Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/320

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290 British Sculpture. Philosophic Institute at Bristol, in which he showed considerable poetic feeling. In his public monuments and architectural sculptures Bailey was not so success- ful. We may instance his Nelson on the column in Trafalgar Square and the pediments of Buckingham Palace as proofs. John Gibson (1791 — 1866), an English sculptor of great genius, who spent the greater part of his life at Rome, is famous for his introduction of colour in statuary — his tinted Venus, which was shown in London at the Exhibi- tion of 1862, having excited a warm controversy on the subject of the introduction of colour into sculpture. Gibson studied for three years with Canova, but in many respects he surpassed his master, rising to an ideal purity and grace unexcelled by any other modern master. His first work of importance was a Nymph unfastening her sandal, followed by a group of Psyche borne by the Zephyr, Aurora rising from the Waves, the Wounded Amazon, the Hunter and his Dog, all full of severe and dignified beauty. Of his portrait-statues, those of Huskisson, Peel, George Stephen- son, and Queen Victoria are the best. On his death, Gibson bequeathed a fine collection of his sculptures and models to the British nation : they are now in a suite of galleries in Burlington House, Richard James Wyatt (1795 — 1850) was an industrious sculptor who worked principally at Rome, where he died. His Penelope, at Windsor Castle, executed for the Queen when he was on a visit to England, and his Nymph taking a Thorn from the Foot of her Hound, also in the possession of Her Majesty, are among his finest works. Sir Richard Westmacott (1799 — 1856) was a sculptor of great eminence who studied under Canova at about the