Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-01-10

One day during the latter part of my stay
in Florence | went the second time 10 the
splendid studio of Mr. Powers He talked
very eloquently upon art. lie said that
some of the classic statues had become IA
nous, and de-eryedly SO, although they were
sometimes false in proportion and disposed
in attitudes quite impossible to nature. lie
/ illustrated this by fine plaster cast Of the
| Venus Of Milo before which he WIS stands
ing He showed that the spinal cord in the
neck would never. from the position of the
| head, have ioined that u the body. and tha;
] there was 4 radical fault in the termination
Of the spinal column. A. he proceeded he
convinced me that he was correct and In
defense of this. my most cherished idol after
the Apollo Belvidere, | only asked the
conoclast whether these defects might not
have been intentional. in order 10 make the
statue appear more natural when looked at
in it, elevated position from below. | sub
seQuently repeated Mr. P0wers's criticism of
the Venus of Milo in the studio of another
Of our distinguished sculptors. and he treat
ed it with great leyity. especially when |
told him my authority. There Is a spirit of
rivalry among sculptors which does not al
ways manifest itself in the courteous and
well-bred manner which distinguishes the
medical faculty, for instance, in their deal
ings with each other. This courtesy /, well
illustrated By an anecdote | have recently
heard. 4 gentleman fell down in fit, and
a physician entering saw man kneeling
over the patient and grasping him firmly by
the throat; whereupon the physician ex-
claimed, " Why sir, You are stopping the
circulation in the jugular vein ,' &c Sir,
replied the other. d" | am a doctor of meii-
cine To which the first VI. d. remarked,
All beg your pardon, and stood hy
very composedly until the patient was com
fortably dead.
W hile Mr.. Powers was cunyer~lng with
me about the Venus of Milo. there entered
two English women dressed very richly in
brocades and yelvets They seemed very
anxious to see everything in the studio,
talked in loud tones Of the various objects Of
art, passed us, and occupied themselves for
some time before the statue called Caliior-
MIA | heard one of them say, '' wonder
if there's anybody ere that talks Hinglish2'
and in the same breath She called ont to Mr..
Powers. " Come ere =" lie was at work
that day, and wore his studio costume.
was somewhat surprised 10 see him imme-
datelv obey the rude command. and the fol-
lowing conversation occurred
'' Do You speak Hinglish2'
'' Nes. ma am"
" What i this statue?''
'' Ii j, called California. madam
" What has she got in 'er and ?''
a." Thorns. madam. in the hand held be-
hind the back in the other she presents
the quartz containing the tempting metal.
OH"
We next entered a room where there was
another work of the sculptor in process of
4 formation. Mr. Powers and myself were
/ engaged in an animated and. to me, very
/ agreeable conversation. which was constant
/ ly interrupted by these ill-bred women. who
| kept all the time mistaking the plaster for
! the marble, and asked the artist the most
/ pestering questions on the BodltS opcrondi of
Sculpturing ! was astonished at the mar
! yelouS temper of Mr.. Powers. who politely
and patiently answered all their queries BY
some lucky chance these women got out Of
the way during our slow progress back to the
outer rooms, and | enjoyed Mr.. Powers 5
| conversation uninterrupted. He showed me
the beautiful baby hand in marble, a copy Of
his daughters hand when an infant. and had
Just returned it to its shrine when the two
women re-appeared and we all proceeded
| together. In an outer room there were Sey-
eral admirable bust>, upon which these wo-
men passed comment freely. One of these
busts was that Of a lady, and they attacked
! itspitefully.
- What an ugly face '- What mean
expression about the mouth &c Isn't it
orribe?"
Whose Is it?" asked one of them, ad-
/ dressing Mr.. Powers.
- That is portrait of my wife, said the
artist modestly
- Your wife - repeated ono of the wo-
men, and then, nothing ahashed. added.
'' Who are you?''
" My name Is Powers, madam he an
swered very politely. This discovery eyi-
IDENTIFY disconnected the impotence even of
the visitors. and they Immediately left the
studio.-from "reminiscences Of Florence,
by Marie Horland, in January number Of
LppincoH's Magazine.