, 1876-01-02
Choice Excerpts from Ta;ne's
Philosophy Of Art"
Some Boston P::ctSrcs---Port-a:ts By
Duvcnec.z, Porter, Miss
Doo.h, E!.c.
What Our Own Artists Are Do;ny---Earlc,
Hiss Hammond, Bjse-
IoY, Etc.


/ poses moat fully aud widely, they ought to be
easily worked, freq from shrinkage, strong and
enduring, OF even, fine texture, Of uniform.
pleasing, agraiusd colors,-the better if variable
| at Willard not expensive.
| Marble and bronco ara too e1penslvo to come
into popular usc. Pa1ian and the y81ious forms
| OF porcelain ware shrink so much in baking
that they cannot 10 depended upon for accura:e
Eeproductions Of original works. nor is it pos
Eble to put works Of auv considerable size into
either pariau Or porcelain excepting At very
great expense.
P1sste1 Of Paris, though admirable IN many
respects, is : weak and trausitory uuteEal, and
| the Inherent color an invariabte snow-white,
! only to be softened By the application OF paint
to the surface. Being, however, the cheapest
and most easily worked OF all Materials and fur
nshins perfectly co1rcc: copies. it is certain to
hold its CIVIL for many uses,
TERRA-corTA
is the principn. substa alce tha. remains. It has
| beou shown in q former articfa how thoroughly
it POSSESSES certain Of the requisite prapsrties-
that 1t Is very strong, is worked with the greateet
facility. aud is ss nearly as possible absolutely
| indestrLctib1o~ LIST u5 now exaune farthsr its
nassiis as regards liability to shriaxage, quality
Of color, and cost. All substances manufactured
/ through tie agency Of great heat either to re-
! dace them to aaid, motion condition, Us in the
| case of iron, bronco, aod other metallic cast
| ip3s. or to harden them from soft state
| to solid one, in Ia-;an, porcelain or terra-
Gotta, shrink more OF less in the PROCESS. For
this rea.oa ia we'll known. all p3t:e:n-na.zars
! for foundres use rule lcngar than ordinary
ctrpenter's rule by about one-sighth Of Al inch
| in foot, 30 that all the dimaasloas Of the md
el exceed in that proportion the sizs intended
for the finished work. Tho bronze used
for statues 6hrin1B about the Same Us
cast IRON, not far from one one-hundre6th Of
! the linear dimensions. Tetra-cotta> being SIM
ply uoistened clay pressed in a plastic condition
into ulolds. sbr1nka naturally il = much greater
degree, but through the precautions adoataa by
tho manufacturers this ainlinution OF sza
is very much reduced. Tie CASTS are msds
hollow aud OF uniform thickness. to prevent
with 1ulverlzed terra-cotta or potsherds, which.
being ms ,ub}e. coanteract excessive shriuka.a,
well al act rs vl.rfslng elem :n:s. while also
affecting the color. Geckwith saws the tiro.c:nY
lerra-cot.a Il c., unnlSed] sariDks in tiuear di-
rnensons about - per cent from tba time it
leaves the mold uotl' it leaves the kilo; the
m1sed clay terra-c shrnks per cent or less.
Walter Smith sass be las seen terra-coita
Thlch had been burned for two days. and he'd
only shrunk ue-Bixteenth OF al inc., in feet
OF neig1t." hut this is altogether exceptional.
Tho Chicago production. III which We ara es-
pecla1r Interested, shrink III the manufacture.
according to the authorities Of tho Terra Gotta
Wo,ks about one-sl2teeutD Of the linear d'meu-
s,oas and this sh:iu1aee is not less TN form than
that Ut the metals. This amolnt Of shrinkage
is about six tines as great as That Of the metals,
| aud abnnt one-titth ~ great aa ttat Of rar,an.
