The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1823-01-07
fJ;n n Ge8Iitnan q TeAice.

FJsA Il Geaiitnan u Ieaice.
Or. j, g. toe Sent my servant 20
inquire for Cansya's health. Half past
eight, or before nine, he returned / wao
il hopes with Canova's thanks, and tia, he
was better but no--that he was dead =
Canoa a dieL about ten Minutes before eight
O'clock,
"sic transit glofia muidi =
I'sa o'c,ock-Went TO Canova's house.
1'he Professors, they said, were come.-
Canoya's b9Gy was covered, except his
head, aud =. he read WIS 4 Professor my
feeling sio.een covering the mortal part
ofCano'a with plaster OF Paris 10 take a
cast n two seconds rcpressed myindig-
laliOn, recovered any sen5es, and icrctd
myself, with foreigners, to assume tone,
orrather manner, which III accorded with
the genuine and native feelings of my heart
Collee was handed ME, and different sta
TUES were discussed, as if Ganoya himself
had been sleeping. Approaching nearer
the bed saw, and seeing, toah hold Of his
right hand. Death had not vel stffened
the nerves, uor bad the blood become en-
tirafy coluiless His thumb lay concealed
by the position Of the haud. VAS touch
ING il, but could only see ihat cart OF it
winch a"d wrought much miracles. After
tbs, was Ill prepared to re diacytss any -
tins great mars work., and slid gently out
OF Tho room. For few seconds set
down IN the anti-room, next to CGnoYa's
bed room, til tae entrance of different PER
sons roaseJ me 20 a different scene. An
inspector OF tie police entered, with an air
winch said, " am here of right and of
consequence, and rs Il matter Of business"
Sitting down with pen and ink, and taking
out printed form, not forgetting his snuff
box, Which seemed more necessary than
either, he began number Of polite qucs-
tons. No one OF feeling could detail tho
hard, dry skeleton Of this form. One COIN
cldence struck me door opened a ser
want past across the room with doWncast
and LIood shot eyes. ltwas Canoya's own
body servant. When, tapping his box,
heard the police officer repeat Thirteen
different orders think you said % This
question WIS put to the bystanders.
kno" not their names they were people
VI the mouse no connexions, but OF local.
~ alone. The poor servant had passed
on, thinking little and caring less about all
the decorations this world could bestow.--
People began TO enter the anti-room. The
questions oi curiosity i'll suited the scene,
aud | left as quietly as had entered. The
feeling which led Inc there was to 1n0w the
certainty. Canova IS TO be opened to-mOr
row. My servant says that the dust from
the chisfl was the primary, mean distant,
cause of his death but on this point am
net informed.
The ensuing scanty particulars of his
Biography are given in a work by a Lady,
entitled Rome in the Nineteenth Centu-
ry."
Canova was born ut Passagno, a small
village III the Venetian territory, of pa
rents, whose poverty disabled them from
giving to the genius his earliest youth dis
played the usual cultivation or encourage
mcnt. But he rcsolutely struggled with
every difficulty, and dnalIy triumphed over
his Fate.
Al tie age of fourteen, having obtained
the long-Nlshed for boon of small piece
OF marble he scupturcd out Of it two bas-
kets of fruit, which ale now on the stair
Case Of the Palazzo Farsetti, at Venice.
The next year, when only fifteen, he
executed Eprydice, his first statue, in d
species Of soft stone, called Prtro Police,
found in the vicinity of Niceaza and three
years after, Orpheus, both OF which are in
the VI lila FaIier, ner Asolo, a town about
fifteen miles from l'rc,iso.
His first group in marble, that of Dada
lns and icareus, he finished at the age of
twenty, nd brought with HIM to Rome,
where he HaiaIy solicited the patronage of
the Venetian Ambassador, and of many
OF the great bat when almost reduced to
despair, without money or friends, he be-
came known To Sir William Hamilton,
whose d'scernment Immediately SAW the
genus OF the young artist, and whose IL
beraiity furnished him with the means of
prosecuting his studies, aud of establishing
hihs'it as an artist in Rome. To ills, lis
first patron, and to all his family, Canoya
mas through life manifested the warmcst
gratitude.
Through Sir William Hamilton his me-
I'll became known 10 others even the We.
nttan Ambassador was shamed INTO some
oil his yonne couutryman,
and ordered the groupe Of Theseus and
the Minotaur A few years after Canoya
was employed TO execute the tomb Of Gan /.
santlli, IN the Church ofthe IS. Apostol, :
at rome. with these exceptions, all his /
early patrons were Englishmen. Amongst
these were Lord Cawdor, Mr. Latouche,
aud Sir Henry Blundell, for the latter of
whom the Psyche of the earliest and
most beautiful of his works was executed
The most beautiful of all his works, the
enus and Adonis, was iinishe, at the ace
Of six and thirty.
Many are the delightful hours I have
spent with Canoya, both when he has been