Part 33 (1/2)
We enjoyed other evenings of feast and merriment, but none like this one. We were invited to a dinner given by the Italian General Commissioner, which went off most splendidly, but was naturally more dignified. We were all Italians, but not all artists; for, in fact, the greater number were scientific men--and where there are scientific men, all is at an end, and seriousness at once walks in. The imaginative, frisky, and reckless words of the artist do not venture to come out at such meetings; and the talk there gains as much in rhetoric as it loses in living art, sincerity, and unexpectedness.
[Sidenote: AN ADVENTURE WITH A CABMAN.]
We were also invited by his Imperial Highness the Archduke Ranieri to an entertainment, which was most splendid, cordial, and brilliant. The Archduke talked to every one in his own language; and if he expressed himself with the same exactness and propriety to the English, Russians, or Spaniards, as he did to us Italians and to the French, he is really a wonderful polyglot. At this _fete_ something happened to me which proves that the Viennese cabmen are more quarrelsome than ours. This is how it was. I got into the cab at the hotel, and said that I wanted to go to the palace of his Highness Archduke Ranieri, to remain there two hours, and then return to the hotel; and for this the price of six florins (fifteen _lire_) was agreed upon. Having stayed my time at the _fete_, I descended to look for my charioteer. He was not there. To be sure, the cab was there, and the poor beast in harness seemed to be deep in thought or sleeping; but the coachman was not there. He was looked for everywhere, in all the neighbouring beer-houses, but could nowhere be traced. So in a rage I had to go up again, and coming down about half an hour afterwards, I called him, but he was not there. The poor beast stood with his nose nearly on the ground, I do not know whether more from sleepiness or hunger; and I in a rage, as may well be imagined, got inside the cab to wait for him. Finally, after about half an hour the man returned, and I abused him roundly; but it was like speaking to the wall, for he understood nothing, and off he drove. On arriving at the hotel I put the six florins briskly into his hand; he refused to take them, and I could not understand why. The porter of the hotel intervened, and said that the cabman had agreed to wait at the _fete_ for two hours, instead of which I had kept him there three hours. I explained to the porter the whole thing, and what a rascal he was! But not to discuss the matter any longer, I paid even for the hour that I had to wait that _canaille's_ convenience. Really I would have paid anything to have been able to say two or three words after my own heart in German to the miserable scamp.
[Sidenote: MONUMENT TO COUNT LUIGI CAMERINI.]
My duty was now ended. I gave a last look at the beautiful Schiller Platz, where my hotel was, saluted the Academy of Fine Arts, then building, and with open heart, filling my lungs with a great breath of country air, I flew in thought to beautiful Florence, to my family, and to the studies I loved. I plunged into the most comfortable railway carriage that I could find, and never again turned to the right or to the left. I think that I was the first of the Italian jury that returned to our beautiful country.
At this time I was making the monument to Duke Silvestro Camerini that had been ordered from me by his ill.u.s.trious and most n.o.ble nephew, Count Luigi. Senatore Achilli Mauri had first spoken to me of it on his behalf, and had shown me a design by Signor Gradenigo of Padua, in which there were to be two statues that the Count wished me to make. The design did not please me, and I answered that I would make the monument, but that I wished to compose it after my own fas.h.i.+on. The Count was content. I made a design; he saw it, it pleased him, and all was settled in a friendly way by a few frank words, without all those precautions of contract, seal register, witnesses, and caution that are invented by distrust to protect one from rascals. It is thus that honest men deal with honest men; and of such is Count Luigi, and of such by G.o.d's mercy am I, and I can proclaim it loudly in the broad light of the sun. I am certain that, of the many persons who have given me commissions, not one has had any question with me, nor even the slightest feeling of unpleasantness! The thought of this, and the certainty of being able to proclaim it _coram populo_, is to me a consolation so complete and grateful, that it forms, so to speak, my happiness.
