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FRANCISCO CARACCI,

Was the younger brother of Augustino and Annibale, and Antonio called from his deformity, Il Gobbo, was the natural son of Augustino. These were the individuals who formed that celebrated family of painters.

"The father of Ludovico Caracci, was a butcher, (era macelago) and the father of Annibale and Augustino, a tailor. Annibale resolved to mortify the pride of Ludovico, who despised him on account of his frequently reminding him of their low origin. He therefore privately painted the portraits of the Caracci, as large as life, in a butcher's shop, and shewed his picture for the first time to Ludovico, when in company with Cardinal Farnese. It is now in the Guise Collection, at Christ Church College, Oxford. Annibale is the butcher weighing the meat, which a soldier (Ludovico) is purchasing. Augustino stands near them. Antonio is lifting down a carcass, which conceals his deformity, and the old woman represents their mother. General Guise is said to have given £1,100 for this picture, which

was purchased for him at Venice."

Talking of Oxford, Mr. Editor, did you ever see this collection? If the old General Guise had no more taste for fighting than for painting, I would have met him and his legions with wooden cannon. Yet, I have heard certain big wigs of the University crack up the Guise Gallery! They are nice social fellows at Christ Church for all this, believe me, Mr. Hardcastle, and men of taste; a conversation on painting is brought to table in the hall there, like

the wine-devilish well iced.

FROM MY PORTFOLIO.

ANECDOTES OF STRANGE, THE ENGRAVER.

Z.

preservation from all injury, by having remained ever since under the same custody, and the exceeding beauty which engravings under such circumstances acquire from age, in mellowing both the colour of the paper and the ink, we may form some estimate of the value of such a collec|| tion, and the interest it would excite, should it become the subject of competition.

BARTOLOZZI, the engraver.

ALMOST all Bartolozzi's engravings are in red ink, and the subjects of the whole of them are of an extremely simple and pleasing character, which would tempt us to deduce very favourable conclusions respecting the individual to whom they had been the subjects of choice and preference. The distinguishing features of his works, are the exquisite truth and beauty of the drawing, and the wonderful effect produced by a few touches of the burine: none of them are at all highly finished or very elaborate. Like all men of high talent, he was extremely indolent, and of irregular application; he felt that he could do much in little time, and overrating perhaps what he could perform within the hurry, or the spur of occasion, often performed that negligently, which, though it might please his employers, did not always satisfy himself. His reputation rather cherished this reluctance to careful and minute execution, in place of rendering him studious of preserving or increasing it; and when his name had acquired sufficient distinction to give eclat even to his most careless efforts, far from becoming the more cautious of the extent to which he hushed its power of indiscriminate protection to the works it sanctioned, he not unfrequently threw it, like the mantle of Elisha, round the labours of an inferior artist, or gave the last touches of his own hand, and the authority of his own name, to those nearly completed. He could at any time easily make ten guineas a day by his profession. It was a common practice with Macklin and Dickinson, by whom his works were generally published, to send engravings that were nearly finished, or had been bungled, to Madame Markfois, the chere amie of Bartolozzi, with ten guineas for the artist and the same for herself, in consideration of her influence in persuading him to correct the outline, or to give some redeeming grace to the vile daub, which in its own shape, could never have been ushed into existence. When the unsuspecting engraver threw aside his tools, and sinking into softer thoughts than copper-plates and aquafortis were entitled to. sought the abode of his fair Delilah, he was very frequently attacked with something like the following exordium: "Ah mon cher Bartolozzi, comment vous portez vous? how like you dat," presenting the suppint engraving, suing in forma pauperis, n'est il pas vary pratty? Oh no," says he "it is baad, very baad!”—

