SCULPTURE. 59 
- An independent path was struck out by Jean David of Angers; he was 
to French what Canova was to Italian, and Tieck, Schadow, Rauch, and 
Schwanthaler to German art, and he conducted it by the narrow way which 
leads between a slavish imitation of the antique and a mere copying of 
nature to the truly beautiful and sublime. Jorn in the year 1792, he 
devoted himself from his earliest youth to art, but lacked the means for 
pursuing his studies; his namesake, the painter David, assisted him and 
gave him instruction until a stipend was allowed him. The first work with 
which he appeared before the public was a relief, the Death of Epami- 
nondas (pl. 11, fig. 12), which is in truth one of the most beautiful and 
expressive compositions of the period, and in 1811 received the first prize 
for a bas-relief, with which a studying-pension was connected. David now 
went to Rome, where he studied the antique, and enjoyed the benefit of 
Canova’s instruction; after which he repaired in 1816 to England, to study 
the marble monuments carried off from Greece by Lord Elgin. The propo- 
sition, honorable to him in itself, to execute a monument with reliefs in 
honor of the victory of the English and German army, he as a good patriot 
rejected, and returned.to Paris, where in 1822 he executed the statue of 
King René for the city of Aix, and a S¢. Cecilia for a Parisian church. In 
the year 1827 he produced the statue of the great Condé (pl. 10, fig. 4), 
which represents the hero at the moment of hurling his commander’s staff 
into the enemy’s redoubt, to rush forward gt the head of his troops and 
recover it. This statue was designed as a pendant to that of Admiral 
Duquesne by Roguier (jig. 1), and, with the statues of Bayard by Moutoni 
(jig. 2), of Duguesclin by Bridan (jig. 3), and of eight other heroes and 
statesmen of France, to adorn the bridge of Louis XV. built by Perronnet, 
now the Pont de la Concorde. These statues, however, were removed, and 
stand now in the Museum of Versailles, while the bridge still waits for a 
substitute. It would here lead us too far to enumerate merely the principal 
works of this prolific and industrious artist, which are scattered through all 
parts of Europe, especially as David has manifested a great fondness for 
portraits. It is in this line and that of bas-relief that he has furnished the 
finest specimens of his talent; though it is not to be denied that he has 
occasionally manifested in his most celebrated works of the kind an 
excessive striving after effect. This is shown, for instance, very plainly in 
his two busts of Goethe, one of which is at Weimar and the other in 
Dresden, and in the bust of Tieck in Dresden. Especial notice is due to 
his bust of Alexander Von Humboldt, which is perfect as a likeness, and is 
justly famed for the sublimity which the artist has given to the brow of the 
illustrious naturalist. We must mention in conclusion a few of David’s 
sculptures which belong to the most recent times. Among these is Guten- 
berg’s Monument in Strasburg, which was executed in bronze after a 
model by David (pl. 11, fig. 3). In the physiognomy of this colossal figure 
we notice rather a straining after great expression than the manifestation 
of a profound intellect. The deep folds and furrows of the countenance, 
beard, &c., give an appearance of hardness. There is also something con- 
strained in the figure, and the drapery exhibits nothing of the grand style. 
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