and heroes, of the size of life, and even more. He uses very few lines,
but cleverly puts in the shades with a broad pencil, so that the heads
stand out roundly and nobly. The bystanders looked on with amazement,
and were highly delighted. At last an itching seized their fingers to
try and paint; they snatched the brushes and painted--one another's
beards, daubing each other's faces. Was not this an original trait of
human nature? And this was done in an elegant circle, in the house of
one who was himself a clever draughtsman and painter! It is impossible
to form an idea of this race without having seen it.
* * * * *
_Caserta, Wednesday, March_ 14, 1787.
I am here on a visit to Hackert, in his highly agreeable apartments,
which have been assigned him in the ancient castle. The new palace,
somewhat huge and Escurial-like, of a quadrangular plan, with many
courts, is royal enough. The site is uncommonly fine, on one of the
most fertile plains in the world, and yet the gardens trench on the
mountains. From these an aqueduct brings down an entire river, to
supply water to the palace and the district; and the whole can, on
occasion, be thrown on some artificially-arranged rocks, to form a most
glorious cascade. The gardens are beautifully laid out, and suit well
with a district which itself is thought a garden.
The castle is truly kingly. It appears to me, however, particularly
gloomy; and no one of us could bring himself to think the vast and
empty rooms comfortable. The King probably is of the same opinion, for
he has caused a house to be built on the mountains, which, smaller and
more proportioned to man's littleness, is intended for a hunting-box
and country-seat.
* * * * *
_Caserta, Thursday, March_ 15, 1787.
Hackert is lodged very comfortably in the old castle--it is quite roomy
enough for all his guests. Constantly busy with drawing and painting,
he nevertheless is very social, and easily draws men around him, as in
the end he generally makes every one become his scholar; he has also
quite won me by putting up patiently with my weaknesses, and insists,
above all things, on distinctness of drawing, and marked and clear
keeping. When he paints, he has three colours always ready; and as he
works on and uses one after another, a picture is produced, one knows
not how or whence. I wish the execution were as easy as it looks. With
his usual blunt honesty he said to ----, "You have capacity, but you
are unable to accomplish anything; stay with me a year and a half, and
you shall be able to produce works which shall be a delight to yourself
and to others." Is not this a text on which one might preach eternally
to dilettanti:--We would like to see what sort of a pupil we can make
of you.
[Sidenote: Naples--Sulzer's theory of the fine arts.]
The special confidence with which the queen honors him is evinced not
merely by the fact that he gives lessons in practice to the princesses,
but still more so by his being frequently summoned on an evening to
talk with and instruct them on art and kindred subjects. He makes
Sulzer's book the basis of such lectures, selecting the articles, as
entertainment or conviction may be his object.
I was obliged to approve of this, and, in consequence, to laugh
at myself. What a difference is there between him who wishes to
investigate principles, and one whose highest object is to work on the
world and to teach them for their mere private amusement. Sulzer's
theory was always odious to me on account of the falseness of its
fundamental maxim, but now I saw that the book contained much more
than the multitude require. The varied information which is here
communicated, the mode of thinking with which alone so active a mind as
Sulzer's could be satisfied, must have been quite sufficient for the
ordinary run of people.
Many happy and profitable hours have I spent with the picture-restorer
Anders, who has been summoned hither from Rome, and resides in the
Castle, and industriously pursues his work, in which the king takes
a great interest. Of his skill in restoring old paintings, I dare
not begin to speak, since it would be necessary to describe the
whole process of this yet difficult craft,--and wherein consists the
difficulty of the problem, and the merit of success.
* * * * *
_Caserta, March_ 16, 1787.
Your dear letter of the 19th February reached me to-day, and I must
forthwith dispatch a word or two in reply. How glad should I be to come
to my senses again, by thinking of my friends!
Naples is a paradise: in it every one lives in a sort of intoxicated
self-forgetfulness. It is even so with me; I scarcely know myself--I
seem quite an altered man. Yesterday I said to myself: either you have
always been mad, or you are so now.
I have paid a visit to the ruins of ancient Capua, and all that is
connected with it.
