Canova was not only the greatest sculptor of his own but of any age.
Byron says--

Such as the great of yore, Canova is to-day.


[Illustration: COR MAGNI CANOVAE.]


He was, in great part, self-taught. In one of his early letters, he
says, "I laboured for a mere pittance, but it was sufficient. It was
the fruit of my own resolution; and, as I then flattered myself, the
foretaste of more honourable rewards--for I never thought of wealth."
He wrought for four years in a small ground cell in a monastery. From
his great mind originated the founding of the study of art upon the
study of nature. His enthusiasm was perfectly delightful: he made it a
rule never to pass a day without making some progress, or to retire to
rest till he had produced some design. His brother sculptors, hackneyed
in the trammels of assumed principles, for a time ridiculed his works,
till, at length, in the year 1800, his merits hecame fully recognised;
from which time till his death, in 1822, he stood unrivalled amidst the
honours of an admiring world.


[10] Childe Harold, canto 4, st. lvi.

[11] Duppa--Observations on the Continent.

[12] Childe Harold, canto 4, st. xxxi, xxxii.