But in the downcast,
sorrowful eyes, there is an expression of mingled hope and patient
endurance such as Mary might have worn at the foot of the cross. The
marble is eloquent of that Christian sentiment: 'He doeth all things
well.' The religious feeling of the sixteenth century, which gave to art
both its inspiration and theme, never found so fair a mould as in this
bust of 'Resignation.'
Both of these works are entirely free from all explanatory accessories,
and interpret themselves to the most sluggish soul.
Another of Palmer's compositions, and one of the most purely ideal, is
the 'Dream of the Spirit's Flight.' This is a large bas-relief, executed
in medallion style. To give any idea by mere words of the spirit of this
performance is impossible. It is the half figure of a peri-like girl,
with tresses swaying in the higher air, with butterfly wings, arms and
drapery gracefully disposed, and all the parts uniting to impress you
with a sense of upward, soaring motion! There is a divine beauty about
the face reflected from a brighter world. Sculptured in pure white
marble, it seems a very soul just escaped from its prison house of clay,
and, listening to those 'sounds seraphic,' bearing away to the great
Beyond.
While gazing on this airy sprite, the beholder feels an exhilarating
influence steal over him, and involuntarily there goes up from his
heart, like incense, that yearning prayer:
'So grant me, God, from every care,
And stain of passion free,
Aloft through virtue's purer air
To hold my course to Thee!'
We cannot speak separately of his 'Morning and Evening,' 'Immortality,'
'Sleeping Peri,' his statue and bas-relief of 'Faith,' busts, and other
works, which are grouped in odd companionship about his studio.
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