In his "Aged Helmet-Maker's
Wife," Rodin has perhaps accomplished this. [Footnote: See Rodin's own
defense of this statue in his _L'Art_, chap. II.]
In the classic sculpture the expression of the inner life is subordinate
to the expression of corporeal beauty. Or, so far as mind is revealed,
the revelation occurs through the body as a whole,--through attitude
and pose and act. In this way complete unity between the inner and the
outer beauty is preserved. For when through subtle modeling of the
face the expression of the intense and individualized life of thought
is attempted, the beauties of soul and body tend to fall apart and
become rivals for attention. In classic sculpture, therefore, the face
is rightly somewhat inexpressive, or better, is expressive of only the
broad and typical human emotions. Fine or deep qualities may, however,
be expressed; for dignity, poise, intelligence, sorrow, and active joy
make themselves manifest in the total _habitus_ of the body no less than
in the face.
The work of Michelangelo is a further proof that sculpture can express
the spiritual life, not only in the face, but in the body also. The
expression there is no different in essential kind from that found in
the heroic classic sculpture. It is universal, typical, not individual,
personal; of the gods, not of men. Its quality alone differs; it is
monstrous, pathological, grandiose, instead of serene and happily
balanced.
But sculpture can also portray the individualized psychic life.
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