New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-02-27
v,r.s.y and vigor of the days of his high health a.
We are glad to call attention to the following
.rooestye criticism of a work of art by dis

We are glad 10 call attention 10 the loho"inS
suOoe,tiye criticism Of a work of art BY dis
tinguished American sculptor.
Tn Mr. Story's studio we found-beside bow much
else that fascinated us-three statues all OF when
should be In AMERICA "He"o'' 0' $3.50
SnSer r,y general rule that will not describe the
indescribsblel l say nothing Of the Margaret nor
the Hero"-two forms of grief, differing from eaGn
other and with different approaches to despair. WIN
out describing the CLEOPATRA" however, L mus
speak of her. 1t is true that Mr.. Hawthorne has done
50, great deal better than can do; but mus, ao9
word here in the expression OF my very earhes! "i
that this statue may be ordered for some position IN
foston Till | saw it, / was DISSATISFIED WIN the
work of the modern sculptors, almost without exc
ception II they could do nothing better than repro
duce the antique mythology Tor me- nag grea.
rather have the classical representations OF the antique
than their reproductions Let me have the narVes OF
the Vatican copied with their old names, lnttead OF
having them copied with new names ii the nine-
teenth century has nothing else TO say t6ah
aid, or Pbidas let have the remarks OF Phlah@
undigested and unabridged. always hated aoildg
mens, and distrusted transations. had rather rea9
Homers Homer than Popesi / had rather res sd
Theocrituss Eclogues" than Gays and 30 nau
rather see the Fam of Praxiteles than Canoya.s
''Venus" All this said, steadily, of all the modern
sculpture that saw till came TO MI Story t'uuy;
l say II still. But there was willing 10 0wh-ahu
most glad indeed, to own.that the Mheeentn een'y
has the ability to create fine art Of its own IN scup
ture with methods of its own for purposes oil ls own
There is no need of comparing these with the antique:
we do not compare Tennys sons King Arthur win
The " Odyssey" But without comparison one can
cav land how gladly one does say t9: Here Is a
work which belongs TO timeto our conception OF
history, TO conception Of character, to what we
know Of the unfolding OF history and OF character
and it is study wholly different, in lite detail and IN
s result from what the study of the Grecian schools,
or of any schools but those of the nineteenth century,
would or could have elaborated
Cleopatra has thrown her last diei and she has iost
II IN 81, Inn nnfNl oh
has lost it. And she sits there-maestic as Cleopatra
stil and beautiful Cleopatra stlll-looklng back
into her past and forward upon the future when Is 30
abort for her. as only Cleopatra can.
-'nCleopatras enough had we seen in different PIC
sure-gaeries of course. Nay, there is even reeum-
bent statue in the Vaticanwith resco OF paImtrees
painted behind-csed "CleOpatra" by the moderns as
was not by him who made it. All OF these so lar as
saw, Of that extremely dlagreespie "Sh LA
large COARSE and muscnlar-whieh for want OF pet
Ter Commitment is generally called handsome. Inc
HVenus at the Capitol is such another suppose
there are or have BEEN such women IN the so9th OF
Fnrope. have seen many su,h, OF the same heiuc
ace who came from Ireland All Of these Cleopatras,
cain 40 far as saw them, had duties TO perform
20 man or society but the placing asPs on ther wte
bOsoms and looking simple as they ald 80 NoM 'he
real Cleopatra had great deal more to do and dld III
bad to be great deal more, and was.
Among other things, she was the end Of antiquity
The Empire of Rome dated back come seven pallTy
centuries when it crushed her; but Rome was child
where she was last Queen ran hack-who shall say
now many scores of centuries lGrael, at her slde
claimed some acknowledgements TO be just crumbllng
in its sere old age but the dynases behiod Cleopatra
had run on for centuries upon centuries when they well
coined Abraham and Sarah, and afterward when they
gave all Israel her home. Egypt the one visible Tie
to the old world of Cleopatra's time. Her name Is
carved monuments like those OF Menes IN the same
characters as those in which Meness name was carved
near forty centuries before And now, because she has
deserted her lover in batte-because the forces OF
Augustus closing up around her-the q NASTY OF
Egypt ceases and all this at an end and she KNOWS
that as she sits there There is no Egyptian king or
queen after her. She is the end OF antiquity. She
feels it as no one else in the world felt it then We,
Tdo know what came AFTER can represent her 1eenng
of it as could no one OF her own time.
Or if, forgetting Egypt for minute, che only runs
nxok on her own fe-Qn that list Of ;ynoi victories
which has ended Ia such a woman's failure-Pompeyi
Julius Caesar; HeTod four Herod, who killed the in
nis in his GEL tssdgs Rsr1map ps and a. a' TINS
suss fog her smile, shave weighed her against .ne
world" and Of each Of these world masters she mas
been mistress till now. And will Ociayus kneei
perhaps, where they have knelt de pretehas De VIII,
but that is nothing You all that is over, as you
look upon the statue. All is with which she ever
had any ting to do and the knows it all over Yet she
must look back upon it all, and forward too.
So she sits there's not pretty girl, with, girls
form anu features, but woman-Who las done an
this aud been all tbis-wih a woman 8 inquire anu a
vyomau's beauty. And do You remember, my lrleno
sond Of hstory-as YOU look, do you remember-that
sbe is an African woman The little jet OF creek I
blood which Ptoemy brought INTO TINS dyRasy E nve
ntnes AGO il only the smallest fraction OF this EgyP'
tian's lf-no the hundTedth part OF H. nor lhe t"o
hundredth part. line Of Egypilan motnelS iOl Hi n
generations have made her wholly EgypIa.in e"-o
rain0 hot blood of hers; in this pass temper
md ,n the whole quality even, OF her MIND IL was no
pretty Greek beauty that worked such havoc win
seh men as those. You are looking, my dear lnehd,
on an African Queen-the first since Sesostrs 10 hou
sway over the conquered heroes o. hurG; sn az the
gates of her citadel You have the same ola story OF
Af,jca-always outwitted by Asia, always outfought
by Europe-as you look on this despair.
Do YOU know, again, just why the story of that de-
spair il not written IN your bible 10 YOU KNOW
yyhv YOU lid not read at your mothers knee Doyou
know that Cleopatra, who wanted to be Empress Of
the world had wanted first to reign at Jerusalem, ana
De Queen OF Judah7 When in her heyday, che ana
Herod met-Ilerod the Great; and, so Tar s seinsh
brute like him could love woman, he feu IN love
with her. She, who was TO be Antonys mistress,
fooled Herod for whe and what did she want OF bum
What did she ask Antony for, just siterward Only
for that little province what dd be care Tor OF
Judah II lie would only let her annex 10 Egypt
The land which the Egyptian bad not held slnee the
days of Rehoboam! Egypt and Judah have been
strangely tied sometimes, and strangely parted might
they not be tied again. Who shall say why Antony
said "Nol" He did say "No;" HerOd remained
King Of Judah till the Child born Her contribu
ton TO that Chids history is not written therefore, in
the history Of Jerusalem. She and hers end the Old
they do not begin the New. When she puts the asp
.zpon her breast, the world will be at peace:
"No battle sound
IL hea1dthe wordsround"
0ctsyius marches through Jerusalem, az he returns
sacoessfo from Egypt; and Jerusalem, coming out TO
welcome him. the first city that salutes him as master
of the world.
Then is it that he shuts the gates of Janus and then
- it, because Antony and Cleopatra dead, that The
Preparation 10 ended. TIE New World may begin