THE SCULPTOR'S CAREER.

III. RUINED FOR AN ARTIST.

FLAXMAN had been married but a few weeks, when one day he returned home to his young wife, full of sadness at heart. There was a cloud on his brow, so unusual, that she at once proceeded to inquire into the cause. Flaxman sat down beside her, took her hand, and said, with a smile

“Ann, I am ruined for an artist!"
"How so, John? How has it happened,

and who has done it?"

"It happened," he replied," in the church, and Ann Denham has done it! I met Sir Joshua Reynolds just now, and he told me, point-blank, that marriage had ruined me in iny profession.'

Nonsense, John; it is only one of Sir Joshua's theories. He is a bachelor himself, and cannot understand nor judge of the quiet satisfaction and happiness of married life." "Oh! he firmly believes it, I can assure you. Sir Joshua thinks no man can be a great artist, unless he visits Rome, and educates his taste by a contemplation of the great models of antiquity. He is constantly telling the students at the Academy that if they would excel, they must bring the whole powers of their mind to bear upon their art, from the moment they rise until they go to bed."

wife of Flaxman's. The artist was, in the course of his life, fortunate beyond most men in the friendships which he formed with estimable women; but his wife stood higher than them all in his estimation; for she was friend, fellow-student, companion, comforter, and wife, all in one. Like him, Ann Flaxman had a fine taste for art; she also knew something of Greek, and was well skilled in French and Italian. Withal, she was 3 frugal, well-managing wife; and could keep her own kitchen and parlor as tidy as she did her husband's studio. She could knit and mend as well as draw, and cook a Yorkshire pudding as deftly as she could read a passage from Racine or Anastasio. Her household was a model of neatness and taste, and there always seemed to reign within it a devout quiet and perfect tranquillity.

Patiently and happily this loving couple plodded on during five years in that humble little home in Wardour Street; always with the long journey to Rome before them. It was never lost sight of for a moment, and not a penny was uselessly spent that could be saved towards the expenses of the visit. They said no word to any one about their project; solicited no aid from the Academy: but trusted only to their own patient labor and love to pursue and achieve their object. During this time, Flaxman exhibited but few works. He could not afford marble to experiment on original works; but he obtained occasional commissions for monuments, by the profits of which he maintained himself. One of his first works of this kind was the "But he says no man can be a great artist monument in memory of Collins the poet, unless he studies the grand style of art in now placed in Chichester Cathedral. His the magnificent works of Michael Angelo and monument to Mrs. Morley, for Gloucester Rafaele, in the Vatican. Now, I," drawing Cathedral, was greatly admired, and tended up his small figure to its full height to increase his reputation and extend his busiwould be a great artist."

"What! and leave no room, no corner, for the affections? Don't believe him, John; don't be cast down. You are a true artist, and you will be a great one."

ness.

He also continued to supply the Messrs. "And you shall be! You, too, if that be Wedgwood, of Etruria, with designs for necessary, shall study at Rome, in the Vat-pottery-ware, many of which have since been icun. I will never have it said that Ann revived, and a considerable number of them Denham ruined you for an artist." were exhibited at the Great Exhibition in "But how?" asked Flaxman - "how to 1851. About this time, Flaxman executed get to Rome?" for the same gentleman a set of designs of chessmen, of exquisite beauty, which are worthy of being more extensively known.

-

"I will tell you how. Work and economize. If you will leave the latter to me, we shall soon be able to spare the means for a visit to Rome and together, mind! Ann Denham must go and look after her ruined artist."

Five years passed, and Flaxman set out, in company of his wife, for the Eternal City. Like all other artists who visit Rome, he was astonished by the splendor of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, and the surpassing beauty and grandeur of the works which they contained. He could not fail greatly to profit by his visit. He applied himself eagerly to study, laboring meanwhile, like most other poor artists who visit Rome, to maintain himself by his daily labor. It was at this time that he composed his beautiful designs illustrative of Homer, Eschylus, and Dante, for English purchasers; and we rejoice to see that

