Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/35

Rh tions of grandeur and of truth. The Theseus was regarded with rapturous admiration, Canova s next undertaking was a monument in honour of Clement XIV. ; but before he proceeded with it he deemed it necessary to request permission from the Venetian senate, whose servant he considered himself to be, in consideration of the pension. This he solicited in person, and it was granted He returned immediately to Rome, and opened his celebrated studio in the Via del Bnbuino. He spent about two years of unremitting toil in arranging the design and composing the models for the tomb of the pontiff. After these were completed, other two years were employed in finishing the monument, and it was finally opened to public inspection in 1787. The work, in the opinion of enthusiastic dilettanti, stamped the author as the first artist of modern times. After five years of incessant labour, he completed another cenotaph to the memory of Clement XIII., which raised his fame still higher. Works now came rapidly from his chisel. Amongst those which belong to the period in question is Psyche, with a butterfly, which is placed. on the left band, and held by the wings with the right. This figure, which is intended as a personification of man s immaterial part, is considered as in almost every respect the most faultless and classical of Canova s works. In two different groups, and with opposite expression, the sculptor has represented Cupid with his bride ; in the one they are standing, in the other recumbent. These and other works raised his reputation so high that the most flattering offers were sent him from the Russian court to induce him to remove to St 1 etersburg, but these were declined. &quot; Italy,&quot; says he, in writing of the occurrence to a friend, &quot; Italy is my country is the country and native soil of the arts. I cannot leave her ; my infancy was nurtured here. If my poor talents can be useful in any other land, they must be of some utility to Italy ; and ought not her claim to be preferred to all others? &quot; Numerous works were produced in the years 1795-97, of which several were repetitions of previous produc tions. It is only necessary to notice the celebrated group representing the Parting of Venus and Adonis. This famous production was sent to Naples. The French Revolution was now extending its shocks over Italy ; and Canova sought obscurity and repose in hia native Passagno. Thither he retired in 1798, and there he con tinued for about a year, principally employed in painting, of which art also he had some knowledge. He executed upwards of twenty paintings about this time. One of his productions is a picture representing the dead body of the Saviour just removed from the cross, surrounded ly the three Marys, the beloved disciple, Joseph of Arimathea. and, somewhat in the background, Nicodemus. Above appears the Father, with the mystic dove in the centre of a glory, and surrounded by a circle of cherubs. This com position, which was greatly applauded, he presented to the parochial church of his native place. Events in the political world having come to a temporary lull, he returned to Rome ; but his health having been impaired from arduous application, he took a journey through a part of Germany, in company with his friend Prince Rezzonico. He returned from his travels much improved, and again commenced his labours with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. Cauova s sculptures have been distributed under three heads: (1) Heroic compositions; (2) Compositions of grafce and elegance; and (3) Sepulchral monuments and rilievos. In noticing the works which fall under each of these divisions, it will be impossible to maintain a strict chronological order, but perhaps a better idea of his productions may thus be obtained. Their vast number, however, prevents their being all enumerated. Soon after his return appeared his Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The moment of representation is when the hero, flushed with conquest, displays the head of the &quot; snaky Gorgon,&quot; whilst the right hand grasps a sword oi singular device. By a public decree, this work was placed in one of the stanze of the Vatican hitherto reserved for the most precious works of antiquity ; but it would be a mistake to say that it sustains this comparison, or that it rivals the earlier realization of the same subject in Italian art, that by Cellini. In 1802, at the personal request of Napoleon, Canova repaired to Paris to model a bust of the First Consul. The artist was entertained with munificence, and various honours were conferred upon him. The statue, which is colossal, was not finished till six years after. Oil the fall of the great Napoleon, Louis XVIII. presented this statue to the British Government, by whom it was after wards given to the duke of Wellington. Palamedes, Creugas and Damoxenus, the Combat of Theseus and the Centaur, and Hercules and Lichas may close the class of heroic compositions, although the catalogue might be swelled by the enumeration of various others, such as Hector and Ajax, and the statues of Washington, King Ferdinand of Naples, and others. The group of Hercules and Lichas is considered as the most terrible conception of Canova s mind, and in its peculiar style as scarcely to be excelled. Under the second head, namely, compositions of grace and elegance, the statue of Hebe takes the first place in point of date. Four times has the artist embodied in stone the goddess of youth, and each time with some variation. The only material improvement, however, is the substitution of a support more suitable to the simplicity of the art. Each of the statues is, in all its details, in expression, attitude, and delicacy of finish, strikingly elegant. The Dancing Nymphs maintain a character similar to that of the Hebe. The Graces and the Venus are more elevated. The Awakened Nymph is another work of uncommon beauty. The Mother of Napoleon, his consort Maria Louisa (as Concord), to model whom the author made a further journey to Paris in 1810, the Prin cess Esterhazy, and the muse Polymnia (Elisa Bonaparte) take their place in this class, as do the ideal heads, com prising Corinna, Sappho, Laura, Beatrice, and Helen of Troy. The cenotaphs and funeral monuments fall next to be noticed. Of these the most splendid is the monument to the Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria, consisting of nine figures. Besides the two for the Roman pontiffs already mentioned, there is one for Alfieri, another for Emo, a Venetian admiral, and a small model of a cenotaph for Nelson, besides a great variety of monumental rilievos. The events which marked the life of the artist, during the first fifteen years of the period in which he was engaged on the above-mentioned works, are of so little importance as scarcely to merit notice. His mind was entirely absorbed in the labours of his studio, and, with the exception of his journeys to Paris, one to Vienna, and a few short intervals of absence in Florence and other parts of Italy, he never quitted Rome. In his own words, &quot; his statues were the sole proofs of his civil existence.&quot; There was, however, another proof, which modesty forbade him to mention, an ever-active benevolence, especially towards artists. In 1815 he was commissioned by the Pope to superintend the trans mission from Paris of those works of art which had formerly been conveyed thither under the direction of Napoleon. By his zeal and exertions, for there were many conflicting interests to reconcile, he adjusted the affair in a manner at once creditable to his judgment and fortunate for his country. In the autumn of this year he gratified a wish he had long entertained of visiting London, where he 