1841.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



309 



Fig. 7. 



Here, then, us the licencees fairly remark, is a pavement, removing 

 at once the great and liitherto insurmountable evil attending the use 

 of wood, the insecurity of the horse's foothold; and offering a facility 

 of removal equal to the present stone paving, and an evenness of sur- 

 face, and combination of construction, together with an absence of 

 lioise and increase of cleanliness, which wood alone can give. 



We have felt great pleasure in thus calling the attention of tlie 

 public to the invention of Mr. Rankin, because we know it to be very 

 ingenious, and believe it to be, for all seasons, by far the best wood 

 pavement hitherto made public. The government ought to allow an 

 experiment upon an extended scale to be made with it duty free, for 

 the question of wood pavement is one of metropolitan, if not of na- 

 tional, convenience. 



PROFESSOR FREUND, DANISH SCULPTOR. 



If not in the fine arts generally, the north of Europe has distinguished 

 itself in sculpture — that one of them, on which the fame of Greece 

 now chiefly rests, and which more especially demands a critical study 

 of beautiful forms and proportions. The eminent and excellent sculp- 

 tors Sweden and Denmark — and we may add Russia — have given 

 birth to, sufficiently vindicate their pretensions and character in that 

 branch of art. The names of Martos (+18.35) and Boris Orlovsky 

 (+]S37),of Sergell, Bystrom, and Fogelberg (belonging to Russia and 

 Sweden), may be said to be European ones, while that of the great 

 Danish master almost dims that of Canova himself. Neither is it of 

 her Thorwaldsen alone that Denmark has cause to be proud, since she 

 ran boast of having given to the world another highly gifted sculptor 

 in Hermann Freimd, who died at Copenhagen in July 1840. 



Of this last-mentioned artist we are not as yet prepared to give 

 any biographical sketch, nor even to enumerate his principal works. 

 We are enabled, however, to state a few particulars relative to some 

 of his subjects from ancient northern mythology, which had been a 

 favourite study with him, and of whose imagery and traditions he 

 sought to avail himself for plastic and sculpture, in like manner as his 

 countryman Oehlenschlager has done for poetry and the drama. It 

 was here that he displayed poetical conception, a noble simplicity, a 

 characteristic yet graceful severity, free from aught like mannerism, 

 and from those mere conventionalities upon which so much stress 

 seems to have been laid by most modern sculptors, to the exclusion of 

 either originality or feeling. Among the works of the class above 

 referred to, is a bas-relief representing the three Nomas or northern 

 Fates, who are consulted by Mimer, Baldur, and the Valkyrias, in 

 consequence of Iduna, the goddess of youth, having been carried off 

 by the evil spirit Loke, and thereby both gods and mortals subjected 

 to the infirmities of age and decay. In this dilemma Baldur, the 

 Apollo of the Scandinavians, solicits the counsel of Mimer, the god of 

 wisdom, and he, being unable to assist by his advice, they both pro- 

 ceed to solicit that of the Nomas. These last form the centre group 

 in the composition, and represent Veranda, she who presides over 

 the preiiait, Ur, who presides over the;;as/, and is here seen recoiding 

 its events upon a tablet; and Skulda, or the future, wiWi her finger 



upon her lips. To the riglit of these figures are those of Mimer and 

 Baldur, the former with a long beard and arrayed in a bear's skin, the 

 other a beautiful youth, vying in form with his classical prototype. 

 To the left of the centre group are the three Valkyrias (whose office 

 it was to tend upon the souls of the blest in Valhalla, the Scandinavian 

 Elysium), who are here represented as attired in long under garments, 

 and with wings growing from their temples. 



Among Freund's single figures and statues are many representing 

 personages belonging to the same mvthological system : viz. Odin, 

 Thor, Freya, Iduna, Bragur & Loke. the first-nipn'tioned of these is 

 seated on u throne, and wears a diadem inscribed with Runic charac- 

 ters. He is the Scadinavian Zeus, and like the Grecian one, is dis- 

 tinguished by majesty of appearance, but his features are more aged, 

 his form less expressive of strength ; for though superior in power to 

 the rest of the deities, Odin was supposed to be liimself under the 

 control of Fate — an arbiter more awful and tremendous than even the 

 sovereign of the gods. His attributes are two ravens, seated on the 

 arms of the throne, which were the messengers commissioned to bear 

 his orders to gods and mortals — and two wolves couched at his feet. 



