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 ?Edited by#g^?
I.Schnorr ahdOthers.

vol. iv. n?-6.

The Acanthus leaf.

By CONSTANTINE UHDE.

In the vegetable kingdom there exists a great num is effected by the acanthus leaf, which, carried out as
ber of plants which have served for motives for artistic an extension of the stem, unites with it and continues

creations, and which, having kept their ground for a the movement of the main line into a broad surface with

longer or shorter time, have been characteristic of their a rich contour. The leaf grows out of the stem
acanthus
several periods of style. Of all these however the Acan in a somewhat similar way to that in which on the pliant
thus obtains the most prominent place, for from the knobs of the corn-stalk an outstretched leaf is formed,
nost flourishing epoch of Grecian art, about 500 B. C, which bends offtangentiallyto the rightand left,although
to the present ever been absent the outline of it cannot bein any degree compared to
day, it has scarcely
From the great theatre of art. the beautiful and rythmically designed contour of the
The several
gradations of an Art-period, from its acanthus. Fig. 2. Comp. fig. 14.
commencement to its zenith, and from thence again to If we enter into the different conventionalisms of
itsdeepest decline, may clearly be followed out by the the acanthus, we
shall find in its development three
observation of the variations of the acanthus leaf. We forms essentially differing from each other, the Grecian,
will endeavour by means of accompanying illustrations Roman and naturalistic, besides a great number of tran
to afford some assistance to a history of its development. sition forms.
The first question which presses on our consideration The Grecian form is a
strictly conventional one,
is; what are the great reasons for such a manifold and differing in several
points from the capricious and ir
ever recurring creations of as indeed all the ornaments
employment of the acanthus leaf? regular nature,
If we compare it with the other leaves which have of the best Grecian period make use of nature only as
found their application in the Arts, the difference is im the source of an idea, though they have impressed on

mediately seen. this a conventionalism

quite peculiar to the Grecian
to the form we can distinguish between for example, we take the palms, honey-suckle
According spirit. If,
two groups of leaves, namely, those with a central and and other vegetable types of the Greeks, and look as
those with an elongated disposition. The first kind botanists for the species of plant which they represent,
radiate from a point at the end of the stem having the ornament and the natural leaf differ widely from
either a division of the lobes as far as the end of the each other.Though in the Grecian ornamentation and

stalk, or clusters of lobes as, e. g. the palm, maple, plastic monuments we can follow the different gradations
ivyand vine leaf. Fig. 1. These forms occur regularly of style to the fullest development, all examples of such
in the arts in connexion with thin tendrils, and make transition are almost entirely wanting in the case of the
a decided contrast to those It We meet with it in its fullest perfection and
delicately drawn lines. acanthus.
justly be maintained that the transition from the beauty in the capital, and above all the finial ornament
fine lines of the tendrils and stems to the broad surface on the roof of the monument of Lysicrates and in the
of the leaf is so immediate and at Athens. The leaf rests on a
abrupt, that it renders Tower of the Winds
the intervention of some artistic member necessary. This broad base, while the middle veins of the lobes of the
The Workshop. 1871. 21
82

Fig. 1.

at,

., K,Fig. 3.

li . lw~l *
..........

14I
p4

''~~ rnOF

Figt2l5
 83

^''^ Fig. 7.

^^^^^^^^

Fig. 8.
84
 85

Fig. 16.

