EFFIGIES AND MONUMENTS IN PARKS 



and statues of Boston complains likewise that " a very worthy work of 

 art may be made to seem absurd to the thoughtless by drawing atten- 

 tion to some minor fault in a detail which, once remarked, will forever 

 afterward thrust itself upon the attention with an insistence out of all 

 proportion to its real importance. So fond is the American of his 

 joke, and so indifferent is he to aesthetic questions, that he will remem- 

 ber a quip about a statue much longer than the statue itself." 



The sculptor may be counted upon to cooperate in a change from 

 portraiture to allegory, for he will foresee and welcome greater freedom 

 of expression and interpretation of subject. He may soon and 

 speedily depart from the conscious austerity of many of our present 

 monuments, but the people will forgive a palpable leaning toward the 

 plastic ideal in sculpture in relief from the dreadful realism of portrait 

 statuary. Moreover, the allegorical statue which uplifts the imagina- 

 tion or the symbolic representation which moulds and inspires is essen- 

 tially the only sculpture which may properly be admitted to park 

 retreats, — and then not to such extent as to jeopardise naturalistic 

 beauty. The figure of Peter Pan in the Kensington Gardens, London, 

 is appropriately set in the midst of fragrant verdure, but unfortunately 

 it fails " to transport us from the din and txu-moil of this modern 

 existence," due to the awkward effort of the artist to visuahse, in the 

 reliefs of the pedestal, the emotion which the spectator should be 

 privileged to experience voluntarily. 



It would be a great forward step if the word " statue " in every 

 case could be changed to the word " memorial." How many cities 

 would not embrace the opportunity of obtaining richly designed gar- 

 dens or beautiful specimens of landscape art in exchange for several 

 of the statues they have on hand? Take, as an example of what beau- 

 tiful effect may be obtained by harmonious composition of sculpture 

 and landscape architecture, the beautiful Medici Fountain in the 

 Luxembourg Gardens of Paris, a rare ornament for any city. Then 



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