Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/83

 Jaw. 26, 1872. | THE BUILDING NEWS. 67 en ne _ mentson the Watt pedestal are from moulds made from the architecture around; meaning, in fact, that Gothic ornaments of the thirteenth century have been let into a Greek panel of the nineteenth— some- thing new in modern sculpture,’ as the critic observes, ‘“meriting remark and imitation.” Re- mark it is sure to excite, though it has not, I should apprehend, been extensively imitated. Where space is limited, as in the Abbey, colossal works must cease to be desirable, if they were ever so regarded. Fortunately, work in art is not contingent on dimen- sions. ‘A grand thing,” said Nollekens, ‘don’t depend upor size ; I can assure you of that. A large model certainly produces a stare, and is often admired by ignorant people, but the excellence of a work of art has nothing to do with the size.” It is not so much the grandeur of the Abbey as the scale of some of the monuments that has produced a very inconvenient consequence. It is felt that to be im- pressive a figure must bt 'arge, and in this way mass becomes essential to respect, though not to art. The sentiment is not of modern origin, though of modern development and present difficulty in this sacred fane. If the author of the handbook thought it pre- sumptuous in Mr. Joseph to approach the magic circle of the grand adept, Mr. Foley must be yet more strictly answerable for placing his upright figure of Viscount Canning shoulder to shoulder with the elder but untitled bearer of the name. This new work is one of sterling elegance, and though draped, maintains with truthfulness the general con- tinuity of form. Standing figures on cylindrical pedestals have, from the necessities of the place, superseded most other forms of monument here, and, as produced by the modern chisel, are as suitable to an ordinary gallery as to a church. ‘They are suited, therefore, for that change of arrangement which at no distant time may become imperatively necessary. The latent capabilities of the fabric might no doubt be more fully utilised than at pre- sent, and the many valuable works now obscured brought fairly into view. The garth and cloisters might be roofed and glazed to form auxiliaries to the church, or space may possibly be found in the direction of the Chapter House. The economy thus indicated gives especial value to busts for the purpose of commemoration. The visage chiefly reflects the mind, and the head epito- mises the entire frame. The production of busts has consequently absorbed the almost exclusive attention of some sculptors in every period. The ‘Greeks generally reduced the chest to a square form, so as to suit a pillar of that figure and of any height, so that the sculpture and the pedestal were in a single piece. This form is known as the Herma, and is eminently chaste and classical. The Romans almost invariably set their busts upon a little circular base or piedouce, apparently fashioned in the lathe, and in the same piece with the rest. The pedestal for this class is commonly the simple cylinder or truncated column. Before cabinet paint- ing prevailed sculpture was the choice domestic orna- ment. Groups adorned the abodes of the wealthy, and busts were so general that the Senate sometimes ordained that one of the Emperor should be in the house of every citizen. The English sculptor Nollekens owed a fortune of £200,000 chiefly to busts. He undertook nothing requiring anatomical knowledge. His statue of Pitt in the Senate House, Cambridge, brought £3,000 and the pedestal £1,000; but he had orders for seyenty-four marble busts at a hundred and twenty guineas each, and six hundred in plaster at six guineas each. An immense degree of personal character may be infused into a por- trait bust, and a fine example is seen in the head of Stothard by Weekes in the National Gallery. But it occurs to me that in lieu of the direct geometrical representation now universal, every angle and incli- nation might, with great pictorial advantage, be brought within the sculptor’s province, instead of being left exclusively to the painter. Busts are very applicable to monumental purposes, from the direct manner in which they connect the individual with the commemorative design, and the readiness with which they may be adapted to the general forms of sculptural compositions. They are susceptible, also, of the utmost variety by combination with more or less of the figure. They occasionally find effective relief by being placed in circular or elliptic recesses that take the place of frames, and they are at home on either attached or isolated supports. Macaulay and Thackeray's busts have but brackets in Poets’ Corner. But notwith- standing this facility, the art of mounting busts has exhibited little variety. Those of Wellington, Palmerston, and