Essays on Life 



like those I have been describing at Saas-Fee, 

 only much larger and more ambitious. They 

 are twelve in number, including the church 

 that crowns the series. The figures they con- 

 tain are of wood (so I was assured, but I did 

 not go inside the chapels) : they are life-size, 

 and in some chapels there are as many as a 

 dozen figures. I should think they belonged 

 to the later half of the last century, and here, 

 one would say, sculpture touches the ground ; 

 at least, it is not easy to see how cheap exag- 

 geration can sink an art more deeply. The 

 only things that at all pleased me were a 

 smiling donkey and an ecstatic cow in the 

 Nativity chapel. Those who are not allured 

 by the prospect of seeing perhaps the very 

 worst that can be done in its own line, need 

 not be at the pains of climbing up to Visperti- 

 menen. Those, on the other hand, who may 

 find this sufficient inducement will not be dis- 

 appointed, and they will enjoy magnificent 

 views of the Weisshorn and the mountains 

 near the Dom. 



I have already referred to the triptych at 



Gliss. This is figured in Wolfs work on 



174 



