110 THE ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE OF CANOVA. BY MISS H. B. MACDONALD. Is this man noble? Is he not, father? If he be not, rend What voyaging amateur lounger has not beheld Canova's celebrated group of "Orpheus and Eurydice," as it stands in the Falier palace in Venice, may consider himself a mere neophyte in the pleasures of admiration. It is one of the most wonderful sculptures of modern Italy; and when we reflect on it in connection with the boyish years of the artist, which at the period of its completion amounted to no more than seventeen, it is with a double feeling of delighted astonishment, as we carry forward our fancy to the almost boundless perfection that in its own peculiar walk the future and riper efforts of such a genius might be deemed capable of achieving. The moment and attitude which he chooses for delineation are when Orpheus, overcome by the desire of beholding his Eurydice, has cast upon her that forbidden regard whereby the condition on which he has regained her from the dominion of Proserpine is infringed. In consequence, she vanishes for ever from his eyes, which the group represents as about to take place; and so strongly is the act depicted in the expression of the female figure, that as we gaze upon the apparently shrinking marble, it is almost with a sensation of agony in anticipation of the next moment seeming ready to withdraw so much beauty from our view for ever. According to his own avowal, Canova had, during a long period, been imbued with the desire to embody this celebrated group; but the ideas which he had first conceived of it were intenser than his con strained powers of expression could resolve, and it haunted him like the indistinct radiance of a his daily occupations, was the burden of his nightly dreams. "There was the dismay of Eurydice's shrinking form, as she caught the forbidden gaze of her lover, which doomed her anew to the eternal shades: the shadowy similitude it assumed as the vanishing is already begun which is to hide her for ever from the light of his eyes, and the sudden despair of him of the lyre-the self-reproach as the conviction flashes on his soul of the indiscretion which causes the wreck of all his hopes, and the overwhelming, almighty love which could not refrain that backward look, involving as it did her ruin and his own." In such terms did Canova describe his conception to the sculptor Julian Bessonico, of Florence, his friend, through the medium of a professional correspondence, and to whom he had been accustomed to confide the projects of his genius, receiving in return all details and movements connected with his darling theme as it flourished in Florence, that great metropolis of the arts of Italy and the world. Bezzonico wrote in reply-"I am much fascinated with your idea, and regret your fruitlessness of success in the attempt to elucidate it. Yet despond not; thy good genius has not vouchsafed thee such a vision for naught, and will give thee strength of hand to perform what he hath bestowed on thy brain of capacity to conceive. In this instance relax not thy services at the shrine of thy art; make every effort, put forth all thy strength, and abundant success will crown thee. For its accomplishment I would beautiful spectre, which his touch vainly strove counsel a more varied study of existing models, to detain. He frequented all the studios and and to this end a visit to Florence would on the galleries of his native land, studying every atti-present occasion abundantly conduce. The intude, noting every expression and living telligence must have reached thee of the grand models, too, in every variety of form and duke's new importation of Athenian marbles, beauty-in the eager hope of culling some hints and they are now being arranged under my difor the composition of his idea. Often had he rection and Farretti's for placement in the gal thought to have seized the similitude he taught, lery. A greater facility would therefore be and would proceed to the framing of his model; afforded thee for inspection and study, privately then working upon it for a few days in dissatis- bestowed as they are, that thou couldst possibly fied mood, he would seize his hammer and dash obtain after their disposal for the use of the the frame into a thousand fragments, seeming to public." close his eyes for ever on the intangible phantom; but then it would return to him in its immortal beauty, and he could not choose but indulge in a renewed pursuit, unavailing though his efforts always proved. It detained him in No circumstance occurring to prevent Canova's compliance with his friend's suggestion, he speedily departed for Florence, transported with the idea of any furtherance for the accom plishment of the design ever uppermost in his thoughts. He was received with great cordiality by Bezzonico, and accommodated through his interest with apartments in the Pitti palacenamely, the residence of the grand duke-where the newly-arrived sculptures had been temporarily removed; his highness, an extensive patron of the arts, being ever willing to obtain the proximity of those connected with them. "It is a goodly scene," said Canova, admiringly, as Bezzonico and he sat, on the evening of his arrival, upon one of the balconies of the palace, watching the sunset over the manygilded domes and columned edifices of the Fair Firenzi, and the golden track of the mazy Arno, as it wound through vineyards and banks of flowers, by the green slope of many a gentle hill, or washing the base of some pinnacled palazzo, swept beneath the shadows of its surrounding groves, till