File:Fighting Lions - American art and American art collections.jpg

Identifier: americanartamer01mont (find matches)
Title: American art and American art collections; essays on artistic subjects
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Montgomery, Walter
Subjects: Art Artists Art
Publisher: Boston, E.W. Walker & co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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e of his pro-fession from February to June, 1861. No adequate idea can be formed of the sad circumstancessurrounding the production of this statue, until the diary of its author is given to the world. 338 AMERICAN ART He often worked upon it by candle-light, had to do over many times parts that had fallendown, or had been frozen by extreme cold, and he was finally compelled to have it cast inplaster before it was completed, and to finish it in that material, as it was in danger of entiredestruction for the want of sufficient support. Looked at as a work of sculpture, without reference to the facts just mentioned, and even ifexecuted under the most favorable circumstances, the Gladiator would appeal to the admirationof the best artists of any time; but, when the almost impossible conditions of its existence areknown, it must be pronounced a prodigious work. What sculptor of any age could have donebetter under the same circumstances? The statue is thoroughly well conceived and composed,
Text Appearing After Image:
Lions Fighting. — By Dr. William Rimmer. The Original in the Possession of the Boston Art Club. Drawn by Th. Fleming. — From a Photograph. well executed, a fine work of art, and a splendid study of nature. It shows a profound com-prehension of the construction, movement, weight, and balance of the human figure; and, ifplaced side by side with the best nude statues of the French sculptors of to-day, it would befound that what it lacks of nervous touch, of freshness and clearness of form, could easily havebeen made good by a greater and more constant familiarity with living models. There aresome parts of the figure, like the movement of the left side, the line of the back, breast, andabdomen, that seem to be as well understood as they possibly can be. As it is, it taxes thecredulity to the utmost to believe that any one, however strong, could have got so much outof the limited facilities enjoyed by Dr. Rimmer. It can only be made credible by the fact thathe possessed a marvellous in

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