STRANGE was certainly a very fine engraver, possessing many of the highest qualities of the best artists in that department in which he excelled; but he drew ill, and his extremities are frequently coarse and unfinished. Many of his engravings were published at Florence, and on his return to this country, he resided in Parliament Street, Westminster, where he likewise published. He afterwards removed to Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and from some freak not explained, he erased the names of Florence and Parliament Street, and substituted that of Queen Street in their stead, so that engravings dated from either of these places are now of great value, partly from their curiosity, and partly from the certainty of their being genuine and early impressions. There is a singular occurrence in the life of Strange, which is, however, as authentic as it is romantic. In the Rebellion of 1745, he served in the ranks of Prince Charles's army as a common soldier. After the battle of Culloden, he was pursued by a party of the King's troops, when he fled for safety and for succour" into a friend's house. As there was no time to be lost, the soldiers being close at his heels, a young lady, in the full costume of that period, viz. a dress hoop, offered to shelter him under the ample folds of her petticoat. To this strange proposal, considering all circumstances, it is not strange that he assented, and here, "patulæ sub tegmine recubans," he remained undiscovered. Either love or gratitude suggested the sequel: we will suppose both conjoined. Mr. Strange was then a bachelor, and when his fortunes were more prosperous, he repaid with his hand the protection which the petticoat had afforded; and we may venture to assert, that no one ever yielded to its government who had better reasons for their deference to it. Mr. Strange was born in the Orkneys of Scotland. Atimates of this description which he acknowledged. Bargrand-daughter of his (his only issue I believe) is now married to one of the Judges of the Court of Session in that country. It is said that the artist retained one copy of all his engravings; and if we take into account his opportunity of selecting the finest proof for his own portfolio, the

Ah but you could make it so pratty!"-" Now, now, me vont touch it; never saw any ting so baad."-“Oui, oui, but you will put in the sweet little mout and the dear little dog that you do make so pratty!" In vain did he protest that it was bad, and that he would not touch it. Madame only coaxed the more; her own ten guineas was in dependance, and a share of the bribe intended for himself was also in expectance-need the result be told? The dog and the dear little mouth that were to do such wonders, at length were successful. Bartolozzi scraped in his name, and with a few hours' labour, pocketed his douceur, which very generally found its way into the purse of the amiable Markfois. No engravings in his style would sell without his name being attached to them, which is the reason that his works appear so voluminous, from the number of illegi

tolozzi was, I think, a member of the Royal Academy: this is said to have given great offence to Strange, who was unsuccessful in his attempts to be admitted a member of that body, particularly as it was notorious that the picture which the former painted as the preliminary to his acade

PLEASURE AND ADVANTAGES TO BE DERIVED
FROM THE STUDY OF PAINTING.

mical honours, was either wholly executed, or at least labour and much scientific research, we consider it a vatouched off by Canaletti. luable contribution to the library, and trust its author will Signor *****. an engraver, and countryman of Bartolozzi,|| have no reason to regret his visit to this land of liberality and used to pester him with commissions of the same illicit cha-improving taste. racter, and presumed not a little on the yielding spirit of his ingenious friend. One day he submitted a proof from a plate that had been executed from an English engraver, taken from a picture by Raffaelle. It was a very heavy, so-so performance. "What! suppose you I will meddle with this?" enquired Bartolozzi." Diavolo!" and falling into a sudden paroxysm of rage, he held it extended from him at arm's length, and spat, or rather spirted upon it, with that force with which the sculptors moisten the clay, at least twenty times, with swollen cheeks and staring eyes, until exhausted, he threw the proof from him, exclaiming, "Code tam, sare! it smell too strong of roasta beef and porter!-take it away, and never let me see you no more!"

EXHIBITIONS OF PICTURES.

Ir has been supposed that the practice of shewing the paintings in the Foundling Hospital, first suggested the plan of our annual national Exhibition. Strangers gave a shilling as a douceur for seeing the pictures presented by Hogarth to that Institution, not to aid the funds of the hospital, so that this artist may be considered as the founder of a plan by which the public taste is improved and gratified, and the interest of the painters advanced, by this favourable opportunity afforded annually of displaying the labours of the former year. I can assert, that in the first year in which Mr. West's pictures were exhibited, no less than 95,000 persons visited his gallery; an enormous number if we take into account the number of free admissions; and a demonstration of the eagerness of the public to avail themselves of this gratification, when a regular channel by which it might be enjoyed, was opened to it.

FINE ARTS.

CHEVALIER WIEBEKING of Munich has just arrived in London; his object in visiting this country is to inspect our public buildings. This gentleman is the author of several works on art, the most prominent are those of his Civil Architecture, large folio, illustrated by plates, representing a parallel of the principal buildings in the world, and a large work on hydraulics, arches, bridges, roads, fortifications, &c. The Chevalier is of the Privy Council of the King of Bavaria, and Superintendent of the Public Works in that kingdom.

