copper-plates in which he traded during his trip to the Netherlands (1520). But Grün’s prints, though Düreresque, are far below Dürer, and his paintings are below his prints. Without absolute correctness as a draughtsman, his conception of human form is often very unpleasant, whilst a questionable taste is shown in ornament equally profuse and “baroque.” Nothing is more remarkable in his pictures than the pug-like shape of the faces, unless we except the coarseness of the extremities. No trace is apparent of any feeling for atmosphere or light and shade. Though Grün has been commonly called the Correggio of the north, his compositions are a curious medley of glaring and heterogeneous colours, in which pure black is contrasted with pale yellow, dirty grey, impure red and glowing green. Flesh is a mere glaze under which the features are indicated by lines. His works are mainly interesting because of the wild and fantastic strength which some of them display. We may pass lightly over the “Epiphany” of 1507, the “Crucifixion” of 1512, or the “Stoning of Stephen” of 1522, in the Berlin Museum. There is some force in the “Dance of Death” of 1517, in the museum of Basel, or the “Madonna” of 1530, in the Liechtenstein Gallery at Vienna. Grün’s best effort is the altarpiece of Freiburg, where the “Coronation of the Virgin,” and the “Twelve Apostles,” the “Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity and Flight into Egypt,” and the “Crucifixion,” with portraits of donors, are executed with some of that fanciful power which Martin Schön bequeathed to the Swabian school. As a portrait painter he is well known. He drew the likeness of Charles V., as well as that of Maximilian; and his bust of Margrave Philip in the Munich Gallery tells us that he was connected with the reigning family of Baden as early as 1514. At a later period he had sittings from Margrave Christopher of Baden, Ottilia his wife, and all their children, and the picture containing these portraits is still in the grand-ducal gallery at Carlsruhe. Like Dürer and Cranach, Grün became a hearty supporter of the Reformation. He was present at the diet of Augsburg in 1518, and one of his woodcuts represents Luther under the protection of the Holy Ghost, which hovers over him in the shape of a dove.
GRÜNBERG, a town of Germany, in Prussian Silesia, beautifully
situated between two hills on an affluent of the Oder,
and on the railway from Breslau to Stettin via Küstrin, 36 m.
N.N.W. of Glogau. Pop. (1905) 20,987. It has a Roman Catholic
and two Evangelical churches, a modern school and a technical
(textiles) school. There are manufactures of cloth, paper,
machinery, straw hats, leather and tobacco. The prosperity
of the town depends chiefly on the vine culture in the neighbourhood,
from which, besides the exportation of a large quantity
of grapes, about 700,000 gallons of wine are manufactured
annually.
GRUNDTVIG, NIKOLAI FREDERIK SEVERIN (1783–1872),
Danish poet, statesman and divine, was born at the parsonage
of Udby in Zealand on the 8th of September 1783. In 1791 he
was sent to live at the house of a priest in Jutland, and studied
at the free school of Aarhuus until he went up to the university
of Copenhagen in 1800. At the close of his university life he
made Icelandic his special study, until in 1805 he took the position
of tutor in a house on the island of Langeland. The next three
years were spent in the study of Shakespeare, Schiller and Fichte.
His cousin, the philosopher Henrik Steffens, had returned to
Copenhagen in 1802 full of the teaching of Schelling and his
lectures and the early poetry of Öhlenschläger opened the eyes
of Grundtvig to the new era in literature. His first work, On the
Songs in the Edda, attracted no attention. Returning to Copenhagen
in 1808 he achieved greater success with his Northern
Mythology, and again in 1809–1811 with a long epic poem, the
Decline of the Heroic Life in the North. The boldness of the
theological views expressed in his first sermon in 1810 offended
the ecclesiastical authorities, and he retired to a country parish
as his father’s assistant for a while. From 1812 to 1817 he published
five or six works, of which the Rhyme of Roskilde is the
most remarkable. From 1816 to 1819 he was editor of a polemical
journal entitled Dannevirke, and in 1818 to 1822 appeared his
Danish paraphrases (6 vols.) of Saxo Grammaticus and Snorri.
