Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-07-21
HORSES IN BR ONZ E.
FEW OF THEIR STATUES ARE TRUE
TO LIFE.

scribes Some Examples of the Sculp-
tors Art in That City-Thinks Some of
Them Passable.
L. w. Sale, writing from the national
capital. says he has been much i'm
pressed with the comments of "Trot-
wood" in recent issue of the Review,
on the subject of equestrian statues.
He who has carefullysnoted the pose of
the horses of the greater number of the
equestrian statues of this country, and of
those of the continent of Europe, must
concede, If they know anything at all of
art and of the physical proportions of
the horse, or anything of the "eternal
fitness of things" that most of the
equestrian statues of the world are gross
carcatures. OF course an artist, like
poet, must be granted some license.
hero astride of plug will not do,
although many heroes have ridden
''plugs" gin battle. Nor is it in con-
sonance with the spirit of true art to
place hero astride of horse that
stands dull and dropping in the white
heat of battle.
As near as | can remember, without
counting, | have been in about g. bat
ties and skirmishes. | have seen COM
handing Generals on the field while
the battle was raging (most of them
mounted on very ordinary geldings),
and cannot recall single instance In
which the horse did not stand fairly
quiet under fire, except when shell
or cannon ball fell uncomfortably near
him. Most of them seemed to have an
inclination to Craze or browse if the
opportunity was presented to them.
Horses, like men, grow accustomed to
stirring scenes and to danger.
All heroic figures are mounted astrde
of entire horses. This rule has been
handed down from the Greek antiques.
1t is in entire consonance with true
art. This generation may be wiser than
the children of light, but all that we
know of art the Greeks taught us. Not
only were the ancients mounted on en-
tire horses, but the artists of the
ancients knew that the most! perfect
type of the horse was the stallion, by
reason of his nobility of characteristics,
such as courage, endurance, symmetry
and grand impressiveness. whether in
action or repose.
As matter of fact, since the days
of Alexander, Hannibal. Caesar and
/ Gustavus Adophus. the four greatest
generals of antiquity. few commanders
of armies have been mounted on stall
lions. Frederick the Great rode geld
| ing of English blood. Wellington rode
at Waterloo gelding called Copen-
| hagen. Napoleon usually rode Arab
+ ans. Washington left his blooded stall
/ lions at Mt. Vernon. Jackson left his
thoroughbred stations at the Hermit
age. Mcclellan, Grant, Sherman. Sheri-
dan and Thomas rode geldings. while
"Stonewall" Jackson rode the sorriest
old sorrel jade that was ever seen out
side of the shafts of an ash cart. Gen.
Robert E. Lee rode a large and rather
coar se-looking chunk of a gray geld
ing call Traveller.
A grateful people have erected eques.
trian statutes to the memory of all the
great comm anders named and all are
mounted on stations, in accordance
with the universal rules of art. Prob
ably Washington has more equestrian
in the world, except Paris. The mos
impressive equestrian work at the ma
tional capital is that dedicated TO the
memory of Gen. George II. Thomas
commander of the Army of the Cum
berland. 1t is located at the Junction OF
Massachusetts and Vermont avenue;
with Fourteenth street. Thomas is rep
resented as surveying the battlefield
with glass in hand. The horse, CRANE
figure in bronze, stands sQuarely On hi
feet surveying, like his master. thu
panorama of battle. The triumph of tn
: artist lies in the fact that he has succeed
ed In interpreting the emotions of hors
in such crisis. While outwardly calm
, one can see that the animal is laboiin,
under suppressed excitement. The pos
= of the neck and head, the dilation of tn
nostrl, the expression of!the eye. the at
. tituGe Of his master-all are supert
Then, again, the man and horse ar
: proportionate in size. To gaze on sue
o work of art is to be animated by tn
}. emotion one feels in reading grand epic
On the other hand, the equestria
II statue of Gen. Winfield Scott one bloc
further west. inspires no one. Scott wa
i giant in stature to begin with. He
mounted on horse of light bone of tn
e thoroughbred type, without the animal
|, nervous energy. Animation is who'll
e lacking in the horse. and the old Geners
S looks as if he was taking catnap in I'll
e saddle. The man overshadows the hors
The latter lacks massiveness as well 6
d spirit
The equestrian statue of Mcpherson
o who was killed in front of Atlanta,
p much more imposing and ranks in a
Is artistic sense next to that of Thomas
h. The horse is noble creature and stan(
to with the right fore leg gracefully fleXe
is Mcpherson sits him as a soldier shoul
at with his field glasses at his eyes, as
I'd watches the movements of the enemy.
10 But the grossest caricature of all