GERMAN SCULPTURE. German sculpture as an independent art appears for the first time during the llth century in the shape of small statuettes and reliefs, or in the decoration of ,large bronze work, such as the Bronze Column of Hildesheim, surrounded by a sculptural frieze, or the entrance gates of the cathedrals of Hildesheim, Augsburg and elsewhere. The style of all these figures is crude in the extreme. The heads are dispro portionately large, the eyes staring, and the bodies exaggerated, which makes them at the same time heavy and weak. It almost seems as if sculpture was resorted to, not because there were sculptors in Germany who had a message to deliver, but because it had beconie the fashion in other parts of the world to have sculptured decoration. This state of affairs does not materially alter, although there were occasionally better works created, until the gious enthusiasm which culminated in the Ro manesque style of architecture, kindled also the plastic genius of the people. The earliest fruit of the new spirit has survived in the magnificent sculptures of the Externsteinen on the northeast slope of the Teutoburg Forest.
The Externsteinen is a group of sandstone cliffs the largest of which rise like giant teeth to a height of from 100 to 150 feet above the parklike surrounding. Steps have been cut in two of them, and from their top a magnificent view is to be had. In the westerly of these two "teethe a grotto has been cut. A Latin inscription here of the year 1115 states that Bishop Heinrich of Paderborn dedicated the grotto as a funeral chapel. At the entrance a large relief, about 16 feet high by 11 feet wide, has been cut in the face of the cliff, repre senting the descent from the cross, with God the Father above and Adam and Eve below. The figures have suffered much by the ravages of the weather, but the truly artistic grouping and the sincerity of the whole conception are unmistakable. The very style appears to be demanded and to be determined by the loca tion of the monument. This remained a char acteristic of all German sculpture of the Middle Ages. Roughly speaking, it did not exist for itself alone, but merely in connection with archi tecture. Its early uncouthness and ignorance of true form; however, soon disappeared, and as early as the first part of the 13th century real life permeated the works of German sculp ture which had dedicated itself to the service and to the embellishment of monumental struc tures. The first notable achievements, of which we know, belong to the Saxon school, and. of these the most famous is the so-called golden gate of the cathedral of Freiberg. »Golden? only figuratively in the sense of valuable, for the figures are all cut out of ordinary stone. Almost equally as well known are the interior decorations of the cathedral of Wechselburg, the chancel and the altar, most especially the crucifix, the cathedral of Naumburg, the me morial monuments of Heinrich der Lowe and his wife in Brunswick, and the southeast portal of the cathedral of Bamberg (dating from 1250) offer other instances of this art. Bronze sculp ture, with its unique demands on technique, flourished to the same extent, largely in smaller articles such as baptismal fonts and the like, but occasionally rose to such masterpieces as the Lion of Brunswick, an exact replica of which was presented some years ago by the Duke of Brunswick to the Germanic Museum of Harvard University. Bronze doors from this period, for instance those in Gnesen, are also extant. When Gothic architecture sup planted the Romanesque style, new and rich opportunities were offered to the sculptors, and they availed themselves of them to the fullest extent. The figures became imbued with ever varying energy and vivacity, and the earlier squatness of the body gave way to a slender ness, sometimes exaggerated, but often seem ingly demanded by the style of the architecture. The facial expression unfortunately overstepped not infrequently the bonds of sentiment and became sentimental or morbid. Excellent in stances of the best of this Gothic sculpture can be found in Freiburg, Strassburg and Wetzlar. By the middle of the 14th century German sculpture, while still closely allied with• archi tecture, had won its place as an independent art. No longer restricted to simple forms or ideas, it charms by the richness of its imagery and astounds by the perfection of its technique. This phase is best studied in. the numerous churches of Nürnberg. In Nurnberg also is one of the earliest examples of independent monumental German sculpture, in the shape of the Fountain, known even to-day as the Beautiful Fountain. It is, however, very not able that this monument also is designed ac cording to the prevailing cathedral style of architecture, the main shaft of the Fountain representing a cathedral spire. Only gradually the complete emancipation of sculpture from the overlordship of architecture took place. The first indications of this are to be found in the funeral monuments, often of stone, but more frequently of bronze, which during the 14th century were ordered in• ever larger num bers by wealthy patrons. When this took place, quite naturally the individuality of the artists began to have .a freer scope, and individual artists became known in their own times, and were remembered by their works by later generations. In the hands of these individual artists, German sculpture freed itself entirely from the bonds which the subordination to the greater sister art of architecture had cast over it, and every vestige of the conventional gave way to the often passionate of the individual artists for unique expression. At first the best German achievements were made not in stone or in bronze, but in wood. In Swabia two men of the name of Syrlin, of Ulm, were masters in this art. Hans Decker and Veit Stoss in Nurnberg, and in the same city the unknown artist of the famous statue of The Sad Virgin, rivaled with Dill Riemen schneider of Wiirzburg. Among the sculptors in stone of this period Adam Krafft is best known, while in bronze sculpture the Vischer family of Nurnberg stands unsurpassed. Of
