A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

There are many amusing anecdotes told of his absentmindedness about everything not connected with his art. Miss Harriet Hosmer was his only pupil, and she said of him: "He is a god in his studio, but God help him when he is out of it." He never could master the ins and outs of railroad travelling, and even when put in the right train at the right time he would be sure to get out at the wrong place at the wrong time.

On one of his journeys, when he supposed he was at the right place, he got out and asked the porter to show him the way to the cathedral. In his own account he said: "But the scoundrel would have it there was no cathedral in the place, and at last had the impudence to ask me if I knew where I was. Then I discovered that instead of being in Chichester, where I had a particular appointment with the dean and chapter, I was safe in Portsmouth, where there was no cathedral at all."

The time has not come for any comprehensive estimate of the sculpture of our own country. So many of our artists are still living that it would be unjust to speak of them in connection with those whose work is complete and whose rank is fixed as a matter of history. We have no right to say of one who is still working that he has reached his full height, and even after death a certain period must elapse before the true merit of an artist can be established and his name written in its just place upon the roll of fame. So, in leaving this subject, we will turn again to the land of which we first spoke in considering modern sculpture. In Italy this art has not risen above the elevation to which Canova and Thorwaldsen brought it; for though the last was a Dane, his work may truly be said to belong to the Roman school. We must regard Italy as the land of art in a peculiar sense, but it is easy to understand that under the political misfortunes which she has suffered an advance in artistic life could not be made. Now, when a new spirit is active there, and a freer thought prevails in other directions, may we not believe that in the arts there will be a revival of the best inspiration that has ever come to that home of grace and beauty?

As we glance over the entire civilized world of to-day we find an immense activity in all matters pertaining to the fine arts. Schools and academies are multiplied everywhere, and the interest in works of art is universal. Many a private gentleman is to-day as liberal a patron of artists as were the princes and nobles of the past. It is as if there were a vast crucible in which artists of all nations are being tested, and from this testing of their metal it would seem that much pure gold must come forth.

As we review the history of sculpture from its earliest days to the present, we are compelled to linger lovingly with the Greek or classic art. The period in which it existed was a blessed period for the sculptor. We all know that the best foundation for the excellence of art is the study and reproduction of nature, and in the times of the Greeks there was no reason why the human form, the most beautiful object in nature, should not be used by the sculptor for the decoration of the temple, for the statues of the public square or theatre, or for any position in which sculpture could be used at all. The customs of modern life are opposed to this free exhibition of nude forms, and the difficulties that are thrown in the way of the sculptor by this one fact are almost more than we can realize; and the task of draping a figure and yet showing its shape and indicating its proper proportions and action is one before which even a Greek sculptor would have reason to doubt himself.

On the other hand, when a sculptor does succeed in producing a draped figure which satisfies artistic taste, he has achieved much, and merits the highest praise. A drapery which has gracefully composed masses and flowing lines adds great dignity to the figure of a patriarch or a prophet, and there are numerous subjects, religious and monumental, in which a full, graceful drapery is requisite; but when, as is often the case, the sculptor is required to reproduce the actual costume of the day, what can we look for? The truth is, it has no grace in itself; what, then, must it be when put into the fixedness of bronze or marble? Yet where is the remedy for this? We do not wish to see the men whom we have known and who have moved among us in the dress of other men put into an antique disguise by the sculptor; the incongruity of this is too apparent. Much has been written and said upon these points, and no solution of the difficulty has been found; but it is only just that when we judge of the statues made under such difficulties, we should remember them and give the artist the benefit of the consideration of all the hindrances that exist for him.

Westmacott, in his "Handbook of Sculpture," gives as his "Conclusion" an account of the mechanical methods of the sculptor, and I believe that I can add nothing here which will be of greater use to my readers than a quotation from that author.

"The artist, having invented or conceived his subject, usually begins by making a small sketch of it in some soft and obedient substance, as clay or wax. He can change or alter this at his pleasure till he is satisfied with the lines and masses of the composition, and the proportions it will command of light and shadow. He then proceeds to copy this small but useful sketch, as his guide, in its general arrangement, for his full-sized model. Before commencing the larger model it is necessary to form a sort of skeleton or framework of iron and wood, with joints made of wire, to support the great mass of clay in which the figure or group is now to be executed. This iron frame is firmly fixed upon a turning bench, or banker, so that the model may be constantly moved without difficulty, so as to be seen in different lights and in various points of view. As the clay is likely to shrink as it gets dry, it is necessary occasionally to wet it. This is done by sprinkling water over it with a brush, or from a large syringe, and by laying damp cloths upon it. This is the ordinary process for making a model in the 'round.'

"In modelling in rilievo of either kind, alto or basso, a plane or ground is prepared upon which the design is, or should be, carefully drawn. This may be made of clay floated or laid upon a board, or the ground may be of slate, or even of wood, though the latter is objectionable, in large works especially, from its liability to shrink and to be warped by the action of damp or moisture. The clay is then laid in small quantities upon this ground, the outline being bounded by the drawing, which should be carefully preserved; and the bulk or projection of the figures is regulated by the degree of relief the sculptor desires to give to his design.

"If the final work is to be baked in clay (terra-cotta) there must be no iron or wooden nucleus, as it would interfere with the model drying regularly and uniformly, and probably cause it to crack in shrinking. The model is therefore prepared for drying without such support. When perfectly free from moisture the model is placed in an oven and baked slowly, by which it acquires great hardness and the peculiar brownish-red color seen in these works. This art has been brought to great perfection in England in modern days.