THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 THE ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT CONDITION 
 
 FINE ARTS 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GILBERT AMD aiYISOTOH, PRINTERS, 
 ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.
 
 THE ORIGIN, 
 PROGRESS, AND PRESENT CONDITION 
 
 OP THE 
 
 FINE ARTS 
 
 IN 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN* AND IRELAND. 
 
 W. B. SARSFIELD TAYLOR, 
 
 CCRATOR OP THE LITIXG MODEL ACADEMT; 
 TRANSLATOR OF M. XZRIM EE's WORK OX Oil. PAIXTIK6, FRESCO, tie. &C. 
 
 HESTIU. EO. COSFESSOR. 
 
 I the norU tnawpt of Westminster Abbey. 
 Pram casts in the Mueu of L. N. Oottmgha^ F. R.S. 
 
 lx Two VOLS. VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: WHITTAKER & Co. AVE MARIA LANE. 
 
 1841.
 
 Art 
 Library 
 
 676) 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND, 
 
 PRESIDENT ; 
 
 LORD FRANCIS EGERTON, 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT ; 
 
 NOBLEMEN, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN, GOVERNORS 
 OF THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 
 
 MY LORDS, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN, 
 
 In dedicating this work to an Institution 
 which has done, and continues to do, such im- 
 portant services to the Arts of the United King- 
 dom, and through them to the nation, I must be 
 permitted to say, that I gratify my own feelings 
 of respect, and at the same time discharge one 
 of the most agreeable of my duties to society. 
 
 Your kind compliance with my request, to de- 
 dicate this work to you, greatly encouraged me 
 A 3 
 
 1547041
 
 vi DEDICATION. 
 
 to apply assiduously to the task of arranging the 
 materials already in my possession ; and to collect 
 the best and most recent information that could 
 be obtained relative to these important objects. 
 I have not spared either labour or expense. I 
 have devoted nearly two years of my life to 
 the completion of this purpose, and I have 
 now the honour of laying before you the result 
 of these labours in a compendious form. The 
 main object being to diffuse as widely as possible 
 amongst the reading portion of society a correct 
 knowledge of the leading facts and circumstances 
 by which the progress of the Fine Arts has been 
 advanced, suspended, or retarded, throughout their 
 entire progress in the British Isles, I have made 
 these exertions to render the work acceptable to 
 those who are known to be judges of literary ex- 
 ertions, as well as of pictorial merit ; and I have 
 endeavoured to maintain that spirit of good feeling 
 and cordiality so fully and impartially exercised 
 towards native talent of every class by this In- 
 stitution, and which is so essential to the pros- 
 perity of the arts in every land.
 
 DEDICATION. Vll 
 
 I now beg leave to offer to your Grace, the 
 Noblemen, Ladies and Gentlemen, Governors of 
 this Institution, my sincere thanks for this ho- 
 nourable token of kindness, and for the numerous 
 individual instances of attention and good feeling 
 which I have experienced from many members 
 of this Institution during the progress of the 
 rather arduous undertaking just now completed. 
 
 With sentiments of the most profound respect, 
 I have the honour to remain, 
 
 My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, 
 
 Your most obliged and very 
 
 obedient Servant, 
 W. B. SARSFIELD TAYLOR.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE work which I have now the honour of laying be- 
 fore the British public, has been the result of a long 
 and intimate intercourse with the arts and artists 
 of the United Kingdom, during the greater portion 
 of my life. Thus I acquired, at first, without re- 
 ference to any ulterior object, a knowledge of facts 
 relating to the arts and their professors, which I 
 found useful for my own purposes ; these facts led 
 naturally to the development of many others, so 
 as at length to form a considerable accumulation ; 
 and finding, from the opinions of eminent artists 
 and friends of art, that notwithstanding the num- 
 ber of publications relating to them, there was yet 
 another wanted which would bring the entire his- 
 tory of the arts in the United Kingdom into a 
 compendious form for general readers, I commenced 
 
 A 5
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 this work, to diffuse that class of useful information 
 throughout society. 
 
 To effect the proposed object, it was necessary to 
 take up a new position altogether ; for as a notion 
 generally prevailed, that the arts are of spontaneous 
 growth, and can be brought forward at any time 
 that their assistance may be wanted, it became 
 imperative on the author, to show, from well au- 
 thenticated history, that this notion was utterly 
 fallacious, the arts being the slowest, and the last 
 of all the intellectual pursuits in approaching their 
 highest condition. 
 
 Having disposed of that question, the next object 
 was to demonstrate, from authentic records, that the 
 germs of art existed in the British isles at a period 
 long antecedent to the Roman visitation ; and that 
 their development, with that of civilization gene- 
 rally, was severely checked, first by the Roman in- 
 vaders, then by the Saxons and Danes, and for a 
 time by the Norman Conquest. 
 
 It is shown, that before these events the people of 
 the British isles had attained to the early stages of 
 civilization, being agriculturists, and so far engaged
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 in commercial intercourse, that they adopted a circu- 
 lating medium, many of the coins of Cunobeline and 
 other British princes being still in existence. 
 
 To that unhappy circumstance, the arrival of the 
 Romans, must be attributed the suspension of na- 
 tive civilization; for on the retirement of those 
 military barbarians from Britain, it does not appear 
 that they left the natives in possession of any 
 valuable or even useful information ; but, on the 
 other hand, the Roman profligacy had so terribly 
 debauched and enervated this once brave people, 
 whose courage had often confronted Cesar and his 
 disciplined legions, that they were now unable to 
 repel the comparatively feeble, but still courageous 
 tribes, from beyond the wall of Severus. 
 
 The tide of destruction which the Romans had 
 let loose against the ancient British temples, &c. 
 was now turned upon the Roman works by the new 
 invaders with ruthless devastation, for the cruelties 
 of the Romans had made them to be universally 
 detested. Thus we find that every thing like civi- 
 lization was to commence de novo from its simplest 
 elements, after a loss of more than four centuries. 
 A 6
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 Our great dependence to prove the existence of 
 the arts at this time rests almost entirely upon 
 architecture '. For the information of some of our 
 readers, we have inserted diagrams of the features 
 of each style, beginning with the Anglo-Saxon, 
 then Anglo- Norman, early English or pointed style, 
 Decorated or Flamboyant, Perpendicular, and Florid 
 or Tudor. This last was superseded by the pie- 
 bald fantasies of two foreigners, neither of whom 
 had any qualifications suitable to the architectural 
 profession to explain those diagrams we have 
 had recourse to the works of Carter, Eickman, pro- 
 fessor Whewell, Willis, &c. 
 
 During these remarkable changes in archi- 
 tecture, both painting and sculpture were subor- 
 dinate agents, being only used in the adornment 
 of religious edifices; but when architecture de- 
 clined under Henry VIII. painting was brought 
 
 1 Four centuries of Roman government and education had 
 produced this deplorable result, from which sprung all the count- 
 less evils that affected England for six or seven centuries. 
 
 Saxon coins are in existence from 561 ; but from 716 there is 
 an almost uninterrupted series to the present day. No nation in 
 Europe can exhibit such a series of coins, with portraits of sove- 
 reigns, as the English ; they begin with Offa in 758.
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 forward, and became the favourite, in which state 
 it went on during the four following reigns, whilst 
 architecture and sculpture not being under the con- 
 trol of any fixed principles, produced a vast va- 
 riety of fantastic combinations. In building, chance- 
 seemed to govern all tilings, for sometimes a 
 picturesque or grand edifice was produced, whilst 
 others equally expensive were under the influence 
 of bad taste and ignorance, until it settled down 
 into the tasteless lumbering manner, known as king 
 James's Gothic. From this confused state it was 
 first rescued by Inigo Jones, who introduced the 
 Palladian style, of which the Banquetting-house 
 at Whitehall is an excellent specimen. 
 
 We then find, that under Charles I. the arts 
 were extensively encouraged; but their transient 
 prosperity was followed by a severe visitation during 
 the Commonwealth, in which they had all well nigh 
 perished. Their revival under Charles II. was un- 
 sound ; the corruptions of that court deeply affected 
 and debased the taste in art, which did not recover 
 under his successor; nor in the reigns of king 
 William III. or queen Anne, was there any thing 
 
 3
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 to stay the downward course of arts, and at length 
 they had descended to their lowest point in the 
 reign of George I. 
 
 Under king George II. they began slowly to re- 
 vive, and when George III. came to the throne, he 
 soon showed his decided partiality for them. King 
 George IV. and William IV. evinced a very favour- 
 able disposition towards them. Her majesty, queen 
 Victoria, evidently takes a great interest in their 
 welfare, by employing able artists, and buying the 
 works of men eminent in the profession. Her ma- 
 jesty is also very conversant in the art, and Prince 
 Albert is also well and practically acquainted with 
 the various modes of drawing and painting. 
 
 In collecting the numerous facts requisite for 
 this work, it was impossible to overlook the nu- 
 merous acts, not merely of unkindness and neglect, 
 but of oppression and wrong which have been ex- 
 ercised towards the native artists of the United 
 Kingdom, from the time of Henry VIII., until 
 within the last half century, with the exception of 
 the first fifteen years of Charles I. It would 
 almost seem as if some systematic plan for that
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 purpose had been laid down, and acted upon by 
 successive governments in England, to discourage 
 the rising talents of the nation in works of art ; 
 but whether designed, or merely the offspring of 
 folly, the effects were deplorably chilling, and highly 
 injurious. Continental charlatans and sycophants 
 were continually imported, to insult the native 
 artists, and deprive them of both character and 
 subsistence. This is the true cause why the arts 
 have been so backward in Britain. Persons, igno- 
 rant of the real merits of the question, express 
 great wonder at the slowness of their movements ; 
 let those parties only make themselves acquainted 
 with the facts, and then their astonishment will 
 soon subside, and they will find that nothing but 
 a series of miracles could have made it otherwise. 
 
 The morbid taste, and sickly affectation, which 
 had acted so unjustly towards British artists, fell 
 into a decline about sixty years ago, and had been 
 gradually getting worse until the early part of the 
 present century, when its dissolution was rapidly 
 accelerated by the establishment of the British 
 Institution. Whether its feeble frame still sur-
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 vives, is doubtful ; at all events it must be on its 
 last legs, merely supported by a certain class of 
 foreign picture brokers, and some desperate cosmo- 
 politans, who prefer every thing foreign to every 
 thing British, except their rents \ 
 
 At present the artists of the United Kingdom 
 are not inferior to those of any contemporary 
 school on the continent. Each of those has its 
 peculiar features. The best of them is the French 
 School, which pays much attention to correctness 
 of drawing in the human figure, but does not 
 equal the English school in colour and chiaro 
 scuro. The Belgian approaches nearer to the Eng- 
 lish manner. The Germans draw correctly, but 
 are still too minute and careful on details, and in 
 finishing every part with a degree of finical ex- 
 
 1 The author must guard himself here against being misunder- 
 stood. His love of the arts inspires him with feelings approach- 
 ing to veneration, for the talented artists or men of genius of 
 every nation under heaven. Such men and their works confer 
 honour and advantages on whatever country they choose for their 
 home. But it is our bounden duty to encourage the production 
 of such high talents in the land of our nativity. The number of 
 foreign artists of mediocre talents who swarmed in England is 
 almost incredible ; the author has not enumerated one-half of 
 their names, as it would be quite a waste of time.
 
 PREFACE. XV11 
 
 actness which is not pleasing to the mind, because 
 it appears to be the product of close plodding 
 labour. The Italian schools have no character at 
 present in any of the arts. Spain is still worse. 
 In Holland, and partly in Belgium, the chief occu- 
 pation of the artists appears to be manufacturing 
 forgeries of " old masters, 11 of which regular cargoes 
 are exported to England every year, and put off as 
 genuine, upon persons who have much more money 
 than judgment in such matters. 
 
 In sculpture, the English is decidedly superior 
 to every school in Europe, except that of France, 
 where the government always keeps employed some 
 of the ablest native artists, whilst in Britain em- 
 ployment in this expensive department of art is 
 precarious 1 . 
 
 In architecture also our school is rapidly ad- 
 vancing, both in theory and practice. Besides 
 the two architectural societies herein described, 
 
 1 Thorwaldsen being a Danish artist does not belong to the 
 Italian school, which is at a very low ebb at present ; besides, 
 according to the reveries of Du Bos, Winkelman, and Mon- 
 tesquieu, he ought not to be a man of genius, as he belongs 
 to the most hopeless class of hyperborean Bo?otians on the 
 utmost verge of civilization.
 
 XV111. PREFACE. 
 
 there are two others, namely, " the Oxford Society 
 for promoting the study of Gothic Architecture 1 ," 
 and "the Cambridge Architectural Society." Both 
 of these institutions are decidedly patronized by 
 the heads of colleges in each university, and there 
 is every reason to believe that their exertions will 
 be highly beneficial, not only in collecting and 
 disseminating sound architectural principles, but 
 eventually, and we should hope ere long, lead- 
 ing to the establishment of "a professorship of 
 the Fine Arts" in each university. This would 
 add an important feature to, and bestow a graceful 
 termination upon our noble course of academic 
 learning. 
 
 In the art of engraving, whether in line or mez- 
 zotinto, the English school stands in the highest 
 rank ; in the latter branch, no other nation can 
 approach them. Amongst the host of able artists 
 
 1 The Rev. the President of Magdalen College, Dr. Routh, 
 is president, J. H. Parker and Coombe, Esq. are secre- 
 taries of this society. There are also the well-known and 
 very useful institutions of the arts at Birmingham, Leeds, and 
 Manchester, which afford facilities for the youth of those 
 great communities to acquire a good knowledge of the prin- 
 ciples and practice in the arts, both mechanical and intel- 
 lectual.
 
 PREFACE. XIX 
 
 in this line, those that immediately occur to us are 
 Houston, J. Raffael, Smith, Reynolds, Lupton. 
 The latter made a vast improvement, by intro- 
 ducing steel plates, instead of copper, as previously 
 used. Charles Turner, Henry Cousins, &c. etch- 
 ing in the subject on the plate was another great 
 improvement, in giving richness, by a variety of 
 textures characteristic of draperies, furniture, &c. 
 and the last great improvement was the applica- 
 tion of the line tool to certain parts of the work, 
 which gives greater clearness and a finer finish to 
 the work. This was the invention of William 
 Cousins, A.R.A. whose skill in this branch of art 
 is so well known. 
 
 In the line manner, Strange, Wollett, Sharp, 
 Pyne, W. Byrne, &c. of the old school, rank very 
 high. At present the catalogue of excellent artists 
 in this class of art must be numerous, for the 
 quantity of finely-engraved plates published an- 
 nually is very considerable. Amongst these are 
 Landseer, A.R.A., G. Doo, Pye, Graves, A.R.A., 
 Bromley, A.R.A., R. J. Lane, A.R.A. (The 
 Scottish engravers are mentioned in Vol. II.) 
 
 In miniature painting, our artists are decidedly
 
 XX PREFACE. 
 
 superior to those of every other country at present : 
 witness the works of Robertson, Denning, C. Ross, 
 Thorburn, Newton, &c. In enamel painting, where 
 on the continent shall we find proficients equal to 
 ours in that art, Bone, Muss, and W. Essex? 
 Muss was the first enameller who gave that impasto 
 and texture to enamel which constitutes it a new 
 and peculiarly English art. The enamellers of 
 France are the best on the continent, but their 
 work is mere porcelain as compared with that of 
 England. The English enamellers can fire their 
 pictures fifty times, if necessary, which accounts 
 for the great richness, texture, and effect they dis- 
 play; but a French artist cannot safely venture 
 to fire his work more than four or five times. 
 Essex has still further improved upon Muss's sys- 
 tem, and his works have great breadth of effect 
 and a rich tone of colour. This artist is much 
 employed by her majesty queen Victoria. 
 
 In staining glass, too, an art that is erroneously 
 supposed to have been in a great measure lost, 
 England now produces the finest examples that 
 are to be found. Of the most successful artists 
 in this brilliant portion of the arts, we need hardly
 
 PREFACE. XXI 
 
 mention the name of Williment, F.S.A. whose 
 works are to be found in nearly two hundred 
 public buildings and mansions of the noble and 
 wealthy throughout the United Kingdom, John 
 Nixon is also a man of rising reputation in this 
 art, and there are several other clever men, with 
 whose names the author is not acquainted. 
 
 In wood engraving, also, our best artists' works 
 are far superior in taste and execution to any 
 specimens of the same class which we have seen 
 by foreign engravers. 
 
 Sculpture in silver is an art little known on the 
 continent, yet in England it is practised with great 
 success, and is much sought after by the higher 
 classes of society. The most tasteful and elegant 
 of these works are from the hand of Mr. Cotterell. 
 who certainly has made it altogether a new art. 
 Some splendid specimens of historical groups by 
 this artist for the dukes of Buccleuch, Bucking- 
 ham, Richmond, &c. have been completed at 
 Messrs. Garrards', in Panton street, Haymarket. 
 
 The accounts of the Academies and Societies 
 for the cultivation of the Arts will show the con- 
 dition they are in at present, so far as the educa-
 
 XX11 PREFACE. 
 
 tional part is concerned ; but as to their prospects 
 in futuro, that cannot be so easily prognosticated. 
 The recent discoveries in mechanical and che- 
 mical science have opened quite a new vista of 
 seemingly interminable extent. In sculpture, and 
 architecture more especially, there is a prospect of 
 the whole course of their systems being changed 
 or very much altered, whether for the better is 
 more difficult to comprehend ; for in architecture, 
 the fashion on the continent now is to mix up 
 several styles from different nations, in the same 
 mansion, with furniture peculiar to each ; and the 
 immense spans that can now be roofed by iron 
 offer fresh temptations to the creative power of our 
 architects. Marble statues, too, can now be copied 
 with the utmost exactness by persons ignorant of 
 sculpture, who can work a machine made for that 
 purpose. Engravings, likewise, can be copied 
 with the most scrupulous similarity, by means of 
 the electrotype ; so that altogether we can hardly 
 avoid some great revolution in the arts, either for 
 their downward course or their regeneration. 
 
 The list of the galleries and collections of pic- 
 tures and other works of art afford very good data
 
 PREFACE. XX111 
 
 to assist in forming a correct opinion of the present 
 condition of the arts. A century ago, England 
 did not contain more than perhaps half a dozen of 
 these collections, and in these, scarcely one picture 
 by a British artist was to be found. At this time 
 we have nearly one hundred galleries or large col- 
 lections, none of which are without works of British 
 art, and some of them are almost exclusively adorned 
 by the pencil and chisel of native artists. In these 
 elegant mansions the arts are looked upon with 
 respect and admiration, in harmony with their 
 rational and refined nature, and the poet well ex- 
 presses the feelings of those who, blest with a sense 
 of what is beautiful in art, find themselves in pre- 
 sence of a fine collection of pictures. 
 
 " Oh ! glorious 'tis, amid some antique hall, 
 To worship all alone the picture-shapes 
 Bright with the hues of mind, whose genius breathes 
 An atmosphere around, and where the eye 
 Feeds on the beauty of the painter's soul ! 
 Whether a landscape, whose ethereal lights, 
 Like gleams upon the water, glow o'er tree 
 And bower, and sky luxuriantly unroll'd 
 And dream-like forms, or features bright'niiig forth 
 Like angels, woo th' impassioned gaze, a rich 
 Delight, a harmony of feeling warms
 
 XXIV PREFACE. 
 
 The fancy ; when again we greet the world 
 The mind is fill'd with loveliness, which joys 
 To throw enchantment over common scenes, 
 And make dull earth draw nearer heaven. 
 
 Beautiful Influences, by ROBERT MONTGOMERY. 
 
 The aim of the author being to place before the 
 public all the authentic facts he could collect, for 
 the purpose of enabling every one to judge whether 
 the artists of the United Kingdom really have done 
 all that they might have effected to advance the 
 arts according to the degree of encouragement they 
 may have received, he now resigns the decision of 
 the question to those for whose information the 
 work has been composed, merely observing, that 
 his intention was to produce a record rather useful 
 than ornamental, which would secure the memorials 
 of certain facts important and interesting to the 
 arts and to artists, but which not being embodied 
 in a tangible form were gradually fading from the 
 public mind. In performing this laborious duty, 
 the author has been singularly fortunate in meet- 
 ing with the most friendly attention from those who 
 possessed valuable information suitable to his ob- 
 jects, and which they freely, and in many instances,
 
 PREFACE. XXV 
 
 confidentially placed in his hands ; thus the informa- 
 tion has been drawn from the most authentic 
 sources. 
 
 To Sir M. A. Shee, P.R.A., H. Howard, E.A. 
 secretary, and Messrs. Gr. Jones, W. Collins, and 
 many other members of the Royal Academy, and 
 to the officers of the British Institution, the author 
 is indebted for some very useful information ; 
 also to T. James Mulvany, member and keeper 
 of the Royal Hibernian Academy ; to William 
 Nicholson, D. Octavius Hill, secretary, and R. 
 Scott Lauder, members of the Royal Scottish 
 Academy; and to the hon. secretaries of the 
 Royal Institute of British Architects, and of the 
 Architectural Society : these are gentlemen to 
 whom he begs leave to offer his most cordial 
 thanks for the kind and liberal manner in which 
 they have replied to his communications. There 
 are many other gentlemen, to whom the author 
 is under great obligation, but who do not desire 
 to be particularly mentioned. 
 
 The author trusts therefore that the work will 
 be found to contain much useful and correct in- 
 
 VOL. i. a
 
 XXVI PEE FACE. 
 
 formation on the arts ; but he has to regret that 
 the report of the " Association for encouraging 
 the Arts in Scotland " did not arrive in time to be 
 properly noticed. There are societies in Dublin 
 and London called " Arts Unions," on a principle 
 somewhat similar, but are said to partake much 
 of the lottery character. We hope this may not 
 be the fact ; for it would never suit, to allow the 
 arts to be made a cloak for gambling speculations. 
 In conclusion the author begs leave to say that 
 the animadversions he found it necessary now and 
 then to make, refer merely to principles and acts, 
 but cannot be supposed to have the most re- 
 mote personal application at the present time ; and 
 should any one feel it differently, the author would 
 experience considerable regret, for, so far as 
 candour and truth are not compromised, his ob- 
 ject all through this work has been to promote 
 harmony and a conciliatory spirit amongst the 
 whole body of artists, their real patrons, and the 
 friends of art, and to invoke for them the good 
 genius of public feeling in every portion of the 
 United Kingdoms.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OP 
 
 THE FIEST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF THE ARTS IN 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Rudiments of art among Indian tribes, &c. 
 Pelasgic art Progress of art Sculpture Dae- 
 dalus Greek sculpture the arts in Italy. . . 1 
 II. Destruction of works of art by the Romans Palestine, 
 Palmyra, &c. Ancient remains of British towns ; 
 Segontium and Camlodunum Druidical remains ; 
 Stonehenge Tall round towers of Ireland and 
 Scotland 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SECOND PERIOD AFTER THE ROMAN INVASION. 
 
 I. The Romans invade Britain, under Julius Csesar 
 
 Ancient British Churches ; Pieranzabuloe. . 23 
 II. Arrival of the Saxons, A. D. 450 St. Martin's 
 church, Canterbury Ethelbert Edwin, king of 
 Northumberland Sigebert, king of the East 
 
 a 2
 
 XXV111 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Angles Origin of the university of Cambridge 
 Theodore appointed to the see of Canterbury 
 Saxon architects Wilfred, archbishop of York 
 Church of Hexham Benedict Biscop Glass- 
 making introduced The Gothic tribes Gothic 
 
 style 29 
 
 III. On the first settling of the Goths in Italy, to their 
 
 total dispersion ' 39 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SAXONS. 
 
 I. The Saxons Danish devastations King Alfred 
 Revival of Literature Style of the Saxon Churches 
 Edgar Church-bells Ethelred Danish ra- 
 vages Swane of Norway and Denmark Incapacity 
 of Ethelred The Danes bribed Treachery of 
 Edric Canute Edmund Ironside Harold Hare- 
 foot Hardicanute Edward the Confessor Wil- 
 liam the Norman 46 
 
 11. Review of the arts Anglo-Saxon architecture 
 Anglo-Saxon churches Old Westminster Abbey 
 Changes in ecclesiastical architecture Painting 
 and sculpture Cadwallo in brass Number of 
 churches 67 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 I. The Anglo-Norman period of the fine arts, 1066 to 
 1154 William I. Number of Saxon churches 
 Compilers of Dooms-day Book The New Forest, 
 
 Hampshire 76 
 
 II. William Rufus Henry I. Cathedrals built or re- 
 stored Canterbury and Gloucester cathedrals 
 Early architects Stephen Anarchy Abbey of 
 St. Denis The pointed style Hospital of St. 
 Cross Henry, bishop of Winchester . . .8(5
 
 CONTENTS. XXIX 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Henry II. The Plantagenets favourable to the arts 
 The pointed or English style The Freemasons 
 Painting Stained glass Style of ornamenting 
 The Crusades Richard I. Changes in costume 
 Injurious effects on the arts Foreign artists 
 The Freemasons King John The Knights-Tem- 
 plars The Temple Church . . . .99 
 II. Henry III. Painting and sculpture Painted win- 
 dows Edward Fitz-Odo Historical painting 
 Directions respecting dress Windsor Castle 
 Henry III. a patron of the arts His personal 
 character Westminster abbey Edifices erected 
 Wells cathedral 115 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 I. Edward I. Enamelling Fantastic style of dress 
 Edward II. Edward III. William of Wykeham, 
 York Minster ; Salisbury, Winchester, and Glou- 
 cester cathedrals Decorated style of architecture, 
 Dorchester church Lady-chapel, Norwich St. 
 Stephen's chapel, Westminster The Painted 
 Chamber Choir at Gloucester cathedral Tomb 
 of Henry II. Nave of York Minster Illumina- 
 ted MSS 144 
 
 II. Illuminated MSS. Richard II. Painting in oil- 
 Portrait of Richard II. Windows in York Min- 
 ster The Plantagenet Kings The decorated 
 style The perpendicular style Bishop Wykeham 16'4 
 III. Sculpture, painting, brasses, stained glass, and ena- 
 melling 184 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1. Henry IV. Henry V. Various portraits Henry
 
 XXX CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 VI. Low state of the arts Countess of Warwick 
 Mausoleum of earl of Warwick Beauchamp 
 
 chapel 189 
 
 II. Edward VI. Various portraits Curious memoran- 
 dum Edward V. Richard III. Henry VII. 
 Holbein Mabeuse The florid, or Tudor style 
 Henry VII. 's Chapel 201 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HENRY VIII. THE FLORID STYLE OF ARCHI- 
 TECTURE. 
 
 I. Foreign artists Raflael Salaries of artists Neg- 
 lect of the chroniclers Le Champ de Drap d'Or 
 Ornamented roll of vellum Curious extracts 
 
 Lucas Cornelisz Holbein 216 
 
 11. Holbein 228 
 
 III. Torregiano King's College Chapel Wolsey Royal 
 tomb Chapel at Windsor The Tudor style 
 
 John of Padua 234 
 
 IV. Domestic and palatial architecture Eminent paint- 
 ers Death of Holbein Palaces erected by Henry 
 and his courtiers Oriel windows Mansions . 247 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 I. Edward VI. Painters Prejudice against English 
 artists John of Padua Queen Mary Sir Antonio 
 
 More Joas Van Cleeve 257 
 
 11. Queen Elizabeth Foreign artists Armada tapes- 
 tries Arras at Blenheim Native artists Ni- 
 cholas Hilliard Isaac Oliver Various artists 
 National improvements Palatial houses The 
 
 Elizabethan style 266 
 
 III. Eminent architects The Elizabethan style Trinity 
 College, Dublin Timber-framed houses Sepul- 
 chral Monuments . . 285
 
 CONTENTS. XXXI 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 King James I. Foreign and native artists Sir F. 
 Crane's manufactory of tapestry Henry, prince 
 of Wales Various artists Architecture Sepul- 
 chral monuments Degraded state of sculpture . 21)2 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 I. Charles I. patronizes the arts Cartoons of Raffael 
 Charles I. establishes an academy Committee 
 of the House of Lords Destruction of works of 
 art St. Margaret's, Westminster Sale of the 
 King's pictures, &c. The Cartoons of Raffael 
 Cromwell Fire at Whitehall . . . .307 
 II. The Arundel collection Various artists Rubens 
 
 Vandyck Painting in enamel .... 322 
 
 111. Statue of Charles I. at Charing-Cross Various sculp- 
 tors Inigo Jones Cromwell Artists during the 
 Protectorate Charles II. Verrio Native artists 339 
 
 IV. Foreign artists Sir P. Lely 364 
 
 V. Sculpture Cibber Grinling Gibbons . . . 376 
 
 VI. Architecture Capt. W. Winde Buckingham House 
 Montague House Sir Christopher Wren The 
 medallists . 384
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 VOL. I. Page 111, line 5, for Casur de Leon, read Coeur de Lion. 
 
 Page 281, note, Sir John Soane was knighted in September, 
 1831, and died in January, 1837.
 
 AN INQUIRY, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF THE ARTS IN 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 To trace the arts back in any country, to their 
 original sources, with tolerable order and clear- 
 ness, has been at all times a task of considerable 
 difficulty ; and in most cases, to do this, appears 
 to be impossible. Yet, although we may fail 
 in our attempts to discover the time when the 
 earliest germs of the arts were developed, even in 
 the most civilized nations of antiquity, still we 
 never can be at a loss to discover that the natural 
 tendencies of the human mind, in favour of the 
 arts, develope themselves unequivocally in a great 
 VOL. i. B
 
 2 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 variety of ways, and in every stage of advancement, 
 as the human mind slowly progresses from the pri- 
 mitive, or simple savage, state towards the boun- 
 daries of civilization. 
 
 We perceive, clearly enough, the rudiments of 
 art in the beautiful feather diadems of the Indian 
 tribes, who have no idea of fixed residences and solid 
 habitations ; in their beautifully designed and ele- 
 gantly carved canoes, paddles, and weapons of war, 
 and of the chase ; their beautiful and perfect ar- 
 rangement of colours, according to the principles 
 of true harmony, as we find it in the prismatic tints 
 of the rainbow ; their costumes, in places where the 
 tribes have advanced some steps from the primitive 
 state, are marked by propriety, fitness, and good 
 taste in arrangement, in both the forms and co- 
 lours, of the parts, and their ornaments in detail and 
 combination ; some of them are remarkably graceful, 
 suitable to the human form : and these practical 
 demonstrations of art, in untutored minds, are not 
 confined to a few tribes, or to a particular quarter 
 of the globe ; the Aborigines still remaining in the 
 various states of North America, and the southern 
 tribes in Guiana, Brazil, and the islands in the 
 Pacific Ocean, all display a great similarity of 
 
 1 Vide the British Museum, Catlin's Exhibition, &c. 
 
 12
 
 THE ARTS IN BRITAIN. 3 
 
 taste and skill, though totally different in every 
 other respect, and removed thousands of miles by 
 sea or land from each other. These are not acci- 
 dental circumstances ; they are demonstrations of 
 the qualities with which the human mind is en- 
 dowed from the beginning, in all lands favourable 
 to the expansion of the human intellect. These 
 " untutored savages'" are the pupils of great Na- 
 ture ; and the most refined art cannot surpass their 
 splendid, elegant, and harmonious arrangements 
 of colours, or their adaptations of dress to suit the 
 climate, and give dignity and elegance to the grace- 
 ful figures of those people. And wretched indeed 
 must be the tribe where such specimens of inci- 
 pient art are not to be found. 
 
 Our museums, both public and private, afford 
 ample and pleasing proofs of this universal ten- 
 dency to adornment, which Magellan, Anson, Cook. 
 Bougainville, and all the other circumnavigators 
 have witnessed among all the numerous aboriginal 
 tribes which they visited in the thousands of leagues 
 which they traversed. 
 
 Civilization, therefore, does not create the capa- 
 city or the affection for the arts, any more than it 
 creates the intellect of man ; it only developes its 
 power by cultivation, as it does the other human 
 B 2
 
 4 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 faculties ; and the expansion of graphic genius is 
 always in due proportion to the encouragement it 
 may happen to receive ; and this encouragement is 
 itself contingent upon the various degrees of ad- 
 vancement in knowledge, civilization, and wealth, to 
 which a country may have attained. And it is a 
 remarkable feature of these natural qualities, that 
 though inherent in the human mind, their progress 
 towards excellence is remarkably slow. This we 
 believe is contrary to the generally received notions 
 on this subject ; but the fact is, that the arts are 
 the very slowest of ah 1 the intellectual pursuits, in 
 reaching that state which is nearest to perfection, 
 and of this truth every one conversant in their 
 early history must be well aware. 
 
 Let us take, for instance, that noble and exhaust- 
 less field of reference to every thing that can en- 
 lighten us on the early progress of the arts and 
 sciences ; and with respect to the liberal arts, what 
 do we find in Grecian history ? Shall we discover 
 that these arts spring at once like " giants" from 
 the earth, and display their noblest energies to 
 the astonished nations ? No such thing. And were 
 it possible that such a magical effect could be pro- 
 duced, it might have been expected to happen in 
 that land of ancient freedom, whose liberal institu-
 
 THE ARTS IN BRITAIN. 5 
 
 tions left the human mind unfettered by slavish 
 obedience to any despotism, at liberty to attain the 
 full development of its vast and various powers of 
 intellectual creation. But we must descend to 
 natural causes in elucidating these matters ; and pre- 
 vious to commencing our inquiry at home, we will beg 
 leave emphatically to remind some of our readers, 
 and to inform others, that the first trace of art 
 recorded in Greece by the Greek historians, is that 
 called " Pelasgian," from its having been practised 
 by the Pelasgi, who came from the neighbourhood 
 of the Caucasian chain. This maritime people, it 
 appears, settled in Greece, and introduced the use 
 of coins, long previous to the time when Ericthonius 
 brought those admired and useful articles into the 
 same country ; and he carried them, it is said, from 
 Scythia, 1463 years before the Christian era. Along 
 with their coinage, the Pelasgians were the first 
 people who set up carved images in Greece, as 
 memorials of their deities and heroes. Previous to 
 these, mere symbols were used, and the latter were 
 almost always either cylindrical, obeliscal, or pyra- 
 midal ; but others were merely tall stones, some- 
 times single, others were in pairs, or threes, with 
 one long stone thrown across the tops of them as a 
 lentil ; the single ones were always distinguished 
 B 3
 
 O THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 by the top being conical, or like those of the 
 pyramid and obelisk, they were emblematic images, 
 and were intended by their loftiness and situation, 
 to express the majesty of the Being to whom de- 
 votion was thus offered. In their ternary form, they 
 represented the threefold power of the Divinity, 
 to create, preserve, and destroy all things ; and 
 displayed in their mystical form, the active, vivify- 
 ing, and illumining spirit of the Divine nature, of 
 which the Pelasgi considered fire and the sun to be 
 the most natural emblems ; the first of which was 
 represented in its ascending and pointed flame, by 
 the conical and pyramidal terminations of these 
 objects. 
 
 The first innovation upon these symbolical ob- 
 jects, was also the earliest attempt, with which we 
 are acquainted, to carve the human form in wood 
 or stone ; and these examples of Pelasgic art 
 appear to have been of a very rude and uncouth 
 description. Yet, among these incipient efforts of 
 the chisel were numbered the Amyclas (Apollo), 
 the Palladium, and the original Ephesian Diana 1 . 
 These, it appears, according to Plato and Pausa- 
 nias, were only distinguished from columnar blocks, 
 
 1 The ancient precursor of that one about which Alexander 
 the coppersmith made such a commotion.
 
 THE AKTS IX BRITAIN. 7 
 
 by the head, hands, and extremities of the feet 
 being carved on them. 
 
 This state of " sculpture,"" shah" we call it ? con- 
 tinued until Dnedalus appeared, that is, during a 
 term of more than three centuries. This man, of 
 extraordinary character, appears to have been the 
 first who dared to make an inroad upon this esta- 
 blished order of mechanic art. He attempted to 
 represent the whole human figure, and thus esta- 
 blished a remarkable epoch in this art. 
 
 Daedalus, though his works did not advance very 
 considerably beyond those that preceded him, yet 
 opened a new view of sculpture altogether. His 
 works displayed, we are told, some attention to the 
 real forms of nature, that he gave an appearance 
 of natural action to them, by separating the arms 
 from that close adhesion to the body, which we 
 see in the Egyptian statues, and he also separated 
 the legs, and endeavoured to give them an appear- 
 ance of motion, and variety in attitude. 
 
 Dsedalus appears to have given some rules to the 
 Greeks, in the theory and practice of sculpture ; he 
 was, it seems, the first whose chisel was exercised in 
 that country, with some regularity and attention to 
 principles. The Daedalean family appears to have 
 been one of no common capacity : of his son Icarus, 
 B 4
 
 8 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 nothing need now be said ; but Pliny tells us, that 
 Euchar, the father of Daedalus, was reputed to 
 be the inventor of painting, and that Talus, his 
 nephew, invented the potter's wheel. 
 
 These events are represented to have taken place 
 some fifty years previous to the Trojan war, and 
 more than twelve centuries before the Christian era. 
 And, however strange it may appear, it is no less 
 true, that, from the various contests in which the 
 Greeks were engaged, nearly five hundred years 
 passed away, from the time that the Cretan genius 
 had thrown into Grecian sculpture the first idea of 
 natural expression, ere any memorials in that art 
 were produced worth recording. The first, in 
 fact, is mentioned by Pausanias. It was the coffer 
 of Cypselas, at Corinth, which he describes as being 
 composed of cedar, with carved figures of gold and 
 ivory, the wood being also carved, and that it gave 
 the original idea and example of ideal beauty of 
 form, and a just expression of character. 
 
 At length, about five hundred years before Phidias, 
 that prince of sculptors, appeared, some life and ex- 
 pression seems evidently to have been embodied in 
 the marble ; but these qualities were still far below 
 the point to which they arrived in the Phidiac and 
 Praxitelian periods. It was at this time that ma-
 
 THE ARTS IN BRITAIN. 
 
 thematical proportions began to be introduced in 
 the arts, and the whole figure, whether in action 
 or repose, was measured or planned out by means 
 of triangles, parallelograms, and circles. These 
 mathematical forms, serving to regulate the ac- 
 tion and balancing of the figures, and being thus 
 confined within geometrical rules, received the 
 title of diagrammatic art. And the time in which 
 it flourished is styled "the archaic age" of sculp- 
 ture, which, however, as the knowledge of other 
 arts, and the sciences advanced, was superseded 
 by a superior mode of representing the forms and 
 actions of deities, heroes, and mankind. The Egine- 
 tans and Rhodians were the first to emancipate this 
 art from the stiffness and formality of that spe- 
 cies of sculpture ; these islanders introduced in its 
 place a more independent and elegant taste, and a 
 superior degree of correctness in design. This 
 great improvement was mainly caused by the moral 
 circumstances that then had been in progress for 
 some time ; these were the great productions of 
 the poets and philosophers of Greece, whose im- 
 mortal works excited corresponding emotions and 
 sentiments in the minds of contemporary genius, 
 and spread their refining and invigorating in- 
 fluence extensively. The noble fire of epic gran- 
 B 5 -f-
 
 10 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 deur was thus spread throughout the brilliant 
 regions of the sister arts. And it is the decided 
 opinion of the ablest writers, whose testimonies 
 have reached us, that to the works of Homer, 
 Pindar, and Pythagoras, Euripides, Menander, and 
 Sophocles, who drew all their subjects from nature, 
 and who were their rivals in fame, that the arts 
 and artists were mainly indebted for the extraordi- 
 nary approach toward absolute perfection which 
 they attained in that remote age ; and which, with 
 so many advantages, and such superior scientific 
 information, has not, to this time, been attained by 
 any other nation. 
 
 In those days, too, it was very fortunate that they 
 who governed these states were themselves quite 
 convinced of the great moral influence which art of 
 a highly intellectual character possesses over the 
 human mind. These gifted men did gratefully, as 
 well as wisely, afford every assistance to its legiti- 
 mate cultivation, being well assured the same great 
 principles and powers are inherent in the arts at all 
 times, and that the moral dignity of a nation is 
 most effectually promoted, when the proper energies 
 of all the classes are justly excited and sustained ; 
 and that in great minds, the examples of the im- 
 mortality conferred by art that sacred medium
 
 THE ARTS IX BRITAIN. 11 
 
 which lies between oblivion and a glorious remem- 
 brance inspire in each manly heart every benevo- 
 lent feeling, and the most entire self-devotion to his 
 country ^s welfare. 
 
 Such are the causes to which, almost exclusively, 
 have been attributed the extraordinary beauty and 
 grandeur to which Greek sculpture attained in the 
 age of Phidias and Praxiteles, which produced the 
 colossal statue of the Olympian Jove *, at Elis, 
 and the splendid works of Chrys-elephantine art, 
 in the Parthenon, and other Greek temples ; and 
 it should be recollected, that these transcendent 
 sculptured works were executed in the most beau- 
 tiful style four hundred and fifty years before the 
 Christian era, and it should also be borne in mind, 
 that from the time of Daedalus to that of Phidias, 
 full one thousand years had passed away, and during 
 the whole of that time it is in evidence that va- 
 rious states of the Greek confederacy constantly 
 encouraged the higher practice of this art. 
 
 Here we have sufficient proof, that the fine arts 
 cannot be beckoned into life, or smiled into exist- 
 ence, the moment their aid is required. This is still 
 further corroborated by evidence much later and 
 
 1 This statue, though represented sitting (on a throne) was 
 sixty feet high. 
 
 B 6
 
 12 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 nearer home. In Italy the arts and literature 
 began to recover from their almost hopeless le- 
 thargy, in the ninth and tenth centuries ; and from 
 that time until the close of the fifteenth and 
 commencement of the sixteenth century of the 
 Christian era, which includes a period of about 
 six hundred years, their movements were so slow 
 that it was only toward the latter part of the above 
 period, that the marvellous works of M. Angelo, 
 L. Da Vinci, and Raffael, &c., were produced. 
 We should think these two examples, derived from 
 different ages and nations, would be quite sufficient 
 to satisfy the rational part of mankind, that to be 
 won, the arts must long be courted ; and even 
 with the constant attachment of their most sincere 
 votaries, they are, from their earliest germination, 
 so much affected by fortuitous circumstances, that, 
 as we have seen, it is often extremely difficult to 
 trace the links of this everlasting chain, which 
 combines the useful with the agreeable in unison 
 with the finer and nobler qualities of the human 
 mind. But though so very slow in advancing 
 towards perfection, the decline of the arts is 
 always rapid enough, as their history in all ages 
 affords ample evidence. 
 
 Having, as it is hoped, thus cleared our ground
 
 THE ARTS IN BRITAIN. 13 
 
 so far to convince those who might have had a 
 doubt as to the slow progress of art, in the most 
 agreeable climates, and with the most favourable 
 population, our readers will not, it is presumed, 
 feel very sanguine as to their early growth in 
 our northern climate : indeed, with respect to 
 the precise era in which the arts of painting, 
 sculpture, and architecture, first made their 
 appearance in the British isles, it is a matter 
 that cannot now be determined with any great 
 degree of certainty. To set up a new theory on 
 this subject is not our intention, for idle disquisi- 
 tion in matters of history are generally both 
 inconclusive and tiresome : the few scattered facts, 
 relative to the embryo or germinative state of these 
 arts, we shall produce, and leave our readers to 
 form their own opinions as to their conclusiveness. 
 This portion we hope to complete in the following 
 section. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 THE ante-Roman period of British history, when 
 denuded of the mystic attire with which it has 
 been clothed by the fabulist, affords but a slender 
 catalogue of materials to any one who intends to 
 describe the state of the arts at that period ; yet
 
 14 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 without entering into lengthened arguments on this 
 debateable ground, a conjecture may be hazarded, 
 which is, that we ought to possess many more 
 remains of ancient British art than are now to 
 be found. If, therefore, reasoning from analogy be 
 allowed, as we think it should in this case, what is 
 to prevent any one from supposing or believing 
 that the Romans, like all other fierce and barbarous 
 or semi-barbarous people, used the privilege of 
 destruction, which the right of conquest had placed 
 in their hands, with the same savage fury in Britain 
 which they did in Italy, Greece, Carthage, and Spain \ 
 Does not history groan under the weight of rapine, 
 cruelty, and utter desolation it records, as inflicted 
 upon the human race by this military people, who 
 have been, in all the countries visited by their armies, 
 much more the scourges than the civilizers of man- 
 kind ? Their first great exploit in this way was in 
 demolishing the arts and civilization of the Etru- 
 rians, a people, whom, it is well known, were so 
 superior to the Romans, in learning, arts, and 
 manners, that the latter were mere savages as com- 
 pared to that ingenious and interesting people. 
 
 Let us turn to Greece, once the land of learning, 
 of liberty, arts, and arms, and behold her beauteous 
 cities wrapt in flames, the precious metals, mostly
 
 THE ARTS IN BRITAIN. 15 
 
 works of art, flowing like a stream of molten lava 
 down the streets of Corinth. Look to Palestine, 
 Jerusalem in flames Africa, Carthage, the rival of 
 Rome, but superior in all that belongs to human 
 civilization, an immense assemblage of architec- 
 tural skill, so completely destroyed by the military 
 barbarians, that even its real situation is only a 
 subject of conjecture. But we must not forget 
 Palmyra, that " city of palaces," where the arts, 
 sciences, literature, and philosophy, found a hospi- 
 table asylum from the din of war, and political dis- 
 tractions, with which the unholy presence of these 
 Roman banditti afflicted so many nations. This 
 city of learning, which would in all probability 
 have spread civilization over those vast regions 
 still ruled by ignorance and barbarism see it 
 sacked by the brute soldiery of Aurelian, left in 
 silent desolation, and the noble-minded adviser of 
 its defence, the sublime Longinus, assassinated in 
 cold blood by the orders of the same ruthless and 
 infamous tyrant. 
 
 This mere mite of the Roman love and power 
 of vengeful destruction is probably enough for our 
 readers ; but it is not a thousandth part of the 
 catalogue of wanton devastation and cruelty, which
 
 16 THE EAELY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 marks their track through history, numerous evi- 
 dences of which are still in existence. 
 
 Such being the habits, character, and practices 
 of that insatiate people, is it unreasonable to sup- 
 pose, that the vexations and formidable resistance 
 they met with in Britain improved their temper, or 
 conciliated their friendship ? As such an event does 
 not seem in the least degree probable, we are 
 inclined to think, that the tone of independence, 
 which so unequivocally marked the conduct of the 
 Britons of that epoch, drew upon their devoted 
 towns and villages a spirit of revenge, similar to 
 those examples above related ; and that it is owing 
 to such violent acts of spoliation, that we are left 
 with such scanty materials to assist us in our in- 
 quiry as to the state of civilization in Britain pre- 
 vious to the Roman invasion. 
 
 That there was a commercial intercourse carried 
 on with other nations, long before the Romans 
 came here, will not, we believe, be disputed ; this 
 in itself argues strongly in favour of somewhat 
 settled habits, and a recognition of the rights of 
 property, upon which all true civilization must be 
 founded ; the ancient British coins still in existence, 
 and which are stated to have been imitated from
 
 THE ARTS IN BRITAIN. 17 
 
 the money of Tyre or Carthage, afford good evi- 
 dence on this point, as a direct indication of the 
 existence of commercial activity, which required 
 the aid of this representation of value. 
 
 Whatever number of cities or towns Britain may 
 have possessed previous to the descent upon its 
 shores of the armed missionaries of calamity 
 already mentioned, it is much to be regretted, that 
 we cannot point out the remains of any except 
 Segontium near Caernarvon in North Wales, and 
 perhaps Sylchester. Camlodunum (the stronghold 
 of Camlo), now Maldon, appears to have been a 
 place of consequence at that time, and many other 
 stations are pointed out as the sites of ancient 
 British cities, which are now merely extensive 
 and irregular mounds, spread over large spaces 
 of ground, but affording no clue to their original 
 purposes. 
 
 We are therefore obliged to refer back to the 
 Druidical remains still preserved in various places, 
 which no doubt were in secluded spots ', that re- 
 mained undiscovered by the Romans, or unques- 
 tionably they would have been treated as all the 
 other Druidical temples and British towns were. 
 
 1 Those at Abuiy are extremely curious.
 
 18 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 The most surprising of the ante-Roman remains 
 now existing is that incomprehensible structure 
 " Stonhenge, " upon the date, architects, and uses 
 of which, a wide field of conjecture, with much 
 labour and study, have been expended to very 
 little purpose. 
 
 For the information of many of our readers, who 
 may not have had any opportunity of seeing these 
 very curious remains of ancient times, the following 
 description of this subject of antiquarian perplexity 
 is subjoined. 
 
 It consists of four extensive concentric circles, 
 around which upright stones in pairs are placed ; 
 of these the outer and third circles have the most 
 massive character, the upright stones of the outer 
 circle are each seven feet wide, and eighteen feet 
 high ; over every pair there is a horizontal stone, 
 or impost laid ; each of these is ten feet long, 
 by three feet high. The stones of the third circle 
 are each seven and a half feet wide by twenty- 
 eight feet high, and their imposts are sixteen and 
 a half feet in length, by four feet in depth, and 
 all these are secured on the top by mortices and 
 tenons ; they are all four-sided, and the upright 
 stones diminish gradually towards the top. 
 
 Some of them have been overthrown, probably
 
 THE ARTS IN BRITAIN. 19 
 
 by Roman violence ; but a few pairs of them still 
 proudly maintain their perpendicular position, in 
 defiance, probably, of the storms of much more than 
 two thousand winters, which have swept over, but 
 not much scathed these " ruins gray." 
 
 The perplexity of this affair is still further 
 increased, when we begin to inquire, by what 
 mechanical means the ancient builders contrived 
 to lift these immense blocks of stone high in air, 
 and then place them in the excellent order which 
 they still maintain. 
 
 Another subject we may mention in this place, 
 which, though strictly speaking classed with British 
 antiquities, have not been found in England ; we 
 mean the tall, solitary, and slender round towers 
 of Ireland and Scotland \ which have proved so rich 
 a source of antiquarian controversy, and in many 
 instances absurd speculations, leaving the original 
 question quite undecided and open to further con- 
 jectures, as to the age in which they were built or 
 the object for which they were intended. Of these 
 memorials of high antiquity, there are ten or twelve 
 still remaining in Ireland, and three in Scotland ; 
 they all have the same proportions, but do not 
 
 1 This subject will be taken up more at length when we come 
 to the state of arts in Ireland.
 
 20 THE EARLY INDICATIONS OF 
 
 exhibit the same description of masonry ; the latter 
 is generally composed of irregular layers of stone, 
 from the immediate vicinity, but laid in a close 
 and workmanlike manner ; but some are much 
 better built than others. In height they are from 
 ninety to one hundred and twenty feet ; their pro- 
 portions resemble very closely those 1 of the Doric 
 column ; they are solid for the first twelve or fifteen 
 feet from the ground, and here is placed the first 
 opening or door, always facing about due east 
 which there is no way of reaching except by a 
 ladder, having ascended to this point, the traveller 
 finds himself standing on a solid stone floor, and 
 looking upwards, sees that the remainder, up to the 
 roof, is a hollow shaft or cylinder, without any 
 stairs or means of ascending from the first landing 
 place ; there is a projecting eave or cornice round 
 the top, under which are four square window open- 
 ings, placed opposite the four cardinal points : 
 where the roofs still remain they are conical. 
 
 These pillar towers are generally placed in the 
 flat country ; but there is one upon high ground, 
 namely, that on the rock of Cashel, close to the 
 cathedral. Another feature is, that they are always 
 
 1 That at Kildare is one hundred and thirty-five feet elevation.
 
 THE ARTS IN BRITAIN. 21 
 
 in the grouping of some of the most ancient abbeys 
 and cathedrals, though not attached to any part of 
 those buildings ; indeed the latter are generally mere 
 ruins, whilst the tower remains unimpaired, except, 
 perhaps, as regards its conical top. 
 
 Now as all these examples, of what may be called 
 the age of " Pelasgic art" in Britain, have, in all 
 probability, been the works of Carthaginian or 
 Phoenician builders, and knowing, as we all do, 
 that the Romans detested every object that partook 
 of the Carthaginian character, it is very easy to 
 conceive, that whatever ancient cylindrical towers 
 that commercial people may have built in Britain, 
 were objects of peculiar animosity, as being con- 
 nected with the religious worship of that people ; and 
 we know that the Romans slaughtered the Druids, 
 whenever they had an opportunity of glutting their 
 revenge upon them. The Silures l and Brigantes 
 of the west of England, of Wales, and of the 
 south-east parts of Ireland, are with great reason 
 believed to have come originally from Spain, and 
 with their worship of Baal brought with them a 
 knowledge of traffic, and of the useful arts, which 
 were, long previous to the Christian era, very gene- 
 
 1 The Silures destroyed two cohorts at once ; at another time 
 they cut off a whole legion.
 
 22 THE EARLY INDICATIONS, &C. 
 
 rally diffused throughout southern and western 
 Europe. Yet here the ancient and inveterate ene- 
 mies of their race again disturbed their social estab- 
 lishments, religion, and the progress of their civiliza- 
 tion. Long and desperate was the struggle which 
 these two warlike tribes maintained against the 
 Romans, who suffered such losses by their deter- 
 mined resistance, that at last they thought it pru- 
 dent to abandon the idea of extirpating them, and to 
 establish with them an armed truce. The Romans 
 met with equally rough treatment in Scotland, so 
 that they were not able to destroy all the objects 
 venerated by the Druids in that country 1 , and as it 
 appears that they never were able to establish their 
 dominion in Ireland, the memorials of the ancient 
 worship of that people escaped the fate of those 
 that existed in England and the south of Scotland. 
 
 1 To prevent the formidable inroads of the Gael, or Caledo- 
 nians, Hadrian raised a wall of defence (about 226') against them, 
 which extended from the Solway frith to the mouth of the Tyne.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SECOND PERIOD AFTEE THE ROMAN INVASION. 
 
 HAVING offered those speculations in the last chap- 
 ter, to account for the scarcity of the early British 
 remains of the arts, we shall now proceed to the 
 Roman period of occupation, in which it is likely 
 some facts will be found rather corroborative of our 
 view of the question ; not indeed entirely from the 
 writings of the Roman scribes, who had the pen 
 completely in their own hands, but from various and 
 more certain sources of evidence. 
 
 The general events under the Roman govern- 
 ment in Britain are sufficiently well detailed by 
 their writers to give a tolerable, full, but most as- 
 suredly not a very faithful account of the historical 
 facts of that period ; they are, however, sufficient 
 to prove the great injuries that the insatiable love
 
 24 SECOND PERIOD 
 
 of conquest possessed by that people inflicted upon 
 Britain. 
 
 It was in the 5 3rd year before the Christian era, 
 that the Romans, under Julius Csesar, paid the first 
 hostile visit to the shores of Britain. The stay of 
 that liberticidal chief in this country was not of 
 many weeks 1 duration, and his reception was of so 
 warlike a character, that it is not likely he erected 
 a building more permanent than his generaFs tent 
 during his stay. He returned, however, the follow- 
 ing year ; and although he brought a very powerful 
 army, above thirty thousand foot, and two thou- 
 sand horse, yet the natives withstood those well- 
 disciplined legions in a manner to which they had 
 not been accustomed, and although Csesar brought 
 in treachery to his aid, and gained over one tribe 
 (the Trinobantes) to assist him against their own 
 countrymen, yet on the approach of winter, he did 
 not think it quite a safe speculation to remain in 
 Britain ; and he never came again l . It was not 
 until the reign of Claudius that the Romans re- 
 
 1 In that mixture of truth and fable called Caesar's Commenta- 
 ries, in which that vain man allowed such ridiculous tales to be 
 recorded of his exploits, we find that the Britons were getting 
 in their corn-harvest when he landed with his legionaries ; and 
 that an attempt being made by the invaders to carry off their 
 corn, a desperate battle ensued, &c. Now this fact, let into that
 
 AFTER THE ROMAN INVASION. 25 
 
 turned in force, under Aulius Plautius, A. D. 45, 
 they took possession of the south-eastern parts, 
 gradually extending their limits over the island, 
 but not without considerable resistance 1 ; but now 
 they colonized, and began to build temples, forse or 
 courts of justice, baths, and other structures, many 
 of which must have been of a splendid character, 
 as may easily be imagined from the remains of 
 them which have been, at various times, discovered 
 in most parts of England. 
 
 The government of the Romans in Britain hav- 
 ing lasted about four hundred years from their first 
 settlement in the reign of Claudius, it cannot be 
 doubted, that after their fierce and sanguinary 
 warfare with the natives, which lasted almost a cen- 
 tury, had subsided, the arts of peace, which had 
 been crushed and overlaid by the desolating move- 
 ments of contending armies, again slowly unfolded 
 their interesting qualities and harmonizing influ- 
 
 mass of boastings, is proof enough that the Britons were then 
 an agricultural people. Caesar's Thrasonical brag would not do in 
 Britain. 
 
 1 It is recorded that Septimius Severus lost 50,000 men by 
 sickness and the sword, during his campaign in Caledonia, A. D. 
 209. And his opinion of that warlike nation is proved by the 
 formidable wall he built from sea to sea, which he further secured 
 by a broad and deep trench, many towers and battlements, Vide 
 Dion, Spartianus, &c. &c. 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 26 SECOND PERIOD 
 
 ence ; and therefore from about A.D. 130, when 
 Coilus I. or Coel was governor of Britain, until 
 the year 443, when Constantius, the son of Con- 
 stantine the Great, abandoned the country, and 
 left the Britons to take care of themselves, it is 
 natural to suppose the principal Roman edifices 
 were erected. That these were numerous, and 
 many of them deserving the appellation of " magni- 
 ficent," there are very satisfactory proofs ; though 
 most of those erected towards the close of the 
 Roman domination appear to have been produced 
 under the influence of the corruptions of taste, and 
 inferiority of workmanship, which was gradually 
 supplanting, not only in Britain but throughout the 
 Roman empire, the true principles of knowledge, 
 in design, construction, and that admirable skill, 
 by which the Greek and Roman architecture had 
 long been distinguished; and which was sub- 
 verted in proportion as the profligacy and tyranny 
 of the emperors accelerated the baseness and demo- 
 ralization of the people, until at length the ignorant 
 but fierce and hardy barbarian tribes, from the 
 north and east of Europe, completed the subjuga- 
 tion of the Western empire. 
 
 For two or three centuries previous to the depar- 
 ture of the Romans from Britain, the pure and
 
 AFTER THE ROMAN INVASION. 27 
 
 primitive doctrines of Christianity had made consi- 
 derable progress in the British isles * ; and of the 
 small churches wherein they assembled to wor- 
 ship few remain ; perhaps the most remarkable of 
 these is Pieranzabuloe \ in Cornwall, which was 
 built by St. Pieran, or Kieran, an Irishman of the 
 Osraigi clan (in Ossory), about A. D. 430. This 
 interesting memorial of the earliest known manner 
 of the Christian ecclesiastical architecture in Bri- 
 tain, is twenty-five feet long, by twelve and a half 
 feet wide. The walls are twelve and a half feet 
 high, with a semicircular arched doorway in the 
 centre of the south wall of the nave. This 
 opening is in high preservation, and is adorned 
 with the Egyptian zigzag, or arrow-head orna- 
 ment ; its key-stone has a tiger^s head carved on 
 it, and two small human heads are sculptured on 
 the corbels of the arch ; it is seven and a half feet 
 high by two feet four inches wide. The church 
 has but one small window, which is placed at the 
 south wall of the church. It also contains the an- 
 
 1 It is recorded that St. Paul the Apostle preached the Gospel 
 in Britain, in the year of the Christian era 59, which was the 
 year in which he was liberated at Rome, and it is inferred that 
 he travelled hither in company with the father of Caractacus, 
 who was set at liberty at the same time : the Greek martyrology 
 states that St. Paul ordained Aristobulus Bishop of Britain. 
 
 c 2
 
 28 SECOND PERIOD, &C. 
 
 cient stone altar, and the stone seats upon which 
 the congregation were accommodated, which are 
 attached to the north, south, and west walls of the 
 nave. The workmanship of the walls is rude, but 
 solid and compact, and must have been well con- 
 structed, for they are still upright and well pre- 
 served, which condition may no doubt have been 
 materially assisted by their being completely buried 
 in drift-sand for nearly six centuries, from the thir- 
 teenth to the nineteenth century. 
 
 Taking this building, therefore, as one of the 
 earliest and most perfect specimens now remaining 
 in England of church building, between the intro- 
 duction of Christianity and the Saxon invasion, we 
 think it will afford the learned antiquary a satisfac- 
 tory link in the chain between the disappearance of 
 good Roman style of architecture, and the earliest 
 period of those buildings known to be of undoubted 
 Saxon origin. St. Pieran^s church seems almost 
 to have been miraculously preserved from that de- 
 solating scourge with which the pagan Saxons af- 
 flicted England, for nearly two centuries 1 ; for when 
 that fierce, rude, and pagan people arrived here, 
 Christianity and its civilizing influence had made 
 much progress among the Britons. 
 1 From 450 to about 640.
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS. 29 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS. A. D. 450. 
 
 These people found this country profusely orna- 
 mented with edifices, public and private ; many 
 of which, as their relics prove, were of a fine 
 style of architecture, several of the Roman em- 
 perors l and nobility 2 having resided here during the 
 most prosperous period of that empire. These 
 noble structures, the offspring of the wealth, good 
 taste, and skill of the Roman architects, and their 
 British pupils, were amongst the earliest objects of 
 Saxon fury. " From the East to the West," 1 as 
 Gildas informs us, " there was nothing to be seen 
 but churches and other edifices burnt, or demolished 
 to the foundation." And BEDE also, though a Saxon, 
 states that public and private buildings fell in one 
 common ruin ; the clergy were murdered at the altar, 
 the bishop and his flock perished by fire or sword, 
 and the principal families of Britain that escaped, 
 were glad to take refuge in France, Ireland, and 
 
 1 Hadrian and Septimius Severus ; the latter died at York, 
 A.D. 211. 
 
 2 Ostorius, Suetonius Paulinus, Trebellius Maximus, Roscius 
 Celius, P. Cerealis, Julius Agricola, Sallust Lucullus, Helvius 
 Pertinax, Constantine Chlorus, Theodosius, Maximus, Stilicho, 
 Victorinus, &c. 
 
 c 3
 
 30 ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS. 
 
 Wales. We think it may be justly inferred, that 
 this picture of enormous cruelty and rapine will ac- 
 count for the great scarcity of architectural works 
 previously erected, by either Britons or Romans : 
 that a few specimens still remain is a matter of 
 wonder, as well as of congratulation, seeing how 
 strong the chances were that the desolating axe of 
 the invaders would have swept from the land every 
 vestige of its previous religion and civilization. 
 We are, therefore, not to be surprised that those 
 ancient edifices have disappeared, and still less so 
 when we recollect that some very noble structures, 
 of periods much subsequent to them, have been so 
 completely demolished that even the exact sites of 
 some of them are doubtful ; it is also admitted 
 that in the reign of Claudius, among the British 
 walled towns are mentioned Carlisle, London, and 
 Lincoln ; and in the account Bede gives of the 
 church built at Verulam, in memory of St. Alban's 
 martyrdom, he says, "it was of admirable work- 
 manship, and worthy of the purpose for which it 
 was intended ;" and he also mentions the build- 
 ing of a church of stone at Whithern, in Galloway, 
 A.D. 448; and in the same year, as related by 
 Matthew of Westminster, AURELIUS AMBROSIUS 
 " repaired the churches in Britain."
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS. 31 
 
 Up to this period, however, the vestigice of the 
 arts still existing in England are of British or 
 Roman origin ; and it is a very remarkable fact, 
 that the first Christian place of worship, at which a 
 small congregation of converted Saxons attended 
 the service (570), was a British church at Canter- 
 bury ; it had been partly ruined by the Saxon 
 intruders a century previous to this time, it was 
 built during the Roman government here, and 
 dedicated to St. Martin. When Bertha, the daugh- 
 ter of Charibert, king of Paris, was married to 
 Ethelbert, king of Kent, this princess caused St. 
 Martin's church to be repaired, and restored to its 
 original purpose ; here she attended her devotions, 
 and here the clergy commenced baptism, preaching, 
 and the open exercise of the Christian doctrine. 
 This was about twenty-seven years before the 
 arrival of Augustine. 
 
