Franklyn Arden Crallan

“ The extraordinary delicacy and minuteness of detail of this microscopic work baffle description. There is another such a piece, also Flemish, in the Wallace collection which rivals that just referred to in misapplied talent. For, marvellous as these works of art are, they fail to satisfy. They make one’s eyes ache, they worry one as to how the result could ever have been obtained, and after the first astonishment one must ever feel that the same work of art on a scale large enough for a cathedral could have been carved with half the labour. ”

“ It marks the last struggle of this great school of design to withstand the oncoming flood of the new art—the great Renaissance. From this time onward Gothic work, in spite of various attempts, has never again taken a place in domestic decoration. The lines of the tracery style, the pinnacle, and the crocket—unequalled as they have always been in devotional expression—are universally considered unsuited for decoration in the ordinary dwelling-house. ”

“ Carving in relief is common enough, idols being produced in many forms, but savage relief work seldom calls for praise. The Kafir carves the handle of his spoon perhaps in the form of a giraffe, and in the round, with each leg cut separately and the four hoofs meeting at the bowl, hardly a comfortable form of handle to hold. The North American Indian shows a wider invention than some nations, the twist in various shapes being a favourite treatment say of pipe stems. ”

“ WOOD-CARVING, the process whereby wood is ornamented with design by means of sharp cutting tools held in the hand. The term includes anything within the limit of sculpture in the round up to hand-worked mouldings such as help to compose the tracery of screens, &c.
Material.—The texture of wood limits the scope of the carver in that the substance consists of bundles of fibres (called grain) growing in a vertical direction without much lateral cohesive strength. ”

“ Of the work of the 19th century little can be said in praise. Outside and beyond the present-day fashion for collecting old oak there seems to be no demand for carved decoration. In church work a certain number of carvers find occupation, as also for repairs or the production of imitations. But the carving one is accustomed to see in hotels or on board the modern ocean palace is in the main the work of the machine. There is no objection to the machine in itself, as it only grounds out and roughly models the design which is finished by hand. ”

“ The savage carver shows the same tendency to over-exalt his art by crowding on too much design as the more civilized craftsman of other lands, while he also on occasion exercises a good deal of restraint by a harmonious balance of decoration and plain space. So far as his chip designs and those patterns more or less depending on the line are concerned, his work as a rule is good and suitable, but when he takes to figure work his attempts do not usually meet with success. ”

“ The side was constantly enriched with elaborate tracery (Dennington, Norfolk) or with tracery and domestic scenes (North Cadbury, Somerset) , or would consist of a mass of sculpture in perspective, with canopy work, buttresses and sculptured niches, while the top of the bench end would be crowned with figures carved in the round, of the finest craftsmanship. Such work at Amiens cathedral is a marvel alike of conception, design and execution. In the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, some beautiful stall ends are to be seen. ”

“ The choir stalls, rood-screens, roofs, retables, of England, France and the Teutonic countries of Europe, have in execution, balance and proportion, never at any time been approached. In small designs, in detail, in minuteness, in mechanical accuracy, the carver of this time has had his rivals, but for greatness of architectural conception, for a just appreciation of decorative treatment, the designer of the 15th century stands alone. ”

“ The Hindu treatment of the circle is often exceedingly good, and might perhaps less rarely inspire western design. Sometimes native work strongly resembles Scandinavian of the 12th century. The scrolls are designed on the same lines, and foliage and flowers (beyond elementary buds) are not employed (Burma, 17th century, Victoria and Albert Museum) . The pierced work of Bombay calls for note. Foliage, fruit and flowers are constantly adapted to a scheme of fret-cut decoration for doors or windows as well as the frames of chairs and the edges of tables. ”

“ France, Germany and the Netherlands producing numberless examples not only of house decoration but of furniture as well. The wealth of the newly discovered American continent was only one factor which assisted in the civilizing influence of this time, and hand in hand with the spread of commerce came the desire for refinement. The custom of building houses chiefly in wood wherever timber was plentiful continued. Pilasters took the place of pinnacles, and vases or dolphins assisted the acanthus leaf to oust the older forms of design. ”

“ The whole is crowned with a very heavy crest of dragons and scroll work; the throne also is a wonderful example of carved treatment, and the doors of a cabinet in the same building show how rich an effect of foliage can be produced without the employment of stalk or scroll. The Chinaman, who is unequalled as a microscopic worker, does not limit himself to ivory or metal. One might almost say, he wastes his talent on such an ungrateful material as wood. In this material fans and other trifles are carved with a delicacy that courts disaster. ”

“ The style of design used during this great period owes much of its interest to the now obsolete custom of employing direct the craftsman and his men, instead of the present-day habit of giving the work to a contractor. ”

“ At the present time hardly a home in the land has not its old oak chest carved with the familiar half circle or scroll border along the top rail, or the arch pattern on the panels. The court cupboards, with their solid or open under parts and upper cornice supported by turned balusters of extravagant thickness, are to be seen wherever one goes. And chairs, real as well as spurious, with solid backs carved in the usual flat relief, are bought up with an avidity inseparable from fashion. ”

“ Out of a dragon's mouth grows a conventional tree arranged and balanced in excellent proportion. On another stall end a tree is carved growing out of the mouth of a fool. This custom of making foliage grow out of the mouth or eyes is hardly defensible, and was by no means confined to any country or time. We have plenty of Renaissance examples of the same treatment.
Before the 15th century preaching had not become a regular institution in England, and pulpits were not so common. ”

