Art-Jottings In Art-Studios.

As boing , perhaps , the most perfect form of the Art , we will begin Avith "IN TILE ROUND . " Whether in ancient times sculptors chiselled their productions directly from the block it isof coursenow impossible to say for certainbut there is a great probabilit

, , , y that such was the case . Further on , in another branch of the Art , Ave shall shoiv that this was ready done , as Ave know it AA'as by more than one master-hand of more modern times . Both Paris ( the Louvre ) and Florence possess unfinished works thus " roughed-out" by Michael Angelo , in Avhich the vigour of his style of manipulation , even Avithin one-eighth of an inch of the finished surface , is evidenced by the long chisel-marks remaining . In the ordinary course this masterly method of procedure is

too dangerous , as one unlucky stroke might spoil the labour of many a long day , besides causing the waste of valuable and costly material . The usual mode adopted , by the artist is to model his design in clay , generally in a small size at first . This model is afterwards enlarged and improved by " study from the life , " that is , by copying the actual things to be represented—men , animals , draperies , and the like .

For this enlarging ( as Ave are informed by Messrs . Wills , the eminent sculptors of Euston Road , ivliose works of Lord Mayo , Sir Humphrey Davy , Ashworth , Mayor of Rochdale , unveiled iu . June last , etc ., are Avell known and universally admired ) air iron frame-work or skeleton is made to support the mass of clay ; in this clay the " study " is first made of the subject " in the nude , " so that a due natural proportion of figure may be obtained ; after which the drapery is added . Upon this clay " model , " when

perfect , a mould is formed , from which is taken a plaster cast . The plaster figure is next placed by the side of the marble or stone , which is , by the hands of pupils or inferior workmen , reduced to the requisite dimensions , the form being obtained by means of a " pointer . " This consists of a needle placed upon a measuring-rod . The needle , having been applied to "the cast" ( or plaster figure ) , is turned to "the block" which . is then pierced or drilled until the pointer shows that

, it has gone deep enough . This is clone over and over again , until , by cutting do \ A * n to the depth indicated , the rough figure alone is left . The master-hand then passes over the Avhole until the work is perfect . The work is then smoothed or rubbed down , and , in some cases , even polished ( as in some of Michael Angelo ' s Avorks , and those of still more ancient masters ); but this latter process is generally objected to , as the reflected fights tend to injure the outline of the form .

Although , as a rule , sculpture suffers in comparison with painting from the want of colour and background , Ave find , in ancient examples , that the former was sometimes actually applied ; many old statues—notably those on tombs and monuments—being coloured " to the life . " Egyptian and Ninevitish sculptors frequently painted their Avorks " up to the life , " and even the Greek masters sometimes employed colour in the same way . In the British Museum there is a head that has been thus treated , Avhilst in the

Vatican there is a bust which still SIIOAA ' that enamelled eyes and black eyelashes Avere inserted in the marble . In our OAVU day Mr . Gibson has exhibited tinted " female figures , but the experiment has not found universal favour . _ Space forbids us to give a history of this noble Art , but we cannot pass on Avithout noticing the prolific hand of Phidias , the Greek , and the antiquity of the works of the Egyptian scul ptors , AAIIO worked probably 2 , 000 years before the Christian era .

FOIIOAVnig these came the Etruscans , and these again Avere followed by the Roman artists . The art Avas revived in Italy in the tenth century , coming CIOAAOI to Michael Angelo in the sixteenth . Gibber , who sculptured in England , was a Dane ; Thorwalsden , a native of Iceland ; Canova , an Italian ; whilst Flaxman brings us CIOAVO to our OAVU days . An explanation of two or three technical terms of the remains of ancient sculpture may here be not amiss : "Busts" are heads , or heads and chests : a "Torso" is a hotl y without ^ limbs ; whilst statues consisting of a head on a square post are called ' Terminal , " from their liaA'ing been employed as boundary marks .