Marble sculptures

While it certainly can be used for fickle childish games if carved into spherical orbs that fit comfortably in the crevice of a tucked thumb, marble can also be used to convey the most conspicuous figures of history – and fiction – and their representative feats.  While all one really has to do to carve a masterpiece out of a block of marble the size of a refrigerator is to chisel away all that does not resemble his imagined final product, most often tasks are much easier said than done.  We are indebted to the beauty and history that this metamorphic crystal has allowed us to preserve throughout many of the world’s great cities – Rome would hardly be Rome without it, and how dreadfully dull and plain would the friezes over the U.S. Supreme Court building be without the lawgivers of history etched into them in high relief?  Although I am quite unsure why one or two figures are represented there given that their lawgiving involved much more sword than pen.  It is true that behind the pen must be the sword, otherwise it would be pointless, but if the sword obscures the pen then corruption and tyranny will inevitably follow.  “The Thinker”, by Rodin, is forever frozen in that position which lends itself to introspection.  I wonder if he is ever thinking about just standing up for a moment and kicking a soccer ball or something fanciful like that, but as of yet, if he is, his thoughts have not led to any action.  In a way, sculptors of statues are most supremely mimicking the creativity endowed to them by carving men out of the mountain, just as man was carved out of the earth.