with the passenger carried through space. The diagram on the wall, starting with the familiar 12,000,000 foot-pounds, the energy of a pound of coal, shows the loss in each step, supposing it made with the most economical appliances known to the engineer, first in the boiler, then in the steam engine, generator dynamo, conductors, locomotives, in the dead weight of the train, till finally we arrive at the energy expended on the passenger himself, which we find to be 133,000 foot-pounds, or but little more than 1 per cent. of the energy with which we started. It is true indeed that transportation is a more economical process than lighting with incandescent lamps, in which the final efficiency is about one-half per cent., but whether in lighting or in traction, when we consider that ninety-nine parts are now wasted for one part saved, we may realise that the future has greater possibilities than anything accomplished in the past.

[E. H.]

WEEKLY EVENING MEETING,

Friday, March 3, 1893.

SIR JAMES CRICHTON-BROWNE, M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. Treasurer and Vice-President, in the Chair.

GEORGE SIMONDS, Esq.

Sculpture, considered apart from Archæology.

Ir was usual, Mr. Simonds remarked, for lecturers on Sculpture to deal more with Archæology than Art; he did not, however, intend to adopt this principle, but should treat his subject from the practical standpoint of the artist.

He spoke next of the very wide range of the sculptor's art, and said that in metal-work especially a man might find himself called upon to produce a colossal statue to-day and a set of silver teaspoons to-morrow; after which he spoke of the two opposed principles on which all sculptors' work depends, viz., building up, as in modelling, and cutting down, as in carving, and called attention to the evil results which ensue when either of these processes is applied to a material for which it is unsuited, and gave illustrations of this point in the works of artists of the late seventeenth and of the eighteenth centuries, showing especially that some of the works of Bernini which were executed in marble were really more suitable for bronze.

Faults in this direction, Mr. Simonds stated, were almost always the result of very high technical skill, which tempted the artist to consider it desirable to exhibit a tour de force. Even the Greeks themselves were not always free from this somewhat paltry ambition, as was demonstrated by the "Laocöon" and the "Group of the Farnese Bull."

Such splendid misapplication of power was impossible in the early periods of Art, when the technical difficulties sufficed to keep the artist well within the limits prescribed by his material.

The first efforts of sculpture were always purely imitative, and where the imitation was not very successful this was generally due to lack of technical skill rather than to any desire to idealise. This was illustrated by a series of examples of primitive sculpture from various parts of the world. The desire for beauty, however, as understood by the early artist, frequently induced him to exaggerate certain points in his work, often with very grotesque results. Instances were here given of early Etruscan and other sculpture, showing abnormal length of limb and muscular development.

It was a great advance in Art when it was known that harmony of proportion constituted one of the chief elements of beauty. Canons of proportion were established and sculpture became a dignified and beautiful, although, no doubt, to a large extent a conventional art, as was shown by various examples of Egyptian and Etruscan work.

The Assyrians and the Greeks made the further discovery that fresh beauty was to be sought for in rhythm of action and in correctness of construction, as is evidenced in the sculptures of the Temple at Ægina, in the bas-reliefs from the Palace of Korsabad, and others; the Assyrians especially excelling in the rendering of movement, their sculptures of animals, such as lions, horses, mules, &c., being of the very highest artistic merit and beauty.

In all the above works the artist has relied for his effect on proportion, on action and correct construction. He has not concerned himself with the beauty that is to be found in texture and in the mobility of flesh.

Sculpture depends on proportion, construction, action and texture for whatever it may possess of technical excellence.

Conventionalism, however valuable in sculpture, is apt to become wearisome; then comes an artist, bolder than the rest, who forsakes in some degree the ancient tradition, and who endeavours, usually with success, to return more closely to individual Nature; others follow and seek to outstrip him in close imitation of Nature, and for this texture is the quality most in demand.

An instance of this in the modern Italian school is Magni's "Reading Girl."

The lecturer then went on to speak of the practice of painting statues, admitting that the Greeks used thus to treat them, but stating that it was not at present possible for us to realise what the effect must have been of a Greek temple with its brilliant colouring and polychrome sculpture; he spoke next of modern attempts to revive the practice by the late John Gibson and others, which, however, had not been successful; although it is a common practice with sculptors to give a slight wash to marble if a warmer tone seems desirable; and, indeed, the warm tints of old marble are often successfully imitated by the Italian dealers in forged antiques, such as are bought by wealthy collectors, and even sometimes find their way into national museums.

The intention of sculpture should be, of course, to place before us a beautiful thought expressed by beautiful form; such is, however, not always the sculptor's only desire; he too often wishes to advertise his own cleverness and to produce work that shall fix the attention of even the most ignorant and careless observer. Thus eccentricity is made to do duty for originality, and the ignorance or neglect of all the rules of harmony of line and composition is supposed to be the triumph of genius over the trammels of conventionality. The result is often very ugly.