Lord Canning at Guildhall are of white marble, on Sienna pedestals. Each is placed in a monolithic niche of gray, and with admirable result. The Act 17 and 18 Vic., cap. 53, brings certain public statues in the Metropolis under the control and superintendence of the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Works and Public Buildings. It empowers the Commissioners to erect statues in public places, and to repair, restore, amend, and enclose such works. They may also tak+ over statues by transfer from the owners, subject to Treasury assent. No statue is to be erected in any public place without leave of the Commissioners of Works; and by this and a Police Act, these objects are protected from malicious injury by severe punishments. King Charles II. at Chelsea Hospital has a circular pedestal of rather spare proportion, with cap and base, a form of sup- port that has its special recommendations; for although it does not repeat the profile of outline and mouldings like an angular form, it avoids the per- spective difficulties of a cube seen diagonally. The statue of William IV. at London Bridge has a cireu- lar pedestal, and this monument is suggestive of many of the qualities such works ought to possess. Baron Marochetti has placed his very picturesque figure of Lord Clyde at Carlton-gardens on a cylin- der of polished granite, and it seems but reasonable, though quite at variance with common observation, that artists should model their works on an actual plan of the intended base. James II. in Whitehall- gardens has a low square pedestal, and George IT. in Golden-square harangues from a rostrum verily un- worthy the merest stump orator. Thisisa curious stone figure, bought some years since, Thave heard, at an auction in Holborn, and seems to merit the atten- tion of the Commissioners. These three ‘‘ Seconds,” Charles, James, and George, are all in Roman cos- tume, and present a similar difficulty to the Achilles in Hyde Park as regards historical accessories. Ib would be diffienlt to reconcile the incidents of Waterloo with the hero of Troy. Charles I. is not Romanised, nor is Queen Anne, in the interesting little statue at Westminster, that now invokes repair. George III., at Somerset House, is classi- cally costumed for the better agreement of History and Mythology, seeing that the river god reclines on alower step of the same group. The schedule of the Act referred to includes a statue of the Duke of Wellington on Tower Green. Being alike ignorant of the work and the locality, a pilgrimage was decided on ; but my inquiries might have been as successfully made in the streets of Timbuctoo as on Tower-hill, or the adjacent green called Trinity-square. One Samaritan in police attire, however, gave such circumstantial directions as, if duly followed, would incontestibly have brought me point-blank upon that noble horse, and that idealised commander-in-chief, and that awful pedestal called the Wellington statue at the Royal Exchange. By entering the fortress, and passing many sentinels, I ultimately reached the western foot of the White Tower, and there, a pedestal with- out a Duke! To another item of the list—viz., the statue to the Right Hon. George Canning, I must allude with pain. Mr. Peter Cunningham has made it known that this is not the work of Chantrey, though the head is copied from his bust. The figure is enveloped in a garment of overwhelming weight and amptitude, whose fabulous capacity almost entirely conceals the limbs. It may be a dressing-gewn big enough for three, or an Ulster wrapper descending in long straight folds from the shoulder to the ground. Comparison with other draped figures (as the Herbert statue in Pall Mall) would be certainly condemna- tory. It lacks graceful outline, fits no geometric plan, and has spoilt, if that were possible, the pedestal on which it stands. The pedestal, again, instead of lending aid, is entirely deficient in grace, style, and proportion, as will become daily more apparent under the growing attention paid to such objects, and exemplified, among others, in the Franklin memorial next the Athenzeum Club-house. One of two courses ought to be adopted; but as there is no acknowledged home for incurable statutes, and the Act does not provide for abolitions, a single mode of improvement is open—namely, to set the work further from the road, in front of an archi- tecturally-composed facade, and of which the effect would, I venture to think, prove as satisfactory as the peculiarities of the work and situation permit. But as popular judgment advances, much loose and unauthentie drapery will be limited to allegories and that secondary class of illustrative portraiture where the neriod, office, and rank of the individual are to be prominently denoted, and where vesture and in- signia become allowable and appropriate. The