FINE ARTS. 



315 



cf Ralph Waldo Emerson has been placed in 



tlio library of Harvard t'mver.-ity, were exhib- 

 ited in Deoembari l the. spring of 1865 a 



!. -ralili- sum \V:H raised in New York to- 

 ward the erection of ft monument to President 



in, but nothing seems to have been done 

 in furtherance of tbe work. In the erection of 

 statues and monuments commemorative of tho 

 late war, or of eminent public men or events, 



i i> considerably in advance of New York 

 or any other American city; and, although the 



statues of Franklin, Webster, and Horace 

 Maim, Avhieh have hitherto constituted her 

 chief public memorials in sculpture, possess no 



1 merit, it is believed that tho works of 

 this class by Story, Ball, and others, now in 



will fitly represent American art. 

 story is now engaged upon two important 

 works, an equestrian statue of Colonel Shaw, 

 commander of the first Massachusetts colored 

 regiment, who lost his life at the assault of 

 Fort Wagner, and a statue of Edward Everett, 

 tho clay model of which has recently been com- 

 pleted. The former is to be placed in the State- 

 House yard, and the latter on Boston Common. 

 The colossal equestrian statue of Washington, 

 by Ball, also destined for tho public grounds of 

 the city, is hastening to completion. The same 

 sculptor has produced at Florence, within tho 

 past year, a group, consisting of a portrait 

 statue of President Lincoln, and the figure of a 

 kneeling negro, intended to commemorate the 

 overthrow of slavery in America. In .Novem- 

 ber the Common Council of Boston accepted a 

 plan offered by Hammatt Billings for a monu- 

 ment to the soldiers of the city who lost their 

 lives in the war. It contemplates a column of 

 Concord granite, rising from an elaborate base, 

 to the height of 120 feet, and surmounted by a 

 figure of Liberty, and the compartments of tho 

 base, four in number, are to contain bas-reliefs 

 representing scenes on tbe battle-field and the 

 fruits of peace. Ground was broken on Boston 

 Common, preparatory to laying the foundations 

 of the monument early in January, 1867, but 

 the whole project seems subsequently to have 

 miscarried, in consequence mainly of the inade- 

 quacy of the sum appropriated, and of the un- 

 willingness of the authorities to increase tho 

 appropriation. Another monument, suggested 

 by the war, is to be erected in some public place 

 in Boston by the surviving officers and soldiers 

 of tho Second Massachusetts infantry regiment, 

 in honor of their comrades who perished in tho 

 struggle. The design and material have not yet 

 been decided upon. To tho munificence of one 

 of her citizens, Thomas Lee, the city will also 

 bo indebted for a monument, now in course of 

 erection, commemorating the discovery of 

 ether, and which is to be placed in the Public 

 Garden. The design is by Mr. Van Brunt, an 

 architect of Boston, and a pupil of Hunt of New 

 York, and a prominent feature of it will be a 

 group illustrating the parable of tho Good Sa- 

 maritan, by J. Q. A. Ward, of New York, which 

 is described as a masterpiece of sculpture. In 



Commonwealth Avenue, adjoining the Public 

 Garden, has recently been placed a granite 

 statue of Alexander Hamilton, by Dr. Uiramer, 

 erected also at the expense of Mr. Lee. In 

 connection with memorial structures relating 

 to the civil war may bo mentioned the build- 

 ing about to be constructed at Cambridge, from 

 the designs of Messrs. Van Brunt & Garnbrill, 

 which combines, with an alumni hall for Har- 

 vard University, and a theatre for commence- 

 ment exercises, a cloister, of a monumental char- 

 acter externally, which is intended for the recep- 

 tion of busts, statues, pictures, windows, or tab- 

 lets, commemorating the services of Harvard 

 students in the war. The architecture is of tho 

 Italian -Gothic type, and the general effect of 

 the building is imposing. The work on tho 

 monument at Plymouth, Mass., commemora- 

 tive of the landing of the Pilgrims, which was 

 commenced in 1859, and, subsequently sus- 

 pended for several years, in consequence of the 

 war, has recently been renewed by the aid of 

 additional subscriptions, and, it is supposed, 

 will be brought to a completion in the summer 

 of 1867. The only memorial to President Lin- 

 coln, at present contemplated in Washington, is 

 a full-length, life-size statue of him, to be placed 

 in tho capitol. An appropriation of $10,000 

 for this object was made by Congress, and tho 

 commission was given to Miss Vinnie Ream, a 

 young sculptress from the West, almost wholly 

 unknown in the art world, and whoso previous 

 productions are said to comprise only a few 

 busts. Another female artist, Mrs. Ames, of 

 Boston, has finished a bust of Mr. Lincoln, high- 

 ly commended as a faithful representation of 

 him, which is to occupy a niche in the Senate 

 chamber in the national capitoL The cham- 

 ber in this building, which was occupied, before 

 the enlargement, by the House of Represent- 

 atives, has been appropriated to the reception of 

 works of art, illustrating national history, con- 

 tributed by the States. Few of the latter have as 

 yet sent contributions to this collection. Among 

 those which have taken the initiative, are Mas- 

 sachusetts and Vermont. The former has or- 

 dered for the purpose statues of Governor 

 Winthrop, John Adams, and William Lloyd 

 Garrison, illustrating respectively the colonial 

 period, the revolutionary era, and the era of 

 emancipation. The latter will contribute statues 

 of Ethan Allen and the late Senator Collamer. 

 Of elaborate and costly public memorials to 

 President Lincoln, two at least have been pro- 

 jected, which, when completed, will prove 

 valuable additions to the monumental art of 

 the country. The one is to bo erected over his 

 remains at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, 

 Illinois ; the site of the other has not yet been 

 d^.nnined. The former, designed by Larkin 

 G .' Mead, jr., may be thus described : From a 

 paved circular walk rises by seven steps a cir- 

 cular platform, forty-five feet in diameter, on 

 which rests an octagon base, twelve feet high. 

 From four alternate corners of the octagon base 

 project four pedestals, upon which are as many 