In this country one first begins to have a true idea of what vegetation
is, and why man tills the fields. The flax here is already near to
blossoming, and the wheat a span and a-half high. Around Caserta the
land is perfectly level, the fields worked as clean and as fine as the
beds of a garden. All of them are planted with poplars, and from tree
to tree the vine spreads; and yet, notwithstanding this shade, the soil
below produces the finest and most abundant crops possible. What will
they be when the spring shall come in power! Hitherto we have had very
cold winds, and there has been snow on the mountains.
Within fourteen days I must decide whether to go to Sicily or not.
Never before have I been so tossed backwards and forwards in coming to
a resolution: every day something will occur to recommend the trip; the
next morning--some circumstance will be against it. Two spirits are
contending for me.
I say this in confidence, and for my female friends alone: speak not
a word of it to my male friends. I am well aware that my "Iphigenia"
has fared strangely. The public were so accustomed to the old form,
expressions which it had adopted from frequent hearing and reading,
were familiar to it; and now quite a different tone is sounding in its
ears; and I clearly see that no one, in fact, thanks me for the endless
pains I have been at. Such a work is never finished: it must, however,
pass for such, as soon as the author has done his utmost, considering
time and circumstances.
All this, however, will not be able to deter me from trying a similar
operation with "Tasso." Perhaps it would be better to throw it into
the fire; however, I shall adhere to my resolution, and since it must
be what it is, I shall make a wonderful work of it. On this account,
I am pleased to find that the printing of my works goes on so slowly;
and then, again, it is well to be at a distance from the murmurs of the
compositor. Strange enough that even in one's most independent actions,
one expects, nay, requires a stimulus.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Naples--Lady Hamilton.]
_Caserta, March_ 16, 1787.
If in Rome one can readily set oneself to study, here one can do
nothing but live. You forget yourself and the world; and to me it is
a strange feeling to go about with people who think of nothing but
enjoying themselves. Sir William Hamilton, who still resides here as
ambassador from England, has at length, after his long love of art,
and long study, discovered the most perfect of admirers of nature and
art in a beautiful young woman. She lives with him: an English woman
of about twenty years old. She is very handsome, and of a beautiful
figure. The old knight has had made for her a Greek costume, which
becomes her extremely. Dressed in this, and letting her hair loose,
and taking a couple of shawls, she exhibits every possible variety of
posture, expression, and look, so that at the last the spectator almost
fancies it is a dream. One beholds here in perfection, in movement,
in ravishing variety, all that the greatest of artists have rejoiced
to be able to produce. Standing, kneeling, sitting, lying down, grave
or sad, playful, exulting, repentant, wanton, menacing, anxious--all
mental states follow rapidly one after another. With wonderful taste
she suits the folding of her veil to each expression, and with the
same handkerchief makes every kind of head-dress. The old knight holds
the light for her, and enters into the exhibition with his whole soul.
He thinks he can discern in her a resemblance to all the most famous
antiques, all the beautiful profiles on the Sicilian coins--aye, of
the Apollo Belvedere itself. This much at any rate is certain--the
entertainment is unique. We spent two evenings on it with thorough
enjoyment. To-day Tischbein is engaged in painting her.
What I have seen and inferred of the _personnel_ of the Court requires
to be further tested, before I set it down. To-day the king is gone
hunting the wolves: they hope to kill at least five.
* * * * *
_Naples, March_ 17, 1787.
When I would write words, images only start before my eyes,--the
beautiful land, the free sea; the hazy islands, the roaring
mountain;--powers to delineate all this fail me.
* * * * *
Here in this country one at last understands how it ever came into the
head of man to till the ground--here where it produces everything, and
where one may look for as many as from three to five crops in the year.
* * * * *
I have seen much, and reflected still more. The world opens itself to
me more and more--all even that I have long known is at last becoming
my own. How quick to know, but how slow to put in practice, is the
human creature!
* * * * *
The only pity is, that I cannot at each moment communicate to others my
observations. But, both as man and artist, one is here driven backwards
and forwards by a hundred ideas of his own, while his services are put
in requisition by hundreds of persons. His situation is peculiar and
strange; he cannot freely sympathize with another's being, because he
finds his own exertions so put to the stretch.
