DOI Heft:
September 6, 1856
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16618#0099
September 6, 1856.]
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
91
PUNCH AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.
have acted in a slightly antimonial way on the patients, and left them
rather ill, although with a consolatory expectation of being better by-
aud-by. In examining the monsters on which they are treading, the
obseiver will not fail to notice their Majesties' highlows, which are
No. III.—THE MEDIAEVAL COURTS. remarkable for simplicity of make and dimness of blacking.
Having revelled in the chivalric and antiquarian enthusiasm kindled °? other side of the doorway is a similar monument, representing
bv rhe surrounding memorials of the ages of romance, and in the delight I anothe.r Archbishop of the same Cathedral, Siegfbid von Epstein
occasioned by the very great beautv of many of them, the spectator < crownmS tw° German kings with nearly as much ease and freedom of
may, satiated with the gorgeousness aud splendour, advantageously
descend to the enjoyment of some of the lighter peculiarities, of those
ancient aud venerable, but to a certain extent grotesque, objects
contained in the Medieval Courts.
Entering the German Court from the Byzantine, a very remarkable
cavalry officer will arrest his attention in the centre of the place. There
be will behold a bronze equestrian statue, from the Cathedral Square at
P/ague, of a knight in armour spearing a Pterodactyle, or flying saurian.
The warrior is, of course, the celebrated St. George; the reptile the
fqually celebiakd Dragon. The saint i-, knitting his brows in so severe
gesture as Peter von Aspett. Siegfbid was the predecessor of
Peter; he flourished his crozier ahout 1249. Peter brandished his
from 1305 to 1320. Siegfrid's proportions exceed even Peter's.
Their superiority of size to the kings is intended to denote that they
were, in point of importance, much greater men; as they probably con-
sidered themselves.
Opposite to our friend Siegfrid's monument, on the other side of
the Court, is that of Ulrich von Gemmingen, another of the Arch-
bishops of Mayence; date 1545. This work betokens a somewhat
increasing tendency in Art to imitate natural attitudes and expressions.
The Archbishop on his knees is a very fair statue of a prelate saying his
prayers, and the two other bishops behind him, and who seem to be
encouraging him, have faces which, though curiously gnarled and
wrinkled, are nevertheless such as are occasionally met with amongst
living fogies. These venerable Churchmen protrude their chins, also,
in a manner which, if ludicrous, is not impossible.
Over the entrance to the Nave is a row of figures very cleverly
execuied : a set of Pools or Jongleurs, from the Town Hall at Munich.
They are shown as playing their antics before a public assembly; and
they differ from the sculptures just noticed not only in artistic merit,
hut also in being designedly comical. There are few living fools in any
Town Hall that come up to these.
Before leaving the German Court, it may be advisable to study the
sculptures of Adam Krafft, from the Frauenkirche, and elsewhere, at
Nuremberg, which amid much that is original, vigorous and expressive,
will here and there agreeably remind us of some other carvings from
I he same place, the figures of the inmates of Noah's Ark, wherewith
our childhood was familiar.
Passing now into the English Mediaeval Court, we may be said to
find ourselves at home. It is all very well to talk of the enlightenment
of the 19th century, but a glance around will convince the most scep-
tical that the 12tb, 13th, 14th, 15f h, and 16th centuries excelled the
present times in illumination. We see that our mediaeval beauties
of architecture and statuary were not beauties without paint; as is
perhaps the case still with other beauties of middle age. Kin«s, in
their royal robes of gold and purple and pink; Knights appareled in
their own real coats of arm?, or, azure, gules, diversified with gilt
fleurs-de-lys and louge lions; noble dames emblazoned like tropical
birds to match, and ecclesiastics glowing in their canonical colours^
as we behold them reclining in efiky on their tombs, or standing
sentry in their niches, combine to impress us wiih the idea that nearly
all light had got decomposed in the dark ages, and spread over the
surface of everything in the hues of the rainbow.
