Public Taste

The Editor of the Boston Chromclö sharply criticases the works of art purchased and exhibited by eur nation at the capítol. After relerríng lo ihesrafae of Washington, which had been protecied (rom tho storm ly building a board shantee over it, ho says: ':But, as ïf to cast still deeper ridicule upon the hut built over the statuO of Washington, we have nov?, since the last session of Congress, had set up in tho open air, in front of the copiiol, a group of staftmry, done in tho whitest marble, and no body has ever thought of furnishing them wilh a slianty, to screen them f rom the power of the eïémènts. The group consisls of a malo figure, representing Columbus, after he had landed on tho Ameiican continent, standing elothed ii good stiif doublet and hose, and holding up a globe in his hand, as higii as ho can reach, with the look of countenanco which snys - "Therc, I told you it was round!" - and by hissido, a feniale figarer dasigned (br'an Indisn gir?. standing with spread hands and a stupid air of astcündiing inquiry, as if she was saying, "Do teil?" Now, this female figure wholly naked, with the single exceplion that, a litlfe below the iiips, thero is drawn around her limbs, what looks íike a thiclcineiï 9heet iust all in a twist, as it was vrung out of the wash-tub. and tied beween ihem in a tremendous greai knot, ind then the ends hang down as if frozen stiifenough to support lier in a hall sitting posture. Í wil! not encounier the ques.ion aboutthe morality of setting up nudo statu es, where the beauty of thsir execution has been urged'as of itself a covering. But this batch is utterly vokl of that taste in design or skiJl ín execution, which in any cose would redeem it front the censure oftlie moralist. There is no sentiment conveyed by it. It adds nothing to the Col'unabus. It is evi-Jently adapted and mader tö gratiiy a pruriÊTit disposition in the artist of his emjloyersr to see how far public sentiment will submit to be Outraged, under the pretext of cultivating the public taste ín works of art. To complete the summa ry of ' incongruities, this female form of dazzling vl)!eness isleftoutin the cold and in ihe storm, all naked and bare, while tiie tasto and humanity of Congress have built ahouse of bonrds over tliebrawny limbsof the stafüe of Júpiter with Washington head. to proiect him from tho war of tho elements."