Arlington High School - Indian Yearbook (Arlington, MA)

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V . Ci O Cs - I ' ARLINGTON HIGH room is the group of four singing cherul)S. Tliey are seated with their little legs crossed, two singing from a book, one Ideating time, and the other playing on a mandolin. One can almost hear the sweet strains of the music, unless the hoarse voice of the little bell behind haj)- pens to disturb these pleasant thoughts. Turning to room ‘‘3” we find that the decoration consists in two luists and two panel ])ieces. t )ne of the busts is St. John as a child. The original is in the I’inacoteca, a museum in h ' loience. ' I ' liis bust ,.,N ' es an idea of a very frail child, but there is a great deal of sweetness and purit - hi the innocent young face. Ilut St. lohn ' s coni])anion, the bust ot a voung girl, is not so iileasing. It is by Donatello and is wrought with great skill and delicacy, but the e.xpression is insi])id. However, this does not detract from the skill of the artist, as it was the aim of Italian artists in Donatello ' s time to represent life an ' d not unnatural per- fection. ’ ' I ' he two iianels at the back of the room are by Donatello also. They belong to a set of twelve panels madie for the sing- ing gallerv over the altar in the same cathedral where Della Rolibia ' s reliefs decorated the organ gallery. “Luca Del- la Robbia ' s haAC more grace ant,! ele- gance of composition, but Donatello ' s are charming studies of joyous child- hood. ( )ne panel represents two winged cherubs singing from a book, and the other a gracefully draped ligure, wreathed with flowers, ])laying on a i)i])e. In the north corner of room “1 is a bust of CVesar, and in the east corner of room “A one of Cicero. Ciesar ' s face shows him a soldier and a scholar, a man of determination and will. He is rej)resented in the prime of life and has a fearless but refined expres- sion on his face. The original of this bust is sculptured in Greek marble. Rut the other bust is a marked con- SCIIOOL CLARION. trast to the ambitious Chesar, and it is not uncommon to hear the exclamation, Poor Cicero. ' He does look as if he needed a great deal of sympatliy. The mouth has an anxious and care-worn ex- pression, and the eyes are uplifted as if he were in great distress. Still, under- neath all this, there is much strength and character in the face of this famous orator, and his expression is intellectual and distinguished. Although this bust of Cicero is not so pleasing as some which depict him in the early part of his career, still it shows the great strain that he must have endured, and does not fail to call forth admiration for the man. The busts of Cicero and Chesar are now in the Capitoline museum at Rome, and they are very good examples of the Roman ])ortrait scul])ture. While portrait sculp- ture was not unknown to the Greeks, it w. ' is ])racticed very little by them ; but the Romans made a great art of it. During the life of a great Roman, a statue of his body was made, but the head was not added until after his death. •At tire back of room 1, on the right, is a bust of the Hermes of Praxiteles. In the original statue Hermes, under Jupiter ' s direction, is carrying the infant Racchus to the nymphs for ])rotection from “cruel |uno ' s unrelenting ' wrath. ' ’ Tills beautiful statue was unearthed at ( )lyni])ia, in 1877, bv some German ex- cavators. When it was first found both legs were shattered from the knees down- ward and the right arm w’as missing, but the face and the rest of the body were unharmed, d he Germans have restored the legs rather iioorlv, but we shall never know the. iiosition of the right arm. The superb head has all the beauty and dig- nit - of a Greek g ' od, but still there is a certain expression of tenderness which at once gains the admiration of the be- holder. Indeed, it is so life-like that the expression of the face seems to change as one looks at it. While Hermes has all the serenity of the Apollo Relvedere,

