Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in EnglandEve, G. W. (George William)
History
Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in England
Eve, G. W. (George William)
Heraldry -- Great Britain
Tudor heraldry marked the close of the Middle Ages. In character it was
a combination of the mediaeval style with that of the Renaissance;
that is to say, it was the expression of what remained of mediaeval
regard for its subject, in a form that was strongly influenced by the
new feeling in Art.
Besides the technical knowledge and the power of draughtsmanship
there is ample evidence of individual design working through various
influences, handling and assimilating them, a further proof that no
one possessing real artistic power, in whatever degree, is content
merely to reproduce the dry bones of any period. However that may
be, they are very beautiful drawings, serving admirably as models of
working drawings, in which is set forth all that is necessary to the
carrying out of the work, and I am much indebted to Messrs. Hardman for
permission to reproduce them.
The disposition of the lead is very carefully shown throughout, and the
smaller details are drawn just so far as is necessary for the direction
of the painter. Repetitions of figures being similarly finished only
when they differ in some important respect from the initial shape, as
in the case of the lion in the base of the shield of the Royal Arms
(Fig. 208), when the pose is sufficiently varied from the upper ones,
by the field space, as to warrant its separate treatment. These arms
occupy the upper part of the light in the Royal Gallery, Fig. 209
being the lower part of the same window. Perhaps the most remarkable
for vigour is the little white horse which so admirably occupies its
space, a quatrefoil opening (Fig. 210). All the animals are full of
vitality, but none have quite so much as this. In this respect it may
well be contrasted with the much inferior Dragon of Cadwallader in
Fig. 209. The character of the unicorn (Fig. 211) is altogether unusual
in English heraldry, and follows the foreign type which derives its
form from that of a goat with one horn, instead of that which is the
combination of a horse’s body with the legs of a stag and the tail
of a lion, a form with which other examples have made us familiar. The
wild boar of Richard III (Fig. 212), for all his enormous tusks, seems
not unworthy of the irreverent way in which he is referred to, in a
working note pencilled on the cartoon, as “the pig.”
[Illustration: FIG. 209.--Cartoon for Stained Glass. (Lower Part) Royal
Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
[Illustration: FIG. 210.--Design for Stained Glass in the Houses of
Parliament. Drawn by John Powell.]
[Illustration: FIG. 211.--Unicorn. Cartoon for Stained Glass, Royal
Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
[Illustration: FIG. 212.--The White Boar of Richard III. Cartoon for
Stained Glass. Royal Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
[Illustration: FIG. 213.--The Royal Crest. Cartoon for Stained Glass.
Royal Gallery, Houses of Parliament.]
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