A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and ArtWright, Thomas
History
A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art
Wright, Thomas
Caricature -- History
Another cast in the Kensington Museum is the subject of our cut No.
96, which presents the same idea of stretching the mouth. The subject
is here exhibited by another rather mirthful looking individual, but
whether the exhibitor is intended to be a goblin or demon, or whether
he is merely furnished with the wings and claws of a bat, seems rather
uncertain. The bat was looked upon as an unpropitious if not an unholy
animal; like the owl, it was the companion of the witches, and of the
spirits of darkness. The group in our cut No. 97 is taken from one of
the carved stalls in the church of Stratford-upon-Avon, and represents
a trio of grimacers. The first of these three grotesque faces is
lolling out the tongue to an extravagant length; the second is simply
grinning; while the third has taken a sausage between his teeth to
render his grimace still more ridiculous. The number and variety of
such grotesque faces, which we find scattered over the architectural
decoration of our old ecclesiastical buildings, are so great that I
will not attempt to give any more particular classification of them.
All this church decoration was calculated especially to produce its
effect upon the middle and lower classes, and mediæval art was, perhaps
more than anything else, suited to mediæval society, for it belonged to
the mass and not to the individual. The man who could enjoy a match at
grinning through horse-collars, must have been charmed by the grotesque
works of the mediæval stone sculptor and wood carver; and we may add
that these display, though often rather rude, a very high degree of
skill in art, a great power of producing striking imagery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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