Fine Furniture
Furniture in Germany.
German Renaissance may be said to have made
its debut under Albrecht Dürer. There was already in many of the German
cities a disposition to copy Flemish artists, but under Dürer's influence
this new departure became developed in a high degree, and, as the sixteenth
century advanced, the Gothic designs of an earlier period were abandoned in
favour of the more free treatment of figure ornament, scrolls, enriched
panels and mouldings, which mark the new era in all Art work.
Many remarkable specimens of German carving
are to be met with in Augsburg, Aschaffenburg, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden,
Gotha, Munich, Manheim, Nuremberg, Ulm, Regensburg, and other old German
towns.
Although made of steel, the celebrated chair
at Longford Castle in Wiltshire is worthy of some notice as a remarkable
specimen of German Renaissance. It is fully described in Richardson's
"Studies from Old English Mansions." It was the work of Thomas Rukers, and
was presented by the city of Augsburg to the Emperor of Germany in 1577. The
city arms are at the back, and also the bust of the Emperor. The other
minute and carefully finished decorative subjects represent different events
in history; a triumphal procession of Caesar, the Prophet Daniel explaining
his dream, the landing of Aeneas, and other events. The Emperor Rudolphus
placed the chair in the City of Prague, Gustavus Adolphus plundered the city
and removed it to Sweden, whence it was brought by Mr. Gustavus Brander
about 100 years ago, and sold by him to Lord Radnor.
As is the case with Flemish wood-carving, it
is often difficult to identify German work, but its chief characteristics
may be said to include an exuberant realism and a fondness for minute
detail. M. Bonnaffé has described this work in a telling phrase: "l'ensemble
est tourmenté, laborieux, touffu tumultueux."
The Steel Chair, At Longford Castle,
Wiltshire.
There is a remarkable example of rather late
German Renaissance oak carving in the private chapel of S. Saviour's
Hospital, in Osnaburg Street, Regent's Park, London. The choir stalls, some
31 in number, and the massive doorway, formed part of a Carthusian monastery
at Buxheim, Bavaria, which was sold and brought to London after the
monastery had been secularised and had passed into the possession of the
territorial landlords, the Bassenheim family. At first intended to ornament
one of the Colleges at Oxford, it was afterwards resold and purchased by the
author, and fitted to the interior of S. Saviour's, and so far as the
proportions of the chapel would admit of such an arrangement, the relative
positions of the different parts are maintained. The figures of the twelve
apostles—of David, Eleazer, Moses, Aaron, and of the eighteen saints at the
backs of the choir stalls, are marvellous work, and the whole must have been
a harmonious and well considered arrangement of ornament. The work, executed
by the monks themselves, is said to have been commenced in 1600, and to have
been completed in 1651, and though a little later than, according to some
authorities, the best time of the Renaissance, is so good a representation
of German work of this period that it will well repay an examination. As the
author was responsible for its arrangement in its present position, he has
the permission of the Rev. Mother at the head of S. Saviour's to say that
any one who is interested in Art will be allowed to see the chapel.
German Carved Oak Buffet, 17th Century. (From
a Drawing by Prof. Heideloff.)
Fine Furniture
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