Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-07
THE rELPAIR ADADEMY.
A Glimpse of the World of Art In the
Old Mansion-The Academy to be

Opened for an Exhibition In February.
The work Of reDodeling the old Telfair
mansion, and arranging the many yalua-
bic works Of art which have been secured,
is progressing as rapidly now as is posi-
bic under the circumstances. Prof.
Carl L. Brandt, who is personally super
vising the work, says that he is Fastening
it as much as possible. Great care has to
be taken, and in two or three instances
painting and plastering, which was done
hastily and before the surface was ready
for it, VIII have to be done over again.
The work on the interior of the building
is well advanced. All of the woodwork
of the old floor has been taken out, and
the wooden beams have been replaced
with bolted beams of wrought iron. Brick
arches have been built over these and
covered with Portland cement, making
a very substantial foundation for the
marble thing, which has been made during
the summer in New York and which is
now ready to be laid. The cost of this
work will be very little more than if were
made Of wood. Recently wOrkmen have
dug out underneath the stairway leading
to the upper floor, which is situated in the
west end of the building, to depth of four
feet, which is to make room for a marble
stairway to lead to the east room on the
ground floor of the projected annex. At
the head Of the first flight of the stair
case leading to the rooms above large
entrance will be cut through the westwall
connecting the mansion with the art room
in the annex.
Prof. Brandt hopes to be able to have the
work sufficiently advanced to throw the
Academy open to the public for tempo
rary exhibition about the middle of Feb
ruary on the anniversary of the Georgia
Historical Society. He is now preparing
a pedestal on which he will exhibit the
wonderful casts made from the group IN
the pediment Of the ParthenOn. These
were taken from the originals, collected
by Lord Elgin while he was Ambassador
at COnstantinOple, and were purchased
by HIM for $50 700, and are now on exhi-
bitiOn in the British Museum. Prof.
Brandt also has a cast of the figure of
Hermes in perfect condition. This statue
was discovered by an expedition sent out
by the Prussian Government in the ruins
Of the Temple Olympus. The molding is
taken from the casts taken by the Prus-
slams from the figure. Many of the
ceived were very much broken
and the work Of restoring them is
very difficult. The freize of the Parthe-
non, which has been placed in the north
room of the mansion, is nearly perfect,
and is one of the finest representations of
ancient plastic art in existence. One of
the statues, the Farnese Bull, had to be
brought in twenty different cases. Be-
tween % and 100 cases are now on the
way. OF the five statues, those of Michael
Angelo, Reubens, Phideas, Rembrandt
and Raphael, the two former are already
here. These will be placed in front of the
mansion, aDd the two giant magnOlias
standing in the yard will be cut down to
make room for them.
Tne collection of photographs which
Prof. Brandt made while he was abroad
is very extensive and valuable, and COW
ers the advancement of art from pre-his-
toric times to the present day. Among
them may be mentioned an elegant copy
Of Guides Aurora. and some photo
graphs from portraits painted by Raphael
and Michael Angelo. There is also pho
tOgTaph of the hOary-headed Thomas Parr,
painted by Van Dyke when the subject
was 151 years old and but two years from
his death. One advantage of these photo
graphs is that they will enable the learner
to study the methods of the old masters
much more readily than they could from
copies, which might represent the eX-
preston, but not the treatment.