The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages Part 24

15. The Martyrdom of St. Stephen.

16. The Conversion of St. Paul.

17. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra.

18. Paul Preaching.

19. Death of Ananias.

20. Elymas the Sorcerer.

21. An earthquake; showing the delivery of Paul and Silas from prison: named from the earthquake which shook the foundations of the building. The artist endeavours to render it ideally visible to the spectator by placing a gigantic figure, which appears to be raising the superinc.u.mbent weight on his shoulders; but the result is not altogether successful.

22. St. Peter healing the cripple.

23-24. Contain emblems alluding to Leo the Tenth. These are preserved in one of the private apartments of the Vatican palace.

25. Justice. In this subject the figures of Religion, Charity, and Justice are seen above the papal armorial bearings. The last figure gives name to the whole.

When the cartoons were finished they were sent into Flanders to be woven (at the famous manufactory at Arras) under the superintendence of Barnard Van Orlay of Brussels, and Michael c.o.xis, artists who had been for some years pupils of Raphael at Rome. Two sets were executed with the utmost care and cost, but the death of Raphael, the murder of the Pope, and subsequent intestine troubles seem to have delayed their appropriation. They cost seventy thousand crowns, a sum which is said to have been defrayed by Francis the First of France, in consideration of Leo's having canonised St. Francis of Paola, the founder of the Minims.

Adrian the Second was a man "alienissimo da ogni bell'arte;" an indifference which may account for the cartoons not being sent with the tapestries to Rome, though some accounts say that the debt for their manufacture remained unliquidated, and that the paintings were kept in Flanders as security for it. They were carried away by the Spanish army in 1526-7 during the sack of Rome, but were restored by the zeal and spirit of Montmorenci the French general, as set forth in the woven borders of the tapestries Nos. 6 and 9. Pope Paul the Fourth (1555) first introduced them to the gaze of the public by exhibiting them before the Basilica of St. Peter on the festival of Corpus Domini, and also at the solemn "function of Beatification." This use of them was continued through part of the last century, and is now resumed.

In 1798 they were taken by the French from Rome and sold to a Jew at Leghorn, and one of them was burnt by him in order to extract the gold with which they were richly interwoven; but happily they did not furnish so much spoil as the speculator hoped, and this devastation was arrested. The one that was destroyed represented Christ's Descent into Limbus; the rest were repurchased for one thousand three hundred crowns, and restored to the Vatican in 1814.

We have alluded to two sets of these tapestries, and it is believed that there were two; whether _exactly_ counterparts has not been ascertained. We have traced the migrations of one set. The other was, according to some authorities, presented by Pope Leo the Tenth to our Henry the Eighth; whilst others say that our king purchased it from the state of Venice. It was hung in the Banqueting House of Whitehall, and after the unhappy execution of Charles the First, was put up, amongst other royal properties, to sale. Being purchased by the Spanish amba.s.sador, it became the property of the house of Alva, and within a few years back was sold by the head of that ill.u.s.trious house to Mr. Tupper, our consul in Spain, and by him sent back to this country.

These tapestries were then exhibited for some time in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and were afterwards repurchased by a foreigner.

Probably they have been making a "progress" throughout the kingdom, as within this twelvemonth we had the satisfaction of viewing them at the princ.i.p.al town in a northern county. The motto of our chapter might have been written expressly for these tapestries, so exquisitely accurate is the description as applied to them of the gold thread:--

"As here and there, and every where unwares It shew'd itselfe and shone unwillingly; Like to a discolour'd snake, whose hidden snares Through the greene gras his long bright burnisht back declares."

The cartoons themselves, the beautiful originals of these magnificent works, remained in the Netherlands, and were all, save seven, lost and destroyed through the ravages of time, and chance, and revolution.

