The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-01-08
Statue of Calhoun.

The Charleston correspondent Of the Columbia
Telegraph INDUCES in some very appropriate COM
ments on this work:
" He sadly erred in representing Mr. Calhoun pointing TO
the SCROLL upon which were inscribed the words truth Jus
ce and the constitution, making with each other az angle
ing, was it a peculiarly Of MIR. Calhoun"
He then objects to the drapery which is the
classic toga:
Ths partially for the antique shown be out Of place.
design Of he work The object 70 he hearts
isrty, vivid recollection Of The and intellectual worth
81 y me s edSns a Of
hpu9a patriot and statesman Of South Carolina who flour
sign the palmetto placed him upon the soil Of South Caro-
era Why the Palmetto trunk that grows so
Why not neglect all the unites of time and place?''
We most heartily concur in these remarks. Why
should the costume of Greece and Rome be the
only fit dress for heroes and statesmen? The
blue and buff" of Washington-the short coat
and cooked hat of Napoleon, are part and parcel
of the men. The white plume of Navarre-the
splendid fnery of Murat, are identified with their
characters.
We have before an engraving after Canova's
Colossal Statue of Napoleon 1t represents him
nude, with the Grecan military cloak thrown on
the left arm, the hand holding long sceptre, while
the right grasps dminutve globe, and perched on
it the figure of winged Victory holding crown in
her hand. The right leg rests the trunk of a
tree, from which shoots the mste,oe and to it the
Roman sword is suspended by its belt. The fea-
lures are copy Of Napoleon's face, which was one
that painters call the heroic. But certainly this
statue cannot be said to be in any degree copy of
the man. In works of imagination, the artist may
follow his own taste, and give his statues the ORA
pery--or no drapery-he may select. The Count
ess of Abrizzi thus speaks of Canova's Psyche and
censufes his lastidiousness which robed her limbs
ga light drapery Of brilliant whiteness and of the finest
natural tins of the flesh, and doe honor che
WHY. Psyche conceal beneath that envious vest Thy
lovely limbs when, yee only in thy nervousness and art
eyes upon thee become pure and guiltless thyelt
. The same may be said of Powers Greek
Slave" and "Eve." Statues of the gods, too,
should be nude. But why Washington or Napo.
leon should be stripped of their clothes and either
left naked or wrapped in the cllamys of the Greeks
or the toga of the Romans, is beyond our compre-
tension. A writer in the North American Review
of 1929, thus speaks Of this classic drapery as re-
CARDS statues of modern heroes:
However superior naked figures and flowing draperies
@da s re- to Be- and d Ba
portraits, whether in painting sculpture, be clothed
IN the costume which the represented habitualy
a fine statue, or fine painting, not ue portrait il it
does not copy nature inhe statue OF Napoleon we hardly
recognize the well known form and features and disap-
pointed instead of being graied by the ideal perfection Of
the guie The nearest possible approach the person
Boiaparte as the first campaign of Italy. with
modern military costume would have produced, as poIait
Infinitely more effect. -
To return to the statue of Napoleon. He pre-
terred the modern costume, but yielded reluctantly
to the opinions of The artist Mssrlni's ode to the
falflled 1t now graces the palace of the Duke of
Wellington, 1t speaks but poorly for the delcacy
of the Iron Duke" that he should retain it. In