Copenhagen

T H E SIGHTS OF COPENHAGEN.

and found rest in a Christian view of life, no such firm spiri­ tual basis is discernible in the productions of this section of the new school; they are distinguished by unrest, aspiration, craving. The artists insist on w hat is real and tangible; in place of the g randeu r, peace, and spiritual vision of their p re ­ decessors, they m ust have life, passion, and motion. It is at this po in t that Scandinavian art most nearly ap ­ proaches French. Its aspirations are the sam e,and many northern sculptors have, like their fellows from other countries, stu ­

died in the F rench schools. Yet in spite of certain points of resemblance, the dif­ ference between the two arts is very m a r­ ked. O ne is struck by the evidence of a m ore th o ro u g h u n ­ derstand ing of an a­ tom y of the French sculpture, by the

freer, m ore ch arm ing attitudes of its figures. The spirit of the northern artists is distinctly manly; that of the French has som ething softer abou t it; they take special pleasure in p o r­ traying wom en. Yet their pathos has a certain m ilitary tone, a rem iniscence as it were of the “Marseillaise". Looking at C h apu ’s beautiful statue of “Jeanne d 'A rc “, the kneeling pea­ sant girl gazing forw ards and upw ards in confidence and hope, one feels, in spite of the stillness which the figure ex­ presses, that she is g o in g to cry: “Aux armes, citoyens!" Am ong the m ost im po rtan t statues in the French section must be m en tioned P. Dubois’ “Eve" and his “Florentine Singer". T here are m any o ther characteristic works by this artist, and Delaplanche, Falquiere, Gautherin, Barrices, Chapu, Mercie, and G erom e are also represented. (5)

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