‘SCULPTURE. 57 
value on his works of that class. These were a Sleeping Venus, a Sleeping 
Adonis, a Descent from the Cross, &c. His masterpieces are the Cupid 
and Psyche (pl. 9, fig. 2) and Hebe ( fig. 1), both in St. Petersburgh; two 
Athlete, and Perseus with Medusa’s head, in the Vatican; Hercules 
dashing Hylas against a Rock, a splendid group, in the possession of the 
banker Torlonia in Rome; Mapoleon with the sceptre and imperial globe 
and a Genius with a crown of palm branch, at Apsley-house, London ; 
Venus Victria, also in a private gallery in England; Venus coming from the 
bath, in the Glyptothek at Munich; the three Graces (fig. 3) and the 
penitent Magdalene (pl. 8, fig. 3), in the Leuchtenberg Gallery at Munich; 
three dancing girls (one of which is given jig. 4); the tomb of Alfieri, 
in the church at Santa Croce at Florence, &c. One of his finest works is 
the monument which Duke Albert of Austria raised to his wife Maria 
* Christina, Duchess of Saxe-Teschen in the church of the Augustines at 
Vienna (pl. 11, jig. 11). Itis entirely of white marble, and represents 
the sepulchral ee of the deceased, in which the mourning people, 
represented by the four ages of life, fenasit the ashes of the beloved princess. 
A lion and a genius recline together on the opposite side of the gate of the 
pyramid, bearing the arms of Austria and of Saxe-Teschen. Aotlics genius, 
accompanied by a winged palm-bearer, designates the pyramid more 
precisely by placing the bust of the princess over the entrance. The 
beautiful and expressive epitaph is, Uxorz optime Albertus. The whole 
monument is executed in the most elegant manner, and breathes the pro- 
foundest sadness: the group to the right is transcendently beautiful. 
Canova has the undisputed merit of having greatly elevated the plastic art, 
and of having labored with all the zeal and earnestness of conviction to give 
it a fixed aim, that of grace and beauty, after the example of the ancients. 
The tendency of his own individual taste led Canova wherever he could, 
to avoid sharp forms; so that he sometimes borders on the feeble and 
affected, and his smooth figures seem almost destitute of bones. He usually 
polished his statues or coated them with a yellowish varnish. He was 
accustomed to model his works, leaving the shaping of the marble to skilful 
workmen, after which he applied the finishing touches himself. 
B. France. 
In France also, a country which in so many respects has derived the 
materials of its cultivation from abroad and afterwards worked them up in 
its own manner, the baneful influence to which the plastic art had been 
subjected in Italy made itself sensibly felt, especially as the French wantonly 
introduced into the domain of art the follies of their code of fashions. From 
the time of Jean Gougeon, who in the year 1550 had revived the taste for 
sculpture in France, and whose Caryatides in the Louvre, in the hall of the 
Swiss, are still celebrated, art had made sure though gradual progress ; yet 
even Germain Pilon (d. 1605), who first succeeded in representing the 
difference of texture in marble, shows mannerism and occasionally inele- 
gance in his works. A comparison of his masterpiece the Three Graces with 
the urn inclosing the hearts of Henry II. and Catharine de’ aaa ys Pl 8, 