The immense siz<i of the smirs of the Black Prince, whose monu-
a manner that his frown, alone, might be imagined sufficient to wither ment is one of those on the floor of the Com t, is worthy of remark; for
the sort of alligator sprawling under his horse, as an American sports- it may be observed that his cbarger could not have been an enviable
man is related to have been wont to strike down opossums by a mere
grin. There is an angularity and tension about this fine figure of
St. George which is both characteristic of the age (the 14th century)
and conformable to the subject : many Metropolitan visitors will
doubtless Temark that the saint is "giving it" to his scaly antagonist
" pretty stiff."
Oq the left of the doorway, opening from the Byzantine C jurt, is a
delightful monument. It is that of Archbishop Peter von Aspett.
from Mayeoce Cathedral: a large person apparently, for he is flanked
by three kings, and is about twice or three times as big as any one o*'
thtm. He is performing on them a process, which, as it includes all
three at once, and as the kings, hv the side of the Archbishop, look
like boys, might be mistaken for Confirmation. Coronation, however,
is the ceremony intended: and the apparently simultaneous operation
must be understood as a series of successive acts. The sculpture simply
means than Von Aspctt did, in the course of his archiepiscopate, crown
three sovereigns; the Emperor Henry thk Seventh, King John
of Bohemia, and Louis of Bavaria. It does not intimate that the
Archbishop crowned three several monarchs at different times, and yet
at one aud the same moment: although the posture of the prelate may
appear miraculous. He is doing his office in an ambidexterous rather
than a dexterous manner, using both bands, which, with a wonderful
twist, are applied to the crowus of two figures on the right, and one on
the left. His h^ad rest3 on a pillow, whilst the kings stand pa>allel
and at full length with him; so that he appears to occupy a recumbent
and a perpendicular position at once. His body is painfully bent on
one side, but he looks straight before him with a stare of marvellous
complacency. The features of the kings are somewhat distorted aud
pile, or rather sallow : they express a mixture of bodily uneasiness and
spiritual satisfaction. Apparently the Archbishop's touch has expelled | horse. The mailed gloves of the Prince are furnished with brass SDiKes
from their systems certain evil influences, which, under the torm of' in the situation of the knuckles, which would indicate that the boxing-
hobgoblins, are wriggling beneath their feet. The exorcism seems to gloves of our ancestors were made on an exactly opposite principle to
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
91
PUNCH AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.
have acted in a slightly antimonial way on the patients, and left them
rather ill, although with a consolatory expectation of being better by-
aud-by. In examining the monsters on which they are treading, the
obseiver will not fail to notice their Majesties' highlows, which are
No. III.—THE MEDIAEVAL COURTS. remarkable for simplicity of make and dimness of blacking.
Having revelled in the chivalric and antiquarian enthusiasm kindled °? other side of the doorway is a similar monument, representing
bv rhe surrounding memorials of the ages of romance, and in the delight I anothe.r Archbishop of the same Cathedral, Siegfbid von Epstein
occasioned by the very great beautv of many of them, the spectator < crownmS tw° German kings with nearly as much ease and freedom of
may, satiated with the gorgeousness aud splendour, advantageously
descend to the enjoyment of some of the lighter peculiarities, of those
ancient aud venerable, but to a certain extent grotesque, objects
contained in the Medieval Courts.
Entering the German Court from the Byzantine, a very remarkable
cavalry officer will arrest his attention in the centre of the place. There
be will behold a bronze equestrian statue, from the Cathedral Square at
P/ague, of a knight in armour spearing a Pterodactyle, or flying saurian.
The warrior is, of course, the celebrated St. George; the reptile the
fqually celebiakd Dragon. The saint i-, knitting his brows in so severe
gesture as Peter von Aspett. Siegfbid was the predecessor of
Peter; he flourished his crozier ahout 1249. Peter brandished his
from 1305 to 1320. Siegfrid's proportions exceed even Peter's.
Their superiority of size to the kings is intended to denote that they
were, in point of importance, much greater men; as they probably con-
sidered themselves.
Opposite to our friend Siegfrid's monument, on the other side of
the Court, is that of Ulrich von Gemmingen, another of the Arch-
bishops of Mayence; date 1545. This work betokens a somewhat
increasing tendency in Art to imitate natural attitudes and expressions.