[Sidenote: COUNT LUIGI CAMERINI.]
Amongst those who have given me commissions, Count Luigi Camerini has been one of the most courteous--a true friend. Every time that I went to Padua or Piazzola on account of the work I was engaged on, besides the glad welcome that he and his amiable wife gave me, he managed to arrange some excursions for our pastime and pleasure--now to Venice, now to Pa.s.sagno, now to Vicenza, and sometimes even farther; and he pushed courtesy and friends.h.i.+p to the extent of taking us all as far as Turin, on the occasion of the inauguration of Cavour's monument. As I said, to do this, besides being amiable and kind, one must also be rich, and he is rich indeed. I remember that one day, during one of these excursions, we found ourselves in a first-cla.s.s railway carriage with the Princess Troubetzkoi and her husband, Duke Talleyrand. We all talked together more or less about everything--all except the Duke, who gathered himself up in his corner, with his travelling-cap pulled down on his forehead, intent on reading a French newspaper. He had never lifted his eyes on us, so absorbed did he seem in his reading.
I do not know how it was that the conversation fell on the heaviness of the taxes. I am greatly afraid that it was I who started the subject, because on this key I am wonderfully eloquent; I storm about the laws, agents, cas.h.i.+ers, everybody, and everything.
”Let them lay a heavy hand,” I was saying, ”on play, on luxury, on vices, on property, but leave in peace the labour, industry, and talent that are the bonds of civilisation and health, because the public conscience rebels against this.”
[Sidenote: DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT.]
The good Duke did not even move; for him it was as if I was neither in the wrong nor the right. My friend Camerini, perhaps to allay my indignation, quietly smiled and said--
”You are right; certainly these taxes are very heavy. But what can one do about it? One must pay, and that is all----”
”Certainly,” I continued, repeating his favourite word, ”one must pay--and I pay; but it is too much--these taxes are too high.”
”I agree, I agree.... Just imagine that I pay annually in taxes (beyond the indirect ones, you understand), two hundred and fifty thousand _lire_!”
At the mention of this sum the Duke turned slightly towards Camerini, looked fixedly at him a short time over his spectacles, then took them off very slowly, folded them and put them in their case, set aside his newspaper, and entered into a conversation with him that only came to an end when we separated. ”Oh the power of gold!” said I to myself.... Let us return to the monument.
It is composed thus: on the first foundation a great urn, above which rises the base, on which is placed the seated statue of the Duke in a thoughtful att.i.tude, dressed in the clothes he wore, and wrapped in a cloak. At the sides of the urn, which form two semicircles, are two statues. Beneficence is standing and offering money to a youthful workman, who, in an att.i.tude of affectionate grat.i.tude, wishes to kiss the hand that with such loving wisdom has lifted him out of misery, and enn.o.bled him by the sanct.i.ty of labour, so that this payment is only the legitimate recompense of his work. This group represents one of the virtues of Duke Camerini, who made use of his very large rent-roll to alleviate the misery of his fellow-beings, and give them encouragement and work; and certainly no one more than he could feel the usefulness of work, because from being a humble workman (although of a respectable family) he elevated himself to the highest rank of society, and to riches as honourable as they were great. Corresponding to this statue, on the other side kneels Grat.i.tude, who scatters flowers on the urn; and although grat.i.tude is one of the virtues that adorned that great man, as I shall explain hereafter, yet this statue refers to that sentiment of affectionate remembrance by which his nephew, Count Luigi Camerini, wished to honour the memory of his munificent uncle. The lower base is ornamented by a bas-relief, representing Duke Camerini when, during one of the inundations of the Po, an immense population of that desolate country were left without a roof to their heads and without bread, he rescued them, encouraged them, and helped them, giving bread and work to all, ordering the work of new embankments immediately to be undertaken, avoiding most wisely by so doing greater disaster, and saving from misery and hunger that wretched population. This bas-relief is an admirable work of Professor Luigi Ceccon, of Padua; and this, as well as the execution of all the architectural and ornamental parts of the monument, Count Camerini and I intrusted to him.
