The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-09-11
THE ROUND TABLE OF KING ARTHUR.

The beautiful reproduction from the Boston
studio of Curtis and Cameron, of Edwin A.
Abbey's "The Round Table of King Arthur"
given by Mr.. and Mrs. Ira M. Cobe to grace
Belfast's prospective school building and dis
plays IN the lower window at the City Drug
Store. has attracted much favorable attention,
The rich colorings of the original are faith
fully reproduced, and the frame is in perfect
taste and keeping. The picture is reproduc-
tlon of the third in the series representing the
Quest of the Holy Grail, which decorate the
delivery room of the Boston Public Library.
The originals are eight feet long, contain over
one hundred life size figures and are the re-
suit of four years antiquarian research and
labor with the brush. The story of King Ar
thur has undergone many evolutlons, and is
thought to be of Celtic origin 1t was, how
ever, about the middle of the twelfth to thir-
teenth centuries that the tale was crystalized
in verse and prose, by French and German
romancers. In 1477 Sir Thomas Mallory COM
pleted and translated the story, including the
Quest of the Grail into English, and his book
still remains one of the monuments of Eng
many English poets,-Spenser. Milton, and
later. Tenny son. whose Idyls of the King are
so familiar 1t was not, however, to English
literature that MIR. Abbey went for his nspira-
tion but to French and German sources The
Holy Grail was tabled to be the sacred vessel
from which our Lord had eaten at the Last
Supper. and into which (having purchased it
from Pontius Pilate) Joseph of Arimathea had
gathered the divine blood of His wounds Its
existence, its preservation, it's miraculous
virtues and properties, were cherished popu-
lar belief in the early ages of European Chris
tianity, and in the folk-tae from which the
twelfth century narrators drew their material
it was represented as guarded for ages in the
Castle of the Grail by the descendants of the
"rich man" to whom the body of Jesus had
been surrendered where it awaited the coming
of the perfect knight who alone should be
worthy to it. Sir Galahad proves to
be the one stainless knight, and the paintings
reveal him ON his quest. After he had been
made knight, Galahad went to Guenemanz
with him to learn, before entering upon the
Quest, the ways of the world and the rules
which governed knighthood. The picture,
which is to be the possession of the children
of Belfast, represents him at last at the Round
Table of King Arthur in Camelot. A figure,
all in white, with his face concealed in hood,
Joseph of Arimathea, leads him to the Siege
Perilous. Arthur, canopied under splendid
badachn, ornamented with carved Celtic
dragons and supported by marble pillars dec
Grated with inlays of colored marble rises
with bowed head from his thr' ne gravey
welcoming the young knight and his compan-
ion. The doors and windows have been mir
aculously closed. Above the table, and extend
ing entirely around the circular hall, is great
ring of angels. One angel has left the circle
and lifts the cloth which has covered the
Siege Perilous. Before the Siege floats, in let
tiers of gold, the words This is the seat of
Galahad." In the group to the left Bors is
standing with clasped hands. To the right of
the throne is Launcelot and crouching behind
the king his boy cup-bearer with the wine
horn on his arms, and the JESTER Dagonet All
are awed, and everywhere the knights are
holding up the crosses of their swords. The
gift is both beautiful and appropriate, and
should prove a of inspiration as well as
pleasure to the young people of the city.