SCULPTURE. 447 



are taken from a variety of objects, and combined and blended into 

 one regular whole. All kinds of copies belong to the first kind of 

 imitation ; and productions of this sort must necessarily be exe. 

 cuted in a confined and servile manner, with high finishing, and little 

 or no invention. But the second kind of imitation leads directly 

 to the investigation and discovery of true beauty, of that beauty 

 whose perfect idea is only to be found within the mind. 



Of the different modes of process in sculpture. Works of 

 of sculpture are performed, either by hollowing or excavating, as 

 in metals, agates, and other precious stones, and in marbles of 

 every description ; or by working in relief, as in bas-reliefs in the 

 materials just mentioned, or in statues of metal, clay, wood, wax, 

 marble, or stone. 



The excavation of precious stones forms a particular branch of 

 art called intaglio, which, together with the working them in re- 

 lievo, when the term camayeu is applied to them, belongs to the 

 art of seal-engraving. 



The excavation of metals consitutes the art of engraving, in its 

 various branches, on metal of any kind ; and its relief comprises 

 enchasing, casting in bronze, &c. 



The process of hollowing hard stone or marble will need no par- 



ticular description ; especially as it is now wholly in disuse, ex. 



cept for the forming of letters in monumental or other inscriptions. 



In working in relief the process is necessarily different, accord. 



ing to the materials in which the work is performed. 



As not only the beginning of sculpture was in clay, for the pur- 

 pose of forming statues, but as models are still made in clay or 

 wax, for every work undertaken by the sculptor ; we shall first 

 consider the method of modelling figures in clay or wax. 



Few tools are necessary for modelling in clay. The clay being 

 placed on a stand or sculptor's easel, the artist begins the work 

 with his hands, and puts the whole into form by the same means. 

 The most expert practitioners of this art seldom use any other tool 

 than their fingers, except in such small or sharp parts of their work 

 as the fingers cannot reach. For these occasions, they are pro. 

 vided with three or four small tools of wood, about seven or eight 

 inches in length, which are rounded at one end, and at the other 

 flat and shaped into a sort of claws. These tools are called by the 

 French ebauchoirs. In some of these the claws are smooth, for the 

 purpose of smoothing the surface of the model ; and in others art 



