一個意大利人和一個丹麥人

V. M. Hillyer

——V. M.希利爾（仲秋 譯）

V. M.希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名兒童教育家、科普作家 ，創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術(shù)讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》，該書寫于20世紀(jì)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.

在米開朗琪羅之后，意大利最好的雕塑家是安東尼奧·卡諾瓦。我們通常簡潔地稱呼他“卡諾瓦”。他出生于1757年，在1822年去世。

卡諾瓦是由他的爺爺奶奶撫養(yǎng)長大的，由于他的爺爺是一個石匠，所以這個小男孩從小就受到雕刻的耳濡目染。卡諾瓦八歲的時候，就用大理石雕刻出了兩座小小的神廟。據(jù)說他在十歲左右時，曾經(jīng)在一個貴族的晚宴上雕刻了一頭獅子，這頭獅子是用黃油刻成的。那個貴族非常喜歡卡諾瓦的黃油獅子，因此他決定做卡諾瓦的資助人，資助卡諾瓦學(xué)習(xí)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為一位雕塑家，所以學(xué)習(xí)非常努力。長大后的卡諾瓦實現(xiàn)了雕塑家夢想，并且雕刻出了許多優(yōu)秀的雕像作品，這些雕像作品使得他名利雙收?？ㄖZ瓦把錢捐給窮人，捐建藝術(shù)學(xué)校，資助雕塑家，設(shè)立獎項獎勵好的雕塑作品。

卡諾瓦的雕像表面非常平滑漂亮，但外在的張力不夠。他雕刻的許多古神像作品看上去像是在模仿古希臘和古羅馬的藝術(shù)風(fēng)格。他還為很多名人雕塑過半身像，其中包括喬治·華盛頓。

卡諾瓦雕塑過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。雖然卡諾瓦的作品比切利尼的那個代表作要遜色一些，但它們的知名度都差不多。

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.

卡諾瓦的雕塑事業(yè)達(dá)到頂峰、名噪一時的時候，正是1797年。當(dāng)時，一個丹麥人來到了意大利，他特別喜歡意大利，所以就留下來，并很快成為一位非常著名的雕塑家。他在意大利待了二十三年。

你很可能見過他在堅硬的石頭上雕刻的一頭垂死的獅子——著名的《垂死獅子像》的圖片。這座雕像由一位在意大利的丹麥雕塑家雕刻而成，用來紀(jì)念那些為了保衛(wèi)法國而犧牲，至死都沒有投降的瑞士雇傭兵。

這個丹麥人是誰呢？他的名字叫巴特爾·托瓦爾森。托瓦爾森認(rèn)識卡諾瓦，而且與卡諾瓦一樣，他的雕塑也是模仿了古希臘和古羅馬的風(fēng)格。不過在所有模仿古式雕塑風(fēng)格的雕塑家中，托瓦爾森是最成功的一個。但是他的一部分作品，比如《垂死獅子像》，就不是仿古代風(fēng)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(dāng)托瓦爾森結(jié)束了他二十三年的旅居生涯回到丹麥時，已經(jīng)是非常出名的雕塑家了。那時候丹麥的哥本哈根大教堂邀請他雕刻一組耶穌和十二個門徒的巨型雕像?！熬扌汀本褪蔷薮笮?、超大型的意思（想想在羅得島的太陽神巨型銅像，對，就是那么巨大——譯者注）?；送型郀柹甑臅r間，這些大型雕像最終在意大利完成，然后它們被運到哥本哈根。其中一座耶穌雕像的復(fù)制品，現(xiàn)陳列在美國巴爾的摩約翰·霍普金斯醫(yī)院的大廳。

托瓦爾森去世后，他的大部分財產(chǎn)用來在哥本哈根修建了一座藝術(shù)博物館。他的大部分雕塑作品都放在這座博物館里展覽，而他自己，也安葬在了這座博物館的院落里。

Word Study

solid /'s?l?d/ adj. 堅硬的

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;龐大的

The singer earns a colossal amount of money.

lobby /'l?bi/ adj. 大廳;門廳