te the domains of the
different arts are being perpetually called in question. By what
landmarks such indefinite frontiers may be distinguished, and how far
they may be extended or transgressed, will always be a matter of
dispute. Excursions of conquest are continually being made, and
conspicuous among these, one which animates the hopes of many sculptors
and modelers. Its aim is the appropriation of those charms which are the
peculiar property of the graphic arts, more especially their power of
expressing the effects of distance by means of linear and aerial
perspective.

The background of a piece of carving is so obviously solid and
impenetrable that any attempt to imitate an appearance of distance is
sure to defeat its own ends, the loss being greater than the gain. If
there are limits to be observed in the foreshortening of a single leaf,
how much more must they apply to the representation of whole landscapes?
Properly speaking, there is no _distance_ available in the carver's art;
its whole interest lies near the surface, and in the direct rays of the
light which illuminates it. There is even a distinct pleasure to be
derived from the sense that it is all carved out of a block of such and
such thickness, pointing to the reasonable conclusion that this
thickness should never be lost sight of, the carving ever and anon
returning to the surface as a measure of music does to its key-note.
This is exemplified in all the great works of antiquity, among which the
Parthenon frieze may be quoted as evidence. On the other hand, all
pictorial sculpture, such as carved landscapes with figures diminishing
both in scale and projection, necessarily fail to uphold this sense of
solidity, as there must occur large spaces which are hollowed out far
below the surface to give another plane on which to carve the more
distant objects in low relief, in the vain hope of making them appear to
recede. Work in which perspective of this kind is used must be viewed
as nearly as possible from the point of vision produced by its
vanishing-lines; this point is intelligible enough in the case of a
painting, but when it comes to be carved into relief, if it happens to
be seen from any other point of view, it necessarily looks all wrong,
because every part is thrown into false relationship.

All this, of course, forms no argument against the use of explanatory
landscapes with trees, buildings, etc. It only means that all such
features must be trea