Thor or the Thunder-god, is a standing figure, with his right foot 

 advanced forwards, and looking earnestly on one side. He is here 

 supposed to have just hurled forth his lightning, and to be striking a 

 thunder-peal with his hammer. This figure — which is somewhat be- 

 tween that of a Jupiter and a Hercules — is quite naked with the ex- 

 ception of a wolf's skin, hanging upon one arm, and reaching to the 

 ground. Beside him is a coat of mail, which serves to support and 

 balance tlie statue. In a second figure he is somewhat differently 

 represented — in a more composed attitude, with his hammer in his 

 right, resting upon his armour, and a thunderbolt in his left. 



In the group of Freya, the goddess fabled to preside over sexual 

 passion, that figure is represented veile<l, resting lier chin on her right 

 hand, and holding a wreath of flowers. On one side of her is Siofne 

 (under whom was typified the first emotion of love), endeavouring to 

 draw aside her veil and behold her countenance ; while on the other 

 is Hnos, or Enjoyment, with her left arm around her mother Freya's 

 neck. Both Siofne and Hnos are naked figures. So far the allegory 

 seems well conceived, but there is one circumstance which, though it 

 may be significant enough as a symbol, is far more associated with the 

 ludicrous, than with either the sentimental or poetical, according to 

 modern ideas ; for instead of turtle-doves, the northern Venus has at 

 her feet — two cats! as images of the potent influence of la belle pas- 

 sion ! 



Iduna, the Scandinavian Hebe, is represented by a graceful youthful 

 figure, holding in her left hand a patera filled with apples, and in her 

 right a cup of mead. Her luxuriant tresses fall from beneath a long 

 pointed cap, similar to that still worn by the maidens of Iceland, 

 wdiich han^s down behind, where it terminates in a tassel. 



Bragur, her consort, and the Scandinavian deity of poetry and min- 

 strelsy, and wdiose office it is to recreate the indwellers of Valhalla 

 with his songs, is shown in the act of playing upon his harp, which is 

 attached to a riband that crosses his shoulders. 



The evil malicious spirit, Loke, is characteristically described — 

 under a shape speakingly expressive of the disposition attributed to 

 him. There is something stealthy in his very attitude, as he creeps 

 along resting his chin upon his left hand, while brooding upon mis- 

 chief. His other claw-shaped hand is partly concealed beneath his 

 mantle, as are likewise his long and ugly ears, and his bat-wings. 



However admirable may be the talent manifested in those produc- 

 tions, it is with us a question whether it might not have been more 

 advantageously employed. If heathen mythology is now worn out, if 

 it does not address itself to our sympathies, especially when served 

 up — as it necessarily must be in modern sculpture, at second-hand ; 

 that of Scandinavia has to contend with the additional disadvantage 

 of being less known, consequently less intelligible. All attempts to 

 revive it, to bring it again into vogue, either in poetry or the graphic 

 and plastic arts have proved comparative failures. Did the fame of 

 Gray rest chiefly upon his productions of that class, it would be much 

 less than what it actually is; or rather, he would share the fate of 

 Sayers, whose northern poetry has been descanted upon and praised 

 by critics, to be forgotten — supposing it ever to have been regarded — 

 by the public. 



A new Paving.— yi, Polonceau. the engineer of Paris, proposes a new mode 

 of paving for Paris, consisting of artificial stones made of clay, sand, and 

 [jiilverized charcoal. This mixture stood heat well, and became vitrified ; it 

 also dried without cracking. The stones were made in an he.xagonal fonn, 

 and could be put ilown or taken up one by one. Government had given 

 leave for an experiment to be made of this system in one of the streets of the 

 capital. 



