The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-08-22
Some Colossal Statues.

the aLUenpC at UllS SOrC OF ar6 DeluS appdI-
emily first directed toward depicting some
representation of the god held most in
reverence by the sculptors. As skill in
creased the talent of the artists was en-
ployed in portraying the features of their
greatest military and civil leaders, and as
the living memory Of these faded and their
glory frightened in the legends remember
ed and invented of them, so the effort to
represent their forms and features in stat
uary became also idealized. In Persia the
heroic and gigantic statues of the kings
were very numerous, but none of them
remain entire enough to afford more than
the dimmest idea of their size. There are
large fragments, evidently once belonging
to gigantic statuary, in the ruins of Susa
and other Persian cities, but the malice of
state enemies, together with the decaying
hand of time, has made Identification an
impossibility. Numbers of cities in Hin
dostan have legends of gigantic images OF
their idols, and in some cases fragments OF
these statues remain, but quite frequently
the Hindoo idols were constructed OF other
and more perishable materials than stone,
and so, for the most part these statues are
but legendary. The Aztecs of Mexico and
Central America and the Peruvians have
left many evidences of their skill in stone
cutting, but comparatively few statues are
found, and these are evidently conventional.
In the mountain districts of Peru there are
many of these odd, half statue, half mOnu-
ment figures, from six to twenty feet high,
carved from a single block, but whether
they were designed as objects of worship,
as statues of the Aztec rulers, or as orna-
ments for palaces, cannot now be ascer-
tanned
Some of the most notable stone statues
of ancient times are those Of the Egyptian
kings. Rameses IL, or the Great, appears
to have been fond of having himself repre-
sented in this manner, and the statues he
left are, some of them, almost as perfect as
when they came from the sculptor's hands.
A peculiar thing about the Egyptian stat
ues and monuments is the fact that every
one is cut from a single solid block, not a
sign of patch or seam being anywhere OBJ
servable. This is the case, not only with
the statues, but with the obelisks also, some
of which are nearly 100 feet high, but each
of single block. The engineering skill
required to move those enormous masses OF
stone must have been very considerable,
but in the catacombs of Egypt there remain
pictures which show many details of the
work In one picture huge statue is be-
ing drawn on beams by long lines of men,
over 500 in each line, who are pulling on
ropes, being guided in their efforts by a
leader standing on the base OF the statue
and motioning to man by his side, who
clashes pair of cymbals as a signal to pull.
Others rearrange the beams as the statue
passes along, while others, with jars, empty
oil on the wood to diminish the friction.
The sphinx is not often thought of in
connection with statuary, but it is one of
the most wonderful statues in the world,
whether considered with regard to its size,
the workmanship displayed, or the skill
required in moving so immense a mass OF
stone. 1t is believed to be contemporary
with the pyramids, but for ages the pur-
pose of its erection has been lost The
shifting sands of the desert have buried it
almost to the chin, but several attempts at
great labor and expense have been made to
uncover enough of it to make accurate
measurements. None of these have been
entirely successful, since the desert winds
blow back the sand almost as fast as it IS
taken out; but enough has been done to
approximate the dimensions of this enor-
nous statue. The head is twenty-eight
feet and six inches from the top to the
chin, while from the top of the head to the
pedestal on which the body rests is ninety
feet. The body is that of crouching lion,
and is 146 feet long, while the paws pro-
iect in front of the head nearly 80 feet. The
breadth of the shoulders is thirty-six feet,
and, so far as has yet been discerned, the
entire statue is of one block. An enter
prising investigator bored an experimental
hole in one of the shoulders to depht of
twenty-seven feet, but found solid stone
without seam. How the mass was ever
carved, or being carved, how it was moved
and placed in position will never be known.
The celebrated Colossus of Rhodes, was
of bronze, and is commonly cited as one of
the wonders of the world. 1t was the
work of Chares, noted sculptor, who spent
twelve years in making it. 1t stood only
sixty-six years, and was overthrown by an
earthquake B. c. 224. Its height was 1O5
feet, without pedestal, Its thumb meas
ured a fathom round The statue was
hollow, and the cavity was filled with stones.
After the earthquake the Colossus helped
the Rhodians out with a swindle as gigan-
tic as itself, which they perpetrated on the
rest of the Greeks, subscriptions for replac-
ing the statue being collected to more than
five times the value of the work needed,
and then the money being diverted to other
uses. The statue lay on the ground for
894 years, when, the island being con-
quered by the Saracens, the fallen Colos
sus was sold for old brass to Hebrew
junk-dealer of those days, who cut it up,
loaded 900 camels with the brass, and
made fortune out of his speculation.
Allowing 800 pounds for each camel-load,
the total weight of the bronze was 72O,-
900 pounds, and this after the statue had
been subjected to the rust and waste from
the theft of nine centuries. The pedestal
was triangular, and there was staircase to
ascend to the top. Rhodes was famous
for its statues, however, as Pliny mentions
hundred other colossuses, notso large, in
the various quarters of the city.
Modern gigantic statues have been COM
mon enough, quite number of sculptors
having excelled in executing them. Among
the noblest the "Moses and David of
Michael Angelo may be mentioned, but the
modern world has few colossal statues to
boast of. The "Bavaria" at Munich is one
of the most notable, its height being forty
nine feet and two inches; while at Puy the
French, in honor of their share in the
Crimean war, erected in 1850 bronze
statue of the Virgin, its height being fifty
two feet and four inches, Itwas cast from
the metal of 246 cannon taken at Sebasto-
pol, and was deemed triumph Of the
founders skill. The famous statue of st.
Charles Barromeo is seventy-two feet in
height, and is notable from the fact that
the style of its construction is very similar
to that of the Liberty, being made of cop
DER plates fastened to framework, this
ioined to central column. The great