Meyer Franz. A Handbook of Ornament

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The

Grottesque.

—

The Half-Figure. 101

the freest and most

arbitrary manner. Squatting,

winged

female

figures without arms; human bodies

with fishtails,

with endlessly

long,

winding necks, with extremities terminating in foliage, are

types of

this style

of ornamentation.

The origin

of the

Grottesque

must be

sought in the decorative painting of the Romans. Pompeii

offers

copious matorial. Various

painters of the

Italian Renascence,

among

them Rafael, revived

and

used

the antique Grottesque

painting

(Rafael's

loggie), after

the discovery of the grottesque

painting

the

thermae

of Titus

at Rome, (from

these'

vaults

Grottoes is

derived

the name

grottesque).

The Grottesques

are

a striking example of the

playful

and

artistic

feeling

of the

Ancients;

and stand

in great

contrast to

the

coarse

attempts

at the

comic

to be found in Medieval art.

From

decorative

painting

the

grottesques

passed

the plastic art of the

Renascence.

The

revival

of Italian

decorative

painting in modem art

has

led

the

retention of

these

forms also.

Plate

66.

The Grottesque.

1. Part

of pilaster, Italian

Renascence,

Benedetto da

Majano.

2. Part of

pilaster, tomb

of Louis XII.,

St.

Denis,

French Re-

nascence.

Part of

pilaster,

Palazzo magnifico,

Siena,

Italian

Renascence,

by Barile.

—

Parts

ornamental

columns, Palazzo Guadagni,

Florence,

(Schiitz).

6. Italian

majolica

pavement,

Siena, Italian Renascence,

(L'art

pour

tous).

Stall

in San

Severino, Naples, Italian Renascence,

Barto-

lommeo

Chiarini

and Bernadino Torelli da

Brescia,

(Schiitz).

Stall,

San

Agostino,

Perugia, Italian Renascence.

The

Half-Figure.

(Plates 67—68.)

From Antique

times

the present day. Half-

figures

have

been popular

as startings

for ornaments.

The upper part

of the

human

body

undergoes

little variation

from its natural

forms.

Below the

breast

or the stomach, often defined

girdle,

there is

developed

a sort of

inverted foliage

-cup, from which

the scroll

orna-

ment

grows.

Half-figures

are found not only

in the flat and in bas-

relief,

but also

in round

plastic art,

in this latter

case as brackets

for

lamps,

torchholders,

doorknockers,

&c.

Plate

67. The Half-Figure.

—2.

Panels, Roman

Altar.

3. Part of a

Roman relief.

102 NATURAL FORMS.

Plate

65.

The

Medusa

Head.

NATURAL

FORMS.

103

The

Grottesque

Plate 66.

104

NATURAL FORMS.

Plate

67.

The

Half-Figure.

NATURAL

FORMS.

105

The

Half-Figure.

riate 68.

106 The

Half-Figure.

—

The

Sphinx,

and

the Centaur.

Socle of Altar,

cathedral

of Orvieto, Italian

Renascence,

(Go-

werbehalle).

5. Part of

relief,

Italian

Renascence.

Plate

68. The

Half-Figure.

Bracket,

1750,

Italian,

South Kensington

Museum,

London, (Arundel

Society,

Objects

of art).

Decoration on

ceiling.

Castle

of S. Angelo,

Rome, Italian

Re-

nascence.

Sketch,

Polidore

da Caravaggio, 16th century,

Italian,

Louvre,

Paris.

Centre

of a

relief,

lectern, cathedral, Limoges, French

Renascence.

6. From

basrelief, by

Verchfere,

Modem,

French.

The Sphinx, and

the

Centaur.

(Plate

69.)

The

Sphinx

is an imaginary

combination

of the

Human

bust

with the body of the Lion. It was

originally an

Egyptian

invention.

The

colossal Sphinx of Memphis was

begun

under Cheops;

it is

hewn

from the living rock, partly

supplemented by

masonry,

and is

than

150

feet long. The bust

generally

Woman's;

but

in some

cases it is a

Ram

head. The

Sphinx

the

guardian

of temples

and

tombs, in

front of. which it

frequently

ranged in

avenues. In

the

Roman period:

wings are added,

probably

through

Assyrian

influence;

and the

crouching position is

sometimes

exchanged

for the

half-erect.

The Renascence uses

Sphinxes in

painting (as

double

sphinx also,

with

single head and

double body), and in

free

shapes as

fire dogs,

&c.

