The record-union., 1891-01-11
ART NOTES

ART NOTES.
Calder Marshall, r. A., has placed his
resignation in the hands of the President
of the Royal Academy, and will forth
with join the ranks of the 'sretired.v He
is the Nestor Of the Royal Academy, hav-
ing been elected associate in 1874, and full
academican in 1852, eighteen years before
Mr.. Hook, who now becomes the senior
member OF the Academy.
AS writer and speaker, Premier de
Freycinct, who has just been elected
member of the French Academy, has
thin, elegant and lucid style. He excels
III clear statement, an orderly marshaling
of facts, and delicate though striking in
nuendo. In arguing most he never seems
to argue, but gently compels his hearers
to deduce the conclusions at which he
wishes them to arrive. He is delightful
fireside talker, and one of the best chess
players in France. The English of the
new academican is almost as fluent and
felicitous as his French.
George 7. Brewster, who designed the
figure Indiana" for the Soldiers and Sail
ors' Monument to be erected at Indian
apolis, is native of Massachusetts,. He
is not yet 2S years of age. His first work
was Homer and Shepherd" exhibited
in the Paris Solon in 1888. When he re-
turned from his studies in Paris he was
associated with j. @. A. Ward, his prin-
SiPo1 WIN pSliiS Otl tllS uGld
ment in Washington. For two years he
has been engaged on the Cleveland mon
ument, which is to be surmounted by
figure of Liberty" His 'Indiana'' will
be the largest bronze female figure ever
cast in this country. The figure proper
is 22 feet high, and stands on a globe Is
feet high.
Prince Victor of Hohenlohe has COM
pleted the plaster cast of the life-size
statue of the Princess of Wales subscribed
for by English ladies. When the marble
statue is finished it will be placed in the
Royal College of Music. Prince Victor is
said to have succeeded in producing q
striking presentment of the Princess.
She is represented in the DOCTORS cap and
gown belonging to her Dublin musical
degree. Her right hand, the wrist en-
circled by a plain gold bracelet, holds
back the heavy embroidered folds of the
gown, and discloses the plainly pleated
French merino dress which she wears
when in academic costume, While the left
hand grasps a roll of music. The only
other ornament is small harp-shaped
brooch, which faStens the neck of the
gown. Both the Prince and Princess of
Wales have expressed their great satistac-
ton at the work. In an adjoining work
| shop at ST. James Palace studio the COM
panion figure Of the Prince of Wales in
Field Marshall s uniform is already in the
| marble stage, though it will not be fin
ished for eight or nine months. This,
| too, is an admirable ,likeness. The ped
estal of green serpentine marble is also in
active preparation, and will be sur
| rounded by gilt wreath of flowers, in
Guiding the rose, shamrock, thistle and
leek, together with the lotus of India.
| In the best portraits of all schools of
| painting we find invariably that they
carry in themselves the evidence that
| possess two qualities without which, we
are agreed, they never could be placed
among the great works of art that endure
| for all time. Character and truth are
written in their every line, and we need
no personal testimony to convince us that
| the painter has not given us an Impress
| ion of his sitter that is uncharacteristic,
just as we can see for ourselves that he
| has not been untruthful in his preSenta-
| ton OF facts. The masters have had diff
| ierent ways Of expressing truth and char
| acter, and where some have insisted on
detail, others have summarized and Sc
! lected; Holbein, who omitted nothing, is
| not more true than Velasquez, who
omitted much. Among all the great
| painters the analysts and synthesists have
this in common, that the first thing to be
| sought for in art is truth, and this they
have always attained, no matter how
widely they may have differed in method
| After truth comes beauty, for we cannot
have the second without the first, and it
is here that so many modern portrait
painters are deficient. 1t is not enough
to tranScribe facts in nature, and present
them as nearly as possible as they look,
the manner in which they are presented
is what makes the picture. 1t is not suffi-
cient to pose ones sitter in favorable
| light, and paint him on canvas as he
stands, and put frame around it. There
| is one place on the canvas, and one only,
| where the head ought to be, and if it is an
| inch too hiyh too low pl. on, ir,o ff>n
| far to one side, something is lost. There
! is one part of it where the light should be
strongest, and another part where it should
| be most subdued; if this is not felt and the
| masses are not placed where each tells to
the best advantage on the other, some
thing more is lost. If the space about the
| figure is not properly proportioned above
and below and on either side, if the hands
are not placed where they balance in the
| composition, the picture loses in style.
If, in short, the composition is not stud
| led in line, in mass, and in color, we
| picture than chance attitude as the pho
tographer gives it. 1t may be in one
sense Characteristic, but it is not dignified
or sober, or graceful or beautiful, as the
case may be. The painter who COM
plains that the public cares for little but
the likeness in a portrait ought to know
that the public must be taught, and that
it will never care for the other things,
and consider portrait as it ought to be
| considered-as a picture-until it has the
evidence constantly put before its eyes
that bare truth is one thing and that
beautiful truth is another and better
thing. The conditions under which
American art is making its way are favor
able to good portrait-painting, and if the
painters do not neglect to practice what
they preach, comparative Indifference on
the part of public will quickly turn to
keen appreciation. We have some ex-
cellent painters of portraits already-and
their work is highly valued. With this
good beginning, with the progress that
must come from them and from those
who mean to paint with the same mo-
| tives they do, general recognition and
encouragement are sure to follow
| Ha7per's.
PTTyJED DOWN TO DEhTu