ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2263, 15 July 1897, Page 55

ART AND ARTISTS.

THE MIGRATIONS OF VENUS AND APOLLO. The mythological pair of which I apeak are the Apollo Belvedere and the Venus de' Medic!, who have travelled considerably since they came to light from the repose of centuries beneath the soil of Rome.* The Apollo was the first to leave his niche in the Vatican, for Napoleon carried him off to Parii, as the spoil of war, during his first invasion of Italy in 1796. The autocratic First Consul next decided to celebrate in the Museum of. Paris a marrisga between the Venus de'Medici and the Apollo Belvedere; and to accomplish this he seemed to give nearly as much thought as to the conquest of nations. The Grand Duke was fully alive to the' Bohemes laid to carry off the beautiful Venus • sculptured by Cleomenes, son of Apollodorus the Greek, and at the firet rumour of another French invasion he had the statue packed, and sent it under escort to Palermo, together with some other precious works of art from the Florentine galleries. The King of Naples promised to guard the treasure faithfully, and to give it up to no one, except at the ; order of the Grand Duke himself ; and Oav. ! Tomraaso Puccini, director of the Florentine ! gallery, remained in Palermo to .watch over ! ifc. The second invasion of Tuscany took place; and though the French general, I Brune, had promised that " Dational property, especially chefs d'oeuvre of art, should be I respected," yet Napoleon's tenacious will held \ to his overwhelming desire of Venus joining i Apollo in Paris. Not being able to take the statue by force, as he had seized the Apollo, Napoleon, in 1802, set various political batteries at work to undermine the integrity ol the King of Naples, and to secure ths influence of Ludovico I. of Bourbon, whom he had in 1801 created King of Elruria. He besieged the Tuscan Minister (Averardo Serriutori) in Paris with flatteries and favours; he set Cbaptal, his Home Minister, to incite Clarke, the French plenipotentiary at Florence, to obtain the cession of the Btatue ; and the King • of Esruria waa made to understand that it would be to his personal benefit if he pro- ' sured the gift of it for the First Consul. King and Ministers, were all reluctant to do • this unjust thing, bat Clarke was so pressed that he had to appeal to Senator Mozzi to confirm the King's refusal. Mozzi replied at x length in a confidential letter, dated March i, 1802, asserting that King Ludovioo " found himself in the very painful position of having ! to refuse a favour to 1 the FirsD Consul, to whom in gratitude and sentiment he owed ' every duty." Ha aveired that the Venus was the inalienable proparty of the nation, and that to take it from Florence would be to infringe on the most venerated rights of the kingdom. He quoted again the promise made by General Brune that all preciouß works of art should be respected and pra« served intact ; in fact, he used every argument possible to avert the danger. The Senator Mozzi also wrote to Oav. Acton, Prime • Minister of the King of Naples, begging him to guard with especial vigilance the treasure confided to the charge of that Government. To this Acton replied that the King " approdated the charge confided to him, that he would always regard the treasure as a sacred deposit, and would guard it with jealous care; only rendering it up to its rightful owners as soon as they should require it." Alas! he did render it up, but not to its rightful owners. Napoleon, having set his iron will on possessing the Verms, and not finding diplomacy succeed, tried more underhand means. The Government of Naples was corrupt enough to take an order from the French ambassador as equivalent to one from the King of Btruria, and- Oav. Puccini was desired by the Minister to deliver over to the deputation from France the case containing the Venu3 de' Medici. Faithful Tommaso Puccini had the coursge to refuse, as his instructions only allowed him to give up bis trust under orders bearing the ssal of tbe Secretary of State for the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He had, however, to yield to forza maggiore, for the Venus soon after sailed away to Paris in a French ship. So the Venus de' Medici did indeed join the Apollo in Paris, where she found; many old friends from her former home in the Florentine Galleries. Daring the whole time of the French occupation, Napoleon's commissioners robbed Italy of her heirlooms. Phidias's bronze horses were carried away from Venice, and harnessed by order of the First Consul to the Car of Victory at Paris. The Correg^ios were taken from Parma, the Titians and Tintoretß from Venice ; indeed, so general waa the rapine that in 1810, when Canova was in Paris to model the statue of the Empress, tbe Emperor remarked with pride that Rome "ho longer was the centre of arr, but Paris. Here are all the classic masterpieces," he said ; " nothing is wanting but tbe Farnese Hercules, but we will soon get that as well." "Ab, your Majeßty," pleaded Canova, "leave at least nomethiDg to Italy." In all his dealings with Napoleon Cand he was often artistically employed by him) Conova never failed to plead for the art rights of Italy. Indeed. he waa often bold to rashness in condemning the rapine -of the conqueror ; but his fearless truths made little impression on that granite - will. — Leader Scott, in the Magazine of Art. *The Apollo was discovered at Porto d'Anzio about the end of the fifteenth century ; the Venus was found at the Villa of Hadrian in 1580, and Cardinal Ferdinand de' Medici bought it, It was transferred to Florence in 1677.