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it was hers - The Museum is a huge
building, but every part of it well lighted &
warmed, seats distributed about, the most
perfect order & neatness everywhere - The
collection of stuffed birds was superb, finer than
any I have seen elsewhere - The statuary alone
did not compare favorably to that of the
Louvre or in Italy - but the immense value
attached to mutilated & dissolved pieces
of marble, is something I don’t understand -
To me the best statuary is expressionless
compared to life - a likeness however striking
is but like a portrait after death, rather
painful to look upon - altogether I am
inclined to consider the Art of Sculpture
rather a relic of barbarism, and quite
sympathise [sic] with some uncivilized Americans
who are about to invest a million of dollars
in a lot of utterly useless naked men &
women, idols & cast off jewelry & cooking
pans of the ancients. They say the nude
in marble never offends - that it does
resemble nature, but even the rudest invitation