William Story, I presume, is not to be
included in this censure, as she had spoken highly of his sculpturesque
faculty in our previous conversation. On my part, I suggested that the
English sculptors were little or nothing better than our own, to which
she acceded generally, but said that Gibson had produced works equal to
the antique,--which I did not dispute, but still questioned whether the
world needed Gibson, or was any the better for him. We had a great
dispute about the propriety of adopting the costume of the day in modern
sculpture, and I contended that either the art ought to be given up
(which possibly would be the best course), or else should be used for
idealizing the man of the day to himself; and that, as Nature makes us
sensible of the fact when men and women are graceful, beautiful, and
noble, through whatever costume they wear, so it ought to be the test of
the sculptor's genius that he should do the same. Mrs. Jameson decidedly
objected to buttons, breeches, and all other items of modern costume;
and, indeed, they do degrade the marble, and make high sculpture utterly
impossible.
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