PAUL KANE, THE CANADIAN ARTIST. 69 



compelled to return to the coast, and abandon the attempt. This 

 failure to accomplish a visit to the most sacred scenes of the ancient 

 historic world, was always a subject of mortifying reflection to him- 

 It was on his return from this unsuccessful pilgrimage that he landed 

 on some part of the African shore ; and so was able to say, on regaining 

 his Canadian home, that he had been in every quarter of the globe. 



Mr. Kane brought back with him, as the fruits of his four years' 

 professional tour, copies of famous |}ictures in the galleries of Venice, 

 Florence and Kome. His mind had been enlarged by observation, and 

 by intimate intercourse with artists trained in the best schools of Europe- 

 A letter of introduction, given to him by an Irish artist, whose 

 friendship he had acquired while at Rome, is addressed to the Right 

 Rev. Dr. Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati, in which the latter is urged by 

 no means to miss the opportunity of seeing Mr. Kane's " admirable 

 copy of Raffaelle's portrait of Pope Paul II." He also copied some 

 of the most prized pictures in the Palazzo Pitti, at Florence ; and on 

 his return, brought with him well executed paintings from Raphael's 

 Madonna in the Pitti Palace, and his portrait of Pope Julius II. ; 

 Leonardo da Vinci's and Rembrandt's fine portraits of themselves, 

 in the Florentine gallery ; Murillo's Madonna, in the Corsini Palace 

 at Rome, and other favourite artistic studies; along with a highly 

 finished copy of Busato's portrait of Pope Gregory XVI. 



Stewart Watson, a well known Scottish artist, appears to have been 

 one of his special friends while in Italy. They returned together from 

 Italy to London, and there for a time shared the same lodgings and 

 studio, "at Mr. Martin's, Russell-street." Another of his brother- 

 artists, and fellow-travellers while in Italy, Mr. Hope James Stewart, 

 thus writes to him from Edinburgh : '^ After London, this place looks 

 like a dead city, and reminds me much of the way you and I felt the 

 quietness of Rome, after our trip to that noisy and favourite place, 

 Naples.'' 



In 1844, Mr. Kane returned to Canada, with all the prestige of a 

 skilled artist, who by his own unaided energy had overcome every 

 obstacle, and achieved for himself opportunities of studying the works 

 of the great masters in the most famous galleries of Europe. He was 

 now to display the same indomitable energy and self-reliance in widely 

 different scenes. In the preface to his " Wanderings of an Artist 

 among the Indians of North America," he remarks : " On my return 

 to Canada from the continent of Europe, I determined to devote 



