lint let not seulpture•ainting-poesy, Nor they, the mighty masters of these spells, Detain us,—our first homage is to virtue.
Among the masterpieces of Thorwaldsen, executed since the full establishment of his reputation, may be enumerated, the Graces—the exquisite allegories of Night and Aurora in relievo—the statue of Mercu ry as a shepherd—the triumph of Alexander, a relic vo, ordered by Napoleon for the vice-royal palace at Milan—and, lastly, the colossal statues of Christ and the Apostles, commissioned for his native city. From these works, a just estimate of the Danish sculptor's powers may be formed. The character of these pow ers is certainly of a very elevated rank, but Nye appre hend is not to be placed so high as has often been done. The genius of Thorwaldsen is forcible, vet its energy is derived more from the peculiarity than from the real excellence of his manner. His ideal reminds us less of antiquity or of nature than of his own mind —it is the offspring of an imagination seeking forci ble impression in singular combinations, rather than in general principles, and therefore hardly fitted to exert a lasting or beneficial influence on the pro gress of art. His aims appear hitherto to have been chiefly directed to the attainment of simplicity and of imposing effect. That the former quality, so essential to genuine sculpture, is in many instan ces very successfully preserved, will not be denied; but the simple differs widely from the meagre and the rude; and in the works of the Dane, the distinction is not always observed. This especially appears in those compositions wherein grace should be the predomi nant feeling; these are too austere, and without due refinement of character. The forcible, too, often ap proaches the exaggerated, as is particularly apparent in the air and contours of the heads, which. though grand and vigorous, are rarely found to harmonize in the principles of these effects, with the majesty and regularity of general nature. In strong contrast with the powerful conception thus displayed in the heads, is the feebleness frequently conspicuous in the atti tudes and forms. The first have a littleness of manner, a cramped and studied action; while the second want firmness, sustained effect, and fulness of contour. Of' the beauties and defects of Thorwaldsen's style, the Mercury may be pointed out as an admirable exam ple, and as best known, from several models in this country. The figure is seated in the act of unsheath
ing a sword, with which to slay Argus, whom he had just lulled to sleep by the sweet melody of a pipe still held in his hand. The general idea of the figure is beautiful, we would say poetical in no ordinary de gree. The head is of exquisite beauty, the prescrip tive forms of antiquity being here too obviously asso ciated to permit wide deviation. But when we scru tinize the more particular conduct of the piece, it is far from corresponding in manly character and science with these external excellencies. The attitude is too studiously contrasted—too artificially balanced; while, with a prettiness of action utterly unequal to the effort, he is attempting to draw a ponderous falchion, by slightly pressing the scabbard between his heel and the trunk against which he leans. The forms likewise are poor and feeble, without vigorous rendering, and destitute of their full roundness of outline. This last is the leading defect in the modelling of Thorwaldsen, which probably has arisen from his greater practice in relief. It is in this latter department that his ge nius is most unexceptionably to be admired. The f4ze representing the triumphal entrance into Baby ion, notwithstanding an occasional poverty of inven tion, is one of the grandest. compositions in the world; while nothing can exceed the delicacy of execution, and poetic feeling, in the composition of the Night, or the Aurora. But in statues, Thorwaldsen excels in those only whose lineaments and expression admit of uncontrolled imagination, and which may not be tried by regular principles or natural effect. Hence, in this department, the Apostles are by far the most excel lent of his works, because the subject admitted novel or even uncommon modifications of the imagination. In short, Thorwaldsen possesses great, but singular, and in some respects erratic genius. His powers of fancy excel those of execution; his conceptions seem to loose their value and their freshness in the act of realizement. As an individual artist, he will com mand, and he deserves a high rank among the names that shall go down to posterity. As a sculptor, how ever, who will influence, or has extended the princi ples of his art, his pretensions are not great; or should that influence and these pretensions not be thus limit ed, the standard of genuine and universal excellence will be so far depreciated.