Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Getty Research Institute https://archive.org/details/historicalremarkOOdall HISTORICAL REMARKS ON STATUARY AND SCULPTURE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF ANTIQUE SPECIMENS PRESERVED IN ENGLAND, AND OF THE MODERN SCHOOLS. VOLUME THE FIRST. LONDON: PRINTED BYT. BENSLEY, BOLT-COURT, FLEET-STREET. 1812 . “ JVospanels generum singulorum indicatis contend sumus, quibus non indicem statuarum sedprcecipna et summa capita rerum institutorumque reterum, attin- gere breviter proposition estEdm. Figrelij de Statuis Romanorum. ADVERTISEMENT. The objections which may he alledged against the painter of his own portrait, or the writer of his own life, cannot he urged, with ecpial justice, against an author who describes his own hook, merely with a view to explanation. Th ese volumes claim no preten¬ sions to originality, as very few opinions contained in them belong to the compiler, and if they shall he found to possess any degree of IV merit, it is that only of a patient research. “ Ingenui pudoris est fateri, per quos profeceris.” Entertaining always an innate love of sculpture, though without the talent of practising the art, and having extremely increased that pro¬ pensity by a short stay at Florence and Rome, before the removal of the statues to Paris, I have rendered many an hour of leisure from the duties of my profession, very de¬ lightful to myself, by inspecting statues, and reading those works y O which describe them. At first, for my own instruction, 1 made extracts from Winkelmann, Visconti, Millin, and the learned V Editor of the Dilettanti Selections ; and I treasured in my memory the conversations I formerly enjoyed with Charles Townley, Esq. the au¬ spicious founder of a collection of statues in this metropolis, now be¬ come the property of the nation. I am not unwilling to acknowledge with Cicero, “ tametsi non tarn mul- tum in istis rebus intelligo, quam multa vidi.” a From a persuasion that there are some, particularly the younger amateurs, who would willingly be spared the trouble of research, or be directed to various rare volumes; and knowing others, to whom ac- Cic. in Vervem. L. 4. Edit. Oxon. qto. T. iv. p. 390. V,1 cess to such publications is utterly denied, from extreme cost, or re¬ moteness from public libraries, I offer to both my memoranda, as mere scantlings, by the help of which a more complete structure might be erected. As to the graphic sketches, which accompany this work, it will be candidly allowed, that simple outlines communicate an idea of form, which no verbal description can reach, and in this instance, they are the only medium between en¬ gravings of incompatible expense, and a total omission of necessary elucidation. They are added merely to serve the purpose of diagrams. The engravings on wood are by Vll Berryman, an ingenious young man . in that branch of the art. In the hope of disarming se* vere criticism, let me mention, that the etchings are not the work of a professional artist, but are contri¬ buted by friendship and genius. JAMES DALLAWAY. Letherhead, Surrey. 1812. GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORK. SECTION I. History of the Invention and Practice of Sculpture and Statuary in Greece, Egypt, and Etruria, &c.p. 1—18. 30. Definition of Beauty and Principles of Taste, p. 31 —52. including the Arts of Design in Greece. Bas- reliefs, 52—55. Terra cotta, 56—58. Hermaean Sta¬ tues and Busts, 59, 60. Education of Artists, 62, 63. Description and Size of Statues, p. 64—68. Value and Number of Statues, 69, 70. SECTION II. Sculptors and Statuaries of Greece, p. 70—74, to the destruction of Athens. Schools of Sculpture, 74—134. Dzedalus, 74. Srnilis, 75. Rhoecus, 75. Telec-les and Theodorus, 76 . Malas, 77. Dipoenus and Scillis, 78. Bupalus, 79. Dameas, 81. Pythagoras 83. Phidias, 86 — 9o. Polycletus, 95— 99- Alcamenes, 99- Agora- critus, 100. Naucydes, 101. Scopas, 102. Ctesilaus, 107. Praxiteles, 111. Lysippus, 118—-122. Chares, 122. 10 Polydorus and Athenodorus, 125. Apollonius and Tats- riscus, 127. Decline of the Art, 133—'138. SECTION III. Sculptors established at Rome, 140. Roman Sculp¬ ture in the Consular Age, and from the Augustan to the Decline of the Art, 140—154. Sculpture at Rome by- Greek Artists, 154—158. Roman Sculpture, 159. Por¬ traits and Domestic Statues, l6l. Penates and Lares, 163. Genii, 167- Sculpture under the Emperors, 183. Sarcophagi, 184. Triumphal Arches, 183. Historical Columns, large Bacchanalian Vases, and Candelabra, 184. Decline of Sculpture, 189 . State of Sculpture, after the removal of the Empire to Constantinople, 189— 196 . SECTION IV. Of the Discovery of Antique Statues in Italy. M. Aurelius, 205. Torso of Hercules, 206 . Laocoon, 208. Antinous, 213. Venus, 214. Hercules and Telephus, 218. Hercules Farnese, 219. Niobe, 221 . Apollo Belvidere, 223. Gladiator Borghese, 227. Dying Gla¬ diator, 228. Venus of the Capitol, 229 . Meleager, 230. Discoboli, 231—234. Collections of Sculpture and Statuary at Rome, S35—241. Materials of Sculp¬ ture, 242—249- Of Statuary Bronze, 249—257. Res¬ toration of Statues, 257—268. 11 SECTION V. Medici Gallery at Florence, 269. Collections of Statues made by the different Princes of Europe, 271. In France, 271 . In England, 272. In Spain, 272. In Germany, 272 . In Russia, 274. In Sweden, 275. Arun- delian Collection, 275. Dispersion of it, 282. Pem¬ broke Collection, 288 —291- Lord Leicester’s Collection at Holkham, and others made at Rome, 292 . Restoration of Statues, 294. Gems, 295. Cammeos and Intaglios, 296 — 298 . Collections of Gems in England, 299- Bar- barini, or Portland Vase, 300—304. CATALOGUE AND DESCRIPTION OF THE ETCHINGS. I. P. 13, Egyptian Priest and Osiris. At Paris, in the Napoleon Collection. II. P. 40, Leucothea. A bust in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. III. P. 59,lAspasia, the wife of Pericles. At Rome. IV. P. 80, Ceres of Eleusis. Townleian. V. P. 82, Olympic Victors. In the Villa Borghese. VI. P. 96, Head of Jupiter. Townleian. Probably a fragment of a statue by Polycletus, mentioned by Pau- sanias, (Kuhnii, p. 154.) or at least an ancient copy. Dilettanti Select. PI. 31. VII. P.94. Hygeia. Of the age of Phidias. VIII. P.104. Dione, or Venus. Townleian. IX. P. 106 , Venus of Cos. Venus of Gnidus. Cu- pido, or TloSog, in the Villa Borghese. X. P. 10S, Athletia Moriens, commonly called the Dying Gladiator. Napoleon Museum: formerly, in the Capitol. 14 XL P. 112 , Sauroctonus and Faunus, or Bacchanal. Villa Borghese. XII. P. 114, Cupido. In Sir Bichard Worsley’s Collection. XIII. P. 115, Cupido Townleian. An imitation of Praxiteles, by Menodorus. XIV. P. 117 , Clio Musa. Discovered near Rome, and sold in 1784 to G'ustavus III. king of Sweden. XV. P. 120 . Demosthenes, sitting. Formerly in the Villa Negrone: sold by Mr. Jenkins to the Pio-Cle- mentine Museum, (v. 3. pi. 14.) now at Paris, Ann. de Mus. v. 7 - pi. 4. XVI. P. 140, Curtius leaping into the gulf. From the large Altorelievo, in the Villa Borghese. XVII. P. 150, Busts of Augustus. Caracalla and Septimius Severus, in the Villa Borghese. XVIII. P. 169 , Fragment of a statue of M. Brutus. XIX. P. 117, Portrait of a Roman Lady, unknown. Townleian. XX. P. 178 , Antinous, from a bas-relief and Egyp¬ tian statue. Formerly in the Villa Albani, now at Paris. XXI. P. 179> Mercury sitting on a Ram. In the Collection of Count Stanislaus Potoski : now at St. Petersburg. XXII. P. 180. Mercury standing. Originally in the Villa Montalto; then in the Villa Negrone, from whence it was purchased by Mr. Jenkins, who sold it to Pius VI. (Mus. Pio-Clem. v. 3 , pi. 116 .) now at Paris, * Ann.de Musee. t. 7. pi. 4. 15 XXIII. P.181, Bust of Antoninus Pius; found at Porcigliano; in the Chigi Collection. Julia Pia, in the Villa Borghese. XXIV. P. 185, Candelabrum, found among the ruins of Hadrian’s villa; now in the Radcliffe Library, at Oxford. , ( XXV. P. 1515, The Warwick Vase. The Bedford Vase. Brought from Rome. XXVI. P. 208, Group of Laocoon—now at Paris. XXVII. P. 219 , Head of Hercules. Townleian. XXVIII. P.231, Discobolus in Action. Townleian. “ The best of the three ancient copies of the bronze, by Myro. The head is quite different from the other copies, in which the face is turned backward, towards the ript civilization of the same nations, from a super¬ stitious respect. 1 " Herodotus says," that the Persians disap¬ proved of statues, because they did not be¬ lieve that the gods had the human form, as the Greeks did in those days. In a short time artists arose who ventured to engraft a head upon these blocks, and to distinguish by features the one from the other. Of this practice, the first instances are of Jupiter, Priapus, and Terminus; and when these types of divinities were multi¬ plied, and the heads of philosophers and heroes were so placed, that description of statue was called “ terminal,” or “ Iiermaean.” As these rude statuaries became more skil¬ ful, the heads acquired an air and character from bolder design and higher finishing; other parts of the body, particularly the arms and feet, were marked out, whilst the trunk re- Egyptian figtree,) were made after the use of marble was known. An absurd mixture of materials was that of joining heads, hands and feet of marble to statues of wood, which prevailed even to the days of Phidias;—and his Minerva at Plataea was so com¬ posed. Such were called “ Acrolithoi." Guasco de l’usage des Statues chez les anciens, p. 70 . 1. 1 . 11 131. p. 56. 8 Sculpture mained square and unsculptured, or covered with a hard drapery of strait and stiff plaits. The feet were close and united, and the other parts, described as they were, could not sug¬ gest any idea of action. It is reported by Apollodorus, who had probabty seen it, that the Palladium of Troy had the feet closely joined to each other; it was a sitting figure, which Homer says was worshipped by the Trojan women, (Iliad, Z. v. 88,) who placed an offering upon her knees. There are Egyp¬ tian statues, the character of which is varied according to the age that produced them." The first approaches nearly in form to the Chinese; the figures of this kind have small eyes and diminutive features. The second n Winkelmann assigns three epochas to the history of the arts in Egypt. I. The ancient, to the reign of Cambyses, when Egypt became subject to the Persians. II. The middle age, when the native Egyptians studied and practised sculpture under the Per¬ sians and Greeks. III. The modern, under Hadrian and his suc¬ cessors, when the style of imitation was introduced. Carlo Fea has established five periods. I. Before the reign of Sesostris, who (he asserts) introduced a new style. II. Under Sesostris for the space of twenty-four years. The fixing of these two aeras appears io be conjectural. III. From Sesostris to Psammeticus, who ad¬ mitted the Greeks into Egypt, by whom the manners and taste of the nation were influenced. IV. The style of imitation practised at Rome. V. To the time of Theodosius the great, who took away the reliques. Car. Fea is of opinion that the greater part of the marbles, called of the second style, are in fact of this last rera. 9 resembles the Moors in their large full eye, Sculpture thick lip, and flat nose. The third after the m E§ypt> Alexandrian conquest, partakes of the Gre¬ cian. That the rudiments of sculpture among the Greeks and Egyptians had a positive re¬ semblance in the first formation of bodies in their statues, proves no more, than that the original designs were the same in all nations. But, if, at the same period that the Egyptians could effect a certain degree of resemblance to the human form, the Greeks could only make their blocks of marble smooth and square, such inability evinces, that they were not of the Egyptian school of sculpture. Homer’s poetical description of the shield of Achilles, 0 the bowl of Helen, and the belt of Hercules p allow a conjecture, that the art of casting metals had reached a certain de- gree of perfection when the Iliad was com¬ posed. But no artist of that day could have completed his ideas. To their contemporary introduction two obstacles occurred; the usage of public wor¬ ship, and the greater difficulty of one than of the other. As the art of sculptural design was inspired by the desire of representing II. X. v. 4/8. P Odyss. r. 10 Sculpture more an¬ cient than painting. their divinities, the ancients, if the artists were unknown, persuaded themselves, that these effigies had fallen down from heaven. To no effort of the painter, even when the walls of temples were adorned with pictures, did they attribute so great a degree of sanc¬ tity. Considering painting as the more dif¬ ficult task, because the objects approach nearer to the real appearance of things, they require to be enlivened and made sensible, by the management and easy gradation of light and shade, that, though they are de¬ picted upon an opake surface, they may pre¬ sent the reflection of a mirrour. In the re¬ presentation of nature, the grand requisites are invention, design, and colouring. Sculp¬ ture is exempt from the last mentioned, the difficulty of which is such as to exceed tire talents of the majority of painters. If the Greeks had no knowledge of light and shade before the time of Apol!odorus, q the master of Zeuxis, the priority of the invention of sculpture is a plain fact. Painting therefore may be considered as more difficult than sculpture, in the same degree as mere inven- *i Plutarch, p. 6 \ 6 . 11 tion is more easy than execution, after truth Sculpture and nature. One of the chief advantages claimed by sculpture is, that it brings nature embodied to our view, as the object is visible and of a palpable form on all sides, which also includes a difficulty of reaching perfec¬ tion, from the power given of inspecting it in every point. The painter can correct and efface his faults, whilst those of the statuary are irreparable, and his most promising work may be spoiled by the slightest deviation from his model. The art of sculptural design made a slow progress in Egypt, from the circumstances of their artists never departing from the likeness of the Ethiopic features of the na¬ tives r to represent ideal beauty, and their having been restricted by their government, which was consolidated with their religion, to one unvarying resemblance of their gods, sacred animals, priests, and monarchs, and lastly from their having been employed in sculpture merely as a trade that they had learned from their fathers, and which they w'ere obliged to follow. 1 r Eustath. ad Odyss. A. p. 1-J84. Hesych. s Diod. Sic. 1. c. p. 44. 1 Diod. Sic. 1. c. p. 68. 12 Scuiptur* As to the first mentioned, it was insuper- in Egypt. 1 able, and therefore they could not regard the art as an imitation of the most perfect forms. How could the} 7 , like the Greeks, elevate their minds to ideal beauty, when they possessed none in nature? Nothing is more fatal to true genius than the slavery of imitation, as applied to imperfect models. This torpid state of sculpture must be refer¬ red to the influence of hierarchy, as the ori¬ ginal cause. 1 ' Yet there were two epochs, or rather two manners, to be distinguished in Egyptian sculpture: the first retained its primitive dis¬ crimination till the annihilation of their an¬ cient government, which proscribed innova¬ tion or variety ; nor does it appear that, prior to the conquest of the Egyptians by the Greeks, any memorable alteration had taken place. Perhaps the second manner is not purely Egyptian, but a conceit in some u Plato de Legibus, 1. ii. “ Cette sculpture architectural si je puis m’exprimer ainsi, ne produisit que des figures roides et incapables de se mouvoir. On decouvre dans ses ouvrages un des principes du beau—le beau n’y est point. On y voit a peine la premiere etincelle du feu qui devroit les animer.” Recherches sur 1' art Statuaire par Emeric David, p. 127, 8vo. 1805. Their reverence for the bodies of the dead, precluded them from any ac¬ quaintance with anatomy. / * ;y> N IS of the Roman emperours, particularly Ha- Sculpture cirian, to have statues made with certain of the Egyptian characteristics.* In their genuine statues we shall seek in vain for dispositon of parts or attitude, for muscles, veins, or contractions. Their deities are all of them uniform and alike. Whether erect, sitting or kneeling, their backs are con¬ stantly propped up by a pilaster. The male deities have their hands and arms stretched and closely stuck to their sides, and their feet are not parallel, but in the same line, one advanced before the other. In the fe¬ male figures we may observe, in those at least which are upright, that one hand is laid upon the breasts. They are draped, but not a single fold can be discovered; the clothing is so exactly adapted to the body, that it can be known only by examining the neck and legs. Those of the other sex are naked, ex¬ cepting a kind of square apron. x It has been said, that in Egypt such was the perfection of the rules for sculpture, that statues were composed of two parts, without any communication between the artists during the work; which parts, when brought together, were found to fit with the greatest exactness. An Antinous, in two pieces, was.discovered at Tivoli. The Egyptian bronzes were covered with green ena¬ mel. Ebony was a common material, from the resemblance of its colour to black basaltes. / 14 Sculpture The Egyptians were ignorant of the art of J casting statues in metal. That of hardening metal was certainly known to them. Mr. P. Knight has a figure of Jupiter Ammon, sitting, and with the head of a ram. It consists of three pieces of copper beaten to¬ gether till the tangent surfaces fitted each other, and then hammered and hewn into human or animal shape. They sometimes plated metal upon wood, and wrought in green or black basalt, so hard and brittle a material, that no modern tool will touch it. y Notwithstanding this total failure of at¬ tempt to imitate the human figure, animals of exquisite workmanship were formed by these sculptors, in which correctness in de¬ signing the bones and muscles, and even an elegant contour and gradation in every part, will be allowed to exist. No prohibition, which applied to human forms, was extended to those of animals, which circumstance will account for a greater degree of perfection. Their deities likewise consisted of human y D. Select. PI. I. The British Museum can now boast a rich and curious col¬ lection of Egyptian sculpture. The Jupiter Ammon and Osiris in bronze, now in Mr. R. P. Knight’s collection, are singular and excellent. 15 parts adapted to animal forms. The Lions Sculpture at the foot of the Capitol, those at the fountain of the Aqua Felice, and the great Sphjnx in the Borghese gardens at Rome, are excellent specimens. In designing their double animals, the Egyptians were more consistent than other nations, and showed more skill in putting them together. For the Sphynx, which is simply a human head attached to the body of a brute, is an in¬ vention more consonant to the oeconomy of nature, than thos« of the Greeks or Romans; —a Centaur can scarcely be supposed to have existed with such a repetition of parts, all the licence of fable beinu - allowed. De- viations from the first manner had not fully prevailed during the Persian dynasty, but belong to the age of Alexander and the Ptolemies, who introduced the sciences, to¬ gether with the arts of Greece. A very striking difference will be observed, not only in the mode of placing the arms, but in the distinguishing of the outer from the inner vestment in the drapery, as well as the very high finishing of the heads. Two perfections of opposite qualities are remarked, by the erudite Editor of the Sped- mens published by the Dilettanti of London, to occur in the Egyptian style of sculpture, “ breadth and sharpness/’ which coincidence ranks their sculpture far above that of the Hindoos and Chinese. Of the modern Egyptian manner, or that adopted by the Romans about the reign of Hadrian, I will notice only the leading pecu¬ liarities. These artists were so ambitious of making statues in the true taste of Egypt, that they procured even their materials, ba- saltes and red granite, from that country; and,considering the most antique specimens as their models, were particularly careful to affix the Egyptian attributes. But the An- tinous, although in the disguise of an Egyp¬ tian, will be found by an attentive observer to be a Grecian, in the whole form of the head, its oval contour, the correctness of the profile, the fulness of the chin, and the sua¬ vity of the mouth. Such is the resemblance in every known statue of him by the Greek masters, the far greater number of which have been discovered in the ruins of the pa¬ laces and villa of Hadrian, who commanded that his favourite should be deified in Egypt, where he died. At Mantinea were statues 17 and portraits of him with the attributes of Etruscan I Vases. Bacchus. 2 v— After the Egyptian works of art, the most ancient are those of the Estruscans. The first emigration to Elruria, was that of the Pe- Jasgi, 3 a people of Arcadia, who brought with them the style of art at that time prevalent in Greece, which is evident from the Pelasgo- Greek character, observable upon Etrusco- Pelasgick gems and monuments, from which original manner, there is no instance of their entire deviation. 6 About six centuries after that event, a principal settlement was made by a colony of the Lydians, 300 years before the time of Herodotus, (1043, A. C.) who fixes the date in the days of Lycurgus. These later colonists introduced the art of writing, and in process of time taught the Etruscans z Pausan. 1. via. c. 9 . In the collection at Paris is a statue of him deified in white marble, contrary to the custom of the Egyp¬ tians, who represented their divinities in coloured marble, ex¬ cepting statues of Osiris the god of light. a Herodotus, 1. i. p, 28. b Scarabasi of the same Pelasgo-greek workmanship are found all over Greece and Egypt. At Ardea were vases, paintings and characters in the same style, but by Greek artists. For an ac¬ count of the Egyptian Scarabaei, see Millin Diet, des Beaux-Arts, “ Scarabee.” C 18 Etruscan their sculpture and design, together with their Vases. 1 national history and that ot their deities, in which they eventually attained to great ex¬ cellence. Figures now seen on the most ancient specimens of Etruscan art corre¬ spond, generally speaking, with the old my¬ thology of Greece, taken from the Greek poets and heroic fables, or are illustrative of the mystical shows at Eleusis. Sir W. Hamilton c considers what has been so long called Etruscan workmanship, to be in fact Grecian; and, in his later very ele¬ gant publications, has demonstrated the con¬ trary opinion as a common errour; and the learned Lanzi has satisfactorily proved that the Etruscans were merely imitators of the Greek Zmaypatpot, or rather their copyists. Their more elegant specimens were certainly composed after their subjugation to the Ro¬ man consular power. A league made by the Argivi, against the Thebans, and the expe¬ dition of “ the Seven against Thebes,” prior to the Trojan war, are the most remote and c Hamilton and D’Hancarville, “ Etruscan Vases, &c. 4 vols. I/ 67 . Hamilton and Tischbein, Ditto, 3 vols. Lanzi Saggio della Lingua Etrusca, 3 vols. 8vo. Bdttiger Grieschische Vasen-ge- mahlden.” Explanation of Tischbein’s plates. 19 renowned events recorded in their ll annals. Etruscan Vases. No memorial of this war is preserved upon any monument ot Grecian art, however an¬ cient; but the names of five of the seven heroes are inscribed on a gem in the Etrus¬ can character.' This circumstance may be admitted to prove, that the colonists in Etru¬ ria practised arts unknown or disused in the mother country, during that eventful period, when the contentions of its chief states were carried on with unremitted violence/ Nola and Capua, the principal cities of the Etruscans, were founded in the 801st, and Rome in the 754th year before the Chris¬ tian aera, and it has been near the ancient sites of those first mentioned, that the most d The subjects relating to the Heroic age of Troy, though styled Homeric, as having been recited in the Jliad, were never¬ theless merely traditionary and mythological. Christie, p. 83. D'Hancarville observes “ that the extreme rarity of Etruscan vases in the time of Julius Caesar is proved by the great price given for them, and concludes that the art of painting them was lost, prior to the aera of the Roman empire.” There are now probably preserved more specimens at Rome, Paris, and in Englmd, than were ever known to the ancient Romans. “ Vasa Necro-Co- rinthia” found at Corinth, were those first brought to Rome. “ Vasa Thericlea,” Sueton. Aug. c. /O. Tiber, c. 34. e This gem, which is one of the most ancient known, was in the collection of Baron Siosch, sold to the king ot Prussia for his cabinet at Dresden; probably now at Paris.—Winkelmann, f Thucydid. 1. i. p, 5. 20 Etruscan excellent specimens of the combined arts of Vases. v —y— pottery and painlmg have been g discovered. Vases found at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabias, in a perfect state, have been finished with a black varnish only, and not painted. Those which were of most exouisite form, tex- ture, and embellishment, were reposited in the sepulchres, or placed in the chief apart¬ ments of their houses, with particular venera¬ tion, religiously considered, and admired as most curious specimens of the art. The pri¬ mary dedication of all such as were peculiarly excellent, was in proof of initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries,orappended to the pub- lick religion of the country, in the numerous s D’Hancarville, v. ii. p. IOC). I subjoin the conclusive opinion of the editor of the Dilettanti Selection : “ The more rude and early specimens are exactly in the same style as those of the very ancient Greeks, from whom they appear to have learned all they knew, and whose primitive style they continued to copy after a more elegant and dignified man¬ ner, founded on more enlarged principles, had been adopted by the Greeks themselves. Hence their works may be considered as Greek, or at least a close imitation of the Greeks. The proximity of the Italian colonies, where the arts were cultivated with the most brilliant success at a very early period, afforded them the most favourable opportunities of obtaining instruction; and as they availed themselves of it, at all, it is rather wonderful, that their progress should have been so slow, and comparatively im¬ perfect.” Introd. p. x. 21 ceremonies of which they were exhibited. 11 The Etruscan ** # e Vases. minute examination of these specimens will immediately present to the mind, that uni¬ form principle of grace and elegance of form, which distinguish the works of Greece and all her colonies, whatever may have been the individual discrimination of one province from another, in climate, laws, manners or government. These Etruscan funereal vases abound in the most beautiful yet perpetually varied forms, always allusive to the initiation of the individual so commemorated; and the same systematic elegance was applied to the ishape, even of their common domestic vessels. Some of these Greek vases are inscribed, h “ A disquisition upon Etruscan Vases displaying their pro¬ bable connection with the Shows at Eleusis, and the Chinese Feast of Lanterns, with explanations of a few of the principal allegories depicted on them,” 4to. Lond. 1800. This treatise, which is re¬ plete with ingenuity and learning, was privately printed by the author, Mr. Christie, of Pall-Mall, and given to his friends. “ Le Costume ou Essai sur les Habillements et les Usages de plusieurs peuples de l’antiquite prouve par les monuments par An¬ dre Lens, Peintre, 4to. 17/6.” Another edition by Martini, 4to. 1785.— “ The Costume of theAncients, by Thomas Hope, 8vo. I 8 O 9 .” This elegant work consists of etchings from 200 subjects, chiefly taken from his own collection of Etruscan Vases. not with the name of the artist, but often with that of the person who has offered them in sacrifice. As to the subjects themselves, they are usually sacrifices, processions and representations which have an immediate re¬ ference to the initiatory ceremonies belong¬ ing to the mysteries of Ceres and Bacchus, more generally known as “ the Eleusinian.” The figures are designed with freedom and grace, and the composition is simple, con¬ sisting, indeed, of individuals placed beside each other, yet the outline of the group is generally capable of producing an agreeable effect. It is the opinion ofTischbein, that these paintings were executed in the same manner as now applied to porcelain; and that a peculiar facility of hand''was required, as the artist was under the necessity of finish¬ ing his design at a single stroke, on account of his tracing lines with a liquid pigment, upon an absorbent earth. The marks of an engraving or cutting instrument have been seen in some vases. It is supposed likewise, that this process took place when the clay was moist, and that, previously to its becom¬ ing dry, the varnish and colours were applied. These conjectures rest on the examination of many vases or fragments, made with a view 23 to ascertain their composition and method of Etruscan painting.' I am induced to extract from Mr. Christie’s Essay, (in which novelty and just opinion on this very intricate subject are combined with sound erudition,)several leading ideas respect¬ ing the purport and destination of Etruscan vases. “ Paintings upon vases are the only volumes in which the Eleusinian mysteries respecting a future stale are correctly de¬ tailed. Passeri is mistaken in considering them as containing the annals of a lost nation. “ We may hence (he observes, k ) collect the real nature of these shows: they probably consisted of transparencies, of which the sub¬ jects are faithfully preserved upon Etruscan vases to the present day. The tradition given by Pliny I am inclined to treat as fabulous, and to conclude that the shadow was trans¬ ferred to the vase, not from the lamp of the daughter of Dibutades, but from the scenes of the Theatre at Eleusis. These, it might ' Museum Etruscum cum Observ. Gorii. fol. 3 tom. 1/37- T. Dempsterus de Etruria regali cura, T. Coke, 4to. 2 v, 1723. Guarnacci Origini Italiche. Sur les Mysteres du Paganisme, par le Baron. de Ste. Croix. k P. 24. 24 Etruscan Vases. readily be supposed, consisted of a dark superficies, in which transparent figures were placed;—hence the Etruscan vases with red figures upon a black ground, or —of opake figures moved behind a transparent canvas; and—hence those earlier vases with black figures upon a red ground. A narrow light border frequently encompasses the outline of the figures, but this interval only occurs be¬ tween some part of the body (as the hair, &c.) expressed in shadow, and the ground of the vase thus serving as a luminous interval to mark the contour/’ The certificate of initiation was probably expressed on these memorials in the words 44 KAA.OC kaAJIC,” inscribed in transparent characters upon the vases of Nola. g The mystic doctrine of the immortality of the soul being allegorically expressed by an ele¬ gant group on the side of the vase, the paint¬ ing itself was put for the religious opinion of the person, and the person was consequently represented by the vase.” The Hierophant, who personated the Avipivpyog,” or Creator, was the exhibitor of the Eleusinian shews, s P. 2(5. Many of the more curious were found at Arctium, or Arezzo, in Tuscany. 25 and theMysta was the person to be initiated.” Etruscan 1 . _ Vases. Broad leaves ot the aquatic Bolus were a v— v — symbol of creation; thus the perfect flower of the plant was a model for the bell-shaped vase, and the full or overblown flower is re¬ presented by the tazza or dish. It may be generally remarked, that the paintings upon the vases of Nola, whereon the ground is opake, exhibit allegorical scenes “ in h lnferis.” The middle sized and small Sicilian vases on the contrary exhibit such as refer to Cos¬ mogony, and these are frequently covered with very whimsical designs. The collector who may prefer entertainment and informa¬ tion to mere elegance of shape and ornament, might do well to confine his purchases to the latter class. Nature is subjected to the vicissitude of decay, inertion, and resuscita¬ tion. The most frequent allusion of these scenes is to the suspension of the powers of nature, and the restoration of the same by the interference of some vivifying agent. By far the most numerous class of paint¬ ings on Etruscan vases have been so de¬ signed as to elucidate this subject in one composition.” h P. 48, note. The e ‘ Qzo; n.op'rrzto;,” whose office it was to conduct the dead “ ad Inferos.” 26 Etruscan Vases. “ Figures are draped and naked, the former are generally considered in the inert, the latter in the resuscitated state, and many in¬ stances may be adduced where figures have been thus purposely contrasted. 1 Let me add likewise, from the same authority, an ex¬ planation of some of the symbols, often seen detached upon vases, and which are specified by Clemens of Alexandria. The poppy was dedicated to Ceres on account of the infinite number of seeds contained in a single pod, and the pomegranate for the same reason represented the seeds of existence. 1’he heart-shaped leaf is a substitute for a flame and a vivifying symbol. Ivy always denotes the shades, and is peculiar to Bacchus 44 in Inferis/’ By the mirrour might be presented the 44 simulachrum anilinewinged Genii denote the animating principle. Certain lu¬ minous spots, whether disposed in a circle, or expressed upon a leaf or chaplet, a girdle or scarf, were signs of the causes of vivifica- tion. Passeri explains the square windows in vases, to be the receptacles in the walls for the images of the domestic Lares, which were only opened on festival days. The ' P. Gl . D’Hancarville, T. 3. pi. Q4. 27 ladder is a symbol of the Metempsychosis, Etruscan of which the different stages are represented by its steps. The window denotes perfec¬ tion, or the highest degree of it/’ k Fictile vases are connected with the his¬ tory of sculpture, in regard to design and modelling. Lillie doubt can be entertained, but that they suggested to the Greeks of a later sera, the formation of vases from a mi¬ nute, to a much larger size than could be effected in pottery, and that the exquisite em¬ bellishment in basso-relievo was thus trans¬ ferred, from a plain to a cylindrical surface. Jn that point of view they are connected with, or in fact are, the prototypes of sculp¬ ture. The most celebrated collections of vases were those in the Medicean Cabinet at Flo¬ rence, in the royal palace at Naples,' and those placed in the Vatican library by Cle¬ ment XIJ, the greater part of which had been discovered in Tuscany. In the course of the last century, vaults and sepulchres were sought after with the greatest diligence and consequent success, and many vases of k P. 80, 95 , 96 .— 1 Picturae Hetruscorum in vasculis. Passeri, fol. 4 tom. 1767-70, 28 Etruscan equal merit and curiosity were sent into oilier Vases. v—^ countries and sold by the collectors. Mengs, the painter, supplied the Museum at St. llde- fonso. But the most assiduous 'investigator of these specimens of ancient art, was our own countryman, Sir William Hamilton, dur¬ ing his long residence as ambassador at the court of Naples. I shall subjoin the most authentic account I can procure of that branch of Vertu now preserved in m England. The imperial Museum at Paris is replete 1 Antiquites Etrusques, Greeques et Romaines tirees da cabinet de M. Hamilton, fol. 4 vol. 1768, par D’Hancarville. Recueil de Gravures d’apres les Vases antiques, la plupart d’un ouvrage Grec, trouves dans les tombeaux dans le royaume des deux Siciles, mais principalement dans les environs de Naples, pendant les annees 1780 et 1790, tirees du cabinet de M. le Chev. Hamilton, publiees par M. G. Tischbein, Direct, de l’Acad. royale de Peinture a Naples fol. 4 tom. 1792 —1795. m Sir W. Hamilton’s first collection was purchased in 1772, for the British Museum for 80001. In 1796, eight large cases out of twenty-four were consigned to the Colossus man of war, which was wrecked on the rocks of Scilly. About 400 were lost, but fortunately those of the least value. Those which were safely brought to England were illustrated by Italinski, and subsequently purchased by Mr. Thomas Hope for 40001. in 1801; of which 180 were sold at Christie’s, in 1805. Nearly 200 had been previously disposed of, belonging to Messrs. Graves and Guy Head. Lord Cawdor’s collection, consisting of more than seventy, was dispersed by auction. Fifteen of the more valuable are in the library at Wooburn-Abbey, and S. Rogers, Esq. selected others. 29 with the spoils of the whole continent, among which a large and admirable selection of Etruscan and Grecian vases, is not its least boast. Paterae are of Etruscan invention, but sub- Patera?, sequently of Roman usage. Those of the Etruscans were sacrificial, and intended to contain libations, or to receive the blood of victims. They were of a circular form, shal¬ low, and with handles, composed usually of fictile ware, but sometimes of bronze or the precious metals. Considerable information is given by them, both with respect to the arts and the written character. Many in¬ teresting parts of mythology and heroic his¬ tory are delineated on them, with names superscribed in the most ancient characters. Fictile Paterae have been abundantly found among the ruins of Herculaneum. One of gold, embossed with the triumph of Bacchus over Hercules, nearly a foot in diameter, is now preserved in the Imperial Cabinet at Paris." n Millin Mon. Antiq. inedits. T. 1. pi. 24. This Patera of gold was discovered in 1/74, at Rennes in Britanny, and weighed five marcs, three ounces and some grains, French. A bronze Patera, the story of which is either Paris and Helen, or Adonis with Proserpine in Inferis, found at Dodona, 30 Etruscan A remarkable distinction between the first Sculpture. . _ v —■v —' and second Etruscan manner, both of design and sculpture, is, that the hair was disposed in minute rows of curls, as that of Hercules, in a bas relief on a square altar in the mu¬ seum of the Capitol, and the skin of the she- wolf in the same collection, cast in bronze when the Etruscans exercised the arts at Rome 0 . Their drapery falls universally into striated or serpentine folds, which hard manner some even of the Greek sculptors adopted in their figures of the deities, with reverence to high and venerable antiquity, as well as to distin¬ guish them from mortals. Several connois- seurs have asserted that some of the vases so called were not Etruscan; many, however, which are genuine exhibit small figures and groups, such as are seen in intaglios, re¬ lievos, &c. In Rome, there is not a single Etruscan statue extant; but, in the Florence Gallery, is one of Minerva,in bronze,of singu- with eleven others, was brought from the Levant in 1/96 by Mr. Hawkins. It is a singularly fine specimen. The others are said to have been sent to the emperour of Russia. ° Dionys. Halic. 