* * * * *
And after all, the world is nothing but a wheel; in its whole periphery
it is every where similar, but, nevertheless, it appears to us so
strange, because we ourselves are carried round with it.
* * * * *
What I always said has actually come to pass: in this land alone do I
begin to understand and to unravel many a phenomenon of nature, and
complication of opinion. I am gathering from every quarter, and shall
bring back with me a great deal,--certainly much love of my own native
land, and joy to live with a few dear friends.
* * * * *
With regard to my Sicilian tour, the gods still hold the scales in
their hands: the index still wavers.
* * * * *
Who can the friend be who has thus mysteriously announced? Only, may I
not neglect him in my pilgrimage and tour in the island!
* * * * *
The frigate from Palermo has returned: in eight days she sets sail
again. Whether I shall sail with it, and be back at Rome by Passion
Week, I have not as yet determined. Never in my life have I been so
undecided: a trifle will turn the scale.
* * * * *
With men I get on rather better: for I feel that one must weigh
them by avoirdupois weight, and not by the jeweller's scales;
as, unfortunately, friends too often weigh one another in their
hypochondriacal humours and in an over-exacting spirit.
* * * * *
Here men know nothing of one another; they scarcely observe that others
are also going on their way, side by side with them. They run all day
backwards and forwards in a Paradise, without looking around them; and
if the neighbouring jaws of hell begin to open and to rage, they have
recourse to S. Januarius.
* * * * *
To pass through such a countless multitude, with its restless
excitement, is strange, but salutary. Here they are all crossing
and recrossing one another, and yet every one finds his way and his
object. In so great a crowd and bustle I feel myself perfectly calm and
solitary; the more bustling the streets become, the more quietly I move.
[Sidenote: Naples--Rousseau.]
Often do I think of Rousseau and his hypochondriacal discontent; and
I can thoroughly understand how so fine an organization may have been
deranged. Did I not myself feel such sympathy with natural objects; and
did I not see that, in the apparent perplexity, a hundred seemingly
contrary observations admit of being reconciled, and arranged side by
side, just as the geometer by a cross line tests many measurements, I
should often think myself mad.
* * * * *
_Naples, March_ 18, 1787.
We must not any longer put off our visit to Herculaneum, and the
Museum of Portici, where the curiosities which have been dug out of it
are collected and preserved. That ancient city, lying at the foot of
Vesuvius, was entirely covered with lava, which subsequent eruptions
successively raised so high, that the buildings are at present sixty
feet below the surface. The city was discovered by some men coming upon
a marble pavement, as they were digging a well. It is a great pity that
the excavation was not executed systematically by German miners; for
it is admitted that the work, which was carried on at random, and with
the hope of plunder, has spoilt many a noble monument of ancient art.
After descending sixty steps into a pit, by torch-light you gaze in
admiration at the theatre which once stood beneath the open sky, and
listen to the guide recounting all that was found there, and carried
off.
We entered the museum well recommended, and were well received;
nevertheless we were not allowed to take any drawings. Perhaps on this
account we paid the more attention to what we saw, and the more vividly
transported ourselves into those long-passed times, when all these
things surrounded their living owners, and ministered to the use and
enjoyment of life. The little houses and rooms of Pompeii now appeared
to me at once more spacious and more confined--more confined, because I
fancied them to myself crammed full of so many precious objects: more
spacious, because these very objects could not have been furnished
merely as necessaries, but, being decorated with the most graceful
and ingenious devices of the imitative arts, while they delighted the
taste, must also have enlarged the mind far beyond what the amplest
house-room could ever have done.
One sees here, for instance, a nobly-shaped pail, mounted at the top
with a highly-ornamented edge. When you examine it more closely, you
find that this rim rises on two sides, and so furnishes convenient
handles by which the vessel may be lifted. The lamps, according to
the number of their wicks, are ornamented with masks and mountings,
so that each burner illuminates a genuine figure of art. We also saw
some high and gracefully slender stands of iron for holding lamps,
the pendant burners being suspended with figures of all kinds, which
display a wonderful fertility of invention; and as, in order to please
and delight the eye, they sway and oscillate, the effect surpasses all
description.
