File:The baronial and ecclesiastical antiquities of Scotland (1909) (14597391990).jpg

Identifier: baronialecclesia00bill (find matches)
Title: The baronial and ecclesiastical antiquities of Scotland
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Billings, R. W. (Robert William), 1813-1874 Wiston-Glyn, A. W
Subjects: Architecture Church architecture
Publisher: Edinburg T.N. Foulis
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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wood-carving degeneratedwhen the Gothic models were abandoned. On the whole, it may be statedthat there is no wood-work in Scotland capable of a moments comparisonwith the stalls of Kings College, nor will many English specimens rivalthem. Such productions are chiefly to be seen in the Flemish churches ;and perhaps the excellence of the wood-work in Aberdeen and in Belgiummay be atttibuted to one and the same cause-—the costliness of stonedecorations. This arises, in Aberdeen, not from the absolute, but therelative want of material. There is abundance of granite in the district ;but, at the time when the college was built, it was not considered capableof being applied to decoration, though it had been so used a century or twoearlier, and has been very richly worked within the past few years.Freestone, which must have been conveyed from a considerable distance, isthe material of the chapel and tower ; and it is probable that its absence ,J( !r^l)^^i (g@(L.!Li@I g^^JAI^ilL . AilMMI L,
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KINGS COLLEGE CHAPEL-INTERIOR ANTIQUITIES OF SCOTLAND I5 on the spot made the Aberdeen workmen less capable of its decoration thanthose who raised Roslin or Melrose. The general state of the preservation of this fine carved work iscreditable to the district when it is remembered that the edifice has, formore than three hundred years, been devoted to the services of a consider-able body of young men. One observes, however, with regret, that thebeautiful crossed tracery on the roof is suffering from damp, especially thatportion of it which covers the library. Unless those in charge be successfuin obtaining funds to meet the expense of an effective repair, it is clear thata considerable collection of books and some fine specimens of mediasval artwill be exposed to great danger. HISTORICAL SKETCH. This university and college was erected in 1494 by a bull of PopeAlexander VI., and partly owed its erection to the worthy zeal of James IV.for the enlightenment of the northern part of his domi

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