These voluminous works may be seen at Messrs. Priestley and Weale's. The Marquis of Stafford and Mr. Thomas Hope have already ordered copies of the folios on Civil Architecture, of this firm. We are gratified at every compliment thus paid to foreigners of science, who visit our country.

THE following detached pieces claim a space in our pages, as they are selected from various high authorities, and are introduced in the life of Wilson, every page of which evinces the author's friendly zeal for the cause which he thus generously advocates. Sentiments like these, help to inspire a love for art.

of

"It was, we are told," says the author, "the perusal Richardson's Essay on the Theory of Painting, that

excited the first fondness for his art in Sir Joshua Reynolds, and which so inflamed his mind, that Raffaelle appeared to him superior to the most illustrious names of antiquity or modern times; a notion," says his biographer, "which he loved to indulge all the remainder of his life :"

"Because pictures,' observes the author referred to, are universally delightful, and accordingly made one part of our ornamental furniture, many, I believe, consider the art of painting but as a pleasing superfluity; at best, that it holds but a low rank with respect to its usefulness to mankind.

"If there was, in reality, no more in it than an innocent amusement; if it were only one of those sweets that the Divine Providence has bestowed on us, to render the good of our present being superior to the evil of it; or whether it be or no, to render life somewhat more eligible, it ought to be considered as a bounty from Heaven, and to hold a place in our esteem accordingly. Pleasure, however it be depreciated, is what we all eagerly and incessantly pursue; and when innocent, and consequently a divine benefaction, is to be considered in that view, and as an ingredient in human life which the supreme wisdom has judged necessary.

Painting is that pleasant, innocent amusement; and as such it holds its place among our enjoyments. But it is more, it is of great use, as being one of the means whereby we convey our ideas to each other, and which, in some respects, has the advantage of all the rest. And thus it must be ranked with these, and accordingly esteemed not only as an enjoyment, but as another language, which completes the whole art of communicating our thoughts; one of those particulars which raises the dignity of human nature To the architect this laborious publication cannot fail to so much above the brutes, and which is the more considerbe particularly useful, as it contains perspective views, ele-able, as being a gift bestowed but upon a few even of our vations or plans of the most renowned buildings in various own species. parts of the world, ancient and modern, and in almost every period of the art. To the enlightened scholar, and man of taste, it is likely to be acceptable, as the numerous examples of those structures which are so intimately interwoven with the history of every civilized region, are herein exhibited for his contemplation.

The letter-press descriptions which accompany the plates, being in the German language, will doubtless operate against the sale of this work in England, although the prints are an universal language. If these volumes, however, should be found to interest the collector of works on art, which we think there can be little reason to doubt, we should recommend an abridged translation into English. A publication like this could only be accomplished by great

"The pleasure that painting, as a dumb art, gives us, is like what we have from music: its beautiful forms, colours, and harmony, are to the eye, what sounds and the harmony of that kind are to the ear; and in both we are delighted in observing the skill of the artist, in proportion to it, and our own judgment to discover it. It is this beauty and harmony which gives so much pleasure at the sight of natural pictures, a prospect, a fine sky, a garden, &c., and the copies of these, which renew the ideas of them, are consequently pleasant; thus we see spring, summer, and autumn, in the depth of winter; and frost and snow, if we please, when the dog-star rages. Nor do we barely see this variety of natural objects, but in good pictures we always see nature improved, or, at least, the best choice of it.

We have thus nobler and finer ideas of men, animals, landscapes, &c. than we should, perhaps, have ever had. We see particular accidents and beauties, which are rarely or never seen by us; and this is no inconsiderable addition to the pleasure. "I will add one article more in praise of this noble, de-acting in a crowd, is catching; and the co-relative sentilightful, and useful art, and that is this: the treasure of a nation consists in the pure productions of nature, or those managed or put together and improved by art: now, there is no artificer whatsoever that produces so valuable a thing || from such inconsiderable materials of nature's furnishing as the painter; putting the time (for that also must be considered as one of those materials) into the account, it is next to creation. This nation is many thousands of pounds the richer for Van Dyck's hand, and which is as current money as gold in most parts of Europe, and this with an inconsiderable expence of the productions of nature: what a treasure, then, have all the great masters here and elsewhere given to the world!

implying some provocation sufficient to excite it. A considerable crowd had collected; apology for the violence was useless when it could not avail the sufferer; recrimination would not be listened to when the party aggrieved was incapable of defence. Compassion, like every other feeling timent of resentment against the injustice which had called it forth, was beginning to shew itself in a way which menaced punishment, in a much more summary form than Mr. Martin's well meant acts. "Why don't you kill un at vonce," was vociferated by a host of draymen and coalheavers, accompanied by some very pithy expletives of language. He seemed to listen with as much deference to the natural magistracy of the mob, as to the mandates of the Bench-he lifted the mangled and quivering creature by the hinder legs, and while I turned away, I heard the crashing blow which terminated at once his miseries and his || life.

