Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/34

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GOZ—GOZ

and to Senegal, without, it would seem, much profit. In the meantime his literary tastes gradually developed, and he abandoned mercantile pursuits for the modest employ ment of a teacher in Marseilles. He, however, did not remain long there, and in 1828 we find him in Paris, de termined to run the risks of literary life. His townsman, Joseph Mery, who was then making himself famous by his political satires, smoothed his way, and introduced him to several newspapers. But Gozlan did not sacrifice litera ture to politics. Though he contributed many essays to the reviews, it is as a fertile and ingenious author of novels and plays that he is best known. His first novel was Les Memoires d uii Apothicaire (1828), and this was followed by numberless others, among which may be men tioned Le Notaire de Chantiliy, Aristide Froissart (one of the most curious and celebrated of his productions), Les Nuits du Perti-Lackaise, Le Tapis Vert; Georges III., La Folle du lugis, La famille Lambert, Les Emotions de Polydore Marasqum, ifcc. His principal works for the theatre are La Goutte de Lait, La Plule et le beau temps, LeLion empaille, Pied-de-Fer, Louise de Nanteuil, Le, Gateau des Eeines, Les Paniers de la Comtesse, Le Diamant et le Verre, arid adaptations of several of his own novels to the stage. Gozlan also wrote a romantic and picturesque description of the old manors and mansions of his country, entitled Les Chateaux de France, 4 vols. (1844), and a biographical essay on the great novelist Balzac (1861). He was made a member of the legion of honour in 1846, and in 1859 an officer of that order. Louid Huart has published a sketch of his life. Of the many novels which uninterruptedly dropped, as it were, from Gozlan s pen during a period of thirty-eight years, very few have the qualities which commend a work of fiction to posterity ; but nearly all are pleasant to read, and some will no doubt survive as an interesting and lively picture of French manners during the first half of this century. He holds an honourable place in the second rank of French novelists.

GOZO. See Malta.

GOZZI, Carlo, Count (1722-1806), an Italian drama tist, was descended from an old Venetian family, and was born in March 1722. Compelled by the embarrassed con dition of his father s affairs to procure the means of self- support, he, at the age of sixteen, joined the army in Dalmatia ; but three years afterwards he returned to Venice, where he soon made a reputation for himself as the wittiest member of the Granelleschi society, to which the publication of several satirical pieces had gained him admission. This society, nominally devoted to conviviality and wit, had also serious literary aims, and was especially zealous to preserve the Tuscan literature pure and untainted by foreign in fluences. The displacement of the old Italian comedy by the dramas of Chiari and Goldoni founded on French models threatened defeat to all their efforts; and in 1757 Gozzi came to the rescue by publishing a satirical poem, Tartana deyli influssi per Vanno bisestile, and in 1761 by his comedy, Fiaba dell amore delle tre melaraucie, a parody of the manner of the two obnoxious poets, founded on a fairy tale. For its representation he obtained the services of the Sacchi company of players, who, on account of the popularity of the comedies of Chiari and Goldoni which afforded no scope for the display of their peculiar talents had been left without employment ; and as their satirical powers were thus sharpened by personal enmity, the play met with extraordinary success. Struck by the effect pro duced on the audience by the introduction of the super natural or mythical element, which he had merely used as a convenient medium for his satirical purposes, Gozzi now produced a series of dramatic pieces based on fairy tales, which for a period obtained great popularity, but after the breaking up of the Sacchi company were completely dis regarded. They have, however, obtained high praise from Goethe, Schlegel, Madame de Stael, and Sismondi ; and one of them, Re Turandote, was translated by Schiller. In bis later years Gozzi set himself to the production of tragedies in which the comic element was largely introduced ; but as this innovation proved unacceptable to the critics, he had recourse to the Spanish drama, from which he obtained models for various pieces which, however, met with only equivocal success. He died 4th April 180G.

His collected works were published under his own superintend ence, at Venice, in 1792, in 10 volumes; and his dramatic works, translated into German by Werthes, were published at Bern in 1795. See Gozzi s work, Memorie inutili della vita di Carlo Gozzi, 3 vols., Venice, 1797, translated into French by Paul de Musset, Paris, 1848; F. Horn, Uebcr Gozzis dramatische Pome, Venice, 1303; Gherardini, Vita di Gasp. Gozzi, 1821; " Charles Gozzi," by Paul de Musset, in the Revue des Deux Mondcs for 15th November 1844; and Magrini, Carlo Gozzi e lafiabe: saggi storici, biografici, c crilici, Cremona, 187o.

GOZZI, Gasparo, Count (1713-1786), eldest brother of Carlo Gozzi, was born 4th December 1713. In 1739 he married the poetess Luise Bergalli, and she undertook the management of the theatre of San Angelo, Venice, ho supplying the performers with dramas chiefly translated from the French. The speculation proved unfortunate, but meantime he had attained a high reputation for his con tributions to the Gazzetta Veneta, and he soon came to be known as one of the ablest critics and purest and most elegant stylists in Italy. For a considerable period he was censor of the press in Venice, and in 1774 he was appointed to reorganize the university system at Padun. He died at Padua, 26th December 1786.

His principal writings are Osucrvatore Veneta Periodico, on the model of the English Spectator, and distinguished by its high moral tone and its light and pleasant satire ; Lcttcre famiyliari, a collec tion of short racy pieces in prose and verse, on subjects of general interest ; Sermoni, poems in blank verse after the manner of Horace ; 11 monclo morale, a personification of human passions with inwoven dialogues in the style of Lucian ; and Giudizio dc/jli antichi poeti sopra la modcrna censura di Dante, a defence of the great poet against the attacks of Bettiiielli. He also translated various works from the French and English, including Marmontel s Tales and Pope s Essay on Criticism. His collected works were published at Venice, 1794-98, in 12 volumes, and several editions have appeared since.

GOZZOLI, Benozzo, an eminent painter, was born in Florence in 1424, or perhaps 1420, and in the early part of his career assisted Fra Angelico, whom he followed to Home, and worked with at Orvieto. While in Rome, he executed, in the Cappella at Araceli, a fresco of St Anthony and Two Angels. In 1449 he left Angelico, and went to Montefalco, near Foligno in Umbria. In S. Fortunato, near Montefalco, he painted a Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels, and three other works. One of these, the altar-piece representing St Thomas receiving the Girdle of the Virgin, is now in the Lateran Museum, and shows the affinity of Gozzoli s early style to Angelico s. He next painted in the monastery of St Francis, Montefalco, filling the choir with a triple course of subjects from the life of the saint, with various accessories, including heads of Dante, Petrarch, and Giotto. This work was completed in 1452, and is still marked by the style of Angelico, crossed here and there with a more distinctly Giottesque influence. In the same church, in the chapel of St Jerome, is a fresco by Gozzoli of the Virgin and Saints, the Crucifixion, and other subjects. He remained at Montefalco probably till 1456, employing Mesastris as assistant. Thence he went to Perugia, and painted in a church a Virgin and Saints, now in the local academy, and soon afterwards to his native Florence, the headquarters of art. By the end of 1459 he had nearly finished his important labour in the chapel of the Palazzo Riccardi, the Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem,

and, in the tribune of this chapel, a composition of Angels