These extracts refer to the Washington Monument question. Mr. Marsh is among the most learned and accomplished of those in any country who have given the subject of architecture and monumental art attention.
Very truly yours,
GEO. F. EDMUNDS.
Gen. T. L. Casey,
Corps of Engineers.
[Extracts.]
Rome, February 9, 1879.
Dear Mr. Edmunds: By a letter from the sculptor Mead to Mrs. Marsh, I understand that the main feature of the Washington Monument is to be an obelisk of great height, surmounted by a colossal statue, and with bas-reliefs at a suitable height from the base. I believe I have not only seen but sketched every existing genuine—that is, Egyptian—obelisk, for no other can fairly said to be genuine. The obelisk is not an arbitrary structure which every one is free to erect with such form and proportions as suit his taste and convenience, but its objects, form, and proportions were fixed by the usage of thousands of years; they satisfy every cultivated eye, and I hold it an esthetical crime to depart from them.
In its objects the obelisk is monumental, its inscriptions having reference to and indicating what or whom it commemorates. I do of think bas-reliefs too great a departure from the primitive character the inscriptions, because we can come no nearer an alphabet answering the purpose.