"How great a variety soever there may be in men's tastes of pleasure, and what unhappy mixtures soever they may make, this will be generally allowed to be delightful. And there is one particular which I will remark, because I believe it is not commonly taken notice of, and this is the vast advantage the sight has above the other senses with respect to pleasure. Those receive it, but it is by starts and flashes, with long insipid intervals, and frequently worse; but the pleasures of the eye are like those of heaven, perpetual and without satiety; and if offensive objects appear, we can reject them in a moment."

"It is agreed on all hands,' observes Mr. Hume, that a delicate and refined taste must always be a desirable quality, because it is the source of all the finest and most innocent enjoyments of which human nature is susceptible. In this decision the sentiments of all mankind are agreed. Whenever you can ascertain a delicacy of taste it is sure to meet with approbation.'t

666 A man of polite imagination,' the author of the Spectator, very justly remarks, 'is let into a great many pleasures that the vulgar are not capable of receiving. He can converse with a picture, and find an agreeable companion in a statue; he meets with a secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows than another does in the possession of them; it gives him a kind of property in every thing he sees, and makes the most rude and uncultivated parts of nature administer to his pleasures, so that he looks on the world, as it were, in another light, and discovers in it a maltitude of charms that conceal themselves from the rest of mankind.‡'"

I AM delighted at this moment with the cry, under my window, "Buy my sweet Primroses," which brings back a flood of recollections of the sunny days of childhood, when I sought them among the dells and thickets of my native place, and which along with the sweetness of the loveliest flower of Spring, are associated with the boundless, careless liberty of that blissful period. How well do I remember the Primrose Crier in the "London Cries,"the very shape of her basket, decked round its edges with her nosegays-and my own triumphant criticisms on the execution of the print, which after all perhaps appeared the very masterpiece of the graphic art, and the little book itself the choicest part of my library. Poor Will Primer, the Bookseller of the Village, I yet see his coaxing look of invitation as I passed his low dark shop, in which he held his treasures-his patient resigned look while I rumpled and turned over his little penny books, examining their gilt and marbled sides, as eager and difficult of choice among their mottled covers, as the most curious Bibliomaniac, among the rare copies of an Elzevir.-I should like to hear any good reason why the "Calls" of every place are so unintelligible; there is either common consent or necessity in this, for the old women of Edinburgh, like their sisters of the metropolis, have an equally incomprehensible jargon. It would not surprise me to find, that many of these calls were of great antiquity, both in point of words, and of the kind of musical intonation in which they are conveyed. The manners of the lower classes of all capitals exhibit less of change than elsewhere, partly from the vanity which persuades them they are models for the country, and partly from the greater population, which as it were prevents a practice from escaping when once fairly settle damong them. The author of "Peveril of the Peak, who with a facility that converts every thing into gold that he touches, describes so happily, the manners of the age in which he has fixed his tale, represents the watermen on the Thames calling out, "Oars, Oars," and holding up In passing along the Strand I saw a small terrier lying in their hand to Young Peveril, after his affair with the Bully the kennel, draggled and covered with mud, and whining in the streets, and the same usages of words and action, most piteously. Its master had (as I was informed by the are at this day observed by the same fraternity. Some of bystanders) reduced it to this condition. In a paroxysm the Cries of London have been lost, because the occupation of rage, he aimed a large paving stone at the poor animal, which they designated has arisen a stage higher, and which was but too well directed, and completely paralyzed quitted the streets for a genteeler workshop. One of the the hinder parts of the wretched creature. It might have characters in Ben Jonson's Play of "Bartholomew Fair," taught a lesson of kindness and forgiveness to any thing ex- is a Corn Cutter, who bawls out, "Have ye any Corns?" cept its brutal owner: even after this barbarous usage, it-and though the necessity for this class of artists, if I may crawled to his feet, and looked up to him as if it would try judge from myself, is the same as ever, yet we would in to reconcile him to himself, for he seemed to feel the indig-vain seek for relief in the present day from a pedestrian nation which his conduct had excited, and to think that the continuance of a determinate air of ferocity in his countenance might be supposed to explain the first outrage, by

SKETCHES FROM THE CAUSEWAY.

