The Second Number of illustrations of Modern Sculpture, contains ape-
elegem of the works ofCHANTREY, BAILY, and THoRWALSDEN,—three of the, most .eminent modern sculptorS ; yet we cannot speak very highly of their inventions. They appear to be Well modelled, but do not mince originality ; and they are deficient in character and sentiment. CHANTREY'S " Resignation " is too studied and formal : the drapery sug- gests the idea of a corpse laid out on a bier, rather than of a living form reclining ono couch: HERVEY attributes to Mr. BAILY "a bold- ness old:inception Doteunveorthy of Michael Angelo." He was not aware, perhaps, that the merit of the conception of this group of " Ma- ternal Love," by BAILY,. belongs to MICHAEL ANGELO, though the liv- ing artist has modified the design. The great patriarch of modern sculptors would not have made the Climbing infant plant the foot, on which the whole weight of his body rests, on the tips of the mother's two fingers only ; nor days shown the heed with which he clings round her nee 'completely passive. As it .is, the child could not support himself, nor the mother hold him up. The mother's foot that is turned under her is surely too violently twisted : her neck, too, is preposte- rous:. and both fades are dettitute of expression. These may be . the faults of the draughtsman or' engraver :' we speak only from the plate, pot having seen the. original.. THORWALEMEN'S " Hebe disappoints us. We have-heard-his fame bruited so loudly, that we expected some- thing more from him than a' Mere gtaceful nymph a 1'anti,7ue, with a pitcher and bowl, as 'a representative of Hebe. • The head has no cha- racter either. The designers of the plates of Fashions in the Ladies' Magazines invariably, give the ladies long noses, and atone for the length' Of this prominent feature by making the 'upper lip so short, that it would seem as if the chief used the nostrils were to smell the sweet breath exhaling from the Meath. -DeliCatecoMplitnent ! These artists of Fashions appear to have taken the idea from the sculptors, who are fond of caricaturing 'the' ideal of Greek beauty. Indeed, the modern sculptors seem• not only to study, but to invent from the antique. " Na- ture puts them out," as she did RYSER'.
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