FINE ARTS.
NASH'S OLD ENGLISH MANSIONS.
THE second series of these lively and characteristic representations of the Mansions of England in the Olden Time, abates no jot in point of Interest, while the views are more sumptuous and the finish more ela- borate than in the first. The national character of this work gives It an attraction, quite independent of the style and reputation of the artist, which recommends it to those who regard works of art Only for the sake of the subject : not the less, however, is its value de- rived from the truly English fancy and feeling with which JOSEPH Nam{ has treated the stately old buildings and the quaint splendours of decoration and costume. The spirit of the past age revivifies these pictures of deserted halls ; the charm of historical associations, and the sentiment of the domestic life of the " old English gentleman," ani- mate every scene. To architectural and antiquarian knowledge and pictorial skill, Mr. NASH adds a congenial taste, and an invention im-
bued with the colouring of antiquity, which enables him to give vitality to extinct modes and obsolete customs, and to present " the very age and body of the time, its form and pressure." The most important places depicted in the second series, are Hard- wicke, Kuole, and Malley End. Of Hardwicke there are four views one showing the exterior by moonlight, the large windows illuminated with the blaze of festivity, and a cavalcade of visiters arriving by torch-light ; another, the grand staircase, with the steward marshal- ling time guests down its steep winding descent ; a third, the pre-
sence-chamber, where pages are strewing rushes under the superin- tendence of the steward. This apartment is remarkable for its curious cornice, composed of allegorical pictures carved in relief and coloured: the ceiling is of common plaster, anti time flour of earth ; their bareness contrasting with the state canopy and rish Ihrniture and hangings, and exemplifying the rude magnificence of the time. The fourth is the famous Long Gallery," the tapestried. walls covered with pictures : the perspective and the effect of the paintings are admirably given.
To Knole seven plates are devoted : showing the Hall ; the Staircase;
the room leading to the Chapel —a fine old-fashioned boudoir ; the Spangled Bed-chamber, so called from the superb state-bed and chairs o. crimson damask embroidered in gold and silver and presented by JAMES the First; the Cartoon Gallery—a rich and elegant example of Eliza- bethan decoration, where comfort and splendour are combined, enriched with fine copies in oil by Myruss, of six of the Cartoons of HA FFAELLIi j the Brown Gallery—a long low room, lined with portraits, and furnished with the antique chairs and settees in original use and the gallery over the hall, extending the whole length of the front of the mansion. This gallery is hunt, with tapestry, and ornamented with an enriched ceiling ; yet its walls slope inward to the roof like those of a garret. A family group in rich costumes—with children playing at nine-pins, and one little fellow pulling at a rope passing through the ceiling, that gives motion to a set of "dumb bells"—enlivens the scene and carries you back into the olden time.
Of A tulley End only two views are given : the stately porch, of Italian design, adorned with marble columns alternately black and white ; and the hall, one of the most gorgeous of the domestic halls of the period, with a sumptuous screen, and the beams of the ceiling and pannels cm. the walls richly carved. Of this magnificent edifice only a small portion remains, though it is still of great extent, forming three sides of a quadrangle. Both it and Hatfield, we should think, would yield other subjects of interest.
There are other fine exmunples of the ancient halls. That at Little-
cotes, in Wiltshire, is remarkable for the buff-coats, arms, and ar- mour, that still hang round it, and the Bible and Book of Martyrs re- taini»g their places on the reading-desks in the hay-windows : that at Bolsover Castle, in Derbyshire, is singular on account of its groined roof supported on a stone pillar in the centre, round which was anciently placed time circular dimming-table. This central pillar is a principal feature in other rooms in the mansion ; which having been plun- dered by Cromwell, a Parliamentary Commissioner and a party of soldiers are represented ransackimnos the place, and taking an inventory of the effects. The Hall of the Moat House, Ightham, Kent, is the most ancient of the baronial balls, and not the least curious; the tim- bered roof' being supported by an open stone Gothic arch : it is now entirely bare ; but Mr. NAffn has made it one of the most attractive pictures of the set, by strewing it with rushes, decorating it with tapestry, hammers, and trophies of the chase and war ; showing wham bawki, sitten ou the perch above, Wha b000dis lyggen mt the Sore adown;"
and introducing a scene of feudal festivity, where time cook with }mended knee presents the goose on the spit to the Baron, and the Jester hovers round the board, jingling his bells and scattering his jokes.
