How a Marble Statue is Made.
Mr. John A. P. Macbride, sculptor, who was introduced to a large audience, chiefly of workingmen, by Sir James Picton, recently gave a practical lecture on the above subject, at the Rotunda lecture hall, Liverpool. After giving a sketch of the art and its great antiquity, the lecturer drew a profile in chalk on the blackboard, which he filled in with clay, and proceeded to demonstrate the building up and modeling of a portrait bust of soft clay. He stated that there was a general and erroneous opinion that in taking a portrait bust it was necessary to take a cast of the face. This was a mistake, for the head lost all the spirit and go by such a mechanical process that should distinguish an artist’s work. The truth was not always that which appeared to be true, and the sculptor had to convey some idea of the character as well as of the mind of the sitter; and a man who knew his work ought to be able to do so with his fingers. Carving was a secondary consideration. The lecturer then explained the process of pointing a marble statue. In this process, the model and the block of marble were each fixed on a base called a scale stone, to which a standard vertical rod could be attached at corresponding centers, having at its upper end a sliding needle, so adapted by a movable joint as to be set at any angle and fastened by a screw when set. The sculptor having marked the governing points with a pencil on the model, the instrument was applied to these, and the measure taken. The standard being then transferred to the block base, the pointer, guided by this measure, cuts away the marble, taking care to leave it rather larger than the model, so that the general proportions were kept, and the more important work then left for the sculptor’s hand.—Building News.
About 5,500 buildings have been rebuilt and improved in Charleston, S. C., in the year since the earthquake, and 270 new buildings have been erected. This has been a busy year with mechanics and builders at Charleston, and about $3,500,000 has been expended in this work.