第 21 节
作者:无组织      更新:2022-04-21 11:08      字数:9320
  other。  Moreover; in the Gliss triptych the intention of the
  designer is carried out (whether by himself or no) with admirable
  skill; whereas at Saas the wisdom of the workman is rather of Ober…
  Ammergau than of the Egyptians; and the voice of the poet is not a
  little drowned in that of his mouthpiece。  If; however; the reader
  will bear in mind these somewhat obvious considerations; and will
  also remember the pathetic circumstances under which the chapels
  were designedfor Tabachetti when he reached Saas was no doubt
  shattered in body and mind by his four years' imprisonmenthe will
  probably be not less attracted to them than I observed were many of
  the visitors both at Saas…Grund and Saas…Fee with whom I had the
  pleasure of examining them。
  I will now run briefly through the other principal works in the
  neighbourhood to which I think the reader would be glad to have his
  attention directed。
  At Saas…Fee itself the main altar…piece is without interest; as also
  one with a figure of St。 Sebastian。  The Virgin and Child above the
  remaining altar are; so far as I remember them; very good; and
  greatly superior to the smaller figures of the same altar…piece。
  At Almagel; an hour's walk or so above Saas…Grunda village; the
  name of which; like those of the Alphubel; the Monte Moro; and more
  than one other neighbouring site; is supposed to be of Saracenic
  originthe main altar…piece represents a female saint with folded
  arms being beheaded by a vigorous man to the left。  These two
  figures are very good。  There are two somewhat inferior elders to
  the right; and the composition is crowned by the Assumption of the
  Virgin。  I like the work; but have no idea who did it。  Two bishops
  flanking the composition are not so good。  There are two other
  altars in the church:  the right…hand one has some pleasing figures;
  not so the left…hand。
  In St。 Joseph's Chapel; on the mule…road between Saas…Grund and
  Saas…Fee; the St。 Joseph and the two children are rather nice。  In
  the churches and chapels which I looked into between Saas and
  Stalden; I saw many florid extravagant altar…pieces; but nothing
  that impressed me favourably。
  In the parish church at Saas…Grund there are two altar…pieces which
  deserve attention。  In the one over the main altar the arrangement
  of the Last Supper in a deep recess half…way up the composition is
  very pleasing and effective; in that above the right…hand altar of
  the two that stand in the body of the church there are a number of
  round lunettes; about eight inches in diameter; each containing a
  small but spirited group of wooden figures。  I have lost my notes on
  these altar…pieces and can only remember that the main one has been
  restored; and now belongs to two different dates; the earlier date
  being; I should imagine; about 1670。  A similar treatment of the
  Last Supper may be found near Brieg in the church of Naters; and no
  doubt the two altar…pieces are by the same man。  There are; by the
  way; two very ambitious altars on either side the main arch leading
  to the chance in the church at Naters; of which the one on the south
  side contains obvious reminiscences of Gaudenzio Ferrari's Sta。
  Maria frescoes at Varallo; but none of the four altar…pieces in the
  two transepts tempted me to give them much attention。  As regards
  the smaller altar…piece at Saas…Grund; analogous work may be found
  at Cravagliana; half…way between Varallo and Fobello; but this last
  has suffered through the inveterate habit which Italians have of
  showing their hatred towards the enemies of Christ by mutilating the
  figures that represent them。  Whether the Saas work is by a
  Valsesian artist who came over to Switzerland; or whether the
  Cravagliana work is by a Swiss who had come to Italy; I cannot say
  without further consideration and closer examination than I have
  been able to give。  The altar…pieces of Mairengo; Chiggiogna; and; I
  am told; Lavertezzo; all in the Canton Ticino; are by a Swiss or
  German artist who has migrated southward; but the reverse migration
  was equally common。
  Being in the neighbourhood; and wishing to assure myself whether the
  sculptor of the Saas…Fee chapels had or had not come lower down the
  valley; I examined every church and village which I could hear of as
  containing anything that might throw light on this point。  I was
  thus led to Vispertimenen; a village some three hours above either
  Visp or Stalden。  It stands very high; and is an almost untouched
  example of a medieval village。  The altar…piece of the main church
  is even more floridly ambitious in its abundance of carving and
