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VISITS AND SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD.
VOL. II.
VISITS AND SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD
WITH TALES AND MISCELLANIES NOW FIRST COLLECTED.
BY MRS. JAMESON,
AUTHOR OF "THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN," "LIVES OF CELEBRATED FEMALE
SOVEREIGNS," &c.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
SECOND EDITION.
LONDON
SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET.
1835.
LONDON:
IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
SKETCHES OF ART, LITERATURE, AND CHARACTER,
PART II.
(_Continued._)
PAGE
I. MUNICH--The New Palace--The Beauty of its
Decorations--Particular Account of the Modern Paintings
on the Walls 1-18
The Frescos of Julius Schnorr from the Nibelungen-Lied 20
The Frescos in the Royal Chapel 37
The Opera--Madame Schechner 42
The Kunstverein 46
Karl von Holtei 49
Fete of the Obelisk 50
The Gallery--Pictures and Painters 60
Madame de Freyberg--A visit to Thalkirchen 64
Tomb of Eugene Beauharnais 68
The Sculpture in the Glyptothek 75
Plan of the Pinnakothek or National Gallery 79
The Revival of Fresco Painting 92
Bavarian Sculptors 94
The Valhalla 96
Stieler, the Portrait Painter 101
Gallery of the Duc de Leuchtenberg 103
Society at Munich 106
The Liederkranz 110
II. NUREMBERG 118
The Old Fortress 123
Albert Durer 125
Hans Sachs and Peter Vischer 127
The Cemetery 132
Travelling in Germany 134
III. DRESDEN 138
The Opera--Madame Schroeder Devrient in the "Capaletti" 145
Ludwig Tieck 148
The Dresden Gallery and the Italian School 155
Rosalba--Violante Siries--Henrietta Walters--Maria
von Osterwyck--Elizabeth Sirani--the Sofonisba 171
Thoughts on Female Artists--Louisa and Eliza Sharpe--The
Countess Julie von Egloffstein 179
Moritz Retzsch 183
English and German Art 197
Catalogue of German Artists 201
* * * * *
A Visit to Hardwicke 213
A Visit to Althorpe 275
SKETCHES OF ART, LITERATURE, AND CHARACTER.
(_Continued._)
VOL. II.
Page 7, line 13, _for_ to _read_ too.
18, -- 2, _for_ Neurather _read_ Neureuther.
68, -- 5, _for_ Scheckner _read_ Schechner.
72, -- 16, ditto. ditto.
94, -- 23, _for_ interior _read_ exterior.
133, -- 1, note, _for_ Frederic Augustus _read_ Anthony.
203, -- 16, _for_ Steiler _read_ Stieler.
204, -- 21, _for_ Neurather _read_ Neureuther.
209, -- 2, _for_ Reitchel _read_ Rietschel.
[Illustration]
SKETCHES OF ART, LITERATURE, AND CHARACTER.
MUNICH (CONTINUED).
_Tuesday._--M. de Klenze called this morning and conducted me over the
whole of the new palace. The design, when completed, will form a vast
quadrangle. It was begun about seven years ago; and as only a certain
sum is set apart every year for the works, it will probably be seven
years more before the portion now in progress, which is the south side
of the quadrangle, can be completed.
The exterior of the building is plain, but has an air of grandeur even
from its simplicity and uniformity. It reminds me of Sir Philip Sydney's
beautiful description--"A house built of fair and strong stone; not
affecting so much any extraordinary kind of fineness, as an honourable
representing of a firm stateliness; all more lasting than beautiful, but
that the consideration of the exceeding lastingness made the eye believe
it was exceeding beautiful."
When a selfish despot designs a palace, it is for himself he builds.
He thinks first of his own personal tastes and peculiar habits, and the
arrangements are contrived to suit his exclusive propensities. Thus, for
Nero's overwhelming pride, no space, no height, could suffice; so he
built his "golden house" upon a scale which obliged its next possessor
to pull it to pieces, as only fit to lodge a colossus. George the Fourth
had a predilection for low ceilings, so all the future inhabitants of
the Pimlico palace must endure suffocation; and as his majesty did not
live on good terms with his wife, no accommodation was prepared for a
future queen of England.
The commands which the king of Bavaria gave De Klenze were in a
different spirit. "Build me a palace, in which nothing within or without
shall be of transient fashion or interest; a palace for my posterity,
and my people, as well as myself; of which the decorations shall be
durable as well as splendid, and shall appear one or two centuries hence
as pleasing to the eye and taste as they do now." "Upon this principle,"
said De Klenze, looking round, "I designed what you now see."
On the first floor are the apartments of the king and queen, all facing
the south: a parallel range of apartments behind contains accommodation
for the attendants, ladies of honour, chamberlains, &c.; a grand
staircase on the east leads to the apartments of the king, another on
the west to those of the queen; the two suites of apartments uniting in
the centre, where the private and sleeping rooms communicate with each
other. All the chambers allotted to the king's use are painted with
subjects from the Greek poets, and those of the queen from the German
poets.
We began with the king's apartments. The approach to the staircase I did
not quite understand, for it appears small and narrow; but this part of
the building is evidently incomplete.
