Of all the artists which one can loosely term Romantic, my favourite by far is Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) whose work at once incorporated the Romantic with the Gothic as well as being very mystical. I have viewed his paintings both here and abroad and they never cease to amaze me. You may have well have seen a Friedrich in reproduction as his genius has become more recognised by each passing generation.
Please, if you are lucky enough to be able to view a Friedrich do so. You will not regret your decision.
But this short article is not about Friedrich or indeed Romantic Art but about one or two items recently spotted in the Arcade.
I have always been a fan of garden and park furniture be they positioned in the strong sunlight of a Mediterranean garden or in a windswept coastal garden in Whitby. The furniture in both our gardens and parks is occasional furniture. We might rest on a Victorian bench and eat our sandwiches in a park . Or on a hot day we might sit under a tree on a bench in our garden. We do not use them often but would miss them if they were not there.
If one has a decent sized garden then I think that we all have a touch of the Capability Brown about us. We want our garden to look good even if it is not used that often. One does not have to adopt a Classical design, really it is all a matter of taste.
I am something of a garden voyeur (especially if I am travelling by bus) and love to look at other peoples gardens. Some are unloved and resemble bombsites whereas others cherish every blade of grass. Some are awash with children’s toys whilst others resemble a Samuel Beckett stage set. Even on the short journey to Swindon, I have seen Zen gardens, Modernist gardens and gardens that resemble memories from St Mary Mead. What would Miss Marple have made of it all? Near Reading there is a Japanese garden all set in a space similar to that of a bus stop. But it works even with a rather prominent Japanese gate.
I call it my sleeping hobby as because of time constraints we have a back to nature garden. This translated means a garden that requests the minimum of upkeep but still looks good. It is good for the bees and the frogs can hide from the inquisitive cats is my excuse. But yesterday on a trip to the arcade, I saw an item which although not a piece of garden furniture would have been a splendid addition to the right type of garden.
What was it you may ask?
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beautiful cross which appeared to me to be made of iron as it exhibited rust stains and this added to its rough aged appearance. It was about three feet high and immediately reminded me of the cross in Friedrich’s masterpiece The Cross in the Mountains (1807).
Whilst the cross in the painting was very plain and viewed at a considerable distance, the fir trees that are depicted nearby give it a sense of the organic. And this was what I admired about this cross. It had been constructed using man made materials and exhibited a certain decoration but the feeling it gave me was that it once had been high on a nearby chapel. I did not look at the price but I would have considered it if my garden had been large and slightly shrouded.
If the cross had been located in a clearing imagine the vista on a misty morning or with the sun either setting or rising behind it. Or on a bleak January day covered in part by snow with either the luxurious evergreens or the skeletons of winter trees nearby.
Sometimes when one is looking at antiques one finds an item that is so stunning that it takes your breath away.
The cross was in a small unit and one of its near neighbours was a beautiful Madonna. I do not think that she would have taken benefit from being exposed to the elements but in a sheltered position she would have been a welcome addition to any house or garden.
I rather like Madonnas and possess a couple of smaller but equally beautiful ones. There is a sense of peace emitted even from the most damaged plaster Madonna.
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s with the cross, one can look at a Madonna and feel a sense of tranquillity. The combination of the two along with some weathered stone benches gave one a feeling of calm which I feel was shared with some of my fellow visitors on that day. These are both obviously Christian symbols but to me the combination transcended religious parameters.
A friend of mine has a small stream running through his garden and he has placed a number of Buddha’s along its line. The effect is stunning especially if on a calm summer’s evening he illuminates the stream with candles or lanterns. But my friend is no more of a Buddhist that I am a Mormon. He just enjoys the peace and calm. Whilst he or I might be accused of having a Sunday supplement view of life I do not think that God would worry too much.
Religious icons in my view are not only there to be marvelled at but to be enjoyed and admired. I cannot think that Andrei Rublev when creating his wonderful icons was not aware of their beauty. Beauty is all around us and obviously there to be shared. It is a gift and if one decides to create a garden with religious iconography as its main or partial theme then who I am I to cast the first stone.
As I travel around I quite often see items associated with churches and although these can be a little expensive they are quite beautiful. I recently found a number of Minton tiles obviously created for a church restoration during Victorian times. The condition of these tiles was very fine which made me think that they had not been used and had been stored in a long forgotten cupboard before somebody realised that they might be worth a few pounds. I also found some carved pew ends which I think are known as poppy-heads which appeared to date from Victorian times although their history can be traced back to medieval times.
Complete pews are often found as well as offertory items and other bits and pieces associated with the embroidery of the church. Just over a year ago I located a couple of rather tired but nonetheless beautifully embroidered stoles in the Arcade. I nearly purchased them but decided otherwise.
I do not really collect religious artefacts as I do not have the room. But if I had lived in a house with a spacious garden then I might have purchased the beautiful cross and would have set it between the pines at the top of the garden so that I could observe it from a distance in silhouette against the low Berkshire sun.
Happy Hunting
Stuart Miller-Osborne
