There is no necessity for running through a list of Roubiliac's works.
But his statue of Shakespeare is deserving of a passing notice. It of
course fails to satisfy the students of the bard, who delight to pay
equal homage to his philosophy as to his poetry. There is nothing of the
sage about the work: it is wholly of the _stage_ indeed. It is replete
with Roubiliac's established ecstatic super-elegant manner; with a
strong tinge of theatricalism, possibly added by Garrick, for whose
temple at Hampton the statue was undertaken; who attitudinized in aid,
as he imagined, of the sculptor's labours, with a cry of 'Behold the
swan of Avon!' and who, it must be said, at all times entertained a very
'footlight' view of the poet. The price paid for the work was three
hundred guineas only. Roubiliac was to supply the best marble he could
for the money. Unfortunately the block turned out to be much spotted and
streaked; the head was especially disfigured with blue stains. 'What!'
cried Garrick, 'was Shakespeare marked with mulberries?' It became
necessary to sever the head from the shoulders and replace it with one
of purer marble. The statue was completed in 1758. Under the terms of
Garrick's will, it became, on the death of his widow, the property of
the nation, and it now stands in the entrance-hall of the British
Museum. After the purists and the exacting have said their worst against
the statue, it will yet be found--from the spirit of its execution, its
cleverness, and 'go,' to resort to a vulgarism--charming a very large
class of uncritical examiners.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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