The staircase is beautiful, but simple, consisting of a flight of wide
broad steps of the native marble; there is no gilding; the ornaments on
the ceiling represent the different arts and manufactures carried on in
Bavaria. Over the door which opens into the apartments is the king's
motto in gold letters, GERECHT und BEHARRLICH--Just and Firm. Two
Caryatides support the entrance: on one side the statue of Astrea, and
on the other the Greek Victory without wings--the first expressing
justice, the last firmness or constancy. These figures are colossal,
and modelled by Schwanthaler in a grand and severe style of art.
I. The first antechamber is decorated with great simplicity. On the
cornice round the top is represented the history of Orpheus and the
expedition of the Argonauts, from Linus, the earliest Greek poet. The
figures are in outline, shaded in brown, but without relief or colour,
exactly like those on the Etruscan vases. The walls are stuccoed in
imitation of marble.
II. The second antechamber is less simple in its decoration. The frieze
round the top is broader, (about three feet,) and represents the
Theogony, the wars of the Titans, &c. from Hesiod. The figures are
in outline, and tinted, but without relief, in the manner of some of
the ancient Greek paintings on vases, tombs, &c. The effect is very
classical, and very singular. Schwanthaler, by whom these decorations
were designed, has displayed all the learning of a profound and
accomplished scholar, as well as the skill of an artist. In general
feeling and style they reminded me of Flaxman's outlines to AEschylus.
The walls of this room are also stuccoed in imitation of marble,
with compartments, in which are represented, in the same style, other
subjects from the "Weeks and Days," and the "Birth of Pandora." The
ornaments are in the oldest Greek style.
III. A saloon, or reception room, for those who are to be presented to
the king. On this room, which is in a manner public, the utmost luxury
of decoration is to be expended; but it is yet unfinished. The subjects
are from Homer. In compartments on the ceiling are represented the gods
of Greece; the gorgeous ornaments with which they are intermixed being
all in the Greek style. Round the frieze, at the top of the room, the
subjects are taken from the four Homeric hymns. The walls will be painted
from the Iliad and Odyssey, in compartments, mingled with the richest
arabesques. The effect of that part of the room which is finished is
indescribably splendid; but I cannot pause to dwell upon minutiae.
IV. The throne-room. The decorations of this room combine, in an
extraordinary degree, the utmost splendour and the utmost elegance. The
whole is adorned with bas-reliefs in white stucco, raised upon a ground
of dead gold. The compositions are from Pindar. Round the frieze are
the games of Greece, the chariot and foot-race, the horse-race, the
wrestlers, the cestus, &c. Immediately over the throne, Pindar, singing
to his lyre, before the judges of the Olympic games. On each side a
comic and a tragic poet receiving a prize. The exceeding lightness and
grace, the various fancy, the purity of style, the vigour of life and
movement displayed here, all prove that Schwanthaler has drank deep of
classical inspiration, and that he has not looked upon the frieze of the
Parthenon in vain. The subjects on the walls are various groups from
the same poet; over the throne is the king's motto, and on each side,
Alcides and Achilles; the history of Jason and Medea, Castor and Pollux,
Deucalion and Pyrrha, &c. occupy compartments, differing in form and
size. The decoration of this magnificent room appeared to me a _little_
too much broken up into parts--and yet, on the whole, it is most
beautiful; the Graces as well as the Muses presided over the whole of
these "fancies, chaste and noble;" and there is excellent taste in the
choice of the poet, and the subjects selected, as harmonizing with the
destination of the room: all are expressive of power, of triumph, of
moral or physical greatness.[1] The walls are of dead gold, from the
floor to the ceiling, and the gilding of this room alone cost 72,000
florins.
V. A saloon, or antechamber. The ceiling and walls admirably painted,
from the tragedies of AEschylus.
VI. The king's study, or cabinet de travail. The subjects from Sophocles,
equally classical in taste, and rich in colour and effect. In the arch
at one end of this room are seven compartments, in which are inscribed
in gold letters, the sayings of the seven Greek sages.
Schwanthaler furnished the outlines of the compositions from AEschylus
and Sophocles, which are executed in colours by Wilhelm Roeckel of
Schleissheim.
VII. The king's dressing-room. The subjects from Aristophanes, painted
by Hiltensberger of Suabia, certainly one of the best painters here.
There is exquisite fantastic grace and spirit in these designs.
"It was fit," said de Klenze, "that the first objects which his majesty
looked upon on rising from his bed should be gay and mirth-inspiring."
VIII. The king's bedroom. The subjects from Theocritus, by different
painters, but principally Professor Heinrich Hess and Bruchmann. This
room pleased me least.
No description could give an adequate idea of the endless variety, and
graceful and luxuriant ornament harmonizing with the various subjects,
and the purpose of each room, and lavished on the walls and ceilings,
even to infinitude. The general style is very properly borrowed from
the Greek decorations at Herculaneum and Pompeii; not servilely copied,
but varied with an exhaustless prodigality of fancy and invention, and
applied with exquisite taste. The combination of the gayest, brightest
colours has been studied with care, their proportion and approximation
calculated on scientific principles; so that the result, instead of
being gaudy and perplexing to the eye, is an effect the most captivating,
brilliant, and harmonious that can be conceived.
The material used is the _encaustic_ painting, which has been revived
by M. de Klenze. He spent four months at Naples analysing the colours
used in the encaustic paintings at Herculaneum and Pompeii, and by
innumerable experiments reducing the process to safe practice. Professor
Zimmermann explained to me the other day, as I stood beside him while
he worked, the general principle, and the advantages of this style.
