The Marble Faun, vol 1, Nathaniel Hawthorne [top 100 books to read txt] 📗

an with the accuracy of a sculptor's eye. "There is onepoint, however, or, rather, two points, in respect to which our friendDonatello's abundant curls will not permit us to say whether the likenessis carried into minute detail."

And the sculptor directed the attention of the party to the ears of thebeautiful statue which they were contemplating.

But we must do more than merely refer to this exquisite work of art; itmust be described, however inadequate may be the effort to express itsmagic peculiarity in words.

The Faun is the marble image of a young man, leaning his right arm on thetrunk or stump of a tree; one hand hangs carelessly by his side; in theother he holds the fragment of a pipe, or some such sylvan instrument ofmusic. His only garment--a lion's skin, with the claws upon hisshoulder--falls halfway down his back, leaving the limbs and entire frontof the figure nude. The form, thus displayed, is marvellously graceful,but has a fuller and more rounded outline, more flesh, and