The grotesque in church art . without respect to, or without knowledge of, itsserious meaning. Third, the use of symbolic representation,in which the greater the skill, often the greater theludicrous effect. Fourth, the change of fashion, manners,and customs. Fifth, a bias of mind which impelled towhimsical treatment. Consideration of the causes thus roughly analysed willexplain away a large proportion of the irreverence of theirreverent paintings and carvings which excite such surprise,and sometimes disgust, in the minds of many modern observersof ecclesiological detail. It will be seen that
The grotesque in church art . without respect to, or without knowledge of, itsserious meaning. Third, the use of symbolic representation,in which the greater the skill, often the greater theludicrous effect. Fourth, the change of fashion, manners,and customs. Fifth, a bias of mind which impelled towhimsical treatment. Consideration of the causes thus roughly analysed willexplain away a large proportion of the irreverence of theirreverent paintings and carvings which excite such surprise,and sometimes disgust, in the minds of many modern observersof ecclesiological detail. It will be seen that the placing of carvings in any one ofthese five classes, or in the category of intentional grotesques,must, in many cases, be a mere matter of opinion. For thepresent purpose it will not be necessary to separate them,except so far as the plan of the work does it ecclesiastical and other seals afford familiar instances ofthe comic without intention. parallel to what is said above as to carvings. Gbe LINCOLN, 14th COlt. EEMINGLY probability and evidence gohand in hand to shew that a oreatbulk of the church mason work of thiscountry was the work of churches were probably first builtby Roman workmen, whose erections wouldteach sufficient to enable Saxons to after-ward build for themselves. Importedtalent, however, is likely to have been constantly the Confessor brought back with him from Francenew French designs for the rebuilding of WestminsterAbbey, and doubtless he brought French masons is strongly Byzantine in character, andthough the channels through which it passed may bevarious, there is little doubt that its origin was the greatEmpire of the East. Again, the great workshop of Europe,where Eastern ideas were gathered together and digested, andwhich supplied cathedrals and cathedral builders at command,was Flanders ; and there is little doubt that during some fivecenturies after the Norman Conques
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