It is much more rapid than oil painting; it is also much less expensive,
requiring both cheaper materials and in smaller quantity. It dries more
quickly: the surface is not so glazy and unequal, requiring no particular
light to be seen to advantage. The colours are wonderfully bright: it is
capable of as high a finish, and it is quite as durable as oils. Both
mineral and vegetable colours can be used.
Now to return. The king's bedchamber opens into the queen's apartments,
but to take these in order we must begin at the beginning. The staircase,
which is still unfinished, will be in a much richer style of architecture
than that on the king's side: it is sustained with beautiful columns of
native marble.
I. Antechamber; painted from the history and poems of Walther von der
Vogelweide, by Gassen of Coblentz, a young painter of distinguished
merit.
Walther "of the bird-meadow," for that is the literal signification
of his name, was one of the most celebrated of the early Suabian
Minnesingers,[2] and appears to have lived from 1190 to 1240. He led a
wandering life, and was at different times in the service of several
princes of Germany. He figured at the famous "strife of poets," at the
castle of Wartsburg, which took place in 1207, in presence of Hermann,
landgrave of Thuringia and the landgravine Sophia: this is one of the
most celebrated incidents in the history of German poetry. He also
accompanied Leopold VII. to the Holy Land. His songs are warlike,
patriotic, moral, and religious. "Of love he has always the highest
conception, as of a principle of action, a virtue, a religious affection;
and in his estimation of female excellence, he is below none of his
contemporaries."[3]
In the centre of the ceiling is represented the poetical contest at
Wartsburg, and Walther is reciting his verses in presence of his rivals
and the assembled judges. At the upper end of the room Walther is
exhibited exactly as he describes himself in one of his principal poems,
seated on a high rock in a melancholy attitude, leaning on his elbow,
and contemplating the troubles of his desolate country; in the opposite
arch, the old poet is represented as feeding the little birds which are
fluttering round him--in allusion to his will, which directed that the
birds should be fed yearly upon his tomb. Another compartment represents
Walther showing to his Geliebte (his mistress) the reflection of her
own lovely face in his polished shield. There are other subjects which
I cannot recall. The figures in all these groups are the size of life.
II. The next room is painted from the poems of Wolfram of Eschenbach,
another, and one of the most fertile of the old Minnesingers; he also
was present at the contest at Wartsburg, "and wandered from castle to
castle like a true courteous knight, dividing his time between feats of
arms and minstrelsy." He versified, in the German tongue, the romance
of the "Saint-Greal," making it an original production, and the central
point, if the expression may be allowed, of an innumerable variety of
adventures, which he has combined, like Ariosto, in artful perplexity,
in the poems of Percival and Titurel.[4] These adventures furnish the
subjects of the paintings on the ceiling and walls, which are executed
by Hermann of Dresden, one of the most distinguished of the pupils of
Cornelius.
The ornaments in these two rooms, which are exceedingly rich and
appropriate, are in the old gothic style, and reminded me of the
illuminations in the ancient MSS.
III. A saloon (salon de service) appropriated to the ladies in waiting:
painted from the ballads of Buerger, by Foltz of Bingen. The ceiling
of this room is perfectly exquisite--it is formed entirely of small
rosettes, (about a foot in diameter,) varying in form, and combining
every hue of the rainbow--the delicacy and harmony of the entire effect
is quite indescribable. The rest of the decorations are not finished,
but the choice of the poet and the subjects, considering the destination
of the room, delighted me. The fate of "Lenora," and that of the "Curate's
Daughter," will be edifying subjects of contemplation for the maids of
honour.
IV. The throne-room. Magnificent in the general effect; elegant and
appropriate in the design.
On the ceiling, which is richly ornamented, are four medallions,
exhibiting, under the effigies of four admirable women, the four
_feminine_ cardinal virtues. Constancy is represented by Maria Theresa;
maternal love, by Cornelia; charity, by St. Elizabeth, (the Margravine
of Thuringia;[5]) and filial tenderness, by Julia Pia Alpinula.
And there--O sweet and sacred be the name!
Julia, the daughter, the devoted, gave
Her youth to Heaven; her heart beneath a claim
Nearest to Heaven's, broke o'er a father's grave.
LORD BYRON.
"I always avoid emblematical and allegorical figures, wherever it is
possible, for they are cold and arbitrary, and do not speak to the
heart!" said M. de Klenze, perceiving how much I was charmed with the
idea of thus personifying the womanly virtues.
The paintings round the room are from the poems of Klopstock, and
executed by Wilhelm Kaulbach, an excellent artist. Only the frieze is
finished. It consists of a series of twelve compartments: three on each
side of the room, and divided from each other by two boys of colossal
size, grouped as Caryatides, and in very high relief. These compartments
represent the various scenes of the Herman-Schlacht; the sacrifices of
the Druids; the adieus of the women; the departure of the warriors;
the fight with Varus; the victory; the return of Herman to his wife
Thusnelda, &c.
