COUNT DEL BENINO.
In the meantime, without knowing it, I had a friend, in truth a real friend and benefactor, in Count F. del Benino. Count Benino was an old man of noble and ancient family, and a bachelor, who lived in his own palace in the Borgognissanti, and in precisely that on the Lung'Arno which was designed by the able architect and engineer Professor Commendatore Giuseppe Poggi. Count Benino had taken a liking to me when I was a little boy in Sani's shop. He was a great and very intelligent lover of the Fine Arts, and everything relating to them, and was extremely interested that his house should be a model of good taste, from the modest furniture of the entrance-hall up to his own private cabinet, which was a wonder to behold. The walls were surrounded by bookcases of solid mahogany, his study desk was also of mahogany; the chairs were covered with polished leather, and the floors were of inlaid wood and polished with wax. The books on the shelves were bound simply in leather in the English style. Upon his desk, among his books and papers, were various objects of great value—as, for instance, an antique bronze inkstand ornamented with figures and arabesques, ivory paper-cutters with richly carved handles, portraits in miniature of persons dear to him, and little busts in bronze and figures in ivory set on the cases of the desk, which were divided into compartments to hold his papers. In person he was tall and erect, thin, and with full colour, blue eyes, and perfectly white hair. He spoke with invariable urbanity and facility, not infrequently with pungency, but always with proper restraint. He dressed very carefully, and he liked the conversation and sought the friendship of artists. From the time when I was a youth in Sani's shop and worked for him as a wood-carver, and afterwards while I was working by myself in the Borghese stable, up to the time when I was making the Abel, when he was one of the subscribers to my petition for assistance, and indeed the largest of them, he never lost sight of me, but often came to pay me a visit while I was modelling Abel, and showed himself delighted with it, and sure of my future; and now, perceiving this scandalous plot to put me down, he was indignant. He came to seek me out just at the moment when I was thoroughly discouraged and knew not to what saint to recommend myself, and after saluting me with his customary "Sor Giovanni, che fa?" ("How are you, Mr Giovanni?"), seated himself on the only seat I possessed, and seeing that I was oppressed with thought, though I endeavoured to put a gay face on it, said to me—
COUNT DEL BENINO'S KINDNESS.
GENEROSITY OF COUNT DEL BENINO.
"Oh, don't give up! Courage! Don't you hear how these donkeys bray? What they want is a good cudgel and a hearty beating. Don't think about it. I know what I am talking about. I frequent the studios, and I see and feel what a disloyal and foolish war they are waging. But do not give them time. You must ward off the blow and give them two back. In one studio I heard a fellow, whom I will not stop to name (but names are of little importance)—I heard a fellow, who, with a contemptuous laugh, said, 'The Abel he could cast, because the figure is lying down, but a standing figure he cannot cast. He will not make one this year, nor any other year.' And all the others laughed. This happened only a few moments ago, and I have come now to tell you that it is your duty to silence these snarling curs. So, dear Sor Giovanni, you must make another statue, and this time a standing figure; and ... now be silent a moment. I imagine very well what you will say. I understand it all, and I say to you, Quit this studio, which is not fit to make a standing figure in, and go and look for another at once. Order the stands which you require, think out your statue, and I will pay whatever sum is necessary. You know where I live; come there, and you will find a register on which you must write down the sum that you need, and put your signature to it; and when you have orders and work to do, which will not fail to come, and have a surplus of money, you may pay me back the money that I advance. Say nothing. I do not wish to be thanked,—first of all, because I am not making you a present, and then because I have my own satisfaction out of the proposition I make to you. What I want is to laugh in the face of these rascals who are now deriding you, and me too, because I assert that I have seen you at your work. So you see that I, too, am an interested party. Without spending a penny, we have an advantage, which, with all my money, I could not otherwise get. And now, dear Sor Giovanni, a rivederla. I shall expect you, to give you the money you need. Lose no time, keep up your spirits, and think of me as your very sincere friend.
CHAPTER VII.
THE GRAND DUCHESS MARIA OF RUSSIA AND THE COMMISSION FOR THE CAIN AND ABEL—THE PRINCE OF LEUCHTENBERG AND A PLATE OF CAVIALE AT CAFFÈ DONEY—AN UNUSUAL AMUSEMENT THAT DID SOME GOOD—AGAIN THE GENEROSITY OF COUNT DEL BENINO—BARTOLINI'S HUNCHBACK, AND IN CONSEQUENCE A RETURN TO THE ABEL—BARTOLINI GETS ANGRY WITH ME—EXAMINATION OF THE MATERIALISTIC OR REALISTIC IN ART—EFFECTS OF THE REALISTIC—DO NOT HAVE GIRLS ALONE BY THEMSELVES FOR MODELS—SUBSCRIPTION GOT UP BY THE SIENESE TO HAVE MY ABEL EXECUTED IN MARBLE—A NEW WAY OF CURING A COUGH—SIGNORA LETIZIA'S RECEIPT, WHO SENT IT AND PAID FOR IT HERSELF—ONE MUST NEVER OFFER WORKS GRATIS, FOR THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTED—THE GRAND DUCHESS MARIE ANTOINETTA ORDERS THE "GIOTTO" FOR THE UFFIZI—HAS ABEL KILLED CAIN?—STATUE OF PIUS II.—A FOOLISH OPINION AND IMPERTINENT ANSWER—I DEFY THE LAW THAT PROHIBITS EATING.
