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| Keywords: Herbert Schmalz, Faithful Unto Death – Christianae ad Leones (1897).png Superseded File Herbert schmalz28 jpg Artwork Creator Herbert Schmalz 1897 Size cm 165 114 object history credit line The reverse of the painting has a caption written by Schmalz reading The Sect who were first called Christians at Antioch had / that day born good witness to their faith in Rome There in / the fierce glare of the Arena waiting for the end / Waiting under the pitiless eyes of a blood-thirsty multitude from Senator and patrician dame to low baffoon parisite Waiting till fear becomes/hope shame grows shameless before the promise of Death / Herbert Schmalz 49 Addison Road Kensington London It is the feast of Bacchus and the pillars are painted red and ornamented with emblems of his worship although the active rites are more fitted to please Moloch than the light-hearted consoler of Ariadne Tier upon tier of expectant faces rise around the amphitheatre whose floor is soft sand and whose ceiling the wonderful purple 'valerium' embroidered with the stars of the sorrowing heavens Negro slaves clad in red and white direct a few late-comers to their seats The Roman soldiers rest on their spears at the entrance beside which sit some foreign ambassadors or guests of the great Caesar Great thought and skill have been bestowed on the architectural and archaeological detail every point being carried out with unfailing conscientiousness as shown by the vine leaf half-hidden in the sand and the bleached leg bones of some previous butchery unearthed by the chariot wheels of the passing Emperor Allen Unwin G Allan Co 1911 44 �46 54198363 Yet there is a sillier picture in this year's Academy than Mr Long's Need we say it is Faithful Unto Death by Mr Herbert Schmalz The motto Christianae ad leones explains the subject to be that depicted with masculine energy and learning by M Gerome The picture relies for merit and grace on the figures of naked girls why are they all girls bound to the herms of red marble which are placed in the arena The women are in various altitudes some of them not wholly bad or affected but their faces have no spontaneity and the best has but a set stare Fear of the coming lions might have caused their hair to fall in ugly dishevelled masses but it could not have caused their heards to swell as here depicted It is a pity that Mr Schmalz does not draw the nude with more grace and taste refine the heavy contours of his models and give real dignity to their attitudes Was it by way of a grim joke he put the well-picked human bones on the sane of the arena The shocking nature of the subject does not enable us to overlook the weakness of this design the trivial incidenie in the crowds of spectators and the vulgar pretentiousness which pervades the work The Athenaeum Part I p 732 1888 The reproduction of the painting in Catalogue illustré de l'Exposition internationale de Bruxelles Section de beaux-arts 1897 had the following caption Attendant la mort dans l'ardente clarté de l'Arène Awaiting death in the fiery brightness of the arena accession number cite book Catalogue illustré de l'Exposition internationale de Bruxelles Section de beaux-arts http //www archive org/stream/catalogueillustr00expo page/n107/mode/2up Paris E Bernard et cie 1897 107 426488625 PD-old-70-1923 Christian martyrs of the Roman era Nude females in drawings Herbert Schmalz Nude in public People with lions in art Ancient Rome in history paintings Hermai in art | ||||
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