1. i. p. 64. Cic. Divinat. 1. ii. c. 20. Orat. 3. in Catilinam. SI lar curiosity, and another of an Haruspex, Arts of de¬ having an inscription on the hem of his Greece, robe, which was found in the lake of Tin a- ' v symene. 1 ’ Still more remarkable is a Chi¬ mera, a bronze idol, inscribed on the right leg, dug up at Arezzo in 1553. It is sup¬ posed to have formed part of a group of Bellerophon. By statues only can the judg¬ ment be directed to a certain point of de¬ cision, by which a complete system might be formed of the designs of these artists. So much has been premised respecting other nations before we treat of the Greeks, among whom the origin, progress, and de¬ cline of the arts may be more satisfactorily traced, by inquiring into their religious sys¬ tem, and history. q In order to consider the arts of design p Mus. Flor. T. 1. pl.81. Guasco De l’usage des Statues, p. 141. * Memoires de l'Acad. Inscript. “ Caylus dissert, sur la Sculpt.” T. 25. “ Sur l’art de sculpture des anciens selon Pline & Pausane,” Id. T. 32. N° 36. Baudelot D’airval. l( Epoque de la nudite des Athletes dans les Jeux de la Grece,” Id. T. 1. “ The prodigious superiority of the Greeks over every other nation, in all works of real taste and genius, is one of the most curious moral phaenomena in the history of man. Private manners co-operated with esta¬ blished religion to encourage the arts, and public institutions were equally calculated to form such artists as deserved encourage¬ ment,” D. Select. 32 Arts of tie- among the Greeks, and to account for their Greece. excellence m pourtraymg the human figure, ive must compare them with our idea of “ the beautiful,” as it is dispersed throughout universal nature. When we have attentively examined thatspecies of beauty in partswhich is peculiar to the human form, we may deter¬ mine with precision what are the outlines and lineaments which, in a whole, compose 44 the beautiful.” Unity and simplicity are the true principles of reasoning upon the existence of 44 the beautiful” in any object; and when these are connected by proportion and harmony, the effect is 44 the sublime.” We frequently mistake the perfect for the simply beautiful, which may be reduced to certain principles in practice, but can scarcely be defined. 1 i Cicero (De Finibus, 1. ii. c. 4.) makes Cotta observe that it is more easy to say “ what the divinity is not, than what he is”—an observation which may be applied to “ the beautiful” in the arts, as being more easily felt, than defined. The most cele¬ brated among the Greek sculptors observed and selected the beau¬ ties of nature without endeavouring to embellish them, an attempt which would have led them astray from truth. Their sole study was directed to a f ‘ good choicea name more just than the chi¬ merical term “ ideal,” so frequently employed by critics. “ Ly¬ sippus, the greatest sculptor in Greece, boldly claimed the privi¬ lege of making men as they seemed to him to be, not as they really were.” D. Select. 33 The Greek sculptors,who excelled in beauty Definition of contour, chose the season of youth for the best models of their deities, in opposition to some of the great modern masters, who have represented the muscles and veins in statues of every period of life. In youth, the aerial and the solid form seem to exist in the same body. Hence arose an abstract and meta¬ physical notion of an ethereal being substan¬ tiated and clothed in a bodily shape, but without partaking of the gross materiality or debility of human nature/ Emeric David gives the following concise definition of the beautiful in idea; “ Le nora de beau ideal considere en lui meme ne peut done designer que le beau visible, le beau reel-le beau de la nature.”' Beauty, therefore, is of two species, ideal or abstract, and individual or personal. But nature fails in her end, from the accidents to which humanity is liable; so that we rarely see a form perfect in all its parts. There are heads and expression of countenance to be daily seen, which may rival the Florentine Niobe or the Vatican Apollo, but it is only ' Cic. Nat. Deor. 1. i c. 17* 9 Recherche s, p. 285- D orr^'utT P art * a * ^ eaut J- To remedy tins defect, the v —•v—^ Greek statuaries, proposing to themselves ob¬ jects of worship superior lo nature, always represented them in the springtide of life and eternal youth. As the individual model could not be found, they applied themselves to the study of select parts in various bodies, and composed from them a more perfect form. The gymnastic exercises, especially those in Sparta, in which women publickly engaged, exhibited the most symmetrical human figures unencumbered by drapery, from whence the best examples might be selected. These spectacles offered a large field to be fertilised by the imagination. 5 The gymnastic games afforded opportuni¬ ties to these artists of observing the human form in every variety of attitude and action. But it was long before they learned to catch these transitory graces, of which they could 8 Aristophan. Pac. v. /6l. Consult Millin. Diction, des Beaux Arts, article “ Ideal,” for a correct and ingenious definition; and the Prelim. Disc, to the Dilettanti Selection, p xi. “ Homer’s description of the Shield of Achilles certainly surpasses any thing then produced, and is, therefore, apparently intuitive. It must have excited the emulation, directed the industry, and stimulated the invention of succeeding artists to aim at ideal excellence, by constantly presenting to their minds this imaginary model of ideal perfection.” 35 have no models, and which therefore coudd Definition only be imitated by memory, and science w-v-w directing a hand, perfected by long practice, so as to be able to convey at once form and dimensions to the conceptions of the mind, without obliging the eye to recur to its archetypes. 1 Proportions which approach nearest to perfection constitute the beautiful, and are found only in the assemblage of what is re¬ markable in many different objects. Man cannot imagine any thing beyond the beauty of nature, and her defects are discoverable by him only from an attentive comparison of individuals with each other. For such examinations the customs of the Greeks al¬ lowed them frequent opportunity. Not only the public games above mentioned, but their dances, both comic and serious, presented to them a true picture of the passions, which their artists have so happily studied, and ex¬ pressed with so much ardour and truth. They were by these means enabled to discover and compare the specific beauty exclusively appropriate to either sex. Notwithstanding the infinite variety of individual character D Select. 36 Definition from which they borrowed single ideas, there of Beauty. v—' resulted a whole, the parts of which had an exact correspondence, and all the symmetry of perfected nature. The ancients represented absolute beauty as independent of charac¬ ter, for when expression predominates over beauty, it is expression that is beautiful, rather than form or feature. No country called so much for the talents of sculptors as Greece, or rewarded them more liberally. Their statesmen, warriours, and victors in the Olympic games, were usually honoured by a statue. There they had models of athletic grace, exhibited in numerous individuals, and each of a distinct kind, which produced the happiest variety in their studies. In a nation where abstract beauty was so much admired, the artists had a single point of ex¬ cellence only proposed to them, which was to adopt it, in its highest degree. They, of course, surpassed, and became models to all other nations. As most of those to whom statues were voted at the Olympic games were possessed of individual beauty, adapted " Corpus hominis pulchrum est in quo non eminent venae, nee ossa numerantur. Dial, de corrupt. Eloquent. Pliny, 1. 36. T. 2. p. 651. “ Pythagoras Rheginus ex Italia, primus nervoa et venas expressit, capillumque diligentius.” 37 to the several exercises in which they were Definition victorious, they presented to the sculptors a v —v—'' great variety of athletic forms, which might be combined, so as to compose a perfect masculine beauty. There are two principal epochs remarkable in the history of the Gre¬ cian mythology, the fabulous and the heroic times, both which contributed to the perfec¬ tion of the fine arts. The muse of Homer illustrated sculpture, and from that period, ideas of the grandeur and majesty of a my¬ thology which linked gods to mem, assumed a character of interest, sensibility, and dig¬ nity, which exalted and ennobled the genius of the artist. The aera of the republicks and the peace enjoyed, after the expulsion of the Persians, were equally auspicious to the pro¬ gress of the arts. One statue only, in certain instances, oc¬ cupied the whole life-time of the artist, or rather it was never submitted to the public as a perfect performance. A magnanimous endurance of bodily pain has been considered among the moderns, especially M. Angelo, as the noblest subject for a sculptor; but among the ancients an heroic calm and a consciousness of an invincible, though sus¬ pended, force. 38 Definition of Beauty. The first statues of the Greeks express only repose. The JLaocoon and Niobe may indicate extreme suffering, but it is the ven¬ geance of heaven that they represent, rather than the innate passions of the human breast. Traces of melancholy are seldom seen in their statues. Beauty was connected with religious opinions, and if artists were required to depict base or savage passions, they spared human nature the disgrace of them, by add¬ ing something of the brute, as in the case of satyrs and centaurs. In order to give to beauty the most sublime character, they al¬ ternately united, in the statues of men and women, the charms of both sexes; as in the warlike Minerva, or Apollo leading theMuses, in which strength and softness are blended together. It is a happy mixture of those opposite qualities, without which neither of them would have been so perfect. After this slight sketch of the abstract or ideal forms, I shall add some observations, more in detail, of certain parts of the human body and their requisites to constitute beauty, in the opinion of the ancients. In minutely examining those members of the human figure, by which alone expression or action could be communicated to the mind of the specta- 39 tor, an opinion will be hazarded, as well of Defimticm what determines the beautiful and the defi- cient in beauty, as of what distinguishes the antique from the modern. In the representation of “ Hermaphrodi- tus” the Grecian artist combined every beauty peculiar to either sex. It was a being in which were supposed to be re-united all the perfections attached to human nature, origi¬ nating solely in the imagination. Two of these statues remain, that in the Villa Bor- ghese, which is a copy, according to Vis¬ conti’s opinion of a bronze by Polycles, cited by Pliny. The other, now at Paris, was re¬ moved from the Florentine Gallery. An ingenious fiction of the union of soul and body was seen in the group of Cupid and Psyche. The finest of these (for there were many repetitions or copies) is brought from the Capitol to Paris. The ancient sculp¬ tor has mastered the great difficulty of placing two faces almost in contact with each other. The primary parts in design are the head, the hands, and the feet.* In the head, esscn- x It is asserted by some authors, that ten times the length of the head is the just proportion of the human figure. Others say 40 Definition tial beauty depends on the profile, particu- larly on the line which describes the forehead and the nose, in which the least concavity or « rise increases or lessens beauty in its degree. The nearer a profile approaches to a right line, it is the more majestic in one, and the more lovely in the other sex; to prove this proposition, we may only remark its op¬ posite. The forehead to be handsome should be low, an axiom so decidedly followed by the Grecian sculptors, that it now infallibly dis¬ tinguishes the antique from the modern head. This axiom is founded on the tripartite divi¬ sion of the human countenance, as well as of the whole figure by the ancients; so that the nine, or even eight times. The Apollo Belvidere and the Venus Pe’ Medici have each more than the proportion of ten faces. It would be a most desirable and useful work if an artist, as a man of science, would examine scrupulously the measures, general and particular, of the more celebrated statues, and engrave them upon a large scale of comparison, and in a manner more clear and methodical than has been hitherto done. Albert Durer and Leo¬ nardo di Vinci are unsafe guides, and a greater accuracy might be acquired than even that of Audran and De Piles. “ Les proportions du corps humain mesurees sur les plus belles figures de l’antique par Gerard Audran, fol. 1683. Both these last mentioned authors were probably indebted to a treatise entitled, £ ' Representation des diverses figures humaines avec leurs mesures prises sur des an¬ tiques par Bosse, 1056.” 41 nose should occupy exactly one third part of OfDeslgn. the face. When the forehead is high the want of proportion is easily discovered by concealing it about a finger’s breadth, at the roots of the hair. That deficiency in sym¬ metry was remedied by the Greek women, who wore a diadema or fillet, and we have the authority of Horace (no mean judge) that a low forehead was a principal constituent of female beauty/ But, to its completion, ringlets of hair forming an arch round the temples, and co¬ inciding to perfect the oval of the face, were indispensable. A forehead so rounded was peculiar to the Greek female, and art readily adopted the luxuriance of nature. This shape of the forehead was considered as so generally requisite to beauty, that in no ideal head shall we discover the locks falling in angles on the temples; a singularity which y “ Insignem tenui fronte Lycorida.” Od. 1. i. 33. In the bust of Ariadne in the Capitol, the true idea of Grecian beauty was displayed, which consisted of the expressive parts of the face, and a suppression of those which added little character to the countenance. The forehead is very low, and the cheeks are kept down. Ideal female heads have been, not unfrequently, styled “ Ariadne.” 42 assists in the detection of modern heads en¬ grafted upon antique statues. By the artists of the later ages this observation was either not made, or not adhered to. The eyes vary in largeness as well in nature as in art, which is observable in the represen¬ tation of their deities and heroes when they are set deeper in the head, than in nature, particularly in the colossal, or those statues intended for a distant view. Jupiter, Apollo, and Juno, have the eyelids acutely arched in the centre, and narrow at their extremities. In the heads of Minerva the eyes are as large as those of the forementioned deities, but the arch is less elevated, as demonstrative of mo¬ desty, whilst in those of Venus the shape of the eye is not so full, and the lower eyelid a little raised, which produces an air very characteristic of that goddess. Some of the Roman artists, as if ambitious of improving on the antique, have represented the eyes so orbicular, that they seem to start from their sockets, which may be observed in the Isis, at Florence. The pupil is rarely marked in genuine antiques, though many Greek as well as Roman heads, in imitation of the Egyptian, have eyes made of jewels or glass to resemble the natural iris. 2 By examining many heads, it will be found that the an¬ cients did not describe the eyes uniformly ; and it may be concluded, that the sculptors in marble did not mark the pupils before the age of Hadrian, when it was generally done. The marking the pupils in Sculpture has but imperfect success, as it produces only an indeterminate effect, from an injudicious at¬ tempt to combine form and colour in one and the same object. In the heads of statues, especially the ideal, the eyes appear to be more deeply set than in nature, which gives them an air of auste¬ rity rather than of sweetness. But these larger statues were usually placed distantly from the sight; and if the eyes had projected as in nature, all effect of light and shade would have been lost. The ancients appear z This-circumstance could not have been known to Shakspeare, but the co-incidence is striking. “ in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept (As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems.” Rich. 11. Act IV. sc. iv. The statue of Venus caelestis, in the Mus. Capitolin. had a dia- dem of gold, having holes for gems to represent stars, as she is described, Odyss. 1. viii. v. 360. iEn. 1. i. v. 415. 44 Of Design, to have developed all the causes of natural or ideal beauty, even to the play of the eye¬ lashes. They preferred eyes that had an un¬ dulating motion, and those sweet inflexions, which are observable in the ideal heads of the first rank, such as of Apollo and Niobe, but particularly of Venus. Winkelmann re¬ marks, that in the genuine Grecian heads, the eyes were usually flattened and drawn lip obliquely, so as to be nearly on a level with the eyebrows. “ The ideal head, dis¬ tinguished from portrait, is proved by the indenture of the forehead, depth and curva¬ ture of the brows, and shortness of the upper lip.” 2 Pindar a describes beauty as residing in the eyebrows. It is formed by the regu¬ larly thin arch made by the hair, such as is still universal amongst the women of Scio, the Chios of antiquity, and others of the Greek islands. This strong contour of the eyebrows is expressed with great force, being merely a projection of the bone, par¬ ticularly in Niobe and her daughters, at Florence. When the “ sublime” in statuary 2 De Select. Pref. * Nem. 8. v. 8. 45 yielded to “ the graceful/’ by rounding and ofDesign. softening the parts which were originally marked out with severe precision, even the eyebrows were sculptured with more deli¬ cacy, in order to give greater softness to the whole air. This circumstance is remarkable in the Mercury of the Vatican, so long mis¬ taken for Anti nous, Theocritus b appears to have had a taste for eyebrows joining over the nose, as is common in Turkey, where the women en¬ courage them to meet by various arts. In nature, they must be considered as a defor¬ mity, which late travellers have noticed at Constantinople; and the sculptors of Rome were of the same opinion, for though the eyebrows of Augustus were naturally joined, they corrected that defect in his statues: an air of disdain is expressed by the swelling of the nostrils, as in the Belvidere Apollo, whilst the general character of serenity is given in the forehead. The chin acquires beauty from its solid round form, and as it contributes to the apparent convexity of the cheeks, which in many heads, not merely ideal, but taken b Idyll. 8. v. 72. 46 Of Design. from models in real life, seem to be dispro- ^ v * porlionatelj large. Yet the chin of the far- famed Venus of Medicis c is positively squat and depressed. Nor is the dimple, feigned by the poets to have been made by the little finger of Cupid, to be considered, according to the practice of the antique, as adding to beauty. The mouth of Venus is always indicative of her character, in the best statues. Praxi¬ teles is said by Pausanias J to have sculptured Diana with a most beautiful mouth; and Petronius e Arbiter, in praising a handsome woman, attributes to her “ et osculum quale Praxiteles habere Dianam credidit.” In adjusting and describing the hair in¬ finite care was taken by the best Grecian masters, as being not only in itself essen- c The exact height of the Venus de Medicis is four feet, eleven inches, and five lines English measure. F. I. L. English. The Eraccia of Florence is 1 10 O Palma of Rome. O g 2 \ Toise of Paris. 6 O O Foot of Do.O 13 2§ The statue abovementioned is therefore 2§ Braccia —6 Palme, 3 inches 4 lines—French feet 4 6i. 61. d L. 10. c. xxxvii. p. 892 . e Satyric. c. 126 . 47 daily beautiful, but as heightening and re¬ lieving; the effect and character in the first © degree. As they exerted all their talents in the workmanship of the hair, there are many specimens of variety in the different epochas of Greek sculpture. In figures of the most antique style it is minutely curled; loosennd easy when the arts were at their zenith, and curiously plaited or coiled round a single bodkin at their decline/ The Deities were distinguished by a peculiar form and manner in which the hair was disposed, particularly that of Jupiter, which was never varied, as having no distant resemblance to the mane of a lion, seen in front. Phidias formed his Jupiter upon the model of Homer/ and f It is evident from Pausanias and others, that the original Greek statuaries followed the description of Homer in designing the portraits of their deities. Lucian remarks, that they have strictly adopted his ideas of their features. Jupiter is always bearded, Apollo a youth. Mercury a stripling, Neptune with green hair, and Minerva with blue eyes; but this confirmed opinion applies rather to painting. Lucian de saerificiis, T. i. P-3 6/. * Plutarch mentions, that when Paulus Emilius visited the temple of Olympia, he exclaimed, “ The Jupiter of Phidias is the true Jupiter of Homer, A gigroy rwv ygocfecov O/xsaoy.”—Lucian.— Of Design. 48 of Design, neglected no circumstance of the hair. Three distinct manners of describing the hair are noticeable in the statues of Apollo. It is tied in a knot above the crown of the head; it is raised above the ears to the summit of the forehead, or it is looselv curled all over. The hair of Bacchus is as long, more soft in its appearance, and less curled than that of the Delphic god. h By close short hair over the brow, a full neck, and small head, the statues of Hercules are uniform!}" recognised, as communicating the idea of animal strength peculiar to the bull. That of Satyrs and Fauns, young or old, is rough, with the ends a little bent, in imitation of the skin of goats, Macrobius, Sat. 1. v. c. 15.—Vallerius Max. Mem. 1. iii. c. 7*— Quinctil. 1 . 12 . c. 10 . “ in gradns atque annuos totum comptum.” Virgil, in his imitation of the Jupiter of Homer, does not descend to the particulars of his beard, hair, and eyebrows, for which omission he has the censure of Macrobius, but the praise of Sca- liger. h Ovid Met. 1. iii. p.42l ; Tibull.l. i. Eleg. iv. v. 33 ; and Martial, 1. i. Epig. 125. Callistrati Statuar Desc. 2 . Baccha. “ By sculpture, curly elastic hair is more accurately divided into masses, than it ever is by the unassisted hand of nature. Even the most regular arrangement of it into locks and ringlets has been employed by the great sculptors of antiquity with the happiest effect, which it never could be in painting.” Knight on Taste, p. 192 . 49 of whose nature they were supposed to have OfDesign. partaken. The hair of Mercury is not long, but thickly crisped and curled down the neck. When it was collected in a double knot and tied in the middle, on the crown of the head, it denoted virginity. Mr. Town ley had a fine head of Diana so distinguished, now in the British Museum. The form of the cres¬ cent might have suggested the primary idea of attiring the head in a manner to resemble it—or it may be imitative of flames, and ap¬ plicable to the vestal fire. Minerva has thick curls, which flow beneath the casque. The hair of young females is lightly col¬ lected in a knot behind the head, and conse¬ quently without curls .* 1 The ancient artists, therefore, placed their hair in waves with deep cavities, which by throwing the masses into shadow, produced a beautiful variety. The moderns, to avoid the difficulty, make the hair like that of Fauns and Satyrs, and in female heads have few indentations, in consequence of which a great sameness prevails. By the ancient masters the ear was sculptured with scrupulous exactness. Winkehnann says, that a positive judgement concerning its beauty in h Crinis erat simplex, nodum collectus in unum. Ovid. Met. L. &. v. 320. Hor. Od. L. 2. Od. 2. v. 23 E 50 of Design, an in tire state, may be drawn from any fragment which has an ear. In most of the ge¬ nuine antique statues the ears are singularly handsome, but in those which have been restored, an inferiority of workmanship is in¬ stantly visible. An attention equal to that with which they formed the head, the Greek sculptors shewed in the extremities of the human figure. Both in the hands and feet they employed con¬ summate skill. Very few statues have been discovered of which the hands are preserved. Those of the Medicean Venus are, with the arms, restored as far as the elbow, but among antiques the best specimens are a hand of one of the sons of Niobe, at Florence, and of each of the figures composing a group of Mercury and a Nymph in the garden of the Farnese palace at Rome. In male figures an essential quality of beauty was the full and elevated chest; in the other sex uniformity and compactness. The anterior trunk of the figure was never distended by corpu¬ lence or repletion, but made to represent that of a man awaking from a placid and sound sleep. The feet of the Laocoon (for expression of pain), the naked leg and .foot of the Venus De’ Medici, and that with sandals of the Belvidere Apollo, are all exquisite in their several modes of appropriate beauty . 1 Hands of just formation and delicacy were greatly admired by the ancients, and Polycles and Praxiteles excelled in carving them. As we now speak of the hands by Vandyck, they by way of excellence spoke of those by the above-named artists, who were equally eminent in designing the extremities of the human body. k Absolute nudity was represented in statues, either from a pure love of what is essentially beautiful in human nature, or from the desire of retracing symbolical ideas, as connected with the mysteries of the pagan religion. It was certainly not the ordinary custom of the people, even in those countries where the arts were most cultivated. The warriors of heroic times arc sculptured either totally nude, or very lightly draped. Of the first description, are the Argonauts and the chiefs who fought before the walls of Thebes, and at the siege of Troy. In the statues of the 1 Enteric David, p. 350. •' Ariosto appears to have taken his description from the antique “ E la Candida man spesso si vede “ Lunghetta aiquanto, e di larghetta angusta Dove ne nedo appar, ne vena eccede.” Orlando Fur. C. vii 52 Bas-relief. Deities, nudity of forms produced beauty, but only as subordinate to an expression of dignity. The female divinities, excepting Venus and the Graces, are usually clothed, and Jupiter and Apollo are at least half- draped in the most admired statues of them. Every nation of antiquity possessed Bas- reliefs in common with other sculpture: in point of priority it is the earliest mode, and presumed to have been antecedent to the age of Daedal us. k Sculpture in relief is properly speaking that which is not insulated, but at¬ tached to, and forming a part of a ground or slab. This art received great improvement from the talents of Phidias' and Mvs, who appear to have worked together; and its final perfection from the hands of Polycle- tus. Jt was applied to every material of sculpture, more particularly to bronze and marble, and to ivory by Phidias, in those ex¬ quisite bas-reliefs attached to the base of the Statue of Minerva ." * 1 Frequently those on a larger scale, which ornamented the frizes and pediments of temples, were executed in k Em. David Bech p. 5". 1 Ili the /2 Olymp. 4 () 0 . A. C. after the battle of Marathon. 111 “ In ebore vero longe citra asmuluni." Quinct I 12. c. x. 53 (terra-cotta) baked clay, tempered with gyp- Bas-rciiei. sum, for that purpose. There are three dis- ' ^ tinct kinds : n 1. The high or full relief, in which the figures are nearly intire and seem to project from the ground. 2. The half or middle relief, in which exactly half of the solid figure is made prominent. 3. The low relief, in which the figures lose their project tion, and are flattened to an equal surface above the ground. The ancients applied the first-mentioned kind of relief to architecture, and the last to interior decoration. In Egypt, Persia, and Greece, ail the temples were so decorated. By the Romans this description n Tabulas marmoreae scalptae. Ernesti Archaelo. Alto relievo —Ronde Bosse—Anaglypha, used adjectiveiy by Cicero, Epist. ad Atticum, 1. l.cp. iv.—2. Mezzo-relievo—3. Basso-relievo—Bas- rel ief—Applati.— Toreuma & Toreutice, as adopted by Pliny, (1. 34. c. viii.) are always synonimous with the Latin, caelare-caelatura, and signify relief-work in silver, or other metals, and therefore usually ap¬ plied to the embossing of vases and cups. Martini Excursus in Ernesti Arch. 8vo. p. 258. Heyne, Dissert, sur la Toreutique, attached by Janson to his edition of Winkelmann’s l’Histoire de l’Art. Pausanias appears to have considered this kind of sculpture as of great excellence, and omi ts no opportunity of giving a mi¬ nute description of the most celebrated works then remaining in Greece, such as the chest of Cypselus, the pediment and frizes, &c. at Athens and Elis. Pie has no specific term for bas-relief, unless “ sys7.^ s” be used for designing them. 54 ot sculpture was chosen for sarcophagi and vases in a more elaborate and delicate style; and in a bolder manner, it was calculated t&be placed at a greater distance or elevation for triumphal arches and columns. The relief which has a small projection is much more difficult to execute than that which is very prominent, because an air of nature and truth is required to be given to figures of just dimensions, but when of so little thickness, the grouping them so as to produce a picturesque effect greatly increases the difficulty. The Egyptians, and the ancient Greeks, in their earliest efforts made the bas-reliefs of incon¬ siderable depth, and frequently, instead of having a ground for their figures, contented themselves with merely engraving the out¬ lines. The obelisks give us many examples. As in process of time this rude manner was improved in Greece, by disengaging the figures from the ground, the artists did not Figrelius de Stat. 1. 1. “ Quod sculpitur, figuras relinquit ex- tantes et ectypas (relief) unde sculptilia pro idolis et simulachris in SS. literis probibita. Scalptura vero figuras deprimit, et sulcos iacunasve cavatas (intaglia) in matrice relinquit; ad contra nunc sensum vocabolorum hodiemus usus invaluit, qui sculptuin dies vult, quicquid cavatur.” IT. 55 depart from their first principle of keeping Bas-relief, the projections low, and as much as possible V ""'~ v without under-cutting. The figures were all disposed in such a manner as that one should not be obscured by another, and that no part of any figure should be concealed. This practice, however, had no reference to the science of linear perspective,which was known to the ancients, but yet never applied by them to sculpture, as by the moderns, with imperfect success. A bas-relief should be viewed from a given point, seen from whence no part of it should be hidden by another. If it be too projecting it is probable that the figures of the foremost range will not accord with those which lie more flat upon the ground or entablature. The purity of the Greek forms may be expressed with very small projection. To enumerate the most celebrated works in this branch of the art, either described in the writings of the ancients or preserved in museums, would by no means come within the scope of this inquiry. The greater part of the far-famed reliefs which were attached to the Parthenon at Athens are now in this kingdom, and will be particularised in their place. The Panathenaeum, a fragment of 50 Terra- the exterior ifize, has been removed to Pa- Cotta. ns. It is well known, that in the most flou¬ rishing aera of the art, the first thoughts of manj 1 * * * * * 7 celebrated sculptors were executed in argilla, or pipe-clay, hardened by fire." As these have been found with a perforation, it is probable that they were frequently hung up in the working-rooms, to be used as mo¬ dels. This was a favourite material, in which the greatest masters exhibited the most beau¬ tiful conceptions of subjects, afterwards com¬ mitted to bronze or marble. It is recorded by Strabo, 0 that, in searching among the ruins of Corinth, specimens of terra-cotta were as often discovered as those of bronze. So per¬ fectly designed and finished were these works in terra-cotta, that Winkehnann, after all his experience, asserts that he never found one positively inferior, which can be by no means said of bas-reliefs in marble. The largest 1 A general reference is made to the very numerous and ex¬ cellent engravings published in Italy, and to those of the national Museum at Paris. Zoega has lately published some of great cu¬ riosity engraved by Piroli. n Pausanias calls them “■ a.yaXy,ccra, ex wijAa,” many of which were of high antiquity, 1.1. c. ii. and the artists “ UYjXovcyoi.'' The •yvord “ Kspa.fj.o;" has been translated “ terra cotta.” Millin Diet. ° L, 8. p. 3S1. 57 and best collection of them was in the Villa Bas-reliefs- Albani at Rome, to which the Townleian, now in the British Museum, are equal in excellence though not in number. As most of the bas-reliefs preserved to this day are wrought on marble, it may be necessary to observe, that the most exquisite workman¬ ship was employed on the bases of statues and on altars, while the larger kind was peculiar to architecture. The compositions on the Roman sarcophagi, certainly inferior in point of execution, are many of them copied from originals of the first Grecian schools. From these may be collected much information concerning the arts from their earliest period, and many mythological inventions which single or insulated figures could not describe. The more known or interesting of these were selected and formed into groups, so as to represent the circumstances of heroic story; and consequently from an accurate compa¬ rison with bas-reliefs, many newly discovered statues have been appropriated and ascer¬ tained. A similar elucidation has been given by Cameos and Intaglias, and no collection of sculpture has been deemed complete in which they did not abound. 58 Herman Terminal or Hermaean Statues/ as before Statues and • -» -» » ■■ -1 Busts. noticed, were formed by oblong or square stones with the head only affixed, and trun¬ cated at the shoulders. They were so de¬ nominated, because in the infancy of the art, the first head so placed was that of Hermes or Mercury, which was of wood. When carved afterwards in marble, the usage of them originating at Athens, the ancient rude shape of the trunk was retained, but the heads were elaborately finished. They be¬ came frequent in consequence of the Olym¬ pic victors, but under the auspices of Pericles were made almost peculiar to heroes, philo¬ sophers, and eminent men. Double heads with the occiput conjoined are of early Greek origin, and anterior to the Roman idea of p D’Hankarville. Coll. Hamilton. V. I. p. 128. 1/66. The most ancient Hermes mentioned by Pausanias was that styled e KiSccpw; ■njpogujirov," 1. 8. cxv.; and in the 32d chapter of the same book he gives a more minute description, “ AyscXacc AjMjjiUJvo; t'oi g ^ei'pa.yovoig Epy.cx.ig euoLcr^svoy,” 1. (J. c. 40. Double Hermann are Herodotus and Thucydides in Mas. Cap. T. £56. pi. 12. Epicurus and Metrodorus, Homer and Archilochus. Mus. Pio-Clem. The art of portrait, by taking off the features of any free, was the original invention of Lysistratus, the brother of Ly¬ sippus : “ Hominis autem imaginem primus omnium expressit, ceraque in earn formam gypsi infusa emendare instituit Lysistratus Lysippi frater,” Plin. 1. 35. Andrea Verocchio, who died in 1488, restored and practised it first among modern sculptors. I Asn asia 59 Janus. Such are common both on Greek coins and Roman medals. Busts, 9 which exhibit the head, shoulders, and breast,were more generally applied to por¬ traits of men and women, and are not of re¬ mote antiquity, They were probably invented as a certain improvement on the Hermaean shape. No term, neither Greek nor Latin, exactly defines, without circumlocution, what the moderns call “ a bust.” This description of sculpture appears to have been little known in Greece before the reign of Alex¬ ander, when it was in use. It became a Roman fashion about the end of the consu¬ lar sera, but prevailed to a great extent under all the emperours. Many busts in the villa Albani, and other collections, have the breast of alabaster with the head of bronze, or are 'i The term “ TTporou^" has been applied to busts, but is not found in the Lexicons of Suldas or Hesychius, and would be sought for in vain among the more ancient authors. Pausanias uses the same circumlocution as respecting bas reliefs. One of Ceres he remarks as “ ayaXpua otrov e; crlspva 1.0. c. 16 .; and another of Homer at Delphos “ Eiy.ova, Opj pa %a\xijv b-ju a-lrjXyj ."—• “ Vultus” is applied to a bust either carved from life, or in reliefs, and sometimes “ Thoraces,” from including the breast. It is probable, that “ Bustum,” the table-tomb upon which “ ima¬ gines,” or wax portraits, were placed, gave a generic name to that description of statuary, which has prevailed since the middle ages. composed of white and variegated marbles. In point of taste, the Greek terminal form is preferable to the Roman of making the bo¬ som and drapery circular; to be feebly sup¬ ported by a kind of pivot. In many modern collections are seen heads mounted in the same manner. These are fragments of statues, perhaps superior in every degree to any which have been dis¬ covered in an intire state, or which have been successfully restored. Such a decision is authorised by several in the Townleian Gallery; and thus detached, they may be contemplated with greater satisfaction, than when arbitrarily engrafted upon a statue to which they never could have belonged/ This practice prevailed very generally in modern Rome with certain sculptors, whose inge¬ nuity exceeded their knowledge of mytho¬ logy or the history of their art. Sculpture was distinguished as a liberal profession for nine hundred years before it reached its eventual point of 'excellence. r Plin. Epist. 