Painting and Sculpture
Painting and Sculpture - meaning Summary
Truth Versus Artifice in Art
Emerson contrasts two artists to argue about truth and artifice. The painter, called "sinful," covers or alters the naked goddess with drapery, implying concealment or flattering distortion. The sculptor, praised as "godlike," preserves the natural form, allowing bones and flesh to reveal beauty without added decoration. The poem praises fidelity to inherent truth in representation and criticizes embellishment that obscures essential nature.
Read Complete AnalysesThe sinful painter drapes his goddess warm, Because she still is naked, being drest; The godlike sculptor will not so deform Beauty, which bones and flesh enough invest.
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