International studio (52.1914)

Some Recent Medals

the church and priests; also it became far more
dangerous.
This tapestry comes from a part of Europe
where for centuries the rough manners of the
people had been softened by “ courts of love” and
rules of etiquette and curious forms of so-called
chivalry. As far back as the twelfth century
Mary, the wife of Count Henry of Champagne,
introduced at her Court in Troyes the lessons of
"courteous love.” The lady at the fountain and
the young man opposite form the centre of the
drama. Observe the gracious inclination of their
heads and bodies—or shall we call it affected?
Note their elegance and polished ways. She
seems to be offering water, as people in Catholic
churches offer each other holy water from the
little fonts near the door. His emotion is ex-
pressed by leaning on the fountain and putting his
hand to his heart. With one exception, the other
persons denote the perfection of good breeding by
seeming not to notice the tenseness of the situa-
tion. A designer who could express emotions so
subtly was no ignoramus. He would know how to
indicate Palestine, if that were the place depicted.
And on the face of the King, in whom Mr. Lewis
and others have seen David, he has not put a look
of admiration or lust, but the sadness of the forlorn
of love, of him who sees love passing to another.
Had the artist meant David, he would have
shown soldiers near him, a harp, as likely as not;
and David would have been on the roof of his
palace, as the Bible says, or the crenelated walls of
a castle; while Bathsheba, who was washing her-
self when David espied her, would have been in
her own courtyard or garden and at least partially
disrobed. One should not credit the artists of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with imbecility, at
least not so good a one as this. Some people think
that the epoch of the Van Eycks, Leonardos, Bel-
linis is still unsurpassed.
The sweet singer Christian of Troyes wrote for
Mary of Champagne a "Lancelot” in verse which
was to embody her ideas of " courteous love,” and
we know that the principles set forth in that poem
lasted for centuries as the standard of taste.
Before the year 1160 the poet had written a
"Tristan,” but no copy has been discovered.
Henry Adams says: "The legend of Isolde, both in
the earlier and later version, seems to have served
as a sacred book to the women of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, and Christian’s ‘Isolde’
surely helped Alary in giving law to the Court of
Troyes and decisions in the Court of Love.”
It seems to me that a religious or Biblical story

is excluded from this tapestry. On the other hand
it is possible that beneath the ostensible story of
King Mark, Isolde andTristan, there lurks a refer-
ence to the relations between Louis VIII of France,
his wife Blanche of Castile, and the King’s
cousin Thibaut of Champagne, a famous warrior
ten years younger than Blanche. When Louis
VIII died in 1226, the family turned against
Blanche who was a masterful character; Thibaut
alone came to the young widow’s aid.
Here are some stanzas by Thibaut of Cham-
pagne with a translation by Adams. It is only a
guess that they were addressed to Queen Blanche.
Je ne puis pas sovent a li parler
Ne remirer les biau jex de son vis,
Ce pois moi que je n’i puis aler
Car ades est mes cuers ententis.
Ho! bele riens, douce sans connoissance,
Car me mettez en millor attendance
De bon espoir!
Dame, merci! donez-moi esperance -
De joie avoir.
Seldom the music of her voice I hear
Or wonder at the beauty of her eyes;
It grieves me that I may not follow there
Where at her feet my heart attentive lies.
Oh gentle Beauty, without consciousness,
Let me once feel a moment’s helpfulness.
If but one ray!
Grace, lady! Give me comfort to possess
A hope, one day!
I trust that I have in some degree justified one
interpretation of this tapestry.
Charles de Kay.

QOME RECENT MEDALS
The interest awakened by coins and
medals in America is of comparatively recent date.

for prior to the substitution of the old copper cent
by the small nickel cent in 1857, there existed no


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