Italian refugee, Emilia Manin. A young Venetian girl, full of devotion
to her country and her proscribed father, she supported her exile with
all a woman's courage, buoyed up by the hope of returning to her
country, redeemed from its misery. She is described as possessing
extraordinary powers of mind and great beauty of person. There were no
questions, however sublime or abstract, which she did not treat with a
surprising depth and sagacity. "Her speech, ordinarily timid and feeble,
became emphatic and stirring; her great, dreamy eyes suddenly acquired
unequalled energy; she spoke of the misfortunes of her country in terms
so moving as to draw tears from our eyes." But the body which contained
this burning soul was very frail, "and the poor Emilia, the silent
martyr, turned her head upon her pillow, and took her first hour of
repose. When no longer able to speak, she had traced with a trembling
hand on a paper these last words,--'Oh, Venice! I shall never see thee
more!' She yet retained the position in which she drew her last breath,
when Ary Scheffer came, as Tintoret formerly came to the bedside of his
daughter, to retrace, with a hand unsteady through emotion, the features
of Emilia Manin. This holy image, snatched by genius from death, is one
of the most admirable works we have ever seen. She lies there, extended
and cold,--the poor child!--in that peace unknown to the life which she
had lived in the body. It is, indeed, the intelligent brow from which
the inspiration of her soul seemed to speak. It is the delicate mouth
and the pale lips, which, never uttering a murmur, betrayed the
celestial goodness of her heart. In truth, it would have been difficult
to hide our emotion, in recognizing--thanks to the pure devotion of the
painter--the touching features of this innocent victim, whom we had
known, loved, and venerated during her life. Some hours later, we again
found Ary Scheffer sustaining with us the tottering steps of Manin upon
the freshly removed earth which was soon to cover the coffin of his
child."