Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/383

 1868.] An Heroic Monument. 313 AN HEROIC MONUMENT. Designed and Executed by Messrs. Struthers & Son.* IX this number we present our readers with a choice, full-page engraving of An Heroic Monument, already erected at Laurel Hill Cemetery, near Philadel- phia, in memory of General Frank E. Patterson, of this city. Upon a square, slightly tapering, chis- eled-rustic pedestal, with obverse and reverse pediment-tablets for the inscrip- tions, perpendicular, angled double base and compound surbase, is seated a fe- male figure, emblematic of GRIEF. Leaning with her right elbow upon a cinerary urn, she holds in her right hand, just over the edge of the cover, a Ro- man sword, the scabbard slanting across the body of the urn. The pose of this female is exceedingly graceful ; and the drapery, thrown carelessly around her, from the hips downward, is managed with extreme skill. Her left foot is ad- vanced, so as to project over the upjier portion of the surbase ; and the right limb, being crossed underneath behind, the toes of the right foot appear resting against the left leg, somewhat above the ankle. In the one direction, the lines of the right upper arm, the sword, the left arm and both flanks beautifully har- monize; and in the other, the answering lines are those of the head and body, the right hand, the left fingers, both lower limbs — as suggested through the dra- pery — and the drapery itself; the latter — partly gathered in the left hand, which also holds a laurel wreath — in its flowing- folds, finally repeating the varied lines of the entire pedestal. The whole atti- tude is replete with the dignified ex- pression of profound, but not hopeless melancholy ; the head drooping forwards to the right, and the downcast eyes, fixed upon the cover of the' urn supposed to contain the ashes of the lamented dead. The style of the pedestal is Grecian throughout. The statue is rather alove life-size, in order not to appear, from its elevation, less than nature. The entire Monument is cut in white marble. The statue itself is of Italian ; and the base is a monolith from the Stockbridge quarries. The Statue of Grief was designed by Mr. J. A. Bailly, and the pedestal by our esteemed friends, Messrs. Struthers & Son, at whose long-established, ex- tensive, and favorablj'-known place the entire work was executed. Upon the occasion of our A'isit Mr. Bailly was deftly modeling a statue of Col. Ulric Dahlgren, a little larger than life; and close by was the model of a statuette of General Reynolds, who fell at Gettysburg. One of the skilled work- men, under the immediate supervision of the sculptor, was assiduously finishing a gigantic statue of Washington, in- tended to be placed upon the Chestnut street pavement, immediately in front of Independence Hall. The Messrs. Struthers employ many artists and skilled artizans ; and their extensive and crowded rooms bear, in every direction, the most unmistakable evidence of the business enterprise, ca- pacity, taste, skill, and geniality of the proprietors. It is very seldom that the highly artis- tic work, one specimen of which we have so inadequately described, pays at all in a pecuniary sense ; but these gentlemen are devoted to their humanizing voca- tion, and never miss an opportunity for, not only fostering, but adequately men- tioning, the fitting genius and talents of their workmen, and extending a true appreciation of the sculptor's art.
 * Marble and Sandstone Works, No. 2022 Market street, Philadelphia.