I set myself to work with good will, and threw down the first model of the Bacchino dell'Uva Malata, which I had left without casting in order to remake it according to a new conception that had come to me in Naples. Secure of the road I meant now to take, convinced in my principles, which in substance did not differ from those that had guided me in my first statues, I modelled with great rapidity the small Bacchus, the Bacchante, and a figure of the daughter of the Marchese Filippo Gualterio, lying dead.
I first made the acquaintance of Filippo Gualterio at Siena, in the house of my friend Count dei Gori, in the first revolutionary movement of 1847. He was a thorough gentleman, of careful education, a lover of art, an enthusiast for beauty, a facile writer of the moderate party, not then in favour of the unity of Italy, but attached heart and soul to the theories of Gioberti as set forth in the 'Primato.' Out of pique, on account of some annoyance he had received from the Pontifical Government, of which he was a subject, he exiled himself from his native country, Orvieto, and joined the revolutionary movement of Turin, Florence, and Genoa. Later he took a prominent part in the revolution of 1859, embraced the cause of unity, became Minister, and shortly after died of paralysis of the brain.
PIETRO SELVATICO.
The statuette of the Bacchino so much pleased my friend Pietro Selvatico, who happened to be in Florence precisely at the time when I finished it, that he made a drawing of it as a souvenir in his album. This able writer and distinguished critic and historian of art was also an artist and accomplished draughtsman, or rather he was so until an obstinate disease in his eyes deprived them of that clearness of vision which is necessary to mastery as a draughtsman.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE NUDE—THE STATUE OF DAVID—RAUCH—THE BASE OF THE TAZZA—THE CHAPEL OF THE MADONNA DEL SOCCORSO—SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS FOR SAN LORENZO—THE 27TH OF APRIL 1859—COUNT SCIPIONE BORGHESI—A GROUP OF THE DELUGE—COMPETITION FOR WELLINGTON'S MONUMENT, AND A GREAT HELP.
I began to work, as I have said, upon the figure of the Dead Girl, and upon the Bacchante, two subjects diametrically opposed to each other,—the Bacchante representing the festivity, the dance, the libations, and the weariness resulting from them; the Dead Girl, the innocence of a few short days of life, the repose and the joy of an eternal peace. This is a good method whereby to temper the expression and form of one's works, and I recommend it to young artists, since continually playing on the same string finally begets an annoyance and weariness, which exhibit themselves in the work. If the Bacchante had not been modified by this dead figure, which recorded an innocent life and a serene death, it might have degenerated and lost that beauty which is only to be found in what is good.
THE NUDE.