Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

polish of the human skin; this is a matter of mere detail, and yet its effects are considerable. A polished surface usually carries with it the idea of hardness; the beauty of the human skin consists in a smooth, elastic softness. We think, therefore, that the very high polish of some of the antient statues, and of thiose of Michael Angelo, and the luminaries of his age, is prejudicial to their effect. Canova chastens the polish of the skin, and relieves it by an increased brilliancy of the drapery and objects. around.

One of the great uses to which the talent of the most eminent' sculptors has been employed since the Christian æra, is the adorning the sepulchres of the dead. We are rather inclined. to think that in times anterior, this department was consigned, if not to very inferior, certainly not to the eminent artists of the day, who seem to have reserved themselves for living greatness, or the shrines of Divinity. Canova has had his full share of this employment; Venice is enriched with several of his monuments, but of this description the best which we have seen is the tomb of Alfieri in the Church of Santa Croce at Florence. Every one who has read the memoirs of this singular man must know something of the Countess d'Albany: neither separation nor time seem to have shaken her devoted attachment; and we know not how she could more appropriately, or more decidedly have honoured the memory of the departed poet, than by erecting his mausoleum by those of the greatest men whom Italy has ever produced. Boccaccio, Galileo, and Michael Angelo sleep here, not to mention Machiavelli, a slandered name, whose tomb bears this short inscription, Tanto nomini nullum par elogium.' The tomb of Alfieri is a large Sarcophagus, surmounted at each corner by a scenic masque; in the centre of it is the medallion of the poet; a single colossal figure, crowned as the antient Cybele, and personifying Italy, stands 'leaning on the tomb, and weeping. There is something in the simplicity of this composition, and the size of all the parts, that is very sublime and imposing; any thing so very simple, and seemingly so common, must suffer by description, but those who have seen the tomb, will consider our praise of it as falling far short of the limits of justice.

[ocr errors]

The Magdalene of Canova we have only seen in a cast, but so good a one, as to strike us very forcibly. She is on her knees, and, leaning backward, her long loose hair falls carelessly on her shoulders and over her breast; her streaming eyes are fixed on the cross, which she holds in both her hands before her, and her speedy departure is announced by the general appearance of wasting and debility, which is in a wonderful manner thrown over her whole form, and made to consist with still remaining

beauty

beauty. This it is clear was the great difficulty which the artist had to encounter, and which few of the celebrated painters, in treating of the same subject, seem duly to have considered; Canova has certainly overcome it; the traces of fastings and vigils, of penances and mental agonies, are all, as they ought to be, forcibly marked, but inherent beauty still remains, and, wasted as her form is, no portion of graceful contour seems to have escaped. There is a little concetto in our authoress' account, but as we know it on the whole to be very faithful, and as we have cited no specimen of her writing, we will give it.

"Genuflessa, anzi sui propri talloni abbandonata, coi capelli sparsi, e dalle lunghe vigilie, e dalle astinenze lunghe indebolita spossata, con l'anima, tutta sugli occhi, e questi fisi tenendo ad una Croce, che sostiene con ambe le mani appoggiate sopra le sue ginocchia, questa meravigliosa figura, mirabile sforzo d'una sublime idea riunisce in sè ad un tratto il tempo passato, il presente, l'avvenire; ciò ch' ella fu, ciò ch' ella è, ciò ch' ella in breve sarà. La sua passata bellezza tuttavia si manifesta nella purità dei bei contorni del suo volto, che pur rimangono intatti, e nella somma regolarità delle ben scelte, ed armoniche sue proporsioni. Con le sue lagrime cocentissime che bruciano gli occhi da cuì escono, e le gote sopra cui cadono, col suo intenso dolore, che laæra l'anima, con la funesta degradazione di tutto il suo individuo ella ci fa conoscere il suo stato presente. L'avvenire finalmente nella vicina sua estinzione, poiche pare veramente, ch' ella sia vicina a spirare l'ultimo soffio della sua misera vita, e che le manchi perfino quel raggio di speme, che lucido brilla in quei miseri istanti, ultimo, e misterioso dono d'un Dio oltre ogni espressione demente." P. 84.

We shall conclude what we have to say with a remark or two on one of Canova's statues, to which we have before alluded, the Hebe. From the very nature of the subject, it bears no comparison with many other of his works, in point of grandeur or sublimity; but we think it by far the most beautiful and most pleasing. We know not that we ever saw any thing to compare with it for lightness and airiness of expression, with the exception of a Pomona among the antiques of the Florentine gallery, which is of much larger size, stepping forward on a foot that Cinderella herself might have envied. The Hebe of Canova is rather under the common size; she has no dress, or even ornament of any kind (excepting the frontlet commented on in a former part of this article) down to the waist, below which, a plain cincture collects, and sustains a slight drapery, and is then tied behind in a careless, but not inelegant knot. The drapery, which rises a very little above the cincture, flounces over it in the most natural manner imaginable, and as the figure is in the attitude of one advancing, floats behind in a light fold or two, and gathers so tightly in front, as to have a transparent appearance. It

5

reaches

reaches only to the knee, and the Goddess stands with one foot advanced on a gently swelling cloud. The right hand, raised on high, holds a golden urn, and the left a cup of the same metal; she seems in the act of pouring from one vessel into the other; and this circumstance, perhaps, affords the only ground of exception that we are aware of, to the conception of the statue. It will have occurred to our readers, that there is some inconsistency in this employment with the rapid motion which both her attitude and drapery imply. To this objection, we confess we have no answer ready; but in the contemplation of her beautiful form, of the composed cheerfulness of her expressive face, and in 'the general character of sprightly innocence, so congenial to her, whom the poetic and fanciful devotion of the Greeks worshipped as the Goddess of Youth, criticism is constrained to be silent.

