ART.
The god of death has often been represented in art as a hideous, cadaverous looking deity, clad in a winding sheet and holding an hour glass and a scythe. We have a more attractive personification in Canova’s “Genius of Death,” a detail of the tomb of Clement XIII., in St. Peter’s, Rome.
The beautiful, pensive youth is sitting in a quiet, restful attitude holding an extinguished torch. The sleeping lion at his feet adds to the general air of repose.
The Graces.
“Goddesses of Gracefulness.”
“The three on men all gracious gifts bestow
Which deck the body or adorn the mind,
To make them lovely or well favored show;
As comely carriage, entertainment kind,
Sweet semblance, friendly offices that bind
And all the compliments of courtesy;
They teach us how to each degree and kind
We should ourselves demean, to low, to high,
To friends, to foes; which skill men call Civility.”
—Spenser.
STORY.
THREE CHARITIES.
Three sisters, Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, in fair Venus’ train with the “rosy bosomed Hours,” were goddesses who enhanced the enjoyments of life by refinement and gentleness. They were young and modest maidens always dancing, singing or running, or decking themselves with flowers. Their home was on Mt. Olympus where they often danced before the deities. The Greeks believed that labor without gracefulness was in vain, and so Minerva, who presided over the serious business of life, often called in the aid of the Graces. They also assisted Mercury in his capacity of god of oratory.