The Archbishop on his knees is a very fair statue of a prelate saying his
prayers, and the two other bishops behind him, and who seem to be
encouraging him, have faces which, though curiously gnarled and
wrinkled, are nevertheless such as are occasionally met with amongst
living fogies. These venerable Churchmen protrude their chins, also,
in a manner which, if ludicrous, is not impossible.
Over the entrance to the Nave is a row of figures very cleverly
execuied : a set of Pools or Jongleurs, from the Town Hall at Munich.
They are shown as playing their antics before a public assembly; and
they differ from the sculptures just noticed not only in artistic merit,
hut also in being designedly comical. There are few living fools in any
Town Hall that come up to these.
Before leaving the German Court, it may be advisable to study the
sculptures of Adam Krafft, from the Frauenkirche, and elsewhere, at
Nuremberg, which amid much that is original, vigorous and expressive,
will here and there agreeably remind us of some other carvings from
I he same place, the figures of the inmates of Noah's Ark, wherewith
our childhood was familiar.
Passing now into the English Mediaeval Court, we may be said to
find ourselves at home. It is all very well to talk of the enlightenment
of the 19th century, but a glance around will convince the most scep-
tical that the 12tb, 13th, 14th, 15f h, and 16th centuries excelled the
present times in illumination. We see that our mediaeval beauties
of architecture and statuary were not beauties without paint; as is
perhaps the case still with other beauties of middle age. Kin«s, in
their royal robes of gold and purple and pink; Knights appareled in
their own real coats of arm?, or, azure, gules, diversified with gilt
fleurs-de-lys and louge lions; noble dames emblazoned like tropical
birds to match, and ecclesiastics glowing in their canonical colours^
as we behold them reclining in efiky on their tombs, or standing
sentry in their niches, combine to impress us wiih the idea that nearly
all light had got decomposed in the dark ages, and spread over the
surface of everything in the hues of the rainbow.
The immense siz<i of the smirs of the Black Prince, whose monu-
a manner that his frown, alone, might be imagined sufficient to wither ment is one of those on the floor of the Com t, is worthy of remark; for
the sort of alligator sprawling under his horse, as an American sports- it may be observed that his cbarger could not have been an enviable
man is related to have been wont to strike down opossums by a mere
grin. There is an angularity and tension about this fine figure of
St. George which is both characteristic of the age (the 14th century)
and conformable to the subject : many Metropolitan visitors will
doubtless Temark that the saint is "giving it" to his scaly antagonist
" pretty stiff."
Oq the left of the doorway, opening from the Byzantine C jurt, is a
delightful monument. It is that of Archbishop Peter von Aspett.
from Mayeoce Cathedral: a large person apparently, for he is flanked
by three kings, and is about twice or three times as big as any one o*'
thtm. He is performing on them a process, which, as it includes all
three at once, and as the kings, hv the side of the Archbishop, look
like boys, might be mistaken for Confirmation. Coronation, however,
is the ceremony intended: and the apparently simultaneous operation
must be understood as a series of successive acts. The sculpture simply
means than Von Aspctt did, in the course of his archiepiscopate, crown
three sovereigns; the Emperor Henry thk Seventh, King John
of Bohemia, and Louis of Bavaria. It does not intimate that the
Archbishop crowned three several monarchs at different times, and yet
at one aud the same moment: although the posture of the prelate may
appear miraculous. He is doing his office in an ambidexterous rather
than a dexterous manner, using both bands, which, with a wonderful
twist, are applied to the crowus of two figures on the right, and one on
the left. His h^ad rest3 on a pillow, whilst the kings stand pa>allel
and at full length with him; so that he appears to occupy a recumbent
and a perpendicular position at once. His body is painfully bent on
one side, but he looks straight before him with a stare of marvellous
complacency. The features of the kings are somewhat distorted aud
pile, or rather sallow : they express a mixture of bodily uneasiness and
spiritual satisfaction. Apparently the Archbishop's touch has expelled | horse. The mailed gloves of the Prince are furnished with brass SDiKes
from their systems certain evil influences, which, under the torm of' in the situation of the knuckles, which would indicate that the boxing-
hobgoblins, are wriggling beneath their feet. The exorcism seems to gloves of our ancestors were made on an exactly opposite principle to