The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-02-06
STORY, THE SCULPTOR.

wv.
STORY, THE SCULPTOR.
Bis Charming Roman Homo, Bis Poems,
| Hin Statues and His Genius-A Life of
| Noble Labor Deliberately Preferred to
| Ignoble Ease.
Here and there, redeeming an age of
melancholy, monotony and unlovely
T; haste, there is to be found human life
| reyiving in the nineteenth century the
i fairer traditions and the richer and
warmer faiths of an earlier time. Es-
Gaping from the bondage of conventional
custom, and strong enough to stand alone,
such life arises like beacon of light
from the formless mass of triviality and
money-grubbing which constitutes the
joys Of the modern world, and is never to
be entirely dragged down to the level of
the commonplace, nor altogether tarn-
ished by the atmosphere of a corrupt
society. Such life will bear the fierce
light that beats upon throne, and glow
the purer for it; it will bear even the
harsh scrutiny of common and envious
observance, and still keep its greatness
and proportion, because it is what it is
by the power of its own genius and ma
ture, and not from any accidental circum-
stance or extraneous influence. Such a
life, it may be said without fattery and
in all simple truth, is that of William
Story, the American sculptor, in his
Roman home.
In the palace of the "barbarous Bar
berini"- under the same roof that shell
tiers the Cenci and the Fornarina por-
traits, within the sound Of the fountain
and within the sight of sunrise and sun
set-the home of this true artist is made
in a country more congenial and natural
to him than that which gave him birth.
When he first arrived in Italy Mr.. Story
was wont to say that he felt like the
Irishnlan who "had had the misfortune
to be born out of his native land" To
man fed on classical lore and with an
instructive passion for all the arts, life as
it is understood sin the United States
could offer but little sympathy or salts
faction. The Storys are an old New
England family of high standing and
eminence. Waldo Island was given them
in the early days of colonization as
Crown gift from the King of England,
and they were men always of high place
and character. His forefathers and his
father-a Judge of the Supreme Court,
the highest legal Office that an American
can fill-were famous for their forensic
talent, and were great lawyers. William
Story was intended by his family to be
great lawyer also. But, although he
studied for the bar, and. even for some
time followed it as career and wrote
some able legal works, to him nothing in
life seemed worth living for but art. A
bronchial affection alarmed his parents
and procured him liberty to follow the
desire of his heart and go to Italy; here
at last he seemed to breathe his native
air, and here he has since continued to
live life beautiful, noble and useful be-
yond that of most men.
Worthier of the Barberini Palace than
is its prince, (who has torn down its
magnificent tapestries, leaving them to
moth and damp in lumber rooms, be-
cause he prefers French wall papers,)
Mr.. Story has home as characteristic
and as artistic as the heart of any great
artist could desire. The grand old house
is in one of the finest positions, high
above all suspicion of malaria, command
ing view from Monte Mario to the Villa
Pamfll Doria, all the city lying between.
You enter by iron gates into court mu-
sical with the sound of graceful and
lofty column of water that plays in the
garden, proceed up the grand and stately
staircase, one of whose ornaments is the
famous Greek lion brought from Pales-
trina, past lines of old statues, gray walls,
solemn and majestic arches, and so up
ward, leaving Cardinal di Lucca's apart
ment beneath you, to the sunshiny rooms
of the second floor. There sort of half
English half Roman home has been
made--English for comfort and luxury
of arrangement, Roman for vastness and
breadth Of design. 1t is the abode Of
one who may fairly claim, now that
Gibson is no more, to be the first of liv-
ing sculptors of the Anglo-Saxon race.
What looked at first glance to him and
his wife too spacious and too desolate for
family use has been wrought, by the COM
bined graces of wealth and talent, into
the beau ideal of an artists and a gen.
tleman's residence. Five or six large
salons open one out of another, besides
other small and quiet little chambers full
of books and sunshine. Mr.. Story car
ried large portion of his fathers library
with him to Rome, and thus has stu
dents resources always at hand; one
large hall has been built into theatre
for private theatricals, where many de-
lightful evenings have been passed, and
where the amateur ability displayed has
very often approached high art. Indeed,
the whole house has been long famous to
all that is best in Roman and English
society for its re6nd hospitalities and
brilliant receptions. In the social and
intellectual gifts of his wife Mr.. Story
has found a helpmeet singularly fitted
for him, whilst the sympathetic graces
and musical talents of his daughter (now
by marriage one of the Florentine Pc
rlizzi) and the fine promise of his sons
have surrounded this wonderfully happy
and gifted man with home-life of rare
perfection. Every year when the warm
weather comes they go northward, usu.
ally to England. But the approach of
winter or of the red vintage of autumn
always sees them safely back in their
beloved palazzo, within the sound of the
fountain, ready for their Roman season.
One glance at Mr.. Story's face tells
you that you are looking at no ordinary
man; the broad and powerful brow has
| the vigor of strong intellect; the whole
expression has that mingled delicacy and
mastery which are only to be seen on the
countenances of those whose lives are
spent in great thoughts and high en-
deavors. He is emphatically many
sided man." very Greek-like in much of
his temperament, and perhaps only
northern in the one quality of "taking