New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-31
THE SIBERIAN STATUE.

THE SHERMAN STATUE.
At the unwilling Of the Sherman statue in the
Plaza yesterday its significance as memorial
TO q great soldier was naturally emphasized in
the ceremonies attending the event. But II
New-York is to be congratulated on this addi-
lion TO the objects of its civic pride it is because
the statue is also a memorial TO great artist
Dr. Johnson defined patriotism as the last ref
uge of a scoundreI Certainly there are monu-
ments here and abroad, to prove that 1t has
often supplied a convenient cloak for the bad
artist whose incompetence in portraying some
national hero is temporarily lost sight Of as the
flags fall from his work, military bands bray
their Ioudest, and thousands Of troops and clt-
Zens join in acclaiming the illustrious dead
Yesterday there could have been but one feeling
among the people gathered before the new
statue, that an enduring ideal of American char
acter had been expressed by Mr.. st. Gaudens
in terms of lasting strength and beauty 1t is
his masterpiece, and it is one of the noblest
achievements Of modern sculpture.
The difficulty of the problem confronting him,
and the measure of his success in dealing with
it. are the better understood If one pauses to
consider the rarity of those occasions in history
upon which similar problems have received any
thing like adequate solution Ancient times give
us the immortal steeds of the Parthenon, the
famous horses of St Marks, the splendid ami
nal which the bronze figure of Marcus Aurelius
bestrdes in the Piazza del Campidoglo, at
Rome; the leaping chariot team Of the Vatican,
and divers other fine but less eminent examples.
The great equestrian statues of the modern
world may be counted without exhausting the
fingers of one hand. YerrOcchioS COlleOni, at
Venice, heads the list, and just after it comes
DonatellO's Gattamelata, at Padua. Had Leo
nardos model for the monument to Francesca
Sforza at Milan, not been destroyed by
daIs, leaving no Wrack behind, we may be sure
that a third triumph would have been com
passed. But of the statues that survive how
many are worthy 10 stand beside the Venetian
and Paduan masterpieces: Certainly not the
Philip ". Of the Florentine, Tacca, at Madrid,
spirited though it is Nor is Falconets Peter
the Great, at st. Petersburg, the perfect work
that that accomplished Frenchman sought to
make it. Coming down 10 more recent genera
TONS the Frederick the Great of Rauch, at Ber-
lin, impresses US without inspiring the least en-
thusiasm, and in our own day really inspired
equestrian statues are harder than ever TO find
One exists in Paris, the Jeanne dare Of Paul
Dubois. but ii is the sole French masterpiece of
its kind. The general level Of the Partisan
school is that Of Fremiet's Jeanne d'Arc, in the
Rue de Rivoli, clever, but not lofty. 1t is no
exaggeraton to say that if Mr.. st. Gaudenss
Sherman is to be grouped with any of the stat
ues we have mentioned, it must be with those
of the Renaissance masters.
1t is worthy of them partly because it has
unity of composition, the horse its rider and the
figure of Victory being consummateIy we'll ad-
justed 10 the other, and all three TO a single
effect of dramatic grandeur; partly because it is
product of great technical skill; partly be-
ST of ctv1a
the authority IF a man of genius. But no less
important than any one of these eements-per-
haps, indeed. the most potent of the various
sources of the artists SUGGESTS his power of
interpreting his subject at just that moment in
which its vitality passes the most felicitously
into the envelope Of art In the representation
Of an equestrian group, sculpture. since the
Athenian era, has always oscillated from the
repose that spells lifelessness to the movement
that spells violence. Only the very greatest
artists have found that middle ground on which
their horses. whether stock still, pacing or
prancing. have kept the golden mean signifying
neither the uncapturable freedom of nature nor
the immObity Of art but a perfect blend of
what is strictly sculpturesque in both. Mr.. st.
Gaudens has found that middle ground. His
horse is obviously advancing. and Sherman's
body, tense with nervous energy, is at one with
u
movement. The winged Victory In every fibre
Quivers with the rhythm of oncoming and re-
sistless force. But so perfect is the balance of
this group so unerring has the sculptor been
in the fusion of elasticity with restraint that,
while his work is at every point alive 1t has the
calm dignity which alone BELTS a monumental
work of art One way Of emphasizing this is to
compare the Sherman with some such similar
composition as the Emperor William of Begas
at Berlin; the gulf that separates genius from
mediocrity is then wildly realized But the
best testimony TO the worth OF this beautiful
statue is offered in the fact that it instantly i'm
poses its quality upon the observer making
comparisons seem needless and filling him with
sense Of something majestic and without flaw
Mr.. st Gaudens has been fortunate in his OBJ
portunities, which have enabled him TO illus
trate American history in statues of some Of its
most representative figures. At Springfield in
the chaplin monument, he has embodied the
traits of our Puritan forefathers At Chicago
his statue of Lincoln touches the highest plane
in the commeinoration of our noblest type of
craftsmanship. Here in New-York his Farragut
Is unique souvenir of our naval history and
the Sherman stands, with even greater eIo-
quence for the other arm of the service II ia
matter for profound gratitude that the man
who has bad these opportunities has used them