1. 2. epist. 5. Etenim si avulsum statuae caput aut membrum aliquod inspiceres, non tu quidem ex illo posses congruentiam aequalitatemque depreliendere, posses tamen judi- care, an idipsum satis elegans esset. 5 D. Select Pref. 61 Phidias enjoyed the patronage of Pericles, Wor k- and Lysippus of Alexander, and the greater masters, according to Lucian, were regarded ' v J by the people at large, with an admira¬ tion scarcely less enthusiastic than that paid by them to the deities, whose sta¬ tues they had made. 1 In Greece there were no public academies in which the art of sculpture was gratuitously taught. Each pu- pil paid his master; for it was held as a maxim by that wise people, that lessons which are purchased are the most valuable. It was the custom with most sculptors of eminence to instruct only their own children or relatives, excepting where the individual appeared to possess talents, such as are re¬ quired to form a superior artist." Pliny x says, that Pamphilius, the successor of Eupompus in the school of Sicyon, received no pupil for less than an attic talent y for ten years instruction. From this practice many good effects were derived; the number of acadc- 1 De Imag. p. 4. “ IT ooaxvvsvTou yav o-jtoi //.era ?wv Qs-jjy" Em. David. Recherches, p. I-I 9 . u Id. Sect. I. P. ii. p. 169 . * Docuit neminem minoris talento annis decern, 1. 35. c. 10 . y 1951. lOs 8 d. sterling, according to Em. Davi!.—DTIan- kerville says only 177 1. Os. Sd, 62 Education mies introduced an advantageous rivalship; not diminish the number of artists, it regulated the proportion of employment which each master might reasonably expect. There is ample evidence that the Greek artists made models of some soft material from which they formed their statues and bas-reliefs in marble. Argilla, 2 or white clay, was used, and wax very frequently, being, on many accounts, to be preferred. Statues wholly composed of marble do not appear to be fixed with accuracy to an aera prior to that of Phidias; before that time members only were marble, which were jointed to figures of wood or terra-cotta, rivetted toge¬ ther with iron/ It is not certain, that the invention of Mai as of Chios extended to a perfect statue of marble. z Ernesti Arch. c. vi. “ Plastice” et excnrs. Martini, p. 285. Pausanias asserts that the most eminent modeller £ * xat a.XXo; aya&og vrXutrT'txr.v” was P) thagoras of Rhegium, who learned the art from Clearchus of Rhegium, the pupil of Euchirus, a native of Corinth. His masters were Syadra and Charta, Spar¬ tans, 1. 6. c. 4. This deduction seems to prove that the art ori¬ ginated with the last mentioned people. a Guasco De l’usage des Stat. p. 1 i3. Pausanias, 1. 3. c. 15. gives a particular instance of this method. It was called by the Latins “ ferruminatio."—wA— nrocpr,;. 63 The practice of polishing figures of mar- Education ble appears to have been general. Polished marble receives less damage from dropping water or dust than when rough hewn, and preserves its smooth surface for a great dura¬ tion. This manner of workmanship is, there¬ fore, peculiarly suitable to statues intended to be placed in the open air. The figures on the Monte Cavallo at Rome, were once as finely polished as the Apollo or Venus. b We shall readily believe that the science of anatomy was taught in the schools of sculpture, for the love of the art had acquired all the means of knowledge necessary to its end. Galen asserts, that he had composed a treatise on anatomy for the improvement of artists/ Many, when struck with the exquisite beauty of the Greek statues, are unwilling to allow that they were composed from living models only, and would persuade themselves that the mathematical canons, such as Poly- cletus invented/ give the measure not only of the principal parts of the human body, b Em. David, p. 2LJ. p 176. c P. 1 7g. 11 P. 192. 6'4 Descrip- but even of their minutest subdivisions, and size of Sta- that the finest figures of antiquity were made merely with the compass, and from general rules and tables of proportions. This opi¬ nion is not exclusively just; but it is yet certain that geometry made a necessary part of the elementary education of a young artist. It nevertheless appears to be an admitted fact, that the Greek statuaries, whatever the force of their genius, or the extent of their science might have been, took their measures from a living model. And it is no less pro¬ bable, that the mathematical canons which were composed, and the writings of masters on the harmony of proportions, first called by them “ Symmetry,” served for rules of comparison, but nothing more. 6 The religion of tiic Greeks was historical, and consequently much more favourable to e Winkelmann supposes that the foot served the Greeks as a measure for all their larger dimensions, and that their sculptors regulated their proportions by it, in giving six times its length, as the model of the human figure. Vitruvius confirms this opi¬ nion: “ Pes vero altitudinis corporis sextae,” 1.3. c. 1. and by thebeforemenlioned antiquary it seems to have been thought, that the foot was a measure more determinate than either the face or the head, according to the usage of modern statuaries, which ap¬ pears to be preferable, because the foot is certainly liable to more variation fiom accident than the others. 65 sculpture than the astronomical religion of the Egyptians/ They not only atrributed to their deities the human form, but decided upon the kind of beauty which should be appropriate to each of them, as it related to their functions, their propensities and their habits. When statues were deposited in tem¬ ples, the coarse figures of antiquity were no longer copied, but the imagination of the poets inspired the artists with the precise character under which each deity ought to be represented. The same principle was ap¬ plied to the representations of heroes and the history or allegory which belonged to them. 8 Of statues there are several kinds f “ Chaque temple est d’une telle egalite dans toutes ses par¬ ties qu’ils semblenf. tous avoir etc sculptes de la meme main ; rien de mieux, rien de plus mal, point de negligence, point d’elans a part d'un genie plus distingue.” Denon Voyage dans l’Egypte, Fol. p. 158. Herodotus—Plato de Leg. L. 2. s Jansen Recueil des pieces interessantes, 8 vo. 1796- T. vi. p. 284. Discours par Heyne.—These several kinds are thus dis¬ criminated in the modern vocabulary of the arts. 1 . Colossal. 2 . Heroic, or large life.—3. Life.—4. Small life. The third de¬ scription or portrait was called “ Iconics,” Sueton. Vit. Cali- gulas 32 ; and by the Greeks, Eocene — brotizror^ou'' and “ Avfyi- av-raj,” Pausan. 1.6. c. ] .-—He applies the term “ AyaX^a." originally meaning “ ornameutum” as a general term to the sta¬ tues of deities and heroes, without particularising their size farther than “ usyia'7'oy rtw p/scA wjv ay a Ay. ct.rwv ra Aj o; & ayaAaa. A tog F Descrip¬ tion and size of Sta¬ tues. 66 Descrip- with respect to their size and habit. Colossal tion and 1 sizeofSta- figures, such as the Jupiter and Minerva of Phidias, were many feet in height, and re¬ sembled structures from their complicated materials. Others of marble and bronze h are minutely described, of which a judgement can now be formed by enormous fragments in marble or porphyry, preserved at Rome. There are yet others of considerably less dimensions, which have descended to us in a more perfect state, and are now called fjAKpov," 1. 5. c. 25 ; but he notices the material “ sinovs; ’/olXy.cu^ and “ AyaArxa Atfe A svxh.” It has been obligingly suggested by a friend intimately versed in all that relates to the art?, that the difference between “ Signum and Statua” is, that the first is the general term for all representations in bronze or marble, and * 38 . r The more celebrated of his pupils was Learehus of Rhegium, to whom the invention of soldering is equally attributed. But the art of laying one metal upon another appears to have been known in the days of Homer. Such was the cup of Helen brought from Egypt, Odyss. A. v. 132. A bowl mentioned, v.6l5. and the bed of Ulysses v{/. v. 200. s L. 15. c. 1(3. “ ov 7 repovat; t] xsvtpoi;, f tovij r t m'aXo. trjveysi ys, y.y,i smv a.vfrj Tw criorjoui Ssa'u.Of." 78 Schools of Sculpture. Ainoi- NOX Y.OL XKYA- AIX. Olymp.55. A.C.567. that island, who first applied the beautiful marble in which it abounds, to the purposes of art. The silence of Pausanias concern¬ ing him induces a belief that the invention belonged rather to his successors, and none of his works are specified. The school of Chios was soon identified with that of Ionia. Dipoenus and Scyllis were brothers and natives of Crete, and were known before the reign of Cyrus, the Persian king. Pliny re¬ marks that they studied at S\ 7 cion. Their celebrity originated in the number of their works in ebony and ivory, and of their scho¬ lars.* * At Argos were the Dioscuri com- posed of those materials, Castor, with his wife Hilaira and their son Anaxas, and Pollux, with Phoebe and their son M nasi nous, their horses were of ebony inlaid with ivory." This circumstance proves that such a mixture of materials was consonant with the taste of the early Greeks, which was by no means correct in that aera. At that time ivory was inlaid or laminated with gold “ ex auro so- lidoque elephanto.”* Theocles of Laconia, 1 Malas, Micciades, Anthermus, Bupalus, Anthemius. u L. 2. c. 22. c.32.— 1 5. c. 1 7 —1. 0. c. ]f). Clem. Alexand. Protrep : p. 41. edit. Potter, * Georg. 1.3. v. 26 . 79 who was of the school of Scyllis, finished at Schools ot Olympia figures of the Hesperides of bronze s v ^ t ^; and gold. By the talents of these ingenious men, no less than on account of her prio¬ rity, Sicyon obtained the honourable appel¬ lation of the mother of the arts; and after several generations, Aristocles the brother of Canachus, likewise famous, presided over the same academy with undiminished repu¬ tation. From these auspicious dawnings of the arts three distinct schools arose, one of which was the Ionian, the others were fixed at Athens and at Sicyon, each of them shin¬ ing with nearly equal splendour for many ages. Marble was first used in preference to BOY- wood or bronze by Bupalus and Athenis, the sons of Anthemius, and excellence was olvmp6r) first acquired in that material, in the Ionian A C - 517 school. Bupalus made the slatucof Fortuneat Smyrna, with a sphere on her head serving as a gnomon, and the horn of plenty in her hand, where likewise were his three Graces in tiold, or, it may be presumed, gilded or laminated only. Of the works attributed to the Ionian school several were removed to Rome bj r Verres, and placed afterwards in the gallery of Augustus, which had not been so removed. 80 Schools of had they not possessed considerable y merit. A tradition, is retained by Pliny that he made a Diana, the face of which appeared to be sad to those who approached, and cheerful lo those who departed, which Fal¬ conet endeavours to account for,—a tale unworthy of credit. 2 A period of more than twenty Olympiads elapsed from the sera of Bupalus to that of Phidias, during which a few artists only are recorded to have distinguished themselves. It included, according to Winkelmann/ the date of the ancient style—the “ rudis antiquitas of Pliny/' yet among these artists, an illus¬ trious exception is made by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in favour of Calamis and Cal¬ limachus, who are praised for the lightness and elegance of their works. By the latter is a bas-relief of Bacchanals inscribed with his name, in the capitol at Rome. The style - v They are said to have modelled a portrait of the poet Hip- ponax, who was singularly ugly, and who in revenge composed a satire against them, which occasioned their death. Hor. Epod. Od. 0. Plin. 1. 36. c. 5. Who adds, “ quod falsum est.” Anthol. Gi asc. 1. 3 . c. 25. The name of Bupalus is inscribed on a plinth which was found near a statue of the crouching Venus. Mus Pio- Clem.v. l.t. 10 . Mus. Napol. N° 54. And likewise on the plinth of a group of a Satyr and Nymph, at Ince-Blundel, Staffordshire. z L. 36, c. 5. Diet, de Wrtelet, v. 5. p. 5Q5. a Plin. 1. 34. c. 19 . Winkelmann, Trat. prelim, p. 65. Ahmrtp oz zujfKXncriv YYkujflv lgls ecr/y izqoi’ _ 1 /// //,/S£ //_ '_ /£( ./// . JO/ ■ 81 and manner of individual artists indicate, in a certain degree, the period of their exist- ence, when other proofs are wanting; and the discordance of dates which sometimes occurs in the history of the arts in Greece, is aug¬ mented by the inattention of their authors to the following circumstance. They have not observed with due precision, that the same inventions have been practised in the several provinces of Greece, in distinct epochs, the difficulty of verifying which is extreme. Dameas of Crotona made a portrait, or AAME- iconic statue of Milo the Athleta, who had i . . . • Olymp.G?. been six tunes victorious m the Olympic a.c. 509 . games. lie is said to have carried this statue on his shoulders to Allis, where it was de¬ creed to be set up; one of many proofs of his extraordinary strength. b There were five exercises which were dis¬ tinguished above others in the games of 01 ympia and Nemea, and the man who ex¬ celled in all of them was styled “ Pentath- leta,” and celebrated in every region of Greece. 0 To have gained three prizes was b Paus. 1 6. c. 14. Milo is the subject of one of the cele¬ brated works of P. P. Puget, in the gardens of Versailles. c Among the Greeks five kinds of games, Tlsyra^Xcy or Quin- qnertium were particularly honoured. 1. The race on horseback, in a chariot, or on foot. 2. Leaping. 3. Throwing the quoit. G 82 ! Schools of sufficient to entitle the victor to the honour Sculpture. of a statue, which was scrupulously model¬ led from the person it was intended to re¬ present.* 1 These iconic statues'" necessarily 4. Throwing the spear. 5. Wrestling, and afterwards boxing j and to the victors in any of these, the crown was decreed. David Recherches, p. 49 . To these gymnastic games may be added, as no less interesting to the sculptor, the different kinds of dances practised in Greece of which the Pyrrhic, or martial, and the bacchanalian, exhibited the greatest choice and variety of attitude. d “ Eorum vero qui ter ibi superavissent, ex membris ipsorum similitudine expressa quas iconicas vocant.” Plin. 1. 34. 4. Pan- cratiastae derived by Suidas, “ Aito ts ■tfcvroj $ELElAI- Heyne has made a diligent inquiry re¬ specting the true sera of Phidias, the result a'.'c.’K?' of which is not favourable to Pliny in point of accuracy, who has placed him in the 83d Olympiad. 1 As he was constituted master of the magnificent works in architecture and sculpture which rendered Athens the most splendid of the Grecian cities, under the au¬ spices of Pericles, twenty years of his life at least were dedicated to the arts. The death of Pericles which followed that of this very celebrated artist, happened in the 87th Olympiad; the true date is therefore earlier than that ascribed to him."’ The sculptors who preceded Phidias re¬ tained some degree of the dry and hard manner of their predecessors. lie was the first who, according to the ancient pane¬ gyrists, knew how to impart to his works 1 Des epoques de Fart cbez les anciens, &c. ut sup. p. 27 , for a refutation of Winkelmann, who attributes the successful pro¬ gress of Sculpture to a peace, proved by Heyne to have been of very short duration, p. 17—30; where he is charged with a total want of historical exactness. m Plutarch in vit. Periclis, pp. 158, 159, &c. 87 grandeur, breadth, and majesty. The Greek Schools ol & * Sculpture. authors were scarcely able to discover epi- , thets sufficiently lofty to express their ad¬ miration of his great talents, in their com¬ parison of him with Thucydides and De¬ mosthenes. 1 ’ Equally ingenious and sublime, he imitated great objects with energy, and small with fidelity. 0 The masculine beauty which was represented by Phidias, was even exceeded by its sweetness and grace. His style was truly admirable, as in it were con¬ centrated the three characters of truth, breadth, and finishing. 1 * Phidias was by birth an Athenian and of the school of Age- ladas, in which he was probably associated with Myron and Polycletus, and he lived in an age peculiarly favourable to his genius aud talents. His contemporaries were the phi¬ losophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the orator Isocrates, and thewarriours Miltiades, Themistocles, Aristides, and Cimon. He worked with equal facility and success in bronze, ivory, and marble. Iconic statues, or resemblance to real persons, did not ap- n Demet. Phaler. de elocut. c. 14 and 40. Dion. Halicarn. de Antiq. Orat. in Isocratem. Quinctil. de Orat. 1. 12 c. 10. 0 Pausan. 1.5. c. 2. Martial Epig. 35. Julian Imp. Epist. 8. p Dem. Phal. ut sup. c. 14. “ ri kzi u.syxXuxv xzi ay.f/ite; oqxa.” Em. David ut sup. p. 273 . 88 Schools of pear sufficiently important for his genius; but he exerted his whole mind in search of ideal beauty and of the most elevated sub¬ jects, and was therefore most happy in the representation of the several deities, to which he gave an air of celestial dignityAs far as a judgement can be formed concerning an artist whose works are lost to us, and the memory of many of which is vaguely pre¬ served by authors who were not artists, the characteristic of Phidias was grandeur of de¬ sign. His works were probably not nume¬ rous, because upon so large a scale, and a mono; them the most celebrated were the Jupiter at Eiis, r and the Minerva in the Quinct. 1. 12. edit. Harles, 8vo. p. 425. Phidias tamen diis, quam hominibus efficiendis melior artifex traditur.” Pausanias, 1.6. c. 4. strongly characterises this artist, “ -ra ccyaX^aTa, fs 4>£(J(8 aotpixs" Phn. 1. 36. c. 5. “ Artifice nunquara satis laudato.” r Iliad A. v. 528. Two sitting figures of Jupiter, probably copies from this, are extant and nearly intire, one from the Verospj palace atR.ome, and the other at Marbrook-hall, Cheshire. Heyne Dissert, in Jansen Rec. des pieces interessantes, v. 6. p. 293 . Cicero. u Phidias cum faceret Jovis aut Minervae formam, non contemplabatur aliquam e quo similitudinem duceret; sed ipsius in mente insidebat species pulchritudinis eximire quasdam, quam intuens in eaque defixus, ad illius similitudinem artem et rnanum dirigebat.” Livy, 1. 45. c. 2S. describes Paulus JEmilius who brought away a statue of Minerva by Phidias, and placed it in the temple of Fortune at Rome. Surveying this statue “ Jovem ve~ 89 Parthenon at Athens. The first mentioned Schools of of these was a sitting figure, taken from the Homeric idea, and was forty-six feet high; and though ill-suited to the temple which con¬ tained it, the want of proportion was forgot¬ ten in the extreme magnificence of the whole effect. Jupiter was seated on a throne and crowned with olive branches. In his right hand stood a figure of Victory, composed of gold and ivory; her head was bound with a fillet, surmounted by a crown. His left rested upon a brilliant sceptre bearing an eagle. The robe or mantle of the deity, which reached from the cincture only, was em¬ bossed with lilies and different animals of beaten gold, and the hair was of that metal. Ivory was the principal material, a circum¬ stance which induced Strabo to assert, that it was intirely made of it. Around the throne, which was of ivory, ebony, and gold, were bas-reliefs of exquisite workmanship. Of the same materials the Minerva was likewise wrought, and was litLle inferior to the Jupi¬ ter, either in point of size or height; the un¬ iat presentem intuens, motus ammo est.”—Few who know the effect to be produced in marble or bronze, consider the difficulty of executing a grand work with minute materials. .90 Schools of covered parts were of ivory, and the hair Sculpture. . . v—^ with the casque, the crest of which was a sphynx, was of gold. A gryphon was placed on either side. The goddess stood upright, draped and holding a spear, and her shield profusely sculptured both withinside and without, lay at her feet.' This mixture of gold with ivory, in composing even collossal statues, was unworthy the good taste after¬ wards displayed by the Grecian artists, but has not been without its advocates amono' O modern critics." Pauw conjectures, that the 1 Plin. 1. 36. Pausan. 1. v. c. 10. At the base of the statue was inscribed: “ <|>E5A5AZ XAPMIAQY YIOZ M’E- nOlHIE.” In the next chapter the whole is very fully de¬ scribed. Eusebius, says that it was finished in the S5th Olympiad. u “ Yet, when these splendid materials were combined, it does not appear that greater exactitude of imitation or optical de¬ ception was their object, but as the beings represented were super¬ natural, in ideal and allegorical images such an extraordinary effect of magnificence was allowable. And this effect tended merely to keep alive the energy and vivacity of expression, which in other features could be characterised by forms, but in the eyes by brightness or colour. This is still seen in small bronzes with silver eyes, but must have had a tremendous influence in colossal statues placed in the darkened cells of the larger Grecian tem¬ ples.” Knight on Taste, p. 108. Callistrati Stat. Desc. p. C)00. Fol. Olearii “ op-y-a oe yjv izvpi Siavyes ^ccvikov iSsiv." Plin. 1. 34. c. 8 . “ Ante ornnes tamen Phidias Atheniensis, JoveOlympiae facto, ex ebore quidem et a tiro. Jovem Qlympium quern, nemo emulator.” 91 statue of the Olympic Jove above described, Schools ot J 1 Sculpture, could not have required less than the teeth of three hundred elephants, all of which were the spoil taken from the Persians, or pur¬ chased of foreign merchants. These im¬ mense statues needed frequent repair, oc¬ casioned by the starting of the joints of the ivory, when veneered. Not many years after the death of Phidias, Damophon was em¬ ployed in the restoration of this superb sta¬ tue. 31 In the time of Julius Caesar, it was partially damaged by lightning. Caligula ordered his General Memmius Regulus to transport it, with a selection of many other statues, to Rome. That contemptible prince imagining that the long venerated figure would command a greater respect for the divinity of the Caesars, intended to have re¬ placed the head by a carving from his own. The Athenian artists remonstrated in vain, by observing that it would not bear removal x Heyne asserts that the statue of Jupiter Olympus, which had employed Phidias eight years, was completed in the 83d Olympiad; and in the 85th, the Minerva of the Parthenon, upon which he was occupied ten years. Mr. T. Hope has a statue of Minerva in marble, heroic size, found at Ostia in 1 /Q7, one of the many copies from that famous statue. Dilett. Select. PI. 25. It exactly resembles another formerly in the Albani gallery. .92 Schools <.f until a voice was heard from the statue, de- ^ daring that it would sink any ship on board which it should be placed, and the supersti¬ tion of Memmius was alarmed/ At length it was removed to Constantinople, where it was consumed by fire. The statue of Ne¬ mesis, made by Phidias in celebration of the victory at Marathon, was at Rhamnus near Athens. A vast block of marble had been brought there from Paros by the Persians, to be set up as a monument of their anticipated success, but it served only to mark their signal defeat. Of his other distinguished performances it may suffice to enumerate only, a Minerva of bronze, the proportions of which were so enormous, that the casque upon the head could be discerned by those who entered the port of Sunium; the Venus Urania of Parian marble, the Minerva at Lemnos, and another of ivory and gold at Elis. To each of these, various altitudes were given and attributes assigned/ Notwith- y Winkelmann, V, 2. p. 33C). Dio Cass. 1. g. edit. Leunclav. p. 662 , says that the ship which was prepared to transport it, was struck by lightning. z Lumisden conjectures from the following passage in Pliny, that the Venus of Phidias may possibly be the Venus de Medici, 93 standing the high reputation which Phidias Schools of enjoyed, he was obliged to submit his designs to the censure of the whole Athenian people before they were finally adopted; he like¬ wise exhibited his Jupiter at Elis, listened to the opinions of every spectator, and cor¬ rected his statue accordingly. The age and school of Phidias have been designated as the second grand eera in the history of the art. 3 But his superior talents awakened the jealousy of contending sculptors, increased by the constant patronage of Pericles, to the persecution of whose enemies he became exposed. They accused him of having pur¬ loined some of the gold, given out of the Persian spoils, to compose statues, the weight •< et ipsum Phidiam tradunt sculpsisse marmora, Veneremque ejus esse Romae, in Octaviae operibus eximize pulchritudinis,” 1. 36. c. 5. Antiq. of Rome, p. 302. It was found near those ruins. a if Et cum Parhassii tabulis, signisque Myronis. Phidiacum vivebat ebur, necnon Polycleti Multus ubique labor.'’ Juven. Sat. viii. v. 102. “ There were a crowd of disciples from the schools of the great artists, who were chiefly imitators of Phidias. The stern vigour of tire preceding style was now dissolved into the most voluptuous grace and elegance. Of this period, or at least ancient copies from works of this period, are the celebrated statues of Apollo Belvi- dere, Venus de Medici, and the Antinous and Mercury.” D. Select. Prel. Diss. Winkelmann, Mon. Ined. trar. prelim, c 4. p. 69. 94 Schools of of which mentioned by Thucydides, allotted Sculpture. .. r . . . . 1 . v—v —j to the Minerva or the Parthenon only, being- calculated by present value, amounted to 91201. sterling. Pericles, foreseeing that such a treasure might be useful to the exi¬ gences of the stale, directed Phidias to make it removeable at pleasure, who employed it principally in the fringes of the drapery; and the quantity required for a draped statue nearly forty feet high, confirms the proba¬ bility as to the largeness of the sum. The fate of a man of talents so sublime cannot but be commiserated, which, instead of ac¬ cumulating for him honours and rewards, lead him to imprisonment and death. Ac¬ cording to PiuLarch, Phidias had been pre¬ viously accused and acquitted, because the sold was so attached to the statue that it might be taken off and weighed. 15 Historians differ extremely as to the precise fact; but it evidently appears that he died, deprived of liberty, if not by violent means, about 430 years before Christ.. c b Thucyd. 1. ii. c. 13. The gold reckoned at four pounds sterling an ounce, will make the whole to amount to JQO pounds, Troyes weight. c Heyne Epoques. p. 36. Diodor. Siculus, 1. xii. c. 3Q. Plu¬ tarch. v. Periclis, pp. 158. l6p. 7 "ye i a. Ktojeov 'Ki&ov. Cor*trtrf r /?/. 95 In this age appeared tirst with a great Schools ot degree of excellence, as having been wrought v— v -—; from living models, statues of animals in bronze, particularly of those which were usually sacrificed, and of horses, sometimes with their riders, who had gained the Olym¬ pic prize. Several artists are noticed by Pau- sanias; and Strongylion, one of the last, occurs as the most eminent/ Horses had from the earliest times been rjOAY- introduced into the composition of bas- reliefs; they were then individually repre- 01 g? sented as led by an athleta in triumph, or the ^-' c - 4 ~ ( j - Dioscuri; but equestrian statues were rarely seen before the Roman age of 'sculpture. d Strongylion. “ ctvSpov Ee? xxt nrirov; api;fa. stpyoc. p. 141. Visconti Mus. Pio. Clem. pi. 23. conjectures more happily, that it was Tideus after having killed his brother Menalippus in the chace, as Pliny describes him, “ distringentem.” Millin, in his Diet, des Beaux Arts, prefers “ destringentem.” Lanzi. Ling. Etrusc. T. ii. p. 150. A copy of the “ Diadumenos,” noticed by Winkelmann, as in the Farnese Palace, is now at Naples a bas-relief representing the same sub¬ ject in the Mus. Pio. Clem, and a fragmented repetition of the Astragalizontes in the Townley Gallery, which differs from the original, as being draped. * “ Proprium ejusdem ut uno crure insisterent signa, excogi- tasse,” Plin. 1. xxxiv. c. 8.D. Select. Prel. Disc. p. 30. k Polycletus Sicyonius fecit et quem canona artifices vocant, lineamenta artis ex eo petentes, velut a lege quadam, Plin. 1. xxxiv. c.S. Galen deHippocrat. Plat.placit. 1. v.c.S.Em.David, p. 177. where this subject is ably discussed. This statue is said not to have been merely imaginary, but to have represented a Doriphorus, one of the guards of the King of Persia. Millin. Diction. 99 to be animated we must suspend, our judg- Schools ot ment, that limbs so pliant and proportionate could have been coldly composed from mere mathematical rules. If the Greek artists had worked only by rule, or if they had trusted only to the eye and rejected measures, would there have been seen in their works so great a variety and so much truth? Alcamenes of Athens, and Agoracritus of AAKA- the island of Paros, occur next, both in point Nf _j£ of celebrity and time. Pausanias places the oiymp. 87 . former in an equal rank with Phidias, and A ' c ' 4 ~ y ' notices his “ Venus of the gardens” among those most admired for the extreme delicacy of the limbs, when he visited Athens. The great bas-reliefs, representing the battle be¬ tween the Centaurs and Lapithae on the out¬ side of the temple at Olympia, were sculp¬ tured by Agoracritus; the same subject Avas on the metopes of the front of the Parthenon by Phidias, or at least by his scholars; and the Panathenaean procession round the ex¬ terior frieze of the same temple engraved in Stuart’s Antiquities. 1 A Venus at Athens, 1 Twelve of these Metopes have been brought into England by the Earl of Elgin, in 1808. Of a successive age and school are the bas-reliefs of the frieze of the Choragic monument of Lysicrates 100 Schools of Sculpture. Aro- PAKPI- TOZ. Olymp. 87 . A. C. 42g. and a Cupid at Thespis confirmed the high pretensions of Alcamenes, with other equally celebrated works. Agoracritus acquired his art in the school of Phidias, who is said to have offered several of his statues to the public under the name of his favourite pupil, by whom his master was held in an equal degree of honour. It was not unusual, at this period, for the scho¬ lars to express this respect by inscribing their marbles with the master’s name, under the endearing title of father.” Pliny relates that the rival skill of Alcamenes and Agoracritus was exerted in finishing each a statue of Ve¬ nus, and the palm is said to have been par¬ tially adjudged by the Athenians. But the unsuccessful statue was altered into a Ne¬ mesis by Agoracritus, and obtained for him, under that denomination,undiminished fame. There is reason to suppose that it was in fact the work of Phidias himself, so that the Athe¬ nians pronounced against their fellow-citizen, without knowing- it." So sudden a change O O at Athens, representing the history of Bacchus and theTyrhenian pirates, accurate representations of which we owe to the learned and ingenious Stuart. m Em. David Recherches, p. 1/2. n Plin. 1. xxxvi. c, 5, Dict.de Watelet. “Sculpture,” v. 5. p .621 V 101 from the goddess of beauty to that of veil- Schools of & . J Sculpture. geance, or vindietive justice, proves that the ^ antients represented even their most terrible divinities with an enchanting form. Some of his works, after the deatli of Phidias, are said to have indicated no extraordinary ta¬ lents. 0 Beside the exhibitions of their skill made by sculptors in places of public resort, there were assemblies consisting of artists only, which had two objects, one to fix on subjects worthy of becoming the property of the state, and the other, to encourage emu¬ lation, and to decide on superiority in their progress in the arts. Many such are recorded by historians, and among the more remark¬ able, that concerning four rival statues of an Amazon, to be placed in the temple of Diana at Ephesus. The spirit of emulation was ever one of the prominent characteristics of the ancient Greeks/ Naucydes of Argos was distinguished for NAY- an iconic statue of an Athleta holding a discus, and appearing to meditate to what distance olymp 88 he should throw it. Three beautiful figures of A- ( 425 nearly equal merit have been discovered near ° Watelet. v. v.p. 321, p Era. David Reel), p. 163. 102 Schools of the villa of Hadrian, and restored, of which Sculpture. t j ie most p er f ec t i s i n this country. No doubt can be entertained of their being copies of that celebrated original.’ About this period schools of sculpture were established not only at Athens, but in the iEgsean islands, in Si¬ cily, and Magna Graecia. Single works of the numerous artists by whom these acada- mies were constituted, were honoured by his¬ torians, and many names recorded which would swell this catalogue lo an unnecessary length. Not less than fifty-nine famous sta¬ tuaries had flourished in Greece before the date above recited. XKO- Whilst Phidias in gold and ivory, and Polycletus in bronze, engrossed to them- ioo—107. selves every excellence, Scopas had acquired jA. c a 377 — 34 9 . a scarcely inferior celebrity for his statues in marble. The group of Niobe and her chil¬ dren, once placed in the Medici gardens at Rome, and which were removed to Florence in 1770 , was attributed by Pliny to Scopas *1 Pausan. 1. vi. c. 6 and 7- Plin. 1. xxxiv. c. S. Statius The- baid. 1. vi. 6g 3. “ spatium jam immane parabat.”—Plates of this statue, Mas. Pio-Clem. v.3.pl.26. Cavaceppi, v. 1 . pi. 42. Villa Borghese, N° g. Mus.Napol. 11 .lO 9 . It was brought to Eng¬ land by the late Mr. Lock, and by him sold to Mr. Duncombe, of Duncombe Park, Yorkshire, where it now remains. 103 or Praxiteles, for he does not decide/ The Schools of . , -p^ Sculpture. first mentioned was of the island of Paros. —' His true tera is rather uncertain, but proba¬ bly not prior to the 104th olympiad/ So consummate was his skill, that he finished a Venus equal to that of Praxiteles, and his Bacchante divided with it the admi¬ ration of the best judges in Greece. Callis- tratus calls him the artist of truth. The finest fragment of Greek sculpture now preserved in England, is a head of Niobe similar to that above named, but of very superior workman¬ ship, and is among the specimens selected by the Dilettanti/ who observe “ that justly, as the ancient copies are admired of that which was once in the temple of Apollo Sosi- anus at Rome; their inferiority to this ex¬ quisite specimen is such, as to put them below'comparison. It represents Niobe em¬ bracing and entreating for her last remain¬ ing child, as described by Ovid, and the mixture of maternal tenderness, regal pride, and earnest supplication, is expressed with r L.36.C.5. “ 0 asv sv'^iKOTta.; Srj^ioupyo; aAijSeiaj ijv,” It. Baccha. s Heyne remarks justly, that if this later chronology be esta¬ blished, Winkelmann’s ingenious criticism respecting the Niobe is misapplied, of course. Jansen Rec. des pieces, v. iii. p.QO. 1 PI. xxxv. vi. vii.—Purchased at Rome by Nollikens the Sta¬ tuary; sold to Brownlow Earl of Exeter, and given by him to Lord Yarborough. 104 Schools of all the impassioned energy of strong feeling. Sculpture. 1 . & v—v—' but without any distortion or deviation from perfect beauty/’ It is a circumstance of proud superiority over the Napoleon Collection atParis,and par¬ ticularly gratifying to the lovers of sculpture in England, that while there is no single mo¬ nument of art acquired by the French, which can be unquestionably decided on as the work of the early Greek masters, two of Scopas are preserved in this kingdom. The Dilettanti of London, in their late publication, have identified, as far as it can be done by well- founded conjecture, the statue of Venus or Dione, now in the Townley Gallery, to be the genuine work of that artist. They ob¬ serve “ that among the celebrated works of Scopas, who flourished during the latter part of the fifth century before Christ, were three figures of Deities, distinguished in the Samo- thracian mysteries, whom Pliny (1. 36. c. 5.) calls Venus, Polhos and Phaeton. This mar¬ ble has every characteristic of the age of Scopas, as it was found near Rome, where the figures mentioned by Pliny appear to have been. We think ourselves warranted in supposing this to be the identical statue of Venus belonging to that celebrated group. It has every appearance of being an original I,; ///■ /////-/ r// /// ///'/ /•/'/ //// v/y /• \ e>’ ; V M 74 105 work from the hand of a great master, and Schools of as the surface with its ancient polish is per- fectly preserved, even to the tip of the nose, such appearances are unequivocal and cer¬ tain evidence, so that this statue may be deservedly ranked among the most precious monuments of Grecian art now extant/’' Scopas is here considered as preceding Praxiteles, and to be placed as having flou¬ rished from the 100th to the 107th Olym¬ piad, and to have been certainly employed in the sepulchre of Mausolus. 1 11 II is assist¬ ants, or rather his competitors in that stu¬ pendous performance, were Bryaxis, Timo- theus, and Leochares. It is still worthy remark, that Pliny in his 34th book asserts, that he lived in the 87th Olympiad, long an¬ terior to Praxiteles, but in his 36th in the sera immediately succeeding. In the opinion of Heyne, the name of Scopas has been here 1 D. Select. PI. 41. The learned editor has placed Scopas as high as the 70th Olympiad, (A. C.497-) sixty years before the earliest date assigned by Pliny. Heyne observed, that if Scopas wrought one of the columns in the temple of Ephesus after the first damage by fire in the 95th, or the second, in the 106 th, Pliny must be mistaken. u Pliny, 1. 36. c. 5. “ Ab oriente caelavit Scopas, a septentri- one Bryaxis, a meridie Timotheus, ab occasu Leocares." Mau¬ solus, King of Caria, died in the 106'th Olympiad. 106 Schools of interpolated, and he adduces reasons for fix- ing the true date even later than the 104th Olympiad. Scopas excelled his contempora¬ ries in industry no less than in other talents, and in the number and eminence of his scholars, by which means he was enabled to complete so many celebrated works. The Canephora, or young female, bearing the votive basket on her head, is ranked among the best marble statues which had been transported to Rome, in Pliny’s x catalogue. He likewise sculptured “ Love” under three distinct ideas, and appears to have given to successive artists the notion of representing the passions, or qualities of the mind, by cor¬ poreal forms/ The Venus of Scopas scarcely x Id. I. 36. c. 5. Canephorae, according to Proclus in Tim. p. 124. “ Xikvov £7 ft 'trj; KsfyatXrjS Sepevr).” “ So general was this custom in Greece that every female divinity had their Canephorae, who were selected from among the most beautiful virgins, whom the sculptors were proud to represent. Pausanias mentions a Canephora of Minerva in bronze by Polycletus, taken away by Verres according to Cicero. It was usual to offer in the calathi the earliest fruits and flowers, and oftentimes mystic representa¬ tions in coloured wax. Ovid. Am. III. 13. v. 28. Met. ii, 7 . 