MR. DOHERTY' S SCULPTURE.
No higher duty has the critic than to herald desert, none pleasanter than to invite opportunity to merit, striving, hoping, and enduring to win attention to its identity and high purposes. In the studio of Mr. J. E. Jones, the sculptor, a young Irish artist named Doherty is at work on two thoroughly promising and original efforts of plastic art, one illustra- tive of a scene from Bulwer Lytton's " Last Days of Pompeii," and the other an allegorical figure of Erin. Our readers may remember the fol- lowing striking description of the first subject—" With his left hand circled round the form of Ione, with his right arm raised in menace and grasping the stilus which was to have been his weapon in the arena, and which he still fortunately wore about him, with his brow knit, his lips apart, the wrath and menace of human passion arrested, as by a charm upon his features, Glaucus fronted the Egyptian." These words are realized. Energy and threatening power fill the bold outline of Glauous in excellent contrast to the sweeping grace of the draped figure of Ione clinging, yet trustful—the head of which is a charming study. The embodiment of Ireland is a half nude female figure, standing with the right hand on the harp, and the other uplifted to her lips as if recalling a strain which echo had repeated, The charm here, which is rendered by grace of form, beauty of feature, and an attitude express and admirable, must be seen rather than talked of. There is the mark of genius on both these creations.
Previous page
