Antonio Canova

by James Baldwin

　　

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A good many years ago there lived in Italy a little boy whose name wasAn-to´ni-o Ca-no´va. He lived with his grand-fa-ther, for his ownfather was dead. His grand-fa-ther was a stone-cut-ter, and he wasvery poor.An-to-ni-o was a puny lad, and not strong enough to work. He did notcare to play with the other boys of the town. But he liked to go withhis grandfather to the stone-yard. While the old man was busy, cuttingand trimming the great blocks of stone, the lad would play among thechips. Sometimes he would make a little statue of soft clay; sometimeshe would take hammer and chisel, and try to cut a statue from a pieceof rock. He showed so much skill that his grandfather was de-light-ed."The boy will be a sculp-tor some day," he said.Then when they went home in the evening, the grand-moth-er would say,"What have you been doing to-day, my little sculp-tor?"And she would take him upon her lap and sing to him, or tell himstories that filled his mind with pictures of wonderful and beautifulthings. And the next day, when he went back to the stone-yard, hewould try to make some of those pictures in stone or clay.There lived in the same town a rich man who was called the Count.Sometimes the Count would have a grand dinner, and his rich friendsfrom other towns would come to visit him. Then Antonio's grandfatherwould go up to the Count's house to help with the work in the kitchen;for he was a fine cook as well as a good stone-cut-ter.It happened one day that Antonio went with his grandfather to theCount's great house. Some people from the city were coming, and therewas to be a grand feast. The boy could not cook, and he was not oldenough to wait on the table; but he could wash the pans and kettles,and as he was smart and quick, he could help in many other ways.All went well until it was time to spread the table for dinner. Thenthere was a crash in the dining room, and a man rushed into thekitchen with some pieces of marble in his hands. He was pale, andtrembling with fright."What shall I do? What shall I do?" he cried. "I have broken thestatue that was to stand at the center of the table. I cannot make thetable look pretty without the statue. What will the Count say?"And now all the other servants were in trouble. Was the dinner to be afailure after all? For everything de-pend-ed on having the tablenicely arranged. The Count would be very angry."Ah, what shall we do?" they all asked.Then little Antonio Ca-no-va left his pans and kettles, and went up tothe man who had caused the trouble."If you had another statue, could you arrange the table?" he asked."Cer-tain-ly," said the man; "that is, if the statue were of the rightlength and height.""Will you let me try to make one?" asked Anto-nio "Perhaps I can makesomething that will do."The man laughed."Non-sense!" he cried. "Who are you, that you talk of making statueson an hour's notice?""I am Antonio Canova," said the lad."Let the boy try what he can do," said the servants, who knew him.And so, since nothing else could be done, the man allowed him to try.On the kitchen table there was a large square lump of yellow butter.Two hundred pounds the lump weighed, and it had just come in, freshand clean, from the dairy on the mountain. With a kitchen knife in hishand, Antonio began to cut and carve this butter. In a few minutes hehad molded it into the shape of a crouching lion; and all the servantscrowded around to see it."How beautiful!" they cried. "It is a great deal pret-ti-er than thestatue that was broken."When it was finished, the man carried it to its place."The table will be hand-som-er by half than I ever hoped to make it,"he said.When the Count and his friends came in to dinner, the first thing theysaw was the yellow lion."What a beautiful work of art!" they cried. "None but a very greatartist could ever carve such a figure; and how odd that he shouldchoose to make it of butter!" And then they asked the Count to tellthem the name of the artist."Truly, my friends," he said, "this is as much of a surprise to me asto you." And then he called to his head servant, and asked him wherehe had found so wonderful a statue."It was carved only an hour ago by a little boy in the kitchen," saidthe servant.This made the Count's friends wonder still more; and the Count badethe servant call the boy into the room."My lad," he said, "you have done a piece of work of which thegreatest artists would be proud. What is your name, and who is yourteacher?""My name is Antonio Canova," said the boy, "and I have had no teacherbut my grandfather the stonecutter."By this time all the guests had crowded around Antonio. There werefamous artists among them, and they knew that the lad was a genius.They could not say enough in praise of his work; and when at last theysat down at the table, nothing would please them but that Antonioshould have a seat with them; and the dinner was made a feast in hishonor.The very next day the Count sent for Antonio to come and live withhim. The best artists in the land were em-ployed to teach him the artin which he had shown so much skill; but now, instead of carvingbutter, he chis-eled marble. In a few years, Antonio Canova becameknown as one of the greatest sculptors in the world.

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