11 . y Scopas appears to have been the inventor of allegorical figures. In the temple of Venus at Megara, he placed Epw;, Love ; I pzpo;, Desire ; and H 0 Q 0 ;, Passion or Ardour. Praxiteles madellsiSw, Persuasion, and the “ Suadela” of Horace ; IT upsyopo;. Consolation ; and Lysippus, Kcapo;, Bonus Eventus, Opportunity, Sec. Pausan. 1. 1. c. 43. Heyne Dissert. Jansen, v. 6. p. 305. IT. 1 107 yielded to that by Praxiteles. 2 “ Science Schools of J * . Sculpture. and taste were united under the most liberal patronage, and all the charms of beauty, grace, majesty, and elegance, which the hu¬ man mind can bestow on the human form, were vigourously conceived and most cor¬ rectly executed.” 3 Pausanias mentions the statues of Philip, Alexander, and others, which were placed in the Philippeum at Elis, wrought in gold and ivory by Leocares. b But he is selected with peculiar praise by Pliny for his group of Ganymedes. c The last sculptor coeval with Phidias was Ctesilaus, who jointly with him «THSI- and Polycletus, finished one of the three AAYZ. Amazons designed to decorate the temple of ( .^™ p 4 ; s , b Diana at Ephesus, and the bronze statue of z Pliny’s words are “ Venus nuda Praxiteliam illarn antece- dens,” after having said, that it was the most beautiful in toto orbe terrarum.” Brotier in his edition wishes to save him from the charge of contradiction, and conjectures “ antecedent’ to refer to the order of time, and not to superior beauty. But this would not reconcile the chronology, which is successfully done by Heyne. CEuvres diverses concernans les Arts, par M. Falconet, 178/.|T. ii. p. 50. a D. Select. Prel. Diss. p.xxxviii. b Pausan. 1. 5. c. 20. c “ Leocras (Leocares) aquilam sentientem quid rapiet in Ganymede, et cui ferat, parcentem unguibus, etiarn per vestem.” A marble copy of the bronze original discovered in 17S5, was in the Pio. Clem. Mus.; another at St.Ildefonso Caimo, T. ii. p.141; and a third at Venice. Guattani, 1786. p. 48. Pericles commended likewise by Pliny. d He allows to Clesilaus the singular talent of giv¬ ing a more noble air to his heroes, even than that which they possessed. 6 Winkelmann contends against the originality of the statue, so long and erroneously called the Dying Gla¬ diator, as being the work of this artist.' With greater probability it has been considered as a copy of a bronze by him, representing an Athleta mortally wounded, and dying, with peculiar grace. 6 Of the first style of the Grecians, which was remarkable for simplicity and boldness, the limits were circumscribed to fifty, or at most to eighty years, a period which closed Avith Phidias, by Avhose exertions the arts had attained to their meridian of sublimity. The succeeding age introduces Praxiteles, mentioned by Pliny, with Euphranor h in the d L. 34. c. 8 . e Mirum in hac arte est, quod viros nobiles nobiliores fecit. Id. 1. 34. c. 8 . f Mon. Inedit. p. 91 . s Milizia Arte di vedere. h Euphranoris Alexander Paris est in quo laudatur, quod om¬ nia simul intelligantur, judex Dearum, Helenae amator & tamen Achillis interfector. L. 34. c. 8 . He was eminent likewise as a painter, and possessed an almost universal genius for the arts of design, upon which he is said to have composed several treatises. Pliny relates of Silanion, who excelled in taking likenesses, a 109 104 th Olympiad, who may be styled the Schools of , , Sculpture. father of the second manner, and whose v— v ; works were discriminated by their flowing outline, and delicacy of finishing. The ele¬ vation of Thebes by Epaminondas above the other states of Greece produced a temporary change in her whole system; but as soon as the Athenians recovered their former splen¬ dour, the arts which had ever kept pace with it, revived with their wonted vigour. In this new period of the arts in Greece (which com¬ prises the epoch from the time of Pericles to that of Praxiteles and Lysippus), the errours of the preceding were corrected by a nearer approach to nature. Then was first formed a grand and elevated style, characterised by the sublime air of the heads, no less than by the design, the drapery, and the execution. memorable circumstance and a worthy example “ sed inter cunctos diligentissimum artis, et inimicum sui judicem, crebro perfecta signa frangentem, dum satiare cupiditatem nequit artis, et ideo insanum cognominatum.” Two of his works only are men¬ tioned by Pausanias. Although bronze, from its nature, is more calculated to resist the effects of time than marble, yet as it could be coined into base money, and marble could only be burned into lime, there is scarcely any bronze statue of genuine antiquity now remaining. In Quinctilian, 1. xii. c. 10. is a concise, but very elegant critique on the Greek sculptors. He speaks of He- gesias “ who finds no place, in other authors, among the Greek sculptors.” Burmann, in his note on Propertius, 1.3, 7 . 10, con¬ jectures that it should be written Hegias.” Agasius is sculp¬ tured on the plinth of the Gladiator Borghese. 110 Schools of Still the. outline remained in the general effect, hard and angular; for, in order to produce exactness, they sacrificed extreme beauty. About this period there were many conspiring causes by which it was rendered most favourable to the arts. Greece was pre-eminent in war and literature. The artists were born free, and educated with scrupulous care. They discovered, that to deserve praise they were required to imitate nature, and not implicitly to adopt the man¬ ner of their predecessors, or to copy their works, but to embody, as far as possible, the grand ideas and descriptions of their poets. They* 1 studied from the dower of beauty in living subjects, correcting the deficiencies of nature apparent in individuals; and by such means they produced an ideal beauty, of which, by the destruction of their genuine works, we can now only judge from conjec¬ tural copies, in nearly the same proportion, that a picture of Raffael is represented by the best possible engraving. The arts of design in Greece fluctuated h “ The practice of marking the veins in the figures of those deities who are represented in perpetual youth ceased, as in the statues or repetitions now extant of the Sauroctonos, Cupid, Mer¬ cury, or Antinous.” D. Select. Prel. Diss. Ill with the varying fortunes in the several states Schools of in which they were professed, but they uni- formly followed Athens through all her vicis¬ situdes. Whether triumphant or depressed during their progress, we may remark her frequent changes with an almost histori¬ cal exactness. By the victories of Themis- tocles, that renowned city was rendered the asylum of philosophy and genius, and the liberty so honourably acquired extended their fame, whilst it excited the emulation of the Ionian and Sicilian colonists with great success. This auspicious aera may be placed about fifty years after the expulsion of the Persians. Upon the defeat of Xerxes the tenth part of the spoils was dedicated to the gods, and expended upon statues and temples. Many works by Praxiteles are noticed by nPAH~ historians and poets. His Venus of Gnidus, in marble, attracted at that time no less ad- 0] miration than what the Medicean has since in Vc 23 ' done in the modern world ; 1 that, with dra- 333—285. 1 Praxiteles, doubtless, was the first sculptor who gave to the ideal image of Venus all the attractions of beauty, and that per¬ fection which had been sketched out by Scopas. Heyne Diss. “ Des difterentes manieres de representer Venus dans les ouvrages de Part,” Jansen. T. i. p. 10. “ Venus etoit pour l’artiste l’ideal 112 Schools of Sculpture. pery, preferred by the Coans, the youth iu the actof killing a lizard, called k Sauroctonos, the celebrated Satyrus or Faun, the Cupid, which was obtained from him by a strata¬ gem by Phryne, and her own statue, moved every beholder witli surprise and delight. de la beaute du sexe, accompagnee des tous ses charmes, qu’ il cherchoit a rendre par une attitude avantageuse, ainsi par une action & une expression convenables.” k The Sauroctonos was merely a boy about to kill a lizard, and not an Apollo, to whom that epithet has never been classically ap¬ plied. Pliny simply says “ fecit et puberem subrepenti lacertae comi¬ nus sagitta insidiantem, quern Sauroctonon vocant.” “ Puberem” may be a false reading for “ puerum.” IT. The Sauroctonos, now at Paris, of bronze, when placed in the Villa Albani, was considered by Winkelmann (Mon. Jned. T. i. pi. 40.) as the ori¬ ginal, which D’Hankerville denies. The other of marble is in the Villa Borghese. Visconti Mus. Pio-Clem. T. i. pi. 13. Pierres gravees de Stosch, p. tfjO. Maffei Raccolt di Stat. T. lxv. Mar- bres de Dresde, No. 53. Mart, epigr. 1. xiv. cp. 1J2. The Satyr, or young Faun, called “ mpiba^vo;,” from its singular excellence, exhibited every kind of juvenile beauty. That of the Capitol was found in 1/01, near Civita Lavinia, and is now at Paris. Winkel¬ mann, Hist, delle Arti, T. iv. c. 2, says that more than 30 copies of this figure were extant in Rome. Plin. 1 . 34. c. 8. Athenaeus, 1. 131 . p. 591 . Some of these have been taken for young Bacchus. Two exactly similar are in theTownley Gallery ; likewise, Mus. Napol. No. 50. Mus. Pio-Clem. T. ii. pi. 30. Winkelmann, v. 2. p. 52. Heyne in his Diss. “ des distinctions veritables et sup- posees qu’il a entre les Fauns, les Satyres, les Silenes & les Pans,” has satisfactorily proved, that “ 'E.a.rvpoi" and Fauns are synoni- mous, and should be always so translated. The Satyr of Myron holding his pipe to his ear in astonishment at the sound which it had produced, and four others in the portico of Octavia at Rome, I ' /' 113 <$(?m'3/181 ' OIJIO/JTOJ TO /' E I’iiTA a/gS/72/. j 1 / __ Sf/iuter // 113 These statues have been too highly celebrated Schools of ....... Sculpture. to be passed over in this slight enumeration. Of the two figures of Venus which were made by Praxiteles for the states of Gnidus and Cos; the naked, according to general opinion, is the prototype of the Medieean, as the Coan or draped has been copied by all others. No better proof of the tran- scendant beauty of the first mentioned need be adduced, than that, as Cicero and Pliny observe, it was the only motive with intel¬ ligent or curious persons to visit Gnidus, in preference to a multitude of similar objects, in which every Grecian city abounded, even to excess. It was visible from all sides, be¬ ing placed in an open temple. 1 The Sau- whieh were of the best style ; and that of bronze at Athens, by Lysippus, are most remarkable. The Faun of the Capitol, found in Hadrian’s villa, which is the prototype of those holding a flute in their hand, is described by Strabo, as resting against a support. The sleeping and intoxicated Faun in the Pal. Barba- rini (Tetii JEd. Barbar. pi. 215). The Silenus of Praxiteles, pro¬ bably the dancing Faun, Anthol. 1. 4. cp. 6. Stcphani. Vasari, in his life of M. Angelo, p.336, edit. Bottari, asserts, that the Satyr of Praxiteles was preserved in the gardens of Paul the Fourth. Scopas and Praxiteles first softened the rudeness and severity of the early artists, and gave their statues of these being-# temarkable for their strength and rusticity, forms by no means ungraceful. 1 Plin. 1. 34 c. 8. I 114 Schools of roctonos is admired by Pliny, and was not Sculpture. _ J J v —v—' improbably copied by the most able artists, after it had been brought to Rome, two of the best of which are still preserved.'" An anecdote of Praxiteles, and the courtesan Phryne, of whom he was enamoured, is among the few concerning ancient statuaries which have reached our days, and the dry de¬ tail of Pausanias has been greatly improved by Bartelemy, in his voyage of the younger Anacharsis." Phryne had extorted a pro¬ mise from Praxiteles of his most valuable statue, but the choice was to be made by herself. By her contrivance a servant was directed to run suddenly into the room where they were sitting, and to exclaim that the workshop was on fire, and that his finest per¬ formances were already destroyed. Praxiteles, m “ In detached figures all projections either of limb, hair, or drapery, would be liable to be broken off by the slightest vio¬ lence, and as the artist could not produce an artificial balance by throwing a greater proportion of the material into one part than another, it became necessary either to leave a prop, sufficiently large to destroy the lightness and beauty of the general effect, or to poise the figure so nicely and accurately on its base, that its whole weight might rest on its proper centre of gravity. Hence, probably, arose the prevalence of the elegant attitude, in which one leg serves as the central column to the figure, while the other regulates the balance, D. Select. Prel. Diss. p. xxx. n Athenaeus, 1. 13. c. 6. Pausan. 1. 5. c. 6. 114 EPIiTA Ey &£077/a/S GEOWOtV. A.QSVaWS WWodcd(Wj lo £(jj 'oy -jo ^\(yi2j7FShOO( ju/jLiov/uevos O? - Is/tu/t/s/ 115 in the utmost agitation, deplored the fancied Schools of loss of his Cupid and Faun. 0 Upon which, v—y—' Phryne smiling, assured him that both of them were safe, and that now she knew where to fix her choice. p Having obtained the Cupid, she made a public donation of it to Thespia, her native city. It is said that the exquisitely beautiful features of Plnyne suggested the idea of Venus, and that the imaginary deity and the real portrait differed little from each other. 9 A marble statue of Phryne was placed at Thespia, and another gilt, or at least inlaid with gold, was dedi¬ cated by herself at Delphi. The superiority of sculpture among the Greeks may be attributed to certain causes of which their mythology or historical religion was the chief. Theirclimate,theirpersonal beauty, and their manners, had likewise a decided in- ° A small statue of Cupid bending his bow, the skin of a Lion being thrown over the trunk of a tree, of which there are very numerous copies and repetitions, but not with exact resemblance to each other. Mus Pio-Clem. T. i. pi. Q. D’Hancarville, Ti. i. p. 345. Mus. Napol. Townley Coll. Worslean. &:c. &c. Pau- sanias, L. xi. c. 27 , remarks that the Thespians told him, that it had been taken from them by Caligula, but that Claudius restored it to them, and that Nero afterwards laid claim to it, removing it to Rome, where it was destroyed by tire. v Paus. 1. P. c. 20. q Em. David, p. 388. Athenaeus. 1. 13. c. 6. Clem. Alex. Protrep. 1.4. Arnobius adv. Gentes. 1. 6. 116 Schools of fluence. But more was owing to their political Sculpture. ... . institutions, and their practice of rewarding merit by erecting statues, and of employing an indispensable portion of their spoils, taken in battle, for the decoration of their temples. What might be commanded by individual magnificence, even in profound peace, has been rarely found to be adequate to the establishment and maintenance of a school of art. But in Greece, (although Winkel- mann builds a favourite hypothesis on peace, which history proves never to have exceeded the duration of a very few years without in¬ interruption,) war itself, with all its vicissi¬ tudes, supplied the means of multiplying tem¬ ples, and of filling them with new imagery. Visconti observes, that the custom among the Greeks of employing statuaries to copy the best works of the best masters, instead of encouraging artists of mediocrity to in¬ vent, promoted and confirmed the public taste, by multiplying imitations of the most perfect originals. But the most elaborate male statue still remains unappropriated to any individual artist as a copy, even if it be denied to be an original work, and the sculptor of the Belvidere Apollo (now at Paris) has eluded . the closest investigation of the Roman anti- / 117 _! '/A-/// /v/'///// au/,Z/s/w/ Z///V/ /mZf/rr/ <■'///’-(// '///////r) re/rZru/'r t 1 'I 7i O .■> . I,'/-.. / /. 117 quaries. The name of Cleomenes, the son Schools of of Apollodorus of Athens, inscribed on the plinth of theMediceanVenus, admits of many doubts; but Visconti allows his existence, and considers him as the same who made the Muses called Thespiades, which were transported to Rome by Mummius/ The author of so celebrated a performance as the sleeping Hermaphroditus must not be overlooked in this summary catalogue. Po- Jycles, the son of Timarchides, was eminent even among these artists, and lived in the same aera.’ r Visconti “ note critique sur les sculpteurs Grecs, qui ont porte le nom de Cleomenes imprime dans le journal de la Decade literaire 1802.” Pliny notices (1. 36. c. 8.) three sets of the sta¬ tues of the Muses : “ Thespiades,” in the collection of Pollio Asi- nius ; another, “ ad sedem Felicitatis and Musae novem, with “ Apollo citharam tenensand Pausanias others, at Helicon, (1. g. c.30.) by three different artists, Cephisodotus, Strongylion, and Olympiosthenes, which were probably never brought to B ome. Three complete collections of Apollo and the Muses have been made, the individual attitudes of which differ considerably. The first by Christina Queen of Sweden, which are now in the palace of St. Ildefonso. 2. In the Mus. Pio-Clem. from whence they have been taken to Paris, and which were discovered at Tivoli in 177-1, in the ruins of the country house of Cassius. 3. More recently found, and purchased by Gustavus III. King of Sweden, when at Rome, engraved and described by Guattani, v. 1. 1784. 5 Of the bronze original there are four copies in marble; 1 in the Mus. Napol. 2 and 3 in the Villa Borghese, and 4 at Florence. 318 Schools of Lysippus of Sicyon was contemporary with Alexander the Great, and the statuary noz'H w ^ 10m he is said to have preferred before all oiymp. others of his age. That prince began his A.c!337. reign 335 years before the Christian sera; and it is remarkable that Pliny assigns him to the 114th Olympiad, the precise period of Alexander’s death, who employed him in casting his portrait, which was effected by a series of models taken from his earliest youth. Lysippus excelled in seizing the resemblance, and giving the features an extraordinary ani¬ mation. * 1 He probably designed all the coins “ A la beaute des proportions determinees par Polyclete et par Pythagore de Rhege, a la fermete a’ l’ampleur, a la majeste de Phidias (Deraet. Phaler. de eloquentia. c. 19 . 40. Dion. Halicarn. de antiq. orator, in Isocrate) Lysippe & Praxitele joignerent dans les details une chaleur, une delicatesse, un fini, qui manquoient encore aux ouvrages les plus admires.” Em. David. Essai sur les classement chronologique des sculpteurs Grecs les plus celebres. 1 Guattani 1/84. Bust of Alexander, three palms high, found in ] 779 , at a place called “ Le Pisoni,” with 16 others of Greek poets and philosophers. It was presented by Count D’Azara to Buonaparte, and is now at Paris. Lysippus was his contemporary, according to Valerius Maximus, Horace, Cicero, and Plutarch. The famous statue in the Rondonini palace, the busts, one in the capitol, and the other in the Medici gallery, are all characteristic of that hero, and accord with the epigram of Archilaus, Anthol. 1.4. ep. 8 . Plutarch speaks of the inclination of his head upon the left shoulder, which was affected by Caracalla. 119 of Alexander which bear a deified character, Schools of . . ' Sculpture. and the particular bust, which is engraven on wood and inserted at the end of this sec¬ tion, was supposed by Mengs, the painter, upon its first discovery at Rome, to be an undoubted portrait. If we take a survey of the progress of Grecian art, from the coarse workmanship of Daedalus, and the extreme minuteness which succeeded, or of the perfection to which the art was brought by Phidias and Praxiteles, and the style of animation and elegance which was introduced by their example and prac¬ tised by their scholars, we shall find much to admire. Lysippus established a new school, having returned in a certain degree to the severer manner of the ancients. By a greater facility of execution, he laboured the hair, drapery, and those parts which demand ex¬ treme lightness, with a more scrupulous attention than any of his predecessors, who had deviated from truth in search of ideal beauty, and he gave grace to symmetry by means unknown to them. He was studious to imitate in his works those noble or ele¬ gant proportions which nature occasionally puts on, rather than servilely copy after her 120 Schools of usual forms." If, as Pliny states, his works Sculpture. J —' were so numerous as to amount to six hun¬ dred and ten, we have the more to regret that they were all of bronze, and are irre¬ trievably lost. Falconet, in his translation, extends this number to fifteen hundred; but the most accurate editions retain the former as consonant with probability, to sup¬ port which, Cay 1 us offers some satisfactory reasons/ As Lysippus wrought principally in moulds of clay or wax, “ faecundissimee ar- tis, 5 ’ and without doubt presided over a very large academy of sculpture, it may be well supposed that he finished many of these in every year of his life, which were capable cf affording many repetitions. Had he formed his statues out of metal, no length of days could have sufficed for so great a number. He cast a colossal Jupiter atTarentum, of the amaz¬ ing height of sixty feet. He made portraits of Alexander of every description and propor¬ tion of statuary, and likewise twenty-one u “ Ab illis factos, quales essent, homines; a se quales vide- rentur esse.” Perhaps the original Greek, which is lost, would have expressed this idea more happily, even than the concise Latin of Pliny, 1. 34. T. ii. p. 645. Hardouini. D. Select. v Diet, de Watelet, T. v. 12 U ecu ce yet) yi]Hosfievi?s . 121 equestrian figures of his guards who perished at the river Granicus, where they saved his life. Melellus transported these to Rome, where was likewise an Apoxyomenos, differ¬ ing probably in attitude or character from that by Polycletus, which was so greatly admired, that Tiberius removed it from be¬ fore the baths of Agrippa to his own palace, but was forced by the remonstrances of the people to restore it to its former w station. Nero possessed one of the finest of the bronze statues of Alexander, which he covered with beaten gold. The four bronze horses, first brought from Chios to Constantinople by the younger Theodosius, from thence to Venice, and recently to Paris, are attributed to Ly¬ sippus with no better proof than tradition, for their workmanship would derogate greatly from his fame. x Art flourished with increas- Schools of Sculpture, w “ Plin. 1. 3-1. c. S.” “ distringentem se, quern M. Agrippa ante therrnas suas dicavit, mire gratum Tiberio principi, qui non qnivit temporare sibieo, quanquam imperiosus sui inter initia piin- cipatus, transtulitque in cubiculum, alio ibi signo substiiuto, cum quidem tanta populi Romani contumacia fuit, ut magnis theatri clamoribus reponi Apoxyomenon flagitaverit, princepsque quan¬ quam adamatum reposuerit.” x It is well known that these horses -were taken from Con¬ stantinople by the Venetians in 1204. G. Codinus “ Delect, ex 122 Schools of mg splendour from the Persian invasion to Sculpture. ° 1 'w-v-w the Macedonian conquest, during an hun¬ dred and fifty years of civil war which scarcely admitted of any cessation. The age of Alex¬ ander is said to have produced the most cele¬ brated statues; many copies of which are now preserved at Paris and Rome, or in the Eng¬ lish collections. That great genius M. Angelo was incompetent to the imitation of these figures; and, if a conjecture be allowable, that they are rather to be referred to the Augustan age, or even to the time of the Antonines; it will serve to raise our ideas of the age of Alexander, to find that the best sculptor among the moderns was not to be' compared with those, who, by the general consent of antiquity, were themselves below the merits of a Phidias or Praxiteles. Winkelmann observes that not a single specimen of the works of Lysippus remains, though D’Hancarville believes a bust of Bacchus preserved at Portici, to be genuine. We learn from an epistle of the poet Statius, originibus Const. 8vo. 1596 ,’’ mentions several bronze horses placed by different emperours in the Hippodrome; but his de¬ scription does not apply to them. Banduras Imp. Oriental. T. i, Strabo, 1. 6. p 268 . 123 that a Hercules by him belonged to Vindex, Schools of the celebrated Roman connoisseur/ We must look to Pliny merely as the historian of the art, for he was certainly ignorant of technical terms. Chares is known to have been a favourite XA- PHt scholar of Lysippus from a passage in Ci¬ cero/ To him is attributed a statue of Apollo, the Colossus of Rhodes, which tra¬ dition, in order to increase its pretensions to be considered as the seventh wonder of the ancient world, states to have strode over the Rhodian harbour. This circumstance is fabulous, yet Millin inclines to a belief of it. Meursius supposes that it was begun by Chares, and completed by Laches, both y Lysippus made a “ Hercules Epitrapezius" for Alexander, in small bronze, of which Statius remarks. Sylv. 4. 6 . -parvusque videri Sentirique ingens.— Vindex was contemporary with Statius and Martial, who is said to have been so well acquainted with the style of the dif¬ ferent Greek sculptors, that he could decide without the assistance of the name inscribed. His taste and sagacity are praised by Sta¬ tius, (l.iv. silv. 6.) and by Martial, (1. ix. c. 45.) who concludes a dialogue concerning which Lipsius and the Variorum editor hold different opinions as to the interlocutors, by making him exclaim, “ Grasce num quid ait Poeta nescis ? Inscripta est basis indicatque nomen “ AT^innOT” lego. Phidiae putavi. z Rhet. ad Herennium. 1. 4. Millin Diet. or nearly annihilated. From the 120th to the 155th Olympiad, Pliny considers the art of sculpture to have been dormant, and not to have revived before the last mentioned epoch. This cessation was probably oc¬ casioned by the fluctuation of government in Greece under these commanders, in which the arts partook. In the wars under Pericles the sculptors were animated by the love of liberty and of their country, and exerted all their energy in forming the statues of their victorious chiefs, or of those who fell in battle; but in the contest for power which took place immediately on the death of Alexander, as the Greeks soon perceived that they were fighting only for slavery and a change of tyrants, their national spirit was broken, and the arts were neglected.* Nearly two centuries after the last mentioned period, died Eumenes II. King of Pergamus, who was a zealous protector of those sculptors 1 Guasco De l’usage des Stat. P. ii. c. 5. Heyne des epoques. p. 70 . “ After the Macedonian wars, art began to decline; as the artists saw their works destroyed before them, the view of immor¬ tality became dim and obscure, and the subjects became debased." D. Scl. Prel. Disc. 134 Decline of who were voluntary exiles from their own wjo country, and most liberally employed them, not only in his celebrated library, but in the temples which he erected in every part of his dominions, and there is no doubt but that this discerning patronage produced many able artists. The death of Attalus, with the consequent seizure of his kingdom by the Romans, contributed much to the total ex¬ tinction of the arts in Greece, which was not complete till Augustus disfranchised Athens, and dispersed the citizens on account of their attachment to M. Antony." The en¬ couragement afforded likewise by the Seleu- cidaf in Asia, and by the Ptolomies in Egypt, availed to cherish the latent sparks of per¬ secuted genius, till the cruelties of Ptolemy the Seventh expelled the artists from his court; and after the defeat of Antiochus, Asia was no longer an asylum for them. Soon after the arts had banished themselves from Greece, liberty inspired her last heroes, Aratus and Philipomanes, to attempt her re¬ storation. Mutual jealousy prevented this glorious end, and recourse being had to the Romans against the Macedonian Philip, he " Dio Cass, 1. 54. c. 7* x Polyb. ]. 17 . p .97 135 was defeated and forced to cede the pro- Decline of 1 the Art. vinces he had unjustly usurped. '—v—' When the consul Q. Flaminius, in conse- °h™P- _ 144. quence of that victory proclaimed universal a.c. 194 . liberty to Greece at Corinth, the public tran¬ quillity, thus established, formed one of the most memorable teras of sculpture/ But the restless spirit of the Greeks incited them to acts by which they lost the liberty they strove to defend; before aggression had been made by the Romans, to whom the Achaian league had administered a plausible cause of of¬ fence, L. Mummius was directed to lay siege to Corinth. The capture of that city, so famed as a repository of all that was perfect in the arts, provoked the avarice of the Ro¬ man conquerour, who restrained no excess of predatory violence. By transporting so many superb works of taste to Rome, to grace his triumph, he excited the admiration of his fellow-citizens, the consequence of which was an insatiable ardour of procuring them. Sylla possessed himself of the treasures of Mith- radates, and Marcellus ransacked Syracuse. y An elegant and masterly little work, “ i Romani nella Gre- cia,” was circulated in Italy during the plundering campaigns of the French armies in that country. 136 DecHneof Verres/ and other proconsuls, assuming the military power, pillaged the temples of Greece, at that time the grand repositories of sla~ tuary, to embellish their villas near Rome. Thus the daemon of appropriation eventually transferred the seat of the arts from Greece, to the growing metropolis of the world . 2 Sicyon y Livy. 1. 25. c.40. Juvenal Sat. viii. v. 87 . Cicero in his fourth oration against Verres, having enumerated the marbles so obtained in Sicily, the Abbe Fraguier has described them by a happy conjecture of the contents of his famous gallery. Mem. de 1’Acad. des Insc. v. 9-P 260 . Translated in the Philological Mis¬ cellany^. 1 . p. 26 l. Winkelmann. Stor. delle Arti. 1.10. c. 3. in not, z Horat. Epist. 1. 2 . p. 1 . Series of Statuaries and Sculptors in Greece from Phidias to the removal of Greek artists to Rome. Olympiad. ~iGlaucias. Phidias. Naucydes. Alcamenes. 82.85. J Agoracritus.Theocosmos. Colotes. A. C. 44p. 437. 88.425. Olymp. 90 . 93. A. C. 417. 385. Olymp. 102 . A. C. 369 . Olymp. 114. A. C.3J3. | Polycletus of Sicyon. Ctesilaus. | Daedalus of Sicyon. Pantias. Cleon. I Scopas. Leocbares. Bryaxis. Timotheus. j-Lysippus. Lysistras.Euphronides. Silanion. Olymp. 111.1233. A. C. 329.285. Olymp. 125.150. A. C. 277 . 177. Olymp. 158. A. C. 149. Olymp. 1 / 2 . A.C. 89 . ( Praxiteles.Cephissodotus, Chares of Lin- C dus. Eubolus. Pamphilus. Polyeuctes. Agasias. Hegias or Hegesias. \Polycles. Antheus. Callistratus. Cleon. Ca- i licles. Apollodorus. Pasiteles. } Apollonius of Athens. Glycon. Cleomenes of Athens. Menophantes. J 37 had been ravaged at the same time by M. Scaurus, and Sparta by Muraena and Varro. In the desolation of Athens all Greece was involved. Thebes, Sparta, and Mycenae, re¬ tained little more than their names. Sylla had ransacked three of the richest temples, that of Apollo at Delphos, of iEsculapius in Epidaurus, and of Jupiter at Elis. Magna Grecia and Sicily had shared the general Decline oi the Art. A series of Greek statuaries and sculptors with anecdotes, is given in Watelet’s Dictionaire des Arts, v. 5. p. 581 to p. 680, in¬ cluding Q2 names. “ Em. David Essai sur le classement chrono- logique des sculpteurs Grecs les plus celebres,” prefixed to the Musee Franqais of Messrs. Robillard—Peronville and Laurent, etched by Piroli, 6 vol. 4to. Des Epoques de l’art chez les anciens indiquees par Pline, par C. Heyne. Jansen, v. iii. p. 1, who ob¬ serves, respecting the accuracy of Winkelmann’s series, “ Les nombreuses erreurs dont fourmille l’ouvrage de Winkelmann le rend a peu pres inutile pour la partie historique; ce que cet auteur dit de Part, des ses epoques, des periodes, et des signes charac- teristiques des styles, les jugemens qu’il porte, en consequence, sur plusieurs monumens anciens et sur les artistes auxquels il les attribue, sont autant d’assertions, qu’on ne peut adopter sans l’exa- men le plus severe,” p.4. The chronology of Heyne has there¬ fore been followed in preference, who certainly detects, in this essay, many errours; yet this criticism, in its full extent, appears to have been uncandid. Winkelmann, during his life-time, was praised beyond his merit, and his opinions upon many matters of vertu have yielded to the test of severe investigation. Heyne writes in disparagement of his erudition, rather than of his taste. 138 Decline of calamity in an equal extent. But the fate °f Athens was truly deplorable, as having been the captive of two such conquerors as Lysander and Sylla. J SECTION III. Whether the antient Romans were inspired Roman Sculpture. with such admiration and gratitude with re- v—v—' spectto their eminent men, as to preserve their memory by statues ; or whether they simply imitated the Grecian colonists who were set¬ tled in Italy, it is an allowed fact, that the practice of erecting them may be traced even to an No5ilior . marble.j Ditto. Ditto. 134 Ditto ....... Lucius Scipio. 250 Carri or waggons filled with ) A/r , . , „ 35 > Macedonia. iEmihus Paulus. statues, «c.) Minerva Cliduchos placed in the 7 D; , to> Ditto . temple ot Dea bortuna . . } 25 Statues of Macedonian heroes, i by Lysippus, placed before the!-Ditto. MetellusMaced, portico of Metellus . . . ) Statues and busts of Alexander and ? rv _ . TT . . Ditto. Ditto. Hephestion.) Minerva, bronze, by Praxiteles, be- f ... rv,, fore the aides Felicita.is . \ D '" 0 ' Apollo.Carthage. L.Scipio. Africa- nus. 12 Labours of Hercules by Lysip- 7 .) °’ Minerva in ivory, &c. in the Circus -» g n Maximus.j ' Hercules, Bronze, by Myron from ) r • the household gods of C. Heins. } S - vracuse - Messina : 145 part of these were given to the Roman pea* Roman pie, and exhibited in temples, porticoes, and places of public resort, jet several of the proconsuls and generals upon their return to Rome established galleries and private col¬ lections, to which the lovers of the art might occasionally resort. 11 Asinius Pollio, Verres, From. By. 2 Canephorae by Polycletus . Syracuse. Verres. Diana by Cephissodotus . Segesta. Ditto. Apollo by Myron, in the temple of 7 * iEsculapius .... j A § r Macedonia. Ditto. Dioscuri in the temple of Jupiter Tonans ...... | Delphi. Ditto. Colossal Jupiter, by Myron, in Ditto . .. j- Samos. Ditto. h Guasco. Chap. 20. L 146 Roman and Vindex, were distinguished collectors. Sculpture. j i i » i and purchased marbles, at an extreme price. The Roman architecture had, prior to this sera, been remarkable for its solidity and simple grandeur, yet now by adding statues as a chief ornament, so great a number were requisite, that all the pillage of Greece could scarcely supply them. In private mansions and villas, those of superior or transcendant excellence were deposited, and Cicero ap¬ pears, from two of his epistles to Atticus, to have been particularly desirous of furnishing his library with some choice specimens. Such were likewise preserved in the vestibules and eating rooms. This fashion once established, grew into excess, and eventually declined; but from the increased opportunities of selec¬ tion, a taste for the art displayed itself in the choice of good subjects, and the most cele¬ brated Grecian bronzes were studiously co¬ pied in marble by artists, transplanted from Greece. Pompey is said to have been the first encourager of these migrations, for that purpose, and, with such success, that the Hercules Farnese, and the Torso, are attri¬ buted to them. Julius Caesar was his rival in these acqui- 147 sitions, and in the temple which he dedicated Roman to Venus Genetrix, (so called, as being the fabulous ancestor of the Julian family,) were deposited not only exquisite Greek statues, but cabinets of cameos and intaglios. M. Antony embellished the Praetorian palace with statues which he had borrowed from Caesar. But in the temple of Apollo, and the library built by Augustus upon the Pala¬ tine hill, the magnificence of the collections already named was eclipsed, both in point of number and va ! ue. Several of the statues Were composed of solid silver. The luxury of casting them in the precious metals fol¬ lowed the fortune which favoured and cor¬ rupted the Romans. It was imported into Rome with the spoils of Carthage, and of Mithridates, king of Pontus, and it was soon imitated by the chiefs of either party and the emperours, and multiplied by the abject flattery of their degenerate subjects . 11 Previously to a more detailed account of the progress and decline of the art of sculpture at Rome, under the succeeding h Sueton. in vit. Augusti, p. 23Q, in vit. Caligulae, p. 445. Edmundi Figrelii dc Statuis illustrium Romanorum, l(i56, 8vo. p. 144. 148 Roman emperours, it may not be irrelevant to offer Sculpture. 