Herman, or, as the Roman historians call him, Arminius, was a chieftain
of the Cheruscans, a tribe of northern Germany. After serving in Illyria,
and there learning the Roman arts of warfare, he came back to his native
country, and fought successfully for its independence. He defeated,
beside a defile near Detmold, in Westphalia, the Roman legions under
the command of Varus, with a slaughter so mortifying, that the proconsul
is said to have killed himself, and Augustus to have received the
news of the catastrophe with indecorous expressions of grief. It is
this defeat of Varus which forms the theme of one of Klopstock's
chorus-dramas, entitled, "The Battle of Herman." The dialogue is concise
and picturesque; the characters various, consistent, and energetic; a
lofty colossal frame of being belongs to them all, as in the paintings
of Caravaggio. To Herman, the disinterested zealot of patriotism and
independence, a preference of importance is wisely given; yet, perhaps,
his wife Thusnelda acts more strongly on the sympathy by the enthusiastic
veneration and affection she displays for her hero-consort.[6]
V. Saloon, or drawing-room. The paintings from Wieland, by Eugene
Neureuther, (already known in England by his beautiful arabesque
illustrations of Goethe's ballads.) The frieze only of this room, which
is from the Oberon, is in progress.
VI. The queen's bedroom. The paintings from Goethe, and chiefly by
Kaulbach. The ceiling is exquisite, representing in compartments various
scenes from Goethe's principal lyrics; the Herman and Dorothea; Pausias
and Glycera, &c., intermixed with the most rich and elegant ornaments in
relief.
VII. The queen's study, or private sitting-room. A small but very
beautiful room, with paintings from Schiller, principally by Lindenschmidt
of Mayence. On the ceiling are groups from the Wallenstein; the Maid
of Orleans; the Bride of Corinth; Wilhelm Tell; and on the walls, in
compartments, mingled with the most elegant ornaments, scenes from the
Fridolin, the Toggenburg, the Dragon of Rhodes, and other of his lyrics.
VIII. The queen's library. As the walls will be covered with book-cases,
all the splendour of decoration is lavished on the ceiling, which is
inexpressibly rich and elegant. The paintings are from the works of
Ludwig Tieck--from the Octavianus, the Genoneva, Fortunatus, the Puss
in Boots, &c., and executed by Von Schwind.
The dining-room is magnificently painted with subjects from Anacreon,
intermixed with ornaments and bacchanalian symbols, all in the richest
colouring. In the compartments on the ceiling, the figures are the size
of life--in those round the walls, half-life size. Nothing can exceed
the luxuriant fancy, the gaiety, the classical elegance, and amenity of
some of these groups. They are all by Professor Zimmermann.
One of these paintings, a group representing, I think, Anacreon with the
Graces, (it is at the east end of the room,) is usually pointed out as
an example of the perfection to which the encaustic painting has been
carried: in fact, it would be difficult to exceed it in the mingled
harmony, purity, and brilliance of the colouring.
M. Zimmermann told me, that when he submitted the cartoons for these
paintings to the king's approbation, his majesty desired a slight
alteration to be made in a group representing a nymph embraced by a
bacchanal; not as being in itself faulty, but "a cause de ses enfans,"
his eldest daughters being accustomed to dine with himself and the
queen.
Now it must be remembered that these seventeen rooms form the domestic
apartments of the royal family; and magnificent as they are, a certain
elegance, cheerfulness, and propriety have been more consulted than
parade and grandeur: but on the ground-floor there is a suite of state
apartments, prepared for the reception of strangers, &c., on great and
festive occasions; and these excited my admiration more than all the
rest together.
The paintings are entirely executed in fresco, on a grand scale, by
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, certainly one of the greatest living
artists of Europe: and these four rooms will form, when completed, the
very triumph of the romantic school of painting. It is not alone the
invention displayed in the composition, nor the largeness, boldness, and
freedom of the drawing, nor the vigour and splendour of the colouring;
it is the enthusiastic sympathy of the painter with his subject; the
genuine spirit of the old heroic, or rather Teutonic ages of Germany,
breathed through and over his singular creations, which so peculiarly
distinguish them. They are the very antipodes of all our notions of
the classical--they take us back to the days of Gothic romance, and
legendary lore--to the "fiery Franks and furious Huns"--to the heroes,
in short, of the Nibelungen Lied, from which all the subjects are taken.
To enable the merely English reader to feel, or at least understand, the
interest attached to this grand series of paintings, without which it is
impossible to do justice to the artist, it is necessary to give a slight
sketch of the poem which he has thus magnificently illustrated.[7]
"This national epic, as it is justly termed by M. Von der Hagen, has
lately attracted a most unprecedented degree of attention in Germany. It
now actually forms a part of the philological courses in many of their
universities, and it has been hailed with almost as much veneration as
the Homeric songs. Some allowance must be made for German enthusiasm,
but it cannot be denied that the Nibelungen Lied, though a little too
bloody and dolorous, possesses extraordinary merits." The hero and heroine
of this poem are Siegfried, (son of Siegmund, king of Netherland, and of
Sighelind his queen,) and Chrimhilde, princess of Burgundy. Siegfried,
or Sifrit, the Sigurd of the Scandinavian Sagas, is the favourite hero
of the northern parts of Germany. His spear, "a mighty pine beam," was
preserved with veneration at Worms; and there, in the church of St.