In the hope of being able to pay a second visit, we followed the usher
from room to room, and snatched all the delight and instruction that
was possible from a cursory view.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Naples--Engagement with Kniep.]
_Naples, Monday, March_ 19, 1787.
Within these last few days I have formed a new connexion. Tischbein for
three or four weeks has faithfully lent me all the assistance in his
power, and diligently explained to me the works both of nature and art.
Yesterday, however, after being at the Museum of Portici, we had some
conversation together, and we came to the conclusion that, considering
his own artistic objects, he could not perform, with credit to himself,
the works which, in the hope of some future appointment in Naples, he
has undertaken for the Court and for several persons in the city, nor
do justice to my views, wishes, and fancies. With sincere good wishes
for my success, he has therefore recommended to me for my constant
companion a young man whom, since I arrived here, I have often seen,
not without feeling some inclination and liking for him. His name is
Kniep, who, after a long stay at Rome, has come to Naples as the true
field and element of the landscape-painter. Even in Rome I had heard
him highly spoken of as a clever draughtsman--only his industry was
not much commended. I have tolerably studied his character, and think
the ground of this censure arises rather from a want of a decision,
which certainly may be overcome, if we are long together A favourable
beginning confirms me in this hope; and if he continues to go on thus,
we shall continue good companions for some time.
* * * * *
_Naples, March_ 19, 1787.
One needs only to walk along the streets, and keep one's eyes well
open, and one is sure to see the most unequalled of scenes. At the
Mole, one of the noisiest quarters of the city, I saw yesterday a
Pulcinello, who on a temporary stage of planks was quarrelling with
an ape, while from a balcony above a right pretty maiden was exposing
her charms to every eye. Not far from the ape and his stage a quack
doctor was recommending to the credulous crowd his nostrums for every
evil. Such a scene painted by a Gerard Dow would not fail to charm
contemporaries and posterity.
To-day, moreover, was the festival of S. Joseph. He is the patron of
all Fritaruoli--that is, pastry-cooks, and understands baking in a very
extensive sense. Because beneath the black and seething oil hot flames
will, of course, rage,--therefore, every kind of torture by fire falls
within his province. Accordingly, yesterday evening, being the eve of
the Saint's day, the fronts of the houses were adorned with pictures,
to the best of the inmates' skill, representing souls in Purgatory,
or the Last Judgment, with plenty of fire and flame. Before the doors
frying-pans were hissing on hastily-constructed hearths. One partner
was working the dough, another shaped it into twists, and threw it into
the boiling lard; a third stood by the frying-pan, holding a short
skewer, with which he drew out the twists as soon as they were done,
and shoved them off on another skewer to a fourth party, who offered
them to the bystanders. The two last were generally young apprentices,
and wore white curly wigs,--this head-dress being the Neapolitan symbol
of an angel. Other figures besides completed the group; and these were
busy in presenting wine to the busy cooks, or in drinking themselves,
crying, and puffing the article all the while; the angels, too, and
cooks were all clamouring. The people crowded to buy--for all pastry is
sold cheap on this evening, and a part of the profits given to the poor.
Scenes of this kind may be witnessed without end. Thus fares it every
day; always something new--some fresh absurdity. The variety of
costume, too, that meets you in the streets; the multitude, too, of
passages in the Toledo street alone!
Thus there is plenty of most original entertainment, if only one will
live with the people; it is so natural, that one almost becomes natural
oneself. For this is the original birth-place of Pulcinello, the true
national mask--the Harlequin of Pergamo, and the Hanswurth of the
Tyrol. This Pulcinello now is a thoroughly easy, sedate, somewhat
indifferent, perhaps lazy, and yet humorous fellow. And so one meets
everywhere with a "Kellner" and a "Hausknecht." With ours I had special
fun yesterday, and yet there was nothing more than my sending him to
fetch some paper and pens. A half misunderstanding, a little loitering,
good humour and roguery, produced a most amusing scene, which might be
very successfully brought out on any stage.
* * * * *
_Naples, Tuesday, March_ 20, 1787.
