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MONTI, RAFFAELLE. 



. MONTI, VINCENZO. 



318 



services were often asked and given in favour of charitable purposes. 

 His style of preaching in some measure resembled that of his poetry ; 

 he ranted, was affected, and vague ; but his ranting was accepted as 

 earnestness, his affectation as refinement, and his vagueness as a happy 

 generalising. His manners were engaging, and he always acquired the 

 esteem and regard of his congregations, who on more than one 

 occasion gave him substantial marks of their attachment. 



* MONTI, RAFFAELLE, an eminent sculptor, was born in 1818, at 

 Milan. His father, Qaetano Monti, a sculptor of some celebrity at 

 liavcnna, was his first instructor, and he completed his studies at the 

 Imperial Academy of Milan, where his group of ' Alexander taming 

 Bucephalus ' gained the gold medal for the most meritorious work in 

 sculpture. A group, 'Ajax defending the body of Patroclus,' executed 

 in his twentieth year, attracted notice and procured him an invitation 

 to Vienna, where he found many royal and noble patrons. He returned 

 to Milan in 1842, and there also met with considerable success. His 

 first visit to England was made in 1847 in order to superintend the 

 conveyance, among other works, of his statue of the ' Veiled Vestal,' 

 executed for the Duke of Devonshire. This statue being exhibited in 

 London attracted a good deal of notice, and procured him several 

 other commissions. But he returned to his native city, and there took 

 an active part on the popular side in the insurrectionary movement 

 of 1848. Compelled on its suppression to quit Milan he came to 

 England, and fixed his studio in London. He met wit'u exten-ive 

 patronage among the aristocracy and wealthy amateurs, but his name 

 was scarcely known to the general public till th" Great Exhibition of 

 1851, when the room in which his 'Veiled Vestal;' his groups of 

 ' Innocence,' ' Angelica and'Medora,' and ' Two Girls ;' his statues of a 

 'Circassian Slave;' his statuettes of 'Ancient and Modern Love,' 'A 

 Boj catching a Grasshopper,' Ac., proved to be by far the most attrac- 

 tive of those devoted to the Fine Arts. It was of course not on account 

 of their grandeur or refinement that his works were so remarkably 

 popular. With the crowd generally it was the deceptive imitation of 

 'the veil which covered the face of the vestal, yet in its seeming trans- 

 parency permitted the features to be partially seen, that excited such 

 intense admiration. But the works he then exhibited really had many 

 of the higher qualities of art, and so have many of those he has executed 

 siuce ; though in his constant striving after the picturesque he in too 

 many cases fails to avoid the meretricious. When the plans for erecting 

 the Crystal Palace at Sydeuham were fully matured, Si. Monti entered 

 into contracts for the execution of a large number of statues aud 

 fountains which were to .flora the interior and grounds of the palace ; 

 and he was induced in consequence to set up a sculpture manufactory 

 on a large scale. The manufactory proved commercially a failure, 

 and M. Monti became bankrupt; in good time however he obtained a 

 first class certificate, and was enabled to return to the practice of his 

 profession. The great bronze fountains in the north nave of the 

 1 Palace are very favourable examples of Monti's chisel, which is 

 always happiest in subjects which admit of a free, bold, and picturesque 

 treatment. Several of the colossal statues on the upper terrace of 

 the Crystal Palace grounds are by Monti ; and inside the building are 

 caste of some of his best works. M. Monti has delivered in London 

 some courses of lectures on sculpture, which attracted very fashionable 

 audiences. 



MONTI, VINCENZO, was born in 1753, near Fcrrara, in the Papal 

 States, and studied at Fcrrara under the poet MinzonL He gave early 

 indications of poetical genius, as well as a correct taste in refusing to 

 join the effeminate race of sonneteers and courtly versifiers, and 

 resorting to the good old racy style of Dante for his model. From 

 Ferrara Monti repaired to Rome, the capital of his native country, 

 and the general resort of aspiring unprovided provincials who looked 

 for patronage and support. In that metropolis he was fortunate 

 enough to be introduced to Don Luigi Braschi, the favourite" nephew 

 of the then reigning Pope Pius VI., and was retained by that nobleman 

 as his secretary, an office well suited to the habits and disposition of 

 the young poet. Ho assumed the convenient costume of an Abbe 1 , 

 which at Rome was a general passport into society, and did not bind 

 the wean r to any clerical duties or vows. Monti was now in a fair 

 way to favour : he wrote amatory verses for the fair and sacred elegies 

 for the church; was noticed by prelates and cardinals ; was admitted 

 into the Academy of Arcadians; aud had disputes with several 

 members of that pedantic assembly. He was abused and slandered 

 because he took no pains to conceal his contempt for his brother 

 versifiers. He bore the annoyance for some time, but at last his spirit, 

 naturally intolerant, rose under the persecution of mediocrity, and he 

 r' i HI 1 his adversaries with interest in a 'Sonetto colla Coda," or 

 'soonet with a tail,' a satirical composition addressed to Father 

 QUiriuus, in which he draws, in a few angry satirical strokes, a sketch 

 of bis enemies, u.-ing the plainest vituperative*, and a phraseology 

 compared with which Byron's ' English Bards and Scotch Reviewers' 

 might be called a model of urbanity. Alfieri's dramas were at that 

 tiu*e the subject of general discussion in Italy. With all their faults, 

 they bore the stamp of a superior mind, and Monti readily acknow- 

 ledged the power* of the writer, but he disapproved of the abruptness 

 iffiiefsof his diction, and of the frequent inharuioniousness of 

 his Verne. Monti thought, aud with reason, that the language of Italy 

 was fully capable of expressing energy without harshness, and iu order 

 to demonstrate this he composed in 1780 his tragedy of ' Arietodemo,' 