it was lost in the emerald gloom. The view of the rich plain it watered gave in its minutest feature evidence of the most elaborate cultivation and the highest art. Canova continued "I confess myself a great worshipper of the efforts of human skill, and have no sympathy in the fashionable sentiment that would seek to disparage art to the profit of nature. God made the country and man made the town,' repeats celebrity, by way of devotion of the former; yet it rests a doubt with me if he would discover much in the savage waste, the entangled forest, and the swampy river, which the features of such a country would evince if abandoned to the tender mercies of nature, and wanting the beauty-creating arm of man. And methinks it is no disparagement of the Great Author of all to descant thus; for whatever skill of ours to perform, whatever capacity to devise, can we not joyfully and gratefully refer it to Him who chooses to execute his creations of loveliness and utility by means of a human agent, and which performance we denominate lost, often not less wonderfully than he does through the immediate effect of nature and by His own divine hand?" Antonio, you have never loved, and know not the power of living beauty." 66 Except my art, no," rejoined the artist, gaily; "and acknowledge no power of beauty save what pendeth therefrom." "Heaven keep thee in that manner of mind; but thou art on perilous ground in this our court of beauty, where the loveliest daughters of the land look their loveliest, and seek no occupation or glory save reading captive human hearts." "I am far too enamoured of my Orpheus and Eurydice to spare attention for the most fasci nating conception of loveliness ever clothed in human shape; and now, addio till to-morrow, when we meet in the gallery." A long, pillared hall, lighted from above, the walls decorated with ancient basso relievos, with a wilderness of statues extending beyond the boundary of view, like a conclave of assembled divinities, mid whose marble silence a human footfall seemed like desecration, and we have the private gallery of the arch-duke. Canova found himself there early, and was already deep in a bas-relief of Hyperian rising from the sea. He gazed with an artist's enraptured eye on the similitude of the Titan god, as his ray-encircled brow and majestic shoulders appeared above the waves, and on the noble action of his fiery steeds, while they shook the luminous foam from their emerging crests and manes. And so he continued, from one divine specimen of art to another, delighted, almost inspired, as if he had been called to companion with visible manifestations of the inner world of his own soul, and found realized all the beautiful phantoms of his golden dreams. He bethought him how cheerless must be the everyday world whereto he must so soon return-how dull its enjoyments-its dwellers how skilless to fascinate, when the sound of light footsteps passing by changed the current of his ideas. He looked up and saw a female figure, thinly veiled, attended by a single page, bearing a portefeuille and instruments for drawing. There was an unutterable grace in the motion of the figure, which riveted Canova's artistical regards, a no"I maintain yes," said Canova; "there is ability in the carriage of the head which attracted conception of beauty in the mind of the artist surpassing far anything that the forms of earth can evince; and it would half seem to me no Pythagorean fable that the souls of the sons of genius were once inhabitants of a brighter world, whose loved memories they bring back hither, and strive to tell of them mid these darker scenes. Hence we have that intense, superhuman beauty in the marble which no embodiment of flesh and blood ever did exhibit, and which the ancient artists did so well to resolve into the Deity and demigod form, seeing nothing human worthy to clothe their idea. The noise "You talk like an artist, young man," rejoined Bezzonico, “but your remarks apply not equally to all objects of our admiration-the human fon, for instance. Can aught in the marble or the canvas excite a sentiment equivalent to that which the living, glowing human form excites, as it stands glorious with the impress of the creative divinity on its brow, fresh from the hand of nature?" the young man's attention, and irresistibly compelled him to follow her. She stopped before a statue, which appeared to serve her as a subject for sketching; and while the page proceeded to arrange her drawing materials, Canova quietly crept behind a column, that he might watch her unobserved. She was richly, almost royally, at tired: the splendid velvet mantle, a robe of the Indian looms, so gossamer in its texture, as seeming most meet to enwreath the aerial limbs of some fairy queen; the silken slippers, the Moorish bracelet encircling her arm-all, even to the minutest article, were carefully noted by Canova, whose critical ability in the article of costume was perfect. We consider the cultivation of such a taste, both in theory and practice, as no unworthy subject of attention. An elegant and becoming mode of attire is but one of the outward seemings of an innate grace. Where correct principles of taste, and a true love of the beautiful exist, they will as naturally develop themselves in this form as in any other; and for our own part, we confess to a feeling of respect for an individual, well-dressed, similar, though but differing in degree, to that we entertain for a poet or painter, or any other of the high priests in the temple of taste. A duty it is of each of us to promote harmony and beauty in the sphere which