The news that an eruption of lava had just commenced, which, taking the
direction of Ottajano, was invisible at Naples, tempted me to visit
Vesuvius for the third time. Scarcely had I jumped out of my cabriolet
(zweirädrigen einpferdigen Fuhrwerk), at the foot of the mountain,
when immediately appeared the two guides who had accompanied us on our
previous ascent. I had no wish to do without either, but took one out
of gratitude and custom, the other for reliance on his judgment,--and
the two for the greater convenience. Having ascended the summit, the
older guide remained with our cloaks and refreshment, while the younger
followed me, and we boldly went straight towards a dense volume of
smoke, which broke forth from the bottom of the funnel; then we quickly
went downwards by the side of it, till at last, under the clear heaven,
we distinctly saw the lava emitted from the rolling clouds of smoke.
We may hear an object spoken of a thousand times, but its peculiar
features will never be caught till we see it with our own eyes. The
stream of lava was small, not broader perhaps than ten feet, but the
way in which it flowed down a gentle and tolerably smooth plain was
remarkable. As it flowed along, it cooled both on the sides and on
the surface, so that it formed a sort of canal, the bed of which was
continually raised in consequence of the molten mass congealing oven
beneath the fiery stream, which, with uniform action, precipitated
right and left the scoria which were floating on its surface. In this
way a regular dam was at length thrown up, in which the glowing stream
flowed on as quietly as any mill-stream. We passed along the tolerably
high dam, while the scoria rolled regularly off the sides at our feet.
Some cracks in the canal afforded opportunity of looking at the living
stream from below, and as it rushed onwards, we observed it from above.
A very bright sun made the glowing lava look dull; but a moderate steam
rose from it into the pure air. I felt a great desire to go nearer to
the point where it broke out from the mountain; there my guide averred,
it at once formed vaults and roofs above itself, on which he had often
stood. To see and experience this phenomenon, we again ascended the
hill, in order to come from behind to this point. Fortunately at this
moment the place was cleared by a pretty strong wind, but not entirely,
for all round it the smoke eddied from a thousand crannies; and now
at last we stood on the top of the solid roof, (which looked like a
hardened mass of twisted dough), but which, however, projected so far
outwards, that it was impossible to see the welling lava.
We ventured about twenty steps further, but the ground on which we
stepped became hotter and hotter, while around us rolled an oppressive
steam, which obscured and hid the sun; the guide, who was a few steps
in advance of me, presently turned back, and seizing hold of me,
hurried out of this Stygian exhalation.
After we had refreshed our eyes with the clear prospect, and washed
our gums and throat with wine, we went round again to notice any other
peculiarities which might characterise this peak of hell, thus rearing
itself in the midst of a Paradise. I again observed attentively some
chasms, in appearance like so many Vulcanic forges, which emitted no
smoke, but continually shot out a steam of hot glowing air. They were
all tapestried, as it were, with a kind of stalactite, which covered
the funnel to the top, with its knobs and chintz-like variation of
colours. In consequence of the irregularity of the forges, I found
many specimens of this sublimation hanging within reach, so that,
with our staves and a little contrivance, we were able to hack off a
few, and to secure them. I saw in the shops of the dealers in lava
similar specimens, labelled simply "Lava;" and I was delighted to have
discovered that it was volcanic soot precipitated from the hot vapour,
and distinctly exhibiting the sublimated mineral particles which it
contained.
The most glorious of sunsets, a heavenly evening, refreshed me on
my return; still I felt how all great contrasts confound the mind
and senses. From the terrible to the beautiful--from the beautiful
to the terrible; each destroys the other, and produces a feeling of
indifference. Assuredly, the Neapolitan would be quite a different
creature, did he not feel himself thus hemmed in between Elysium and
Tartarus.
* * * * *
_Naples, March_ 22, 1787.
Were I not impelled by the German spirit, and desire to learn and to
do rather than to enjoy, I should tarry a little longer in this school
of a light-hearted and happy life, and try to profit by it still more.
Here it is enough for contentment, if a man has ever so little an
income. The situation of the city, the mildness of the climate, can
never be sufficiently extolled; but it is almost exclusively to these
that the stranger is referred.
[Sidenote: Naples-Sir William Hamilton.]