THE TERRIER DOG.

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"

Esculapius of this description. In one of the crowded streets of the suburbs, a board painted in glaring characters, announces that "Mr. Speed removes Corns, and all Diseases of the Feet, and Mrs. Speed, undertakes nearly the rest of Human Ills," so that they may very properly divide the practice between them.

BRITISH INSTITUTION, PALL-MALL.

THE GALLERY with a SELECTION of the WORKS

of the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, and English Schools,

CAROLINE AND ZELITE. This day is published in 12mo. price 4s.

is OPEN to the Public from Ten in the Morning until Six in the CAROLINE AND ZELITE, or TRANSATLANTIC

Evening.

Admission, Is. Catalogue 1s.

(By Order) Jons Yorsa, Keeper. The Subscribers to the print from Mr. West's Picture of" Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple," who have not already received their impressions, may receive them upon payment of the remainder of their Subscriptions at the British Gallery, Daily.

DODSLEY'S ANNUAL REGISTER, 1823.

This day is published, price 16s. boards.

THE ANNUAL REGISTER, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature of the year 1823.

London: printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; Otridge and Rackham; J. Cuthell; Longman and Co.; Jeffery and Son; Harding and Co.; Sherwood and Co.; Hamilton, Adams, and Co.; G. and W. B. Whittaker; R. Saunders; W. Reynolds: and Simpkin and Marshall.

Several of the early volumes having been reprinted, complete Sets of the Work may now be had; and the General Index is very

nearly completed.

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By JOSEPH CRADOCK, Esq. M. A. F. S. A. This Tragedy forms the commencement of a Publication that may extend to four octavo yolumes. All original Papers and Letters are consigned to Executors, as the Author is at a very advanced age, and it is his chief wish that nothing unauthenticated may be given to the Public after his decease.

London: printed for the Author, by John Nichols and Son, 25, Parliament Street; sold by Payne and Tass; Cadell; Ridgway; Rudd and Calkin, and all other Booksellers.

Just published.

AN N ACCOUNT of all the PICTURES EXHIBITED in the Rooms of the BRITISH INSTITUTION from 1813 to 1823, with remarks critical and explanatory. Arranged and brought into view, so as greatly to facilitate the knowledge of the different Masters and Schools of Painting, from examples acquired and preserved in the cabinets of the British nobility and gentry.

This publication will be essentially useful to the Professor, the Collector, and the Man of Taste.-A thick Svo. volume, price 98. 6d. Published by Priestley and Weale, Library of Works on Art, No. 5, High Street, Bloomsbury; of whom may be had just imported from the Continent, Rossini's large prints of Roman Antiquities, 101 in number, just received from Rome, price 127. 128.-Piranesi Works, the whole complete, 29 vols. with text, Atlas folio, 130gs. Musée Francaise, 5 vols. Atlas folio, first impressions 115, 108.and Musée Royal, 40 livraisons, first impressions, 637.

This day is published, in post 8vo. price 88. boards.

CASTLE BAYNARD; or The Days of John, an His

torical Romance.-By HAL WILLIS, Student at Law.
Printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave Maria-lane.

NEW GUIDE TO PARIS.

This day was published, embellished with a Map of Paris, and Eight Engravings, price 98. boards, or 10s. 6d. neatly bound, a New Edition of

TALES taken from real Life, dedicated to Col. David Stewart, of Garth, by Anna White Smith

Published by Charles Frederick Cock, 64, Paternoster Row.

THE

Published by WETTON, 21, Fleet-street.

1.

AID TO MEMORY, being a Common Place, Book u on a new Plan, (with an Alphabetical Index,) consisting of upwards of One Hundred and Fifty Heads, such as occur in General Reading, and ample room for other Subjects. Suited alike to the Student, the Scholar, the Man of Pleasure, and the Man of Business. By J. A. Sargant. Ruled with faint Lines. Large 4to. 10s. 6d. fean. 4to. 68. boards.

