The god of death has often been represented in art as a hideous,
cadaverous looking deity, clad in a winding sheet and holding an hour
glass and a scythe. We have a more attractive personification in
Canova’s “Genius of Death,” a detail of the tomb of Clement XIII., in
St. Peter’s, Rome.
The beautiful, pensive youth is sitting in a quiet, restful attitude
holding an extinguished torch. The sleeping lion at his feet adds to
the general air of repose.
[Illustration]
The Graces.
“Goddesses of Gracefulness.”
“_The three on men all gracious gifts bestow
Which deck the body or adorn the mind,
To make them lovely or well favored show;
As comely carriage, entertainment kind,
Sweet semblance, friendly offices that bind
And all the compliments of courtesy;
They teach us how to each degree and kind
We should ourselves demean, to low, to high,
To friends, to foes; which skill men call Civility._”
--SPENSER.