“ The native of New Guinea also employs the scroll for a motive, the flat treatment of which reminds one of a similar method in use in Scandinavian countries. The work of the New Zealander is greatly in advance of the average primitive type; he uses a very good scheme of scroll work for decorative purposes, the lines of the scrolls often being enriched with a small pattern in a way reminding one of the familiar Norman treatment, as for example the prows of his canoes. ”

“ Hence that variety of treatment, that endless diversity, which gives a charm and interest to Gothic art, unknown in more symmetrical epochs. The Gothic craftsman appreciated the cardinal fact that in design beautiful detail does not necessarily insure a beautiful composition, and subordinated the individual part to the general effect. ”

“ Obsidian, for example, is used by the modern Easter Islander in common with the Egyptian craftsman of the earlier dynasties. To carve a figure in wood is not only more difficult but is less satisfactory than marble (for which see Sculpture) , owing to the tendency of wood to crack, to be injured by insects, or to suffer from changes in the atmosphere. The texture of the material, too, often proves fatal to the expression of the features, especially in the classic type of youthful face. ”

“ Of numberless examples a 15th-century chest (Plate III. fig. 6) in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, may be referred to. The arrangements of foliage, &c., on top, back and front, are typical of Gothic at its best.
End of the 12th century–1300.—As this section treats of wood-carving in Europe generally, and not of any one country alone, the dates just named must be of necessity only approximate. The 13th century was marked not only by great skill both in design and treatment, but also much devotional feeling. The craftsman seems to have not merely carved, but to have carved to the glory of God. ”

“ Its fatal drawback is that it is of commercial value only when a large number of panels of the same pattern are turned out at the same time. It is this repetition which takes away the life of good work, which places that gulf between the contract job and the individual effort of the artist. ”

“ Four-post bedsteads are harder to come by. The back is usually broken up into small panels and carved, the best effect being seen in those examples where the panelling or the framework only is decorated. The dining-hall tables often had six legs of great substance, which were turned somewhat after the shape of a covered cup, and were carved with foliage bearing a distant resemblance to the acanthus. Rooms were generally panelled with oak, sometimes divided at intervals by flat pilasters and the upper frieze carved with scroll work or dolphins. ”

“ Panelling—often long and narrow—was commonly used for all sorts of domestic purposes, a feature being a medallion in the centre with a simple arrangement of vase, dolphins, dragons, or birds and foliage filling in the spaces above and below.
The cabinets of Holland and Belgium are excellent models of design. These pieces of furniture were usually arranged in two storeys with a fine moulded and carved cornice, mid division and plinth. The pilasters at the sides, and small raised panels carved only on the projecting part, would compose a very harmonious whole. ”

“ The method of decorating a subject with groups of incised lines, straight or curved, though often very effective and in every way suitable, is not a very advanced form of art and has decided limits. The native of the Congo does good work of this kind. ”

“ No country in Europe possesses roofs to equal those of England in the 15th century. The great roof of Westminster Hall (see Roof) remains to the present day without an equal. In Norfolk and Suffolk roofs abound of the hammer-beam class; that at Woolpit, Suffolk, is of the first rank. Each bracket is carved with Roofs. strongly designed foliage, the end of every beam terminates in an angel carrying a shield, and the purlins are crested, while each truss is supported by a canopied niche (containing a figure) resting on an angel corbel. ”

“ It consists of two panels (one above the other) of relief sculpture, surmounted by a semicircular arch of conventional foliage springing from columns ornamented with animals in foliage of spiral form. The capitals and bases are square, each face being carved with a figure. It is a wonderfully fine piece of work, conceived in the best decorative spirit.
In Scandinavian countries we find some very early work of excellent design. ”

“ The Breton screen at St Fiacre-le-Faouet is a wonderful example of French work of this time, but does not compare with the best English examples. Its flamboyant lines and its small tracery never obtained any foothold in England, though screens carved in this way (Colebrook, Devon) are sometimes to be found.
The rood was sometimes of such dimensions as to require some support in addition to the gallery on which it rested. A carved beam was used from which a chain connected the rood itself. At Cullompton, Devon, such a beam still exists, and is carved with foliage ”

“ On the Continent we have a certain proportion of timbered houses, the feature of which is the sculpture. At Bayeux, Bourges, Reims and pre-eminently Rouen, we see by the figures of saints, bishops or virgins, how much Domestic work. the religious feeling of the middle ages entered into the domestic life. ”

“ The panels are grouped together under canopy work forming one harmonious whole. The genius of this great carver shows itself in the large variety of the facial expression of those wonderful figures all instinct with life and movement. In France few retables exist outside the museums. ”

“ There are to be found in the principal museums of Europe many Egyptian examples of the utmost interest—mummy cases of human beings with the face alone carved, animal mummy cases, sometimes boxes, with the figure of a lizard, perhaps, carved in full relief standing on the lid. ”

“ The quicker he works, the fewer times he goes over the same part, the more sketchy the subsidiary portions, the less high finish he puts into the detail, the better the result. Incised work, chip-carving, &c., are generally finished at once and not in stages. Much carved work, that of savage nations for instance, is of course carved without the assistance of a bench. ”