Le parti che solea coprir la stola
  Fur di tanta eccellenza, ch’anteporse
  A quante n’avea il mondo potean forse.[91]

  Parts which are wont to be concealed by gown
  Are such, as haply should be placed before
  Whate’er this ample world contains in store.

   —­Trans.  W.S.  ROSE

This group is destined for the Prince Regent of England.  Another beautiful group represents the three Graces; this is intended for the Duke of Bedford.  Were it given to me to chuse for myself among all the statues in the atelier of Canova, I should chuse these three, viz., the Ballerina, the Nymph reclining, and this group of the Graces.

Canova certainly is inimitable in depicting feminine beauty, grace and delicacy.  Among the other statues in this atelier the most prominent are:  a statue of the Princess Leopoldina Esterhazy in the attitude of drawing on a tablet with this inscription: 

  Anch’io voglio tentar l’arte del bello.

This lady is, it seems, a great proficient in painting.

Here too are the moulds of the different statues made by Canova, the statues themselves having been finished long ago and disposed of; viz., of the Empress Maria Louisa of France; of the mother of Napoleon (Madame Mere as she is always called) in the costume and attitude of Agrippina; of a colossal statue of Napoleon (the statue itself is, I believe, in the possession of Wellington.[92]) Here too is the bust of Canova by Canova himself, besides a great variety of bas-reliefs and busts of individuals, models of monuments, etc.

And now, my friend, I have given you a precis not of all that I have seen, but of what has most interested me and made on my mind impressions that can never be effaced.  I trust entirely to my memory, for I made no notes on the spot.  Many of the things I have seen too much in a hurry to form accurate ideas and judgment thereon; most of what we see here is shewn to us like the figures in a lanterna magica, for in the various palazzi and villas the servants who exhibit them hurry you from room to room, impatient to receive your fee and to get rid of you.  I am about to depart for Naples.  On my return to Rome I shall not think of revisiting the greater number of the palazzi, villas and churches; but there are some things I shall very frequently revisit and these are the two Museums of the Vatican and of the Capitol, St Peter’s, the Coliseum and antiquities in its neighbourhood, the Pantheon, and last but not least the atelier of the incomparable Canova.