Joseph Durham's “Paul and Virginia”

Paul and Virginia

Joseph Durham (1814-1877)

1864

Source: 1865 Art-Journal

“There is a class both of pictorial and of sculptured works which commend themselves only to the few; there is another class that interests the multitude as well as the few, because from its nature all can understand it: to this, in sculpture, belongs Mr. Durham's group of 'Paul and Virginia;' it is the parting scene, which may be told in a few brief words, and they are necessary to comprehend the sculptor's intention. Paul had been excluded from the house of Virginia's mother, Madame de la Tour, for several days; he knew not the reason, though he had certain misgivings from a few words accidentally let fall by the priest; . . . No one can look at these two figures without at once comprehending their meaning, though the association with the characters of the charming little tale may not be so immediately recognisable: and hence the appeal they directly make to the com- monest understanding..” [full commentary below]

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Commentary by the Art-Journal

The limits within which sculpture of every kind, and especially of ideal works, is from its very nature necessarily restricted, must often render the choice of a fitting subject no easy task to the modern artist, desirous of avoiding the long catalogue of heathen divinities and fabulous heroes and heroines of antiquity. The graces, moreover, and the moral virtues have been so frequently personified in polished marble, that all hope of finding any novelty in such matters has long since passed away. One has only to glance at the sculpture-room in the Academy each year it is opened, to see the narrow range to which the art is confined; more because artists are unwilling to travel out of the beaten path, than that a wider field is not legitimately placed before them. As with painting so also with sculpture, though in a much modified degree, the pages of literature—of the historian, the novelist, and the poet—offer an ample supply to whomsoever will take the trouble to search for what is required. Beauty and symmetry of form and character are as well understood now as they were two thousand years ago; the province of the sculptor is to represent these qualities under the various aspects associated with the subject he selects.

All minds cannot comprehend the true and the beautiful in Art, for all are not equally favoured with the light of knowledge; but the cases are rare, indeed, where Art affords no enjoyment. There is a class both of pictorial and of sculptured works which commend themselves only to the few; there is another class that interests the multitude as well as the few, because from its nature all can understand it: to this, in sculpture, belongs Mr. Durham's group of 'Paul and Virginia;' it is the parting scene, which may be told in a few brief words, and they are necessary to comprehend the sculptor's intention. Paul had been excluded from the house of Virginia's mother, Madame de la Tour, for several days; he knew not the reason, though he had certain misgivings from a few words accidentally let fall by the priest; and when, on the last evening he and the young girl ever met,—he saw her once again, but that was when she lay a lifeless corpse upon the wreck,—her new dress, as he said, confirmed his thoughts that she was about to leave him. The interview that evening was a long one: Virginia had been enjoined by her mother not to let Paul know of her intended departure; his importunity, however, was so great, that at last, turning her head aside, she said, with tears—" My confessor tells me it is God's will that I should go—for your sake, Paul, as well as mine." Paul, still holding her in his arms, replied, "But can you go, and leave me here? Why, I could die for you; we have had one cradle only, and one home; eat and prayed together; been nurtured upon the same kind knees; oh ! where will you ever find another brother like me?"

No one can look at these two figures without at once comprehending their meaning, though the association with the characters of the charming little tale may not be so immediately recognisable: and hence the appeal they directly make to the commonest understanding. But as a work of Art, the merits of the group lie in the simple, earnest expression of the youthful pair; an expression as evident in their attitudes as in their faces. The meek, but not quite willing, resignation of the one, and the remonstrances of the other, are unequivocally pronounced: the scene is felt to be one of parting. A subject of this class more poetically yet naturally rendered we have rarely seen. It is graceful, too, in design, and perfect in the modelling of the human figure.

Whatever exception may be taken to sculptured works of this class by those who can see nothing worthy of admiration which is not derived from the antique, they are yet of a kind that is most popular among us. The naturalistic school, under whatever type it is exhibited, is certain to find favour where the ideal makes no impression, unless it is closely allied with the former.

This group was exhibited at the Royal Academy last year: it attracted, as it well deserved to do, marked attention from the visitors of the sculpture- room. [348]

Bibliography

“.” Art Journal (1860): 238. Hathi Trust Digital Library version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 10 April 2014.

Last modified 10 April 2014