Hever Castle, in Kent, though it mulihrds nothing very striking in the way of architecture or decorations, is interesting from its having been the residence of the father of Anne Boleyn' and the place where the lustful tyrant came a-wooing to her. Accordingly, the artist has re- presented the reception of Henry the Eighth by Sir Thomas and his household at the gate of the court-yard, and an interview of the lady with her royal suitor, who is handing her to a seat in one of the bays of the gallery, reported to be her favourite retreat, because commanding an extensive prospect. The noble porch of Wroxton Abbey is enlivened by one of the most picturesque groups in the volume.—a damsel in a piquant costume, bringing refreshments to three cavaliers who are snicking and drinking in time sun : the old man seated in the shade of the garden doorway that forms the title, with his lovely daughter and a grandchild, is also a pleasing group ; and the introduction of the bird-cage gives an air of domesticity to the scene. Indeed, a cheerful daylight look per- vades almost every view, giving life and warmth to the pictures of bygone days. Not only are the costumes correct, but time wearers have a characteristic aspect ; the formal and stately bearing of the Elizabethan dames imprisoned in starched ruffs, plaited farthingales, and tight-lacetbstomaehers, and of the gallant of the same period trussed up in pigeon-breasted doublets, and carrying feathers enough to stuff a cushion in their Dutch-built trunk-hose, being wholly distinct from the lax elegance of manner and flowing redundancy of attire of the cavaliers and ladies of Charles's time.
Mr. Nasn's style of lithography is admirable for painter-like freedom of handling and glowing richness of effect ; being m this respect so re- markable a contrast with the chill tone and rigid manner of Mr. HAGUE'S drawings, that the comparison is unavoidable : there is not less finish in NASH'S interiors than in Hacinfs, but it is that of the painter, not of the mechanical draughtsman. In ILtGHE's work we are brought into con- tact with wood and stone, iron and brass; in NAsim's we walk on rich carpetsomong rustling silks, surrounded with the richest hues of the loom and the pallette. Something of this difference is owing to 1 the subjects, but much of it belongs to the feeling and style of the art. The very. sunlight in HAGUE'S lithographs is cold, as if it shone upon icicles from a wintry sky ; while NASH'S is warm and glowing. NASH'S tints, moreover, are suggestive of the varieties of colour and texture ' • whereas RAMIE'S are black and mono- tonous: in the management of his lights and half-tones, too, the finesse and picturesque feeling of NASH are shown to great advantage. In giving this pictorial character to the lithography, the use of the "stump " is of great service by producing delicate gradations of trans- parent tints, and a velvety depth and richness in the substantial sur- faces. As an example of this bold and full style of execution, and the extreme rapidity of the process of stump lithography in dexterous hands, we may instance the last plate—a room in Postlip Hall, Gloucestershire ; which, owing to an accident occurring just on the eve of publication, had to be redrawn, and was begun and completed from first to last in less than eighteen hours; yet it is one of the clearest and most finished and powerful in the whole volume. The Wooden Chapel of the Moat House, Ightham, with its congregation in the quaint and sumptuous costumes of Elizabeth's time, is a more elaborately wrought drawing, but in point of effect it is not superior to that done in so extraordinarily short a time : for it is not the mechanical labour, but the thought and research shown in the arrangement of every picture, that occupies most of the artist's hours. All the sketches for this work are completed on the spot in colours, in order to insure the correctness of detail and local effect ; but the groups of figures are mostly introduced subsequently. Mr. NASH announces his intention of producing a third series. There is abundance of matter yet : Burleigh and Kirby, the seats of two of Elizabeth's chief statesmen, Cecil and Hatton—(Kenilworth being a ruin, is not available)—Longleat, Wollaton, and many others of note, to say nothing of numerous lesser relics of English domestic architec- ture, have yet to be restored and reanimated, with all their pristine glories, in JOSEPH NASH'S pictures.
Previous page
