DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6915#0152
104
sculpture:—a monumental group.
a disgusting marble skeleton, nor a chubby boy, with a torch; but is the
personification of a youth reclining in a pensive attitude, with his head resting
between his arms, one of which is thrown over it, whilst the other supports it.
At his feet is the inverted, extinguished torch, and on each side is a funeral altar.
This figure, and its accompaniments, are appropriately placed in the rear;
whilst the Judge is supported, on the right and left hand, by statues of Justice
and Wisdom.
From an ingenious essay on " National Monuments," in the Monthly Maga-
zine for January, 1806, I borrow a few remarks. In compositions of this sort,
" a single figure is not sufficient; we require a group to give mass and dignity
to the monument; symbols to explain the motives of its erection, the professions
and actions of the object: besides that a portrait statue is an ungrateful subject
to the artist. The allegory should be clear and simple ; a fable which strikes at
a glance, not an enigma to be decyphered ; uniting the figures in one constant
action, and concentrating the interest around the hero. It is a very common
fault in the employment of allegoric figures in conjunction with others, that
their action has no connection with that of the rest of the group. Of this
defect numberless instances might be adduced ; but I pass over the productions
of ordinary masters, where this is but one of a thousand objects of censure, to
criticise a work of geuius, where we overlook nothing. I mean the monument
to Lord Mansfield by that distinguished artist Mr. Flaxman; a monument
which, for the form of the mass, the grandeur and beauty of the figures, is
perhaps unequalled in this country. Here Justice is engaged in weighing, and
Law in reading, without paying any attention to the sage who is seated in his
curule chair, with a dignity worthy of Greece or Rome." This monument
was erected in 1780, in pursuance of a commission from the present Earl of
Mansfield. It is executed in fine statuary marble, and cost £2500. On
the pedestal is a long inscription,* detailing the chief events of the nobleman's
life whose memory it commemorates.
Feb. 1812. J. B.
* Alexander Baillie, Esq. who had obtained a large, disputed property, by the professional abilities of
Lord Mansfield, bequeathed £1500 towards a monument to be erected to his memory : and also a certain
sum, to be given for the best inscription to be recorded on the same.—See Holliday's " Life of William,
late Earl of Mansfield," 4to. 1797.
sculpture:—a monumental group.
a disgusting marble skeleton, nor a chubby boy, with a torch; but is the
personification of a youth reclining in a pensive attitude, with his head resting
between his arms, one of which is thrown over it, whilst the other supports it.
At his feet is the inverted, extinguished torch, and on each side is a funeral altar.
This figure, and its accompaniments, are appropriately placed in the rear;
whilst the Judge is supported, on the right and left hand, by statues of Justice
and Wisdom.
From an ingenious essay on " National Monuments," in the Monthly Maga-
zine for January, 1806, I borrow a few remarks. In compositions of this sort,
" a single figure is not sufficient; we require a group to give mass and dignity
to the monument; symbols to explain the motives of its erection, the professions
and actions of the object: besides that a portrait statue is an ungrateful subject
to the artist. The allegory should be clear and simple ; a fable which strikes at
a glance, not an enigma to be decyphered ; uniting the figures in one constant
action, and concentrating the interest around the hero. It is a very common
fault in the employment of allegoric figures in conjunction with others, that
their action has no connection with that of the rest of the group. Of this
defect numberless instances might be adduced ; but I pass over the productions
of ordinary masters, where this is but one of a thousand objects of censure, to
criticise a work of geuius, where we overlook nothing. I mean the monument
to Lord Mansfield by that distinguished artist Mr. Flaxman; a monument
which, for the form of the mass, the grandeur and beauty of the figures, is
perhaps unequalled in this country. Here Justice is engaged in weighing, and
Law in reading, without paying any attention to the sage who is seated in his
curule chair, with a dignity worthy of Greece or Rome." This monument
was erected in 1780, in pursuance of a commission from the present Earl of
Mansfield. It is executed in fine statuary marble, and cost £2500. On
the pedestal is a long inscription,* detailing the chief events of the nobleman's
life whose memory it commemorates.
Feb. 1812. J. B.
* Alexander Baillie, Esq. who had obtained a large, disputed property, by the professional abilities of
Lord Mansfield, bequeathed £1500 towards a monument to be erected to his memory : and also a certain
sum, to be given for the best inscription to be recorded on the same.—See Holliday's " Life of William,
late Earl of Mansfield," 4to. 1797.