 From that period the conversion of the heathen 
 worshippers of Woden went on, though slowly ; for 
 it occupied a century and more, ere the whole of that 
 race had abandoned idol-worship, and adopted the 
 gospel dispensation. And now their zeal, taking an 
 opposite direction from their previous one, dis- 
 played no small vigour in restoring the old British 
 churches, and erecting new ones to the service of 
 c 4
 
 32 ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS. 
 
 the Christian religion ; and it is not until about 
 this period that we find history sufficiently authen- 
 tic to allow of something like a clear and consecutive 
 view of the progress which the arts, sciences, and 
 literature, continued to make, though still under 
 very great difficulties, in this country. 
 
 Ethelbert himself having been at length con- 
 verted by Augustine, in 597, soon directed his 
 attention to the building of churches ; he founded 
 the cathedrals of St. Paul's, London, and St. An- 
 drew's, Rochester ; he also laid the foundation of a 
 church for the monastery of St. Peter and Paul, 
 Canterbury l . 
 
 Edwin, king of Northumberland, who was mar- 
 ried to Ethelburga, daughter of Ethelbert, being 
 by her means converted to Christianity, founded 
 the church of St. Peter's, at York, about 628. 
 This building was originally constructed of wood, 
 but the king soon replaced it with one of stone, 
 curiously wrought, and he built another similar at 
 Lincoln ; and it is worth while observing the 
 
 1 The ruined church within the precincts of Dover castle is 
 considered to be the earliest Christian Church now existing in 
 Britain ; it is not Roman work as it was supposed to be, but is 
 believed to have been built by Eadbald, King of Kent, early in 
 the seventh century, and an inspection of the building and 
 materials greatly strengthen this opinion.
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS. 3o 
 
 tendencies to improve in useful knowledge, which 
 were evident in this country, notwithstanding the 
 almost incessant wars, which the kings of the 
 Heptarchy carried on against each otherj ever 
 productive of extensively calamitous consequences. 
 Yet, under this unhappy state of things, we find 
 that about 643, Sigebert, king of the East Angles, 
 who had in his youth been educated in France, 
 being of a peaceful disposition and fond of learning, 
 invited some persons of education from Kent to 
 assist him in founding a school in his states, simi- 
 lar to those in France, where he had been edu- 
 cated ; and this institution is stated to be the origin 
 of the university of Cambridge. 
 
 In 668, the desire for useful knowledge, which 
 was gradually though slowly diffusing itself amongst 
 the people, was still further increased. At that 
 period pope Vitalian ' appointed Theodore, a very 
 learned Greek monk of Tarsus, to the see of Can- 
 terbury. This prelate gave great encouragement 
 to the cultivation of the Greek and Latin lan- 
 guages, music, astronomy, arithmetic, and other 
 liberal arts and sciences : and it appears with good 
 effect; for we can perceive that soon after this 
 
 1 Of Segni ; he was the seventy-seventh Pope. 
 C O
 
 34 SAXON ARCHITECTS WILFRID. 
 
 period, architecture, and the arts generally, dis- 
 played a degree of improvement that could only be 
 accounted for on the ground of those advances that 
 had been made in the proper cultivation of the 
 human mind ; and amongst the instances on record 
 we here select some of the most remarkable. 
 
 In 670, Wilfrid, archbishop of York, repaired his 
 cathedral in an excellent manner ; he covered the 
 roof with new lead, and fitted the windows with 
 glass. 
 
 Wilfrid appears to have been eminent for his 
 knowledge and skill in architectural science ; he had 
 been engaged in some controversies which obliged 
 him several times to visit Rome, and each time on 
 his return he brought with him a quantity of pic- 
 tures, books, and statues to adorn his cathedral, 
 the conventual churches of Ripon and Ely, St. 
 Andrew's, and three other churches at Hexham 
 (Northumberland). These were all built in the 
 " Roman manner, 11 as it was then called, under 
 Wilfrid^ superintendance, by the skilful builders 
 and artificers of various kinds whom he had 
 brought from Rome, Canterbury, France, and 
 other places, and these churches, none of which 
 however now exist, are mentioned by contemporary 
 writers in terms of high admiration.
 
 SAXON ARCHITECTS WILFRID. 35 
 
 Eddius, who wrote a life of Wilfrid, informs us 
 that the church of Hexham, built in 674, was one 
 of the most magnificent fabrics of the time ; " its 
 deepness in the ground, with rooms formed of 
 stone admirably polished, having above ground one 
 room of many parts supported on many columns, 
 and on various subterranean chapels, and possessing 
 a wonderful length and height of walls, with various 
 passages and spiral stairs." The account is cor- 
 roborated by Richard, one of the priors, who adds 
 " that it was divided into three stories, and still fur- 
 ther, that the walls and capitals of columns, the 
 covered ceiling of the sanctuary, were decorated 
 with histories, statues, and various figures project- 
 ing in sculpture from the stone with the grateful 
 variety of pictures, and wonderful beauty of co- 
 lours." 
 
 That these sacred edifices were dedicated with 
 great splendour need not be doubted, and we have 
 a description of a consecration at the conventual 
 church of Ripon, another of Wilfrid's structures, 
 which was finished a year or two after that at Hex- 
 ham. Eddius tells us that this church was built of 
 wrought stone, with columns and porticoes, or 
 aisles ; that archbishop Wilfrid held in it a so- 
 lemn dedication which was attended by Egfrid. 
 c 6
 
 36 BENEDICT BISCOP. 
 
 king of Northumberland, and his brother Alvin. 
 The church was dedicated to St. Peter. The arch- 
 bishop consecrated the altar, and having covered it 
 with cloth of purple and gold, all the people came 
 and received communion. From the altar Wilfrid 
 gave an account of the lands with which the church 
 was endowed, and pointed out to those assembled, 
 the sacred places in various districts from which the 
 British clergy had been expelled by the Saxons. He 
 then presented to the church a copy of the gospels 
 written in gold on purple leaves, and cased with the 
 finest gold and precious stones. 
 
 About the same period we find from Felibien, 
 that several churches and monasteries were built in 
 England, but especially among the Mercians ; in 
 these a very considerable monastery called Mede- 
 hamstead (now Peterborough), was erected in or 
 about 674 by the abbot Sexulphus, who superin- 
 tended the work himself: he was afterwards bishop 
 of the Mercians. 
 
 A worthy contemporary of these priestly archi- 
 tects was Benedict Biscop, who, about the year 675, 
 commenced the building of St. Peter's church in 
 his abbey of Weannouth, with the assistance of 
 foreign architects, whom he had engaged on the 
 continent during his frequent journeys to Rome
 
 GLASS-MAKING INTRODUCED. o7 
 
 from G7-") to (>8-">. Biscop appears to have been 
 emulous of the fame gained by Wilfrid and Sexul- 
 phus, for he collected many pictures and sculptured 
 works of art to adorn his new edifice. 
 
 Amongst the pictures was a painting of the Virgin, 
 and portraits of the twelve Apostles, some subjects 
 from the evangelical writings and Apocalypse, with 
 several from remarkable passages in the Old and 
 New Testaments, "executed" 1 says BED K, u with 
 wonderful art and wisdom." 
 
 Besides the works of art which adorned the 
 churches erected by these prelates of superior mind, 
 literature also was taken into their high considera- 
 tion : they possessed libraries well furnished with 
 books, the expense of obtaining which must have 
 been considerable. 
 
 And that he might not be surpassed by any one 
 in the improvements of the age, " Biscop sent into 
 Gaul for glass-makers to make glass for the windows 
 of his church, this art being then unknown in Eng- 
 land ;" by these workmen the Saxons were taught 
 to manufacture glass, and the process has ever since 
 been carried on with a high reputation at New- 
 castle-on-Tyne and its vicinage. 
 
 These edifices were all erected according to what 
 was then called ''the Roman manner:" this ex-
 
 38 THE GOTHIC TRIBES. 
 
 pression appears to have two applications, one of 
 which applied to the taste or style, the other to the 
 mode of constructing the building. As to the first, 
 it appears from the specimens of those ages that 
 now remain, that it was the " debased Roman" 
 which began to appear under Constantine, and con- 
 tinued to sink until it lost all the fine features of 
 the true classic architecture of the Augustan age, 
 about the time that the northern barbarians came 
 down upon Italy *. 
 
 And here the author requests the attention of his 
 readers to this remarkable event ; for it is the com- 
 mencement of a very important epoch in the history 
 of the arts, but more especially in the architectural 
 branch. For now appeared upon the earth for 
 the first time ostensibly, those wandering tribes of 
 people called "Groths 2 ," a very savage race, on 
 whom has most strangely been conferred the dis- 
 
 1 The great and memorable migration of people happened 
 towards the close of the fourth, and in the fifth centuries of the 
 Christian era, when a numerous swarm of unknown and bar- 
 barous nations came, in part from the north, partly from the 
 east, by the Palus Mseotis (Crim Tartary), Sarmatia, and Pan- 
 nonia, and entered the provinces of the Roman empire, until 
 they penetrated the southern confines of Europe, and even Italy 
 itself, where meeting with only a feeble resistance from the 
 Romans, now sunk in vice and degradation, they put an end to 
 the succession of Roman emperors and to that empire. 
 
 2 In the latter part of the fourth century of our era.
 
 THE GOTHIC TRIBES. 39 
 
 tinguislied honour of being "the inventors" of that 
 noble, elegant, and permanent style of architecture 
 which bears their name, but which has of late years 
 been restored in some degree to its true appellation, 
 " the early English or pointed style ;" consequently 
 the term Gothic, as applied to this style, is now 
 gradually growing out of use from its singular mis- 
 application. 
 
 To make this matter clear to his readers, it will 
 be requisite for the author to go back to the time 
 when those roving people made their first settle- 
 ment in Italy, and to this portion of the history we 
 must devote a separate section. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 OX THK FIRST SETTLING OF THE GOTHS IX ITALY 
 TO THEIR TOTAL DISPERSION AXD DISAPPEAR- 
 ANCE IN EUROPE. 
 
 To carry on the subject consecutively, it is re- 
 quisite to begin with another eastern tribe of in- 
 vaders "the Heruleans." This people, led by 
 their chief or king, Odoacer, gave the final over- 
 throw to the degenerate Roman empire of the
 
 40 THE GOTHIC TRIBES. 
 
 west, A.D. 476, by dethroning Romulus Augus- 
 tulus, the last of its emperors acknowledged at 
 Rome. This chief of the Herulii reigned sixteen 
 years, until he was in his turn conquered by Theo- 
 doric the Goth \ who drove him out of Italy, A.D. 
 493, and established the seat of his own govern- 
 ment at Ravenna. 
 
 When the victor king found himself securely 
 settled in his newly conquered dominions, he set 
 about to repair, and even to rebuild, several of the 
 principal cities, which had been desolated by the 
 continual inroads of the eastern and northern bar- 
 barians. This rebuilding probably produced the 
 the style that was in the other parts of Europe, 
 called " the Roman manner ;" it was certainly 
 
 1 According to common opinion, the Goths came from Scandi- 
 navia, which is that part of Europe now inhabited by the Swedes 
 and Norwegians. After roving for some years on the borders of 
 the Baltic Sea, they moved towards Scythia, and established 
 themselves in the countries north of the Black Sea. Those who 
 advanced furthest towards the east, were called Ostrogoths ; and 
 they who dwelt to the west, were named Wisigoths, or Visigoths. 
 Baron Bielfield, on Erudition, v. i. p. 140. 
 
 Theodoric led the Ostrogoths, the Wisigoths were under the 
 command of Alaric ; they settled first in Aquitain, between the 
 Rhone and the Loire, but having embraced the Arian heresy 
 were attacked and defeated by Clovis king of the Franks ; they 
 then migrated into Spain, where they established themselves 
 about the middle of the sixth century, and all traces of them as a 
 distinct people are entirely lost from that period.
 
 THE GOTHIC TRIBES. 41 
 
 the work of Roman, or at least of Italian architects 
 and builders, for the Goths had not any sort of 
 artists amongst them. The migratory hordes that 
 issued from the immense Hyrcanian forests, and 
 Hyperborean climates, impelling each other forward 
 as if by gravitation, like the ocean billows, in slow, 
 or rapid, but constant motion, could not have con- 
 ceived any idea of fixed habitations, rapine and 
 conquest being their only objects ; they would have 
 despised the peaceful arts, had they known of their 
 existence ; all the knowledge they prized, was the 
 science of strategics, or the art of war. The Israel- 
 ites wandering in the wilderness, or the tented 
 Nomadic tribes of Tartary, could have had as much 
 idea of an architect's usefulness, as the warlike 
 savages called Goths had, previous to their settling 
 in Italy. When this took place however, and these 
 marauders had fixed themselves in a finer soil, 
 and under more genial climate than their own, 
 symptoms of civilization sprung up among them, 
 they employed Italian architects 1 , and through 
 sheer ignorance, pretended to follow the Roman 
 style of building in their public edifices. 
 
 1 Boethius and Symmachus, Romans ; Cassiodorus, a Cala- 
 brian, Roman Patricians ; and Aloisius, supposed to have been a 
 Greek.
 
 42 THE GOTHIC TRIBES. 
 
 Vasari gives a very clear account of the manner 
 in which these things were managed at that period; 
 for, as he observes, the wide spread destruction that 
 marked their progress, had created a necessity for 
 buildings of ah 1 sorts ; but elegance, beauty, and the 
 good style had long been entirely neglected, the 
 accomplished artists having all been long deceased, 
 and their finest works being in ruins, the persons 
 who undertook to supply the Goths with buildings, 
 public or private, did not know how to erect edifices 
 that had any degree of taste or symmetry, either 
 in design, proportion, or arrangement. For the 
 masters, as they were called, of that time, adopted 
 those caprices and that folly, which are still, as he 
 says, to be seen in old buildings ; and exactly similar 
 in character, it appears, was the painting of that 
 epoch. The new architects thus introduced their 
 own barbarous notions, and produced that mode of 
 building, which, says VASARI, we now call Tedesco 
 (German), and he continues, " those persons exe- 
 cuted works more worthy of our ridicule, than 
 calculated to raise their own reputation; until a 
 much later period, when artists of higher capacity, 
 and better education, introduced a style superior in 
 every respect, combining utility and grandeur, with 
 elegance, strength, and beauty."
 
 THE GOTHIC TRIBES. 43 
 
 Vasari then points out distinctly some of the 
 edifices which were got up in this barbarous man- 
 ner ; amongst these he mentions the palace built at 
 Ravenna, in the beginning of the 6th century, by 
 Theodoric the Goth, when king of Italy and Mo- 
 dena. The churches of St. Martin and St. John 
 the Evangelist at Ravenna, St. Stephen's at Rimini, 
 and two other palaces, one at Modena, and the 
 other at Pa via, both rich and large, but not well 
 designed, or constructed on sound architectural 
 principles ; also the churches of St. Stephen at 
 Rimini, of St. Martin, St. John the Evangelist, 
 the latter erected about 518 by Galla Placidia, 
 and that of St. Vitelis in 547, besides many other 
 monasteries and churches constructed after the 
 Goths by the Lombards ; amongst which he notices 
 the church and monastery of Monte Cassino, and 
 the church of St. John the Baptist at Monza 
 (twelve miles from Milan), erected by Theodolinda, 
 queen of the Lombards, about 61 7 ; he also places 
 in the same list, some Benedictine abbeys, and 
 churches in France. These structures Vasari 
 describes as large and magnificent ; but their 
 grandeur was barbaric, and their style of architec- 
 ture extremely absurd, disorderly, and extravagant." 
 
 And of a similar taste were a number of churches
 
 44 THE GOTHIC TRIBES. 
 
 and monasteries, built by the Lombard kings and 
 queens, in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, 
 
 The Goths having established themselves in Italy. 
 A.D. 492, continued to reign there until 576, in 
 which year, and after a long war, Narses, the 
 general of Justinian, encountered Tejas the Gothic 
 king, who had pillaged Rome for forty days, and 
 gave him a final overthrow, which put an end to 
 the Gothic dominion in Italy. The other tribes of 
 this people in Spain and France, continued to have 
 some power for about one hundred and forty years 
 later, but being subverted in the early part of the 
 eighth century, all traces of them as a distinct 
 people are totally lost. 
 
 Yet, it is to those barbarous and wandering 
 tribes, that some obscure writers have attributed, 
 and by a strange delusion persuaded the people, 
 that the contrivance and perfecting of a style of 
 architecture, the simplest in principle, but grandest 
 in form, most elegant in taste, and most sublime in 
 feeling, that it is impossible for the mind of civil- 
 ized man to conceive we mean the pointed arch, 
 or early English style, which first displayed its 
 beauties in France and England, about 1140, ap- 
 pears not to have commenced until above four 
 hundred years after the Gothic tribes and name
 
 THE GOTHIC TRIBES. 45 
 
 had been totally lost sight of in Europe ; any fur- 
 ther arguments, we should think, would not be 
 required by our readers, to prove that the Goths 
 could not have had any thing whatever to do with 
 inventing the beautiful and scientific style of build- 
 ing, properly denominated the early English, or 
 Anglo-Norman architecture. In the course of this 
 inquiry, we shall be able to point out the causes 
 which gradually led to the adoption of that noble 
 style of architecture ; but at present, we must re- 
 sume our researches with respect to the progress 
 of the arts in England, from the beginning of the 
 seventh century.
 
 CHAPTER ITI. 
 
 THE SAXONS. 
 
 HAVING, not without some difficulty, traced the 
 progress of the arts to the latter end of the seventh 
 century, we there find the earliest authentic in- 
 formation as to the painting of pictures for the 
 churches. These pictures, however, were, it ap- 
 pears, imported from the continent, between 680 
 and 685. This affords some evidence to show, that 
 the Anglo-Saxons had not then learned the art of 
 painting ; but some time later, a canon was esta- 
 blished by one of the national councils, which re- 
 quired that every bishop, when dedicating a church, 
 should see that the portrait or figure of the saint 
 or saints to whom they were dedicated, should be 
 painted near the altars on the interior walls. This is 
 the first public proof we have of the establishment 
 1
 
 THE SAXOXS. 47 
 
 of that elegant art among the English people ; and 
 no doubt, the encouragement this mandate would 
 cause among the artists, must have called forth 
 whatever pictorial talent and energy were in the 
 country ; and, had it not been paralyzed by the 
 desolating hands of the Danish invaders, would in 
 all probability, have rivalled the continental schools, 
 even those of a much later period. 
 
 Sculpture also begins to develop its powers for 
 similar purposes ; but, like its sister arts, the pro- 
 gress it made was seriously checked by the same 
 visitations, which commenced A.D. 789, and did 
 not terminate until Canute was crowned king of 
 England in 1017, being a period of nearly two 
 hundred and thirty years, of almost unceasing tur- 
 moil, rapine, and conflagration, the effects of which, 
 were most disastrous to all the arts, and completely 
 checked the advancement of civilization, which 
 previously had been making considerable progress 
 throughout the nation ; and in further corrobora- 
 tion of that assertion, we find in Bede, that Naiton, 
 king of the Picts, having decided upon erecting a 
 church of stone within his territory, sent an agent 
 to Ceolfrid, then abbot of St. Peter and PauPs 
 monastery, at Wearmouth, requesting that he would 
 send him architects capable of building him a church
 
 48 THE SAXONS. 
 
 according to "the Roman manner 1 , of large stone," 
 and that proper architects and builders were sent 
 for that purpose, who no doubt were acquainted 
 with the method of squaring the large stones, and 
 setting them in true joints. This method is evi- 
 dently superior to the mode then commonly in use, 
 which was to construct the buildings with small 
 stones of irregular sizes and shapes, and to fill up 
 the irregularities and conceal their deficiencies by 
 mortar "and cement. 
 
 Six years later (716) we find Ethelbald, kinsman 
 and successor to Kelred the Mercian king, com- 
 menced building the famous abbey of Croyland; 
 and about 720, Ina, king of the West Saxons, 
 founded and endowed the large church and monas- 
 tery at Glastonbury for the soul of Mollo or Mules 
 his brother a ; but previous to this time three other 
 churches had been erected in this celebrated place. 
 
 1 Bedse Ecclesiastica Historia Gentis Anglorum, lib. v. cap. 22. 
 The passage runs thus, " Et ArcJiitectos sibi mitti petiit qui juxtn 
 morum Romanorum ecclesiatn de lapid.e ingenti ipsius facerent." This 
 merely relates to the manner of constructing the building, but in 
 what taste or gtyU the design was to be, we have no means of as- 
 certaining. 
 
 * He was also brother to Kedwalla whom Ina succeeded. Mules 
 went with Kedwalla to invade Kent, but was repulsed by the men 
 of Kent, who set fire to a house in which Mules and some of his 
 men had taken up their quarters, and they were all destroyed.
 
 DANISH DEVASTATIONS. 49 
 
 In 741, the Cathedral at York having been 
 almost consumed by fire, was soon after rebuilt in 
 a better style for Alcuin, who describes it carefully 
 in his poem De Pontificibus et sanctis Ecclesise 
 Ebor., gives a very glowing description of its beau- 
 tiful taste in design and workmanship, as displayed 
 in its porticoes, vaulted roofs, galleries, arches, 
 pillars, windows, and decorations, conveying an idea 
 of a large and well constructed cathedral. 
 
 During the remainder of this century, several 
 churches and other buildings were erected, but 
 none of sufficient importance to attract any special 
 notice ; ere its termination, however, many of our 
 fine religious structures were plundered and laid 
 in ruins, by the roving Danish barbarians who were 
 still pagans. The abbeys of Wearmouth, Lindis- 
 farn, Tynemouth, Jarrow, Whitby, &c., were 
 among the first destroyed. 
 
 In the ninth century, there is little or nothing 
 to record, as to the progress of the arts, for Eng- 
 land was in little else than in a constant state of 
 alarm, confusion, and suffering, from the frequent 
 and formidable invasions of the rapacious Danes, 
 so that there was no time to think of peaceful or 
 intellectual occupations, or improvements of any 
 kind : although the country was then governed 
 
 VOL. i. D
 
 50 REVIVAL OF LITERATURE. 
 
 for twenty eight years by Alfred, one of the wisest 
 and best kings that ever reigned in Britain ; his 
 code of laws, which still exist, are noble memorials 
 of his wisdom and love of justice ; the learning he 
 possessed, and his knowledge of the arts, must 
 have been acquired chiefly by his early visits and 
 residence in Rome, where the restoration of the 
 arts, sciences, and literature, had made consider- 
 able progress in the ninth century. In the few 
 intervals of quiet which he enjoyed between the 
 Danish invasions, Alfred cultivated the peaceful 
 arts, encouraged literature and the sciences, not 
 only in his own person, but by founding a school at 
 Oxford, which is considered as the commencement 
 of that celebrated university ; so that it is reasona- 
 ble to suppose that the incipient arts of England 
 had improved, in defiance of the disasters to which 
 the kingdom was subjected by a sanguinary and 
 brutal enemy. There appears, indeed, all through 
 the history of this and a few of the preceding 
 reigns, a strong reparative power in the mental 
 and physical energies of the people, by which they 
 were enabled to rally, and to rise above their mis- 
 fortunes in a surprising manner. 
 
 Besides the monasteries Alfred erected at his 
 own expense, he greatly encouraged his nobles,
 
 ALFRED. 51 
 
 who had the means, to erect places of public wor- 
 ship ; and it is owing to his fine example and his 
 care, that the parish boundaries should have been 
 so well defined, that numerous churches were built 
 in every direction, of the pure Saxon style, the 
 form of which was a parallelogram of small dimen- 
 sions, the east end being semicircular 1 , the walls very 
 thick, mostly of rubble, without buttresses, and the 
 masonry coarse ; windows round-headed and small, 
 sometimes divided in the centre by a balluster 
 which supports two arches, within one larger ; the 
 door-way likewise round-headed, the latter part 
 ornamented with rude carvings, the door opening 
 of a square form; the semicircular space between 
 the lintel and soffit of the arch sometimes contained 
 a bas relief ; the angles of the building are finished 
 by stones two feet high, and six or eight inches 
 square, set up and bonded by shorter horizontal 
 stones. The rubble was occasionally plastered, or 
 ashlared with stones seven or eight inches square, 
 with large blocks of stone in certain parts of the 
 work. Another peculiarity of these structures is, 
 that the walls, arches, and pillars, are faced with 
 small stones that seldom exceed eight or nine 
 inches in depth: the large stones were generally 
 
 1 Called the apse. 
 D 2
 
 52 STYLE OF THE SAXON CHURCHES. 
 
 reserved for the bases and capitals of columns. In 
 fact, there are still remaining some large churches 
 and towers constructed of pebbles and ragstones, 
 except the quoins and dressings of the doors and 
 windows and other parts, where square stones 
 must be used. 
 
 Among the best specimens remaining of true 
 Saxon building, is the church at Dunwich in Suf- 
 folk a place that was once the capital of East 
 Anglia. The walls of this building are three feet 
 thick, the stones are square, and the joinings well 
 cemented ; it has not any aisles, but is divided into 
 a nave, choir, and apsis ; the nave is sixty-one feet 
 long by twenty-four wide : it is divided from the choir 
 by an arch ; the choir is twenty-one feet square : 
 this being the church tower, was no doubt higher 
 than the other parts, and to this place the in- 
 cumbent retired with his family and effects in 
 times of danger ; the apse at the east end is rather 
 more than a semicircle (eighteen feet by thirteen), 
 its walls, and those of the choir, are ornamented 
 with small pillars and arches. 
 
 Another peculiarity in real Saxon churches is, 
 that the columns, and soffits of the arches, were 
 often much ornamented, whilst there was very little 
 decoration upon the other parts of the building.
 
 EDGAR. 53 
 
 The central towers, in the earlier buildings, were 
 elevated very little above the ridge of the roof, 
 until about the middle of the tenth century, during 
 the reign of Edgar, when they were raised much 
 higher, and were then considered ornamental ; 
 about this period also church bells began to be used 
 in England, and were hung in these square towers. 
 The first instance on record of large bells being 
 used for this purpose, was about the year 950, 
 when the famous Dunstan had two cast for his 
 church at Reading; and in 970 six bells were, it 
 appears, put up in Croyland Abbey, and from that 
 time they came gradually into general use. 
 
 The destructive inroads of the piratical Danes, 
 having continued for about half a century, with 
 occasional intervals of quiet for a few years at 
 a time, at length ceased entirely about A.D. 946, 
 as these rovers were most roughly handled by 
 three or four of our kings in succession, who had 
 energy and skill enough to achieve so great an 
 object. Edgar in particular, who following the 
 precepts and example of Alfred, kept up a large and 
 effective fleet, which was so much the terror of 
 those barbarians, that they durst not approach the 
 English shore in a hostile manner ; and during his 
 reign, which lasted sixteen years, they did not dare 
 D 3
 
 54 ETHELRED. 
 
 to make a hostile demonstration on our coasts, and 
 during this long interval, the country prospered 
 greatly; civilization gradually extended its influence, 
 and many public edifices, principally churches, were 
 erected, and adorned with paintings and sculpture. 
 But on the accession of Edgar's weak and pro- 
 fligate son, Ethelred, the fleet was neglected, and 
 the army was no longer efficient, the king and 
 his court gave themselves up to the practice of 
 the low animal indulgences of their grovelling 
 appetites ; and as generally follows a vicious court, 
 the country suffered severe afflictions ; for in 
 about four years after the death of Edgar, the 
 northern barbarians, having found that the nation 
 was ruled by a slothful, voluptuous, and pusilla- 
 nimous prince, and a court from which every prin- 
 ciple of religion, honour, and patriotism were 
 banished by the vile flatterers that Ethelred en- 
 couraged around him, renewed their cruel and ra- 
 pacious visits, wasting with fire and sword almost 
 every county in England, and committing to the 
 flames many of the principal cities and towns, such 
 as Exeter, Canterbury, Norwich, Thetford, Cam- 
 bridge, Oxford, &c., where the chief wealth and 
 intelligence of the country, in the arts, literature, 
 and manufactures, were collected.
 
 DANISH RAVAGES. 55 
 
 These scenes of desolating cruelty were so nume- 
 rous, extensive, and utterly savage, that it is ex- 
 ceedingly painful to read the details of them as re- 
 corded by the historians of that and later periods '. 
 
 The acts of those intense savages appear to have 
 been directed by a spirit of demoniac fury never 
 surpassed on earth, and perhaps seldom equalled 
 since the blessings of the gospel shed the heavenly 
 light of charity and mercy upon mankind. 
 
 It is true that these Danish plunderers were still 
 pagans in the latter part of the tenth century, long 
 after every nation around them had received the 
 humanizing truths of the gospel; consequently the 
 fury of these worshippers of Thor and Hessus 
 was particularly directed against the Christian 
 churches ; these temples, wherein the living God 
 was worshipped, were on all possible occasions 
 levelled with the earth, and their clergy slaugh- 
 tered ; and to this blind fury is properly attributed 
 the total disappearance, in some districts, of nu- 
 merous handsome churches, adorned with paintings 
 and sculpture, erected during the previous four cen- 
 turies. 
 
 1 Ingulfus, Malmesbury, Calvis, Huntingdon, Florence of Wor- 
 cester, Camden, Leges Edward Conf., Saxon Annals, Matthew 
 of Westminster, &c. &c. 
 
 D 4
 
 56 ETHELRED. 
 
 But it was the ignoble conduct of the king, and 
 the gross and effeminating vices of the sycophant, 
 and of course treacherous, courtiers by whom he 
 was hedged in, which brought this awful scourge 
 upon the land. 
 
 Ethelred's understanding being very weak, and, 
 as often happens in such cases, his love of frivolous 
 and mere animal gratifications being strong, he was 
 soon surrounded by a band of fawning, profligate, 
 and deceitful minions ; an affliction to which sove- 
 reigns are often more or less exposed. By the advice 
 of these creatures, Ethelred, in the hope of gaining 
 an ally, married Emma, or Elgiva, the daughter of 
 Richard, Duke of Normandy : but as all weak sove- 
 reigns are cruel, as well as unjust, the king no 
 sooner had formed this alliance, than thinking 
 himself strong enough to cope with the Danes, he 
 put into practical operation one of the foulest, 
 most treacherous, and most sanguinary systems 
 of cruelty, that can well be imagined. 
 
 This pusillanimous monarch, being afraid to 
 meet the enemy manfully in the field, conceived 
 the diabolical project of massacring the whole of 
 the settled Danish population, thousands of whom 
 had long been married and naturalized in England, 
 and were then living peaceably, as they had done
 
 SWANK OF NORWAY AND DENMARK. 57 
 
 for many years, among the Saxon people. The 
 orders were so secretly given, and obeyed with 
 such alacrity, that on the 9th day of July, 1002, 
 they were carried into effect with such determi- 
 nation, or, as Milton says, the madness of rage 
 made no distinction, that men, women, and child- 
 ren, the innocent and the guilty, age and infancy, 
 were alike subjected to one common destruction. 
 " Amongst these victims, even Gunilda, sister of 
 Swane, was not spared, though much deserving 
 not pity only, but all protection ; she, with her hus- 
 band Earl Palingus, coming to live in England, and 
 receiving Christianity, had her husband and young 
 son slain before her face, herself then beheaded, 
 foretelling and denouncing that her blood would 
 cost England dear." This prediction was soon 
 and literally fulfilled ; for Swane, breathing revenge, 
 hasted next year into England, and by the trea- 
 son or neglect of Count Hugo, one of the fawning 
 courtiers whom Ethelred had made governor of 
 Devonshire, took and sacked Exeter, which city 
 had often successfully repelled the invader; then 
 wasting Wiltshire, the people of that country and 
 Hampshire collected in great numbers with reso- 
 lution stoutly to oppose them ; but Alfric their 
 D 5
 
 58 INCAPACITY OF ETHELRED. 
 
 general, to revenge himself of Ethelred, who for 
 some offence had in one of his fits of cruelty put 
 out his son's eyes ; this man, forgetful of the duty 
 he owed his country, feigned himself ill ; and his 
 men, who were eager to engage the enemy, being 
 thus left without a commander, were disbanded, 
 leaving the field to the enemy, who soon took and 
 pillaged Wilton and Salisbury ; and then in safety 
 retired to their ships with a great booty. In the 
 following year they landed on the coast of Norfolk, 
 took, pillaged, and burned Norwich and Thetford, 
 1005. A famine followed by pestilence obliged 
 Swane to leave the island, but in 1006 another large 
 fleet and army arrived at Sandwich ; issuing from 
 thence, they pillaged Kent and Sussex. The king 
 now got together respectable forces to repel them ; 
 but through bad generalship their movements were 
 defeated, and the enemy carried on his usual sys- 
 tem of robbery during the autumn and winter, the 
 king's army having gone to their homes: but 
 though totally deficient in the courage, capacity, 
 and conduct of a good soldier, this miserable mo- 
 march appears to have, even at this time, indulged 
 his cruel propensities ; for at the instigation of Edric, 
 one of his low sycophants, he caused the two sons
 
 THE DANES BRIBED. 59 
 
 of Duke Alfhelm to be blinded totally, and after- 
 wards he caused their afflicted father to be assas- 
 sinated 1 . 
 
 The next year, 1007, this king and his courtiers, 
 says Milton, " wearied out with their last summer's 
 jaunt after the nimble Danes to no purpose (which 
 by proof they found too toilsome for their soft 
 bones, more used to beds and couches), had re- 
 course to their last and only remedy, their coffers ; 
 and sent now the fourth time to buy a dishonour- 
 able peace, every time still dearer, and not to be 
 had now under thirty-six thousand pounds (for the 
 Danes knew how to milk such easy kine), in the 
 name of tribute and expenses, which out of the 
 people all over England, already half beggared, was 
 extorted and paid." Such is the nervous and in- 
 dignant language of the illustrious author of " Para- 
 dise Lost," on the shameful conduct of the royal 
 poltroon, and his depraved courtiers, one of the 
 very basest of whom, Edric Streon, he advanced 
 from an obscure condition of life to the dukedom 
 of Mercia, A. D. 1007, and gave him his daughter 
 Elgitha in marriage. This was one of the most 
 fatal mistakes that could possibly have been made, 
 
 1 Vide Florence of Worcester. 
 D 6
 
 60 TREACHERY OF EDRIC. 
 
 for this man was of a disposition so false and 
 treacherous, though he pretended to great mildness 
 of manner, and had a glozing tongue, that there is 
 scarcely a parallel of his wickedness to be found in 
 history ; for, from the moment he had power in his 
 hands, he used it for the most foul and disloyal 
 purposes ; he took bribes from the Danish chiefs, 
 and secretly favoured their destructive movements ; 
 he, by deceiving the king, saved their army from 
 destruction in 1009, which enabled them in the 
 next year to make another inroad, when they plun- 
 dered and burnt Oxford, and committed great de- 
 vastation along the Thames, and in Surrey. In 
 their next visit, (1011) they plundered the eastern 
 counties, and reduced Thetford, Cambridge, and 
 Northampton to ashes. Towards the end of that 
 year Canterbury was similarly treated, and bishop 
 Alsage murdered by them. The same year the king 
 bought off the Danish banditti for forty-eight thou- 
 sand pounds ; but in two years after, Swane, who 
 had his agents among the sycophants of Ethelred, 
 landed in the Humber with a large army, and 
 wasted most parts of England with direful havoc, 
 and this Danish chief of bandits conferred on him- 
 self the title of " King of England." In the mean 
 time the pleasure-loving Ethelred, surrounded as
 
 CANUTE. 61 
 
 he was by fawning traitors, abandoned his kingdom, 
 fled with his queen, and took refuge in Normandy. 
 But on the death of Swane, in the following year, 
 he was invited to return and resume the govern- 
 ment, which he did ; but Canute, the son of Swane, 
 returning the following year, 1016, with a great 
 force, Edric the traitor, after having failed in his 
 attempts on the life of Edmund (Ironside), openly 
 revolted to Canute, with some ships and soldiers 
 under his command. 
 
 In the same year, the wretched Ethelred closed 
 his disgraceful and disastrous reign, at London, and 
 was entombed in St. Paul's cathedral. During the 
 dark period of his government, which lasted thirty- 
 eight years, very few architectural structures appear 
 to have been erected ; whilst on the other hand, 
 many hundreds, if not thousands of our fine Saxon 
 churches and castles, which had been thickly spread 
 over the land, were laid waste, and for the most 
 part utterly destroyed, and with them every vestige 
 of the arts, sciences, and literature, that the inhu- 
 man Danish monsters could get within their grasp. 
 
 But the evils inflicted upon England by this idle 
 
 and profligate man of pleasure, and his treacherous 
 
 minions, did not terminate at his decease ; he left to 
 
 his successor, Edmund, as his only legacy, a devasta- 
 
 1
 
 62 EDMUND IRONSIDE. 
 
 ted kingdom, still reeking with the ruins of Christian 
 temples, cities, and hamlets, and the blood of the 
 slaughtered clergy and industrious inhabitants ; and 
 to make it still more deplorable, by this destruction of 
 so many learned and skilful men and their valuable 
 works, he forced the nation back into a state of igno- 
 rance and barbarism, from which, though it had for 
 three previous centuries been gradually disenthralled 
 by the mental vigour of the people, directed by such 
 wise, vigorous, and patriotic monarchs as Egbert, 
 Alfred, Edward the elder, Athelstane, Edmund I., 
 and Edgar, during whose reigns, comprising almost 
 two centuries, though much plagued by the savage 
 Danes, Picts, and Scots, yet useful learning of 
 various sorts had made great advances among the 
 natives. 
 
 Under Edmund II. (Ironside), affairs went on 
 nothing better than in the previous reign, and after 
 some furious battles, and much devastation com- 
 mitted by Canute's followers, Edmund, though not 
 worsted, but to stop the ravages of war, agreed to 
 divide the kingdom with the Danish chief or king. 
 This being accomplished, quietness followed for a 
 few months, until the infamous Edric Streon con- 
 trived to have Edmund assassinated at his palace 
 in London ; this was done at the secret instigation
 
 DEATH OF EDRIC. 63 
 
 of the barbarian Canute. The latter now usurped 
 the whole sovereignty of England, which he ruled 
 with a rod of iron ; and soon after he employed the 
 traitor Edric to murder young Edwin, eldest son of 
 Ironside, after which this chief assassin consulted 
 with Canute as to the best way of dispatching Ed- 
 ward l and Edmund, the two remaining sons of the 
 late king ; these intended victims, however, got 
 out of their hands by some means, and retired 
 to the Continent, where Edmund died, but Ed- 
 ward remained safe, though in exile, for twenty- 
 four years. 
 
 In a short period after Canute had got rid of all 
 whom he considered his rivals, of the Saxon line, 
 his hands being strong, he tranquillized the country, 
 and appointed three viceroys under himself to govern 
 distinct portions of the kingdom ; of these lieute- 
 nants was Edric Streon, whom Canute invited to 
 his palace in London for the Christmas festival of 
 1018 : but the friendships of the wicked are always 
 deceitful ; Canute had made the villain Edric wade 
 as far in crime as he wished, and now fearing that 
 he might himself be the next victim of his 
 treachery, contrived to quarrel with him, and 
 
 1 Afterwards Edward the Confessor.
 
 64 HAROLD HAREFOOT. HARDICANUTE. 
 
 caused him to be put to death in the palace, and 
 his body to be thrown over the city wall, to remain 
 unburied ; and his head being stricken off, was 
 fixed on a pole, according to the barbarous and 
 disgusting fashion of those times (and of a far 
 later period), and placed upon the highest tower of 
 London, a just termination to a career of almost 
 matchless treachery to his royal benefactors ; this, 
 though an act of perfidy on the part of Canute, yet 
 was, as to its victim, greatly applauded by the peo- 
 ple, and a comparative calm followed in England, 
 which lasted, with slight interruptions, until the 
 decease of Canute, 1035, which was three years 
 after his return from Borne, whither he had gone 
 in the vain hope of appeasing a troubled conscience, 
 and of obtaining pardon of his numerous wicked 
 deeds, by making large gifts of gold and silver, the 
 fruits of his numerous robberies, to St. Peter's 
 church at Rome. 
 
 Harold (Harefoot), succeeded Canute his father, 
 and had no wars during his reign, which lasted 
 little more than five years. 
 
 Hardicanute, who succeeded Harold, (1041) 
 reigned little better than two years, and on his 
 demise was succeeded by Edward, surnamed the 
 Confessor, the last surviving son of Ethelred II ;
 
 EDWAED THE CONFESSOR. 65 
 
 and in him was the Saxon line restored. His 
 reign lasted thirteen years, and was not disturbed 
 by any serious invasions or wars with foreign 
 princes. 
 
 England had now enjoyed a tolerable share of 
 tranquillity for nearly forty years, during which 
 time the country had advanced progressively in the 
 useful and mechanic arts ; science and literature 
 had also made much progress amongst the people ; 
 many churches and public edifices were re-edified, 
 and new ones built in an improved style of architec- 
 ture, with which the arts of painting and sculpture 
 were constantly combined ; and these had likewise 
 partaken of the general improvements in elegant 
 and useful knowledge, so as to be considered at this 
 period of much importance ; such a state of things 
 would argue strongly in favour of the natural vigour 
 and buoyancy of the English mind, which, through 
 ages of fierce, cruel, and destructive wars, in which 
 fire, sword, and rapine, swept every part of the land 
 with the most desolating fury, held on its slow and 
 silent course, but still advancing, as if impelled by 
 an irresistible power, rising gradually above each 
 succeeding wave of oppression, until at length it 
 gained an ascendancy sufficient to place the British 
 people upon pretty equal terms of civilization with
 
 66 WILLIAM THE NOKMAN. 
 
 the contemporaneous nations of continental Europe, 
 as to the fine arts, sciences, literature, and me- 
 chanical pursuits, but on an elevation far superior as 
 regards civil polity, and the natural rights as well 
 as social privileges of mankind ; as those evidences 
 of Saxon legislation, commonly but erroneously 
 called " The laws of Edward the Confessor," prove 
 incontestably l . Edward, no doubt, made a few 
 alterations, or perhaps he only made a revision of 
 these laws; he certainly caused them to be im- 
 plicitly obeyed throughout the realm of England. 
 
 Had the reign of Edward been prolonged to a 
 period of double or treble its length, it may with 
 good reason be assumed that the improvements which 
 were now slowly going on in the social and political 
 condition of Britain, would have advanced with 
 more celerity, and have reached to a much higher 
 state of improvement than they were able to attain 
 for a century or two afterwards ; but it was otherwise 
 ordained, for the ten months 1 reign of Harold was 
 full of troubles, and the first ten years of William 
 
 1 Canute, the first king of the Danish dynasty in England, who 
 acceded to the crown on the murder of his colleague Edmund 
 Ironside by the traitor Edric Streon, 1017, engaged to observe 
 the Saxon laws, which were old in his day, and he commanded 
 that they should be strictly observed during his reign.
 
 REVIEW OF THE ARTS. 67 
 
 the Norman, afford us only the dark records of 
 rapine, cruelty, and injustice, inflicted by the victor 
 and his myrmidons upon a brave and somewhat 
 enlightened nation, whose personal and political 
 freedom was cloven down on the fatal field of 
 Hastings. That disastrous day checked severely, 
 for some years, the progress of civilization ; and 
 its most beautiful features, the liberal arts, ceased 
 for a time to show any signs of existence. 
 
 Having thus brought down to the period of the 
 Norman Invasion the summary of those events in 
 British history which had a direct effect in retarding 
 or advancing the progress of the arts in England, 
 during a period of eleven centuries, it becomes ne- 
 cessary to give further details, to show the progress 
 made in art towards the close of this epoch, giving, 
 however, only a few leading instances which have a 
 direct relation to the object. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 REVIEW OF THE ARTS DURING THE SAXON 
 PERIOD. 
 
 The principal architects in those early days were 
 the dignitaries of the Church, and they felt an ho-
 
 68 ANGLO-SAXON ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 nourable excitement in rivalling each other in the 
 erection of ecclesiastical edifices, many of which, 
 if we may judge from the portion of them which re- 
 main, must have been solid structures, of the style 
 properly denominated " Anglo-Saxon," and which 
 evidently was a debased Roman style, adopted from 
 late Roman work. This style, which, by the way, 
 is the true Saxon, is distinguished from the Anglo- 
 Norman by its apparent want of harmony of parts, 
 by its semicircular apses, and peculiar mouldings ; 
 as, for instance, the arrow-head, indented, zig-zag, 
 billet, diagonal, and spiral moulding. The bases, 
 capitals, and mouldings, though similar in form 
 and dimensions, display in the details considerable 
 variety. The arches generally are without an 
 architrave, and spring directly from the capitals, 
 as may be seen in the crypt of Repton church; 
 also in the remains of Orford church, Suffolk, and 
 that of Dunwich already described. 
 
 The church of St. John, at Lewes, is another of 
 these primitive structures ; it is believed to have 
 been built by Alfred ; the appearance of the edi- 
 fice, the situation of the windows, the glebe and 
 churchyard, show that it was calculated for military 
 as well as religious duties. 
 
 One of the earliest and best specimens of its
 
 ANGLO-SAXON CHURCHES. 69 
 
 period is the ruined church at Orford, designed 
 and built by Anna, king of East Anglia, about 
 (A. D. 637) ; these remains prove that it must 
 have been a handsome structure for that age ; the 
 torus is seen entwined round some of the pillars, 
 in a style similar to what we find in buildings of a 
 much later period. 
 
 Besides these churches, which are known to be 
 in the true Saxon style, there are others, which 
 though erected some years previous to the Norman 
 times, have their ground plans arranged in the 
 Norman mode, that is, with side aisles and tran- 
 septs, thus assuming the form of a Latin cross. 
 Of these structures, the most remarkable was old 
 Westminster abbey, as rebuilt by Edward the 
 Confessor 1 . This church was originally founded 
 on Thorny island, by Sebert, king of the East 
 Saxons ; but having been destroyed by the pagan 
 Danes, it was long suffered to lie in ruins. Edward 
 having, for several years, resided in Normandy, 
 was well acquainted with the grand structures 
 then erected, or in progress of building on the 
 continent, and on his return home he encouraged 
 
 1 It has been asserted, that Ramsey abbey church, Huntingdon- 
 shire, was built upon this plan above fifty years before this 
 period, temp. Edgar, 974.
 
 70 OLD WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 
 
 Norman architects to settle in England, and hence 
 was introduced the " novo edificando genere" which 
 superseded the original Anglo-Saxon style, and in 
 place of the simple parallelogram of the Saxon plan, 
 the Latin cross was employed, and a lantern tower 
 was raised at the intersection of the nave, choir, and 
 transepts, which added strength and ornament to the 
 building. From this period, all the cathedrals, the 
 conventual, and many of the parish churches were 
 thus constructed for above an hundred years after, 
 that is, from the founding of Westminster abbey in 
 1050, to the decease of Stephen (A. D. 1154,) 
 during which period, although many improvements 
 took place in the details, yet the round-headed 
 arches, solid buttresses, and excessive thickness 
 of the walls, continued with some very trifling 
 exceptions '. 
 
 The great change in the plans of our churches 
 made many other alterations necessary; the extent 
 and dimensions of those edifices were considerably 
 
 1 The nave of St. Frideswide's church (the cathedral of Oxford) 
 is Anglo-Saxon, and its erection is attributed to king Ethelred, 
 A.D. 1004. Parts of Durham cathedral and St. Alban's, Ticken- 
 cote (Lincolnshire), Quenington, and Ellestoue, in Gloucester- 
 shire, and a great many other churches, the greater part of which 
 are in ruins, are decidedly characteristic of the true Anglo- 
 Saxon style, which, soon after the Norman invasion, was entirely 
 superseded by that called the Anglo-Norman.
 
 CHANGES IN ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. 71 
 
 increased ; the ornamental carving on the semi- 
 circular arches, capitals of pillars and pilasters, 
 became more general, and were more carefully 
 finished : the windows also were made larger, the 
 masonry was remarkably fine, and there was much 
 more scientific knowledge displayed in their con- 
 struction. 
 
 Waltham Abbey church was built about the 
 same era as the Confessor's church at Westminster, 
 during the Anglo-Saxon period, and is among the 
 earliest examples of the Anglo-Norman style. This 
 church was founded by Earl Harold some years pre- 
 vious to his elevation to the throne, It must have 
 been a very noble structure, if a judgment may be 
 formed from the remains of it, the nave and two 
 aisles, which are now in the parish church '. 
 
 With respect to the other two branches of the 
 fine arts, painting and sculpture, we are much worse 
 off for evidence of their state and progress, than we 
 are as regards architecture; the examples that 
 have been preserved, make us think more highly 
 of the former than we do of the latter, which 
 certainly did not display the higher qualities of 
 the arts, either in taste, design, or execution ; but 
 
 1 This is the true Anglo-Norman style.
 
 72 PAINTING AND SCULPTURE. 
 
 in these respects, however, its character does not 
 differ much from that of early sculpture among any 
 other people, in their primary attempts to acquire 
 knowledge ; even the early Greek types of their 
 deities and heroes do not afford us a single oppor- 
 tunity of complimenting this surprising people upon 
 their knowledge of anatomy, proportion, symmetry, 
 grace, or beauty in design, or of skill in the exe- 
 cutive part of sculpture. In fact, it was not 
 until the termination of the last Persian war, in 
 the age of Pericles, of Phidias, Parrhasius, Calli- 
 crates, Polycletus, Praxiteles, and other great men, 
 that Greek art was earned to the highest point of 
 beauty and sublimity, which conferred an unfading 
 renown upon themselves and their country. 
 
 With respect to the Saxon rudimental sculp- 
 tures, however, we believe the workmen got on 
 quite as well as their continental neighbours ; for 
 the northern hordes of barbarians and savages had 
 not only demolished every work of art that stood in 
 their way, but even the workmen were destroyed ; 
 so that the intruders may fairly be said to have 
 eradicated the arts from the face of Europe. 
 
 Of the Saxon specimens of sculpture there are 
 many examples ; but of their castings in metal there 
 are very few, although it is known that they prac- 
 tised this art.
 
 CADWALLO IN BRASS. 73 
 
 Speed, in his chronicle, has left us a description 
 of a brazen equestrian statue, which, from its size 
 and subject, would put in requisition, even now, 
 the superior skill of our best sculptors and foun- 
 ders ; but this must have been a British work. 
 It was no other than a statue on horseback of 
 King Cadwallo, who died in 678. He was buried 
 in St. Martin's church by Ludgate, but " his effigy 
 great and terrible, was artificially cast in brasse, tri- 
 umphantly riding on horseback to the further ter- 
 ror of the Saxon invaders." If this account be not 
 an exaggeration, it would stand as a fair argument 
 to prove that the British sculptors of that age had 
 some mode (now lost), of giving an extraordinary 
 degree of fierce expression to their statues of 
 heroes ; for it is very evident that the Saxons of 
 that time were not a people to be got rid of by any 
 ordinary appearances of danger. 
 
 However this may be, the painted representa- 
 tions of saints, and of passages taken from scrip- 
 ture, are intelligible ; the attitudes are in general 
 naturally designed, and the general proportions not 
 neglected : but there is only simple light and shade, 
 no idea of effect nor are the details and finishing 
 well understood. 
 
 But it is very probable that the best examples of 
 
 VOL. i. E
 
 74 NUMBER OF CHURCHES. 
 
 both early British and Saxon proficiency in the 
 sister arts have been completely destroyed by the 
 desolating warfare which we have shown was. 
 during more than ten centuries, almost incessantly 
 raging throughout the land. 
 
 Yet through all this storm of war, and the 
 countless evils with which it covered this island 
 from shore to shore, we find, upon authority which 
 is incontrovertible, which comes from the Normans 
 themselves, that no less than "seventeen hundred 
 churches are returned in Doomsday-book," as then 
 existing. These, with one exception, were built 
 of stone, and many of them were noble and fine 
 structures of then: various ages. Conspicuous among 
 these land-marks of Christian civilization, were old 
 Westminster Abbey, Gloucester Cathedral (the 
 nave as it now stands), St. Peter's in the East, 
 Oxford, the magnificent abbeys of Walthain, 
 Wearmouth, Lindisfarn, Malmesbury, Croyland, 
 Glastonbury, Dorchester (Oxford), Stewkely, and 
 Barfreston churches, &c. &c. But it would far 
 exceed the limits of our work, to extend the in- 
 stances of Anglo-Saxon architectural edifices that 
 were in a sound state of existence long before the 
 landing of the Normans. Now, so far as they go, 
 the returns in that book are correct ; but there
 
 NUMBER OF CHURCHES. 75 
 
 are not any returns from Lancashire, Northum- 
 berland, Cornwall, Cumberland, a part only of 
 Durham, and not a single church mentioned in 
 Middlesex, the metropolitan county and seat of a 
 bishopric ! Yet in three of the north-eastern 
 counties, the total of the numbers returned is 829 ; 
 namely, Lincolnshire, 222 ; Norfolk, 243 ; Suffolk. 
 364. 
 
 These facts require no commentary as to the 
 advancement of civilization previous to the Norman 
 invasion, and are sufficient attestations of the gross 
 neglect, to say the best of it, with which some part 
 of that state-document was got up ; and of its 
 fallacy, as regards the actual number of churches 
 in actual service at that time, some arguments 
 will be offered in the following chapter. 
 
 K 2
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE ANGLO-NOKMAN PERIOD OF THE FINE ARTS. 
 COMMENCING WITH WILLIAM I. (1066) AND 
 TERMINATING WITH STEPHEN (1154). 
 
 DURING the first ten or twelve years of the Norman 
 rule, the people of England were treated, as every 
 conquered nation has been, and always may expect 
 to be treated, with great cruelty and injustice ; any 
 demand for the embellishments of art was not to 
 be expected under such a grinding tyranny. But 
 having at length, by such means, fixed himself 
 and followers in England, Duke William found 
 that it would be prudent, if not wise, to make it 
 his seat of government, and from that time he 
 encouraged the arts and manufactures that were 
 then in demand ; the nobles also followed his 
 example, and finding artists and artificers rather
 
 WILLIAM I. 77 
 
 scarce in England, as well they might be, many 
 foreigners were invited over, to assist in the public 
 works that were now undertaken ; and the progress 
 of improvement was rapid, for we find that in a period 
 of about forty years from that conquest, the vigour 
 of the national mind had in some degree recovered 
 from its depression : this re-action was apparent, by 
 the number of public buildings which now began to 
 rise on all sides, giving an air of grandeur, elegance, 
 and security, to which England had for many cen- 
 turies been a stranger. Among those noble edifices, 
 no less than five cathedrals were begun between 
 A.D. 1070 and 1097, a space of twenty-seven 
 years. These are Winchester, in 1070, old St. 
 Paul's 1086, Durham 1093, Hereford 1095, and 
 Chichester 1097 '; all of which are in the true Anglo- 
 Norman style ; the ground plan a Latin cross, the 
 elevation consisting of a nave, aisles, choir, tran- 
 septs, clerestory, lantern tower, and the buttresses 
 solid, but without pinnacles; this is, therefore, a 
 very distinct style from that of the "Anglo-Saxon," 
 which it soon entirely superseded. The Anglo- 
 Norman churches, although they retained the 
 round-headed doorways and windows, were built 
 
 1 It was the superior clergy, not the kings, who erected these 
 edifices. 
 
 E 3
 
 78 ANGLO-NORMAN ARCHITECTUEE. 
 
 upon a much larger scale than the Anglo-Saxon, 
 and their form was essentially different, in their 
 ground plan ; this gave them the transepts, and 
 the increased width of the building required sup- 
 port for the great additional span of the roof; 
 this assistance was obtained by means of the pil- 
 lars and arches which divided the nave from the 
 aisles : but the pillars that supported the arches, 
 were still very massive, and the arches, springing 
 from an architrave or flowered capital, were still 
 semi-circular ; and the whole effect presented to 
 the mind was that of a later stage of the debased 
 Roman architecture, somewhat resembling the mas- 
 sive style of the Lombard buildings, previous to the 
 overthrow of the last king ', though much less pon- 
 derous, and also, the windows being larger, ren- 
 dered these edifices of the Normans less gloomy. 
 Still, though the pointed arch was occasionally seen 
 in the public buildings of western Europe, and still 
 more so in those of Asia, yet the pointed arch style * 
 
 1 Diderius ; he was defeated and dethroned by Charlemagne 
 A.D. 782. 
 
 2 The pointed arch, or opening in a structure, does not con- 
 stitute " the pointed style, or early English," erroneously called 
 " the Gothic style." The pointed arches are not the cause, but 
 the consequence of the peculiar and beautiful adaptation of sound 
 mathematical principles, then first applied to great architectural
 
 WILLIAM I. 79 
 
 was unpractised in England ; and, although the 
 abbey of Clugny, and some other buildings in 
 France, display a decided knowledge and applica- 
 tion of its principles, yet it does not appear to have 
 been properly known in this country, until after 
 the turbulent reign, or rather the " anarchy" of 
 Stephen; however, in our next chapter, we shall 
 enter at some length into the history of this grand, 
 elegant, and permanent style of architecture. 
 
 William having, as already noticed, put down all 
 resistance to his military despotism, though after 
 numerous insurrections occasioned by the tyranny 
 and exactions of himself and his chief officers, went 
 into Normandy to negotiate some territorial claims 
 with the French king. In the petty war which 
 arose out of this affair, another act of his cruel 
 nature inflicted an injury on himself, by which he 
 was subjected to a miserable death. Thus pe- 
 rished ignobly the most flagitious and sanguinary 
 tyrant of those barbarous times. 
 
 The above facts are given merely to show, that 
 William could not have had much time to erect 
 churches, or to adorn them with works of art, for 
 his reign throughout (twenty-one years), from the 
 
 edifices ; its solidity and strength being veiled by the elegant 
 agency of painting and sculpture. 
 
 E 4
 
 80 WILLIAM I. 
 
 first month he landed in England, until about a 
 year before his death, was a scene of commotions 
 caused by the struggles of the oppressed and en- 
 slaved people to recover their liberty, property, 
 and privileges. We cannot, therefore, suppose 
 that there was any great attention paid by him to 
 the spiritual wants of the people 1 . 
 
 1 The following incident among many, will serve to show our 
 readers the state of grinding tyranny and cruelty with which 
 this Norman despot allowed his officers to treat the English 
 people. 
 
 After William basely put to death Waltheof, the last of the 
 English earls, he seized his lands and sold them to Walcher, 
 bishop of Durham, a Lorrainer, who exercised the most intoler- 
 able oppression on the people ; among other violent acts, his 
 officers put to death a Saxon, named Liulf, who had retired to 
 Durham when deprived of his property. The spirit of the people 
 was roused, a secret conspiracy was organized ; and it was agreed 
 that they should bring their arms concealed with them to the 
 county court, that was to be held at Goats-head, (Gateshead) on 
 the banks of the Tyne. In the court, they claimed reparation 
 for the various acts of injustice that had been committed. The 
 bishop demanded four hundred pounds of good money ; the 
 spokesman , retiring as if to confer with the rest, cried out to 
 them in their own language, " Short rede, good rede, slea ye the 
 bishopp." They drew their weapons, and the bishop, with a 
 hundred of his retainers, were slain. The insurrection extended ; 
 but Odo, bishop of Bayeaux, brother of the Norman usurper, 
 marched with an army to the north, ravaged the country, 
 pillaged the cathedral of Durham, slaughtered and mutilated 
 the people without any distinction ; this is Matthew Paris' ac- 
 count of this affair, and it is only one of the signs of that dark 
 period.
 
 NUMBER OF SAXON CHURCHES. 81 
 
 How then are we to reconcile the Doomsday 
 enumeration of the churches in England previous 
 to the conquest, with Inetfs account, who states, 
 that gifts were distributed to four thousand churches 
 in England, by William Rufus, according to his 
 father's will ? Selden, in his titles of honour, adds 
 five hundred more ; whilst Sprotfs chronicle, and 
 Sir H. Spelman, in their statements, make the 
 number of churches amount to forty-five thousand 
 at the same period, no trifling discrepancy, it must 
 be allowed, and how it is to be disposed of is by no 
 means an easy matter ; for we have on one side, 
 Doomsday-book, with seventeen hundred churches 
 in actual use, and on the other column, Sprott, and 
 Sir Henry Spelman, no mean authorities, enumera- 
 ting forty-five thousand churches existing at the 
 same period. Now, as this is by no means a mere 
 question of figures, but one affecting strongly the 
 religious and moral character and condition of the 
 English people, we will, with the leave of our 
 readers, endeavour to put the question into a com- 
 prehensible shape. 
 
 It is well known, that in all matters of difficult 
 
 calculation, where figures are to be the solvents, 
 
 whether it be in simple arithmetic, the complications 
 
 of geometry, or the most sublime researches of astro- 
 
 E 5
 
 82 SMALL NUMBER OF CHURCHES 
 
 nomy, the mode universally adopted, is, to take a 
 mean, or central position, equally distant from the 
 extreme points on either hand ; therefore, by pla- 
 cing Doomsday-book, 1700, on one side, and then 
 place Sprott and Spelman in the opposite scale, 
 then adding both together, we shall have 46,700 
 churches; but, by taking the mean between the 
 two, this number is reduced to 23,350 churches, 
 an amount which appears to approximate much 
 nearer the truth than either of the extremes ; and 
 continuing the same hypothesis, by allowing accom- 
 modation for 250 persons in each church, we find 
 there would be sufficient room for about 5,765,000 
 of the people, a large amount certainly for that 
 epoch. But, on the other hand, let us take the 
 1700 churches of the Doomsday-book, and allow 
 the same average of 250 persons to each of them, 
 we shall not find accommodation for more than 
 325,000 Christian worshippers ; now, if the medium 
 figure be too high, this one appears ridiculously 
 low 
 
 Let us now take Inetfs figure, 4000 churches, 
 250 persons each, this would afford us room for 
 exactly one million of people : Selden's figure, 
 4511, would give places to 1,202,750 people; 
 though this is far more rational than the Dooms-
 
 RECORDED IN DOOMSDAY-BOOK. So 
 
 day survey, yet it does not appear to us in any 
 degree commensurate to the spiritual necessities 
 of the people. The average we have taken is cer- 
 tainly low ; perhaps oOO places of accommodation in 
 each place of worship throughout the country would 
 be a fairer average, though still not a high one ; but 
 even this increase would only extend the Doomsday- 
 book accommodations to 510,000; of Inetfs, to 
 1,200,000; SeldenX to 1,403,800, and our "me- 
 dium 11 between the highest and lowest points would 
 by the same rule, give room to 7,050,000 men and 
 women at their devotions. Now this may certainly 
 be called u a difference, with a vengeance," namely, 
 seven millions and fiftv thousand, against half a mil- 
 
 > O 
 
 lion and ten thousand ! these differences being irre- 
 concilable by any means within our reach, we are 
 compelled to leave the question to the discrimination 
 of our readers, to draw their own conclusions from 
 such a mass of conflicting testimony. 
 
 The only cause assigned for the small number of 
 churches returned in the exchequer document so 
 often alluded to is, that " churches un-endowcd with 
 land" did not appear to be taken any account of, 
 by the itinerant compilers of Doomsday-book. This 
 fact would relieve the question in some degree, from 
 the embarrassment by which it is at present in- 
 E G
 
 84 COMPILERS OF DOOMSDAY-BOOK. 
 
 volved ; but it is not at all improbable, that some 
 of the scribes employed may have been, like some 
 others of later times, rather indolent than vi- 
 gilant, in the performance of their public duties ; 
 and in other cases, the resistance of the people to 
 these agents of a foreign despot, no doubt made 
 many of the said " compilers M feel the danger to be 
 much too formidable, and therefore returned, nil 
 without having set foot in the district or county 
 to which they had been appointed. But from 
 whatever causes this defective return may have 
 been made, it certainly is a most inefficient public 
 document as to the amount of churches then exist- 
 ing; and supposing that William Rufus restored 
 to only four thousand churches and monasteries 
 part of the property of which his father had spoiled 
 them, yet as Rufus was then young, and not so 
 much burdened with honesty as with superstition, 
 he, or his agents, may have determined to return 
 so much of this money as could not be kept back, 
 whilst the claims of the less favoured parties were 
 disallowed or forgotten. 
 
