To the right of the Prince is the tomb of Marguerite of
Burgundy, his mother, a hardly less sumptuous piece of work than the
first, and superbly framed in by Gothic decorative sculptures,
statuettes, arabesques, flowers, and heraldic designs. The little
mourning figures or _pleureuses_, each in its graceful niche, are
wonderfully beautiful, and for the most part veiled, whilst the artist's
fancy has been allowed to run riot in the ornamentation surrounding
them. The Princess wears her long ducal mantle and crown, and at her
feet reposes a superb greyhound. The third tomb, that of Marguerite of
Austria, the wife of Philibert, is in some respects the richest of the
three, being almost bewildering in elaborateness of detail and abundance
of ornament. It is divided into two compartments; in the upper, we have
the living figure of a beautiful woman in the flower of life, richly
dressed; in the lower, we have the same after death, the long hair
rippling in curls to her waist, the slender feet showing from under the
drapery, the expression that of majestic calm and solemnity. We have
here the simplicity and nakedness of death in close proximity with the
gorgeousness and magnificence of art--art under one of its most
sumptuous aspects, art in its fullest and most poetic moods.
Pages:
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244