Reading Girl

But the most signal and successful manifestation of this school of humble naturalism is afforded in Magni's famed ‘Reading Girl.’ Enough has been said to indicate that the work does not pertain to the highest walk of the sculptor's art; yet, within a more humble sphere, this figure in its treatment is wholly beyond the reach of censure. The result may serve to show how, even in cold sculpture, “one touch of nature makes the whole world kin,” for truly did ‘The Reading Girl’ speak to the hearts of all people in a language which not even Babel has yet confounded.

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Modern Sculpture of All Nations, by J. Beaverington Atkinson, The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition, 1862. 1863. (Image)