Cecilia, he is supposed to have been buried. The German romances do
not represent him as being of gigantic proportions, but they all agree
that he became invulnerable by bathing in the blood of a dragon, which
guarded the treasures of the Nibelungen, and which he overcame and
killed; but it happened that as he bathed, a leaf fell and rested
between his shoulders, and consequently, that one little spot, about
a hand's breadth, still remained susceptible of injury. Siegfried also
possesses the wondrous tarn-cap, which had the power of rendering the
wearer invisible.
This formidable champion, after winning the love and the hand of the
fair princess Chrimhilde, and performing a thousand valiant deeds, is
treacherously murdered by the three brothers of Chrimhilde, Gunther,
king of Burgundy, Ghiseler, Gernot, and their uncle Hagen, instigated by
queen Brunhilde, the wife of Gunther. Chrimhilde meditates for years the
project of a deep and deadly revenge on the murderers of her husband.
This vengeance is in fact the subject of the Nibelungen Lied, as the
wrath of Achilles is the subject of the Iliad.
The poem opens thus beautifully with a kind of argument of the whole
eventful story.
"In ancient song and story marvels high are told
Of knights of bold emprize and adventures mani-fold;
Of joy and merry feasting, of lamenting, woe, and fear;
Of champions' bloody battles many marvels shall ye hear.
A noble maid and fair, grew up in Burgundy,
In all the land about fairer none might be;
She became a queen full high, Chrimhild was she hight,
But for her matchless beauty fell many a blade of might.
For love and for delight was framed that lady gay,
Many a champion bold sighed for that gentle May;
Beauteous was her form! beauteous without compare!
The virgin's virtues might adorn many a lady fair.
Three kings of might had the maiden in their care,
King Gunther and king Gernot, champions bold they were,
And Ghiselar the young, a chosen peerless blade:
The lady was their sister, and much they loved the maid."
Then follows an enumeration of the heroes in attendance on king Gunther:
Haghen, the fierce; Dankwart, the swift; Volker, the minstrel knight;
and others; "all champions bold and free;"--and then the poet proceeds
to open the argument.
"One night the queen Chrimhild dreamt her as she lay,
How she had trained and nourished a falcon, wild and gay;
When suddenly two eagles fierce the gentle hawk have slain--
Never, in this world felt she such cruel pain!
To her mother, Uta, she told her dream with fear.
Full mournfully she answered to what the maid did spier,
'The falcon, whom you cherished, a gentle knight is he:
God take him to his ward! thou must lose him suddenly.'
'What speak you of the knight? dearest mother, say!
Without the love of Champion, to my dying day,
Ever thus fair will I remain, nor take a wedded fere
To gain such pain and sorrow--though the knight were without peer!'
'Speak not thou too rashly!' her mother spake again.
'If ever in this world, thou heart-felt joy wilt gain,
Maiden must thou be no more; Leman must thou have.
God will grant thee for thy mate, some gentle knight and brave.'
'O leave thy words, lady mother; speak not of wedded mate,
Full many a gentle maiden hath found the truth too late:
Still has their fondest love ended with woe and pain;
Virgin will I ever be, nor the love of Leman gain.'
In virtues high and noble that gentle maiden dwelt,
Full many a night and day, nor love for Leman felt.
To never a knight or champion would she plight her virgin truth,
Till she was gained for wedded fere by a right noble youth.
That youth, he was the falcon, she in her dream beheld,
Who by the two fierce eagles, dead to the ground was fell'd:
But since right dreadful vengeance she took upon his foen;
For the death of that bold hero, died full many a mother's son."
After this exordium the story commences, the first half ending with the
assassination of Siegfried.
Some years after the murder of Siegfried, Chrimhilde gives her hand to
Etzel, (or Attila,) king of the Huns, in order that through his power
and influence she may be enabled to execute her long-cherished schemes
of vengeance. The assassins accordingly, and all their kindred and
followers, are induced to visit King Etzel at Vienna, where, by the
instigation of Chrimhilde, a deadly feud arises; in the course of which
almost the whole army on both sides are cruelly slaughtered. By the
powerful, but reluctant aid of Dietrich of Bern,[8] Hagen, the murderer
of Siegfried, is at last vanquished, and brought bound to the feet of
the queen, who at once raises the sword of her departed hero, and with
her own hand strikes off the head of his enemy. Hildebrand instantly
avenges the atrocious and unhospitable act, by stabbing the queen, who
falls exulting on the body of her hated victim.
When Gunther's arms, and those of his brothers and champions, are
brought to Worms, Brunhilde repents too late of her treachery to
Siegfried, and the old queen Uta dies of grief. As to King Etzel, the
poet professes himself ignorant, "whether he died in battle, or was
taken up to heaven, or fell out of his skin, or was swallowed up
by the devil;" leaving to his reader the choice of these singular
catastrophes;--and thus the story ends.[9]
The rivalry between Chrimhilde and her amazonian sister-in-law,
Brunhilde, forms the most interesting and amusing episode in the poem;
and the characters of the two queens--the fierce haughty Brunhilde,
and the impassioned, devoted, confiding Chrimhilde--(whom the very
excess of conjugal love converts into a relentless fury,) are admirably
discriminated. "The work is divided into thirty-eight books, or
_adventures_; and besides a liberal allowance of sorcery and wonders,
contains a great deal of clear and animated narrative, and innumerable
curious and picturesque traits of the manners of the age. The characters
of the different warriors, as well as those of the two queens, and their
heroic consorts, are very naturally and powerfully drawn--especially
that of Hagen, the murderer of Siegfried, in whom the virtues of an
heroic and chivalrous leader are strangely united with the atrocity and
impenitent hardihood of an assassin.
