一个意大利人和一个丹麦人

V. M. Hillyer

——V. M.希利尔（仲秋 译）

V. M.希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名儿童教育家、科普作家 ，创建了卡尔弗特教育体系。他为孩子们编写了一套趣味盎然的历史、地理、艺术读物，即《写给孩子看的世界历史》《写给孩子看的世界地理》《写给孩子看的艺术史》。本文选自《写给孩子看的艺术史》，该书写于20世纪二三十年代。

The best Italian sculptor since the time of Michelangelo was named Antonio Canova. We generally call him simply Canova. He lived from 1757 to 1822.

Canova was brought up by his grandparents and as his grandfather was a stone cutter， the boy had from the beginning a chance to be a sculptor. When he was only eight years old he carved in marble two small shrines. When he was about ten， he was said to have carved a lion out of butter for the banquet of a rich nobleman， who liked it so much that he became Canovas patron， or backer.

在米开朗琪罗之后，意大利最好的雕塑家是安东尼奥·卡诺瓦。我们通常简洁地称呼他“卡诺瓦”。他出生于1757年，在1822年去世。

卡诺瓦是由他的爷爷奶奶抚养长大的，由于他的爷爷是一个石匠，所以这个小男孩从小就受到雕刻的耳濡目染。卡诺瓦八岁的时候，就用大理石雕刻出了两座小小的神庙。据说他在十岁左右时，曾经在一个贵族的晚宴上雕刻了一头狮子，这头狮子是用黄油刻成的。那个贵族非常喜欢卡诺瓦的黄油狮子，因此他决定做卡诺瓦的资助人，资助卡诺瓦学习雕塑。

Canova studied hard to become a sculptor and by the time he was a man he was doing a great many good statues. These brought him much fame and much money. The money he spent by giving it away to poor people， founding art schools， helping sculptors， and giving prizes for good sculpture.

Canovas statues are very smooth and pretty， but not very strong in appearance. He carved a great many of the ancient gods and goddesses and seemed to imitate the old Greek and Roman art. He also carved portrait busts of famous men， including George Washington.

Canovas Perseus with the head of Medusa reminds you of another Perseus. Canovas Perseus isnt so good as Cellinis， but probably it is just as famous.

卡諾瓦也非常希望自己能成为一位雕塑家，所以学习非常努力。长大后的卡诺瓦实现了雕塑家梦想，并且雕刻出了许多优秀的雕像作品，这些雕像作品使得他名利双收。卡诺瓦把钱捐给穷人，捐建艺术学校，资助雕塑家，设立奖项奖励好的雕塑作品。

卡诺瓦的雕像表面非常平滑漂亮，但外在的张力不够。他雕刻的许多古神像作品看上去像是在模仿古希腊和古罗马的艺术风格。他还为很多名人雕塑过半身像，其中包括乔治·华盛顿。

卡诺瓦雕塑过珀耳修斯和美杜莎的雕像，你一定想起切利尼的同名作品了。虽然卡诺瓦的作品比切利尼的那个代表作要逊色一些，但它们的知名度都差不多。

Word Study

sculptor /'sk?lpt?（r）/ n. 雕刻家;雕塑家

carve /kɑ?v/ v. 雕刻

The wood had been carved into the shape of a flower.

smooth /smu??/ adj. 平滑的;光滑的

The water was as smooth as glass.

When Canova was at the height of his fame there came to Italy in 1797 a young man from Denmark. He liked Italy so much that he stayed there for twenty-three years and soon became famous as a sculptor.

Perhaps you have seen pictures of the dying lion he carved in solid rock—the famous Lion of Lucerne. It was made by a Danish sculptor in Italy in honor of the Swiss guards who died in France rather than surrender.

Who was this Dane？ His name was Thorvaldsen. He knew Canova and， like Canova， imitated the style of the statues of ancient Greece and Rome. He was the most successful of the imitators. Some of his works， like the Lion of Lucerne， were not in ancient style.

卡诺瓦的雕塑事业达到顶峰、名噪一时的时候，正是1797年。当时，一个丹麦人来到了意大利，他特别喜欢意大利，所以就留下来，并很快成为一位非常著名的雕塑家。他在意大利待了二十三年。

你很可能见过他在坚硬的石头上雕刻的一头垂死的狮子——著名的《垂死狮子像》的图片。这座雕像由一位在意大利的丹麦雕塑家雕刻而成，用来纪念那些为了保卫法国而牺牲，至死都没有投降的瑞士雇佣兵。

这个丹麦人是谁呢？他的名字叫巴特尔·托瓦尔森。托瓦尔森认识卡诺瓦，而且与卡诺瓦一样，他的雕塑也是模仿了古希腊和古罗马的风格。不过在所有模仿古式雕塑风格的雕塑家中，托瓦尔森是最成功的一个。但是他的一部分作品，比如《垂死狮子像》，就不是仿古代风格的作品。

When Thorvaldsen returned from a visit to Denmark after twenty-three years abroad， he had become so famous that he was asked to make a colossal statue of Christ and twelve colossal statues of the Apostles for a church in Copenhagen. Colossal， you remember means tremendously large. （Think of the Colossus of Rhodes.） These huge statues were completed in Italy in twenty years and sent to Copenhagen. A copy of the Christ stands in the lobby of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

When Thorvaldsen died， he left much of his fortune for the building of an art museum in Copenhagen. There most of his works are kept and in the courtyard the sculptor himself is buried.

當托瓦尔森结束了他二十三年的旅居生涯回到丹麦时，已经是非常出名的雕塑家了。那时候丹麦的哥本哈根大教堂邀请他雕刻一组耶稣和十二个门徒的巨型雕像。“巨型”就是巨大型、超大型的意思（想想在罗得岛的太阳神巨型铜像，对，就是那么巨大——译者注）。花了托瓦尔森二十年的时间，这些大型雕像最终在意大利完成，然后它们被运到哥本哈根。其中一座耶稣雕像的复制品，现陈列在美国巴尔的摩约翰·霍普金斯医院的大厅。

托瓦尔森去世后，他的大部分财产用来在哥本哈根修建了一座艺术博物馆。他的大部分雕塑作品都放在这座博物馆里展览，而他自己，也安葬在了这座博物馆的院落里。

Word Study

solid /'s?l?d/ adj. 坚硬的

The snow had melted， but the lake was still frozen solid.

surrender /s?'rend?（r）/ v. 投降

The soldiers were forced to surrender.

colossal /k?'l?sl/ adj. 巨大的;庞大的

The singer earns a colossal amount of money.

lobby /'l?bi/ adj. 大厅;门厅