DOI chapter:
Chapter I Mrs. Patience Wright speaks the Prologue
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65493#0049
AMERICAN SCULPTURE
art life of our country. Born in Phil-
adelphia in 1756, he was twenty-nine
when Houdon sojourned in that town.
Having been apprenticed when very
young, Rush was already well-known
as a carver of ships’ figure-heads, work
in which he continued to be successful
throughout his long and busy life. His
theory and practice in wood-carving
conformed to Michelangelo’s Gothic
creed, somewhat outworn among sculp-
tors, but of late restored to respect.
William Rush earnestly believed that
the carver should see his vision in the
block, and realize its image by hewing
away the superfluous shell. He was
modern enough at times to stand by
while directing a workman to chop here
and cut there and slice somewhere else,
so that he himself could save his own
energy for keeping his vision clear.
Of his Spirit of the Schuylkill, orig-
inally in wood but since translated into
bronze and still standing over its basin
21
SPEAKS THE PROLOGUE
art life of our country. Born in Phil-
adelphia in 1756, he was twenty-nine
when Houdon sojourned in that town.
Having been apprenticed when very
young, Rush was already well-known
as a carver of ships’ figure-heads, work
in which he continued to be successful
throughout his long and busy life. His
theory and practice in wood-carving
conformed to Michelangelo’s Gothic
creed, somewhat outworn among sculp-
tors, but of late restored to respect.
William Rush earnestly believed that
the carver should see his vision in the
block, and realize its image by hewing
away the superfluous shell. He was
modern enough at times to stand by
while directing a workman to chop here
and cut there and slice somewhere else,
so that he himself could save his own
energy for keeping his vision clear.
Of his Spirit of the Schuylkill, orig-
inally in wood but since translated into
bronze and still standing over its basin
21
SPEAKS THE PROLOGUE