"The author of the Lay of the Nibelungen has not been ascertained. In
its present form it must have existed between the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries;--this is proved by the language; but the manners, tone,
thoughts, and actions, which are all in perfect keeping, bear testimony
to an antiquity far beyond that of the present dress of the poem."
Here then was a boundless, an inexhaustible fund of inspiration for such
a painter as Julius Schnorr; and his poetical fancy appears to have
absolutely revelled in the grand, the gay, the tragic subjects afforded
to his creative pencil.
In the first room, immediately over the entrance, he has represented the
poet, or presumed author of the Nibelungen--an inspired figure, attended
by two listening genii. On each side, but a little lower down, are two
figures looking towards him; on one side a beautiful female, striking
a harp, and attended by a genius crowned with roses--represents song
or poesy. On the other side, a sybil listening to the voice of Time,
represents tradition. The figures are all colossal.
Below, on each side of this door, are two beautiful groups. That to
the right of the spectator represents Siegfried and Chrimhilde. She is
leaning on the shoulder of her warlike husband with an air of the most
inimitable and graceful abandonment in her whole figure: a falcon sits
upon her hand, on which her eyes are turned with the most profound
expression of tenderness and melancholy; she is thinking upon her dream,
in which was foreshadowed the early and terrible doom of her husband.
It is said at Munich, that the wife of Schnorr, an exquisitely beautiful
woman, whom he married under romantic circumstances, was the model of
his Chrimhilde, and that one of her spontaneous attitudes furnished the
idea of this exquisite group, on which I never look without emotion. The
depth and splendour of the colouring adds to the effect. The figures are
rather above the size of life.
On the opposite side of the door, as a _pendant_, we have Gunther, and
his queen, Brunhilde. He holds one of her hands, with a deprecating
expression. She turns from him with an averted countenance, exhibiting
in her whole look and attitude, grief, rage, and shame. It is evident
that she has just made the fatal discovery of her husband's obligations
to Siegfried, which urges her to the destruction of the latter. I have
heard travellers ignorantly criticise the grand, and somewhat exaggerated
forms of Brunhilde, as being "really quite coarse and unfeminine." In
the poem she is represented as possessing the strength of twelve men;
and when Hagen sees her throw a spear, which it required four warriors
to lift, he exclaims to her alarmed suitor, King Gunther,
"Aye! how is it, King Gunther? here must you tine your life!
The lady you would gain, well might be the devil's wife!"
It is by the secret assistance of Siegfried, and his tarn-cap, that
Gunther at length vanquishes and humbles this terrible heroine, and she
avenges her humiliation by the murder of Siegfried.
Around the room are sixteen full-length portraits of the other principal
personages who figure in the Nibelungen Lied--_portraits_ they may well
be called, for their extraordinary spirit, and truth of character. In
one group we have the fierce Hagen, the courteous Dankwart, and between
them, Volker tuning his viol; of him it is said--
Bolder and more knight-like fiddler, never shone the sun upon,
and he plays a conspicuous part in the catastrophe of the poem.
Opposite to this group, we have queen Uta, the mother of Chrimhilde,
between her sons, Gernot and Ghiselar: in another compartment, Siegmund
and Sighelind, the father and mother of Siegfried.
Over the window opposite to the entrance, Hagen is consulting the
mermaids of the Danube, who foretell the destruction which awaits him
at the court of Etzel: and lower down on each side of the window, King
Etzel with his friend Rudiger, and those faithful companions in arms,
old Hildebrand and Dietrich of Bern. The power of invention, the
profound feeling of character, and extraordinary antiquarian knowledge
displayed in these figures, should be seen to be understood. Those which
most struck me (next to Chrimhilde and her husband) were the figures
of the daring Hagen and the venerable queen Uta.
On the ceiling, which is vaulted, and enriched with most gorgeous
ornaments, intermixed with heraldic emblazonments, are four small
compartments in fresco: in which are represented, the marriage of
Siegfried and Chrimhilde, the murder of Siegfried, the vengeance of
Chrimhilde, and the death of Chrimhilde. These are painted in vivid
colours on a black ground.
On the whole, on looking round this most splendid and interesting room,
I could find but one fault: I could have wished that the ornaments on
the walls and ceiling (so rich and beautiful to the eye) had been more
completely and consistently gothic in style; they would then have
harmonized better with the subjects of the paintings.
In the next room, the two sides are occupied by two grand frescos, each
about five-and-twenty feet in length, and covering the whole wall. In
the first, Siegfried brings the kings of Saxony and Denmark prisoners to
the court of king Gunther. The second represents the reception of the
victorious Siegfried by the two queens, Uta and Chrimhilde. This is the
first interview of the lovers, and furnishes one of the most admired
passages in the poem.
"And now the beauteous lady, like the rosy morn,
Dispersed the misty clouds; and he who long had borne
In his heart the maiden, banish'd pain and care,
As now before his eyes stood the glorious maiden fair.
From her embroidered garment, glittered many a gem,
And on her lovely cheek, the rosy red did gleam;
Whoever in his glowing soul had imaged lady bright,
Confessed that fairer maiden never stood before his sight.