"Agreeably to the import of its title, this work is designed for general usefulness; which, indeed, its excellent arrangement is calculeted to promote. There is no station in which it may not be attended with essential advantage."-New Times.

2.

THE MEDICAL MAN'S COMMON PLACE BOOK.

A book of this nature has long been a desideratum with medical practitioners and students. There are few men who have not, in the course of their practice, occasionally met with cases of peculiar interest, which, on some future period they have been most anxious to recal to their minds, but without success. A few intelligent practitioners, have already rendered great service to the medical profession, by keeping faithful records of the cases that have been under their inspection, and many important discoveries we are convinced would be made in the nature of the disease, if such a practice were to become more general. The present work is proposed with the view of enabling those gentlemen who are thus desirous of benefiting themselves and the public, to accomplish this desirable object without difficulty and with little trouble; great pains have been taken in the selection of the most useful terms, that occur in the extensive duties of a general practitioner. The leading terms in the Practice of Physic, Surgery, Midwifery, Chemistry, &c. will be found arranged alphabetically, and under each list, a blank space has been left for the insertion of any additional names that may be hereafter found necessary. Such a book kept by a hospital pupil, under the direction of the visiting surgeon and physician, would be a highly useful and valuable work to the students, and its publication be productive of great benefit to society in general.

To shew the use of this work, we will suppose a surgeon meets with a case of bronchocele, in the treatment of which he is eminently successful, and after the patient is discharged, he thinks it might be useful to him at a future period, if he were to make a few memorandums of the symptoms and treatment of the disease, which he does. In the course of a few months, perhaps, a patient with a similar affection comes to him. He then wishes to find the notes he male in the former case, but for want of a properly arranged book he is unable to succeed-had such a one as the present been in his possession, he would have looked in the index, and at the word bronchocele, have marked down the number of the first blank page, and on it have written down bis account of the case. At any subsequent period, however distant, if he had occasion to refer to it, it might have been found, without the slightest difficulty, or loss of time.

In addition to the above, which applies equally to gentlemen in practice, and to medical students attending hospitals and dispensaries; we wish to point out to the latter, the great benefit they would derive, in carefully noting down any circumstance connecteil with their profession, which they may have heard or seen in the course of their day's study. It is a practice much censured by publie teachers, for pupils to take notes during a lecture, as they must

GALIGNANI'S PARIS GUIDE; or, STRANGER'S unavoidably lose one part of the discourse, while writing down

COMPANION through the FRENCH METROPOLIS: containing a full and accurate Description of every Object of Interest in the Capital, &c. To which is pertixed, a Plan for viewing Paris in a Week: also a Comparative Scale of Weights and Measures, and Value of Coins; a Directory of Parisian Tradesmen, &c. Tenth Edition.

Published by G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave Maria-lane, London.
Also, lately published,

NOUVEAU MANUEL du VOYAGEUR; or, the Traveller's Pocket
Companion: consisting of copious and familiar Conversations, in
English, French, and Italian; together with a complete Vocabulary,
&c. By Mr. Boldoni, Secretary Interpreter to the Royal Court of
Cessation, &c. Third Edition, price 6s. 6d. half-bound.'

another. But, if in the course of their daily studies, any thing in Surgery, Chemistry, &c. should particularly strike them, on their return bome, they can set it down in their common place book, marking the page to its proper head in the index, which will enable them to find it with ease, whenever they may have occasion to recur to the subject. This will be productive of great advantage in affording them an opportunity of describing in their own words, the principal points connected with their profession, and give them an excellent opportunity of exercising their memory.

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And Literary Museum:

OR, WEEKLY MISCELLANY OF FINE ARTS, ANTIQUITIES, AND LITERARY CHIT CHAT.

No. XLIII.]

By Ephraim Hardcastle.

A stamped Edition for Country Circulation, postage free, Price Tenpence.
WORKS ON THE FINE ARTS.