1 . w-a general view of the subject. There were purposes, unknown to the Greeks, to which the Romans applied the art, and after the first Greek masters were no more, it was professed only by freedmen or slaves. When the Roman empire was obedient to a single Dictator, the best artists of Greece, having little encouragement in their own country, resolved to transport themselves to Rome, where the growing fashion of orna¬ menting the villas with statuary, called for' all their talents. As that capital contained the finest pieces of sculpture, collected from every part of Greece, it became from that circumstance the point of re-union for the Grecian artists.' Among the more celebrated of them were Arcesilaus, the freedman of Lucius Lucullus, so highly praised by Varro, * “ As Rome was the centre of wealth, as well as of empire, the best artists from all the colonies, of course, sought employment there; and as the custom of erecting statues to Emperours, pro- consuls, &c. was very general, there was employment sufficient for a great number. It was, however, but a minute and paltry kind of work, the Romans seeking for accuracy of likeness rather than excellence of art in their portraits, and requiring them either to be cased in armour, or loaded with heavy drapery, according to the character and office of the person represented.” D„ Select, Prel. Disc. p. /£> Guasco, p. 45$, 149 and Pasiteles, k (a name which has been con- Roman v # Sculpture. founded with Praxiteles,) who was a native of Magna Grecia, and was likewise an au¬ thor, who composed, in five volumes, now lost, an account of statues existing in his day, in different countries. After this melan¬ choly view of fallen Greece, we may find some satisfaction in directing our minds to the introduction of the arts at Rome, and to the liberal encouragement which men of talents experienced, even from their haughty and rapacious conquerors, to whom they were individually attached, and lived in their pa¬ laces. Notwithstanding a degree of hard- ness, remarked by Mengs, we may observe in the works executed under the first em- perours, a continuance of the Greek style, which manifests itself in a certain squareness of forms, and a firm, but not a delicate, touch. There is not much precision in finish¬ ing the hair, but great spirit and boldness, in the masses. The physiognomy has a cha¬ racter which presents to us the celebrated individual, such, as he is verbally pourtrayed by the historian. In Augustus, we are struck k Pasiteles was retained by Metellus, for whom he made a Jupiter in ivory, and other statues. PJin.!. 36. c. 5. 4. Edit. Brotier. 150 koman with the semblance of that cruelty which Sculpture. v —v—' marked his triumvirate; in Agrippa the cha- racteristics given to him by Pliny , 1 of rage in the countenance of Livia, of meretriciousness in Julia, of an affected threatening air in Cali¬ gula, and of stupidity in Claudius. This superior accuracy of portrait began to decline about the time of Tiberius and Claudius, who restrained the privilege of erecting statues in publick, and this failure was occasioned by the suspicious spirit of those emperours, who would not allow similar honours to others, when the Roman people had fallen into a state of abject servility. Noth withstanding these discouragements, under the later em¬ perours, a style of great excellence prevailed. In the reign of Hadrian statuary was more refined, pure, and delicate, than under the earlier emperours; the hair was more highly finished, more laboured, whether in locks or detached, the eye~brow T s more relieved, and the pupils of the eyes marked by a deep hole, drilled in the centre, a custom uncommon before, but frequent about the reign of this emperour, as may be seen in the busts and statues of Antinous. The countenances are very boldly chiselled, but deficient in truth 1 “ Iila torvltas.” 151 and character. In fact, sculpture had lost Roman the air of sublimity which was peculiar to it, in the works of the ancient Greeks . 1 During the reigns of the Antonines, it re¬ tained a degree of excellence, which has still its admirers, but fell into a memorable in¬ feriority after the time of Septimius Severus. There are, however, several very fine heads of Caracalla, his successor, extant, particularly those in the Villa Borghese at Rome, and one in the Townley gallery. Of the sarcophagi still preserved, and the bas-reliefs which had been detached from them, the major part were decidedly executed in the lower age of sculpture. So great was the number of ancient sta¬ tues already collected at this period of the decline of the art, that the sculptors at Rome were principally employed in making busts and heads only ; among the more remarkable 1 “ The statues of deities, heroes, &c. which adorned the temples, theatres, baths, palaces, and villas of the Romans were either from the plunder of the Grecian cities, or copies made from the master-pieces which still continued or had once enriched them ; but that kind of employment which calls forth inventive genius, and by joining the efforts of the hand to those of the mind produces works of taste and feeling, as well as of technical skill and dexterity, seems to have ceased with the Greek republics and the Macedonian kings.” D. Select. Prel, Disc. p. /2. 152 Roman of which are those of Macrinus,™ Septimius Sculpture. v —’ Severus, and Caracalla, for the scrupulous labour with which they are finished. Lysip¬ pus himself could scarcely have excelled one of the last mentioned prince in the Farnese collection; yet it is more than probable, that none of these artists could have formed a whole figure worthy of any comparison with those of Lysippus. Pasiteles and Archesilaus were the orna¬ ments of the Augustan age of sculpture. The former cast in silver, Roscius, the celebrated actor, as an infant lying in a cradle, and en¬ twined by a serpent, a situation of danger from which he was rescued by his n nurse. Archesilaus excelled in modelling in pipe¬ clay, from the most esteemed antiques; and is said by Pliny, never to have begun a sta¬ tue without having previously modelled it, having attained to the greatest perfection in the plastick art.° m Guattani (T. 1. 1/84,) describes a bust of Philippas Senior, an emperour who reigned long after Septimius Severus, as of such excellence, that the bust of the last mentioned, which was styled “ 1’ultimo sospiro dell’ antica scultura,” was no longer exclusively worthy of that epithet. n Cicero de Divin. 1. 1. c. 36. 0 Plin. 1. xxxv. c. 4,7. Although few of his works are speci- 158 Aulanius Evander restored the head of a R oma n statue of Diana by Scopas, (which had been mutilated in being brought to Rome by order of Augustus,) with singular success . 15 His chief merit consisted in sculpturing bas-re¬ liefs, modelling them in terra-cotta, and pro¬ bably making Bacchic vases in marble upon a smaller scale than that introduced under Hadrian . 13 Horace alludes to the superior style of Evander in the “ Toreutice,” or bas-relief in metals, for paterae, cups, and vases. It has been argued that a chief cause of the superi¬ ority in sculpture to which the Greeks attained, was their enjoyment of liberty. This is Win¬ ded either by Pliny or Varro, they were of such eminence as to have procured for him the honour of bring made a Roman citizen. Varro mentions Archesilaus (as having been attached to the household of Lucullus,) having carved a Lioness with Cupids, who were forcing her to drink, out of a single block. This latter circumstance is always a matter of great surprise to Pliny, and he particularises the same both in the Laocoon, and the Toro Far- nese. 1.36. c. 5. Guasco. p. 416. His was the Venus Genetrix with which Julius Caesar was so well pleased, that he wished to dedicate it before it was finished to the satisfaction of the master. p Plin. 1. 36. q - “ mensave catillum Evandri manibus tritum dejeeit.” Hor. Serm. 1. i. s. 3. v.pi. 154 Roman kelmann's opinion. But let us reflect, that the aera of their greatest fame was when Pericles was demagogue, or in fact monarch, and the reign of Alexander, which did not leave to Greece even the semblance of li¬ berty. This remark is no less applicable to after ages; for at Rome the most admirable sculpture was produced in the time of Au¬ gustus, who had left to the Romans scarcely the consolation of imagining themselves free; in modern Italy, under the auspices of the De Medici at Florence, or the Pontiffs at Rome; and in France, under the absolute government of Louis XIV. What favours the arts more particularly is a taste for real beauty, leisure, and opulence, a powerful man who encourages them, and to gratify whom, an emulation, and a great number of competitors are necessarily created/ Sculpture Among the monuments of sculpture made by Greek at Rome, in these last days of her republic, and certainly by Grecian artists, are the two statues of the Thracian kings, as prisoners at r Duravit artificibus generosus veree laudis amor quamdiu po- pulis regibusque artium reverentia mansit: at postquam pecuniae amor earn ex animis hominum ejecit. defecerunt et ipsi artifices.” Petron. Arb. 155 a triumph, in grey marble. These were Sculpture kines of the Scordisci, a rude people, who by Greek were defeated by M. Licinius Lucullus, the v — v —' brother of the magnificent senator. Exaspe¬ rated by their repeated perfidy, he com¬ manded their hands to be cut off, a circum¬ stance of cruelty represented in the marble, which now remains in the museum of the capitol . 5 The statue of Pompey,* now in the hall of the Spada palace, but originally standing in the Curia or basilica of Pompey, in which Caesar assembled the senate, and at the base of which he fell, affords a singular proof of a deviation from the known custom of the Romans, who represented their living heroes in armour." But the great triumvir is sculp- s “ These statues exhibit a striking instance of Roman cruelty, and it appears plainly from these testimonies, that the custom was to maim the principal captives in a great triumph, in order to in¬ crease their humiliation, by rendering them totally helpless. It is manifest from inspection that these could not be fragments, but that the one never had but one arm, and the other one hand. No Roman historian mentions this wanton barbarity, ashamed probably to transmit it to posterity. Viaggiana, p. 53. 1 Diodorus Siculus, 1. i. p. 45. u “ Graeca res est nihil velare: at contra Romana ac militaris thoracas addere.” Plin. 1. xxxiv. c. 10. The young men in the gymnastic games, first wore a zone, then, after the Lacedae¬ monian fashion, were totally naked. 156 juims Cae- tured as a deified hero, naked and of colossal sar. v—proportions. We must now consider the arts as trans¬ planted into Rome, although professed, al¬ most exclusively, by Greeks, for the very oppressors and depredators of Greece became their most liberal patrons. Caesar, when in a private station, had made an extensive col¬ lection of pictures, intaglios and small figures in ivory and bronze, x which he dedicated by a public benefaction, when, as dictator, he built a temple to Venus Genetrix. His mag¬ nificent Forum is an instance of his desire to promote the grandeur of the imperial city; and he may be said to have left the love of the arts, as a kind of heritage, to the Romans. Augustus. Augustus merited the eulogium of Livy, who A. D. 14—37. __ x Gemmas, toreumata, signa, tabulas operis antiqui semper animosissime comparasse.” Sueton. p. 75. A pearl valued at £ 40,000 was cut in two to make ear-rings for the statue of Venus in the Pantheon. Lumisden’s Rome, p. 284. So great was the profusion of the Romans after the ex¬ tinction of the consnlar government, that a statue of Victory of massive gold was erected, which weighed 120 pounds, calculated by Troy-weight. It has been satisfactorily proved that the co¬ lumn and statue now at Wilton, which were sold to Evelyn, when collecting for Lord Arundel at Rome, are not those originally placed by Julius Caesar before the Temple of Venus Genetrix. The statue is known to be modern. 157 honours him as the restorer of the temples of Sculpture 1 atrlome the Gods. He assembled from every part of by Greek 1 artists. Greece the statues of the deities of the most v— genuine workmanship, with which he em¬ bellished Rome, whilst he encouraged a pre¬ vailing mode of figuring eminent persons of either sex in statuary, as portraits, which were placed in the public edifices/ or religiously preserved in their own. It is worthy of remark, that of this Emperor two statues only are allowed to be real portraits; one in the Museum of the Capitol holding the prow of a ship z in reference to the victory at Actium, and the other was formerly in the Rondonini collection at Rome. Cleopatra, so unfortunately famous for her Cleopatra beauty and profuse magnificence, cherished the arts in Egypt . 3 She gave a statue of y Sueton. Calig. c. 34. where he asserts that Caligula threw down the statues of eminent men erected by Augustus in the Forum. 7 Maffei Raccolt. di Stat. Tav. 16 , a There is no genuine statue of Cleopatra now remaining. Her true portrait is only to be seen on her medals, and upon some coins of M. Antony. The reclining figure in the Vatican collec¬ tion, so long designated by her name, is now discovered to be Ariadne, or a river nymph. Gems have been attributed to her with more certainty than the statue in the Capitol. N° 57, or that 158 Sculpture Venus to Julius Caesar to furnish the temple by Greek he was then building at Rome; with Marc Antony she shared the spoils of Greece and of Pergamus; and to the Attalian Library, which she procured from him, were added some of the finest works, both in sculpture and painting, which existed at that time. The conduct of Augustus towards the Greeks, after he assumed the imperial govern¬ ment, was moderate and discreet, and such was continued by his immediate successors Caligula. till the reign of Caligula. By the last men- 37—41. tioned, as it has been previously noticed, was dispatched Memmius Reg ulus, with a com¬ mand to collect from every city the statues which had been considered as its peculiar boast. With so much exactness were these orders obeyed, that the finest pieces of art were brought to Rome, in a profusion by which his palaces were crowded, and many were distributed in his numerous villas. He ordered his own statue to be erected in every in the Medici Collection. In Mus. Flor. T. 1 . Gemm. pi 25. is a head of her, engraved on a sardonix. 77> 7 8 . Stosch Gemm. n. 3Q. Maffei Gemm. T. 1 . n. 76 . Plutarch in Vit. M. Anton, p. 927, does not allow her exquisite beauty, but insinuates that she was irresistible from other causes. 159 city in Greece and Asia Minor, and endea¬ voured to force the Jews to receive it into their Temple at Jerusalem. b Agrippa retained Diogenes of Athens to finish the statues which he placed in the Pantheon; Batrachus was employed in the porticos of Octavia; and Pliny c attests the skill and fame of Pythodorus, Philiscus, Her- molaus, Lysias, Criton, Nicolaus, Stephanus, and Menelas, Arthimon, Aphrodisius, Tralli- nus, and Sauros, all Greek artists, to whose la¬ bours the imperial residences owed much of their splendour. By these sculptors, about the closeofthe republic, the Roman freedmen and slaves' 1 were instructed in the elements of the b Phil. Judaeus. Josephus. Antiq. 1. 1c. 6. 1. 18. 3. and De Bello Judaico. 1. 1. 33. and 1. 2. 9- Edit. Havercamp. Con¬ cerning his statue of solid gold—his placing his own head on other statues, 8cc. Vide Sueton. pp. 445. 46. 465. c L 36. c. 5.—Philiscus is conjectured to have made four of the Muses, Clio, Euterpe, Melpomene and Terpsichore. Mils. Pio-Clem. V. 1 . T. 1 ", 18. 20, 21. d The establishment of a school of slaves was the true cause of the decline of the art, after its removal to Rome: “ a liberal art practised by a slave is at once degraded into a manufacture, a mere passive tool in the hands of his employer.” “ The primary attempts of a people emerging from barbarism, have always a cha¬ racter of original meaning and intelligence, however imperfectly expressed, and will always excite sentiments similar to those fronx Roman School of Sculpture. 160 Roman School of Sculpture. ' art. This new school had acquired some de¬ gree of reputation under the patronage of Augustus, jet we see few names inscribed on the plinths of statues under his immediate successors, a circumstance which does not favour a supposition of their excellence. It is presumed likewise, that when a celebrated bronze was copied, in marble, bj any of these artists, the name of the original master, if of any, was inscribed on the base, which fact will account for the difficulty of appro¬ priating works to names, which Pliny has rescued from total oblivion. In some in¬ stances, the form of the letters is more mo¬ dern than the date of the artist, whose name is written.' The productions of Roman art were not marked by genius or originality. As most of the statues at Rome were either brought from Greece, or produced by the masters in whose school they studied, they were little more than imitators, who rendered their subjects with the greatest truth and pre- which it sprang, but the operose productions of a people sinking into darkness, are either servile copies, or vapid efforts of inven¬ tion. D. Select. Prel. Diss. p. 80. e Phaedri Fab. 1. 5. Prolog. “ Ut artifices nostro faciunt saeculo, novo qui marmori adscripserunt Praxitelem, suo detrito.” 161 cision, with exquisite finishing, but void of invention. They were unequal to the imi- mesticSta- tation of the naked figure in which the Greeks v—' excelled. The Romans considered drapery as essential to the character of the statues. The laws respecting the change of gowns, the attention paid to folding them with elegance, the phrase which characterised the Romans, “ gens togata,” Avere literally followed by their artists. The great passion of the Romans for dress is a sufficient reason for their draped statues. When the statues were not clothed, a spear was placed in the right hand, and the armour was as scrupulously represented as the drapery. All their efforts were bent to ac¬ quire the utmost delicacy and perfection in finishing draperies and portraits, the value of which was greatly enhanced by the most accurate resemblance. The custom of the public baths afforded them many opportu¬ nities of studying the effect of wet drapery, adhering to the limbs, especially in female subjects, and they were thus enabled to ex¬ hibit the grace and elegance of’ the naked and draped figure, combined under the same form. The personal vanity of the Romans, and their sacred attachment to the memory M 162 Portraits and Do¬ mestic Sta¬ tues. of their ancestors, proved a fertile source of employment to their numerous artists. Por¬ traits and domestic statues were not limited by any particular law; and it was an ostenta¬ tious luxury in which the richer citizens spared no expense/ The vestibules of their houses were crowded with the statues of their relatives or patrons, in marble, bronze, or coloured wax, which on particular festivals were apparelled in the most sumptuous robes, and ornamented with jewels. Sepulchral statues, or those which were deposited in the tombs or mausolea of eminent men and the patrician families, were held in the highest de¬ gree of veneration, 8 and were likewise of the most perfect workmanship. In the sepulchres of the last mentioned, were placed not only the busts of those who had signalised themselves, but of those with whom they had been most intimately allied during life. That of the Scipios discovered in the Appian way, near the Porta Capena, contained, together with f “ Imagines in atrio exponunt,—in parte prima sedium collo- cant, noti magis quam nobiles sunt, illas per solemnitates publicas cum studio ornant togis & prxtextis, aut triumphalibus vestibus, juxta personas. Columel. xii. 3 Y. Guasco, p. 321. s Defunctorum imagines, domi positae, dolorem nostrum le¬ vant.” Plin. Epist„ 1. 2. 163 their own busts, that of the poet Ennius, Portraits with whom P. Scipio had lived in the strictest mesticSta- friendship. h Virtues personified, or the tute- lary divinities of the deceased were frequently added. Penates and Lares appear to have drawn Penates ... _ .. ... andLaies. their origin from the remotest antiquity.’ I hey were known to all nations; but in universal usage among the Romans, and to them was attributed the peculiar and constant guardian¬ ship of every person, and of every w place. The Penates were chosen by the individual from the gods, as Jupiter or Apollo, and the Lares were favourites among them or deified persons. Few subjects have exhausted more erudition respecting the derivation of their name, and the form of statuary, by which they were expressed; indeed their whole his- h Plin. 1. 7- c. 30- T. Liv. Hist. 1. 38. c. 5(5. I.abruzzi Via Appia Illust. ab v.rbe Roma ad Capuam. 2 vol. fol. 1792 . The waxen busts or portraits which were carried in funeral processions, or exposed in the halls and vestibules of houses, are mentioned in Polyb. 1. 6. c. 58. Plin. 1. 35. c. 1. Juv. Sat 8. * Guasco. Ch. ix. p. 97 . Virgil JEn. 1.2. v. 717 . k Arnobius styles them “ Deos consentes seu complices." Lares were public or domestic. The latter were believed to be the souls of the deceased. Redi sopra gli Dei aderenti. Diss. Acad, de Cortona, v. 2. & v. 6. p. 94 . 16‘4 Portraits lory is as ambiguous aud recondite as any mestic Sta- part of the Heathen Mythology. 1 With different denominations the Penates and Lares were regarded as the tutelary dei¬ ties, under whose immediate protection the person, the house, family, and possessions, of every individual were placed. These divinities were represented by small statues, seldom exceeding a very few inches in height, exquisitely proportioned and wrought, and cast in gold, silver, or bronze; but the intrinsic value of the first mentioned materials has occasioned their almost total disappearance. Bronzes have been abund¬ antly found, much corroded, and of very un¬ equal workmanship." 1 In these were gene- 1 Guattani. T. ]. 1784, gives an altar inscribed “ Larilus Augustis ,” upon which were carved two youths standing, suc¬ cinctly clothed, crowned with laurel, and holding a “ ryton,” or drinking horn, with their hands elevated : “ Animas hominum esse Daemones et ex hominibus fieri, Lares, si meriti boni sunt, Lemures seu larvas si male, manes autem Deos dici, cum incer- tum est, bonorum eos seu malorum esse meritorum" St. Augustini De Civ. Dei. 1. Q. c.2. “ DilS MANIBVS” is inscribed on most of the Roman cinerary urns. “ Figrelii. p. 86. Dairval, De l’uti- lite de voyages ”— m The collection of R. P. Knight, Esq. is the most celebrated for small bronzes in England. One of the first, in point of date, and excellence, was that made before 1/20, by John Kemp, FRS. 165 rally comprehended the twelve greater divi- Portraits nities," beside Genii, but those most common mestic Sta- are of Mercury and Hercules. It was cus- tomary with the Romans, when travelling, to carry the Penates with them, 0 that they might not omit the usual sacrifice, should any festi¬ val happen during their journey. When they returned home these images p were deposited in the Lararium q or wardrobe which stood in some secret apartment, the sleeping room or library. In process of time the Romans were not content with a r single Lararium, but had when a very learned catalogue raisonnee was compiled and pub¬ lished by Rob. Ainsworth, and it was dispersed by public sale. The original collector was Monsieur Gailhard of Angier, who sold them to Lord Carteret. Sir W. Hamilton’s collection is now in the British Museum. n rf Feror exul in alto “ Cum Sociis natoque Penatibus & mag- nis Diis.” .TEn. 1. 3. v. 2. ° “ Lares succinctos.” Juv. p They were styled “ Familiares—domestic!—cubilares, and inscribed “ Jovi Domestico—Apollini Domestico,” &c. Cicero pro Domo 143, 144. “ ©eoi xaroncrfooi “ Ua.x'gwot.” a “ Grande armarium in porticus angulo vidi, in cujus aedicula erant Lares argentei, positi.” Petron. Arb. Nepotis effigiem in cubiculo positum, quotiescunque introiret, exosculabatur.’’ Suet, vit. Calig. c. 7- Pliny (Epist. 1. 3. ch. 7 .) reports of Silius Italicus “ Multum utique librorum, multum statuarum, multum imagi- num, quas non habebat modo, verum venerabatur, Virgilii ante omnes.” r Virgilii imaginem cum Ciceronis simulachro in secundo La- 1 66 Portraits another containing statues of heroes, poets, mesticSta- and eminent men, and even of their patrons, as an instance of refined and delicate flat¬ tery. 8 The superstition attached to these small statues was so great, that men of the first rank and celebrity, and even the philosophers, did not neglect the usage of them. We have in¬ stances in the lives of Antiochus, Xenophon, and Cicero, * 1 and Tacitus relates, that the Lares of the Roman people were preserved in the temple of Vesta, u Guasco x conjectures that the “ Signa Tus- caniea” did not exceed one foot in height, and it is the opinion of Caylus, founded on great probability, that the statues brought from Corinth by Mummius to Rome, were of, or under, that size. He asserts it to be impossible to have placed three thousand bronze statues in a small theatre of wood, as rario habuit, ubi et Achillis & magnorum virorum. Alexandrum vevo magnum inter Divos & optimos, in Larario majore, conse- cravit. Lampridii in vita Alex. Severi. “ Denique hodieqne in multis domibus, M Antonini statuae consistunt inter Deos Pe¬ nates.” Jul. Capitol, in vit. Ant. Pii. Hist. Aug. p. 292 . * Icunculae, imagunculae, statunculae, used by Fetronius, Pliny, and Suetonius. 1 Xenophon. 1. v. Plutarch in vit. Ciceronis. Guasco, p. 105 . u Annal. 1. 15. c. 13. x P. 467 . 167 was that of Scaurus, unless they had been of Portrait* and do- inferior dimensions. Yet Pliny’s description mesticSta- renders it more probable that they were of the usual size/ Genii were of the highest antiquity in the p eni j’ s Ro system of pagan worship, and, in order to ac- mani commodate the idea of the divinity to the rude perception of vulgar minds, they were sub¬ divided into many portions, to whom were assigned offices and power, which emanate only from the great first cause. Antiquaries were uncertain in what manner the Genius of the Roman people was sculptured, and by what attribute he was distinguished from the statues of other deities. A temple was erected to him by Vespasian. 2 The ingenious Adamo Fabbroni has examined four statues, formerly called Apollo, and drawn a parallel between them in an elaborate treatise. Of these, the best known, though all resemble each other, was in the Capitol. It stands naked and y L. 36. c. 15. Pliny’s words are “ Theatra duo fecit amplis- sima e ligno;—but what immediately applies are these, c. 24. (ex Ed Facii). Theatrum hoc fuit Scena ei triplex in alritudinem 360 columnarum, &c. Cavea ipsa cepit hominum 80 millia j — it was partly made of marble and glass, inaudito et jam postea genere lux- uriae, and the top only was wood, Summa e tabulis inauratis”—ib. z Considerazioni e conjecture sopra una dubbia Statua del Museo Capitolino di Ad. Fabbroni. 8vo. 1799- 168 Portraits and do¬ mestic Sta¬ tues. Urbs Ro¬ ma. Roman Allegories. Roman Terra-Cot¬ ta. upright, leaning much forwards without a support, the arms extended, with drapery thrown over one of them, and a goose at the feet, by whose vigilance the Capitol was saved. 3 The projecting posture was an alle¬ gory of the republic “ ponderibus librata suis.” There were likewise provincial deities, usually represented by female figures, many of which, with their proper attributes, may be seen in the series of the Homan coins from the republic to the close of the empire. 15 They likewise afforded subjects for statues and bas- reliefs. 'T’he Urbs Roma, several statutes of which are preserved in the great "collections, was a figure of an athletic young female, ha¬ bited nearly as Minerva, and holding a vic¬ tory in her hand, but sitting. Genii of either sex have been usually represented with wings. Cupid and Hymen are winged, and male figures, which are now known to signify Sleep and Deathd As the art of making Terra- Cottas had been brought from Greece, toge- a Romulidarnm arcis servator candidus anser. Lucret. b Guasco. p. 102. c Colossal, of red porphyry, found at Cora, now in the palace of the Senator of Rome, in the Capitol, and another dug up in the Monte Cavallo, in the villa Mattei. d Fabbroni. cap. 2. “ Di alcune figure virili alate.” 1 A'/ /// J> KYTE !!! Men erv ei exEivcdV-cru izxvov r A/./ /'-V/y/6 //r 10'9 ther with casts from the finest bas-reliefs, the Portraits in Sta- usage of them became very general at home, tuary. and they were most skilfully executed. In the mausolea or sepulchres which were near the great roads without the city, they were inserted as friezes, and profusely applied in domestic architecture to interior decoration. They were fastened by rivets of lead, the holes for which are visible in most of those which have been discovered. 6 It is supposed that the more beautiful have been perfected by the graving tool, after they had been hard¬ ened in the kiln. Historians assure us, that the Romans Portraits, were not less careful than the Greeks in the scrupulous expression of the likeness of their portraits in their statues and busts/ It is remarked by Tacitus/ that Brutus and Cas¬ sius, though long since dead, were still pre¬ sent with us in their statues and biography. Possidonius, in Plutarch, attests that the de¬ scendants of Brutus, who were his contem¬ poraries, were to be recognised by their e “ The Terra-cottas in the Brit. Mus.” Q t0 . 1811. f On this account they are called by Cicero in Verrem, “ for- mae monumenta,” and by Horace “ corporum simulacrum.” s Ann. 1. 4. 170 Portraits decided resemblance to the statue of their tuary. ancestor. h We have a philosophical reason given by Sallust for the prevalence of this fashion, and the beneficial effects which might result from the frequent contemplation of the representation of eminent men . 1 Age of The reign of Nero was an epoch pecu- Td. liarly favourable to the Roman school of 5 ‘ i—6s ‘ sculpture, in which it appears to have at¬ tained to a degree of perfection, which soon afterward verged towards decline till its re¬ vival under Hadrian. Of the two busts of Nero in the Florentine gallery, that of him when a child expresses the greatest infantine beauty. If a persuasion, as sug¬ gested by Mengs, could be for once enter¬ tained, that the Apollo Belvidere, and the Borghese Gladiator, are of Roman workman¬ ship, the claim of superiority will be readily conceded to this sera in particular . 11 The enormous luxury in which Nero indulged h Plut. in vit. Bruti. ' “ Nam Saspe audivi Q. Maxumum, P. Scipionem, praeterea civitatis nostrse praeclaros viros solitos ita dicere, cum majorum imagines intuerentur vehementissime sibi animum ad virtutem accendi.” Sallust. Bell. Jugurthin. c. 4. k Watelet. Diet. T. v. p. 5/0. Paradoxe de Mengs sur les ouv- rsges qui nous restent de 1’Antiquite. / TO WILLIE IAN o ’Av/W/////// 171 himself, extended to architecture and its most Portraits m bta- costly embellishments; and in his taste in the tuary. arts he was no less depraved than in his morals. He despoiled Greece to enrich his palaces of many statues, from which the policy of his predecessors had refrained . 1 Few genuine statues or busts of this disgrace of human nature remain to this day, the greater part having been, by command of the Senate, de¬ stroyed with him. m His vanity incited him to procure a Colossal statue to be made by Zenodorus, (who had completed a statue of Hercules at Auvergne,) which was five feet higher than the Colossus of Rhodes, and was erected in the vestibule of his “ golden house/’ n 1 Claudius had brought the Thespian Cupid to Rome, and Nero, from his pillage of (he temple, collected live hundred bronze statues of gods and men. Pausan. 1. 10. 1. 8. Strabo. 1. 10. Sick- ler ut sup. From Pergamus, the last mentioned removed, the bronze statue of Alexander by Lysippus, an Amazon by Strongy- lion, the Apollo Relvidere, and the Gladiator Borghese, presumed to have been found in Greece, and placed by him in his villa at Antium, now Nettuno. There is no proof that they formed a part of (he spoils of the Delphic temple, and they are not enu¬ merated by Pliny. m Guasco. p. 417. The same circumstance renders the por¬ traits of Domitian scarce. The fine statue of him, once in the Villa Albani, is now at Paris. n Pliny, 1.34. c. 7- The statue of Mercury by Zenodorus, at 172 Portraits Zenodorus, who was probably a native of in Sta- , . 1 . tuary. Ine province or Gaul, had gained very great reputation in his own country for his Colos¬ sal works in bronze, when he was required by Nero to cast his statue. It might be argued from this fact, that the Roman artists at that period were unequal to so stupendous an undertaking. Nero, when in possession of some of the most exquisitely finished bronzes which he had removed from Greece, shewed the perversion of his taste by having them covered with gilding; and even some of marble are known to have been so dis¬ figured by his ridiculous profuseness . 0 This Auvergne, cost ten years’ labour, and forty millions of sesterces (as calculated by Bartelemy, about nine millions of Francs) L.322Q. Arbuthnot. Sueton. vit. Neronis, c. 31. “ Domum quam primo transitoriam, mox incendio absumptam, restitutam- que Auream nominavit, Vestibulum ejus fuit, in quo Colossus centum viginti pedum staret, ipsius efSgie.” Lumisden's Rome, p. 345. Gilded statues were called “ imbracteataebut the meaning of Ammianus Marcellinus is uncertain, when be uses the word “ imbracteari.” Bonarotti, p. 3/1, proves that the leaves of gold used by the antients in their art of gilding were of greater strength and thickness than in ours. Several inscriptions, preserved by Gruter, specify gilding by the words “ auratae, auro illustres, auro superfusae, ex aere. aurato, et sub auro constitutae.” One in par¬ ticular .of a statue of Fabius Severus at Trieste, p. 408, N° 11, Figrelii. p. 145. 173 senseless attempt to increase magnificence Portraits by the sacrifice of the art, prevailed at Rome tuary. for at least a century after his death. Not¬ withstanding the statues of Seneca dying in a bath, of Sleep in black marble, the Centaur and Cupid in the Villa Borghese, the Far- nese Agrippina, and especially the beautiful heads of Domitian and Nerva, which upon undoubted evidence may be referred to the aera now treated of, are creditable proofs of the profciency made by Roman artists, who seem to have learned from their Greek masters all that they were capable of teach¬ ing.’’ The Temple of Peace erected at Rome Vespasian. 1 ... a ]) by Vespasian, after the joint triumph of 69—79. himself and his son Titus, in the seventy- second year of the Christian aera, was the most magnificent edifice then known, and was enriched with statues long esteemed among the finest in Greece, which were pre¬ served in the library with paintings of equal celebrity . q p Guasco. p. 418. ^ “ Templum Pads, Vespasiani imperatoris Augusti, pulcher- rirna operum quae unquam.” Plin. 1. 36. c, 15. Em. David, Musee Franq. 174 Portraits in Sta¬ tuary. ■—V—' The palace and baths of Titus were like¬ wise repositories of similar works of art, either selected from the Grecian monuments al- read} r collected at Rome, or consisting of the best specimens which the Roman school could, at that time, supply. The Laocoon was discovered there/ It is now generally supposed/ either that this singular group was wrought at Rhodes between the reigns of Augustus and A^espasian, who brought it to Rome, or finished there by Greek arlists. Winkelman has given it to the age of Alex¬ ander; but these conjectures are subsequent to the publication of his work on the arts. AVith respect to the state of the arts in this age, s by the inspection of the triumphal arch of Titus, and the frize of the temple of q Sueton. vit. Imp. Titi. c. 7. Lumisden’s Rome, p 193. r L’essere monolithus e gran pregio in un colosso, essendo no- tato spesso da Diodoro in statue di Egitto, e di Plinio nel Las- coonte e figli tanti minore. Lanzi Saggio di Linqua Etrusc. v. i. p. 102, and for this reason he prefers reading the Delian inscrip¬ tion ,c rov acvTou Ai9ou.” Siamo di un marmo sol, la stutua ed io”— * “ A tame, minute, and elaborate style ensued, in which the want of bold expression, original character, and striking effect in the whole, was feebly compensated by accurate detail, faithful imitations, and neat finishing, in all the parts.” D. S. Pref. p. 76 . 175 Minerva, in the Forum built by Domitian, a just criterion may be formed. In the particular kind of sculpture ap¬ plied to bas-reliefs and trophies, the artists may be distinguished by superior elegance and skill, which is evinced by many beautiful remains. Of such magnitude were the archi- tectural plans adopted by Trajan, that men of talents in every description of art were invited to signalise themselves, under his munificent patronage, in every region of the empire. The sumptuous edifices which he erected, appear to have exhausted the powers of human construction, of the extent and vastness of which we can now form con¬ clusions only by their ruins. His bridge over the Danube, his triumphal arch at Ancona, his Forum, the site of which is now marked out by the historical column, raise his fame, as an encourager of the arts, far beyond that of his predecessors. 1 Portraits in Sta¬ tuary. Trajan. A. D. 98 —117- 1 Pliny, in his letter to Severus, (Epist. 1. 3. ep. 5.) mentions a small bronze statue from Corinth, which he had lately pur¬ chased. It was of an old man standing and naked, and exquisitely finished. He says it was “ vetus et antiquum;” talia denique omnia ut possint artificum oculos tenere, delectare imperitorum.” If he had recorded the price given, it would have ascertained a 176 By no historian nor inscription have the names been transmitted to us of the sculptors who executed the Trajan column, but the more the style of this celebrated monument has been considered, the more it will appear to have been inherited from the more able Grecian masters. Under the auspices of Hadrian, the suc¬ cessor of Trajan, the arts maintained a pro¬ gressive degree of excellence. 11 He was emi¬ nently accomplished, not only as an admirer, but was himself an artist.* Every province in Greece enjoyed his munificence, and the temples of Jupiter at Athens which he re¬ stored/and that of Cyzicum,on the shores of Propontis, which he built, were stupendous curious fact, the value of Greek statues of authenticity and excel¬ lence in the days of Trajan, or the extreme cost of the Corinthian brass. u “ From Hadrian to Septimius Severus a style of refinement bordering on affectation, both in the composition and execution of the hair and drapery, is very remarkable.” D. S. Pref 75 . x Spartiani vit. Had. Hist. Aug. p. (38. “ picturae peritissi- musbut does not mention sculpture. y Pausan.l.v. p.-10(3. He rebuilt the greater part of Athens, and called the additions he made “ Hadrianopolis, or Athenae novae.” Wheler has preserved this inscription : “ Aquaedtictum in novis Athenis creptum,” &c. p.3/4. Fol. 1082. D.Select.Pref. Portraits in Sta¬ tuary. Trajan. A. D. 98—117. Hadrian. A. D. 117—138. 