Mr. Justice Keating, as Assessor to the Bishop of Exeter,
has decided that the Exeter reredos is an illegal ornament of Exeter Cathedral,—in other words, that the alto-relievo carvings upon it are offences against the law which prohibits " images " in our churches. The defence was twofold,—(1) that an 'image' means a wholly detached figure, and that an alto- relieve, being not wholly detached, is not an image ; and (2) that a depicted scene containing many figures does not put these figures before the mind in a way inviting worship, but only in a way to vivify the scene. We confess we think the last argument has more in it that Mr. Justice Keating allowed, for idolatry (supposing modern worship admits of it in the old sense) would hardly be indulged in towards one figure selected from a historical group. But in point of fact, the whole danger of idolatry understood as image-worship, is, at least in England, obsolete. No feelings are now excited even in the most ignorant by a statue which are not equally excited by a picture or a figure on painted glass, and it is to be hoped that if the appeal, which has been allowed, does not get rid of the judgment, the law against ' images ' will be authoritatively in- terpreted by statute so as not to exclude this kind of art,—at - all events, when employed in the delineation of groups. The old Oriental feeling evidently attributed to the solid idol more of reality and life than it could associate with a painting, or perhaps even a carving in high-relief ;—for the mere attachment of the figure to a background would have Interfered with its indi- viduality, and rendered it a less fit object of superstition. But the danger of modern idolatry is of a very different kind. Any one who worships what is really short of his own highest con- ception of God, is an idolater, but such adoration is not even tendered to sculpture in the England of to-day.
Previous page
