658 



ITALY. 



at the Pitti pa.ace, is, perhaps, the most admired, of all the works of Canova. It represents, 

 like the Venus de Medicis, a shrinking female ; she has been surprised, without her dress, and 

 has caught it up, and presses it before her. The statue of the princess Pauline Borghese, is 

 said to be exceedingly beautiful, but it is not permitted to be seen. 



Sculpture, as well as painting, revived with the dawn of liberty, in Italy ; and it attained to 

 its perfection in the republics of the middle ages. The founder of modern sculpture, was Ni- 

 colo Pisano, before the close of the 13ih century ; and, in a succeeding age, his grandson 

 carried the art to Florence, which became its home. In the 15th century, 6 great masters 

 became competitors for the same work, at Florence, the carving of the bronze gates of the 

 Baptistery, which was assigned to Ghiberti, a youth of 22 years, and which, in 40 years, he 

 completed so well, that M. Angelo pronounced the gates to be "worthy of Paradise ;" an 

 admiration that posterity has justified. At this period, Donafello was conspicuous for his own 

 works, and the merits of his pupils. In the 1 6th century, and for about three-quarters of it. 

 Michael Angelo Buonarotti presided over painting, sculpture, and architecture, and left imper- 

 ishable monuments in all. The Last Judgment, is the boast of modern painting. It has more 

 than 300 figures, and the subject is well suited to the terrific genius of the artist. The statue 

 of Moses bears the impress of the same original mind ; and the vast dome of St. Peter's, the 

 most wonderful work of human hands, is the only production of art, that awes the beholder 

 hke the works of nature. 



The sculptures of M. Angelo are few, and the most of them are unfinished. He generally 

 cut boldly into the marble, without the usual models in clay, and with rapid strokes brought 

 forth the form, of which there existed no image, but in the vivid conception of his own mind. 

 His genius was wonderful, but it was not of the kind that attracts human sympathy and feeling. 

 It does not act upon the affections, like the milder power of Raphael. His genius has been 

 called the epic, and that of Raphael, the dramatic, of the art. The best of the imitators of 

 M. Angelo, were Bandinella, and John of Bologna, who was the most eminent of his pupils. 



Sculpture afterwards passed into the affected hands of Bernini and others, who robbed it of 

 simplicity ; and it was losing its graces, and almost its existence, when Canova raised it to its 

 ancient glory. The modern sculptures of Italy, are too numerous even to be named in our 

 limits. They are in churches, palaces, museums, and squares. They are in conspicuous 

 places, and open to the inspection of all. There are, at this time, many sculptors in Italy, 

 inferior, indeed, to Thorwaldsen, whose works adorn the houses of the wealthy in Europe and 

 America. 



Painting was revived at Florence, under the pencil of Cimabue, early in the 13th century. 

 Giotto, Massaccio, and others, advanced it ; but Leonardo da Vinci raised it to a perfection, 

 that has hardly been exceeded. His sweet Mona Lisa, has been surpassed only by Raphael. 

 His Medusa's head, the work of his wondrous boyhood, is one of the chief treasures of the 

 Florentine Gallery. It is painted on a shield, and the terrific snakes, which form the hair, owe 

 their appalling effect to his diligent study of the reptiles, collected from the fens, and kept in 

 his closet. The Last Supper, of Leonardo, is more generally known ; it is multiplied in 

 prints, and especially in the matchless engraving of Morghen. The original is much defaced ; 

 but fortunately, there exist excellent copies. It is in the refectory of the Dominican Convent, 

 at Milan ; it has suffered from damps, neglect, repairs, and wilful violence. Soldiers have 

 used it, as a target ; and the monks, to lessen the distance between the kitchen and the refec- 

 tory, or the spit and the table, have caused a door to be cut through the princial figure, that of 

 the Saviour. About 20 years later than Leonardo, Michael Angelo Buonarotti was born, 

 whose great works, in this art, are the Last Judgment, and the frescoes on the walls and ceiling 

 of the Sistine Chapel. 



Contemporary with the great Florentine, was Raphael, who died on his 37th birthday, be- 

 queathing to the world many works, the perfection of all that is excellent and tender in senti- 

 ment, or glowing in art. In 12 years, he completed the frescoes of the Vatican, and the Far- 

 nesina, and others, amounting to many hundred figures ; designed the Cartoons, and produced 

 numerous oil paintings, which are now scattered over Europe. The most wonderful of all, is, 

 perhaps, the Transfiguration, which was his last work, finished just before his death. The 

 school of Athens, one of his frescoes in the Vatican, is encyclopedic ; it contains 52 figures, 

 admirably grouped, in front of a Grecian portico. Aristotle and Plato are engaged in argu- 

 ment ; Diogenes, an inimitable figure, is lying on the steps, and Socrates is chiding and ex- 

 horting Alcibiades. This, like all the frescoes at Rome, is injured by the damps, and the 



