Down the entire length of the building there are on either
side, and at a distance of twenty feet from the wall, slender
shafts of black marble springing sheer to the roof, beautifully
fluted, and with carved capitals. At one end of this great place
which these pillars support is the group of which I have already
spoken as executed by the King Rademas to commemorate his building
of the staircase; and really, when we had time to admire it,
its loveliness almost struck us dumb. The group, of which the
figures are in white, and the rest is black marble, is about
half as large again as life, and represents a young man of noble
countenance and form sleeping heavily upon a couch. One arm
is carelessly thrown over the side of this couch, and his head
reposes upon the other, its curling locks partially hiding it.
Bending over him, her hand resting on his forehead, is a draped
female form of such white loveliness as to make the beholder's
breath stand still. And as for the calm glory that shines upon
her perfect face -- well, I can never hope to describe it. But
there it rests like the shadow of an angel's smile; and power,
love, and divinity all have their part in it. Her eyes are fixed
upon the sleeping youth, and perhaps the most extraordinary thing
about this beautiful work is the success with which the artist
has succeeded in depicting on the sleeper's worn and weary face
the sudden rising of a new and spiritual thought as the spell
begins to work within his mind.
Pages:
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221