the illustrations of Homer have recently been | Ann Flaxman." Beneath this was the repaccessible to all classes of purchasers.* He resentation of two hands clasped as at an was, doubtless, greatly aided in the composi- altar, and a garland borne by two cherubs tion of these designs by the numerous antique carried the following inscription"The bas-reliefs on Greek and Etruscan vases and anniversary of your birthday calls on me to be sarcophagi, which he had now an opportunity grateful for fourteen happy years passed in of studying. But though he thus satiated your society. Accept the tribute of these his fancy with the spirit of the days of old, sketches, which, under the allegory of a he threw his own inventive genius into his knight-errant's adventures, indicate the trials works. He created, and did not copy. The of virtue and the conquest of vice, preparatory one was to him far easier and infinitely more to a happier state of existence. John Flaxdelightful than the other. man, Oct. 2, 1796." The designs in the book were forty in number, two on each page. They are still preserved, and are so full of grace and beauty they tell the story of trial, endurance, faith, hope, and courage, so well, that we wish some adventurous publisher would undertake now to give them to the world. We are of opinion that Flaxman's remarkable genius- his imaginative and artistic qualities are more vividly exhibited in these and others of his designs than even in his most elaborate sculptured works.

What does the reader think were Flaxman's terms for executing these rare and beautiful illustrations of Homer? Fifteen shillings apiece! This was the price paid for them by Mrs. Hare Nayler. But Flaxman needed the money, and he worked for art's sake as well. The money earned by the sale of his designs enabled him meanwhile to find bread and raiment for himself and wife, and to go onward in the prosecution of his darling studies. But the Homeric designs brought him more than money. They brought him fame and éclat, and friends and patrons began to flock to his studio. The munificent Thomas Hope commissioned him to execute the group of Cephalus and Aurora, which now adorns the fine collection of his son in Piccadilly. About the same time the Bishop of Derry (Earl of Bristol) ordered of him a group from Ovid's Metamorphoses, representing the fury of Athamos; but the price paid for it was such as to leave the artist a loser. The Countess Spencer commissioned the set of designs after Eschylus, at a guinea each, and Mr. Hope took the set illustrative of Dante at the same price. These works brought more fame than money; still Flaxman could live, his loving wife ever by his side.

Some years thus passed, when Flaxman resolved to return to England, to show that wedlock had not " ruined him for an artist." Bonaparte had struck one or two of his terrible blows on the further side of the Alps, and the English were all crowding home. But before he left Italy the academies of Florence and Carrara recognized Flaxman's merits by electing him a member.

of

Soon after his return to England, and almost before he had settled down into full employment as a sculptor, he paid one of the most tender and delicate tributes to his wife that artist ever paid. It was his own way acknowledging the love and the admirable qualities of his wife, and proud indeed she must have been with the gift as of the giver. He got a quarto book made, containing some score of leaves, and on the first page he drew the design of a dove with an olive-branch in her mouth, guardian angels on either side, with the words written underneath - "To * In the National Illustrated Library. Ingram, Cooke, and Co.

Flaxman often used to say in jest before his friends "Well, Sir Joshua was wrong in his prophecy, after all. You see wedlock did not ruin me for an artist. Did it, Ann ?" Ann's reply may easily be imagined.

The sculptor, on his return from Rome, took up his abode at No. 7, Fitzroy Square, Buckingham Street, and he remained there until his death, thirty years after. His small studio, in which so many noble works were elaborated, still exists. His fame had preceded him to England, and he found no want of lucrative employment now. While at Rome, he had been commissioned to execute his famous monument in memory of Lord Mansfield, and it was erected in the north transept of Westminster Abbey shortly after his return. It stands there in majestic grandeur, a monument to the genius of Flaxman himself-calm, simple, and severe. wonder that Banks, the sculptor, then in the heyday of his fame, exclaimed when he saw it- "This little man cuts us all out!"

No

When the bigwigs of the Royal Academy heard of Flaxman's return, and especially when they had an opportunity of seeing and admiring his noble portrait-statue of Mansfield, they were eager to have him enrolled among their number. The Royal Academy has always had the art of "running to the help of the strongest," and when an artist has proved that he can achieve a reputation without the Academy, then is the Academy most anxious to "patronize" him. The Academy, it will be remembered, had given its gold medal to his unworthy competitor, Engleheart, passing by his own far superior work. He had then felt bitterly vexed, but determined that the next time he modelled

for the Academy it should be as a master- he | Louvre, which had been plundered from nearly would deserve and he would command their all European countries. Flaxman entertained applause. Perhaps, too, he had not forgotten a hearty English dislike to Napoleon. When the president's cruel cut when Flaxman told him he had married" You are ruined for life as an artist." Well! he had got over both these slights. The wounds had healed kindly, and he had no desire to keep alive the grievance. He allowed his name to be proposed in the candidates' list of associates, and was immediately elected. In the course of the same year (1797) he exhibited his monument of Sir William Jones, and several bas-reliefs from the New Testament, which were greatly admired.

