Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-03-27
Letter from Boston
TFRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT

American Artists and their Work.
FROM OUR REGULAR CoRREsPoNDENT.l
Boston, March %, 1872.
| A year or two ago the educational committee
of the American social science association rec
| commended that one or more rooms in our pub
| lie school houses should be decorated with a
| collection Of casts, as simple but efficient
means of Introducing an aesthetic element into
our educational system. The hall of the girls
| high and normal school house was selected and
was finished at the expense OF the city, with
special reference to the casts, which were paid
for by the subscription of few individuals
Below the cornice and running entirely round
the hall are a series of slabs from the frieze Of
the Parhen0n. This architraye rests upon
Doric plasters; the wall is painted a neutral
tint, very pretty as background and between
the pilasters are simple pedestals and brackets
upon which the casts stand. The frieze is a rep
resentation in low relief of the Panathenaic pro.
cessioH. The sculpture is, Prof FELTON, says in
his "Ancient and Modern Greece" in the high
est style of art, executed either by Pheidias
himself, Or under his immediate direction, about
ABS B. c. Much of it has been broken, and
the original colOring and gliding have gone;
yet the portions which Lord Elgin carried to
England in the beginning of the century, and
| from which these casts are taken, form the most
precious treasures of the British museum at the
| present moment.
The friese shows admirably in the school
house; it has plenty of light, is not too far above
the eye forevery line to be clearly seen, and gives
a good idea Of the position of the original. The
| other casts are a Caryatid, erect, and with
straight falling, heavy drapery, one of six fig
urcs supporting the Erechtheum on the Aero
polls at Athens; perfectly beautiful Diana,
sometimes called Atalanta, fastening her mantle
on her right shoulder. This statue was discov-
cred near Rome IN 1892, and probably dates from
| the fourth century B, G. A richly draped Polym-
MIA leaning on rock; another draped figure
| called Pudictra, and sometimes the Tragic
| Muse. magnificent and perfectly graceful
| Amazon, passing the bow over the head, as she
arms herself, A Psyche, superb cast of the
| Pallas Athene. Demosthenes. The bone player
| beautiful figure, the size of life. Another in
teresting figure known by various names, but
| called here the Genius Of the Vatican and per
| haps dozen busts. Among them are two very
curious Apollos, oneimade probably 1900 years
ago, is like the Belydere in a fit of melancholy
insanity; the other the P0urtales Apollo has
long hair behind, and Il row of little curls, like
those now to he bought by the yard, on his fore
head. He may have been the original of Thor
waldson's Apollo, leading the muses.. One of
the finest busts | ever saw is that of Escula-
Plus. The head is slightly lifted, the face noble
and inspired; as the noon sunlight fell upon
it, it seemed alive; we went back to it dozen
times, and hated to leave it at last. A wonder
full contrast to it, is its neighbor, the Velletri
Fallas, rare cast, with a grand, heavy sullen
sort of beauty, to which the helmet is highly
becoming. The serene face of the Colossal Juno
looks down from high placed bracket; and on
the other side Of the hall we see the divine calm.
ness of a mighty Jupiter Only think of the
benefit such things must be to the 500 girls who
are taught in the building where they are, and
who can see them every day. We wondered il
the young lady who led US 10 the hall, and who
was as fair, as graceful, as delicate as a bell.
wort blossom, owed anything of her perfect
manners and refined beauty, to the teachings Of
the Hscuapus, the Pallas and the Jove
There is a small collection here of the anti
quities found at Cyprus not loug ago byGen. di
Cesnola. He offered to sell the whole lot at thu
time he found them; and several persons herr
were, and still are anxious to have them bough
for the new art museum. Those already herr
are curious images, very old, and more or les
broken; numerous lamps perfectly preserved
small and large vases of pottery, some plain
some ornamented with lines and dots made b,
pointed stick, and some painted in curious de
vices; small glass vases and vessels of variou
kinds that have received most exquisite colorin!
from their long burial in the earth; and toys
some well made, Others uncouth and grotesque
that children played with four thousand year
ago 1t is impossible to tell how interesting
these things are; we owe them all, / believe, t.
the taste, the liberalty, and the public spirit O
Mr.. c. c. Perkins, who never loses sight of tn
needs of the art museum, and knows from villa
sources all over the world, it is possible to sun
ply those needs. 1t is through him that W
know Of NJ. Cheryet's collection of ancient glass
now offered for sale; it is the second finest col
lection in the world (thc first bcin,
in the British museum) But for the wa
and the fall of Louis Napoleon, it woul,
have been bought by the French governmen
for the museum Of St. German. As no descrip
tion could give any idea of the value of this col
lection, NJ. Charvet had drawings of more THAI
three hundred of the specimens made an,
colOred; these drawings were bound, and tn
book is now in Boston. It is an cxtraordinar,
book and is splendid in its way; the coloring /
wonderfully DONE and shows the beauty an,
richness of the ancient glass, coorcd by man il
his laboratories, or by nature in lhcr under
ground workshops found in France, the Medit
erranean islands, Greece, and the east In Tn
collection, are examples Of every variety Of shap
and color, and of every mode Of fabrication praC
tised by the most widely separated races Of til
old world.
Fascinating as all this is, it does not interior
a Bit with ones enjoyment of modern work, an,
of the exquisite modern glass and pottery
which makes Briggss china shop sort of ar
museum.
believe in American artists, and like I,
tell about them. At Doll & Richards there ar
four OF Mr. Gays landscapcs-two with hi
marvellous combination Of delicious, quiet coun
. Try with distant view Of deep blue sea, ant
one OF MARSHES with the sea beyond, the indie
scrbabe color Of the marshes given with III
: perfect accuracy and mastery of his art wbic
AL Mr. Gays pictures show. A small pictur
by Mr.. Ernest Longlellow calls out expression
, OF enthusiastic delight from many spectators
ltreprosents nm old monk walking on the Sc
shore and reading as he walks. The sky
covered with gray clouds, which lift little :