 There are but few records of churches built 
 during the turbulent reign of William the Norman; 
 the only two of consequence were old Saint Paul's, 
 London, A.D. 1086, and Winchester, A.D. 1070,
 
 THE NEW FOREST. 85 
 
 cathedrals ; but there is plenty of evidence to prove 
 that he caused a great many churches to be de- 
 stroyed, when he had the country between the 
 H umber and Tees laid waste, to the extent of 
 nearly six hundred square miles ; and also in 
 Hampshire, where from a space of thirty square 
 leagues, he expelled the inhabitants, and burnt the 
 churches, villages, and farms \ to form what was 
 then called, as it is still, " The New Forest," merely 
 to afford himself another hunting ground. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to prove that the 
 Anglo-Saxons, even on the showing of their ene- 
 mies, were very extensive builders of churches, and 
 other public edifices, long before the Normans dis- 
 turbed the settled order of things which Edward 
 the Confessor had effected, we must now resume 
 our more direct course in tracing forward the pro- 
 gress of the arts to the end of Stephen's reign. 
 This king, though only of the house of Blois, was 
 nephew to the last king of the Norman race. 
 
 1 He destroyed thirty-six churches on this occasion.
 
 86 
 SECTION II. 
 
 WILLIAM RUFUS, HENRY I., AND STEPHEN. 
 
 After William Rufus had firmly secured himself on 
 the English throne, society, though far from being 
 in a sound and settled state, was still much better 
 than it had been in the previous reign ; the arts 
 and literature began to show some symptoms of 
 revival ; though we find that during this reign of 
 more than twelve years, not one of our great 
 cathedrals was finished, parts of Durham and 
 Rochester were begun l ; but it is worthy of re- 
 mark, although it has been often stated, that, in 
 this dark age, as compared with most other nations 
 of Europe, the Normans were considered equal, if 
 not superior, in civilization and the arts ; yet two 
 kings of that race had filled the throne of England, 
 during a space of thirty-three years, and yet it is 
 very difficult to discover in any direction, memo- 
 rials of their personal encouragement of any arts 
 but those of war, or of any science, but that con- 
 nected with taxation. 
 
 The third Norman, Henry L, luckily happened 
 to imbibe a taste for the learning of that age, and 
 
 1 Westminster Hall was originally built by Rufus, but not as 
 it now is.
 
 PI. 1. 
 
 SAXON. 
 
 ST. BENET'S, CAMBRIDGE, 
 circa 950. 
 
 COURT OP REQUESTS, WEST- 
 MINSTER, 1000. 
 
 NORMAN, 
 groined with square ribs. 
 
 CRYPT, GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL. 
 circa 1100.

 
 HENRY I. 87 
 
 he certainly did encourage the arts, sciences, and 
 literature ; and as the asperities of adverse national 
 character wore away, and the spirit of turbulence 
 excited by the Norman invasion subsided, the mind 
 of man, long held in a state of barbarous thraldom, 
 began to expand its native English vigour in the 
 arts connected with civilization, as it had con- 
 stantly done in that of war. During this period of 
 thirty-five years, architecture and its sister arts not 
 only recovered from the lethargic state in which they 
 had long lain neglected, but many splendid edifices, 
 both royal, ecclesiastical, and civil, were seen to 
 rise in various directions, and some of our best 
 architects flourished in this reign. These su- 
 perior minded men, of whose noble and generous 
 exertions to improve society, and to encourage the 
 arts, it would be difficult to say more in commenda- 
 tion than they deserved, and in whom good taste 
 and true patriotism were most happily blended, 
 finding themselves in possession of ample means, de- 
 rived to them officially as dignitaries of the church, 
 and seeing the state of society favourable to their 
 views, earnestly set about to renovate such of the 
 cathedrals, and conventual and parish churches, as 
 the wars of William I. and Rums had injured or de- 
 stroyed ; some of these they rebuilt from the foun-
 
 88 CATHEDRALS BUILT OB RESTORED. 
 
 dation, others they re-edified, but all that they put 
 their hands to were enlarged and beautified. 
 
 Fortunately for the arts, Henry was a man of 
 very extensive learning for that age ; he was also a 
 man of sense, and possessed considerable talents, 
 all which were united to great experience. Henry "s 
 sagacity soon discovered to him the advantages 
 that his kingdom and himself would derive from 
 encouraging this admirable conduct of the bishops, 
 and other dignitaries of the church ; he therefore 
 went seriously into it himself, and erected several 
 fine churches and splendid abbeys. Among these 
 were the abbeys of Abingdon, Cirencester, and 
 Reading ; the last named was his place of inter- 
 ment ; but these once noble structures are all in 
 complete ruins. 
 
 The cathedrals built or partly restored in Henry's 
 reign, were Canterbury in 1114, Ely 1109, Chester 
 1128, Exeter the same year, and Oxford 1120. 
 Of the conventual churches erected or re-edified 
 during the same period, were St. Botolph's priory, 
 Bolton abbey, Byland abbey, Malmesbury, Buildewas 
 priory, Castle Acre (Norfolk), Dunstable *, Sher- 
 bourne* 1 , Southwell*, Tewkesbury*, Kirkstall, St. 
 
 1 All marked thus * are still used as parish churches.
 
 CATHEDRALS BUILT OR RESTORED. 89 
 
 Cross* (Winchester), and Romsey* (Hampshire), 
 Furness (Lancashire), Lanercost (Cumberland) *, 
 Lindisfarne (Northumberland), Wimbourn Minster 
 (Dorset), St. Alban's * (Herts), and others, of which 
 few or no vestiges remain. Many of these only 
 offer to the mind's contemplation extensive ruins, 
 once the pride and splendid ornament of their re- 
 spective districts ; and still, to the man of mind and 
 taste, beauteous even in decay, because he feels that 
 the hand of genius was there, with taste and mental 
 intelligences in unison with his own. 
 
 Fortunately, however, many of these precious 
 specimens in the chain of British art have been 
 preserved, and are now used as parish churches ; 
 and from their solemn and noble appearance, they 
 add to the impressiveness of the sacred service for 
 which they are upheld. 
 
 The cathedrals of this period have, on the whole, 
 been tolerably well preserved ; but they present to 
 the accurate observer, changes, or transitions of 
 style, sometimes so very conspicuous, that it would 
 appear, and this was no doubt the fact, that the 
 founders of them, having arranged the plans, eleva- 
 tions, and sections of the work, commenced with 
 the nave and aisles, or the tower and transepts. As 
 the work went but slowly on, it often happened that 
 before these parts were finished, the founders were
 
 90 CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 
 
 no more ; thus some years of delay occurred, and 
 in the mean time other discoveries, or perhaps 
 improvements, had been made in the taste or con- 
 struction, and these must be adopted, the new 
 method being carried into effect in the other great 
 divisions of the edifice, so that their present fea- 
 tures, though noble in character and true in har- 
 mony, are not always exactly in the same style ; as 
 for instance, Canterbury cathedral. This magnificent 
 structure, the original Anglo-Saxon building, which 
 archbishop Lanfranc built in 1043, in the time of 
 Edward the Confessor, after much altering by 
 Rodolphus in 1116, was taken down, and another 
 commenced on its site, after the canonization of 
 Becket, about 1180. 
 
 This building was entirely remodelled, nave, choir, 
 and transepts, by Henry de Euston, the prior, in 
 the early part of the fourteenth century. Arch- 
 bishop Courtenay altered and completed the clois- 
 ters, about 1380. Archbishop Arundel gave one 
 thousand marks, A.D. 1395, towards beautifying 
 the nave, Lady^s chapel, the chapter-house, &c. ; 
 he likewise built one of the towers, and placed the 
 bells in it ; but these works he left to be finished 
 by archbishop Chichely : they occupied nearly thirty 
 years from their commencement, and the beautiful 
 central tower was not finished until the latter end
 
 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL. 91 
 
 of the fifteenth century, in the time of archbishop 
 Morton ; therefore, leaving Lanfranc^s building 
 out of the question, we find a lapse of three cen- 
 turies, from the commencement of its rebuilding, 
 until its central tower was completed, about 1490, 
 as already stated. 
 
 But Gloucester cathedral is a still more remark- 
 able instance of the slow progress and careful 
 manner in which these noble edifices were brought 
 to completion. This grand epitome of cathedral 
 architecture was at first a conventual church of the 
 Benedictine order of monks. It was begun by 
 Aldred, bishop of Worcester, in 1057; alterations 
 and additions were frequent, and the great central 
 tower was not completed until the early part of the 
 sixteenth century ; and without going into the 
 details, it is enough to state, that this cathedral 
 was four hundred and sixty-one years in building. 
 That of Winchester, one year less. York, one 
 hundred and sixty-one years ; and even those 
 cathedrals or abbey-churches which occupied the 
 shortest period in constructing, Rochester 1 and 
 Salisbury, the former occupied about fifty, and the 
 last sixty-three years. 
 
 1 This fine cathedral is undergoing a complete restoration hy 
 L. N. Cottingham, architect.
 
 92 THE EARLY ARCHITECTS. 
 
 The deliberate manner in which they proceeded 
 with their splendid works gave the transcendant 
 architects of those early times, the power of de- 
 liberating upon the designs, general and particular ; 
 and also as to the mechanical means of carrying their 
 plans into operation, they were really fine, but not 
 fine spun theorists ; to theory they added a degree of 
 practical skill, which is almost miraculous : but these 
 superior men did not acquire such high literary and 
 scientific attainments by any preternatural contri- 
 vances ; their secret was, that being endowed with 
 fine capacities for acquiring superior knowledge, 
 and finding or forcing themselves into positions 
 where their ardent minds could imbibe the valuable 
 information which they so eagerly sought, they 
 devoted their best efforts, and the best period of life, 
 to acquire that superior intelligence, which at 
 length enabled them to throw a lustre on the age 
 in which they lived, and to leave their great works 
 to admiring posterity, as bright memorials of Bri- 
 tish genius, thus conferring much honour upon 
 their native country, and leaving behind them a 
 mild but unfading renown. 
 
 Within the precincts of those magnificent build- 
 ings, was the only school of arts then known in 
 England, established in the midst of difficulties, and
 
 STEPHEN. 93 
 
 fostered with peculiar care ; here it was, under the 
 instruction of those great men, that the embryo ge- 
 nius of the painter and the sculptor were called into 
 activity, and gradually unfolded abilities which are 
 really surprising for the various talents they display, 
 when we consider the depressed state in which the arts 
 were all over Europe, in the twelfth century, and even 
 at a much later period. This school of art had not. 
 however, yet approached near to its meridian splen- 
 dour ; it was still in a probationary state : but the 
 elements of high art, that were fugitive throughout 
 the land, now found an asylum wherein their elegant 
 and humanizing powers gradually developed them- 
 selves, in proportion to the demands made upon 
 their capabilities. They did not make much pro- 
 gress during the turbulent, and, for the nation, 
 unhappy reign of Henry's successor, Stephen, whose 
 violent and unprincipled ambition appears to have 
 tended seriously to throw back the natural current 
 of knowledge, and to hinder the advances which 
 useful and general information had now for some time 
 been making in England. The Saxon chronicle lays 
 open an appalling picture of the state of society 
 which then reigned throughout the land. " In this 
 king's time," says the chronicle, " was all dissension, 
 and evil, and rapine ;" we quote this line merely to
 
 94 ANARCHY. 
 
 show the state of anarchy in which this country was 
 immersed during that king's unhappy reign ; the 
 whole account of those miseries, aggravated by the 
 horrors of feudalism thus unbridled, is clearly stated 
 by a writer, who was a witness of that which he 
 describes most feelingly. 
 
 The whole account would be too long for our 
 purpose : no doubt the most of our readers know 
 it already, through the medium of English his- 
 tory ; and it is only brought forward to prove, 
 that it would be unreasonable to expect much im- 
 provement to take place in the moral or intellectual 
 condition of the people, under a political system so 
 fraught with iniquity. 
 
 Our record of the progress of art during this 
 turbulent period, will, therefore, be rather scanty, 
 for although the principles of the pointed arch 
 style were known and practically exercised in some 
 parts of France, and particular instances are given 
 in the abbeys of Clugny and St. Denis, the former 
 of which was begun A.D. 1093, and consecrated 
 in 1131, by Pope Innocent II. 
 
 The abbey of St. Denis, for ages the splendid 
 mausoleum of the kings of France, was rebuilt by 
 the Abbot Sugger, between A.D. 1 137 and 1147 ; 
 yet here the pointed style, as well as the pointed
 
 ABBEY OF ST. DENIS. 95 
 
 arch, are quite conspicuous ; in fact, the germs 
 of this lofty manner appear to have been in 
 existence long before its application or its capa- 
 bilities were comprehended. Of this fact, amongst 
 many examples, we shall only mention the bap- 
 tistery at Pisa, the dome at Sienna, A.D. 1180, 
 the church of St. Germain de Prez, at Paris, 
 begun early in the eleventh century, that of La 
 Charlie sur Loire, towards the end of that 
 century, the great church of Arezzo, built by Mar- 
 chion, for Pope Innocent III., between A.D. 1200 
 and 1216; many others might be added, all of 
 which would be important examples in a contro- 
 versy upon the origin and progress of the pointed 
 style of architecture, as they contain pointed arches, 
 pinnacles, crockets supporting the ribs of domes, 
 and often two arches under one pediment. 
 
 But as it would be foreign to our purpose to 
 enter largely into this question, we have only to 
 take the facts as they are presented to us, by the 
 most respectable authorities ; this we do, merely 
 to lay before our readers a clear view of the time 
 and manner in which this noble and elegant style 
 appears to have first been introduced into this 
 country, because it forms a most essential feature 
 in the history of English art, from the middle of 
 12
 
 96 THE POINTKD STYLE. 
 
 the twelfth century to about A.D. 1539, when its 
 further progress was prevented by the Reformation, 
 or rather, by the mistaken notions which unhappily 
 arose out of that great religious revolution. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF THE POINTED STYLE INTO 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Having explained, in the course of this work, 
 the great distinction between the debased Roman 
 architecture, properly called Anglo-Saxon, and the 
 next style, or Anglo-Norman, the examples of which, 
 though with marked features of the same parent, 
 were essentially superior in size and character : we 
 now come to that style, which soon superseded 
 every other, and was the deserved favourite of all 
 persons, whether learned or unlearned, for above 
 three hundred years, during which period it under- 
 went many changes, but they were all transitions ; 
 the alterations naturally suggesting themselves to 
 the acute and intelligent minds of the eminent and 
 learned men who had devoted their chief attention 
 to the cultivation of the arts ; and being, from their 
 superior education and experience, the most compe- 
 tent judges of what was grand and elegant in archi- 
 tecture, they applied themselves with ardour and
 
 PI. 2. 
 
 NORMAN. 
 
 CASTLE HEDINGHAM, ESSEX, 
 circa 1150. 
 
 WOLSTON CHURCH, WARWICK- 
 SHIRE, circa 1150. 
 
 EARLY ENGLISH, 
 groined with moulded ribs. 
 
 SALISBURY CATHEDRAL, 
 circa 1240.
 
 STEPHEN HOSPITAL OF ST. CROSS. 97 
 
 constancy, to cultivate that art for great national 
 purposes. 
 
 The earliest authentic example of the pointed 
 style we have in England, is the hospital of St. 
 Cross, (Holy Cross,) near Winchester ; this edifice 
 was built in 1136, by Henry of Winchester, this 
 prelate had been a monk in the abbey of Clugny ; 
 that Church and Monastery had been found too 
 small for the great increase of its members, Hugh, 
 the abbot, found means to obtain funds ', and in 
 1093, he commenced rebuilding the monastery, 
 which, being of great extent, was not completed 
 before 1131, just five years before the church of 
 St. Cross was commenced by Henry of Winches- 
 ter ; and as Henry had been a resident of Clugny 
 for some time, it is reasonable to suppose that 
 he acquired his knowledge of the pointed archi- 
 tecture, during his studies in that institution, 
 there appears to be in these buildings a great simi- 
 larity of style. The arches which support the 
 naves are pointed, whilst the upper arches are 
 semi-circular; and in answer to those who have 
 said that the pointed style came from the Crusades, 
 it is fair to state, that the Crusades did not begin 
 
 ' From Alphonso of Castile. 
 VOL. I. F
 
 98 HENRY, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. 
 
 until more than three years after this abbey was 
 commenced. It must be observed, however, that 
 the arches of both nave and vestibule at Clugny 
 are lofty and pointed, yet these arches spring from 
 Corinthian capitals of columns and pilasters, which 
 clearly proves that this new method had not long 
 been adopted. 
 
 Leaving, therefore, the patent of precedence 
 between Clugny and St. Cross, to be settled by 
 those gentlemen who may have a more anxious 
 feeling or better information to direct them, we 
 return to take leave of the anarch, Stephen, in 
 the second year of whose rule pointed architecture 
 first appeared in England, but made little or no 
 progress until the first Plantagenet, (Henry II.) 
 ascended the throne ; when the affairs of the nation 
 took a very different turn, and the lords of misrule, 
 whom this king's misgovernment had permitted 
 to plunder and enslave the people, were repressed, 
 and effectually punished : a prosperous state of 
 affairs was at length manifested in England, under 
 the Plantagenet line.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 HENRY II. 
 THE PLANTAGENETS FAVOURABLE TO THE ARTS. 
 
 HITHERTO the history of the arts in England has 
 not been one of much praise or profit to its profes- 
 sors ; the trade of war was considered infinitely 
 more honourable, although the latter appears to have 
 been little else than making free with the lives and 
 properties of others upon a large scale, and to these 
 visitations even the artists were often subjected. 
 The vigorous mind of the king having restored 
 something like law and order, the public intellect 
 soon began to display its wonted energies, and to 
 show that though it had been terribly overlaid, it 
 was far from being extinguished. On all sides there 
 arose magnificent cathedrals and splendid abbey- 
 churches, infinitely superior to any thing of the 
 v 2
 
 100 THE POINTED, OK 
 
 kind heretofore seen in England, and vying with 
 the finest of their respective classes on the con- 
 tinent. 
 
 The pointed or " early English" style of architec- 
 ture, as it is denominated, had about the time of 
 Henry's ' accession been adopted in the new eccle- 
 siastical structures of the first and second classes, 
 but not unmixed with its more massive but less 
 elegant precursor's lineaments ; and this not very 
 harmonious combination continued, though gra- 
 dually declining in frequency, through the reign of 
 Richard I. to John, when the Anglo-Saxon, and 
 Anglo-Norman styles were entirely laid aside, and 
 never have been resumed. 
 
 Many of our fine cathedrals of this epoch afford 
 very interesting examples of the apparent struggle 
 that must have been then carried on between the 
 patrons and architects of the pointed and the round 
 styles ; the latter did not give way until a new ge- 
 neration had arisen, who, not having any prejudices 
 in favour of the old massive modes of building, be- 
 came fascinated with the superior appearance of the 
 new method ; and also finding, by some experience, 
 
 1 It may be called the style of the 13th century, being perfect 
 in the early part of that time, it merged in the Decorated about 
 the close of that period.
 
 EARLY ENGLISH STYLE. 101 
 
 that though from its elegant forms not promising 
 so much endurance as the former manner, yet that 
 it possessed the essential quality of permanence in 
 at least an equal degree with its ponderous rival, 
 the question of preference was finally set at rest. 
 
 Thus established in the affections of all classes 
 in society, " the early English style" of ecclesiasti- 
 cal architecture took its proud station as the 
 leader and guardian of the fine arts in England ; 
 under its ample protection, painting and sculpture, 
 its lovely sisters, found occupation for their intel- 
 lectual energies, and encouragement for the exer- 
 cise of their genius ; a brighter day now dawned 
 upon the native English school, which had long 
 struggled for existence amidst the storms and 
 gloom of political anarchy, which, with occasional 
 though short cessations, had. for centuries, strewed 
 calamity in all its frightful forms, upon the soil of 
 England. 
 
 The arts, having happily survived this chaotic 
 state of things, very soon gave proofs of a vigorous 
 existence, more natural, perhaps, than refined in 
 sentiment and expression, and more bold than cor- 
 rect in design and execution : but the natural ca- 
 pabilities of the people were brought forward. It 
 is pretty clear indeed that in the twelfth century 
 
 F3
 
 102 INSTITUTION OF 
 
 there did not exist in Europe a style of sculpture 
 from which these English workmen could have ob- 
 tained much useful information. That many archi- 
 tects, sculptors, and painters did come over to this 
 country is an established fact ; and probably this 
 aided the improvement of the British practitioners. 
 There must have existed at that time, and for 
 some centuries later, a union of sentiment among 
 these various classes of artists, a cordiality of feel- 
 ing considerably greater, as it is generally sup- 
 posed, than could be discovered in periods far 
 more enlightened: the only point of contention 
 amongst them appears to have been one highly 
 honourable to themselves, and of the greatest ad- 
 vantage to the arts, and the sciences in connexion 
 with them. This great object of their ambition 
 was to elevate the character of their respective 
 professions, and to emulate, or if possible to surpass, 
 the best efforts of others, without looking upon 
 them in any other light than as brethren engaged 
 in the same noble and intellectual pursuits They 
 clearly perceived that the more cordially they were 
 united in sentiment and feeling with each other, 
 the greater likelihood there must be that works of 
 superior character would be produced. The glories 
 of art, and of their country, were the sole objects
 
 SOCIETIES OF FREEMASONS. 103 
 
 that kindled their enthusiasm, and not the sordid 
 contentions of selfishness ; and we need only appeal 
 to the noble structures which they have left us in 
 corroboration of these opinions. 
 
 This state of affairs, as regarded the arts, was 
 mainly assisted by the societies of Freemasons, 
 which had of late years been instituted, some 
 fraternities of whom had come over to Eng- 
 land '. These ingenious and skilful men ap- 
 pear to have lived in close and exclusive com- 
 munities, in the immediate vicinity of the works 
 upon which they were engaged. In such seclu- 
 sions, undisturbed by the vulgar contentions of 
 society, these studious and laborious men, who well 
 knew how to combine scientific theories with prac- 
 tical operations, were constantly engaged in invent- 
 ing new modes of applying the mathematical and 
 graphic principles, of which they possessed con- 
 siderable knowledge ; and in these experiments they 
 constantly made new and often important discove- 
 ries ; but, as we shall see in another part of the 
 work, their knowledge, taste, and skill in the arts, 
 
 1 They are said to have been known in England in the seventh 
 century. Vide Ware's Essay on Vaults Preston on Masonry, 
 &c., &c. 
 
 F 4
 
 104 HENRY II. PAINTING. 
 
 had not yet attained near to their meridian splen- 
 dour. 
 
 The principal public works which were com- 
 menced or completed in this monarches reign were, 
 the cathedrals of Bristol and Canterbury, rebuilt ; 
 Carlisle, Norwich, restored, 1171 ; Peterborough, 
 York, 1160; Rochester, Winchester, 1170. These 
 are some of our pointed style, though not unmixed 
 with Anglo-Norman portions, for it was not until 
 after the accession of John, 1199, that all the parts 
 of that heavy style were laid aside. 
 
 The architects of this epoch were very able men ; 
 they were, frequently Ecclesiastics, mostly Dignita- 
 ries of the Church. There are many sculptured 
 works of this period which show a good degree of 
 advancement in the earlier characters of that art. 
 Of their painting it is very difficult to form a just 
 idea, because the specimens of that age, with which 
 all our cathedrals and churches were adorned, have 
 undergone the penalties of the mop and pail, directed 
 by some persons " who to their pious bile gave 
 vent ;" persons who, no doubt, were worshippers 
 (in secret) of Mammon, but would be quite shocked 
 and scandalized to see a saint in goodly habiliments 
 painted on the walls of a Church. Unhappily for
 
 STATXED GLASS USED. 105 
 
 the arts this race is not yet extinct, although 
 their ranks are gradually becoming thinner ; but the 
 mischief is done, and the most precious links in the 
 history of British art are irrecoverably destroyed. 
 
 Stained Glass. Another beautiful feature of the 
 ecclesiastical style of architecture began to attract 
 much attention during the latter part of Henry's 
 reign. Stained glass had been used on a very small 
 scale in some of the principal churches about the 
 middle of the ninth century, but its progress was 
 very slow in England ; the earliest specimen of any 
 note in this art now remaining, appear to be that 
 in the aisles of the choir at Canterbury cathedral : 
 here the effect is very beautiful ; the pattern, or 
 design, is composed of panels variously formed ; 
 these contain subjects from the Bible, with in- 
 scriptions, explanatory of the passage ; they are on 
 grounds of a ruby colour, or the deep rich blue ; 
 the latter is a distinctive feature of the earliest 
 stained glass. The spaces between the panels are 
 filled with rich mosaic patterns, variously coloured, 
 the blue and ruby being predominant and of brilliant 
 colours ; a broad border elaborately constructed 
 surrounds the whole design. The centre window 
 in "Becket's crown" in the same cathedral seems 
 of a later period ; in this the patterns are the scroll, 
 F 5
 
 106 STYLE OF ORNAMENTING. 
 
 designed with great elegance ; it is of various 
 colours, upon a rich ruby ground '. 
 
 When the windows, from the improvements in 
 the general character of architecture, were made 
 larger, the style of ornamenting them was also 
 expanded ; there was room to introduce heraldic 
 bearings and other devices common in that age 2 . 
 
 In the next century the mosaic grounds were 
 omitted ; but the detached panels were continued, 
 these are generally occupied by the representation 
 of a saint, king, or benefactor, over whom is placed 
 a plain sort of canopy ; the whole window has a 
 ground composed of a trailing pattern of oak, ivy, 
 or vine, which is arranged with a careless elegance, 
 through all the spaces ; these ornaments are in 
 some parts merely indicated by a delicate outline, 
 in others they are coloured of a yellow tint, on a 
 ground of subdued white. The windows in the 
 north aisle and the fine window called "the five 
 sisters "" in the north transept of York cathedral, 
 are highly interesting specimens of this period 3 and 
 must have been extremely splendid. 
 
 1 The earliest windows now left in the abbey of St Denis 
 closely resemble these at Canterbury ; the Church was built by 
 abbot Sugger, A. D. 1150. 
 
 2 The middle of the thirteenth century. 
 
 3 About A. D. 1230.
 
 HENRY II. THE CRUSADES. 107 
 
 In Merton college chapel, and Norbury church, 
 Derbyshire, are windows very similar in style : in 
 the latter church, some emblazoned shields are 
 introduced, the effect of which is very beautiful. 
 The artists of that period well knew the rich and 
 brilliant effects that the peculiar arrangements of 
 the heraldic colours could produce in such posi- 
 tions, but this glowing adjunct to sacred edifices 
 did not attain its highest degree of excellence, 
 as we shall see, until a short time before the 
 Reformation, up to which period it had kept pace 
 with the increasing richness of architecture. It 
 was however in the reign of this monarch, the first 
 of the Plantagenet race, that the great revolution 
 in architectural taste occurred, which called into 
 activity in an extraordinary degree the native 
 talents of the people of England ; for although it 
 must in common justice be allowed, that the germs 
 at least of the arts were brought into this country 
 from France and Italy, yet it is also certain, that 
 the foreign artists who found it to be their interest 
 to settle here, soon discovered that their pupils in 
 proper time became their rivals, in every branch 
 whether of the fine or mechanic arts. 
 
 The Crusades, it is true, had given an extra- 
 ordinary impulse to the general mind of Europe, 
 F 6
 
 10S RICHARD I. CHANGES IN COSTUME. 
 
 and had made a great change in the habits and 
 manner of those who called themselves " pilgrims, 11 
 of whom many of the higher sort who returned 
 brought home ideas and customs, which they had 
 adopted, or rather imitated, from the people of 
 Palestine and other countries. In a few years this 
 circumstance produced a sensible effect upon the 
 costumes and primitive modes of life hitherto com- 
 mon in northern and western Europe. These changes 
 commenced in Richard's reign, but did not obtain 
 much notice until the accession of his nephew Henry 
 III., when those foreign, or, as an author of that 
 time has denominated them, outlandish manners and 
 dresses spread, at first all over France, and thence 
 made their way into England. Previous to this era 
 the Roman dress, qualified to suit the various 
 climates, was general all over Italy, France, Spain, 
 England, and the countries bordering on the Rhine ; 
 but this sober, classical, and natural arrangement 
 of garments was gradually superseded by the most 
 absurd, fantastic, and barbarous fopperies in dress 
 that can be imagined. Then came into vogue the 
 cross garterings, the parti-coloured, and counter- 
 changed doublets and hose, of which the sleeves of 
 the former were of two, sometimes four different 
 colours, and the body of two or three other
 
 INJURIOUS EFFECT OX THE ARTS. 109 
 
 colours ; the peaked boots, so long that the points 
 were kept up by chains extended from the waist, 
 one of the hose green, or yellow, the other red or 
 blue ; the ladies 1 head-dresses were so high, that the 
 face occupied what then was actually the centre of 
 the figure ; but it would require a volume, and many 
 very able ones have been written, to describe en 
 detail, the very ridiculous fashions which drove out 
 all propriety of dress ; and too often even decency 
 was dispensed with by the dandies of that age, but 
 who, in all ages when they exist, never by any 
 chance have showed the slightest notion of good 
 taste in their habilimental speculation. 
 
 But though persons of shallow understanding 
 and vulgar minds, whatever their rank or wealth 
 may be, never can understand the principles of good 
 taste ; yet such persons, for the same reason, can 
 and do produce a great deal of mischief, and in this 
 transition of dress from good sense and comfort, 
 joined to noble forms and good effect, to broken 
 and angular forms and niotly colouring, opposed 
 outrageously to all the principles of harmony, the 
 interest of the arts suffered most materially : for, 
 having these corrupt and silly combinations always 
 before their eyes, the artists gradually lost all sense 
 of good feeling, taste, and propriety in their work ;
 
 110 INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN ARTISTS. 
 
 unfortunately many of these things still remain to 
 excite the merriment of posterity and the con- 
 tempt of all succeeding generations. These mis- 
 chiefs to the arts did not however take place until 
 a later period with us. The subject will be taken 
 up more fully when we come to that portion of 
 the work in which the influence of bad taste dis- 
 played itself in a profusion of ornamental gewgaws, 
 and finally debased every species of intellectual 
 art. 
 
 It must however be admitted, that although the 
 great mass of those fanatics who escaped back 
 to Europe from the wars of Palestine, brought 
 home nothing but an increased stock of vanity ; yet 
 there happened accidentally to be some few men of 
 lofty views, and fine understanding among them, 
 who acquired a knowledge of many things which 
 they clearly saw would be beneficial to their re- 
 spective countries. These patriotic chieftains then 
 invited and engaged many of the ingenious artists 
 or artificers, and manufacturers of the east, to 
 accompany them on their return home ; and on their 
 arrival, took care that they should be employed 
 and rewarded for instructing the natives in their 
 various modes of industry : here then commenced 
 the manufacturing system in the north western 
 
 12
 
 THE FREEMASONS. Ill 
 
 parts of Europe. In these advantages architecture 
 shared largely ; the infusion of some portion of the 
 spirit and taste of the eastern style of building, 
 which was introduced, to a considerable extent, in 
 the reign of Richard Cceur de Leon by the Free- 
 masons, who were encouraged to join their brethren 
 of the west, by inducements sufficiently powerful 
 to produce the effect intended. 
 
 All the writers of that age are agreed, that to 
 the communities of Freemasons, all Europe is in- 
 debted for the best constructed, most grandly de- 
 signed, and tastefully decorated cathedrals, castles, 
 and abbeys that still exist, either as magnificent 
 ruins, or perfect structures; these are proud me- 
 morials of their superior knowledge of the sciences 
 as well as the arts ; and so highly were their 
 labours estimated, that in our days the accounts of 
 the industry of these intelligent men might almost 
 appear incredible ; but the evidences are upon re- 
 cord, which prove that in little more than a century 
 from the first crusade, (1096,) more than six hun- 
 dred of those ecclesiastical or military edifices, were 
 seen rising in splendour for the service of Religion, 
 or frowning in baronial grandeur, throughout most 
 parts of central and western Europe ; and so highly 
 were the talents and assistance of the architects
 
 112 KING JOHN THE FREEMASONS. 
 
 estimated, that they soon were found spread over 
 most parts of the European continent. It must 
 not be supposed, however, that these ingenious 
 men came entirely from Palestine, and other parts 
 of the East ; for although some fraternities of these 
 might have been Syrians, yet the same sort of com- 
 munities had been known to exist in Europe long 
 before the time of the Crusades l . 
 
 These companies or fraternities were, in fact, 
 composed of the natives of various nations : there 
 were amongst them English, Spanish, French, 
 Italians, and Germans ; they appear to have been 
 united in the strictest bonds of brotherhood, and 
 their practice was to remove altogether to a new 
 station, when they had completed the work in their 
 hands. This habit of migrating from one country 
 to another, as their assistance might be required, 
 affords a very good solution to the question " why 
 the great buildings of the middle ages throughout 
 Europe so strongly resemble each other in their 
 style and general character." The same commu- 
 nities of Freemasons carried on their operations 
 sometimes in France, England, Spain, or else- 
 
 1 In the 10th century, they were an established free guild in 
 Lombardy : late in that century, the Pope granted them a bull, 
 confirming their privileges, with the exclusive right to build 
 churches in Christendom.
 
 THE KNIGHTS-TEMPLARS. 113 
 
 where ; and therefore, though the principle is the 
 same in each country, the climate often causes 
 much difference in the details, and these necessary 
 changes the Freemasons knew well how to provide 
 for. They had among them sculptors and painters, 
 and no doubt that many of the examples in sculp- 
 ture of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and even 
 later, are by these men. 
 
 The Knights-Templars were also great promoters 
 of the arts in every branch ; the warlike bearing 
 and character of their Church militant order, so 
 far from causing them to neglect the peaceful arts, 
 seems rather to have stimulated their good feelings 
 towards them, and that too in a very high degree, 
 as we may even now convince ourselves by examin- 
 ing the many noble edifices still remaining, which 
 attest the elegance of their taste, and the sound- 
 ness of the principles upon which they constructed 
 their halls and chapels. One of the most beautiful 
 and interesting specimens of the latter, the Temple 
 church in London, still exists in its original in- 
 tegrity of form, having been preserved amidst the 
 conflagration of London, 1 666, and from the hands of 
 the Vandals, who presumed to fit it up with clumsy 
 pews and other fittings of carved oak, the pillars 
 that supported the entablature and pediment at
 
 114 THE TEMPLE-CHURCH. 
 
 the back of the communion-table being of the 
 Corinthian order, and all the other carved work is 
 in the same discordant taste, which was imported 
 with the bad morals of Charles the Second^s court. 
 
 But the building itself is firm, and strong enough 
 to contend with Time for a greater number of 
 centuries than have already passed over it ', pro- 
 vided that those who may have in their hands the 
 conservancy of this precious example of what is 
 called "the transition style," may have the true 
 taste, good sense, and sufficient means at command 
 to preserve it from the falx of that ancient destroyer. 
 
 We now approach a period in which the arts, 
 especially architecture, advanced to a very elevated 
 station ; and it would appear that heretofore, the 
 various descriptions of artists were merely learning 
 those principles, and acquiring the facility of prac- 
 tice, that, under the reign of Henry III., developed 
 itself in a very extraordinary degree. 
 
 1 This chaste and elegant specimen of the Anglo-Norman 
 and Pointed Styles, was constructed at two different periods, the 
 ante-church which is circular and Anglo-Norman, was built in 
 1185 ; but the choir, which is rectilinear, and to which the round 
 chapel serves as a vestibule, is of the best pointed style of its 
 time, A.D. 1240, temp. Hen. III. The Corinthian fittings have 
 been turned out, and it is undergoing a complete restoration, by 
 Mr. James Savage, of Essex Street ; and the splendid decora- 
 tions will be added by Mr. Willement.
 
 HENRY III. 115 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 HENRY III. PLANTAGENET. 1216 1272. 
 
 This great improvement could not have been 
 the consequence of a peaceful reign, and harmony 
 amongst the various orders of the state, and the 
 general happiness of the people, for there appears 
 to have been a continual state of ill feeling, and 
 much open violence between the king and the 
 barons, besides several wars with France ', which 
 began whilst he was a minor ; indeed, if we read 
 no more of the history of this period than the 
 account of the hostile proceedings that form so 
 large a portion of the history of that time, we 
 might naturally conclude that all the arts, but those 
 of war and levying money, must have gone very 
 much out of practice. Notwithstanding these civil 
 commotions, and his captivity in the hands of the 
 barons after his defeat at Lewes by Simon de Mont- 
 fort, we find Henry constantly issuing orders to the 
 principal officers of his household, directing them 
 
 1 The first of these was with Louis the Dauphin, who had 
 brought over a large force to assist the barons against King 
 John.
 
 116 HENRY III. 
 
 to cause his various palaces to be kept in a fit 
 condition for his residence, and to be painted with 
 various pictures of saints, and with scriptural and 
 other kinds of historical subjects. From the several 
 dates of these documents, it would appear that 
 from about his twenty-second year, until his last 
 illness, the love of the arts in him never changed ; 
 in that respect he was certainly consistent. We 
 subjoin copies from a few of these state papers, to 
 give our readers a clearer view of the arts, more 
 especially of painting, in England, during the greater 
 part of the thirteenth century. 
 
 The first of these documents on record is from 
 the king to his chamberlain and treasurer, directing 
 him to pay to a certain painter twenty shillings, for 
 painting the great exchequer chamber; this is 
 dated in 1 228, the twelfth year of his reign ; con- 
 sequently he must at that time have been twenty- 
 two years old. 
 
 The next warrant we meet with is dated " Kid- 
 derminster, June 3, A.D. 1233," the seventeenth 
 of his reign. This is a precept to the sheriff of 
 Southampton, directing him to cause the king's 
 chamber wainscot in the castle of Winchester to 
 be painted with the same pictures as formerly. 
 
 It is pretty evident from this, that historical
 
 PAINTING. 117 
 
 painting must have been practised for some time 
 previous to this period. 
 
 The same year we find another order to the 
 keeper of the king's palace at Woodstock, direct- 
 ing " that he cause the round chapel there to be 
 painted with the figures of our Lord, the four 
 Evangelists, and St. Edmund on one part, and that 
 of St. Edward on the other part." 
 
 There are two orders extant, issued by Henry, 
 in 1236, one directed to his treasurer, directing 
 him to have the great chamber at Westminster 
 painted of a fine green colour, to resemble a curtain. 
 The second order is to Henry de Pateshull (trea- 
 surer), directing him to have the borders of both 
 the king's and queen's seats, in St. Stephen's cha- 
 pel, Westminster 1 , painted on both sides "with a 
 good green colour, and that he cause a crucifix, 
 with Mary and John, to be painted near the said 
 seat of the queen," &c. 
 
 In another record, after giving some precise di- 
 rections about repairs in the tower, orders that 
 three glass windows be made in the chapel of St. 
 John, in which were to be represented a " little 
 Virgin Mary holding the child ; the Trinity, and 
 
 1 Lately " the House of Commons."
 
 118 SCULPTURE. 
 
 St. John the Apostle ;" also a cross to be painted 
 behind the altar, and two images of St. Edward 
 holding out a ring, and delivering it to St. John 
 the Evangelist. 
 
 There is another of the same date as the forego- 
 ing (April 7, 1236), from the king to his treasurer, 
 which we shall give verbatim, because it has a most 
 explicit reference to works of sculpture, as well as 
 painting. 
 
 " The King, &c. We order that you have 
 the chancel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the 
 church of St. Peter, in the baily of the Tower of 
 London, and the chancel of St. Peter, within the 
 said church, to be well and properly wainscotted 
 for the space of four feet beyond the stalls erected 
 for the use of ourself and queen ; and that the said 
 stalls be painted with a small figure of the Virgin 
 Mary standing in her shrine ; the figures of Saints 
 Peter, Nicholas, and Catharine ; the beam beyond 
 the altar of St. Peter, and the small crucifix, with 
 its figures, to be painted anew with fresh colours ; 
 and that you cause to be made an image of St. 
 Peter, in his pontificals as an archbishop, on the 
 north side beyond the said altar, and the same to 
 be painted with the best colours ; and also an 
 image of St. Christopher, holding and carrying
 
 PAINTING. 119 
 
 Christ, in the best manner that it can be painted 
 and finished in the said chapel. And that ye like- 
 wise cause two fair pictures to be painted, with the 
 best colours, of the histories of the Saints Nicholas 
 and Catharine at the altars of the said saints in 
 one niche in the said church, with two fair cheru- 
 bims standing to the right and left of the crucifix, 
 and having a cheerful countenance ; and also a 
 marble font, having pillars of marble neatly carved. 
 The cost, &c. &c. to be charged," &c. &c. 
 
 The next recorded is in August, 1237, from the 
 Roll of Liveries. It directs the proper officer " to 
 pay from our treasury, to Odo the goldsmith, 
 keeper of our works at Westminster, four pounds 
 and eleven shillings, for making the pictures in our 
 chamber there." 
 
 Another is dated the following year, directing 
 the sheriff of Southampton that he " shall cause 
 the chamber at Winchester to be painted of a 
 green colour, with stars of gold and compartments, 
 in which may be painted histories from the Old and 
 New Testament"^ 
 
 Here we have historical painting pretty clearly 
 made out to be an indispensable mode of decorat- 
 ing the royal palaces. 
 
 In the foregoing precepts there is not any men-
 
 120 PAINTIXG. 
 
 tion made of the sort of vehicle or liquid in which 
 these paintings were to be executed, although, from 
 an inspection of the fragments of those works 
 which remain, no one need entertain a doubt that 
 oil was that vehicle ; yet this appears quite a mys- 
 tery to some writers who had no practical know- 
 ledge of painting ; but now we come to the fact. 
 In the Close Rolls, 23 Henry III. 
 
 " The King, to his treasurer and chamberlain. 
 Pay from our treasury, to Odo the goldsmith, and 
 Edward his son, one hundred and seventeen shil- 
 lings and tenpence, for oil, varnish, and colours 
 bought by them, and for pictures made in the queen's 
 chamber at Westminster, to the octaves of the Holy 
 Trinity (May 25), in the twenty-third year of our 
 reign, to the feast of St. Barnabas (June 11), in 
 the same year, namely, for fifteen days." 
 
 There is not in this mandate any direct proof 
 that the oil and varnish were for the purpose of 
 painting pictures properly so called ; it is quite clear 
 that the goldsmith and his son were paid for two 
 separate species of goods furnished ; namely, " the 
 oils, &c., bought by them, and for pictures made," 
 &c. There are distinct classes of articles supplied 
 to the employer ; the document does not give us the 
 least hint that the oils, &c., were bought for the
 
 PAINTED WINDOWS. 121 
 
 purpose of painting those pictures ; but possibly 
 the matter may be cleared up, by supposing that 
 the pictures made by Odo and his son \ were statues 
 or bassi relievi^ which were then denominated " pic- 
 tures made of erthe;" these were figures in terra 
 cotta, and were painted and gilt : this we think 
 makes out the description of painting on which the 
 court Aurifaber exercised his ornamental ingenuity. 
 That figures and historical subjects were at that 
 period painted in oil, on flat grounds, has been 
 shown ; and the erudite and ingenious Mr. Wai- 
 pole appears satisfied with the evidence to which 
 we have alluded 2 . 
 
 In the twenty-fifth year of this reign, we find an 
 order was issued for two windows to be put up in 
 the hall, and to be filled with pictures ; the king's 
 
 1 These artificers employed the artists, very few of whose names 
 have been preserved. 
 
 * There is a very remarkable specimen of the painting of that 
 time, in the Chapter-house at Westminster ; it represents the 
 Saviour giving the benediction, the features are well drawn, and 
 the figure in good proportion. There is a beautiful golden glory 
 round the head, and both this and the painted part seem as firm 
 as the wall on which they are laid. In the choir are full length 
 pictures of king Sebert, and Edward the Confessor, on panel, 
 painted by Henry's order. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 HENRY III. 
 
 motto to be in the Latin language, Qu,i nan dat 
 quod habet, non accepit ille quod optat. 
 
 There are two mandates dated the twenty-eighth 
 of Henry ; one being an order to purchase and con- 
 vey to Westminster one hundred barge-loads of 
 stone for carrying on the rebuilding of the abbey. 
 
 Another of the same period is a grant " to God, 
 St. Edward, and the church at Westminster," 
 toward the rebuilding of the church, 2591, being 
 a fine levied on a Jew's widow. This money was di- 
 rected to be, paid into Henry's new Exchequer at 
 Westminster, under the control of the archdeacon 
 of Westminster, and Edward of Westminster, whom 
 the king appointed treasurer to this Exchequer ', 
 which appears to have originated in Henry's anxiety 
 to carry on the new works at Westminster. 
 
 In the year 1248, being the thirty-second of the 
 king, we find a rescript directed to the sheriff of 
 Southampton, enjoining him, out of the receipts 
 of the county, to have painted in the queen's chapel, 
 Winchester, over the great west-window, the 
 image of St. Christopher, as he is elsewhere paint- 
 ed, bearing Christ in his arms ; and the figure of 
 
 1 Then first established.
 
 EDWARD FITZ-ODO. 123 
 
 St. Edward the king, when he gave his ring to a 
 pilgrim, whose figure also was to be painted. 
 
 There is another to the keeper of Woodstock, 
 directing windows to be made, and the pictures to 
 be " amended," &c. 
 
 Another of the following year enjoins Master 
 John of St. Omers, to paint the wardrobe in the 
 king's chamber at Westminster, and to make a 
 reading-desk for the new chapter-house at West- 
 minster, "like that in the chapter-house at St. 
 Albans, or more handsome and fair if it so can 
 be made." 
 
 In 1250, a prescript is directed to Edward of 
 Westminster, or Edward Fitz-Odo, master of the 
 works, supposed to be the son of the goldsmith 
 mentioned before. In this he is ordered to have 
 painted in St. Stephen's chapel the figures of the 
 Apostles around the wall, and the day of judg- 
 ment on the western side, and the figure of the 
 Virgin to be painted on a panel, all to be ready on 
 the king's arrival. 
 
 This " master Edward" appears to have been, in 
 his way, quite a treasure to the king ; for we find 
 in Dart's history of the abbey, that in the twenty- 
 eighth of his reign Henry commanded Edward 
 Fitz-Odo " to make a dragon in the manner of a 
 G 2
 
 124 HENRY III. 
 
 standard, or ensign, of red sarait ; to be em- 
 broidered with gold, and his tongue to appear, as 
 though continually moving, and his eyes of sap- 
 phires, or other stones agreeable to him ; to be 
 placed in this church against the king's coming 
 hither 1 . 1 ' 
 
 The queen had set up in the feretry of St. Edward 
 the image of the blessed Virgin Mary, and the 
 king caused the aforesaid Edward Fitz-Odo, keeper 
 of his works at Westminster, to place upon her 
 forehead for ornament an emerald and a ruby, 
 taken out of two rings which the bishop of Chi- 
 chester had left the king for a legacy 2 . 
 
 The above passage points out pretty clearly, 
 the nature of " master Edward's" occupation ; he 
 was a modeller and mechanical artificer, not a 
 painter ; it is to be regretted, however, that we 
 have no account of the success of this combination 
 of red samit, with gilding, eyes, and tongue to 
 match : no doubt it caused much astonishment at 
 the time. 
 
 In the thirty-fourth year of Henry III., we find 
 a grant of three oak-trees out of the park at 
 Periton to the sacristan of Glastonbury abbey, 
 
 1 Dart, vol. i. p. 26 : edition of 1 742. 
 
 3 Ralph de Neville, who had been lord chancellor.
 
 HISTORICAL PAINTING. 125 
 
 that images may be carved out of them, and to be 
 placed in that abbey as a royal gift. 
 
 The next precept on record is relative to his- 
 torical painting, and explains, not only why a parti- 
 cular room in the palace at Westminster was 
 called " the Antioch chamber," but also points out 
 the situation of that apartment. 
 
 The document is dated in the same year as the 
 last. It directs R. de Sandford, master of the 
 Knight-Teiriplars of England, that he cause to be 
 delivered to " Henry of the wardrobe," "in aid 
 of the queen, a certain great book which is in his 
 house in London, written in the French language, 
 in which are contained the gestes of the king of 
 Antioch and of other kings." 
 
 The above volume was compiled and illuminated 
 by the king^s command ; it appears to have repre- 
 sented, in a series of designs, the extraordinary 
 exploits of his uncle Richard Cceur de Lion, whose 
 heroic character he greatly admired. These actions 
 had previously been painted, by the king^s orders 
 (A. D. 1237), on the wainscot of a room in the 
 royal palace, and also at Clarendon. 
 
 The occasion of sending for the book now was 
 to have the same subjects painted on the walls of 
 the king's chamber in the Tower of London, under 
 08
 
 126 HENllY III. 
 
 the directions of Thomas Espernir, who most pro- 
 bably was the original designer. 
 
 In the same year, thirty-fourth of Henry III., 
 1250, among other instructions it is ordered, 
 that the low chamber in the king's garden, and the 
 little turret behind the chapel, shall be painted ; 
 and that the said chamber shall be called, "the 
 Antioch chamber." Of the next year is another 
 precept to Simon the chaplain, and other masters 
 of the works at Windsor, directing, among other 
 things, "that the Apostles shall be painted in the 
 king's cloisters at the castle." 
 
 In the thirty-sixth year of his reign, there is on 
 the Rolls under the " payments," a prescript to the 
 sheriff of Nottingham, directing that he shall cause 
 the queen^s chamber, in Nottingham castle, to be 
 painted all round, with the history of Alexander. 
 
 Another precept of the same year to the sheriff 
 of Northampton directs that he cause a window of 
 white glass to be made in the castle of Northamp- 
 ton, and that " the history of Dives and Lazarus 
 should be painted thereon." 
 
 It is quite evident that the king was fond of 
 historical painting, and that his taste was not 
 confined to any particular class, whether from 
 sacred or profane history. It appears also that the
 
 DIRECTIONS RESPECTING DRESS. J 27 
 
 king's librarian had charge of the colours ; as there 
 appears an order to him " that he should supply 
 William the painter with colours, to restore the 
 paintings in the king's and queen's chambers." 
 
 The king's, and very probably the queen's, taste 
 in matters of dress appears to have been splendid, 
 as may be imagined from the instructions given to 
 " John de Somercote " and " Roger the tailor," in 
 sundry precepts, A. D. 1236, directing them to 
 prepare and furnish many splendid articles of dress 
 and furniture ; of these mandates we shall insert 
 two, as being sufficient to give a correct idea of the 
 splendour which could then be displayed in the 
 wardrobes of the princes and nobles of England. 
 
 The first of these is a precept, dated at Lichfield 
 Nov. 21. 1252, directed to the above named royal 
 tradesmen. 
 
 They are directed to make without delay " four 
 robes of the best satin that can be procured, viz. 
 two for the service of the king, and two for the 
 queen : with fringes laid thereon of gold and various 
 colours, and that the tunics shall be of softer satin 
 than the cloaks and surcoats, that the cloaks be 
 furred with ermine, and the surcoats with minivere, 
 so that the king may have the said robes hand- 
 somely made, and delivered to him at York."
 
 128 HENRY III. 
 
 Another precept to the same parties, is a portion 
 of the same order, for these likewise were ordered 
 to be delivered to the king at York, at the same 
 time, viz. on the feast of the nativity, Dec. 1252. 
 
 " That, besides those two robes which the king 
 has ordered for his own use ; that they likewise 
 make for him three robes of embroidery, or fancy 
 work, viz. one robe of violet-coloured satin, the 
 best that can be procured, wrought with three 
 leopards in the fore, and as many in the hinder 
 part : and two robes of other cloth, the best that 
 can be found. So that the king may receive them 
 at York," &e. &c. 
 
 The next notice we have of art, relates to sculp- 
 ture ; it is a precept to master John of Gloucester, 
 the king's plasterer, and the master of his works 
 at Westminster, directing them to make five sta- 
 tues of kings, carved in freestone, and a pedestal 
 of the image of the blessed Virgin, to be delivered 
 to the master of the works at the church of St. 
 Martin, London, as the king^s gift. 
 
 The extent to which this monarch's attention to 
 the arts was carried is most surprising. The 
 decorating of Windsor castle is the next subject. 
 In the forty- fourth year of the king, a mandate was 
 issued to Edward of Westminster, directing him
 
 WINDSOR CASTLE. 129 
 
 without delay to supply William the monk, of 
 Windsor, with colours, and other materials proper 
 for restoring the king's paintings there, as he shall 
 be instructed by the said Edward, &c. 
 
 By the term " restoring the king's paintings," 
 we are clearly made to understand, that there must 
 have been paintings in that royal palace for a 
 long period previous to this time. We know that 
 Windsor was a favourite residence with William 
 the Norman. The Confessor had bestowed that 
 manor upon the abbey of Westminster ; but Wil- 
 liam was so much pleased with the site, that he 
 prevailed on the abbot and monks to give it up to 
 him in exchange for other lands ; tie then enlarged 
 and beautified the castle, and his successors appear 
 to have been partial to it, but which of them caused 
 the pictures to be painted in it, we have no means 
 of ascertaining. 
 
 On the 30th of October following, a mandate 
 appears to have been issued to the sheriff of Surrey, 
 enjoining him to cause the paintings in the great 
 hall at Guildford to be repaired, as it may be ne- 
 cessary, without delay, and in the king's large 
 chamber, to have painted upon the wall, at the 
 head of the bed, a certain cloth or pall, " then the 
 c 5
 
 130 HENRY III. 
 
 pictures, and frontispiece of the altar of the great 
 chapel be made, as we have directed William of 
 Florence," &c. 
 
 In 1268, forty-ninth of the king, he directs his 
 treasurer and chamberlain to pay to the painters of 
 his chamber at Westminster, seven pounds and 
 seven shillings, for pictures at the back of the bed 1 . 
 This was a very large sum at that time, but the 
 pictures were large scripture historical subjects ; 
 the remains of them could very well be traced until 
 the last unhappy conflagration 2 . 
 
 Two years after this date, we find a precept to 
 the bailiffs of London, directing them to pay out of 
 the fee farm of said city, " to Master Walter, our 
 painter, twenty marks, for pictures in our great 
 chamber at Westminster ;" now it is pleasant to 
 know that " Master Walter" was an Englishman, 
 as well as Master Edward of Westminster. 
 
 Besides these two native artists, there was a 
 foreigner in the king^s service, he is mentioned in 
 several of the mandates, as " William the Floren- 
 
 1 This is the room long known as " the painted chamber," and 
 which was fitted up after the conflagration in Oct. 1834, for the 
 Lords, and they meet here every session, the Commons sitting 
 in the room that the Lords occupied previous to the fire. 
 
 2 In October 1834.
 
 AN ARDENT PATRON OF THE ARTS. 131 
 
 tine." This artist had a salary of sixpence a day, 
 as surveyor of the works at Guilford ; he was also 
 employed at Windsor. 
 
 Another of the castles upon which the king laid 
 out large suras of money, was Kenilworth, which 
 he repaired throughout, and beautified with paint- 
 ings and sculpture. 
 
 In fact, it would require much more space than 
 can fairly be allowed in a work like this, to give 
 even a moderately detailed account of the public 
 and private encouragement which this much abused 
 monarch bestowed on the fine arts during his long 
 reign. With Henry III. may be truly said to 
 have commenced the establishment of these arts in 
 Britain : with him it was the leading passion, or 
 bias of his mind. Whatever inconsistencies may 
 appear in his character with respect to political 
 affairs, nothing capricious can ever be attributed 
 to him as regarded the arts ; in this part of his 
 conduct, all was consistent, sincere, and even ardent. 
 Nothing could alter his feelings in this direction, 
 although there is every reason for believing, that 
 this very affection for the peaceful arts, on which 
 he expended immense sums of money, was often, 
 amongst others, the cause of embroiling him with 
 the turbulent barons of his day, who, though sound 
 
 G 6
 
 132 HENRY III. 
 
 and rational in their love of freedom, and undaunted 
 in upholding at every risk those liberties which are 
 the dearest birthright of Britons, yet they could 
 not comprehend why such enormous sums, as it 
 appeared to their minds, should be drawn from 
 them and their vassals to be expended on things 
 that they looked upon as merely ornamental, and 
 not of any national importance ; yet in the midst 
 of a sea of troubles, Henry kept a steady course in 
 pursuit of his favourite object. Nature, it appears, 
 never intended him to be a politician ; his mind was 
 not formed to comprehend either the beauty or 
 utility of political science. His faults as a states- 
 man, a character, by the way, to which he had but 
 slight pretensions, appear to have arisen chiefly 
 from a distaste to politics, and the miserable 
 intrigues too often attendant upon their move- 
 ments. From these cabals, Henry took refuge, 
 as often as he could, in his favourite occupation, 
 that of planning the construction of noble edifices, 
 or of the splendid and suitable ornaments and 
 furniture with which they were to be decorated. In 
 these pursuits, which certainly tended much to acce- 
 lerate the progress of civilization in England, and to 
 give his subjects a respect for the noble, grand, and 
 graceful creations of intellectual power, instead of
 
 HIS PERSONAL CHARACTER. 133 
 
 the barbarous ignorance, and submission to mere 
 physical force, which had been entailed upon them 
 by the feudal system. Henry was quite superior 
 to all his predecessors, and this is the only view 
 we are bound to take of his character, in a work 
 solely devoted to trace the progress of art through 
 the countless vicissitudes which it has experienced 
 in this country '. 
 
 As to the charges that are made against him, of 
 lavishing his favour upon foreigners, it is not for us 
 to defend such an unhappy weakness in him. His 
 judgment in that respect was clearly defective ; he 
 had not sufficient powers of understanding to com- 
 prehend that Monarchs, but more especially British 
 Sovereigns, are bound, by every principle of justice, 
 honour, interest, and reason, to place their best 
 confidence in their natural born and nationally 
 educated subjects. 
 
 Such was Henry's unhappy condition, without 
 one personal vice of any magnitude, and with vir- 
 tues that ought to have adorned the British throne ; 
 kind, generous, humane, a friend of learning and 
 
 1 In this reign (1265), the House of Commons was first esta- 
 blished as it now is constituted, knights, citizens, and burgesses ; 
 trial by ordeal abolished, and trial by jury in civil and criminal 
 cases established.
 
 134 HENRY III. 
 
 the arts : yet all these rare qualities were of little 
 avail to him, because he placed his confidence on 
 men, and loaded with honour and offices, those who 
 owed no natural allegiance to the British crown ; 
 and who showed by their acts, that they flattered 
 the master whom they despised, and by plundering 
 both him and his subjects, made their patron be 
 hated, by those who, but for these deceivers, would 
 have loved and honoured him. 
 
 This misplaced confidence was Henry's great 
 foible, and indeed the very root from whence all 
 his unhappiness and that of his people sprang. 
 But we must not forget that it was during the 
 great struggles for power in his reign, that some 
 of the nation's most valuable privileges were ob- 
 tained or secured. His political vices and mis- 
 takes have been heralded, even to the echo ; but 
 where is the record of his useful actions, or 
 of his munificent rewards to encourage litera- 
 ture, with the elegant and nseful arts ; which, 
 during his reign, as we have already hinted, had 
 gained a surprising degree of eminence, and the 
 momentum then communicated to them was such, 
 that it continued to increase during the three fol- 
 lowing reigns in an extraordinary manner ? 
 
 Of the palaces and castles repaired and beauti-
 
 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 135 
 
 fied by Henry, twelve only are upon record. These 
 are Clarendon and Guilford palaces, Kenilworth, 
 Nottingham, Northampton, and Windsor castles, 
 St. Stephen's chapel, Westminster, St. Peter's 
 church in the Tower of London, the palaces of 
 Westminster, Winchester, and Woodstock, the 
 Exchequer chamber at Westminster, and, as a 
 crowning termination his great work, Westminster 
 abbey l . 
 
 In a work only intended, as this is, to trace the 
 progress of the arts from their first authenticated 
 beginnings, through their various changes of for- 
 tune in England, up to their present condition, 
 it could not be expected that a detailed account 
 should be given of the principal edifices that mark 
 the advancement or decay of these arts ; there are 
 numerous and very able works written especially 
 for the purpose of describing, with great minuteness, 
 every circumstance worth the historian's notice, 
 relative to our palatial, ecclesiastical, and military 
 edifices, and also of the splendid mansions in the 
 class of "domestic architecture." We cannot, 
 however, avoid making some observations in point- 
 
 1 The first English parliament sat in this reign, in the chapter- 
 house of this abbey.
 
 336 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 
 
 ing out the chief beauties of Westminster abbey, 
 both interior and exterior. 
 
 This noble edifice, the title of which is, " the 
 collegiate church of St. Peter, Westminster," was, 
 according to the most authentic records, founded 
 by Sebert, the first Christian king of East Anglia, 
 on Thorney island, about A.D. 616. This church 
 and the convent were repaired and enlarged by 
 Offa, king of Mercia, about 780. Some years after, 
 they were plundered and burnt by the pagan Danes. 
 Having lain some time in ruins, King Edgar re- 
 edified them, and bestowed upon them additional 
 endowments of land, several manors and privileges. 
 The rapacious Danes, however, came again and 
 ravaging the district, plundered and partly de- 
 stroyed the abbey. But on Edward (the Confessor) 
 coming to the throne, he rebuilt the church in what 
 was considered a magnificent manner : he changed 
 the form of its plan, which was the old Saxon 
 oblong, with a semi-circular apsis at the east end, 
 to that of the Norman, which was the form of a 
 Latin cross, and gave the addition of transepts to 
 the church. King Edward took great pains with 
 it, and bestowed much expense upon this favourite 
 object of his religious feeling : on its completion in
 
 EARLY ENGLISH, DECORATED. 
 
 ST. ALDATE'S, OXFORD. 
 circa 1004. 
 
 EARLY ENGLISH. 
 
 LICHFIELD CASTLE. 
 circa 1330. 
 
 EARLY ENGLISH. 
 
 WIMBORNE MINSTER, HANTS, 
 circa 1200. 
 
 PAUL'S CRAY, KENT, 
 circa 1220.
 
 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 137 
 
 1065, it was consecrated with all the pomp and 
 solemnity of that age, and the king granted to the 
 abbot and community a charter which confirmed 
 their ancient rights and privileges, and bestowed 
 upon them several new ones. 
 
 William the Norman confirmed these privileges, 
 and greatly embellished the church, to which he 
 presented many rich gifts, and, at the Christmas 
 following his assumption of the regal dignity, he 
 was solemnly crowned king of England in front of 
 the high altar. This was the first coronation within 
 the walls of the abbey. 
 
 But the sovereign, to whose taste and munificent 
 spirit it owes its present elegant and majestic 
 appearance, is Henry III. This monarch had con- 
 ceived a plan for remodelling the church, which 
 was quite superior in every respect to that which 
 then existed, although it had been improved by 
 several monarchs after the Confessor's time. A 
 great portion of the building erected by the latter 
 was removed to make way for the new work, which 
 commenced A.D. 1245, on the same site as the 
 former one, but upon a much larger scale, and in a 
 style of architecture totally different ; for the Con- 
 fessor's church was of the Anglo-Norman manner 
 which was grafted on the " debased Roman" work,
 
 138 EDIFICES ERECTED IN 
 
 the former was almost wholly superseded, about the 
 middle of the thirteenth century, by the pointed 
 or " early English style ;" the superior lightness, 
 elegance, beauty, and variety of the latter being 
 universally preferred. 
 
