New-York tribune., 1881-07-18
A SCOTTISH SCULPTOR.


CORD OF BRAVE FIGHT AGAINST PREJUDICE
AND Observation-Disclosures RIGHTS IN THE
ACADEMY.
frRoM oCCAsIOSAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRIHuNEI
EUINBuEGn June 17-Like Lafayette, Lincoln
am, many others, Robert Barns has not hitherto
been fortunate in thc sculptuing Of his form ana
features. Flaxman undertook to present him in q
scGii-cassical euisc and succeeded i'll hiding the
pIoughman-poet under flowing drapcry more bent
tinr \ Roman Senator as with roll Of manuscript Ill
hand and gathered robes he addressed an audience
in the Forum. Ewing shows him iii George square
Glasgow as a heavy -shouldercd athlete OF strong
bat coarse feature and dull visagc AT kismarnock
he sntlers severely at the hands of Stevenson, OF
Edinburgh, standing begrt with weakness as win
a garment, his face wearing an ineiiahie smile cl
sweet pueriity aud his figure sadly deficient both
in proportion and dignity. OF the STEEL statue, let
it suffice to say that having exhausted his resources
in modelling the head the sculptor had nothing ie'
TO save the body from distortion
Indeterred by the successive failure of artists oi
Mt least in two instances, great ana wcll-deserVcd
reputation Mrs. ID. O. Hill, of Edinburgh sometime
ago accepted commission from Dunires to exc
cute statue of the national poet for that town. lhe
clay model was completed some time ago, anJ a
plaster east taken from has been sent to Italy, to
be cut in Carrara marble upon scale of about nine
and half feet or twice the size of the model.
Mrs. Hill was, by previous study, well equipped
for her task Ii is several years since statuette
of Burns, illustrating his own lines,
"I sat me down to ponder
Upon an aud crcOi,'
was sent from her studio grace the annual cXhibi
ton of the ROYAL Scottish Academy. 1t was accepted
bv the public as poetic elaborate and characteristic
representation of the poet. subsequently Mrs. Hill
executed carefully studied bust of Burns,
work remarkable alike for strength fidelity OF
portraiture and character. The Dumries statue is
h,,e+ b,,ti i oi,
aspects an improvement upon both. The poets at
titrde NAV be best described as between sitting
and standing He rather leans than sits upon the
tree-sump, the right leg being straight, with the
heel planted firmly in the ground, and the toes up
turned while the left is drawn up, that the foot
rests upon a projecting knot or broken branch of
the stump. The body is slightly bent forward, and
the head is turned Il little toward the right. The
right arm is drawn across the body, and the hand
nestes in the folds of o plaid which envelopes the
body dagonally; the left hand holds bunch of
daisies in front of the figure. At the poets feet
his hat dog resting its head upon his right
foot, pastoral pipe or stock and horn,
and a well-thumbcd song-book. In modelling
the head and features Mrs. Hin has followed a east
bf the poets skull and portrait by Nasmyth, now
in possession of the Cathcarts of Auchendranc, Ayr
Shire The costume is that now too well known to
require description. In regard to the head and face
it may be said that they both more massive, the
latter notably in the lower part, than they appear
in the Nasnyth portrait, and that added manlincss
and force thereby lent to the representation of
character The model has great merit 1t has
no best point of view" and in consideration of the
fact that when standing upon its granite pedestal
the statue win be open to inspection from all sides,
this is positive virtue. 1t signifies careful study
throughout A criticism in detail of work to be
reproduced upon large scale in marble would
manfcstly be cut Of place All that need be said is
that the conception is we'll within the popular
prehenson.
THE PEOPLES POET
Burns is shown in the character in which the world
knows him best and admrcs him most--that of a
peasant bard As far removed from insipdty
the one hand as from strained affcctaton of sub
Unity of sentiment on the other Mrs. Hills Burns
is that of the poet the world has taken 10 its heart
Expressive and feeling, there is nothing in the
statue significant of mawkshness morbid brood
ing. The face indicates pleased revcre, which
tivity of imagination and vivacity of temperament
render impossible to bc of too great depth and the
position and figure together temper the idea of re-
pose with latent aertness. The model goes far in
short toward something like an adequate rcaliza-
tion of Burns, the and poet. The treatment is
essentially realistic and the statue will in consc-
quence, be a memorial Of the bard as we'll a monu-
ment raised to his memory. 1t will be not a little
singular if, as seems highly probable the work of
above in meeting the demand of the Scottish people
for Il truthful representation in form and feature Of
the greatest poet and one OF the greatest men their
country has produced.
STRUGGLING AGAINST REPRESSION.
Mrs. Hills career is in every way remarkable and
it is possible that many women may be encouraged
by condensed review of the life of a sclf-hclpful
woman who has made herself an object of we'll
nigh universal interest by her labors as an artist
So many instances have been recorded of men who
have worked their way upward in the world to DO
siton and prominence that it is at least, a change
to hear of a woman, and especially of one engaged
in the field of art, who, in spite of repression dis
couragement and lack of training has won her way
Hill came somewhat prominently before Americans,
after the completion of her statue of Dr. Liv-
ngstOne in Edinburgh in connection with strongly
supported project to erect replica thereof in
kew-York, and she may therefore be assumed
To be known TO many of the citizens
Of the Republic. Born into family
which has given Scotland two of its leading artists
Sir J. Noel Patton and Waller II. Patton, distin-
gushed figure and landscape painters Respectively
1t might be imagined that Mrs. HIPS artistic in
stncts would from youth upward have at least
been allowed free action. 1t might even be thought
that natural sympathy with an artist-sister wonld
have led Noel, even in boyhood, to share with
Amelia his own moderate advantages. He did not
do So Forty years ago the prejudice against women
who undertook to renounce vegetating for living
was rampant both in Scotland aud elsewhere We
uray dcnounce it as unworthy and foolish but Noel
was not by any means the only one who allowed its
hardening and narrowing influence to steel natu-
rally tender heart, and to cloud a strong we'll
balanced intellect Even after he found that there
was no possibility of repressng his sister, or chang