FILL - 114S TICE PAISLEY SCULTT . 011.. i triE name Of Yames Fillanals

familiar te us as 'that. of of some note in the annual exhibitions, but we do not retain any immediate recollection of particular works. . To the general pub- lic, as distinguished from the Scottish Public to whom be is one ofs - the VW Scottish :sculptors,.--and- the -public -of certain- pliceiTtio" whom he was a' local- celebrity, best known as the tirtigt the bust of Profestor-Wilsozi placed-in the 'Coffeeroom. at-Pais a--bust of; which our 'Own fairotrable but indefinite ini4esSiok confirmed ow anthority-to us conclusive. Atabbg his i(eal wntke wO.hava aiMilar-grounds for thinking well of the "Madonna. had' Child;".2although.-the engraving in the present volunie hard" rittifieii the .verdiiit.- • ' - • • •, • lei Haab *air born at Wilsonstown, Lanarkihire, in 1808, of. dee___I cent: but: hinnblii palrentiige f77itiiti died 'hi flePteniber 1832, • in' YE' , fertr-liftk year.- Spite' of iidverse eiretiniatances, a nattiral tdivarde Sculpture' soonAe*eloped itself in the youth, ebalii sueneteively to weaving-Mid Stone-mitionry ; and, conqueritig stacks, impelled him,- without studying under any master.; to'ado

the art as a profession. From -this point, his Consists sini

• of the record Of a fairly successful -artistic career; commissions pOrtrait statues'ancl- busts, the inaigniatiort of sonic Of 'them,Anttit or two public dinners,' andthaprodnetion Of' a few- subjeetS'of ' VeritiOn. Besides Working in marble; he toyed With ' oif-p • •' and.threw off Verses- 'occageinally; but neither- in a publii; anti,the latter; to-judge :by-the- sPeOiMens selected, peculiar. vocation. He kept up an establishment in London withia aShott timeof lift -decease but his patrons and his • palm. were Chiefly', aa'froniithe firiti in Paisley; Glitskow;'nni. nhtive distriet.:-: His severest-professional diii0oiritbeht. sienit b$:! have-been that' the t1-1.asgeti, ennimisidon4ii-lin equestrian sta of■the Queen Was tenfErred upon a foreign artist, Ifireeh _ without his being invitetV-tri compete:' • The fact affords-a ready them for animadversions On the neglect *of .4‘ native but, in- -trtith, artistic Claims IA an individnal can be less parti-• mount because he is a fereigner,' and -w4en so paramount, **- pretext for a competition--always open . to Objection on some grounds—vanishes. . The Glasgow men wanted . the -best statue : they caUld get,- and they took an unexceptionable method- of soh* taming it by commissioning--the best- man. That between liforoj' ehetti and linens- Marochetti was the better -man, none but •IlitL - narkshire natives,' Ayrshire patrons, and memoir-compilers, Will

doubt. ' • . .

Yamea Fillans :was evidently .an :honourable, :persevering, and affectionate man -with a.gif4 devoted: to his fatally and his .art, toatt- deserving that his memory should be cherished beyond his immedf- ate circle, aoite sense, th'etetore; there was room for 'aineratiii.: but the extremely uneventful- course of his life should have pointed out a treatment different from that which has been adopted. A few • facts and dates were all • that. could be necessary. in that- lint'; and what teritained to be clone was a' review of his verb ivorks, and a critical estimate of his powers as amen and an with' personal traits;:if vallable for the Prirpose; ' Instead 'Of Mt: Patersen gives' °streets frtrinneWslitiper-zietices,"rdmest' al valueless as art critiCiim, and peculiarly so when a local titifeef in 4nestion ; newspaper reports of how the chairman a pull dinner funibledthrough a toast to 1411.1ans, plied ; and, for the either'i'own part, merely such higliflatia 4°' plinients as bear no:proportion . to the subject. His iniagitlatftW? absolutely revelled tn-' creative power; his command' of the ideidul• seemed to be unlimited." This is sheer nonsense both in forth ant substance ; there is not a tittle Of evidence that the sculptor did 7 possess a creative :genius. When be tried an ideal treatment of' the. Birth of urns, lie soared to higher than slick jej irrele-.-: vancies'aS the 'Fates and thnlfrises, and eventhe particular ; with a detached from "Tam o'T$Iitititern","lte back"-round. An atterat at ima-ginative writing is no. better.- "lowarda -the East -one lonely star appeared. It Wasibeevening SteIrt.";" tho harbinger of- teat and3peace,14'-niati ; • that, heavenly diamond foe trh6Vil the tall tree, and flower, and grassy blade,- adorn:themselves with peailyd! ,dew in honoin.■31 her virgla-bemitY.' • • • . . I ,0 Here again is what Fillane, a pilgrim of art, saw on his &girl' viSit to the. Louvre—the whole of What he saw—as described WI'.

