Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/749

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

SCULPTURE "Within the present century German sculptors have infused a certain amount of healthful re- alism into their monumental works and por- trait statues. Eauch excelled in this partic- ular, and his equestrian monument of Fred- erick the Great in Berlin is one of the finest works of its class executed in modern times. Other sculptors of note are Dannecker, Scha- dow, Drake, Schievelbein, Rietschel, Hahnel, Kiss, Schilling, Begas, and Schwanthaler, most of whom have followed a style partaking of the qualities of modern romantic art and of the antique. Denmark has produced in Thor- waldsen an artist who cooperated with Ca- nova in bringing back the severity and sim- plicity of antique art, and who at the same time bad no lack of religious feeling. Until the present century the art was pursued in England principally by foreigners, and the first native sculptor of note was Flaxman, a man of singularly pure ideal conceptions, whose works bear a striking affinity to the antique. His designs from Homer are in this respect among the most remarkable productions of modern art. Next in ability to him was Gib- son, who passed a great part of his life in Rome, and cultivated the antique style with considerable success. Other British sculptors of repute are Chantrey, the two "VVestmacotts, Wyatt, Thomas, Watson, Lough, Macdowell, Bailey, Marshall, Weekes, Thorny croft, Bell, Woolner, and Foley. No sculptures worthy of the name were produced in the United States previous to the time of Greenough (1805-'52), but within the past half century the art has been followed with various degrees of success by a considerable number of Americans. The most promising of these was Thomas Craw- ford^ whose equestrian monument to Wash- ington in Richmond, Va., possesses more than ordinary merit. Powers, for many years a resident of Florence, acquired a reputation by his "Greek Slave;" and Story, Randolph Rogers, and Ward are contemporary sculptors of ability. Besides these may be mentioned Palmer, Brown, Ball, Clevenger, Akers, Bar- tholomew, Harriet Hosmer, Hart, Rinehart, and Launt Thompson. John Rogers is noted as a successful designer of statuette groups. The sculptured remains of Central and South America, like those of eastern Asia and India, are chiefly of value to the archaeologist, and do not illustrate the progress of the art. They are distinguished by vastness of scale and a certain grotesque fancy, and in some instances by a beauty and symmetry of form remarkable in a semi-civilized people. The most compre- hensive work on the history of sculpture is Schnaase's Geschichte der bildenden JTunate (7 vols., Dftsseldorf, 1843-'64 ; 2d ed. by Lut- zow and Friederichs, 1866-'75), still unfinished. See also Vasari, " Lives of the most eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects" (English translation by Mrs. Jonathan Foster, 5 vols. 8vo, London, 1850-'53); Flaxman, "Lectures on Sculpture," with 52 plates (London, 1829) ; SCUPPAUG 723 Lubke, Getchichte der Plattik, with 231 wood- cuts (Leipsic, 18G3 ; 2d ed., 1870; English translation by Mrs. Bunnett, 2 vols., London, 1872); Westmacott, "Handbook of Sculp- ture" (Edinburgh, 1864); Perkins, "Tuscan Sculptors" (2 vols., London, 1864); Tucker- man, " Book of the Artists " (New York, 1867); and Viardot, Merteilles de la sculpture (Paris, 1872). SCIIPPAIJG, a spiny-rayed fish of the family sparidce and genus pagrus (Cuv.); it is also called scup and porgy in some localities. In this family the gill covers are shining and scaly, and unarmed ; the palate without teeth and the jaws not protractile ; the spinous rays of the dorsal and anal fins bare, and received when depressed in grooves at their base ; pec- torals and ventrals sharp-pointed ; branchios- tegal rays six ; the scales large and thin, broad- er than long, the centre of growth being near the posterior border. In pagrus the molars are rounded and in two rows, and the front teeth conical with a villiform card-like band behind them. There are more than a dozen species in Scuppaug or Porgy (Pagrus argyrops). the Mediterranean and Red seas, and the East Indian and S. Pacific archipelagos. The com- mon species on the American coast (P. argy- rops, Cuv.) attains a length of 8 to 12 in. ; when first taken from the water it is pink- ish or flesh-colored above and silvery below; about the eyes reddish ; a narrow green ridge at the base of the dorsal, and one just back of the eyes ; iris mostly silvery ; dorsal red- dish, with the anterior rays silvery ; the body is much compressed toward the back, which is high ; the lips large and loose ; caudal deeply forked; there is a large purple scale at the beginning of the lateral line. The food con- sists of cuttle fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and sea weeds. It is found from Massachusetts to South Carolina, and is largely used as food in a fresh state. The P. vulgaru (Cuv.) of the Mediterranean is about the same size, silvery, with reddish tinges or bars on the back; its flesh is highly esteemed ; it was known as the phagros by Aristotle, and was placed in the old genus sparus (Linn.) until separated by Cuvier ; it is not found in northern waters.