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AKUNCTON IIK;II SCHOOI. CLARION. sending in their suljscriptions at once. Resides the subscriptions, the paper is su])ported, in a large measure, Ipv the ad- vertisements. ( )ur advertisers have al- ways been most generous in their sup- ])ort and we wish to assure them that we are most apjmeciative of their faithful and long-continued interest in our school paper. F ()R the last few months we have been having a rich repast of for- eign and domestic affairs ; we are still watching anxiously the unsettled state of things in the Transvaal. China and the Philippines, and England’s great loss has aroused world-wide sympathies. ictoria was a wonderful queen ; she was a good queen and wrought her country lasting good. As we turn our eyes to King Edward VI I, we wonder what sort of a king he will make. As a son of . uch an admiral)le woman, we can only hope that he will be proven to possess some of her sterling qualities. T he term commencing after the Christmas vacation has been un- usually hard and long. But in spite of la grippe a la mode, big hooks” and small hours,” the term has not been totally without its charms and the April vacation is almost here. How fine it would be if, when the April vacation comes, we could onlv have as much in our minds as we have had on them for the last three months. W HAT havetheboys of the hockey team been doing in the mean- while ? In watching them play their game, as we see them brandish their sticks, whirl, rush, turn and slide in even- direction, we -wonder if that little rubber has made them mad. There seems to have been method in their madness, how- ever. We are all very proud of their suc- cess, and althoug-h they have gained laurels for their own heads, it seems al- most as if we too wore them, as we tell our friends about our” hockey team andi the cu]) we” have won. ADORNING OUR ROOHS. In the last number of the Clarion” there was an article on the new pictures in the school-building, li-i this number we shall describe the works of sculpture, which were added last summer. As we have stated before, rooms A” and “i” are decorated with Greek and Roman works of art and rooms “2” and 3” with Italian. At the front of room ”2” are two ])anels in high relief by Luca Della Rob- bia. These together with four others originally formed the organ loft in a cathedral in Florence. One of these ])anels shows six l)oys playing on trumpets and four children dancing, and the other represents five boys playing on drums and four children dancing. These ]neces express a g ' reat deal of life and action, and the children certainly look as if they were enjoying themselves. Even if these are not to be enjoyed by every- body, no one can say that they lack spirit or skill in execution. In the sanie room on the west wall are the chubby heads of two children called the Bambini. These are also by Luca Della Robbia. The originals were made in glazed terra cotta about five hundred years ago and were placed at intervals, to foim a sort of frieze around the outside of the children’s hospital at Florence, where they still remain. They are in the form of oval slabs. The back- grounds are Irlue ; and the little white figures, partly draped, stand out, making a very pretty condiination of color. Perhaps the most popular work in the

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4 ARUXGl ' ON llKill SCHOOL CLARION. there is a certain masculine appearance in tlie Hermes which the .Apollo lacks. It seems remarkable that a sculptor, in his statue, can e.xp ress all the strength and manliness of a youth, and at the same time depict liis suliject, holding a little child as tenderly as a woman. Praxiteles has done all this. The original Hermes of Pra.xiteles is still at Olympia in a small museum made especially for it. ■ d ' he ’enus of Alelos is at the hack of room “i” between ' the windows. The original was found on the island of Alelos by a peasant of that place. It was bought by the Marquis de Riviere in 1820, carried to Paris in 1821, and pre- sented by de Riviere to Louis X ' HI, who placed it in the Louvre, where it still remains. It is larger than life size, and this is very e.xceptional in Greek statuary. It is the most famous and most beautiful female statue in e.xistence. The chief beauty lies in the simplicity and e.xquisite refinement. Tlie beautiful head, with the hair coiled loosely at the back, is tipped slightly to the left. A’enus has nothing of coquetry about lier, but a ma- jestic purity and sweetness perfectly adapted to the “Goddess of Love and Beauty.” Do we wonder that Paris gave her the golden apple? The weight of her body is resting on her right foot and the left foot, which was missing when the statue was found; was originally placed a little in advance of the right. This po- FRANK R. DANIELS ' 606 Mass. Avenue. AGENT FOK A. G. SPAULDING ' S Sporting Goods. League Base Balls, Bats, Etc. Examine the ROCHESTER BICYCLES, $30 and $40. NOT MADE BY THE TRUST. Without doubt one of the best wheels in the market. sition raises the right hip a little above the left and gives a grace and ease to the curves of the body which is unexcelled in art. The arms, which are both miss- ing, have never been satisfactorily re- stored, and there has been a great deal of controversy about their position. One sup])osition is that they held a bright shield which the goddess was using as a mirror ; another, that she w ' as resting her hands on the shoulders of her lover, .Mars ; and still a third, that this ’s the statue of a madonna and that originally she held a child in her arms. .Although none of these theories can be satisfac- to’ ily proved, there is one restoration that seems more probable than the rest. When the statue w ' as found at Alelos, a left hand holding an ajtple was found, not far from it. It seems reasonable that enus should l)e holding an apple, and as the hand is made of the same material as the statue it is very likely that they Itelong together. These are the new works of sculpture which adorn our school-building. It is very interesting to notice the difference in .stvle between the Greek and the Italian. While the Greek sculpture w ' as composite and aimed at perfection, the Italian showed more emotion and was more true to nature. But the repose of a Greek statue ever fills the beholder with awe and admiration ThEKESK X(tKTON, 02. C. W . GROSSMITH, M. L. H? LEAVITT. Registered Pharmacist. Cor. Mystic Street and Mass. Ave., ARLINGTON. Prescriptions put up at lowest prices. I. i :. R( Hi rsc)x ct (X)., .. Dry Goods and Small Cdares .. ( E’E ' u I-; ni. ic. AIass.