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. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ...to create a national art. His principle was to render the soul of a great man by interpreting his moral side with the help of physiology. He made an interesting innovation in his manner of draping the nude, and from this point of view his statue of Conde (1817) is remarkable. The monument of Bonchamp (1824) ...
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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. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ...to create a national art. His principle was to render the soul of a great man by interpreting his moral side with the help of physiology. He made an interesting innovation in his manner of draping the nude, and from this point of view his statue of Conde (1817) is remarkable. The monument of Bonchamp (1824) and the " Fenelon " (1826) have an interest as being applications to historical statuary of the theory of the sculptor that the decorative details of the basement should all be related to the principal theme. t His masterpiece in this line is the monument to General Foy (1827), set about with the most distinguished men of the period, such as Chateaubriand, Royer-Collard, Casimir Perier, Benjamin Constant, Hugo, &c. Another example is the pediment of the Pantheon, with the innumerable medallions which entitle the sculptor to be described as the historiographer of his time. Pradier was more essentially classical, and kept up the tradition of elegant grace, purity of line, finish, and voluptuous delicacy. He chose the nude by preference, having a great talent for reproducing the folds of the flesh, and the texture and fineness of the skin. His figures are almost all perfect, good examples being the "Bacchante" (1819), the "Psyche" (1824), the " Three Graces "(1831)," Venus and Love " (1836), "Phryne" (1845), and "Sappho" (1848). Cldsinger was a sculptor of power and energy, but he was very unequal, and failed in carrying out his own colossal conceptions. By a curious contradiction, such of his works as are likely to prove enduring are precisely those which are notable for grace, like the "Woman Bitten by a Serpent" (1847), the " Bacchante" (1848), and busts which in their living, breathing charm are the forerunners of the works of Carpeaux. Barye...
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