And as the moon at night, stands high the stars among,
And moves the mirky clouds above, with lustre bright and strong;
So stood before her maidens, that maid without compare:
Higher swelled the courage of many a champion there."
Between the two doors there is the marriage of Siegfried and Chrimhilde.
The second of these frescos is nearly finished; of the others I only
saw the cartoons, which are magnificent. The third room will contain,
arranged in the same manner, three grand frescos, representing 1st.
the scene in which the rash curiosity of Chrimhilde prevails over the
discretion of her husband, and he gives her the ring and the girdle
which he had snatched as trophies from the vanquished Brunhilde.[10]
2ndly. The death of Siegfried, assassinated by Hagen, who stabs the hero
in the back, as he stoops to drink from the forest-well. And 3rdly.
The body of Siegfried exposed in the cathedral at Worms, and watched by
Chrimhilde, "who wept three days and three nights by the corse of her
murdered lord, without food and without sleep."
The fourth room will contain the second marriage of Chrimhilde; her
complete and sanguinary vengeance; and her death. None of these are
yet in progress. But the three cartoons of the death of Siegfried;
the marriage of Siegfried and Chrimhilde; and the fatal curiosity of
Chrimhilde, I had the pleasure of seeing in Professor Schnorr's studio
at the academy; I saw at the same time his picture of the death of the
emperor Frederic Barbarossa, which has excited great admiration here,
but I confess I do not like it; nor do I think that Schnorr paints as
well in oils as in fresco--the latter is certainly his forte.
Often have I walked up and down these superb rooms, looking up at
Schnorr and his assistants, and watching intently the preparation and
the process of the fresco painting--and often I thought, "What would
some of our English painters--Etty, or Hilton, or Briggs, or Martin--O
what would they give to have two or three hundred feet of space before
them, to cover at will with grand and glorious creations,--scenes from
Chaucer, or Spenser, or Shakspeare, or Milton, proudly conscious that
they were painting for their country and posterity, spurred on by the
spirit of their art and national enthusiasm, and generously emulating
each other!" Alas! how different!--with us such men as Hilton and Etty
illustrate annuals, and the genius of Turner shrinks into a vignette!
I should add, before I throw down my weary pen, that every part of the
new palace, from the _ensemble_ down to the minutest details of the
ornaments (the paintings excepted) has been designed by De Klenze, who
executed seven hundred drawings with his own hand for this palace alone,
without reckoning his designs for the Glyptothek and the Pinakothek.
This has been a busy and exciting day. Then in the evening a
_soiree_--music--
* * * * *
O quite tired in spirits, in voice, in mind, in heart, in frame!
_Oct. 14th._--Accompanied by my kind friend, Madame de K----, and
conducted by Roekel, the painter, I visited the unfinished chapel
adjoining the new palace. It is painted (or rather _painting_) in
fresco, on a gold ground, with extraordinary richness and beauty,
uniting the old Greek, or rather Byzantine manner, with the old Italian
style of decoration. It reminded me, in the general effect, of the
interior of St. Mark's at Venice,--but, of course, the details are
executed in a grander feeling, and in a much higher style of art. The
pillars are of the native marble, and the walls will be covered with
a kind of Mosaic of various marbles, intermixed with ornaments in
relief, in gilding, in colours--all combined, and harmonizing together.
The ceiling is formed of two large domes or cupolas. In the first is
represented the Old Testament: in the very centre, the Creator; in a
circle round him, the six days' creation. Around this again, in a larger
circle, the building of the ark; the Deluge; the sacrifice of Noah; and
the first covenant. In the four corners, the colossal figures of the
patriarchs, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These are designed in a
very grand and severe style. The second cupola is dedicated to the
New Testament. In the centre, the Redeemer: around him four groups of
cherubs, three in each group. We were on the scaffold erected for the
painters--near enough to remark the extreme beauty and various expression
in these heads, which must, I am afraid, be lost when viewed from below.
Around, in a circle, the twelve apostles; and in the four corners, the
four evangelists, corresponding with the four patriarchs in the other
dome. In the arch between the two domes, as connecting the Old and New
Testaments, we have the Nativity and other scenes from the life of the
Virgin. In the arch at the farthest end will be placed the Crucifixion,
as the consummation of all.
The painter to whom the direction of the whole work has been entrusted,
is professor Heinrich Haess, (or Hess,) one of the most celebrated of the
German historical painters. He was then employed in painting the Nativity,
stretched upon his back on a sort of inclined chair. Notwithstanding the
inconvenience and even peril of leaving his work while the plaster was
wet, he came down from his giddy height to speak to us, and explained
the general design of the whole. I expressed my honest admiration of the
genius, and the grand feeling displayed in many of the figures; and, in
particular, of the group he was then painting, of which the extreme
simplicity charmed me; but as honestly, I expressed my surprise that
nothing _new_ in the general style of the decoration had been attempted;
a representation of the Omnipotent Being was merely excusable in more
simple and unenlightened times, when the understandings of men could
only be addressed through their senses--and merely tolerable, when
Michael Angelo gave us that grand personification of Almighty Power
moving "on the wings of the wind" to the creation of the first man. But
now, in these thinking, reasoning times, it is not so well to venture
into those paths, upon which daring Genius, supported by blind Faith,
rushed without fear, because without a doubt. The theory of religion
belongs to poetry, and its practice to painting. I was struck by the
wonderful stateliness of the ornaments and borders used in decorating
these sacred subjects: they are neither Greek, nor gothic, nor
arabesque--but composed merely of simple forms and straight lines,
combined in every possible manner, and in every variety of pure colour.
