FINE ARTS.

THE WELLINGTON MILITARY MEMORIAL.

A MONUMENT to commemorate the public services of any great man— hero or statesman, philosopher or philanthropist—is a matter of universal interest and concern. Whether it be raised by a vote of public money or by the stibseriptions of private individuals, it is equally a tribute of national gratitude in honour of distinguished talents exerted in the country's service. The fame of the individual and the credit of the nation alike demand that the trophy erected should be worthy of both; and the interests of the arts require that the best artist should be em. ployed, and that the proof of his being the fittest should be established by the result of it free and fair competition. That it should be necessary to state these truisms, as the basis of an argument to show that a contrary course is derogatory to a great occa- Bien and discreditable to the parties concerned, implies a lamentably low state of public taste and feeling in such matters. Prolific as the fine arts have been in jobs, that thrive luxuriantly in the stagnant atmo- sphere of apathy and under the dark shadow of ignorance, one of more rank and rapid growth—more monstrous in aspect and offensive in odour—never sprung from the hotbed of hole-and-coreer-corruption, than this toadstool reared under the festering care of the Duke of RUTLAND and his Sir FREDLRICK TRENCH—the Wvatt- Wellington Statue job, lately brought to light. A full repair of the meeting of the 9th June, when the resolution to employ Mr. Wvarr was curried, appeared in the mottling papers of Monday ; and, though avowedly put forward to correct "error" and "misrepresentation," it substantially confirms the correctness of the statement made by the Tines correspondent, and to which we gave further currency last week. Here is the circular summoning the Com- mittee.

" 45, Upper llarley Street, June 5, 183. "WEL!.INOTON 5:ILTTARV am directed by the Chai.inan to request year attendance at my house, No 45. Upper t larley Street, on Satuntiy, the Sth .tune, lit one o'clock precisely, to receive his Grace's report or the ret,olt sit' iris communi. anon o nth her ItIljest y upon the subject of the triumphal arch, and ' h. mmsider ulterior proceedings,' (Sigucil) " W5I. LEAlie, Hen. Secretary."

Would any one infer that the phrase "ulterior proceedings" was meant to include so important a matter as the choice of a sculptor ? It affronts common sense to pretend that the ostensible object of the meeting was any thing more than the formal one of hearing the result of the Duke of RUTLAND'S negotiation for the triumphal arch at Hyde Park Curlier as u pedestal fur' the statue, and of taking the necessary steps towards carrying tl:e object into effect, by making the result known. The vague phrase "ulterior proceedings " may have

been artfully introduced to cover the cheat ; but to the terms them- selves, no such virtue can be, by any rule of legitimate intrepretation, allowed.

At this very meeting, the Duke of RUTLAND himself stated, that his answer to the Queen's inquiry, " if the artist who was to ender-

take the work bad been named ?" was, that " the subject bad not yet been considered by the Committee." The trick is obvious : the Wvarr clique stole a march on those of the Committee who were not in the

secret of the plot. But will a resolution thus smuggled through at a packed, and, so far as that resolution was concerned, a secret meeting, composed of but a third of the whole number of the Committee, be suffered to stand? It is not binding on the rest of the Members : it would be set aside, on the ground of deceptio», in any court of equity. The voice of the whole body of subscribers should confirm

the act of the Committee, in a point of such magnitude : their ap- proval of the choice of a sculptor, can only be ascertained by a public meeting; which in the present state of the matter is imperatively called for.

We are only surprised that the two or three dissentients did not pro- test against so manifest a juggle : but beyond expunging the term " unanimous," which the Reverend Dr. Citory characteristically stickled for in passing the resolution, nothing was done. Earls ABER- DEEN Mid BROWNLOW put iu a good word for Sir RICHARD WESTMA..

eorr ; but no one breathed a sentence about a public competition.

Lord FitaNets EnEuroN's taste gave stay to his friendly feelings, we presume; and as for the renegade Radical ranter, Sir JOHN Hop- i-101'SE, he did not dare open his mouth to oppose his Tory aristocratic patrons. Mr. WYATT found a fitting proposer and advocate in Lord LONDONDERRY; who teas so rash as to instance the trumpery Ceno- taph at Windsor as the " great work " of the sculptor, summing tip its praises by a loose laudation of Baron D'Haessilz, the ex-minister of Cliam.Es the Tenth. In subjects of taste, a wide latitude is allowed for individual liking : but there are things so glaring as to admit of no difference of opinion among persons possessed of any power of rational discernment ; and this piece of theatrical trickery, with coloured light falling on the marble, is one. If TAGLIONI were to remain on the stage while a bundle of clothes representing the spirit of the Sylpbide was lifted up to the higher regions, even the spectators of a ballet would roar with laughter at the absurdity : yet this jejune conceit—tit only for a wax- work exhibition—is embodied in the Cenotaph, by shapeless figures swathed in drapery to conceal limbs and faces that the sculptor was incapable of modelling: the whole is as meagre and wretched in execution as it is puerile and ridiculous in conception. And this is the chef-d'oeuvre of the renowned Marrumw WYATT.