I: is not great enough seriously to damage
. cast.
terra-cotta 1ansrs from wbto through
sd; T;ty 81 sh"des Of dcen dsos 1sS aad
and these hnts are perractl7 Within this control
OF the manufactured. The color upon the
face is the real color Of the material. and rims all
thransh. which. des3ite the fact that the
ancicuts euuehmcs painted marble, aud that I'LL
bro ,ze, even " rsa,." !" is said to be washed out
side with special prera7a.ion Of the metal, is q
wholesone and satisfactory quality. The calo:
OF Rogers grouns obtained by painting can be
.curod az a iusraiIed color IN tarra-c tta, end
By tie use of mstalli. coorn. which comine With
the body OF the terra-cotta. almost an7 desired
coiors can be secured, IS is commonly seen in
floor tllea
As 10 THE QUESTION OF COST.
Terra-cOlta has teen heretofore 40 little s;sed
10 this country FIR stAtuarY that slandard
prices for it can hardly be said to have been es-
tah]isheu. From tue expenses OF the pgepala-
tion of n,ata a:ials aud OF firing it must alwavs
curt considerably more than plaseer. but for
uses where there is exposure to climate or Tio~ |
lcuce there is no comparison in value. plaster |
beng e1ttamelv fracile, and absolutely worth |
less out Of doors. In Chicago a rlas1er stat !
uette Of the Venus Of 3li'o. 30-,nch size. costs
from Sc to 9l2, and terra Gotta copy of the |
same thing costs $40. The price Of Rogers |
new etatuette OF Gen. Washington is al5- Tie |
sarno thing could be put into teEra-cottA, III |
quantity, ut about go,
But . comparison Of this sort is not fair OF |
useful, because the uses answered BY plaster |
and 1erra-co:ta ara totally distinct. Tert.-cotta
il what an artist would cSl1 a ''rcal" material, |
kI..k So 1H..fnr k17
geoeous throughout ncedluR no painting or
coIorlnG OIL the surface, while plaster Of Paris, |
though furnishiug the base possible material !
for procuring accurate cooies at little EXPENSE !
hss 10 attribute OF pe1nsuoncy or si.eugth.
In foreign countries terra~cotta has ocon !
widely used for fuli-eize statues out OF DOORS
but 1t las been little used hore. On the front
OF St. Xarior's School, at the corner OF Wabash
two figures II terra-cotta modelled. one by
Mr. Cor1epassi, and the other bv Il.
F. Spread. the figure ana landscape painter.
aud burnt at the Tena-Cotta works the actual
ire This feature is worthy Of t':a attention of
anybody who practices modelling in clay, that
tue actual model Just as it is produced. can be
taken iu hand BY tho te1ra-cotta workefsfand
burut into substance more lasting than brass;
in fact the most lAsting Of all manufactured
materials. The figures 1oon the front or Mc.
yicser's Theatre also are OF teyra-cotta, nodeled
by Air. Nell, and the same artist modelled five
figures for the soldiera monnmet'1 ~ fteepo!s
a.l OF which vera put into terfa-co;ta here. TIE
central statue, 13 feet high, was female ale
goricat figure, tbs four others subordinate
fgures typical Of e.tiliery, infantry, caraly, aud
the marine.
It has teen rnrnored that some Of our Park
Commissioners ara considering the subject Of
parchasoe esatuary. We have no pstA "hieh
has reached The point where expensive artificial
ernbe!iis!,meEt onsht to bo introduced to any
great extent Whatever funds ere 1t the dis
posal Of the Commissioners would better be de-
voted to tie production Of grass and trees ana !
those broad featu1es which confer the park-like
character But II statuary ia to be procured the
claims Of terra Gotta are worth considering
among tho cheaper materials. Marble is
not ct for this c]Jnate, at any rate
and hrohze il very expensive. Some
Of the imitation bronze, zinc-hlonze
as it is cal1ed- manufactured in Munich, is ap-
raren'ly q very beantitul material. and Of mod
crate cost. and ought to be examined in any con-
sioera.ion OF this subject, With view to pur-
Chasing. For such use-parx oEnamentatton-,
~ ha n synn |