Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-08-06

OUR NATIONAL SCULPTURES.
TO TIE EDITORS.

b;cb Mr. is to execute in bronze colossal statute of
WAsH1ScroS for of the public places in the
tropolis.
Before the design be rreyocaby determined it may be
well to suggest consideration OF some OF the principles
by which great work of this branch may be known
from inferior and to examine what has been done
in the light of those principles.
Mr. Mills will certainly excuse any criticism of his pre-
yous work which may suggest real faults the avoidance
of which may enable him to produce work that viii
stand as above his Jackson the character Of
the Father of his Country overtops that of his
1t win be obvious that work of monumental statuary
must embody the three main constituents of the character
represented viz his WILL his intellect his activity and
further that any work great proportion the higher
of these constituents developed mere physical ike
nesses being supposed in all cases.
mans characteristic attitude motion may be rep
resented in the statuesome trick of mauner with
racy of costume and feature So far it is recognizable
But suppose the made to eMbody idea
of the mans intellectual capacity The expression Of
concentration rather abstraction from surrounding
circumstanGes Of his thought win produce very differ
treatment from the above. The trick Of attitude
such when he is in action, must give way in
measure to physical repose The power of the imper
sonaton is Of traits which are in measure in
dependent of attitude and costume We have got deeper
IN the real man. and recognise in the work something
OF the intellect that guides If get all this we
can give up the accessories such peculiar position and
costume, for the sake of the higher qualities
But further We erect our statues in honor of heroes
or those whom suppose be heroes Do find that
the intellect and the powers of activity make the hero
BY no means There is the steam to be accounted for
which uses the boiler and drives the piston, and makes
these turn the wheels of the final machinery.
II is will Tor character in the proper of the word
that makes the hero. Will is the internal motive power
that drives intellect and activity wherever it s them to
60 They never dobey Now, if put this superhuman
and intense fire of will las of Washington Jackson
our statue, may give up not only of the activity
but some Of the intellect also For in fact it is in real
life The heroic rarely the most intellectual or most
active. They intellectual and active men, They
drive the pstons and the levers and the whole machinery
over which they preside moves
Now, to return few steps. 1t is in the moment
OF heros action that the observer sees his power |
speak from experimental observation Seek the man of
power when he is quiet when his immediate environ
ment is forgotten when he sits among the satellites and
his distracted gaze takes of spiritual entities when
his great purposes stand mraged before him. and he for
gets the desert and the precpce orgets the failing and
merely physical instruments with which he labor
and his intensity of viii almost brings his heroic future
10 his footstoo without the intervening toll and danger
Ii the action be represented we see only partial re-
suit, for no mans ideal is fully accomplished and
IN nine cases out of ten that partial result without
any of the labored thoughts or riumphing will by which
it was achieved
Let illustrate these views by reference to Mr. Mllss
statue Of Jackson The horse rearing and the rider
holding the reins with hand has raised his chapeau
with the other high above his head 1t has been stated that
the moment intended to be represented is that which
Jackson at the battle of New Orleans gave an order to
advance. What the Of the order? Was it
not will and courage Did not the order contemplate
careful forethought and completed arrangements with
of moral force sufficient to counterbalance all
thoughts Of physical pain DEATH And this rear
ing OF horse does the lifting Of hat express the ideal
of all this There cool observation cool deliberate
thought moment in which the roaring cannon the rat
Ting musketry, the flying balls unheard, and the
mind quickly grasped the aspect Of the field and the
al power Of army (high themes these) the word
was spoken. That twas the moment to represent.
The horse did not then, the chapeau not up
raised, but the hero sat STILL and, eye and lip unmoyed
ministered SOULS purposes. Any slave could speak
the word charge J" bat knowledge and decision deter
mined the "when"
The moment then lily chosen for the statue. II
the hero that see but subaltern passing the
word.
But there several more practical considerations in
yolved To one who possesses sensbites keen enough
10 Judge Of real excellence Of truly fine art
the suggested by the continuance Of the horse
in position in which no horse sustain himself for
more than moment and the continuance Of the riders
nrm in position in which keep his arm for
three minutes is sufficiently disturbing and annoying to
interfere most seriously and fatally with any i'm
preston which should be produced by the supposed
higher qualities Of the work The fault is however not
only the rearing Of the horse and the raising Of the
is also in the fact that they supposed to be the
result Of the actual tension Of the muscles the
Apparent action may sometimes be tolerated in parts of
statue If the action be upon its decine-hat is in the
moment after the violent muscular action occurred for
the mind then worried with the impossbty Of
unceasng muscular tension. This is the with the
statue Of Jefferson, Gin front Of the Presidents house,
But many fine statues have been sculptured in which
violent action Is seen" Not 50. No such statue was
ever good can be. The LAGOON is the uni
yersal reference Even this celebrated group has been
proven by Sir Chas Bell and John Ruskin to be utterly
destitute Of any other than technical merits merely
Repose then, is the first principle, the real vitality Of
sculpture Without it all is mean with it something must
be noble. All the noblet paintings in the world las well
sculptures show this to be truth There is no great
picture, great FORM great statue, great work Of
architecture in which repose is prevalent than
action is.
True, this sweeps away neorly all Irrational
sculptures !" refuses Greenoughs Washington Persco's
Columbus Miss Jackson the ticket Of Immortality That
is merely consequence Of q truth which is higher
than the works that violate il truth which must be
knowledged and humbly followed before have
good statue in the Capitol Let the sculptor regard il