[Rarebooks] FS: 1835 Book on Medieval & Renaissance Wood Sculpture and Sculptors

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, Ephemera & Photographs]

“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. 
[394/31398]  $250

Pictures ->
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