Falkener, Edward: Daedalus or the causes and principles of the excellence of Greek sculpture (London, 1860)

210

MODERN ART.

III.
COSTUME.

The greatest difficulty with which the modern
sculptor has to contend is that of drapery. No
one can be insensible to the superior beauty of the
ancient costume. Nothing can be more conducive
to simplicity and grandeur, nothing so highly con-
tributive to variety of effect, at the same time that
it furnishes opportunity for the richest detail. All
this will be acknowledged : but the objection is
made,—However beautiful it is, we cannot use it
now; we must identify the costume of our sculpture
with that of the age in which we live. Historically
considered, no doubt this reasoning is correct, but
viewed with regard to art it requires to be modified.
Sculpture of two centuries old, however excellent it
may be, is looked upon as antiquated, and unsuited
to our present tastes. The statue of George the
Third, from representing the king with a bag-wig
and tail, is become a general laughing-theme with the
vulgar, notwithstanding that the horse upon which
he rides is the finest in Europe. But imagine that
this horse had served for a figure of St. George and