Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/878

O R A O R C left the Colony in order to be beyond British control. They formed a rude government for themselves, and in attempting to exercise authority came into collision with the Griquas, who claimed pro tection from the Colony, with which they were allied by treaty. The British governor, Sir P. Maitland, intervened in 1845, assisting the Griquas with troops, and defeating the Boers at Zwart Koppies ; and, to prevent further collisions, a resident was appointed. In 1848 Governor Sir H. Smith visited the territory, and came to the conclusion that peace could not be maintained among the mixed elements forming the population without the establishment of a regular government. He therefore issued a proclamation, after wards Confirmed by the crown, annexing the territory to the empire under the name of the Orange Paver British Sovereignty. Thereupon some of the Boers, under their leader Pretorius, took up arms and expelled the British magistrates ; but a military force was brought against them by Sir H. Smith in person, and, after a short but sharp encounter at Boomplaats, the Boers were defeated, and the crown s authority re-established and maintained from that time until towards the close of 1853. During this period many Europeans and colonists of European descent took up their abode in the sovereignty. But disturbances again occurred, arising from long-standing disputes between the native tribes ; and, in order to chastise the most powerful of them the Basutos for certain acts of outrage, Governor Cathcart in 1852 moved a large military expedition against their chief, Moshesh, and the battle of the Berea was fought, after which the chief, on behalf of the tribe, gave in his submission. After this expedition the British Govern ment resolved to withdraw from the territory. Sir George Clerk was deputed as a special commissioner to carry out the abandon ment of the country ; and, notwithstanding the protests of many inhabitants, he formally handed it over to a body of Boer delegates in terms of a convention entered into on the 23d February 1854. They were released from their allegiance, and permitted to consti tute an independent republican community of their own, under the title of the "Orange River Free State." Since that time the government has been in the hands of a president assisted by an executive council, with a volksraad or congress elected by the people, exercising all legislative functions. In the south-eastern portion of the State, and entirely surrounded by it, is a small independent native territory, of which the principal village is Thaba-Nchu, where 10,000 of the Baralong tribe reside, peaceably ruled by their chief according to their own laws. ORANIENBAUM, a town of European Russia, with a population of about 4000, lies 100 feet above the sea on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland opposite Cronstadt, and is well known for its imperial palace and as a summer resort for the inhabitants of St Petersburg, from which it is 24 miles distant by rail. In 1714 Menshikoff, to whom the site was presented by Peter the Great, erected for himself the country seat of Oranienbaum ; confiscated, like the rest of his estates, in 1 727, it became an imperial residence. In 1743 the empress Elizabeth assigned the place to Peter Theodorovitch, who built there a castle, Peterstadt (now de stroyed), for his Holstein soldiers. The rise of the town was fostered by the appointment in 1764 of an official for the reception and enter tainment of foreign immigrants entering Russia via Cronstadt. ORATORIANS. See NERI. ORATORIO. See Music. ORCAGNA (c. 1316-c-. 1376 1 ), whose full name was ANDREA m CIONE, called ARCAGNUOLo, 2 was the son of a very able Florentine goldsmith, Maestro Cione, said to have been one of the principal artists who worked on the magnificent silver frontal of the high altar of San Gio vanni, the Florentine Baptistery. The result of Orcagna s early training in the use of the precious metals may be traced in the extreme delicacy and refined detail of his principal works in sculpture. He had at least three brothers who all practised some branch of the fine arts : Lionardo or Xardo, the eldest, a painter ; Matteo, a sculptor and mosaicist ; and Jacopo, also a painter. They were fre quently associated with Orcagna in his varied labours. From the time of Giotto to the end of the 14th century 1 The dates of Orcngna s birth and death are not exactly known. According to Vasari, he died in 1389 at the age of sixty ; but a docu ment dated 1376 provides a guardian for Tessa and Romola, daughters of Orcagna s widow Francesca (see Bonaini, Mem. Ined., pp. 105-6). Possibly, therefore, 1376 was the year of his death ; and if Vasari is right about his age his birth would have been in 1316. Milanesi, the able editor of Vasari, is inclined to think that Orcagna died in 1368, when he is known to have been seriously ill. - Of this form, sometimes spelt Orcagnuolo, Orcagna is a corruption. Orcagna stands quite pre-eminent even among the many excellent artists of that time. In sculpture he was a pupil of Andrea Pisano ; in painting, though indirectly, he was a disciple of Giotto. Few artists have practised with such success so many branches of the arts. Orcagna was not only a painter and sculptor, but also a worker in mosaic, an architect, and a poet. His importance in the history of Italian art rests not merely on his numerous and beau tiful productions, but also on his widespread influence, transmitted to his successors through a large and carefully- trained school of pupils. In style as a painter Orcagna comes midway between Giotto and Fra Angelico : he com bined the dramatic force and realistic vigour of the earlier painter with the pure brilliant colour and refined unearthly beauty of Fra Angelico. His large fresco paintings are works of extreme decorative beauty and splendour, com posed with careful reference to their architectural sur roundings, arranged for the most part on one plane, with out the strong foreshortening or effects of perspective with which the mural paintings of later masters are so often marred. 1. Orcagna as a Painter. His chief works in fresco were at Florence, in the church of S. Maria Novella. He first covered the walls of the retro-choir Avith scenes from the life of the Virgin. These, unfortunately, were much injured by damp very soon after their completion, and towards the end of the following century were replaced by other frescos of the same subjects by Ghirlandaio, who, according to Vasari, made much use of Orcagna s motives and invention. Orcagna also painted three walls of the Strozzi chapel, at the north-east of the same church, with a grand series of frescos, which still exist, though in a much injured and " restored " state. On the northern end wall is the Last Judgment, painted above and round the window, the light from which makes it difficult to see the picture. In the centre is Christ floating among clouds, surrounded by angels ; below are kneeling figures of the Virgin and St John the Baptist, with the twelve apostles. Lower still are patriarchs, prophets, and saints, with the resurrection of the blessed and the lost. The finest com position is that on the west wall, unbroken by any win dow. It represents paradise, with Christ and the Virgin enthroned in majesty among rows of brilliantly -coloured cherubim and seraphim tinged with rainbow-like rays of light. Below are long lines of the heavenly hierarchy mingled with angel musicians ; and lower still a crowd of saints floating on clouds. Many of these figures are of exquisite beauty, especially the few that have escaped restoration. Faces of the most divine tenderness and delicacy occur among the female saints ; the two central angels below the throne are figures of wonderful grace in pose and movement ; and the whole picture, lighted by a soft luminous atmosphere, seems to glow with an unearthly gladness and peace. Opposite to this is the fresco attri buted by Vasari to Orcagna s brother Bernardo, or rather Nardo (i.e., Lionardo) ; it was completely repainted in 1530, so that nothing but the design remains, full of horror and weird imagination. To some extent the painter has followed Dante s scheme of successive circles. These paintings were probably executed soon after 1350, and in 1357 Orcagna painted one of his finest panel pictures, as a retable for the altar of the same chapel, where it still remains. In the centre is Christ in majesty between kneeling figures of St Peter and St Thomas Aquinas, attended by angel musicians; on each side are standing figures of three other saints. It is a work of the greatest beauty both in colour and composition ; it is painted with extreme miniature-like delicacy, and is on the whole very well preserved. This retable is signed, " An. diii. mccclvii Andreas Cionis de Florentia me pinxit."