His progress was now rapid, and he was constantly employed. Perseverance and study had made him great, and he went on from triumph to triumph.

at Rome, some young French officers showed him a medal of Bonaparte, then only a general officer. Flaxman looked at the head, and said: "This citizen Bonaparte of yours is the very image of Augustus Caesar!" The sculptor never got over his dislike to the man; and though, when at Paris, the First Consul wished to be introduced to him, Flaxman refused. Still greater was his repugnance to the French Republican painter and sculptor David, in whom Flaxman saw an atrocious Jacobin and a declared atheist; and he turned from his proffered civilities with only halfconcealed disgust. Flaxman was himself so pure of heart, so simple and so gentle, that the very idea of such a man set him a-loathing.

In the heyday of his fame, some years after his return to England, Flaxman conceived the He returned to England, and continued his design of a colossal statue to the naval power great career; pursuing at the same time his of Britain, which he proposed should be life of quiet affection at home, in the company erected, two hundred feet in height, on Green- of his wife and in the frequent evening sociwich Hill. The idea was a grand one that ety of the poetic Blake and the gifted.Stothof a majestic landmark for mariners, over-ard, who continued among his most intimate looking the tide of British commerce, on which the wealth of all lands was borne upon the busy Thames into the lap of England, and standing, as it were, sentinel over the last retreat of British naval heroes. But the design was too grand for his age, and though a committee deliberated upon it, they treated it as the dream of a poet, and dismissed it as unworthy of further notice. Some future generation may, however, yet embody Flaxman's noble idea of a colossal Britannia on Green

wich Hill. Surely the power of Britain might as well be exhibited in some such enduring national work of art, as that of the kingdom of Bavaria in the now world-famous statue at Munich !

friends. He would often amuse those gathered about him in his family circle by composing little stories in sketches, serious and burlesque -an art in which he himself found great pleasure. In this spirit he composed his story and illustrations of The Casket, encouraged to do so by his poetic friend the sculptor Banks. The story runs in rhyme of Flaxman's making, and there is often a good deal of quiet humor in his fancies.

In 1810, our hero came out in a new character. The little boy who had begun his studies behind the poor plaster-cast-seller's shop-counter in New Street, Covent Garden, was now a man of high intellect and recognized supremacy in art, to instruct aspiring Flaxman's monuments are known nearly students, in the character of Professor of all over England. Their mute poetry beauti- Sculpture to the Royal Academy! And no fies most of our cathedrals and many of our man better deserved to fill that distinguished rural churches. Whatever work of this kind office; for no man is better able to instruct he executed, he threw a soul and meaning others than he who, for himself and by his into it, embodying some high Christian idea own almost unaided efforts, has overcome all of charity, of love, of resignation, of affection, difficulties. The witty and caustic Fuseli or of kindness. In monuments such as these used to talk of the lectures as "sermons by bis peculiar genius preeminently shone. the Reverend John Flaxman;" for the sculpThere is a tenderness and grace about them tor was a very religious man, which Fuseli which no other artist has been able to surpass or even to equal. His rapid sketches illustrative of the Lord's Prayer, published in lithograph some years ago, exhibit this peculiar quality of his genius in a striking light. In historical monuments, again, he was less successful, though his monuments to Reynolds and Nelson, in St. Paul's Cathedral, are noble works, which will always be admired.

At the Peace of Amiens, Flaxman formed one of the crowd of Englishmen who flocked over to Paris to admire the treasures of the

was not, and was a zealous Swedenborgian in the latter part of his life. But Flaxman acquitted himself well in the professorial chair, as any one who reads his instructive Lectures on Sculpture, now published, may ascertain for himself. His literary talents were further called into requisition in supplying articles on subjects connected with sculpture to Rees' Encyclopædia.

