The Bacchante of Frederick MacMonnies is in bronze in the Metropolitan
Museum and in bronze replica in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. There is
probably no work that more rejoices the hearts of the young art students
in either city. The youthful creature illustrates a most joyous leap into
the air. She is high on one foot with the other knee lifted. She holds a
bunch of grapes full-arm's length. Her baby, clutched in the other hand,
is reaching up with greedy mouth toward the fruit. The bacchante body is
glistening in the light. This is joy-in-bronze as the Sun Vow is
power-in-bronze. This special story could not be told in another medium.
I have seen in Paris a marble copy of this Bacchante. It is as though it
were done in soap. On the other hand, many of the renaissance Italian
sculptors have given us children in marble in low relief, dancing like
lilies in the wind. They could not be put into bronze.
The plot of the Action Photoplay is literally or metaphorically a chase
down the road or a hurdle-race. It might be well to consider how typical
figures for such have been put into carved material. There are two bronze
statues that have their replicas in all museums. They are generally one
on either side of the main hall, towering above the second-story
balustrade. First, the statue of Gattamelata, a Venetian general, by
Donatello. The original is in Padua. Then there is the figure of
Bartolommeo Colleoni. The original is in Venice. It is by Verrocchio and
Leopardi. These equestrians radiate authority. There is more action in
them than in any cowboy hordes I have ever beheld zipping across the
screen. Look upon them and ponder long, prospective author-producer. Even
in a simple chase-picture, the speed must not destroy the chance to enjoy
the modelling. If you would give us mounted legions, destined to conquer,
let any one section of the film, if it is stopped and studied, be
grounded in the same bronze conception. The Assyrian commanders in
Griffith's Judith would, without great embarrassment, stand this test.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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