Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-09-27


and of which have no means Of forming an
opinion--mny be asoerteined by such support
ton as this: Suppose Henry had been rep
resented as playing the fddle-an amusement
Of which he was very fond, and in which we are
told he excelled-nnd suppose Jefferson had been
caught in The act Of blowing his or feeling
in his pockets for 1.-TWO end-thruppence"-acts Of
which no was doubtless, guilty thou sand times
The man playing the fiddle would not have
rcsembled Henry; and the man blowing his nose
could not by any possibility have represented
Jefferson. A man may blow his nose and think
profoundly at tho same time; aud man may
play on tho fiddle and yet be revolving in his
mind the means Of infusing the fire Of patriot
ism in the breasts of his oountrymen ; but stat
ues cast in such attitudes could not be made to
convey possibilities SO improbable. 1t is plain
then. that tho powers of the artist limited by
attitude.
Jefferson is represented in the light in which
the nation loves to remember and revere hm-as
jefferson tho Statesman, and not as Jefferson the
President-as II thinker evolving from the
depths of his great mind the great truths Of the
Declaration of Independence. and not as Party
Leader or u man with still head, and erect car
rage. Henry, as an impassoned youth, pro-
claims the right of man to the blessings of lib.
crty and the right to obtain these blessings by
tho sword. The attitude and expression Of the
figures are in admirable contrast--one is calm as
mediation the other active as eoquenee-- the one
is the embodiment of tho yet unuttered thought
of tho revolution the other. tho fiery and pass
ionate utteranoe of that thought. One is Ago
who thinks. the other Youth who talks. If this
view of tho artists conception be correct, an an
achronism is involved. but IL is of little conse
quenoe.
The heads of both grandly moulded and
the contrast is still admirably preserved. Both
express power but power of lifferent kinds
Jeiferson's head is the head of ametaphy ysician--
man who deals in distractions and great gene
raj principles. Henry's, the head of man who
deals in praoticalities. and whose thoughts tend
TO outward things and the present time. The
eyes of the one are fixed in tho vacancy of the
deepest reflection, tho eyes Of the other are light
ed up by the fires of argument, one looks in
ward, the other, outward There is need for the
solecsm spoken Off Henry's case, and mean
| ing in it, as will be seen by any ono who COM
pares tho statutes as they stand. Objection may
be had to Jeffersons cloak but il imparts grace
! ful dignity TO tho figure, which could not well be
obtained in any other way. Henry's indiffer-
ence to dress is finely displayed in the crumpled
state of his collar and cravat, and in tho manner
in which his coat is buttoned. think the mouths
of both figures are too small, too much alike, and
fail to convey the meaning the artist intended;
but the expression of the mouth is we'll known to
| be the most difficult task, even canvass, and III
suppose it would be much more in bronze.--
This smallnes and similarity of mouths extends
to the small bdsso figures Of Liberty, War and
Pence, on the two escutcheons. There are some
defects in the drapery; and depth and heavi
ness about Jeferson's shoulders which, If l re-
member Alright, he did not possess, and which, in
an artistic point of view, does not properly be-
long to the figure of a metaphysician But these
faults, if they exist, are lost in the stirring i'm
preston produced by the statues viewed as a
,shole. They arrest and detan the passer-by,
and give him nobler idea Of the history of his
State than he ever had before.
begin now to think more favorably of the
! granite portion tho monument, which at first
sight does indeed look like a ''congIomeration,"
or aimess jumble Of mathematical figures. An
artist should never be judged by an unfinished
work and the "stone pile" now standing on Capt.
tol Square is but the pedestal of the statues
yet to come. When all,incuding the equestrian
statue of Washington, which doubt not will be
Crawford's masterpiece, are in their respective
places l shall not be surprisedfa a total revul-
sion of feeling occurs in regard to the taste
of the Legislature which selected Craw-
fords design in preference to all others. 1t will
be said that something good has come out of
Nazareth, and that it is possible even for Demo-
crats to have an idea Of art. At all events,
feel safe in predicting that the artist himself will
have won fame enough to make up for the def
cheney of the Democrats. Crawford's name
will live on one of the brightest pages ofVigin-
ian history.