New-York tribune., 1873-05-10
ART IN ITALY.

VISITS TO SOME AMERICAN STUDIOS.
PROFESSIONAL MODELS Mr.. sToRYs WORKS - MR..
RoGRRs's MONUMENTAL LABORs-Miss FoLEYs
DESIGN FOR FouHTAIS--yKDDERs SKETCHES
WORKS or OTHER ARTISTS.
,vpoN An OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBuNE
ROME March 27.-Itay continues TO attract Ameri-
,an artists and to keep them after they have once
reached here. In sculpture, especially. no other
oouptry has 30 many representatives as our own,
tbere being sixteen Americans in Rome 20 six
English and eight or ten Germans. This proportion
sives very nearly the measure Of the development
al the art in the several countries for the sculptor
6pds 50 many material advantages in Rome and
Florence. unproourable elsewhere that II he remains
AZ home after his first successes it is from nclina-
hon not from interest 1t is now perhaps, nearly as
easy 70 get the best models in Paris or London as IN
Rome. The class of professional models here has
hath deteri0rated in form and diminished in numbers
but on the other hand. the intelligent and skiilfu
Italiai workers in marble have considerably in
creased There ere many hired workmen in the
studios who aIe excellent sculpt0rs in everything
but the creative p0werOr who prefer sure and good
nav 70 the uncertain results Of higher AMBITION
These men are capable of taking the crude designs
Of the Young men jor womenl who come here with
much enthusiasm and scant technical knowledge Oh
correcting the anatomy of giving grace TO clumsy
changes as still leave the artist happy IN the belief
that the completed work is wholly his OF her own.
When such q clever workman aims AZ an indepeno-
emf positiop qs a sculptor, he may sometimes sue
cesd as vel as PersIco IN America though he was
not even ID god workman, or MarOchetJl IN
England; but NE is generally satisfied with ms
three four or five dollars a day, and the private
fame which ho enjoys within the guild OF sculptoIs'
With .lcl int, rent assistants orBtudiO foremen
As tins class supplies, the honest artist is equally
raved from tae necessity of drudger and his labors
end with the clay model The duplication Of works
which is his Greatest source Of profit is entirely IN
the hands OF the worzmon The marble quarnes OF
Carr "A and SerravezZa are near at hands so that
relieved Of ai care for the material Of his art ana
it's mechanical features the sculptor left nee 10
work out his conceptions. In rAis respect he can
live nowhere so fortunately as I'D Rome, Florence OF
Milan. I doubt whether oUr painters derive an
canal advantage from their residence here. They
are toleraby free from the influence of modern
schools 20 he sure; life is easy, and not very ex-
pensive; Roman and semi-casgical models are still
70 be had and the Campagna with its agueducts and
inclosing mpUltains can never be exhausted; but
the inspiration of the place, its forms and colors
have been so reproduced for centuries that we nearly
know their range of treatment, and every new pic
ture however excellently done, suggests something
old and familiar Then, too, there seems to be. now
no keen. vital atmosphere of culture and criticism
no appreciation Of Art, as principle Ear above the
fashions chiefly finds expression, and
the painter is left to grow by the stimulus OF his own
aspiration. Even the battles of rival schools.
think would be better than this quiet and languidly
encouraging atmosphere. II is the mistaken ten
dency Of our day, not only TO confne the artist to
his chosen art bat 20 force him into "a narrow de-
partmeut of it, and keep him there. He is thus shut
ont from the free asided development out Of which
great works come. 1t was not so when Raphael
built and modelled statues when Michel Angelo
painted and wrote poems, when Albert DHrer
planned fortresses and Leonardo da YinG con-
structed machines.
ibid not mean 20 write such a long preamble when
Ibpcan. but the question Of the necessity of our
artists exratratng themselves has been constantly
in my mind during my hastv visits TO a few Of the
American studios in Rome. 1t is unfortunate that
sixteen sculptOrs ana ten or twelve painters, and
with few exceptions their WORKS should be taken
away from our life and society where they most
needed Very little of the bes- work done here
besides the monumental sculpture, is ever shown 10
the American public which Is sO4ager and impressi-
be though little unwl,ingtO 20 be educated Here
is story. for instance, whose industry keeps pace
with the increasing purity and loftlness OF his ID
spIrati0n. H0w sl0uld we measure his genius at
home7 There are two believe. Of his less success
fl statues set mp for all men TO sees there are several
beautiful ideal a-ures iu the houses Of wealthy gen
tlemen. and there are photographs of the Cleopatra
and the Libvan Sibyl. But an that is generally
accessible gives no more than the suggestion of his
achievement 90 the instructed class. Our Govern
ment has never asked his aid, more than 10 has
that of Powers 10 gl0rifv its expensive and really
imposing Capitol Persico was its first favorite.
Clark Mills IT'S second, and now Winnie R.am seems
IN a tair way 20 become Its third Nearly all OF
St0ry's best works have gone 10 England, and years
or generations hence. when The America Of Art VIII
Try to secure them for herself she viii not succeed.
OF the siz statues which Story has completed since
lasI saw hm two in advance of all his previous
work" Electra az the Tomb of AgamemnOn.' and
Jerusalem" The former is a simple leaning figure,
with the head slightly lifted and the arms resting
upon the cerary shrine 1t is pure with the perfect
purity Of Greek art every line expresses the grace
which Is unconscious sofitseLthenobility OF asOrow
which is conquered but not lost. The epithet
classic is rather indefinite but this statue is clas
&c ia the truest sense. I can recall nothing since
morwaldsen's Hebe so entirely simple and
Eyere and it satisfies me more thoroughly than that
rebrth of the antique. The Jerusalem ' is a grand
desolated Titaness seated on pile of ruin She is
Hebrew queen. so beautiful we might say, with
Keats,
d" so beautiful. IS Sorrow had not made
sorrow more beautiful than Beauty's SELL
hroneless, discrOwned and fOrsaken Yet the char
acterof the figure is epic rather tlan tragic il s no
human woe which she feels, but the grander sorrow
Of goddess 70 whom mortal tears are denied. The
flesh is tinted faint olive-gray scarcely more than
enough TO relieve it clearly against the folds of the
drapery. The effect thus produced is entirely agree
able; II harmonizes with the Hebrew character of
the faee. and the solemn resignation evnressed i'm