New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-08
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ANCIENT AND MODERN SCULPTURE.

ART BY Adolf Furtwanger. Edited ted by ,,I E :u
sed Two Hundred Text Illustrations. Folio. PIP.
xiii. 4s7. New-York: Charles Scrihners sons:
LA psr I FRAN ahsa pfr uss LIZ F S
PIP $50 Paris: Mason Quantln Ne"-hork'
]. ". Bouton.
The simultaneous appearance OF THESE TWO vol
umes makes happy event in the literature OF
plastic art. an event which only needed TO be
marked nv a third volume on the Italian Renais-
sance 10 be rendered quite complete Italy pro-
vides the link which binds ancient to modern
sculpture not SO much through any unorOKen
processes Of evolution as because the three great
epochs in the history Of sculpture have been re-
spectively Grecian in the pagan era. Italian on
the breaking I'D of the Middle Ages. and French
IN more recent times For the trea ment Of the
earliest OF these three divisions Of art no more
accomplished authority than Herr Furtwangler
could be desired. His name has long been famil-
lar 10 students ard respected always NJ. Gonse
IS one of the most eminent of French critics, ana
in his noble volume on "LArt Gothique ne pre-
pared his readers for just such weish'y ana
comprehensive book this new puohcauoh on
French sculpture. If there is difference De-
tween the two writer's. if Herr FurtWangier Is
very serious where NJ Gonse is vivacious' IL Is q
matter ~ ten,perament and not Of critical ideals
Both writer's awaken deep interest In their themes
and inspire confidence in their Judgment
Herr Furtwangler's volume glances sketchily at
the history of Greek sculpture AS his title PRO-
claims II IL in "a series Of essays that he has
attempted to concentrate his survey. not in con-
t,nuous narrative and the reader must therefore
dispense with any of those aids to memory which
he might expect in an elementary work. The
truth Is that there is no time wasted by Herr
Furtwangler on elementary details: his book is OF
a character to take such matters for granted. and
IN appealng 10 scholars he does he is chiefly
DESTROYS of settling certain problems Of archaeo-
ogy The points of transition. for example in
Greek art are exceedingly difficult of elucidation
to-day since our separation of one school from
The other must be made almost entirely on inter
nal evidence, and II is such evidence which our
author weighs with devoted enthusiasm PhiIo-
sophicaly and with the minute deberation char
acteristic OF German he opens his volume with
a subtle analysis Of Phidias and those other
Athenian sculptors upon whose art there lnger
unmistakable traces of his influence. Sketches Of
Cresilas and Myron grow naturally from this
chapter and lead TO examination OF Polycleitus
which paves the way for Scopas. PraXiteles, Eu-
phraror, Lysippus and other names of the later
wears Of Greek sculpture. Consideration of the
style and influence of Scopas has inspired sepa-
rate chapter on the Venus of Milo. which gives
Throughout it is Herr Furtwangler's purpose to
fix the authorship Of the different masterpieces
with which he deals, and by placing them to
clarity the history Of art. 1t is difficult task
and one from which less anonymous result
than that before us could have been expected
even at the hands Of a less involved author.
For Herr Furtwanger is involved. after the
manner Of his rae and he requires a patient
reader To such one he yields profound
satisfaction as witness the first and most i'm
portant Of his essays, a tissue of well-pondered
tnductions and surmises to the Lehman
Athena. a statue which Herr Furtwangler places
above the Olympan Zeus and the Athena FAR
themes as representative # the art OF Phidias.
We have no original works by that master. and
even the authentic reproductions Of the Zeus
and the Parthenos are on the whole, inadequate
For genuine, close contact with Phdias we have
70 60 in Herr Furtwangler's opinion, 10 two
statues Of Athena which are preserved in the
Dresden museum. Both marbles. he AYERS. are
faithful copies OF the unhelmeted Lemnian
Athena in bronze which Pausanias records as
the most distinguished of all the works of
Phidias, and which is also believed to be the
only important Athena Of antiquity which was
famous for it's bare head-a notable point in the
argument which this volume offers Herr Furt-
wanger goes about his demonstration with ad-
mirabIe thoroughness. Much significance neces-
sarily attaches TO the head. which in each OF the
Dresden statues has been confusing TO the
Archaeological One Of the two heads has been
stigmatized as really unrelated to the torso on
which 1t had been set by late arbitrary hands
and the other had been so badly restored as 10
incur suspicious of similar nature. The latter
head has been the subject of many heated aigu-
ments. and separated from the statue by
Treu in the course of his work at Dresden in
correcting the indscreuons OF old restorers. AT
length II was endeavored to identify it with an
other head Of extraordinary beauty AT Bologna;
but in proportion this hypothesls gained
Ground the Dresden torso suffered. for that could
only be an Athena whereas the Italian relic was
assumed by Come to belong TO a young man,
and by Flasch = Amazon. Thus the Lehman
Athena must have lapsed into a headess and
therefore extremely ambiguous state. but Herr
Furtwangler easily sets the matter straight.
Restoring the Dresden head to agree with the
Bologna piece which is. it must be granted an
actual replica OF the former when that was IN
its best state, Herr Furtwanger replaces the
alien head on the second Dresden statue by
cast from the Bologna original ana protes's
that in both cases the effect gained is inevitable
right. Phidian beyond dispute. The perfection 81
che serves 10 enforce the perfection OF the other
srd vice versa II YOU urge that the Bologna
head is flletted ard that Athena without a
helmet does not fall naturally into line with our
ascertaned data on the subject OF Greek scc'p'-
IRE Herr Furtwangler reminds you of the fact
noted above that the Lehman Athena of Phdlas
is the one bare headed Athena celebrated IN
tradition. and then he clinches his argument by
referring TO those Attic vase paintings IN which
the goddess !. depicted with her helmet IN her
hand. Here he treads on egg shells. HIS con-
illusions are plausible and so are his premises Tor
that matter. but neither are Overwhelmingly con-
yincing In the long run they are accepted
however. for all along the line Herr Fur,wangier
strengthens his position, finding so much in the
torso Of the Lemnia 10 warrant Phldlan