177 monuments of imperial splendour. Having, Portraits r . , , ...... in Statu- tor eighteen years, been engaged in visiting ary . the most distant parts of the Roman empire, he resolved to construct his villa at y Tivoli; in which not only exact models of the most celebrated buildings he had seen should be erected, but that they should be furnished with originals, or the finest copies, of the most admirable statues. IIis correct judg¬ ment in all works of art contributed more to the absolute superiority of this collection, than the mere power of expending unlimited treasures to procure iL z It was by Hadrian that a former restrict tion was removed, and the fashion of having portraits in statuary was so generally extended amongst the noble and opulent citizens of Rome. This regulation had existed, indeed, in the age of the republic, and proceeded from higher motives than those of personal vanity, as statues were intended to excite the most honourable emulation. In that Emperor’s villa at Tivoli were placed, by his command, the statues and busts not only of y Pianta della Villa Tiburtina di Adriano Cesare da Pirro Li- gorio, Roma 1/51. Fol. Lumisden Append p. 411. z Aurelius Victor, in vit. Hadriani, asserts that he was “ pictor* fictor ex sere, ex marmore proxime ad Polycletos et Euphoras,” V 178 of ail his living, but of his deceased friends. Of his favourite Antinous, in various charac¬ ters, there are infinite repetitions. That most valued, was found on the Esquiline hill, and was placed by Leo X. in the Vatican ; but it has lately been described as Mercury, bv a critic of singular erudition. Another was found about 17?0, in the Thermae Maritimae of Hadrian, near Ostia, by Mr. Gavin Hamil¬ ton, late of Rome. It represents Antinous, in the mythological character of Abundance, and is now in the collection of the late Hon. J. Smith, Barry, at Marburyhall, in Cheshire. If Apollonius and Glycon are, upon all the evidence that remains to us, to be referred to the age of Pompey, (who is said to have brought them to Rome;) it will be difficult to fix the few Roman artists who are recorded, to a period much antecedent to the reign of Hadrian. Cleomenes of Athens, the son of that Clcomenes, whose name appears on the plinth of the statue of Venus de Medici, made the Tiburtinam villam mire exsedificavit, ita ut in ea et provinci- arum et locorum celeberrima nomina inscriberet, velut Lyceum, Academiam, Prytaneum^ Canopum, Poecilem, Tempe vocaret et ut nihil prastermitteretj etiam Inferos finxit. 179 xakKot/ jcaftv/i cf/or smr Efmr: //s/Y/rf r/ // f a/ r / /t/Tt // . //y ■ I I I jm METRCIIKI /ticunde. / / XrJJ.n 179 statue called Germanicus, now in the Napo- Portraits * in leon Museum. Visconti thinks that it simply tuary. represents a Roman orator, to whom the artist has given the attributes of Mercury, the god of Eloquence. He is represented as naked, or deified: to be enrolled among the gods, even during life, was a mode of flat- tery which the Greek artists taught their Ro¬ man masters. The two Centaurs 3 of black marble found in Hadrian's villa, bear each of them the names of Arislaeus and Papias. These Sculp¬ tors were natives of Aphrodisia, a city of Caria. Upon the plinth of some fragments the name of Zeno was likewise seen. Some curiosity will be excited, to ascer¬ tain those artists who were so constantly employed, and so amply patronised by Ha¬ drian. His favourite architects, Apollodorus and Detrianus, are recorded by b Spartian. There is no contemporary treatise or history, from which the artists who embellished his more than sumptuous palaces can be au- a Mus. Capitol. T. iv. p. 165. Pal. Borghese. St. 9 . N° 1. and a copy in the gardens of the Thuilleries b In vit. Hadriani Hist. Aug. p. 86. “ transtulit Colossum (Neronis) stantem & suspensum per Detrianum architectum de co loco in quo nunc templum urbis est, ingetiti molimine, ita ut operi etiam elephantes 24 exhiberet. Aliud, Apollodoro archi* tecto autore, facere Lunae molitus est. 180 thenticated, although volumes would not have sufficed to convey an adequate idea of their works. 0 We are now advancing rapidly to the decline. This last epoch includes the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, and terminates within that of Comrnodus. d Of the two Antonines, M. Aurelius appears to have been the greater friend of the arts, c Almost all the works of the ancients on the arts of design, which were familiar to them, are lost to us. It may be remarked, as a leading cause of this disappointment, that the Greek and Italian monks of the 9 th, 10 th, and 11 th centuries, (to whom we owe the preservation of the classicks,) being incompetent to the imi¬ tation of the several embellishments with which they found MSS. on the subject of the arts frequently elucidated, they laid them aside as useless and unintelligible ; and, by this neglect, they have perished. Vitruvius is preserved to us at the expense of the figures. The written works of Apelles, Parhasius, and even of Varro, are either irrecoverably buried in oblivion, or are partially quoted or alluded to by more modern authors, a circumstance which excites a curiosity never to be gratified. d In the collection of the late Mr. Jenkins of Rome, (a cata¬ logue of which was published by Visconti,) was a statue of Mer¬ cury larger than life, and of Greek marble. The name of the artist was engraven on the plinth “ Ingenui.” This Ingenuus might have been a Roman freedman, and from the style of sculp¬ ture and character does not appear to have flourished prior to the age of the Antonines. Of a later date is the Huntsman in the Ca¬ pitol ; on the left side of the plinth of which is written “ Polythi- mus, lib.” Bottari doubts if this be intended as the name of a Roman sculptor. V.Guattani Mon. Inediti, where is an engrav~ Ing of it. Portraits in Statu¬ ary. The An¬ tonines. A. D. 98 — 192 . '/ g illFMOA CO 'llli 1[ { .1[ gjlUlATOJAX\' ' La 381 which he practised in imitation of Hadrian His equestrian statue in bronze in the area ary. of the Capitol, is the first now existing in the world, and defies the competition of the modern artists, according to the earlier opi¬ nions, but it has been minutely and severely criticised by Falconet. This age was most remarkable for the character and high finish- Portraits in Statu- ing of heads intended as portraits, particu¬ larly of the imperial busts, as of M. Aurelius, Commodus when young, and of Lucius Ve- rus. The minute labour shewn in the hair is strongly contrasted by the bold effect of the antique. When at Rome, I examined two busts of Mithridates and of Caracalla, which were placed near each other. They were distinguishing proofs of the difference between the Greeks and Romans in the pro¬ ductions of art; the one was great and noble, the other fine and minute. d The invention of Triumphal Arches, pro¬ fusely decorated with historical sculpture, belongs to the Romans of the Augustan age; and though on the reverses of the coins of o the first emperours several delineations are c The arts were encouraged by the Antonines, as they con» tributed to the happiness of the people. Gibbon, v. i. p. 71. 8vo, d Guasco. p.485. 182 Triumphal given of some long since destroyed; it is Arches. from those of Jitus, e and his successors now remaining, that we can form a just idea of their former grandeur. Two of very elegant proportions were erected in honour of the emperour Trajan. The first is at Benevento, built on his return to Rome after the German and Dacian war; and the other at Ancona, perhaps after the second defeat of Decebalus. On the first mentioned are two orders of bas reliefs in the frize, repre¬ senting a rich candelabrum with two genii, having under their knees victims prepared for sacrifice. In the grand cornice is a sculp¬ tured frize, representing the march of a tri¬ umph, by an almost innumerable train of figures. At Rome are still seen the arches of Titus, Septimius f Severus, and Constan¬ tine. The bas-reliefs upon the first refer to the taking of Jerusalem, and describe many e Veteres Arcus Augustorum triumphis, insignes Bollorii. Fol. Arcus Trajano dedicates Beneventi “ Porta Aurea” dictus, sculptuiis et mole omnium facile princeps. Ficoroni Fomae. Fol. 173fj— 1770 , Montfaucon, &:c. Voyage Pittoresque de la Sicile. T. iv. pi. 2. { Suares sur PArc de Septime Severe & celui de Titus. Paris 1770. Nolli del l’Arco Trajano in Benevento. Fol. 1770- The arch at Ancona is remarkable for the immense size of one stone, which alone forms the basement. It is 26 Boman palms long, 1/ broad, and 13 high. 183 of the sacred utensils of the temple. Anti- imperial quaries have decided, that those now orna- v— men ting the arch of Constantine belong to the triumphs of Trajan, and have been trans¬ ferred from the arch once standing in his Forum. But these sculptures in relief are greatly exceeded in point of interest and curiosity by others, which are wrought spirally round the lofty columns of Trajan and Autonine at Home, and which display a whole system of military antiquities. Trajan’s column 8 con¬ sists of thirty blocks of while Carrara marble, and each forms the diameter of the column, perforated by a stair-case of 184 steps, and' lighted by forty-three narrow slits or win¬ dows. The total height, of this monument is 115 feet 10 inches, and the reliefs are drawn round it three-and-twenty times. Delinea¬ tions of this singular specimen of sculpture have engaged the ablest artists, as they con¬ tain the whole history of the Dacian war. Moulds were taken from these by order of s Ciacionii Historia utriusque belli Dacict a Trajano Caesare gesta ex simulachris que in columna ejusdem Romae visuntur col- lecta. Rom®. Folio 1576 . Fabretti syntagma de Columna!. Tra- jani. Fol. 1690 . Colonna Trajana intagliata da P. Santo Bartoli * spiegata da G. P. Bellori. Fol. 1704. Guasco. p. 486. Figrelius de Stat. p. 221 . Louis XIV, who intended to have bronze casts made from them to be erected in his gardens of Versailles. It is conjectured, that the Antonine column 11 was erected by M. Au¬ relius, whose wars with the Marcomanni are the subjects of the reliefs; and although the general plan is similar to that of Trajan's column, it is in every respect greatly inferior in design and execution, and curious only for the exhibition of military antiquities. The column of Arcadius at Constanti¬ nople, was erected in emulation of the others at Rome. It is now totally destroyed. It was raised in honour of the victory of Theodosius over the Scythse, which was the history re¬ presented in relief. * 1 In the zenith of the Roman luxury, sculp¬ ture was applied to other purposes than merely to statues, busts, or bas-reliefs; for the sarcophagi and cinerary urns were not unfrequently embellished in the highest de- h Vignolii Dissertatio de columnalmp. Antonini Pii. Romse, 4fo. 1705. Columna Cochlis, M. A. Antonino Aug. dicata notis, I. P. Beilori. et a P. S. Bartoli sere incisa-—1704. Lumisden on the Antiq. of Rome. > Banduri Imperium Orientate, T. ii. where, explications are given of these sculptures in eighteen folio plates, taken from the drawings of Gentili Bellini, a Venetian artist. O - 185 gree of execution and taste, and the Greek Bacchic sculptors were allowed to introduce their own Candek.' mythology and heroic fables into entirely foreign to the character and memory of the deceased. Luxury in feasts, and' do¬ mestic habits, required that the Bacchic Vases and Candelabra should be most elabo¬ rately wrought both in marble, and bronze. Those known to have been once placed in the villa of Hadrian, have never been ex¬ celled. k Although many fine specimens of Sar¬ cophagi, or parts of them, are found in the English collections, none of them equal those k Of Sarcophagi and bas-reliefs the most valued are that in the Capitol, representing the nine Muses, in the Apotheosis ot Homer; the Endymion, the Bacchants of Callimachus in the Capitol, the Horae, the Zethus and Amphion, and the exquisite fragment of Bacchus, &c. in the Farnese palace. Piranesi made a large collection of ornamental fragments of marble from the ruins of Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli, out of which he composed Can- delabri. See. with great ingenuity. Two so manufactured were purchased of him by the late Sir Roger Newdigate, and presented to the University of Oxford, having been placed in the Radcliff library in 1776 . Many others of these fragments, after having passed through the hands of the modern Roman ristoratori, were deposited in the Pio-Clementine Museum. Piranesi “ Vasi e Can- delabri.” Fol. 3 Tomi. The most admired marble vases are the Medici at Florence, that in the Villa Borghese, the Townley vase, &c. Large fune¬ real vases have been found in sepulchres. 186 Portraits preserved on the continent; but two of the ary. most celebrated,and certainly the largest vases ever discovered, excepting in fragments, are now in England. They are, indeed, of too great value and curiosity not to merit a particular notice. The first is formed out of a block of Alabaster, and is so capacious as to contain 163 gallons. The handles are interwoven, and the upper margin has a bordure com¬ posed of vine branches and grapes, under which, upon a leopard’s skin, are placed bacchic masques, with the lituus, thyrsus, and pedum. This magnificent specimen was found among the ruins of Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli in 1771, and was purchased by Sir William Hamilton for the Earl of Warwick, where it, is now preserved. 1 The other is 1 Inscription on the Rase. Hoc pristinae artis Romanaeque magnificentias monumentum Ruderibus Viilae Tiburtinae Hadriano. Aug. in deliciis babitae, effosum restitui curavit Eques Gulielmus Hamilton a Georgio iij. M. B„ R. ad Sicil reg. Ferdinandum iv. Legatus, et in patriam transmissum patrio Bonarum artium Genio Dicavit. Ann. A. C. N. M.DCCLXXIV. This vase has been moulded in silver by Rundle, for Earl Grosvenor, WARWI V K VA S E . 7iinTn>'T>Tr BEDFORD VASE 187 of similar dimensions, but less ornamented Greater elegance is seen in the form, which ary. resembles the calyx of the Lotus-flower. Many years before, this vase was likewise discovered in the same excavation. It was then placed in the Lanti villa near Rome, whence it was brought to England by Lord Cawdor, of whom it was purchased by the late Francis Duke of Bedford. For exqui¬ site workmanship on a smaller scale, the most celebrated in England is the Townleian vase, now in the British Museum. A statue said to be of that degenerate Portraits in Statu- monster Commodus, in the character of a young Hercules, once in the Belvidere, is now at Paris. The superior finishing of the hair is a decisive proof, according to Winckel- mann, that it is a genuine Hercules of much higher antiquity. m Three engravings are given in Piranesi’s Vasie Candelabri, and the only restoration is one of the masks. Purchased in 1800, for 700 guineas, and now placed in the conservatory at Woburn Abbey. The diameter of the mole is sis feet three inches, and the height, with the present plinth, six feet nine inches. m “ Accepit statuas in Herculis habitu, eique immolatum est, ut Deo.” Lamprid. Hist. Aug. 2 //. Mon Ined. T. i. p. 99 . 188 Decline of From the reign of Augustus to the An- tonines inclusively, a period of about 220 years, the predominant Homan style was rather minute than grand, and frequently tame or delicate, with refeience to outline and finishing. Although they could no longer imitate the excellence of better ages, they valued and preserved the productions of Greek artists with increased veneration. Hut the total debasement of sculpture, from which none of its pristine elegance could be traced, is most apparent in the bas-reliefs of a triumphal arch erected at Septimius Rome in the reign of Septimius Severus. In Severus. . . , . r* i i a.d. comparison with the state of the arts under nj3— „u. x \ n p on hies, the most unpractised eye will instantly discover a lamentable inferiority ; not that the arts declined so suddenly, from a scarcity of those who professed them, for many portraits in marble, both of this em- perourand his favourite minister n Plautianus, afford a convincing proof, that though the sculptors were many, yet that the art was in decay. In that reign a new manner origi¬ n Gibbon’s Roman Hist. v. i. p. 201, 8vo. Herodian. 1. iii. p. 122, 129 . 189 nated, which soon degenerated into absolute coarseness. It is distinguished by the deep furrows in front, the hair and beard indi¬ cated by strait lines, the pupils of the eyes more deeply drilled, and the countenances less characterised, so that it is difficult to distinguish aTrebonianus from a Philip. The frequent revolutions, and princes who en¬ joyed sovereignty but for a day, filled the world with busts. The head of the man in power was easily substituted for that of his predecessors. Caligula caused the heads of the statues of Jupiter to be taken away, and supplied with his own resemblance, particularly in Greece. 0 A statue of the emperour Pupienus, standing in a deified character, later than the age of Septimius Severus, discovered a few years since, has been selected and taken to Paris as a speci¬ men of the art, at the commencement of its decline, scarcely inferior to other statues of that description in particular/ By an edict of the emperour Maximin, Decline ot Sculpture. 0 Sneton. in Calig. cap. 22. and Dion. Chrisost. Rhet. p Ann. du Musee, v, 14. Guattani. y, 1788.—-It was once in the Verospi palace 190 Decline of all the bronze statues in the colonial cities Sculpture. , . 1 . . , . were melted down and coined into money. Alexander Severus admired Colossal sta¬ tues, and among those he caused to be erected, was one of himself, composed of variegated marbles; a sufficient proof of the deterioration of the art/ 1 The several authors who have pursued this inquiry with the most ample and critical investigation are undecided in fixing the ex¬ act period of the extinction of the arts at Rome. Some allow no proofs of their existence later than the Gordians, and by others they are extended to the reign of Licinius Gallienus, in the 268th year of Christianity. Why the profession of the arts should, in a great measure, cease, several causes may be given. Veneration for an¬ cestors had filled most of the Roman houses with statuary, which disgraced the efforts of later times by an evident superiority. Their number, as well as their excellence, pre- “ Alexandrinum opus marnioris de duobus marmoribus, hoc est porphyretico & Lacedsemonio, primus instituit in palatio exor- natis. Hoc genere marmorandi statuas colossas in urbe multas locavit artificibus undique conquisitis.” Lamprid. in Alex. Sever. Aug. Hist. 191 eluded any encouragement of artists, who Deciineof were deficient both in science and execution. It is asserted by Cassiodorus/ that the num¬ ber of statues in Rome nearly equalled that of its inhabitants, at a period of the most extensive population. When ihe emperour Constantine was con¬ verted to Christianity, he protected temples and their statues from destruction, till his own subsequent example in amassing the treasures deposited in them, led the way to a general spoliation. The gold and silver sta¬ tues were melted down, and the bronze and other works of art, to which his age was un¬ equal, were destined to be transported once more to another country. Having determined to establish at Byzan¬ tium, another capital of the Roman world, he pillaged the old metropolis of its most valuable statuary, to embellish a rival city. Those cities of Greece which were contigu- oils, supplied, of course, an easy prey. Im¬ plicit credit perhaps is not to be given to 1 “ Statuas priannm Thusii in Italia invenisse referuntur, quas amplexa posteritas, paene parem populura urbi dedit, quam na- tura procreavit.” L. /• variarum. m Decline of art author of such questionable veracity as Cedrenus. By him we are told, that Con¬ stantine had collected the Olympic Jupiter of Phidias, the Gnidian Venus, and a colos¬ sal Juno in bronze, from her temple at Samos, not to detail more of his Catalogue. These, according to the amplifying Nicaetas, were broken in pieces or melted down, at the surrender of the eastern empire and its metropolis, in 1204, to the French and Vene¬ tians, and converted into coin for the pay of the arai} r . He reproaches the fanatic plun¬ derers in the most vituperative terms. From the reigns of the first Greek emperours to the immediate successors of Theodosius, we may perceive a faint ray of their former genius still animating the Greek artists. The historical column of Arcadius rose in no very unequal emulation of those of Trajan and Antonine at Rome. But from many epi¬ grams of the Anthologia it is evident, that able artists were in existence; and it may be candid to suppose, that such praise was not, in every instance, extravagant or un¬ merited. 2 s Gibbon’s Rom. Emp. v. ii. p. 240. 8vo. Constantinople, An* c’ent and Mod. p. 112.—Cedreni Hist. p. 322.—-P. Gyllii Topog r 193 The ballis of Zeuxippus were begun by Decline of Severus, and finished with porticos by Con- stantine, who made them the repository of many fine statues, which were unfortunately destroyed by fire., in a .popular sedition in 532. Of the bronze statues placed there an enumeration in verse is given by Christodo- rus the Coptite, in the Anthologia. In this catalogue, we discover little information re¬ specting the art of sculpture, for, his manner of recounting them is immethodical. It ap¬ pears, that each statue was marked with its name at the base. If, as the poem recites, these were statues of gods, heroes, poets, orators, philosophers, and illustrious men, as well as of celebrated women, it is to be re¬ gretted, that the originality of so many por¬ traits is now irretrievably lost, for those might have been ascertained as genuine, which have since been supplied by conjecture. When Constantinople was founded, archi- Constant. pp. 115. lSg. 12mo, 1632: fc Prise® artis opera quae Constantinopoli extitisse memorantur. Heyne. Comment. Scient. 2 . Sect. T.ii. 4to. 179G 1792 . Goetingen. De interitu operurn cum antiquae turn serioris artis, quae Constantinopoli fuisse memo¬ rantur, ejusque causis ac temporibus.” Id. T. xii. p. 273 . O teclure and sculpture had declined nearly in an equal degree. If the public buildings of that city were greatly inferior to those of Rome, they as much excelled them as the repositories of sculpture. 44 The buildings were executed by such artificers as the reign of Constantine could afford; but they were decorated by the hands of the most cele¬ brated masters of the age of Pericles and Alexander. To revive the genius of Phidias and Praxiteles surpassed, indeed, the power of a Roman emperour; but the immortal productions they had bequeathed to poste¬ rity, were exposed without defence to the rapacious vanity of a despot. By his com¬ mand the cities of Greece and Asia were de¬ spoiled of their most valuable ornaments/’ x There is reason to suppose, that the new capital contained within its public edifices not only the works of antient Greek art, but but those of a school of sculpture and sta¬ tuary established there, as it had been at Rome. A silver statue of Theodosius, placed upon the historical column by his son Arca- x Gibbon. R.Emp v. iii. p. 18. Svoj and in the 28th chapter, he describes the destruction of the Grecian temples. “ Constan- tinopolis dedicatur paene omnium urbium nuditate.” Hieron. Chron. p. 181. 195 dius, was equally celebrated on account of Decline of . . . . . - . . Sculpture. its intrinsic value and workmanship/ The school of sculpture, confined proba¬ bly to works in bronze, continued with va¬ rious success at Constantinople, to a late period of the lower Greek empire. At the time that Romo was laid waste by the Goths, these artists were held in considerable esti¬ mation. One specimen remains in the great doors of the church of S. Paolo fuori delle mura at Rome, as late as the eleventh cen¬ tury. It is well known from the testimony of Pausanias and Strabo, that in the earlier pe¬ riods of the Roman empire manjr excellent statues remained in the Grecian cities, some of which, it may be fair to suppose, were afterwards concealed from the Christian Ico¬ noclasts, in a perfect state. Without doubt, many which on account of the religious ve¬ neration of those who possessed them, were, in certain instances, spared by the first em¬ perors, were afterwards with less scruple brought to Constantinople. The destruction y Zonaras Ann. T. 3. “ Steterat columna M. Theodosii sta- tuam argenteam sustinens, a filio ejus Arcadio facta pondere 7-100 librarum.” It was removed by Justinian. 196 Decline of of these marbles has been accounted for, and it is more than probable, that in the Grecian provinces those statues which were distinguished either superstitiously, or on ac¬ count of the excellence of art, were the first to be sacrificed to the zeal of the Icono¬ clasts, wherever they were exposed to it. Notwithstanding, if the same zeal, diligence, and liberty of research, which have been employed in Italy, could be exerted in ex¬ amining the ruins of those cities in Ionia which are distant from the sea, might not the success be proportionate? A late discovery of thirteen statues near the temple of Jupiter atiEgina, confirms this conjecture; but, un¬ der the Turkish government, extensive inves¬ tigations are impracticable. SECTION IV. Gibbon, in the conclusion of his History of Decline of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has given a succinct account of the four se¬ veral causes to which the ruins of Rome may be ascribed. 3 During the fourteenth and fifteenth cen¬ turies, Petrarch and Poggio, b the celebrated civilian of Florence, very eloquently deplore a V. xii. p.400. 8vo. “ Statuae intereunt tempestate, vi, ve- tustate.” Cic. Phil. 9. b De varietate fortunae, p. 20. 4to. 1759, Paris; and an essay which he published on the Ruins of Rome, 198 Decline of this destruction, and particularise the causes and effects of this dilapidation. They were surrounded by these ruins in their view of the imperial city, after many centuries of in¬ jury sustained from the Goths, the zeal of the primitive Iconoclasts, the civil wars of her own nobility, and the waste of materials, or the gradual deca\ r of time. Poggio asserts that six perfect statues only remained, of all the former splendour of the mistress of the world. Four of them were extant in the baths of Constantine; the others were the group on Monte Cavallo, and the equestrian statue of M. Aurelius. Of these five were marble, and the sixth of bi •onze. c It has been a received opinion, that the works of art have been destroyed by the Goths and Lombards, by whom one part of Europe was devastated; but this circum¬ stance continues to be repeated, merely be¬ cause it has been once said, and is received without due examination. 11 At the precise c Epist. Farailiares—Poggius died in M59. But, Mazochius, whose “ Illustrium imagines” were published in 151/, remarks: “ In urbe fuerunt equi aenei deaurati numero 24; eburnei vero 49 .” P. Victor de xiv regionibus urbis Piomse, 4to. 1500. Figrelius de Stat. p. lG'O. 12mo. confirm this circumstance. d Gibbon, v.vii. p. 29 —33. Guasco. p 480. Em. David. p. 398 . Graevii Thesaur. v. iv. p. 1870 . Petri Bargaei de edific. urb. Romoe eversoribus, Dissertatio. 199 period at which the Goths became masters Decline of of Italy, the arts had considerably dete- riorated, a satisfactory proof of which is afforded by the remaining monuments of the fourth century, and the medals of the last Roman emperours. The civil contentions which had previously taken place, were no less fatal to the works of art, than to the art of sculpture itself. 6 Tacitus relates, that Sa- binus, the brother of Vespasian, seized the statues of the capitol, and piled them on each other as a barrier in the gates, which were then in flames, to oppose the Vitellians who had revolted/ Procopius tells us, E that the Romans besieged in the Moles Adriana by the Goths, in the reign of Justinian, threw down upon the heads of their enemies the statues, with which that enormous pile was profusely surrounded. The deportations by Aurelian and Constantine must have dimi- e Hist. L. 3. f L. 3. Hist. c. 71. 8 L. 1. c. 25. “That venerable structure which contained the ashes of the Antonines, was a circular turret rising from a quadrangular basis; it was covered with the white marble of Pa¬ ros, and decorated by the statues of gods and heroes, and the lover of the arts must read, with a sigh, that the works of Praxiteles or Lysippus were torn from their lofty pedestals and hurled into the ditch, on the heads of the besiegers.” Gibbon, v. vii, p. 230, 200 Decline of nished their number in a great degree. A Sculpture. . • j • V ^ much more extensive devastation therefore, than that really committed by the Goths and Vandals, has been attributed to them, if, in¬ deed, we except during the praedatory wars of Atlila and Genseric. So far indeed from having been industrious destroyers, at all times, proofs are not wanting that they se¬ dulously preserved the more celebrated re- liques of antiquity which still remained at Rome. 8 Before the irruption of the Goths, Theodosius the Great, and his sons Arcadius and Ilonorius, destroyed every statue that could be called an idol. The triumph of the Christian religion over the Pagan worship, was an efficient cause of the destruction of statues. Those which had attracted crowds of worshippers for many ages, were among the first to be broken into pieces by the zealous Iconoclasts, or thrown in a mutilated state into rivers and pools, particularly into the Tyber, and the lakes in the vicinity of Rome. St. Gregory, when Pope, at the end of the sixth century, s Cassiodori Var. L. 7. formul. Theodorici. 13. Epist. L. ]. 21 . 25. 34. Histoire Liter, de la France par les Benedictines, T. ii. 39, dO. T. iii. 21 & 43 1. 201 instituted a search into private houses after Decline of concealed statues, and, where found, devoted them to instant destruction. 11 During the violent contests between the Roman nobility of the middle ages, we know that architec¬ ture received more detriment than from the invasion of barbarians; and there is equal reason to believe, that the sculpture which remained to that day, partook of the general demolition. But to understand and appreciate even the few works of sculpture which they had daily opportunities of contemplating, ap¬ pears to have been a qualification of which the natives of Rome of the middle centuries were in no respect ambitious.' To Poggio we are indebted for the cultivation of taste, originating in a love of the arts, and the suc¬ cessful researches made soon after this dark period/ Many books of topography, rela- h Volater. Anthropol. L. 22. D. Select PI. g. “ Head of Her¬ cules found with many cart loads of marble fragments in a muddy pool near Tivoli, purposely broken and thrown in ■, a proof that the destruction was not by the sudden impulse of barbarian fury.” ‘ “ Qui enim hodie magis ignari rerum Romanarum sunt, quam Romani cives ? Invitus dico, nusquam minus cognoscitur Roma quam Romae.” Petrarchi Epist. Fam. L. 6. ep. 2. k Roscoe’s Lorenzo de Med. v. ii. p. 261 . 8vo. Poggii Epist 202 Decline of live to investigations of the site of anlient Sculpture, . Rome made their appearance soon after his decease. * 1 He was the first who attempted to collect statues in his own country; and what the circumscribed fortune of an individual could not effect, the liberality and magnifi¬ cence of his prince most amply supplied. Incited by his earnest recommendation, the great Cosmo de Medici acquired a love of the arts, and was the first who formed a cabi¬ net. The successors of Cosmo, as if with hereditary emulation, exerted every power of wealth or influence to render it the envy of Europe.” 1 An investigation of the remains of Ro- man grandeur, so long and sedulously pur¬ sued, was rewarded by frequent discoveries of the finest antique sculpture; and the artists of the modern school established at Florence, gave the first proofs of their ability, by re¬ ad Nic. Nicoli, in which he speaks of (he collection of antique busts and heads which he had made; and mentions that he had sent a monk to the island of Chios, to procure marbles for him, of whom he complains as having disingenuously purloined them. 1 Marliani Urbis Romae Topograph. 1534. 8vo. Ulyssis Al- drovandi, Stat. di Roma, 12mo. 1558. Porro, Stat. Antiche poste in diversi loughi de Roma, 4to. 1576. Cavallarij Antiq., Stat. Urb. Romae, 2 T. 1585. m Poggii Opera, p. 2/6* 203 storing and adapting these precious frag- Discovery of Statues. ments. Of the age of the magnificent Lorenzo de Medici, his son Leo the tenth, and others of the enlightened individuals of that family, an authentic and elegant history is now before the publick." Many curious particulars relative to the first discovery of those antiques in the six¬ teenth century, which have retained a supe¬ rior degree of excellence, are given by the Roman antiquaries . 0 It will be necessary to take a general view of the progress made in amassing these treasures of antiquity, before the princes of other nations in Europe had acquired a simi¬ lar taste for the arts, and were ambitious of transferring to their own cabinets, the monu¬ ments of Greek and Roman splendour. As the city of Rome, and its immediate vicinity. 11 Roscoe’s Life of Lorenzo tie Medici, 2 vols. 4to. 1797-—• 3 vols. 8vo. 1800. Life of Leo X. 5 vols. 4to. 1802. ° P. Ligorio delle antichita di Roma, 8vo. 1553. Le Anti- chita de la citta di Roma per Mauro. 1556. Ant. Labaco Anti¬ chita di Roma. 1552. Scamozzi discersi sopra l’antichita di Roma. 1582. These are very rare, but most interesting works. Dominico Becucci published not many years ago, at Flo¬ rence, the Treatise of Bernardo Ruccellai de Urbe Roma, opera veramente grande, piena de erudizione e di critica. v. Tiraboschi. storia della Litt. Ital. v. 6. p. 658. 204 Discovery of Statues. contained the far greater number of these curiosities, and those most easily obtained, the ecclesiastical authority was exerted in a prohibition of alienating any single piece of sculpture; whilst the liberal price paid by the Cardinals co-operated with the fear of censure, and was the effectual cause, that almost all the statues of great value were retained in Italy, in the earlier periods of their discovery. Ac¬ counts of many of great excellence (though, perhaps, rivalled by a few since brought to light) are given by the Roman antiquaries. A concise detail of some of the more remark¬ able may not be uninteresting in a series of inquiries; the object of which is to confirm opinions by facts, as they relate to the his¬ tory of sculpture. Of those remains of art, which through the revolutions of time and opinion have still maintained their supe¬ riority, it may be useful to collect and com¬ pare the different conjectures of virtuosi, as they have been applied to the more cele¬ brated monuments of antiquity. The pride of the Vatican is now transferred to the Mu¬ seum at Paris. To argue that such a depor¬ tation has been made by the French nation only, would be against all historical evidence; the question should rather be put, have not 205 certain of these statues been blemished by Discovery . . . . - of Statues. the subsequent repair of the injury sustained in their removal from Rome? and are they now placed in a point of view equally favour¬ able to their transcendant excellence? I. Marcus Aurelius. —This bronze M.Aure- • r • r lius. equestrian statue was found in the pontihcate of Sixtus IV. on the Cselian hill near the present church of St.John Lateran, and the Scala Santa. It was much neglected after its first discovery; but in 1470, it was placed on a pedestal in the front of the Lateran church. Paul III. in 1538, by the advice of M. Angelo, ordered it to be removed into the square of the capitol, where it now stands on a pedestal of one single block of marble of his workmanship. Through successive centuries it has commanded universal ad¬ miration; yet its pretensions to excellence have been severely scrutinised by Falconet, who has confirmed his opinions by a com¬ parison with nature. p Visconti vindicates the p The most useful part of Falconet’s criticism is the parallel between this statue and the natural figure of a beautiful horse, which may serve as a guide to future sculptors. He was at that time engaged in casting the equestrian statue of Peter the Great at Petersburgh. A mould was taken from it by order of Francis I., and a cast in plaster which Louis XIV. placed in the court of the Palais Royal, was suffered to fall to decay. Objections may be 206 Discovery attitude and proportions from this censure. of Statues. 1 1 It should seem, that the French adopted the prejudices of their countryman, and left it in its original station . 13 Torso of II.TheTorso of Hercules was found Hercules. near Pompey’s Theatre, now the Campo de made to the justness of Falconet’s comparison, as his scale is taken from a small horse, and from the head, in relation to other parts of the body. The horse of M. Aurelius was found without the rider; and, according to some writers, the emperor was at the bottom of the Tyber in the fourteenth century. Totila, who took Rome in the sixth century, admired the horse greatly. Falconet says, le Que le cheval va au grand pas des jambes de derriere, et que de celles de devant il ne fait que piaffer, il le defie d’avan- cer.”— V. CEuvres, v. i. 1 An account of this statue is given, as collected from the Roman antiquaries. Archaeologia, v. i. p. 122. Emeric David passes over this statue in contemptuous silence. Yet such were not the sentiments of an earlier French critic, equally followed in his day. Dandre Bardon (T. ii p. ] 8.) ex¬ claims “ montons au Capitole considerons-y avec Bernin le cheval de Marc Aurele! peutetre serous nons tentes de demander a ce coursier s’il a oublie quil etoit cn vie.” Consult for very accurate information, Figrelius, cap. xviii. de Statuis Equestribus. Watelet.Diet. v. ii. p. 123, et seq. The rival equestrian statues to this of M. Aurelius, are two of Non- nius Balbus, Pro-consuls, father and son. They are of the size of life, of marble, and were found before one of the doors of die theatre at Herculaneum; one was discovered broken in pieces, but restored in 1750. The figures are the same, but the heads differ; only one foot of either horse is elevated, and the right hands of either figure holds a truncheon. St. Non Voy. Pit- turesque de la Grece, v. ii. p. 3(5. V. Admiranda Antiq. Hercul. 