[SIXPENCE.

sion of the first production of this group, he was surrounded by Cades, Volpato, Battoni, Gavin Hamilton, Puccini, and many other distinguished artists and critics, who contemThe Works of Antonio Canova, engraved in Outline. By plated the work with silent astonishment, not daring to HENRY MOSES. Prowett, parts 20 and 21. censure what, although at variance with the style then followed, commanded their admiration, and revealed the WE have already directed the attention of our rea-brightest prospects. The embarrassment of the youth at ders to this beautiful publication, and the present arti-this juncture was extreme, and he frequently spoke of it cle will be confined to an account of Canova's bio-afterward, as of one of the most anxious moments of his graphy, contained in the parts before us. life; from this state he was, however, soon relieved, by the It is from friendly and paternal address of Gavin Hamilton exciting the pen of the Count Cicognara of Venice, a noble-him to unite with so exact and beautiful an imitation of man celebrated throughout Europe for his patronage nature, the fine taste and beau ideal of the ancients, of of artists, and his taste and knowledge in art. which Rome contained so many models, predicting at the Canova was born in 1757, at Possagno, a village limits which had been reached by the moderns; but the same time, that by such a course he would greatly pass the situated amidst the Asolani Hills, at the foot of the censure which he overheard from one who stood behind Venetian Alps. His father and grandfather were both him, was more agreeable to the young artist than any direct sculptors of some repute, but the former dying when eulogium: this Aristarchus observed, that from the effect the young Antonio was only three years of age, he finished in this group, they must have been taken from the produced on the observer by the naked forms so carefully was indebted for the rudiments of his art to his grand- life, when in reality they were wholly the result of his sefather, Pasino. He was thence placed under the care vere study of the human form, entirely unassisted by meof the best Venetian sculptors, and from finding a chanical means: this greatly encouraged the young artist, patron, made such progress as at an uncommonly early the mediocrity of his contemporaries, and convinced him that he had already raised himself above age to surprise the connoisseurs :

"From the moment of his arrival at Rome he had commenced a severe and profound study of the great models of "His first effort was a group of Orpheus and Eurydice ancient art, without however neglecting the fruits of his in the natural size, taken at the moment when forgetting previous close observance of nature, the expression of the cruel prohibition, he sees his mistress separated from which he always proposed to himself to make a distinguishhim for ever; a subject which is, perhaps, more suitable to ing quality in his works. He had a profound contempt for the canvas than to marble, from the smoke and flames in all conventional modes in the arts, and was led, even in that which the figures are usually involved. The statue of Eu-early age, by a correct taste, rather than by instruction, to rydice was completed in his sixteenth year, while passing prefer, among the monuments of ancient art, those which the summer at the villa of his patron, having previously were of the age of Phidias, in which the lofty conceptions studied the model at Venice: that of Orpheus was begun of the artist are most closely united with truth of expres the following year, in a study which he then occupied on sion; a decision which has since been fully confirmed by the ground-floor of the inner cloister of St. Stephano. This the exhibition made to Europe by the British Museum, of composition, in soft stone, was publicly exhibited in Venice, the first certain monuments of the arts of that era." on the occasion of the festival of the Ascension, and first awakened the admiration and ambition of his countrymen, who then began clearly to foresee the meridian glories announced by so bright a dawn. These two statues are now preserved in the Falier palace at Asolo."

Previous to the arrival of Canova at Rome, the arts had received a marvellous impulse in the path of improvement. The different Courts of Italy, and the leading cardinals and princes had afforded them great At the age of twenty-three, he was sent by his patron encouragement. and the numerous works published by Falier, to Rome, where the Venetian government al-scholars and critics, together with the discoveries made lowed him a pension of 300 Venetian ducats for three years. Of his progress here, Count Cicognara shall be

the narrator:

at Rome, Herculaneum, and in Greece, all combined to supply great resources to the enterprising artist, and to diffuse extensively the models full of taste and genius. "On his first arrival at Rome, Canova had experienced Canova was one of the first to profit by this, and his the kindest reception from the Venetian ambassador, and had free access to his splendid mansion. This enlightened It is not our intention to trace that career as pointed career was constantly progressing towards excellence. and accomplished nobleman soon becoming impressed with a high sense of the merit and powers of the young sculptor, out by his elegant biographer. It is now too well procured from Venice a cast in plaster of the group of Dee-known to the world, but the following sketch of his dalus and Icarus, which he had executed in that city, for personal character is worth extracting :the purpose of exhibiting it to the artists and connoisseurs at Rome. The house of the ambassador was, indeed, a "The personal habits of Canova were throughout his kind of Athenæum, and frequented by all those most dis-life regular and moderate; he rose early, and immediately tinguished by talents and genius in that city. On the occa- applied himself to his designing or modelling, and after

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