The modern sculptor is under many disadvantages compared with

the old Greek. We no longer worship physical beauty as they did, nor can we easily get models of sufficient beauty and refinement to be of much use to us in our work. Moreover the profession of artists' model is a very hard one, requiring patience and a strong interest in the work. In ancient Greece the whole nation were both models and connoisseurs. In London there are hardly half a dozen models of either sex that can be considered properly qualified by Nature and by education for their profession; yet London is probably

not worse off than other Art centres.

To the modern sculptor, then, only two courses are open; either he must be content passively to follow the ideal types that have been handed down from ages past, in which case his work will certainly be lower in the scale of beauty than that on which his ideal is based, or he must strive to form an ideal for himself, based on a careful and loving study of the most beautiful form that he can find in living nature. In other words he must get the best model he can, and work as closely to Nature as possible, leaving out or passing lightly over such details of form as are blemishes or evidently accidental. By this means we may produce work of great beauty (though perhaps not quite equal to that achieved by the Greeks) and also possessed of the added charms of vitality and individuality. An over-great striving for these two last qualities often results, however, in a tolerance of downright ugliness.

Artists, the lecturer declared, were always to be found anxious to produce whatever the public admired, and if the taste for eccentricity or ugliness prevailed, the supply would be forthcoming until nausea ensued, and then a better taste would prevail. Canova's works were instanced to show how sudden these changes in style and taste often are, and the highly realistic group of " Dædalus and Icarus pared with some of his ideal works of a few years later.

was com

The leaders in the revolt from the style of the eighteenth century were Canova, Flaxman and Thorwaldsen, and the movement finally ended with Gibson and his followers in utter conventionalism and graceful insipidity.

Artists no longer try to make imitation antiques but claim the right to look at Nature for themselves; and, while respecting the ancient tradition and teaching of classic art, do not accept these as being of universal application to their own work. Where they transgress them they do so wilfully, and to gain some adequate advantage.

Fashion, it was stated, had considerable influence on Art, and was influenced by it. Thus the artists made beauty fashionable some fifteen years ago, and beautiful women, Greek tableaux and dresses were all the rage with the public; but they soon went out of fashion again, and no one hears of professional beauties at the present day. After this there was a demand for character and individuality; and sculptors were not slow to see that this could be secured by copying the living model with painful accuracy. Coarse knees and angular

projecting hips, ill-shaped breasts and bony backs were not spared to us, and the critics sang their praises, and did thereby much injury to the public and to the younger artists, who forthwith adopted the gospel of ugliness.

The lecturer then described some of the processes employed in the production of a work of sculpture, and compared the modern methods with those of the ancients, showing that we now enjoy technical advantages for the production of sculpture in all materials far superior to those of former ages. He explained models of various instruments used in measuring by sculptors when "pointing" their statues, as the roughing-out process is termed, including Kauer's pointing instrument, and Simonds' Iconograph for proportional pointing, and described the uses of various tools and appliances used both for marble and for bronze-work. The principles of bronzecasting were illustrated by means of a working diagram, showing the core inside the mould, the empty space between core and mould to be occupied by the melted bronze, and the mould itself, with the various ducts for the metal, and vents to permit the free exit of air and generated gases.

Yet with all our technical advantages we were yet deficient in style compared with the old masters.

All styles, however, have only their day, since there is none so noble but that at some time it has been condemned and cast aside, and none so contemptible but that at some time it has been held to be the only true art.

It is difficult to divest ourselves of prejudice in Art, and many a statue, as for instance, the famous "Esquiline Venus," has had a reputation made for it by some enthusiastic newspaper correspondent who happened to be on the spot when it was discovered, and who has pronounced it to be a Greek work of the very best period. We are apt to forget that there are bad as well as able artists in all periods, and that the work of a really good man in a bad period is perhaps more valuable than a poor thing that chances to belong to the best period of Greek art.

The lecturer then spoke of sculpture as architectural decoration, illustrating his remarks with examples from the Zwinger at Dresden, and the sculpture of the Marmorbad at Cassel, and expressed regret that English architects were so seldom able to induce their clients to expend sufficient money on high-class decorative sculpture, and that even our public buildings were left unbecomingly bare. This was to be ascribed to the fact that few even of the so-called "cultured " people knew anything of sculpture, and it was most common to see in the same house paintings worth thousands of pounds, and close beside them, and regarded by their owner with equal complacency, some wretched cheap bronzes that a sculptor would not give houseroom to, but would surely condemn to the melting-pot. Most of the sculptural demand in England is for monumental or portrait work— most of it far from satisfactory; the system of committees and com