duty laid on the Commissioners is undoubtedly onerous. They must guide and cultivate the public taste. Theerection of portrait statues as rewards of merit in public places, where they can be viewed and honoured by the people at large, must prove a powerful source of moral emulation. A spirit of veneration for such objects must be encouraged, and talent worthy to be venerated, fostered, and displayed. The British school of classic sculpture, now so full of promise, is of modern rise. At the middle of the last century Rysbrook, Roubilliac, and Scheemakers had the art in their hands, Nollekens learnt of Scheemakers, and Chantrey rose as Nollekens de- clined; Weekes, long the assistant of Chantrey, is a living Academician. The mention of collateral names would not alter the fact that, with these few linkd of descent, a trio of aliens has been replaces by a body of native artists capable of approaching the highest ranges in form and passion, idea, beauty, and realistic imitation. The time'in which so vast a progress has been made would have been utterly inadequate but for those invaluable acquisitions of antique examples we owe to far-seeing men, who are to be esteemed not only as lovers of art, but as bene- factors to their country. The results sufficiently justify national collections of the finest procurable models, and sculpture is certainly repaying her share with immeasurable interest. We are gradually acquiring evidences of the attention given by the ancients to the design of pedestals, and we may usefully bear in mind the care with which their statues were preserved, the very washing of these honoured objects having been a duty religiously observed. Erratum.—On page 40, line 17 from bottom of column one, for Thrasyllus, read Philopappus. 7 THE INFLUENCE OF GAS AND WATER PIPES IN DETERMINING THE DIRECTION OF A DISCHARGE OF LIGHTNING.* LTHOUGH the invention of the lightning con~ ductor is one of the noblest applications of science to the wants of man, and its utility has been established in all parts of the world by the experi- ence of more’ than a century, yet a sufficient num- ber of instances are recorded of damage done by lightning to buildings armed with conductors to pro= duce, in the minds of some, an impression that the protective influence of lightning conductors is of but questionable value. The destruction, by fire, of the beautiful church at Crumpsall, near Manchester, during a thunderstorm on the morning of the 4th inst., has induced me to bring before the society, with a view to their being known as widely as possible, some facts connected with the electric discharge which have guided me for some years in the recommendation of means by which disasters of this kind may be averted. For the proper consideration of this subject it is necessary to make a distinction between the mechani- cal damage, which is the direct effect of the light- ning stroke, and the damage caused indirectly by the firing of inflammable materials which happen to be in the line of discharge. Instances of mechanical injury to buildings not provided with conductors are still sufficiently numerous to illustrate the terrific force of the light- ning stroke, and at the same time the ignorance and indifference which prevail in some quarters with respect to the means of averting such disasters; for wherever lofty buildings are furnished with conduc- tors from the summit to the base, and thence into the earth, damage of the mechanical kind is now happily unknown. Even in those cases where lightning conductors have not extended continuously through the whole height of a building, or where the lower extremity of the conductor has, from any cause, terminated abruptly at the base of the building, the severity of the stroke has been greatly mitigated, the damage being limited, in many cases, to the loosening of a few stones or bricks. The ever-extending introduction of gas and water pipes into the interior of buildings armed with light- ning conductors has, however, greatly altered the character of the protection which they formerly afforded, and the conviction has been long forced upon me that, while buildings so armed are effectually protected from injury of the mechanical kind, they are more subject to damage by fire. The proximity of lightning conductors to gas and water mains, as an element of danger, has not yet, so far as I know, engaged the attention of electri- cians, and it was first brought under my notice at Oldham in 1861, by witnessing the effects of a light- ning discharge from the end of a length of iron wire rope, which had been fixed near to the top ofa tall factory chimney, for the purpose of supporting a long length of telegraph wire. The chimney was the 9th inst., by HENRY WILDE, Esq., &.W. Binney, F.R.S., in the chair,
 * Read before the Manchester Philosophical Society on