The Rival Sculptors

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In a street in Athens a new statue had been recently placed upon a pedestal, and the populace are discussing its merits with considerable interest. A young girl appears with her father and her slave, and the old gentleman shows her the new sculptor's work. Being called by an acquaintance, he leaves her for a moment, and the sculptor himself appearing, notes the girl's beauty and accosts her. She resents his familiarity and is defended by another youth, a rival sculptor of the first. The father desires a competitive examination of the sculptor's work in making a life-size figure of the girl to adorn the grand room in his palace. We see her posing in turn for each of the rival sculptors. When the father sees the work of the first sculptor he is rather disappointed and the sculptor is more so. He resolves to visit his rival's studio, knowing that the rival has been more successful in love than he, and going there finds the statue unguarded. Upon viewing it he realizes the inferiority of his own work, and seizing the sculptor's mallet, he demolishes the beautiful piece of work and leaves the studio apparently unobserved. But the girl, who has come to view the result of her lover's work, has seen him leave, and when she discovers the damage which is done, she and her maid clear away the debris and concoct a plan. When the three men, her father and the two sculptors, appear to view the work they find the statue apparently in place, for the girl has taken the place of the marble. After their first astonishment the statue comes to life. She descends from the pedestal, and taking the mallet, offers it to the sculptor who had demolished the marble, bidding him to finish the work upon her person. Of course, he retreats discomfited, and his rival is kept from following him for vengeance by the girl's offer to take her place in his life as well as in the niche provided for the statue.