this family Peter Vischer is undoubtedly the most famous. Great as were these men they were unable to have their art and the greater freedom permeating it supplant the earlier art entirely. This, it has been claimed, was due to the stonecutters' unions who were unwilling to discard their standards, instruments, and measurements based on the requirements of an earlier style. In the northern part of Ger many, which is poor in stone, there were no stonecutters' unions or establishments, and it is here, therefore, where the new art, especially of wood carving, unobstructed by conservative and selfish adherence to antiquated standards, gained its supreme success. Splendid examples of this northern sculpture are to be found in the cathedral of Schleswig (Briiggetnann's altar), in the Marienkirche in Liibeck, and in Calcar, Köln and Xanten. With the first fore runners of the Reformation and the consequent changes in social conditions, loosening the tyranny of the unions, in common with the tyranny in other spheres, sculpture became a free art like painting, and boldly took its place as such. Italian art was at that time all power ful in Europe, having undoubtedly achieved the greatest success of the arts of the civilized countries. It was the age of the imitators, and most of the German sculptors espoused Italian ideals with almost passionate eagerness. The only patrons of importance of the arts continued to be the princes, and at their courts unfortu nately foreign artists often were preferred to the native talent. This lessened the opportuni ties, and where opportunities are few, art has never been able to accomplish its possible best. What this best might have been appears from the magnificent monument to Elector Moritz in Freiberg, and the still more famous monu ment to the Emperor Maximilian in Innsbruck With the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War the terrible conditions of the country called a cruel halt to the progress of the art of sculpture. Faint revivals took place toward the end of the 17th century, in the north under Dutch influ ence, and in the south under the continued in fluence of Italy. Austria had suffered less by the ravages of the war than the rest of Germany. It was here, therefore, and in the neighboring Bavaria, that the revival was the earliest. Architecture again called sculpture to her service. The Gothic• style had disap peared long ago, and the baroque style with its bold exaggerations of form ruled the day. This was reflected in the sister art, and while a certain grandeur of conception and joy in execution are unmistakable, still the baroque style is so alien to the taste of the early 20th century that neither the buildings nor the sculp tures of this period have much of a message to bring to the people of to-day. There are exceptions, and among these Schliiter's colossal statue of the Great Elector in Berlin deserves attention. Other sculptors of equal excellence with Schliiter were Grupello in Diisseldorf, Peter Wagner, and Raphael Donner in Vienna. During the 18th century the influence of France gained ascendancy over the minds of the edu cated classes in Germany by leaps and bounds, and since in France at that time a shallow classicism, coupled with mannerism, prevailed, it was inevitable that the same tendencies should make themselves felt also in German sculpture. The general slavish imitation of French tastes at that time is less surprising than the occa sional perseverance in sound principles of art which is shown in the art of some of the Ger man sculptors of this time. Among them may be mentioned Alexander Trippel in Weimar, Johann Heinrich von Dannecker of Stuttgart, whose 'Ariadne) in Frankfurt-on-the-Main is justly classed among the famous statues of the world, Gottfried von Schadow and Christian Daniel Rauch, bath of Berlin. The most famous statue of the latter is his cFriederich Der Grosse) in Berlin, which tmfortutiately suffers by the small scale in which it has been executed in bronze. This design demands a heroic presentation. A promising school of portrait sculpture flourished for a time in Dres den, with Ernst Julius Hahne! (statue of Raphael) and Ernst Rietschel .(statue of Less ing). Both artists successfully freed them selves from the thraldom of °mere beauty of form," and cultivated, at least to a certain extent, a wholesome realism. The next genera tion followed in the same direction with the exception of Johannes Schilling (b. 1828), who was one of the best-known German classicists. Germany's war of liberation of 1813 with its consequent rise of patriotic enthusiasm filled the country with an abundance of soldiers' and other patriotic monuments, few of which rose above the mediocre. In the history of German art their only importance is the fact that they made all parts of the country familiar with sculpture, and when the general wealth and edu cation of the country had risen, made the people desirous of having in their midst finer and better samples of the art of sculpture. This increased interest in sculpture and the greater opportunities offered by it coincided in the latter half of the 19th century with an increase in artistic ability, noticeable as well in sculp ture as in architecture and painting.- At the head of this new art Reinhold Begas, most pro lific artist, deserves first mention. His achieve ments are of uneven worth. At times he rises to great heights, while in his more pretentious works, as in the Memorial Fountain to Emperor William I, he falls short of his own endeavors, however magnificent individual figures are in their conception as well as in their marvelously beautiful execution. Rudolf Siemering, also of Berlin, is known in the United States by his colossal and. costly Washington Monument in Philadelphia, which, admired by some, is se verely criticized by others as "a gigantic table monument showing no spontaneity." The beauty of the individual figures, however, is acknowledged by all. Abroad he is best known for his monument in Leipzig commemorating the victorious battle there against Napoleon.