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SIGALON, XAVIER (1788–1837)
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See also:SIGALON, See also:XAVIER (1788–1837) , See also:French painter, See also:born at See also:Uzes (See also:Gard) towards the See also:close of 1788, was one of the few leaders of the romantic See also:movement who cared for treatment of See also:form rather than of See also:colour. The son of a poor rural schoolmaster, he had a terrible struggle before he was able even to reach See also:Paris and obtain See also:admission to See also:Guerin's studio. But the learning offered there did not See also:respond to his See also:special needs, and he tried to See also:train himself by solitary study of the See also:Italian masters in the See also:gallery of the Louvre. The " See also:Young Courtesan" (Louvre),
which he exhibited in 1822, at once attracted See also:attention and was bought for the Luxembourg. The painter, however, regarded it as but an See also:essay in practice and sought to measure himself with a mightier See also:motive; this he did in his " Locusta " (See also:Nimes), 1824, and again in " See also:Athaliah's See also:Massacre " (See also:Nantes), 1827. Both these See also:works showed incontestable See also:power; but the "See also:Vision of St See also:Jerome " (Louvre), which appeared at the See also:salon of 1831, together with the " Crucifixion " (Issengeaux), was by far the most individual of all his achievements, and that See also:year he received the See also:cross of the See also:Legion of See also:Honour. The terrors and force of his See also:pencil were not, however, rendered attractive by any See also:charm of colour; his paintings remained unpurchased, and Sigalon found himself forced to get a humble living at times by See also:painting portraits, when See also:Thiers, then See also:minister of the interior, recalled him to Paris and entrusted him with the task of copying the Sistine See also:fresco of the " Last See also:Judgment " for a See also: Under the succeeding Han See also:dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25) this See also:city was called Wei-nan and Nui-shi; under the eastern Han (A.D. 25—221) it was known as Yung Chow; under the Tang (618-907) as Kwannui; under the Sung (960-1127) as Yung-hing; under the Yuan and Ming (1260-1644) as Gan-si. During the Ts'in, Han and rang dynasties the city was usually the capital of the See also:empire, and in See also:size, See also:population and See also:wealth it is still one of the most important cities of China. It was to Si-gan Fu that the emperor and See also:dowager empress retreated on the See also:capture of See also:Peking by the allied armies in August 'goo; and it was once again constituted the capital of the empire until the following See also:spring when the See also:court returned to Peking, after the conclusion of See also:peace. The city, which is a square, is prettily situated on ground rising from the See also:river Wei, and includes within its limits the two See also:district cities of Ch'ang-gan and Hien-ning. Its walls are little inferior in height and massiveness to those of Peking, while its See also:gates are handsomer and better defended than any at the capital. The population is said to be 1,000,000, of whom 50,000 are Ivlaciommedans. Situated in the See also:basin of the Wei river, along which runs the See also:great road which connects See also:northern China with Central See also:Asia, at a point where the valley opens out on the plains of China, Si-gan Fu occupies a strategical position of great importance, and repeatedly in the See also:annals of the empire has See also:history been made around and within its walls. During the See also:Mahommedan See also:rebellion it was besieged by the rebels for two years (1868-70), but owing to the strength of the fortifications it defied the efforts of its assailants. It is admirably situated as a See also:trade centre and serves as a See also:depot for the See also:silk from Chehkiang and Szech'uen, the See also:tea from Hu-peh and Ho-nan, and the See also:sugar from Szech'uen destined for the markets of Kan-suh, See also:Turkestan, See also:Kulja and See also:Russia. Marco See also:Polo, speaking of Kenjanfu, as the city was then also called, says that it was a See also:place " of great trade and See also:industry. They have great abundance of silk, from which they weave cloths of silk, and See also:gold of See also:divers kinds, and they also manufacture all sorts of equipments for an See also:army. They have every necessary of See also:man's See also:life very cheap."
Several of the temples and public buildings are very fine, and many See also:historical monuments are found within and about the walls. Of these the most notable is the Nestorian tablet, which was accidentally discovered in 1625 in the Ch'ang-gan suburb. The See also: Under Tih-tsung (780-783) the See also:monument was erected, and this See also:part of the inscription ends with a eulogy of I-sze, a statesman and benefactor of the church. (3) Then follows a recapitulation of the above in octosyllabic See also:verse. The Chinese inscription, which concludes with the date of erection, viz. 781, is followed by a See also:series of See also:short See also:inscriptions in See also:Syriac and the Estrangelo See also:character, containing the date of the erection, the name of the reigning Nestorian See also:patriarch, See also:Mar Henan Ishua, that of See also:Adam, See also:bishop and See also:pope of China, and those of the clerical See also:staff of the capital. Then follow sixty-seven names of persons in Syriac characters, most of whom are characterized as priests, and sixty-one names of persons in Chinese, all priests but one. The stone—one of a See also:row of five memorial tablets—stood within the enclosure of a dilapidated See also:temple. It appears at one See also:time to have been embedded in a See also:brick See also:niche, and about 1891 a See also:shed was placed over it, but in 1907 it stood in the open entirely unprotected. In that year Dr Frits v. Holm, a Danish traveller, had made an exact replica of the tablet, which in 1908 was deposited in the See also:Metropolitan Museum of See also:Art, New See also:York. The tablet itself was in See also:October 1907 removed by Chinese officials into the city proper, and placed in the Pei Lin or " See also:forest of tablets," a museum in which are collected tablets of the Han, Tang, Sung, Yuen and Ming dynasties, some of which See also:bear historical legends, notably a set of stone tablets having the thirteen See also:classics inscribed upon them, while others are symbolical or pictorial; among these last is a full-sized likeness of See also:Confucius. Antiquities are constantly being discovered in the neighbourhood of the city, e.g. See also:rich stores of coins and bronzes, bearing See also:dates ranging from 200 B.C. onwards. See See also:Yule, Marco Polo (1903 ed.) ; A. See also:Williamson, Journeys in See also:North China (See also:London, 1870), S. See also:Wells See also:Williams, The See also:Middle See also:Kingdom (London, 1883) ; Pere Havret, La See also:Stele de Si-ngan Fou (See also:Shanghai, 1895-1902) ; F. v. Holm, The Nestorian Monument (See also:Chicago, 1909). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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