Not from a vain or shallow thought
His awful Jove young Phidias brought.

Not from a vain or shallow thought
His awful Jove young Phidias brought.

Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.

Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.

The stone unhewn and cold
Becomes a living mould,
The more the marble wastes
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The stone unhewn and cold
Becomes a living mould,
The more the marble wastes
The more the statue grows.

In sculpture did ever anybody call the Apollo a fancy piece? Or
say of the Laocoon how it might read more

In sculpture did ever anybody call the Apollo a fancy piece? Or
say of the Laocoon how it might be made difference? A
masterpiece of art has in the mind a fixed place in the chain of
being, as much as a plant or a crystal.

Sculpture is more divine, and more like Nature,
That fashions all her works in high relief,
And read more

Sculpture is more divine, and more like Nature,
That fashions all her works in high relief,
And that is Sculpture. This vast ball, the Earth,
Was moulded out of clay, and baked in fire;
Men, women, and all animals that breathe
Are statues, and not paintings.

A Mercury is not made out of any block of wood.
[Lat., Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius.]

A Mercury is not made out of any block of wood.
[Lat., Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius.]

I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.

I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.

From the feet, Hercules.
[Lat., Ex pede Herculem.]

From the feet, Hercules.
[Lat., Ex pede Herculem.]

Sculpture is more than painting. It is greater
To raise the dead to life than to create
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Sculpture is more than painting. It is greater
To raise the dead to life than to create
Phantoms that seem to live.