THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Nov. 1,-1864. 



148 PHOTO-SCDLPTURE. 



every way benefit from the practice of photo-sculpture, which undoubt- 

 edly we shall see honoured in the dwellings of thousands, not only as 

 regards portraiture in general, but also as to the resemblances of those 

 who by their genius and virtues have deserved our admiration and 

 esteem. Again, photo-sculpture will be the easy and inexpensive means 

 of reproducing, in various sizes, and with unerring faithfulness, the 

 beautiful remains of antique sculpture, whether statues, vases, or other 

 objects which can only be seen in museums and galleries, and thus the 

 public can possess, at a small cost, copies, or rather fac-similes, of the 

 great creations of past ages. The only copies existing of those works 

 cannot often be repeated, for they must be made at t some risk of 

 injuring the original, the only process hitherto known being that of 

 taking casts ;*hence they are expensive and rare. To obtain a certain 

 number of photographs of these precious relics is all that will be 

 needed for their production by the photo-sculpture process. Photo- 

 graphy has already been the means of copying the paintings of cele- 

 brated masters existing in public and private galleries. By those 

 photographs every one is enabled to possess copies of the noblest works 

 in the art of painting. These copies contain composition, design, and 

 everything capable of conveying the feeling of the artist; but they are 

 deficient in one essential — colour. It is otherwise as regards the 

 representation of statuary, which leaves to the mind to imagine colour. 

 Photo-scidpture has, then, the advantage of reproducing works in 

 Bculpture without depriving us of any of the attributes which have 

 made them famous. Photo-sculpture will further be applied to the 

 representations of animals, showing them in true and natural attitudes ; 

 by this means faithful modes will be introduced in the manufacture of 

 porcelain, clocks, furniture, and much that contributes to the embellish- 

 ment of our dwellings. In a word, photo-sculpture is calculated to 

 spread the taste for the beautiful in form ; it opens a new era, which 

 will be remarkable in the history of the fine arts. I have thought that 

 I could not give to the meeting a better illustration of the process 

 of photo-sculpture than by executing the bust of our illustrious 

 President, Sir Charles Lyell. I invited Sir Charles for this purpose, 

 and he was kind enough to sit for his photograph on the 16th August. 

 The machine has done the work, the sculptor has given the finishing- 

 touch to the model, and here is the bust complete, Sir Charles not 

 having seen it before I brought it to the meeting. In so short a 

 time as a fortnight I have also been able to obtain of the same 

 bust a model in bronze, and I leave to the meeting to form some 

 opinion of photo-sculpture by this and other examples now near me* 



* Proceedings of the British Association. 