 In this monarch's reign, this style attained 
 its highest state of improvement ; of that fact 
 there still are abundant evidences remaining, par- 
 ticularly the cathedrals of Salisbury and Ely, the 
 latter of which is said to have been constructed 
 on a plan similar to that of Westminster, because 
 of the great similarity observable in the measure- 
 ments of the principal parts of each ; and Salis- 
 bury is considered the purest specimen of the early 
 pointed style existing in England, for it appears 
 that it never had any mixture of the Anglo-Norman 
 manner in any part of its construction. 
 
 The total amount of the sums expended in build- 
 ing the abbey are not accurately known, but there 
 exists a document 1 among the Rolls, already so often 
 quoted ; which is very explicit upon that point, as 
 far down as the forty-fifth year of Henry's reign. It 
 states that " the sum total of the works at West- 
 minster, from their beginning, to the Sunday next 
 
 1 The close Rolls, temp. Hen. III.
 
 THE REIGN OF HEXRY III. 139 
 
 after the feast of St. Michael, the forty-fifth of the 
 reign of King Henry; and two hundred pounds 
 remain to satisfy the wages of the freestone cutters, 
 and of other workers in the minuter parts of the 
 building, and for freestone and other purchases not 
 included in this sum, 29,340?. 19s. 8d. 
 
 The example of the king had, no doubt, a salu- 
 tary and encouraging effect among the wealthier 
 dignitaries of the church, who felt a noble desire 
 to emulate their monarch, in erecting the most 
 sumptuous ecclesiastical edifices that had yet ap- 
 peared in the north-western parts of Europe. 
 
 The following cathedrals were commenced or 
 completed in this prince's reign, viz. Old St. Paul's, 
 the nave, choir, and transepts restored, under 
 William de Santse Marine ; Durham, the same, by 
 Bishop Poer; Salisbury begun 1217; Worcester 
 1218; York 1 1227; Wells completed 1242, by 
 Bishop Jocelyn Trottman. The last mentioned 
 of these structures is a very remarkable example 
 of the early English style, as it has justly been 
 
 1 Of this splendid edifice, the roof of the choir was burnt hy 
 the incendiary Martin, in 1831, and the north-west tower and 
 nave (roof), by another incendiary fire in 1840. There appears 
 to have been extraordinary neglect on the part of those who ought 
 to have watched over this sacred building.
 
 140 WELLS CATHEDRAL. 
 
 denominated ; the sculptured bas-reliefs on the 
 west front are very surprising performances for 
 that age, and are allowed by the best judges to be 
 the work of native sculptors : they are in tolerably 
 high relief, and bear testimony to the piety and 
 comprehensiveness of this prelate's mind. These 
 works exhibit subjects at once noble, useful, and 
 most interesting to mankind : over the western 
 door is a series of alti relievi, representing " the 
 Creation," and in other parts the Deluge, and the 
 remarkable acts of the Patriarchs are sculptured ; 
 on the notrh side are seen the principal events in 
 the life of our Saviour. Above these are placed 
 in niches, two rows of colossal statues, representa- 
 tions of the kings, queens, and nobles who were 
 patrons of the cathedral, together with saints, 
 bishops, and other religious persons, who were dis- 
 tinguished from its foundation to the time of its 
 completion. Near the pediment is another grand 
 subject ; the Saviour is represented as just taking 
 the judgment-seat, attended by many angels, the 
 twelve apostles, &c. The upper arches on both 
 sides are continued along the entire of the west 
 front. The north and south ends are occupied by 
 figures rising from the tomb, expressing strongly
 
 WELLS CATHEDRAL. 141 
 
 their hope, fear, astonishment, stupor, or despair ; 
 all these feelings being excited by the presence of 
 Him, who, in that awful hour, was come to judge 
 the world. 
 
 The execution of the work cannot be so highly 
 spoken of as the expression ; the grouping of the 
 figures does not show much knowledge of the 
 principles of art, and they display what is in art 
 known as a " severe 1 " or perhaps rather rude style 
 of workmanship. A most accomplished native 
 sculptor observes *, that it should be recollected, 
 at this period, A.D. 1240, the artists had no 
 printed books, to which they might refer occa- 
 sionally ; there were not then any anatomists, from 
 whom they might acquire a knowledge of anatomy, 
 no idea of the sciences of optics or perspective 
 existed in this country at that time ; nor in fact for 
 a long period after, when the discoveries of Roger 
 Bacon brought them forth. The knowledge of 
 geometry was mostly confined to churchmen, and 
 as to the application of these branches of science 
 to the movements of the human figure, or the 
 common animals, no one had formed the most 
 remote idea, yet with all these disadvantages, we 
 
 1 Vide Flaxman'a Lectures.
 
 142 WELLS CATHEDRAL. 
 
 find in these works an attractive feeling, a true 
 and fine simplicity frequently combined with a 
 grace to which sculptors of a much more modern 
 date have not any pretensions. It is pretty evi- 
 dent, from what Mr. Flaxman says of the defective 
 knowledge in the principles, and execution of 
 these works, that they were the productions of 
 native artists, who had great, but uncultivated 
 talents, and just perceptions of what was grand 
 and expressive in nature ; but were not directed by 
 academic rules, as the Italian artists were at least 
 in some degree, about that period ; for at this 
 time, Nicolo Pisano, who is considered to have 
 been the restorer of good sculpture in Italy, prac- 
 tised in that country with success, and educated 
 several pupils ; but these early works of the Pisan 
 school display more method, and better adaptation 
 of parts to a general effect, and also show more 
 skill in the execution, than these at Wells cathe- 
 dral. We know that bishop Jocelyn built this 
 noble edifice entirely from the pavement ; he com- 
 menced it in A. D. 1205, he had the happiness to 
 live until it was completed about 1240, and the good 
 bishop deceased about two years afterwards. Now 
 as we find that Cimabue, the acknowledged restorer 
 of painting in Italy, was, according to his biogra-
 
 WELLS CATHEDRAL. 143 
 
 pliers, born in 1240, it follows clearly that Jocelyns 
 structure was commenced thirty-five years before 
 that event, and completed in the very same year ; 
 consequently these works can have no reference 
 whatever to that school ; and though the Pisani 
 were earlier than Cimabue, yet there is not a remote 
 possibility that any of his scholars assisted in the 
 work ; and the style is so very different from every 
 example now existing of the Italian sculpture of 
 that age. This cathedral, it must be observed, was 
 built thirty-six years before the celebrated cathe- 
 dral of Oviedo was commenced, and forty-six years 
 before that of Amiens ; and it is believed to be the 
 first example to be found in Western Europe, of 
 sculpture on so grand a scale and so varied, being 
 combined in a regular series of scripture history 1 . 
 There also is a frieze of scripture subjects (his- 
 torical), entirely around St. Mary's church, Ely 
 cathedral 2 . 
 
 1 That in the Confessor's chapel was the work of Italian artists 
 temp. Henry III., but these men were brought over especially for 
 that work. 
 
 * At the Lady chapel, Norwich Cathedral, from twenty to thirty 
 of the key stones have beautiful alto relievos of the Virgin Mary's 
 life, and three sides of the cloister have one hundred and fifty key- 
 stones representing the principal events in the Old and New 
 Testaments.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 EDWARD I. (1272 tO 1307). 
 
 DURING the reign of Edward I. the internal state 
 of the country was much more favourable to the ad- 
 vancement of civilization than it had been from the 
 time of Edward the Confessor ; and it is evident 
 that the country improved in knowledge and wealth 
 very considerably. One of the few perations in 
 the arts which this master po iticia i carefully at- 
 tended to, was carrying on the works of West- 
 minster abbey, which his father had commenced, 
 and continued during the last thirty years of his 
 life ; Edward certainly did cause it to be com- 
 pleted in a magnificent manner, with the exception 
 of the upper portions of the two Western towers, 
 which remained unfinished until 1735, when they 
 were completed as we see them by Sir Christopher
 
 ENAMELLING. 145 
 
 Wren ; but they are very inferior to the original 
 parts of the work, being copied from towers in 
 Yorkshire \ of a date long subsequent to that of 
 the abbey. 
 
 Sculpture and painting, which had made some 
 progress in the late reign, advanced now more 
 regularly, and as the arts had much revived in 
 southern Europe, their influence extended gene- 
 rally throughout France and England. 
 
 Besides the completion of Westminster abbey, 
 the cathedral of Lichfield was finished at this 
 time, together with a noble palace and hall by 
 bishop Langton, in the latter of which he caused 
 to be painted the ceremony of the coronation of 
 Edward I. Canterbury cathedral was also re- 
 modelled, by Conrad, then a prior, and completed 
 about 1304, when some fine stained glass windows 
 were added to those already there. 
 
 It is believed that in this reign the art of 
 enamelling began to be generally known here, for 
 it is recorded that some Greeks both taught, and 
 practised the art ; and specimens of it, produced in 
 that time, still exist 2 . 
 
 1 Beverly Minister. * The celebrated pastoral staff. 
 
 VOL. i. H
 
 146 EDWARD I. 
 
 The art of staining glass was greatly improved at 
 this time, and the nobility, who appear to have 
 possessed considerable wealth, encouraged the em- 
 ployment of it in their halls and chapels to a great 
 extent ; but in these situations it was chiefly used 
 to represent the armorial bearings of the various 
 proprietors of the mansions, castles, and honours. 
 For this attention to a cheerful and elegant, but 
 subordinate class of art, Mr. Walpole does not give 
 the aristocracy of that age the smallest particle 
 of credit ; on the contrary, he writes of them in 
 the most disparaging manner. But his remarks 
 on the childish, or rather barbarous, fashions in 
 their dresses are very just ; for it would appear 
 that at this time the genius of frippery and tin- 
 sel ruled with triumphant sway, not only over 
 France, but England. The fantastic fopperies with 
 which our Gallic neighbours, who returned from 
 the Crusades, continued to bedizen their persons, 
 were soon imitated by the people of wealth and 
 rank in England, who ought to have had a superior 
 degree of understanding, than thus to be led into 
 this ridiculous exhibition of patch- work habiliments. 
 Mr. Walpole says, " No wonder that a proud, a 
 warlike, and an ignorant nobility, encouraged only
 
 FANTASTC STYLE OF DRESS. 147 
 
 that branch of art which attested their dignity ' ; 
 their dungeons were rendered still darker by their 
 pride. It was the case of all the arts ; none flou- 
 rished but those that served to display their wealth, 
 or contributed to their security ; they were magni- 
 ficent without luxury, and pompous without ele- 
 gance. Rich plate, and even enamelling on gold, 
 rich stuffs, and curious armour, were carried to 
 excess ; while their chairs were mere pedestals, 
 their clothes were incumbrances, and they knew no 
 use of steel but as it served for defence or destruc- 
 tion. Their houses, for there was no medium be- 
 tween castles and hovels, implied the dangers of 
 society, not the sweets of it ; and whenever peace 
 gave them leisure to think of modes, they seemed 
 to imagine that fashion consisted in disfiguring the 
 human body, instead of adding grace to it. While 
 the men wore shoes so long and picked that they 
 were forced to support the points by chains from 
 their middle, the ladies erected such pyramids on 
 their heads that the face became the centre of the 
 body ; and they were hardened to these preposterous 
 inconveniences by their priests, who, instead of leav- 
 
 1 Armorial bearings in stained glass. We give this quotation 
 to show how very differently these affairs are managed now to 
 what they were in " the good old times." 
 
 H 2
 
 148 EDWARD II. 
 
 ing it to be cured by the fickleness of fashion, or by 
 the trouble of them, denounced God's judgment on 
 follies, against which a little laughter and common 
 sense had been more effectual sermons V 1 
 
 EDWARD ii. (1307 to 1327.) 
 
 During the unhappy reign of Edward II. there 
 does not seem to have been any particular im- 
 provement in the arts through any patronage 
 of the crown. The prelates, priors, and abbots, 
 took care, however, to rebuild and repair the naves, 
 choirs, chapter-houses, &c. of their cathedrals and 
 conventual churches. The nobility, in many in- 
 stances, improved the architecture of their castles ; 
 and by these means the arts were kept in a state of 
 advancement, more especially as regards sculpture 
 and architecture, the latter having now attained 
 to a very high state of beauty and grandeur. In 
 this reign Abbot Wigmore, of Gloucester, it is 
 
 1 A celebrated French preacher of that time (Connecte) was 
 occasionally requested to preach in towns where the head-dresses 
 had grown to an enormous size. On his appearance, and during 
 his stay in that pl.ice, the ponderous appendages quite disap- 
 peared ; but no sooner was he departed than the women, as a 
 witty French writer remarked, " who, like snails in a fright, had 
 drawn hi their horns, shot them out as high as ever, when they 
 saw that the danger was past."
 
 EDWAKD III. 149 
 
 stated, employed artists to paint portraits of all 
 the English kings who preceded Edward II. for his 
 great dining room, and Edward, when visiting this 
 splendid abbey in the time of Abbot Thokey, ex- 
 pressed a desire to have his portrait added to the 
 number. 
 
 EDWARD in. (1327 to 1377.) 
 
 But in the reign of Edward III., which was long 
 and prosperous, the affairs of the nation being in 
 the hands of a strong-minded king and a wise mi- 
 nister, these circumstances were favourable to the 
 advancement of literature, the liberal arts, the 
 sciences, as well as to the political and commercial 
 interests of the nation. 
 
 William of Wykeham was most fortunately 
 prime minister and principal adviser of the king. 
 This munificent prelate, besides being an admirable 
 politician, was amongst the most intelligent archi- 
 tects of his time, or perhaps of any period since the 
 revival of learning. His beneficence was remark- 
 able ; his noble charities still exist, not only in the 
 benefits he intended for posterity, but also in the 
 very same edifices which he erected from his own 
 designs, for perpetuating those pious bounties. 
 Under his able advice, and by his example, the arts 
 
 H3
 
 150 WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM. 
 
 of painting, sculpture, and architecture, were en- 
 couraged in the most liberal manner ; for besides 
 the splendid edifices erected at the time, there were 
 very few of the sacred buildings then existing which 
 did not receive additions and decorations, not of 
 novelty alone, but in combination with richness 
 and beauty, directed by profound science and good 
 taste, in the most noble and elegant style of archi- 
 tectural design ; more especially might be men- 
 tioned, York Minster, Salisbury, Winchester, and 
 Gloucester cathedrals. 
 
 Alt these edifices demonstrate the extraordinary 
 powers of fancy possessed by the inimitable artists 
 of that age, which they have so finely displayed in 
 the diversified forms of the mullions, the rich and 
 flowing tracery, the beautiful and infinitely varied 
 foliage, and the fine combinations of historical 
 sculpture subjects, in which we find novelty and 
 facility of design combined with considerable truth 
 of sentiment, beauty of form and expression : there 
 appears in the magnificent examples of that glo- 
 rious era of English architecture, an ease, a grace- 
 fulness, and fancy, in the command of forms in 
 fact, a mastery over the materials which is truly 
 astonishing; and the more knowledge we have of 
 the principles upon which the arts are founded, the
 
 DECORATED STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE. 151 
 
 greater must be our admiration of the talents, the 
 learning, the grandeur of ideas, the superior intel- 
 ligence of these men in every science that was then 
 understood, more especially their profound know- 
 ledge of geometry, and of its application in the dis- 
 tribution of the proper balances, of pressure and 
 resistance, both incumbent and lateral, technically 
 known as " the thrust," which requires a complete 
 knowledge of conic sections. But it was not 
 merely in the use of mathematical calculations that 
 these eminent men displayed their powers of original 
 combination, it was equally conspicuous in the orna- 
 mental parts of their works ; for so well adapted 
 were those details to the general character of the 
 structure, that the most solid and permanently 
 constructed cathedrals, and churches of the pointed 
 style, have an air of gracefulness and lightness 
 about them, so deceptive, as to make persons not 
 conversant in these .principles, imagine that the 
 pillars and arches are not sufficient to sustain the 
 enormous pressure of the roof, &c. ; but experience, 
 that best of guides in all matters tangible, has 
 most satisfactorily proved the soundness of the 
 principles upon which they have been constructed, 
 and that the solidity of these structures is fully 
 equal to those of any other style, though to 
 H 4
 
 152 DECORATED STYLE. 
 
 the inexperienced eye it looks slight, playful, 
 and almost bending to the pressure. The com- 
 bined art and science by which all this strength 
 is gracefully concealed is by the rich elegantly 
 varied lines of the most varied forms that can be 
 imagined, interlacing their branches until they 
 seem lost, as it were, in infinity ; and this last 
 quality is no doubt the cause of that sublimity 
 which gives so grand a character to these glorious 
 edifices, which attest, in records as imperishable 
 as any work of human contrivance, the capabi- 
 lity of English minds to conceive, and English 
 hands to produce, works of high intellectual art : 
 what renders this fact more agreeable is, that 
 those architects were in feeling, both painters and 
 sculptors, for every competent judge will admit 
 that the grouping of parts, the variety of forms, 
 the just distribution of light and shade into 
 large masses with its endless modifications "the 
 storied windows" from which the mingled rays 
 of ruby, emerald, gold, and sapphire, impinge the 
 columns and the marble floor with all the richness 
 of chromatic harmony^ combine to produce one 
 of the most magnificent objects of pictorial com- 
 bination in this art, that it is possible to con- 
 ceive.
 
 DORCHESTER CHURCH. 153 
 
 During this era architecture assumed a new cha- 
 racter, it reached a high state of enrichment ; but 
 it is doubtful that any improvement in the prin- 
 ciples of arrangement and construction were added 
 to the style. However, we shall have occasion to 
 make some further observations upon the subject, 
 when we complete the reigns of this king and his 
 successor, the last of the Plantagenet line of 
 monarchs. 
 
 The paintings of this period cannot be referred 
 to so extensively as the architecture and sculpture : 
 of the latter, there are many works of considerable 
 taste and expression extant, notwithstanding the 
 havoc made amongst them by the fanatics in after 
 times ; of these, a few examples should be men- 
 tioned, merely to mark this epoch. 
 
 Dorchester church, near Oxford, affords some 
 beautiful examples of the sculptor's art : the centre 
 window is adorned with very rich foliage, and also 
 with twenty-eight small statues of our Saviour's 
 genealogy, and the other two windows with alti 
 relicm of his Acts. 
 
 la the Lady chapel of Norwich cathedral are 
 from twenty to thirty key-stones, carved with beau- 
 tiful altl relievi from the life of the Virgin Mary, 
 and three sides of the cloister in the same church 
 H 5
 
 154 LADY CHAPEL, NORWICH. 
 
 have about one hundred and fifty key-stones carved 
 with representations of the principal passages in 
 the Old and New Testament. 
 
 St. Mary's church, Ely Cathedral, the choir 
 of which was built in 1349, is adorned all round 
 with a frieze of subjects taken from sacred his- 
 tory. 
 
 The beautiful chapel of St. Stephen's 1 , West- 
 
 1 For the information we have been enabled to lay before our 
 readers, with respect to this very interesting edifice, we are 
 chiefly indebted to the researches of Mr. Adam Lee, who was 
 for more than thirty years resident officer of his Majesty's Office 
 of Works (Westminster department), in superintending the 
 alterations &c. about the houses of parliament, and also the 
 restorations at the north end of. Westminster-hall. He made 
 drawings of all he had seen and discovered, and then gave a 
 series of designs restored as nearly as possible to their original 
 appearances : the plan was carried into effect after fifteen years' 
 application, and great expense. Wishing to lay the information 
 thus collected before the public, he proposed to publish the views 
 (twenty-one) by subscription, and he exhibited them in a cos- 
 morama panorama at Pall Mall East. The series included the 
 apartments in the ancient palace at Westminster, as well as St. 
 Stephen's chapel ; but it is to be regretted that a sufficient 
 number of subscribers could not be obtained, so as to make it a 
 prudent speculation to publish them. And Mr. Lee has them 
 still by him at his house in New Palace Yard, where he occa- 
 sionally allows them to be viewed by persons of judgment and 
 taste in the arts. It is really a most interesting series of draw- 
 ings, and when viewed through a lens, present a lively appear- 
 ance of the reality, such scenes ought not to be forgotten : this 
 spot was the cradle of British monarchy, here it first developed 
 ito lofty powers. In St. Stephen's chapel it was that the glorious
 
 ST. STEPHEN'S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER. 155 
 
 minster, which was so long known as the House 
 of Commons, was built by the express command of 
 Edward III. (completed in 1348) ; and if we may 
 judge from the- fine taste, the careful finishing of 
 all the parts, and the expense laid out on the 
 numerous paintings with which it was adorned, 
 this must have been a favourite chapel of this 
 monarch ; for, besides the architectural beauties of 
 this royal edifice, there were some excellent sculp- 
 tured statues of saints, kings, queens, and other 
 great personages. The screen at the entrance of 
 the choir was designed in a beautiful taste, and 
 sculptured in a fine style of workmanship ; the con- 
 tour and proportions of the figures, the grace, dig- 
 nity, and even grandeur of the attitudes, the like- 
 ness and expression of those countenances that 
 were portraits, and the arrangement of the dra- 
 peries in folds consistent with the materials, all 
 
 Prince Edward (the Black Prince), the King and Nobles offered 
 up their vows of thanksgiving for the important victories of 
 Cressy and of Poictiers, which first stamped ihe character of 
 martial superiority upon the British army, which under God it 
 has stiil nobly maintained. George III. was most anxious to 
 restore and preserve this beauteous relic of ancient English re- 
 collections, but modern economy has crumbled it into ruins. 
 In its noble Crypt, which is still suffered to exist, the bosses 
 are sculptured with various subjects from the acts of the 
 Apostles, &c. 
 
 H 6
 
 156 ST. STEPHEN'S, WESTMINSTER. 
 
 evinced a knowledge of the art which would not 
 discredit a much more enlightened age. 
 
 Yet more surprising than this was the dis- 
 play of pictorial art upon the walls of St. Stephen's; 
 for the whole of its interior, except where the 
 statues in their beautiful shrines were placed, was 
 painted in oil colours, with scripture history sub- 
 jects, or at all events they were painted upon a 
 ground of strong drying oil and red lead, which was 
 laid on the surface of the interior stone facing, 
 the latter was finely tooled for that purpose, but 
 not polished ; and it may, we think, be reasonably 
 presumed, that no other vehicle except oil could 
 be mixed with the colours to make them enter 
 into and combine firmly with the ground. Yet 
 tiie ingenious men who painted these pictures may 
 have been acquainted with some fine vehicle 
 not oil the knowledge of which has long been 
 lost : however that may be, the knowledge of their 
 powers of composition and drawing are still for- 
 tunately in existence, and prove that those painters 
 were men of original, and just modes of thinking 
 in art, and if any difference can be discovered here 
 as to merit, between the sculpture and painting, 
 the latter deserves the preference. 
 
 Amongst these pictures, many outlines of which
 
 ST. STEPHENS, WESTMINSTER. 157 
 
 are still in being, was " the adoration of the shep- 
 herds;" it was placed exactly under the great east 
 window as the altar-piece : opposite to this, at the 
 west end, was " the transfiguration," and on the side 
 wall were compartments, in which were painted, 
 the wise men offering, the miracles of the apostles, 
 the history of Tobit, of Judith and Holofernes, 
 each of these series occupying eight compartments ; 
 " the history of Susanna," and that of " Bel and 
 the Dragon," in the same number of pieces. Our 
 Saviour's miracles are comprised in a series of 
 twelve subjects, beginning with his baptism by John, 
 and ending with the entry into Jerusalem, and in 
 single compartments were the Nativity, the Pre- 
 sentation in the temple, and twelve others from the 
 Acts of the Apostles ; likewise eight others, repre- 
 senting the Apostles 1 martyrdom. 
 
 A large and fine embattled cornice ran all round 
 the room, and immediately under it were painted a 
 full length representation of king Stephen, the 
 original founder of the chapel, his queen Matilda, 
 St. Stephen, king Edward III., and queen Philippa, 
 the celebrated "Black Prince," with other branches 
 of the royal family; likewise angels with golden 
 censers, and knights in holy armour, &c. &c. 
 
 In the royal palace to which this chapel was
 
 158 THE PAINTED CHAMBER. 
 
 attached, similar decorations occupied the state 
 apartments. One of these historical subjects was 
 a representation of Edward I. sitting in parliament, 
 Alexander, king of Scotland, being on his right, 
 and Llewellen, prince of Wales, on his left hand, 
 with peers, bishops, &c. &c. 
 
 In the celebrated "painted chamber," now the 
 House of Lords, were represented battles from the 
 books of Maccabees, and the seven brethren ; on 
 the window jambs, king John presenting a ring to 
 Edward the Confessor. Also the canonization of 
 the latter, with seraphim, prophets, &c. ; the ceiling 
 was adorned with gilded tracery. There was also 
 a large picture of the signing of Magna Charta. In 
 fact, this superb edifice was evidently a gallery of 
 scriptural and historical subjects, recording the 
 most important events in the Bible, or in the his- 
 tory of England to the reign of Richard II. 
 
 In this king^s reign also was the splendid choir of 
 Gloucester cathedral rebuilt, with the beautiful fan 
 tracery with which it is so richly covered. This 
 superb example of " the early English style," is said 
 to have no equal in this country. Among the carv- 
 ings in the cathedral are thirty-one stalls of rich 
 tabernacle work, carved in oak on either side, little, 
 if any thing, inferior to the episcopal throne at
 
 CHOIR AT GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL. 159 
 
 Exeter, or the stalls at Ely, erected temp. Edward 
 III., allowed to be some of the finest-wood carving 
 of that date now remaining. There was also a vast 
 quantity of excellent stained glass, particularly the 
 great east window, which is stated to be the largest 
 in England ; it has three divisions separated by 
 mullions, the middle of which includes seven tiers 
 of what was originally stained glass, but it has been 
 for a very long time decayed and mutilated. The 
 price of stained glass then was one shilling per 
 square foot, which gives the cost at 139?. 18s. 
 
 This very splendid choir must have been many 
 years in progress towards completion. The im- 
 provements were commenced under Adam de 
 Staunton, about 1350, carried on by Thomas de 
 Horton, and completed by John Boyfield, a few 
 years before the demise of Edward III. But the 
 fanatics in the great rebellion applied their rude 
 hands to its beauties ; and after the Restoration, 
 some modern Greek and Roman pillars and pilas- 
 ters, with oak wainscot alcoves, and a variety of 
 heterogeneous conceits of the same description, were 
 set up in this cathedral in utter defiance of all 
 ideas of taste, by a man 1 who ought to have known 
 
 1 Kent, employed by bishop Benson, who was easily led by 
 plausible people, appears to have undertaken to meddle with
 
 160 TOMB OF HEXRY II. 
 
 better than to commit such a gross blunder. But 
 such mistakes too often disfigure the original beauty 
 of our splendid cathedrals, and fine parochial 
 churches. 
 
 The cloisters of Gloucester, like those of Peter- 
 borough and Canterbury, were long famous for the 
 beauty of their stained glass windows ; but these 
 beautiful ornaments of the sacred edifices were all 
 demolished by the fanatic rabble during the puri- 
 tanical times. 
 
 The tomb of Henry II., near the high altar, is 
 still in good preservation : the figure of that un- 
 fortunate prince upon it, is a fine specimen of the 
 sculpture of that age. Eysbrack paid it a visit, it 
 is said, out of professional veneration, and declared 
 this recumbent figure to be the best specimen of 
 contemporary sculpture in England ; but that he 
 believed it to be the work of an Italian artist l . It 
 was erected by the orders, and at the expense of 
 
 works, the principles of which he quite misunderstood ; he had 
 no eye for beauties of the early English style of architecture. 
 He designed this screen of Gloucester cathedral, which was a 
 jumble of fragments, not belonging to any style of any age or 
 nation. It was an enormous architectural discord, which dis- 
 graced the splendid edifice. Kent also wished to flute the great 
 Normair-pillars of the nave, and that utter barbarism would have 
 been perpetrated, but they were found not to be sufficiently solid. 
 1 Rysbrack was himself a foreigner.
 
 NAVE OF YORK MINSTEH. 161 
 
 Edward III. It was during the long and glorious 
 reign of the latter, that the splendid nave of the 
 magnificent York Minster was begun and com- 
 pleted, with those of Ely, and Lady-chapel, Lin- 
 coln; for although there are many examples of 
 vaulting with stone, of as early a date as the reign 
 of Henry III., when these vaults were formed by 
 groined arches, springing from corbels in the side 
 walls between the windows yet these arches when 
 first invented, were composed of plain ribs called 
 cross springers, with a key-stone in the centre at 
 their intersection ; the intervals, or spandrils, were 
 filled up with small square blocks of chalk, or other 
 light materials ; and a space of several feet was 
 always left between this vaulting and the roof. 
 But about the early period of this king's reign, the 
 principle of constructing these arches became better 
 known ; and on account of the more frequent and 
 complicated intersections of the cross springers, 
 more ornament was introduced ; and then were 
 added the delicately carved orbs and rosettes, 
 merely for the ornamental effect. The arch of the 
 vault at this time was pointed, and the ornamented 
 part did not extend many feet from the common 
 centre on each side, as we see it in the choir at 
 Lincoln, the Lady chapel, Ely, and other churches
 
 162 EDWARD III. 
 
 erected before the middle of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Besides the numerous specimens left us of that 
 skill, taste, and application, which appear to have 
 been in a high state of encouragement and activity 
 during this monarch's government, the art of limn- 
 ing, which was known in the latter part of the 
 Saxon times, as many examples prove, yet did 
 not reach a high state of improvement, until this 
 king's reign, when it appears to have been ex- 
 tensively practised by painters of very consider- 
 able talent ; and although it has been passed over 
 slightly by those who have written on the arts 
 of England, yet this neglect must have arisen from 
 some deficiency of information as to the existence 
 of the talents displayed in its production. Some, 
 indeed the greater part of these choice specimens 
 of the pictorial art, would be creditable to the 
 artists of any age or country, for accuracy of 
 drawing, propriety of grouping, expressiveness of 
 countenance and attitude, along with brilliant and 
 harmonious colouring. These were among the 
 first efforts of painting, and were introduced as 
 embellishments to the beautifully written chroni- 
 cles and missals ; they were finished in the highest 
 degree of elegance, were always very rare, most ex-
 
 ILLUMINATED MSS. 163 
 
 pensive, were greatly prized by those who possessed 
 them, and, like other valuable personal property, 
 enrolled amongst their testamentary bequests. 
 
 And it is lamentable to think that even these 
 beauteous specimens of early pictorial talent had no 
 charms for the fanatics whom we have had occasion 
 to mention so often, and who committed similar 
 devastation upon the inanimate beauties with which 
 these volumes were adorned, as they did with the 
 fresco paintings on the walls, and the stained glass 
 windows, these elegantly painted missals and chro- 
 nicles were devoted to one common ruin. Those 
 that remain afford us abundant evidence to prove 
 the high estimation in which pictures were held 
 in England in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and 
 fifteenth centuries. The illuminated volumes that 
 have escaped the iconoclastic fury of that eventful 
 period, demonstrate what a treasure the lovers of 
 the arts have lost by that indiscriminating popular 
 frenzy. 
 
 It is not merely the size of the picture that 
 establishes its claim to rank as a work of intellec- 
 tual art ; a very small surface, even one a few inches 
 square, may display a superior quality of mind. 
 These compositions are true and undeniable speci- 
 mens of painting ; and in many of them we find a
 
 164 ILLUMINATED MSS. 
 
 superior taste, and the true feelings of art, in the 
 mechanical process of painting. 
 
 Another great claim that these miniature paint- 
 ings have upon all who love the arts is, that they 
 were among the first efforts of historical and por- 
 trait painting, before the use of oil, of panels, or of 
 canvas was known, and when the latter came into 
 use, these designs and the portraits were frequently 
 transferred to them upon a large scale ; and thus 
 these miniatures and limnings became the very 
 foundation of those two classes of painting. 
 
 Such of our readers as may not be acquainted 
 with the beautiful examples we still possess of these 
 highly interesting works, which are accessible in 
 the British Museum, may be gratified by the sub- 
 joined account, which is collected from the most 
 authentic sources. The account commences with 
 the reign of Edward III. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 The first of these valuable remains of painting 
 and literature combined is " La Bible Historiaux" 
 a large folio, covered with velvet, in the King^s 
 MSS. This richly ornamented book was taken 
 after the battle of Poictiers, by W. Montacute,
 
 ILLUMINATED MSS. 165 
 
 earl of Shrewsbury, and presented by him to his lady 
 Elizabeth. It was begun in 1350, the buildings 
 and figures represented are all of the fourteenth 
 century. 
 
 The Histories of Froissart, in the Harleian MSS. 
 British Museum, large folio, written about 1490. 
 It is in high preservation. 
 
 History of the deposition of Richard II. Har- 
 leian MSS. It has sixteen illuminations, superior 
 to the Froissart, and exquisitely finished. It be- 
 longed to Charles d'Amon, count of Maine and 
 governor of Languedoc, and has his autograph ; it 
 bears sufficient internal evidence of its authenticity. 
 
 Legenda Aurea, the largest sized folio, bound in 
 green velvet with silver clasps. It was translated 
 into French by Jean de Vignay at the request of 
 Jane, wife of Philip de Valois, about 1330, and con- 
 tains more than two hundred representations of the 
 martyrdom of saints. After the French revolution 
 it was brought to England by Gilbert Heathcote, 
 Esq. and now belongs to the duke of Norfolk. 
 
 The Sherborne missal, 1339, with a great number 
 of most delicate miniatures, bordures, &c., a large 
 folio, purchased at G. Mill's, Esq. sale for 2101. 
 by the late duke of Northumberland. 
 
 The Luttrell Psalter, which belongs to H. Weld,
 
 166 ILLUMINATED MSS. 
 
 Esq., Lul worth castle. It was once in the pos- 
 session of Lord W. Howard, and was inherited by 
 the Welds from a daughter of Sir N. Sherborne. 
 
 The life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of War- 
 wick, by Eous, the hermit of Guy's Cliff. MSS. 
 Cottonian. It is a quarto volume containing fifty- 
 five drawings, in black and white, as if preparatory 
 to illumination, and drawn with great skill : it has 
 been engraved by Strutt. 
 
 The Bedford missal, now in the superb collec- 
 tion of earl Spencer. It was executed for John, 
 duke of Bedford, 1430, (the celebrated regent of 
 France,) and Anne of Bretagne, his wife ; both their 
 portraits appear in it, with many other paintings, 
 very highly finished; it is eleven inches long, by 
 seven and a half wide, and two and a half thick, 
 fastened with gold clasps. It was presented to 
 king Henry VI. by the duchess, and purchased 
 out of the Arundel collection, by the duchess of 
 Portland. At the sale of her grace's collection, 
 1786, it was sold to Edwards of Pall Mall, who 
 gave 213?. for it. King George IV. offered two 
 hundred guineas for it, at Edwards 1 sale ; the late 
 duke of Marlborough advanced its price to 700. ; 
 it now belongs to earl Spencer. 
 
 A very elegant MS. on vellum, which was un-
 
 ILLUMINATED MSS. 167 
 
 doubtedly a present to king Henry VI., during 
 his retirement to St. Edmundsbury abbey, from 
 Christmas to St. George's day, April 23, 1433. It 
 contains a set of Lydgate the monk of Bury^s 
 poems, in honour of St. Edmund the King; it is 
 embellished with one hundred and twenty pictures 
 of various sizes, and among them the portrait of 
 the young monarch, and his guardian uncles. 
 Harleian MSS. It appears, however, that Lydgate 
 was only a translator, for the late John Townely 
 Esq. had the original in Latin, written in the 
 early part of the twelfth century, with thirty-two 
 illuminations, showing the building, shipping, arms, 
 armour, and various habits of that time. In the 
 same collection was a MSS. " the miracles of 
 St. Edmund, with twenty-three illuminated initials." 
 Cottonian MSS. 
 
 These, however, are only a few of the elegant 
 and curious examples that still exist in this class of 
 painting ; but our space will not allow us to enter 
 into long descriptions of any portion of the arts ; 
 for, should we do so, the limits of this work would 
 be uselessly extended, for there are works writ- 
 ten expressly to give minute details of these 
 matters. 
 
 The progress of the arts in the reign of Edward
 
 168 RICHARD II. 
 
 III. has been entered into more at large than was 
 originally intended ; but justice to the subject re- 
 quired that ample notice should be taken of this 
 era, for it was one of great military fame to 
 England, and also among the early reigns of our 
 monarchs was one of the most favourable to the 
 arts, previously recorded in our history ; and had 
 the beneficial example of this monarch been fol- 
 lowed up, even moderately, by his successors, there 
 can be hardly a doubt, but that the arts would 
 gradually have attained to considerable eminence 
 in the course of another century, as they did on 
 the continent, during the same period. 
 
 RICHARD ii. (1377 to 1399.) 
 
 Unhappily for Britain this monarch did not 
 possess any of the great qualities of his grand- 
 father, or of his father, the celebrated " Black 
 Prince." He was very fond of idle shows, 
 and wasted enormous sums in every species of 
 tawdry magnificence ; but it does not appear that 
 the arts generally derived any benefit from his 
 profusion. There are however two portraits of this 
 weak and pleasure-loving king still in existence ; 
 one of these has long been known as the elegantly
 
 PAINTING IN OIL. 169 
 
 painted small picture at the earl of Pembroke's, at 
 Wilton : it is in two tablets on which are repre- 
 sented Richard kneeling before the Virgin and 
 child, attended by angels ; he is accompanied by 
 his patron saints, St. John the Baptist, Edmund 
 the king, and Edward the Confessor, attended by 
 angels l . Hollar engraved it. To the bottom of 
 this picture are affixed these words, " invention of 
 painting in oil, in 1410 ;" but this must have been 
 painted twenty years previously. It turns out 
 however that this picture is not painted in oil 2 ; 
 but it is very probable that this art was known 
 here at that time and long previously; that does 
 not interfere with the claim set up by Vasari, 
 and others for Van Eyck. That the latter had, 
 whether he did or did not invent it, a very superior 
 vehicle for painting is unquestionable ; it appears to 
 have been exclusively his own, and his pictures, 
 after having been above four centuries painted, are 
 almost in as bright and firm a state, as when they 
 came off the easel. It is feared that his secret has 
 long been lost, and that it was not the ordinary mix- 
 ture of oils and colours, such probably as was used 
 
 1 A strange mixture of profligacy and devoteeism, (not piety,) 
 appears to have been rather common in those days. 
 
 2 Vide Mr. Thomas Philip's (R. A.) investigation. 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 1 70 PAINTING IN OIL. 
 
 here at that time, is very evident ; for none of our 
 early oil colour pictures can stand any competi- 
 tion with those of John and Hubert Van Eyck, for 
 clearness of light and shade, brightness of hues, 
 or state of preservation; it has all the same ad- 
 vantages over works of the French school painted 
 two or three centuries later. 
 
 Mr. Walpole, with that laudable anxiety for the 
 honour of his country, which is so estimable a 
 feature in his work on painters, has with much 
 ingenuity endeavoured to raise doubts of the claim 
 which has long been conceded to the Van Eycks, 
 as the original discoverers of oil painting * ; but had 
 that gentleman been practically acquainted with 
 the process, and with the essays of Theophilus, and 
 
 1 The first author who mentions Van Eyck, as the inventor of 
 oil painting, is Vasari, and he does not seem to be at all acquainted 
 with the process, he is followed by Carl Vermander, and San- 
 drart, neither of whom evidently know any thing more about the 
 matter ; but these authorities are opposed by Maffei and Lessing, 
 who assert, that oil painting was known hi Italy previous to Van 
 Eyck's time. With the latter opinion, we quite agree as a general 
 proposition, in the same sense that we believe Vasari stated cor- 
 rectly Van Eyck's discovery of the same process ; but none of 
 these authors have told us expressly what their idea of this 
 vehicle really was. Had those writers given us simply the names of 
 the oils used, or their combinations, if any, we could then find 
 our way to a fair opinion on the merits of the question ; but as the 
 parties mentioned can give none but vague assertions, on hearsay 
 evidence, we must refer our readers for further information to
 
 PAINTING IN OIL. 171 
 
 Cennino Cennini, he would have seen that the credit 
 of English art could not be affected by Van Eyck's 
 
 the translation of M. MeVimeVs * very clever work on painting, 
 which is quite in favour of Van Eyck's claim ; but this author 
 goes into the question like a man of true science, and he appears 
 to have established the claim set up in favour of Van Eyck's 
 invention ; but he does not dogmatise on the subject. 
 
 At page 5, he says, " The varnish in use at that period, was 
 of an oily and very viscous nature ; nor did the practitioners 
 know how to render it sufficiently fluid to mix well with colours, 
 and thereby render them equally manageable as they are in dis- 
 temper ; besides this, it is well known that there is a great diver- 
 sity in the action of the oils on various colours, some of which give 
 a fine drying quality to the oils, whilst others have quite the con- 
 trary effect ; and the artists of that time did not know how to 
 prepare the oils, so as to obviate that serious difficulty. 
 
 " Van Eyck, it appears, was the first to discover a remedy for 
 these defects, and if he may not be allowed the honour due to an 
 original discoverer, he cannot be denied the merit of having 
 carried the preparation and use of colours to a degree of perfec- 
 tion which has never been surpassed, and to which indeed we 
 have, even now, scarcely arrived, notwithstanding the great 
 advancement of scientific knowledge since that era. In fact, his 
 pictures are ha a higher state of preservation than the greater 
 part of those which have been painted two centuries later than 
 his time." 
 
 This then is the whole merit which M. Me'rime'e thinks is due 
 to Van Eyck, in the affair ; merely that of forming a new com- 
 bination of substances already known, and by their judicious 
 management improving, in an extraordinary degree, the art of 
 painting in oil f. 
 
 * A translation of this work, by W. B. Sarsfield Taylor, was 
 published by Messrs. Whittaker and Co. in 1839. 
 
 t Van Eyck's pictures, painted 420 years ago, seem as bright 
 
 j 2
 
 172 PAINTING IN OIL. 
 
 invention. The modes of oil painting in each 
 country were essentially different ; as we shall 
 see presently. 
 
 As to the knowledge of mixing oils with colours, 
 that was certainly known many centuries before 
 Van Eyck was born ; for we find in the work of 
 Theophilus, a monk who lived about the com- 
 mencement of the tenth century, a correct de- 
 scription of a mode for making linseed oil, and also 
 a species of varnish composed of this oil, and of 
 a resinous gum, which appears to have been 
 copal. 
 
 This writer also points out the manner in which 
 walls, wood-work, and even statues, ought to be 
 painted ; but he does not any where give advice to 
 apply oil painting to pictures, but the contrary : and 
 further, he directs that the house-painters shall by no 
 means lay on a second coat of colour until the first 
 is completely dry : and then observes, that " such a 
 process would be too slow, and too laborious for 
 painting pictures V 
 
 and fresh as if finished last week, more especially that admirable 
 one of the Lamb in the Apocalypse, painted for the church of 
 St. John at Ghent ; it had been carried to the Louvre, but has 
 since been restored to its original situation. 
 
 1 A pretty clear proof that painting, even in Italy, in the 
 eleventh century, was only looked upon as an ornamental or
 
 PAINTING IN OIL. 173 
 
 These materials certainly were used in painting 
 the statues of saints, kings, queens, &c. ; some 
 artist might conceive the idea of using them to 
 paint the effigies of those superior personages upon 
 flat surfaces, such as walls, panels, &c. ; and they 
 also may have had some method of accelerating the 
 drying of the oils, which is an important quality in 
 vehicles used for painting l . 
 
 However, it seems as if the settlement of the 
 question, as to where, and with whom painting in 
 oil first displayed itself, is not likely to be set 
 at rest, unless some further discoveries should 
 be made of essays or treatises on the arts of 
 former days, containing the real fact, with which 
 we are at present unacquainted. But it is a 
 matter more of curiosity than usefulness, at this 
 age of the world. That a mode of painting in 
 oil, as well as in body colours, was known and 
 practised in this country in the reign of Henry III. 
 
 decorative art, mechanical not intellectual, and much more de- 
 pendent upon manipulative quickness and dexterity than mental 
 qualifications. 
 
 1 Mr. Walpole states, that the artists brought over here by 
 Henry Til. about 1270, to work at the Confi-ssor's tomb, were 
 1 Uvlians, but he does not believe they understood painting in oil ; 
 and he further says, " I can prove that they must have found it 
 practised here, not have brought it over with them, for we are 
 told that in Italy there was no such method." 
 
 i 3
 
 174 PORTRAIT OF RICHARD II. 
 
 there are as good evidences in proof, as can reason- 
 ably be required, but we must not flatter ourselves 
 that these efforts could be expected to display much 
 knowledge of the principles or the experienced 
 character of long practised art. In these respects, 
 however, our artists were quite on a par with con- 
 temporary nations ; and this ought to satisfy our 
 national feelings on the subject : as to the great 
 scarcity of examples now existing of the painting 
 up to that period, and even a century later, we 
 think it may be fully accounted for, from the causes 
 already mentioned. 
 
 The second picture of Richard II. is now in a 
 room close to Westminster abbey, in the dean's 
 residence, abutting, in fact, upon the west flank of 
 the north-west tower : this picture was first, and 
 for a very long period, placed over one of the stalls 
 in Westminster abbey, but has been removed for 
 many years, and is now placed in what is called "the 
 Jerusalem chamber." Sometime about the com- 
 mencement of the last century, this singular picture 
 appears to have been somewhat out of repair, and 
 in an evil hour, an officious person in authority 
 employed one of those nuisances in art, a common 
 picture-cleaner, to restore it ; this person, who, 
 it appears, was a captain and printseller, named
 
 PORTRAIT OF RICHARD II. 1 7- r > 
 
 Brown, readily undertook the job, and with a de- 
 gree of ignorance and presumption, which belongs 
 to that class of destructives, he painted, or rather 
 daubed it all over with oil colours, never having 
 taken the slightest pains to examine whether the 
 original was, or was not painted in oil ; and by this 
 gross neglect, he has destroyed one of the finest 
 links in the chain of British art, by which we might 
 have ascertained whether the vehicle with which it 
 was painted was oil, or distemper varnished ; the 
 evidence either way would be of great value in 
 settling the question, which now must remain 
 unsolved 1 . 
 
 With respect to other pictures of this time, there 
 is in the lancet window, by the south west tower 
 of Westminster abbey, a figure in plate armour, 
 with a spear in his hand, a long sword by his side, 
 and the arms of England and France quarterly, 
 with a red rose placed beneath his feet. It has been 
 supposed to represent the Black Prince ; others 
 believe it is intended for his father's likeness. 
 
 There were portraits, clearly taken from the life, 
 of both Edward III. and the Black Prince, dis- 
 
 1 It has since undergone one or two ablutions, but nothing 
 that can be done with it now, will restore the lost link. 
 
 i 4
 
 176 SCARCITY OF ARTISTS* NAMES. 
 
 covered among the paintings in St. Stephen's 
 chapel, Westminster, when they were fitting it up 
 for the Union House of Commons A.D. 1800 '. 
 
 But the artists 1 names who painted these por- 
 traits of Richard II. are not known, neither is there 
 any mention of those painters who executed the 
 pictures of the Trinity, which the city of London 
 presented to Richard and his queen, they were 
 valued at eight hundred pounds : there is a great 
 scarcity of artists 1 names, even in those reigns when 
 they were most employed. Stowe has preserved 
 some of them; amongst others, those who were 
 employed on the tomb which Richard had prepared 
 for himself and his queen. B. and W. Godfrey, of 
 Wood-street, goldsmiths, made the moulds, and cast 
 the images of the king and queen, which are still 
 extant in the Abbey ; the gilding of these figures 
 cost four hundred marks. 
 
 John Sutton, a sculptor, is also mentioned ; he 
 was employed by Thomas Beauchamp, earl of 
 Warwick, to alter a statue of the famous earl 
 Guy ; it stood in the choir of the church there ; 
 and he also, in the same place, carved the arms of 
 the ancient earls. 
 
 1 Hugo of St. Albans is recorded as the master painter of this 
 chapel. Rymer, v. 5, p. 670.
 
 RICHARD II. WINDOWS IN YORK MINSTER. 177 
 
 In the windows of All Souls 1 college, Oxford, 
 there is still a portrait of John of Gaunt, in stained 
 glass, of this period. The fine east window in 
 York Minster was also painted in this reign, at 
 the expense of the dean and chapter, who employed 
 " a glazier," as he is called, of Coventry, to point 
 it. He contracted to take for his own work four 
 shillings a week, and to finish the whole in less 
 than three years ; he was to receive one hundred 
 shillings in each of the three years ; and if he 
 finished his work truly and perfectly, he was to 
 have ten pounds more. Another indenture, for 
 glazing some of the west windows, states, that " the 
 men shall have sixpence a foot for plain glass, and 
 twelve pence for coloured." This is a tolerably con- 
 vincing evidence of the skill and talent possessed 
 in that age by our native painters and stainers in 
 
 With this unhappy prince terminated the Plan- 
 tagenet line of our monarchy. It was the finest 
 epoch for the arts in England ; sculpture and ar- 
 chitecture more especially pros|>ered under this 
 splendid race of kings. Ambitious, daring, and 
 magnificent, with two or three exceptions, the nu- 
 merous wars, foreign and domestic, in which they 
 were engaged, do not seem to have prevented them 
 i 5
 
 178 THE PLANTAGENET KINGS. 
 
 from encouraging works of intellectual art exten- 
 sively ; military renown, and the glories of con- 
 quest, were not the only objects they thought wor- 
 thy of their ambition ; the peaceful arts, then but 
 little esteemed or known in most parts of Europe 
 (1154 to 1399), attained, under these sovereigns, 
 the utmost scope and elevation of good taste, so far 
 as ecclesiastical or palatial architecture were con- 
 cerned. 
 
 With the Plantagenets commenced the " early 
 English" Transition, or " Pointed style," by all 
 which terms it is well known ; it is also denominated 
 " the style of the thirteenth century *," as it was 
 perfected in that century ; and early in the next it 
 gradually merged in the " decorated style," which, 
 of course, is still pointed, but much more orna- 
 mented. This style is considered by Messrs. 
 Whewell, Willis, and Cottingham, &c. as the com- 
 
 1 The lancet window is a peculiar feature in this style, and is 
 considered a decisive proof of its English origin. " They are often 
 double or triple, sometimes five together. At first they were 
 without a common head, afterwards with one ; in the latter ex- 
 amples the head is often foliated ; they are a marked character- 
 istic of the thirteenth century style, usually called ' early 
 English,' and are in a great degree peculiar to England ; there are 
 a few examples in Normandy, but are not common there, but 
 home not been noticed in other parts of France, nor in any other 
 foreign country." Glossary of Architecture. Part I.
 
 THE DECORATED STYLE. 179 
 
 plete or " perfect Gothic ;" the early English being, 
 as already stated, ranked as one of the transition 
 styles, from the " Romanesque" or Norman ; and 
 the perpendicular as one of the " after Gothics." 
 
 The most prominent feature of this style is to 
 be found in the windows, the tracery in the heads 
 of which is always either geometrical in circles, 
 quatre foils, &c. in the early instances, as at Mer- 
 ton college chapel, &c., or flowing in wavy lines, as 
 at Little St. Mary's, Cambridge, St. Mary Magdalen, 
 Oxford, &c. &c. but never with the mullions run- 
 ning perpendicularly through the head of the win- 
 dows, as in the style that succeeded to it. The head 
 of the window is generally an equilateral arch 1 ; it 
 is also characterised by its triangular canopies, 
 crocketed and finialed, by its mitred buttresses, with 
 triangular heads, and its peculiar mouldings. There 
 are also some very fine circular windows of this 
 style. Its columns have a capital, with crumpled 
 leaves, and a peculiar base and pedestal. Its door- 
 ways have a close resemblance to the early English, 
 but are distinguished by the ornaments ; the rich- 
 
 1 The form of the arch is, however, not implicitly to be relied 
 on as a decided characteristic of this style ; as it varies much 
 in different districts, and even sometimes in the same build- 
 ing. 
 
 i 6
 
 180 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 est specimens of it resemble much the Flamboyant 
 style of that era. 
 
 This manner prevailed through the greater part 
 of the fourteenth century. It was originally intro- 
 duced in the reign of Edward I., some of the ear- 
 liest examples being the celebrated crosses erected 
 to the memory of queen Eleanor, who died in 1290. 
 It was in extensive use during the reign of his suc- 
 cessors Edward II. and Edward III., and as very 
 considerable changes took place in architecture 
 immediately after the death of Edward III., it has, 
 with good reason, been called "the Edwardian style." 
 
 To this very beautiful manner succeeded "the 
 Perpendicular," which was still elegant in the hands 
 of William of Wykeham ; but it gradually became 
 profusely decorated, and finally terminated in the 
 Florid style, on which we shah 1 have occasion to 
 make some remarks hereafter. 
 
 The Perpendicular style. From the facts al- 
 ready stated, it will be seen that the grand division 
 of the arts, which far outshone its fair sisters, was 
 architecture ; particularly as connected with eccle- 
 siastical edifices. It appears to have been carried 
 forward by a momentum that no degree of political 
 turbulence, civil war, or foreign invasion could 
 entirely control, until a much later period ; al-
 
 PI. 4. 
 
 PERPENDICULAR. 
 
 DECORATED. 
 
 HEDLINGTON, OXFORDSHIRE. 
 circa 1320. 
 
 NEW COLLEGE CHAPEL, OXFORD. 
 
 FLORID OR TUDOR.
 
 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 181 
 
 though such things may have had an influence in 
 checking the full development of its powers. 
 
 In the Perpendicular the windows afford the 
 most striking characters of this style ; and the eye 
 at once distinguishes it from any other, by observ- 
 ing that the mullions are continued through the 
 head of the windows, and that perpendicular lines 
 prevail throughout all the tracery. The windows 
 in the early and better part of this style are large 
 and lofty, divided by horizontal transoms into two 
 or three parts. The windows by William of 
 Wykeham have a peculiarly elegant character, dis- 
 tinct from any other, being generally very lofty in 
 proportion to their breadth, with a well-proportioned 
 arch ; they belong to the earliest period of per- 
 pendicular work. The windows of this manner soon 
 became more broad, less lofty, and the arch more 
 and more depressed, until the style became quite 
 debased, and the square-headed window prevailed 
 almost universally. 
 
 The four-centred arch is generally characteristic 
 of this style, and in the latter period of it, with few 
 exceptions, it is exclusively found, as amongst the 
 ornamental parts of niches, with arches of almost 
 every form. The doorways of this style have 
 usually a square head over the arch, and the
 
 182 THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. 
 
 spandril is generally fitted with some ornament. 
 The whole surface of the walls, both within and 
 without, is frequently covered with panelling, 
 which produces a rich and exuberant, but some- 
 what frittered effect. Domical roofs to the turrets 
 are also characteristic of this style, as at King's 
 College chapel, &c. Another feature peculiar to 
 this style is the figure of an angel with expanded 
 wings, supporting a shield, or as a corbel, or a row 
 of them in a cornice ; the rose and portcullis of 
 Henry VI I. also very frequently occur. The orna- 
 ment called the " Tudor flower," resembling an oak 
 or strawberry leaf, is also frequently found as a 
 finish to the cornice of rich screen work, or over 
 niches, as in St. Mary's, Oxford. 
 
 This style commenced in the latter part of the 
 fourteenth century, prevailed throughout the fif- 
 teenth, and to the earlier portion of the sixteenth, 
 when it became so much altered for the worse, that 
 it gradually lost all the fine characteristic traits of 
 its former grandeur and good taste ; it became 
 loaded with puerile ornaments, and was then called 
 " the after Gothic." 
 
 The principal works that Bishop Wykeham 
 superintended, were New College, Oxford, of which 
 he was the munificent founder, and Winchester
 
 BISHOP WYKEHAM. 183 
 
 Cathedral, both of which happily remain to bear 
 ample testimony to the superior qualities of his 
 mind, and prove him to have been one of the 
 greatest architects in this style that had appeared 
 in any age or country : his affection extended to 
 the other branches of art ; but much of the sculp- 
 ture executed under his directions has been de- 
 stroyed, though enough remains to show the skill 
 which the sculptors of that day could display in 
 their art ; but the paintings that adorned the works 
 of his genius, in all probability have perished, or 
 at least with very few exceptions. Those that 
 remain of Richard's reign are some few portraits, 
 which escaped the iconoclastic fury directed with 
 such violence against all works of art, but painting 
 being composed of much more delicate materials 
 than its fair sisters, perished sooner in the general 
 ruin that swept over them for sixty years at one 
 period, and forty at another. And the positive 
 mischief inflicted at that time led to an evil 
 of an extensive and lasting kind, for it taught the 
 great mass of the people to hate or despise these 
 intellectual creations, and that to destroy them 
 was meritorious ; a barbarian feeling which has 
 not, we fear, even in this advanced period of civi- 
 lization, been entirely eradicated ; and probably it
 
 184 DESTRUCTION OF EARLY PAINTINGS, &C. 
 
 may require another generation or two, ere that 
 vicious mis-direction of British natural feeling can 
 be entirely replaced by one consistent with good 
 sense and right perceptions. It is a difficult task 
 to unteach our population that species of bar- 
 barism which, from the time above stated, appears 
 to have become in some measure hereditary *, but 
 we should hope, not perpetual. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 SCULPTURE, PAINTING, BRASSES, AND STAINED 
 GLASS. 
 
 IT was during this remarkable epoch which has 
 justly been denominated "the glorious era of 
 church architecture," that sculptors were first 
 employed extensively in the carving of statues of 
 the saints, kings, patrons, and benefactors, either 
 to adorn the walls where they were placed in 
 niches under canopies of beautiful tabernacle work, 
 or in the carvings on tombs ; the latter had its 
 transition styles as well as architecture. 
 
 Previous to the time when the very objectionable 
 practice of burying in churches became fashionable, 
 
 1 It is hoped that the efforts now making to instruct this large 
 class of the community, by gratis exhibitions of pictures, &c. will 
 greatly promote this desirable object.
 
 SCULPTURE. 185 
 
 it was the practice of the more wealthy portion 
 of society to place their deceased relatives in stone 
 coffins, somewhat resembling the ancient sar- 
 cophagi, but plain ; the form of the most ancient 
 lid was prismatic or triangular like a roof: this 
 part was over the ground, the body under. At 
 times some rude carvings were on the sides of 
 this covering. The first change that took place 
 was in ornamenting this lid or top with a long 
 plain cross : to them succeeded fleury crosses in 
 low relief, and afterwards in high relief. The 
 third form was the table tomb, with the effigy of 
 the person, or other sculpture on it, as the prelates 
 with mitres, croziers and large crosses, pontificals ', 
 &c. The fourth form were tombs with testoons, 
 or arches over them. These were at first flat, and 
 then changed to arched 2 were usually decorated 
 
 1 Vide those of Prior Basing, Jugo Baynard, Stephen Langton, 
 Allen, abbot of Tewkesbury ; another, of several figures in the 
 Temple church ; that of Owen Glendower at Bangor ; Robert, 
 duke of Normandy, 1134 ; in Gloucester cathedral, of Longsword, 
 earl of Salisbury, 1226 ; Sir Henry Bathe, chief justice, 1252 ; 
 Prior Philip, at Oxford ; John de Sheppy, at Rochester ; and 
 Bishop Andrewes in the Lady chapel, St. Saviour's church, &c. 
 
 * William, earl of Flanders, 1127; Hubert Walther, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, 1205 ; king John, at Worcester, 1213 ; 
 bishops Oswald and Wulstan, &c. The prelates were in pon- 
 tificals, with mitres, croziers, gilt crosses, &c. The warriors were 
 represented in armour, with lions or dogs at their feet.
 
 186 SCULPTURE. 
 
 with foliages and a large gesse or fleur de foliage 
 over the summit. Images of the wife, children, 
 relations of the parties, and frequently saints, sove- 
 reigns, or benefactors about the table ; much paint- 
 ing and gilding was at this time bestowed upon the 
 sculpture, though of marble or copper '. 
 
 The fifth mode were the tombs in chapel burial- 
 places 3 . These mausolei were so large that they 
 encumbered the place from the room they occu- 
 pied, even in the large cathedrals ; then they an- 
 nexed chapels to them with doors out of the side 
 aisles. These were deformities out of harmony 
 with the general arrangement, and had a bad 
 effect by interfering with the view and design of 
 the artist. Some in better taste were added to the 
 west ends of the cathedrals, &c. 3 
 
 The sixth form, and the last which appeared 
 under this dynasty, were the " inlaid brasses." 
 
 1 That of king Henry II. at Westminster ; Edward IV. 
 Windsor ; archbishop Longlands, Lincoln. 
 
 2 Edward III. and queen Philippa, at Westminster ; Richard 
 II. and queen Anne ; Aveline, wife of Edmund, earl of Lancaster, 
 1269 ; the earl in 1296 ; queen Elizabeth and the queen of 
 Scots ; of Peckham, archbishop, Canterbury ; of John of Eltham, of 
 earl of Cornwall, at Gloucester cathedral; Edward II. 1327 j of 
 Cardinal Beaufort at Winchester, 1447 ; and a great many others. 
 
 * Henry VII. chapel, Westminster ; duke Humphrey, at 
 St. Albans ; the Beauchamp chapel, Warwick, &c.
 
 JJJLA1D BRASSES. 187 
 
 These displayed the figure, &c. either sunk in the 
 tomb-stone, or raised in flat relief, of the persons, 
 their escutchions, emblems, saints, foliage, &c. with 
 a scroll containing a legend or inscription. Of this 
 class there are many fine specimens at West- 
 minster and various other places ; but tons 1 weight 
 of these brasses were torn off the tombs, and sold 
 for their own profit by the plunderers in the great 
 rebellion. So far as authentic intelligence can be 
 obtained of their commencement here, it would 
 appear that the brasses were introduced about the 
 middle of the thirteenth century. 
 
 The first recorded is that of Jocelyn, bishop 
 of Wells, who died in 1242, but that has long 
 since disappeared; the earliest examples actually 
 in existence do not go further back than 1290, 
 and the last recorded is in 1631. Some of the 
 finest specimens belonging to the fourteenth cen- 
 tury are allowed to be by Flemish artists, and this 
 art, it is well known, was for centuries practised 
 extensively in Belgium and the Rhenish provinces, 
 especially at Cologne, where it still exists. Many 
 of our earlier examples evince good taste in de- 
 sign, with a bold artist-like feeling in the exe- 
 cution, and much judgment was exercised in the 
 arrangements of the coloured enamelling of the
 
 188 ENAMELLING, &C. 
 
 more costly specimens, but very little of that por- 
 tion of the material remains. It is believed on 
 good authority, that this style originated in the 
 south of France, most likely at Limoges, where, 
 as early as the twelfth century, enamelling, and 
 working in metals, were extensively practised ; the 
 art, in all probability, having been brought thither, 
 from the east, by some of the returned crusaders. 
 
 We have the authority of sir Richard Westma- 
 cott, R.A. for stating that before the early part of 
 the thirteenth century the examples of sculpture, 
 both in France and England, were of a very weak 
 character ; but from the impulse given to that art 
 by the taste of Henry III. a rapid change was 
 effected in this country ; the simple carved coffin 
 lid was laid aside, and the whole figure was shown 
 extended, the head resting on a cushion, on table 
 monuments, some of which were very well sculp- 
 tured ; and this improvement went on until about 
 the reign of Henry VI. when that lamentable 
 domestic strife, " the wars of the roses," once 
 more arrested the progress of our national im- 
 provement.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE LANCASTER LINE. HENRY IV. 
 (BOLINGBROKE.) 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE reign of " the House of Lancaster " was not 
 very favourable to the arts; fierce political con- 
 tentions at home, or formidable foreign wars, drew 
 off the wealth and the attention of the nation from 
 matters of intellectual improvement ; but as to our 
 information with respect to painting, sculpture, 
 and the names of the artists, we find ourselves 
 in a better condition ; of this monarch's reign 
 there are several authentic portraits ; one of these 
 is well known, (on glass,) in King's College chapel, 
 and some others on panel in the royal palaces. 
 
 HENRY V. 
 
