THE STATUE OF CAPTAIN COOK.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1202, 10 January 1878, Page 3

THE STATUE OF CAPTAIN COOK.

[From the " Pall Mall Gazette," October 23.] The statue of Captain Cook, which Mr Woolner has so long been engaged upon for the Government of New South Wales, will be sent to the founders in a few days, and we hear that it is not to be shown to the public in this country. The size of this statue is remarkable ; it measures 13ft. 6in. from the feet to the crown of the head, and nearly 2ft. more to the end of the uplifted arm. Thus, when placed on the pedestal already provided for its reception in Hyde Park, Sydney, the total height above the ground will not be less than 37ft. The situation in Sydney is most happily chosen, and is so elevated that vessels when they have entered the Heads of Port Jackson, will be able to see the statue in the distance as they work their way up to Sydney. In dealing with a figure of such enormous proportions a great difficulty might appear to be the natural impvession that the man thus represented was himself an unwieldy giant. Hugeness does not necessarily involve ungainlineßs or clumsiness ; but with a statue considerably more than twice the size of life, the line which divides grandeur from heavi ness is a very narrow one, and the slightest original error, being multiplied several times, would mar what might otherwise be a noble conception. This difficulty Mr Woolner has very successfully overcome. Though the lines are necessarily very strongly marked, there is no exaggeration in them. In looking at the statue the impression of extraordinary size quickly fades, and the whole figure is thoroughly grasped at once. The attitude is easy, yet imposing. The great navigator has come on deck bare headed, and has just made out the new continent, showing dimly in the early morning sun. He is thus rcpsreented in the moment of a discovery which entitles Cook to rank immediately below Columbus in the list of discoverers. As he is here represented, there is nothing theatrical or strained in the expression of his joy ; what is revealed is rather a thoughtful foreseeing happiness, softening the severity of features which Mr Woolner has perhaps made rather too severe. The drapery is most carefully worked, and the oldfashioned garb, with its laced coat, largepocketed waistcoast, tight knee-breeches, and large-buckled shoes, seems to have lost its grotesqueness in the way it is here managed, and to be better suited than any other to the occasion, though the inevitable queue scarcely suits one' idea of a becoming finish to the neck.