hitt! iris.
M. Raphael Monti, the sculptor, has for some time been engaged upon an important group in marble, which promises well for his already high reputation as a sculptor of the picturesque school. The group consists of two life-sized female figures; the one is represented soaring upwards into the air, as though borne by the zephyr, in an attitude expressive of luxurious and languid idleness ; the other is lying in helpless and passive exhaustion upon the ground. The first is intended to personify " Plea- sure," the other " Sorrow." "Pleasure" is the principal figure, and upon this the artist has lavished all his poetic fancy and manipulative skill. It is, indeed, a very beautiful figure. The arms are extended gracefully, and the head is turned as with a look of pity towards her twin sister. M. Monti has chosen in this, as in several other works, to cover the head- and face with a thin veil, an artifice which it will be remembered first drew attention to the very clever productions of his chisel ; but for our part we would rather see the work of so able a hand bestowed upon the fine realities of the living form, than upon these illusory imitations of texture and transparency. The parts of the figure not covered by the veil are so admirably well modelled that we quite long to see how beau- tiful the face would be without the veil. The floating drapery is full of light and moving folds, and has evidently been a subject of very careful study, as well as the groups of flowers springing so naturally from the group.
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