The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1869-02-11
THE TWO PLASTER CASTS.

LII L w " 4 hhO l. LII OhD Id
Years before the accession of Queen
Victoria, and yet not so remote a
date as to be utterly beyond the pc
riod to which the "reminiscences of
our middlc-aged readers extend, it
happened that two English gentle-
men sat at the table on a summers
evening, after dinner, quietly sip.
ping their wine and engaged in a
desultory conversation. They were
both men known to fame. One of
them was sculptor whose statues
adorn the palaces of priuces, and
whose chiseled busts were the pride
OF half tho nobility of his nation; the
other was no less renowned as ar
anatoms st and surgeon. The age of
the anatomist might have been guess
ed at fifty, but the guess would have
erred on the side Of youth by at least
ten years. That of the sculptor
could scarce be more than five and
thirty. A bust Of the anatomist, so
admirably executed as to present, al.
though in stone, the perfect simili-
tude of life and flesh, stood upon a
pedestal opposite to the table at
which sat the pair, and at once ex.
ploined at least one connecting link
Of companionship between them
The anatomist was exhibiting for the
criticism Of his friend rare gem
which he had just drawn from his
cabinet. 1t was cruci6x magnifi.
Gently carved in ivory, and incased
10 a setting Of pure gold.
"The carving, my dear SIR" OBJ.
served Mr.. Fiddyes, the sculptor, sis
indeed, as you say, exquisite. The
muscles are admirably made out, the
flesh modelled, wonderfully so for the
size and material; and yet-by.tbe-
by, on this point you must know
more than 1.-The more l think upon
the matter, the more [ regard the ar.
tistic conception as utterly false and
wrong"
"You speak in a riddle" replied
Dir. Carnall; "but pray go on and ex-
plain"
at is fancy I first had in my stu
dent days" replied Fiddyos. "Con-
ventoDulity, not to say a most prop
er and becoming reverence, prevents
people by no means ignorant from
considering the point, But once
think upon it, and you at least, Of
all men, must at once perceive how
utterly impossible it would be for a
victim nailed upon cross by hands
and feet, to preserve the position ina
variably displayed in figures Of the
Caucifxion. Those who so portray
it fail in what should be their most
awful and agoniziDg effect. Thilk
for one moment, and imagine, if you
can, what should be the attitude of a
man, living or dead, under this
frightful torture"
"You startle me-" returned the
great surguon, "not only by the truth
of your remarks, but by their OBJ
viousness. 1t is strange indeed that
such a matter should have so long
been overlooked. The more | think
upon it the more thebare ideal of act
ual crucifixion seems to horrify me
though heaven knows | am accus.
toned enough to scenes of suffering
How would you represent such ter
rible agony2'
"Indeed l cannot tell, " replied the
SCULPTOR "to guess would be almost
in vain, The fearful strain upon the
muscles, their utter helplesness and
inactivity, the frightful swellings, the
effect of weight upon the racked and
tortured sinews, appal me too much
even for speculation"
But this" replied the surgeon
Gone might think a matter of i'm
portance, not only to art, but, higher
still, to religion itself.
"Maybe so, returned the sculptor
"Bnt perhaps the appeal to the sen,
ses through true representation
might be too horrible for either the
one or the other"
"Still," persisted the surgeon, 81
should like-say' for curiosity
though am weak enough to believe
even in my own motives as a higher
one-to ascertain the effect from act,
ual observation"
$50 should l, could it be done
and of course without pain to the OBJ,
ject, which, as a condition, seems tc
present ut the outset an imposslbili-
ty."
"Perhaps not" mused the anato-
mist; 81 think L have a notion
Stay-we may contriye this matter
will tell you my plan, and 1t will be
strange indeed if we two cannot man
age to carry it out"
The discourse here, owing to the
rapt attention of both speakers, as
sumed low aud earnest tone, but
had perhaps better be narrated by a
relation Of the events to which il
gave rise. Suffice il to say that the
sovereign was more than once men- =
toned during its progress, aud IN a
manner which plainly told that the
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