A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture

CHAPTER IX.

CANOVA, THORWALDSEN, AND OTHER RECENT SCULPTORS, 235

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Venus of Milo, Frontispiece

Statue of Cephren in the Museum at Cairo, 3

Various Kinds of Dogs, 5

Androsphinx, 6

Kriosphinx, 6

The Great Sphinx, 7

Hieracosphinx, 8

The Colossi at Thebes, 9

Polishing a Colossal Statue, 10

Mode of Transporting a Colossus from the Quarries (from a lithographic Drawing), 11

Statue of Sardanapalus I. (from Nimrud), 12

Lion-Hunt (from Nimrud), 13

Wounded Lion Biting a Chariot-wheel, 15

Arm-chair or Throne (Khorsabad), 16

Mode of Drawing the Bow (Koyunjik), 17

Lion Devouring Deer, 22

Heracles, Triton, and Nereids, 23

Heracles and the Cecrops, 23

Actæon and his Dogs, 24

From the Harpy Monument, London, 25

Figures from the Pediment of the Temple of Minerva, at Ægina, 27

Archaistic Artemis at Naples, 28

The Discobolus (Myron), 30

Athenian Coins with the Minerva Promachos, 34

Coin of Elis with the Olympian Zeus, 36

Bust of Jupiter found at Otricoli, 37

Torso of a Statue of Theseus (?), 38

From the Frieze of the Parthenon, 43

The Five Central Figures, 44

Youths Preparing to join the Cavalcade, 45

Horsemen Starting, 46

Procession of Cavalry, 46

Procession of Chariots, 47

Train of Musicians and Youths, 47

Cows for Sacrifice, 48

Train of Noble Maidens, 48

Head of Asclepius (in the British Museum), 50

A Wounded Amazon (Cresilas), 52

Statue of Pericles (Cresilas), 52

Eirene and the Young Plutus (Cephisodotus), 56

Portrait of Mausolus, 57

From the Frieze of the Mausoleum, 58

The Eros of Centocelle, 60

Niobe and her Youngest Daughter, 62

Brother and Sister, 63

The Eldest Daughter, 64

A Niobid, 65

Ganymede (after Leochares), 66

Monument of Lysicrates (Athens), 67

Bacchus and Lion (from the Lysicrates Monument), 68

The Apoxyomenos of Lysippus, 69

The Laocoon Group, 75

The Farnese Bull, 77

Gallic Warrior (Venice), 78

The Dying Gaul, 79

Boy and Goose, 80

Spinario, 81

Venus de' Medici, 86

The Farnesian Hercules, 89

The Apollo Belvedere, 90

Head of Apollo Belvedere, 91

The Steinhäuser Head, 91

The Stroganoff Apollo, 92

Diane à la Biche, 95

Athena of the Capitol, 96

Triumphal Procession from Arch of Titus, 97

From the Reliefs of Trajan's Column, 99

Portrait of Sophocles, 101

Statue of Augustus, 102

Agrippina the Elder, 103

Statue of St. Peter, 106

From the Cathedra of Maximianus, 109

Diptych (Zurich), 110

From the Façade of Chartres Cathedral, 113

From the North Transept of Rheims Cathedral, 118

From the West Façade of Strasburg Cathedral, 120

Duke Robert of Normandy, 121

Ivory Relief (Hunting Scene), 124

Relief by Nicola Pisano (Lucca), 128

Relief from the Pulpit at Pisa (Nicola Pisano), 129

Campo Santo of Pisa (Giovanni Pisano), 132

Relief by Jacopo della Quercia (Bologna), 138

From the Eastern Gates (showing compartments 6, 8, and 10), 141

The Annunciation (Donatello), 143

Statue of St. George (Donatello), 144

Dancing Boys (Luca della Robbia), 147

Boy with Dolphin (Verocchio), 149

Statue of Colleoni (Verocchio), 150

Terra-cottas from the Ospedale Grande (Milan), 156

Count Eberhard von Grumbach (Rimpar), 169

Justice, 170

The Three Wise Virgins, 170

Tomb of St. Sebald (Nuremberg), 172

Peter Vischer's Statue, 173

St. Sebald and the Burning Icicles (Vischer), 174

Peter (Vischer), 175

John (Vischer), 175

Man and Geese (Labenwolf), 176

Pharisee, Levite (Rustici), 183

Bacchus (Jacopo Sansovino), 185

Perseus (Benvenuto Cellini), 191

Michael Angelo's Angel (Bologna), 197

Pietà (Michael Angelo), 199

Michael Angelo's David, 201

Giuliano de' Medici (Michael Angelo), 205

Statue of Moses (Michael Angelo), 207

Mercury (Giovanni da Bologna), 215

Relief by Berruguete (Valladolid), 217

Rape of Proserpine (Bernini), 225

Caryatide (Quellinus), 231

Heads of Dying Warriors (Schlüter), 232

The Great Elector (Schlüter), 233

The Three Graces (Canova), 241

Hebe (Canova), 246

Ariadne and the Panther (Dannecker), 249

Jason (Thorwaldsen), 256

Ganymede and the Eagle (Thorwaldsen), 260

The Three Graces (Thorwaldsen), 261

Statue of Queen Louise (Rauch), 270

Nymph (by Bosio), 273

SCULPTURE.

CHAPTER I.. Ancient Sculpture.

ANCIENT SCULPTURE.

EGYPT.

No one can speak with exactness as to the time when sculpture was first practised by the Egyptians; we only know that it was a very long time ago. But we do know that in the time of the twelfth dynasty, which dates from 2466 B.C., sculpture had reached a stage of excellence such as could only have resulted from the experience of many years of training and practice in this art.