2 vol. Rome, 1/52 ; and Young Painter’s Letters, v. ii. p. 2QO. 207 Fiore, about the close of the fifteenth cen- Discovery tury, was first placed in the gardens of the v — v —> Vatican, from whence it was removed into the Belvidere, now the Pio-Clementine Mu¬ seum, and is at present at Paris. M. Angelo contemplated this fragment with enthusiasm, and copied it with success. He declared, that in it were combined all the excellences of antique sculpture. It is supposed to re¬ present Hercules deified, or in repose after his labours, not in his mortal state; is com¬ posed of the marble from Mount Pentelicus, near Athens, and bears an inscription on the plinth “ AnOAA.ftNIOE • NEZTOPOZ • A0HN- AIOZ • EnQIEI.” r Antiquaries conjecture, that this fragment is what remains of a group of Hercules, in the moment of his deification on mountCEtas; and it appears, upon minute examination. Torso of Hercules. r Visconti. Mus. Pio-Clem. T. 2 . t x. It is worthy remark, that the form of the w is that used in the latter days of the re- publick ; and as it was found near the temple of Pompey, it may be possibly the work of a Grecian artist settled at Rome in his time. “ There is reason to believe that it was a copy from one by Lysippus, formerly in the Hippodrome at Constantinople, melted down by the French in 1204. Strabo, 1. 6. p. 278.” D. Select. Em. David, pp. 3ip. 345. A colossal statue of Hercules, “ tristem insaniae paenitentia,” was at Constantinople at the siege in 1204, according to Ville Hardouin. 208 Discovery of Statues. Group of Laocoon. that another figure was placed at his left hand. Flaxman has modelled a restoration, as a group of Hercules and Hebe, the present received idea, with great success. If this fragment had not been respected by succes¬ sive ages, we should have lost the finest piece of statuary as yet known. The Apollonius mentioned by Pliny, was not an Athenian, but of the island of Rhodes, and therefore cannot be identified with the former. III. The Group of Laocoon, of which an incidental mention has been made, (pp. 125, 126,) was discovered in the vineyard of Gualtieri, in a recess of an apartment among the ruins of the baths of Titus, by Felix de Fred is in 1506/ (as recorded on his tomb in the church of“ Ara CseliA) Pliny describes this wonderful group, as embellishing the pa¬ lace of Titus, and as consisting of a single block. 5 But, the French artists, upon their removal of it, found that it is composed of five pieces of Parian marble; a discovery which M. Angelo had made before. Agesander, to whom this stupendous performance is attri- *' He refused 600 crowns for it, which were liberally offered to him by the Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vinculis; v. Iscrizioni Al- bane, dall Abate Marini, p. 11. s Hist. Nat. 1. 36. c. 5. ' - ( . 209 fiuted, is not enumerated amongantientGreek Discovery sculptors, and upon that circumstance, many conjectures are founded/ ] t is chiselled only, Group of and not polished; from whence it may be La ° a,on ’ supposed that it is a copy, because the artists of the best age finished their works exquisitely. Laocoon is represented as a robust old man, under the greatest bodily torment. In the extremity of suffering, he preserves in his countenance and his very attitude, a dignity which marks what a great man can bear. The sense of pain in the twq youths is not so forcibly expressed, but it is of another kind; it is merely physical pain, and proper to their time of life. Virgil de¬ grades the subject by making him roar like a bull; but the sculptor has opened his mouth, only enough to give an idea of suppressed suffering which Lessing shews is the just line of demarcation between a po¬ etic description and a real representation. 1 11 1 About a century before Christ, tbe artists were “ chiefly employed in repetitions, such as the Farnese Hercules, the Torso of the Belvidere, and the Borghese Gladiator, &c. for if statues of such merit had been original, they would have been noticed by some antient author.” D. Select. Pref. u Mr. Knight, in his poem on Landscape, (v. 125.) attributes the effect of the Laocoon to the following circumstance : P 210 In the marble, the breast is expanded and the throat contracted, to demonstrate that the agonies which convulse I he frame are “ Yet view the wonder with attention, near. And the rough touches of the tool appear.” This idea is likewise adopted by Winkelrnann ; but it is thus combatted by Em. David. “ Les hommes les plus savans ont fait des erreurs, c’est une erreur de Winkelrnann d’avoir dit que cette figure a ete travaillee entierement avec l’outil, et qu’on l’y a pro- mene avec habilite pour rendre l’epiderme un peu brut (Hist, de l'Art. 1.4. ch. 7-) Lorsque ce groupe fut decouvert, on ne con- noissoit pas l’art d’enlever la patina avec des lavages; on le ra- tissa pour le nettoyer. Qu'on y regarde avec attention ; n’est ce pas une main bien ignorante qui faisant grincer son fer sur la tete des deux enfants y a trace ces raclures qui vont toutes de la po~ mette au menton ? On voit la route de 1-instrument et la marque des sautillements que les reliefs lui ont fait faire. Est-ce la la dexterite, la surete, les touches savantes d’Agesander et d'Atheno dore ?” Recherches sur l’Art Statuaire, p. 21 Q. This reasoning of David is hardly conclusive; for is it to be supposed that M. Angelo, under whose superintendance the group was placed in the Belvedere, was so grossly ignorant of his art, as to permit an un¬ skilful artist to deface the statue, or not to know how to remove the patina without injury to the workmanship ?—This critic con¬ demns the restoration of the arm of Laocoon, as unaccordant with the expression of the other parts of the body, pp. 3Q3, 3Q4. Sir J. Bey nolds observes, that “though Laocoon and his two sons have more expression in the countenances than perhaps any other antique statues, yet it is only the general expression of pain ; and this passion is still more strongly expressed by the writhing and contortion of the body, than by the features.” Disc. X. v. ii. p. 22. 8vo. This discourse on sculpture is worthy of frequent perusal, for its good sense and correct taste. Discovery of Statues. Group of Laocoon. 211 borne in silence. Of one of the youths the Discovery left leg is visibly shorter than the right, Italy —■ can no longer boast the possession of the ori- Group of ginal, but retains at Florence the copy by Bacio Bandinelli, to which posterity has as¬ signed its true degree of merit, much, indeed, below the pretensions of its able, but vain author. The French antiquaries hold a very differ rent opinion from that of Winkelmann, Vis^ conti, and other virtuosi, respecting the age in which Agesander, and his sons Apollo^ dorus and Athenodorus actually lived, and place it so low. as the reign of Titus, in the first century of the Christian aera. x The right arm of the father, and one of each of the sons " iEneid. 1.2. v.223. * e Et jam jam ingentes fletus, lachrimasque cadentes Anceps in dubio retinet timor.” Sadoleti Carm. de Lao- coontis statua, v. 42. Du Laocoon, on des limites respectives de la Poesie et de la Peinture, traduit de l’allemand de G. E. Lessing. 8vo. 1802; an elegant and masterly piece of criticism. * D’Hancarville Recherches surl’Origine des Arts. v. ii. pp.145, 146. Lessing, p. 236, suggests that Winkelmann has mistaken the name Apollodorus for Polydorus. Pliny, the only author by whom these sculptors are mentioned, has the latter name in all the ancient MSS. and editions. Had the circumstance been dif¬ ferent, it would have been certainly noticed by Hardouin ; but in the Roman edition it is corrected to Polidoro. 212 Discovery were deficient, which have been supplied by of Statues. Montorsoli and Cornacchini, in plaster. Vis¬ conti observes, that the arm was commonly supposed to be by M. Angelo; but it is more probable, that Montorsoli first of all made a rough model of the arm in marble, which has been attributed to M. Angelo, and which remained so long at the foot of the statue, and afterwards, liking the position in Ban- dinellis copy, finished it in plaster with improvements of his own/ There is an anecdote respecting the removal of this cele¬ brated group to Paris in perfect safety. It was first covered with a thick wash of lime to prevent adhesion, and being placed in the centre of a case of wood, the whole was filled up with a mixture of wax and resin. It then formed a solid cube, and re¬ sisted the effects of motion. This stupendous group has attracted the study and admiration of painters, as sufficient in itself to form a great artist. M. Angelo contemplated it with increased delight; Raphael studied it dili¬ gently, and Annibal Caracci was so struck x Vasari in his life of Montorsoli says expressly, “refice il brae- cio sinistro die mancava all' Apollo, e il destro del Laocoonte.” 213 with its perfection, that he one day sketched Discovery •. , r . . of Statues. it merely from memory, with great exact- ness/ IV. The Antinous, or Mercury, was Aminous. found on the Esquiline Hill, near the church of St. Martin, in the reign of Paul III. who placed it in the Vatican/ It has been like¬ wise called Hercules imberbis and Theseus, and is of the finest kind of Parian marble. The trunk of the palm tree, bj' which this statue is supported, alludes to the usage of the palm leaf for writing on, which was an invention attributed to the Egyptian Mer¬ cury. It is now at Paris. This figure is ex¬ hibited in perfect repose, and the head is most beautiful, but the legs do not corre¬ spond, in size, with the rest of the body/ Of the Antinous, formerly in the Capitol, which y Winkelmann’s description of this group is highly animated. V. ii. p. 240. Em. David, p. 233. M. Smeeth, of Amsterdam, had a small bronze of this subject, five inches high, said to have been found in Greece. The father resembles the marble; but one of his sons is represented as lying dead at his feet. 2 Mercati says, that it was found near the castle. S. Angelo. An authority quoted and acceeded to by Visconti, v. Mus. P. Clem, v. i. p. 10. a It wants the right arm, and the left hand which probably held the Caduceus; the right thigh, both the feet, and the left leg below the knee have been broken, but are now well united. 214 Discovery has long claimed nearly an equal share of of Statues. . . ^admiration, the legs, hands, and arms, have been restored. That statue consists of two pieces, joined about the middle of the body. 7 Venusde V. VeNUS DE MeDICIS. — So dcnOHlD Muiics. na ^ ec j. f rom R s having been placed in the garden of the Villa Medici at Rome. 2 Ac¬ cording to a tradition, generally received, it was found in the portico of Octavia* built to her honour by Augustus, near the theatre of Marcellas, the modern “ pes- chiera,” and removed to the gallery of Flo¬ rence by Cosmo III. in 1(576*. Upon the plinth is engraved &AEOMZNHC 4 AflOAAO- AOPOY A0HNIAOC - EHnHZEN- the last word contains a literal errour, very improbable to occur, in the classical ages of Greece. 3 y Em. David, p. 341. Hogarth in his Analysis of Beauty, p. 149. 8vo. draws a compaiison between this statue and the Apollo Belvidere concerning proportion. Vide Goethe Propylaea, 1 / 98 . z “ The statue that enchants the world.” Thomson. a Des differentes manieres de representer Venus dans les ouv- fages de l’art. Jansen. T. i. p. 1. Mem. Acad.des Inscript. 1776. Cleomenes is recognised as a sculptor, as bis name appears writ¬ ten on the shell of a tortoise, placed at the feet of a statue, removed from Versailles to the Museum, formerly called a Ger- manicus, now simply a Roman orator : “ KAEOMENHS KAEO- MEN0T2 A0ENAIOS EIIOIH^EN.” Gori attributes it to c 2 15 Belli, z after owning that he has never found any document relating to the discovery of the Venus, is inclined to adhere to the conjecture of Lanzi, who supposes that the Venus men¬ tioned by Boissard, 3 as existing in the mu- Discovery of Statues. Venus de Medic is. Phidias, Praxiteles or Scopas. Mus. Flor. Le Noir thinks it pos¬ sible, that the present inscription might have been placed when the former one was removed in the restoration. He argues, that to a statue so well known to be antique, nothing could be added in point of value, by attributing it to a sculptor of uncertain fame. Annal. v. xi. p. 90 . In the essay abovementioned, Heyne remarks, that most of the statues of Venus have been merely torsos of women, without any particular discrimination ; others simply beautiful females, some of Venus, certainly, but without any attribute, excepting that given by the restorer, as for Venus, Urania, &:c. From these we can collect nothing respecting the antique mode of representing that goddess. The Venus de Medicis is probably a repetition of a lost original, and the application of the character to Venus Avcciuo^Evrj, or Marina, is utterly false :—how can it represent Venus rising from the sea, with her hair plaited and disposed with so much grace ? The dolphin and Cupids are her general attributes, and the artist has availed himself of them for the support of the statue. See Winkelmann’s Hist, de l’Art. 1.4. c. 2 . Pierres de Due d’Orleans, T. i. p. 138. n. 5. Ovid Art. Am. 1.2. There is no proof that this attitude in particular belonged to any of the statues by the most celebrated artists, nor any certainly of what they were, yet they have probably reached us in copies, though they can not be identified. The figure of Venus de Medici is seen on a medal of Julia Domna, and the Town of Appollonia in Epirus. Em. David is particularly eloquent on this subject, pp. 232. 234. 268. z Saggio Istorico della real Galleria di Fiorenzi, p. 159 . a Topograph. Urbis. Romae, p. 109 . 21 6 Discovery of Statues. Venus de Medicis, scum of cardinal Carpense, and purchased by cardinal Ferdinando de Medici, is the Venus in question. Leo X. died 1521, and the statue was not known to exist in 1530, when Correggio is said to have copied his head of Danae from it, which proves that Correggio had never seen it. Different parts of this celebrated statue have been restored; among others, the point of the chin to the left of the dimple, the tip of the nose, the right arm, and the left below the elbow. Winkelmann derides those hy¬ percritics, who have found fault with the hands, concluding them to be of antique workmanship. 3 It appears to have been allowed by the antiquaries of the 16th century, that this statue is the genuine Venus made by Praxi¬ teles for the Gnidians, and described by Lu¬ cian. b The ears are perforated, and it is thought by Gori were once adorned with pearls,—if this statue be the same which be- a The statue was entire when at Rome, but was broken, par¬ ticularly in the legs, when it w^as removed to Florence in the pon¬ tificate of Innocent XI. v. Maffei remarques dans le recueil de Rossi, p. 28 . Pelli allows the left arm only below the elbow td be modern. b Dial. E pu)?E$. 217 longed to Sept. Severus. Lumisden conjee- Discovery tures it to lnfve been the Venus of Phidias, from a passage in Pliny, and having been found near the spot, where he says it was originally deposited/ In the opinion of Mi- hzia, d the Venus of the Capitol is still more excellent than this statue, as being the ge¬ nuine resemblance of living beauty, to which grace gives the whole attraction; and by Visconti it is considered as a true copy of that by Praxiteles. Both are now at Paris. In the year 1800, when Tuscany Was in¬ vaded by the French, it was thought neces¬ sary to remove the principal statues, &c. and fifty cases were made up by a committee of artists, containing a selection of the most valuable, including the group of Niobe, and those in the Tribune of the Florentine gal¬ lery. These, with three hundred pictures, gems, medals, and books of drawings, were embarked on board the Santa Dorothea, Capt. DoWnman, bound for Palermo, where they were deposited, and by which means the c Antiq. Rom. p. 302. The falsity of the name of the sculptor has been detected by Gori, Mus. Fiorent. T. hi. p. 35. Mariette Pietre intagliate, p. 102, in not. Bianchi, p. ipi, Maftei Grit, ■iapidaria, 1.3. p. 70. d Arte di vedere le Belle Arti. 218 Discovery Venus de Medicis eventually fell into the hands of the French. Had the advice of the then British resident charge d’affaires (my va¬ luable friend, to whom 1 have been infinitely obliged in the course of this essay, d ) been for¬ tunately followed, and they had been de¬ posited in the King’s storehouse at Gibraltar; the English nation might have had the ho- nour of restoring them to their legitimate owner. Hercules VI. Hercules anD Teleph us,formerly phusT ele " known as “ Hercules Commodus,” which de¬ nomination had no other foundation than a fancied resemblance to the head of that em- perour, as it appears on his coins. Hercules is represented as clothed in the spoils of the Nemaean lion; his right hand rests upon his club, and with his left he holds up his son Telephus, and rests upon a pedestal. This group was dug up near the same spot as the Torso, and about the same time. Julius II. placed it in the Belvidere of the Vatican, and it is now at Paris. 0 d Thomas Penrose, LL. B. Fellow of New College, Oxford. e Heyne (Antiquarische Aufsoetze, p. 172,) asserts that this celebrated group is no longer the same which was found in the baths of Caracalla j several accessary figures having been added. 219 219 VII. The Hercules Farnese, with the group of Dirce, Zethus and Amphion/usually called the “ Toro,” were excavated among the ruins of the baths of Caracalla, which they had once adorned, and were placed in the Farnese palace at Rome by Paul III., about the middle of the 16th century. The Hercules is inscribed “ TAVKON • A0HNAIOZ • EriO!EI;” s and the legs were restored by Giacomo Della Porta; but those originally belonging to this statue have been lately discovered and ex- Discovery of Statues. Hercules Farnese. The fragments then discovered, were first restored as Hercules subduing the Marathonian bull; and lastly, as the group above- mentioned. f Cicero mentions a bronze Hercules brought to Rome by Verres; Hercules egregie factus est ex acre ; is dicebatur esse My- ronis ut opinor, et certe. In Verrem, T. i. 360. Fol. k For an able discrimination between £ 7 roisi & sniyo-t], see Lessing, Du Laocoon, p. 2-tg. In the Townley Gallery, Brit. Mus. is a colossal head of Hercules, dug out of the lava at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, which has been supposed to be the ge¬ nuine head of the statue called Hercules Farnese. It was pro¬ cured and given to the Museum by Sir W. Hamilton. D’Hancar- ville speaks likewise of another head of Hercules in the Townley collection, found in Hadrian’s villa, which is marked by a cha¬ racter quite different from that which was afterwards given to him, when they represented him as the son of Jupiter. In this parti¬ cular head “ on ne reconnait pas le descendant de ce Dieu, mais on a voulu y exprimer le courage qui lui fit dormer par Homere et les autres poetes le titre de “ AsovuSv/xo^" ou coeur de Lion," v. i. pp. 236, 23/. Hogarth's Analys. of Beauty, p. 52. Svo. <220 t)isc6very of Statues. Hercules Fartiese. changed for them. * 1 ’ They are more accordant with the style, and prove that the praise of their substitutes was exaggerated: this praise, however, was bestowed on them by M. Angelo. Here is exhibited the greatest degree of mus¬ cular power which a man is capable of exert¬ ing in the hardest labour, without cessation, and by which he is rendered, at the same time, robust and agile. We contemplate in this statue the vigorous Hercules, the hero equal to the performance of all the exploits which the poets have attributed to him. We can not easily decide (says Lumis- den) 1 whether the sculptor could have repre¬ sented strength better in action, than he has done at rest. It is allowed, that this statue was not originally intended to be placed on the ground, and consequently level with the eye; but, perhaps, in an open gallery, thirty or forty feet high, to be seen from a court or street. This is evident from the extraordinary inflation of the abdominal mus¬ cles, which would appear to be in just pro¬ portion were they thus viewed. The muscles h They were presented to the king of Naples by the prince Borghese. 1 Antiquities of Rome, p. 1/3. 221 of the back part of the statue, which were Discovery , 111 11 of Statues, to be seen near by those who passed along die gallery, are in their natural state, and not exaggerated like ihose in front. The position of the head inclining forward, assists this conjecture. Anatomical objections are not strictly applicable to a deified hero. By the Romans this statue was first re¬ moved from Tarentum, and not many years since from Rome to Naples. It is a very singular circumstance that the memory of such sculptors as Apollonius, Agasias, Cleomenes, and Glycon, should have been lost in all the accounts of ancient artists which have been transmitted to us, a circum¬ stance by which Mengs is confirmed in many of his doubts. We have yet no safe criterion by which we may decide, that those works of ancient art which have reached us, and which are now most celebrated, are all of them of a date anterior to the subjugation of Greece by the Roman power. A III. Group of Niobe, which with Groupof “the Wrestlers,” k was found without the k Gori, Mus. Flor. considers the Pancratiastae, or Wrestlers, not \ those of Cephissodotus, but of Myron, enumerated by Pliny. If of the latter, it was probably a copy of a bronze, as they are of Parian marble. 222 Discovery Porta St. Giovanni at Rome, before the year of Statues. # J s —v—' 1583, and purchased by cardinal Ferdinando Group of de Medici. There are fifteen figures as large \iobe. ... . ° ° as life, fourteen with the mother and children, and one, the pedagogus or tutor. 1 11 Winkel- mann m supposes it to be the work of Sco- pas, and the same mentioned by Pliny, as having been in the temple of Apollo Sosianus at Rome." If, as some pretend, the marble came out of the quarries of Luni or Carrara, it could not have been brought from Greece. But as the naturalists well know, it must be very difficult to decide upon what quarry in particular any marble was primarily ex¬ tracted, after the statue in question had been buried in the earth for many ages, and re¬ ceived stains and colour according to the metallic nature of the soil, which happened to be in contact with it. Niobe is represented at a period of life when beauty and dignity are at their zenith. The daughters form a family of individuals of different ages; the third is exquisite, and the fourth scarcely inferior. A bas-relief 1 Pelli ut sup. v. i. p. 167 , and v. ii. p. 110. m Mon. Inediti. T. i. p.7G 11 L. xxxvi. c. 5. 223 in the Mus. Pio-Clem. has been compared Discovery . . . . , i i i • of Statues. with tins group to their mutual elucidation. The fame of these statues has varied in dif¬ ferent ajras. When first discovered, they were purchased at a small price, and placed in a garden; and the noble simplicity, grace, and expression which characterize them, were not admired by the artists of that day, if Guido alone be 0 excepted. Winkelmann first attracted the notice of connoisseurs to this group by his poetical and animated de¬ scription, and the remarkable and exact co¬ incidence he discovered between it and the Niobe of Homer and Ovid. p IX. Apollo di Bel vide re, and the Apoiio d* Gladiator (as that statue has been denomi- nated) of the Villa Borghese, were both taken from under the ruins of the palace and gar¬ dens of Nero at Antium, (Nettuno) forty miles from Rome, when a casino was made ° Storia delle Arti, T. ii. p. 7/7, Monsignor Angelo Fabbroni published a particular account of this group at Florence. p Iliad 24. v. 025. Ovid Metam. 1. 6. fab 4. Visconti Mus. Pio-Clem. & Goethe, who has a new and singular exposition of the subject. “ Ex Zuy; Ssoi rev^av \i9ov. ex oe XiSoio Zair t v TToa,Zn‘z\r l ; sf/.&aXw eifytxffa.ro.” Anthol. 1. 3. ep 2pp. 224 Discovery of Statues. Apollo de Belvidere, there by Card. Borghese, during the reign of Paul V. (1605—1621). P According to the received opinion, q Apollo is represented as the vanquisher of the set> pent Python, an ingenious fiction, which signifies the power of the sun in exhaling and purifying the vapours of the earth. r Visconti dissents from the compion idea, and inquires “ why docs not this attitude equallj r suit Apollo in the act of exterminating the pro¬ geny of Niobe? or the faithless Coronis, or the imperious giants? all which subjects are more worthy of the vengeance of a deity, than the destruction of a reptile, and the p Mercati who lived in the pontificates of Pius V. Gregory XIII. and Sextis V. asserts in his Metallotheca, (p. 363) that it was found there, but that it belonged to Julius II, when he wgs a cardinal, and stood in his garden near the church of the SS. Apostoli. Visconti quotes his authority, M. P. Clem. v. i. p. 25. a Winkelmann supposes this to have been one of the 500 sta- stues taken by Nero from the Temple of Apollo at Delphos, and brought to his villa at Antium. “ In this statue, the left shoulder, which is raised, is farther from the neck than the right, which is fallen. An inaccuracy so gross, in a work of such masterly ex¬ cellence, must have been intended, and I believe, the wonderful expression of lightness, movement, and agility, which distin¬ guishes this figure, is considerably augmented by it.” Knight on Landscape, note, p. 9 . Em. David, pp. 313. 348. r Fabbroni Descrizione configure. 225 elevated look cannot be directed to an Discovery animal on the ground/’ D’Azzara, in his edition of the works of Mengs, inclines to this opinion, which is, in fact, that of Ho¬ race/ Milizia' says, that an Egyptian idol should be placed near this statue, in order to form a contrast, and render its extreme beauty more perceptible. It must be seen to be sufficiently understood and admired. The legs are rather long, and one of the knees drawn rather too far behind; a fault not of the original, but in the restoration. 11 The lower half of the body is said not to be in due proportion, nor so well finished as the head, v and the objection of the neck not be¬ ing in the middle is equally frivolous, accord¬ ing to more judicious critics. The artist is unknown. Various opinions are held con¬ cerning the kind of marble of which the statue 5 Carm. 1. 4 . Od. 6 . “ Dive quem proles Niobaea magnae Vindicem linguae, Tityosque raptim Sensit.”— 1 Arte di videre, 8vo. u Visconti Mus. P. C. T. i. t. 24. He says, that the legs are formed of the original pieces, well united, p. 25. T Reynold’s X Discourse, where the objection is ably refuted, Q 226 Decline of is formed. By the modern Roman statuaries, it is declared to be of “ Greco duro,” or com¬ mon Greek marble. Mengs offers three ob¬ jections against its being so; 1st. that it is of Carrara marble; 2. that it was not first placed at Antium ; 3. that it is evident, from a few apparent defects, it must have been a copy of a more famous original. These objections are answered by Vis¬ conti, w with his usual accuracy and candour, and in confirmation of his own opinion, he adduces a certificate of the sculptors and proprietors of the Carrara quarries, that such marble was never discovered in them.* Dolomicu/ the late eminent chemist, in¬ clines to the opinion of Mengs, and pretends to have found fragments of the same kind in the quarries of Luna, now exhausted, but originally opened in the reign of Augustus. This fact may be doubted, if the conclusion is to justify the assertion that the statue is not anterior to the age of Caesar; for we learn that many quarries in Asia Minor, and Syria, w Mus. Pio-Clem. T. i. p. 26 . x Vol. i. p. 92 . y Millin Diet, des Beaux Arts, T. iii. p. 26 l. 227 were worked, the sites of which are not dis- Discovery of Statues. linctly specified. Still it may be urged, that v —v —* the statue of Antinous, and other contempo¬ rary works of sculpture demonstrate, that as low as the age of Hadrian, the Creek school furnished artists worthy of being compared with many of earlier times. Pliny certainly entertained that favourable opinion of some sculptors of his own age. The fore part of the right arm, and the left hand, which were deficient, have been restored by John Angelo de Montorsoli, who was a pupil of M. Angelo. X. Gladiator Borgiiese. Of the sta¬ tue called the Gladiator of the Villa Bor- ghese, z the courage marked in the counte- z Baron Stosch, in his letter to Winkelmann, thought it a Discobolus, to which opinion Winkelmann does not accede. Hist, d l’Art. T. ii. p. 3Q4. This statue, with a selection of the best from the Villa Borghese, was removed to Paris in 1808. “ It was found in the ruins of Antiurn, in the time of Paul V. not far from the place where, a hundred years before, the Apollo Belvi- dere was discovered. A similar head was formerly in the Villa Aldobrandini. All the epidermis of this statue is perfectly pre¬ served, but it is stained by numerous spots. All the limbs are perfect, and the very base on which it stands. The right ear and hand, with a portion of the arm, and a trifling part of the extremities, are the only modem additions made to this exquisite statue.” Visconti. If a square be drawn from the farthest points 228 Discovery nance, and the sudden action of the muscles, of Statues. v —v—' are of such excellence, as to make us indif¬ ferent as to the dispute whether it was the work of Agasias, the son of Dosotheus of Ephesus, a name inscribed on its plinth. The Greeks had no Gladiators,—when then could this have been executed in Greece? By some it has been rather thought to have been intended as a warriour, in the act of be¬ sieging a town, which favours its pretensions to Grecian a antiquily. Napoleon has lately procured it from prince Borghese. Le Noir b positively decides it to be a statue of Chabrias the Athenian general, in the attitude of sus¬ taining the shock of the Lacedaemonian army. He has the authority of Lessing. XL Tiie Dying Gladiator, or “ Mir- millo expirans,is now considered as a wounded soldier, probably a Gaul or Ger¬ man; the “ torques/’ or rope-chain round the neck having been a common ornament with them: yet Heyne considers it as a mo¬ ot the arms and legs, it will be found that this single statue was made of the largest block of marble known, and this circumstance must give a very satisfactory opinion of the merit of the sculptor. Sculture del palazzo della Villa Borghese. T. ii. p. 58. a Visconti. b Du Laocoon, p. 260. 229 dern addition to conceal the juncture of the Discovery head. Allowing this circumstance, there is little conformity between this and any figures of gladiators as yet extant. 0 It was disco¬ vered in the gardens of Sallust, on the Qui- rinal hill; first placed in the Villa Lodovisi by Card. Corsini, afterward Clement XII. brought to the capitol when that Museum was established by Benedict XIV. and is now at Paris. XII. Tiie Venus of the Capitol was found near St. Vitale, between the Viminal and Quirinal hills, anciently the valley of Quirinus, in the last century. Benedict XIV. purchased it of the Stati family, and placed c Heyne supposes this statue to represent a soldier combatting with another on horseback ; and Visconti determines, that it is a hero attacking an amazon in that attitude. Millin Mon. Antiq. inedits, p. 351. pi. xxxvi. Mus. des. Mon. Franc. T. i. p. 34.—= Corn. Nepos in vita Chabriae. c Milizia concludes, that this statue represents a young Ath- leta mortally wounded, and dying with peculiar grace. Arte di vedere. The name of Ctesilaus has been sculptured on the Plinth; but Millin thinks it must have been a copy of a bronze on the same subject by that artist.— “ Souvent on adopte sans examen les noms une fois regus, et Ton est si persuade de leur exactitude que, par example on regar- dera plutot les choses les plus ineptes comme demonstrees, que de se permettre de douter si les pretendus Gladiateurs sont reelle- ment des Gladiateurs." Heyne, 230 Discovery of Statues. it in the capitol, from whence it has been re-* moved to Paris. d This statue, as the Medicean Venus, does net express strong emotion. Perhaps the re¬ pose of the passions is most conformable to the powers of sculpture, where the attention is suffered to dwell upon the representation without being hurried through it by the vio¬ lence of the action, or prejudiced against it by the horror of the object. The grand dif¬ ficulty has been to prevent statues, which are not intended to represent any particu¬ lar passion, from bordering at least on in¬ sipidity. XIII. Meleager. This beatiful statue was discovered, according to Aldrovandi, d Em. David, p. 374. Heyne thinks that the legs and arms of the Venus of the Capitol are superior to those of the Medicean, in which the latter are defective restorations. The head being large in proportion, and the figure rather masculine, he inclines to an opinion, that it is a portrait. Jansen, T. i. p. 10. After the Venus de Medicis, an infinite number of torsos and female statues have been restored; that name having been given, even though the attitude differed from the original. Many were por¬ traits, where the heads were preserved of beautiful women in the semblance of Venus. It does not seem probable, that all the statues of Venus only, should have reached our days, and that all those of the other goddesses, of which doubtless there were many* should have been destroyed. 6 Ai ID IS COBOL VS /l/Yd ? 231 near to the Porta Portese. It consists of Discovery ot btatues; greyish marble, such as the Athenians pro- cured from Mount Hymettus. It became Dlscoboh - the property, when first found, of Fusconi, physician to Paul III., and was preserved in the Pighini palace. Clement XIV. removed it to the Vatican, and it is now at Paris. XIV. Discoboli, or Athletic, in diffe¬ rent attitudes, with quoits. In action, and in repose. Found in the ruins of the Villa Hadriana at Tivoli, and at a place called the Columbaro, on the Appian way. They were both purchased by Pius VI. for his mu¬ seum, and are now at Paris. The first men¬ tioned of these, stoops very much forward, having the face declined, but not turned to¬ ward the discus, which he holds in his right hand on the point of throwing it, answering the description given by Lucian of the bronze by Myron. e The other stands upright, with a retiring step and his eye fixed, as if intent on marking the distance. “ Spatium jam humane parabat.” f His left hand holds the e Figrelius, p. 108. Plin. 1. 34. c. 19 . Quintil. Inst. 1. 2. c. 13. Lucian Philopseud. Bourdelotii. p. 834. f StatiiThebaid, 1. 6. v.6g3. Reynolds, Disc. x. for a com¬ parison of character between Apollo Belvidere, and the Town- ley Discobolos, 232 Discovery discus. His head is bound with the fillet of Statues. . . . . worn by victorious athletse. Discoboli. About the year 177b, among the same ruins, a repetition of each of these fine sta¬ tues was discovered, and fortunately purchas¬ ed by English gentlemen/ The first by the late Mr. Lock, of Norbury in Surrey, who re-sold it to Mr. Duncombe, of Buncombe Park, Yorkshire. Mr. Townley had the other, which having been purchased, with his col¬ lection, at the national expense, is now in the British Museum. Both these statues have fewer restorations than their duplicates in Prance. The French commanders have com¬ pletely subjugated Italy, and imitated the precedent of the Roman Victors in transport¬ ing the most celebrated statues in triumph to Paris, where they form a stupendous collec¬ tion in the Musee Central, now called in f Visconti Mus. Pio-Clem. T. 3. T. 26. Em. David, p. 353. That by Naucydes of Argos, Pausan. 1. 6. c. g. was upright and frequently copied. There is a “ guocatore di ruzzola," in the Villa Borghese, T. 2. p. 57- Landon Ann. de Musee, T. 5. p. 83, and T. 6. p. 4/. after which these have been restored in several parts. The first was merely the torso and thighs when disco¬ vered. y//Z/// /// 233 the true spirit of adulation, “ Musee Na- Discovery The marbles were chosen by a committee Discoboli, of artists, at that time students at Rome, from the Museo Pio-Clementino in the Va- tican, and from that of the Capitol; and they spared, with few exceptions, the villas and palaces of the Roman princes. The Borghese was at that time excepted, though since contributed, by that Prince, to the Na¬ poleon collection, but the Villa Albani was completely spoiled of all that was worthy to be removed. Rome, notwithstanding, still retains many excellent specimens of antique sculpture, the merit of which is become more conspicuous by the absence of others, which formerly en¬ grossed all the attention of superficial, and even of scientific observers. These notices might be continued to a great extent; but to make a mere catalogue interesting is no easy task. Whilst the ardour of collecting and newly discovering antique marbles was in its full ze¬ nith, a great rivalship was carried on between the reigning pontiff, and those cardinals or princes who had enjoyed the favour of their predecessors, either from motives of favorite- 234 Coiiec- ism or consanguinity. 5 It would be indulge Rome. 1 ing a latitude of description, far beyond the limits of these pages to offer a bare enume¬ ration of the marbles which even now exist at Rome. When 1 saw them in 17.9b, at the time when their dispersion was not generally anticipated, though so soon to be accom¬ plished, so vast was the assemblage, so infinite the variety, and so near the approach to excellence in many, that to admire all, was much more easy than to select. Let me here remember with pleasure, the liberal admittance which every visitant has found in Italy to these once superb reposi¬ tories of the arts, uninterrupted by petty ob¬ jections, or exorbitant demands of money. The permission which was given to strangers, and particularly to artists, who are suffered to copy or make designs from them by the s The first accounts of the discovery of antique marbles at Rome may be seen in “ Ficoroni Gemme letterate,” and in F. Vacca “ memorie di varie antichita trovate in diversi longhi di Roma Antica.” 22 pages 4to. 1591; printed likewise at the end of Nardini’s Roma Antica, 1/0-4, and in Montfaucon’s Diarium Ifalicum. V Opervazioni di Francisco di Ficorini sopra L’antichita di Roma descritta nel diario Italico, l/OQ, in which some errors of Vacca are corrected, and many more modern discoveries de=* scribed. 235 modem possessors is truly commendable, Coiieo and emulates the greatness of mind, dis- Rome, played by those who dedicated baths, the¬ atres, and gardens, as public academies to the Roman people. Candour cannot but approve this arrangement of the Museum at Paris; and our own nation will gain credit for having adopted it at the British Museum, where the Townley Marbles form an auspi¬ cious commencement of an assemblage of statuary and sculpture; the future centre, it is “ devoutly to be wished,” of others now dispersed in the remote provinces and hid from intelligent eyes. A slight view of the great collections at Rome and Florence, with others subsequently acquired by princes on the Continent, may contribute to a general acquaintance with statuary, which it is the attempt of this little essay to communicate and recommend. The Belvidere, or summer palace in the Vatican, was the first repository of sculpture, and was originally built by Julius II., the immediate predecessor of Leo X., in whose pontificate it could boast, if not the Apollo, the Laocoon, the Torso of Hercules, and the Anlinous or Mercury. 