One might call them _Byzantine_; at least, they reminded me of what
I had seen in the old churches at Venice and Pisa.
I was pleased by the amiable and open manners of professor Hess. Much
of his life has been spent in Italy, and he speaks Italian well, but no
French. In general, the German artists absolutely detest and avoid the
language and literature of France, but almost all speak Italian, and
many can read, if they do not speak, English. He told me that he had
spent two years on the designs and cartoons for this chapel; he had been
painting here daily for the last two years, and expected to be able to
finish the whole in about two years and a half more: thus giving six
years and a half, or more probably seven years, to this grand task.
He has four pupils, or assistants, besides those employed in the
decorations only.
_Oct. 15th._--After dinner we drove through the beautiful English
garden--a public promenade--which is larger and more diversified than
Kensington Gardens; but the trees are not so fine, being of younger
growth. A branch of the Isar rolls through this garden, sometimes an
absolute torrent, deep and rapid, foaming and leaping along, between its
precipitous banks,--sometimes a strong but gentle stream, flowing "at
its own sweet will" among smooth lawns. Several pretty bridges cross it
with "airy span;" there are seats for repose, and cafes and houses where
refreshment may be had, and where, in the summer-time, the artisans and
citizens of Munich assemble to dance on the Sunday evenings;--altogether
it was a beautiful day, and a delightful drive.
In the evening at the opera with the ambassadress and a large party.
It was the queen's fete, and the whole court was present. The theatre
was brilliantly illuminated--crowded in every part: in short, it was
all very gay and very magnificent; as to hearing a single note of the
opera, (the Figaro,) that was impossible; so I resigned myself to the
conversation around me. "Are you fond of music?" said I, innocently, to
a lady whose volubility had ceased not from the moment we entered the
box. "Moi! si je l'aime!--mais avec passion!" And then without pause
or mercy continued the same incessant flow of _spirituel_ small-talk
while Scheckner-Wagen and Meric, now brought for the first time into
competition, and emulous of each other,--one pouring forth her full
_sostenuto_ warble, like a wood-lark,--the other trilling and running
divisions, like a nightingale--were uniting their powers in the "Sull'
Aria;" but though I could not hear I could see. I was struck to-night
more than ever by the singular dignity of the demeanour of Madame
Scheckner-Wagen. She is not remarkable for beauty, nor is there any
thing of the common made-up theatrical grace in her deportment--still
less does she remind us of queen Medea--queen Pasta, I should say--the
imperial syren who drowned her own identity and ours together in her
"cup of enchanted sounds;"--no--but Scheckner-Wagen treads the stage
with the air of a high-bred lady, to whom applause or censure are things
indifferent--and yet with an exceeding modesty. In short, I never saw
an actress who inspired such an immediate and irresistible feeling of
respect and interest for the individual _woman_. I do not say that this
is the _ne plus ultra_ of good acting--on the contrary; though it is a
mistake to imagine that the moral character of an actress or a singer
goes for nothing with an audience--but of this more at some future
time. Madame Scheckner's style of singing has the same characteristic
simplicity and dignity: her voice is of a fine full quality, well
cultivated, well managed. I have known her a little indolent and careless
at times, but never forced or affected; and I am told that in some of
the grand classical German operas, Gluck's Iphigenia, for instance, her
acting as well as her singing is admirable.
I wish, if ever we have that charming Devrient-Schroeeder, and her vocal
suite, again in England, they would give us the Iphigenia, or the Armida,
or the Idomeneo. She is another who must be heard in her native music
to be justly appreciated. Madame Milder _was_ a third, but her reign is
past. This extraordinary creature absolutely could not, or would not,
sing the modern Italian music; no one, I believe, ever heard her sing
a note of Rossini in her life. Madame Vespermann is here, but she sings
no more in public. She was formed by Winter, and was a fine classical
singer, though no original genius like the Milder; and her voice, if
I may judge by what remains of it, could never have been of first-rate
quality.
Well--after the opera--while scandal, and tea, and refreshments were
served up together--I had a long conversation with Count ---- on the
politics and statistics of Bavaria, the tone of feeling in the court,
the characters and revenues of some of the leading nobles--particularly
Count d'Armansberg, the former minister, (now in Greece taking care of
the young King Otho,) and Prince Wallerstein, the present minister of
the interior. He described the king's extremely versatile character, and
his _vivacites_, and lamented his present unpopularity with the liberal
party in Germany, the disputes between him and the Chambers, and the
opinions entertained of the recent conferences between the king and his
brother-in-law, the Emperor of Austria, at Lintz, &c. I learnt much that
was new, much that was interesting to me, but do not understand these
matters sufficiently to say any thing more about them.
The two richest families in Bavaria are the Tour-and-Taxis, and the Arco
family. The annual revenue of the Prince of Tour-and-Taxis amounts to
upwards of five millions of florins, and he lays out about a million
and a half yearly in land. He seldom or never comes to Munich, but
resides chiefly on his enormous estates, or at Ratisbon, which is _his_
metropolis,--in fact, this rich and powerful noble is little less than
a sovereign prince.
* * * * *