Sometimes, too, she certainly brought to
beautiful objects a fresh and appreciating love; and her written
notes, especially on sculpture, I found always original and
interesting. Here are some notes on the Athenaeum Gallery of Sculpture,
in August, 1840, which she sent me in manuscript:--
'Here are many objects worth study. There is Thorwaldsen's
Byron. This is the truly beautiful, the ideal Byron. This head
is quite free from the got-up, caricatured air of disdain,
which disfigures most likenesses of him, as it did himself
in real life; yet sultry, stern, all-craving, all-commanding.
Even the heavy style of the hair, too closely curled for
grace, is favorable to the expression of concentrated life.
While looking at this head, you learn to account for the grand
failure in the scheme of his existence. The line of the cheek
and chin are here, as usual, of unrivalled beauty.
'The bust of Napoleon is here also, and will naturally be
named, in connection with that of Byron, since the one in
letters, the other in arms, represented more fully than any
other the tendency of their time; more than any other gave it
a chance for reaction.
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