Giovanni Dupr
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. i OF" Class FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE t UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ARBOR, MICHIGAN PLEASE EXCHANGE GIOVANNI DUPR GIOVANNI Frontispiece. GIOVANNI DUPRE BY HENRY SIMMONS FRIEZE II WITH TWO DIALOGUES ON ART FROM THE ITALIAN OF AUGUSTO CONTI SECOND EDITION Hontion SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET, E.G. 1888 All rights resen>ed 9 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ' THE ' Two Dialogues on Art which form the second part of this volume were published several years ago among the minor works of Augusto Conti, now Professor of Philosophy in the University of Florence, President of the Academy della Crusca, and author of an important series of works, embrac- 1 ing the whole field of philosophy. My attention was first called to the sculptor 1 The following are the titles of these works : i, Storia della Filosqfia (History of Philosophy; published also in French); il Buono nel Vero ; 2, il Bella nel Vero (Esthetics) ; 3, (Ethics) FArmenia delle Cose 4, il Vero nel Ordine (Dialectics) ; 5, Rational Evi- (Cosmology, Anthropology, and Theology) ; 6, denza, Amore, e Fede (Evidence, Love, and Faith). Besides an these, some works of an elementary character, including Elementary Philosophy (by Conti and Santini) extensively used in the schools of Italy. 1A842G iv PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION Giovanni Dupre by the reading of these Dialogues of on Conti. They constitute in fact a valuable essay una cosa Art, theoretical and practical ; stupenda they are called by some of the Italian critics. Having translated them into English for the benefit of some young friends interested in the study of art, and, looking for some brief account of Dupre's life as an introduction, I found, what is very rarely found in the life of an artist, material in his own writings, abundant and interesting, for the complete portraiture of his life and character. And thus what was intended to be a brief introductory notice easily grew into this little volume of Art Biography. Those who may have the patience to read it through will find that it is not, as some of the ' ' book -notices have assumed, a mere epitome of Dupre's Ricordi Biografichi ; but a careful study of ' his art life, not only from these delightful Remi- niscences,' but also from his posthumous letters and papers, as well as from notices of him written by his friends and admirers at the time of his death. The of whole the last part of the Biography is necessarily derived from these latter sources. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION v The book is by no means intended as a substitute for the Ricordi Biografichi of Dupre, now made accessible to English and American readers in the elegant translation of Madame Peruzzi. Indeed, I should feel well repaid for this humble tribute to the memory of an eminent Italian sculptor, at once great in his art, fascinating and instructive as a writer, and simple and pure in character, if it might lead to the more general circulation and appreciation of his own work a which stands alone as the ; Book autobiography of a modern Italian artist, and may be said to' have formed an era in the art literature of Italy. No country, so much visited, is so little known ' ' as the Italy of to-day. Our tourists hurry through the museums and galleries, and survey for a moment the excavated places and remarkable old buildings, but, as a rule, come away with little or no knowledge of Italy as it is. And yet its present movement in all the work of civilisation, whether in politics, in education, in literature, or art, deserves our interest, not less than its achievements in ancient and mediaeval times, and in those of the Renaissance. And it is vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND ED17ION much to be wished, as far at least as regards its language, literature, and art, that this land, still peopled by men of the same blood as Dante and Michelangelo, might share in some reasonable degree the attention so exclusively given in these days to France and Germany. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, July, 1887. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Introduction The father and mother, Francesco and Vittoria, and their influence on the character of Giovanni The child's instinct for art His figures carved in wood for a puppet theatre His attempts at drawing discountenanced by his father Is put to the trade of wood-carving Self-teaching in art studies . Page I CHAPTER II. A fortunate disappointment Beauty of Giovanni's wood-carving Bartolini mistakes it for work of the sixteenth century His wooing and marriage at nineteen . Page 15 CHAPTER III. Becomes a sculptor The prize for his first bas-relief announced to his dying mother The statue of Abel A triumph embittered by the detraction of jealous rivals A statue too perfect to be thought a genuine work of art . Page 26 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. A