The Barocco period

adorns

gardens and

portals with

crouching

Sphinxes,

(the castle garden at

Schwetzingen

contains a

considerable

number).

Centaurs are

imaginary wild monsters,

with

the fore

part of

Man

and the hinder part of a Horse.

Among

the

Greeks,

the

Centaur

ori-

ginally symbolised

the

Thessalian

race

of equestrian

renown.

Mytho-

logy

recounts their struggles with

the Lapithae.

Later

delineations,

such as

the

mural

paintings of

Pompeii,

depict

the

Centaurs

less

vdli, tamed to

the

service of

Dionysos, and

sporting

with

Amorini

and

Bacchantes.

The decorative capabilities of

these

fantastic

figures

has

ensured

them renewed

application

in later styles;

and

they

are

some-

times used

in modem decoration.

Plate

69. The Sphinx, and the

Centaue.

Crouching

Sphinx, Egyptian, Louvre,

Paris,

(Raguenet).

Crouching

Sphinx with ram head,

Egyptian,

(Raguenet).

3»

Lower

comer of an antique

candelabrum,

Roman-

NATURAL FORMS. 107

The Sphinx, aud the Centaur.

Plate 69.

108

NATURAL

FORMS.

Plate

70.

The

Cherub

Head, &c.

Miscellaneous

Heads.

109

Sitting

Sphinx,

Modern, French, Andiron, by

the

sculptor

Piat, (L'art

pour tous).

Crouching

Sphinx,

modem.

—

Centaurs and

Bacchante?, Mural paintings,

Pompeii,

(Chofa

d'oeuvre de

l'art antique).

Miscellaneous Heads.

(Plate

70.)

Angel-faces,

winged, youthful heads,

,with

circular or disc-like

halo,

are first

met-"with

in the

Byzantine

style, as a

result

the

activity of ecclesiastical artists. In the early

Italian

Renascence,

the

rendering

is charmingly naive (Lucca

della Robbia

may

specially

mentioned)', they

adorn

friezes

and

arches,

fill medallions, and

are

found

in borders. They occur often on Tombs;

and they

are

also

much

used in Modem ecclesiastical decoration.

The profiles

Minerva,

Mars,

Apollo,

frequently

occur in me-

dallions.

The

Skull

or Death's head, the

gruesome

grinning

relic of de-

parted life, and emblem of Decay and

Death, finds its place in the

Dances of Death,

one time

popular; also on

the shield of Death

(Albrecht Diirer), on Monuments, Tombs,

&c.

It is

generally

represented

front view,

and

often

over

two crossed

bones.

Plate 70. The Cherub Head,

&c.

Cherub, Early ItaL'an

Renascence.

Cherub, candelabrum, Certosa near

Pavia, Italian Renascence.

Frame, Germanisches Museum, Nuremberg.

Column

the Plague, Vienna,

Barocco.

Modem, medallion,

by Prof. Heer, Carlsruhe.

Minerva,

Berlin

Museiim, Modem.

Minerva,

Modem.

8. "Warrior, Louvre,

Paris,

(Baldiis).

9. Mars,

from Li^vre,

Les Arts

Decoratifs.

10.

Skull, from nature.

ARTIFICIAL

OBJECTS.

Besides Geometrical elements,

and those

copied

from organic

Nature:

ornamental art avails itself

of Artificial

objects, either alone

or in

combination with

the two first-named

classes. But

this does

not include

the accidental

use of all kinds of

articles in symbolic

work,

and the still-life painting,

but only the vessels,

tools weapons,

instruments,

shields,

knots, ribbons,

&c.,

which are

used as decora-

tion,

blended with

it.

It is

easy

to understand how the vessels of religious rites passed

into the decoration

of religious edifices,

temples,

and churches. In

the Antique style:

the altars, tripods,

candelabra,

sacrificial

axes,

sprinklers.

&c.;

in the Christian styles: the

symbol

of the cross,

marks

piiestly dignity,

the instruments

the Passion,

&c.,

decorate

fiiezos,

walls,

and panels,

(Comp.

Plate

75,

figs.

and

6).

Decorative

groups of hunting and

warlike implements and of

tools, &c.,

are

termed Trophies:

the

devices

of guilds and companies

are

Symbols.

The following

chapters will treat

of these

things in detail,

along

with other designs,

somewhat rarer

occurrence,

which also belong

this section.

The

Trophy. (Plates

and

72.)

was

the

custom of the Greeks to

hang

on the

trunks of

trees, the weapons

which the

flying

enemy

had left behind

the