The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1862-11-14


Beginners are always over-praised. What
eyer they do out of the common way, being
wholly unexpected. astonishes. And then
comes season of encouragement and neglect,
and unless the sufferer be genius indeed, he
goes broken-hearted through the world; if
coed at first because nothing is expected of
them, and they fail at last, after doing much
better, perhaps, because too much is expected.
We never allow the same person to astonish
us more than once, if we can help it. We are
always ahead of him, do what he may.
This young man has had all these trials to
60 through. He was greatly over-praised by
incompetent judges at the beginning. But,
full of the true fire, instead of being disheart-
ened when the interest appeared to abate, he
has held on his way, silently, steadily, and
prayerfully, we hope, until he has completed a
bust worthy of extravagant praise; and that
all may have an opportunity of judging for
themselves. he has had the courage and good
sense to set it up in his studio, on Exchange
street, along side of another bust by Akers,
of the same individual, which has been re-
garded for long time as masterpiece. To
say that there is no ground for comparison
between the two would be equivocal, and
might be misunderstood; but to say, as l do
now, that in truthfulness, individuality and
just resemblance, the leading and chief char
aceristies of high portraiture, this bust, by Sim
monds, is as much superior to the best Of the
a..
either of those two was superior to the figure
head of a merchant ship.
And yet, Paul Akers had great talent and
uncommon genius. But he had no knowledge
of drawing-ior his life he could not have
drawn mouth, or an eye, to say nothing of
hand or an ear The consequence was that
his features were often lumpish and unshapely.
Being unable to represent faithfully what he
saw, he exaggerated, and shir>ed and gener
allied; and thought he was idediizing; until,
sometimes, only vague, general resemblance
appeared, and even then, his heads were of
such an heroic type that they would not bear
to be met with, face TO face, but required to be
set above you, and it was never safe to go near
them. Among his heads, however, were q
few--a very few-where the details were elab-
Grated so carefully as in that of Mr. Samuel
Appleton. of Boston, which is now in MIR.
Simmond's studio, that the deficiency of draw
ing was not so obtrusive. Like Chester Hard
ing and many of our leading portrait paint
ers, who are ignorant of drawing, he had
learned to model as he went ON, and died as
ignorant as he began Of the first principles of
his art. Simmonds, on the contrary, is an ac-
curate draughtsman-he has made crayon
likeness-and spirited canoes, and in the
bust now referred to, he has slurred over moth
ing. 1t is all true, liie-like, vitaized and
fieshy. Just compare the ears in his bust
with alt that appears of the same feature in
the bust by Akers, who like Sir Joshua Rey
nods, when he found difficulty in his way
which he could not well get over, on account
of his bad drawing, always buried it up, in
drapery or chiaro-scuro. So with Akers-
the hair is exaggerated and massed, so as to
cover two-thirds of the ear, and the other
third-the lobe--is just lump of dough
pinched out of shape. We remember seeing
once in a newspaper-the Gospel of the Null
titude--how Akers, being about his "Una and
the Lion" actually journied with caravan
to study the habits and manners of the lion,
and to make drawings for the work he had
underway. Nothing could have been more
ill-advised. or sillier, than such story-for he
was never able TO draw anything that might
by any possibility be mistaken for lions paw.
Again and again, year after year, he was told
what he must do, if he ever hoped to become
what he was trying to be-but he wanted ap
pcation, steadlastness, elementary knowledge;
aud being wholly unacquainted with the
abs of drawing and anatomy, though his labors
were ottentimes astonishing, and full of high
promise, and truthful, so far as generalization
may be truthful, he had reached the highest
point he was capable of before he left us. But
go and see for yourselves-compare the two
busts, and the likenesscs, and then-act wisely
for the reputation of Portland. But, in mercy,
do not say you are no judges. All men are
judges who know one face from another; and
if portrait is portrait, you cannot help see
ing the likeness, however inexperienced you
may be, aud however unacquainted with art.
To say you are no judge, is cowardly way of
saying there is no likeness mere subterfuge,
to spare the feelings of the artist J.N.