Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-21

most primitive instrument and is practically TIN
sane ~ has been used for agss BY avage tribes
for the production Of fire a. we'll a. ia the me-
chnnic arts. Its simplicity 10 its recommends
zion, and IN practiced hand 1t can be made 10
do very delicate work
The general roughing out Of the face IL done
TO make sure that there are no black veins IN
the block that will show upon the surface Of
the finished work, and n any are discovered TIE
block has either 10 be turned and the face
worked out Of new part Of II or else II b die
earded altogether.
fSsuRISe THE BLOCK.
There are insurance companies that make
business of guaranteeing the blocks Of marble
against defects Of this sort, and a. the best
Carara statuary marble costs something like s25
cubic foot 1t will be seen that the risk involved
in buying rough block for large statne n
considerable and the artist IL glad TO pay pre-
MUM on a guaranteed stone. Sometimes there
stage, or, az it is Called ihe 'skin finish Of the
sculpture, marring. il not running, the whole
work. There Il very cad little French story
by Hugo Of young artist who went mad from
such a disappointment in a masterpiece he was
creating. An illustration of this occurrence u
seen in the antique head Of Ceres by an I'M
known sculptor In the Corcoran Gallery.
WITH STEEL POINT AND HAMMER.
After the roughing out Of the statue by few
Of the prominent points. innumerable minor
points are taken all over the cast and their DO
sitions noted with the bow drill on the marble
block. Then the steel point and the hammer
are called into play and the superfuous ma
terial between the drill holes il cut away. As
all the drill holes have been sunk a little short
of their full depth there is left thin crust Of
uniform thickness all over the work. which acts
a. protection against any chance blows Of the
hammer or slip Of the steel points. for marble
is a delicate substance to work with, and Wig
orous blow of the hammer would cause the
stone to spawl and crumble TO depth Of per-
haps an eighth Of an inch and finally to fall out
leaving hole where there should be . smooth
finish.
THE WORK OF fHE ARTIST.
This last surface work on the sculpture IL
usually the work Of the artist himself, but Il
does not differ except in point of dehcacy from
the work Of the mechanic The tools are slender
points and delicate chisels OF different shapes
that vary according to the work and the taste of
the sculptor. Some toothed tools are used for
the working out Of hair and cloth textures, and
for the finish of smooth surfaces marble files
are often used
The artist is usually his own tool dresser.
having little charcoal furnace and anvil for
heating the steel and beating IL out into shape.
He also does his own tempering. drawing the
tool to the proper color in the gas fame and
cooling or "quenching" II in a lump OF bees
WAX ne usual narOUess 10Y ME- DldrDle tOOlS
is light straw color, or about the same tenn
per as used IN working iron.
POLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED FINISH.
Modern artists, as a rule, give no higher fin
ish to their work than can be produced with the
files and chisels which is,a cool and rather dead
white. But ii is certain that the ancients did
not scruple to avail themselves of the polished
finish. produced by powdered emery or harts-
horn, as is shown by some Of the more noted
older marbles that have been wholly or In part
protected from wenthering and on which such
finish is still to be seen. An example of a
slightly polished modern statue can be seen in
the head of a Bacchante by Gait, in the Corcorsn
Gallery. There is certainly soft freshness in
the flesh of this work that is wanting in the
colder white of the marbles that surround it,
There are certainly high ideals Of form and
feature that have never yet been wrought TO
shape beneath the chisel. They are still sleep
ing locked up within the vast wilderness Of the
old quarriss of Carara, from whence so much
of the best in art has already sprung. and they
wait only for the eye of some true artist, who
will finally see them and cut them free.