TheWorkshop. 1871. 22
 86

leaf do not, as in the natural leaf, join the principal duced a mixture of the Grecian and oriental elements,
vein, but run into the base near to one another. The it also this mixture into the Moorish
transplanted style
lobes converge in size regularly from base to point, and of decoration, and carried it still further in a highly
form as to their extreme points a beautiful curve. original manner.
Through various internaldivisions, the lobes lie close For example, the. Moorish and Arabian styles have
to one another, so that each lobe and each little unquestionably brought from Byzantium the frets, the
point show to great advantage and contribute to the palmettes, and running ornaments, and impressed on them
effect of the whole. The little points are not sharpened as well as on the acanthus leaf the stamp of oriental
|
off in straight lines, but their contour is delicately art. The Moorish principle of disposing all ornaments
shaped. The modelling is equally well executed, as the in a geometrical frame finds its full application in the
acute angles between the lobes and points are raised, capital represented in fig. 8, where the acanthus leaf is'
and the principal and accessory veins deeply and sharply deprived of its free movement and treated as a sort of
incised. panel-ornament.
The Roman form of the acanthus
leaf is very bold, It was natural also that the Roman architecture in
sometimes inflated in design and modelling, in accordance Italy, France and Germany, at the period of the decline
with the spirit of Roman architecture. The lobes impinge of western Roman art, should adhere rather to the Roman
on one another and in great part cover one another, so that than the Grecian motive of the acanthus. In the Italian
in the contour, the true form of the beautifully grouped buildings of the South of France and Lombardy during
leaf is lost. The points of the leaf are roundedoff; the the 10th and 11th centuries the imitations of the Roman
light and shade of themodelling ismuch disturbed; the acanthus leaf which are again met with in the Corinthian
middle vein is distinguished by a deep incision or a capitals and friezes are for the most part very rough.

special projection not unlike an extended woolly leaf. contours, the indentation of the points and lobes
Ignoble
The corners of the lobes also are overlapped. Besides only represented by round punctured holes and rough
this shape, of which a clear idea may be jbrmed by a modelling, are the only characteristics of these thoroughly
leaf of the portico in the Pantheon, those on the temple degenerate forms of art.
of Vesta at Tivoli may be cited (fig, 5). This formof When however 12th century an independent
in the
the leaf is only imitated in a few Roman buildings, and creative direction was given to art, imparting new impulse
being but the original and individual creation of a tyro to Roman art, gradually breaking loose from old tra
in art, is not found in the later periods. It is very easy ditions, and thus leading to the beautiful creations of the
for a perfect artistic form which already deviates widely Transition Style to Early Gothic Architecture, the acanthus
from nature to lead to exaggeration and mechanical con leaf received new life. But it is to be observed that it was
ventionalism. So it happened with the acanthus leaf as not now the Roman, but the Grecian form which served
early as the most flourishing period of Roman art, but as a model. Perhaps the details of Byzantine art were
still more in its decline. In the eastern Roman empire not unknown to the crusaders of the North, and thought
a number of examples may be found in Byzantine art, of imitation: a comparison of the examples in
worthy
which point to the Grecian origin of the acanthus leaf, the church of St. Sophia with the parts given in fig. 9
but which in outline and modelling are far inferior to of a Romanesque capital from the choir of the church
the Grecian ideal. The Roman form of the acanthus of Konigslutter will almost justify the supposition.
seldom occurs in the western Roman empire, which is Not until the beginning of theGothic period in the
doubtless to be' ascribed to the fact that the more deli 13th century did ornamentation receive new life. The
cate parts of ornamentation were left for the most now came into general use were
part plant motives which
to Grecian kept close to the types once
workmen who taken from the flora indigenousto theNorth of theAlps
presented to them. Even in Rome itself, in the first and are usually reproduced in stone or other material
times of the empire, the Grecian forms were preferred in more or less natural treatment. The acanthus leaf
in the minor arts, as may be seen from our copies of of the Romanesque period, the origin of which can hardly
the silver coins etc., discovered at Hildesheim, in Parts be traced anymore, was subjected to a gradual sepa
4 and 5 of theWorkshop for 1869. ration of the lobes into single leaves or a common stem
fig. 6 which represents an acanthus
From leaf in (fig. 10?13).* The earlier volutes of the Corinthian ca
as
the church of S. Sophia at Constantinople, the connexion pital surround these single leaves as with a frame,
with the Grecian form will easily be perceived, and at may be seen in fig. 8. The best period of Gothic art how
the same time it will b^ observed that the classical form ever aspired to a native motive to replace the Southern
has given place to an arbitrary melange without any acanthus, and found it in the sharp oval outline of
structural significance. the waybread or plantain, which still can never enter
The gradations from the Byzantine pointed forms into competition with the former. Although the vertical
to the more round naturalistic shape, and thence to the
Italian Gothic, may be followed out by the character of *
on the capitals of the Venetian Fig. 10. Capital of the inner gallery of the Cathedral at
the leaves palaces from ? in transept of the
Laon. 13th century. Fig. 11. 12. Capitals
the 11th to the 14th century. of 13th century.
?
13. Fragment
Abbey Vezelay. Beginning Fig.
As the Byzantine ornamentation frequently intro of a Capital of a non extant pillar of the Cathedral of Laon.
 87

