ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2170, 26 September 1895, Page 40

ART AND ARTISTS.

• . • Phil May, of Puaob, is eald to ba earning more money just now than any artist in England. His youth was one of extreme poverty. His first start in life was made at the age of 15 at the Leeds Theatre, where he did odd jobs for the princely lnoome of 12s a week. At 17 be reached London with a few ahillings in his pocket. After a long period of starvation and sleeping in doorways and on park seats, be was " discovered " by the agent of the Sydney Bulletin, who engaged him and sent him out to Australia. His present yearly inoome Is to be estimated by thousand*. • . • When Mr Rudolf Lebmann came to England he brought a letter from Ary Schaffer, a friend of hit artist brother at Hamburg, to Sir Edwin Landseer. The veteran painter one day took young Lehmann to the gallery at South Kensington. When they came to the celebrated picture of "The Shepherd's Chief Mourner," whioh many think the masterpiece of Landseer, the old man was explaining some point in the picture to bis admiring companion. " Doe't touch that picture I " shouted out a gruffvoiced polioeman on seeing the upraised ■ Roger of the artist. Landseer looked at him, possibly thinking he might be recognised by the watchful guardian, and said, " I think I have touched it before now." " More shame to you 1 " was the response ; " you're old enough to have known better." Mr L&hmann tells the anecdote in bis book of recollections. • . • A very vague idea prevails an to how ! a sculptor works on a statue. The artist i puts the conception, as nearly as possible, into A material form by the aid of clay. A plaster cast ia then taken of that. By this time very deft mechanics have prepared a block of marble in the moat perfect manner. Then the cast is set alongside, and, by means of square and rale and callipers, the model is copied point by point. The mass is hewn from the rock rapidly until a general outline is reached. Then the mechanic proceeds with more skill and care, and gradually reduces it until a close imoge of the rnocM is reached. Then a mill more skilful artisan undertakes if, and performs citir»'<'l-. uudcr the artist* personal direction. At last the artist puts on the finishing touches, which give the individuality, the excellence, the semblance of the porson modelled after, or which convey the idea that the artist has fanoied into creation. • . • Canon Wilberforce has found several architectural relics of great importance ia Westminster Ahboy, and amongst these a beautiful vaulted chumber which had been vi ailed tip since the t.ime of monastic dissolution under Henry VIII The chamber dated back to 1362, and at, one time was part of the ancient ambulatory associated with the d«vofcfi<l lahout-H of Abbot LUlington Nothing can be inoie -implfc and he^u'iful th j n the design, the piers and ctpitals being exo«edingly graceful and light in appoarariC3. This unique portion of the Abbey, exhumed and restored by the new canon, has become his dining room, all its adjuncts being of the most harmonious character. Frescoes wore also discovered at the same time in an upper room. These wall paintings were ptobably execuied at the end of tha fourteenth century, and were ihe work of Venetians. The designs — grotes-que, weird, and full of artistic skill, notably in tha royal arms and feline supporters -will have special interest for one of the orders of H g't M^ons, as the pictures most likely ajmhoiihed the worship of Aetarfce. •.• Although it is the fashion among a certain section of artists to speak disdain- i fully of the work of the camera, all must admit that it has been able to teach those who hold the pencil some lessons of groat value. Before the era of what is oalled "instantaneous" photography, it was customary for artists to depict a flash of forked lightning as a zigzag across the sky of a very angular and pronounced form. In some of the best pictures one can see this familiar zigzag arrangement, bat it is never seen in naturo. A photograph of lightning exhibits it as it really is— a sinuous line of light with branches like those of a tree. Artists had alno a Mcuo* >ped method of depiiithg explosions, and phuUigrwphy has boon able in this instance, also, to point out their faults. We are reminded of these things by a photograph which has bean published of the recent big blast at Pdurhyn slate quarries. A pillar of rock estimated to weigh 120,000 tons was dtmolinhed by a charge of seven tons of gunpowder. The photograph shows a cloud of fmoke caused by the powder, and the mighty mass of rock mb-tiding through it in a disintegrated condition,— Chambers'* Journal. • . • To Mr Frederick A. Shaw, an American sculptor, belongs the credit of an entirely new and very beautiful departure in an. His invention cont-ists in chis-elling figures, foliage, &c, on large slabs of marble an inch in thickness. These are then set in windows, and the effect when the sun's rays fall upon the deigns is extritmel v lovely. They look somewhat like staked glass, only the tints are softer and m.>re pleasing to the eye. Curiously enough, Mr Stuw declares that Italian marble is too opaque for his purpose, and cot'stq.iently be was actually obliged to take some specially translucent stone with him to Italy while'on a recent visit. "The figures have to be out in intaglio," explained Mr Shaw recently— that is, they are cut into the marble and not the marble cut away from them. The whole art consists in sinking the design to varying depths, so as to produce lights and shadows that -will form one harmonious whole. Consequently, Borne parts of the slab are cut away for threequarters of their thickness, while others are left practically untouched, the contrast producing the special beauty of the work. The way in which the art was discovered was rather peculiar. The pcnlptor had been fashioning a young female figure making her way against the wiiid, with storm-tossed drapery swirling round her. As he was working, Mr Shaw noticed that the maiden's form was outlined through the drapery, and that the light altered the appearance of the robe. It is expected that the new art will supersede stained glass for decorative purpoies where grandeur and sublimity are deaired, and where a bright light can be obtained. Another advantage these marble panels possess is that they do not lose their

beauty when no light Is projected from tha back, bat uppear as bas-reiiefo.