It would exceed our limits to enter into a detailed account of the bril liant career of this successful artist, and we may say in brief that after the completion of his Dcedcdus and Icarus his friends procured him a pen sion of three hundred ducats. This relieved him from pecuniary cares and enabled him to cultivate his art independently of the question of money, which has hampered so many following intellectual pursuits. Soon after, he was commissioned to execute the monument of Clement XIV., and thenceforth his career was one of uninterrupted triumph. The above work was followed by the monument to Clement XIII., in St. Peter's, Rome; the ifourning Genius, which forms one of its prominent features, is among the masterpieces of Canova.
The fame of Canova led to urgent invitations to go to St. Petersburg, which he evaded ; but the revolutionary troubles which disturbed Rome in 179S induced him to retire for a time to his native village, Possagno, for which lie appears to have always entertained a strong affection. Owing in part, probably, to the difficulty of getting good marble there, he devoted this retirement to painting, in which art he exhibited considerable talent. After the disturbances were ended, Canova visited the North of Europe, and later went to Paris to prepare the model for the colossal statue of Napoleon, which was completed in 1808. The last journey of Canova out of Italy was in 1815, when he was sent officially to Paris to reclaim the works of art which Napoleon had carried away from Rome. His entry into Rome after his successful mission resembled a triumph.
Many additional honors were bestowed on this distinguished sculptor, including the assignment of a place in the Vatican for his Perseus with the Head of illedusa—an honor not thitherto allowed to any modern work the bestowal of the title of marquis of Ischia and the enrollment of his name in the "Golden Volume" of the Vatican.
Always of a religious turn of mind, Canova in his closing years became deeply devout. One of his greatest works was a colossal figure called Religion ; and he erected at Possagno a church adorned with some of his best works, intending it also to be the depository of his ashes, and there was buried in the year 1822.
There is something pathetic in the way this artist, the companion of kings, through all his splendid career clung to his native village, never once :scorning in the days of prosperity the recollection of his humble origin. Ilis character was marked by modesty, simplicity, and kindness; his habits were regular, his life was unostentatious. His religion was sincere and earnest without bigotry. lie knew not the dark passion of
was ever see in his fellow-artists, and to render assistance, when required, both by advice and by money. He did not found a school in the strict sense of the term, although the influence of his style was widely felt, and still continues to be felt in recent Italian sculpture.
Of the art of Canova it is not easy to speak with entire satisfaction. There is little reason to doubt that he was imbued with a certain degree of genius, but his works differ very widely in merit. Some are vapid and suggest that lie had not entirely emancipated himself from the pernicious influences which followed the injurious example of Beniini; in other cases we see him struggling to imitate the antique without approaching it in excellence, for, unlike his great contemporary Thorwaldsen, lie sought to imitate the style rather than to follow the spirit and principles which inspired Greek art, and which have inspired all great art since then. In attempting sacred subjects, also, Canova, notwithstanding his religious fervor, rarely achieved entirely successful results. At other times, by an unexpected inspiration, he would compose a work so noble that it hardly seemed possible it could be from the same hand. His efforts were direct ed by natural disposition toward the picturesquely attractive rather than to subjects of great power or of quiet grandeur. This is shown in his group of I 'enits and _Idonis 26,fig. 6). In his monuments lie devoted himself to the dignity of simple, thoughtful composition, as is exhibited in the sorrowing Italia at the TOM b ql the Alfieri (jig. 7), executed for the monument of the Alfieri in S. Croce, Florence. One of the most celebrated pieces by Canova is the group called the Three Graces. Although popular and greatly admired, it is inferior to his Perseus, his Empress .11ar,;7 Louisa, and his admirable colossal group, now in the so-called Theseus Temple in the Volksgarten, Vienna, of Theseus slaying the undoubtedly his masterpiece. It is replete with power and invested with a truly classical spirit. Had Canova always modelled in this grand style, he would have been the greatest sculptor since Giovanni da Bologna. As it is, while conceding much to the ability of Canova, we arc compelled to admit that the great success which attended his career was due in part to the surprise lie created coming after such a dearth of good art, and when no one looked for the appearance of a sculptor with genius sufficient to revive the taste for the antique and give inception to the revival of the art in Italy.