586 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 243. 



SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. 



(Concluded from p. 539.) 



A divine, reasoning philosophically with a lady 

 on the possibility of the appearance of ghosts, was 

 much perplexed by her simple inquiry as to where 

 the clothes came from. If then the mediaeval 

 effigies are alive, how can the costume be recon- 

 ciled with their position ? Where do their clothes 

 come from ? The theory advanced in the two 

 preceding Numbers seems to offer a ready solu- 

 tion. Another corroborative fact remains to be 

 stated, that when a kneeling attitude superseded 

 the recumbent, the brasses were placed upon the 

 wall, testifying, in some degree at least, that the 

 horizontal figures were not traditionally re- 

 garded as living portraits. In anticipation of 

 objections, it can only be said that " they have no 

 speculation in their eyes;" that out of the thou- 

 sands in existence, a few exceptions will only 

 prove the rule ; and that their incongruities were 

 conventional. 



It is now my purpose to offer a few more 

 reasons for releasing the sculptors of the present 

 day from a rigid adherence to the uplifted hands 

 and the straight head. That there is grace, dignity, 

 and pious serenity occasionally perceptible in these 

 interesting relics of bygone days, which so ap- 

 propriately furnish our magnificent cathedrals, 

 and embellish numbers of our parochial churches, 

 is freely admitted ; but that they are formal, con- 

 ventional, monotonous, and consequently unfitted 

 for modern imitation, cannot reasonably be denied 

 by a person with pretensions to taste. From the 

 study of anatomy, the improvement in painting, 

 the invention of engraving, our acquaintance with 

 the matchless works of Greece, and other causes, 

 this branch of art has made considerable advance. 

 Why, then, should a sculptor be now " cabin' d, 

 cribb'd, confined, bound in," by such inflexible 

 conditions ? If some variation is discoverable in 

 the ancient types, why should he not have the 

 advantage of selection, and avail himself of that 

 attitude best adapted to the situation of the tomb 

 and the character of the deceased ? Not to mul- 

 tiply examples of deviation — the Queen of Henry 

 IV., in Canterbury Cathedral, has one arm repos- 

 ing at her side, and the other upon her breast. 

 The arms of Edward III., in Westminster Abbey, 

 are both stretched at his side. An abbot of 

 Peterborough, in that cathedral, holds a book 

 and a pastoral staff. The hands of Richard Beau- 

 champ, Earl of Warwick, in his beautiful chapel, 

 are raised, but separate. Several have the arms 

 crossed, expressive of humility and resignation. 

 Others (lay as well as clerical) press a holy book 

 to their bosom ; and some place the right hand 

 upon the heart, denoting the warmth of their love 



and faith. In his description of Italian monu- 

 ments, Mr. Ruskin remarks, that " though in 

 general, in tombs of this kind, the face of the 

 statue is slightly turned towards the spectator, in 

 one case it is turned away" (Stones of Venice, 

 vol. iii. p. 14.); and instances are not unfrequent 

 of similar inclinations of the head at home. Why 

 then should this poor choice be denied ? Why 

 should he be fettered by austere taskmasters to 

 this stereotyped treatment, to the proverbial stiff- 

 ness of "our grandsires cut in alabaster." In- 

 dignation has been excited in many quarters 

 against that retrograde movement termed "pre- 

 Raphaelism," yet what in fact is this severe, 

 angular, antiquated style, but identically the same 

 thing in stone ? What but pre- Angeloism ? 

 Upon the supposition that the effigies have de- 

 parted this life, or even that the spirit is only 

 about to take its flight, anatomical and physiolo- 

 gical difficulties present themselves, for strong 

 action would be required to hold the hands in 

 this attitude of prayer. The drapery, too, hang- 

 ing in straight folds, has been always apparently 

 designed from upright figures, circumstances 

 evincing how little the rules of propriety were 

 then regarded. Their profusion occasions a fami- 

 liarity which demands a change, for the range is 

 here as confined as that of the sign-painter, who 

 could only depict lions, and was therefore pre- 

 cluded from varying his signs, except by an altera- 

 tion in the colour. Such is the yearning of taste 

 for diversity, that in the equestrian procession on 

 the frieze of the Parthenon, out of about ninety 

 horses, not two are in the same attitude ; yet to 

 whatever extent our churches may be thronged 

 with these sepulchral tombs, all must be, as it 

 were, cast in the same mould, till by repetition 

 their beauty 



" Fades in the eye and palls upon the sense." 



It is evidently imitating the works of antiquity 

 under a disadvantage, inasmuch as modern cos- 

 tume is far inferior in picturesque effect to the 

 episcopal vestments, the romantic armour, and 

 numerous elegant habiliments of an earlier day. 

 Every lesser embellishment and minuteness of 

 detail are regarded by an artist who has more 

 enlarged views of his profession as foreign to the 

 main design ; yet the robes, millinery, jewellery, 

 and accoutrements usually held a place with the 

 carvers of that time of equal importance with 

 the face, and engaged as large a share of their 

 attention. 



The comparative easiness of execution forms 

 another argument. Having received the simple 

 commission for a monument (specifications are 

 needless), the workmen (as may be imagined) fixes 

 the armour of the defunct knight upon his table, 

 places a mask moulded from nature on the helmet- 

 pillow, fits on a pair of hands with which, like an 



