Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1854-12-06
STAR.
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

guilty, " The Dying Gladiator" now in the
Capitoline Museum at Rome, which is at this
time on exhibition on At street, near Pennsyl.
yania avenue, is the most remarkable speci-
L men Of the sculptor's beautiful art ever seen
in America. The original has for centuries
been the wonder of the world, the name of
the artist of antiquity who ehiseled it being
II lost.
From the certificates of some of the most
/ celebrated artists of modern times, which We
have obtained permission to publish and here
with append, it will be perceived that the
work now i, Washington is an exact copy of
the world-renowned great original. In itself,
that is, in its execution, it far SURPRISES any
piece of sculpture ever before brought over.
Every muscle and tendon shown in extension.
!, Is as delicately executed, as the sublime work
achieved by the artist in copying the expires.
sion OF MS subject, SO long regarded as the
Hablimity OF the divine art Those who have
| not yet seen this statue, and have never been
abroad, have indeed but faint comprehen-
! sion of the skill of the ancients j sculpture,
CT which the poets and historians have writ.
1 ten 30 eloquently, as far back as the art of
communicating thoughts by written language
extends. 1t Is out OF our power to communi-
late TO the reader even a slight idea of the
EJECT of this work on the beholder. Our Den,
I'VE are free to confess, is inadequate to the
task. 1t must be seen to be appreciated,
billiard, al American traveller of rare taste
and attainments, wrote of it some years ago.
"The last room into which the traveller passes
contains several works of the highest excel
Z lence, and above all, the Dying Gladiator. A
statue CT such surprising merit as this should
have room by itself, for in its presence it is
difficult to look at any thing else. 1t is now
admitted by the best authorities, that the
statue ID dying Gaul and not a gladiator,
INIT N Ia lar ind h. ILL
will cling forever. Byron's immortal stsnza
AN exquisite creation of genius, equal to the
theme which inspired it's alone enough to
fasten 1t there with associations that ca d never
be severed. But there is no work of art re-
specting which such discussions are more intru-
siye or unnecessary. We do not ask whom it
represents, because We are so wholly absor bed
with What II Is. Its power and pathos are in.
dependent OF time, place and condition
Nv hat Is 1t we see before US? A man dy-
ing; nothing more. 1t is that which "opens
10 all men the only inevitable fact in every
life. Nor is it a marked or conspicuous per-
SON He is not hero, or poet, or an orator.
The form is not ideal, the head is not iutellec
tual, the lips are not refined The shadows of
great thoughts never darkened that common
place brow. nor did the touch of beauty ever
thrill along those coarse fbres But the
charm and power of the statue consist in the
amazing truth with which the two great ele.
ments of humanity and mortality are define
ed. A vigorous animal life is suddenly
stopped by the touch Of death, and the sen
sible, warm notion becomes a skneaded
, clod" before our eyes The artist gives US all
the pathos and the tragedy of death, without
its ghastliness and horror. The dying man is
no longer trivial person, stained with coarse
employments and vulgar associations but an
immortal spirit breaking through its wall of
clay. The rags Ct life fall away from him
and he puts on the dignity and grandeur of
death. We feel ourselves in the presence of
that awful power, before whose icy sceptre all
mortal distinctions are levelled. Life and
death are all that, for time, we can admit
into the mind.
GAS the sentiment and expression of this
statue are admirable, so is the mechanical ex
scution of the highest merit The skill with
which the physical effects Of death upon the
human frame are represented is most strongly
felt by those whose professional training and
experience make their judgments on such
points the most valuable. The hair short and
crisp and matted by the sweat Of the death
struggle, the wrinkled brow. the droopinp
I'D, the lips distended with pain, and the sink
ing laDgcur Of the whole frame, give proof of
patient eye and a skilful hand No statue
was ever more marked By simplicity, or more
free from any hing like extravaganza or carl
cature. Such subject presents many temp.
tatlOns, and unless an artists taste and judg-
ment were equal to his genius, he would
hardly have escaped falling into the weak
ness Of OVERRIDING the tragic element, and of
laying, such "a weight upon cur sympathies
that they would have given way under the
pressure. But here nothing has been done for
effect. No vulgar applause is courted, and
the decency and dignity of truth are scrupul.
ously observed.
b IF it be right to judge of works of art sub.
jectively, and not objectiyely-that is, exclu.
sively by the effect which they leave upon the
individual who contemplates them-I should
put this work at the he I'd of all the statues in
the world. To me, none others we're 80 ex-
pIessive, so significant, so full Of deep mean
ing. At each successive visit it seemed to be
new work; to reveal something which be-
fore lad been unsp0ken; to awaken echoes
which before had been silent Though self
tary figure, taken 10 and comprehended by
the eye at a single glance it involves broad
circle of experience and suggestion.
"Such is ever the case with the creations
which genius gives US when it walks in the
way of truth, and, disdaining the morbid, the
fantastic, and the grotesque, gives shape to
our common Visions and reality to the uni
versal dream.
"1his statue ;s indissolubly associated with
BJron's immortal stanza, whish, familiar as it
Is, can no more become hackneyed than the
IeiatiOUs OF HuSDanC ana tather Ii which 1t is
founded. From lines like these, which every
body reads and everybody remembers-es,
pecially when connected with objects of per.
manent and general interest-wo learn how
much we owe to the poets. Who, that has
ever seen snow falling upon water, has not
had distinct pleasure in the sight from the
fne illustration of the brief duration of GEN.
sual pleasures, which Burns has drawn from
1t:
"Or, like the snowfall ID the rivsr
moment white-tlen lost forever ~
Who, that has ever beheld scarlet maple in
our autumn woods, has not felt that a new
charm was given to it by the lovely image
which 1t suggested to Bryant?
" But meath yOn crimson tree,
Lover to listening maid might breathe his flame,
Nor mark, within lis rOseate canOpy
Her blush CT maiden shame"
30 We, who look upon the statue since the
stansas was written, see it by finer light than
ever shone upon it before. FIR US alone the
rude hut By the Danube is reared, and those
young barbarisns are sporting upon its banks
We may form some notion of our OBLIGATIONS
by ina ginning what would have been he erno