Nathaniel Hawthorne

Name: The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (1860)

Summary

“The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust”, published in 1860, is a work by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It explores elements such as Donatello, Monte Beni and sculptor.

Quotes from The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (1860)

“ It is possible, indeed, that even Donatello's grief and Kenyon's pale, sunless affection lent a charm to Monte Beni, which it would not have retained amid a more abundant joyousness. The sculptor strayed amid its vineyards and orchards, its dells and tangled shrubberies, with somewhat the sensations of an adventurer who should find his way to the site of ancient Eden, and behold its loveliness through the transparency of that gloom which has been brooding over those haunts of innocence ever since the fall. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (1860)

“ They now left the sculptor's temporary studio, without observing that his last accidental touches, with which he hurriedly effaced the look of deadly rage, had given the bust a higher and sweeter expression than it had hitherto worn. It is to be regretted that Kenyon had not seen it; for only an artist, perhaps, can conceive the irksomeness, the irritation of brain, the depression of spirits, that resulted from his failure to satisfy himself, after so much toil and thought as he had bestowed on Donatello's bust. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (1860)

“ The toil that produces those kindly gifts of nature which are not the substance of life, but its luxury, is unlike other toil. We are inclined to fancy that it does not bend the sturdy frame and stiffen the overwrought muscles, like the labor that is devoted in sad, hard earnest to raise grain for sour bread. Certainly, the sunburnt young men and dark-cheeked, laughing girls, who weeded the rich acres of Monte Beni, might well enough have passed for inhabitants of an unsophisticated Arcadia. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (1860)

“ There was still the moist, brown clay, indeed, and the features of Donatello, but without any semblance of intelligent and sympathetic life.
"The difficulty will drive me mad, I verily believe!" cried the sculptor nervously. "Look at the wretched piece of work yourself, my dear friend, and tell me whether you recognize any manner of likeness to your inner man?"
"None," replied Donatello, speaking the simple truth. "It is like looking a stranger in the face." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (1860)

“ In case of success, indeed, all this thoughtful toil would have been reckoned, not only as well bestowed, but as among the happiest hours of his life; whereas, deeming himself to have failed, it was just so much of life that had better never have been lived; for thus does the good or ill result of his labor throw back sunshine or gloom upon the artist's mind. The sculptor, therefore, would have done well to glance again at his work ”

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Source: Wikisource

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (1860)

“ Wielding that wonderful power which sculptors possess over moist clay, however refractory it may show itself in certain respects, he compressed, elongated, widened, and otherwise altered the features of the bust in mere recklessness, and at every change inquired of the Count whether the expression became anywise more satisfactory.
"Stop!" cried Donatello at last, catching the sculptor's hand. "Let it remain so!" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (1860)

“ It had just that rarest quality of remoteness from the actual and ordinary world B a remoteness through which all delights might visit them freely, sifted from all troubles--which lovers so reasonably insist upon, in their ideal arrangements for a happy union. ”

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Summary

Quotes from The Marble Faun/Volume 2 — Donatello's Bust (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

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