Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1845-09-18
from Me NJ Y. Express.
INTERVIEW WITH A MONK.
A TRUE WORK OF ART.


IA more exquisite aud noble work Of art
than has probably ever been ia this
country. II is IA Christ on the Cross,
wrought oul Of single piece OF ivory by
u Genocse monk. The circumstances,
attending lis execution aud disposal, and
/ The character Of the old monk by whom
ii was worked, are of s,ngula interest;
/ Passing one evening near the old con
vent Of ST. Nicholas, which stands on
the semicirculnr hill that sweeps around
back OF Genoa-an inmcuse pictu.
iesgue building at one time used ioI bar.
racks by Napoleon, now hall III RUNS
Mr.. L., wandering through the long
dIlapidated corridors, saw, through a
cell door partly ajar, an unusually large
ivory Ggure, lying on table, unfinished.
Rapping on the ghostly Intel, hollow
step came, and the door was shut IN his
face. Mr.. l.. requested entrance. A
husky faint voice refused him "1he
cell was sacred )" and rusty bolt gra-
ted 10 finish the reply. Mr.. l. "want-
| I'd to see tue holy image he was work
ing. "The Divine Christ did not per-
llbit ullu W SuOW Ills DOoI.
MIR. l.. "wished to talk reigiously with
his Father" The monk had $40 desire
to speak Of these things with a stranger"
! After much other ascetic conversation,
Mr.. l.. finally declaring himself an
American deputed to visit all the holy
| Catholic couyenis, the door was at length
cautiously opened. A long and singular
conversation ensued. The monk was
one Of those strange intellectual beings,
| peculiar for centuries to the Catholic
church-a true ascelic, gloomy y-soulod,
thoughtful enthusiast, worthy OF the
times of the Crusaders. His acco.n. c.
the origin and progress OF his sacred
work was extraordinary, and entirely in
Keeping with such a character.
| There had Seen in some gnrret or,
store house IN Genoa, for Yeas, centu-
ries perhaps longer, at least than any
one had remembered or heard-an i'm
mense block of ivory, Of u strange sp
IIpearance Ii was two or thee times as
large as any piece that had ever been
seen, being IN seamless solid beam
over three feet long, fourteen inches IN
! diameter, and wei Ching more than one
hundred aud twenty five pounds. All
the sDtiquarians in Italy who have looked
at it, have pronounced 1t relic Of the
antediluvian world, no modern piece Of
h Ivory bei.g al al 10 he compared with il
either in size or appearance. II was
supposed to have been brought from the
East 10 some Genoese vessel, when thai
state was famed for her maritime enter
prise, and had ships in all parts of the
wsrd. 1t might, indeed, have come
from any region-having been preserved
'Iby some natural ineans-as there are in
several places fragments Of immense
tusks los9llised, which must have be-
! longed to some antedcluvian or pre-.
\ Adamic race of animals that produced
ivory - and, what is more to the poin;,
ii is well authenticated that there was
/ discovered, many years ago, 10 the north
| Of Europe, i,nbedded in century -accu-
mulated ice and thus preserved from
| decay, even 10 the oesh, skin, ard h.!.
an individual OF some extinct genus
very much larger than anymodern kind
Of elephant
! 1t was looked upon, however, az worth
less, except as a curiosity Of unknown
/ rigin-the whole exterior being thor
oughly discolorcd and decomposed, and
tho decay apparently reaching to the
centre From some Indications the
monk is induced TO suppose otherwise.
! lie feels himself moved by sacIed im-
pulse Heaven has provided marvel
lousy - a substance for an image ot the
divine Chrisi-It must iDdeei be made,
\ by exceeding skill aud toll such an one
as was never seen. But how blessed
/ shall he he who shall execute ii Alright -
With hurried eagcrness, the austcre en-
thusiast bore the heavy fragments up the
hill, to his ruined convent beyond the city
! AS He who was To be aIed forth from
The shapclegs mass, once ascondcd his hill
of suffering, with the burden Of his cross
/ lie shu! himself Up iu has celi-away
even from the inquiries Of his fellow
monks-and begun his labor.
\ ~ was necessary Grsi to remove the
dccayed portions The outside was
found 10 Is cf u dull gray, aud porous /;
the parts next To this were denser, and
/ oI dark notified brown il then deep
cnrd mo substance black AS ebony
aud nearly a. hard as glass beyond
I Ilhis there wns nearly an inch ihIck, al
most as hard, but Of curdled yellow. -
y Having with great Labor cut all th,s
away mnch OF it being almost impctyi-
. 'ous 10 instruments of steel "a solid mass
ofivory was reached of pure cream
color, entirely unchanged by ihe action
of centuries, measuring about 80 incSes
in length aud inches IN diameter, and
weighing about 80 pounds.
\ From this substance, WHICH could with
difficulty be em, but slowly etched and
scraped away, the cruciiied Chrlst was
To be wrought. The account which the
monk Of St. Nicholas gave Of hIs long
.
7 VIZ. Powers, the American Sculptor, con.
Ver.ing with Nj Lrstcr ~ Italy about thi-
? ivory statue. stated that there were ~ tho
Cincinnati Museum, with which hn was once
connected, some Gagmtuts Of fossil iuskt
several feet Tong when united, aud ~ Large
/. thfouglput that 40 rUuld only tell hN tltO