Architecture And Archæology.

which , however , may be divided into two general styles of execution . One was the painting or staining them more or less to imitate reality , for the higher classes of which work it was , I conceive , that ivory was used , as in the great gods of the temples . The second was the obtaining of variety of colour by difference of material . The former of these treatments can onlI conceivefind its excuseif excuse it may

y , , , be called , in the idolatry of the time . The second partakes of the character of mosaic work , and is perhaps less objectionable in principle , but as au art it is assuredly more curious than beautiful , as may be remarked of several late experiments in this direction by our neighbours the French . While , however , it may be readily acknowledged that Greek artistscoerced bpolytheism and superstitiondid

occasio-, y , nally colour some of their most prized works , yet on the other hand , with respect to the highest class of their independent marble statues , it is equally evident that they were left untouched in this respect , as we have seen was the case with that most cherished work of them all , " The Venus of Onidus . " I would thus submit that Greek art-craft made beautiful

statues—uncoloured— -as works of art and left them so—and that it was Greek priestcraft that made them coloured—as idols—ancl as engines of state religion . This is a broad distinction ; as such , I venture to submit it to you as a clue to what I readily acknowledge to have been the varied character of old Greek practice in this respect . We will not proceed to later times . Here the reflection

obtrudes itself on us that even now we meet occasionally with coloured statues which savour of superstition , and I would avoid this phase of the subject , and as regards modern times , restrict myself solely to the art-craft of the question . In the Renaissance , or revival of the arts in Europe , we hear nothing of colouring marble statues . In the time of

the learned Leonardo da Vinci , Michel Angelo , Eaffaclle , John of Bologna , and others great in art , ive find no instance of marble statues having been coloured . Michel Angelo , who was so remarkable for the union in his one person of ail the arts , being at the same time an admirable architect , painter , sculptor , and decorator , never attempted to colour his marble statues . It is true that colouring was afterwards

applied to the statues and relievi , even of considerable size , by Luca clella JRobbia ancl others ; but these works were not in marble , but in porcelain , and more subordinate than any fine work of sculpture can ever be , however harmonious with the situation in which it is placed . The marble Moses , for the tomb of Julius , and the wonderful groups of the Medici monuments , have come down to us in their native

monochrome , untouched by change of tint , except such as time has supplied . Michel Angelo , that representative in one of all the arts of his time , did not mingle in one obj eet the two arts , nor does it appear that iu the more important works of the Cinque Cento that marble statues were ever coloured ; nor , great as was the attention given to the works of ancient sculpture that at this period were , from time to time , discovered among the ruins of Italian towns , especially iu that of ancient Borne , does it appear that these great

masters ever contemplated thc idea that such works were ever coloured . It appears , therefore , improbable that any remains of colour were found in the Apollo , the Venus , tho Laocoon , or other celebrated works when first exhumed , nor does any colour seem to have been found on the statues in Herculaneum and Pompeii , although the colours on the walls of the apartments in which they were discovered were

still fresh and vivid . Thus , neither in Ancient nor Modern Italy does there appear any proof of the prevalence at anytime of tho colouring of independent marble statues , any more than in Greece . Having thus set forth my view as to the practice of the ancient Greeks in this respect , namely , that they did not colour their statues except for purposes of idolatry , for

which reason ive find this treatment only connected with their templo architecture , and that not always , we naturally come to the consideration as to whether we should now colour our statues . At any rate , in these isles we aro not idolaters . Our church is not one of idolatry , and therefore we have not , as I have said before , that excuse , such as it is , for colouring statues that the pagans had . Quitting , however , for a moment this vantage ground , let us consider the matter merely as an art question .

Architecture And Archæology.

Let us first consider , is the addition of colouring to statues to be looked upon as an advance in art , or a retrogression ? The polychromist will hold it to be the former , while the monochromist in sculpture will represent that it is rather a confusion of those arts which good taste has gradually separated , in the progress of civilization , into distinct languages of human expressionThe polychromist

. will claim honour for uniting the charms of colour ivith those of form , as the evidence of advance aud improvement , while the monochromist will point with a significant finger to the earliest efforts of art ivhen the arts of form ttnd colour , each barely sufficient in itself to even suggest an animal , a man , or a god , wore obliged to club their means to produce anything like a clear result .

We are not ivithout illustrations of this even now , in outmost inferior speciments of pottery sold about the country to cottagers by the " Cheap Johns , " in crude little images of children , dogs , and parrots , & c , of which the form is so incomplete that the intention could hardly be recognised but for tho aid of colour .

In prnnaBval times , the first thing that men attempted in artivas probably in the way of hero worship , in . the making of images of their ancestors , or of great tyrants , as a sorb of guardian to their houses , and to be prayed to and propitiated in the chace or war . The more living these could be made to look by the artist ' s baud , ancl the more ferocious the more effective , no doubt , was deemed their mystic power , and heuce from thoso beginnings arose that evil feature that has played so large and lamentable a part in the history of man—the idol .

This form of superstition we have , I trust , thrown off for ever except in a region in which I have no doubt we shall all allow there is no objection to it—in the nursery—where it appears with but little change of name , that of the doll . Doll is only an abbreviation of idol . It is an infantine abbreviation . It is tho way a little child ivould strive to say idol . In the original Greek the work is EiSaXov ,- in the

Latin Idolum ; in the English , idol ; and in the nursery , doll . You may recognise readily that these little images are to all effects and purposes , coloured statues . Also , we may say that in tho nursery they aro to a great degree worshipped , especially when they are new . A new doll is to a certain degree a divinity for tho time being . However , these kinds of idols are no longer "ferocious . " On the contrary ,. they

are produced as pretty as wax and carmine and silken tresses can make them . Thoy even open and shut then- eyes , which is an advance even beyond thc crnseo-elephantine statues of the ancients . At least , I have no recollection of any record of winking divinities in those days , We can have no objection to tho harmless and interesting idolatry of the nursery towards these little images . There is nothing that breaks

any commandment in that . I would here remark that these little figures possess one great advantage over any coloured marble statues that I have seen , viz ., in having eyelashes . The want of these natural and beautiful fringes to the eye

in such coloured marble statues as I have seen is very unpleasing . Of course , in a pure marble statue you do not feel this , but when coloured the want is sadly apparent , and I do not see how it can be got over . There are some evidences of bronze eyelashes having been added in some of the ancient works , but the effect of these could not be very happy , one would think . The children ' s fayourites are more

fortunate in this respect . Pray do not conceive that I introduce the nursery statuettes in any way for the purpose of throwing ridicule upon the subject of coloured statues , but only as an illustration of the sole phase of the " coloured statue " which I conceive to be at the present time legitimate as a matter of art or regard . However , I must not let this happier phase of the idol

draw me away from our view of tho original type , or from the broad consideration I desire to illustrate , namely , that barbarians and idolaters have been and are more or less polychromists as regards the art of sculpture . They have all coloured , and while they remain barbarians and idolaters will continue to colour their statues . I conceive , therefore , that in these civilised days , the

colouring of statues is not an advance , but a palpable retrogression towards earlier times or less intelligence , ancl of a lower dispensation , aud , moreover , as far as art is concerned , that a decadence ivould at once ensue on a general adoption