Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-09-06
LIFE-LIKENESS BY AMERICAN
ARTISTS.

Miss Hosmer, in Italy, whose works are
the delight and pride of all Americans
visiting the Eternal City, from their per-
feet truthfulness to nature, moulds her
groups in clay, and a workman does most
OF the chisellIng; nearly all, in fact, but a
few Of the finer touches Of the chisel.
This has been spoken of as If it were
something remarkable. Some have even
been inclined to call in question the
worthiness and honesty Of it. But, IN
fact, all who know anything of such
things are we'll aware that more or less OF
the same thing is done by every artist OF
celebrity in all the fine arts. The merely
mechanical parts, that can as well be done
by inferior hands, ought, so far as the d.
vision of labor can carry it, to be per-
formed by them. 1t might as well be
commended otherwise that unless the author
set up his own types and printed his W
books he was not the author. Surely, the
artist is not bound to cut the stone out Of
the quarry with his or her W hand.
Some artists are poor at their first start in
life, and have to do much Of the drudgery
of their profession. But it always has
been the custom TO lay aside this as soon
as their fame or fortune could bring to
their aid such assistance as would secure
the faithful representation of the authors
ideas on the canvas or the marble. or
course, when it comes TO authorship, it is
a delicate matter to decide how far this
may be carried. 1t used to be complained
Of the Chevalier Bunsen that he made use
Of secretaries too far, and adopted their
investigations and almos. their very words
in n wholesale style, which should have
secured them a portion Of the fame as well
as himself. But it would be impossible
to get together the wisdom and facts often
condensed BY statesmen in their speeches
and Secretaries Of State in their replies TO
those of other nations, if it were not right
to employ the labors and Investigations Of
many under-secretaries, and bring to a TO-
Gus the results Of examinations by a dozen
most differently constituted minds. Ma
poleon's Life of Cesar is as clearly the
collection Of materials by a score of diff
ferent hands as it is of the thought and
mastery of the whole by a common genius.
In painting, especially portrait painting,
Sir Thomas Lawrence would make it,
deed a rough sketch of the figure and face
on canvas from life, but his assistants
would work up and paint the body OF the
portrait from this, he reserying to himself
the eye and one or two more Characters
tic features Of the countenance, and so
give the desired expression to the whole.
There is always a risk in this sort OF di-
vision OF labor. and Sir Thomas Law
renee by no means escaped from the or
deal untarnished. Now the work OF copy
ing in marble from the clay has become so
much a mechanical art that a machine for
enabling the artist to make his work an
exact duplicate of the model has been
brought into use, by which every part OF
the execution can be most accurately test
ed and brought into harmony with the
authors design.
It may be asked, then, whether sculp-
ture is not in danger OF becoming so en-
tirely mechanical that persons OF genius
will shrink from it: But there are points
in every good painting and sculptured
figure which canno. be finished except by
the touch of genius. There is something
that infuses warmth and life into the mar
BILE and the picture-a point beyond which
the mere cOpyiss cannot go, because he
has not the conception. For all true art
is an inspiration Of genius. 1t has life in
fused into it until the marble almost
seems to pulsate and breathe, or the eyes
Of a true picture to move as they look on
the spectator.