The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-02-13

enrieh this wonderful studio. This gallery OF
which hnyc spoken, corresponding gallery on
the opposite side Of the courtyard, aDd.a lesser
one connecting the two, and where towers the
astounding head Of the awful Bavaria" are
4 crowded with works more or less successful
from the brain and hand Of this great sculptor,
who died in his forty-sixth year, and the last
ten years Of whose life was an almost incessaIit
lnartyrdom
"Schwanthaler's works may be devided into
three classes Firstly, those belonging to the
old Scandinavian world, and the age Of Sagn,
OF which tho Bavaria, the Hermann and the Lii
bussa may be taken as the types secondly, She
mediaval and thirdIy--alas, that Schwanthaler
should have succumbed to the dire necessity =
portraits. There are various colossal and Illus
trlous dukes, electors, kings and emperors, to
whom no has certainly succeeded in giving an
air OF stern dignity; and there are various monu-
ments to men ilustrious in other ways,---as
Goethe, Jean Paul, &c:---but all these statutes
are very mediocre in the presence Of the Her
mann, the Libussa, or even the four statues of
the Rivers, which adorn fountain in Vienna
"Schwanthaler revelled in the old legendary
world his subjects are bards and seers as well
as warriors and amazons The Lbussa is us
unique as the old Bohemian legend itself Once
having seen that gloriously beautiful damscl,
with her understandable conference.-the which
is a strange minging Of the amazon, the enchan-
tress and the loving woman--who can forget
her! Yet who can describe her, as she stands
there in her power and dignity, the massey waves
Of hair flowing down from her shoulders--the
rich folds of her somewhat quaint drapery fall
ing in ample abundance round her noble form
one strong yet exquisitely moulded hand resting
on her hip, whilst the other holds an unfolded
scroll! Yes, precisely thus must she have stood
when consulted by her future husband, then a
poor knight as to his fate in life-and when
the astounding future, which she will scarcely
acknowledge to herself, much less to him, has
been revealed to her. Thus must she have stood
as she said, swat till the evening, when-hav-
ing consulted my books will tell thee % And
again when evening came, and she said, SWAT
till the dawn, when / shall have consulted my
dream"
"There is the beautiful Melusina, also; and
there number of nymphs and river gods all be-
longing to this class, full of spirit as grand as
that Of the antique, but totally different"
| The visitor next passed to the house. of the
artist, where he is said to have passed a dreary,
solitary and fantastic life, some Indications Of
which are still preserved in the various arrange
ments of his dwelling:
"The house appears to consist of but one suit
l L
or three steps, and find yourself in simply fur
nished but elegant sitting-room-of course with
an unexpected floor. Various pictures hang
about the walls--none, however, of remarkable
excellence; variety of sun.pctures Of his
| friends, and views of the Bavaria" The walls
it ! remember correctly, are sef-colored green;
and the most striking feature of the room is, a
few statuettes placed on brackets Above the
sofa hang the sculptors first and last sketches
The first sketch, or rather carving, is rude, lit
tie quaint bas-relief, in black wooden frame !;
twoq quaint old figures drinking, if mistake not,
and round it hangs withered wreath of hay
The last skatch is, the figure of warrior
drawn in charcoal.
"A lesser room opens from this one its char
acter, however, is the same. Nevertheless, few
things struck me in it. Fronting the door is a
shrine of medieval character, although of
modern workmanship One of those shrines
!; with folding-doors- The figure within it seemed
to be neither Madonna nor n commonplace
saint, but an angel with out-stretched wings
Just within the shrine stood two little swans
each with little piece Of money suspended by a
blue ribbon from its neck-a play upon his own
name, Schaoan haler. The other thing which
caught my attention was singular drinking cup
formed from tree root; its stem cured and twisted
in strange, grotesque manner, swelled out to
form the cup, which was lined with gold The
lid or cover was mass of small roots and strange
knobs and defOrmed growths. AS you looked
more attentively at it, behold you saw figure
of knight fighting his way through those roots
as tn, ough the stems Of an enchanted forest ;
now he rested and slept, now he was Hospitality
entertained by a hermit in his cell. 1t is a
queer grotesque drinking cup. Schwanthaler
had carved it at his leisure, and was very fond OF
it; he and his friends used to drink out of it on
his birth and name days
1--WE next entered his bed chamber, which
opened out Of this room, and was also on the
ground floor; quiet, holy-lookng little room
Some pictures were hung on the wallis and on
the porcelain stone stood statute of Thorwald.
sens Christ. The window opens into the garden
and the branches of vine are twined across it
so as in summer to form lovely green blind Of
leaves,-which is by no means uncommon here
and the effect of which is very pretty and poet
ical. Here stood the bed on which the sculpto,
had died,-where his eyes had closed upon this
world. Strange, wild tales are told of his last
illness, as he lay on his bed Wild visions even
then haunted his brain, which he realized around
him. Sometimes he would have men brought
} from the studio and arrayed in quaint old armor
and whilst they fought and wrestled before him
he would lie and dream of combats and tourna
ments. have heard also that very short time
before his DEATH on the name-day' of n rela
tive and good friend of his, he moulded in clay
as he lay on his bed, figure of his friend and
had II laid out, ] believe, as though it were
dead,-whilst two of the workmen from the
studio, distinguished as good and evils spirits
contended for the body,--the evil one much to
the poor friends CONSERVATION, bearing off the
prize, Shortly after, in this very chamber, still
stranger visions-visions more awful than even
! his imagination could conjure up-burst on him
and he himself had to pass through more mys
ferrous struggle than any combat in romance
the struggle Of death!
; "The cousin Of Schwanthaer, who went
; through the house with u.s. brought out from a
cabinet in his chamber two plastic maskss-one
; taken when he was about sixteen, refined del
icate face, with n sensitive expression about the
:, youthful lips; the other taken after death, the
; same face, bat how matured by thought, labor
pan,-beautful, emacinted, and stamped with
; the seal of DEATH face of one who had
/ suffered intensely, but had attained to peace.