Berkshires, Part 2: Writer and Sculptor (A Touring Symmetry for Us)

Edith Wharton and the Mount

View of the house from the back of the Mount

Garden symmetry!

This is Wharton's office where she didn't work, and this is not the original furniture, but a wonderful space nonetheless.

There is nothing like seeing the original handwriting of an artist, and this does not disappoint, as this is from a newly discovered journal of Edith Wharton: it reveals an unknown and apparently passionate relationship with a lover. 

This portion of a letter rests on Edith Wharton's bed, where she is known to have habitually written. In this letter, she is requesting a research answer: how to dispose of one of her overwrought characters.

...

Daniel Chester French and Chesterwood

The sculpture, "The Sons of God Saw the Daughters of Men that They Were Fair" intrigued me, while others seemed enamored with President Lincoln.

First, a docent showed us a photograph, said to be the inspiration of the piece. This, in itself, was a shockingly cool instance of a natural vision transformed creatively: from geiser to sculpture. 

The docent also thought that the young woman was not exactly pleased by the male's ardor, and when I looked carefully, I could see her pushing against his wings. So I decided to see if there was a myth behind this sculpture. It refers to Scripture Gen. 6:1-7, “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose...."  

This then refers to the marriage of fallen angels and human women. The stories about these couplings claim that their progeny were giants. Several bloodlines claim to be descendants.