The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1873-07-12
OUR VIENNA CORRESPONDENCE.
NUMBER TEN.
VIENNA, Austria, May 27, 1878.

quaint old cities; ! love to dream
among their ancient ruins; / rcvel
among their works of art / rejoice in
their bright skies and balnly breezes;
| admire their picturesque costumes;
/ acknowledge the beauty of their men
and women; their language is music
to my ears, and nowhere do llnger
longer, and no place do visit more
often than the italian department of
the Welt Austcllung.
felt when we left Italy that Il beau
tiful dream had faded away, never
to return; that the varied visions of
lovliness we had beheld in that land
of art would have existence for us no
more, except in memory. How thank
ful, then, do we feel to italy for send
ing to us here SO much that is lovely,
SO many things that seem tous like old
friends, and recall to our minds walk
through the Merceria ut Venice,
sunny morning upon the Ponte Vec-
chic, at Florence, or that never-to-be-
forgotten visit to the artists studios at
Rome,
Walking down the main building to-
ward the rotunda, you would need no
one to tell you when you had passed
into Italy. The circle of marble fig
ures, though silent, sneak loudly, and
tell Of the land of Carrarn marble--thc
home of poetic thought, where the
glowing visions of the moment are inn
mortalized on canvas, and mortal
beauty is reproduced in'deathless stone.
l have been surprised to see that so
many of these statues are from Milan,
and comparatively few from Florence
CD Rome, 1t is difficult to select indi-
vidual objects for consideration where
all are so fine, but it will not do to pass
them all by in silence.
The first that attracted my attention
WAS the figure of little boy in night
dress, saying his prayers under COM
pulsion, His hands are folded and his
eyes closed, and his lips are endeavor-
ing to form the usual words; but ii is
hard work; they will culver, and it
requires all the force of the little will
to keep back the tears.
Another very pleasing group repre-
sents boy sitting on fence, blowing
soap bubbles. He has just blown a
aplendia one, which seems on the point
of rising and floating off in the air. A
little girl, standing on tiptoc, stretches
out eager hands toward the fragile trca-
sure, which the boy tantalizingly holds
Just beyond her reach, and laughs ut
her eagerness.
During our visits to nrtists' studios In
Roma, we saw IN the studio OF Mr.. Si-
monds, an English sculptor, statue
of youth in dress of ''ye olden time"
holding on hiswrist u falcon just ready
to take its flight. Acopy of this statue
has been set up in Central Park, anoth-
er one ordered for Paris, and here in
the Welt Austellung we meet II again.
Aside from its merit as a work of art,
it is OF great interest to us, for it
brings to mind that bright March day,
and we see ourselves wanderingaround
among casts and models, completed
statues, and beautiful forms only half
| liberated from their marble prison,
and here in this studio of Simpnds we
sea the 1.-Two falcon which served as n
model for the marble one, and we hear
how much trouble the artist has taken
| to receive the bird and care for itwhile
making of it study. We arc apt to
think that Tuiummous drapery, or
that most ancient dress of all, are only
suited for the sculptor's art, that the
dress of the present era is too prosaic,
but stop for u moment before the statue
of Stevenson, with the model of the
first steam engine, by Iocchi, of Flor
ence. He is sitting by a broken crock,
and before him, upon q work table, Is
the model of the engine, which he Is
examining with the most intense in
terest. He is in his shirt sleeves, u
pappr cap upon his head. The plain
workman's dress, the rough boots,
every wrinkle in the trowsers, the
gaping pocket, even the rude seat, are
all invested with the poetry of genius,
which dress or outward circumstances
have no power TO destroy. When in
tellect sits enthroned upon the brow,
when creative power looks out of the
eyes and plays upon the fingers, the
dress, whether 1t be fig leaf, Roman
toga or the practical pantaloons of the
present day, IS forgotten; IL is merely
circumstance OF time-thetrue beauty
is immortal.
The workings of inventive geni5s in
another sphere is shown in two statues
Of Michael Angelo by Zocchi. One at
the age of eleven, when he is por-
traycd as chiseling away at the head oi
am old man, the youthful brow con-
tracted as if in pain at the conceptions
which were too great for the tiny nm
gers to execute. The other, by Pozdo,
of Milan, shows him rs q Young man
at work upon the Fawn.
In this statue, one sees that The anx-
iety of the youth has changed into the
more assured character of the man.
While the eye denotes the rapt fervoi
of the poetic soul, filed with its burn
ing fsncies, there exists no doubt as tc
the ability of executing what the mind
has conceived.
How richly endowed was Michael
Angelo, architect, painter, poet ant
sculptor? Upon what other being has
such a garland of choice gifts de
scended? But leaving this theme
which we would gladly pursue, though
, II would carry US far from Vienna ans
/ Il N