WHY NOT A FLAXMAN EXHIBITION
rilHERE is no artist more thoroughly national than _I Fla./man, and there are few men who, on the whole, show a more original genius. This may seem a bold
thing to say, in view of the extreme and apparently almost slavish classicism of so much of his work, and yet I believe it to be true. In spite of the tremendous influence exercised upon him by the Greek vases, the Elgin marbles, and the Greek Renaissance in architecture, Flaxman always had a Gothic side to his mind, and very often a Gothic aide to his pencil.
It is that which gives his work so interesting a character, and makes one feel that in him " two souls shall flow together, the English and the Greek." But though Flaxman was so great and so national an artist, a large portion of his work, if I mistake not, is very little known, or not known at all, or at any rate is so scattered through the country that it makes far less of an impact upon men's minds than does the work of artists greatly inferior to him. Has not the time, then, come to hold a Flaxman Exhibition, special emphasis being laid upon Flaxman's exquisite drawings and designs and his minor statuary ? I do not know whether he ever did anything else in this line comparable with the exquisite set of chessmen in blue and white Wedgwood china which is to be seen in the Some Museum in Lincoln's Inn ]fields. If he did, and other examples have been saved, visitors to the Exhibition would be amazed and delighted.
There should also be an endeavour to show some of the best examples of those big plaques which were made to fit into the Adam mantelpieces. I have one—broken and mended, alas !—which represents Hector being dragged round the walls of Troy. It is as exquisite in workmanship as design, and has a delicacy and inspiration which are often wanting in the black-and-white illustrations to Homer or the Greek Plays. Then would come the portrait medallions which the sculptor did for Wedgwood, as for example the magnificent Washington. Personally I should be particularly interested to see good speci- mens of drawings belonging to the period when Flaxman fell under Blake's influence. For the time his style was greatly altered by his liaison-with the Muse of Mysticism.
There is another work which is most appropriate just now that is, the designs for the great statue of Britannia, three hundred feet high, which Flaxman wanted placed on Greenwich Hill at the end of the French war, to keep in memory the sea. power of Britain—the statue a photograph of the model of which was lately reproduced in the Spectator. I believe that Flaxman also wanted to put a huge iron bridge across the river in the shape of two eagles with outspread wings, the two piers being the breasts and heads of the said eagles. Their outstretched wings filled the spaces between.
These are mere random suggestions from an ill-stored memory. When once the plan was definitely launched, I
expect all sorts of interesting things would turn up for the Exhibition. A good deal of Flaxman's work is preserved at the museum of University College, London. It has the chief Flaxman casts and a good many drawings. They were, I think, left to the College by Flaxman or his widow.
One would also like to see apecimens of Flaxman's work during the five or six years in which he lived in Rome. Does Sunning- hill Park, I wonder, still exist, and does it oontain the set of six classical drawings which constituted Flaxman's first com- mission, given him by a Mr. Matthews when he was quite a boy, about the year 1767 ?
If the reader will look at the Dictionary of National Biography, he will see a list of Flaxman's earliest exhibit& It simply makes one's mouth water. For example : 1772, figure of a child in wax : portrait bust in terra-cotta, figure of History. Here I may mention that Flaxman, like Benvenuto Cellini, did designs for goldsmiths which it would be delightful to oome by.
One must not forget also the original drawings for the illustra- tions to Homer, Dante, and the Greek tragedies. I see that the Dictionary notes that his drawings and sketched, pen outline, pen and wash or pencil, " are very numerous." It mentions the British Museum, South Kensington, and the Fitzwilliam, besides University College, as having a great many of these designs, and adds: "Many remain in private hands."
And now for a practical suggestion. In a Flaxman revival why should not ne ball be opened by an Exhibition of some of Flaxman's drawings and lesser sculpture in the Soave Museum? It already possesses in the chessmen and many other Flaxman relies, such as the model of the great Britannia statue, the nucleus for such an Exhibition. Nothing could be more appropriate. The Curator, Mr. Bolton, is sympathetic as well as learned in regard to Flmonan'e work; and we may be sure that the great virtuoso, who left the collection to the nation, and who was one of Flaxman's warmest admirers and supporters, would nod approval. Flaxman, as Mr. Bolton showed in the article on the Britannia statue which he contributed to the Spectator last November, could wield the pen aa well as the pencil. His pamphlets and other writings should be included in an Exhibition dedicated to the work of the English Praxitelea.
Imerrus.
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