral Fresco discovered in the
Cemetery of St. Pretextat, in the Catacombs at Rome. The two
doves, emblems of marriage, indicate the tomb of the husband and
wife.--From M. Perrét’s work, “Les Catacombes de Rome.”]
Nor is it merely from the day when the triumphs of Christianity led to
the building of the basilicas in Rome that personages of rank have been
buried inside the churches. The bodies of bishops and leaders of the
Catholic community, those of patricians and of barbarian princes who
succoured the Church in her early days, were the first to be received
within the sanctuary in as close proximity as possible to the relics of
the saint to whom the building was dedicated.
Very soon these burial-places began to be classified according to the
individual merit of the dead, and the importance of their rank or
fortune. Laymen and priests had a right to be buried in the aisles of
the church, or in the part corresponding to the apse, and it is no
exaggeration to say that the interior was often so full of graves that
they extended outside the building. Such was the case after the seventh
century. A small space, either round or square, was left in front of
the façade of the churches, to be reserved as a privileged place of
burial, and was called the _aitre_ or _parvis_ (_paradisus_); hence
the origin of the rural cemetery which extends along the sides of a
country church, or forms a green in front of it.
[Illustration: Fig. 367.--The Cross of the Bureau Family,
formerly in the Cemetery of the Innocents, Paris.--Lenoir’s
“Statistique Monumentale de Paris.”]
[Illustration: Fig. 368.--The Knight of Death, by Albert
Dürer.--This celebrated engraving, so characteristic of the
fantastic genius of the Middle Ages, represents a fully-armed
knight going to the wars with a presentiment of coming evil, and
accompanied by Sin and Death, personified as his running footman
and esquire.--After the Fac-simile of the original Engraving,
dated 1513, by one of the Wiericx (1564).]
Burial in the churches was at first interfered with, if not prevented,
even under the Christian emperors, by the Roman law, which prescribed
that the cemeteries should be extramural. Thus, according to tradition,
many of the early French saints were first of all buried outside
the towns, and their remains were subsequently placed within some
consecrated building or a church, erected over their original grave.
The ancient cemetery in some cases developed into an inhabited suburb,
as at Tours, where the Quartier de St. Martin occupies the ground
where that saint originally reposed. In other districts, the Christian
cemeteries occupied the same site down to the thirteenth century, as
at Arles, Autun, Bordeaux, the cemeteries of the Aliscan (_Elisii
campi_), St. Seurin, and Champ-des-Tombes. Other cemeteries,
rendered necessary by the increase in the size of the towns, were made
at about this period. Thus, after the accession of the Capet dynasty,
the capital increased so much in size that it was necessary to limit
the space accorded to burying-places, and twenty-two parishes on the
right bank of the Seine had no cemeteries of their own. A track of
waste land at Champeaux, running along the Rue St. Denis, was converted
into what was called the Cemetery of the Innocents (Fig. 367), and
it consisted of a large enclosure with three gateways; the first at
the corner of the Rue aux Fers; the second at the corner of the Rue de
la Ferronnerie; and the third in the Place-aux-Chats. Philip Augustus
surrounded it with a wall in 1186, to prevent it being overrun by
animals and the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. To this wall was
afterwards added a covered gallery, called the _charnel-house_,
in which were buried those whose fortune allowed them to purchase the
privilege of being interred apart from the masses. This charnel-house,
which was damp and dismal, was paved with tombstones, and its walls
were covered with epitaphs and funeral monuments. In the thirteenth
century it became a fashionable resort in which tradesmen placed their
wares for sale, and the abode of death was converted into a place of
rendezvous and promenade for the idle.
This long gallery was built at different epochs, out of the largesses
given by several inhabitants of Paris. Marshal de Boucicault built
part of it in the beginning of the fifteenth century, and the
famous Nicholas Flamel, who is said to have had a bookstall in the
charnel-house, built at his own cost the whole side which ran parallel
with the Rue de la Lingerie, and in which he and his wife Pernelle
were buried. This charnel-house was surmounted by large _galetas_
(lofts) in which the bones of the dead were preserved. The famous
“Danse Macabre” (Figs. 369–392), that philosophical allegory in which
death was leading in the dance “persons of all conditions,” was painted
about the year 1430 upon the walls of the charnel-house, on the Rue St.
Honoré side.
[Illustration: Figs. 369 to 392.--The Dance of Death, a
Fac-simile of Wood Engravings executed after the Holbein
Drawings in the “Simulachres de la Mort;” small 4to, Treschel
Brothers, Lyons, 1538.--“As fish are taken speedily with
the hook (_aine_), so does death take men; for death spares
no man, king nor emperor, rich nor poor, noble nor villain,
wise nor fool, physician nor surgeon, young nor old, strong
nor weak, man nor woman. Nothing is more certain; all have
to take part in death’s dance.”--Explanation taken from the
“Forteresses de la Foy,” Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century,
in the Library at Valenciennes.]
[Illustration: The Dance of Death, after Holbein’s Drawings
(_continued_).]
[Illustration: The Dance of Death, after Holbein’s Drawings
(_continued_).]
[Illustration: The Dance of Death, after Holbein’s Drawings
(_continued_).]
[Illustration: The Dance of Death, after Holbein’s Drawings
(_continued_).]
[Illustration: The Dance of Death, after Holbein’s Drawings
(_continued_).]