 This prince was too much engaged with his 
 military occupations to pay any attention to the
 
 190 VARIOUS PORTRAITS. 
 
 fine arts. Some portraits of Henry have been 
 painted ; one of which on panel is at Kensington, 
 and there are others on vellum. 
 
 A curious picture of this monarch and his family 
 is described in Walpole's " Anecdotes," &c. It is 
 painted in oil colours, on a large panel. It be- 
 longed to the collection at Strawberry hill ; but 
 Mr. W. thinks it was painted for the chapel of 
 Henry VII. at Sheen, by order of that monarch. 
 
 At Lambeth palace are portraits of Catharine of 
 Valois, and of archbishop Chicheley. 
 
 William Bridges, the first garter king-at-arms, 
 instituted by king Henry V., set up in the windows 
 of St. George's church, Stamford, the portraits of 
 the first Knights of the Garter. Hollar etched 
 them for Ashmole's History of the Order l . 
 
 The principal architects of ecclesiastical build- 
 ings at this time were, bishop William of Wayn- 
 flete, and archbishop Chicheley ; but the noble 
 pointed style had passed its meridian. " The per- 
 pendicular," which had superseded " the decorated," 
 
 1 A very curious illumination of Henry's coronation is preserved 
 in the library of Bene't College, Cambridge. It is the frontis- 
 piece to a French translation of the Legenda Aurea. Vid. 
 Archseologise, vol. ii. p. 194, and vol. Hi. p. 189.
 
 HENRY VI. 191 
 
 was now gradually gliding into " the florid," as we 
 shall see a little further on. 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 The reign of this monarch was, if possible, less 
 favourable to the advancement of the arts than that 
 of his predecessor ; for, to the expense and unfor- 
 tunate termination of a long and sanguinary foreign 
 war, was added the calamity of the most fierce and 
 destructive civil strife that had ever visited England. 
 " When York, and Lancaster, led forth the battle ;" 
 not indeed against the common enemy of British 
 independence, but to immolate each other's follow- 
 ers for the gratification of mad ambition. Amid 
 such scenes, few traces of the peaceful arts are to 
 be found. Amongst these Mr. Walpole describes 
 a very curious historical picture, which he expresses 
 his belief was intended to represent the marriage of 
 this sovereign with Margaret of Anjou ; there are 
 eleven figures in it. This picture is well arranged, 
 and the figures are not ill-drawn, nor is the group- 
 ing bad ; there is a stateliness about the attitudes, 
 which, however, is not inappropriate to the dignified 
 personages and the solemnity of the ceremony ; but 
 the artist's name remains unknown, nor is the
 
 192 LOW STATE OF THE ARTS. 
 
 exact date ascertained; but from the personages 
 represented in it, and other local incidents, it is 
 evident that it must have been painted in this 
 king's reign. It is difficult to reconcile the taste 
 that must have existed for works of that class with 
 the treatment bestowed on painters. It would ap- 
 pear, that even at this advanced period of general 
 civilization, the court, or the nobility connected 
 with it, had such common notions of art, that they 
 were not able to distinguish between an historical 
 artist and a house painter ; and the uninformed 
 state of this high class may be well comprehended 
 from various incidents connected with the arts, 
 even to the reign of Henry VIII. To prove the 
 sordid condition in which painting was kept, one 
 remarkable incident will convey more just informa- 
 tion to the mind than pages of general observa- 
 tions. 
 
 When the earl of Warwick was going ambassa- 
 dor to the court of France, A. D. 1437, "he con- 
 tracted with his tailor for the painter's work that 
 was to be displayed in the pageantry of his jour- 
 ney." And lest this fact might be doubted, we give 
 a copy of the original agreement, taken from Sir 
 W. Dugdale's Warwickshire. 
 12
 
 HENRY VI. 193 
 
 " Ferst cccc pencils bete with the raggidde staffe 
 of silver, pris the pece vd. 08, 6 QQd. 
 
 " Item for the peynting of two pavys for my lord, 
 the one with a gryfon stondying in iny lordis co- 
 lours rede, white, and russet, pris of the paveys 
 000608. 
 
 " Item for the other pavys painted with black, 
 and a raggid staffe bete, with silver occupying all 
 the felde, pris 000304. 
 
 " Item, one coat for my lordis body, bete with 
 fine gold, pris 011000. 
 
 " Item for a grete stremour for the ship of XL 
 yerdis length, and vin yerdis in brede, with a grete 
 bere and griffin holding a raggid staffe poudrid 
 full of raggid staves; and for a grete crosse of 
 St. George for the lymming, and pourtraying 
 0106 08." 
 
 These extracts, which could be extended much 
 further, will probably be sufficient to satisfy our 
 readers as to the confined state in which the minds 
 of persons of high rank were then, as to any dis- 
 tinction between the liberal or fine arts, and the 
 sordid or mechanic arts. 
 
 Walpole says, " the art was engrossed by and 
 confined to the vanity or devotion of the nobility ; 
 the arms they bore and quartered, their missals, 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 HENRY VI. 
 
 their church windows, and the images of their idols 
 (saints), were the only circumstances in which they 
 had any employment for a painter ; even portraits, 
 the object of modern vanity, seem not to have been 
 in fashion. I know not one, except of the blood 
 royal and a bishop or two, painted during the period 
 of which I am writing 1 ." 
 
 To most persons it would appear inconsistent, 
 for any one who appears so strongly imbued with 
 patriotic feelings for the arts in his own country, to 
 cavil so sharply at the nobility of that day for not 
 having much taste even for portrait painting, and 
 to find great fault with them for only encouraging 
 the art of illuminating books, and the art of glass- 
 staining for church windows. We, however, who 
 did not at the outset expect to make any great 
 discoveries as to painting in those early times, are 
 very thankful to the barons for what they caused 
 to be done even in that way, seeing the manner of 
 
 1 In a MS. of Chaucer's Poems, belonging to his grace the 
 duke of Sutherland, is a miniature of Chaucer on horseback, as 
 he has represented himself journey ing with the pilgrims to Can- 
 terbury. There are also some likenesses (half lengths) of the 
 father of English poetry to be found hi other MSS. 
 
 On Chaucer's tomb at Westminster abbey there had been 
 portraits of him painted ; but these were painted from original 
 portraits in 1550, when Nicholas Bingham erected that monu- 
 ment to him. These likenesses have long disappeared. Chaucer 
 was " maister of the workes " to Richard II.
 
 HENRY VI. 195 
 
 life they were obliged to follow through the conti- 
 nually increasing intrigues of the king's ambitious 
 favourites. We xlo not pretend to defend the con- 
 duct of any class in society, who, with ample means 
 and every other " appliance," neglect to encourage 
 the arts, which confer honour upon every nation 
 where their great intellectual characters are 
 grandly and beautifully developed ; but we can- 
 not help thinking, that if the Hon. Mr. Walpole 
 had lived in the reign of Henry VI. he would have 
 found some other occupations not quite so amusing 
 as writing in a state of perfect security on the art 
 of painting. There happens to be a very strong 
 and sufficient reason why the arts of peace could 
 not obtain any high consideration in that disgrace- 
 ful reign. The country was constantly distracted 
 by one of the most cruel and sanguinary civil tur- 
 moils with which it was ever devastated that most 
 unhappy war of " the Roses," in which myriads of 
 the common soldiery were destroyed, and almost 
 the whole of the ancient nobility of England fell in 
 battle, or were immolated on the scaffold by each 
 party as they happened to gain a temporary suc- 
 cess. Here is a state of society in which we 
 could not expect men to have their portraits 
 painted, or to employ historical painters. 
 K 2
 
 196 THE COUNTESS OF WARWICK. 
 
 Images in wax were much in demand at that 
 time ; but these must all have disappeared. The 
 name of a maker of some of these humble imita- 
 tions of sculpture is preserved; it appears to be 
 Thomas Porchalion, who made, by order of the 
 Lady Isabel, countess of Warwick, her statue " all 
 nakyd with her hair cast backwarde," according 
 to a design of which she approved. The lady's 
 taste was somewhat singular ; but as she appears, 
 by her last will, to have been " a person of devout 
 mind," according to the notions then prevalent, she 
 might have supposed that the monks of Tewkes- 
 bury, to whom that statue was bequeathed, were 
 austere and pious men of simple lives, to whom 
 such a present would be most welcome, as exciting 
 to higher feelings of devotion. On this subject, 
 however, her powerful and warlike husband held very 
 different notions, of which the evidences are fortu- 
 nately still before the public ; for, besides their own 
 portraits on glass, with many others of their family, 
 which for a series of years were the glowing and 
 admired remembrances of that great family, in 
 Warwick church, this potent nobleman, no 
 matter from what motive, be it pride, or the love 
 of the arts, united with a feeling becoming his 
 station in society, and a liberality that strongly
 
 MAUSOLKUM OF EARL OF WARWICK. 197 
 
 indicates a generous mind, determined to have 
 erected for himself a mausoleum in St. Mary's 
 church, Warwick, where it still remains, not only 
 a most distinguished feature, but a splendid memo- 
 rial of the state of the arts in England, even at a 
 period of great strife and disaster amongst every 
 class of the people. Our duty requires that we 
 should place before our readers, a correct account 
 of this monument, and also portions of the cove- 
 nant which was entered into between the earl's 
 executors, and the artists who executed the work. 
 
 These artists were, John de Essex, marbler (archi- 
 tect and mason) ; the sculptor and founder in metals 
 was William Austin of London ; Thomas Stevens ; 
 a worker in copper ; John Bourde of Corfe castle ; 
 another marbler (mason and carver), with Bar- 
 tholomew Lambspring, a goldsmith : these parties 
 covenant and agree, very carefully, as to all the 
 details, not only for the statue on the tomb, but 
 also for the escutcheons, armorial bearings, and 
 smaller images placed around it, and the manner 
 in which the whole was to be completed : a descrip- 
 tion of which may be interesting to some of our 
 readers. 
 
 The earl is represented in armour, lying on a 
 large marble pedestal ; he appears as in prayer ; the 
 K 3
 
 198 ENGLISH ARTISTS EMPLOYED 
 
 design of the figure is good, and the proportions very 
 correctly given. The material of which this statue 
 is composed, is copper, not bronze : it is very 
 richly gilt, and has been well preserved. The 
 pedestal is highly ornamented ; it contains several 
 niches, in which are placed small statues of the 
 same metal, or perhaps of brass, but are as well 
 gilt as the large statue ; each figure and niche is sur- 
 mounted by an elegantly designed canopy. Their 
 forms are also very well drawn ; the attitudes 
 display much natural ease and even gracefulness 
 of movement ; the architectural parts have great 
 variety, richness, and delicacy, similar to the beau- 
 tiful ecclesiastical style of that age. The whole 
 of this superb mausoleum is so well executed that 
 many competent judges have considered them equal 
 to many works of the same description completed 
 at that epoch in Italy, although Ghiberti and 
 Donatello were in full practice there at the time 
 this monument was finished : it certainly was not 
 done in a hasty manner, for it occupied twenty-two 
 years from the commencement to its completion. 
 
 But this was not the whole of the work in which 
 English artists were engaged ; for the aforesaid 
 covenant further informs us, that John Brentwood, 
 " citizen and steyner of London, engages to paynt on
 
 ON BEAUCHAMP CHAPEL. 199 
 
 the west wall of the chapelle, the dome of our Lord 
 Jesus, and all manner of devices, and imagery, 
 thereunto belonging, of fair and sightly proportion, 
 as the place shall serve for, with the finest colours, 
 and fine gold." Another London " paynter, Kris- 
 tian Coleburn," engages " to paynt in most fine, 
 fairest, and curious wise, four images of stone, of 
 our Lady, Saint Gabriell, the angel, St. Ann, and 
 St. George : these four to be painted with the finest 
 oil colours, in the richest, finest, and freshest 
 clothings that may be made, of fine gold, azure, of 
 fine purpure, of fine white, and other finest colours 
 necessary, garnished, bordered, and powdered, in 
 the finest, and curiosest wise." 
 
 Another artist engaged on this chapel was John 
 Prudde of Westminster, who though evidently a 
 man somewhat versed in the arts, is merely de- 
 nominated " a glazier :" he was employed to paint 
 the windows ; and in the covenant it was stipulated, 
 " that he should employ no glass of England, but 
 with glass beyond the seas, and that in the finest 
 wise, with the best, cleanest, and strongest glasse 
 of beyond sea, that may be had in England, and 
 of the finest colours of red, blew, yellow, purpure, 
 sanguine and violet, and of all other colours, that 
 shall be most necessary and best, to make and 
 K 4,
 
 200 GENERAL EFFECT. 
 
 embellish the matters, images, and stories, that 
 shall be delivered, and appointed by the said execu- 
 tors, by patterns in paper, afterwards to be newly 
 traced, and pictured by another painter in rich 
 colours at the charge of the sayd glazier." 
 
 Here we find some power of discriminating in 
 the executors ; they knew how to distinguish be- 
 tween the sobriety of character that ought to dis- 
 tinguish the central and principal object, the 
 mausoleum, and the back ground, with the various 
 accessorial parts that were quite subordinate to it. 
 
 The effect of this arrangement, though rich, is 
 sufficiently grave and solemn, to harmonize with 
 the tomb and preserve its peculiar character. It 
 was requisite to throw a considerable diffusion of 
 colours over the windows, &c. : were it otherwise 
 the effect would have been cold and unpleasing; 
 the common daylight coming in through white glass 
 would have produced a hard and chilling effect, which 
 would have confessed much poverty of taste in its 
 contrivers : the rays of light which are projected 
 through coloured glass, are much lower in tone, 
 though richer in tints : these coloured rays, when 
 projected upon the floor, columns, mausolea, &c. 
 near them, produce the harmonizing glow of a rich 
 well applied glaze, as we often see it in the works
 
 EXPENSE OF THE WORK. 201 
 
 of the great masters, especially those of the Vene- 
 tian and Florentine schools. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 It may amuse many of our readers to be made 
 acquainted with the prices agreed upon between 
 the executors and the parties above-mentioned. 
 The record states that the tomb was to cost 
 125?. sterling, the image 40?., the gilding of the 
 image and its appurtenances 13?. ; the glass painter 
 was allowed 2s. for every foot of glass, and at that 
 rate the whole would cost 911. Is. 10c?. The scrip- 
 ture piece on the wall (by John Brentwood), was 
 to cost 13?. 6s. 8d., and 121. for painting the four 
 images : the whole sum expended upon this mo- 
 nument, and the Beauchamp chapel in unison with 
 it, amounted to 2481?. 3s. Id., which would, at a 
 low estimate, according to the diminished value of 
 money now, be about equivalent to 26,000?. of our 
 currency. 
 
 This mode of expending money upon a large 
 scale is, by the ordinary race of calculators, de- 
 scribed as " vanity " and " extravagance." Such 
 persons may be right according to the confined 
 K 5
 
 202 SUCH WORKS BENEFIT SOCIETY. 
 
 notions they have of the manner in which great 
 wealth ought to be economized as to its outlay. But 
 persons of that small calibre of understanding 
 generally look upon the arts as superfluous ; it 
 would be, therefore, a vain labour to enter into 
 any argument with persons whose views of human 
 life are so very narrow, and so far as they do ex- 
 tend, are prejudicial to the advancement of a 
 people in the arts, sciences, and even the manu- 
 factures that promote and accompany the civili- 
 zation of mankind : but to those whose expansive 
 minds and cultivated understandings the profuse 
 and well-directed expenditure of wealth, in the fine 
 as well as the useful arts, appears to be, not only a 
 noble, but a just and wise employment of it, no 
 argument need be supplied ; the views of this 
 class are strictly rational, their philosophy is no 
 cold theory, it is practically and extensively bene- 
 ficial to the nation of which they are denizens. 
 Such modes of circulating superfluous wealth do 
 immense good to society ; they call into active life 
 the dormant talents of their countrymen ; they 
 awaken the spirit of emulation among men of 
 genius in every branch of industry, whether of the 
 intellectual or the useful grades ; comfort, and even 
 affluence are diffused through social life ; the love of
 
 THE DANCE OF DEATH. 203 
 
 order increases, and consequently great moral, as 
 well as intellectual advantages are the agreeable 
 fruits of such large but safe, expenditures. 
 
 But however considerable the outlay might have 
 been on Beauchamp chapel, it is quite clear that 
 the unwise and unfortunate Henry VI. laid out 
 sums, to which that would have been but a mere 
 trifle, on follies and vices, which injured the morals 
 of society, and in the conclusion brought himself 
 to an untimely end ; and in the history of his time 
 he has left nothing respectable to be recorded. 
 
 Towards the close of this monarches reign, Dug- 
 dale informs us, that the cloister adjoining Old 
 St. Paul's cathedral was completed ; it was situated 
 at the north side of the church : on the walls of 
 this cloister was painted, at the charge of Jenkyn 
 Carpenter, a citizen of London, " The Dance of 
 Death," in imitation of that in the cloister ad- 
 joining The Innocents 1 church, Paris : underneath 
 were English verses to explain the various scenes ; 
 these were translated from the French by John 
 Lydgate, the monk of Bury. 
 
 The portraits in the windows of All Souls' 
 
 college, Oxford, were painted in Henry's reign, and 
 
 in the same period, abbot Whitehamstead, of 
 
 St. Albans, a man of abilities and learning, adorned 
 
 K 6
 
 204 
 
 EDWARD IV. 
 
 the Lady chapel there, various parts of the church, 
 and his own residence, with a variety of paintings. 
 
 EDWARD IV. 
 
 Our catalogue of pictures, or of native painters, 
 will not be much increased during the reign of 
 this king, whom historians have recorded as a 
 cruel and profligate voluptuary. Portrait painting, 
 however, became during this time more practised 
 than it had been previously ; there are several 
 likenesses of Edward himself still preserved in 
 the royal palaces, at Queen's college, Cambridge, 
 Hatfield house, &c. One of his queen is in the 
 Ashmolean museum at Oxford, another in Queen's 
 college, Cambridge : they are all stiff poorly painted 
 affairs. A remarkable one of Jane Shore is pre- 
 served at Eton college ; in this picture there are 
 strong traces of one much larger mentioned by Sir 
 Thomas More, but this appears to have been an 
 earlier picture. 
 
 In speaking of this unhappy favourite of a king, 
 More says, " her stature was mean (low), her hair 
 of a dark yellow, her face round and full, her eyes 
 grey ; delicate harmony being betwixt each part's
 
 VARIOUS PORTRAITS. 205 
 
 proportion and each proportion's colour ; her body 
 fat, white, and smooth, her countenance cheerful, 
 and like to her condition. The picture I have seen 
 of her was such as she rose out of her bed in 
 the morning, having nothing on but a rich mantle, 
 cast under one arm and over her shoulder, sitting 
 in a chair on which one arm did lie." There is 
 another of Jane in the provost's lodge, at King's 
 college, Cambridge ; there is no drapery, but the 
 head is dressed with jewels, and it has a massive 
 gold chain round the neck : it is not well painted. 
 
 Portraits of Edward IV. and V., Richard III. 
 and Henry VII. are painted in distemper in the 
 royal chapel, Windsor ; Edward IV., his queen, 
 her two sons and five daughters, are still in stained 
 glass at Canterbury, and also in little Malvern 
 church, Worcestershire ; they were done from 
 drawings made from the originals. At Donington, 
 an ancient seat of the earls of Huntingdon, are 
 portraits on panel of Edward IV. and George, 
 duke of Clarence. 
 
 There is a likeness of Edward, his queen, eldest 
 son, and others, preserved in a MS. at Lambeth 
 palace. 
 
 The following extract will convey a very just idea
 
 206 CURIOUS MEMORANDUM. 
 
 of the state of the arts and artists at this period ; 
 it is extracted from a book in the church of St. 
 Mary Ratcliff, Bristol . 
 
 " MEMORANDUM. That Master Cumings hath 
 delivered, the 4th day of July, in the year of our 
 Lord 1470, to Mr. Nicholas Bettes, vicar of Rat- 
 cliffe, Moses Couteryn, Philip Bartholomew, and 
 John Brown, procurators of Ratcliffe beforesaid, 
 a new sepulchre, well gilt and cover thereto, an 
 image of God Almighty rysing out of the same 
 sepulchre, with all the ordnance that longeth 
 thereto, that is to say, a lath made of iron, and 
 timber work thereto. Item. Thereto longeth 
 heven made of timber and stained cloth. 
 
 " Item Hell, made of timber and iron work, 
 with devils, the number thirteen. 
 
 " Item Four knights armed, keeping the se- 
 pulchre, with their weapons in their hands, that is 
 to say, two spears, two axes, two paveys 2 . 
 
 1 Minutes of Antiquarian Society, A.D. 1736. 
 
 2 French pavois, or talewis, a very large shield either convex 
 in front, or forming an angle or ridge in the centre ; it was large 
 enough to cover a tall man from head to foot ; they were planted 
 on the ground in front of the line, or wherever it was necessary, 
 but chiefly to cover the bowmen, who from behind this iron 
 rampart, " drew their arrows to the head" with terrible effect.
 
 CURIOUS MEMORANDUM. 207 
 
 " Item Four pair of angels' wings for four 
 made of timber and well paynted. 
 
 " Item The fadre, crown, and visage, the bell 
 with a cross upon it, well gilt with fine gold l . 
 
 " Item The Holy Ghost coming out of heven 
 into the sepulchre. 
 
 " Item Longeth to the angels, four chevelers V 
 
 Such records are invaluable, as they give the 
 most direct testimony of the state in which society 
 then was, and of the childish simplicity which 
 prevailed in matters connected with the religious 
 dogmas of that age. These documents give to the 
 character of the time, " its form and pressure ;" 
 but for those precious muniments, it would be im- 
 possible to believe that such gross, though probably 
 unconscious, impiety, could have been gravely and 
 soberly arranged by the very pastors who had the 
 spiritual instruction, or at least, the government of 
 the people's thoughts. The pictures of mental 
 imbecility which these records present, make it 
 quite surprising, that any of the intellectual arts 
 should have prospered in England. 
 
 1 This was the ball and cross, or monde (globe). 
 1 Chevdures from cheveux, hair ; these appear to have been a 
 large sort of peruqites.
 
 208 HENEY VII. 
 
 EDWARD V. 
 
 The name of this nominal and unhappy prince 
 is merely introduced, to keep up the regular order 
 of succession. Edward's two months 1 reign could 
 not afford any materials by which we might judge 
 of his taste or disposition with regard to the fine 
 arts. 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 
 Had the means by which this bold usurper be- 
 came a king been lawful and prosperous, it is pro- 
 bable he would not have been a bad prince, for his 
 general government was one of moderation, and dis- 
 played much political sagacity. Except some por- 
 traits of him, we have no information of the state 
 of art in his two years' reign *. 
 
 HENRY VII. 
 
 This king does not appear to have had much 
 affection for any arts but those which were service- 
 able to him in the accumulation of money. 
 
 1 At Kensington was formerly a portrait of Richard III. The 
 duke of Norfolk has the original portrait of his predecessor, who 
 was killed at Bosworth ; of this picture there are several old 
 copies belonging to other branches of the noble family of Howard.
 
 HOLBEIN AND MABEUSE. 209 
 
 The only painters who are recorded here in his 
 reign, are two foreigners ; the earliest of whom is 
 named Holbein, and the other, John Mabeuse. 
 The former appears to have come from the con- 
 tinent, and settled at Wells, in Somersetshire, and 
 to have been an illuminator. There are two or 
 three miniature pictures of this king, which are 
 supposed to have been painted by that artist. 
 
 Mabeuse was, however, a regular bred artist, and 
 as his works prove, a man of talent ; but it does 
 not appear that he remained in this country more 
 than a year or two ; even the time of his arrival 
 is unknown : however, it seems he painted some 
 pictures here ; among these are the portraits of the 
 princes Arthur and Henry, and princess Margaret, 
 when they were children. At Kineton, the duke 
 of Leeds 1 , there was an original sketch of this 
 picture. The portraits of two young noblemen by 
 him, were said by Sandrart to be in Whitehall, 
 and also his Adam and Eve *. 
 
 When the Rev. James Dallaway published his 
 edition of Walpole's Anecdotes, &c. he ascertained 
 that at Sir R. BedingfieldX Oxburgh hall, Norfolk, 
 
 1 This is probably the same that was brought over from 
 Holland in the last century, as " an undoubted Raffael."
 
 210 THE FLORID, OR TUDOR STYLE. 
 
 there were three portraits on panel, viz., king 
 Edward IV., Henry VII. apparently when young, 
 and William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk ; they are 
 painted in oil, and appear to be ancient, but no 
 artist's name is attached to them '. 
 
 Although painting did not thrive under this 
 penurious monarch, sculpture and architecture 
 were somewhat patronized, more especially the 
 latter ; which art, however, had now passed its 
 meridian of purity in the Decorated Style, and 
 became so much ornamented, as to be called the 
 Florid, or Tudor Style, and by both Mr. Bick- 
 man and Mr. Cottingham, &c., is included in the 
 class called " perpendicular, 1 ' of which it forms the 
 later division ; its peculiarities, according to the 
 above high authorities, are a flat arch, shallow 
 mouldings, an exuberance of paneling in the walls. 
 rectilinear tracery in the windows, and fan tracery 
 in the roofs. This style is peculiar to England. 
 
 1 About the middle of the last century, a picture of Adam and 
 Eve was brought over from Holland, as an undoubted Raffael. 
 Gr. Vertue however, discovered it to be by Mabeuse, yet some 
 amateur was taken in, and gave a great sum for it. Lord Chan- 
 cellor Henley had it, and at his sale it produced ten guineas. 
 Here is an early instance of the fraudulent foreign traffic in 
 pictures, which has never ceased since that time, but of Lite years 
 has increased to a great extent.
 
 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. 211 
 
 Mr. Willis observes, that in the latest period of 
 the architecture called " Gothic," each country 
 appears to have had a style peculiar to itself, which 
 he calls " the after Gothic," such as the flamboyant 
 in France, &c. 
 
 In Italy, it appears that this intermediate stage 
 is wanting ; the revival of the classic orders in that 
 country having followed immediately the decorated, 
 or perfect " Gothic style," so called. 
 
 The best and most elaborate specimen of this 
 highly ornamented manner of building is the splen- 
 did mausoleum commenced by this monarch in 1502 ', 
 but which he did not live to finish, though the work 
 was carried on with great activity during the seven 
 years he lived after laying the foundation. 
 
 Henry's first intention was to have built this 
 royal mausoleum at Windsor ; why he changed his 
 mind is not known, but after due deliberation he 
 decided upon attaching it to the abbey of West- 
 minster, and of leaving to future generations one of 
 
 1 Henry VII.'s chapel. The first stoue of this magnificent 
 monumental edifice was kid on the 24th of January, 1502, by John 
 Islip, abbot of Westminster, Sir Reginald Bray, knight of the 
 Garter ; Dr. Barnes, master of the Rolls ; Dr. Wall, chaplain 
 to the king ; master Hugh Oldham, chaplain to the countess of 
 Richmond and Derby (the king's mother) ; Sir Edward Stanhope, 
 knight ; and several other distinguished persons, being present.
 
 212 HENRY THE SEVENTH^ CHAPEL. 
 
 the finest ecclesiastical structures of its class in the 
 kingdom, and admirably calculated to display the 
 peculiar features and principles of that style of 
 architecture. This chapel was not completed until 
 A. D. 1519., although Henry VIII. appears to have 
 in this respect followed up the wishes of his father, 
 and employed Torregiano, one of the ablest Italian 
 sculptors then existing, to design and complete the 
 tomb. After much delay this artist agreed to do 
 the whole for 1 000?. He commenced this work in 
 1516, and completed it in 1519. 
 
 The honour of designing this splendid edifice is 
 attributed, by Mr. L. N. Cottingham, to two of 
 the greatest amateur architects of their age, 
 namely, Alcock, bishop of Ely, and Sir Reginald 
 Bray. William Bolton, the last prior but one 
 of St. Bartholomew's, "beside Smithfield," was- 
 "maister of the works of our sayd chapell ;" as 
 king Henry states in his will The ingenious 
 artificers who executed the various mechanical 
 portions of the work were evidently Englishmen '. 
 The mouldings of the masonry were " after the 
 
 1 Laurence Imber was the master carver ; Humphrey Walker, 
 founder ; Nicholas Ewer, coppersmith and gilder ; John Bell 
 and John Maynard, painters, &c. ; Robert Jennings, Robert 
 Vertue, and John Lebans were the master masons employed on 
 that work. 
 
 12
 
 HENRY THE SEVENTH^ CHAPEL. 213 
 
 patrones that maister Pageny had made." These 
 artists and workmen were employed for the chapel 
 and its decorative sculpture, paintings, &c., under 
 a different contract from that of Torregiano, the 
 latter having been engaged only on the tomb- work. 
 All the other parts had been nearly finished ere his 
 operations commenced. It has been stated that 
 the number of statues in the interior and exterior 
 of this chapel amounted to nearly three thousand, 
 but nothing like that amount appears there at pre- 
 sent ; no doubt a great many of them were brayed 
 to powder by the iconoclastes at the Reformation, 
 and during the great Rebellion. 
 
 The tomb is very different from the chapel in the 
 style of the figures, and some of the architectural 
 parts. It displays a mixture of Roman arches and 
 decorations different from those in the chapel, the 
 arches of the latter being all pointed. " With re- 
 spect to the figures, those on the tomb display in 
 the limbs and other parts not draperied a more cor- 
 rect knowledge of the human figure, both in draw- 
 ing and proportion, than those in the chapel ; but 
 in natural simplicity and grandeur of attitude, cha- 
 racter, and proper arrangement of the draperies, 
 the latter possess a manifest superiority V The 
 1 Vide Lectures on Sculpture, by T. Flaxman, R. A.
 
 214 HENRY THE SEVENTH^ CHAPEL. 
 
 exercise that this combination of the fine and me- 
 chanic arts gave to the native talents and industry 
 of our people must have had its proper effect in im- 
 proving the taste and skill of their respective 
 classes engaged in such works, and if persevered in 
 would no doubt have produced the same degree of 
 advancement and refinement which similar encou- 
 ragement has produced in other nations. Yet, 
 splendid as it was, the cost of this edifice only 
 amounted to 14,000?. * This of course is indepen- 
 dent of Torregiano^s account for the tomb, and the 
 gold and silver services and fittings of the six altars, 
 besides the high altar with which it was furnished. 
 After three centuries of exposure to our climate, 
 all the exterior ornaments had become greatly de- 
 faced, and even the solid parts had suffered much, 
 although the dean and chapter of the abbey had 
 laid out large sums on its repairs ; but a fire which 
 took place in its roof in 1803, caused an expendi- 
 ture of 4000?. and left that corporate body unable to 
 
 1 For an amply detailed and clear account of the original con- 
 struction and restoration of this elegant structure, we beg leave to 
 refer our readers to the elaborate folio work of L. N. Cottingham, 
 Esq. F.S.A. &c. in which there are forty-five plates, containing 
 plans, elevations, sections, and copious details of every part of the 
 work, with ample letter-press descriptions, and an explanation of 
 the different ages and changes in our pointed architecture.
 
 HENRY THE SEVENTH^ CHAPEL. 215 
 
 attempt its general restoration. At length dean 
 Vincent and the chapter addressed a letter to the 
 Lords of the Treasury (in 1806), for their sanction 
 of a grant from parliament. After a great deal of 
 serious diplomatic discussion, the application was 
 granted after a delay of two years, and in July 
 1809, the restoration was commenced by Mr. Gay- 
 fere, perhaps the most competent builder for such 
 work then in existence, James Wyatt being the 
 architect ; and it was completed in 1822, as we now 
 see it. The sum expended on its restoration being 
 a little over 42,000^.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HENRY VIII. 
 THE FLORID STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 THE reign of this sovereign forms altogether a 
 new epoch in the arts, as it did in the religion of 
 England ; with the latter part of the question, how- 
 ever, we have nothing to do, our business is merely 
 to consider Henry's conduct in reference to the 
 fine arts ; and we cannot throw any new light 
 upon the moral and political motives and actions of 
 this extraordinary and very eccentric sovereign. 
 
 Henry appears to have had a natural partiality 
 for the arts, but more especially for painting. 
 Sculpture and architecture he also encouraged at 
 the commencement of his reign ; but the creations 
 of the pencil appear to have afforded him very high 
 gratification, and to have been the only objects
 
 FOREIGN AETISTS. 217 
 
 which maintained their ascendency to the last in 
 his capricious mind. This taste displayed itself 
 most decidedly in the early part of his reign. He 
 made liberal offers to Baffael and Primaticcio, in- 
 viting them to visit England and adorn his palaces 
 with their works ; and cardinal Wolsey's influ- 
 ence was employed at Borne to promote this desir- 
 able object ; but unfortunately it could not be 
 effected. 
 
 Some of their pupils, however, came hither, and 
 were greatly patronised by the monarch and his 
 court. Anthony Toto was the first, and Jerome 
 de Trevisi was the next, who arrived about 1631. 
 It is said that the latter painted the Champ de 
 drop (Tor, and Henry's grand embarkation; he 
 however made cartoons for tapestry suits, to adorn 
 the royal palaces. Lanzi states that he had a 
 pension of four hundred crowns a year as king's 
 painter, architect, and engineer. Bartholomew, or 
 Luca Penni came over in 1537 ; he had previously 
 been with Rosso to the court of Francis I. He is 
 said to have made many designs for engravers, and 
 also to have engraved plates himself ; but there is 
 nothing certainly known as to whether he left the 
 country or died here. 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 FOREIGN ARTISTS. 
 
 Disciples of the Dutch or Flemish schools, 
 pupils of Albert 'Durer, Mabeuse, and Van Eyck, 
 came to share the honour and the profits of Henry's 
 liberality l . Amongst the most distinguished of 
 these painters we find the names of Lucas Corne- 
 lisz, who had much talent in his line. He lived 
 many years in England, where he ended his days. 
 He painted a great many pictures, and showed 
 Holbein the art of painting miniatures in water- 
 colours. 
 
 G. Luke Horneband, or Horrebout, had a good 
 reputation in Flanders, as a painter of small altar- 
 pieces. The king and nobility patronised him very 
 much ; and Deschamps says, that the encourage- 
 ment given by Henry to this artist and Holbein, 
 characterize his taste for painting. This, no doubt, 
 was meant in reference to their superior merits in 
 art; but with regard to Horneband, we cannot 
 form a correct opinion, as there are not any works 
 known to be his now in England. 
 
 Henry had no less than three Serjeant painters 
 
 1 Johannes Corvus, and Gerber Fleccia, it appears, also were 
 in England about this time, at least two of their works are still 
 preserved ; one is the portrait of Fox, bishop of Winchester, 
 now at Oxford, painted early in Henry's reign by Corvus ; the 
 other of archbishop Cranmer, in the British Museum.
 
 RAFFAEL. 219 
 
 previously to Holbein's arrival ; these were A. 
 Toto, Andrew Wright, who lived in Southwark, 
 and John Brown. The last built the Painters'- 
 hall for that company *, which, though not incorpo- 
 rated, had been a fraternity for many years, and 
 had arms granted to them in the first year of 
 Henry VIII. by Holme Clarencieux 2 . The histo- 
 rian Camden, who was the son of a painter whose 
 residence was in the Old Bailey, gave a silver cup 
 and cover to the company of painter-stainers, which 
 they use after their election on St. Luke's day, 
 when the past master drinks out of it to his suc- 
 cessor elect 3 . 
 
 Raffael, though he could not accept Henry's 
 invitation to be his serjeant-painter in England, 
 did however paint for him a picture of St. George, 
 which was known to be since in the collection of 
 M. Crozat, in France. 
 
 In an office-book, signed monthly by Henry him- 
 self, and which contains accounts of the payment 
 
 1 A. D. 1533. His portrait is still preserved there. The first 
 charter of this company was granted 6th Edward VI., in which 
 they are styled " Peyntours." Their charter was confirmed in 
 the 23rd Elizabeth, 1581, under the title of " Painter-staiiiers." 
 
 2 These are Azure, a chevron or, between three phoenix heads 
 erased, proper. 
 
 3 Upon this cup is the following inscription : " Gitl. Camdenut 
 Clarencieux, filius Samtonis, pictoris Londinensis, dedlt." 
 
 L 2
 
 220 SALARIES OF ARTISTS. 
 
 of wages, the gifts, &c., are entered the names 
 of several painters employed by the king. 
 
 It commences in November, 1531, and concludes 
 in 1533; in it we find the following entries. 
 
 " An. reg. xxii. Nov. 8. Paid to Antony Toto, 
 and Barthol Penne, paynters, for their Hverie coats, 
 xlvs. 
 
 " An. reg. xxiii. Jan. xv. day. Paid to Anthony 
 Toto, paynter, by the king's commandment, xx?." 
 
 In another office-book, Gr. Vertue found the fol- 
 lowing memoranda. 
 
 " March 1538. Item, to Anthony Toto and Bar- 
 tilmew Penn, payntours, 12?. 10s., their quarterly 
 payment between them ; also presents on New 
 Year's day 1539. 
 
 " To Anthony Tote's servant, that brought the 
 king at Hampton Court a depicted table of Co- 
 Ionia, 7s. and 8d. 
 
 " Feb. An. reg. xxix. Gerard Luke Horneband, 
 payntour, 56s. and 9d. per month." 
 
 But neither Toto's works, nor those of Hor- 
 rebout, can now be identified, being either lost TH* 
 unknown, and probably often attributed to Holbein, 
 whose pencil, like Aaron's rod, appears to have 
 swallowed all its contemporaries. 
 
 Of Penni's works some few are known to exist ;
 
 NEGLECT OF THE CHRONICLERS. 221 
 
 and it is believed, with great reason, that the scrip- 
 ture pieces discovered by G. Vertue, painted on 
 wainscot at Hampton-court, are by that artist, who 
 studied under Raffael ; they are much in the style 
 of that great master, and quite different in that 
 respect from the German school. 
 
 There appears to have been an extraordinary 
 degree of neglect on the part of the artists, as well 
 as of the public officers and chroniclers of those 
 times, as regarded matters connected with works of 
 art. Almost every thing connected with those 
 intellectual pursuits, appears to have been hardly 
 thought worthy of recording, even in the reign of 
 a monarch, who was himself quite an example of 
 patronage towards the professors of painting, and 
 at first of sculpture and architecture. 
 
 We are left quite in doubt as to the artists, for 
 there probably was more than one who painted the 
 four very curious and interesting large historical 
 pictures, which were formerly in the royal collection 
 at Windsor, but which, by the favour of his ma- 
 jesty George III., were removed, and form so fine 
 and appropriate a decoration to the meeting room 
 of the Socitey of Antiquaries at Somerset-house 1 . 
 
 1 This society has had engraved at their own cost, " Le Champ 
 de drap d'or." 
 
 L 3
 
 222 LE CHAMP DE DRAP D^OR. 
 
 The first of this series in chronological order is 
 the Battle of the Splirs, which was fought at Gui- 
 negate in Picardy, A. D. 1513, and so called be- 
 cause the French troops made more use of their 
 spurs than of their swords. 
 
 2. The embarkation of Henry VIII. at Dover, 
 May 31, 1520, previously to his interview with 
 Francis I. In this picture is given an exact repre- 
 sentation of that celebrated ship, " Harry Grace 
 Dieu," a most curious specimen of an English line 
 of battle ship in that age ; it is four masted. 
 
 3. Le Champ de drap cTor. This is that cele- 
 brated pageant the interview between Henry VIII. 
 and Francis I. on the plain between Guisnes and 
 Ardres near Calais, June 7, 1520. This view con- 
 tains every circumstance of the interview, from its 
 commencement to its conclusion l ; each of these 
 
 1 There is a curious anecdote connected with this picture. 
 After the decapitation of Charles I., the parliament appointed 
 commissioners to dispose of his splendid collection of pictures, &c. 
 an agent from France was in treaty for this picture. Philip, 
 earl of Pembroke, was determined to prevent this bargain. He 
 found an opportunity to cut out Henry's head from the canvas, 
 and secretly carried it off. The agent then declined to purchase 
 the mutilated work. At the restoration, the next earl of Pem- 
 broke delivered this lost fragment to Charles II. at the first levee 
 he attended, and it was carefully restored. By looking at the 
 picture in a side light, the joining of the parts may be dis- 
 covered.
 
 ORNAMENTED ROLL OF VELLUM. 223 
 
 pictures is five feet six inches in height, and eleven 
 feet three inches wide. 
 
 4. King Henry VIII. with queen Catherine 
 Parr, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, "Will Someres, 
 the merrye jestere," is at one door, and a female 
 dwarf at the other. The king is seated on the 
 throne, with one hand placed on the prince's shoul- 
 der ; the scene is in a colonnade looking through a 
 garden, probably at one of Henry's palaces. 
 
 Mr. Dallaway mentions a picture on panel at 
 Apuldurcombe (Isle of Wight), of Charles Bran- 
 don, duke of Suffolk, and Mary, his wife, queen- 
 dowager of Louis XII. king of France ; he thinks 
 it is by Mabeuse. 
 
 But one of the most curious pictorial compo- 
 sitions of this reign, descriptive of Henry's love of 
 pomp and gorgeous display of human vanity, is 
 still to be seen on a roll of vellum in the library of 
 the College of Arms, to which it was presented 
 by Henry, duke of Norfolk : its length is seventy 
 feet ; it is eighteen inches broad, and contains one 
 hundred and seventy figures and seventy-three 
 horses in procession ; with the lists, combat, and 
 successful return, it affords a most correct view 
 of the forms and circumstances by which these gor- 
 geous ceremonies were conducted. 
 L 4
 
 224 CURIOUS EXTRACTS. 
 
 The decided fondness that Henry had for these 
 expensive and magnificent processions, and manly 
 exercises of skill in arms, and in horsemanship, 
 were consistent enough with a strong partiality for 
 the fine arts, but not with a cruel and tyrannical 
 disposition : Henry's whole life was, however, a 
 tissue of the strangest and strongest oppositions. 
 
 But it cannot be denied, that to this despotic 
 and contradictory being we are indebted for es- 
 tablishing permanently the art of painting in Eng- 
 land. Yet so little appears to have been known 
 of the technicalities of the arts, even in his reign, 
 that it was the custom to denominate a picture on 
 panel, " a table with a picture ;" those on canvas 
 were called " cloths stained with a picture ;" models 
 in clay they termed " pictures made of earth." A 
 few extracts are subjoined from the inventory in 
 the Augmentation-office. 
 
 " Item, one table with the picture of the duchess 
 of Milan, being her whole stature. 
 
 " Item One table with the history of Filius 
 Prodigus. 
 
 . "Item One folding table, of the Passion, set 
 in gilt leather. 
 
 " Item One table like a book, with the pictures 
 of the King's majesty, and Queen Jane.
 
 LUCAS CORNELISZ. 225 
 
 " Item One other table with the whole stature 
 of my Lord Prince, his grace stained upon cloth, 
 with a curtain. 
 
 " Item One table of the Christiana Patientia. 
 
 " Item One table of the Passion, of cloth of 
 gold adorned with pearls and rubies. 
 
 " Item One table of russet and black, of the 
 parable of the 18th chapter of Matthew; raised 
 with liquid gold and silver. 
 
 " Item One picture of the King^s highness, 
 standing upon a mitre with three crowns, having 
 a serpent with seven heads going out of it, and 
 having a sword in his hand, whereon is written 
 Verbum Dei, 
 
 " Item One stained cloth, with Phoebus riding 
 in his Cart ' in the air, with the history of him. 
 
 " Item One picture of Moses, made of earth, 
 and set in a box of wood." 
 
 With respect to the works of Lucas Cornelisz 
 of Leyden, there are some authenticated ; the chief 
 of these are at Penshurst in a series of sixteen 
 pictures, of the constables of Queenborough castle, 
 from the reign of Edward III. to Sir Thomas Cheyne, 
 
 1 Were any artist at the present day to place the god of day 
 in such a vehicle, he might justly expect to have the whole press 
 about his cars. 
 
 L 5
 
 226 LUCAS CORKEL1SZ. 
 
 knight of the garter, in the third of Henry VIII. 
 though they cannot all be originals, they are valua- 
 ble as forming a link in the chain of art, as well 
 as for the historical personages whom they re- 
 present. Among these curious portraits are Robert 
 de Vere, the celebrated but unfortunate duke of 
 Ireland, and the ill-fated George duke of Clarence. 
 The works of Cornelisz, were much esteemed 
 here at that time, and many of them were brought 
 over on speculation from the Low countries ; but 
 this popularity must have arisen from the incipient 
 taste that had newly been awakened in this country 
 by the encouragement given to artists, for it could 
 not have arisen from the superior powers displayed 
 in these works. They are more valuable as historical 
 records and interesting curiosities in arts, than 
 examples of power, either of mind, or mechanical 
 command of materials. All the northern schools at 
 this period were deficient in " a correct knowledge 
 of design," gracefulness of forms, combination in 
 grouping, and of the unity of purpose. Their at- 
 tempts to express the human feelings were generally 
 forced and feeble, with an entire ignorance of that 
 great charm of pictorial art, " chiaro scuro ;" there 
 was nothing like combination ; no mass of light 
 appeared to oppose masses of shade, consequently
 
 HOLBKIN. 227 
 
 no breadth of effect ; for every figure, and every 
 object not quite flat, had its own allotment of mere 
 light at one side, and shadow on the other, and in 
 this childish economy of the two great causes of 
 the sublime in effect, those artists appear to have 
 balanced affairs with a scrupulous precision, that in 
 our days appears quite amusing. Even the expres- 
 sed notions of dignity were formal, stiff and truly 
 pedantic ; and from these defects even Holbein the 
 idol ' of that age (in England) was far from being 
 
 1 This fact can be best understood by the following circum- 
 stance, which though already mentioned in other works, could not 
 properly be omitted in one like this. A man of high rank having 
 insisted on making his way into Holbein's study whilst a lady was 
 sitting for her portrait, the artist resisted the intruder, and in a 
 scuffle the latter was pushed or fell down the stairs, and was hurt. 
 Holbein, alarmed at this result, immediately sought out the king, 
 told him the circumstance, and implored his pardon ; which Henry 
 promised him, provided he had told the truth. Presently after 
 this the nobleman arrived ; he demanded that Holbein's head 
 should atone for his insulted dignity. Henry asked him to state 
 the case fairly ; in doing this he suppressed a material fact. The 
 king then told Holbein to ask the lord's pardon. His lordship, 
 however, would not be satisfied with less than the decapitation of 
 the painter. Henry became excited, and told him, that as he 
 had suppressed a material fact he was not entitled to any satis- 
 faction ; adding, " My lord, you have now not to deal with Holbein 
 but with me ; whatever punishment you may contrive against 
 him in revenge, shall most assuredly be inflicted on yourself ; and 
 remember that I can, whenever I please, make seven lords of 
 
 L 6
 
 228 PROGRESS OF PAINTING, 
 
 exempt. His flesh tints were clean and natural ; he 
 had some creative power, a superior degree of imagi- 
 nation for that period, a good idea of harmony in his 
 colouring, and was a more correct draftsman than 
 the greater portion of the northern artists of his 
 day ; but he had no idea of making a grand effect 
 in chiaro scuro. The nature of these principles 
 is now better understood and practised here, we 
 believe, than in any other contemporary school. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 The commencement of painting has been at all 
 times and in all lands, wherever its early beauties 
 have been unfolded, like a mystic light shining 
 through the darkness, admired but not compre- 
 hended. 
 
 It was then struggling into a brighter existence, 
 by the gradual reaction of the human mind, which, 
 after a long dreary period of ignorance and bar- 
 barism, had for the last three or four centuries 
 been expanding itself gradually, but with certainty, 
 towards those happier eras that have developed its 
 
 seven ploughmen, but I cannot make one Holbein out of seven 
 lords."
 
 HOLBEIN. 229 
 
 marvellous powers. Even the sciences, which, how- 
 ever rude, always precede the arts, had not as yet 
 enlightened the northern nations of Europe to any 
 considerable extent ; at least it is clear that there 
 was little cultivation of mind amongst the great 
 body of the people, and that the application of 
 geometrical and anatomical principles to painting 
 was scarcely thought of in these countries. It 
 was under all these disadvantages that the earlier 
 artists attempted to represent historical facts, 
 poetic fancies, or the features of the distinguished 
 persons of their day. Even the so much boasted 
 Dance of Death was not Holbein's original idea, 
 though so often attributed to him ; he saw the 
 original work, which had been painted many years 
 before his time, and he improved upon it, by adding 
 some figures to the original composition. 
 
 There are several pictures by Holbein that are 
 authentic ; but, luckily for his fame, not one fifth 
 of those that are attributed to his pencil. This 
 fallacy arises out of the tricks of cunning dealers 
 in " old masters," a practice that commenced 
 the moment that pictures became profitable specu- 
 lations. It was the fashion about the court to buy 
 up Holbein's pictures, and the brokers soon found 
 plenty of juvenile Holbeins, ready and willing to
 
 230 HOLBEIN. 
 
 supply their shops, and no doubt need be enter- 
 tained, but that, as this was a trading and me- 
 chanical affair, " the supply" was fully equal to 
 " the demand V 1 
 
 1 In confirmation of this view of the case, which is not exclu- 
 sively our own, perhaps the best evidence will be an extract from 
 the works of Holbein's great panegyrist Mr. Walpole, who pos- 
 sessed many genuine specimens of that painter's works. " That 
 Holbein," says Mr. W. often drew the king is undoubtable ; 
 several pictures extant of Henry are ascribed to him, but I would 
 not warrant many of them ; there is one at Trinity coll. Cambridge, 
 another at Lord Torrington's, at Whitehall, both whole lengths ; 
 and another is in the gallery of royal portraits at Kensington, 
 which, whoever painted it, is execrable. 
 
 At page 154, Mr. W. says, " For nothing has Holbein's name 
 been oftener mentioned, than for the pictures of Sir T. More's 
 family, yet of six pictures extant on that subject, the two smaller are 
 certainly copies, the three larger probably not painted by Holbein, 
 and the sixth, though an original picture, most Hfoly not of Sir 
 Thomas and his family:" and certainly Mr. W. supports his opinions 
 in a manner that is not merely plausible, but rational. We can- 
 not go at length into these arguments, but merely take one picture 
 to show the tricks that even in that portion of the " good old 
 times" were practised by unprincipled collectors upon their 
 amateur dupes. We must however premise, that three out of the 
 five are indifferently painted ; the fourth was painted by Peter 
 Oliver ; and the fifth Mr. W. with great reason believed to be a 
 family picture of the consul Mejer, consul or burgomaster of 
 Basle, but painted by Holbein. 
 
 With respect to the third of these five he says, " this picture is 
 twelve feet wide, and is the one which was in Deloo's collection, 
 after whose death it was bought by Mr. Roper (Sir T. More's 
 grandson). This Deloo was a collector of Holbein's works, and his 
 contemporary, yet Vertue gives such strong reasons, supported by 
 so plausible an hypothesis, to account for its not being Holbein's,
 
 HOLBEIN. 231 
 
 Several genuine works of Holbein were destroyed 
 by the fire at Whitehall- palace, in 1698, and some 
 others at that which took place at St. James's in 
 1 809 : but it would far exceed our limits, to give a 
 catalogue of them that are to be found in various 
 collections. 
 
 After taking the greatest pains for the purpose, 
 we can only find an account of four of Holbein's 
 public works in England , the first is that in the 
 Surgeons'-hall, of Henry VIII. giving the charter 
 to the corporation of Surgeons, which is still pre- 
 served. Another, is the large picture in Bridewell- 
 hall, Blackfriars *, in which Edward VI. is repre- 
 sented in the act of delivering to the lord mayor of 
 London, the royal charter, by which he gave into 
 the hands of the magistrates and corporation of 
 London, " this his palace," and also the five other 
 
 that I think them worthy of being laid before the reader. He says, 
 " the picture is but indifferent ; on this I lay no more stress than 
 I do in the case of that at Burford : but his observation, that 
 the light x and x/^i/o- In. different parts of the picture come from 
 o}>posite sides, is unanswerable, and demonstrates it no genuine 
 picture of Holbein, unless that master had been a most ignorant 
 artist, as he might sometimes be a careless painter." 
 
 1 Of this being Holbein's work, there is good reason to doubt, 
 for both the royal donor and the artist died almost immediately 
 after the donations were made.
 
 232 HOLBEIN. 
 
 royal hospitals, to be converted into humane and 
 charitable foundations, for the education of youth, 
 the relief of the indigent, or the reception and cure 
 of sick and injured persons. 
 
 The third and fourth, according to Mr. W., 
 were painted in distemper, in the hall of the Easter- 
 lings, in the Steel-yard ; these works exhibited the 
 triumphs of riches and of poverty. It is said, that 
 on the sight of these pictures, Zucchero expressed 
 approbation of the master ; he copied them in 
 Indian ink. The drawings were afterwards in M. 
 Crozafs collection ; Vosterman, jun. is said to 
 have engraved them '. Mr. Walpole purchased 
 two fine drawings of these subjects, at the sale 
 which took place at Buckingham-house, when it 
 was purchased by George III. Mr. W. says of 
 them, " the composition is noble, free, and mas- 
 terly, the expression admirable, the attitudes grace- 
 
 1 Instead of their being, one by Zucchero, and the other by 
 Vosterman, a mere conjecture of Mr. W., may not these fine 
 spirited classical sketches have been the original designs of one 
 of the great Italian masters, or of Luca Penni, from which the 
 above pictures were painted ? In nothing that we have seen 
 that ever was composed by Holbein, is there the least resem- 
 blance to the natural grace and beauty of Raffael. Luca Penni's 
 style strongly resembles Raffael's.
 
 HOLBEIN. 233 
 
 ful, several of them bearing a great resemblance to 
 the style of Raffael ; on each are Latin verses, but 
 no mention of Holbein '. 
 
 Holbein formed but one scholar, (and he was a 
 foreigner) Nicholas Amburger, of Augsburgh : this 
 does not strike us as being in any way complimen- 
 tary to the character of Holbein. He came to 
 England poor and neglected ; he was received into 
 royal favour, was twenty-eight years enjoying the 
 hospitalities and friendship of the court and of the 
 nobles of the land, yet he never taught his art to 
 one Englishman ; that knowledge upon which he 
 was starving in his native town, Basil, he took good 
 care should never raise a subject of his royal patron 
 to honour and affluence. The seeds of good me- 
 chanical art, which he might, without any detriment 
 to himself, have sown in the land which had shel- 
 tered him from distress, and perhaps an early tomb, 
 were left for others to plant long afterwards. 
 
 1 Sandrart pretends that Inigo Jones showed him a book of 
 Holbein's designs for weapons, hilts, ornaments, scabbards, 
 sheaths, sword-belts, buttons and hooks, girdles, hatbands, clasps 
 for shoes, knives, forks, salt-cellars, &c. for the king. If this 
 be true, it is one of the best instances of the bathos in practical 
 art, with which we are acquainted.
 
 234 TORREGIANO. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Besides the artists mentioned, we find some 
 others who deserve attention. And amongst them 
 Pietro Torregiano, the contemporary and antago- 
 nist, though not exactly the rival, of the magnifi- 
 cent Michael Angelo. Torregiano, according to 
 Vasari, was born at Florence, about A. D. 1470, 
 and had attained a high reputation, which led to 
 his being employed by Henry to complete the tomb 
 of Henry VII. in his chapel at Westminster. 
 This fine work he commenced in 1516, and com- 
 pleted in 1519 ; consequently it occupied him about 
 three years. It appears from the same author, 
 that Torregiano was brought to England by mer- 
 chants who traded to Leghorn, Pisa, &c. For 
 the works on the tomb, he received a thousand 
 pounds, and might have had abundance of profit- 
 able employment, having taken quite the lead in 
 his profession here ; but, as his biographer and 
 countryman states, he was proud, inconsiderate, 
 and ungovernable. 
 
 In an evil hour he left England, and went to 
 Spain ; where, after he had executed several clever 
 works, his reputation stood very high. He was at 
 length employed by a Spanish grandee, the duke
 
 TORREGIANO. 235 
 
 cTArcos, one of the highest of his rank, to carve a 
 Madonna and Child, the size of nature, and to be 
 done from the same model as one he had already 
 executed, and a promise was given to him of being 
 rewarded proportionably to the merit of his work. 
 Torregiano had conceived a high notion of this 
 man's generosity, and determined to surpass his 
 previous effort. Having passed a great part of his 
 time in travelling from one kingdom to another in 
 search of employment, he began to flatter himself 
 that he had now found a resting place : he there- 
 fore took great pains, and applied himself with 
 uncommon diligence to complete the work, and 
 presented to his employer a matchless piece of 
 sculpture, the utmost effort of his art. 
 
 The Grandee surveyed the performance with de- 
 light and reverence, applauded Torregiano to the 
 skies, and, impatient to possess the beauteous idol, 
 sent instantly to demand the prize ; and at the 
 same time, to show off his own generosity, he 
 loaded two lacqueys with the money. The bulk 
 appeared promising, but when Torregiano turned 
 up the bags, he found the payment was composed 
 of nothing but miserable brass maravedi, amount- 
 ing to the value of thirty ducats ! Vexation upon
 
 236 TORREGIAXO. 
 
 the sudden disappointment of his hopes, and just 
 resentment for what he rightly considered an insult 
 to his merit, so transported him, that snatching up 
 his mallet in a rage, and not regarding the beauty 
 of the work, or what was of more fatal consequence 
 to him, the sacred character with which his genius 
 had invested the block of marble, he broke it sud- 
 denly to pieces, and dismissed the lacqueys with 
 their load of farthings to tell the tale. They but 
 too well reported the disaster. The grandee in his 
 turn, fired with shame, vexation, disappointment, 
 and revenge, and either conceiving or pretending 
 horror for what in that dark age and nation, was 
 considered a sacrilegious act, presented himself 
 before the Inquisition at Seville, and impeached 
 the artist at that horrible and iniquitous tribunal. 
 It was in vain that Torregiano argued well the 
 indisputable right of an author over the works of 
 his own creation. Eeason pleaded at his side ; 
 but blind superstition sat in judgment. He, Torre- 
 giano, was condemned ! The decree was " death 
 with torture;" but the "Holy Office 1 ' lost its 
 victim ; for Torregiano became insane, through the 
 cruelty of his gaolers, and dying in that deplorable 
 state, disappointed his intended executioners.
 
 KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL. 237 
 
 G. Vertue attributes to Torregiano, the tomb 
 of Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother of 
 Henry VIII., and also that of Dr. Young, master 
 of the Rolls at that time ; the latter is in the Rolls 
 chapel, Chancery-lane. 
 
 In the Harleian MSS. is preserved an account 
 of the expense of Henry the seventh's monument, 
 also the names of other artists employed on it by 
 Torregiano : these we have already given. Another 
 master mason was William Vertue, who, with John 
 Hylmer, engaged to vault and roof the choir of 
 St. George's chapel, Windsor, for 700J. '. 
 
 Henry was not, originally attentive to architec- 
 ture, although he paid so much attention to painting. 
 King's college, Cambridge, was one of the public 
 edifices finished in his reign. It was commenced 
 under Henry VI., continued at intervals under 
 Henry VII., and the architectural parts completed 
 in 1515 ; the painted and stained glass windows 
 were not completed for some years after. It cer- 
 
 1 Robert Cooke, Clarencieux herald, is mentioned by Vertue, 
 as a painter at this time, and that he painted the portraits of 
 Hen. VII., Hen. VIII., queen Catharine, Charles Brandon, duke 
 of Suffolk, Sir Robert and Sir Anthony Wingfield, the lady of 
 the latter, and seven or eight sons.
 
 238 KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL. 
 
 tainly is a very noble memorial of that age, and 
 would do honour to any period of our history. 
 
 There are still preserved several indentures re- 
 lating to the execution of this great work. One of 
 them is dated in the 4th of Henry VIII. It is an 
 agreement between the provost, Robert Hacom- 
 blein, and Thomas Larke, clerk of the works, and 
 John Wastell, master mason ; by which he agrees 
 to build or set up a good or sufficient vault for the 
 great church there, according to a plat signed by 
 the lords executors of king Henry VII. They 
 covenanting to pay him 1200?., i. e. 100?. for each 
 severey (bay or partition) of the church, there 
 being twelve severeys '. 
 
 There are two other deeds, which are not only 
 curious but valuable, as evidence of the skill of our 
 painters and stainers of glass in that epoch : they 
 are dated 3rd May, in the 18th of Henry VIII. 
 The first is between the same provost and Dr. Larke, 
 on the one hand, and the artist on the other, viz. 
 
 Francis Williamson, of Southwark, glazier, and 
 
 1 There is another contract lately found, containing names of 
 masons, and others engaged in this very building, of which 
 Dr. N. Cloos, bishop of Lichfield was the original architect ; it 
 bears date 17th August 1476, the 16th of Henry VI.
 
 KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL. 239 
 
 Simon Symonds, of St. Margaret's, Westminster, 
 glazier, these agreeing, "curiously and sufficiently, to 
 glaze four windows of the upper story of the church 
 at King's college, Cambridge, of orient colours, and 
 imagery of the story of the old law, and of the new 
 law, after the manner and goodness in every point, 
 of the king's new chapel at Westminster ; also ac- 
 cording to the manner done by Bernard Flower, 
 glazier, deceased ; also according to such patrones 
 (patterns), otherwise called vidimus, to be set up 
 within two years, to be paid after the rate of six- 
 teen-pence the foot for the glass." 
 
 The second is between the same provost, and 
 Galyon Hoone, parish of St. Mary Magdalen, 
 Richard Bownde, of St. Clement Danes, Thomas 
 Reeve, of St. Sepulchre, and James Nicholson, of 
 Southwark, glaziers. The latter covenanting to 
 set up eighteen windows of King's college chapel, 
 like those of the king's new chapel at West- 
 minster, &c. ; the bands of lead to be two-pence 
 per foot. 
 
 We should think that these facts afford suffi- 
 cient proofs of the great skill of our native artists at 
 that period ; but people generally are so biassed in 
 the wrong idea that to foreigners we are indebted
 
 240 WOLSEY. 
 
 for such splendid works, that it compels us to lay 
 before our readers most uncontrovertible evidence, 
 to convince the British public, that these works are 
 the sole productions of their own countrymen 1 . 
 
 It is also recorded, that Henry's master of the 
 tapestry, or arras work, was John Mustayn, his 
 seal engraver was John de Mayne, and his en- 
 graver of precious stones was William Atsyll. 
 
 There was another Flemish family of painters 
 named Bernardi, brought over by bishop Sherborne, 
 A.D. 1519 : they painted at Chichester, a series of 
 the kings of England, and the bishops of that see ; 
 also two very large historical pictures on oak 
 panels, representing two principal epochs in the his- 
 tory of the church at Chichester : the latter were 
 repainted in 1747, by a person named Tremaine*. 
 
 The splendid taste and munificence of Wolsey 
 kept pace with that of his royal patron, so long as 
 he was an object of that capricious monarch's fa- 
 vour ; his palaces at Whitehall, and Hampton- 
 
 1 There is an entry in the treasury roll before alluded to, in 
 which there is a payment of 40Z. to Lavinia Terlinks, " the payn- 
 trixe." The name of Newton, as an artist, is also mentioned by 
 Skelton. 
 
 2 There is sufficient reason to believe that the chambers at 
 Cowdray-house, Sussex, were painted by the Bernardis. Thi 
 mansion was burned in 1793.
 