which was received with great applause, and established his literary 

 reputation. The 'Aristodemo' is a strictly classical drama and is a 

 fine specimen of that species of composition. The subject, taken from 

 Pauwanias, is the voluntary death of the king of Messeno, after having 

 concluded peace with Sparta. Remorse for an atrocious though secret 

 crime, the murder of his own daughter, committed by Aristodemus in 

 his younger years, through the force of disappointed ambition, and a 

 gloomy belief in the unavoidable decrees of fate, are the leading- 

 features of the character of the king, which is delineated with fearful 

 and solitary grandeur. Touches of softer feeling appear here and 

 there like wild flowers amidst a barren desert, and serve to relieve the 

 deep shade of terror which pervades the whole drama. Monti dedi- 

 cated his drama to the Duchess Braschi, his patron's consort, who was 

 then the reiguing beauty of Roman fashionable society, and to whom 

 he addressed also other minor compositions, among which is his 

 beautiful allegory of ' Amor Pellegrino.' 



When Pius VI. proceeded to Vienna to remonstrate with Joseph II. 

 on his ecclesiastical reforms, Monti wrote a poem on the subject of 

 that journey, entitled ' II Pellegrino Apostolico,' which, lika all Monti's 

 works, contains great beauties of execution. The tragical death of 

 Hugo de Bassville, the agent of the French republic, who while 

 endeavouring to excite a revolution at Rome was murdered in the 

 streets by the populace, in January 1793, suggested to Mouti the idea 

 of a poem in terza riaia, which he entitled the ' BasvUliana.' Some of 

 its descriptions are truly magnificent, such as that of thn gigautic 

 cherub watching over the Vatican, tho account of the horrors of 

 Marseille, the description of Paris under the reign of terror, and the 

 tragedy of the 21st of January, when the poet introduces the shades 

 of former regicides and of the infidel writers exulting at the execution 

 of Louis, and the phantoms of the ancient Druids rejoicing in the sight 

 of bloody holocausts renewed. Tho poem, which was left unfinished, 

 ends with cauto iv., when war is proclaimed in heaven, and echoed 

 throughout Europe, against France. The ' Basvilliaua' had an astonish- 

 ing tuccess: eighteen editions of it appeared in the course of six 

 months. Fantastic as the conception may appear, it is still considered 

 as Monti's best work. 



Wheu the French armies invaded North Italy and occupied Ferrara, 

 the country of Monti, the poet left Rome and repaired to Milan, the 

 capital of the new Cisalpine republic. Here he was in a new atmos- 

 phere, and he wrote in favour of republics and revolutions : among 

 others he composed a savage song for the theatre of La Scala on the 

 occasion of the festival of the 21t of January 1799, the anniversary 

 of the day of the execution of Louis XVI., an act which he had so 

 violently execrated a few year* before in tbe ' Basvilliana.' About the 

 same time he wrote Ids notorious sonnet against England, beginning 

 " Luce ti nieghi il sol, erba la terra," aud in which, after a shower of 

 invectives and curses, he fortells the day when, stripped of all her 

 ill-gotten wealth, Britain shall be reduced to the primitive occupation 

 of fishing to support herself. 



At the epoch of Suwarrow*s invasion of Italy in 1799, Monti, with 

 many others, took refuge in France, from whence he returned after 

 the battle of Marcngo. On his return he wrote a beautiful song in 

 praise of his native country, which was set to music and became very 

 popular. He also wrote his second political poem, which h styled a 

 'Cantica,' on tho death of bin friend Mascberoni, a man of science 

 and letters, who had died in Franee, in exile, in 1799. It ix a vision, 

 like the ' Basvilliana,' but the sentiments are more placid and humane. 

 There is the same difference between the two as there is between the 

 'Inferno' and the ' Purgatorio ' of Dante. Monti's drama called 

 ' Caio Graccho ' contains some impressive scenes, but the play is 

 altogether inferior to the ' ArUtodemo.' His third tragedy, ' Guleotto 

 Maufredi," founded upon an. incident of the Italian middle ages, is 

 still weaker. 



Monti was appointed professor of eloquence at Pavia ; and in 1805, 

 Napoleon having made himself king of Italy, appointed Monti to be 

 historiographer of the new kingdom. The poet, instead of history, 

 wrote verses ; and in 1806 he published six cantos of a poem in praise 

 of Napoleon, which he entitled ' II Bardo della Selva Nera.' It 

 related the war of 1805, the great battle of Austerlitz, the exaltation 

 of tho Elector of Bavaria (the ally of Napoleon) to the dignity of 

 king, and the marriage of his daughter with Eugene. In this com- 

 position Mouti indulged, as usual, in vituperations against tho 

 Austrians and other enemies of Frauce. But the Austrian* were soon 

 after reconciled to Napoleon, whose interest it was not to allow them 

 to be insulted. The Russians however still remained at war, and 

 Mouti might revile them as " northern barbarians ; " but after the 

 peace of Tilsit, their emperor, having become tbe ally of France, could 

 no longer be abused with impunity. Monti, supple as he was, appears 

 to have been puzzled with these continual transformations of friends 

 into enemies and vice versa, and he left his poem unfinished. He 

 might however still find means of eulogising Napoleon without 

 offending others : accordingly he wrote his praises and those of his 

 brother Joseph ; he wrote on the birth of Eugene's children, and on 

 the second marriage of Napoleon himself: he was, iu fact, court poet 

 to the whole dyuasty. He did not remain unrewarded : he was made 

 a knight of the iron crown aud of tlie legion of honour ; he received 

 another decoration and a pension from Murat ; and he became also a 

 member of the Institute of tho kingdom of Italy. He enjoyed quietly 



