Art-Jottings In Art-Studios.

ART-JOTTINGS IN ART-STUDIOS .

BY BRO . KEY . W . TEBBS . SCULPTUR E . —II .

" Sermons iu stones . " A LTIIOUGH many a group of statuary with its figures completely detached , like •^* - the Laocoon , tells its heart-stirring story , yet , when history has had to be written in the long-enduring stone , Sculpture has usually taken another form , and the subject has been represented by "incision" or " relief . " Whilst the former of these methods is perhaps the older , yet it will suit our present purpose—the " technicality " of Art better to describe the latter first , leaving the former to head that division of sculptural manipulation of which it is undoubtedly the fundamental step .

" EELIE ]? , " then , we may describe as that mode of representing objects whereby they are presented to us as standing out from a background from which they , yet , are not completely detached . Of this " standing out" there are various degrees , but the divisions usuall y recognized are "Alto-Believo , " "High Eelief , " " Mezzo-Eelievo , " "Middle Belief , " ancl " Basso-Believo" " Bass Eelief " or " Low Eelief . "

, "Belief , " generally , may be described as holding a middle place between the "Plastic" Art ancl "Painting ; " b y its means complete scenes being capable of representation . It is therefore appropriately used for the decoration of flat surfaces such as waUs , or portions of walls , the sides of tombs , and the like .

To take the middle division first , as being , perhaps , the truest and most perfect representative of its kind , " Mezzo-Eelievo " should represent exactly the half of the object clear of the background . If this proportion be exceeded , the result is a detaching , partial or complete , of a portion , at least , ' of the figures , and the result is "Alto-Believo ; " should this proportion be lessened , we have " Basso-Eelievo , " in which either the figures are flattened very considerably or else "foreshortening" and " perspective "

are resorted to , whereb } , at least , partial failure of the true purpose of Sculpture occurs , the result trenching , although unsuccessfully , upon the proper domain of " Painting . " Turning again to the middle style— "Mezzo-Eelievo " - —which is by far the oldest , we find it the one in vogue in Assyrian Art , many beautiful specimens of which are in existence in the British Museum , of which we need only mention the Winged Bulls to recall the examples of this style at once to our reader ' s memory . Other ancient nations

have left the record of their skill in this direction , ancl multitudinous beautiful examples bave once more been beheld by the living eye of man after many a long year ' s burial amidst the nuns of Persepolis ancl Nineveh , Persia ancl Babylon . Although by no means evidencing the freedom and " life " of the handiwork of more modern and classic tunes , these ancient specimens of Art-work are yet far in advance of the crude efforts and ^ quaint distortions of the Hindoo Artists , or the still ancl lifeless craft of the Ancient E gyptian Sculptors .

The two lions above the gate of Mycenae—probably the oldest specimen of Greek handiwork—are but little , if any , in advance of that of the earlier nations of which we have just been speaking , ancl it was reserved for Phidias to stamp his master-mind upon this branch of Art , ancl to leave in his " High Belief " a witness of its true scope and character . Surely we need hardly pause to remind the reader of the beauties of