Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-06-17
Commissions Awarded by Emperor
to German scuIptors.

mentioned ReinhOld Begas, one mas 10
drop pretty far 20 the level Of Messrs.
Schaper Semering, Hundrieser, schott'
and Eberleln.
Then there is a third rank in which
one may place Messrs Barwald. Ernst
Herter Baumbach, and Calendrell to-
gether with Uphues. a sculptor whose
name. II Il be originally Greek. means the
man Of genius. There Is a clever sculp-
tor i'm Munich named Maison. who has
modelled excellent things on a small
scale. but the perennial jealousy Of Ber-
lin as an art centre against Munich viii
hardly permit that his talents should be
awaited Of. any more than Fritz Won
Thfe. Franz stuck. and the Munich Sc
cessionists are tolerated by the steady
old art-roadsters in this classic pasture
land of the Phiiistine.
The plan Of decorating both sides or
one of the avenues in the Thiergarten'
which radiate from the Column of Victory
| I'm sight of the Rechstag. with statues OF
dead HOhenzollerns. has not lain dormant
I'm the Emperors mind as long as the
| sculptors of Berlin feared. 4 number OF
| them received commissions a while ago
| and I'm some cases the models have been
| inspected and accepted by the Emperor
| But the other day. on the Victory ave
nue.. IN the Thlergarten, there was
I grand gathering OF sculptors and court
officials to await the coming Of the En-
! peror and Empress. and hear what they
had TO say about t&is matter
THE GENERAL PLAN.
The general plan Is a series OF bays or
! inlets from the avenue In question into
! the trees of the Thiergarten. the bays
/ 10 be at even distances and TO contain
( each statue OF a deceased prince,
elector. or king, hanked by busts OF
| famous men OF the period, each ruler 10
| have two such busts. The statue I'm each
| case is 10 have semi-clrcular bench in
! front, somewhat on the plan Of the Far
ragut monument. i'm Madison Square. but
/ larger aud the ends Of this bench are
/ 10 be decoratvely treated. Before the
/ august couple arrived, scene painters, be-
| longing 10 the ROYAL Theatre had ar
| ranged q bay somewhat as II was 10 be.
| \ platform with mosaic floor lay I'm front
| Of a marble bench from the centre OF
which rose the model Of the statue Of
/ 0tto l., son Of the German Emperor
/ Henry l.. one OF the earliest forehghters
against the heather Nends and Prus-
/ SLAMS I'm the tenth century. on one side
stood the model for the bust of Abbot
| Siebold Of Lehnin; ON the other OF the
/ Vendish Prince Prblslaw, OF Brannibor,
! bench showed a lily decoration while
/ background Of tall box trees was repre-
/ scented. setting of the marble bench.
The entire plan Is under the direction
Of Reinho.d Begas and the architects
Halmbuber Besides these and the sculD-
tors mentioned above were Karl Begas
the masters sculptor son. B0ese. Won
Uechtritz Felderhon. and Baumbach
The Emperor and Empress arrived with
| their usual punctuality, and expressed
approval OF the arrangement but the
former suggested that the mosaic plat
form be raised and approached by more
steps and the central statue be higher
fully seven feet high. while the entire
bay should be deeper and reach further
back among the trees. 4 pair OF can
delabra on the wings Of the bench m
the original plan are 10 be omitted, ana
the illumination is to come from lights
/ directly in front OF the semi-circle.
The plan is "A very magnificent one. and
will take eight years 10 complete There
are 10 be ch.rty-two statues I'm as many
bays. and sixty-four accompanying busts
The monument TO Otto " has been
given 10 Karl Begas. that Of John IT. TO
FelderhOh. that Of the electOr Frederick
/. TO Barwald. Uphues will model Otto
/ ", of the Ba.lenstedt line. with a flank
ing bust Of Hans Won Putliz: Boese will
finish that OF Albrecht III. OF the thir-
tenth century with Eicke Won Reptow
writer OF the curious book called THE
Sachsen-Spegel" and Heinrich Won Salza
as Ranking busts. The latter was the
Superior Of the order Of Teutonlc knights
which wrested a large part Of Northern
Germany from the pagan Vends Poles
and Lithuanians. In his talk with the
scGlptors the Emperor H. reported % have
laid great stress on historical accuracy
in the figures as regards costume. and
urged That In this respect no freedom
should be allowed the Imagination. HIS
idea is that the line ossstatuary shall be-
instructive as We'll as ornamental pre-
senting specimens Of the dress ana armor
Of each period, even II il be impossible
over so family 10 reproduce the actual
features OF the ruler in question.
10 must be confessed that the plan OF
The Kaiser does not receive . uumixed
praise in all quarters. Among his faith
fui subjects are some who object TO the
scheme as whole regarding a complete
series Of the rulers OF Brandenburg and
Prussia as beyond the powers OF
sculpture. and certain TO result In as
many mediocrties as there are statues.
And 10 rs certainly fact that there is
something chilling 70 the Imagination I'm
the bare idea Of that avenue OF the
Thiergarten with its thlrty-tWO bavs.
thirty-rwo semi-circuiar benches Of mar
bic. thirty-two Carrara statues. each
seven feet high, and sixty-four accom-
panying marble busts. 1t will need very
robust imagnatons indeed 10 throw any
great fire into the carrying out Of com
missions given In this wholesale way.
Yet with the increase OF wealth and
sculptOrs such wholesale orders are GER
fa.fr h. .,.as
I'm the United States. az. for example. I'm
the decoration OF the Library Of Congress
statuary has been ordered In large quanti-
ties at once. Yet the American sculptors
had At least a variety; they had SYMBOL
cal figures as well as portrait busts.
there was an opportunity for the imagl-
nation 10 work. The Berlin men have a
harder task and the results OF their e.
forts VIII be awaited with no little
curiosity. There IS something peculiarly
sterile in the idea OF the eingies OF these
ioDg-dead princelings and potentates.
very. very few OF whom any one nova
days remembers. very. very many Of
whom are rot even part OF the ordinary
German boys torture in his history class.
Doubtless the really bad characters
among them will b. hailed By their al
lotted sculptors as chances not 10 be in
thankful for. ingsmuch as their vllalnies
al least lift them out OF the hopeless
nulllty OF their fellows. concerning whom
the most bcOtlcking I.atin-wr,tlng
Dryasdust OF a historian can only relate
that he lived. had children By the right
and left, and then deigned 10 die with
the usual pomp. sententiousness, and
piety.
AN ODD INROAD
An odd inroad upon the field belonging
10 the German scuiptors was made re-
Gently by an American lady. Mrs Emma
G.. Guild. Of Watham. Mass She has had
a commission for two symbolica statues
given TO her by the Chief of the POST
Office Department, Herr Won STEPHAN