[Rarebooks] FS: 1835 Historical Sketch of Sculpture in Wood
Joslin Hall Rare Books
office at joslinhall.com
Wed Jul 13 08:16:35 EDT 2016
“An Historical Sketch of the Art of Sculpture in Wood, from the Earliest
Period to the Present Time; with notices of the most remarkable
sculptural works in the same material now remaining in Europe, and some
Account of the Designers”
By Robert Folkstone Williams.
Published in London at the Library of the Fine Arts in 1835.
Williams begins his essay in the dim ages of antiquity before exploring
the woodcarver's art in Europe and England from the early times through
the 17th and 18th centuries. He spends most of his time in England and
Italy, although France and Germany are certainly not neglected. He then
returns to the Far East and ancient times in an appendix. The author
came from an architectural background and approached his subject with
the eye of the architectural historian, treating not only sculpture but
also all other types of decorative carving to be found in churches,
cathedrals and the great houses. Mantelpieces, railings, even furniture
fascinated him, and he treated all as more or less equal products of the
chisel.
Williams has an eye for the odd- "There are many bas-reliefs,
particularly those carved underneath the seats of the choirs of
different religious structures, that represent grotesque, and even
obscene subjects, altogether at variance with the sacred character of
the buildings in which they are placed. What may be thought most
singular, is, that these sculptures sometimes represent priests and
other religious persons, engaged in actions of a very profane
description. The sculptors who executed those carvings were the
caricaturists of the time; and, as different religious communities were
frequently at variance with each other, they employed these artists to
satirize their mutual follies and vices. Under their seats they
concealed from the public eye, but exposed for their own private
gratification, a series of pictorial libels. In one place, the monks of
a certain order are represented as licentious, ridiculous, and depraved:
-in the building belonging to these holy fathers, will, probably, be
found a similar series of bas-reliefs, exposing the secret debaucheries
of the sacred brotherhood by whom they have been libelled- but never, in
any church, will a priest of that order be represented in an unholy
character".
Williams has great sympathy for these carvers, a sympathy which seems to
echo the first stirrings of interest in indigenous folk crafts as arts-
"The savage who tattoos his flesh," he declares, "is a painter -the
barbarian who ornaments his club with carvings, is a sculptor -the
Indian who constructs his wigwam in the forest, is an architect -the
cannibal who sings in triumph while his enemy is burning at the stake,
is a musician -and all are artists."
Uncommon in the marketplace.
Hardcover. 5.5"x8", 96 pages, original "satined" cloth covers recased
with a new spine and new endpapers. The covers have some light wear and
soil (please see the photos, above and below). The book interior has
some variable foxing, but otherwise is good, with a tight binding.
$250-
Some Pictures =>
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JOSLIN HALL RARE BOOKS, ABAA
Fine books of the 16th-20th centuries
on the decorative and fine arts & design
Post Office Box 239
Northampton, Massachusetts 01061 USA
telephone (413) 247-5080
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