many parts of Magna Grsecia. The statuettes are some what similar in style and colouring to the Tanagra figures, and date from about the same period (4th century B.C.), but are not equal to them as works of art; they are also usually crowded together in a somewhat awkward manner.[1] The British Museum is specially rich in these elaborate terra-cottas; few of the colours used appear to be true ceramic pigments.
Roman.As in other branches of art, the Romans closely copied the Greeks in their wide application of terra -cotta for statues, reliefs, and architectural ornaments. A large num ber of beautiful Greece-Roman reliefs exist, many having designs evidently copied from earlier Greek sculpture. Berlin, the Louvre, the British Museum, and many places in Italy possess fine collections. Friezes with beautiful reliefs 12 to 18 inches deep often occur, little inferior in execution to the earlier Greek work. Many subjects of great interest are represented: a very fine plaque in the Louvre has the scene of Orestes taking refuge at the sacred omphalos at Delphi, which is represented as a conical stone about 3 feet high, hung round with ornamental festoons made of gold.[2] These terra-cottas belong to the early period of the empire; in the 2d century A.D. they became much coarser and less Greek in style, like all the sculpture of that time. A plaque in the Louvre, which represents a chariot-race in the circus, bears its maker's stamp, L.S.ER. At the end of the first and in the early part of the 2d century A.D. the use of terra-cotta for architectural adornment was carried to a high point of perfection in Rome. Many buildings of this period have the most elaborate decora tion moulded in clay and fitted together with wonder ful neatness. Not only en riched cornices and friezes were made of terra-cotta, but even Corinthian columns with their elaborate acanthus capi tals. In all cases the whole surface appears to have been covered with a thin coating of "opus albarium" and then decorated with colours and even gold. The best existing og examples in Rome are the (o ^ Amphitheatrum Castrense, many tombs on the Via Latina, and the barracks of the Vllth cohort of the guards (vigiles) in the Trastevere. But few examples exist of the large Roman terra-cotta sculpture; the best are some seated female figures from tombs, small life-size, in the Capitoline museum, works of great beauty and very skilfully fired without cracks or warping. The British Museum also contains fine specimens of terra-cotta sculpture on a large scale, especially the torso of a nude male figure (Hercules), some terminal figures of Bacchus, and a beautiful statue of Urania (see fig. 6).
Fig. 6.—Terra-cotta statue of the Muse Urania 1st century A.D. (British Museum.)
Mediæval.In the 14th and more especially in the 15th century Mediterra-cotta was adapted in various parts of Europe to the ffival most magnificent and elaborate architectural purposes. In Germany the mark of Brandenburg is specially rich in terra-cotta work.[3] The church of St Catherine in the town of Brandenburg is decorated in the most lavish way with delicate tracery and elaborate string-courses and cornices, enriched with foliage, all modelled in clay; the town-hall is another instance of the same use of terra-cotta. At Tangermiinde, the church of St Stephen and other build ings of the beginning of the 15th century are wonderful examples of this method of decoration; the north door of St Stephen's especially is a masterpiece of rich and effective moulding. In northern Italy this use of terra-cotta was carried to an equally high point of perfection.[4] Italy.The western façade of the cathedral of Monza is a work of the most wonderful richness and minute elaboration, wholly executed in clay, in the latter part of the 14th century. The cathedral of Crema, the communal buildings of Piacenza, and S. Maria delle Grazie in Milan are striking examples of the extreme splendour of effect that can be obtained by terra-cotta work. The Certosa near Pavia has a most gorgeous specimen of the early part of the 16th century; the two cloisters are especially magnificent. Pavia itself is very rich in terra-cotta decoration, especially the ducal palace and the churches of S. Francesco and S. Maria del Carmine. Some delicate work exists among the mediaeval buildings of Rome, dating from the 14th and 16th century, as, for example, the rich cornices on the south aisle of S. Maria in Ara Cœli, c. 1300; the front of S. Cosimato in Trastevere, built c. 1490; and a once very magnificent house, near the Via di Tordinone, which dates from the 14th century. The most important application of terra-cotta in mediaeval Italy was to statuary—reliefs, busts, and even groups of many life-sized figures—during the 15th and 16th centuries. Much of the Florentine terra-cotta sculpture of the 15th century is among the most beautiful plastic work the world has ever seen, especially that by Jacopo della Quercia, Donatello, and the sculptors of the next generation.[5] For life, spirit, and realistic truth, combined with sculpturesque breadth these pieces are masterpieces of invention and manipulation. The portrait busts are perfect models of iconic sculpture (see fig. 7).
Fig. 7.—Portrait bust in terra-cotta: Florentine work of the middle of the 15th century. (South Kensington Museum.)
In some respects the use of burnt clay for sculpture has great advantages over that of marble: the soft clay is easily and rapidly moulded into form while the sculptor's thought is fresh in his mind, and thus terra-cottas often possess a spirit and vigour which can hardly be reproduced in the laboriously finished marble. These
- ↑ A very large ascus from Canosa in the British Museum is decorated with no less than five statuettes of women and Victories, two large masks of Medusa, and six projecting figures of horses.
- ↑ Compare a similar representation of the omphalos on a Greek vase illustrated by Jahn, Vasenbilder, Hamburg, 1839.
- ↑ See Adler, Mittelalterliche Backstein-Bauwerke, Berlin, 1862.
- ↑ See Gruner, Terra-cotta Architecture of N. Italy, London, 1867.
- ↑ The South Kensington Museum possesses a very fine collection of Florentine terra-cottas of the best period.
