DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66024#0192
io8 ANGELICA KAUFFMANN
lamented by all those who had the honour to be acquainted with him; and to
the literary world in general he was a very respectable man.
“ Great alterations are supposed to happen in Italy tho’ all is mysterious
at present and will be so till after the coronation of the King of Italy, great
festivities will be at Milan. I wish I could entertain you with something
relative of the fine arts. The excavations at Ostia are continued, tho’ nothing
very sublime has yet been found. Several fragments of statues, some columns,
some remains of a Temple, not yet decided to what Deity it was dedicated.
There was something mentioned to increase or add a wing to the Museo
Clementino and to call the addition the Museum Ostiense. The triumphal
arch of Setimus Severo has been intierly discovered down to the antient pave-
ment. The same is now doing with the Arch of Constantine. The govern-
ment has made acquisition of all ancient statues and fragments, who were in
the possession of several sculptors and they are all to be situated as they are
in the Museum where the Inscriptions were placed, and these are to be situated
in another part of the Museum, but all that does not replace the losses
sustained.
“ The Queen of Naples has made an excavation at Pompeii. She discovered
the habitation of some private person ornamented with paintings of which I
saw some drawings. One represented Diana bathing seen by Acteon the
moment he is turned into a stag, with two dogs who begin to attack him.
The other picture is Mars and Venus with two cupids playing with the helmet
and shield. There was a portico with a cortile with a fountain where she
found a small statue of a Hercules with a stag in bronze. The paintings, they
say, are very fine, the figures near as large as life. How many beautiful things
would they find on that spot if excavations were encouraged. My good friend
Canova is constantly producing fine works. Of the Bust he then made of
Bonaparte he has made a beautiful statue, colossal with the spear in one hand
and the globe with the figure of victory in the other. No encumbrance of
drapery nothing but the clamys as the antients used to represent their hero’s.
The mother of the French Emperor is also in sculpture, seated like the Agripina
who was at the Capitol. There is also the statue of the sister of the Emperor,
who is married to the Prince Borghese. Now Canova is preparing to go to
Vienna to erect the fine monument he had finished in memory of the Princess
Cristina. This was in work when you was at Rome. The colossal statue of
the King of Naples is near finished and a beautiful group will soon appear of
Theseus killing the Centaur. These were the chief works of that incomparable
man. There is another genius in sculpture, a Dane, his name is Zoowals,1
he has made a fine statue of Jason which does him great honour. Amongst
the painters there is Camuccini,2 who has done a fine picture, the death of
1 Is this A. K.’s attempt at spelling “ Thorwaldsen ” ? We think it is, as his “ Jason ”
was finished about then, and admired by Canova.
2 Vincenzo Camuccini, painter of Biblical and classical subjects, born and died at
Rome.
lamented by all those who had the honour to be acquainted with him; and to
the literary world in general he was a very respectable man.
“ Great alterations are supposed to happen in Italy tho’ all is mysterious
at present and will be so till after the coronation of the King of Italy, great
festivities will be at Milan. I wish I could entertain you with something
relative of the fine arts. The excavations at Ostia are continued, tho’ nothing
very sublime has yet been found. Several fragments of statues, some columns,
some remains of a Temple, not yet decided to what Deity it was dedicated.
There was something mentioned to increase or add a wing to the Museo
Clementino and to call the addition the Museum Ostiense. The triumphal
arch of Setimus Severo has been intierly discovered down to the antient pave-
ment. The same is now doing with the Arch of Constantine. The govern-
ment has made acquisition of all ancient statues and fragments, who were in
the possession of several sculptors and they are all to be situated as they are
in the Museum where the Inscriptions were placed, and these are to be situated
in another part of the Museum, but all that does not replace the losses
sustained.
“ The Queen of Naples has made an excavation at Pompeii. She discovered
the habitation of some private person ornamented with paintings of which I
saw some drawings. One represented Diana bathing seen by Acteon the
moment he is turned into a stag, with two dogs who begin to attack him.
The other picture is Mars and Venus with two cupids playing with the helmet
and shield. There was a portico with a cortile with a fountain where she
found a small statue of a Hercules with a stag in bronze. The paintings, they
say, are very fine, the figures near as large as life. How many beautiful things
would they find on that spot if excavations were encouraged. My good friend
Canova is constantly producing fine works. Of the Bust he then made of
Bonaparte he has made a beautiful statue, colossal with the spear in one hand
and the globe with the figure of victory in the other. No encumbrance of
drapery nothing but the clamys as the antients used to represent their hero’s.
The mother of the French Emperor is also in sculpture, seated like the Agripina
who was at the Capitol. There is also the statue of the sister of the Emperor,
who is married to the Prince Borghese. Now Canova is preparing to go to
Vienna to erect the fine monument he had finished in memory of the Princess
Cristina. This was in work when you was at Rome. The colossal statue of
the King of Naples is near finished and a beautiful group will soon appear of
Theseus killing the Centaur. These were the chief works of that incomparable
man. There is another genius in sculpture, a Dane, his name is Zoowals,1
he has made a fine statue of Jason which does him great honour. Amongst
the painters there is Camuccini,2 who has done a fine picture, the death of
1 Is this A. K.’s attempt at spelling “ Thorwaldsen ” ? We think it is, as his “ Jason ”
was finished about then, and admired by Canova.
2 Vincenzo Camuccini, painter of Biblical and classical subjects, born and died at
Rome.