FINE ARTS.
THE GENOA ertilcunt.
At the Cosmorama Rooms is exhibited a crucifix, of which the figure, some eighteen inches or two feet high, is carved in, ivory, and is said to have been executed by a monk who had no-instruction-Carlo Pesenti, a lay brother in the convent of St. Nicholas at Genoa. He ascribes his work to direct inspiration; the model appearing to him as a vision seen in his mind. The story is attested by ecclesiastical and consular vouchers; and it is not incredible nor unintelligible. Supposing Pesenti to be a great natural genius, but untutored, it appears quite possible that he should take the creation of his mind for inspiration; that observation of the innumerable works of the same kind, and of nature, may have been a real course of instruction for him; and that the careful elaboration of the figure itself, with some preliminary carvings which he had made, may have sufficiently exercised his hand. That the figure is not faultless, appears rather to cor- roborate the tale and our supposition: the downward arch of the closed eyelids, for instance, is a little charged; and the great flexor muscle of the left arm is thrown too much upwards, towards the outer side of the bone. The work, however, is truly beautiful, both in conception and execution. The features, a little more pronounced than they would be in the classic ideal, but as they always are in the more " romantic " style of the Italians, are better suited to express the inward spirit- Although the suspended posture and the bodily suffering are expressed with great truth, the attitude is graceful and dignified; the repose of death is upon it, but the traces of life remain in the aspect of the countenance, in which there is a sublime union of resignation and resolution-not a mere passive resignation, but a sweet 'will to endure.
Previous page
