3-008-987 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition: "Memory", marble statue, by W. Brodie, R.S.A., 1862. 'The look is sorrowful, and we remember that what we can recall of the past is too generally sad. About the sweet mournfulness of the mouth we linger reluctantly, as over our own mixed memories. The eyes, lost under heavy, drooping, sorrowful eyelids, lead us to revert to the mind wandering in the shadowy but immortal past. There is more portrait-character in the face of this statue than is usually seen in ideal subjects; but, whether intentional or not, this does not destroy the sentiment or idea sought to be expressed. The Greek drapery seems to recall the classical, and it need hardly be added poetical, impersonation of memory. Mnemosyne - i.e., Memory - was the daughter of Uranus, and one of the Titanides, and became by Zeus the mother of the Muses. Round the pedestal is the Latin inscription, "Heu! quanto minus est cum reliquis versari, quam tui meminisse" which may be translated, "Alas! how much less sweet it is to converse with others than to dwell on the bare contemplation of thy virtues."...The statue is from the Marquis of Lansdowne's fine collection of ancient and modern Sculpture'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.