position of this leaf on a broad base is quite analogous fagade of the Doge's palace, the sepulchral monument
to the application of the acanthus on the capital, its of Doge Vendramin, and many other important pro
simple and unornamental outline is decidedly ,inferior. ductions. Fig. 16.
This was plainly felt, and a greater richness was sought
early as in the middle,
So and more particularly
to be imparted by the addition of leaves, buds and towards the close of the 16th century, the
tendency to
flowers, especially on the upper point. Fig. 14.* wards the antique declared itself, finding its principal
The plantain leaf, on account of its little adapta spheres of study in the ruins of the Roman empire, the
bility and pliancy has never been used for running mural paintings of the baths of Titus etc. The orna
ornaments.
ment, by its ever recurring imitations, gradually became
The Italian Gothic which
could not free itself from tame and very spiritless in character.
the old traditions, and which never comprehended true With the decline of art into the late Renaissance
Gothic principles, has created no specifically new orna and Rococo Style the acanthus leaf suffers an entire de
mental forms. The acanthus leaf was again naturally and resolves itself into incredible curls and
gradation,
treated with all its projecting veins, its irregularities void of all true taste and style. It would be
shapes
and accidents, and its uprolled points, as if the leaf were but a loss of time to pursue any further its various forms.
withered. The leaf on the capital of the At the end of the last
Doge's palace century a return to purer
at Venice (middle of 14th century) gives a remarkable forms was when the French revolution
again attempted,
example of such execution. put a stop to exaggerations of all kinds in the arts,
Our northern Gothicof the 14th and 15th centuries and a more serious study of decorative creations began.
completely suppressed the acanthus and endeavoured to There was one peculiar form of the acanthus leaf
replace it by the leaves of our own flora; no executed in the last century, of which we give an
complete example
success, however, attended its efforts, and on both sides from the Louvre in a connecting piece which unites a
of the 41ps ^ was again restored to its ancient Roman
rights tripod with its base. Fig. 17. The rich circular
simultaneously with the purest period of the Renaissance. lobes overlying one another, recal the Roman work
The naturalistic studies of the Gothic period con
manship by their sumptuous disposition. While however
tinued till the early Renaissance, and produced much the Roman leaf represents the veins concave to their
that was of great service to the
high Renaissance. The whole length, this is here only the case at the foot,
plant ornamentation, and with it the acanthus leaf, was and the concave modelling to convex at the
changes
marked by an grace and delicacy never of the leaf.
extraordinary points
before attained: distinguished above all was the Venetian With the historical and individual direction given
school of the Lombardi, which was at the
height of its to art in the last ten years, there is not much
novelty
renown towards the end of the 15th and the beginning to be noted in connexion with our
subject. Grecian,
of the 16th century. It is worthily represented by a Roman, Renaissance and naturalistic creations are to be
panel ornament the pillars in the court yard seen in fraternal union, and each artist must determine
decorating
for himself which style and treatment he thinks most
*
Fig. 14. Two halves of Capitals of lower gallery of Cathe appropriate.
dral at Laon.
i

No. 1. Indian. Carved Beam or Lintel from ancient Palace of Ceylon. From South
Kensington Museum, London.