Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/748

 Y22 SCULPTURE grandest efforts of modern plastic art, and his colossal Moses in the monument of Pope Ju- lius II., his monumental statues of Lorenzo and (jriuliano de' Medici, and his group called La Pietd in St. Peter's, show that the influ- ences of the antique were unavailing to de- stroy his original conceptions of character and design. Grandeur and energy of expression and action were his chief characteristics, and his intimate knowledge of anatomy enabled him to follow the suggestions of his imagi- nation to an extent attained by no other ar- tist, and which was calculated to mislead or bewilder others brought under his influence, but destitute of his genius. He had numer- ous followers, whose works, for the most part mannered and exaggerated imitations of their master's style, are now forgotten. Con- temporary artists of the 16th century were Jacopo Tatti, called Sansovino, of Venice, who had many eminent scholars ; Pietro Torri- giano ; Baccio Bandinelli, who restored the right arm of the Laocoon ; Benvenuto Cel- lini, equally distinguished as a sculptor and as a worker in the precious metals ; Guglielmo della Porta, famous for his admirable restora- tions to the Farnese Hercules ; and Giovanni da Bologna, a Frenchman by birth, sculptor of the celebrated " Rape of the Sabines " and the bronze statue of Mercury at Florence ; all of whom possessed great merit as sculptors, al- though their works are conceived after a lower ideal than those of the masters of the previous century, and are imitations of the antique. Profuse ornamentation, high finish, illusive ef- fects, and a great elaboration of details en- gaged the attention of the artist, and nobil- ity of form and force of expression were lost in vain attempts to represent anatomical im- possibilities. Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, born in Naples in 1598, affords an example of this perversion of the principles of the art, and his works, notwithstanding the fertility of imagination and the executive ability which they display, are deservedly considered to vio- late taste and propriety. Alessandro Algardi, Francesco Mocchi, and other sculptors of the 17th century, exhibited similar characteristics, although in occasional efforts they rose above the spirit of the age. Francesco di Quesnoy (originally Duqnesnoy), called II Fiammingo (the Fleming), deserves mention as an artist of purer taste, who excelled in portraying chil- dren. With the commencement of the 18th century sculpture in Italy had degenerated into a purely ornamental art, in which mechanical skill was more appreciated than taste or ori- ginality. In the latter half of the century the enlightened efforts of Popes Clement XIV. and Pius VI., and Cardinal Albani, the pub- lications of Winckelmann, and the unearthing of the buried treasures of Pompeii and Her- culaneum, had the effect of reviving a love for the antique ; and with the appearance of Ca- nova (1757-1822) succeeded an era of purer taste. Some of the early works of Canova reflect the true antique spirit; but he subse- quently cultivated a meretricious gracefulness of form, particuarly in his female figures, with a frivolous and ignoble mannerism. Among the successors of Canova have been Tenerani, Fraccaroli, Bartolini, Finelli, Magni, and Vela, the sculptor of the well known statue of Na- poleon dying at St. Helena. Their works are gracefully designed, though somewhat feeble and affected, and admirably finished. Gio- vanni Dupre of Siena (born 1817) rises above academical conventionality, and may be con- sidered the leading sculptor of the time in re- ligious subjects. His Pietd for the cemetery of the Misericordia in Siena is his most stri- king production. Bastianini of Fiesole (died 1868) was also a sculptor of remarkable prom- ise. The history of Italian sculpture may be considered to describe in general terms the progress of the art in modern times in other European nations. In all of them it probably received its impulse from Italian artists, fol- lowed almost similar phases of improvement and decline, was influenced by similar fash- ions, and has been so slightly modified by na- tional habits or feelings as to render unneces- sary any elaborate account of its progress out of Italy. The chief masterpieces of ancient and modern art are still to be found in that country, and thither it is still the custom for sculptors of other countries to resort. In France the earliest names of note are Germain Pilon and Jean Goujon, who flourished in the 16th century. The florid style of Giovanni da Bologna was subsequently followed with con- siderable success, and in the reign of Louis XIV. Girardon and Puget were the precursors of a long lino of sculptors, among whom were Coysevox, Falconnet, celebrated for his eques- trian statue of Peter the Great, Guillaume Coustou, sculptor of the famous " Horses of Marly " in the Champs Elys6es of Paris, his brother Nicolas Coustou, Pigalle, Bouchar- don, Houdon, noted for his fine portrait statue of "Washington, Chaudet, and other artists of merit. In the first half of the present century flourished David d'Angers, a great and original artist, author of the sculptures on the pedi- ment of the Pantheon in Paris ; Barye, Bosio, Rude, Cortot, Pradier, Lemaire, Duret, Jouf- froy, Simart, Foyatier, and Preault. Contem- porary French sculptors are Guillaume, Per- raud, Carpeaux, Crauk, Falguiere, Gumery, Millet, and Dubois. Sculpture in Spain has since the 16th century been identical or nearly so with that of Italy, except that it has been more exclusively devoted to religious pur- poses, a practice which led to the manufacture of images of sacred personages colored to rep- resent life and habited in real drapery. The thirty years' war and other disturbing causes checked the development of the art in Ger- many during the 17th century ; and in the 18th we find few sculptors of note besides Andreas Schluter, who produced the equestrian statue of the Great Elector in Berlin, and Donner.