  gilding than the many other ambitious altar…pieces with which the
  Canton Valais abounds。  The Apostles are receiving the Holy Ghost on
  the first storey of the composition; and they certainly are
  receiving it with an overjoyed alacrity and hilarious ecstasy of
  allegria spirituale which it would not be easy to surpass。  Above
  the village; reaching almost to the limits beyond which there is no
  cultivation; there stands a series of chapels like those I have been
  describing at Saas…Fee; only much larger and more ambitious。  They
  are twelve in number; including the church that crowns the series。
  The figures they contain are of wood (so I was assured; but I did
  not go inside the chapels):  they are life…size; and in some chapels
  there are as many as a dozen figures。  I should think they belonged
  to the later half of the last century; and here; one would say;
  sculpture touches the ground; at least; it is not easy to see how
  cheap exaggeration can sink an art more deeply。  The only things
  that at all pleased me were a smiling donkey and an ecstatic cow in
  the Nativity chapel。  Those who are not allured by the prospect of
  seeing perhaps the very worst that can be done in its own line; need
  not be at the pains of climbing up to Vispertimenen。  Those; on the
  other hand; who may find this sufficient inducement will not be
  disappointed; and they will enjoy magnificent views of the Weisshorn
  and the mountains near the Dom。
  I have already referred to the triptych at Gliss。  This is figured
  in Wolf's work on Chamonix and the Canton Valais; but a larger and
  clearer reproduction of such an extraordinary work is greatly to be
  desired。  The small wooden statues above the triptych; as also those
  above its modern companion in the south transept; are not less
  admirable than the triptych itself。  I know of no other like work in
  wood; and have no clue whatever as to who the author can have been
  beyond the fact that the work is purely German and eminently
  Holbeinesque in character。
  I was told of some chapels at Rarogne; five or six miles lower down
  the valley than Visp。  I examined them; and found they had been
  stripped of their figures。  The few that remained satisfied me that
  we have had no loss。  Above Brieg there are two other like series of
  chapels。  I examined the higher and more promising of the two; but
  found not one single figure left。  I was told by my driver that the
  other series; close to the Pont Napoleon on the Simplon road; had
  been also stripped of its figures; and; there being a heavy storm at
  the time; have taken his word for it that this was so。
  THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE  {16}
  Three well…known writers; Professor Max Muller; Professor Mivart;
  and Mr。 Alfred Russel Wallace have lately maintained that though the
  theory of descent with modification accounts for the development of
  all vegetable life; and of all animals lower than man; yet that man
  cannotnot at least in respect of the whole of his naturebe held
  to have descended from any animal lower than himself; inasmuch as
  none lower than man possesses even the germs of language。  Reason;
  it is contendedmore especially by Professor Max Muller in his
  〃Science of Thought;〃 to which I propose confining our attention
  this eveningis so inseparably connected with language; that the
  two are in point of fact identical; hence it is argued that; as the
  lower animals have no germs of language; they can have no germs of
  reason; and the inference is drawn that man cannot be conceived as
  having derived his own reasoning powers and command of language
  through descent from beings in which no germ of either can be found。
  The relations therefore between thought and language; interesting in
  themselves; acquire additional importance from the fact of their
  having become the battle…ground between those who say that the
  theory of descent breaks down with man; and those who maintain that
  we are descended from some ape…like ancestor long since extinct。
  The contention of those who refuse to admit man unreservedly into
  the scheme of evolution is comparatively recent。  The great
  propounders of evolution; Buffon; Erasmus Darwin and Lamarcknot to
  mention a score of others who wrote at the close of the last and
  early part of this present centuryhad no qualms about admitting
  man into their system。  They have been followed in this respect by
  the late Mr。 Charles Darwin; and by the greatly more influential
  part of our modern biologists; who hold that whatever loss of
  dignity we may incur through being proved to be of humble origin; is
  compensated by the credit we may claim for having advanced ourselves