The New York herald., 1873-12-16
ART MATTERS.
The Passion Play Album.

Every one who has read "Quts, by the Baroness
Tautph9us, the clever authoress OF s'The Initials -
will remember the description OF the passion play
OF Ober-Ammergau. and OF the peasant artists
taking part in it to which the seventeenth and
eighteenth chapters OF the first volume of
'Quts" are devoted. The tradition runs that
In 1881 when tue village OF Ober-Ammer-
gau was decimated by an epidemic, the
Monks OF Ettal IA monastery on the mountain
of that name, which overlooks the vilage) induced
the parish to unite with them in vow that in
thoughtful devotion and tor edifying contempla-
tion they would, every ten years, publicly repre-
sent "the Passions OF Jesus, the Saviour OF the
World" The tradition adds that the parish was
Immediately freed from pestllence, and we be-
iieve 1t is matter OF history that the
passion play has once in ten years been
represented by the Ober-Ammergau peasants
from that date until the present. Such being the
case 1t seems strange that the idea OF constructing
q passion play album aud bringing 1t out as o
Christmas gift book should not sooner and more
widely have been made use Of True, there were
difficulties in the way. The superstition OF the
villagers rendered it almost impossible for any
photographer to obtain permission from them to
apply his art to the reproduction Of their perform
ances and the various episodes connected there
King OF Bavaria, that the villagers could be pre-
vailed upon to allow such task to be DONE
Of Munich were thus Obtained S subseSueu1ly GYM Mr.
John p. Jackson, desiring to expand little guide
book, written BY himself, to the passion play, re-
ceived permission from the King to purchase copies
OF these photographs. Two hundred copies were
then bought by him. In the spring OF 1872 Mr..
Jackson spent several weeks at Ober-Ammergau
receiving, during his researches, valuable aid rom
the aged minister, the Gelstlicher-Rath Daisen-
berger, editor OF the passion play as 1t was per
formed at Ober-Ammergau IN 1870. In addition to
the drama Mr.. Jackson procured the addresses
made by the choragus or chorus leader. No
msde either s German noq EnssS By ossa Ss
means the foundation OF an album, which
"The Passion Play Album" was laid. with
the royal photographs have been Incorporated q
number Of fwoodcuts and about twenty drawings re-
produced in heliotype. The w0odcuts are portraits
OF the GeistlIcher iath Dasenberger and OF Tobias
Pnunger, Rupert Schauer and OF Joseph Maier, ma
lneators OF Christ in the passion play 1850 1860
and 1870 The drawings are by the well known ar
tst, Mrs. Eliza Greatorex, and are Is IN number.
small instament OF these albums reached the es-
tablisnment OF the Putnams, in Association Build
ing, Twenty-third street and Fourth avenue, at a
late hour on Saturday evening, and win be visible
there this morning and afterwards. 1t Is hardly
necessary to add that they are intrinscally inter-
estmg as giving permanent and artistic express
sion to unique and very picturesque institu-
ton OF which every one has heard, but witch COM
paratively few have witnessed. The size Of the
vellum paper made especially for this purpose and
is handsomely bound. The size OF the photographs
Is w lncneS Dy b; Win the Cartons IA inches by TO-
To these dimensions the etchings and wood en-
cravings correspond. The price, 800 IN currency,
Is somewhat costly, but not dlsproportioned to the
labor, time and skill expended. The woodcuts, in
addition TO the portraits we have mentioned, rep
resent the monastery OF Ettal and the Passion
Theatre. Mrs. Greatorex's drawings delineate the
pilgrimage to Ober-Ammergau, the valley OF the
Ammer, evening in the village, view through the
trees, wasnday under the Kofel, the church beyond
the Ammer, the village h0me the gossps' fountain,
the gathering OF the village band, outside the
Passion Theatre. the churchyard gate, the homes
the Zwinks and Jacob Hett (the respective define
at0rs oil Judas, Annas Mary, Plate, Mathew, John.
Peter and Christi, and the homes OF the anonymous
actors Of Lazarus and the Scribe. or the 60 photo
Testament. The Others represent events in the
lite OF Jesus. "Christ Foretelhng His Own Be-
trayaln forms tine frontispece. Then comes
photograph OF the Ammergau stage, with the
chorus OF Schutzgeister The order in which the
tory, then occur is the following -"The Alteration
OF the Cross" .'The Entrance into Jerusalem, THE
Buyers and Sellers OF the Temple, MARY Magdalen
Amounting Christ's Feet" "Christ's Departure
from Bethany .The Last Journey to Jeru-
Schris. washes the Feet OF or HIS HIS DISCIPLES"
"Judas Receives the Blood Money !" 'The Agony In
the Garden,r 1.-The Betrayal "Christ Reveals
Himself to the Soldiers, "Christ Before the High
Priest Annas,r "Christ before the High Priest
Caiaphas,n "Peters Denial, y .Peter's Penitence''
fenced to Death by the Sanhedrim," "The De-
spair OF Judas, !" "Pilate Declares Christ Innocent
''Christ Before Herod," 1.-The Scourging,u "Tne
Crowning with Thorns,u "PiIate Arguing with the
..'Christ Bearing His Cross TO Golgotha,n 'The
Crucifxion,r 1.-The Descent from the Crossr ''The
Sepulchre,r "The Resurrection "The Ascen.
sion."