These seven, much injured by neglect, and almost pounced into holes by the weaver tracing his outlines, were purchased by King Charles the First, and are now justly considered a most valuable possession. It is supposed that the chief object of Charles in the purchase was to supply the then existing tapestry manufactory at Mortlake with superior designs for imitation. Five of them were _certainly_ woven there, and it is far from improbable that the remaining ones were also.[119]

There was also a project for weaving them by a person of the name of James Christopher Le Blon, and houses were built and looms erected at Chelsea expressly for that purpose, but the design failed.

The "British Critic," for January, this year, has the following spirited remarks with regard to the present situation of the cartoons.

"The cartoons of Raffaelle are very unfairly seen in their present locale; a long gallery built for the purpose by William the Third, but in which the light enters through common chamber windows, and therefore is so much below the cartoons as to leave the greater part of them in shade. We venture to say there is no country in Europe in which such works as these--unique, and in their cla.s.s invaluable--would be treated with so little honour. It has been decided by competent opinions, that their removal to London would be attended with great risk to their preservation, from the soot, damp, acc.u.mulation of dust, and other inconveniences, natural or incident to a crowded city. This, however, is no fair reason for their being shut up in their present ill-a.s.sorted apartment. There is not a petty state in Germany that would not erect a gallery on purpose for them; and a few thousand pounds would be well bestowed in providing a fitting receptacle for some of the finest productions of human genius in art; and of the full value of which we _alone_, their possessors, seem to be comparatively insensible. Various portions of cartoons by Raffaelle, part of the same series or set, exist in England; and it is far from unlikely that, were there a proper place to preserve and exhibit the whole in, these would in time, by presentation or purchase, become the property of the country, and we should then possess a monument of the greatest master of his art, only inferior to that which he has left on the walls of the Vatican."

Of all these varied and beautiful paintings, that of the Adoration of the Magi, from the variety of character and expression, the splendor and oriental pomp of the whole, the mult.i.tude of persons, between forty and fifty, the various accessaries, elephants, horses, &c., with the variety of splendid and ornamental ill.u.s.trations, and the exquisite grouping, is considered as the most attractive and brilliant in tapestry. As a piece of general and varied interest it may be so; but we well remember being, not so suddenly struck, as attracted and fascinated by the figure of the Christ when, after his resurrection, he is recommending the care of his flock to St. Peter. The colours have faded gradually and equably--(an advantage not possessed by the others, where some tints which have stood the ravages of time better than those around them, are in places strikingly and painfully discordant)--but in this figure the colours, though greatly faded, have yet faded so harmoniously as to add very much to the illusion, giving to the figure really the appearance of one risen from the dead. The outline is majestic; turn which way we would, we involuntarily returned to look again. At length we mentioned our admiration to the superintendent, and the reply of the enthusiastic foreigner precluded all further remark--for nothing further could be said:--

"Madam, I should have been astonished if you had not admired that figure: _it is itself_; it is precisely _the finest thing in the world_."

FOOTNOTES:

[118] For example:--"Egli avea tenuto sempre un contegno da guadagnarsi il cuore di tutto. Rispettoso verso il maestro, ottenne dal Papa che le sue pitture in una volta delle camere Vaticane rimanessero intatte; giusto verso i suoi emuli ringraziava Dio d'averlo fatto nascere a' tempi del Bonarruoti; grazioso verso i discepoli gl'istru e gli am come figli; cortese anche verso gl'ignoti, a chiunque ricorse a lui per consiglio prest liberalmente l'opera sua, e per far disegni ad altrui o dar gl'indirizzo lasci indietro talvolta i lavori propri, non sapendo non pure di negar grazia, ma differirla."--Lanzi, vol. ii.

Consequently when his body before interment lay in the room in which he was accustomed to paint, "Non v'ebbe s duro artefice che a quello spettacolo non lagrima.s.se."--"Ne pianse il Papa."

