The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-07-16

washington, D. e, July l6.-boh
don now has a bronze copy of tbs
Hoadon statue Of George washing
ton. Paris has had its bronze cop.
since 1910, in the palace OF Yer
sailles. Washington has its bronz'
and plaster copies. The Richmon'
state capitol has the original. be
sides the various copies OF his ia
nous work, Houdon has been fur
Their immortalized in that slmos
every sculptor who has essayed Il
make a figure of Washington ha.
gone to his model for CORRECTNESS:
or features and dimensions. Hou
don's statue has become the &C
cepted likeness OF the Father o.
His Country as he really was.
That Houdon's Washington is a
niece of authentic realism there can
be no. doubt. Houdon, painter tc
kings, came from France to spend
two weeks at Mt. Vernon STUDYING
his subject. At this time Washing
ton allowed the sculptor to make
a mask OF his face, head, and chest,
and from the mask Houdon mod
eled his statue that was to make
1t impossible for later generations
of sculptors to speculate as to the
length of the first presidents nose
or the set OF his jaw. Painters may
make portraits of Washington sc
different in expression and feature
that we can scarcely imagine the
same man as the subject Of all OF
them, but Houdon's mask is Wash
ington.
A mask, it is true, does not show
the face in any animated express
sion. 1t must necessarily be a face
in absolute repose. For this rea-
son, some artists have claimed thai
the best paintings OF washington
and other heroes come nearer tc
creating a true impression of the
man as he actually looked thar
statues made from masks. On thi:
connoisseurs differ. The statue Of
Houdon shows Washington strong
and dignified of face as he mus
often have looked at the age OF 81
after he had weathered the battle:
Of the Revolution.
Masks in the Making.
The stories of Houdons visit d,
not show how he persuaded Wash
ington to allowa mask to be made
1t is well known that a year o
two before, Joseph Wright,
young American artist, had paint
ed Washington and then receive,
permission to make a life mask
This is always a trying operation
-
keep the plaster from sticking. ant
silk thread placed on the face s.
that it can be pulled at the RICH
moment to break the cast Ar
rangementS must be made TO
breathing And then the plaste
must be laid on the features unit
the face is entirely covered an
the plaster hardens in the mold.
All the preliminaries the younI
artist managed successfully. Blu
when it came to removing the cas-
he was nervous. He was aware
/ no doubt, that his distinguished sit
i ter must be uncomfortable beneatl
the stiffening weight of plastei
and with scant opportunity t
I breathe. At any rate, he remove
! the mask too soon and it broke i
| a number of fragments too smal
| to be OF any use. Washington
said to have been SO annoyed tina
! the work had gone for nothing tha
he vowed-one historian says pre-
| fanely-that never would he hav
another mask made. Yet Houdo
overcame this antipathy, and hi
mask was perfect.
Washington greatness was az
preciated by his contemporaries:
and even before he became pres
ident statues of him were bein
urged. The Houdon statue was az
proved by a resolution of the as
sembly of the state of Virginia
1884. The state wished to honor it
most illustrious citizen. and ais
it wanted a permanent souvenir c
him. jefferson, who was i
France, was asked to commissio
the best "statuary" in Europe [
preserve the face of the genera
He chose Houdon,
1t is said that the French sculr
tor was eager to make also a
equestrian statue of Washingto
which was urged as a nationa
monument to be placed in the res
idence of congress-. Plans for thi
were delayed and Houdon neve
made the national monument t
the first president