[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF DUKE CAMERINI.]
[Sidenote: ANECDOTE OF DUKE CAMERINI.]
The moral character of Duke Camerini is worthy of being remembered and honoured. It is certainly not my task to relate his life, but I cannot pa.s.s by in silence a most notable instance in it, the knowledge of which strengthened the study and affection that I put into the modelling and chiselling of this monument. When the youth Silvestro, in the capacity of simple labourer, worked at I know not what improvement of land in the neighbourhood of Ferrara, he used to go during the hour of rest to a small eating-house to recruit his strength with his usual temperance. It happened one day that he found himself without money, and as he was a daily customer, frankly, with an honest man's conscience, he said to the host, ”I will pay you to-morrow.” But this man, who was hard and brutal, answered that ”when one has no money, one should not order anything to eat;” to which the youth was about to reply, when a young gentleman, who happened by chance to be shooting in those parts, and had come in to take some refreshment, seeing the embarra.s.sment of the young labourer and the hardness of the host, tossed a bit of money on to the counter, saying to the latter, ”Take your pay for what this man has eaten here.”
The host took the money and returned the change; but the excellent gentleman said, ”No; give the rest of the money to this youth. He seems to me to have the air of being an honest man, and he can use it another day when his own money fails him.” It was not such a small matter either, for the money he had given to be changed was a golden _Genova_.
Then on one side excuses were made and rest.i.tution offered, whilst on the other a mild but determined insistence, which ended in the shaking of hands and leave-taking. From that day forward Silvestro Camerini had no more need to go on credit, not because the remainder of that piece of gold could place him for ever beyond necessity, but because those insulting and brutal words had been a lesson to him, with his high and n.o.ble spirit, never again to place himself in a similar position.
Camerini went out from that house much moved in spirit and full of grat.i.tude towards the gentleman, whose name he inquired and ever kept in his memory. In the meantime, by good conduct, economy, and work, he was able to save something; and as by nature he had a mind much superior to his condition, he was able to take upon himself the direction of some works, and always advancing in his activity, economy, and good administration, he gradually made a considerable fortune, all of which he put into land. But the n.o.ble gentleman who had so opportunely helped him, either through bad administration, too much liberality, or some other reason, lost his fortune, and was obliged to sell all his lands to pay his debts. One day the last villa belonging to him, and the one he cared most for, was about to be put up to auction; and that day, so full of sadness for him, turned out perhaps the brightest and happiest of his life. Camerini, who had already become rich, bid at the auction for it, and having obtained it, went to the unhappy gentleman and presented it to him. His surprise, joy, and incredulity are more easily imagined than described. He said, ”What is the meaning of this? In what way?
Wherefore? Is it perhaps a rest.i.tution? So much has been stolen from me that----” ”Yes, really,” answered Camerini, ”it is a rest.i.tution, but not of anything stolen.” And he then told him, or rather reminded him, of the youth that he had benefited so many years before. The worthy gentleman at first held back, and wished to refuse the gift; but at last overcome by emotion and admiration, he wept and embraced his friend--a true friend indeed, for all the others he had known in his prosperity had disappeared with it.
[Sidenote: n.o.bLE RESt.i.tUTION.]
This anecdote deserves to be told, because it draws to the life the lovable, grateful, and most liberal character of Duke Camerini. It was told me by Count Antonio Pallavicini of Bologna, the friend and contemporary of Duke Camerini and the other gentleman, whose name, I regret to say, I do not remember. The anecdote that I have just told, and many others that ill.u.s.trated the character of this great man, as well as the n.o.bility and generosity of his worthy nephew, who intrusted to me the execution of this monument, spurred me on and facilitated my undertaking.
[Sidenote: REJECTED OFFERS.]