SCULPTURE IN RELATION TO THE AGE.

Timaru Herald, Volume L, Issue 4846, 17 May 1890, Page 3

SCULPTURE IN RELATION TO THE AGE.

A Ifojnl Institution lecturer, dealing with this Fubjnet suirl tho sculpture of thopant was bast understood when we know tho history of tho pooplo and (ho conditions of lifo of the aea m which it wa« prjcluood. Oftou convonely it throw light on history antl holpod u« (o understand tho ago. Tho (jroalor part

of the lecture was occupied with a consideration of tho contrast of sculpture m lands where Naturo 13 on ao grnnd a scale that m;in feels his insigniGcunce, as m India and Moxico, and m lauds where man has been ablo to ovjreome Nature, as m Egypt and Assyria. In India, the lecturer said, reason hud been unablo to grasp Iho vastness of Naturo, and henco imagination had become moro powerful than puzzled reason, llence m the representation of tbo gods their power was typified by many arms and the gigantio size they were made. Man found no pluce m Indian sculpture, he was too insignificant.. Tbo same leading idea, though expressed not so markedly, wae to bo traced m Mexican sculpture. In Egypt and Assyria man was considorod worthy of I notice, and the gods were only introduced, and then rarely, to givo glory to a king, by showing their protection. The sphinx was tho only exception. Was tho Egyptian ruler a dospot.and tho Pharaoh was m sculpturo, thero, represented far larger than tbo pooplo. Ho might be seen holding dozens of slaves m hia grip or chasing a whole host by hie own weapon. His chariot, too, was always msdo larger than others. The same idoa with roqard to man wao to bo seen m Assyrian sculpt urgs, but tho treatment was moro materialistic, kings were of tho same size as thoir subjects, though represented as m far better nondiliun. Their artists wero careful etuden's, bb could bo seen m the life and motion they threw into their hunting scenes and m the accuracy of thoir anatomy, which has not been 6urj::n9rd oven m modern days. No scores of labour or of tho arts of peace aro known, but hunting scenes abound as fit sport for a ruler. Greek artislß strove to givo exaltation to their gods, not by kite, but by beauty. Cicero was quoted m support of tho view that though the Greeks had a keen sonso of beauty they wero not as a race beautiful. Their gods must, thereforo, bo of the best tjpe. They were a happy people, and eeroro reposo characterised tho features of all their deilios. Groek Bculpturo at Greece's best period was closely linked to roligious sentiment, and thoir artists workod to the glory of their goda.