our Creator assigns us, and let us not, towards their furtherance, neglect this peculiar department in its apparent insignificance-remembering who clothed the lilies of the field, and endowed with their magnificent hues the birds of heaven, intending that his human creatures should be, too, fairly attired, when he has furnished them with materials to fabricate, and tastes and faculties for the arrangement of these to the most harmonious and effective advantage. Far be it from this to furnish encouragement towards the prevailing passion for dress. Every excellency may be carried beyond its legitimate bound, and none than this more subject to such degeneracy; and let those with whom it forms the principal object of attention, and, as it would sometimes seem, the main necessity of life, remember, that after enfeebling their minds in the pursuit, and filling them with frivolity and vanity, that they have only attained to an excellence in which the humblest butterfly can vie with them as it takes its ephemeral enjoyment amongst the flowers of summer. During our digression, Canova has been with deep interest examining the features of the fair stranger. They were formed on the model of the antique, the line of the forehead and nose sufficiently straight to preserve the classic character, but not so much so as to communicate 66 'that divine contour of the neck-that faultlessness of proportion, that outbreaking of grace from every outline and every curve.' And so he watched, marking every attitude, every swerve of the figure, till the signora gathered up her materials and rose to depart. That his scrutiny had been conducted with any warmer feelings towards its subject than those derived from its connection with his art, it would, of course, be treasonable to suppose; but we doubt if his faith in the power of the marble beauty over the living, and in the superiority of art to nature, was not much on the decline. 66 "If this divine creature could be induced serve me for a model!" thought Canova. "That might be impossible; but could I not contrive it by stealth, if it is that she makes a habit of frequenting this place for purposes of study. To-morrow shall see me convey my sketching apparatus hither and make the endeavour." We grieve to mention that the young sculptor gave no more of his time to the Athenian marbles for the rest of the day, but bent his steps towards a retired portion of the duke's pleasure-grounds, where he was seen to wander through shady arbours and other suspicious places frequented only by nightingales and dreamers about love. On meeting with Bezzonico in the evening, it may seem strange that he did not confide to him his project regarding the new model for his Eurydice, but refused his friend's request that he should join the festivals held nightly at the palace for the entertainment of that luxurious court, urging that the gorgeousness of pleasure should retain little attrac tion for one whose mind was seeking to imbue itself with the purity of art. Bezzonico approved his sentiment, procuring him, however, should he see reason to depart from it, a carte blanche of entrée to all banquetings and entertainments provided during his stay at the ducal residence. The following morning found Canova in the that hard, severe expression which such an out-gallery, where, concealed behind a statue, he line exhibits when preserved to the full. The breathlessly awaited the arrival of his subject. nostril was defined and open, but delicately In due time she appeared, with the same manfine; the lips faultlessly contoured, well-fitting, ner and appurtenances as on the preceding day, and with that firmness of curve as if they had and seating herself, commenced drawing. Now been set into everlasting beauty by the creative was Canova's opportunity. He proceeded with chisel of a Phidius. The forehead was a shade ardour, sketching the head and features in bold, too high, but its defect remedied by means of free outlines, and with a correctness that asthe hair, which was braided round and concealed tonished even himself; but here he was comit in its dark folds. Yet what most struck Ca-pelled to pause, from the impossibility of sketchnova was the expression of the eyes, resulting not so much from their colour or their shades of softness and brilliancy as from their set, if I may so speak, placed, as they were, far apart, and deeply sunken, not appearing so much so beneath the brows as with respect to the line connecting the forehead and nose, communicating an intensity and depth to the expression which, as its effect depended wholly on form, rendered it peculiarly appropriate for the purposes of statuary. "My Eurydice at last!" murmured Canova; ing from the figure before him the attitude which he had conceived for his Eurydice. He first drew her from the position in which she sat, endeavouring to throw the figure, in remodeling, into the desired attitude; but he could not satisfy himself, and began to conceive, that unless he could by some means procure the original to serve him for a model in the proper positions, his attempts upon his Eurydice must be even as heretofore in vain. Meanwhile he perceived that the signora was joined by a third party, proving to be no other than his friend Bezzonico, who appeared to serve her in the capacity of instructor in art, and was then in the act of criticising the sketching attempts she had just made. Canova, in hastily making a motion to withdraw, perceived that he had attracted observation, and thought best to come boldly forward. shall not be condemned to be deprived of it if I retain it for naught else