878 SCULPTURE. 
designs for Homer: no damsels of the ballet ever leaped so 
high, or exposed their charms so lavishly, or cut such painful 
capers as the first; no melo-dramatic heroines ever ran so 
madly after the little god, showed such ridiculous affection, 
and such absurd sorrow as the second; and for the third, 
take up Homer himself, or Flaxman, and then say how poor 
were Canova’s notions compared to the poet’s verse and the 
Englishman’s sketches.” From such productions we turn at 
once to his latter works ; his Pauline, his Mother of Buona¬ 
parte, his Endymion, his Recumbent Magdalen—and there 
can be no need to say another word concerning the affecta¬ 
tion of his early, and the comparative simplicity of his 
concluding works. 
Another source of Canova’s partial failure has been 
attributed to too great a desire to rival the antique. He 
aspired to restore the perished wonders of antiquity to their 
pedestals. The names of most of his productions will show 
the bent and aim of his mind ;—Apollo crowning himself; 
Theseus and the Minotaur; Statue of Cupid; Venus crown¬ 
ing Adonis, with Cupid bringing Flowers; a Statue of 
Psyche; Briseis delivered to the Heralds ; Socrates drinking 
the Poison; Return of Telemachus; Death of Priam ■ 
Procession of Trojan Matrons; Dance of the Daughters of 
Alcinous; Socrates pleading before the Judges; Crito 
closing the eyes of Socrates; Cupid and Psyche recumbent; 
Adonis and Venus; Hebe pouring out Nectar; a winged 
Cupid ; Venus dancing with the Graces; Death of Adonis; 
Birth of Bacchus; Socrates saving Alcibiades in battle; 
Cupid and Psyche standing ; Perseus with Medusa’s Head ; 
Creugas and Damoxenus, boxers; Hercules destroying his 
children; Hercules and Lychas; Venus victorious; Venus 
coming out of the bath; Theseus combating the Centaur; a 
Dancing Nymph; Statue of Paris; Statue of Hector; 
Statue of the Muse Terpsichore; the Cymbal Nymph; the 
Garland Nymph; Statue of Ajax ; the Muse Polyhymnia; 
group of the Graces; Recumbent Nymph listening to the 
Lyre of Cupid ; Venus and Mars; Statue of Venus; Statue 
of Endymion; and many more of the same ancient families 
of heroes and gods. 
“ Upon such materials historical accuracy compelled him 
to work, as much as his natural genius permitted him, in the 
antique spirit and character; and that he imagined he was 
working in that manner we have his own boast and the 
reproaches of his brother artists to assure us. When he was 
thinking of what Lysippus or Phidias had done, he was not 
consulting the emotions of his own bosom ; when he was 
seeking to revive anew the demigods of Greece, he was 
casting away sense for the sake of shape: could he feel as a 
Greek felt ?' What was Hecuba to him ? The intense 
nationality of feeling, the genuine ardour with which of old 
poets wrote, orators spoke, and artists modelled, was all past 
and gone; it could neither be inherited nor revived, and the 
Grecian renovations of Canova are the weakest of all his 
productions.” 
It will however be observed by those who examine carefully 
the works of Canova that he has attempted something of an 
union between Italian nature, his own feelings and the 
Grecian antique. He did strive to engraft a tree of a sweeter 
fruit on the old heathen stock; and for such an undertaking 
he had certainly many qualifications. In some few instances, 
as in his Perseus with the Medusa’s Head, his Mars and 
Venus, his Hebe, his Endymion, he more than approaches 
the majesty of ancient sculpture. 
His historical works of a civil and religious kind are not 
his happiest, though the rule has its exceptions. Some of 
the devotional labours of the artist are of very peculiar 
beauty; as the Recumbent Magdalen, in the possession of 
Lord Liverpool, already reverted to. The John the Baptist is 
simple and innocent—though the young prophet wants that 
divine wildness with which the early painters of Italy invested 
him. 
But beautiful as these exceptions are, the true and lasting 
fame of Canova must flow from another source. One class 
of his works faintly reflects the antique, another personifies 
religious feeling; but the third and best class embodies 
Italian life and Italian beauty, and rises into originality of 
thought and form worthy of the fame- of the sculptor. His 
Napoleon, his Pauline and his Madame Buonaparfe, all show 
with what skill he could idealize on the human form—avoid 
a gross and literal copy—extract from it the proportion and 
beauty which the poetry of sculpture requires, yet still keep 
nature for his guide, and never for a moment, from his love 
of the visionary, lose sight of the family character of form 
and face—that distinguishing stamp of intellect which 
nature gave so liberally. The majesty of Napoleon, the 
matron-like gravity of his mother, and the voluptuous beauty 
of his favourite sister are only three natural personations: 
and while we admire the skill and grace of the sculptor’s 
work, we feel assured that we stand in the presence of forms 
which have lived and breathed. 
The French nation, from its vicinity and intercourse with 
Italy, as well as from the friendship which the early kings 
of France cultivated with the emperors of Constantinople, 
always preserved a taste for fine art in that country, and 
supplied the means of its improvement, both in painting 
and sculpture. The large collections of fine Greek manu¬ 
scripts, with their numerous beautiful illuminations, were 
imitated by the French painters, and the nearness of the 
countries to each other, enabled the French artists to study 
sculpture and architecture in Italy, as well as the kings of 
that country to supply their great public works with 
architects and sculptors from Italy also. The natives who 
only distinguished themselves were Pilon, Cousin, and John 
Goujon, whose bas-reliefs on the fountain of the Innocents 
deserve admiration and praise. In them is an union of the 
elegance of Raphael’s school, with the Grecian purity and 
delicacy. The genius and abilities of the people, added to 
national munificence, have kept up a respectable but tame 
school of sculpture in France till the present time. 
The native powers of the Germans, which have contributed 
so largely to modern improvement in arts and letters, have 
made rude attempts in the art of sculpture. Our present 
limits and object will not allow us to produce many 
examples; therefore we shall instance one which w : ould be 
honourable to any nation, in any period. The monument of 
the emperor Maximilian, father of Charles V., stands in the 
church of St. Anthony at Inspruck: it is in bronze, and was 
made by Alexander Collins of Mechlin, the sculptor. The 
idea of this monument is as extraordinary as the effect is 
pathetic. Maximilian lies in his imperial robes upon his 
tomb, elevated about five feet from the ground. There are, 
at the distance of two feet from the tomb, marble steps 
about two feet high. On one step stand eight colossal 
statues of his illustrious relations ; and on the opposite step 
as many more facing them. They represent distinguished 
royal persons from the time of Godfrey of Boulogne, of 
whom he was one. The spectator is awed by this silent and 
imposing assembly, who stand in striking attitudes and 
solemn grief by their relation. The actions are bold and 
forcible ; and the armour is rich and elegant in the highest 
degree. 
There are several other fine statues in bronze, of inrferior 
dimensions, representing German princes, in the same church. 
There is also a most noble monument by this artist in bronze, 
representing St. George, with one foot on the dragon, which 
he has just slain. 
Though it is true that English Sculpture is of very re¬ 
cent growth, in former times our progress was not entirely 
despicable. The Normans introduced to us the religious 
style of sculpture which they had observed, during the 
Crusades, in the churches of the East. In the days of the 
third Henry, the desire to excel seemed universal, and 
many works of true genius adorned our cathedrals. The 
Creation, the Deluge, the Nativity, the Crucifixion and 
the Resurrection, were designed with a feeling at once 
scriptural and imaginative; and statues of apostles and saints, 
sufferings of martyrs, miracles, abbesses, processions of 
priests and pilgrims, and rites and ceremonies of the church 
covered 