We must now draw our sketch to a close. After a long, peaceful, and happy life, Flaxman found himself growing old. The loss

!

which he sustained by the death of his af- luminaries of the English bench, namely, fectionate wife, Ann, was a severe shock to the profundity of Bacon with the intuition of him; but he survived her several years, during Mansfield." The rappists may well plume which he executed his celebrated Shield of themselves on the acquisition of such a lumiAchilles" and his noble "Archangel Michael nary to their circles. vanquishing Satan," - perhaps his two greatest works. He also executed some beautiful statuettes for Mr. Rogers, the poet, now to be found in his celebrated collection.

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But the senator gives us a further exposition of his views and his growth in wisdom through a letter which he wrote to Senator James F. Simmons. Having determined to inHis early friends were now all dead; his vestigate the matter, and fancying that he home was comparatively desolate and it is could bring to it a reasonable talent of invessad for an old man, however full of fame, to tigation and a pretty good share of common be left in the world alone. One day a stran- sense, he sits down to question the medium. ger entered his room. Sir," said the visit- And not in the vulgar way that others do did ant, presenting to him a book, "this work he put their questions, but he propounded all was sent to me by the author, an Italian of them mentally, which prevented any impoartist, to present to you, and, at the same sition upon him by the medium, and possibly time, to apologize to you for its extraordinary might serve another purpose also. Nothing dedication. It was so generally believed in weak or frivolous either were the messages reItaly that you were dead, that my friend ceived from the spirit-world. They were lofty determined to show the world how much he and elevated, characteristic of the honorable esteemed your genius; and having this book individuals who despatched them. "I have ready for publication, he had inscribed it To had frequent communications," he says, the shade of Flaxman. No sooner was the purporting to come from my old friend, book published than the story of your death was contradicted; and the author, affected by his mistake, which, nevertheless, he rejoices at, begs you will receive his work and his apology."*

A remarkable circumstance of a somewhat similar character is recorded in the Life of Mozart, and in this case it proved equally prophetic. On the very next day he was seized by fatal illness, and in less than a week he breathed his last; the most gifted genius in sculpture that England has yet produced.

From the N. Y. Times, 5th April.

ANOTHER GONE OVER TO THE SPIRITS. THE spirits have rapped another famous man's knuckles, and he confesses he thinks them no humbug. The marvellous tidings come by way of yesterday's Washington Intelligencer. An article in that paper, entitled "Impostures and Delusions," naines the Rochester Knockings, with their kindred train of rascalities and abominations, as within the category of disorders which it may become necessary to suppress by the strong hand of the law. This and like statements are sufficient to draw out from Hon. N. P. Tallmadge a letter vindicating himself from the aspersions cast on him (though not on him particularly), in which he professes full faith in the new spiritual philosophy. It was the abuse of his old friend, Judge Edmonds, that first directed his attention to the subject, and, in passing, he paused to say of the judge, that he unites the qualities of two of the highest

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*Allan Cunningham's Lives of the Painters.

John C. Calhoun, which his intimate friends would pronounce perfectly characteristic of him; and some of them, both in style and sentiment, worthy of him in his palmiest days in the Senate of the United States. I have had similar ones, purporting to come from Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, of the same elevated order, and peculiarly characteristic of the individual. I have seen rapping mediums, writing mediums, and speaking mediums, and have received communications through all of them. I have witnessed physical manifestations, such as the movement of tables, without any visible agency. These physical manifestations are more satisfactory to the mass of mankind, because they appeal myself with the moral, if I may so call them, directly to the senses. I am better pleased than the physical manifestations."

He is disposed to think that Reicharbach's odic force may enter somewhat into these physical manifestations; but, if so, it is only the medium through which minds may communicate, just as the electric fluid conveys but does not make the despatch which one in New York receives from his friend in Washington.

"

He has received from Mr. Calhoun a message, wherein he says: "We [spirits] by our united will acting in flesh, influence them to perform dutics which benefit mankind.' Out of these mystic words the ex-senator extracts confirmation of the belief which, he says, is general among all Christian denominations, that spirits visit the earth, attend us, impress us, and afford us protection from dangers seen and unseen. Now, he asks, is it any great stretch of that belief to suppose that a mode may have been discovered by which spirits can communicate with us in addition to at