On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and LiteratureRuskin, John
General
On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature
Ruskin, John
Art; Essays; Literature
221. On entering the church, and turning immediately to the left, there
will be seen on the inner side of the external wall a tomb under a
boldly trefoiled canopy. It is a sarcophagus with a recumbent figure on
it, which is the only work of art in the church deserving serious
attention. It is the tomb of Gerard Bolderius "sui temporis physicorum
principi," says his epitaph,[10] not, as far as I can discover, untruly.
On the front of the sarcophagus is the semi-figure of Christ rising from
the tomb, used generally at the period for the type of resurrection,
between the Virgin and St. John; and two shields, bearing, one the
fleur-de-lys, the other an eagle. The recumbent figure is entirely
simple and right in treatment, sculptured without ostentation of skill
or exaggeration of sentiment, by a true artist, who endeavors only to
give the dead due honor, and his own art subordinate and modest scope.
This monument, being the best in St. Anastasia, is, by the usual spite
of fortune, placed where it is quite invisible except on bright days. On
the opposite side of the church, the first monument on the right, well
lighted by the tall western window, should be looked at next to the
physician's; for as that is the best, this is essentially the worst,
piece of sculptured art in the building; a series of academy studies in
marble, well executed, but without either taste or invention, and
necessarily without meaning, the monument having been erected to a
person whose only claim to one was his having stolen money enough to pay
for it before he died. It is one of the first pieces extant of entirely
mechanical art workmanship, done for money; and the perfection of its
details may justify me in directing special attention to it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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