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Article SKETCHES OF CELEBRATED CHARACTERS. ← Page 2 of 6 →
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Sketches Of Celebrated Characters.
tions of rank were abolished , and every person took his place in the order of his arrival . Hence the young artist found himself at once associated on terms of equality with all that was illustrious and learned in Florence , and formed those connexions and friendships ,- which , if they do hot create , are , at least , necessary to promote and reward ,-superior talents . His leisure hours were passed in contemplating the intaglios , gemsand medalsof which Lorenzo had collected an
asto-, , nishing number ; whence he imbibed that taste for antiquarian researches , which was of essential service to liirti in his more immediate studies , and which lie retained to the close of his life . The history of Michelagnolo forms that of all the arts which he professed . In him sculpture , painting , and architecture , seem to have been personified . Born with talents superior to his predecessorshe
, had also a better fate . Ghiberti , Donatello , Verocchiq , were all men of genius ; but they lived during the gentile state of the art . The light had now risen , and his young and ardent mind , conversant with the finest forms of antiquity , imbibed at its genuine source a relish for their excellence . With the specimens of ancient art the
depositaries of ancientlearning were unlocked to him ; and ofthese , also , he made no inconsiderable use . As a poet , he is entitled to rank high amongst his countrymen ; and the triple wreaths of painting ,- sculpture , and architecture , with which his disciples decorated his tomb , might , without exaggeration , have been interwoven with a fourth . Of the sculptures of Michelagnolo some yet remain in an unfinished state , which strikingly display the comprehension of his ideasand
, the rapidity of his execution . Such are the bust of Brutus and the statue of a female figure , in the gallery at Florence . In the latter , the chisel has been handled with such boldness , as to induce a connoisseur of our own country to conjecture that it would-be necessary , in ¦ the finishing , to . restore the cavities . Perhaps a more involuntary homage was never paid to genius- than that which was extorted from
, the sculptor , Falconet ; who , having presumed upon all occasions to censure the style of Michelagnolo , without having had an opportunity t f inspecting any of his works , at length obtained a sight of two of his statues , which were brought into France by Cardinal Richelieu . ' I have seen Michelagnolo , ' exclaimed the French artist ; ' he is terrific '
The labours of the painter are necessarily transitory : for so are the materials that compose them . In a few years , Michelagnolo will be known , like an ancient artist , only by his Woiks in marble . Already it is difficult to determine , whether his reputation be enhanced or di minished by the sombre representations of his pencil in the Paulin ; and Sixtine chapels , or by the few specimens of his cabinet pictures , now rarefy to be met withand exhibiting only a shadow of their
ori-, g inal excellence . But the chief merit of this great man is not to be sought for in the remains of his pencil , nor even in his sculptures , biit in the general improvement of the public taste , which followed his astonishing productions . If his labours had perished with himself , the change which they effected in the opinions and works of his
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sketches Of Celebrated Characters.
tions of rank were abolished , and every person took his place in the order of his arrival . Hence the young artist found himself at once associated on terms of equality with all that was illustrious and learned in Florence , and formed those connexions and friendships ,- which , if they do hot create , are , at least , necessary to promote and reward ,-superior talents . His leisure hours were passed in contemplating the intaglios , gemsand medalsof which Lorenzo had collected an
asto-, , nishing number ; whence he imbibed that taste for antiquarian researches , which was of essential service to liirti in his more immediate studies , and which lie retained to the close of his life . The history of Michelagnolo forms that of all the arts which he professed . In him sculpture , painting , and architecture , seem to have been personified . Born with talents superior to his predecessorshe
, had also a better fate . Ghiberti , Donatello , Verocchiq , were all men of genius ; but they lived during the gentile state of the art . The light had now risen , and his young and ardent mind , conversant with the finest forms of antiquity , imbibed at its genuine source a relish for their excellence . With the specimens of ancient art the
depositaries of ancientlearning were unlocked to him ; and ofthese , also , he made no inconsiderable use . As a poet , he is entitled to rank high amongst his countrymen ; and the triple wreaths of painting ,- sculpture , and architecture , with which his disciples decorated his tomb , might , without exaggeration , have been interwoven with a fourth . Of the sculptures of Michelagnolo some yet remain in an unfinished state , which strikingly display the comprehension of his ideasand
, the rapidity of his execution . Such are the bust of Brutus and the statue of a female figure , in the gallery at Florence . In the latter , the chisel has been handled with such boldness , as to induce a connoisseur of our own country to conjecture that it would-be necessary , in ¦ the finishing , to . restore the cavities . Perhaps a more involuntary homage was never paid to genius- than that which was extorted from
, the sculptor , Falconet ; who , having presumed upon all occasions to censure the style of Michelagnolo , without having had an opportunity t f inspecting any of his works , at length obtained a sight of two of his statues , which were brought into France by Cardinal Richelieu . ' I have seen Michelagnolo , ' exclaimed the French artist ; ' he is terrific '
The labours of the painter are necessarily transitory : for so are the materials that compose them . In a few years , Michelagnolo will be known , like an ancient artist , only by his Woiks in marble . Already it is difficult to determine , whether his reputation be enhanced or di minished by the sombre representations of his pencil in the Paulin ; and Sixtine chapels , or by the few specimens of his cabinet pictures , now rarefy to be met withand exhibiting only a shadow of their
ori-, g inal excellence . But the chief merit of this great man is not to be sought for in the remains of his pencil , nor even in his sculptures , biit in the general improvement of the public taste , which followed his astonishing productions . If his labours had perished with himself , the change which they effected in the opinions and works of his