Our Italian readers will not be displeased at the insertion of the following elegant compliment to Canova, addressed to the Hebe, by Ippolito Pindemonte, one of the most distinguished poets of modern Italy. He has published some translations from Homer and Virgil, and a tragedy Arminio of no common merit.

"Dove per te, celeste ancella, or vassi,
Che di te l'aurea, eterna mensa or privi?
Come degni cangiar gli astri nativi
Con questi luoghi tenebrosi, e bassi ?

O Canova immortal, che indietro lassi
L'Italico scarpello, e il Greco arrivi,
Sapea, che i marmi tuoi son molli, e vivi,
Ma chi visto t'avea scolpite i passi?

Spirar qui vento ogni pupilla erede,
E la gonna investir, che frettolosa
Si ripiega ondeggiando, e indietro riede.

E natura, onde legge ebbe ogni cosa,

Che pietra e moto in un congiunti vede,
Per un istante si riman pensosa."

We trust we shall be excused for detaining our readers so long on a subject, which may almost seem foreign to the purpose of our labours; but the fine arts are among the appropriate ornaments of a great and flourishing empire, and we shall think that' we have done some service, if we stimulate domestic talent, by turning its attention to foreign excellence. It is an unwise, as well as an illiberal patronage, which confines itself to the encouragement of native genius. There is no commerce, in which monopoly is of so fatal a tendency, as in that of the fine arts;

without

without models it may be long, but without rivals it seems almost impossible that we should ever attain to excellence; industry will soon languish, and self-complacency be easily satisfied; but with fair competition and fair encouragement, we have no reason in time to fear a world against us.-Without reproach we may at this day use the words of one of our countrymen, whose merits Italy herself was the first to acknowledge: we are a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit; acute to invent, subtile, and sinewy to discourse; not beneath the reach of any point, the highest, that human ca pacity can soar to."

[ocr errors]

ART. V. The Claims of Dr. Priestley in the Controversy with Bishop Horsley, restated and vindicated, &c. By Thomas Belsham. pp. 104. Johnson.

A Plea for Unitarian Dissenters: in a Letter of Expostulation, &c. By Robert Aspland. pp. 139. Hackney. Johnson.

as

IN uniting these productions in the same paper, we are not merely influenced by the relation in which their authors stand; mighty men of renown" in the sect of which we are informed they are the leaders. Though they pursue their purpose by a different route, the object to which they tend, as menacing our Establishment, is identical. While the one works under the foundation, laid in the remotest antiquity; the other directs his artillery against the superstructure, raised and adorned by our ancestors. The magnitude of their attempts would not, we are conscious, so far compensate for the imbecility of the execution; as to justify us in making their works the object of extended consideration. But the splendor of Bishop Horsley's name still gives importance to the subject, which the restless and meddling confidence of Mr. Thomas Belsham has revived, and still continues to obtrude upon the public notice. And as our attention is principally challenged to the controversy in which he engaged with Dr. Priestley; a review of the claims of these writers cannot be an unacceptable offering to our readers.

To form a just idea of the controversy, and of the pleasing. perplexity into which it wandered under the management of Dr. Priestley, we must keep our view steadily fixed on the different. objects, which the disputants respectively laboured to establish.. The statement of this preliminary point we shall take, without

3

exception

exception or diminution, from Dr. Priestley's last view of the Controversy.

"What I undertook to prove, from what is now extant concerning the state of opinions in early times was, that the faith of the primitive church was Unitarian. On the contrary, Bishop Horsley said that it must have been Trinitarian, because that doctrine appears in the writings of Barnabas and Ignatius." Priestley's Tracts, p. 472.

This object being proposed by the disputants, the weight of authority by which the Unitarian champion carried the question against his Orthodox opponent, is thus stated in "The Claims of Dr. Priestley restated and vindicated, by Thomas Belsham.” upon the whole he had made good his allegations, and particularly, That in his assertion of the perfect Unitarianism of the great body of Hebrew Christians, he was supported by Tertullian, Athanasius, Epiphanius, and above all by the learned and celebrated Origen." Pref. p. iii.

[ocr errors]

Such was the object to be attained; and such the means by which it has been accomplished; to the infinite satisfaction of the Unitarian champions, and the great edification of their readers. But on observing the immense disparity which exists between the testimony of four witnesses, and "what is now extant concerning the state of opinions in early times," it appears at least requisite, that this testimony should be full and consistent. On comparing the means applied, with the end to be accomplished, it seems ne cessary, that the evidence of those witnesses should go directly to the establishment of the point at issue, " that the faith of the pri mitive church was Unitarian." This, however, is so far from being the case, that it is not even pretended. On reverting to the the fundamental question on which Bishop Horsley and Dr. Priestley divided, the curiosity of the matter is, that the witnesses challenged by the latter, when heard fully out, deliver a testimony unequivocally in favour of his opponent. As far as the general testimony of Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius and Epiphanius may be taken, as equivalent or exclusive of "what is now extant concerning the state of opinions in early times;" it admits of no dispute, that they have not merely declared it to be their opinion, but have represented it to be the common opinion of their times*,

* Tert adv. Prax. cap. ii. p. 501. c. sqq. Orig. de Princip. Lib. I. cap. i. § 2. 4. Tom. I. p. 47. sqq. S. Athan. De Decret. Syn. Nicæn. Tom. I. p. 233. Expos. Psalm. Ixviii. Tom. II. p. 1134. d. S. Epiphan. Hær. xxxi. p. 202, b.

that

« EdellinenJatka »