but to look upon its loveliness.' The Lady Ippolyta d'Este blushed slightly as she gazed upon these lovely portrayed featuresthe reflection of her own, but with something of an intenser, more spiritual beauty, as cominu "In good part met," said Bezzonico, address-nicated from the inner world of the portrayer's ing him. “I had been relating to the signora of thine arrival, and she hath but now been signifying her desire for some knowledge of thee as of one in whom we all see the germs of a growing greatness, and destined to achieve new triumphs in the already bright arena of Italian art. The Signora Ippolyta d'Este and my fair pupil is one of our number, and condescends to are in the hopes and occupations of such humble artists as you and myself, and will not be the first instance in Tuscany of a woman and a princess forsaking the pomps and pleasures of her station for the purer and loftier glory surrounding the devotees at the shrine of poetry and art." imagination-yet seemed in no way displeased, which emboldened Canova more fully to explain his design with respect to the embezzlement of the likeness. Ippolyta made no comment; but whatever the young artist could gather from her silence, it was that disapprobation made no part of its cause. He therefore passed on to other subjects of converse; and it may here be proper to state, that towards the close of their long interview, during which Bezzonico had taken himself off-professional subjects or those connected with the fellowship of the society of arts, had very little part either in their meditation or discourse. Canova bowed profoundly, and counted it not the least of honours his profession might procure him—namely, that of presentation to the Signora d'Este. "You must regard me, signor," replied Ippolyta, "as an under-graduate in your school of arts, and too much pleased and profited by the acquaintanceship of such learned proficients as you and my grave Bezzonico here. He has been confiding to me of your proposed group-nay, no treason on Bezzonico's part. Am I not one of your trusty fellowship? and may I not hope that you have discovered among our Athenian importations some new ideas calculated to forward your composition?" Canova was assured by the sweet frankness of her manner. 66 I know of naught," said he, rather bashfully, so capable of furthering its accomplishment as yourself." Meanwhile Bezzonico had stepped aside, and returned bearing the veritable sketch which Canova had so stealthily been making-the unfinished similitude of the Princess Ippolyta d'Este. "A false man! a purloiner!" cried Bezzonico; "and a dexterous one, withal. Here hath he been but two days of our society, and contriveth to possess himself of the most treasured thing amongst us, and the most strictly guarded and the most forbidden-that which all the copyists and modellers in Italy have sighed in vain for, and so long. Behold, signora mia," said he, displaying the likeness, can you recognize this this precious article, besought from you so oftentimes, so perseveringly refused, and thus so adroitly seized as you farthest expected it. Stand forth, purloiner, and we shall constitute this fair and most injured lady judge of you. Confess yourself, and throw you on her mercy." 66 "I have naught to urge with respect to this stolen prize," said Canova, "but a prayer that I Canova was not at this period of his life what would be considered regularly handsome; his figure was too delicate, too undeveloped, with much of that effeminacy which I have often observed to characterize, particularly in early life, those in whose temperaments the imaginative and the sensitive prevail. His face, too, though its features were large and well-defined, was of too soft an expression, particularly about the mouth when it smiled, while with every emotion the colour flushed and faded over his pale cheek, indicating an intensity of feeling with a corresponding feebleness of physical constitution, which, though exquisite in a woman, has been His considered a defect in the opposite sex. gestures were rather overweening, sometimes abrupt, and there was little in his manner of that regulated polish, the result of education received in high places; but he evinced that unstudied, prevailing gracefulness in all he acted or uttered-the leanings and tendencies of his nature breathing outward-that could not fail to possess a peculiar charm for the eyes of one whose experiences of elegance and grace had all been derived from the mathematical etiquette of such a court as that of the Austrian house of Tuscany. The Lady Ippolyta listened to the eloquence of the artist on his favourite theme, and her heart kindled beneath the fervour of his earnest eyes. There was much, perhaps, in the unconstrained ease with which he addressed her, his deep, deferential respect seeming less given to the princess and the star of beauty than to the woman and the genius, which delighted one sickened with the formal and exacted homage an individual occupying her elevated position would not fail to receive, and which she too often felt to be conferred more on her station than on herself. In fact, Ippolyta d'Este had lately found herself becoming actuated with feelings of jealousy towards her rank, and would have given not a little for the power of laying it aside for some period, in order, by dividing them, to set up a rivalship between it and her beauty, and to I prove to her own extefaction the undivided strength of the latter. render mistaken its deeper import; yet this might come of her lofty breeding or the gentle courtesy of her nature, joined to her conscious