A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

Another marked event in the art history of the thirteenth century was the introduction of sculpture into England. The few pieces of plastic art which existed in that country before this date were not sufficient in number or excellence to merit the name of English sculpture.

The first important step was made about the end of the twelfth century, when Guillaume de Sens, a French architect, was employed to build a new choir to Canterbury Cathedral. Not long after this the Temple Church was erected; then Westminster Abbey followed, and at length, under Henry III., all the arts were rapidly advanced in his kingdom. This king summoned artists and skilled workmen from different countries, and portrait-sculpture received especial attention in the England of that day. By comparing English tomb-sculpture with that of other countries, it is seen that the aim of the artists was to make the statues resemble those whose memories they honored, far more than other nations had done. The illustration given here, with its air of life—almost of motion—is a good example of what I mean (Fig. 77).

The sculptures upon the English exteriors, and, indeed, upon the interiors of edifices, were far less lavish than on the Continent; but in Wells Cathedral, completed before 1250, there is a wealth of sculpture for an English church of this date, and from this time forward the plastic arts were of great importance in Great Britain.

With the beginning of the fourteenth century there were great changes in the religious and political affairs of all Europe. The Pope no longer held the supreme authority that had belonged to his office, and the imperial power was also much shaken. We cannot speak of these subjects in detail here, but the result to art of these changes was seen in a development of individualism, and the effects of it did not show an improvement when considered as a whole, though it has some new features which were attractive.

In these days of which we now speak the word citizen had a far deeper meaning than ever before, and the growth of wealth and prosperity in the citizen classes gave a new impulse to all the activities of life, and to art along with others.

This new life and spirit gave more freedom to artists, and they attempted new effects, so that a far greater variety was made in their works. The statue of the Madonna, for example, was so often repeated that it afforded an opportunity for all sorts of experiments, by which the sculptors tried to add to the deep feeling and the devotion that had already been expressed in the representations of the sweet Mother of Christ. But just here they failed; the new era brought more realism, more likeness to nature, more freedom to the artist to put something of himself into his work; but much of the deep thought and the devout feeling of the thirteenth century was lost, and it cannot be said that art was elevated in its tone.

There were influences, too, in the new state of society which permitted details to be introduced into religious subjects which were far from suitable or devotional; sometimes they were even comic in their effects. For example, such scenes as allowed the representation of evil spirits or devils were made to serve for all sorts of coarse, grotesque, and burlesque side-play, and the little figures which represented these powers were made to do all kinds of ridiculous capers side by side with such serious subjects as the Last Judgment or the death scenes of eminent men. This makes us feel, when we study the fourteenth century, that the sculpture of the Middle Ages reached its highest point in the thirteenth century, and soon after began to decline.

In Germany the most important sculptures of this period were executed at Nuremberg. The Church of St. Laurence, that of St. Sebald, the Frauenkirche, or the Church of Our Lady, are all great monuments to the art of this city and the calm dignity and grace which marked the works of the Nuremberg sculptors.

At the close of the century, between 1385 and 1396, Master Heinrich den Balier erected the "Beautiful Fountain," which is still the pride of the city and a splendid monument of the time. In Nuremberg many of the dwelling-houses were decorated with sculptures, and it is now one of the most interesting places in all Germany to the student of ancient art.

We have not the space to speak in detail of the sculpture of the time; Augsburg, Prague, Stuttgart, Bamberg, Würzburg, Cologne, and many other German towns and cities have rich treasures of its work, but its character is everywhere much the same, and great activity, with a tendency toward decline, are its prominent features.