Inauguration of the peace trophy and the scutari monument at the crystal palace May 17 1856 The Illustrated London News Page 524
the object of the monument was to commemorate the character of the British soldiers, their toils, their endurance, their sufferings, and their heroic deeds. To execute such a work the first sculptor of the day should have been selected. The gentleman actually chosen was Signor Marochetti, an artist of considerable talent, peculiarly famed for massive equestrian statues; in other branches respectable, but not like Mr. Gibson, and some others, holding a first place in art. As an architect, Signor Marochetti was not known to fame; but, indeed, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find one person equally skilled in architecture and sculpture, as in the days of Michael Angelo, yet it would have required the skill of both those arts to produce a proper monument in the style of that which had been produced. There was nothing very remarkable about the Scutari monument; we had many in this country of the same description. It was very defective in its proportions, inasmuch as the pedestal was as high as the superstructure, whereas the base of Cleopatra's Needle was only 494 one-third the height of the pillar itself. Many obelisks in England were superior to Signor Marochetti's Scutari monument, in point of taste, beauty, and design. One point about it was very remarkable—the lour unfortunate weeping angels could not possibly stand; or if they did, they must he standing either upon their wings, which extend considerably below their feet, or in a flying position. The observation had been made with regard to the statue in the Parthenon—that if it had attempted to stand its head would have gone through the roof. Marochetti was in a similar state with regard to his four weeping angels. The sculptors of this country did not wish to disparage the talent and genius of Signor Marochetti, whom they all highly respected, but they complained that a system of favouritism had been adopted, and that equal justice had not been done to the sculptors and architects
Size: 5025px × 3363px
Photo credit: © Alan King engraving / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -fashioned, 000, 14, 1800, 1851., 19th, 2d, 990, academic, age, ancient, antique, antiquity, book, building, bw, bygone, cast-iron, century, classical, copy, crystal, display, drawing, duplicate, educational, empire, england, engrave, engraved, engraver, engraving, erected, etching, examples, exhibition, exhibitors, expression, feet, figure, formal, front, frontispiece, gathered, glass, graphic, great, hand, heritage, historic, historical, history, house, hyde, illustration, image, imperial, late, latest, legend, legendary, lifelike, london, majestic, majesty, margin, master, monotone, national, nineteenth, notable, obscure, observe, obsolete, original, originally, palace, paper, park, period, pictorial, picture, portrait, pre, press, previous, print, printed, printing, prior, proof, publication, publicity, queen, rare, real, realism, realistic, reference, replica, represent, representation, repro, reproduce, reproduction, retro, review, romantic, social, space, square, standard, steel, studio, style, subject, teach, time, title, tool, topic, topical, tract, true, unusual, version, victoria, victorian, visual, world
