WEATHER VANES

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1932, Page 3

WEATHER VANES

CURIOUS & BEAUTIFUL FIGURES

No museum could begin to hold specimens of all the styles of weather vane extant to-day, says a writer in the “New York. Tjmes.” Patterns in weather vanes have had time to multiply. Nobody knows how early these contrivances appeared in the world, but we do know that an example elaborate enough to imply a long previous period of evolution surmounted the Tower of the Winds at Athens, erected about a century and a-half before the Christian era. The tower, with its familiar bas-reliefs symbolising the eight winds, still stands.near the foot of the Acropolis, but the ancient vane, a bronze Triton holding a wand, has long since vanished. Both tower. and vane are pictured in the seal of the Royal Meterological Society-

What variety of shapes weather ; vanes assumed in antiquity is unknown. One in the form of a siren is said to have stood on the Temple of Androgens at Rome, but few descriptions of vanes are found in x classical literature, and strange to say, no classical Greek or Latin word for “weather vane” has come down to us. A remarkable vane, probably dating from the time of Theodosius the Great, that cnce overlooked the whole city of Constantinople, consisted of a lofty column, carved with-rural scenes and supporting the pivoted statue of a woman.

In the Middle Ages weather vanes affected two principal shapes. The cock became the usual adornment of churches, the banner-shaped vane of aristocratic dwellings. Why the cock was selected for ecclesiastical buildings is a matter ci controversy. There is a stereotyped sfetement in reference books to the effect that an unnamed Pope of the ninth century ordered this bird to be placed on every church as the emblem of St. Peter, but I have sought in vain, with the aid of Catholic scholars, to verify this story. In France the . banner-shaped vane was originally reserved for the use of nobility. It was usually painted or perforated with the owner’s armorial bearings', and there were different forms of’ vanes to denote different ranks. In Tudor England the rod on which a banner vane was hung was often held by a bird or . beast sitting on a slender pedestal. Modern vanes having the general outline of a banner or pennant are described in trade catalogues as, “bannerets” and exhibit an endless variety of details. . ■

EMBLEMS OF PATRON SAINTS The architectural weather vanes, both old and new, are in sohie cases wholly arbitrary in design, and in others are. shaped to embody some idea appropriate -to the location. Ln L'ondpn one, puzzles oyei* the big grasshopper that turns' in the wind .atop the Royal Exchange until informed that the . insect. symbolises, no attribute of .the institution itself, but is merely the. crest of Sir Thomas Gresham, its founder. . ..The vrines of, many, old London ■churdhes.. are the conventional emblems of . their . respective patron saints;, .henc.e the key on the spire of Peter’s, Corrihill,.,and the gridiron on that of St. Lawrence, Jewry. On the other, hand', the. ..dragon on St. Mary-ie-riow is heraldic, being the supporter, of. the: city..arhis. Among secular buildings that. o£. the Hudson’s Bay Company, .in Bjsliopsgate, is notable for its gilded beaver, indicating one of the company’s chief , sources of revehjie,, . The lifelike cock over one of . the markets in . Smithfield conveys a siriiilar -allusion to an item of. trade, just. as...dries, the sacred codfish seen Over many a building in New England. ... , . - •

Considering the antiquity of weather vanes, it is remarkable that the pictorial possibilities, .of these structures have been most fully realised in quite recent times in the 'so-called “siUxouetfe” vahes-—eacll forming a dainty tableau against the sky—that now tend advantageously to replace such- standardised effigies as the gilded horse of the stable, the lyre-of the concert hall, and the pen of the academy. Much, fine craftsmanship has been displayed in,.the past 20 or 30 , years in the design , of these silhouettes, which are suitable, as q, rule, only for buildings of moderate height, as their details are indistiguishable at .long ranges.

The original . Diana .of Madson Square Garden was 18ft in height, and was, I believe,. the largest vane in thri. world at the time of its erection It was replaced by a figure. 13ft high, which is likewise the height of the Giraldillo—one of the most famous of weather vanes —surmounting the Gir alda of Seville, from which the tower of the Garden' was imitated. The Giraldillo is a bronze female figure, which embodies the paradox of shifting with every breeze, though meant to symbolise Faith! It was cast by Bartolome Morel in 1568. One of the biggest and most strik ing of old weather vanes is the gild cd dragon at the top of the Beffroi in the heart of the city of Ghent. This curious beast is long and weighs 8771 b. The vane of Berlin Cathedral an angel blowing a trumpet, weighs 15401 b. The Giraldillo at Seville weighs about a ton and a-quarter.