Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1904-04-27
FOR ART PALACE.
Twenty-Five Famous Personages Re.
presented at Worlds Fair.

presented at Worlds Fair.
st Louis, April MedalIions in
limestone of famous personages in tile
history of art, form a part of the
adornment of the permanent portion
of the beautiful Palace Of Art Of the
Louisiana Purchase exposition Be,
ginning with Phidias. they run down
Rembrandt, Rubens and other masters
of centuries ago, concluding with John
La Fargo and Augustus st Gaudens,
representing modern art.
The medallionsl are the work of two
New York sculptors, George L. Brew
ster and o. Piccirilli. AS long as this
noble structure shall stand it will re-
mind the public of the achievements
of these two men who in their time did
SO much to promote love of beauty and
it's expression in works of art. 1t is
appropriate that the series begin with
that great Greek artist, Phidias.
Though Phidias lived more than two
millennial ago, vet IL to-day we wish
to speak of the highest Attachments i'll
sculpture, of the sublimest plastic art,
we turn to him. His name means the
same to us now that it did to the an
able in that no works have come down
to us in state of preservation which
we can certainly point to as the handi-
work of this great sculptor. OF his
splendid Athena Of the Parthenon, of
gold and ivory, thirty-three feet tall, no
vestige remains to-day saveSthe sign
on the shattered pavement of the
ruined temple. where the base Of the
statue had once been erected. The
great Zeus of the temple at Olympia,
also of gold and ivory, has also long
since been lost to us. Nevertheless
Phidias through his own works and
his achievements in the guidance of
other sculptors in the creation of the
Parthenon sculpture and that of other
Grecian temples SO impressed his
genius on the art of antiquity that it
may never be effaced
When at the time of the Renaissance
Europe, and especially Italy, was
thrilled by the great artistic awaken
ing, Michel Angelo, Donatello and
other great men of that era went back
to Phidias and his contemporaries for
their chief source of inspiration. Yet
they were not seryile imitators. Michel
Angelo, who raised the sculpture Of the
modern world to It's highest pitch OF
magnifcence, and Donatel1o, the mas
ter of delicate RELIEF and dignifed
realism, and Imadella Robbia, with his
purity of style and sweetness Of ex-
preston, were giants of their own time
to whom the world stands indebted be-
yond the possibility of estimate.
Though free from any touch of copy
| ism, there are many points in the
works Of such men as Donatello, Lt1ca-
della Robbia and Vittore Pisanello
which strongly recall the sculpture Of
ancient Greece, and suggest that II the
sculptor of the latter Phidian school
had been surrounded by the same type
as that among which the Italians lived
he would have produced plastic works
resembling those of the. great Floren-
tine masters.
The full list of the medallions for
| the Art building is as follows: Phidfas,
| Ictinus, Botticelli, Giotto, Michel An
gelo, Raphael, Palladfo, Leonardo de
Vinci, Brunel1eschi, Donatel1o, Titan,
Della Robbia, Brante. Durer, Holbein,
Rembrandt, Rubens, Valasquez. Cellini,
Richard NJ Hunt, Augustus st Gaue
dens, John La Fargo.
Doubtless the art world will be well
satisfied with the selection of the
names of that great American sculp-
| tor, Augustus st Gaudens, of the fam
GUS painter, John La Fargo, and of the
! late Richard M. Hunt, the architect to
represent the art of America in our
own time in the decoration of this
splendid structure which houses the
great collection of treasures Of art.