Part 17 (1/2)
Now this finger, bent back and dislocated, looked very badly, when compared with the model in plaster, where the fingers were all extended, and pressed upon the serpent's neck admirably. I therefore accepted both these commissions,--the one because it had never been touched by Bartolini's own hand, and the other because I was willing and able to put it straight. However, before touching the statue, I made the Marchese Ala acquainted with the serious defects there were in it, which Bartolini would certainly have remedied had he had the time to finish it; and I asked for his permission (and on this condition alone accepted the work) to cut off all the top of the head with the locks of hair where it had been injured, in order to replace it exactly in the way that Bartolini had first imagined and modelled it, and to add a piece of marble to the hand to remake the forefinger. He consented to these conditions. In order to make sure myself that I was right, before cutting away the defective parts, I had a mould and cast taken from them, that any one might see how they stood before I touched them, and how by taking the original model for my guide, I had replaced them: and I then said (as I now write), that all who were sensible and reasonable understood and were satisfied; as to the others, I do not know what they thought, nor did I care for them then, nor do now. I finished the two statues, copying the original models where these were carefully finished, and interpreting them where they were barely indicated, selecting suitable models from life; and so I satisfied those who trusted in me, and my own conscience.
[Sidenote: STATUE OF INNOCENCE.]
Some time previous to this the Marchese Ala had given me an order for the ”Sleep of Innocence”--a statue of a child sleeping--which I had already executed a long time before for my excellent friend the Marchese Alessandro b.i.+.c.hi-Ruspoli of Siena. I therefore repeated this child in marble by commission of the aforesaid Marchese Ala; but being rather changeable, he afterwards declared to me that this work did not entirely satisfy him, although it was conscientiously done, and that he should take it only because he had engaged to do so. I answered that I wished my works to be taken because they were liked, not because they were ordered, and begged that he would not speak of it again. He thanked me, and promised to give me another order for portraits of his three pretty little children; but subsequently I heard nothing more about it. One day, being in Turin, and finding myself at Vela's studio, where I had gone to pay him a visit, I saw a very graceful little portrait-group, full length, such as that able artist knew how to make and is in the habit of making. I asked, ”Who are these pretty children?”
[Sidenote: THE MARCHESE ALA.]
”They are the children of Marchese Ala,” replied Vela. ”It is already some time since he ordered this work, but he has not yet put in an appearance. I have written him so many letters, to which I have received no answer, that I don't know what to think.”
I then recounted to him what took place about my little Putto, and the promise he had made of giving me an order for the little group. Vela answered that he was astonished and annoyed; but as the commission had been given to him, and the model was in plaster, he begged me to speak to the Marchese in order that he might be able to finish the work. I do not know whether Vela ever did put the group into marble.
As regards myself and compensation for the affair of the Putto, which had been left hanging for so many years, he took my Bacco della Crittogama; but as the Marchese was subject to very long periods of melancholy that prevented his thinking about anything for a good while, I heard nothing more on the subject, until one day Count Arese, to whom I began to speak about this affair, said to me--
”Leave the matter to me. Write me a letter giving me an account of this affair, and I will send you the money. I have business relations with the Marchese Ala, and will send him your receipt, and there will be an end to it.”
[Sidenote: STATUETTES OF PETRARCH AND LAURA.]
I did as he said, and was satisfied. What a pity it is that that most n.o.ble gentleman was so often afflicted by such a malady! He was and is one of the most intelligent and generous patrons of art. The first Italian and foreign painters and sculptors had co-operated to make his house splendid and enviable for its works of art.
As I have already said, Demidoff kept these statues just as Bartolini had left them, and placed them in his villa of San Donato. One evening after dinner, as we were walking together through its magnificent apartments, he stopped in one of the little sitting-rooms and said to me--
”Your little statuettes of Dante and Beatrice would look well here on small pedestals in the corners; but there ought to be four. And you may complete the number, by making a Petrarch and Madonna Laura, if you like.”
”I should like to do so.”
And I made these other two statuettes. At present I do not know who has them; they were sold at Paris a few years ago, together with a great many other works of art belonging to the Prince.
The dinners that the Prince gave in that magnificent and enchanting house were most splendid. I met there, besides strangers that I do not speak of, Matas, the Prince's architect, Baron Gariod, my good friend Professor Zannetti, Prince Andrea Corsini, and that dear son of his, young Amerigo. One evening we were playing billiards together, and having finished our game of _carolina_, he said to me--
”Come away; let us take a turn through the rooms;” and looking at and talking about his statues of Pradier, Bartolini, and Powers, the stupendous Fiamminghi, the Ca.n.a.lettis, t.i.tian, Greuze, the arrases in the large hall, the columns of malachite, remarkable both for their size and finish, and a thousand other objects of exquisite taste and great cost, the young man's eyes sparkled with joy and enthusiasm, and looking me steadily in the face, he said--
[Sidenote: DEATH OF DON AMERIGO.]
”I am going away soon, you know, to Spain. On my return, I want to do great things, and you must help me. I want a house that shall not be inferior to this.”
I replied, ”If you desire, you can have one even more beautiful. I know the suite of rooms in your palace, and the masterpieces of art in your gallery. With the riches you possess, and the will that is not wanting, you might, as I have said, surpa.s.s even this enchanting abode.”
A short time after this, he came to my studio to say good-bye to me.
Dear young man! with a pure heart and open mind, an enthusiast for the beautiful, and beloved by all, he went away, and not one of us saw him again. He died in a foreign land, where he had gone to bring away his bride.
Bartolini's statues being finished, I made a bas-relief of Adam and Eve by commission of Cavaliere Giulio Bianchi of Siena; after which I retouched in wax the pedestal of the Table for its casting in bronze, and in the meantime prepared to model the statue of Sant'Antonino for the Loggie of the Uffizi. From this time forth things began to go more evenly and liberally with me, and fears of falling back into poverty disappeared by slow degrees. Already the rent of my studio, which was not small, was no longer a weight to me, as by sovereign decree the studio which had been left by Professor Costoli on his promotion to the presidency of the Academy after Bartolini's death was given to me. The statuettes of Beatrice and Dante of themselves alone almost supplied enough for the daily wants of the family, as I always had one or two of them to make at a time. I think I have made about forty of them, and one of them deserves comment.
[Sidenote: THE COUNT OF SYRACUSE.]
Before the Princess Matilde, who was married to Demidoff, left for Paris and was separated from her husband, the Grand d.u.c.h.ess of Tuscany ordered my Beatrice, with the intention of presenting it to that lady. The divorce having ensued, she did not give it to her, and the little statue remained for some time at her Highness's, and afterwards she gave it to her brother, the Count of Syracuse, who used to amuse himself by working in sculpture. This sculptor-Prince, without the slightest improper intention, but rather from a sort of good-natured, easy-going way, used to keep this statuette of mine alongside of his own, and it sometimes happened that persons praised him for it; and he must have felt not a little embarra.s.sed to clear up this _quid pro quo_.
It appears that sometimes, perhaps because this annoyed him, he made matters so far from clear that the statuette pa.s.sed off as his own work.