LITMIR.BIZ

      “LA FORTUNA,” ACCADÉMIA DI SAN LUCA, ROME

       Guido Reni

      One salon filled with portraits of artists is especially interesting, and that of Thorwaldsen is so feminine in its costume and the parting of the hair, that it is almost inevitably mistaken for that of a woman. Guido’s graceful “Fortuna” is represented as a female figure flying through the air, her long hair streaming in the wind, and the picture recalls to one the Greek legend of Opportunity, as told by Kainos. The legend runs:—

      “ ‘Of what town is thy sculptor?’

      “ ‘Of Lukzon.’

      “ ‘What is his name?’

      “ ‘Lysippos.’

      “ ‘And thine?’

      “ ‘Opportunity, controller of all things.’

      “ ‘But why standest thou on tiptoe?’

      “ ‘I am always running.’

      “ ‘Why, then, hast thou wings on both feet?’

      “ ‘I fly like the wind.’

      “ ‘But wherefore bearest thou a razor in thy right hand?’

      “ ‘As a sign to men that I am sharper than any steel.’

      “ ‘And why wearest thou thy hair long in front?’

      “ ‘That I may be seized by him who approaches me.’

      “ ‘By Zeus! And thou art bald behind?’

      “ ‘Because once I have passed with my winged feet no one may seize me then.’ ”

      From one landing, on the steep narrow staircase of San Luca, opens the Biblioteca Sarti, an art library of some fifteen thousand volumes. The sculpture gallery is now closed and can only be entered by special permission. This is the more to be regretted as it contains the principal collections in Rome of the original casts of the works of Thorwaldsen and Canova.

      The latter-day artists who have been setting up their Lares and Penates in Rome at various periods during the early and into the later years of the nineteenth century have found the Eternal City in strong contrast with its twentieth-century aspects, however it may have differed from the Rome of the Popes. The earlier American artists to seek the Seven-hilled City were painters; and Allston, Copley, and Stuart had already distinguished themselves in pictorial art before America had produced any sculptor who could read his title clear to fame. It is to Hiram Powers (born in Vermont in 1805) that America must look as her first sculptor, chronologically considered, closely followed by Thomas Crawford, who was but eight years his junior, and by Horatio Greenough, who was also born in the same year as Powers, and who preceded him in Italy, but whose work has less artistic value. Mr. Greenough has left a colossal (if not an artistic) monument to his gifts in stately shaft marking Bunker Hill which he designed. Problematic in their claim to artistic excellence as are his “Washington”—a seated figure in the grounds of the Capitol in Washington—and his group in relief called “The Rescue” in the portico of the Capitol, his name lives by his personality as a man of liberal culture and noble character, if not by his actual rank in art. First of the American group in Italy, he was followed by Powers, who sought the ineffable beauty and enchantment of Florence in 1837. Horatio Greenough died in comparatively early life, leaving perhaps the most interesting of his works in a relief (purchased by Professor George Ticknor, the distinguished historian of Spain) “representing in touching beauty and expression a sculptor in an attitude of dejection and discouragement before his work, while a hand from above pours oil into his dying lamp, an allegory illustrative of the struggles of genius and the relief which timely patronage may extend to it.”

      Mr. Powers passed his entire life in Florence. His work attracted great attention and inspired ardent appreciation. In portrait busts Powers was especially successful; and his “Greek Slave,” his “Fisher Boy,” “Il Penseroso,” and “Proserpine” impressed the art-loving public of the time as marked by strong artistic power and as entitled to permanent rank in sculpture.

      Mr. Crawford died young; but his name lives in the majestic bronze statue of “Beethoven” which is in the beautiful white and gold interior of Symphony Hall, in Boston; and his “Orpheus” and some other works claim high appreciation. Writing of Crawford, Mr. Hillard said:—

      “Crawford’s career was distinguished by energy, resolution, and self-reliance. While yet a youth, he formed the determination to make himself an artist; and with this view went to Rome—alone, unfriended, and unknown—and there began a life of toil and renunciation; resisting the approaches alike of indolence and despondency. His strength of character and force of will would have earned distinction for powers inferior to his. Nothing was given to self-indulgence; nothing to vague dreams; nothing to unmanly despair. He did not wait for the work that he would have, but labored cheerfully upon that which he could have. Success came gradually, but surely; and his powers as surely proved themselves to be more than equal to the demand made upon them.”

      On the death of Mr. Crawford, Thomas William Parsons wrote a memorial poem in which this stanza occurs:—

      “O Rome! what memories awake,

       When Crawford’s name is said,

       Of days and friends for whose dear sake

       That path of Hades unto me

       Will have no more of dread

       Than his own Orpheus felt, seeking Eurydice!

       O Crawford! husband, father, brother

       Are in that name, that little word!

       Let me no more my sorrow smother;

       Grief stirs me, and I must be stirred.”

      Thomas Ball, who went in early manhood to Florence, where he remained until when nearly at the age of fourscore he returned to his native land, still continues, at the age of eighty-five, to pursue the art he loves. He has created works, as his equestrian statue of “Washington” in the Public Gardens and his “Lincoln Freeing the Slave” in Park Square, both in Boston; his great Washington Memorial group in Methuen, Massachusetts; his “Christ Blessing Little Children,” and many other historic and ideal sculptures, that seem endowed with his beautiful and winning spirit as well as with his rare gifts. Larkin G. Mead chose Florence rather than Rome for his home and work. His noble “River God,” placed at the head of the Mississippi near St. Paul, as well as other interesting creations, link his name with that of his native land. Randolph Rogers, a man of genius; Rinehart, Paul Akers, and Thompson all died before the full maturity of their powers; Akers at the early age of thirty-six, leaving, as his bride of a year, the poet, Elizabeth Akers Allen, who, under the nom de plume of “Florence Percy,” has endeared herself to all lovers of lyric art. In a monograph on Paul Akers, written after his death, the writer says of his studio in Rome:—

      “Linked with this studio is Hawthorne’s tale of ‘The Marble Faun,’ as Kenyon’s studio was none other than Paul Akers’s. Though Hawthorne in his romance saw fit to lay the scene in the rooms once occupied by Canova, it was in the Via del Crecie that he wove the thread of his Italian romance.

      “Paul

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