Of his works:--"Le sue figure veramente amano, languiscono, temono, sperano, ardiscono; mostrano ira, placabilita, umilta, orgoglio, come mette bene alla storia: spesso chi mira que' volti, que' guardi, quelle mosse, non si ricorda che ha innanzi una immagine; si sente accendere, prende part.i.to, crede di trovarsi in sul fatto.--Tutto parla nel silenzio; ogni attore, _Il cor negli occhi e nella fronte ha scritto_; i piccioli movimenti degli occhi, degli narici, della bocca, delle dita corrispondono a' primi moti d'ogni pa.s.sione; i gesti piu animati e piu vivi ne descrivono la violenza; e ci ch'e piu, essi variano in cento modi senza uscir mai del naturale, e si attemperano a cento caratteri senza uscir mai dalla proprieta. L'eroe ha movimenti da eroe, il volgar da volgare; e quel che non descriverebbe lingua ne penna, descrive in pochissimi tratti l'ingegno e l'arte di Raffaello."--p. 65.

"Il paese, gli elementi, gli animali, le fabbriche, le manifatture, ogni eta dell'uomo, ogni condizione, ogni affetto, tutte comprese con la divinita del suo ingegno, tutto ridusse piu bello."--p. 71.

I have thought this long extract pardonable as applied to one whose finest designs are now, through so many channels, rendered familiar to us.

[119] In a priced catalogue of His Majesty's collection of "Limnings,"

edited by Vertue, is the following entry. "Item, in a slit box-wooden case, some TWO CARTOONS of Raphael Urbinus for hangings to be made by, and _the other FIVE are by the King's appointment delivered to Mr.

Francis Cleen at Mortlake, to make hangings by_."--Cartonensia.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE DAYS OF "GOOD QUEEN BESS."

"A worthie woman judge, a woman sent for staie."

"When Fame resounds with thundring trump, which rends the ratling skies, And pierceth to the hautie Heavens, and thence descending flies Through flickering ayre: and so conjoines the sea and sh.o.r.e togither, In admiration of thy grace, good Queene, thou'rt welcome hither."

_The Receyving of the Queene's Maiestie into hir Citie of Norwich._

"We may justly wonder what has become of the industry of the English ladies; we hear no more of their rich embroiderings, and curious needlework. Is all the domestic simplicity of the former ages entirely vanished?"--Aikin.

The age of Elizabeth presents a never-failing field of variety through which people of all tastes may delightedly rove, gathering flowers at will. The learned statesman, the acute politician, the subtle lawyer, will find in the measures of her Burleigh, her Walsingham, her Cecil, abundant food for approbation or for censure; the heroic sailor will glory over the achievements of her time; the adventurous traveller will explore the Eldoradic regions with Raleigh, or plough the waves with Drake and Frobisher; the soldier will recal glorious visions of Ess.e.x and Sidney, while poesy wreathes a bay round the memory of the last, which shines freshly and bright even in the age which produced a Ben Jonson, and him "who was born with a star on his forehead to last through all time"--Shakspeare.

The age of Elizabeth was especially a learned age. The study of the dead languages had hitherto been confined almost exclusively to ecclesiastics and scholars by profession, but from the time of Henry the Seventh it had been gradually spreading amongst the higher cla.s.ses. The great and good Sir Thomas More gave his daughters a learned education, and they did honour to it; Henry the Eighth followed his example; Lady Jane Grey made learning lovely; and Elizabeth's pedantry brought the habit into full fashion.

If a queen were to talk Sanscrit, her court would endeavour to do so likewise. The example of learned studies was given by the queen herself, who translated from the Greek a play of Euripides, and parts of Isocrates, Xenophon, and Plutarch; from the Latin considerable portions of Cicero, Seneca, Sall.u.s.t, Horace, &c. She wrote many Latin letters, and is said to have spoken five languages with facility. As a natural consequence the n.o.bility and gentry, their wives and daughters, became enthusiasts in the cause of letters. The novelty which attended these studies, the eager desire to possess what had been so long studiously and jealously concealed, and the curiosity to explore and rifle the treasures of the Greek and Roman world, which mystery and imagination had swelled into the marvellous, contributed to excite an absolute pa.s.sion for study and for books. The court, the ducal castle, and the baronial hall were suddenly converted into academies, and could boast of splendid tapestries. In the first of these, according to Ascham, might be seen the queen reading "more Greeke every day than some prebendarie of this church doth read _Latin_ in a whole week;" and while she was translating Isocrates or Seneca, it may be easily conceived that her maids of honour found it convenient to praise and to adopt the disposition of her time. In the second, observes Warton, "the daughter of a d.u.c.h.ess was taught not only to distil strong waters, but to construe Greek; and in the third, every young lady who aspired to be fashionable was compelled, in imitation of the greater world, to exhibit similar marks of erudition."