 WOLSEY. 241 
 
 court, and Christ's college, Oxford, were monu- 
 ments of his magnificent spirit, and his sincere 
 desire to encourage the arts and sciences in his 
 native land. This prelate certainly went all lengths 
 with the king in these grand projects, and he had 
 procured some foreign artists to come over to be 
 employed by himself. One of these is recorded as 
 Beneditto di Rovezzano, a Florentine sculptor, an- 
 other was Antony Cavalleri, a gilder of metals. 
 The king took Rovezzano * into his service, and 
 employed him on the same tomb which Wolsey 
 had for some time been erecting, but which Henry 
 got into his own possession on disgracing his 
 favourite ; and carried on the work, intending to 
 complete it for himself, but this tomb house, or 
 sepulchral chapel, which was commenced close to 
 St. George's, Windsor, was not finished until the 
 reign of king George I V. 2 
 
 King Henry and queen Jane Seymour were in- 
 terred in St. George's chapel, for it was intended 
 that they should be removed into the mausoleum 
 
 1 This artist received 1250 ducats for what he had done for the 
 cardinal. 
 
 2 Lord Herbert says that the original design of this mausoleum 
 was so glorious, that it would have far exceeded in splendour 
 that of Henry VII. 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 ROYAL TOMB-CHAPEL AT WINDSOR. 
 
 as soon as it should be completely finished, but this 
 has not been done 1 . 
 
 This ill-fated tomb-chapel, that seems to per- 
 petuate the ruin of its founder, was amongst the 
 latest efforts of the freemasons to continue the 
 florid style of architecture in England: contem- 
 porary with it, was the completion of Henry VIL's 
 chapel, at Westminster. It was at this time, also, 
 that the beautiful cloisters adjoining St. Stephen's 
 chapel, and the hall of Rufus were finished. Of 
 these beauteous specimens of English florid archi- 
 tecture, Dr. Chambers was the architect, and there 
 is a tradition amongst the real architects of this 
 style, that on the completion of these cloisters, the 
 freemasons took their leave finally of England. 
 
 But the glorious era of the English style had 
 passed away ; the panelled, or perpendicular man- 
 ner, had gradually, as we have seen, displaced "the 
 decorated," which had itself succeeded the early 
 
 1 Charles I. proposed to enlarge the chapel, and fit it for 
 himself and his successors, but great part of the huilding was 
 demolished by the order of parliament in 1646, when the fine 
 figures of copper gilt were melted down. James II. repaired 
 this building, and employed Verrio to paint it, as he intended to 
 convert it into a Romish chapel. George III. in 1800 ordered 
 that the whole structure should be repaired, glazed, and restored 
 where decayed.
 
 THE TUDOR STYLE. 243 
 
 English style. In Henry's time, the Tudor had dis- 
 placed all the others ; they had, as it were, " gone 
 out of fashion,' 1 '' and this is classed as the latest sec- 
 tion of the perpendicular manner. The peculiarities 
 of this style are a flat arch, shallow mouldings, an 
 exuberance of panelling on the walls, rectilinear 
 tracery in the windows, and fan tracery in the roofs ; 
 this manner is peculiar to England. In the latest 
 period of the pointed architecture, each country 
 appears to have had a style of its own. Professor 
 Willis calls these the after Gothic styles, as the 
 flamboyant in France, &c. In Italy it appears 
 that this intermediate manner is wanting, the re- 
 vival of the classic orders having there followed im- 
 mediately after the decorated, or perfect Gothic. 
 With us, as we have shown, there was a very 
 gradual change always going on, the whole of our 
 architecture might be called a series of transitions, 
 from the Anglo-Saxon, down to the Tudor age ; 
 but here all further transition was put an end to, 
 the whole style was abandoned, and a nondescript 
 congregation, not combination, of parts were stuck 
 together, in a manner that might truly be denomi- 
 nated " the fantastic manner ;" and what made 
 this even more deplorable was, that the brilliant 
 course of our fine architecture was suddenly 
 M 2
 
 244 JOHN OF PADUA. 
 
 checked, and its glorious productions, the magnifi- 
 cent offspring of elevated genius and minds of supe- 
 rior power, not only ceased to be considered objects 
 worthy of admiration and of national care, but 
 were pointed at with the finger of scorn, and sub- 
 jected to the rabble violence of all classes. To 
 describe the heterogeneous mass of Greek- Roman 
 and Roman-Gothic forms that followed the Tudor 
 style would be almost impossible by words; the 
 pencil, or drawing-pen, alone could convey an 
 adequate idea of its conglomerate character. 
 
 The capricious monarch, who, though he en- 
 couraged the arts, knew nothing of the principles 
 upon which they are founded, had got some Italian 
 adventurers about him, who it appears were in re- 
 spect to science quite as scantily endowed as their 
 patron. He became tired of the English style of 
 building, and selected one John of Padua, of whom 
 no biographer can give any account, to be " De- 
 viser of his majesty's buildings." The Rev. Mr. 
 Dallaway very properly stops to inquire who this 
 Johannes de Padua was ? how educated ? and 
 what were his works previous to his arrival in 
 England? but without success. Mr. Walpole, 
 more than sixty years previously, admitted his in- 
 ability to give his readers any account of him, or
 
 JOHN OF PADUA. 24-5 
 
 his works, except from some entries in the king's 
 office-books, of large sums of money paid him, but 
 for what services, it is not stated. It appears by 
 the same grant, that he was a musician also, and 
 probably that may have led to Henry's friendship 
 for him ; at all events, as we have only this man, 
 and the portrait painter, Holbein, before us, as the 
 reputed architects of the barbarous mixture that 
 succeeded the Tudor style, we must allow them all 
 the credit of having contrived the most piebald 
 masses of masonry that ever were seen in any civil- 
 ized land. Even Mr. Walpole, who states that the 
 beginning of the reform in architecture seems owing 
 to those artists, says just before, when speaking of 
 the confusion that prevailed in architecture towards 
 the close of Henry's reign, " but whether they, 
 (Holbein and Johannes de Padua), were not per- 
 fectly masters of it, or that it was necessary to intro- 
 duce the innovation by degrees, it certainly did not 
 obtain at first full possession. It was plastered 
 over upon Gothic, and made a barbarous mixture. 
 Regular columns, with ornaments neither Grecian 
 nor Gothic, and half embroidered with foliage, were 
 crammed over frontispieces, facades, and chimneys, 
 and lost all grace by wanting simplicity. This 
 mongrel species lasted until late in the reign of 
 M 3
 
 246 JOHN OF PADUA. 
 
 James /." That is, until above sixty years after 
 Holbein's decease. How then, it is asked, could 
 Holbein have reformed the architecture ? We rather 
 suspect that this universal genius, and his friend 
 and musician, Johannes de Padua, were mainly 
 instrumental in producing that "mongrel species" 
 of building, for it seems they were the court ar- 
 chitects ; theirs are the only names recorded as 
 Henry's favourite builders ; their decrees were as 
 absolute as those of their master ; no one durst 
 contravene their orders : who then would venture 
 to get up this species of building without their 
 concurrence at least * ? 
 
 The same learned writer*, though partial to these 
 builders, ends his account by stating, " that his 
 (Holbein's) porch at Wilton, though purer than 
 the works of his successors, is of this bastard sort" 
 what then must the other specimens of his "reformed 
 style" have been ?...." Where he acquired this 
 
 1 John of Padua had his patent renewed to him in the third of 
 Edward VI. He was evidently much more of a courtier than 
 an architect, and gained the favour of the haughty Protector 
 Somerset, who employed him to build his palace of Somerset 
 house, in the Strand, 1549 ; but it was not finished when his 
 patron was led to the scaffold. The front of this building, of 
 which there was an old engraving, was a mixture of the most 
 heterogeneous conceits. 
 
 1 The Hon. Horace Walpole.
 
 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 247 
 
 taste it is, difficult to say, probably it was adopted 
 front, his fellow-labourers at court." This is Mr. 
 Walpole's idea of the manner in which a person can 
 acquire such a decided knowledge of architecture, 
 as that the "the reformation" of our national style 
 of building should be effected by it ! It is a libel 
 (unintentional of course) on that noble combination 
 of art and science, which, being directed by men of 
 superior intellect, can raise the most magnificent 
 edifices to the service of God, or for the purposes 
 of man. Is the power, we would ask, of creating 
 glorious temples of religion, the most splendid 
 palaces, and the noblest senate-houses, and man- 
 sions for the high and wealthy ranks of society, is 
 it to be picked up by a casual intercourse with our 
 " fellow-labourers at court ?" at a semi-barbarous 
 court I certainly not at a civilized one. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 The domestic architecture of the reigns of the 
 three sovereigns preceding Henry VIII. was gra- 
 dually changing its character from the massive, 
 grand, and gloomy baronial castle, or rather fortress, 
 to the castellated mansion. Many of the old frown- 
 ing abodes of the bold barons of the Plantagenet 
 M 4
 
 248 DOMESTIC AND 
 
 times had been either abandoned for newer and 
 more comfortable residences, or had been so much 
 altered as to change their appearance considerably. 
 Those which were newly constructed, after their 
 military character was no longer the entire object, 
 were sought to be accommodated to the purposes 
 of domestic life. They usually had a spacious 
 court, around which their large, and often splendid 
 apartments were arranged. And as the state of 
 society became more settled, and the necessity of 
 defence and retirement abated, the palaces and 
 greater manor-houses were constructed with atten- 
 tion to ornaments, which were worked in with the 
 military manner to which it succeeded. The towers, 
 but far less massive, were still retained at the an- 
 gles as flankers to the approaches ; but their mili- 
 tary air was set off by a rich embattled parapet. 
 In the centre of their principal front the guard- 
 portal and gateway raised their stately forms ; the 
 curtain walls were pierced with large windows, and 
 of these the bays or oriels, were objects of great 
 fancy in their forms and embellishments. 
 
 Towards the latter part of the fifteenth century, 
 temp. Edward IV., that very picturesque manner of 
 building which was denominated "the Burgundian," 
 was introduced into England. It was adapted
 
 PALATIAL ARCHITECTURE. 249 
 
 chiefly for palatial edifices. This manner was soon 
 adopted by the builders and combined with their 
 own manner ; and though very few instances of the 
 structures erected in that taste remain, yet these 
 are undoubted evidences of the period ; and it is 
 asserted on good authority, " that the Burgundian 
 may be considered as the true prototype of our 
 Tudor style, and as being confined to the two first 
 reigns of that dynasty." But during the time of 
 the three preceding sovereigns, castellated houses 
 of a rich and highly decorated manner had been 
 erected ; and it is worth noticing that, even during 
 the turbulent reign of Henry VI. the last of the 
 Lancaster line, the great ministers of his government 
 had severally built for themselves palatial castles : 
 amongst these were Placentia, or Plaisance ', at 
 Greenwich, built by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, 
 lord protector, 1440; Hurstmonceaux, Sussex, 
 by James Fiennes, lord Say and Sele, who was 
 lord high treasurer, A. D. 1447. The third is 
 Sudely castle *, in Gloucestershire, by Ralph lord 
 Sudely, 1453. Tattershall castle * in Lincolnshire, 
 by Ralph lord Cromwell, 1455. 
 
 1 Greenwich and Sudely are dilapidated. 
 
 * Tattershall and Hurstmonceaux are reduced to bare walls ; 
 the last of these was despoiled by the advice of Mr. Samuel 
 Wyatt, that a modern house might be built with the materials. 
 
 M 5
 
 250 EMINENT PAINTERS. 
 
 Henry VII. rebuilt Sheene palace, which had 
 been partly burned down in 1500, and he changed 
 the name to Richmond, after his own title. This 
 edifice also was in the rich Burgundian style. 
 
 At the beginning of Henry's reign 1 , Leonardo da 
 Vinci, Raffael, Michael Angelo, and a host of artists 
 transcendent in genius, had filled not only the great 
 cathedrals, but all the conventual and other con- 
 tinental churches, with their splendid works. In 
 France, Germany, Belgium, and Holland, as well as 
 in Italy and Spain likewise, the arts were well un- 
 derstood, and practised to an immense extent ; there- 
 fore to keep painting any longer out of England, 
 would not have been possible. It had in fact, as we 
 have seen, preserved a subordinate existence in this 
 country, from about the early part of the reign of 
 Henry III. and was practised here chiefly in the 
 decoration of churches long before the Norman 
 invasion. The moral and political circumstances 
 and character of Europe had likewise undergone 
 a remarkable and extensive change ; intellectual 
 improvement had rapidly increased by the discovery 
 of printing ; all these things had brought about an 
 entire alteration in the habits, manners and modes 
 of thinking, which had prevailed in the previous 
 
 1 1509.
 
 DEATH OF HOLBEIN. 251 
 
 century. The natural order of events prepared the 
 way for painting to be more extensively known in 
 England ; and the great respect which Henry's 
 splendid rival, Francis I. l paid to the great artists 
 whom he had invited into France, and maintained 
 at his court, excited Henry's attention to that 
 subject ; and it is asserted, that the latter invited 
 others, equally great in art, to enter into his ser- 
 vice : why his offers \vere rejected does not appear. 
 That Holbein had not realised any means of 
 support independent of his pencil is evident, for 
 we find that he used sometimes to get part or the 
 whole of his salary in advance 2 and that he died 
 poor is very probable, as we find that he was 
 obliged to give up his painting rooms at the palace, 
 after Henry "s decease ; and to shift for himself, 
 when age and its consequences had overtaken him. 
 In that case his death (by the plague), A. D. 1554, 
 was a release from further neglect. The house he 
 was received into, on being turned out of the palace, 
 is conjectured to have been in Bishopsgate-street ; 
 but the place of his sepulture is unknown. 
 
 1 Francis had brought L. da Vinci, Primaticcio, &c. to Paris, 
 to establish a school of painting. 
 
 2 He was a bad economist, and spent his money often before 
 he earned it. 
 
 M 6
 
 252 PALACES ERECTED BY 
 
 By means of the architectural pretenders who 
 surrounded his throne, Henry erected several 
 palaces, these are Bridewell, St. Jameses, and 
 Beaulieu : all of them were very inferior in 
 taste and character, to those previously erected. 
 He also altered and ornamented, but did not im- 
 prove, Windsor, Whitehall, and Hunsdon house ; 
 Nonsuch palace was begun, but not finished 
 by him. In these erections and alterations was 
 first introduced the terra cotta, or moulded brick- 
 work for their fantastic ornaments, and lassi 
 relievi, or medallions fixed against the walls, and 
 plaster work laid over the brick wall and often 
 painted, as might be seen at Nonsuch ; highly 
 glazed bricks of two colours, were now sometimes 
 placed in diagonal lines, the chimneys w r ere clus- 
 tered, and composed of columns either twisted 
 or wrought into patterns, with heads or capitals 
 embossed with the arms of the founder. 
 
 Henry's courtiers followed his example, and dis- 
 played great rivalry in the expensive and sump- 
 tuous houses which they erected in the districts 
 where their chief influence lay. Among the fore- 
 most of these courtiers was Wolsey ; he completed 
 Hampton court, Esher, in Surrey ; rebuilt the 
 episcopal edifice of York house, afterwards known
 
 HENRY AND HIS COURTIERS. 253 
 
 as Whitehall palace ; and at the time of his dis- 
 grace, had made considerable progress in his 
 colleges at Ipswich and Oxford. Edward Stafford, 
 the splendid duke of Buckingham, emulated the 
 cardinal in erecting Thornbury, (Gloucestershire). 
 Charles Brandon, the brother-in-law of Henry, 
 about the same time built Grimsthorp (Lincoln- 
 shire). The duke of Norfolk (treasurer), and his 
 accomplished son, lord Surrey, had evidently magni- 
 ficent ideas of architecture, as may well be inferred 
 from the descriptions still extant, of their noble man- 
 sions at Keninghall, and Mount Surrey (Norfolk), 
 but not a stone of either is now in its original place 1 . 
 
 Gateways and gate-houses were also new features 
 in all these structures, and they were loaded with 
 most expensive but unmeaning ornaments 2 . 
 
 With respect to bay windows, or, as they are 
 frequently termed, " oriels," they were in use full 
 
 1 Other edifices of this period were, Haddon hall, Derbyshire ; 
 Cowdray house, burnt 1793 ; Hever castle, Kent ; Gosfield hall, 
 Essex, and Hengrave hall, Suffolk, both perfect ; Layer Marney, 
 Essex, ruined ; Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, rebuilt ; South Wing- 
 field, Derby, dilapidated ; Hill hall, Essex ; Woolterton, Nor- 
 folk, ruins ; Harlaxton, Lincoln, and Westwood, Worcester, both 
 tolerably well preserved. 
 
 2 The gateway at Whitehall, mentioned before, is said to have 
 been built by Holbein ; it was faced with square glazed bricks of 
 divers colours, upon these were stuccoed four large circular me-
 
 254 OKI EL WINDOWS. 
 
 a century and a half before the Tudor style came 
 in ; they are merely projecting windows, often, but 
 not always, placed between two buttresses ; good 
 specimens of them may be seen in the parts of 
 Windsor castle built by Henry VIII., also at 
 Thornbury castle. When placed at the upper end 
 of the great hall, they reached from the floor to 
 the ceiling, and were of a more regular form than 
 the others; the use of these windows on festive 
 occasions, appears from a MS. in the Heralds' 1 
 college, which describes a feast given by Henry 
 VII., in his hall of Richmond palace. " Agaynst 
 his grace had supped, the hall was dressed and 
 goodlie to be seene, and a rich cupboord set thereup 
 in a baye windowe of ix or x stages and haunces 
 of light, furnished and fulfilled with plate of gold 
 and silver, and regilte."" About this period it was, 
 that carved wainscoting in panels, mostly of oak, 
 was introduced in halls, as an interior decoration ; 
 and it was also used in parlours and presence 
 
 dallions of busts * ; these are now at Hatfield Peverell, Herts. In 
 this gateway, amongst other apartments, was the study where 
 Holbein used to paint, and the courtiers to sit for their pictures. 
 Similar specimens of gates are at Hampton court and Wool- 
 terton. 
 
 * It was pulled down injudiciously, under the pretence that 
 the alterations then going on required its removal.
 
 MANSIONS. 255 
 
 chambers, in a finer style of composition and work- 
 manship, with numerous cyphers, cognizances, chi- 
 meras, and mottos 1 . 
 
 The interior court was either a square or oblong, 
 and besides the grand staircase leading from the 
 hall, there were others built in the hexangular 
 towers, in the angles of the building, generally those 
 in the principal area ; rising some distance above 
 the roof, and being grouped with the lofty, orna- 
 mented chimneys, produced altogether a very pictu- 
 resque and agreeable effect 2 . 
 
 There appears to have existed at this period, one 
 peculiar mode in the planning of mansion-houses, 
 and this was adopted almost constantly ; we find 
 in " the Dietarie, or regiment of health, by Andrew 
 Boorde, of physicke doctor," full directions as to 
 the manner in which a man should build his house 
 or mansion ; but if the doctor's medical prescrip- 
 tions were not more intelligible than his archi- 
 
 1 These ornaments were commonly used in the splendid castles 
 built in France, temp. Francis I., they are called boisseries. The 
 hall, and other chambers of the delapidated mansion of the lord 
 De la Warre, Halmore, Sussex, still retain some singularly cu- 
 rious examples. 
 
 2 By these peculiarities, the era of the early Tudor style may 
 readily be distinguished from that which superseded it in the 
 time of queen Elizabeth.
 
 256 MANSIONS. 
 
 tectural ones, his patients' " earthly tabernacles," 
 must often have been exposed to serious professional 
 accidents. To make this curious description quite 
 clear in our days, a ground plan at least would be 
 requisite '. 
 
 Cowdray-house ruins afford an excellent specimen of the 
 method to which we have alluded.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 EDWARD VI. (1547 tO 1553). 
 
 Wi. have now arrived at a period when a total 
 change appears to have taken place in the state 
 of the arts, as well as the religion of England. 
 Architecture and sculpture had been the favourites 
 until the late reign, when portrait painting at- 
 tracted much attention, and architecture became 
 a debased, patch-work affair ; and works of sculp- 
 ture, being no longer in demand for religious pur- 
 poses, its professors either abandoned the country, 
 or adopted the inferior office of supplying the 
 medallions, and other ornamental pastings of this 
 fantastic style, in which the tools of the stucco- 
 man and plasterer, with their putty ti'i'ru coffa 
 and moulded brick-icork) usurped the place of the
 
 258 EDWARD VI. 
 
 statuary's chisel, of good taste, and superior know- 
 ledge. And the disappearance of the palatial 
 houses built by Henry, or immediately after his 
 time, are regretted, not on account of any beauty 
 or fitness discoverable in them, but because they 
 formed a remarkable link in the chain of British 
 architecture, demonstrating the degeneracy into 
 which that great member of the arts had fallen in 
 less than a half a hundred years, from the high 
 and palmy state in which it had prospered for 
 centuries. 
 
 Such, however, was the condition in which the 
 arts were left when young Edward ascended the 
 throne. Of course there can be little to record, as 
 to their progress, in his short reign x . In archi- 
 tecture there is nothing, except a continuance of 
 the barbarous pasticcio class of building, com- 
 menced in his father's reign 2 . In sculpture the 
 same bad taste generally prevailed ; and in painting 
 there was not much done. Holbein was still in 
 existence, and, it is said, painted more than one 
 portrait of the young monarch, and also that he 
 
 1 From January, 1547, to July, 1553. 
 
 2 Nonsuch palace was one of these chimerical conceits, and 
 certainly the appellation was the most appropriate that could 
 be imagined.
 
 PAIXTERS. 259 
 
 employed him to paint the two historical pictures 
 already mentioned. There are doubts, however, of 
 Holbein having finished these pictures, as he fell a 
 victim to the plague within a few months after this 
 transfer took place. 
 
 The other painters of this reign whose names 
 have descended to us, are Guillim Strete, who it 
 appears was king Edward's painter, and to whom, 
 according to Strype, he paid fifty marks for three 
 great tables J ; two of those were pictures of the 
 king, which were sent to Sir Thomas Hoby, and 
 Sir John Mason, both on foreign embassies ; the 
 third was a portrait of the estimable, accomplished, 
 and unfortunate earl of Surrey, who, it would ap- 
 pear from this circumstance, must have been in 
 high favour with the young monarch 2 . 
 
 Hans Hueet, it appears, painted a picture of 
 Edward, but of this artist we have no further infor- 
 mation. 
 
 Only one more artist's name (John Bossam) 
 
 1 Pictures on panel. 
 
 2 Executed in the reign of Henry VIII. January 19, 1547. It 
 is, or was lately, at Arundel castle. But Strype seems to be in 
 error on this point, for this young nobleman was beheaded nine 
 days before Edward came to the throne, therefore, if Edward had 
 this picture painted, it must have been done for him when he 
 was prince of Wales.
 
 260 JOHN BOSSAM. 
 
 appears in this reign ', and of him, or his produc- 
 tions, nothing further is known, except what Hil- 
 liard states of him, which is, that " for his skill, he 
 was worthy of being serjeant painter to any king 
 or emperor." And he speaks of his works as being 
 very cleverly done ; but he got so little encou- 
 ragement that he became a clerical reader, and his 
 biographer says that " he was only unfortunate 
 because he was English born, for even the stran- 
 gers would otherwise have set him up." This is an 
 early, and a striking, instance of that unjust and 
 insidious prejudice against native artists, which was 
 cunningly devised by the Italian, Flemish, and 
 other fugitive painters, who, unable to live at home, 
 for various reasons, found themselves compelled to 
 seek a safer asylum in this country, where they 
 were hospitably received, and in most cases enabled 
 to realize a sufficient means of independence ; but, 
 having once nestled here, they determined to keep 
 the game entirely to themselves, and by regulating 
 
 3 In the third year of this king's reign (1649). a statute en- 
 acted " that all persons having in their possession any images of 
 stone, timber, alabaster, or earth, graven, carved, or painted, 
 which heretofore have been taken out of any church or chapel, 
 or yet stand in any church or chapel, shall cause them to be 
 defaced and destroyed, on pain of fine and imprisonment." The 
 destruction of thousands of works of British genius in painting 
 and sculpture, was the consequence of this enactment.
 
 PREJUDICE AGAIXST ENGLISH ARTISTS. 261 
 
 the arrival of their pupils from the continent, 
 merely to suit their convenience, they not only 
 managed to preserve the supply entirely in their 
 own hands, but to make the English public of that 
 day believe that it was utterly impossible for a 
 native of England to become even a tolerable 
 artist. How the good sense of the English people 
 could be so strangely imposed on, can only be 
 accounted for, on the ground that the arts were 
 not then considered of so much importance as to 
 excite any inquiry into the truth or falsehood of the 
 statement : however the fallacy, having once ob- 
 tained a footing, unfortunately kept its ground, and 
 was amongst the causes that prevented a much 
 earlier development of our native pictorial talent. 
 The foreign traffickers in " old masters" did find 
 wealthy people too often in Britain, whom they 
 cajoled into a belief, that to be born within the 
 circuit of the British isles, was quite a sufficient 
 cause why such unhappy persons never could be- 
 come able and accomplished artists ; but the adven- 
 turers were not so much to blame as those who 
 believed them : the latter should have exercised 
 their right of doubting so monstrous an assump- 
 tion, and the fallacy would have been easily de- 
 tected ; but to prevent so serious a hindrance to
 
 262 JOHN OF PADUA. 
 
 the arrival of the annual " argosies of old masters," 
 the smooth tongue of the most artful flattery was 
 generally called into operation ; and country gentle- 
 men, bankers, opulent merchants, or wealthy re- 
 tired men of business, were made to believe the 
 most preposterous fallacies ; men of good sense, 
 some education, and much experience in life, many 
 of whom had, for almost their whole lives, been 
 engaged in occupations of the very opposite nature 
 to the fine arts, were actually made to believe, that 
 they had all at once become capital judges of 
 pictures (old masters), and "that they possessed 
 a remarkably fine taste for all works of art V 
 
 Thus we may perceive even at this early stage of 
 the arts in England, the germs of that system of 
 deceit which seriously tended to prevent the natural 
 progress of our artists towards the elevated rank 
 to which they are capable of attaining. 
 
 The principal architect, as we call him, par ex- 
 cellence^ was still that Johannes de Padua* whom 
 Henry had made his " Devisor of buildings." Our 
 readers will be better able to form their own judg- 
 ment of this man's pretensions, when they are 
 
 1 Persons very well informed, and highly respectable, gravely 
 assert, that these practices are not entirely exploded even in this 
 enlightened age ! !
 
 MARY. 263 
 
 informed, that, when the Protector Somerset, em- 
 ployed him to build Somerset house, in the 
 Strand, this Lombardic Vandal got the authority 
 of his splendid, but weak-minded patron, to pull 
 down 1 the church of St. Mary-le-Strand, and three 
 bishops' mansions, for the site, also Pardon church, 
 and the cloisters of St. Paul's cathedral, and carry 
 away the materials for his new piebald palace, 
 which Mr. Walpole seriously informs us was " a 
 grand structure, composed of Gothic and Grecian 
 architecture 2 !" 
 
 This closes the catalogue of artists (so called), 
 in Edward's reign. We now proceed to the reign 
 of Mary, at which period the arts had reached 
 their meridian splendour in Italy, and had made 
 considerable progress in France, Germany, and 
 the Low countries. 
 
 1 He was also proceeding to demolish old St. Margaret's, 
 Westminster, when the parishioners lose in arms, and drove off 
 his workmen. 
 
 2 To our readers, who understand the cause of the irreconcile- 
 able differences and distinctions which separate these two styles, 
 we need not attempt to descrihe the sort of architectural mon- 
 strosity which such discordant elements must have produced, 
 especially from the hands of Johannes de Padua.
 
 SIR ANTONIO MORE. 
 
 QUEEN MARY. (1553 to 1558.) 
 
 A. very eminent painter made his appearance at 
 the English court early in this reign. This was 
 Sir Antonio More, a native of Utrecht 1 . After 
 leaving his master he travelled into Italy, and by 
 the study of the great exemplars in art, improved 
 his style of handling considerably. He was not 
 so extremely neat in his finishing as Holbein, but 
 he had a much superior mode of painting, both as 
 to the freedom of his pencil, and the energy of his 
 style ; his power of imitating nature was admir- 
 able. He was very much employed by the people 
 of rank, more especially those about the court; 
 but it is difficult to tell whom many of his portraits 
 are intended to represent, as he omitted to write 
 the names upon them. He came over with Philip 
 of Spain, and remained here until the death of 
 Mary, when he followed her royal husband back 
 to that country, and having, some time after, 
 acted with a degree of familiarity towards Philip 2 , 
 
 1 The stipend allowed to More by Mary and Philip " They 
 gave him a gold chain, and a pension of 10(M. per quarter, as 
 painter to their majesties." 
 
 2 The king put his hand on More's shoulder, who touched it 
 with a pencil of vermilion with which he was at work.
 
 JOAS VAN' CLEEVE. *2b-) 
 
 he got leave to retire to the Netherlands, where, 
 according to Mr. Walpole, on receiving the situa- 
 tion from the duke of Alva of receiver-general 
 of West Flanders, he burned his easel, and gave 
 away his painting implements. This reported 
 exploit, however, is quite a mistake, as he never 
 sought for, or held any office under that govern- 
 ment, though his son-in-law did get an appoint- 
 ment. (Vide Desc/ta)/tj)s, vol. i. p. 200.) More 
 lived in affluence by his profession at Antwerp, 
 where he died in 1575 1 . 
 
 Joas Van Cleeve came over, in hopes of getting 
 Philip to buy of his works for the collection he 
 was making, but he failed in his object, and be- 
 came, in consequence, quite insane. Dcschamps 
 says that he was the best colourist of his time ; he 
 had been a pupil of Quintin Matsis ; his works had 
 more roundness and force than those of that master. 
 
 As to architecture, it was now in the hands of 
 a few talentless pretenders ; all knowledge of good 
 principles was lost ; and caprice, ignorance, or 
 chance, ruled in those matters, which previously 
 
 1 Thomas Courtcnay, the unfortunate carl of Devonshire, was 
 an expert painter, of which art he acquired the knowledge in the 
 prisons where he had been (except two) from his tenth to his 
 thirtieth year. There is a portrait of him, at Wobuni abbey, by- 
 More.
 
 266 ELIZABETH. 
 
 had been under the especial guidance of accurate 
 mathematical calculations, the highest principles 
 of geometrical science and good taste : and from 
 the evil effects of the shock which this branch of 
 art received from Henry VIII. it only began to 
 recover in the early part of Elizabeth's reign ; but 
 then it adopted a character different from any 
 style previously known in England. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. (1558 to 1603.) 
 
 With respect to the encouragement which paint- 
 ing experienced in this reign, it appears to have 
 been considerable, at least so far as portraiture is 
 concerned; for Elizabeth, with all her political 
 occupation- 1 , was very fond of having her likeness 
 
 1 In the 1st of Elizabeth, an injunction was issued to the clergy 
 and laity, " That they should take away, utterly extyncte, and 
 destroy all shrynes, candlestykes, &c., pictures, payntinges, and 
 all other monuments of fayned miracles and superstycion, so that 
 there remain no memory of the same ;" and that no person 
 should keep in their houses such statues, pictures, or paintings ; 
 and, in the 13th Elizabeth, the convocation gave the final blow 
 to paintings in churches, by enacting, that the interiors of the 
 churches should be " new whited." A command, which succes- 
 sive generations of churchwardens have carried into effect with 
 a blind obedience, very similar to that which they were opposed
 
 FOREIGN AETISTS. 267 
 
 taken, and from the number of them that are to 
 be met with in the various palaces and galleries of 
 the nobility, it is evident that the queen must have 
 been gratified, or she never would have given up 
 so much of her time to that object. This royal 
 example was of course followed by .the courtiers 
 and people of fashion, and the natural consequence 
 was, that the artists who came from the continent 
 obtained abundance of employment. 
 
 Amongst these, we find Lucas de Heere, a native 
 of Ghent, a good artist of the Flemish school; 
 several of his pictures are still in our old collec- 
 tions, and amongst them some portraits of queen 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Cornelius Ketel, born at Gouda, came to Eng- 
 
 to. The whitewasher soon obliterated all the frescos on the walls, 
 and even the family paintings, destroying many valuable genea- 
 logical records of ancient families, and thus causing great confu- 
 sion and loss of property to' later generations ; and this abuse 
 of authority was carried to such a length, that, thirty years 
 after the act of convocation, a proclamation of the queen 
 and council was issued, stating, " That whereas many violent 
 persons have of late gone about to deface the walls and glass 
 windows of churches, and, in their violence, have pulled down 
 tombs and monuments of noblemen and gentlemen deceased." And 
 they are prohibited from such acts of violence for the future, ex- 
 cept under the sanction of the higher authorities of the crown or 
 diocesan. 
 
 N 2
 
 268 FOREIGN ARTISTS. 
 
 land in 1573, and painted the queen, chancellor 
 Hatton, Vere, earl of Oxford, Herbert, earl of 
 Pembroke, the lord admiral Lincoln, Henry Fitz- 
 allan, earl of Arundel, &c. He left England in 
 1581, and settled at Amsterdam, where he appears 
 to have been much employed '. 
 
 Frederic Zucchero, a native of Vado, in the 
 Eoman state, came to England, 1574. Queen Eli- 
 zabeth sat to him. He left the country in about 
 a year, and returned to Rome, and, although he 
 travelled into several countries, he never returned 
 to England 1 . 
 
 Marc Garrard was a native of Bruges, and a 
 practitioner in history, landscape, architecture, and 
 portraiture : he came over here about 1 580, and 
 
 1 Ketel's success appears to have made him eccentric, for he 
 laid aside his brushes, and took to painting with his bare fingers ; 
 yet this whim took with the public, and he carried his folly still 
 farther, by laying even his hands aside, and painting with his feet, 
 yet even this piece of charlatanism, it is said, had many admirers. 
 Weenix is stated to have played the fool in this finger-daubing, 
 on one or two occasions. 
 
 1 Zucchero wrote a work on art, but it is too abstruse, or 
 more properly so obscure in the style, to allow his meaning to be 
 comprehended. He founded the Roman academy of painting under 
 Gregory XIII. and he was the first prince or director of that 
 establishment.
 
 DE VHOOM. 269 
 
 remained all the rest of his life : he was another 
 of queen Elizabeth's painters. His works are said 
 to be very numerous, but are not easily known ; 
 amongst them are the procession of queen Eli- 
 zabeth to Hunsdon-house, engraved, and another 
 pageant of the queen and knights of the garter in 
 1584, also engraved. 
 
 Henry Cornelius de Vroom, a native of Haarlem, 
 after much travelling and some adventures by land 
 and sea, was at length employed by the great earl of 
 Nottingham, lord high admiral, soon after he had de- 
 feated the Spanish armada. The earl was desirous 
 to preserve the details of that great and most in- 
 teresting event ; he had ordered a suit of tapestry, 
 describing each day's engagement, to be manu- 
 factured by Francis Spiering, an eminent tapestry- 
 worker. Spiering engaged De Vroom to make the 
 drawings, which were in ten compartments, and 
 pleased the lord high admiral so much, that he gave 
 him, according to Sandrart, one hundred florins for 
 his trouble. Walpole says he received a hundred 
 pieces of gold, but does not mention the value of 
 the coin ; and Sandrart is a most incorrect his- 
 torian, so that, between these two historical lan- 
 terns, we are left quite in the dark as to Vroom's 
 payment'; but we have too much light as to the 
 N 3
 
 270 ARMADA TAPESTRIES. 
 
 fate of these elegant and faithful memorials of that 
 glorious event, for, unhappily, they have ceased to 
 exist : those precious, or rather invaluable records 
 of the foundation of our naval superiority, and all 
 its glorious consequences, were consumed in the 
 conflagration l which suddenly burst forth on the 
 evening of the 18th of October, 1835, in the upper 
 house of parliament, and which in a few hours de- 
 stroyed both houses and most of the parliamentary 
 offices adjoining. " The Armada tapestries, 11 being 
 impanelled in the decorations of the House of 
 Lords, were totally consumed with the building. 
 Fortunately, however, memorials of these still re- 
 main ; for the whole series, including the marginal 
 portraits, were well engraved by John Pine : these 
 prints of course are now very great curiosities, and 
 a complete set of them fetches a good price. 
 
 If we may depend on Mr. Walpole^s statement 
 of the size, and price of the whole arras, it must 
 have contained a superficial measurement of 708 
 Flemish ells, at IQL Is. per ell. This he makes 
 amount to no more than 1628?. : now if that ac- 
 complished writer had paid the slightest attention 
 
 1 Whether this calamitous event was the act of an incendiary 
 or not, has never yet been satisfactorily proved, and the case is 
 one of strong suspicion.
 
 RICHARD STEPHENS. 271 
 
 to the figures before him, he must instantly have 
 perceived that by simply multiplying the ells by the 
 pounds, he would have found that the expense must, 
 at that rate, have amounted to 7115?. 8s., which is 
 quite incredible : , when we consider that money at 
 that time was seven times the value that it is at the 
 present day 1 . 
 
 Isaac Oliver painted a portrait of Vroom from 
 life, of which there is an engraving. 
 
 The suit of arras at Blenheim, an almost equally 
 glorious reminiscence, is happily still preserved in 
 its original situation ; and it is singular that these 
 two noble memorials of remarkable victories by sea 
 and land, over the most powerful nations of those 
 times, were gained under the reigns of two queens, 
 in defence of the independence of their own nation, 
 or that of nations in amity with them. 
 
 Richard Stephens was another clever Dutch 
 artist ; he was a painter, sculptor, and medallist : 
 he designed and executed the great monument to 
 Radcliffe, earl of Sussex, the well known lord cham- 
 
 1 The nearest approach that we can make to Mr. Walpole's 
 gross amount, would be by allowing 21. 5s. per ell, which would 
 give exactly 16281. A much more probable price than his 
 101. Is. per ell. 
 
 2 The high admiral was not paid by the crown for his outlay 
 until the 14th year of James I. 
 
 N 4
 
 272 NATIVE ARTISTS NICHOLAS BILLIARD. 
 
 berlain to queen Elizabeth, and antagonist of Lei- 
 cester : he bequeathed 1 500?. for this mausoleum, 
 and his executors engaged Stevens to set it up in 
 Boreham church, Sussex : for his own work the 
 artist received very nearly 300/. l He also painted 
 many portraits ; one of queen Elizabeth, and 
 another of the queen of Scots at Hardwick-hall, 
 are supposed to have been by his hand : his 
 colour and manner resemble the best of Holbein's 
 pictures, and are often mistaken for those of that 
 master ; he was also a fine medallist. His works 
 in that way display good taste, and a free bold 
 style. 
 
 Of the miniature painters and illuminators who 
 were of the highest merit in that age, Isaac Oliver 
 is decidedly the first ; though Hilliard was more 
 patronized at court, and was the master under 
 whom Oliver was brought up in the profession. 
 
 Nicholas Hilliard, therefore, in point of chro- 
 nology, must take precedence. He was a son of 
 Richard Hilliard, who had been high sheriff of the 
 city and county of Exeter, A.D. 1560. Nicholas 
 was born in 1 547, and brought up to the avocations 
 of jeweller and goldsmith, to which he afterwards 
 
 1 For the figures only.
 
 NICHOLAS HTLLIARD. 273 
 
 joined painting in miniature '. He studied the works 
 of Holbein, as it appears there was not an able in- 
 structor to be had then in that line of art : it is 
 clear, however, that he worked with great care 
 and finished highly; the dresses, ornaments, and 
 jewels of the time he gave with considerable ex- 
 actness, but confined himself chiefly to the head 
 size ; he was, however, exceedingly admired in his 
 line of art. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth sat frequently to him, and in 
 his early days he painted the queen of Scots : he 
 continued in fashion the whole of this reign, during 
 which he produced a great number of likenesses, 
 many of which are extant. 
 
 King James was still more partial to Hilliard; 
 the king and prince Henry both sat to him ; and 
 his majesty gave him the exclusive patent right, for 
 twelve years, to engrave and publish portraits of 
 the king or the royal family. This grant was va- 
 luable in various ways, and it gave him much con- 
 trol over the engravers and publishers during that 
 time : he died January, 1619. 
 
 1 He seldom painted on ivory, but like Donate, a Roman artist, 
 took a glazed card or pasteboard rubbed with pumice, and then 
 with fine starch pasted on it an abortive skin ; when dry, pressed, 
 and prepared, he made his sketch, &c. 
 
 N 5
 
 274 PORTRAITS BY OLIVER. 
 
 Isaac Oliver. Of his family there is no certain 
 account l ; he studied a long time under Milliard, 
 and had some instructions from Zucchero ; he also 
 improved himself by copying several pictures of the 
 fine old masters. Oliver appears certainly to have 
 been a man of genius ; there is a feeling of na- 
 ture and justness of expression in his portraits, 
 that was perhaps equal to the works of any master 
 in his day. He had no competitor in the English 
 school until Cooper came forward, who certainly had 
 a bolder hand, and more command of expression. It 
 appears that Oliver had a most extensive practice 
 among the higher classes of society, as we find by 
 reference to the lists published of his works in the 
 royal collection, and that at Strawberry-hill, &c. 
 which are given in Dallaway's edition of Walpole 2 . 
 Amongst these are portraits of queen Elizabeth, 
 the queen of Scots, James I., Anne his queen, 
 Henry, prince of Wales, Charles I. when duke of 
 York, princess Elizabeth, Robert, earl of Essex, 
 Sir Philip Sidney, lady Percy Stanley, some of the 
 Digby and the Montacute families . he also painted 
 scriptural and historical subjects, frequently in oil 
 
 1 Oliver's father is conjectured to have been a Frenchman, 
 but the painter was born in London. 
 
 2 Edition of 1826. Vol. i. p. 298, 299, &c.
 
 VARIOUS ARTISTS. 275 
 
 colours, but it does not appear that he succeeded 
 so well in this vehicle. He died at his house in 
 Blackfriars (London), A.D. 1617, aged about sixty- 
 two. 
 
 Petruccio Ubaldini, appears to have been a 
 Florentine, and an illuminator on vellum ; some of 
 his works are extant in the British Museum, and 
 in private collections. He appears to have been 
 in favour at the court ; he published an account of 
 the defeat of the Armada, 1588. 
 
 The following names of artists in this reign have 
 been collected ; Jerome Custodio, of Antwerp ; 
 Le Moine, or Le Morgues ; John Shute, painter 
 and architect; he had been sent into Italy, A.D. 
 1550, by the duke of Northumberland, who, it 
 appears, maintained him there in his studies under 
 the best architects '. 
 
 Thomas and John Betts, Lockie, Lyne, Peter 
 Cole, Arnoldi, J. de Bruy, Cornelius, Golchi, de 
 Bye, and Peter Vandevelde, appear to have found 
 employment here during queen Elizabeth's reign ; 
 during which period, we find that engraving on 
 wood, copper, &c. came much into use. The names 
 
 1 He was the first Englishman sent to study architecture in 
 Italy. He published a work on this branch of art, and other 
 books. 
 
 N 6
 
 276 PUBLICATION OF PORTRAITS. 
 
 of the engravers preserved are, Rogers, C. Switzer, 
 Cure, and Pass. Valerio Vincentino, a celebrated 
 engraver of precious stones, and modeller of bassi 
 relievi, was here in this reign, and carved many 
 portraits in cameo. Several of his works are at 
 the duke of Devonshire's, and in the marquis of 
 Exeter's collections are also some fine specimens 
 of his art. 
 
 The queen's partiality for the arts and literature, 
 extended the same sort of feeling through the 
 higher classes of society 1 . 
 
 Sir Nathaniel Bacon, a younger son of the lord 
 keeper, and half brother to the great Sir Francis 
 Bacon, travelled into Italy for his improvement in 
 painting. There are some works still at Gorharn- 
 bury, and with other branches of his family, which 
 display a very decided taste and excellent know- 
 ledge of painting. 
 
 It was in this reign that the first publications of 
 the portraits of remarkable persons began : The 
 public, even at that time, had acquired a strong 
 desire for such things ; and so far was this carried, 
 
 1 Archbishop Parker retained in his service, at Lambeth, a 
 painter, a printer, and more than one engraver ; above twenty 
 printed works were completed at the archbishop's printing 
 presses.
 
 THEODORE HEVE. 277 
 
 that the queen thought it necessary to issue an 
 order to the lord mayor, directing him " to send 
 for the warden of the Stationers 1 company, and 
 other wardens, that have such papers to sell, and 
 cause them to be taken from them, and packed up 
 so as not to be seen in any place V 
 
 The representations of state funerals was another 
 new feature in the publications of this period. The 
 most remarkable of these is the grand procession 
 at the obsequies of Sir Philip Sydney, " which was 
 contrived and invented by Thomas Lant, a gentle- 
 man, servant to the said honourable knight." It 
 was engraven on copper by De Brie, of London, in 
 thirty-four plates, with a head of the designer *. 
 
 Theodore Heve, of Cleves, was an architect, 
 sculptor, and painter, who came here at this time ; 
 he erected some gates at Gonville and Caius coll. 
 Cambridge, and also the monument of Dr. Caius, 
 in the hall of that college. 
 
 1 This interdict was occasioned, by the freedom taken by 
 those publishers, who put the engraved heads of the queen and 
 the king of Sweden together on the same plate. Elizabeth said, 
 " she cared not, how many portraits of her or of the king of 
 Sweden they published separately, but she would not suffer any 
 one's likeness to be placed with hers." 
 
 3 It fully displays the manner of the whole proceeding at this 
 funeral, which was celebrated in St. Paul's, the 16th of February, 
 1586.
 
 278 NATIONAL IMPROVEMENT 
 
 In an office-book in the time of James I. there 
 is an entry of the expense of queen Elizabeth's 
 monument; it cost 965?. The whole expense of 
 this mausoleum, with those of the queen of Scots, 
 and of the two young princesses, Mary and Sophia, 
 daughter of James I., cost 3500?. 
 
 The arts of painting and sculpture having made 
 a considerable degree of advancement during the 
 long and prosperous reign of Elizabeth, the sister 
 art, architecture, also recovered in a surprising 
 manner, from the depressed state into which it 
 fell in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII., 
 and so continued without any improvement during 
 the next two reigns. 
 
 But all opposition to the newly established order 
 of things having at length ceased, as well as the 
 dangers of foreign'domination, the aroused energies 
 of the people began at last to become concentrated 
 in their proper direction ; the odious feudal system 
 had gradually disappeared ; man's natural privileges 
 were now better understood ; the rights of property 
 were consequently more respected ; and the British 
 mind experienced increased energies, when the 
 right of judging for themselves in matters of re- 
 ligion was fully established. England had suffered 
 long and severely by wars, foreign and domestic ;
 
 IN ELIZABETH'S REIGN. 279 
 
 the people were inured to the hardships of war by 
 land and by sea : but they had established a high 
 naval and military reputation amongst the neigh- 
 bouring nations, and it was now time to make 
 some efforts to obtain a respectable position in 
 commerce, manufactures, and the liberal arts. Many 
 circumstances favoured this grand movement, and 
 all these great features of increasing knowledge 
 and civilization went on as it were simultaneously ; 
 the intelligent industry of the people prospered, 
 wealth increased, and then the value of the fine 
 arts began to be understood. The better informed 
 classes of society saw that the arts were not, as had 
 been supposed, mere ornaments of a mechanical 
 character, unconnected with the fame or fortune of 
 the country ; it was found that they were essen- 
 tially intellectual pursuits, and that, when judi- 
 ciously encouraged, they confer high and lasting 
 honour and glory upon any nation which may have 
 the wisdom to call their greater qualities into acti- 
 vity 1 . We believe our readers will have found 
 many passages in the preceding parts of this 
 work, which may possibly satisfy them that this 
 
 1 We may mention our splendid cathedrals, the temples of 
 Egypt, the architecture, painting, and sculpture of Greece, Rome, 
 and modern Italy, &c.
 
 280 PALATIAL HOUSES 
 
 movement could hardly have commenced much 
 sooner. 
 
 We have seen that Elizabeth encouraged por- 
 trait and miniature painting, medalling, engraving 
 on precious stones and metals ; artists increased 
 with the encouragement afforded ; and their pro- 
 ductions now, for the first time in England, began 
 to be diffused through the middle class of society. 
 
 Architecture, as we have stated, improved much, 
 though not directly from the queen's personal 
 encouragement ; her majesty was not disposed to 
 lay out the revenues of the crown upon new 
 palaces ; she was quite satisfied to keep those in 
 repair, which her father had erected : but then she 
 encouraged the noblemen of her court to lay out 
 their large revenues on the erecting or rebuilding 
 splendid mansions ; and it must be confessed, that 
 the examples these ministers have left of their 
 taste and magnificence are of a highly interesting 
 character '. 
 
 From the best authorities extant we shall be 
 able to lay before our readers a list of the palatial 
 houses erected between 1560 and 1597; these are 
 
 1 It is said that the earl of Leicester expended 60,0901. upon 
 Kenilworth castle ; this certainly must have been an enormous 
 outlay at that period.
 
 F.RECTED IN THIS REIGN. 281 
 
 merely such as were completed ; many others were 
 commenced at this period, and finished in the fol- 
 lowing reign : but it is a subject of regret, that 
 the names of the eminently capable architects, by 
 whom these fine edifices were erected, cannot 
 always be placed along with those examples of their 
 superior taste and skill : we speak of the best of 
 them ; for there are some buildings of that time, 
 not equal to the others. From these documents it 
 appears that John Thorpe 1 was a favourite architect 
 
 1 The history of the valuable and interesting manuscript, from 
 which our information of this artist and his works is taken, was 
 formerly in possession of the noble family of Warwick, from 
 whence it had passed into the library of the Hon. Charles 
 Greville ; when this library was sold, April 10, 1810, this 
 manuscript was purchased by John Soane, Esq. R. A. * who was 
 then professor of architecture at the Royal Academy, architect 
 to the king's board of works, and to the directors of the Bank of 
 England. This gentleman knowing the value of the work, and 
 seeing that it had belonged to the noble family mentioned above, 
 offered it to the then earl of Warwick for the sum he paid for it ; 
 this offer that nobleman declined, but complimented Mr. Soane, 
 on his handsome preference to him. The manuscript in question, 
 now in the Soane museum, is a good folio size, containing 280 pages 
 of strong paper, on which the drawings are made. The plans 
 
 display 
 
 * Knighted by king George IV. 1830; deceased A. D. 1836, 
 and bequeathed his valuable museum of books, pictures, and 
 antiquities of various classes, together with the house and premises 
 in Lincoln's Inn Fields, which he built, and in which he resided, 
 in trust for the nation.
 
 282 PALATIAL HOUSES. 
 
 at that era, as will be seen by the number of pala- 
 tial mansions, of which he was either the original 
 builder, or wherein he made extensive alterations. 
 
 display an accurate hand in drawing, but are not always accom- 
 panied by a scale *. 
 
 The following is a list of the most remarkable mansions : 
 No. 1. Somerset-house. 2. Buckhurst-house, Sussex, built by 
 Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorset, lord high treasurer to queen 
 Elizabeth ; of this splendid edifice there are but small remains. 
 3, 4, 5, are designs for fronts, and several diagrams. 6. is a 
 house for Sir Thomas Dorrell, Lincolnshire. 1. Godstone. 
 8. Copthall, Essex, built by Sir Thomas Heneage, to whom the 
 manor was granted by queen Elizabeth. 9. Woolaton, Notting- 
 hamshire ; of this he only completed part of the front. 1 0, 1 1, plans 
 of a quadrangle gallery. 12. is Burghley-juxta-Stamford (only the 
 plans), built by Wm. Cecil, lord treasurer. 14. Thornton-college 
 Lincolnshire, built for Sir Vincent Skinner, 17- Sir Walter 
 Coape's, at Kensington. 18. Giddea Hall +, Essex, altered for 
 Sir Anthony Coke. 20. Burghly on the hill, garden front, &c. 
 23. Wimbledon, Surrey J. 24, 25, 26, are the houses built or 
 altered by Thorpe hi and near Paris. 27. an elevation for 
 Sir Thomas Haselrig. 28. Longford-castle , by Sir Thomas Gorges 
 and his lady (1591). 29. Lullingstone, Kent, plan for Sir Percival 
 Hart. 30. Panton. 31. Holdenby, built 1580, for Sir Christopher 
 
 * Mr. Richardson of Manchester street, who had been a pupil 
 of the late Sir J. Soane, is publishing these MS. drawings at 
 Messrs. Ackermann's (Strand). Several of the numbers hava 
 appeared, and besides being very interesting as historical remains 
 of a remarkable period, are, as works of art, highly creditable to 
 the parties who are bringing them forward. 
 
 *} Long since pulled down. 
 
 % Pulled down by Sarah, duchess of Marlborough, and another 
 built on its site, which has since been destroyed by fire. 
 
 Now Lord Radnor's seat.
 
 THE ELIZABETHAN STYLE. 283 
 
 In this abstract, our readers will find that there 
 is an extensive class of proprietors, including, for 
 the first time, the merchants and men in business, 
 vying with the nobility and gentry of the land, in 
 the splendour of their mansions; a very decided 
 proof that the wealth and intelligence of the nation 
 had rapidly increased within a period of little more 
 than half a century, computing from the accession 
 of Edward VI. to the close of the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 It ought to be observed here, that the archi- 
 tecture of this period, which is called " the Eliza- 
 bethan," has been denounced by some writers as 
 barbarous, mixed, and fantastic. No doubt some 
 of the second and third class mansions of that 
 period might deserve those censures; but there 
 are others, the style of which is very noble, the 
 arrangements skilfully managed, and of which the 
 minor parts and ornamental details display much 
 taste. It would be unfair to confound the style of 
 this period with that by which it was preceded ; we 
 
 Hatton *. 34. Audley-end, completed 1616 ; it is now much re- 
 duced from its original enormous size. 36. Plans, &c. for Mr. Taylor 
 at Potter's bar. 38. Hatfield-lodge, Ampthill. 41. Kerby," whereof 
 I layd the first stone 1570 +, I. T." 
 
 * In ruins. 
 
 f Built on Bethnal green, for John Kerby a citizen of London.
 
 284 THE ELIZABETHAN STYLE. 
 
 mean the manner which suddenly sprang up on the 
 ruins of the noble and beautiful English pointed 
 style ; but that was the feeble offspring of Holbein, 
 John of Treviso, and John of Padua, the pretenders 
 whom the absolute Henry chose to supply the im- 
 mense chasm in the arts, and to wear the splendid 
 professional mantles of such men as Ernulph and 
 Gundulph of Rochester, Jocelin of Wells, Quivil 
 of Exeter, Aldred of Worcester, Alan of Walsing- 
 ham, Oliver King of Bath, Fitzharding of Bristol, 
 Alexander of Lincoln, Langton of Lichfield, Rogers 
 of York, Rede of Chichester, Murdoch of Carlisle, 
 Conrad of Canterbury, Hervey of Ely, William of 
 Wickham, Wynford, Waynflete, and Fox, besides 
 many more bright names, who have left the noblest 
 testimonials of their own splendid talents, and con- 
 tributed largely to the intellectual glory of their 
 country. 
 
 Having already described that debased manner 
 of building, we should not have returned to it, but 
 that it is necessary to mark strongly the difference 
 between it and the Elizabethan style, by which it 
 was superseded : it is not fair to throw the sins of 
 the former manner upon the shoulders of the latter, 
 yet it often has been done, on one or two occasions, 
 by persons who ought to have known better.
 
 I.MIXENT ARCHITECTS. 285 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 The gross corruptions of architectural science 
 and taste at the period of Henry VIII. were in- 
 troduced here, as we have already shown, by foreign 
 artists ; and it is somewhat remarkable, that after 
 their day, the art again revived ; for in the lists of 
 architects that we have been able to collect, from 
 1560 to the end of queen Elizabeth's reign, we 
 cannot discover one foreigner ; they are all English- 
 men ; so we find, by examining into this question, 
 that the great bathos which appears in that noble 
 art in Henry's reign was entirely produced by the 
 foreign pretenders to that species of knowledge. 
 The following are the names we have been able to 
 collect, as the principal architects and master 
 masons employed by queen Elizabeth and the chief 
 nobility ; besides John Thorpe, we have Skillington, 
 Robert and Bernard Adams, Laurence Bradshaw, 
 Hector Ashley, Thomas Graves, Ralph Simons, 
 Robert Smithson, and John Shute. 
 
 These able men had set themselves to devise 
 something superior to the incongruous masses of 
 bricks and plaster which had charmed Henry and 
 his courtiers; and they lost no time in making
 
 286 THE ELIZABETHAN STYLE. 
 
 considerable deviations from the plans and eleva- 
 tions of those early Tudor houses, by the intro- 
 duction of the noble bay windows, parapets, and 
 porticos; enlarging the galleries, halls, state-rooms, 
 and staircases; and enriching such parts as required 
 or admitted of it, with fine carvings in the grotesque 
 fashion of the day, in which they displayed very 
 great powers of invention. The elegant pendents 
 used in the florid style were no longer in vogue. 
 Instead of them, the ceilings were ornamented 
 with richly carved roses and armorial devices, some- 
 times in very high relief, which gave the gallery a 
 rich appearance. The galleries of the first class 
 mansions were from 80 to 120 feet in length, and 
 their staircases were spacious in proportion to the 
 building. Burleigh, Knowle, Longleat, Westwood, 
 Holland-house, and Penshurst, are still remaining 
 very nearly in the original integrity of their cha- 
 racter, to prove what English architects could do 
 in their profession, even after the grand original 
 style of their country had been brought to ruin. 
 
 The rank and wealth of England called upon 
 her men of genius to provide them with splendid 
 mansions the call was responded to ; and in about 
 thirty years, those superb edifices which we have 
 mentioned, and many others, which unhappily are
 
 TRIXITY-COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 287 
 
 now in ruins ', arose in majestic grandeur to adorn 
 the land, and mark a glorious epoch in its advan- 
 cing civilization 2 . 
 
 About the same period, the large manor houses 
 became very general ; they were seen to rise more 
 or fewer in every county in England ; they were 
 often constructed of timber frame work, in those 
 districts where wood was much more easy to be 
 obtained than stone or brick ; the weather-boards 
 and pendents of the gables, and roof, were always 
 
 1 Amongst these are Kenilworth, Basing-house, Hardwick-hall, 
 and Theobald's. 
 
 2 It was in this reign that the university of Dublin, or Trinity 
 college, was founded (January 1591), and moderately endowed ; 
 but its great usefulness in promoting various and valuable learn- 
 ing, and consequently extending civilization throughout that 
 country, induced further aids from the Crown, from the Irish 
 Parliament, and pious individuals, which appear to have long 
 made it independent of further Treasury assistance. 
 
 The royal foundress presented the provost and fellows with one 
 of her portraits, a half-length, in which the queen appears richly 
 decked with a profusion of pearl ornaments, diamonds, and various 
 other precious stones. It is still in good preservation in the 
 great hall of examinations. 
 
 It must not be forgotten, that amongst the great men produced 
 during this epoch, was Shakespeare, whose mind was so essen- 
 tially pictorial, that, had the bias of his intellect turned to painting, 
 he would have been one of the greatest painters that ever lived. 
 The best likeness extant of this " Poet of all tune" is said to be 
 that one which formerly belonged to Taylor, the water poet, and 
 has long been in the fine collection of the duke of Buckingham 
 and Chandos, at Stowe.
 
 288 TIMBER-FRAMED HOUSES. 
 
 carved, and in many instances displayed good taste 
 and a fine style of execution. Some counties pos- 
 sessed a greater number of these buildings than the 
 others ; as for instance, Cheshire, parts of Lanca- 
 shire, Shropshire, Stafford, and Herefordshire, by 
 far the greater part of which have been destroyed ; 
 and we are aware only of their former existence, 
 by drawings and prints which had been made of 
 them when perfect. 
 
 In the great cities and large towns, the timber- 
 framed houses were very usual, yet differing in taste 
 from local circumstances, but with rich carvings 
 on their wainscots, and their fronts ornamented 
 with strange figures by way of corbels, or rough 
 caryatic brackets, of very grotesque appearance, 
 many of which might have been seen a few years since 
 in Bristol, Coventry, Chester, Shrewsbury, York, 
 Salisbury, and many other places. But they are fast 
 disappearing under the besom of modern improve- 
 ment, so that if we should have occasion for fine 
 specimens of such buildings, we must go on the con- 
 tinent, where improvements do not travel by steam, 
 as with us. There we find timber-framed houses 
 of the best style of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries, in excellent preservation, in which the 
 Burgundian manner is very evident ; they are ex-
 
 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. 289 
 
 tremely picturesque, and are to be met with at 
 Dijon, Auxerre, Rouen, Nuremburgh, Ghent, 
 Strasbourg, Bruges, Liege, &c. 
 
 But not only had architecture and the other arts 
 undergone a remarkable change, even the style of 
 sepulchral monuments followed the general move- 
 ment ; a new mode was introduced, which continued 
 a long time. This was the plan of erecting upon a 
 large altar-table of marble, an open arcade, with 
 a very rich and complicated entablature ; the shafts 
 and capitals of columns were also marble, either 
 white or black, and of the Doric, tonic, or Corin- 
 thian order. Small pyramidal forms were now in- 
 troduced, the sides of which were veneered with 
 coloured marble, arranged in squares or circles, and 
 supporting globes on their apexes. Armorial cog- 
 nizances were richly emblazoned, and the effigies of 
 the persons were painted and gilt to resemble, as 
 closely as possible, the costume or armour which 
 the deceased had been accustomed to wear. These 
 monuments were most commonly placed against the 
 walls, and the place accommodated to them. Many 
 of these mausolea were very expensive, and they 
 gave considerable employment to sculptors and 
 carvers in marble. This had the effect of keeping 
 the art of sculpture from going entirely into desue- 
 
 VOL. i. o
 
 290 WISDOM OF ELIZABETH 
 
 tude, as there were only few statues carved for the 
 use of private families, and not many for the adorn- 
 ment of the public edifices : among the best of 
 the latter were those that Sir T. Gresham had set 
 up in his new Royal Exchange. The earl of Essex 
 also had some in front of his house, in the Strand, 
 which were afterwards found in the vaults at Guild- 
 hall, and from the drawing made from them, by the 
 direction of Sir Richard Westmacott l ; they appear 
 to have been designed in a grand and chaste style 
 of composition ; but it is not known by whom they 
 were executed. 
 
 Whatever affection for, or knowledge of the arts 
 the queen might have possessed, is not of much 
 consequence to ascertain : her good sense pointed 
 out to her the great advantages that must result 
 to the nation which had been entrusted to her 
 government, by encouraging the extension and im- 
 provement of the arts amongst her people ; and 
 fully aware of the great impulse which the favour 
 of royalty gives in England to things fraught either 
 with good or evil, this queen, amidst all the cares of 
 a government, which she herself superintended, sat 
 almost numberless times to the best artists in the 
 
 1 The drawings of these statues were shown at Sir R. West- 
 macott's lectures, at the Royal Academy.
 
 IN FAVOURING THE ARTS. 291 
 
 country, several of whom were natives. The royal 
 example was effective ; the arts were encouraged 
 by the great and the wealthy ; their influence 
 gradually spread throughout society, and their 
 civilizing effects were very soon obvious amongst 
 the people. 
 
 o 2
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 KING JAMES I. (1603 1625.) THE HOUSE OF 
 
 STEWART. 
 
 WE have seen that at the close of the late reign, 
 both architecture and sculpture had shown a 
 decided improvement, and that painting was at 
 length established to a certain extent. But under 
 this monarch, there does not appear to have been 
 any extraordinary movement in the arts, they 
 appear to have gone quietly forward ; not ex- 
 tensively patronized by the king, whose chief am- 
 bition consisted in being considered a very learned 
 person, armed with absolute power. The latter 
 he vainly endeavoured to exercise over a people 
 who now knew the blessings of civil and religious 
 freedom, which their ancestors had long and man- 
 fully struggled to acquire, and which their de-
 
 JANSEN VANSOMER. 293 
 
 scendants were determined to maintain. The prin- 
 cipal artists whose works we find enumerated in 
 this reign are those who prospered under the late 
 sovereign, and some others who were either natives 
 brought up to the art in England, or who were 
 encouraged to come over from the continent, by 
 the increasing wealth and taste of the nation. 
 
 Paul Vansomer, Cornelius Jansen, and Daniel 
 Myttens, were the principal foreigners who sup- 
 plied the taste of the court and people. Jansen was 
 a native of Amsterdam, where he had acquired a 
 high reputation: he came to England in 1618. 
 King James took him into his employment ; he 
 painted several portraits of that monarch, and of 
 the members of his family, besides being much 
 employed by the principal people of rank and 
 wealth : he mostly painted on panel, and the merit 
 of his style is well known. On the civil war break- 
 ing out, he returned to his own country. 
 