friend in need The statue of Cain A new departure in Italian art Compared with that of the so-called pre - Raphaelites The Giotto Giovanni is bewildered by learned critics and endangered by flatterers And displeased with the works he executes under such influences His studio visited by the Emperor Nicholas And by a phenomenal genius from America . Page 42 CHAPTER V. Comes back to his first love and faith, or to nature, in his statue of Antonino The brief revolution of '48, and the speedy restoration of the old government Insomnia, interruption of his work, and health recovered by a visit to Naples and Rome His faith in nature confirmed by certain statues of Canova in St. Peter's at Rome Also by the sight of a living 'Venus of Milo' in the Trastevere Periods of development or transition in the lives of artists and as poets, Raphael, Beethoven, Schiller . Page 60 CHAPTER VI. Fruits of his restored faith The Tazza Design for the Wellington monument A visit to London Gets into trouble with the police at the Sydenham Palace An art-study in the midst of an English banquet Ristori, and other Italian friends in London Paris; the villa of Rossini Return to Florence The Ferrari monument The Sappho, and Conti's notice of it Abdication of the Grand Duke in and letters Leopold 1859, Dupre's to him . Page 77 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Florence the capital of Italy Architectural and sculptural adornment of the old churches Aided by English residents Dupre's bas- relief of the Triumph of the Cross made for Santa Croce by order of Sir Francis Sloane The Pieta and the Christ Risen Shattered health, and a second visit to Naples and Rome The beautiful form of a Pompeian girl left moulded in the hardened slime of Vesuvius Art lesson from this Recovery of health At Paris with his daughter Amalia in 1867 Grand medal of honour Reception of Napoleon III. at the Tuileries Meets a would-be patroness Once more at Rossini's villa . Page 94 CHAPTER VIII. Engages to make a portrait bust before knowing the sitter Honour from his native Siena At the exposition of Vienna in 1873 made president of the jury on sculpture German music Returning, completes the monument of Count Cavour Relations to Pius IX. -^-Death of his daughter Luisina And that of his wife, Maria Dupre ...... Page 109 CHAPTER IX. Dupre as a writer and critic Papers read and published at the fourth centennial of Michelangelo's birth in 1875 . Page 131 CHAPTER X. Statues of Pope Pius IX., of Victor Emanuel,and of Raimondo Lullo St. Francis of Assisi modelled in clay Dupre's last sickness, calm and peaceful death Amalia succeeds to the studio The St. Francis executed by her in marble, and unveiled at Assisi on the seventh centennial of the birth of the saint, in October 1882 . Page 145 CONTENTS. DIALOGUE FIRST. The Triumph of the Cross .... Page 165 DIALOGUE SECOND. The Pieta and the Christ Risen .... Page 192 INDEX ....... Page 218 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS GIOVANNI DUPRE Frontispiece. Toface page STATUE OF ABEL. IN THE PITTI PALACE, FLORENCE 36 CANOVA'S MONUMENT TO CLEMENT XIII., OR REZ- ZONICO. IN ST. PETER'S, ROME ... 67 THE TAZZA, FIRST VIEW. IN THE DUPRE STUDIO . 77 THE TAZZA, SECOND VIEW. IN THE DUPRE STUDIO . 79 THE ANGEL OF THE RESURRECTION, FROM THE FER- RARI MONUMENT. IN SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE 87 STATUE OF SAPPHO. IN THE DUPRE STUDIO . 88 BAS-RELIEF OF THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS. ON THE FACADE OF SANTA CROCE, P^LORENCE . 94 THE MONUMENT TO COUNT CAVOUR. IN TURIN . 119 MICHELANGELO'S JULIAN DE' MEDICI, WITH THE FIGURES OF " NIGHT" AND "DAY." IN SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE 131 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Toface page MICHELANGELO'S LORENZO DE' MEDICI, WITH THE FIGURES OF "DAWN" AND "EVENING." IN SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE . 136 MONUMENTAL STATUE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. IN FRONT OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ASSISI . 158 GROUP OF THE PlETA. IN THE CEMETERY OF SlENA 1 92 GIOVANNI DUPRE. CHAPTER I. Introduction The father and mother, Francesco and Vittoria, and their influence on the character of Giovanni The child's instinct for art His figures carved in wood for a puppet theatre His attempts at drawing discountenanced by his father Is put to the trade of wood-carving Self-teaching in art studies. IN walking about the old Tuscan town of Siena you will find on the front of a house in the Via San ' Salvadore the following memorial : This humble abode in which was born Giovanni Dupre, honour of art and of Italy, may teach the sons of the people what height can be reached by the power of genius and of will ;' and in Florence, on a house just above the Fortezza and the grounds of the Pitti Palace, also ' in this inscription : The Municipality of Florence, whose council sat Giovanni Dupre, has placed this memorial on the house in which for twenty years lived the great sculptor, glory of Italy and of art, B GIOVANNI DUPR&.