In his official guide to the Fine Art Section of 1862 the editor, F. T. Palgrave—of “Golden Treasury” fame—refers to sculpture as “the forlorn hope of modern art,” and proceeds to answer the question “whence this deathly decline?” The exhibition contained examples of all that was best in English sculpture to that time. “The Falling Titan,” by Banks, now in the Diploma Gallery; the “Thetis and Achilles” relief, now in the Tate Gallery; Nollekens’ “Cupid and Psyche” Joseph’s ”Wilberforce” (Westminster Abbey), and works by Flaxman, Westmacott, Chantrey, Wyatt, Watson and Park represented the earlier masters. Sculptures by Armstead, Baily, Foley, Gibson, MacDowell, Marshall, Woolner and the younger Westmacott witnessed to the achievements of the living. Yet Palgrave could only grieve over the decline in natural taste and the entire absence of that healthy severity and earnestness of spirit in which sculpture flourishes. “Serious as the subject claims to be,” says Palgrave, “I confess it is difficult to think of Nollekens’ ‘Venus,’ Canova’s ‘Venus,’ Thorvaldsen’s ‘Venus,’ Gibson’s ‘Venus,’ everybody’s ‘Venus’ with due decorum. One fancies one healthy, modern laugh would clear the air of these idle images—one agrees with the honest old woman in the play who preferred a roast duck to all the birds in the heathen mythology.” In the “Albert Memorial” erected in Kensington Gardens, London, “by the Queen and people of a grateful country,” we have a concrete example of what was in Palgrave’s mind when he wrote. Prince Consort was himself a man of real artistic perception. By his magnificent work in connection with the 1851 Exhibition he had done an immense amount to raise the standard of taste in England. Funds were not wanting. £50,000 was subscribed by the nation and at least another £60,000 was raised by public subscription. The Eleanor Cross was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and all the leading sculptors were invited to co-operate. If the mid-Victorians had had it in them to produce a noble work, surely we should have seen the result in the “Albert Memorial.” An examination only confirms the general impression which every Londoner has about the monument. The “Asia” by Foley, for instance; the “Africa” by Theed; the “Agriculture” by the elder Thornycroft—in none of these can we see any clear evidence that the sculptors had yet rid themselves of the conventions which had been hampering them for at least fifty years. THE RISE OF NATURALISM