DOI issue:
No. 82 (January, 1900)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19783#0315
Studio- Talk
reached at times a high level of excellence, as in
Mr. A. B. Pegram's set of four models from life.
The subject chosen for the Gold Medal Competi-
tion was "yEneas leaving Troy"; eight groups
were sent in, and it was pleasant to note that all
showed some evidence of good training in the
schools. But, of course, they had weak points,
and we think it right to speak quite frankly about
the sentimentalism by which four or five of the
groups were weakened. A French or a Belgian
student, when thinking of /Eneas leaving Troy,
would seize at once upon the subject in its heroic
aspect, feeling that an ideal /Eneas should carry
his father with a gallant ease and pride. There
286
can be no warrior-like dignity if /Eneas seems
overburdened by the weight of Anchises. This
fact must be plain to everyone who thinks, yet it
received very little serious attention from those
who competed for the Gold Medal at the Royal
Academy. The general aim was to be pathetic,
so /Eneas's devotion was made too painful to be
consonant with true force and dignity in composi-
tion. Mr. Gilbert Bayes avoided this fault, pro-
ducing a very impressive piece of work, largely
modelled, dexterously composed, and instinct with
manly sentiment. This last good quality gave
interest to another group—that, namely, by Mr.
Mortimer J. Brown.
reached at times a high level of excellence, as in
Mr. A. B. Pegram's set of four models from life.
The subject chosen for the Gold Medal Competi-
tion was "yEneas leaving Troy"; eight groups
were sent in, and it was pleasant to note that all
showed some evidence of good training in the
schools. But, of course, they had weak points,
and we think it right to speak quite frankly about
the sentimentalism by which four or five of the
groups were weakened. A French or a Belgian
student, when thinking of /Eneas leaving Troy,
would seize at once upon the subject in its heroic
aspect, feeling that an ideal /Eneas should carry
his father with a gallant ease and pride. There
286
can be no warrior-like dignity if /Eneas seems
overburdened by the weight of Anchises. This
fact must be plain to everyone who thinks, yet it
received very little serious attention from those
who competed for the Gold Medal at the Royal
Academy. The general aim was to be pathetic,
so /Eneas's devotion was made too painful to be
consonant with true force and dignity in composi-
tion. Mr. Gilbert Bayes avoided this fault, pro-
ducing a very impressive piece of work, largely
modelled, dexterously composed, and instinct with
manly sentiment. This last good quality gave
interest to another group—that, namely, by Mr.
Mortimer J. Brown.