That he was a greater sculptor than his immediate predecessors will be affirmed by all who have studied his bronze "Mercury," the "Venus of Petraja," and the "Neptune" on the fountain of Bologna.

Something of the genuine classic feeling had passed into his nature.

The "Mercury" is not a reminiscence of any antique statue.

It gives in bronze a faithful and spirited reading of Virgil's lines, and is conceived with artistic purity not unworthy of a good Greek period.

The "Neptune" is something more than a muscular old man; and, in its place, it forms one of the most striking ornaments of Italy.