 Vansomer was a native of Antwerp, and an 
 excellent portrait painter. He was invited to 
 London, and on his arrival he found himself very 
 much patronised ; king James sat to him for two 
 portraits, and the queen (Anne of Denmark) also 
 sat to him. The earl of Pembroke, then lord 
 o 3
 
 294 DANIEL MYTTENS. 
 
 chamberlain, also sat to him, as well as the earl of 
 Devonshire : several other portraits of distinguished 
 persons are still in the royal palaces, or in the 
 collections of the English nobility. 
 
 Daniel Myttens came into England much later 
 than the artists just mentioned, and was well em- 
 ployed for some years by many persons connected 
 with the court. In the first year of Charles 1 reign 
 (1625), he was appointed to the office of king's 
 painter at a stipend of 20?. per annum as a retain- 
 ing fee. He was paid for his pictures separately, 
 for we find an entry of a warrant to the treasurer 
 of the exchequer, directing that officer " to paie unto 
 Daniel Myttens, his majesty's picturer, the somme 
 of 125?. for divers pictures by him delivered to 
 sondry persones by his majesty's special direc- 
 tion." 
 
 Myttens continued in the royal establishment 
 until 1632, when he found that the splendour of 
 Vandyck's genius interfered with his employment, 
 and he got leave to return to Holland. He painted 
 a good many pictures of the principal nobility and 
 gentry, most of which are still to be met with in 
 the royal galleries or private collections of the 
 noble families to whom they originally belonged.
 
 PETER OLIVER. 295 
 
 Peake and Marquis (natives) are also mentioned 
 as painters of small portraits in this reign, but of 
 their works at present there are no traces. 
 
 Peter Oliver, son of Isaac Oliver, and equal, if 
 not superior to him in miniature painting, was 
 very much employed in this reign. The Olivers, 
 father and son, were so often employed on the 
 same picture, that it is sometimes difficult to at- 
 tribute the work positively to either of these ad- 
 mirable artists. It appears that there were thirteen 
 pieces of the elder Oliver's work, and fourteen of 
 his son's, in king Charles' collection. Many of them 
 were beautiful copies from Titian and Correggio ; 
 seven only of these have descended to the present 
 royal family, and were usually kept in Kensington 
 palace. Although the Olivers painted a great 
 number of very clever works in miniature, it is sur- 
 prising how scarce these pictures are at present. 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Walpole had a large and very 
 choice collection of them, of which a catalogue 
 raisonne is given in his historical work on painters ', 
 from which it appears that they were some of their 
 best performances 2 . Another son of this family 
 
 1 Dallaway's edition, vol. ii. p. 29, 30. 
 
 2 King Charles II. bought many of them from Oliver's widow, 
 after his restoration, 
 
 o 4
 
 296 SIR FRANCIS CRANE'S 
 
 was a very clever glass painter and stainer ; many 
 of his works are still in good preservation, chiefly in 
 the colleges at Oxford. 
 
 Of the revival of this art in its reformed state, 
 Bernard Van Linge, a Fleming \ is allowed to have 
 been the finest promoter. He stained scriptural 
 subjects for Lincoln college chapel 1629, 1631 ; 
 and in 1640 and 1641 the windows in University 
 and Lincoln college chapels, and those in the 
 divinity school, Oxford, were finished by Abraham 
 Van Linge. Norgate appears to have been a very 
 clever illuminator in this reign, and Henry Lilley, 
 Rouge-dragon poursuivant, was another equally 
 clever in that line. 
 
 Sir Francis Crane, established an extensive 
 manufactory of tapestry at Mortlake in Surrey 2 ; 
 but it is very evident, from a letter written to the 
 king by this enterprising man, that the patronage 
 was not at all commensurate with the extensive 
 speculation. In that epistle Sir Francis fairly 
 complains of the royal negligence, and of the non- 
 
 1 In the chapel of Lincoln's Inn is a window, with " Bernard 
 1623," believed to mean Van Linge. 
 
 2 The earliest manufacture of tapestry in England is men- 
 tioned in a roll of 17th Edward III. Dugdale describes another 
 manufactory of it, introduced by W. Sheldon, Esq., of Warwick- 
 shire, temp. Hen. VIII.
 
 MANUFACTORY OF TAPESTEY. 297 
 
 payment of large sums he had expended for the 
 marquis of Buckingham, (300?.) besides carriage 
 paid for certain drawings, designs for tapestry, 
 made for Pope Leo XI. The subject was the 
 Twelve Months, by Raffael, and he further states, 
 that his disbursements in the concern had exceeded 
 upwards of 16,000^. of which sum he in return 
 had received no more than 2500^., and that both 
 his estate and credit were so far exhausted, that 
 without further support he would not be able to 
 carry on the business one month longer. But the 
 royal pedant did not extend his bounty to this 
 able and enterprising Englishman ; and that fine 
 manufactory, which might have become a very 
 lucrative trade in England, soon fell to decay. 
 
 We have seen, that in former reigns the sums 
 paid to the foreign manufacturers of tapestry were 
 very considerable, especially by queen Elizabeth, 
 when De Vroom, for the defeat of the Armada, 
 and Francis Spiering (the latter a Fleming) worked 
 their designs in tapestry, the cost of which, at the 
 present day, would be at least ten thousand pounds. 
 The nobility also were constantly giving orders for 
 splendid and expensive suits of arras to decorate 
 the principal apartments of their noble mansions. 
 This trade of course drained the country of many 
 o 5
 
 298 HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 thousand pounds annually, to the encouragement 
 of foreign industry, and depression of our own : 
 and yet, when an enterprising, intelligent, and 
 somewhat wealthy Englishman, undertakes all the 
 trouble, expense, and risk, of re-introducing this 
 branch of elegant and expensive manufacture into 
 England, he is allowed to struggle on in whatever 
 way he can, first receiving a little assistance, or 
 rather countenance from the court, and then losing 
 it at the moment when he had completely succeeded 
 in producing some of the finest specimens of 
 tapestry work that had yet been seen in this coun- 
 try. 
 
 Henry, prince of Wales, appears to have had 
 a very decided love for the arts, although he em- 
 ployed a foreigner as his drawing-master; this 
 person was Solomon de Caux, a Gascon, who ap- 
 pears also to have tried his hand at architecture : 
 he began to build a picture-gallery for the prince at 
 Richmond-palace ; but, Henry dying in 1612, it 
 was finished by the direction of prince Charles, who 
 had a similar taste for the arts. 
 
 It was prince Henry, however, who laid the 
 foundation of that splendid collection, which was 
 some years after completed by his brother. The 
 medals and gems amounting to twelve hundred,
 
 NICHOLAS STONE. 299 
 
 were purchased by prince Henry, and also a great 
 many of the statues and pictures which king 
 Charles afterwards inherited from him. The latter 
 prince also, when he came to the throne, restored 
 the decaying manufacture of arras, and raised it, 
 by his patronage and example, to a most prosperous 
 condition. 
 
 In king James's reign sculpture did not make 
 any progress towards a better style than had 
 latterly prevailed, and that was not very classical. 
 The chief employment for this class of artists arose 
 chiefly from the monumental works which were 
 then much in vogue, but, of their taste, we cannot 
 say much ; heavy complicated, allegorical, and 
 affected, they show that the simplicity of good 
 taste was either not understood, or by no means 
 appreciated. The statuaries in this reign were 
 Maximilian Colte, who was in government service, 
 as a mastor sculptor, at 81. per annum. Epipha- 
 nius Evesham was another who also had a good re- 
 pution in this species of sculpture. 
 
 Nicholas Stone was the most fashionable man, 
 
 and probably the most clever in the statuary line 
 
 at this period ; he was very much employed in 
 
 designing and executing expensive monuments for 
 
 06
 
 300 BERNARD JANSEN. 
 
 persons of high rank and great wealth 1 , and, on 
 the decease of Suthis, he was appointed to the 
 office of master-mason and architect for Windsor 
 castle (April 1626). He not only was in exten- 
 sive employment as a statuary, but was actually 
 obliged to take upon him the profession of an 
 architect. Earl Danby caused him to design and 
 build a house for him at Cornbury; and, in 1638, 
 he built Tart hall, near Buckingham house, for the 
 countess Arundel. He died in 1647, and was in- 
 terred tn St. MartinVin-the-fields. 
 
 Henry, Nicholas, and John Stone, his sons, 
 studied in Italy ; but it is somewhat singular, that 
 with the advantages of four years' study there, 
 they never attained to anything like the reputation 
 of then* father, who acquired his knowledge in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Bernard Jansen, a foreign architect, who was 
 much employed amongst the higher classes, built 
 
 1 He erected one for the earl of Ormond, at Kilkenny, in 
 Ireland, about 1614, for which he had 4001. ; for the earl of 
 Northampton, in Dover castle ; for Mr. Sutton, the founder of the 
 Charter-house ; for Lucy, countess of Bedford, at Woburn ; that 
 for Spenser, the poet, in Westminster abbey ; for Dr. Donne, in 
 St. Paul's ; for Sir N. Bacon's family, at Redgrave ; for the 
 countess of Buckingham, Westminster-abbey, &c.
 
 JOHN SMITHSON. 301 
 
 Audley-inn, near Saffron Walden (Essex), an 
 enormous pile of heavy lumbering work, which 
 has been much mended by the pulling down the 
 greater part. This honest gentleman seemed to 
 think that there was no end to the wealth of his 
 employers, and his countryman Vanbrugh totally 
 spoiled whatever there had been of grandeur or 
 good taste in this mansion originally 1 . 
 
 Jansen also built the greater part of Northum- 
 berland house 2 , excepting the frontispiece, which 
 it appears was erected under the superintendence 
 of Gerard Chrismas. At a later period, Moses 
 Glover appears to have rebuilt the front. 
 
 John Smithson was chiefly employed as an archi- 
 tect by the earl, afterwards "duke of Newcastle. 
 Welbeck and Bolsover castle are his chief works. 
 Buller and Harrison, are also mentioned as archi- 
 tects at this period. 
 
 The engravers and medallists, however, at this 
 
 1 It was erected by Thomas Howard, earl of Suffolk, lord 
 treasurer to James I. ; and it was said, that "the foundation" of 
 this extraordinary edifice "was laid on Spanish gold ;" so cor- 
 rupt were some of the officers of James's court, that Spanish in- 
 fluence destroyed British feelings of honour and fidelity. 
 
 2 Camden relates, that at the funeral of Anne, queen of James 
 I. one of the letters S. on the parapet tumbled down, and killed 
 a young man, one of the spectators.
 
 302 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 time displayed very considerable taste in design 
 and skill in the execution of their works. 
 
 Architecture underwent another metamorphoses 
 in this reign, and departed still farther than the 
 Elizabethan, from either the pointed style, or the 
 classic examples of Greece and Rome. The build- 
 ings of this period present masses of masonry far 
 less picturesque than those that preceded them; 
 their heavy monotonous line of parapet was usually 
 broken by one turret, of greater elevation than 
 those at the angles; there was interiorly much 
 heavy magnificence ; but anything like elegance 
 we must not expect to find in the architectural 
 specimens of James's reign. Bay-windows, both 
 angular and circular, are omitted. The introduc- 
 tion into these structures of very large square 
 windows, divided by a transom, in rows in each 
 story is a remarkable feature of this manner of 
 building ; some of course were not so bad as 
 others, though generally speaking, their appearance 
 denoted a vast deal more of wealth than good taste, 
 or scientific intelligence ; yet those that have been 
 preserved now wear a venerable character, and are 
 valuable links in the chain of British architecture. 
 Some of them are still in perfect condition, occupied
 
 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. 303 
 
 and graced by the elevated rank, wealth, beauty, 
 high civilization, and intelligence of a race far supe- 
 rior in elegant accomplishments and useful know- 
 ledge, to those who lived in the age when those 
 edifices were erected ; many of these structures are, 
 however, in ruins, in almost every part of England 1 . 
 
 Towards the end of James's reign sculpture did 
 display a little of its activity in the pomp of 
 gorgeous, though not splendid, monuments of a 
 parallel taste with that of the enormous mansions ; 
 those had become so general, that even at this day, 
 we frequently meet with the sepulchral chapels of 
 the nobility and wealthy families of that period 
 which exhibit in various stages of preservation or 
 decay those silent memorials of departed greatness. 
 
 Westminster abbey is perhaps the best museum 
 of the various modes of mausoleic workmanship in 
 this country ; there are within its ample precincts, 
 specimens of every age since its completion. Some 
 of those erected in this reign are very remarkable, 
 as for instance, those of Queen Elizabeth, and 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, which are of an architectural 
 
 1 Those remaining are Hatfield, Herts ; Audley inn, Essex ; 
 Woolaton, Notts ; Bolsover, Derby ; Longford, Wilts ; Temple 
 Newsham, Yorkshire ; Charlton, Kent ; Holland house, Middle- 
 sex ; Braneshill, Hants ; Castle Ashby, Northampton ; Summers- 
 hill, Kent ; Charlton, Wilts.
 
 304 DEGRADED STATE OF SCULPTURE 
 
 character, and more sumptuous than refined. But 
 the monuments here are well known, and it is 
 not our business to multiply examples ; we give 
 these merely as memoranda, to point out the best 
 style of that day, for the king was quite liberal in 
 his outlay upon both these tombs, as appears very 
 evident ; and if high talent in sculpture could be 
 had at the call of wealth, it must have been present 
 at the construction of these regal monuments. But 
 the bright genius which is embodied in true feel- 
 ing, expression, grace, dignity, and beauty, was 
 absent, although thousands of pounds were lavished 
 on the sculptured marble ; yet that part of the art 
 which can be attained by manipulation, was well 
 performed ; the workman's tools have been handled 
 with great dexterity : but careful attention to 
 finishing the details of a work will never palliate 
 the absence of good taste and fine feeling in any 
 department of the arts. This class of works afford 
 the most correct evidence of the state in which 
 sculpture was about twenty years after the com- 
 mencement of the seventeenth century, we may 
 have occasion to make further reference to it in 
 another part of this work. The very gross error 
 prevailed generally in that age, which has, we 
 regret to say, not lost all its believers at this en-
 
 IN JAMES'S REIGN. 305 
 
 lightened period namely, the power of wealth to 
 create suddenly artists of superior talent ; the 
 golden wand of the universal enchanter waved on 
 high in these instances, but genius came not. The 
 successive governments, and the wealthy of the 
 land had neglected to cultivate the intellect of the 
 people in these matters ; they had no conception 
 of the toil and time required to raise up the 
 genuine spirit of the arts, and to cultivate their 
 various and extensive powers. A nice dexterous 
 manner of handling the implements whether of 
 painting or sculpture, was looked upon with admira- 
 tion, although the ill conceived, and often barbarous 
 design on which it was exercised, frequently fell 
 below all critical attention. Here, then, we have 
 wealth and power in abundance, but neither taste nor 
 judgment ; plenty of the mechanician's dexterity, 
 but a total ignorance, (either natural, or acquired, *) 
 of the few and simple elements and principles of 
 the arts, which nature confides only to persons 
 endowed with intellectual powers of a superior 
 description. The natural consequence of this, in 
 
 1 Natural ignorance is originally every one's lot, but acquired 
 ignorance must be gained by reading aud conversation ; the first 
 is curable, the other difficult of cure *. 
 
 * Batty Langley's Works, &c. &c.
 
 306 DEGRADED STATE OF SCULPTURE. 
 
 king Jameses reign, was, that a second and third 
 rate class of architects and sculptors usurped the 
 vacant throne of legitimate art ; these men sent 
 forth their decrees, and covered the land with 
 mountains of masonry, ramified into every fan- 
 tastic form that " most admired disorder" could 
 contrive or execute.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 SECTION I. 
 CHARLES I. (1625 to 1649). 
 
 THIS monarch, as we have already stated, had 
 a similar taste for the arts as his elder brother, 
 prince Henry, whose valuable collection of pictures, 
 statuary, medals, and coins, came to him by in- 
 heritance. Charles had assisted in making this 
 fine selection, and therefore he was fully aware of 
 its value ; not merely as to the gratification it 
 might afford to himself or friends, but as a matter 
 likely to be of important benefit to the nation. 
 His affection for the arts was certainly formed 
 upon the most rational grounds that can be con- 
 ceived. This monarch was not of a profuse tem- 
 perament as regarded wealth, and when he parted 
 with any portion of his income, he was directed
 
 SOS CHARACTER OF CHARLES 1. 
 
 in these matters by good taste, and a sound judg- 
 ment. Never hasty in his decisions on the merits 
 of artists and their productions, he exercised a 
 discretion, which, could he have carried it into his 
 political conduct, would have prevented all the evils 
 that a desperate conflict between an arbitrary mo- 
 narchy and a military despotism inflicted upon Eng- 
 land for more than twenty years ; and from those 
 evils the arts have not even now quite recovered. 
 
 Charles, in these matters, was equally remote 
 from the pompous economy of Elizabeth, or the 
 mixture of meanness and profusion which marked 
 his father's character. Charles's reach of mind 
 was superior to either in these respects ; but his 
 knowledge of the science of government was not 
 equal to cope with the spirit of independence which 
 had been gradually growing up in England among 
 the middle classes, but who originally were not 
 averse to monarchy and its just prerogatives ; 
 unfortunately Charles's father had instilled false 
 notions of power into his son's mind when young, 
 and those unhappy prejudices being fixed early in 
 his mind, could not be overcome ; to that folly of 
 James's, in a great degree, no doubt, Charles owed 
 his downfall, and the country all the evils of civil 
 war, and its calamities.
 
 PATRONIZES THE ARTS. 309 
 
 With respect to his general knowledge in the arts 
 and sciences, few persons of his time were so well, 
 or so extensively informed. This monarch was 
 skilled in drawing, and it is said that he had a 
 good practical knowledge of painting : however that 
 may be, there is no doubt but that he saw the 
 arts with the enlarged views of a philosopher ; he 
 patronised them because he knew they would en- 
 rich the country, and elevate its character amongst 
 the most enlightened nations ; and accordingly, we 
 find him giving ample encouragement to men of 
 high talent, but to none others in the arts. 
 " Charles was a scholar, a man of taste, a gentle- 
 man, and a Christian ; he was every thing but a 
 king ; the art of reigning was the only art of which 
 he was ignorant V 
 
 At the time of king Charles's accession, the 
 crown was in possession of a good many pictures, 
 many of which were of a high class ; amongst these 
 were some that had belonged to the palaces, previous 
 to Henry VIII. The whole amounted to 153, and 
 were added to the collection king Henry had made ; 
 that catalogue gradually increased during the four 
 following reigns, chiefly by the works of the artists 
 
 1 Lilly on the Life and Death of Charles I. p. 10.
 
 310 CHAELES COLLECTS WORKS OF ART. 
 
 we have mentioned. The collection of prince 
 Henry was now added to these, and agents were 
 despatched to France, Spain, and Italy, to make 
 further purchases. Foreign speculators lost no 
 time in taking over works for sale, when they found 
 that there was so good a market for them. Many 
 of the persons attached to the court also presented 
 pictures and rare curiosities for the royal gallery 
 and museum ; and the king himself purchased at 
 a large price the duke of Mantua's entire cabinet, 
 at that time considered the most valuable in 
 Europe * ; but it unfortunately happened, that, 
 through grossly bad management, or the malice of 
 some foreign rival, a portion of quicksilver got into 
 the cases, and spoiled some of the finest of these 
 pictures. 
 
 But it was not only works of high art that the 
 king was anxious to collect ; he was most desirous 
 to have the ablest artists, then existing, in his im- 
 mediate service. To gain this object he invited 
 Albano and Romanelli into England, by letters 
 under his own hand ; likewise Simon Vouet, the 
 celebrated French artist of that time : but he 
 did not succeed in any of these applications, and 
 
 1 It is stated that king Charles gave 80,000?. for this col- 
 lection.
 
 THE CARTOONS OF RAFFAEL PURCHASED. 311 
 
 the duke of Buckingham was equally unsuccessful 
 in his efforts to induce Carlo Maratti to come over. 
 Charles was more successful with Vandyck, whom 
 he kept almost constantly employed ; and as the 
 king knew that he could not get Bernini to come 
 to him, he directed Vandyck to paint on one can- 
 vas three portraits of himself: the centre one a 
 full face ; those at each side were a three-quarter 
 head, and a profile ; these were sent to Bernini, who 
 from them only made the bust that was lost at the 
 fire in Whitehall, A. D. 1698 l . For this work Ber- 
 nini was paid one thousand Roman crowns. When 
 Charles saw the head, it pleased him so much that 
 he ordered another to be made of the queen ; but 
 before this order could be carried into effect, the 
 civil war broke out, and put a stop to its further 
 progress. 
 
 But the most precious of all Charleses purchases, 
 were the celebrated cartoons by Raffael, which are 
 still kept at Hampton-court. Pope Leo X. had 
 sent these noble compositions to a great tapestry 
 manufacturer at Brussels, to be copied and pre- 
 
 1 Whether this bust was destroyed or stolen has not yet been 
 ascertained ; the latter seems, from concurrent testimony, to be 
 the most probable. The original picture is, however, still extant 
 in the royal collection, having been purchased by George IV. out 
 of a fine collection.
 
 312 CHARLES ESTABLISHES AN ACADEMY. 
 
 sented to king Henry VIII. ; but it appears that 
 the tapestry never having been paid for, the original 
 designs were held in pledge by the manufacturers. 
 Rubens knew of their being in Flanders, and having 
 informed the king of it, the duke of Buckingham 
 went over and purchased them, to the great disap- 
 pointment of Louis XIV. who was most anxious to 
 possess these rare specimens of that great master's 
 genius : to procure them he offered, it is said, the 
 magnificent sum of five hundred thousand French 
 crowns. 
 
 It does not appear that king Charles invited any 
 foreign architects into his service. Inigo Jones 
 seems to have been in his opinion quite equal to 
 any he could procure from the continent, and his 
 constant employment of that accomplished archi- 
 tect is a further proof of his patriotic love of the 
 arts. 
 
 In the eleventh year of his reign, king Charles 
 established an academy, the first that was con- 
 nected with the arts in this country ; its title was 
 Museum Minervce \ and was quite in harmony with 
 his determination to plant the fine arts in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 1 The patent is still extant in the Rolls' office, and the rules, 
 orders, &c. of that establishment were printed in 1636.
 
 COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF LOEDS. 313 
 
 This institution was upon a very extensive scale ; 
 the course of instruction embraced the arts, 
 sciences, and foreign languages, mathematics, paint- 
 ing, sculpture, architecture, riding, fortification, 
 antiquities, and the science of medals, &c. 
 
 None could be admitted into it, but those who 
 could prove themselves to be of the rank of gen- 
 tlemen. Sir Francis Kynaston was appointed the 
 first regent, and the academy was held in his house 
 in Covent-garden. 
 
 Previous to the establishment of this institu- 
 tion, a committee of the House of Lords had been 
 formed, of which the duke of Buckingham was a 
 member *. 
 
 The object of this committee, which was recom- 
 mended by the crown, appears to have been entirely 
 for the purpose of taking into consideration the 
 state of the public schools, and methods of edu- 
 cation. This academy may have arisen out of a 
 recommendation from their Lordships. It continued 
 only until the civil strife began 2 ; but could that 
 school have lasted long enough to educate one or 
 two generations, it must have bestowed upon the 
 
 1 This nobleman was also a great collector, and an encourager 
 of the arts. 
 
 a About five years. 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 314 DESTRUCTION OF WORKS OF ART. 
 
 middle and upper classes of society, an extent of 
 useful knowledge and a liberal style of education, 
 which would in time have given a sound and valu- 
 able direction to the public mind ; and by making 
 the people of superior rank thoroughly acquainted 
 with the principles and practical operations of the 
 elegant and useful arts and sciences, the tone 
 of public feeling would have been greatly im- 
 proved and extended. 
 
 But this truly noble and enlightened effort of 
 the king, was overthrown by the same degree of 
 inveteracy with which the zealots of that day pur- 
 sued the arts *, and this rancorous barbarity appears 
 
 1 In August, 1641, there was an edict published by the House 
 of Commons for taking away all scandalous pictures out of 
 churches, in which there was more intended by the authors than 
 at first their instruments understood. Visitors were appointed to 
 carry this order into complete execution, who were allowed 6s. 8d. 
 as a stimulant for each church they visited. The journal of one 
 of these parliamentary visitors for Suffolk, named Dowding, has 
 been preserved : the view of destruction it discloses is so appal- 
 ling, that it is wonderful how any work of skill hi the arts should 
 have escaped ; but the people were reluctant to destroy them, 
 and only did so when the visitors superintended the destruction. 
 The spirit of these visitors may be understood from one example : 
 " Clare, Suffolk, January 6, 1643. We broke down one thousand 
 pictures superstitious : I broke down two hundred, three of God 
 the Father, three of Christ and the holy lamb, and three of the 
 Holy Ghost, like a dove with wings, and the twelve apostles were 
 carved in wood on the top of the roof, which we gave orders to 
 take down, and twenty eherubims to be taken down, and the sun
 
 ST. MARGARET'S, WESTMINSTER. 315 
 
 to have been mainly increased, because they were 
 protected and encouraged by royalty ; and so eager 
 
 and moon, in the east window by the king's arms, to be taken 
 down." This was one of five churches which he visited on the 
 same day. 
 
 In those days of sorrow to the arts, many fine things escaped 
 the general ruin by various lucky interpositions ; perhaps the 
 most curious of these histories of escapes was that of the great 
 window of St. Margaret's, Westminster. 
 
 This splendid example of glass painting was made at the ex- 
 pense of the magistrates of Dort in Holland, for the purpose of 
 being presented to Henry VII. for his superb chapel then build- 
 ing. It occupied five years in preparing, and arrived here just 
 as that monarch deceased. The abbot of Waltham got it into his 
 possession, and placed it in his abbey church, where it remained 
 until the dissolution of that foundation in 1540. To preserve this 
 precious window, Robert Fuller, the last abbot of Waltham, had 
 it removed to a chapel at New hall, a seat of the Butlers, earls of 
 Ormond, in Wiltshire. This place came afterwards into the posses- 
 sion of Thomas Bulleyn, Esq., father of queen Anna Bulleyn. In 
 the reign of Elizabeth, New-hall was the seat of Radcliffe, earl of 
 Sussex. G. Villiers, duke of Buckingham, bought it from this 
 family. Villiers's son sold it to General Monk, who, to preserve 
 the window from the fury of his party, caused it to be buried 
 under ground during the civil war. After the restoration, Monk 
 had the window restored to his chapel at New-hall : his son 
 Christopher, second duke of Albemarle, dying without issue in 
 1688, his duchess abandoned this seat, and it fell into decay. Its 
 next possessor was John Olmius, Esq., who demolished part of 
 the hall and its fine chapel ; the window he packed in boxes, 
 hoping to make something by its sale. Mr. Conyers bought it for 
 his chapel at Copt-hall, near Epping : he afterwards left this old 
 seat for a new one, when, not having any occasion for the window, 
 he sold it to the committee appointed to repair St. Margaret's 
 church, in 1758, for four hundred guineas. This window, which 
 
 p 2
 
 316 SALE OF THE KINGS PICTURES, ETC. 
 
 were these fanatics to disperse these fine works of 
 art, that so early as July 1 646, they issued an order 
 for the sale of the king's pictures at York-house. 
 This step was taken about two months after Charles 
 had delivered himself up to the Scottish army at 
 Newark, and seven months before the leaders of 
 the revolution had got him into their own hands. 
 But it was not until the 20th of February 1647, 
 three weeks after the king had been put to death, 
 that the parliament passed a resolution, referring 
 the management of the property to the committee 
 of the navy to raise money by the sale of his goods, 
 pictures, statues, jewels, &c. Cromwell, however, 
 used his influence, under various pretexts, to prevent 
 any further dispersion of the royal collections ; but 
 having greater objects to look after, the house of 
 
 still displays such brilliancy of colours, must therefore be above 
 three hundred and thirty years old, as Henry VII. died in 1509. 
 
 The subject represented is the crucifixion, with all the persons 
 stated to have been present on that awful occasion. The pen- 
 dents are filled with figures of St. George, St. Catharine, &c. ; 
 with Henry VII. and his consort, queen Elizabeth Plautagenet. 
 
 In 1760, when this window was put up, articles were exhibited 
 against the churchwardens in the ecclesiastical court, for setting 
 up certain superstitious pictures, &c. The churchwardens, 
 Messrs. W. Rusted and Samuel Pierson, were obliged to answer 
 to the charges, and their defence was allowed to be fair and satis- 
 factory. There is a careful engraving of it, published by Nichols 
 and Son, of Parliament-street.
 
 VALUE OF THESE WORKS OF ART. 317 
 
 commons voted that the personal estates of the 
 king, queen and prince, " should be inventoried, 
 appraised, and sold." The house did not allow its 
 own members to be any way concerned in the 
 sale ; it was no doubt owing to this circumstance, 
 that the collection fell generally into the hands of 
 inferior persons, many of whom were the painters 
 and officers of the late king's establishment ; and 
 that magnificent collection was, to a great extent, 
 sold piece-meal, to any one who chose to give " the 
 sum affixed to each article." 
 
 An imperfect catalogue of the pictures, statues, 
 goods, &c. is still extant, with the prices at which 
 they were valued and sold ; the particulars are very 
 numerous ; the whole amount of the contracts is 
 118,000?. 10s. 2d. A very small sum, considering 
 the various palaces, from whence the furniture, 
 plate, and jewels, were brought *. 
 
 The sale was continued until August, 1 653, at a 
 fixed price for each article ; but when a competition 
 arose, the highest bidder had the preference. Among 
 
 1 Richmond, Theobalds, Ludlow, Carisbrook, Kenihvorth, 
 Bewdley, Royston, Holdenby-house, Newmarket, Woodstock, 
 and those mentioned in p. 318. The whole number of pictures 
 was 1387, sculptures, 399 ; eighty-four of the pictures were first- 
 rate works. 
 
 p 3
 
 318 SALE OF THE KlNG^S COLLECTION. 
 
 the purchasers of pictures and statues were Decritz, 
 Wright, B. Van Leemput, Sir B. Gerbier, &c. 
 
 Symonds, however, says, that the committee of 
 Somerset house fixed the value of the pictures, 
 goods, and moveables, at 200,000?, after the king 
 and queen had carried off and had sent away 
 abundance of jewels. 
 
 The following is an abstract of the sale of 
 the pictures and other goods, &c. in nine of the 
 palaces not mentioned in the preceding note, 
 viz. 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 Wimbledon and Greenwich 1,709 19 
 
 Whitehall 2,291 10 
 
 Oatlands, 81 pictures 733 18 
 
 Nonsuch, 33 ditto 282 
 
 Somerset house, Whitehall, and St. James's,") , ot - 2 , , 
 447 pictures. J 
 
 Hampton court, 332 pictures 4,675 16 
 
 St. James's, sculpture 290 
 
 Somerset-house, in the gallery, 120 pieces . 2,387 3 
 
 In the gardens 20 pieces of sculpture . . . 1,165 14 
 
 At Greenwich, 230 ditto 13,780 13 6 
 
 At St. James's, 20 ditto 656 
 
 Total . . 38,025 4 6 
 
 Cromwell, however, who appears in these trans- 
 actions, to be much more the passive looker-on 
 than the active promoter of them, had no sooner
 
 THE CARTOONS OF RAFFAEL. 319 
 
 got the sole power into his hands, than he stopped 
 all further sales of these works, and even withheld 
 from the contractors much of the property which 
 they had purchased. The parties so treated did 
 not think it prudent to make any motion about it 
 until Cromweirs death, when they petitioned the 
 council of state for leave to take possession of the 
 tapestry, statues, &c. specified in their memorial. 
 
 A great many of king Charles's statues were 
 purchased from the duke of Mantua, and several 
 ancient Greek altars, columns, &c., were brought 
 from the temple of Delos, by Sir Kenelm Digby. 
 
 Many of the best pictures in the king's collection 
 were bought up for the Spanish monarch, by Don 
 Alonzo de Cardenas. Among the property sold, 
 were the fine tapestry works of RaffaeFs Cartoons 1 . 
 
 1 The history of these justly celebrated tapestry works is some- 
 what remarkable. We have already stated, that they were ma- 
 nufactured at Brussels for pope Leo X., who presented them to 
 Henry VIII. at the same time that he conferred on him the title 
 of " Defender of the Faith," for his pamphlet in defence of the 
 Seven Sacraments of the Romish Church. This " arras of tapes- 
 try," known as " the apostolical," remained at Hampton-court 
 palace until the death of Charles I., when the parliament-com- 
 missioners sold them by auction in 1649, to the Marquis del 
 Carpio, after whose demise they were inherited by the; dukes of 
 Berwick and Alba, in the possession of their descendants. This 
 tapestry remained above one hundred and fifty years, when they 
 were purchased from the last representative of that family, by 
 
 p 4
 
 320 CKOMWELL. 
 
 After the restoration, great efforts were made to 
 recover the scattered works of art, but with little 
 success, as to legal proceedings ; for only one pic- 
 ture, king Charles on horseback, was recovered 
 in that way. G. Rentz, a Dutch collector, had 
 brought some of the pictures to Holland ; the 
 states bought them of his widow, and returned 
 them to Charles II. 
 
 But, whether it was through the interference of 
 Cromwell, who checked the sale of the regal pro- 
 Peter Carey Tapper, Esq., the British consul in Catalonia, who, 
 it was stated, gave 50001. for them. They were exhibited at 
 the Egyptian hall, Piccadilly, in 1818 ; and on Mr. Tapper's de- 
 mise, the executors of that gentleman set them np to auction at 
 George Robins's rooms in June, 1833 ; but they were bought in 
 at 15001., the bidders not advancing beyond that sum. They are 
 nine in number, and must have been very magnificent when fresh. 
 A great part of the work is wrought in gold and silver, the latter, 
 forming originally the high lights, has become tarnished ; but the 
 other parts are very bright and rich in colour. The original 
 cost at Brussels, was said to be 60,000 crowns, but it seems they 
 never were paid for, and the manufacturer kept the original 
 Cartoons now at Hampton court in pledge ; from the descend- 
 ants of that person the duke of Buckingham bought them for 
 Charles I. Of these Cartoons, the Conversion of St. Paul, and 
 the Stoning of St. Stephen, were burnt at Whitehall ; but these 
 two subjects form part of the nine in the arras * ; the^others are, 
 Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, 
 Elymas struck Blind, the Delivery of the Keys to Peter, the 
 Death of Ananias, St. Paul at Athens, and the Miraculous Draught 
 of Fishes. 
 
 * It is said that the series was twelve originally.
 
 FIRE AT WHITEHALL. 321 
 
 perty the moment he had the power of so doing, 
 whether by the repurchase, or the voluntary resto- 
 ration of portions of these valuable effects ; it is evi- 
 dent that the crown even in Charles II.'s reign, still 
 possessed a great number of valuable pictures : this 
 is still more evident from the catalogue of James II. 
 But, as if a malignant fortune still hovered over 
 their destiny, a conflagration at Whitehall palace, 
 (1698) swept away by far the greater part of those 
 which had been saved from the havoc of civil war. 
 With these pictures, perished also above four 
 hundred valuable medals and coins, the remains of 
 the twelve hundred that prince Henry had collected. 
 This remnant Charles II., after his return, had 
 placed under the care of Elias Ashmole, to make out 
 a description of them, and they were in the cabinet 
 of Henry VIII. at Whitehall. It does not appear 
 that any of them were saved, although Sir Christo- 
 pher Wren and a considerable number of his work- 
 men were on the spot very soon after the fire first 
 appeared, and it was five hours before it reached 
 the opposite wing of the building where this valu- 
 able collection was kept. 
 
 This calamity appears to have nearly completed 
 the destruction of the royal collections of art, in 
 England, which had been accumulating from the 
 p 5
 
 322 THOMAS, EARL OF ARUNDEL. 
 
 commencement of the fifteenth century, under six 
 kings and two queens, at a very great expense, but 
 which no persons ever thought of placing in fire- 
 proof buildings. 
 
 These accumulated misfortunes must have pro- 
 duced a very discouraging effect upon the arts ; and 
 it is clear that they continued in a state of com- 
 parative depression, for more than half a century 
 after the period of the conflagration above men- 
 tioned. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Amongst the men of rank, wealth, and station, 
 whose taste, judgment, and love of the arts moved 
 in harmony with those of the king, was the cele- 
 brated Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel '. This 
 nobleman was " the father of virtu in England," 
 and as Evelyn says, " he was the Maecenas of the 
 politer arts, and the boundless amasser of anti- 
 quities." 
 
 This nobleman was decidedly the first person 
 (a subject) in this country who began seriously 
 and extensively to make collections of the works 
 
 1 Hereditary earl-marshal of England.
 
 THE ARUNDEL COLLECTION. 323 
 
 of ancient and modern art, even previously to 
 those of prince Henry, king Charles, and the duke 
 of Buckingham. 
 
 The first Greek and Roman antique statues 
 seen in this country were brought hither at this 
 nobleman^s expense ; one of his principal agents 
 in making these valuable collections, was William 
 Petty l , M. A. who it appears from contemporary 
 testimony, was admirably suited for this difficult, 
 and at that time dangerous occupation f . This 
 gentleman was the agent, who chiefly collected the 
 celebrated statues, busts, and inscribed marbles, 
 known as " the Arundel collection." 
 
 The earl of Arundel began to collect statues 
 and pictures about 1614; he arranged them in 
 the great galleries at Arundel house in the Strand. 
 The marbles with the Greek inscriptions, and the 
 bas-reliefs were inserted into the walls of the 
 garden, the inferior and mutilated statues were 
 
 1 Uncle of Sir Wm. Petty who was the founder of the Laiis- 
 downe family ; he was chaplain to lord Arundel, and had a 
 benefice in the isle of Wight. 
 
 2 Returning to the continent from Samos, where he had been 
 collecting, he narrowly escaped being drowned in a storm ; he 
 lost most of his curiosities, was thrown into prison as a spy, and 
 confined there for some tune. 
 
 p 6
 
 324 THE ARUNDEL COLLECTION. 
 
 placed in a summer garden, which this nobleman 
 had at Lambeth. When entire, this selection 
 contained thirty-seven statues, one hundred and 
 twenty-eight busts, besides two hundred and fifty 
 marbles; the first and last of these classes may 
 still be inspected at Oxford, the busts are prin- 
 cipally at Wilton. 
 
 The earl's original intention as to their arrange- 
 ment was, that this noble collection should be 
 divided between Arundel castle, Sussex, and 
 Arundel house, London ; there to be preserved 
 as heir-looms, this purpose being clearly express- 
 ed in the act of settlement which he obtained in 
 1628. 
 
 At the commencement of the quarrel between 
 the king and parliament, lord Arundel retired to 
 Antwerp with some of the more portable parts of 
 his collection. He travelled into Italy, and died at 
 Padua a ^ er having by will divided this collec- 
 tion between his two sons ; this division event- 
 ually led to the complete dispersion of the whole. 
 And thus this splendid commencement of a noble 
 assemblage of classic art, especially in sculpture, 
 was little less unfortunate than that of king 
 Charles. Those illustrious individuals did all that
 
 RUBENS. 325 
 
 man could do to raise their native land in the scale 
 of civilized nations ; and for that alone their memo- 
 ries deserve to be held in high respect by every 
 patriotic Briton. 
 
 We shall close this chapter by an enumeration 
 of the other artists who were encouraged here in 
 king Charles's reign ; but our limits do not allow 
 of more than a mere notice of each. 
 
 Rubens stands first in this catalogue, the graphic 
 vigour of whose mind, his classical attainments, and 
 general knowledge are almost universally known. 
 He was only one year in England ; it was then he 
 painted nine sketches for the splendid ceiling at 
 Whitehall palace, and eight others for tapestry 
 of the history of Achilles, intended for some of 
 the royal palaces ; he also painted a few pictures 
 and some portraits. The order of knighthood, 
 which was bestowed on him in Spain, was confirmed 
 to him by king Charles, in 1630. Rubens died 
 of the gout exactly ten years afterwards, at nearly 
 sixty-four years of age ' : at his death, the king of 
 Spain purchased nearly the entire of his large 
 
 1 It is a vulgar error to say that Rubens had three wives ; he 
 had but two, the first was Isabella Brandts, who died in 1626 ; 
 his second was Helena Forman, who survived him and remarried 
 count Bergyk.
 
 326 VANDYCK. 
 
 collection of pictures, the whole of which produced 
 280,000 silver florins '. 
 
 The number of pictures by this great artist, 
 which are now in England is very considerable, 
 having been very much increased during the revo- 
 lutionary war on the continent : to enumerate them 
 would not convey any idea of their qualities. 
 
 Abraham Diepenbeck, a scholar of Rubens, was 
 much employed here by William Cavendish, duke 
 of Newcastle. He was also a very superior painter 
 of large windows for cathedrals, &c. 
 
 Vandyck, was specially invited to England by 
 Charles I. in 1631, and had an allowance of 200. 
 per annum, besides being paid for his pictures, of 
 which he painted an immense number, by far the 
 greater part of which are portraits ; but he executed 
 historical subjects occasionally. The picture galleries 
 of our sovereigns, of our nobility and gentry, bear 
 
 1 Tlie pictures now in Whitehall, and for which he received 
 3000Z. he finished at Antwerp. Michel, in pure simplicity, says of 
 them, "Us represent&rent par attegorle Us actions heroiques de Jaques 
 I. roy d'Angleterre !" In 1687, they were in bad condition from 
 the effects of the atmosphere, and had a thorough patching up 
 by Parry Walton for 2121. George III. employed Cipriani for 
 another resuscitation at the expense of 20001. Rigaud, and since 
 then some nameless painter, has had another good job out of 
 them ; so that there is nothing of Rubens now to look at but the 
 compositions.
 
 GELDORP POLENBURG. 327 
 
 ample testimony to the esteem in which his works 
 are held by the most competent judges of pictorial 
 merit : he was ten years employed in England, and 
 died at the commencement of his royal patron's 
 misfortunes, in December, 1641 l . 
 
 George Geldorp, with whom Vandyck lived when 
 he first came over, his pupil Isaac Sailmaker, Van 
 Bassan, and other more obscure artists, are men- 
 tioned by some of our writers. 
 
 Cornelius Polenburg was superior to that class ; 
 king Charles invited him to London, where he re- 
 mained two or three years, and then returned to 
 Utrecht : his genuine works are scarce, but John 
 de Lis imitated him so exactly, that his pieces are 
 often mistaken for Polenburg's. 
 
 George Jameson 3 studied under Rubens when 
 Vandyck was his pupil. Jameson's excellence con- 
 sists in delicacy and mellowness of pencil : his colour- 
 ing is clear and brilliant. King Charles employed 
 
 1 He had a short time previous proposed to the king to paint 
 the four sides of the audience chamber at Whitehall, which there 
 can be little doubt Charles would have completed but for the 
 state of the country. There is a great mistake as to the price 
 asked for this work ; Graham says it was 80,0001., he added a 
 cypher too many, no doubt by mistake : the sum asked was 80001., 
 which comes within the bounds of probability. 
 
 * He was called the Vandyck of Scotland : his father an 
 architect, was born in Aberdeen, 1586.
 
 328 WILLIAM DOBSON. 
 
 him when he was in Scotland, 1 633, and gave him 
 a diamond ring. Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, 
 was the first and best patron of this artist \ many 
 of whose works are in possession of the principal 
 families in Scotland ; but the largest collection is 
 at Taymouth, the seat of earl Breadalbane. His 
 prices do not appear to have been large, yet he was 
 in prosperous circumstances, and left a good pro- 
 perty to his three daughters. His works are justly 
 esteemed, and his portrait is in the Florentine 
 chamber of painters : he died, 1644. 
 
 WUliam Dobson is another native artist of con- 
 siderable merit : he had not much opportunity 
 of obtaining valuable instruction in art, but his 
 unassisted efforts displayed so much ability, that on 
 Vandyck seeing some of them by chance, he sought 
 out the painter, and recommended him to the king, 
 and, on the death of Vandyck, he was appointed 
 
 1 The following are extracts from a MS. on vellum, containing 
 the genealogy of the house of Glenorchy. " Item : the said Sir 
 Coline Campbell, eighth lord of Glenorchy, gave unto George 
 Jamesone, painter in Edinburgh, for king Robert, and king David 
 Bruysses, kings of Scotland, and Charles I., king of Great Britain, 
 France, and Ireland, and his majesties quein, and for nine more 
 of the querns of Scotland ; their portraits quhilks are sett up in 
 the hall of Balloch near Taymouth, the sum of twa hundreth 
 thne scor punds." There are several other entries of payments 
 to this artist, for an immense genealogical tree, &c.
 
 WILLIAM DOBSOM. 329 
 
 Serjeant painter, and groom of the privy chamber. 
 He attended the king to Oxford. Here king 
 Charles, prince Rupert, and many of the nobility sat 
 to him ; but when the king's affairs grew desperate, 
 this artist suffered by it severely ; for that class of 
 persons by whom he was patronized, having lost all 
 power and means, no longer had any thought about 
 the fine arts or their professors ; and Dobson being 
 a royalist, the puritan party would not encourage 
 the native and charming pencil of one so tainted. 
 Unemployed, this excellent artist became poor, was 
 thrown into prison, where he lay some time, until 
 released by the kindness of a Mr. Vaughan of the 
 Exchequer. But he did not long survive his release ; 
 the political rancour that trampled alike on religion 
 and justice soon drove him to an early grave ; he 
 died at the age of thirty-six, in St. Martinis-lane, 
 and was buried, October 28, at St. MartinVin-the- 
 fields. Thus England lost, chiefly through the 
 violence of party feeling, the best native painter 
 that this country had yet produced, and who had 
 not attained that maturity of years and experience, 
 which would have allowed the complete develop- 
 ment of his talents. His works are now held in 
 high estimation, are considered the best resem- 
 blances .of Vandyck's style and colour ; his portraits
 
 S30 GERARD HONTHORST. 
 
 exhibit the true character of nature, and some of 
 those which are historical, have much elevation of 
 feeling. The praise that Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 bestowed upon them may give those who are not 
 themselves judges in these matters, a correct idea 
 of Dobson's talents as a painter; and to others, 
 who are competent to judge of pictorial merit, an 
 inspection of the examples he has left will be most 
 satisfactory. These specimens are to be found in 
 the best company on the walls of the superb galleries 
 at Wilton, Belvoir, Chatsworth, Blenheim, Stowe, 
 Windsor, Chiswick, Northumberland house, the 
 Bridgewater gallery, Devonshire house, Castle Don- 
 nington, Althorpe, &c., where they are preserved 
 with a degree of care that shows the estimation in 
 which they are held by their noble possessors. 
 
 Gerard Honthorst, of Utrecht, one of the 
 most successful pupils of the Caravaggio school, 
 was invited over by king Charles, for whom he 
 painted several pictures l : he did not remain here 
 much more than half a year, but returned to his 
 
 1 He had a pension of 3002. a year from king Charles from 
 May 1629 ; how long it continued is not known. He received 
 3000 florins from the king, who presented him a service of silver 
 plate for twelve persons, and a horse, for the large emblematic 
 piece of himself and his queen, as Apollo and Diana, the duke of 
 Buckingham as Mercury, with genii, &c. all in the clouds.
 
 GENTILISCHI. 331 
 
 own country. He brought his pupil Joachim San- 
 drart with him to England, where the latter re- 
 mained some time, being employed to copy many 
 portraits of Holbein and others : these now gene- 
 rally pass for the originals. 
 
 Honthorst was called Gherardo della Notte, from 
 his peculiar fondness for painting subjects illumi- 
 nated by artificial lights. 
 
 There are several undoubted works of this 
 master at Windsor, Kensington, and Hampton- 
 court palaces, at Althorpe, Petworth, and Woburn, 
 Coombe abbey, &c. &C. 1 
 
 J. Van Belcamp was much employed here to 
 copy the old pictures of former kings and princes 
 of England ; amongst these, Edward the Black 
 Prince and Edward III. are still at St. Jameses. 
 
 Horatio Gentilischi, a Pisan, was invited by 
 Vandyck to visit England, and paint ceilings for 
 the king and nobility, as he had much reputation 
 in that department of art. He painted nine pieces 
 for Greenwich palace a , and for Villiers, duke of 
 
 1 The duke of Sutherland has just now added to his fine col- 
 lection, the noble picture of " Christ before Pilate," from the duke 
 of Lucca's gallery. It was originally in the Giustiniani palace. 
 
 * These were taken down and sold by the parliament for GO(W. ; 
 they are now at Marlborough-house.
 
 332 NICHOLAS LANIERE. 
 
 Buckingham, he painted the ceilings of York 
 house 1 ; he also painted that duke^s family, and 
 likewise several large historical pictures. 
 
 Artemisia Gentilischi, daughter of Horatio, was 
 also in England : she appears to have been a person 
 of much skill in painting, both in portraits and 
 history * . 
 
 Nicholas Laniere was probably born in Italy, but 
 his father emigrated from thence to London with 
 his family in the time of queen Elizabeth, and had 
 a place in the royal household during his life. 
 Nicholas was more famed as a musician than as a 
 painter ; in the latter character he does not appear 
 to much advantage ; he was rather a connoisseur in 
 painting. In that capacity he was much employed 
 on the continent by king Charles ; he appears to 
 have been quite a courtier : he associated much 
 with Vandyck, but when his royal master and 
 benefactor's collection was offered for sale, Laniere, 
 who had been to him a fawning sycophant, bought 
 up all of the best he could obtain, and deposited 
 
 1 One of these was afterwards at Sheffield or Buckingham-house, 
 St. James's park ; it represented the nine muses in a large cir- 
 cular compartment. He also painted a ceiling at Cobham house, 
 Kent. 
 
 2 Her portrait, painted by herself, is in the gallery at Althorpe.
 
 WOUTERS HANNEMAN HOSK1NS. 333 
 
 them clandestinely in his father's apartments at 
 Greenwich palace, where they were seen by Evelyn 
 in 1552 ; but previous to the Restoration, this 
 man had so completely got them out of the way, 
 that not one of them could be recovered for 
 Charles II. 
 
 Francis Wouters, of the Rubens 1 school, was 
 made chief painter to prince Charles ; we know 
 nothing of his works. 
 
 Adrian Hanneman also imitated Vandycfs style 
 and attitudes very well ; he came to England, and 
 remained sixteen years. It is quite evident, from 
 the number of good imitators Vandyck had in this 
 country, that it is very difficult, in cases where the 
 original history and the movements of his pictures 
 are not known, to pronounce decidedly upon their 
 originality l . 
 
 John Hoskins was a native artist, who had a 
 high reputation as a miniature painter ; he painted 
 likenesses of king Charles, the queen, and many 
 persons of rank. Charles had nine of his best 
 
 1 Sanderson speaks of this Italian, as being the first of the 
 picture-craftsmen who passed off copies for originals : he smoked 
 or sooted his raw copies all over, and then rolling them up for a 
 year or two, they came out with all the grime and crackly ap- 
 pearance of old pictures. Unfortunately, this race of " old master 
 makers" has greatly increased of late years all over Europe.
 
 334 PETITOT AND BORDIER 
 
 works copied from Titian and Vandyck. He 
 painted with a free, firm, but careful pencil, and 
 mellow style of finishing. He had two pupils, 
 Alexander and Samuel Cooper, the latter of whom 
 was a still more able artist than his master. 
 
 Anne Carlisle was famous for her fine copies of 
 the Italian masters ; she made them in miniature, 
 like those of Isaac and Peter Oliver. King Charles 
 very much admired them. 
 
 John Petitot and Peter Bordier. The first of 
 these artists was patronised by Louis XIV. and 
 Charles I., and fully deserved all the favour they 
 may have bestowed upon him. He was certainly 
 the first person who actually invented portrait 
 painting in enamel. The art of enamelling had 
 long been known at Venice and Limoges, but it was 
 only applied to orfevrerie (goldsmiths'- work), and 
 was long confined to mosaics, fruit, and flower 
 painting ; figures were afterwards attempted, and 
 at last portraits began to be tried by the jewellers, 
 who were well acquainted with the ordinary process. 
 Peter Bordier, brother-in-law of Petitot, was the 
 first who made some essays in this new art, but 
 Petitot was the genius who brought it, perhaps, 
 as near perfection as it has yet been carried. 
 
 This very clever artist was a native of Geneva,
 
 PRACTISE PAINTING TN ENAMEL. 335 
 
 where he was born A.D. 1 607 ', being bred up a jewel- 
 ler, and using enamel much, he accidentally pro- 
 duced such a tone of colour, that Bordier thought, if 
 Petitot would apply himself to gain a knowledge of 
 portraiture, he might carry this art far beyond what 
 it had been supposed capable of producing ; they 
 commenced, and had much success, although they 
 were still deficient in the knowledge of preparing 
 some of the most useful colours : they made joint 
 efforts, Pettitot did the faces and hands, Bordier 
 the hair and draperies. To improve their know- 
 ledge in the art they went into Italy, and acquired 
 some useful information both as artists and ena- 
 mellers ; and having received sufficient encourage- 
 ment, they came to England, and there it was that 
 they acquired the finest secrets of the art of enamel 
 painting. 
 
 Sir Theodore Turquit Mayerne* was at this time 
 first physician to king Charles ; he was a very able 
 chemist, and made these artists acquainted with 
 the processes for producing the principal colours 
 
 1 His father was a sculptor and architect. 
 
 * This distinguished physician and able chemist was a native 
 of Geneva, of a noble French Huguenot family. He was physician 
 to Henry IV. of France, James I., Charles I., and Charles II. of 
 England ; was knighted in 1624, and died at Chelsea, 1665, in his 
 eighty-third year.
 
 S36 DR. MAYERNE. 
 
 which they so much wanted, and which were quite 
 superior to the vitrified colours of Venice and 
 Limoges. Sir Theodore was a great experimen- 
 talist in applying the powers of chemistry to the 
 composition and decomposition of pigments. The 
 discoveries he made were by him communicated to 
 Rubens 1 , Vandyck, and Petitot, who availed them- 
 selves of these additional means of perfecting one 
 branch of their art ; for it was by these experiments, 
 that the principal colours for portrait enamelling 
 were discovered, with the safest and best mode of 
 vitrifying them. It was not only in promoting their 
 mechanical objects that Dr. Mayerne assisted them, 
 but in obtaining for them the highest patronage ; he 
 introduced Petitot to the king, who gave him apart- 
 ments in Whitehall. Besides the copies he made 
 from Vandyck's pictures, which are finely painted, 
 he copied, long afterwards, many from the works of 
 Mignard and Le Brun, in Paris. He could also 
 copy heads from nature with great correctness and 
 resemblance ; and in whatever way employed, he 
 invariably gave a tone of colour, a brilliancy, a 
 mellowness, and breadth of effect, that have per- 
 haps never been surpassed. 
 
 1 Rubens painted a portrait of him, one of his finest works. 
 After many changes, it is now in Cleveland-house.
 
 PETITOT AND LOUIS XIV. 337 
 
 A number of his best works are still in England, 
 in the hands of some of the nobility. The finest 
 of these, or perhaps of any he ever painted, is 
 a splendid whole length of Rachel de Rouvigny, 
 countess of Southampton l . It is in the collection of 
 his grace the duke of Devonshire ; the size is nine 
 inches and three quarters high, by five inches and 
 three quarters wide ; the colouring is brilliant, rich, 
 and harmonious, and the execution bold and free, 
 but not at all careless. In his French enamels he 
 is more minute and delicate, but less rich and 
 brilliant than in his original English style. 
 
 He left this country on or before the death of 
 his royal patron, and joined the exiled family in 
 Paris. Charles II. introduced Petitot to Louis 
 XIV. who, on the restoration, detained him in 
 his own service, gave him a pension, and lodged 
 him in the Louvre ; but being a protestant, he 
 got alarmed for the consequences when the edict 
 of Nantes was revoked by the vain-glorious bigot, 
 and requested permission to return to Geneva. The 
 king refused, and even had the meanness to send 
 him to fort L'Eveque with Bossuet, in hopes of 
 converting him. But Louis, who was a compound 
 
 1 The original in oil belongs to lord Hardwicke. 
 VOL. I. Q.
 
 338 CHARLES I. 
 
 of the meanest vices and the most absurd ambition, 
 was defeated in his proselyting scheme ; the power- 
 ful Bossuet could not deceive the Genevese artist, 
 who at last made his escape from the tender 
 mercies of the royal despot, and getting safe with 
 his wife to his native city, died there in 1691, at 
 the age of eighty-four, being in full possession of his 
 professional powers. 
 
 Of Bordier there is, unfortunately, no clue to 
 trace his works or himself, after the year 1645, 
 when he was employed by the parliament to paint 
 in enamel a memorial of the battle of Naseby, 
 which took place in June of that year '. Mr. Wai- 
 pole purchased this great rarity from Thoreby ? s 
 museum ; the latter had purchased it from general 
 Fairfax's executors 2 . It has, with great reason, 
 been conjectured, that Bordier, though he is not 
 mentioned, did very much assist Petitot in his 
 English enamels, which are decidedly his best. 
 
 1 It consists of two round plates of gold enamelled, one inch 
 and a half in diameter, each supposed to have been for the top 
 and bottom of a watch, a practice then in use, instead of crystals. 
 On one is seen the House of Commons, members, &c. ; on the 
 inside of the other, the battle of Naseby ; on the outside is 
 Fairfax on a chesnut horse, a skirmish in the distance : the 
 execution of the work is beautiful. 
 
 1 This jewel, as it was originally, cost JQOL, and was presented 
 to the general, by a deputation of three members of the house.
 
 STATUE AT CHARING-CROSS. 339 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 The sculptors in this reign were not very eminent 
 for their classical taste, with one or two exceptions ; 
 the best of these was Herbert le Soeur, a French- 
 man, and pupil of John of Bologna; he came to 
 England in 1630, and was much employed by the 
 court and nobility. Many of his works have dis- 
 appeared, especially the bronzes. Of those that 
 remain to attest his skill, are the bronze statue of 
 William, earl of Pembroke ', in the picture gallery 
 at Oxford, and the equestrian statue of Charles I., 
 at Charing-cross, in which there is classic taste ; 
 and much skill is displayed in the arrangement and 
 design of the figures *. 
 
 This statue was set up at the expense of the 
 Howard family of Arundel, who have still the 
 
 1 It was intended for the first court at Wilton. Rubens, it is 
 said, made the sketch from which it was modelled. 
 
 2 This work was cast in 1633, in a piece of ground near St. 
 Paul's, Covent Garden. It had not been erected before the civil 
 war broke out, and it was seized and sold by the parliament, 
 to John Rivet, a brazier, who lived at the Dial, near Holborn- 
 conduit, under orders to break it up : he, however, concealed it, 
 and showed a quantity of broken metal, which satisfied the agents, 
 and at the restoration of Charles II. he astonished every body 
 by the resurrection of tliis statue. 
 
 ft 2
 
 340 CHARLES I. 
 
 receipts to prove this fact. It was placed in its pre- 
 sent situation by the earl of Danby, afterwards duke 
 of Leeds : the pedestal is by Grinlin Gibbons. 
 
 A gladiator in bronze, now at Hampton-court, 
 is another of Le Soeur's works. 
 
 Enoch Wyat, it appears, carved two statues that 
 were on the Watergate-stairs, at York-house, and 
 also a statue of Jupiter; but the most amusing 
 part of his occupation was, the altering and cover- 
 ing (with drapery) the statues by Le Sceur and 
 John of Bologna, which had adorned York-house, 
 and were at this revolutionary time thrust into the 
 garden at Whitehall, as " being heathenish, and 
 too profane," for the pious eyes of the Puritans to 
 dwell upon. These antagonists of the fine arts 
 acted in this respect exactly as pope Paul IV. 
 did, when he directed Daniel di Volterra to add 
 draperies to the noble and inimitable figures 
 composing the greatest work of art that ever 
 was painted the Last Judgment, by Michael 
 Angelo '. 
 
 1 Sanval tells us of another pious bigot, Anne of Austria, who 
 in the minority of her son Louis XIV. (worthy of such a mother) 
 from extraordinary devotion caused some splendid statues and 
 fresco-paintings, by Leonardo da Vinci, Nicholas le Roux, and 
 other great artists, to be taken from the palaces of Chateau 
 Madrid, and Luxembourg, where Francis I. had placed them,
 
 FAXELLI. 341 
 
 Zachary Taylor was another of the king's sur- 
 veyors and carvers, as it appears by a book in the 
 Board of works. 
 
 Martin Johnson was a celebrated engraver of 
 seals, who assisted for a time T. and A. Simon, 
 the great medallists, to the first of whom he was a 
 worthy rival. 
 
 Green was another man of merit in this branch 
 of art. Lord Strafford paid him one hundred pounds 
 for the Irish seals of office. 
 
 Christian Van Vianen was a chaser and embosser 
 of plate ; but he was also an artist, for he made 
 the designs for the works himself, and these are 
 said to have been extremely well designed ; so much 
 were they esteemed, that the models and drawings 
 were kept in the royal collection. 
 
 Francis Fanelli, a Florentine, was a pupil of 
 Vianen ; he employed himself, however, chiefly in 
 sculpturing marble, or castings in metals. He gave 
 his portraits an elevated and classical character. 
 Amongst the known works of this artist, are the 
 figures of Charles I. and his queen, occupying 
 niches in the quadrangle of St. John's college, 
 Oxford ; the design of these are in a good style. 
 
 (they were valued at 100,000 crowns) not to be reformed, but 
 utterly annihilated. So much for zealots of all descriptions.
 
 342 CHARLES 1. 
 
 At the duke of Newcastle's (Welbeck), were 
 several works in bronze ; one of these is a head of 
 prince Charles in 1 640. 
 
 The noble family of Powis have also three busts ; 
 lord Herbert of Cherbury, and two of lady Venetia 
 Digby. Lady Cottington's bust (copper gilt) at 
 Westminster abbey, also those of Robert Ayton, 
 Esq., and king Charles I., bronze, at Sir Robert 
 Stapylton's, Hammersmith. The same monarch's 
 bust in copper, in the Bodleian library, Oxford ; it 
 is in armour, and highly finished *. 
 
 Theodore Rogier was also a chaser, who designed 
 and wrought in silver several pieces of plate with 
 poetic stories, for the king. 
 
 The medallists in this reign were few, but very 
 clever. 
 
 The Simons' we have already adverted to. Briot 
 and T. Simon were favourites with the king ; but 
 Simon joining the republican party, and Briot 
 having gone away, another medallist was appointed 
 by Charles. 
 
 This was Thomas Rawlins, who was made en- 
 
 1 Edward Pierce carved some of the statues at the late Royal 
 Exchange ; Sir W. Walworth, at Fishmongers' hall ; Sir C. 
 Wren, in the gallery (at Oxford) ; of T. Evan, master of the 
 Painters' company, 1687, &c.
 
 INIGO JONES. 343 
 
 graver to the Mint in 3648; he had previously 
 worked for the royalist party. Besides the dies 
 for the coinage, which were stamped in Oxford and 
 elsewhere, he struck several medals commemora- 
 tive of various circumstances or persons connected 
 with the unhappy state of the country ; there is a 
 very bold medallion of Laud, struck in 1644, sup- 
 posed by his hand. Rawlins was employed by the 
 crown after the Restoration. 
 
 With respect to our national architecture, having 
 pointed out the various phases of its splendour, 
 decay, and resuscitation, we now come to a 
 period in which the chaos that perplexed men's 
 minds as to its true principles, was fast disappear- 
 ing before the light of real knowledge. 
 
