I repaired the statuette, and it now holds, as you
see, the place of honour in my collection."
As we sat over our coffee and cigars, Cooper grew reflective. "After
all," he said, "is not the fabricator of frauds fully as great an artist
as the man whose work he imitates? Take the famous marble Aphrodite of a
few years ago, which was attributed by some critics to Praxiteles, and
by some critics to Scopas, until proof came that it had been made in
Hoboken. Consider the labour that went into the fraud. For years,
probably, the dishonest sculptor was engaged in preliminary studies for
the work. He spent months in libraries, museums, and the lecture-rooms
of learned professors. He impregnated himself with the spirit of Greek
art. He devoted months to searching for a suitable piece of antique
marble. How long he was in carving it, I can only guess. When it was
completed, he boiled it in oil; then he boiled it in milk; then he
boiled it in soap; then he boiled it in a concoction of molasses and
wine; then he buried it in moist soil, and let it age for three years.
"Now, suppose the statue had been really carved by Praxiteles.
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