The Duke of RUTLAND and Sir FREI/ERICK TRENCH take upon themselves the onus of the pigtail on the statue in Pall 3101; and the Duke very justly says, " we are not to consider whether the pigtail is a good costume, but whether it is a good pigtail.... We quite agree with his Grace—that is the position we take : it is not because George the Third wears an ugly coat and a pigtail, and holds a cocked-hat and feather in his hand, that we condemn the statue ; but because these articles of dress are badly represented, and there is no form underneath the coat and breeches. A uniform coat buttoned over the squab of an

ottoman would look as shapely. As for tine face, it is that of a Negro --Billy Waters, without his fiddle, mounted above the crossing he

once swept. The tie-wig and pigtail would make a capital sign for a barber's shop, and the cocked. hat and feather would become a hatter's door : if, by a like process to that which gradually converts iron coal- scuttles left in a copper-mine into copper, a cocked-hat and pigtail could undergo transmutation into brolize, they might match those which deck the effigy of George the Third in Pall Mall. It is precisely because Mr. WYATT models on this principle, that his work is bad :

for the art of sculpture, as we have before shown, consists not merely in imitating the actual form of things, but in representing the picturesyue effiet of the real object by means of marble or metal. Now Air. WYATT has not imitated in bronze the appearance of a feather, but made a feather of bronze: following out that principle, ire should have bound up a bunch of wire to represent a horse's tail, instead of bestowing on it the similitude of a dub. One of the truest hits at this ridiculous statue, is the following impromptu on first seeing it, which appeared in the Times-

nmst own it appears but a poor sort of thing. Alt horsetail and pig-tail, anti nothing of king."

But enough of Mr. Wyarr and his two tails.

That this sculptor is incompetent to make a good statue, is proved by his works : that he has got the job for the Wellington Memorial by a margeuvre on the part of his friends, with nut the knowledge and against the consent of the majority of the Committee, is also evident. It fol- lows therefore, that the resolution should be rescinded : and this being done, a public competition ought to be had. There can be no question that Cita:mu-A and WESTMACOTT are fully competent to execute the task ; but they are not the only eminent sculptors, if they are the most popular. Between them and WYATT there is an immense space, filled by many men of talent ; some of whom, perchance, only lack the op- portunity to distance the foremost. The question is not between WYATT and CHANTREY or WESTMACOTT, but between WYATT and the whole body of sculptors. CIIANTREY is unrivalled as a bust-maker: as a designer be is perhaps inferior to WESTMACOTT, and certainly to BAII.Y.' CHANTItEY has no invention : he cannot model a group. His famous work, the two sleeping children on the monument in Lich- field Cathedral, it is well known, was designed by STOTHARD, and modelled by one of his pupils named LEVEE (we believe.) His figures are nearly all alike; they do not rise above a common- place propriety ; but his style of modelling is broad and massive almost to grandeur, and his likenesses are characteristic in feature and Baur is now finishing a colossal statue of Earl Grey, which for vigorous marking of character, a firm station, easy, natural attitude, and a bold and large style of modelling, is equal to any one of CH A NMET'S. What its effect will be when placed on the column at Newcastle, remains to be seen : we judge that its leading features will show to advantage from the height of 140 feet. The costume is that of the Order of the Garter ; too flimsy, perhaps, to tell from a distance, though the robe furnishes a good mass of drapery. It is carved out of Portland stone, and will be waxed over so as to resist the action of the weather.

expression, and are remarkable for a refined and graceful simplicity. WesrstAcorr's figures are heavy and weak ; his style is turgid—it lacks the point and finished elegance of CHANTREY : his figures do not tell so well at a distance ; nor does he seize and convey the resemblance so forcibly; but be can group better. In portrait statuary, CHANTREY is hitherto preeminent ; but a competition would bring forward a host of talent, little known, some of which would perhaps eclipse even him We have one young sculptor of rising genius in view, particularly, who combines talent in likeness-taking with extraordinary skill and daring in modelling the figure.

Considering how little public employment there is for sculptors, and how limited are private commissions, the most ought to be made of an occasion like the present, to supply an incentive to the whole pro- fession by an unlimited public competition. Selecting the three or four best from the small designs or sketches, the artists should be commissioned to model them the size of life, or of colossal propor. lions, for a remunerative sum, and the best model be chosen : compe. tent and unbiassed judges, and publicity before decision, being of course provided for.