any
thing which he did not believe to be a real conquest for art, or which
did not evince a serious conception of the task of an artist. He did
not wish to be lauded by any party, to be aided by the manoeuvres of
any faction, or by the concessions made by any schools in the persons
of their chiefs. In the midst of jealousies, encroachments, forfeitures,
and invasions of the different branches of art, negotiations, treaties,
and contracts have been introduced, like the means and appliances of
diplomacy, with all the artifices inseparable from such a course. In
refusing the support of any accessory aid for his productions, he proved
that he confidently believed that their own beauty would ensure their
appreciation, and that he did not struggle to facilitate their immediate
reception.

He supported our struggles, at that time so full of uncertainty, when we
met more sages shaking their heads, than glorious adversaries, with his
calm and unalterable conviction. He aided us with opinions so fixed
that neither weariness nor artifice could shake them, with a rare
immutability of will, and that efficacious assistance which the creation
of meritorious works always brings to a struggling cause, when it can
claim them as its own. He mingled so many charms, so much moderation, so
much knowledge with his daring innovations, that the prompt admiration
he inspired fully justified the confidence he placed in his own genius.
The solid studies which he had made, the reflective habits of his youth,
the worship for classic models in which he had been educated, preserved
him from losing his strength in blind gropings, in doubtful triumphs,
as has happened to more than one partisan of the new ideas. His studious
patience in the elaboration of his works sheltered him from the
critics, who envenomed the dissensions by seizing upon those easy
and insignificant victories due to omissions, and the negligence of
inadvertence. Early trained to the exactions and restrictions of rules,
having produced compositions filled with beauty when subjected to all
their fetters, he never shook them off without an appropriate cause and
after due reflection. In virtue of his principles he always progressed,
but without being led into exaggeration or lured by compromise; he
willingly relinquished theoretic formulas to pursue their results.
Less occupied with the disputes of the schools and their terms, than in
producing himself the best argument, a finished work,