ALINARI PHOTO.][BARGELLO, FLORENCE
33. PLAQUE FROM A CASKET
French, fourteenth century
Quite a new range of subjects were introduced at the end of the thirteenth century, and in civil as in religious subjects the compositions were fixed and varied but little afterwards; though we know that about 1340 there was a complete change in dress, and the old-fashioned long loose robes, which fell in such soft folds were discarded for tighter and rather shorter garments; these are sometimes seen in social groups, as the games of la mourre and la main chaude (a sort of forfeits), which are carved on a pair of writing tablets in the Louvre. The subjects are nearly all from literary sources, the miniatures of the MSS. having once more furnished models for the ivory carver. There is a beautiful little casket in the British Museum with scenes from the romance of La Chastelaine de Vergi, and the delightful dancing group in the Bargello ([Fig. 33]) formed part of a similar casket. The rhythmic flow of the soft rich drapery as the dancers move to the sound of music is exceedingly beautiful and the treatment broad, considering that the whole scene is contained in little more than six square inches. The figures are well proportioned, but with hardly any muscular development, and there is an entire absence of manliness in the male figures, who can only be recognized by the arrangement of the hair, the centre lock being cut across the forehead, and by the slightly shorter robes.
Scenes are taken from the Lai d’Aristote and the other so-called classical romances of Jason, Alexander and Virgil, the latter being described as a mediæval enchanter. Both he and poor Aristotle were most cruelly treated by their mistresses, the dignified Virgil being compelled to crawl on all fours while the lady rides on his back, and Aristotle fared even worse, being suspended in mid-air in a basket. The cycle of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are ever popular themes, especially the scene of Tristan and Iseult surprised by the reflection of King Mark in the fountain. The Assault of the Castle of Love was taken from an allegory in the Romaunt de la Rose. The knights ride up to force the gate or scale the battlements and are met with a shower of posies, but the fair garrison makes but a faint show of resistance, and the enemy is soon within.
Four lions or basilisks crawl along the outer edge of these mirrors for convenience in opening the circular cover. There are examples in all collections of these civil ivories, some of a perfectly marvellous delicacy and minuteness, and it is unnecessary to name any special examples, except, perhaps, a fine but broken mirror cover in the Musée de Cluny which is splendidly carved with the figures of a king and queen.
[MAYER COLLECTION, LIVERPOOL MUSEUM
34. THE ELOPEMENT OF GUINIVERE
French, fourteenth century
The art of Southern France had a peculiar local style, the figures being heavier and flabbier with little thought of the modelling of forms, which were thickly covered with brilliant paint; there is perhaps a greater freedom in the grouping of the figures.
By the end of the fourteenth century the Franco-Flemish influence appears, and art rapidly lost its delicacy in the attempts at realism.