Immodest

The Legislature of North Carolina, interested in patriotic Art, gave a special commission to State Representative Everett, who went abroad with the American Bar Association. Said the Legislature (in effect) to Mr. Everett:

"Go to Italy, and find the statue of George Washington which was modeled by Antonio Canova. This Canova was born on Nov. 1, 1757, at Passagno, an obscure village situated amid the recesses of the hills of Asolo, where these form the last undulations of the Venetian Alps as they subside into the plains of Treviso. He was the son of a long line of makers of local gravestones, but rose to fame and munificence as one of those who instituted the classical revival of Italian Art. He made statues of Palamedes, of Napoleon, of Hebe, of Hercules and also of George Washington. In his great style he modeled the founder of our country, in the flowing toga of a Roman Senator. Secure permission to have made, from this statue, a replica in the best Carrara marble. The State of North Carolina will pay the expense, and we, the Legislature of this Commonwealth, will place the replica on the steps of the State Capitol, where it will stand arousing the beating hearts of patriots when we are gone and, alas, forgotten, if that should be."

Repairing to Italy, Representative Everett visited Venice, city of gondolas. There--who knows whether by good or evil chance?--a whisperer leaned to the legislator's ear, murmuring: "Visit Passagno. There you will find a much finer statue of Washington than the one which you seek."

Mr. Everett went. At the humble birthplace of the sculptor, he carried on his research. From the depths of a cellar, four statues were brought up to light. They were magnificent figures* of Washington. But, alas, stark nude!

Mr. Everett, who has the eye of a connoisseur, was not dismayed. He had seen the statue of which he was sent to get a reproduction. It was wrapped in a cumbrous toga. He could not help comparing it to a modern dressing-gown.

When he reached Paris on his return trip, Mr. Everett gave out his decision:

"It is Washington; one of the finest likenesses ever produced, if contemporary portraits are to be believed. And there is no doubt about its nakedness, which I hope won't shock any one at home. I am going to propose to my colleagues that we make an immediate effort to obtain the originals and the right to reproduce them in Italian marble."

*Despatches are confused as to whether one or all of the "statues" were of Washington. It is not unlikely that they were models made by Canova--he made his models full size-- before producing his final work. He may well have made several models of Washington nude in order to get the proportions of the figure before applying drapery.