In the Egyptian collection of the Louvre, at Paris, there is the memorial stone of an old Egyptian sculptor which has an inscription that reads as if he had written it himself; this was the way by which Egyptians made these inscriptions sound as if the dead themselves spoke to those who were still alive. This sculptor's name was Martisen, and he lived about forty-four centuries ago. Brugsch-Bey, a very learned writer on Egypt, says: "He calls himself 'a master among those who understand art, and a plastic artist,' who 'was a wise artist in his art.' He relates in succession his knowledge in the making of statues, in every position, according to prescribed use and measure; and brings forward, as his particular invention, an etching with colors, if I have rightly understood the expression, 'which can neither be injured by fire nor washed off by water; 'and, as a further explanation of this, states that 'no man has arisen who has been able to do this except himself alone and the eldest son of his race, whom God's will has created. He has arisen able to do this, and the exercise of his hand has been admired in masterly works in all sorts of precious stones, from gold and silver to ivory and ebony.'"

There is no doubt but that Martisen and his son, who was named Usurtasen, were sculptors at the time when Egyptian art reached its highest point.

The earliest works of Egyptian sculpture are the bas-reliefs found in the chambers of the tombs; the walls are almost covered with them, and they are painted with colors which are still bright and fresh, though more than four thousand years have passed since they were put on. The subjects of these reliefs are taken from the life of the persons buried in the tombs, and even their possessions and occupations are thus represented. These sculptures were made by tracing the designs on the stone and then cutting it away between the figures. The mode of arrangement in these reliefs does not satisfy our ideas of what it should be. It seems as if the artists had no plan of their work in their minds--no aim as to what the effect should be when finished. On the contrary, the reliefs impress us as if the sculptors made one figure, and then added another and another in such a way as to represent the fact they wished to tell without any attention to the beauty of the whole; and so it does not seem as if there was any unity in them, but as if the large bas-reliefs were made up of disjointed parts which in one sense really have no relation to each other.

The same is true of the Egyptian statues. It appears as if the different parts might have been made separately or even by different sculptors, and then joined together. All this is because the Egyptians seemed to think of an object in parts and not as a whole. Then, too, the position of the early statues was so unnatural and awkward. The arms were placed close to the sides of the body, and there was no separation between the legs; and though in some of their articles of furniture, their pottery, and in the details of their architecture, the Egyptians made a great advance, they did not equally improve in their sculpture.

One great hindrance to the progress of Egyptian sculpture was the fact that figures were never represented in action. They were not figures moving and living in stone; they were like figures petrified and fixed: they were statues, and no one can forget this for a moment while looking at them. I can learn of but one Egyptian figure sculptured as if in action; this is a quoit-thrower in the Tombs of the Kings. A sitting statue, whether of a man or a woman, had the hands rested on the knees or held across the breast (Fig. 1).

There were very few groups in Egyptian sculpture, and these seldom had more than two figures. It was customary to represent a husband and wife sitting on the same chair holding each other's hands, or having their arms around one another's waists or shoulders. Sometimes the principal figure is of large size, and the inferior persons are made much smaller and placed at the sides of the larger figure. In short, very few attitudes are represented in Egyptian sculpture, and it almost seems as if there must have been fixed rules for a certain limited number of positions after which all sculptured figures were made.

In spite of this sameness and stiffness, Egyptian sculpture is remarkable, and it is probable that if they had not been fettered by prejudices and rules the Egyptians would have excelled both in sculpture and painting.

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