The human figure in its most perfectly known form was early made the model from which artists sculptured stone and moulded figures. Even some of the crude attempts of native races have evidently been intended to represent human beings with whom they associated or races they held in fear, but they were not always successful. Bronze statues cast in moulds were known in Egypt, and throughout later periods most of the civilized races have employed methods by which they have been able with more or less accuracy to reproduce in other substances of a more lasting character the perishable flesh and blood of the human race. In a similar way the personified deities have been perpetuated in bronze and many of them are simply idolized humanity. Sometimes these statues have been very large, far beyond what is generally known as life-size. It must be remembered, however, that many of these colossal statues when raised to a great height are by no means out of proportion to the buildings on which they were placed, and assumed a normal size when viewed from below. It is said that one of the most striking colossal figures was that of Minerva, crowning the summit of the Acropolis. The largest statue seems to be that of Nero, which rose 150 ft. In more modern times statues have been brought down to normal size. Visitors to Rome, however, recognise what a wonderful achievement it must have been to place that immense statue of St. Peter in position. The artists of old were indeed clever, and not only have they justly been accorded fame for the size and beautiful proportions of their statues, but many of the ancient bronzes have gained their greatest notoriety from the great beauty with which the sculptors must have idealized their models. Many of the antiques are almost perfect in form, and we are forced to wonder what kind of men and women their models were. Classic Models. The classic bronzes were almost invariably conceptions drawn from imagination, but the beautiful forms of the athletes and Greek maidens helped the artist in his estimate of the deities he personified. In those bronzes we see the magic touch of the master hand, and perhaps of the belief in the mystic attributes so cleverly designed. Thus we have figures of Hercules, Mars, Venus, and many others, which can be copied, and now and then by some stroke of good luck a genuine antique is added to the collector's museum. Statues in Public Places. [Illustration: FIG. 62.--BRONZE LION, BY BARYE.]