 Inigo Jones at length came forward, destined, 
 it would seem, to make a new and good era in 
 British architecture. This great man was born 
 in 1572, and died during the Protectorate in 1652. 
 He was the son of a cloth-worker, and is said 
 to have been apprenticed to a carpenter ; in tkis 
 situation it is stated that he was taken notice of by 
 either the earl of Arundel, or the earl of Pembroke ; 
 for the precise fact has not been ascertained. 
 Jones, however, was sent to Italy, for the purpose 
 of studying landscape-painting, for which it ap- 
 Q 4
 
 344 CHARLES I. 
 
 pears he had some talent 1 . At Rome his ideas 
 expanded ; this was the scenery he wanted : he 
 applied himself to architecture at Venice. Palladio's 
 works were his admiration, and, from what cause 
 we are not told, Christian IV. king of Denmark, 
 invited him to become his architect. At Copen- 
 hagen, Jones was met by James I. 2 who was then 
 on his matrimonial visit to the Danish court. Queen 
 Ann (of Denmark) took him to Scotland, in quality 
 of chief architect, and on king James ascending 
 the throne of England, Jones was made master of 
 the works to prince Henry ; and the place of sur- 
 veyor-general of public buildings was granted to 
 him in reversion. 
 
 On the death of the prince, Inigo went again 
 into Italy, where he still further improved his taste 
 and judgment. The edifices he erected previous to 
 this second visit, are not in so fine a taste as 
 those he did afterwards ; they approached too 
 closely, in many respects, the bastard style, called 
 king James's Gothic ; they show a littleness and 
 redundancy of parts, and a profusion, as well as 
 
 1 A small picture by him is preserved at Chiswick. The 
 colour is not now very good, the trees are freely pencilled, and the 
 composition very natural. 
 
 2 Then James VI. of Scotland.
 
 INIGO JONES. 345 
 
 heaviness of ornament, which quite overlay the 
 graceful and classic taste just then reviving ; those 
 defects, however, were repudiated in the grand 
 designs which he subsequently made. 
 
 When the surveyor-general's-office became vacant, 
 Jones was recalled to England, and, with a noble 
 disinterestedness worthy of the highest commenda- 
 tion, he declined to accept the emoluments of his 
 place, as he found the establishment greatly in 
 debt: he also prevailed on the comptroller and 
 paymaster to act in a similar way, until the whole 
 of the debt was liquidated. 
 
 In 1620, his royal master James employed him 
 in an antiquarian research, for which he was not 
 prepared ; this was to discover for him, what people 
 were the builders of Stonehenge ! 
 
 Jones appears not to have entered into this 
 antiquarian difficulty with any spirit, and what 
 his opinion was on the subject we have not any 
 clear data to inform us ; for as to the essay which 
 Webb published in 1655, three years after Jones's 
 death, we place no value upon the statements it 
 contains. The original dedication shows that this 
 tract never had, and to every appearance never 
 would have had, the sanction of so eminent a man 
 as Jones. 
 
 a 5
 
 346 CHARLES I. 
 
 Webb, in dedicating this essay to Philip, earl of 
 Pembroke, says, "this discourse of Stonehenge 
 is moulded off, and cast into a rude form, from 
 some few indigested notes of the late judicious 
 architect, the Vitruvius of his age, Inigo Jones," &c. 
 
 Now this appears not to be a very justifiable, 
 mode of fastening opinions upon men without their 
 own consent ; for we find that Jones lived thirty- 
 two years after he had been directed to report on 
 Stonehenge : he never did report upon it either to 
 James or Charles, because he evidently could not 
 make up his mind as to what were the probable 
 facts connected with its origin : yet, in three years 
 after he is gone beyond the power of recalling the 
 error, a candidate for literary fame presumes to 
 publish as Jones's matured opinions, " crude in- 
 digested notes cast into a rude form."" And 
 yet this is the document which society has been 
 taught to believe contained Inigo Jones's serious 
 and matured opinion, that Stonehenge was a tem- 
 ple of the Tuscan order, built by the Romans 
 during their possession of this country, and dedi- 
 cated to Ccelus or Terminus. 
 
 Jones was, in fact, a classic architect of the 
 Palladian and Vitruvian schools; he saw every 
 thing in his art through that medium. Of the
 
 IXIGO JONES. 347 
 
 English pointed style, commonly called Gothic, he 
 knew nothing as to its principles, though he at- 
 tempted sometimes to imitate its external appear- 
 ances. In 1633 he commenced the repairs of St. 
 Paul's cathedral, and in his attempts at a restora- 
 tion he committed some capital errors, he adopted 
 very bad Gothic ; to the front he added a grand 
 octo-style portico, of the Corinthian order, two 
 hundred feet long, fifty in depth, and above forty 
 feet high to the top of the ballustrade : there was 
 no pediment, because statues of English kings 
 were to have been placed instead of one : this 
 mixture of course, was terribly out of harmony, for 
 nothing in art can be more discordant than those 
 opposite styles connected in the same building l . 
 
 Jones commenced the Banquetting-house at 
 Whitehall under king James, 1619; the only part 
 that ever was finished. It is now in fine preservation, 
 and remains as a memorial highly creditable to his 
 taste in classic architecture. As to the elevation 
 of the whole palace, of which this portion forms 
 but a small part, it appears that the published 
 
 1 He also erected a classic screen in the centre of Winchester 
 cathedral. The chapel of Lincoln's inn, also shows his deficiency 
 in the principles of the English pointed style, completed in 1621. 
 It has been repaired more than once. 
 
 Q 6
 
 348 CHARLES I. 
 
 prints professing to give the true delineations of 
 Jones's elevation are not genuine; they nearly 
 agree in the area of the ground-plan, but differ very 
 materially as to the character and details of the 
 elevation, so that it is quite uncertain what Jones's 
 plan and elevation really were, for not one of these 
 referred to, are sanctioned by his name. We can 
 only imagine therefore, that the palace would have 
 been something very magnificent, worthy of his 
 genius and of the British nation. 
 
 Upon the accession of Charles I. Jones was con- 
 tinued in his public situations 1 . For some years 
 the gaieties of the court were carried on with 
 much taste and magnificence, poetry, painting, 
 architecture, and music, were all put in requisition, 
 to furnish the objects of rational amusement. St. 
 James's was then the politest court in Europe. 
 
 Ben Jonson was the laureate, Inigo Jones, the 
 inventor of the temples and other decorative parts, 
 Laniere and Ferabosco composed the symphonies, 
 the king, the queen, and the young princesses, 
 danced in the interludes. 
 
 These entertainments were the masques of which 
 
 1 He had a fee of 8s. 4d. per day as surveyor, with an allowance 
 of forty-six pounds a-year for a house, besides a clerk, and some 
 incidental expenses allowed.
 
 INIGO JONES. 349 
 
 many accounts have been published : they were in- 
 troduced here by queen Anne of Denmark. 
 
 Jones constructed a good many buildings, though 
 certainly not all that bear his name ; some of these 
 being wholly unworthy of him. He designed the 
 queen's chapel at St. James's ; the original Sur- 
 geons' hall this was considered one of his best 
 works. It has been pulled down, altered, and rebuilt. 
 Covent Garden piazza 1 , and St. Paul's church 2 , are 
 from his designs. 
 
 The plans and elevations for Lincoln's inn fields* 
 were made out by Jones, with the approbation of 
 lord Arundel, who was the principal acting com- 
 missioner. But the earl of Lindsay's house 4 , on the 
 western side, was the only one completed before the 
 civil war. It is really surprising how little is known 
 with certainty of the mansions that Jones built ; 
 
 1 This arcade never was completed beyond the northern and 
 eastern sides. 
 
 2 It cost 4500/. Built in 1631 ; burnt to the bare walls in 1794 ; 
 and restored the following year by C. Hardwick, Esq. 
 
 3 These plans, &c. are now at Wilton. 
 
 4 This house still remains, and is admired for the chasteness 
 of its design. In 1618 a special commission was issued to the 
 lord chancellor, earls of Pembroke, Arundel, &c. to plan and 
 reduce to order Lincoln's inn fields ; it was planned to be the size 
 of the base of one of the Egyptian pyramids.
 
 350 INIGO JONES. 
 
 and it is still more curious that the most of them 
 should have disappeared. 
 
 The bridge of Llanroost, near Gvvydir castle, 
 North Wales, is certainly by him. Burleigh-on- 
 the-hill, York house, part of Cobham hall, Crewe 
 hall, Cheshire, and Sherborne hall, Gloucestershire, 
 the stone piers at Holland house, and Forty hall, 
 Enfield, the Grange, Hampshire (Lord Henley's). 
 One of his finest works was the Queen's house at 
 Greenwich ; and amongst his papers, Webb found 
 the original designs, &c. of Greenwich hospital. 
 Many of his smaller designs, for chimneys, ceilings, 
 &c. have been published by various authors. 
 
 It is a matter of sincere regret to the admirers 
 of genius, that this great artist should have been 
 marked out as an object of persecution by the do- 
 minant party, whose " banner cry" was " religion 11 
 and "liberty" two emphatic and sacred names, 
 upon the essence of which they were not scrupulous 
 to tread and trample, whenever they deemed it ex- 
 pedient. This truly eminent man fell a victim to a 
 long and sullen persecution. His faults, in puritanic 
 eyes, were heinous ; he always had been a great 
 favourite with the king and queen, and he was a 
 man of superior genius. His property was put
 
 ROBERT WALKER. 351 
 
 under sequestration ; and to relieve that pressure, 
 and atone for what the commissioners were pleased 
 to denominate his " delinquency," he was obliged to 
 pay 545?. ! Harsh treatment, age, and grief, termi- 
 nated his existence in June, 1652, at old Somerset 
 house ; he was interred at St. Bennefs (Paul's 
 wharf) ; and as if even his memory was to be ob- 
 literated, the monument erected to him was des- 
 troyed by the fire of London. 
 
 CROMWELL. (1653 TO 1660.) 
 ARTISTS DURING THE PROTECTORATE. 
 
 Of these, the principal is Robert Walker. He was 
 a native artist ; but from whom he received his in- 
 struction we are not informed. It does not appear 
 that he was employed about the court, as Vandyck, 
 Dobson, and others had been, but he became even- 
 tually Cromwell's chief artist, and painted his por- 
 trait several times. Cromwell made presents of these 
 heads : one was sent to Christina, queen of Sweden, 
 in return for a gold chain and medal, sent to Oliver 
 by that extraordinary woman ; others he gave to 
 Col. Cooke, to speaker Lenthall, &c. Walker was 
 a clever portrait painter, with original feeling ; his
 
 352 GENERAL LAMBERT. 
 
 colouring was very good, and his pencil, though 
 free, was careful. 
 
 Edward Mascall and Heywood were por- 
 trait painters at the same period. They painted 
 portraits of the republican chiefs, some of which are 
 still extant. 
 
 Peter Blondeau and J. Violet were employed by 
 the Parliament to coin their money. Blondeau was 
 naturalized the second year of the restoration, and 
 was appointed engineer of the Tower mint, to coin 
 gold and silver, with the mill and screw, then first 
 brought into use. 
 
 Thomas Simon made the dies for Cromwell's 
 coins, and Rotier those for Charles II. 
 
 General Lambert appears to have had a decided 
 taste for the arts ; and, except Cromwell, he was 
 the only one of that party who had the least regard 
 for any thing of the sort. Lambert painted for his 
 amusement when the civil war was at an end ; and 
 it is said, his good offices were of some use in 
 checking the extreme fury of his party in their 
 dispersion of the beautiful creations of graphic 
 genius, and which, but for the decided, though pru- 
 dent management of these two prominent leaders, 
 would have extirpated every vestige of the arts that 
 could be torn from the British soil. So extraordi-
 
 CHARLES II. 353 
 
 nary was the delusion over people's minds at this sea- 
 son of exasperated feeling, that they appear to have 
 believed it to be a matter of course, that a love of 
 the arts was direct testimony of the tyrannical dis- 
 position of those who entertained that feeling ; and 
 having strongly taken up this impression, they acted 
 most forcibly upon the extreme spirit of this prepos- 
 terous idea. It cannot be supposed that attempts 
 to establish a despotism, or unlimited monarchy in 
 England can be defended by any well-informed and 
 sincere admirer of the constitutional rights and pri- 
 vileges of the British people ; but it is greatly to be 
 deplored, that those who undertook the task of curb- 
 ing despotic power should not have discriminated, 
 and left the peaceful arts unscathed by the political 
 tempest, which, no doubt, Charles's imprudent and 
 arbitrary conduct had originally excited. 
 
 Under the Commonwealth, the arts remained in 
 a complete state of abeyance ; the ill fortune that 
 appears to have always attended their course in 
 England seemed now to have completely achieved 
 its final triumph. 
 
 CHARLES n. (1660 TO 1685.) 
 In this unhappy state of things, Charles II. as- 
 cended the throne ; but he had no real taste for the
 
 354 CHARLES II. 
 
 arts. His bad moral perceptions were confirmed 
 by ten years 1 residence, in exile, at the most refined, 
 but not the most moral court in Europe ; a court 
 where mock piety and real profligacy were banded 
 inseparably with gross political slavery ; tinselled 
 and gaudy pageantry with superstitious grovelling ; 
 the loftiest pride with the most abject meanness ; 
 extensive misery, covered with the threadbare robe 
 of magnificence ; an affected love for the arts was 
 displayed, but a real affection for deeds of rapine, 
 cruelty, and devastation, prevailed : these form the 
 prominent features of the court and system of that 
 vain-glorious monarch, Louis le Grand (of Bour- 
 bon). Yet this was the university in which Charles 
 II. took his master's degree in the proficiency 
 he had acquired in duplicity. Adversity had not 
 taught him reflection, or any other useful lesson. 
 
 From such a source, nothing very elevated, re- 
 fined, or valuable in the arts could be expected ; but 
 Charles rather exasperated their fate, by intro- 
 ducing a number of Charlatans, who rioted in the 
 sunshine of royal favour, and insolently usurped the 
 station which native talent, and honourable feeling, 
 ought to have occupied. 
 
 Antonio Verrio, a Neapolitan, was the leader of 
 this class of artists, whose proper designation is
 
 VERRIO. 355 
 
 " ornamental painters." King Charles II. invited 
 him to come over and make designs for the tapestry 
 manufacture, which he had a strong idea of reviving 
 at Mortlake ; but afterwards changing his mind, 
 he employed Verrio to paint the ceilings and stair- 
 cases at Windsor castle, where most of them still 
 remain, and are the best testimonials of Verrio's 
 abilities, which evidently were not of a high order ; 
 but though not a man of elevated pretensions in art, 
 he had suppleness and impudence enough to supply 
 the want of professional talent, and being a person of 
 loose character and vulgar humour, he got entirely 
 into the good graces of his royal patron, who paid 
 him enormous sums for those productions, not of 
 genius, but of his pencil. As this palace was his 
 principal laboratory of decorations, many of our 
 readers may be gratified by a list of the works, and 
 the prices paid for each l . 
 
 1 " An account of moneys paid for painting done in Windsor 
 castle, for his majesty, by signor Verrio, since July, 1676 : 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 " King's guard chamber .... 300 
 King's presence chamber . . . 200 
 
 Privie chamber 200 
 
 Queen's drawingroom .... 250 
 Queen's bedchamber .... 100 
 The king's great bedchamber . 120 
 King's little bedchamber ... 50 
 King's drawingroom .... 250 [King's
 
 356 CHARLES II. 
 
 This enormous outlay must have been paid to 
 him in about five years. He had, besides, obtained 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 King's closet 50 
 
 King's eatingroom 250 
 
 Queen's long gallery .... 250 
 
 Queen's chapel 11000 
 
 King's privie back stairs . . . 100 
 
 King's gratuity 200 
 
 The king's carved stairs ... 150 
 
 Queen's privie chamber . . 200 
 
 King's grand chamber stairs . . 200 
 
 Queen's presence chamber . . 200 
 
 Queen's great stairs .... 200 
 
 Queen's guard chamber . . . 200 
 
 Privy gallery 200 
 
 Courtyard 200 
 
 Pension at Midsummer, 1680 . 100 
 
 A gratuity of two hundred guineas 210 
 
 Pension at Christmas, 1680 . . 100 
 
 Pension at Midsummer, 1681 . 100 
 
 The king's chapel 900 
 
 Overwork in the chapel ... 150 
 
 5545 
 On the back of the same paper were the following entries : 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 His majesty's gift, a gold chain . 200 
 More, by the duke of Albemarle, 
 
 for a ceiling 60 
 
 More : my lord of Essex ... 40 
 More, from Mr. Montague, of 
 
 London 800 
 
 More, of Mr. Montagne, of Wood- 
 cut . 1300 
 
 In all .... 6945 
 
 " This ceiling was his first work at Windsor.
 
 VERRIO. 357 
 
 the place of master gardener, and a mansion at the 
 north-east end of the park, near Carleton house. 
 He was very expensive in his habits, and often 
 pressed the king for money, whose purse was more 
 liberal to such characters than it was to the talented 
 or deserving l . 
 
 The first of Verrio^s essays for the king, was 
 to display Charles himself, in a naval triumph, well 
 allegorized. Besides this, the king had two others 
 in his collection, one, a crucifixion, the other, 
 Christ relieving the lame and blind. 
 
 He also designed the equestrian portrait of 
 Charles at Chelsea college ; it was finished by Cook, 
 and presented by Lord Ranelagh. He painted the 
 greater part of St. George^s hall, and the chapel, 
 
 1 Once, at Hampton court, where, a few days before, he had 
 received a thousand pounds in advance, he was in search of 
 Charles, and at length found him in such a company, that even his 
 front of brass could not approach. He called out, " Sire, may I 
 have the favour of speaking to your majesty 1" The king : " Well, 
 Verrio, what is your request ? " " Money, sire : I am so short 
 of cash, that I am not able to pay my workmen ; and I have 
 learned by experience, that pedlars and painters can't give long 
 credit." The king smiled, and said, he had very lately ordered 
 him 1000Z. " Sire, but that was soon paid away, and I have none 
 left." "At that rate," said the king, "you would spend more 
 than I do for the maintenance of my family ! " " True," said 
 Verrio ; " but does your majesty keep open house, as I do ? " 
 Yet this insipid repartee procured the sum he wanted from the 
 Kitty Charles.
 
 S58 CHARLES IT. 
 
 at Windsor ; in one of the ceilings at the Castle, 
 he has represented Anthony, earl of Shaftesbury, 
 as the genius of faction, eagerly employed circulat- 
 ing libels. In another, he has revenged a private 
 quarrel with Mrs. Harriot, the house-keeper, by 
 borrowing her very plain face for one of the furies. 
 The low tone of Verrio's perceptions may be per- 
 ceived in most of his works, but very clearly in the 
 picture of Christ healing the sick, where he has 
 introduced himself, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and Bap- 
 tist May, the surveyor of the works, in long peri- 
 wigs, as spectators of that sublime miracle ! 
 
 Under James II. this decorator was employed 
 at Windsor to paint the inside of Wolsey's tomb- 
 house, which James was fitting up for a Romish 
 chapel ; for this he was paid 1000?. He also painted 
 this king and several other persons of the court in 
 the great picture in the hall at Christ's hospital. 
 Being a bigot in religion, he had the silliness 
 to refuse employment under king William, but he 
 found a refuge at Burghleigh, and afterwards at 
 Chatsworth; some apartments which he painted 
 in the former mansion are amongst his best works, 
 and they are very indifferent ; yet he lived there 
 twelve years, and had 1500?. a-year for these pro- 
 ductions. At Chatsworth he painted the altar-piece
 
 VERRIO. 359 
 
 in the chapel, the incredulity of St. Thomas, which is 
 another favourable specimen by his hand. At 
 Lowther-hall also he was much employed at this 
 time l ; but those works and the house were all 
 destroyed by fire. 
 
 Lord Exeter at last, probably being tired of 
 him, contrived to get him employed by king 
 William III. who sent him to ornament Hampton 
 court, where he painted some apartments and the 
 great staircase ; the last he did, and it is quite a 
 failure. 
 
 Queen Anne, out of charity, granted him a pension 
 of 200?. a-year ; he died, 1707, at Hampton-court. 
 
 He had quite a colony of inferior foreign deco- 
 rators to assist him in his operations. Laguerre 
 and Schieffer 2 were his chief assistants. 
 
 Luckily for the honour of Blenheim, this orna- 
 mental genius had sunk to repose before that me- 
 morial of British military prowess was built, for it 
 seems it was intended that he should have had the 
 employment of painting Marlborough's battles upon 
 
 1 These were the works which Tickell designates in his poem 
 of " Oxford." 
 
 " Such art as this adorns yon Lowther hall, 
 
 Where feasting gods carouse upon the wall." 
 1 These were the men who assisted to produce 
 
 " The sprawling saints of Verrio and Laguerre."
 
 360 CHARLES II. 
 
 the apartments of that mansion, so fearfully had 
 taste and skill in art deteriorated under the last two 
 monarchs, Charles II. and James II. 
 
 Among the native artists of this period we find 
 some that have fair claims to attention, from their 
 having been brought up in the good style of art of 
 the preceding reign. 
 
 Isaac Fuller was one of those who it appears 
 had a good deal of natural talent, but which had 
 not been judiciously improved ; he, however, could 
 paint portraits very well, and was also employed on 
 historical subjects, particularly the principal rooms 
 of the great taverns hi London; the panelings of 
 which were, according to the fashion of that time, 
 painted in compartments ; the subjects generally 
 of the heathenish kind Silenus, Bacchus, nymphs, 
 satyrs, and sylvan boys, with goats, &c. 
 
 The altar-piece at Magdalen chapel is by Fuller. 
 He aimed at something of the great Italian school, 
 and he was right in doing so; for although he ( did 
 not come up to the mark, yet he gained much by 
 keeping his mind toned to the recollections of the 
 glorious works in the Sistine chapel. 
 
 After the restoration, he painted, by order of go- 
 vernment, five very large pictures of the escape of 
 king Charles II., the battle of Worcester, &c., which
 
 STREATER ANDERTON. 361 
 
 were presented to the Irish parliament. They 
 came finally into possession of the earl of Roden's 
 family, and were some years since, and probably 
 still are, at the seat of the Jocelyn family, Tully- 
 more park, county Down, Ireland. 
 
 Fuller had a son and a pupil ( Woodfield) ; they 
 were both clever, but idle, and died young. 
 
 John Freeman was a rival of Fuller. 
 
 Robert Streater was appointed sergeant-painter 
 at the restoration. He did not confine himself to 
 any branch of art, but his best works were in 
 architecture, landscape 1 , &c. His principal work 
 is the theatre at Oxford; he also painted the 
 chapel at All Souls 1 , (except the Resurrection, which 
 is by Sir James Thornhill.) Streater appears to 
 have been much employed in his art by persons of 
 rank. He painted some ceilings at Whitehall, 
 the war of the giants at Sir Robert Clayton's, &c. 
 &c. 
 
 Henry Anderton was a disciple of Streater. He 
 went to Italy, and, on his return, commenced 
 portrait-painting with success: he was employed 
 at court, and even interfered with sir P. Lely's 
 business. 
 
 1 The view of Boscobel and the royal oak at Windsor are by 
 him. 
 
 VOL. r. a
 
 362 CHARLES II. 
 
 John Greenhill, a native of Salisbury, was a 
 pupil of Sir P. Lely, and a very promising artist, 
 as it appears, until he got acquainted with " the 
 players ;" then he became rather dissipated ; and 
 coming home from a tavern one night, he fell into 
 a kennel, and died of the injury he received, in his 
 twenty-seventh year. 
 
 Mrs. Ann Killigrew, daughter of Dr. H. Killi- 
 grew : she was maid of honour to the duchess of 
 York. Besides her poetic labours, she painted 
 portraits, &c., among which were James II. and 
 the duchess, Mary of Modena : she was carried off 
 by small-pox in her twenty-fifth year. 
 
 Henry Paest was another native painter. He 
 had been with Barlow and with H. Stone : he ap- 
 pears to have had respectable employment 1 . 
 
 Thomas Flatman had been of the Inner Temple, 
 but preferred poetry and painting to law ; his 
 miniatures are very clever, much better than his 
 poetry 2 . 
 
 John Hay Is was a very clever painter ; in point 
 of talent quite a rival of Lely. He was much 
 employed by persons of rank and fortune : there 
 
 1 The copy of Luca Giordano's Cyclops, which was at St. 
 James's, is by this artist. 
 
 2 He had been a fellow of New College, Oxford.
 
 SAMUEL COOPER. 363 
 
 are some family portraits by him at Woburn 
 abbey. 
 
 Michael Wright was a native of Scotland, but 
 came to London about seventeen years of age, and 
 became a good portrait painter. He painted sir 
 Robert Vyner, prince Rupert, Sir Edward Turner, 
 also the twelve judges for the corporation of Lon- 
 don 1 . He was much employed, and went with 
 lord Castlemaine, on his embassy to the pope, from 
 James II. but on his return from that foolish and 
 unlucky expedition he found that Kneller had en- 
 grossed nearly all his business : he had a fine col- 
 lection of gems and coins, which were bought by 
 Sir Hans Sloane, after Wright's death, A. D. 1700. 
 
 Edmund Ashfield was a pupil of Wright ; he 
 painted in oil and crayons, and instructed Luttrel. 
 
 Edward Hawker succeeded Sir P. Lely in his 
 house, but he had not sufficient talent to support 
 it. 
 
 Samuel Cooper was one of our best miniature- 
 painters, and the first who gave the richness and 
 force of oil painting to that class of art. He had 
 a free and firm hand, with much sweetness of tone 
 
 1 He received 601. each for these portraits. Sir P. Lely re- 
 fused to wait on the judges to paint them, and then Wright was 
 employed. 
 
 R 2
 
 364 CHARLES II. 
 
 and execution ; but he could only draw a head, 
 and did not understand how to give a graceful 
 movement to his portraits. He was brought up in 
 the art by his uncle Hoskins ; many of his finest 
 heads are in the best collections : he died 1672. 
 
 There were three Gibsons, the eldest a dwarf; 
 they were all miniature painters. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Of the foreign artists who came hither in the 
 times of the two Charles's, Lely is one of the most 
 remarkable for success, but not for high capacity. 
 He commenced his career under Charles I. A. D. 
 164], and the sight of Vandyck's pictures made 
 him at once alter his original style, to adopt some- 
 thing like that which he now for the first time 
 witnessed. Vandyck dying in less than a year after 
 Lely's arrival, the latter was considered his legiti- 
 mate successor in this art, and he became the 
 fashionable painter of the day ; but when his royal 
 patron's l affairs were ruined, Lely paid his court to 
 the rising sun, and was employed by Cromwell to 
 paint his portrait, and also by others of the repub- 
 
 1 Charles I.
 
 SIR P. LELY, ETC. 365 
 
 lican party ; but when Charles II. was restored, 
 Lely got into his good graces, and became again 
 the favourite court-painter, was knighted by Charles, 
 and kept the ascendant in his profession until his 
 death, which took place suddenly in 1 680, in the 
 sixty-third year of his age 1 . A great number 
 of his pictures are in public and private collections. 
 The sale of his effects lasted forty days, and the 
 sum produced was said to be 26,000?. He also 
 left a real estate worth 900?. per annum. Lely 
 had been married to an English lady, and had two 
 children, neither of whom lived to come of age, 
 and his estate went to a nephew in Holland. 
 
 Joseph Buckshorn, a Dutchman, was a scholar 
 of Lely, whose works and those of Vandyck he 
 had copied with great truth ; this, with drapery- 
 painting, seems to have been his occupation. 
 
 P. H. Lankrinch was a German, he painted land- 
 scape well, and was employed on back grounds by 
 Lely. 
 
 J. B. Gaspar, of Antwerp, came over during the 
 
 1 He was painting Sarah, widow of John, fourth duke of So- 
 merset, when taken ill. He was buried in St. Paul's, Covent 
 Garden, where his monument was erected with a bust of him by 
 Gibson, which, however, was burnt to lime by the fire in that 
 church 1795. 
 
 R 3
 
 366 CHARLES II. 
 
 civil war, and was patronised by general Lambert ; 
 he was also an assistant to Lely, and afterwards to 
 Kneller. 
 
 Vander Eyden, of Brussels, was another of 
 Leb/s assistants in portrait painting here. H. 
 Bankers, of the Hague, was first an engraver, then 
 a painter of royal palaces and sea-ports in England 
 and Wales. Charles was pleased with his sub- 
 jects, and their careful execution, and gave him 
 much employment. 
 
 Henry Gascar, a competitor of Sir P. Lely, was 
 from France, and patronised by the duchess of 
 Portsmouth. Of course this brought him much 
 employment; and though but a tawdry painter, 
 such was the influence of corrupt morals and bad 
 taste in that court, that this third-rate portrait 
 painter is stated to have carried out of this country 
 10,000^. acquired in a few years. 
 
 Simon Varelst was a Dutchman, and a very fine 
 painter of flowers ; he afterwards turned portrait 
 painter, and though much inferior to Lely, such 
 a fool is fashion, that he actually took much of his 
 business from him, and he has received as much as 
 110?. for a half-length, which was enormous pay- 
 ment at that time. Being a man of narrow mind, 
 he became so vain, that his reason was impaired
 
 HUYSMAN ROESTRATEN. 367 
 
 by it, but he recovered towards the close of his 
 life. 
 
 James Huysman, of Antwerp, was one of the 
 Rubens' school ; he painted both history and 
 portraits, in the latter he quite rivalled Lely ; his 
 best work was over the altar at St. James's chapel ; 
 his cupids were admired, and he painted a clever 
 picture of queen Catherine *, and that of lady 
 Byron, in the Beauty-room at Windsor, is by his 
 hand. At Holkam is likewise a clever group of 
 portraits by him of the Coke family. There was 
 another Huysman (Michlaer), of Mechlin, who 
 was here about the same period as the last 
 mentioned. He painted landscapes in the Italian 
 manner ; they possessed great merit. 
 
 Peter Roestraten was a pupil and son-in-law of 
 Frank Hals ; his works are mostly still life. Sir 
 Peter Lely introduced him to king Charles ; he 
 
 1 He painted another of her majesty, in the dress of a shep- 
 herdess ; a third is in Painters' hall. He painted the celebrated 
 beauty Frances Stewart, duchess of Richmond (Vide Memoirs 
 de Grammont,) wife of Charles, last duke of Richmond of the 
 Stewart family. She was very fond of being painted in masquerade, 
 sometimes as Pallas, or a young man with a cocked-hat, &c. Shfe 
 was a beautiful woman, and left a large and most valuable collec- 
 tion of original drawings and miniatures by Da Vinci, Raffael, 
 P. del Vaga, and the others by Cooper, Oliver, Hoskins, Hilliard, 
 &c. ; they were sold by her executor's order at Whitehall, 
 November 1702. 
 
 E 4
 
 CHARLES II. 
 
 was much employed by the nobility, and many of 
 his best works are in their private collections. 
 
 Gerard Soest, a Westphalian, was another able 
 rival of Lely's ; he had a free, yet firm pencil, with 
 a good tone of colour; there is an air of truth 
 and nature in his works, particularly in his male 
 portraits : his manners were not agreeable enough 
 to gain him much employment amongst the softer 
 sex. He painted satin particularly well, and in the 
 manner of Terburg. 
 
 John Loten, a Dutch landscape painter, lived 
 long in England ; his scenery is bold, his subjects, 
 land storms and waterfalls, of alpine grandeur, the 
 effects gloomy, and suitable to the nature of the 
 subject. 
 
 Adam Coloni, of Rotterdam, lived in England 
 all the latter years of his life : he was a clever 
 painter of country wakes, cattle, fire pieces, groups 
 of small figures, &c. He died in London, A. D. 
 1651. 
 
 John Griffiere, of Amsterdam, received instruc- 
 tions in landscape from Kogman, Ruysdael, Rem- 
 brandt, and A. Vandevelde : he came to England 
 just after the fire of London ; his style of landscape 
 painting, was formed chiefly upon Ruysdael, and 
 Lingelbach. He was patronised by the first duke
 
 GRIFFIERE ELEMA DUVAL. 369 
 
 of Beaufort, who purchased many of his pictures : 
 views on the Thames, parts of London, and 
 villas in the vicinity, river prospects, with ruins 
 and rich scenery * he particularly fancied. He ex- 
 celled in copying the works of Polenberg, Ruysdael, 
 Teniers, Rembrandt, Hondekooter, &c. and many 
 of his copies are now bought as originals of these 
 masters, and at very high prices. 
 
 He had two sons, Robert and Henry, who both 
 followed much the plan of their father, but were 
 mostly copyists of the Dutch and Flemish masters. 
 The younger Griffiere was a particularly good 
 copyist of Claude Lorraine ; his copies of this mas- 
 ter are now commonly sold as genuine Claudes. 
 
 Gerard Elema, of Holland, was a pupil of 
 Everding, whose manner he followed : he was fond 
 of wild mountain scenery, cataracts, rocky preci- 
 pices, &c. Wyck usually painted in his figures ; 
 he was much employed by the lord Mount-Edge- 
 comb of that day. 
 
 Philip Duval, a pupil of Le Brun, studied also 
 in the Venetian school. He came to England 
 and painted several pictures, one for the famous 
 
 1 A picture of some ruins by him is in the Stationers' hall. 
 R 5
 
 370 CHARLES II. 
 
 Frances Stewart, duchess of Richmond, as Venus 
 receiving the arms for her son from Vulcan. The 
 dresses, ornaments, and character much more re- 
 sembling the latitude of Versailles than of Latium. 
 he was not however, successful in his profession, 
 and Mr. Boyle, the great chemist, allowed him 
 501. a year. 
 
 Benedetto Gennari was a nephew and disciple 
 of Guercino, whose style he closely imitated, both 
 in the extravagance of his shadows and the round- 
 ness of his flesh, only more livid ; he was one of 
 king Charles's painters ; his pictures are generally 
 taken for those of his uncle. There are several of 
 them at the royal palaces and in the great collec- 
 tions. 
 
 Gaspar Netscher came over to England for a 
 short time in king James's reign ; he was intro- 
 duced to the king by Sir William Temple, and 
 painted several portraits here ; many of his works 
 are in our best collections. 
 
 Jacob Pen : we only know of one picture by this 
 artist, who was a Dutchman. This work is a Saint 
 Luke, by him, in Painters' hall. 
 
 Dirk Stoop, a Fleming, came with his family 
 from Lisbon, after queen Catherine. His taste
 
 VANDEVELDE. 371 
 
 lay in battles, huntings, processions, &c. which were 
 engraved by himself under the name of Theodore, 
 and Roderigo ; he was a clever artist. 
 
 At the duke of Portland^ he had portraits of 
 king William and queen Mary. 
 
 William Sonmans, a Dutch painter, came over 
 in this reign, and got into good business after Sir 
 Peter Lely's time ; he painted a portrait of the 
 king, to which Riley's was preferred, and this so 
 much annoyed him that he withdrew to Oxford ; 
 here the heads of the university employed him to 
 paint the pictures of the respective founders, now in 
 the gallery of paintings : he died in Gerrard street. 
 
 William Vandevelde (the older) * of Leyden, 
 1610: he had been in the employment of the 
 States ; and for some cause now unknown left his 
 country and came to England, where he was very 
 well received by king Charles II., who, by warrant 
 of privy seal, granted to both father and son, one 
 hundred pounds each per annum, "for making 
 
 1 Vandevelde did not pilot the fleet of admiral Holmes to burn 
 the town at Schelling, as asserted by Mr. Walpole. 
 
 He was in a boat in the engagements between the English 
 and Dutch fleets under the duke of York and Opdam, and in 
 that between Monk and De Ruyter. They painted grand pictures 
 of all these memorable battles, by order of the duke of York. 
 He was also in the action off Selebay. 
 
 R 6
 
 372 CHARLES II. 
 
 draughts of sea fights ;" the younger was to put 
 them into colours. 
 
 William Vandevelde (the younger) was one of 
 the ablest artists that has ever appeared in this 
 class of painters ; he was solely under his father's 
 tuition until the latter came to England, at which 
 period he was placed with S. de Vlieger, an able 
 ship painter of that time ; but young Vandevelde 
 was soon called over to England, and well received 
 by the king, to whose taste in these matters he was 
 well suited. The Vandeveldes resided mostly at 
 Greenwich, as a fine nautical position ; very many 
 of their pictures were in the royal collection, and 
 several are still at the royal palaces. 
 
 He painted the junction of the English and 
 French fleets at the Nore, whither king Charles 
 went to view them, when he was represented going 
 on board his own yacht *. Vandevelde the younger 
 died 1707; his uncle Cornelius was likewise em- 
 ployed by king Charles ; he painted, like his brother, 
 in black and white. 
 
 1 Vandevelde overheard two of the admiralty commissioners, 
 say that they would beg this picture of the king, then divide it, 
 and each take half ; the artist however kept the picture back 
 until the king died, he then sold it for 130 guineas. Lords of 
 the admiralty in our days are rather more awake than those 
 ancient gentlemen were.
 
 VOSTERMAN VAN WYCK. 373 
 
 William the younger left a son who made 
 good copies of his father's works which pass for 
 originals. 
 
 John Vosterman, another Dutch painter, was 
 clever at small landscapes in oil. He went into 
 France with the marquis of Bethune ; but living 
 extravagantly, he found the inconvenience attend- 
 ing that way of life, and made his way into Eng- 
 land. At first he was en ;aged by king Charles ', 
 but demanding extravagant prices he was not much 
 employed, and his expensive habits continuing he 
 became embarrassed ; but was extricated by his 
 brother artists, his royal patron having declined 
 to render him any assistance. 
 
 Van Wyck, of Haarlem, is the justly admired 
 painter of shipping, sea-ports, &c., who passed 
 into Italy, and thence came to England just after 
 the restoration. He painted a long view of the 
 Thames from Southwark, before the great fire : it 
 exhibited the mansions of the nobility then "on 
 the Strand ;" there is a print from it. He painted 
 the fire of London ; his most careful works are the 
 interiors of chemists 1 laboratories. He died in 
 England 1682. 
 
 1 Two pictures he painted for the king are still at Windsor.
 
 374 CHARLES II. 
 
 William Wissing, a native of Amsterdam, after 
 learning the art at the Hague, went to France 
 and contracted that fantastic style which then 
 prevailed, and which was the very antipodes of all 
 that was noble, elegant, or graceful in art, and 
 possessed all that was mean, vapid, and feeble in 
 execution. Wissing was another of Lely's foreign 
 journeyman painters, and when that court flatterer 
 died, Wissing, who had advanced deeper into the 
 flounce and furbelow style, became fashionable, 
 painted all the royal family, and the duke of Mon- 
 mouth several times. This obtained him the good 
 graces of the king and the ladies. Although an- 
 other rising star of the furbelow and flying-drapery 
 school, Kneller, promised to be a formidable rival : 
 luckily for the peace of England, one of these pic- 
 torial comets went off into infinity, at the critical 
 moment, and left the other in perihelia, " with am- 
 ple tail, and beard enough," to lighten the darkness 
 of the court, and make the nation wonder. Wis- 
 sing died at Burleigh in 1 687. 
 
 Adrian Hennin is recorded as one of the last of 
 that tribe of painters which flocked over to England 
 in this reign of charlatanism. 
 
 Tempesta, and the two brothers Tomaso, were 
 brought over by Sir Charles Cotterell, to paint ceil-
 
 GERARD SEGHERS. 375 
 
 ings and panels of rooms, although there were at 
 that time many English decorators superior to 
 these men ; but Sir Charles appears to have been 
 one of those good natured, but certainly ill-judging 
 men of that day, who had a great partiality for 
 every thing foreign J , believing that nothing good, 
 at least in the arts, could be done by English- 
 men. 
 
 Gerard Seghers was in London for a few years, 
 between 1641 and 1651. This man, however, was 
 not a quack, like so many of those enumerated in 
 this tasteless reign. Seghers painted some scrip- 
 ture pieces, into which he introduced subjects in a 
 style that has justly been called " exquisite."" 
 
 This closes our catalogue of painters during the 
 reign of Charles II. in which a gradual decadence is 
 visible, from the beginning to the end of his inglo- 
 rious government. By his want of taste, and his par- 
 tiality for foreigners, he lowered the tone of native 
 feeling ; which, had it been properly encouraged, 
 would, even at that time, have produced works in 
 art far different, and superior to the tinsel frippery, 
 so many specimens of which still remain, things 
 that we preserve as precious historical reminiscences 
 
 1 The conduct of the king favoured that fallacy. This race is 
 scarce, though not extinct, in our time.
 
 376 CHARLES II. 
 
 of a departed age, but which, generally speaking, 
 are, as works of art, below criticism ; so far at least 
 as regards those done in the latter part of this 
 reign, with the exception of the Vandeveldes and 
 one or two others. With the command of the 
 finest elements in his hands that a wise and pa- 
 triotic king could desire, wherewith to found a 
 great national school of art, he grossly neglected 
 this part of his duty. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Sculpture, during the same period, was even at a 
 lower level than its sister arts. The knowledge of 
 it which had been called forth in the days of Charles 
 I. had retrograded under his son, and its humble 
 efforts were now confined chiefly to assist archi- 
 tectural works, an humble adjunct to interior 
 decoration, and for bas-reliefs to pediments. Its 
 powers exhibited on the sepulchral monuments of 
 this period are absolutely contemptible. 
 
 There, however, did appear, under all these dis- 
 heartening circumstances, two remarkable men, 
 whose genius entitles them to be enrolled in the 
 rank of sculptors. These talented artists were
 
 SCULPTURE CIBBEK. 377 
 
 Caius Gabriel Gibber, or Cibert, and Grinling 
 Gibbons. 
 
 Gibber, the earlier in the field, was the son of 
 the king of Denmark's cabinet maker ; born in the 
 duchy of Holstein about 1630. Having displayed 
 a taste for sculpture, king Charles I. sent him 
 to Rome, and supported him there in the prose- 
 cution of his studies. John Stone met with him 
 in Holland, brought him over during the time of 
 the commonwealth, and gave him full employment 
 for some years. Eventually, he was appointed 
 carver to the king's closet ; a place of no great 
 emolument or consequence ; at least it does not 
 appear that he did much work for his royal pa- 
 tron : it was from private sources he was enabled 
 to establish his professional reputation. 
 
 The effort of art upon which his fame as a 
 sculptor chiefly rests, is the well-known group of 
 " melancholy and raving madness," originally set up 
 over the entrance to Bethlehem hospital, Moor- 
 fields. Without entering into the high strain of 
 encomium in which some writers have described 
 these figures, they certainly display the powers of 
 no ordinary class of mind. They do not, it is true, 
 belong to the rank of classic art, yet, as works of 
 simple nature and expression, they show considera-
 
 378 CHARLES II. 
 
 ble merit ; their proportions are correct, and so 
 likewise is the muscular anatomy. What the 
 details and finishing were, it is impossible now to 
 form an opinion, for Bacon, jun. gave these statues a 
 thorough restoration in 1814, when they were re- 
 moved to the new Bethlehem hospital. They are 
 evidently studied from nature ; and one of them is 
 said to be a representation of Cromwell's porter, 
 who was then in that asylum. 
 
 Gibber did a good deal of sculptured work for the 
 Devonshire family, principally at Chatsworth, where 
 some of it is still to be seen. These were of the 
 antique style, Pallas, Apollo, four sea horses, and 
 a Triton : for these he was paid 100?. ; the two 
 large sphinxes, on bases, &c. He also sculptured 
 the statues of Faith and Hope in the chapel * : 
 the bas-reliefs on two sides of the London fire monu- 
 ment are his work. He sculptured one of the great 
 vases at Hampton court, in competition with Va- 
 ladier, a French sculptor. Gibber also carved 
 
 1 At Hardwick are preserved some receipts in his own writing, 
 with the following memoranda : " For two figures in the pedi- 
 ment, each four tons of stone, 1 4(M. for both ; for a round statue, 
 with a boy on his shoulder, 601. ; for two dogs, 81. each ; for 
 twelve Caesars' heads, 51. a-piece. My lord Kingston did, after 
 this, pay for board and wine for me and my man. For two sta- 
 tues as big as life, I had 351. a-piece, and all charges borne ; and 
 at this rate I shall endeavour to serve a nobleman in freestone."
 
 CIBBER. 379 
 
 several of the statues round the interior quadrangle 
 of the late Royal Exchange, including king Charles 
 I. and Sir T. Gresham. 
 
 It is also recorded that he built the Danish 
 church in London *, wherein he was interred A. D. 
 1700. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren patronised Cibber, and 
 gave him much employment, particularly at St. 
 Paul's ; amongst the latest of his works is the large 
 carved bas-relief of a Phoenix, placed above the 
 southern door of the cathedral. 
 
 It is a subject of regret, that Gibber's son, who 
 shines with no mean light as a biographer, of 
 sometimes very trifling persons, could find no 
 room or inclination to record the principal public 
 and professional events of his father's life, whose 
 merit though not transcendent was certainly very 
 considerable, and a thousand times more interest- 
 ing and useful than a dozen of " the poor players " 
 upon whose ephemeral day he has lavished all the 
 expressive activity of his pen. 
 
 We find however that C. Gabriel Cibber was 
 twice married, his second wife was of the ancient 
 
 1 This is probably one that stood in Wellclose square ; it was 
 rebuilt in 1746 ; the Danish people in that district use it as their 
 place of worship.
 
 380 CHARLES II. 
 
 Colley family of Rutlandshire; with this lady he 
 received a fortune of 6000?., and they had several 
 children 1 . Gibber died A. D. 1700, and was then 
 seventy years of age. 
 
 Grinling Gibbons. This is a name that might 
 stand in the ranks of genius under any sovereign ; 
 but like Homer, and other highly gifted men, his 
 birth place is not clearly made out. Murray states 
 that Gibbons was born in Holland of English 
 parents, and came over here at nineteen years of 
 age ; on the other hand Stoakes has it that his 
 father was a Dutchman, and that Gibbons was 
 born "in Spur-alley, Strand," and that he after- 
 wards lived in Belle-savage court, Ludgate hill, we 
 must therefore leave this point to be decided by 
 some better evidence, should it ever be obtained. 
 
 Amongst the earlier notices of Gibbon's profes- 
 sional employment, was his working for Betterton, 
 on the decoration of the theatre at Dorset Garden, 
 where it appears he carved the capitals of columns, 
 cornices, eagles, &c. Some time after this he lived 
 in a lonely thatched house, in Deptford parish ; 
 
 1 One of these was " the Laureate" born in 1671, at his 
 father's house in Southampton row, Holborn, opposite to South- 
 ampton house ; this marriage brought him into a highly respecta- 
 ble connexion.
 
 GIBBONS. 381 
 
 where Evelyn walking in the fields, by the merest 
 chance, passing this place, looked in casually at 
 a window ; here he saw a young man at work 
 carving a most difficult and elaborate subject, it 
 was one of Tintorefs grand compositions, which 
 contained above one hundred figures. Evelyn men- 
 tioned this circumstance to the king, who had the 
 work brought to the palace for inspection, but 
 Charles or his queen could not discover its merit, 
 and it was removed from the palace back to the 
 solitary abode of the neglected man of genius, who 
 had offered it to royalty for 100. \ which sum 
 Evelyn declares it was well worth, without the 
 frame which was most richly carved, and as he 
 states, " the very frame was worth the money. 11 
 Sir G. Viner, it appears, bought it some time after 
 for 80/. Years after this, when Gibbons had made 
 his way, and could do very well independent of 
 royal favour, Sir C. Wren promised Mr. Evelyn 
 that he would engage him in the public service at 
 
 1 Evelyn relates that it was a babbling Frenchwoman who 
 caused its rejection : this person was a pedlar who was tolerated 
 to come to the palace with French baubles, of which the king 
 and queen were fond. This pedlar was allowed to give her 
 opinion on the merits of the work, and she found such fault with 
 it, though she knew no more about it than an ass or a monkey, 
 that it was rejected.
 
 382 CHARLES II. 
 
 St. Paul's, to which the king consented ; and he 
 was placed in the office of the board of works. 
 Then he was employed to ornament the royal 
 palaces, particularly Windsor, where his elegant 
 and chaste work is in decided opposition to Verrio's 
 gaudy paintings. The statue of Charles II. at the 
 Hoyal Exchange was by Gibbons ; the bronze of the 
 same monarch in Chelsea garden and the bronze 
 of James II. at Whitehall are by the same hand 1 . 
 Gibbons constructed the fine tomb for Baptist 
 Noel, lord Camden, at Exton, Rutlandshire ; also 
 the bishop's throne at Canterbury cathedral given 
 by archbishop Tenison. The foliage in the choir at 
 St. Paul's is by him ; for this work he received 
 1333. 7s. 5d. At Burghleigh there is a great deal 
 of his work, and the Last Supper in alto relievo. 
 There are several carvings at Chatsworth attributed 
 to Gibbons, but Mr. Dallaway, who closely ex- 
 amined into these matters, has stated that in the 
 auditor's accounts of the building of that noble 
 mansion ; no mention is any where made of Gib- 
 bons, and this shows that the art of exquisitely 
 carving wood was not then confined to so few 
 
 1 The two latter are presents to the respective kings, by Tobias 
 Rustat, who was keeper of the robes to Charles II. before and 
 after his restoration. Rustat paid Gibbons 10CKM. for both statues.
 
 GIBBOXS. 383 
 
 hands as it has been generally supposed. Better 
 attested are works by him at Houghton, at South- 
 wick, Hants, and still more remarkably the great 
 salon at Petworth, in which there is a variety and 
 richness of ornament, which seems scarcely to be 
 within the range of art ; these are compositions 
 of fruit, flowers, shells, birds, sculptured vases, 
 &c., in which even the texture of each object 
 is represented. 
 
 The font in St. James 1 church is also the work 
 of Gibbons. He had been master carver to three 
 sovereigns : Charles II. James II. and William III. 
 and in 1714, he was appointed, "master carver in 
 wood," to George I., at a salary of one shilling and 
 sixpence per day ! 
 
 Gibbons died at his house in Bow street, Covent 
 garden, in August 1721 ; and in November fol- 
 lowing, his collection was sold and dispersed. 
 
 Gibbons had many clever pupils and workmen, 
 Watson and Selden were two of the former ; of 
 the latter, Dievot, of Brussels, and Laurens of 
 Mechlin were principals. 
 
 Burman, Latham, and Bonne, were also sta- 
 tuaries in this reign; but their works are little 
 known. 
 
 W. Emmet was^ sculptor to the crown before
 
 384 CHARLES II. 
 
 Gibbons, and had succeeded his uncle, named 
 Philips; but neither of them have left any pro- 
 fessional marks to distinguish them from ordi- 
 nary people ; they are merely mentioned to show 
 how little Charles really knew of art, or cared 
 about it. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 Architecture, by an extraordinary providence, 
 partly escaped the degradation that had fallen 
 upon its two fair sisters. It began, however, 
 very inauspiciously, being chiefly in the hands of 
 Webb, who was a well known pupil and clerk 
 of works to Inigo Jones l . Webb built the east 
 side of the court at Greenwich hospital, from the 
 design by his uncle ; and several houses, one of 
 these was Horseheath, Cambridgeshire. The por- 
 tico to the Vine in Hampshire, the seat of C. Chute, 
 speaker of the commons, in Richard Cromwell's 
 parliament, Ambresbury, Wilts, was another of his 
 buildings ; but these were all from designs by 
 Jones; for it is clear enough. that Inigo's pro- 
 
 1 Webb was his nephew, and married his first cousin the only 
 daughter of Inigo Jones.
 
 CAPTAIN W. WINDE. 385 
 
 fessional mantle did not descend upon his nephew's 
 shoulders. 
 
 Captain W. Winde, a pupil of Gerbier, built 
 Cliefden house, Bucks, the duke of Newcastle's, in 
 Lincoln's-inn-fields, Combe abbey, for lord Craven, 
 and Hempstead Marshal, for the same peer. Buck- 
 ingham-house, St. James's park, was his chief work. 
 This mansion he built for John Sheffield, duke of 
 Buckingham. An anecdote is related of that no- 
 bleman and his architect, which is rather amusing. 
 The edifice it appears was near its completion, but 
 the arrears of payment were not so. Winde, how- 
 ever, enticed his grace to mount upon the leads with 
 him, to see the splendid prospect. As the duke 
 was occupied in admiring the scene, his architect 
 very coolly locked the trap-door, and threw the 
 key to the ground. He then turned round, and said 
 to the astonished nobleman, " I am a ruined man ; 
 and unless I receive your word of honour that the 
 debts incurred by this building shall be paid di- 
 rectly, I will instantly throw myself over." " And 
 what is to become of me f said the duke. " Why, 
 you shall accompany me, 1 ' was the reply. The 
 promise required was immediately given ; the trap- 
 door was opened (upon a concerted signal,) by a 
 VOL. i. s
 
 386 CHARLES II. 
 
 workman, who had his instructions, and the man- 
 sion was soon completed. 
 
 Mons. Poughet was the architect who conducted 
 the building of Montague-house in 1 678 '. It never 
 could be considered a handsome building, but the 
 rooms are spacious and lofty ; the paintings on the 
 ceilings and walls are still in a tolerable state of 
 preservation. It is said that this mansion will be 
 pulled down when the new works at the British 
 Museum shall be ready to receive the books and 
 other collections lodged in the original fabric. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren belongs to this reign, but 
 does not by any means harmonize with it. Our 
 space will not allow of any lengthy biographical 
 details ; but some notices will no doubt be expected 
 of so great a genius, and we shall be happy if 
 we can in this respect gratify our readers. 
 
 This splendid architect was descended from an 
 
 1 Now the British Museum. When the duke of Montague 
 was ambassador at Paris, he changed hotels with the French 
 ambassador, who was sent to England, and during his residence 
 the first Montague house, built by Hooke, was destroyed by fire. 
 It was agreed between them that the court of France should sup- 
 ply half the expense of the rebuilding, upon the condition that a 
 French architect and painter should be employed. The object 
 avowed was, to teach the English how a perfect palace should be 
 constructed and embellished.
 
 SIR C. WREN. 387 
 
 ancient family in the bishopric of Durham. The 
 dean of Windsor was his father, and he was nephew 
 of bishop Matthew, who was successively collated to 
 Hereford, Norwich, and Ely. London was his 
 birth-place in 1632. He was educated at Oxford, 
 where he proceeded B. A. of Wadham college, in 
 1650 ; M. A. 1653, when he was elected a fellow 
 of All Souls 1 college ; Savillian professor of astro- 
 nomy, 1660; D.C.L. 1661. He had previously 
 been elected l professor of astronomy at Gresham 
 college. He was an active experimentalist, and 
 some discoveries and improvements he made in 
 philosophy and mechanics, assisted the rising re- 
 putation of the then newly established Royal So- 
 ciety. His character was high, his friends in- 
 fluential, and in the year of Charles's restoration, 
 Mr. Wren was appointed coadjutor to Sir John 
 Denham, surveyor of the public works, who was 
 most deficient in both the scientific and practical 
 operations of architecture. On the death of 
 Denham, in 1668, he was appointed to be chief 
 surveyor ; he had previously travelled into France, 
 and resided some time there, assiduously employing 
 his time in studying the designs and operations of 
 
 1 This was in his 20th year. 
 
 s 2
 
 388 CHARLES II. 
 
 the French architects of that period. He made a 
 vast number of drawings from their principal edi- 
 fices, few of which were at that time models of 
 pure taste, though 4hey were getting rid of that 
 patch-work and confused style which had generally 
 prevailed in Europe, in the transition from the 
 pointed style back to the Roman and Grecian 
 forms and arrangements. It is deeply to be re- 
 gretted, that Wren did not travel to the source 
 from whence the architects of France drew their 
 ideas of grandeur, symmetry, beauty, proportion, 
 and harmony, in architecture. He must have suc- 
 ceeded much better, had he studied the real objects 
 of his research, instead of taking them at second 
 hand, through the medium of other minds, which 
 gave a new, and often a false version of the subject. 
 The French artists were themselves only copyists, 
 and it is therefore obvious that they ought not to 
 have been his great and sole exemplars on an occa- 
 sion so important to his own character, and his 
 country's reputation. But drawing his inspirations 
 as he did from a source by no means pure, it 
 is most creditable to the vigour of his mind, and 
 natural good taste, that he should have produced 
 so many fine structures. His Hampton court is 
 justly criticised for its incongruities, or rather its
 
 SIR C. WREN. 389 
 
 anomalous taste ; and when he meddled with the 
 English pointed style, called " Gothic archi- 
 tecture," he always failed, from not understanding 
 the principles upon which that noble style is 
 founded. That deficiency, however, did not arise 
 from any defect in the capacity of that accom- 
 plished architect and scholar ; the simple fact is, 
 that the sound mathematical principles upon which 
 the early English or pointed style of architecture 
 was established, had been long forgotten ere Wren 
 came on the stage of public life : even his great 
 precursor Inigo Jones, who lived half a century 
 nearer to the era of its splendour, knew nothing of 
 its science ; but neither was he blameable in this 
 matter. It may fairly be asked, could it be other- 
 wise ? The peculiar application of that branch 
 of geometry, conic sections, its nice and power- 
 ful adaptation to balance the enormous weights 
 which it lifted high in air with a buoyancy which 
 appears like the effect of magic, the judicious dis- 
 position of its forces to resist the lateral thrust, 
 and the incumbent pressure, which together with 
 the superior knowledge of construction those 
 architects possessed, have given a stability to those 
 glorious memorials of a darker age, which, with all 
 the aids of modern science and extensive learning 
 s 3
 
 390 CHARLES II. 
 
 have not yet been surpassed How often has it been 
 equalled ? But unhappily, that great volume of ele- 
 gant and useful knowledge was buried deep in the 
 tomb with the last of the transcendent men, whose 
 genius adorned their native land with magnificent edi- 
 fices, "which time itself hath honoured," and which 
 we point to with a proud satisfaction, as the splendid 
 monuments of our early advancement from a state 
 of semi-barbarism, to one of comparative civilization. 
 Why then, it is demanded, should Jones and Wren 
 be blamed for not understanding that important 
 branch of knowledge which blinded zeal had repu- 
 diated, and fanatic violence had long consigned to 
 oblivion ? These great artists were only blameable 
 for undertaking to operate in a style of art of which 
 they could not have acquired the fundamental prin- 
 ciples, either in theory or practice. 
 
 Wren possessed an extraordinary degree of pro- 
 fessional knowledge. He has left numerous examples 
 of the grand, the elegant, and the splendid ideas 
 which filled his capacious mind, notwithstanding the 
 intermeddling of his patrons and their advisers ', 
 and of which, fortunately, there are faithful records. 
 
 1 Louis le Grand was quite as great a meddler in matters be- 
 yond his comprehension as his cousin Charles, and to that cause, 
 no doubt, we must attribute the inharmonious compositions that
 
 SIR C. WEEN. 391 
 
 In this respect he has been much more fortunate 
 than any of his English predecessors in the art *, 
 for we have such ample and well-detailed accounts 
 of his public and private life, that it is almost use- 
 less to enter upon any extended biographical notices 
 of him. To complete our sketch, we shall merely 
 state, that he was elected president of the Royal 
 society in 1680, five years after he had commenced 
 St. Paul's cathedral ; he sat as member in two 
 parliaments, was twice married, and had two sons 
 and a daughter ; he lived long after he had finished 
 St. Paul's, and, after a useful life of ninety-one 
 years, he departed A. n. 1723. 
 
 Independent of the works he actually completed 
 Wren was engaged constantly in furnishing plans, 
 elevations, and sections of projected mansions for the 
 noble and wealthy ; but after the fire of London, he 
 was commissioned to lay down a plan for the rebuild- 
 ing of the city, which he did upon the soundest prin- 
 ciples of convenience, uniformity, and safety. Had 
 
 are occasionally to be seen in the fine structures erected by the 
 French architects of that time. 
 
 1 His first plan of St. Paul's was rejected by James II. (duke 
 of York), because it did not admit of side chapels, as in the 
 churches on the continent.
 
 392 CHARLES II. 
 
 the renovation of the metropolis been committed to 
 his judgment and experience, it would have been 
 made, perhaps, the most magnificent city in the 
 world ; but the little jobbing spirit \ which is the 
 bane of every great effort in art amongst us, pre- 
 vailed against him, and that fine opportunity was 
 lost for ever. 
 
 A very valuable collection of Sir Christopher 
 Wren's drawings is in the library of All Souls 1 
 college, at Oxford, of which he had been a fellow. 
 These interesting and useful works were purchased 
 by the celebrated judge Blackstone, who, with an 
 elegance and propriety of feeling which is highly 
 honourable to his memory, presented them to Wren's 
 own college : they are bound in three large folios ; 
 the first has one hundred and ten designs and 
 sketches, the second one hundred and nine, the 
 third fifty one. These valuable works are therefore 
 in safe hands. 
 
 THE MEDALLISTS. In this reign, the family of 
 Roettier, a goldsmith and banker of Paris, were the 
 principal artists in this line. This person had sup- 
 plied Charles II. with money during his exile ; and 
 
 1 Unfortunately for the public, he was dismissed from his pub- 
 lic employment in the third year of George I. as we shall notice 
 in its place.
 
 THE MEDALLISTS. 393 
 
 when he was restored, the king, according to a pre- 
 vious agreement, sent for the sons of Roettier, two 
 of whom came over, John and Joseph. Simon, 
 that admirable artist, who had worked for Cromwell, 
 and the commonwealth, was superseded by them. 
 They were established in the Mint, with a good 
 salary and a house ; they were allowed 200?. for 
 each broad seal, and they gained 300?. per annum 
 by the sale of their medals to foreign countries ; 
 they became rich, and then the third brother, 
 Philip, came over, and was employed by the govern- 
 ment. John Roettier was reckoned the best artist 
 of the three, but Philip was the only one of them 
 that put his name or initials upon our medals. 
 
 Simon, displeased at the preference given to 
 persons so inferior to himself, struck the famous 
 " pattern crown" piece, which, although it did not 
 displace his rivals, caused the restoration of his 
 salary, with a portion of the Mint work. John 
 Roettier employed two of his three sons (James and 
 Norbert) very much, which disgusted their uncles. 
 Joseph went to France, and Philip to Belgium, and 
 each of them was employed by the respective go- 
 vernments of those countries. The youngest son 
 of John died, and he, with his remaining son, Nor- 
 
 > 
 
 bert, continued in employment until the revolution ;
 
 394 HARRIS. 
 
 and, singular enough, although John, the head of 
 this family, was offered to be continued in his em- 
 ployment, nothing could prevail upon him to work 
 for king William. He thus made himself an object 
 of suspicion ; guards were placed round his house 
 in the Tower, and lord Lucas, the governor, made 
 him so uncomfortable that he soon left the place. 
 
 Roettier, sen. was, however, wealthy, but infirm 
 in health. He retired to a house in Red-lion square. 
 His son Norbert still worked for the government. 
 It is said he did the coronation medal of king 
 William and queen Mary ; also some dies for the 
 copper coinage. In 1694, it was decided that both 
 these sovereigns'* heads should be placed on the same 
 side, Britannia on the reverse ; but some " circum- 
 spective eyes" pretended that they discovered a 
 satyr's head couched in that of the king. This 
 caused a good deal of noise. A report was spread, 
 that James II. was in England, concealed in Roet- 
 tier's house in the Tower. Norbert Roettier left 
 the Tower, and went to France, where Louis XIV. 
 gave him employment ; and he there struck several 
 medals for the pretender. 
 
 Harris, a player, who succeeded Roettier, was 
 quite incapable of filling the situation. This in- 
 truder was obliged to employ workmen to strike the
 
 THE MEDALLISTS. 395 
 
 medal for the new sovereign, queen Anne. One of 
 these workmen was Mr. Croker, who afterwards 
 got the appointment. A detailed account of the 
 principal work in medals and coins struck by this 
 family will be found in Evelyn, Pinkerton, &c. 
 
 Du Four was another medallist, of whose work 
 not many specimens are extant. 
 
 George Bovver produced several large medals of 
 Charles II. with the queen's head on the reverse, 
 of the duke of York's shipwreck, of king James 
 II., another of his queen, of the dukes of Albe- 
 marle, Ormond, and Lauderdale, and of the earl of 
 Shaffcesbury. 
 
 EXD OF VOL. T.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, 
 ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.
 
 A 000452112 6