The Portland daily press., 1867-09-17
SFf9.TgITE II. ,TTz77I u
MiSce1Iamy.
'Phsio-.scaIpfarc..

The small fioures of General Grant, Admit
raj Earragut, Peter Cooper and sothers which
have been exhibited in the Broadway win
dows for a few weeks past, are the first exper-
imeDts in the new and wonderful arr, of sphes
to-sculptilre. This inyeqiion has lately been
introduced in New York, and it marks !, new
era in the art oil photography. II was a NAT
ural step from the daguerreofype Of twenty
years ago to the ambr0type, and tie transi;-
ton from the ainbrotype to tho photo. ra,,l,
was equally easy but photography has made
more rapid advances than any styie oil
sun picture which preceded ii, and now il, as
sumes new phase. Photo-sculpture is the
product OF the photograph and the pantaerspf,
reproducing the exact forms of natural objects
IN all tn III fullness and completeness of pro-
portion. The impression printed upon the
sensitive plate in the camera is transferred in
all its details to plastic clay, and may then be
fe-cest and reduplicafed in plaster, parian or
bronze. The process is described as follows:
- The operating room differs from others 0f
its kind in the fact that il is Circular, with an
arched glass roof overhead. In the centre of
this rotunda there is a raised circular Mat
form upon which the sitter is placed.Z
His seat is IN the exact ceLfre Of the room, ,,
which Is ascertained and assured by a plumb
line tallLngs lrQn the cenbie of the cupola
above. Ii this line eouid descend TO fine snr.
a
from which radiate twentp4o,ir lines md u I'D
in black, pointing to the centres al tyy1nts-
four cameras, set at equal distances from each
otnfer IN the circular WALL, In an, instant
tweDty-four little doors are opened. and In a
lew moments the figure of the subject il mint
ed upon as many plates. The doors then are
Closed simultaneously, and the sitter tlescends
from his perch. SO tar as he IS concerned
There i nothing more to be done f 1a g.
D..t a
70 But ItWentyzfour pictures of his figure
nave been taken, and each OF these gives a
pronie view OF one part of the entire circum
other. 'fs sff@'2 - '1o'" s''o
=. The work Of thelpant agrapll now begins
There are twenty-tour different prpfiles Of fI,e
subject, all Of small dimensions. and. II IA he
sired to have statue the full size of life. At
once the little pictures, by means common in
photography, are increased to the required di-
menslons. Each OF these Isl fastened tothe
wall ana numbered from one to twen-
V,ioursa Nn a table near them IS a mass of
soft clay, which is fashioned somewhat in tbe
shape OF the statue to be made. Holding n
his hand one end Of the pantagraph, the one
rator begins to follow the outlines of the nro-
HE q the picture number one, by means Sof
the machinery of the instrument. so that pre-
cisely the same outline is marked, or rather
cut, in the soft clay; and as the operator goes
on from one to twenty-fOur, following the ont
line OF the profile in each, he makes the cir
emit OF the entire mass of clay, and produces
an exacttuc sfasiie of the model Y
Id Is impossible to imagine the limits 10 the
use OF this arr, for u may be applied to every
form Of architectural and monumental, orna.
mental mechanical design, as well as to the
modelling of the human figure. It has been
commended that it will be an injury to art, and
that the sculptor may close his studio or seek
another channel for his, genius; but what
proved true of the daguerrotype, the auibro-
type and the photograph in their relation to
portrait painting, will be doubly true of. pho
sto-sculpture in its relation to the plastic art.
~ may spoil the market tor bad artists, but it
viii be an Invaluable assistance to true gen
ius.--N. y. Post. .aa staryiaos .sii,ts III =