pedestal is adorned with allegorical figures and portraits of German princes and generals. Cogtooth mountain railways run up the hill from Rüdesheim and Assmannshausen.
See Spielmann, Niederwald und Nationaldenkmal (Wiesbaden, 1898).
NIEHAUS, CHARLES HENRY (1855–), American sculptor,
of German parentage, was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 24th
of January 1855. He was a pupil of the McMichen School of
Design, Cincinnati, and also studied at the Royal Academy,
Munich, returning to America in 1881; in 1885, after several
years in Rome, he established his studio in New York City. In
1906 he became a National Academician. His principal works
are: a statue of President Garfield, for Cincinnati; the Hahnemann
Memorial, in Washington; “Moses” and “Gibbons,”
for the Congressional Library, and “James A. Garfield,” “John
J. Ingalls,” “William Allen,” and “Oliver P. Morton,” for
Statuary Hall, Capitol, Washington; “Hooker” and “Davenport,”
State House, Hartford, Connecticut; the Astor Memorial
doors, Trinity Church, New York; “General Forrest,” Memphis,
Tennessee; Generals Sherman and Lee, and William the Silent;
“The Scraper; or Greek Athlete using a Strigil”; statues of
Lincoln, Farragut and McKinley, at Muskegon, Michigan; a
statue of McKinley and a lunette for McKinley’s tomb, at Canton,
Ohio; and “The Driller,” at Titusville, Pennsylvania, in memory
of Colonel E. L. Drake, who, in 1859, sank the first oil well in
Pennsylvania.
NIEL, ADOLPHE (1802–1869), marshal of France, was born
at Muret on the 4th of October 1802, and entered the École
Polytechnique in 1821, whence he passed to the engineer school
at Metz, becoming lieutenant in the Engineers in 1827 and
captain in 1833. At the storming of Constantine he led the
engineer detachment with one of the storming parties, and his
conduct gained for him the rank of chef de bataillon (1837).
In 1840 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and in 1846 colonel,
and his next war service was as chief of staff to General Vaillant
during the siege of Rome (1849), after which he was made general
of brigade and director of engineer services at headquarters.
In 1851 he became a member of the Committee of Fortifications,
in the following year a member of the council of state, and in
1853 general of division. In the first part of the Crimean War
he was employed in the expedition to the Baltic, and directed
engineer operations against Bomarsund, but early in 1855 he
was sent to the Crimea, where he succeeded General Bizot as
chief of engineers. For some years he had been the most trusted
military adviser of Napoleon III., and he was now empowered to
advise the generals on the spot in accordance with the wishes of
the sovereign and the home government. This delicate and
difficult task Niel managed to carry out with as much success
as could be expected, and he had the credit of directing the siege
operations against the Malakoff (see Crimean War). His
reward was the grand cross of the Legion of Honour. From 1855
to 1859 he was employed at headquarters, and also served in the
senate. In the war against the Austrians in the latter year (see Italian Wars) Niel commanded the IV. corps, and took a
brilliant part in the battles of Magenta and Solferino. On the
field of battle of Solferino he was made a marshal of France.
After service for some years in a home command, he became
minister of war (1867). In this capacity he drafted and began
to carry out a far-reaching scheme of army reform, based on
universal service and the automatic creation of large reserves,
which needed only time to mature. He also rearmed the whole
of the army with the chassepot rifle. But he did not live to
complete the development of his system. He died on the 13th
of August 1869 in Paris, and a year later the Franco-German War
destroyed the old imperial army upon which the new formations
were to have been grafted.
NIELLO (the Italian form of Lat. nigellum, diminutive of niger, “black”; Late Gr. μελανόν), a method of producing delicate and minute decoration on a polished metal surface by incised lines filled in with a black metallic amalgam. In some cases it is very difficult to distinguish niello from black enamel;
but the black substance differs from true enamel in being metallic,
not vitreous. Our knowledge of the process and materials
employed in niello-work is derived mainly from four writers,—Eraclius
the Roman (a writer probably of the 11th century),
Theophilus the monk, who wrote in the 12th or 13th century,[1]
and, in the 16th century, Benvenuto Cellini[2] and Giorgio Vasari.[3]
The design was cut with a sharp graving tool on the smooth
surface of the metal, which was usually silver, but occasionally
gold or even bronze. An alloy was formed of two parts silver,
one-third copper and one-sixth lead; to this mixture, while
fluid in the crucible, powdered sulphur in excess was added; and
the brittle amalgam, when cold, was finely pounded, and sealed
up in large quills for future use. A solution of borax to act as a
flux was brushed over the metal plate and thoroughly worked
into its incised lines. The powdered amalgam was then shaken
out of the quills on to the plate, so as to completely cover all the
engraved pattern. The plate was now carefully heated over a
charcoal fire, fresh amalgam being added, as the powder fused,
upon any defective places. When the powder had become
thoroughly liquid, so as to fill all the lines, the plate was allowed
to cool, and the whole surface was scraped, so as to remove the
superfluous niello, leaving only what had sunk into and filled up
the engraved pattern. Last of all the nielloed plate was very
highly polished, till it presented the appearance of a smooth
metal surface enriched with a delicate design in fine grey-black
lines. This process was chiefly used for silver work, on account
of the vivid contrast between the whiteness of the silver and the
darkness of the niello. As the slightest scratch upon the metal
received the niello, and became a distinct black line, ornament
of the most minute and refined description could easily be produced.
The earliest specimens of niello belong to the Roman period. Two fine examples are in the British Museum. One is a bronze statuette of a Roman general, nearly 2 ft. high, found at Barking Hall in Suffolk. The dress and armour have patterns partly inlaid in silver and partly in niello. The dark tint of the bronze rather prevents the niello from showing out distinctly. This statuette is apparently a work of the 1st century.[4] The other example is not earlier than the 4th century. It is a silver casket or lady’s toilet box, in which were found an ampulla and other small objects, enriched with niello-work.[5]
From Roman times till the end of the 16th century the art of working in niello seems to have been constantly practised in some part at least of Europe, while in Russia and India it has survived to the present day. From the 6th to the 12th century a large number of massive and splendid works in the precious metals were produced at Byzantium or under Byzantine influence, many of which were largely decorated with niello; the silver dome of the baldacchino over the high altar of S. Sophia was probably one of the most important of these. Niello is frequently mentioned in the inventories of the treasures belonging to the great basilicas of Rome and Byzantium. The Pala d’Oro at S. Mark’s, Venice, 10th century, owes much of its refined beauty to niello patterns in the borders. This art was also practised by Bernward, artist-bishop of Hildesheim (ob. 1023); a fine silver paten, decorated with figures in niello, attributed to his hand, still exists among the many rich treasures in the church of Hanover Palace. Other nielli, probably the work of the same bishop, are preserved in the cathedral of Hildesheim. In France, too, judging both from existing specimens of ecclesiastical plate and many records preserved in church inventories, this mode of decoration must have been frequently applied all through the middle ages: especially fine examples once existed at Notre Dame, Paris, and at Cluny, where the columns of the sanctuary were covered with plates of silver in the 11th century, each plate being richly ornamented with designs in niello. Among the early Teutonic and Celtic races, especially from the 8th to the 11th centuries, both in Britain and other countries, niello was
