The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-02-08

ARrG0ssiP FROM THE ETERNAL CITY.-This
il the dead season Of art, at least to the fufment
Of ORDERS All IS expectancy. The full staff oil
sculptors and painters have returne to their posts
and studios are opening on all sides to the visiting
and the lionizing public. This public is numerous
compared to that Of by-gone seasons but there is
a general and, ! fear well-founded complaint, that
it is neither distingue nor . money spending
public. Happy they who, like the unaccountably
fortunate Gibson, return from the approving smiles
Of distant royalty and its executive, laden with
foreign commissions! Macdonald has received an
order from Lord Willoughby d Ere:by ior venus
which has already advanced far in the clay, and
promises WELL Il il too early to criticse his as yet
Imperfect expression Of the beauties Of the goddess.
The lover Of sculpture misses sadly the plastic
hand Of poor Wyatt. His studio is still here,
tenanted BY his exquisite nymphs, his grave and
noble Penelope, his touching and simple shepherd
boy Every object seems to sorrow for the genius
snatched away in its most palmy days. 80,
Wyatt has not been done justice to. In the line
to which he had devoted himself, he was supreme
none could excel him in portraying, with charming
grace and exquisite delcacy the form and features
Of female beauty. He had most refined taste
His nymphs, entirely nude, or but slightly draped,
illustrate this admirably Not ideazed to abstrac-
ton, they present the attitudes and features Of
women raised to the beauty, dignity and modesty
Of more than nature. The grave, pensivc and dig
ni6ed beauty Of the Penelope," majestically
draped, attess the feeling with which the sculptor
has studied high Greek art. All his works are
carefully studied and admirably composed, present
ing aways EVIDENCES Of that soundness of judgment
and refnernento Of taste which were wholly appre-
cated only in Rome, and were frequently applied
to by his brethren ii art No artist of any age
could surpass Wyatt in that exquisite finish which
the ma1ter-hand can give to marble. During the
process, the work with him never lost in force. In
this respect he far exceled Canova more than
equalling in finish, while he escaped the feebeness
to which that great restorer of art was prone.
Wyatt had occasion to introduce animals in three
or four Of his groups, whether alive still These
are carefully studied and adequately rendered,
showing that he possessed greater versatility Of
talent than has usually been conceded to him.
Amongst his sketches, found after his death, are
several which, ifcompleted as he would have com
pleted them, would have added largely to his fame
At the moment of his death he had just finished
his Venus in sketch, which was to have been his
work for the 1t is greatly to be regretted
that he was not permitted to put this on record as
finished work. 1t was beautiful and is supposed
TO represent that triumphant moment in " The
Judgment Of Paris " when Cupid aids the God
dess Of Love in removing the last remnant Of dra-
sry'and displays to the enraptured judge the tou
easess6fc that determines his fatal verdict Wyatt's
studio is, as have said, still open; where several
repcttions Of former works in progress at the
time Of his death. Arrangements are being made
for repliche " of Others. 1t is to be hoped that
these will be carefully noted, that in future times
there may be no danger of o commercial spirit
damaging genius in its claim to fame. [Atheneum.