The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-07 00:00:00

HORTICULTURAL GARDENS

On Tuesday afternoon the Exhibition of Sculp-
ture by living artists, which is to form a permanent
attraction to these gardens during the summer
months of each season, was opened to the public.
The idea of an exhibition of this kind each year at
these gardens originated with the late Prince Con-
sort, though, as the grounds themselves were scarcely
completed at the time of his lamented death, no
steps were taken towards carrying out the plan un-
til recently, when the matter was intrusted to a
committee of five artists—Messrs. Foley, Marshall,
Weekes, and Woodington, with Mr. Stephens as
secretary. The result of the labours of these gen-
tlemen, as far as they can be judged by the groups
which they have brought together, may now be seen
at the gardens, where they are distributed in the
conservatory and arcades or placed about the
grounds themselves, which they decidedly improve
and fill up in a pleasing manner, though the illu-
sion in some cases disappears on a closer inspection
of some of the groups themselves.
Before the public were admitted their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales paid
a private visit to the exhibition. They were re-
ceived on their arrival by the President of the 09-
ciety, the Duke of Buccleuch, Sir Wentworth Dilke,
Mr. Wilson Saunders, the hon. secretary, Mr. Kelk,
and the whole of the members of the Council. Thus
attended, their Royal Highnesses passsd some time
in inspecting the groups sent in, which include
works from such artists as Woodington,Passwortii,
Weekes, Noble, Monti, Foley, M'Dowell, Thorney-
croft, Fontana, Durham, Bell, Adams, Calder, Mar-
shall, Stephens, Davis, and many others. Such names
ought to give promise of as good a collection of
English works as the sculptor's art among us is able
to produce ; but, with few exceptions, the groups
shown are nearly all in plaster, and even in this
material are only reduced copies of important ori-
ginals. A large part of the collection also is made
up of busts of various persons, which, when they
are those of such eminent men as Napier or Wel-
lington, are, though not new, interesting enough ;
though the same cannot be said of rows of esquires
and professors who, even if exhibited in the flesh,
would fail to draw attention, and who certainly
gain nothing in attractiveness by being introduced
to the public through a plaster-medium. Some of
these, however, are exceedingly well done, and,
whether like the originals or not, are at least busts
that are natural and full of character, and in which
the artist has contrived to escape the traditional
bust-like look which generally makes these me-
mentoes so stonily significant of lack of skill.
Among the marble groups will be found Calder
Marshall's well•known statue of " Ophelia," so
touching in its exquisite sorrow, in the perfect
abandonment of grief that is embodied in the very
outline of the ball-drooping figure. Near it is an-
other by the same artist," The Young Briton." The
interest of this fine conception is, we venture to
think, lessened by the extreme youth of the Briton
in question, who, though represented as being in-
vested by his mother with the dead father's torque,
is of sn age at which the degenerate Britons of the
present day are scarcely weaned. Westmscott's
celebrated statue of " The Peri" is also in the Con-
servatory, and near it is a pretty copy of Mr.
Miller's group of " Emily and the Doe of Ryhl-
stone," which many of our readers will reollect
was reproduced with such perfection by Col eland
in the Exhibition of last year. Out on the terrace

in front of the Conservatory is Durham's great
statue of the Queen, in bronze, surrounded by the
attributes of " Peace," which was originally in-
tended as the cro vning statue for the Memorial of
the International Exhibition of 1851. This fine
figure has been produced in metal by Messrs. Elk-
iogton's process of depositing by electrotype. It
is a splendid specimen of this branch of scientific
reproduction of works of art. By this method the
cost of bronze statues is reduced to less than one-
half, and all risk of imperfect castings, of course,
entirely done away with. As our readers are aware
this figure is not to surmount the Memorial, but in
its place will be one of the late Prince by the same
artist. This figure has also been completed by
Messrs. Elkington, and will be fixed on the pedestal
in a few days more, to be ready for the public in-
auguration by the Prince and Princess of %Vales in
June next. There are several other fine models of
figures in the collection of statuary, such as
Weekes's " Young Naturalist," Lawlot's "Bather,"
Durham's " Parting of Paul and Virginia," Foley's
" Youth at a Stream," Miller's "Evangeline," &c.,
each and all of which as individual examples de-
serve commendation. The collection, as a whole,
however, must by no means be taken as a fair ex-
ample of the state of the sculptor's art in England
at the present day. Some of our best sculptors have
not contributed at all, though it is not likely, after
this exhibition, that they will suffer themselves to
remain unrepresented next year.

The Council of the Horticultural Society are now
busily employed in preparations to make the in-
auguration of the Prince Consort's Memorial on
the 10th of Jane as effective and as important a dis-
play as becomes the occasion.
As it is important that the Council should be
Able to judge of the numbers likely to be present
at the ceremonial, they have decided that the price
of cards of admission shall be 15s. each if purchased
on or before May 27 (the day of the first great
floral exhibition), £1 up to June 9 inclusive, and
£1 10s. on the day of the ceremony. The Council
have also decided that each Fellow of 1,2 2s, (or
20 guineas) shall be entitled at any time up to May
27 to purchase three tickets at half-price. and fel-
lows of £4 4s. (or 40 guineas) six tickets.
The Princess of Wales having signified her wil-
lingness to become a Fellow of the Royal Horti-
cultural Society, the Council have called a special
meeting of the society for Saturday, May 16, for the
purpose of electing her Royal Highness.