MR. FRENCH’S NEW MONUMENTAL RELIEFS 
Monumental reliefs combined with well studied archi- 
tectural effects, have lent a variety to recent memorial art 
that has quite happily relieved the monotony of the succes- 
sion of conventional portrait figures whose local or his- 
toric importance cannot always atone for their uninterest- 
ing character as works of art. The possibilities of relief 
sculpture in bronze or stone in combination with a setting 
of some one of the fine colored marbles or granites, offer 
rare opportunity for the collaboration of sculptor, architect 
and monument builder, that is too seldom realized to its 
fullest extent. In this field of high relief may be combined 
the monumental effects of 
heroic proportions, the pic- 
torial delicacy of background 
and decoration, and the grace- 
ful dignity of good archi- 
tecture. The two classic 
American examples that have 
realized to a remarkable ex- 
tent all the effects of these 
combined arts, are the Saint- 
Gaudens Shaw memorial in 
Boston, and Mr. Daniel Ches- 
ter French’s Millmore me- 
morial in the same city, more 
widely known in its many 
photographic reproductions 
as “Death and the Sculptor.” 
Of the two, Mr. French’s is 
the more simply and broadly 
conceived, and has a wider 
and more intimate human ap- 
peal. While these two ex- 
amples have been criticised 
as “pictorial,” rather than 
sculptural, this academic dis- 
tinction may be left to the 
critics, with the knowledge 
that these two works have 
done more for the art life of 
the people than all the 
strictly “sculptural,” stiff 
bronze statesmen, and monu- 
mental equestrian soldiers 
that have been produced. 
Mr. French is today the 
leader in the production of 
these monumental-architec- 
tural reliefs. Two distin- 
guished examples recently 
shown in these pages, were 
the Melvin Memorial in 
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, 
Tarrytown, N. Y., and the Parkman in Boston, both of 
which were panels sunken into the central members of an 
exedra. Both were intaglio reliefs, that is, reliefs sunken 
into the stone, a very unusual and difficult effect that 
makes the figures appear as if emerging from the stone. 
They were executed in pink Tennessee marble, a very hard 
material that lends itself readily to the rendering of subtle 
sculptured details. 
His A. R. Meyer monument, recently unveiled in Kansas 
City, in memory of the first president of the Park Com- 
mission, takes the form of a monumental tablet of Ten- 
nessee marble in which a full 
length bronze portrait in high 
relief is set into the marble. 
At one side, in low relief, 
rises a tree, the foliage of 
which somewhat more re- 
lieved, appears above, bal- 
ancing well with the faintly 
shown potted plant on a 
table, beside which the sub- 
ject is standing. He has 
risen from the examination 
of a map, and holds in his 
hand a field glass, prepara- 
tory to surveying the land- 
scape. It is one of those re- 
fined, perfectly balanced and 
carefully executed composi- 
tions that Mr. French may al- 
ways be trusted to execute, 
and is an interesting and 
worthy successor to his Mel- 
vin and Parkman. 
The marble work was ex- 
ecuted by Piccirilli Brothers 
of . New York City, and the 
bronze cast by Jno. Williams, 
Inc., of New York. The 
architectural framework is 
delicately carved with 
wreaths, a floral band, and in- 
verted torches, in admirable 
harmony with the whole com- 
position, but subordinated to 
the central relief. The me- 
morial stands in a carefully 
chosen site on the Paseo, 
Kansas City’s show boule- 
vard. It is about 18 ft. high, 
by 8 ft. wide and ft. thick,, 
a graceful, well-balanced com- 
position throughout. 
A. R. METER MONUMENT, KANSAS CITY, MO. 
Daniel Chester French, Sc. 
