DOI Heft:
No. 90 (September, 1900)
DOI Artikel:Henwood Blamey, J.: A few notes on bench-ends
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19785#0272
Bench-ends
a bellows. In another panel the geese have rebelled, humour. The animals introduced into the designs
and their chosen leader, the ape, is sitting aloft, of the Middle Ages are very frequently symbolical,
baton in hand, evidently passing sentence on the and are used, as in the panels at South Brent, to
fox below, who has been deprived of his robes of represent some moral character ; others are very
grotesque and wonderful, evidently drawn from the
Bestiaria, or Book of Beasts, the natural history
t book of mediaeval times. In an age when pictures
j <H W6re rare^ ^ ever seen *n out-of-the-way parts of
/jF' XjHfvV\ -V\ the country, and those that could read were few,
j&^v/jk. «\ v^V v"V the carvings on the bench-end must have excited a
deal of interest in a quiet neighbourhood, and
^t^^^^^ikX ^\ C5^^^^L ^O^k advantage was often taken of the fact to carve a
These old craftsmen were, in their way, very
realistic; there was no compromise with them;
they carved the Devil as they imagined him to
exist, and they have a quaint way of mixing up
BENCH-END AT SOUTH BRENT FROM A SKETCH
BY J. H. BLAMEY
office, and sits on his hind legs in handcuffs. In
the lower division of the panel the story is con-
tinued. The fox is here in the stocks, with the
mitre hanging before him, and an ape with a battle-
axe on guard. (This bench-end is illustrated
on page 241.) In another panel vengeance is
being carried out : here the fox is hanged by the
geese.
The execution of these panels is wonderfully
bold and full of "go " and with plenty of old-world
BENCH-END AT SOUTH BRENT FROM A SKETCH
BY J. H. BLAMEY
239
a bellows. In another panel the geese have rebelled, humour. The animals introduced into the designs
and their chosen leader, the ape, is sitting aloft, of the Middle Ages are very frequently symbolical,
baton in hand, evidently passing sentence on the and are used, as in the panels at South Brent, to
fox below, who has been deprived of his robes of represent some moral character ; others are very
grotesque and wonderful, evidently drawn from the
Bestiaria, or Book of Beasts, the natural history
t book of mediaeval times. In an age when pictures
j <H W6re rare^ ^ ever seen *n out-of-the-way parts of
/jF' XjHfvV\ -V\ the country, and those that could read were few,
j&^v/jk. «\ v^V v"V the carvings on the bench-end must have excited a
deal of interest in a quiet neighbourhood, and
^t^^^^^ikX ^\ C5^^^^L ^O^k advantage was often taken of the fact to carve a
These old craftsmen were, in their way, very
realistic; there was no compromise with them;
they carved the Devil as they imagined him to
exist, and they have a quaint way of mixing up
BENCH-END AT SOUTH BRENT FROM A SKETCH
BY J. H. BLAMEY
office, and sits on his hind legs in handcuffs. In
the lower division of the panel the story is con-
tinued. The fox is here in the stocks, with the
mitre hanging before him, and an ape with a battle-
axe on guard. (This bench-end is illustrated
on page 241.) In another panel vengeance is
being carried out : here the fox is hanged by the
geese.
The execution of these panels is wonderfully
bold and full of "go " and with plenty of old-world
BENCH-END AT SOUTH BRENT FROM A SKETCH
BY J. H. BLAMEY
239