DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62133#0072
56 AN ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH.
beautiful existence. We were taken into a little room, half
chamber, half study; upon the walls were several well-chosen
engravings after Hess and Overbeck. An old-fashioned cabinet
fronted with glass contained several quaint drinking-glasses
and exquisite specimens of carvings in wood, an art greatly
practised in the village. On one side of the cabinet hung
a violin, and above it and another cabinet were arranged
casts of hands and feet. On noticing these things to the
wife, she said that her husband was a carver in wood by
profession, and he had brought them with him from Munich
to assist him in his art.
“ He is a great carver of crucifixes and Madonnas,” she
continued : “ you must see his works.”
He was an artist, then, this Tobias Flunger, with his
grave, sad countenance, his air of superiority; yes, much
was now explained. And, no doubt, his artist feeling had
been brought into operation for the benefit of the miracle-
play, in the same manner that the schoolmaster of Ober-
Ammergau had taxed his musical skill for the production
of the music.
It was now seven o’ clock, and as it yet wanted an hour
till the commencement of the play, our kind, artistic host,
with that strange, awe-inspiring countenance of his, in-
sisted upon accompanying us through the village, and show-
ing us specimens of the wood-carving. There was plenty
of time, he said, for him to prepare for the play.
The village street was thronged with people and carriages
of all descriptions; all was gay and bustling, as in prepara-
tion for some great festival; the bells rang joyously from
the little church tower; fantastically arrayed figures, as if
stepped forth from some old sacred picture, were ever and
anon seen flitting through the not less gaily-attired, but
more work-a-day looking groups; and as Tobias Flunger
passed on with his sad, dreamy air, a low whisper followed
him, of “ there goes Christ !”
beautiful existence. We were taken into a little room, half
chamber, half study; upon the walls were several well-chosen
engravings after Hess and Overbeck. An old-fashioned cabinet
fronted with glass contained several quaint drinking-glasses
and exquisite specimens of carvings in wood, an art greatly
practised in the village. On one side of the cabinet hung
a violin, and above it and another cabinet were arranged
casts of hands and feet. On noticing these things to the
wife, she said that her husband was a carver in wood by
profession, and he had brought them with him from Munich
to assist him in his art.
“ He is a great carver of crucifixes and Madonnas,” she
continued : “ you must see his works.”
He was an artist, then, this Tobias Flunger, with his
grave, sad countenance, his air of superiority; yes, much
was now explained. And, no doubt, his artist feeling had
been brought into operation for the benefit of the miracle-
play, in the same manner that the schoolmaster of Ober-
Ammergau had taxed his musical skill for the production
of the music.
It was now seven o’ clock, and as it yet wanted an hour
till the commencement of the play, our kind, artistic host,
with that strange, awe-inspiring countenance of his, in-
sisted upon accompanying us through the village, and show-
ing us specimens of the wood-carving. There was plenty
of time, he said, for him to prepare for the play.
The village street was thronged with people and carriages
of all descriptions; all was gay and bustling, as in prepara-
tion for some great festival; the bells rang joyously from
the little church tower; fantastically arrayed figures, as if
stepped forth from some old sacred picture, were ever and
anon seen flitting through the not less gaily-attired, but
more work-a-day looking groups; and as Tobias Flunger
passed on with his sad, dreamy air, a low whisper followed
him, of “ there goes Christ !”