A contemporary writer says, that some of the ladies of the court employ themselves "in continuall reading either of the holie Scriptures, or histories of our owne or forren nations about us, and diverse in writing volumes of their owne, or translating of other mens into our English and Latine toongs. I might here (he adds) make a large discourse of such honorable and grave councellors, and n.o.ble personages, as give their dailie attendance upon the queene's majestie. I could in like sort set foorth a singular commendation of the vertuous beautie, or beautiful vertues of such ladies and gentlewomen as wait upon his person, betweene whose amiable countenances and costlinesse of attire there seemeth to be such a dailie conflict and contention, as that it is verie difficult for me to gesse whether of the twaine shall beare awaie the preheminence.

This further is not to be omitted, to the singular commendation of both sorts and s.e.xes of our courtiers here in England, that there are verie few of them which have not the use and skill of sundrie speaches, beside an excellent veine of writing before-time not regarded. Would to G.o.d the rest of their lives and conversations were correspondent to these gifts! for as our common courtiers (for the most part) are the best lerned and endued with excellent gifts, so are manie of them the worst men when they come abroad, that anie man shall either heare or read of. Trulie it is a rare thing with us now to heare of a courtier which hath but his owne language. And to saie how many gentlewomen and ladies there are, that beside sound knowledge of the Greeke and Latine toongs, are thereto no lesse skilful in the Spanish, Italian, and French, or in some one of them, it resteth not in me. Sith I am persuaded, that as the n.o.blemen and gentlemen doo surmount in this behalfe, so these come verie little or nothing at all behind them for their parts, which industrie G.o.d continue, and accomplish that which otherwise is wanting!"[120]

At this time the practice (derived from the chivalrous ages, when every baronial castle was the resort of young persons of gentle birth, of both s.e.xes) was by no means discontinued of placing young women, of gentle birth, in the establishment of ladies of rank, where, without performing any menial offices, they might be supposed to have their own understood duties in the household, and had in return the advantage of a liberal education, and constant a.s.sociation with the best company. Persons of rank and fortune often retained in their service many young people of both s.e.xes of good birth, and bestowed on them the fashionable education of the time. Indeed their houses were the best, if not then the only schools of elegant learning. The following letter, written in 1595, is from a young lady thus situated:

"To my good mother Mrs. Pake, at Broumfield, deliver this.

"Deare Mother,

"My humble dutye remembred unto my father and you, &c. I received upon Weddensday last a letter from my father and you, whereby, I understand, it is your pleasures that I should certifie you what times I do take for my lute, and the rest of my exercises. I doe for the most part playe of my lute after supper, for then commonlie my lady heareth me; and in the morninges, after I am reddie, I play an hower; and my wrightinge and siferinge, after I have done my lute. For my drawinge I take an hower in the afternowne, and my French at night before supper. My lady hath not bene well these tooe or three dayes: she telleth me, when she is well, that she will see if Hilliard will come and teche me; if she can by any means she will, &c. &c.--As touchinge my newe corse in service, I hope I shall performe my dutye to my lady with all care and regard to please her, and to behave myselfe to everye one else as it shall become me.

Mr. Harrisone was with me upone Fridaye; he heard me playe, and brought me a dusson of trebles; I had some of him when I came to London. Thus desiring pardone for my rude writinge, I leave you to the Almightie, desiringe him to increase in you all health and happines.

"Your obedient daughter,

"Rebecca Pake."