112 Transactions of the American Institute. 



ment of honorable mention by the present and future generation, for 

 having contributed largely to progressive enterprises in the arts of pro- 

 duction. "We want an establishment of ample dimensions to admit of 

 a union of the labors of artists, both in the arts of design and the arts 

 of production, where adventurous genius may find a home, and be 

 free from difficulties like those met by the celebrated Cellina of Rome 

 in the fifteenth century. The historian informs us that he was a work- 

 ing goldsmith, and the beauty of his works consisted in this : That 

 they had the impress of genius so marked upon them that they never 

 could have been designed by one person and executed by another. 

 There was as much art in the finish as in the design. He went from 

 step to step until at length he produced the most magnificent works 

 on the largest scale in marble and bronze. He describes how he con- 

 structed his celebrated statue of Perseus. He went to purchase his 

 wood and saw it brought ; and when he was casting that exquisite 

 statue, which is one of the most admired wonders of art, he met with a 

 most sad misfortune. His furnace blew up, the roof was torn off, and 

 the rain came in torrents upon the fire just the moment the metal 

 was going to be poured in. By his ingenuity and extraordinary con- 

 trivances he overcame the whole chain of accidents, and brought out, 

 almost without a flaw, that most perfect piece of workmanship. And, 

 continues the writer : You may imagine to what a state he was 

 reduced when at the very moment the metal was ready for pouring 

 out, the explosion took place. He had no other resource but to run 

 to his kitchen, as he says, and take every piece of copper, consisting 

 of a large number of porringers and different sorts of kettles, and 

 throw them into the fire, and from this that splendid statue came 

 forth. It is stated of this great artist that on one occasion a surgeon 

 came into his shop to perform an operation on the hand of one of his 

 pupils. Upon looking at his instruments, he found them, as they 

 were in those days, so exceedingly rude and clumsy, that he said, 

 "If you will wait half an hour I will make you a better instrument;" 

 and he went into his workshop and made a most beautifully finished 

 knife. This man was a common workman, yet modeled in the most 

 exquisite manner ; was truly an artist, and at the same time a labor- 

 ing artisan. 



We have many such in our country who are laboring under equally 

 great disadvantages. It js to encourage this talent that we want a 

 great structure, which will be a standing proof of our advancement 

 in civilization, and of desire for the promotion of arts and science, now 

 and hereafter. This is an exceedingly brief view of our labors and 



