Two images of Chastity by Joseph Durham (1814-1877), the one at left from the 1865 Art-Journal and that at right from the 1864 Illustrated London news.. Click on image to enlarge it

Commentary from the Art-Journal

If. . . sculpture has such difficulties to contend against in the representation of narrative or history, where groups of figures are necessary, how much greater is the task where the sculptor has to symbolize a single idea, as it were? and that idea, moreover, one of a character, or quality, so closely allied with another similar to it, that the shades of difference are scarcely to be distinguished. Take, for example, the moral attributes of Purity, of which we gave a sculptured representation a few months ago, and of Chastity, as offered to us in Mr. Durham's work; again, Modesty and Simplicity may be classed in the same category;—all may be associated, but all do not convey exactly the same idea. Chastity is of a far higher quality than the others; it is a power self-sustained by the force and majesty of its own wisdom, and sense of duty to God and man: it is it Oman's own true attribute. Purity, aud her sisters, Modesty and Simplicity, are only other names for Innocence, and are as applicable to childhood as to those of riper years.

Of all the Arts, that of sculpture is the one possessing the least extensive means as concerns the representation of actions—the least various in that of personages. Devoid of the resources of colours and their effects, and limited to a very small number of figures in statuary, and of aspects in basso-relievo, this art would express fewer things than any other, did it not compensate by the intrinsic worth of its images for what they want in diversity, and attain in them, by a collected and condensed significance, what they cannot acquire in number, extent, and narrative qualities. Hence, therefore, this art en- deavours to collect together, under a small number of signs, a very large mass of ideas, and to produce the most forcible impression by the fewest means. . . . . The secret of this art consists in expressing so much the more, the less it speaks." — Quatremère de Quincy on “The Nature, End, and Means of Imitation in the Fine arts,” If, as we understand the foregoing remarks, sculpture has such difficulties to contend against in the representation of narrative or history, where groups of figures are necessary, how much greater is the task where the sculptor has to symbolize a single idea, as it were? and that idea, moreover, one of a character, or quality, so closely allied with another similar to it, that the shades of difference are scarcely to be distinguished. Take, for example, the moral attributes of Purity, of which we gave a sculptured representation a few months ago, and of Chastity, as offered to us in Mr. Durham's work; again, Modesty and Simplicity may be classed in the same category;—all may be associated, but all do not convey exactly the same idea. Chastity is of a far higher quality than the others; it is a power self-sustained by the force and majesty of its own wisdom, and sense of duty to God and man: it is it Oman's own true attribute. Purity, aud her sisters, Modesty and Simplicity, are only other names for Innocence, and are as applicable to childhood as to those of riper years. Milton has,we think, intimated such a distinction in the following exquisitely beautiful passage in "Comus"—

"So dear to Heaven is saintly Chastity,
That when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lacquey her,
Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,
And in clear dream and welcome vision,
Tell her of tilings that no gross ear can hear;
Till oft converse with heavenly visitants
Begin to cast and teem on til' outward shape
The unpolluted temple of the mind.
And turn it by degrees to the soul's essence,
Till all be made immortal."

And Dryden also, when, speaking of the influences of this virtue, he says,—

Not the mountain ice
Congeal'd to crystal, is so frosty chaste
As thy victorious soul, which conquers man,
And man's proud tyrant, passion."

Mr. Durham's statue, or rather statuette, for the figure is considerably below life-size, was suggested by another passage than that already quoted from the dramatic poem of " Comus,"—

"Thou unblemished form of Chastity!
I see thee visibly, and now believe
That He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but the slavish officers of vengeance,
"Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,
To keep my life and honour unassailed."

It is only rendering justice to the sculptor, when we acknowledge that the head in our engraving does not adequately express the personal beauty and moral dignity of the original. The artist [preparing for the engraving] who made the drawing was unwell at the time, and his usually skilful hand and correct eye had lost somewhat of their cunning; but enough of the mind which created the figure is seen, to show that it is a work highly poetical in conception, and in harmony with the subject sought to be realized. The attitude is unaffected yet majestic, the drapery graceful in its flow and simple in arrangement. A larger amplitude and more fanciful display might, probably, have exhibited to greater advantage the mechanical skill of the sculptor; yet he has shown discretion aud taste in avoiding what would have proved an error in the treatment of such a theme. The sceptre of lilies in the hands of Chastity is emblematical of her pure nature.

Bibliography

Art Journal (1860): 116. Hathi Trust Digital Library version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 10 April 2014.

“Chastity.” Illustrated London News (4 August 1860): 98-99. Internet Archive. Web. 21 November 2015.


Created 10 October 2011

Last modified 21 November 2015