Mediaeval wood carving developed chiefly along the line of altar pieces and of grotesque adornments of choir stalls.  Among the most interesting of these are the “miserere” seats, of which we shall speak at more length.

The general methods of wood carving resemble somewhat those of stone carving; that is to say, flat relief, round relief, and entirely disengaged figures occur in both, while in both the drill is used as a starting point in many forms of design.  As with the other arts, this of carving in wood emanated from the monastery.

[Illustration:  CARVED BOX-WOOD PYX, 14TH CENTURY]

The monk Tutilo, of St. Gall, was very gifted.  The old chronicle tells us that “he was eloquent, with a fine voice, skilful in carving, and a painter.  A musician, like his companions, but in all kinds of wind and stringed instruments... he excelled everybody.  In building and in his other arts he was eminent.”  Tutilo was a monk of the ninth century.

A celebrated wood carving of the thirteenth century, on a large scale, is the door of the Church of St. Sabina in Rome.  It is divided into many small panels, finely carved.  These little reliefs are crowded with figures, very spirited in action.

Painted and carved shields and hatchments were popular.  The Italian artists made these with great refinement.  Sometimes stucco was employed instead of genuine carving, and occasionally the work was embossed on leather.  They were painted in heraldic colours, and gold, and nothing could be more decorative.  Even Giotto produced certain works of this description, as well as a carved crucifix.

Altar pieces were first carved and painted, the backgrounds being gilded.  By degrees stucco for the figures came in to replace the wood:  after that, they were gradually modelled in lower relief, until finally they became painted pictures with slightly raised portions, and the average Florentine altar piece resulted.  With the advance in painting, and the ability to portray the round, the necessity for carved details diminished.

Orders from a great distance were sometimes sent to the Florentine Masters of Wood,—­the choir stalls in Cambridge, in King’s College Chapel, were executed by them, in spite of the fact that Torregiano alluded to them as “beasts of English.”

An early French wood carver was Girard d’Orleans, who, in 1379, carved for Charles V. “ung tableau de boys de quatre pieces.”  Ruskin considers the choir stalls in Amiens the best worth seeing in France; he speaks of the “carpenter’s work” with admiration, for no nails are used, nor is the strength of glue relied upon; every bit is true “joinery,” mortised, and held by the skill and conscientiousness of its construction.  Of later work in wood it is a magnificent example.  The master joiner, Arnold Boulin, undertook the construction of the stalls in 1508.  He engaged Anton Avernier, an image maker, to carve the statuettes and figures which occur in the course of the work.  Another joiner, Alexander Hust, is reported as working as well, and in 1511, both he and Boulin travelled to Rouen, to study the stalls in the cathedral there.  Two Franciscan monks, “expert and renowned in working in wood,” came from Abbeville to give judgment and approval, their expenses being paid for this purpose.