During these years he was preaching against rationalism to an
enthusiastic congregation in Copenhagen, but he accepted in
1821 the country living of Praestö, only to return to the metropolis
the year after. In 1825 he published a pamphlet, The Church’s
Reply, against H. N. Clausen, who was professor of theology in
the university of Copenhagen. Grundtvig was publicly prosecuted
and fined, and for seven years he was forbidden to preach,
years which he spent in publishing a collection of his theological
works, in paying two visits to England, and in studying Anglo-Saxon.
In 1832 he obtained permission to preach again, and in
1839 he became priest of the workhouse church of Vartov
hospital, Copenhagen, a post he continued to hold until his death.
In 1837–1841 he published Songs for the Danish Church, a rich
collection of sacred poetry; in 1838 he brought out a selection
of early Scandinavian verse; in 1840 he edited the Anglo-Saxon
poem of the Phoenix, with a Danish translation. He
visited England a third time in 1843. From 1844 until after the
first German war Grundtvig took a very prominent part in
politics. In 1861 he received the titular rank of bishop, but
without a see. He went on writing occasional poems till 1866,
and preached in the Vartov every Sunday until a month before
his death. His preaching attracted large congregations, and he
soon had a following. His hymn-book effected a great change
in Danish church services, substituting the hymns of the national
poets for the slow measures of the orthodox Lutherans. The
chief characteristic of his theology was the substitution of the
authority of the “living word” for the apostolic commentaries,
and he desired to see each congregation a practically independent
community. His patriotism was almost a part of his religion,
and he established popular schools where the national poetry
and history should form an essential part of the instruction.
His followers are known as Grundtvigians. He was married three
times, the last time in his seventy-sixth year. He died on the
2nd of September 1872. Grundtvig holds a unique position in
the literature of his country; he has been styled the Danish
Carlyle. He was above all things a man of action, not an artist;
and the formless vehemence of his writings, which have had a
great influence over his own countrymen, is hardly agreeable
or intelligible to a foreigner. The best of his poetical works were
published in a selection (7 vols., 1880–1889) by his eldest son,
Svend Hersleb Grundtvig (1824–1883), who was an authority on
Scandinavian antiquities, and made an admirable collection of
old Danish poetry (Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, 1853–1883,
5 vols.; completed in 1891 by A. Olrik).
His correspondence with Ingemann was edited by S. Grundtvig (1882); his correspondence with Christian Molbech by L. Schröder (1888); see also F. Winkel Horn, Grundtvigs Liv og Gjerning (1883); and an article by F. Nielsen in Bricka’s Dansk Biografisk Lexikon.
GRUNDY, SYDNEY (1848– ), English dramatist, was born
at Manchester on the 23rd of March 1848, son of Alderman
Charles Sydney Grundy. He was educated at Owens College,
Manchester, and was called to the bar in 1869, practising in
Manchester until 1876. His farce, A Little Change, was produced
at the Haymarket Theatre in 1872. He became well known
as an adapter of plays, among his early successes in this direction
being The Snowball (Strand Theatre, 1879) from Oscar, ou le
mari qui trompe sa femme by MM. Scribe and Duvergne, and
In Honour Bound (1880) from Scribe’s Une Chaîne. In 1887
he made a popular success with The Bells of Haslemere, written
with Mr H. Pettitt and produced at the Adelphi. In 1889–1890
he produced two ingenious original comedies, A White Lie
(Court Theatre) and A Fool’s Paradise (Gaiety Theatre), which
had been played two years earlier at Greenwich as The Mouse-Trap.
These were followed by Sowing the Wind (Comedy, 1893),
An Old Jew (Garrick, 1894), and by an adaptation of Octave
Feuillet’s Montjoye as A Bunch of Violets (Haymarket, 1894). In
1894 he produced The New Woman and The Slaves of the Ring;
in 1895, The Greatest of These, played by Mr and Mrs Kendal
at the Garrick Theatre; The Degenerates (Haymarket, 1899),
and A Debt of Honour (St James’s 1900). Among Mr Grundy’s
most successful adaptations were the charming Pair of Spectacles
(Garrick, 1890) from Les Petits Oiseaux of MM. Labiche and