“It is impossible to gaze long at this stone image without conceiving a kindly sentiment towards it, as if its substance were warm to the touch, and imbued with actual life.”

In the first chapter, Hawthorne establishes the centrality of the Faun of Praxiteles to the narrative. He also suggests that art affects and interacts with life and that artists attempt to imbue their work with the quality of real life. The Marble Faun is a work of art about art and how it affects our lives.

“He has nothing to do with time, but has a look of eternal youth in his face.”

Hilda comments that she cannot guess Donatello’s age but that he instead appears timeless and eternally young. Donatello is a quasi-mythical character who seems to transcend ordinary reality, recalling an idyllic state of mankind at the beginning of time.

“I am glad to have my lifetime while you live; and where you are, be it in cities or fields, I would fain be there too.”

Donatello professes his love for Miriam, which is at first unrequited. The line is prophetic in that Donatello will indeed stick with Miriam, even though it leads to a violent confrontation between him and Brother Antonio.