LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor of THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE.
DEAR SIR,
In your July number, Mr. Cecil Smith states that the head of a girl, from Chios, recently exhibited in the Burlington Fine Arts club, is rubbed down ruinously over the entire surface. A microscopic examination of the piece in various lights will convince him, or anyone open to conviction, that his statement is plainly contrary to fact. Seldom is seen a marble with greater freshness of surface. ¶ That the original modelling is evanescent—or, as he may care to call it, ‘rubbed down’—is obvious, even to me; but the whole effect, good or bad, depends on that evanescence, which is found repeatedly in works which aim at Praxitelean effects. ¶ Mr. Smith having given you his estimate of the head as a work of art, allow me to quote the judgement of another man, Auguste Rodin, almost equally eminent. When questioned by an interviewer concerning his impressions of London during his recent visit, he is reported to have answered: ‘This time I have been most fortunate, for I have seen at the Burlington Fine Arts club an antique head of great beauty. It is life itself. It embodies all that is beautiful, life itself, beauty itself. It is admirable! Those parted lips! I am not a man of letters, hence I am unable to describe this truly great work of art. I feel, but I cannot find the words to express what I feel. It is a Venus. I cannot tell you how interesting that Venus is to me. It is a flower, a perfect gem. Perfect to such a degree that it is “aussi déroutante que la nature elle-même!” It defies description.’ ¶ The interviewer thought M. Rodin was speaking of the Petworth Aphrodite, but a few inquiries will enable Mr. Smith to find out the truth of the matter, if it is worth his while. ¶ Thus it appears that about a model in partly-melted loaf-sugar there may be as diverse opinions as concerning the tone of a cracked bell.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
JOHN MARSHALL.
July 28, 1903.