. • letter to his wife. -

"In the Louvre, which is the national gallery, I counted about 1177 lid-. paintings, from tbree inches to ten, twenty,' thirtY, forth. fifty, aud 613511.0,, sixty feet in length. The gallery Which contains the pictures is about 20114i, feet lung. There are nearly "I50 copying the pictures for studyl,:r. bratult, Titian, David, 4.c. .Therni are plenty of animals—many The 'principal are from Ilaphael, Michael, AngeW,, linbens, Corieggio, •-•; larger sbast-.

life. There is a Aoty Ritually pm I wilftell yon.about the reek of the .",_

tines %then I return; may inform you that the original picture is here •,

from which the old engraving is taken that Sandy Steele gave me when we , were at Tranent. It-is about nine feet in length." • .

We may add, that a considerable' part of the book consists of ' letters to Mrs. Pillans, possessing, in general, neither matter nor manner worthy. of publication, and doing very little towards bear- ing Out the chain for 7. animation and wit,". which Mr. Paterson 'prefers for the sculptor.' Indeed, we doubt whether it would have . ' been possible to give many of such traits as would other- • . 'wise have formed legitimatematerial for the memoir. The most characteristic One placed on record' that be "lied made a tOW''' that he would never drink tea as long as he lived, as the, Chinese war had ruined one of his earliest patrons who was .an- extensive 'tea-merchant : and he kept the vow till his decease." - • • ltemoir of the late lames Pinata's; Sculptor, W.S:A., ic. lames Patereoh. Editor of Kay's Bdiaburgh Portraits," &co, Author of "Tlts CanteMPernrisa 01'

Burns," Ike. Published by Bobcat Stewart, Paisky. ,.1

• 1

The real merit of Fillans seems to have been developed in his pettrait-works' which are said to be admirable likenesses, and finely modelled. In his subjects, or at least in the best of them, such as the Blind teaching the Blind to read, the Taming of the Wild Horse, and the Virgin and Child, there is a certain simplicity and directness, evidences of a sensible mind, which applies itself honestly to the work in hand. All honour to Fillans, the self- taught artist, for what he did accomplish; but not for what he did not. In trying that which required invention, he failed, if Mr. Paterson will allow us to say so. The volume closes with a series of designs entitled " Liber Nevus," alike trivial in their origin and deficient in fancy. It appears that an album had been left with Fillans for a contribution, which, owing to more important engagements, he failed to supply ; until, on being reminded of his promise after a lengthened interval, he allegorized the vast event in this series of seventeen plates : and these are only the tail of the " ridiculus ma "—there would have been some forty or fifty had the -work been completed. Here he himself figures as Diego, from whom Mercury, the God of Art, steals the book ; Diana warns the virgin sisters its owners, of the loss ; Diego visits the gloomy Lake Avernus ; the Pleiades restore the volume ; Discord carries off Love from Diego's wife ; and so on. A. poem of three cantos or upwards to tell the precious story was projected. This is the common fault of uninventive minds, especially if self-educated,— who imagine that the old clothes of classic or fairy mythology, huddled on any subject anyhow, raise it into poetry. Clothes alone, if new, will make a dummy—if old, a scarecrow; they be- come costume only when there is a man to wear them.

We cannot congratulate Mr. Paterson on the execution of his task, however well disposed to allow for its being a labour of love. Besides the wrong point of view and the mistaken treatment, the style is objectionable. The book opens with details about St. Fil- lan, a worthy of the seventh century, and the exploits of the ship in which Fillansts father served; both so much paper wasted for the purposes of the memoir. That linens when a boy made figures in snow, may possibly be worth mentioning, but does not demand this flowery strain-

" Weiriay aver that he barely knew what statuary was when he began to fashion fornie, in the snow. It was with this wintry element that he- first attempted to inodeL , The snow-ball: rolled by the village youths, showed him that it might' be wrought into other shapes than a sphere. Thus, when summer to Ringer invited to the choral bank and his rabbit-houses, he plucked, as it were, the robe from winter, and made it subservient to pur- poses of intellectual amusement."

A visit to the theatre is expressed with equal grandeur-

" Amongst others who visited the temple of Thespis upon one occasion, WU the youthful aspirant after artistic fame."

Mere-valuable than the letterpress for giving one an idea of what linens really was, are the illustrative plates after his works, engraved on stone, and interesting as being drawn for the book chiefly by the daughter of the sculptor. Most of them are from finished productions in marble. .Among those of an occasional or humorous east, one of the best represents the Louvre artists huddling round the stove on a bleak day, and Fillans, faithful to his easel, stamping his frozen feet as he paints.