STORY OF A STATUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20820, 12 March 1931, Page 8

STORY OF A STATUE.

SEARCH FOR A MODEL.

SCULPTOR'S INSPIRATION.

•"LADY, WILL YOU POSE FOR ME."

[FROM our own correspondent.] SYDNEY. March S. •There is an interesting romance woven around the beautiful statue of St. Mary Magdalene, which will be unveiled in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, at Rose Ray, Sydney, at Easter. The statue is the work of Salvatbre li Rosi, a young Sicilian sculptor, has been in Australia for a little more than four years doing decorative art modelling for new theatres in the city. When he was commissioned by Mr. John Lane Mullins to do the statue for - the Rose Bay Church, li Rosi could not find a model suitable for the work he had in mind, 'and at one stage it was feared that the artist, lacking the required inspiration, -would be unable to complete his commission. k " For three weeks I search Sydney," ho said the .other day, in broken Eng. lish. "Nowhere do I find the right type, the woman in whose face I see the spirit I would portray as that of the Magdalene."

Then came the fortunate day, for him, when he walked through a large city store. All the time he searched the faces of the passing women for the ideal model, and just when it seemed that his search would again end in failure, he saw behind the counter a girl with the very face he had been looking for. Forgetting everything, even his manners, he rushed up to the girl and almost shouted to her, "Lady, will you pose for me ? You are the inspiration for my statue."

The girl stared at him for a minute, ■wondering whether the excited foreigner who accosted her was mad, and then she said, "How dare you speak to me?" JLi Eosi then suddenly recollected that he had approached the girl in rather an unusual way and he began to explain as best he could. Finally the girl tiaid. "You may ask my mother and if she agrees I will pose for you." So the sculptor wrote to the girl's mother, who is an Anglican, and obtained her permission to engage the girl as his model. "She had just the right expression in her face," the artist explained after he had finished his task. "It was the inspiration I had been looking for, and I could not begin work until I found it."

Mr. Lane Mullins is delighted with the finished work. "I have seen many religious statues by famous Italian artists," he said, "but this man has a marvellous touch all his own, that makes him stand out from the others. His work is noble. He has caught a spirit in this statue.".