Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-08-28
Worthy Of the Renaissance
Work Of Augustus saint-daudens.

which has sent Chapins by the thou
sands all over the land; in such wise,
again returning to the civil war,
which always fascinated st. Gaudens,
was wrought his wonderful relief
ON Boston Common, facing the state
house, where forever men may see
the noble and grave countenance OF
Shaw; the flower and force of our New
England lineage and conscience, quite
above the equally serious and set
faces of his negro soldiers, going to
meet the fate of war. The wonder OF
these, and of all the work of St Gaud-
ems, is the domination of the idea He
is a great technician-there has never
been a finer one in America,-but
without the idea he could not work.
Words have been said concerning
his great portrait statues and his ide-
alism in their production. One of the
noblest of these is the magnificent
Sherman, a great equestrian statue
at the Sixty-ninth street Plaza en-
trance to the New York Central park.
There is the gaunt old general, in tri-
umph, with his horse snorting, and be-
fore goes the vivid figure of Victory,
Fastening, though not flying. There
is nothing more remarkable than this
in all memorial art, unless it be the
Colleone in Venice.
Besides these he made many a
pleasing, or more than pleasing bas-
relief, as that of Robert Louis Steven
son, of Bastien LIE Page, the gentle
French artist who died too soon, and
a great many others which will be re-
garded with generous happiness in
future years. There are score OF
things which ought to be known, like
his charming statue of old Peter
Cooper seated in his armchair In
front of his great institution, the
Cooper Union, in New York city.
There is also to be thought of, and al
Why's in evidence, as one walks by
Madison Square, in New York city,
che exquisite Diana, posing with the
finest grace, on her ball above the
tower of the Madison Square garden.
But the abstract idea! How has st.
Gaudens treated that? He would
eventually have worked out many a
statue comprising his thoughts as
thin gs to be; but he was toe cardened
by the subject he had to deal within
to which he never failed to present
something of high thought. Look at
the statue which has been placed in
the Rock Creek cemetery in the Dis
trict of Columbia. Here st. Gaudens
had nothing to express but grief. And
Grief alone it is that sits, figG.o If
bronze. upon a granite rock. This
marvellous presence is not man or wo-
mahs-it is great and mournful an
gel seated, with the right hand sup
porting the chin; and in its strong
and solemn features is embodied all
there is of human grief, when it has
passed the stress of passion, and must
rest.
Mr.. st. Gaudens was one Of the
simplest and sweetest of men; he had
not an atom of conceit or assumption
about him. He was cordial, friendly,
happy in the presence of visitors who
knew anything Like all artists, he de-
manded that his visitors should know
something-he didn't want to teach
an infant class. He was noticeably
Irish, notwithstanding his patronymic.
His hair was reddish and his fine
beard. which Kenyon Cox has delin-
Gated in the best work he ever did.
The cut we give is a truthful picture.
lit is St Gaudens al work.