ness of the disparity of their respective ranks, that she might thus vouchsafe all condescension without peni of lessening the gulf between them. Thus thought Canova- If she gave but one token, one evidence of loving, I should leave her and be happy, and treasure it for the elixir of my future years." But from day to day vainly watched the enthusiastic boy, till his heart beat languidly in the sickness of hope deferred." From this period the hours which Canova omoted to devote to the society of the Princess Ippolyta, were as few as possible. In the Waery, in the studio, in the festival, he was ever by her side; nor did the sufferance of his attentions on the signora's part excite any unumal notice, well known as were her leanings towards those of his class. Bezzonico, indeed,, mentioned ins surprise on witnessing the young artist's frequent attendance on the entertainments in the train of Ippolyta, adding an expression of gratification that he had so soon seen reason to avail himself of the privilege of entrée which had been procured for him. And so days passed on, and the "Orpheus and Eurydice" were almost forgotten. Canova was revelling in the delights of a hitherto untried, and, as it seemed to him, exalted state of being, which, like the hallucina-day tion of somnambulism, quenches in the wearer all memories and predilections common to his former condition, and conforms him to the habits of a new life. Canova loved-devotedly loved--with a hopeless result. He had not left himself sufficient reflection to dream. It was enough for him yet to look into her eyes, to breathe the samne air, to feel, as her low, sweet voice murmured near him, the beating of his heart, like a harp, vibrating to the summer winds. It is a strange luxury, this, of loving; t seems so to quicken and etherealize the whole being, that we feel as if endued with some high spirit-life, whose sharers are capable of a loftier degree of happiness than is the lot of common mortality to bestow. Our emotions come thicker upon us, we are alive to every shade of sensation-a look, a tone, a touch, can transport us into an elysium, that if all the world's happiness unconnected with this our hearts may have experienced were crowded into one moment, it were dark and shadowy to compare. We seem to share all extraneous pleasures, too, with a higher appreciation of their sweetness; the sky and the landscape are reflected in richer colours for our eyes; music to our hearts speaks a deeper language-all objects, all sensations are associated in the mind with the beloved one, who sits like a divinity in the soul, calling to life therein a higher and brighter world. "Methinks," said Ippolyta, addressing him “our court of revels but ill accords with thy temperament, young Canova. Thy sister, whom thou namest to me so oftentimes, would tell the if she now beheld thee, that thy cheek is wate paler and thine eye less gay than on that first when thou wert caught dreaming in the gal lery, fresh from the bowers of thy home." If the glow of too much happiness is som times won at the expense of that of health and youth, then be it so, lady; for the hours have sp very brightly with me, the only shade wh hung over them being that which sometimes saddens a lovely dream-namely, a consthes ness that all will ere while fade away; ! thought well, for I and these happy hours now part." Part!" replied Ippolyta; and an sible pang shot across her countenance. like a light of hope to Canova. Even so, signora. To-morrow I go fir hence; and if I told thee of one who parted that hour with the light of his eyes, who ke the hope of his youth, who relinquished all tha hath sweetness for his life, would it be a fault?" "If you speak of love," replied the princess in an almost faltering voice;" to love can no fault." "The love of the lowly for the high-bornthe love of the heart which is conscious of wealth but its own deep truth-for power, rans. and all that make the pride of life-the dest of the moth for the star!' 66 Nay, Canova, your language lauds thes gifts of this world too highly, unknowing that they make but feeble barriers in the lofte sphere of the affections; for the heart which truly loves and is loved in return, occupies equal path of elevation with its object, as tw stars in the firmament that differ naught from one another in glory." Canova now found this, and for the first time. He was young and ill-trained to conceal his sensations, and the lady Ippolyta well knew she was the goddess of this idolatry. She had seen him flush beneath her eyes, and his hand, if in the Canova had thrown himself at her fee dance or the revel it felt her touch, would trem-" Then blame me not, lady, that I have dared ble like an aspen swayed by the breeze. How to raise myself thus loftily, that I have dared to it fared with her he could scarcely divine. tell thee all I feel for thee-all the throbbings of Women have either greater self-command or this lowly heart; that I will venture to pour feel less violently than men, but certain it all this rich treasure of love-rich only becaus is that it requires strict vigilance to pene- it has won your esteem-and lay it at your feet. trate the secret of a woman's love. She seemed with a proud consciousness that in taking it up to throw no repression on the current of you will possess a costlier treasure than the his devotion, listened with graceful interest to pearls of Ormus or of Ind.” his breathing language, which never in words, indeed, daring to syllable of love, could not "Think not that I am insensible to its value. It is no vain thing, the devotion of such a nature |