Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/362

LEFT SCULPTURE 306 SCULPTURE an imitation of this great work, the Apollo Belvidere. With Socrates, the sculptor of the Draped Graces, and Athenodorus and Nancydes, commenced the third epoch of Greek sculpture. It is generally known as the beautiful style, and Scopas, Lysip- pus, and Praxiteles, because they united beauty and grace, brought the art to its highest perfection. The finest works of Scopas were the Furious Bacchante, his Venus (the original, perhaps from which the Venus de Medici was copied), and the Triumph of Achilles, together with a num- ber of charming combinations of Nereids and sea monsters. Praxiteles (q. v.) wrought in bronze and marble. Till this sculptor ventured to carve a Venus nude, all statues of female divinities had been draped. The rival and contemporary of Praxiteles was Lysippus of Sicyon, who was the great master of portrait sculp- ture. He is said to have executed in bronze exclusively. Alexander the Great would permit no other artist to carve his likeness. He represented Alexander from his childhood to his manhood. Pliny de- clares that Lysippus executed as many as 610 works. His horses were very beautiful. The other great sculptors of this period were Euthycrates and Bedas, sons of Lysippus; Xenocrates, who wrote a treatise on sculpture; Chares of Lindus, who cast the famous Colossus of Rhodes; Agesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus of Rhodes, who executed the celebrated group of Laocoon; Glycon of Athens, who formed the Farnese Hercules at Naples; and Appollonius and Tauriscus, who made the Farnese Bull, also at Naples. The beautiful fragment known as the Torso of the Belvidere, at Rome, and the Hermaphrodite at Paris, also belong to this era of Greek art. From an early period, and even during the best era of Greek art, the age of Phidias, the Greeks were accustomed to combine different marbles in the same work. The Greeks also painted their statues. The hair was often gilt, and even colored sometimes; the backgrounds of alti-relievi were painted in order to heighten the effect, and occasionally eyes of glass or silver were introduced. The victorious Romans destroyed the existence of the arts in Greece; but all the great works in painting and sculp- ture were taken to Rome, and with these masterpieces the artists emigrated to the capital of their conquerors. The cele- brated reclining statue of the Dying Cleopatra was executed in the reign of Augustus, and a son of Cleomenes the Athenian made a statue which is held by some to be a figure of Germanicus. This work is now in the Louvre at Paris. Sculpture flourished under the patronage of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Trajan, Adrian, and the Antonines. After Rcme had been destroyed by the several in- roads of the Northern nations, the finest productions of ancient art were de- molished, and this work of destruction was consummated by the religious zeal of the primitive Christians, who swept away what remains there were of the statues of the Greek and Roman divinities. Sculpture awoke to renewed life about the 10th or 11th century in Italy. Nic- colo Pisano, who died 1278, is esteemed the "father of modern sculpture." Two of his finest compositions are the "Taking down from the Cross," in front of the Duomo of Luca, and the "Last Judg- ment and Punishment of the Wicked," in the cathedral of Siena. Luca della Robbia covered his beautiful terra-cotta models with a glaze which gave them the hardness of stone. Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donato di Betto Bardi (Donatello) were distinguished masters of sculpture. Donatello (died 1466), enriched Florence, Genoa, and Venice with his works. Dur- ing the 15th century Andrea Verrocchio, Andrea Ferracci, the two Pollajuoli, and Mino di Fiesole, were great masters. Michelangelo Buonarotti was the great- est sculptor of this period. Baccio Bandinelli, born at Florence in 1493, attempted to become the rival of Michel- angelo. A great anatomist, his style was rude and energetic. He restored the right arm of the Laocoon. Benvenuto Cellini was a Florentine sculptor; most of his finest large works, which were cast in bronze, are preserved in his native city. The one celebrated female sculptor is Properzia di Rossi, of Bologna, who died at an early age in 1530. To Flaxman, the English are indebted for founding on true principles the British school of sculpture. This great sculptor has had worthy followers in Sir R. West- macott, Sir F. Chantrey, Bailey, Carew, Gibson, and Foley, Woolner, and Boehm. Other important British sculptors are Leighton, Simonds, Brock, Thornycroft, Ford, Frith, Gilbert, and Frampton. In France, Jean Goujon (died 1566) is the first distinguished sculptor. In the 17th century we have the brothers Marsy, Girardon, Falconet, Clodion, also Guillain, Franqueville, Anguier, and Puget. Of 18th century masters are Jean Antoine Houdon, Antoine Chaudet, J. Bosio, Pradier, Rude, Duvet, etc. Jean Baptiste Pigalle (died 1785), executed a Mercury and a Venus for the King of Prussia. David (d' Angers) and Pradier belonged to the French school of the 19th century, and, among later sculp- tors, Guillaume, Carpeaux, Bartholdi, Du- bois, Chapu, Mercie, Barge, Fremiet, Dalou, Falquiere, Rodin, Bartholome, Delarche and Wynant take high rank.