spend much time and trouble in looking for models to follow. It was by virtue of his native genius that he achieved an original outlook on Nature and human life. Hence he was the first in our country to understand and render the language of Nature, and to prove that sculpture is no mere journeyman’s task, but the outcome of artistic inspiration, drawn from the very depths of man’s soul. A fervent admirer of Josef Mánes, he accepted his influence as a moral obligation. Mánes’ sensuousness and deep racial and national feeling awakened in him a new, rich life. Accordingly he frankly enlisted in that band of painters who had proclaimed the late Mánes as their leader, and whom the accident of collaboration at the Prague National Theatre had brought together, whence the name “National Theatre School” was applied to them. Myslbek’s four groups on the pylons of the Palacký bridge in Prague appear on the one hand as a sequel to the decoration of the National Theatre, and on the other as a sculptural realization of Mánes’ ideals. Under his hand, the material is invested with glowing life, the old legends assume a new and original form, receive, as it were, a fresh consecration, become adapted to the needs of monumental statuary. Even where it is no longer a question of rejuvenating ancient themes, Myslbek puts forth mature, almost classical creations. Two funeral monuments show to what an extent he could penetrate into the emotional life of humanity, to wrest from it symbols which he clothed with monumental forms. The “Devotion” allegory testifies not only to the strength of his intellect, his masterly skill in giving concrete shape to the idea, but also to his sound mental balance, his direct vision and his energetic hand. His courage and artistic conscience are nowhere more boldly proclaimed than in his great Christ on the Cross, which will easily bear comparison with the old masters. This Christ on the Cross, now hung above an altar in the Sacré
