Walks Through the Studii of the Sculptors at Rome Volume 1-2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1841 Excerpt: ... merit of the original; but in the hands of a man of genius both the copy and the translation may preserve all the leading features, and even excel the original in delicacy, beauty and finish; and hence it is that we find artists like Thorwaldsen, Tenerani, and our Gibson to have frequently excelled in drapery, finish and artistic execution some of the admired works of ancient Greece: Ne di Pericle, e Augusto invidia gli anni II secol nostro, Pindemonle. There is but one school of art that can lead to perfect design and execution; and that is the school of Grecian art. Any deviation from the Grecian type must necessarily be a departure from the only true standard. The choice of a subject, the attitude and in some instances the drapery are all of comparatively minor importance, provided the artist has made the severe, classic style of Grecian art his canon. The works of lhe greatest modern artists should not be taken as models; to copy their style would be to give a translation from that which has been already translated; and he who suffers himself to be carried away by his admiration of modern productions should bear in mind that their authors drew their excellence from no living artist but from the great masters of ancient Greece, whose productions they have profoundly studied. When the great Canova blazed in the zenith of his fame, many artists became imitators of his style; but their copies were mere shadows of the great Original; they wanted the soul that animated his statues; and the exquisite essences, which Canova extracted from Grecian art, had e?aporated ia the attempt to transfer them. That the works of any eminent modern artist may be consulted with advantage we freely admit: lhey serve as guides to the ascent of an eminence difficult of access: t...