3-000-230 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Oreseeker; a Tale of the Hartz", 1860. Illustration from a "gift-book" by A. S. M. [Macmillan and Co.] 'The pictorial illustrations...are executed by L.C.H...in the silver-mines of Hardenburg, on the confines of the Hartz Mountains...[a miner finds] a magnificent stalactite cave, situated near the mountain town of Elbingerode, and in the rugged cliffs of the Rübeland...it seemed as if Nature had assembled for her solitary pride models of those numerous specimens of art and ornament that man loves to...gather round him in his abodes of refinement and luxury. Above hung curtains of stone, then gigantic folds suspended in drapery more ponderous but at the same time as graceful as the velvet hangings of a throne-room. Around, figures of various forms lifted themselves into the still air, and by the light of the torches shining through them they appeared like statues - now of alabaster, now of coral, and now of silver - while, from above, forms of similar hues stooped down as if inviting those beneath to rise and touch them. Again, where they had met, they appeared to be delicate and transparent pillars supporting the massive roof of the mountain above. Every age, every style of architecture, seemed assembled to adorn this Temple of Nature'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.