Fine Art in Romantic Literature [pp. 52-66]

Fine Art in Romantic Literature.
shaking god, the deity of the ocean-depths,
who occasionally emerges into the sunlight,
and glides smoothly in his chariot over the
watery plain, but oftener contents himself
with lunging terrifically at the solid land,
smiting it amain with his huge billows, and
sinking back, amid the deep reverberations
of the blows, to the cavernous recesses of
the sea. The temple is worthy of the divinity; sturdy and thickset, defiant and frowning; such is the aspect of the edifice, and
such we imagine the god. This building
alone might, without great injustice, be taken
as a type of the architecture of both Greece
and Rome; but, lest the selection should
seem partial, let us turn to distant Athens,
"the eye of Greece," and seat ourselves before the Parthenon. Here the columns are
more slender, as befits the gracefulness of
the virgin goddess; the entablature is lighter; sculptures fill the pediment, and, in the
form of high reliefs, extend along the frieze,
belting the entire temple with a procession
of lifelike and highly-animated figures; everything is wrought of white marble, virgin
as Athena herself, and polished to suit the
taste of a fastidious people; the whole harmonious in design, faultless in execution,
and triumphal in situation. But certain features still remain common to the two structures. As Neptune, upon the western pediment of the Parthenon, contests with Athena the soil of Attica, the ruder natural forces
which minister to man's welfare being thus
brought into rivalry with the arts which refine and humanize, so the whole temple
bears testimony on the one hand to mighty,
but beneficent agencies, tending to material
comfort and luxury, and, on the other, to a
calmness akin to self-complacency, a satisfaction with the life that now is.
The architecture of the North and of the
Middle Ages is of a quite different order.
The Rhine at Cologne flows past the foundations of another temple, dedicated to the
service of another deity. That of Neptune
was solid and self-subsistent; this needs buttressing from without to enable it to sustain
itself at the altitude it has reached, for,
whereas the columns at Paestum are scarcely
thirty feet in height, these are five times as
long; from the roof to the ground is over
two hundred feet; while the spires are lifted
into air to a distance of more than three
hundred additional feet. And not only have
the'columns grown to these astounding dimensions, but the architrave which they support seems also to have felt the impulse upward. No longer resting in a horizontal
position, it has parted in two between each
pair of columns, and springs in buoyant
curves to the crown of a pointed arch. Simplicity has given place to complexity. The
forms of leaves and flowers are everywhere
imitated in a manner which indicates a love
for natural beauty, and a perception of its
relation to worship. The sculpture of the
exterior is not confined to a single level, but
climbs from base to summit, ensconcing itself
in niches up the buttresses, following the
lines of the arches, occupying the tympanum
of the facade, and crowning the pinnacles
above the roof. Nor are these sculptures
confined to the representation of tutelary divinities, or the demigods and heroes of the
land. Uncouth animal forms mingle with
those of bishop and king; monsters with
demoniac visages grin at the eaves. Life,
life everywhere, but not always joyous or
beautiful life. No law of self-restraint appears to be observed. Profusion reigns and
has made its masterpiece. The solid rock
has blossomed into flamboyant tracery; stone
has become etherealized and wayward; the
ribs of the ancient earth have grown mobile,
and mount as a wavering flame toward the
heavens.
But Sculpture has also its lesson to teach.
Among the Parthenon statues of the eastern
pediment, there is one of a reclining male
figure. It is immaterial whether we call it
Theseus or Olympus. What it imlorts us
to know is that the frame is strongly knit,
the arms and chest those of an athlete, the
head finely poised, the countenance expressive of vigor and determination. Though the
attitude is one of repose, the muscles are
not relaxed, but every linmb seems aglow with
the ruddy tide of health, and ready, at a
moment's warning, to start into activity.
1885.]
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