FINE ARTS.
MR. JOSEPH'S STATUE OF WILKIE.
VISITORS to the National Gallery, on entering the vestibule, have their attention arrested by a statue of WILK TV, appropriately erected there as a memorial of the great painter by the subscriptions of his friends and admirers. The statue, carved out of a block of beautifully white mar- ble, and placed on a pedestal of grey, is seen to the best possible advan- tage: a broad light falls upon it from a wide window high up in the wall opposite. Sir DAVID WILKIE is represented standing erect, in a thoughtful attitude, seemingly intent on some object near, which he is about to delineate : his right hand holds a crayon, and his left the sketch-book, which rests on the stump of a tree. The likeness is cha- racteristic of Wit- irry in his younger day, before the lineaments of his face became heavy : the countenance is animated by intelligence and earnestness, and replete with intellectual energy. A slight resem- blance to Lord BROUGHAM strikes one at the first glance from the threshold ; and those who knew Sir DAVID WILLIE only by sight in his latter years, may not at once recognize the likeness, though the features are the same as in the early portraits of WILLIE, and the expression is strongly individual. The head was modelled from the life ; the sculptor, Mr. JOSEPH, having previously made a bust of the painter. The figure strikes as being too small and slight in stature ; and the open throat and hybrid costume give it an air of flighty affectation, wholly foreign to the plain and sober reality of DAVID WILKIE'S character. Who ever saw him out of doors without a neckcloth ? Such puerile fopperies, that even Byronizing shopboys have become ashamed of, should not be countenanced by artists at all, much less perpetuated in the statue of such a man as WILKIE. The sculptor's version of modern dress is in other respects absurd and inconsistent the coat exhibits the pectoral muscles deve- loped as in the naked form, though its folds are hard and angular ; and a plaid is thrown over the shoulders, while the legs are only covered by stocking-drawers and the feet encased in -slippers. This scanty clothing of the lower limbs would be allowable were the person repre- sented seated in his study, wrapped in reflection and a morning-gown ; but here, where he is supposed to be in the open air sketching, the in- congruity is ridiculous. The drapery is well cast in some respects ; though the folds, which serve to support the statue as well as to hide the horrid buttons and button-holes, are harsh, and not so rich and soft as those of the " shepherd's tnaud "—which we suppose is meant to be represented ; neither does the fall round the feet compose well with the figure. The tree-stem, with the portfolio resting on it, forms an effi- cient and becoming support ; but it looks too like a block sawn out of the trunk—branches of large dimensions never spring out so near the ground as the lops in this tree. This is perhaps a hypercritical ob- jection ; but the anomalies of costume are too manifest to be passed tin- censured, especially as they are constantly obtruded on the attention in contemporary statues. The successful treatment of modern dress is difficult; yet it has been overcome, and should be boldly met, not evaded. We will venture to say that WILKIE dressed as in his paint- ing-room, at an exhibition, or sketching out of doors, would have made a better statue. The loose dressing-gown, ample cloak, or Highland plaid, commonly worn, are as good draperies as the sculptor could desire, if combined with suitable body-clothing: so that the fault lies net so much in the dress as with its selection and treatment by the sculptor. The palette of WILKIE is suspended on the base of the statue, pro- tected by a glass ; and, we think, the relic is not misplaced.
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