ENGLISH SCULPTURE IN THE EIGIIMENTH CENTURY.
The plastic arts of Great Britain were slow in awakening. In the ages when Gothic architecture was in its prime native artists had done much in decorative sculpture in wood, stone, and bronze for the ornamentation of cathedrals and tombs. But this sort of work lacked refinement and careful study of the figure, although often very interesting in a decorative sense. Pietro Torrigiano (1472-1522) in the sixteenth century had prac tised sculpture in England, but had evidently made little impression on native talent.
It was not until the eighteenth century that sculpture in the classic or severely simple method with marble began to be seriously followed in Eng land, but the results were generally of a low order of art, and, with some exceptions, are chiefly interesting as leading tip to a better quality of work. A number of the most important sculptors in England during this period were of foreign birth, but have been identified with English art both because of their being residents there and because of their haying taken the initiatory steps in this art.
Doris Francois Raub//lac, a native of Lyons, was born in 1695—or, as some say, in 1703—and died in London in 1762. He was the first sculptor who revived the practice of sculpture in England, where he executed his most important works. It is somewhat singular that the art in that country should begin with an artist who not only represented a sensational style in total contrast with the severe styles of the antique, but also scoffed at the remains of ancient sculpture which he saw at Rome; for at this very time English painters were undertaking to found a school of pictorial art based on a careful study, not to say imitation, of former schools. Roubiliac was, however, a sculptor of considerable merit, and his dramatic style may have been just the one that would be most likely to rivet the popular attention to the practice of an art practically new in England. He was employed for the most part in monumental composi tions, one of his finest of which is the monument to the duke of Argyll in Westminster Abbey—a work that includes a statue of Eloquence, which is his masterpiece.
John Rysbrack, born at Antwerp in 169.1, settled in England in 1720. Ile began by modelling busts in clay, which gained him much repute and led to his obtaining numerous commissions for portraits and monuments in marble. One of his best works in bronze is the equestrian statue of William III. at Bristol. The statue of the earl of Stanhope in Westminster Abbey is another clever work by Rysbrack. Unlike Ronbiliac his monumental works were simple. The action of his figures was natural, but his inventive power was He 1 ; __e C.CC .11 1770.
Pe li r Scheemakers was born at Antwerp in 1691, and studied sculpture in Italy; lie filially settled in London, resided there until 1769, and died in his native city in 1773. Ilis art was notable mainly for portrait busts, in which he excelled. He will, however, be chiefly remembered as the sculptor to whom Nollekens, the first native English sculptor of the eighteenth century, was apprenticed.
Joseph Nolichens was born in London in 1737. The premiums he won for his busts in 1759 and 176o, together with the small sum he had saved, enabled him to proceed to Italy. The following year he carried off another premium, of fifty guineas, from the Society of Arts, and the gold medal of the Roman Academy. In 1771, Nollekens married a lady of wealth, and was thus able henceforth to pursue his art free from pecuniary pressure. In 1771 he was elected Academician. The art of Nollekens is not of a high order, but it is simple and pleasing, and in his portraits he was especially successful in seizing traits of character. The busts of Fox and Pitt were so popular that the artist sold two hundred and fifty replicas of them for twenty-five thousand guineas. One of his finest works, for which he received three thousand guineas, was his monument in Westminster Abbey of the three captains who fell in Rodney's victory. Nollekens studied nature carefully, but, like the majority of English sculptors, lacked invention. He died in 1S23. Being thrifty in his habits, he had amassed a fortune of two hundred and ten thousand pounds.