Baronet. I am indebted to his kindness, and the facilities he afforded me, for the success which attended my exertions to discover the very interesting monuments above described. The broken portions of the effigies will be repaired as far as possible, and the figures will be placed in safety in the chancel; there is great reason to hope that, before long, other repairs and improvements will be effected, to preserve this little Church from the ruin with which it is threatened, both from its age, and from long-continued neglect. RICHARD WESTMACOTT, Jr.
Note.—Some examples of the introduction of small human figures, or animals, of very diminutive proportion as compared with the sepulchral effigy, in connection with which they occur, may deserve notice, for the sake of comparison with the interesting figure discovered at Gonalston. The effigy, attributed to Sir John Lyons, 1385, at Warkworth, Northamptonshire, is curiously sculptured with ornaments allusive to his name and arms, and a miniature lion sejant is quaintly introduced upon the breast, supporting the corner of the shield, which is considerably under-cut. A mutilated torso, found in the ruined Abbey of Arbroath, N. Britain, and supposed to represent the founder, William the Lion, exhibits traces of not less than four very small figures, apparently represented as engaged in arranging the folds of the drapery, in which these henchmen, booted and spurred, are partly concealed. This interesting sculpture was communicated to the Institute by Cosmo Innes, Esq. The head of a horse and a diminutive attendant squire is seen at the feet of a knightly effigy in Minster Church, Isle of Sheppey, represented by Charles Stothard. The occurrence of angels, of very small proportions, supporting the pillows on which medieval effigies recline, is too frequent to require any mention of examples: figures of bede-men, or chantry-priests, praying for the repose of the defunct, and represented at the feet of monumental figures, are less common: examples are supplied by the monuments of Brian Fitz Alan, 1302, Bedale, Yorkshire; William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, 1404; Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmoreland, and his two wives, at Staindrop, Durham. Under the lion, against which the feet of the remarkable effigy of King Richard I., at Rouen, are supported, miniature representations of a dog, a bird, a hare or rabbit, are introduced in an unusual manner. On either side of the head of the figure of King John, in Worcester Cathedral, is introduced a diminutive episcopal figure; these have been supposed to represent St. Oswald and St. Wulstan, between whom that king was interred. Diminutive representations of the departed spirit, conveyed by angels to the heavens, of frequent occurrence in sepulchral brasses, are rare in monumental sculpture. An example is afforded by the effigy of Aymer de Valence, 1323, in Westminster Abbey.
A similar usage of medieval art is frequently to be noticed in painted glass; representing personages of heroic proportion, as compared with the diminutive size of figures introduced in immediate connection with the subject portrayed. This usage, either in painting or sculpture, may doubtless have been sometimes caused merely by the fancy of the artist, but it seems to present, in many instances, a certain analogy to a rule of proportion observed in antique art, which may entitle it to more detailed notice than it has hitherto received.—Ed.