236 Coiiee- Medici l . 8 By cardinal Ferdinand de Rome. Medici were procured the “ Venus,” the ' v ' “ dancing Faun,” the “ group of Niobe,” the “ Wrestlers,” and a figure called the “ Arro» tino, or Whetter,” (the design of which is unknown,) which were first transferred from his villa at Rome to the tribune at Florence by Cosmo III., and since ceded to the French by the king of Naples, to whom they were intrusted, “ in an evil hour.” Farnese 2. h Cardinal Alexander Farnese, the heir of Paul III., preserved the Hercules and the Toro, or grand group of Dirce, both of which were removed to Naples. Borgiiese 3. 1 Paul V. began this collec¬ tion, once among the finest and most select in Rome, continued by his nephew cardinal Scipio Borgiiese, and preserved in the Villa s Ulyssis Aldrovandi Statue di Roma, 12mo. 1558. Caval- larius Anfiquse Statuae Urbis Romae, 4to. 1585. Figrelius de Statuis illust. Romanorum, 8vo. 1050. Borboni delle Statue, 4to, 1601. Domenico de Rossi raccolta di statue antiche con le sposi- tioni de P. A. Maffei, fol. 1704. Sandrart Sculpturae veteris ad- miranda, fol. 10SO. Monumenta Medices, 1500. Lanzi La real Galleria di Fiorenze, Museum Florentinum. 1 l.T. fol.--. Bian~ chini Pallazzo dei Cesari, 1738. h P. Pedrusi Museo Farnesiano, fol. ' Montelatici Villa Borghese. Lamberti Sculture del palazZo' della Villa Borghese della Pinciana, 2. T. 8 vo. 1790. 237 on the Pincian Hill. The late prince Borg- Coiiec- 1 ° tions at hese erected a building in the gardens for Rome, the reception of twenty-six statues and twelve busts, found in the ruins of the city of Gabii. k A selection from all these is in the Musee Napoleon at Paris, removed in 1810. Barbarini 4. * 1 These marbles were ori¬ ginally purchased by Urban VIII., of which the most celebrated are “ the Sleeping Faun,” and the “ busts of Marius and Sylla.” Many have been dispersed, and brought to Eng¬ land, even before the spoliation by the French, who made a selection from them. The Sleeping Faun has been considered as a genuine Greek marble, and not as a copy from a bronze. Mattei 5. m Which was remarkable for the number and excellence of the bas-reliefs, and the bronze eagle, which Giulio Romano delighted to copy in red chalk. No collec¬ tion has been more reduced since its original formation, by private sale, principally to Eng- k Visconti Monumenti Gabini della villa Finciana, 8vo. 1797* 1 iEdes Barbarinae, ad Quirinalem a Com. Hieron.Tetio de- scriptae, 1742. fol. m Vetera Monumenta Mathaeorum, &rc. a R. Venuti & a I C. Amadutio illustrata. 3 T. fol. J 779* 238 Collec¬ tions at Rome. lish collectors, through the agency of Jen¬ kins, their banker, at Rome. Albani 6." Cardinal Alexander Albani, the nephew of Clement XL, completed a gallery at his villa, in which were exhibited many pieces of sculpture equally perfect and curious. Amon? them was seen the Sauroc- O tonos, acknowledged to be the finest bronze statue in Rome, of which there is a repeti¬ tion at Paris, in the marble called “ Gre- chctto.” This gallery was one of the richest in the world, and peculiar from having been formed and completed by one person. The cardinal had much leisure, and every oppor¬ tunity of purchasing, almost at his own price, otherwise it would have been impossible for an individual to have paid for so great a treasure. Campidoglio, 0 or Capitoline 7- Dur¬ ing the reign of Benedict XIV. various dis- 19 Supplem. to Winkelmann’s Mon. Inedite, 2 vol. fol. 1/47. Venuti Marmora Albani, 4to. 1/50. Notizie delle Statue della villa Albani. 8vo. Salmon’s Rome, v. ii. App. Cat. of the marbles jn the Villa Albani. Iscrizioni Albane, dell ;Abate Gaetano Marini, 4to. 1785. ° P. Lucatelli Museum Capitolinum, 4to. 1750. Bottari Museo Capitolino, T. 4. fol. 239 coveries were pursued with spirit and success, Coiiec- 1 A tions at particularly on the site of the stupendous Rome, villa of Hadrian at Tivoli. That munificent pontiff determined to appropriate one wing of the palace of the Campidoglio to their re¬ ception. The “ Mirmillo,” or dying gladia- .grippina the Cupid and Psyche,” attracted immediate tor, the “ Venus,’ and the “ A' admiration. The greater part of the Mattei marbles were purchased by Ganganelli, (Clement XIV.) and formed the basis of the Pio-Cle- mentine p Museum; to which were added the best of those discovered during his short pos¬ session of St. Peter’s chair. His intentions were very amply fulfilled by Braschi, (Pius Dr. Darwin has never been more happy than in the following lines, in which he has compressed the characteristics of the finest statues in the world. ” Hence, wearied Hercules in marble rears His languid limbs, and rests a thousand years; Still as he leans, shall young Antinous please. With careless grace and unaffected ease ; Onward with loftier step Apollo spring. And launch the unerring arrow from the string; In beauty’s bashful form the veil unfurl’d, Ideal Venus win the gazing world.” Bot. Gard. C. 2.1. IOI. p II Museo Pio-CJementino da Ennio Quirino Visconti, T. 6. fol. imp. 240 Coiiee- VI.) a prince of liberal views, good taste, Bom e at and a high public spirit; and the repository WvHBS,/ of the additions to the Belvidere has been distinguished by their joint names. When the finest of these statues were demanded by the victorious French, the Pope obtained permission that time should be given, before their final removal, for casts in plaster to be taken from each by the Roman artists, -who performed that service of regret, with patriotic enthusiasm. Tivoli has likewise proved a very rich mine, and has contri¬ buted greatly to this Museum. The statue of Tiberius, Pausidippus, the comic poet, 44 and a group of iEsculapius and Hygeia,” are most remarkable. One of the rooms is filled with sculptured animals q only, that may vie with those which have so long en¬ grossed the admiration of the connoisseurs. Other collections must not be totally passed over in silence, such as the Odeschal- The five celebrated animals of antiquity, previously to the discovery of these, are the Barbarini goat, the boar at Florence, the Mattei eagle, that at Strawberry Hill found near the baths of Caracalia in 1742, and Mr. Jennings’, now Mr. Duncombe’s dog. Mr. Townley had a group of dogs scarcely inferior, now in the British Museum. 241 ehi, the Giustiniani, the Lodovisi, and the Coiiec- i • i t i lions at Pamnli, &c. which are now dispersed, and Rome, only remembered by the names of their ori¬ ginal proprietors/ Several in gardens and villas have been sold piece-meal, as those of the Negroni, the Mattei, the D’Este, &c. The study of the antique has been facili¬ tated in Italy by every possible mode. It has been promoted, not only by the easy access to the statues, and the ready information of men who have investigated the subject with erudition and classical taste; but it is brought nearer to us by numerous engravings of spi¬ rit and accuracy, relative to each collection, which are frequently elucidated by critical essays on the subject. These works consist either of general historical catalogues, or of partial disquisitions upon the peculiarities of a single group or statue. r The Giustiniani Collection was the first, a part of which was publicly sold at Rome. Galleria Giustiniana del Marchese, Giustiniani, 2 T. fol 1631. Museum Odeschalcum, di Galeoti, 2 vol. 1/51. Villa Pamftlia ejusque palatium, &c. J. De Rubeis, fol. The Odeschalchi marbles were purchased by Christina queen of Sweden. Jenkins of Rome bought those of the villas Negroni and D'Este, and resold them chiefly to Mr. Blundell. R 242 Materials of Sculp¬ ture. Asa subject probably not uninteresting to many, I am induced to offer the best ac¬ count, I can collect, of the different kinds of marble, from blocks of which statues and bas-reliefs were carved. As to the materials applied by the Greek artists of the remotest aera, such as gold, silver, ivory, sycamore, ebony, &c. the early disuse of them renders more than the incidental mention I have made unnecessary. Allowing the Egyptians to take the lead in sculpture, the first to be considered is 44 Basalt," a name given to a marble found in the mountains of Egypt, called 44 Basanites." Many of their statues are formed of it, and a stone of the same nature is found likewise in Auvergne and Scotland. Mineralogists hold different opinions as to its original for¬ mation. Dolomieu considers the materials called 44 Basahe," and used in Egyptian sta¬ tues as the substance, intitled by the Ger¬ mans, 44 trap.” r Although it be harder, r Outlines of Mineralogy, by J Kidd, M. D. Prof, of Chemis= try. 2 v. 8vo. I8O9. Trap is the name given to a number of rocks distinguished by the great quantity of Hornblende which they contain. Basalt is connected with some of these rocks, and therefore may, in a 243 more brittle, and less obedient to the chisel, Materials i • ii ofSculp- and its colour not so pleasing as marble, yet ture. the ancients, who had experienced its greater indestructibility, executed many fine works in it. Pliny has described several famous pieces of sculpture said to have been done in this stone, 5 and the statue of Minerva, still to be seen at Thebes, is by travellers deter¬ mined to be “ Basalt.” Jameson asserts, that many of the antique basalts, which are preserved in collections, are evidently “ sy¬ enite, or green stone.' Winkelmann is uncertain whether Egypt produced porphyry, as there are, in fact, few statues of porphyry of truly Egyptian work¬ manship, or of genuine antiquity. In the best limes of the art, it was rarely applied to statues, but to obelisks and columns. The most celebrated quarries from which it was loose acceptation of the word, be called a variety of trap, but trap rocks are mostly compounds, and basalt is a simple mineral. There is a set of rocks distinguished in Werner by the name of Floetz*trap, and basalt is one of these rocks. Qrtly. Rev. No. 3, p. 74. 3 Invenit eadem iEgyptus in ./Ethiopia quern vocant Basalten “ ferrei colons atque duritiae. Unde et nomen ei dedit.” Plin. 1. 36. c. 7. * On Minerals, v. i. p. 374. 244 Materials extracted, were situate in that part of Arabia of Sculp- t _ ture. which borders on Egypt. There are varie¬ ties of green, brown, red, and black,” which with the serpentine, or verd antique, were used in sculpture by the Egyptians. White marble is the most common in Greece and Asia Minor, and it is men¬ tioned by Homer where Iris finds Helen employed in making a veil, and a compari¬ son in point of whiteness occurs/ A degree of hardness which would bear the highest polish and purity of colour, proved the superiority of the Greek over the Italian marbles. w Marble was originally employed in the construction of Temples. The Athenians used that from the adjacent mountains, Pentelicus and Hymettus ; the Ephesians from Mount Prion. Phrygia produced white marble veined with different colours; near Megara u “ Serpentino nero anticn.” Caylus, T. v. p. 11. Figrelius, cap. xvi. Ferber, Lettres sur 1’ Italic. v 11. iii. v. 125. w Works upon marbles composed by Sotaces and Thrasyllus, and cited by Pliny, as giving much information, are lost. There is great difficulty in classing. Daubenton arranges them accord¬ ing to their colour. Caryophilus de marmoribus antiques—De Launay nnneralogie des anciens.—Frnesti et Winkelmann. « 245 was found that of a shelly kind ; at Phigalia Materials ° ofbculp- m Arcadia, was grey marble, veined with mre light red; and at Isisa, in Asia Minor, while with blue veins ; but of these the greater part was better suited to columns than to statuary. The most excellent of the Attic marbles was the Pentelic. x The Parthenon was built with it, and Byzas, of Nixis, was the inventor of cutting it out into tiles or laminae, to cover the roofs and walls of temples. It was selected for carving by Scopas, Praxiteles, and other famous sculp¬ tors. When broken it shows large particles, which sparkle like grains of rock sail, is very solid/ and infinitely harder than that of Paros. This discovery belongs to Dolo- mieu. Visconti calls that which Dolomieu 2 decides preremptorily to have been the “ Pen- telic” of the ancients, “ Cipollino/’ In the x So called from Mount Pentelicus, near Athens. It is a va¬ riety of the Parian and Carrara. y “ Marmo Salino.” 1 Dolomieu intended to publish a work on the stones and marbles of the ancient monuments. His MSS. were lost, when he was taken prisoner in Calabria, a circumstance greatiy to be regretted. 24 6 Materials Mil see Napoleon there are now fifty-seven tare. culp " statues of it, enumerated by Milling The Parian, the Lychniles of Pliny, not, as Millin says, because Candelabra were made of it, but because, according to Varro, the quarries were sometimes worked by torch light, came out of Mount Marpessus in that island, and likewise from the promontory Lygdinum. It is fitter for delicate work¬ manship than the Pentelic, because by not containing iron, it does not lose its colour by exposure to the air and atmosphere, and is remarkable for large grains of a cubic form, with which it is sown. It is extremely compact, though chrystalline or scaly. In the Musee Napoleon, there are thirty-one statues, of the genuine antiqueParian marble. There is a beautiful white kind called Parian, which in reality is not so; for Pliny allows that there were several sorts found in Greece, which even surpassed the real Pa¬ rian in whiteness, an argument against the 2 Dictionnaire des bpaux arts. The four sorts of marble most faighlv valued were the Claudian, the Numiuian, the Carystian, and the Synnadian. Gibbon, 247 opinion of those who consider all specimens Materials that exceed the Parian, in fineness of grain ture. and colour, to be necessarily of the quarries of Luni or Lunae. The marble of Mount Hymettus was white, rather inclining to ash colour, which was used by statuaries. In the time of the Emperor Hadrian it was much esteemed, and imported to Rome, for the use of the Greek artists established there. A kind of marble, whiter than the Parian, was discovered at Luni in Etruria, but it is certainly less compact, and does not take so fine a polish ; it is sometimes grey, and then it is called Bardiglio or Bigio di Carrara. These quarries are now nearly exhausted. All the Roman statues, and those made by Greek artists at Rome, are of this marble. There are thirteen specimens of it in the Mus. Napoleon. Pliny says expressly, that white marble was used for statues. In his time, Vilranius Pollio sent to Rome a statue of Claudius, of variegated marble, and another of porphyry ; but they were neither admired nor imitated in that age. The excellence of mottled marble consists in its variety, as that of 248 Materials white and black, and the simple colours in of Sculp¬ ture. purity . 2 The marble of Lesbos was of a livid white colour. Of black, that produced in Taena- rus, a promontory of Laconia, was much esteemed. The Lybian was equally so, and was first brought to Rome by Lepidus and Lucullus. In Mount Pelineus, in the island of Chios, was a black transparent marble. The obsidian marble was black, and was so denominated because first discovered in iEthopia, by Obsidiusd That of Lybia, is called, by the present antiquaries, “ rosso “ anticoof this marble there is no known quarry. The Phrygian is red and white ; the Co¬ rinthian, yellow ; and the serpentine, so called from its resemblance to the skin of a z Alabaster, abundant in Italy, was frequently used by the Homan sculptors in busts, the heads and pedestals of which were of bronze. Many so composed were in ihe Villa Albani. Dr. Kidd says, that the alabaster of the present day is a gypsum, consequently the ancient was not so. a The account Pliny gives, 1. 36, c. 26 , is, that it is a kind of glass, and from its brittleness must have been exceedingly diffi¬ cult to be worked. It is now called Icelandic agate, and is a yitrified lava Adamo Falbroni has written a dissertation on it 249 snake. Such was ihe variety of marbles, and probably many more, and of nearly equal excellence, as applied to architecture and sculpture by the ancients. In by far the greater number of instances the Latin term “ iEs,” may be translated “ Bronze for brass, which is compounded of copper and zinc, is not the metal used by the ancients in their statues. They usually mixed the copper with fine tin; and though the proportions varied according to the pur¬ pose intended,in different instruments,that in common use for statues was from ten to thir¬ teen in a hundred ; and they possessed the art of giving such a degree of whiteness to copper, as to make it resemble silver . 1 The alloy of copper by zinc was rarely practised by them, excepting for ornaments only, which might approach nearly to the colour of gold. Iron has likewise been combined with copper, in very ancient statues. Plutarch b observes, that a This was not from the copper and tin, but from zinc and copper, which according to Aristotle, quoted by Kidd, v. ii. 14 Q. made it Xxp.'ifpota. rov kcu A evxorx t j ov. most shining and most white. Pamanias, 1. v. “ L’ Essai sur 1’ art de la fonte des anciens, avec quelques remarques sur les Chevaux de Chio,” par J. Seitz. b Plutarch. “ Cur Pytha non reddit oracula.” Materials of Sculp¬ ture. Bronze composi¬ tion and art of cast¬ ing. 250 Bronz-e composi¬ tion and art of cast¬ ing. when he was at Delphi, he was surprised to find that the oldest bronze statues kept their colour so well, that neither rust nor verdi- grease could be discovered, (the consequence of this alloy,) but they had a blueish hue, not unlike the colour of the atmosphere. He is naturally led to an inquiry con¬ cerning the alloy of the bronze, and con¬ cludes that the Corinthian brass took its pale colour from the fusion and mixture of gold and silver, such as was practised in his time, which was not pleasant to the eye; and that the blue tint of bronze, at Delphi, was the effect of the air penetrating into the pores of the metal, which preserved it from rust. Antiquaries give the name of bronze to all the relics of antiquity which consist either of pure copper or compounds of that metal with tin. Their general term is “ XczXkos ” a Copper as well as brass was for a great length of time called iEs, but later mi¬ neralogists, in order to distinguish them, gave the name of cuprum to the former. Copper a Toi$ $ r/V ya.X.HBa. psv tsLyrj ^aXKBO; Ss tb oikoi XaXKuj $ a^vaJovro, [isXas Ss ouk bcks triSygo;. Hesiod, Op. and Dier. 149. 251 is much more easily gilt than bronze. b The Bronze Romans borrowed this fashion from theEtrus- tion and . i i • i i , • art of cast- CailS, who placed gilt statues upon the pedi- ing. ments of their temples. The art of casting statues in bronze must have taken its rise in countries abundant in metals, if we can credit Diodorus Siculus, Serniramis had bronze statues in her cele¬ brated gardens, 1?40 years before the Chris¬ tian aera. c Pausanias, d at Phanea, observed a bronze statue, representing an equestrian Neptune, said to have been given them by Ulysses, a circumstance discredited by him, because the art of casting solid masses was unknown at that early period, when statues were made as a dress is, out of many pieces. c The oldest caster in molten brass is Hiram, a Phaenician, sent for by Solomon from Tyre, 1015, A. C. If indeed he east the two columns of bronze for the temple, which were forty-seven feet high, b Vitruvius, L. iii. p. 2. Buonarotti Observaz. p. 370, for the proportion of gold. c L. ii. 5y. d L. viii. p. 628. Kuhnii. e Calmet Diss. sur la richesse que David laissa a Salomon. Comment sur la Bible, (Kings ii. ch. Q.) T. ii. p. 165. 252 Bronze composi¬ tion and art of cast- with the capitals, though not of more than four diameters and a half, an Egyptian pro¬ portion, proved by the columns found in the Thebaid. But the sea of brass was a more stupendous work than any of those men¬ tioned by the Greek historians. The Jews however had previously made the breast¬ plate of the high-priest, and the golden calf, which proves that they look their art from the Egyptians, who knew it long be¬ fore. The moulds for these immense works were made of clay, for wax was not then used. In the time of Homer, (QpO A. C.) iron was very scarce, chariot wheels were cast and swords were made of bronze. The art of casting bronze statues was known only in Asia Minor, at least all the instances quoted by Homer are in that country/ The iconic statues mentioned by Pliny, 6( ex membris eorum similitudine expressas,” f In the Odyssey, L. vii, v. 92 . he mentions, in the palace of Alcinous, two dogs, one of gold and the other of silver ; it might therefore be too bold an assertion, that the arts were unknown in Greece in Homer’s age ; but it is certain that he has adduced in¬ stances only in Asia Minor. In v. 100 he particularizes the golden statues of young men who stood upon altars with lighted torches in their hands. 253 were cast solid. A bronze Genius, at Flo¬ rence, of Etruscan, or rather Grecian work¬ manship, is so admirably worked to nature, that sculptors and painters have concluded that it must have been modelled upon the body of a young man . 8 They, in course of Bronze composi¬ tion and art of cast- g Boufferand, in the Encyclopedic des Arts et Metiers, says, that the antients did not take the trouble to make the first model of plaster, which serves to determine the thickness of the wax, but after having made their model with prepared potters clay, they skinned or stripped it (f ecorchoient) by taking off so much as would correspond with the thickness they intended to give to their bronze, so that their model became their nucleus. According to Philo of Bysantium, (de septem orbis miraculis, c. v. p. xiii.) the antients never made any large statue of one jet, “ simulachra artificis primum finguntur, deinde membra diversa conflant, tan¬ dem omnia bene, composita erigunt.” He remarks, respecting the Colossus at Rhodes, that it was cast in pieces, first of all the legs, which were lowered into the ground, upon these the thighs were then cast hot and united, and this process was pursued with the rest of the figure. The ancients were apprehensive least in casting a very large mass the metal should cool, but modern ex¬ perience has found that it will pass over a space of forty feet without fixing. All the statuaries of France, Winkelmann says, would not be able to cast in ten years, the 360 statues which were made at Athens for Demetrius Phalerius in 300 days. In the practice of the antients it was not necessary to break the moulds, in order to get at the casts, and the same mould served for many statues, for otherwise how could Lysippus have made 6 lO pieces of bronze sculpture, unless he had known a more ex¬ peditious mode of working than the moderns know. Vide Gau- ricus de sculptura, for the method of casting bronze. Andrea Veroccbio followed the practice of the ancients in casting bronze in distinct pieces. 254 Bronze composi¬ tion and art of cast¬ ing. practice, produced the same effect with less metal, and cast them hollow, but many ex¬ periments of the nature and possible combi¬ nation of metals were first mude. h h Savot, in T. xi. of Graevii Thesaurus, gives the follow¬ ing account of “ zEs,” of which he was a connpetent judge. 1 . zEs, which could be melted and stamped at the same time, was called zEs regulare. 2. zEs caldarium, could only be melt¬ ed, and would not bear the stamp. 3. zEs purum, or cuprum rubrum, can be stamped either hot or cold. 4. zEs impu- rum, is only malleable when cold. 5, zEs flavum, was alloyed with cadmia, or lapis calaminaris ; it was Orichalcum, but cer¬ tainly must have been composed of other materials, from its rarity and great value. 6. zEs Cyprum, that in common use in the days of Pliny. He says that the zEs Corinthium was then in¬ discriminately given to the metal of all statues. 7* zEs coro- narium, very easily drawn out into plates. 8. zEs pyropium, made of one-fourth of gold added to the Corinthian, a name in¬ discriminately given to all brass which was gilt. Q. zEs Statua- rium, is bronze. Professor Kidd, of Oxford, in his late Outlines of Mineralogy, remarks, “ that in the early natural historians, ‘ zEs,’ when used simply, very often signifies copper, it results from some analytical and synthetical experiments of Dr. Pearson, on some antient me¬ tallic arms and utensils, that they were compounded of copper and tin, in various proportions, and that none of them contained zinc. Of all metallic combinations that of copper with tin produces per¬ haps the greatest increase of density, and in course peculiarly adapted to the formation of statues, whieh require a smooth and even surface ; for the piincipal uses of the alloy of copper by tin, are to render copper less oxydable by water or atmospheric air, and to produce a close texture and whiteness for reflecting light, and to render it less tough. Copper is united with tin lor the 2 55 The Etruscans were early masters of the Bronze , . . • i i coinposi- art of casting in bronze. In the ei ghth tion and olympiad Romulus placed his statue, crown- i ng . ed by victory, on a car drawn by four bronze horses, taken from Cameria, which were Etruscan. Between the thirtieth and fortieth, Herodotus says that Rhoecus and Theodorus, who cast bronze statues at Samos, invented the moulds of clay, and Pausanias thinks that they were the first who cast statues at one jet. The European Greeks had wooden statues only, in the sixty-first Olympiad . 1 This circumstance rests on the testimony of Pau¬ sanias, who tells us that no bronze statue escaped his notice, but that he had not found one by Theodorus, and only one by Rhoecus, in the Temple of Diana, at Ephesus. Cleos- thenes, who had been victorious in the sixty- sixth Olympiad, was represented in a car with four horses, in bronze; after this period works in bronze were multiplied to an ex¬ cessive degree. purpose merely of becoming more fusible, and of continuing longer in a fluid state, and of cooling more slowly.” Philos. Transact. 1796. p. 395. ' L. x. c. 38. 256 Bronze Under Augustus 15 the art of casling in lion and bronze began to decline, for the four elephants fn^ 0 ta of composition, mentioned by Pliny (L. 36.) were not cast, but beat out bv a hammer. The Colossus of Nero, 110 feet high, must have been formed of separate pieces, and joined by laminae..' In the reign of Vespa¬ sian, the art of casting was lost, but revived under Domitian. Celon, a Greek artist, cast the Emperor’s statue ; it was equestrian, and stood higher than the temple," 1 near which it was placed, and at the death of that Em¬ peror was thrown down. It is said by Mu¬ ra tori, that there were twenty-eight colossal equestrian statues, and eighty horses in Rome which were gilt, beside many other of plain k The system of forming statues bv hammering and rivets appears to have been more prevalent in the Augustan age. Virgil used a technical word expressive of this practice, “ Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera.” Horace, speaking of Lysippus, has “ duceret aere,” which has a similar meaning, Bentley, following Lambinus, would have changed it to “ cuderet.” But the progress of the arts does not seem promoted, if “ duco” answers to this line in Homer, yaj roiyoi £v9a xcu svSx. Odys. 7 . v. 8b. it means beat out, but if to “vivos ducui t de marmore vultus," it implies simply design. iEn. 1. 6. v. 849. 1 Pun. L. xxxb\ c. 7 . m Statius in Sylvis, L. i. For the bronze of Septimius Se- verus, see Winkeiroanu Letttre, p. 120. 257 bronze." The art of casting in bronze, as Bronze practised since its revival, will be discussed tion and in a future description of those celebrated cai works, which have reflected so much honour on the schools of modern Europe An art of great importance, and to which Restore all modern collections of statuary must owe Statues, their excellence, is that called “ restoration,” or the giving to any mutilated figure its true effect, by a close imitation of its original members and attributes. According to Va¬ sari it was first attempted by Lorenzo Lotto, in 1541. Few of the antique statues have been found which did not require restora¬ tion in various degrees; and which employed the sagacity and experience of the restorer, to decide in the first place on the original character, and all his skill to imitate or equal the perfection of ancient art. In numerous in¬ stances, it must be confessed, that absurd er¬ rors have been committed, 0 when the sculptor n Nov. Thesaur. V. 1. ° See Villa Mattel, pi. 87- Mus. Pio-Clem. T. iii. pi. 10, Montfaucon, T. ii. p. 2. pi. 11(5. No. 11. engraved as a pregnant woman, originally an Egyptian Canephorus, or priest carrying a basket before him. Difference between Canephorae and Chris* tophorae, Mus, Pio-Clem. T. iv. p. 47, g 258 Restora- has been ignorant of mythology, and there- Statues. fore misplaced the attributes; or has totally misconceived the character formerly repre¬ sented by the disjointed marble. p At all p The Abbe May (Temples anciens et mod. pp. t>7, 66.) in¬ veighs with great spirit and acuteness, and it must be allowed, with a certain degree of truth, against an invidious love of the ancient, to the exclusion of all modern art. Le merite de ces mor- ceaux n’est pas precisernent d’etre antiques mais d’etre reellement des chefs-dceuvres. Mais, que Ton fasse descendre de leurs piedes- taux nos meillieurs statues modernes, pour y faire monter une ves- tale ou un Consul trouve a dix pieds terre sous et a qui al aurafal- lu ajouterdcs braset des jambes la moietie du visage pourleur don- ner une figure humaine n’est ce pas etre dupe de son imagination, etfaire parade d’un gout, tout au nroins puerile? Les artistes es- claves de la bisarrerie d’un grand Seigneur, et pour ne pas sacri- fier en meme terns leur fortune et leur gloire. iIs bornent leurs talens, et consacrent leur addresse a repiecer de villes anticailles, bonnes tout a plus a broyer pour en tirer du stuc. On les voit done, se peiner autour d’un tronqon de Dieux, ou des Heros. De concertes par des contours alteres, par des lambeaux de dra- perie a moitie ruinees, ils sont reduits a deviner le dessin de 1’an- cien sculpteur, a modeler vingt fois les mesmes membres et apres taut d’ignobles fatigues, il ne sort presque jamais de leurs mains que des figures roides, disloquees, sans proportions et sans grace, a qui on donne le nona d’antiques, quoiqu’il y entre d’alliage trois quarts et demi de moderne. La Villa Albani est pleine de cette espece de fausse monnoie. Je puis en parler avec certitude.” pp. 62, 63. A certain consequence of these injudicious restorations has been the misleading of those who have written on the subject. Fabretti, in his work on the Trajan column, speaks incidentally of 259 events, it calls for infinite ingenuity in the Rsstora- p , I null Ul restorations, though statues. executive par well effected, are to be discovered by the the manner of shoeing horses among the ancients, and brings for proof a bas relief, in the Villa Mattei, of the Emperor Gal- lienus hunting, when horses were shod with iron, as at present, but he overlooked the restoration. Description des pierres gravees de Stosch, par Winkelmann, p. 169 . Wright, in his travels through France and Italy, justifies RafFaelle for placing a violin in the hands of Apollo, from a supposed antique. These statue menders seem to have adopted the Horatian maxim, “ Sic mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere Conor.” Although on the first discovery, the great artists, as M. An¬ gelo and G. Della Porta, were employed, they were not always correct. Bouchardon has not given suitable attributes to any single statue which he attempted to restore. Millin Diet, des Beaux Arts. It must yet be acknowledged that fractured marbles, ex¬ hibiting all the injuries of time and violence, afford little gratifi¬ cation to unlearned eyes. Dr. Clarke, in his account of the marbles lately presented to the University of Cambridge, has the following opinion : “ No attempt has been made towards the restoration of any of the mar¬ bles here described. They have been deposited in the Vestibule exactly as they were found. In this respect, we have not imi¬ tated the example of the French, and it is believed, the public will not dispute the good taste of the University, preferring a mutilated fragment of Grecian sculpture, to any modern repara¬ tion. Had Ceres (the Eleusinian statue,) gone to Paris, she would have issued from a French toilette, not only with a new face, but with all her appropriate insignia, her car, dragons and decorations, until scarce any of the original marble remained vi¬ sible. Some of the statues in the French collection have not a pubic foot of antique marble in their composition. Even the fa- 260 Restora¬ tion of Statues. union of two different kinds of marble. To avoid this detection, it has not been unusual with Cavaceppi, and others eminent in this art, when many fragments have been brought to light, to form a complete statue out of them, by an ingenious adaptation. The head of a Pudicitia, when the veil was chiselled away, became a Venus, and when placed on a headless trunk, was considered as one most indicative of the character, which the statue represented in its perfect slate. It is now in England. There is sufficient reason to suppose, that many statues were broken and restored, even in the early agesd During the civil wars between the Achceans and the CEtolians, the public monuments were overthrown, and others may have been damaged in their mous Belvidere Apollo (a circumstance little known) was de¬ graded by spurious additions, when placed in the Vatican. Its restoration has been since probably more notorious.” Marmora. Cantabrig. pref. p. 3. The collection of marbles lately brought from Athens and Greece, by the Earl of Elgin, (now deposited at Burlington House,) are seen in the same state in which they were removed from the temples to which they were originally attached, with the repair only of the fractures incidental to that removal. See Earl of Elgin’s Pursuits in Greece, 8vo. IS 11. ‘1 Millin Diction, des Beaux Arts. T. iii. p. 5f)4. 261 deportation to Rome. In that city they fre- Restora- . tion of quently suffered demolition, from causes al- statues, ready assigned. Winkelmann conjectures that the broken statues discovered at Baiae, and among the ruins of villas on the sea¬ shore, were brought thither from Greece, in that state; because that part of Italy was in no period of the Roman history ravaged by war. After the age of the Antonines, such was the decay into which sculpture had fallen, that there were probably no artists, capable of undertaking the work. I At Rome, the conflagration by Nero, and the insurrec¬ tion in the reign of Vitellius, when the capi- tol was defended by throwing down the statues on the assailants, will account for a great destruction of them, without attri¬ buting it solely and entirely to the rage of the Iconoclasts and Goths. Many which remained after these casualties, were destroy¬ ed in the civil wars of Italy. In turning over the ruins within the walls and the vicinity of the imperial city, disco¬ veries were very frecpient, which were im¬ mediately consigned to ornament the palaces and gardens of the rich ecclesiastics. As imperfect objects convey little pleasure to 202 Restora. the sight, however venerable for their anti- tion of . . . Statues. quity, the attempt to restore them was a matter of course, but it was very rarely fol¬ lowed by complete success. The Greeks, and their imitators the Ho¬ mans, admired heroic and warlike vertue above all other, and their artists were conse¬ quently called upon to give heroic forms and attributes to their contemporaries. They invented a certain ideal composition beyond nature, under which all the victorious war¬ riors of their own times were designated, as Alexander, Lysimachus, Caesar, Augustus, Hadrian, &c. These were represented naked, having the casque and the chlamys only thrown over the shoulder, the belt, sword, or spear, and no other explication or attri¬ bute was given, by which the statue might be assigned to any individual in particular. The ancient authors themselves recite many statues as the works of their most celebrated artists, without giving them any name. Pau- sanias and Pliny speak thus vaguely of the bronze warriors by Polycletus and Pytha¬ goras, of Samos. Fragments and torsos of marble statues, copied from these which no longer exist, have been very frequently found, 263 and inaeurately restored, without analogy to Restora- the original. In the most frequent instances, statues. heads, whether antique or modern, have been engrafted on the trunk, after its discovery, and the name of the hero or emperor it re¬ sembled given to the fictitious statue. Of these statues of military chiefs another description is in complete armour, and chiefly by Roman artists. This mode exer¬ cised the talents of the sculptor, as the casque, cuirass, and shield, were usually most elabo¬ rately wrought in has relief. Lysippus is said to have cast such in bronze, of Alex¬ ander and his companions. Such statues were called Achilleae,’* naked excepting the casque, and holding a spear. Of the Emperours we have numerous instances. These works are only to be known by the head remaining, or by an inscription, and therefore when those are deficient, or not original, reasonable doubt may be entertain¬ ed of their authenticity. Whenever we sus¬ pect that the statue denominated a Caesar, is not genuine, a very great portion of the interest we took in contemplating it, is instantly lost, and however ingenious and correct the adaptation of parts may be, it is 264 Restora- still fiction, for the lovers of portrait are sa- Statues. tisfied only with truth. IIow often do we v ' complain of mediocrity in the specimens of antique sculpture which remain to us, Avhen all their apparent errors are, in reality, due only to the restorers ? Without implicitly acceding to the opinion of Dr. Clarke, given in the last note, the true fragment is certainly to be preferred to the miserable repairs of the Arundelian statues, the greater part of which they had undergone during the interval between their alienation from the Howard family, and their being presented to the University of Oxford. Be that as it may, the instructions of one of the best informed of the modern French virtuosi, for investigating any antique or restoration which may be presented to view, are founded on such solid principles of good sense and taste, that they may be of equal utility to the artist and collector. “ The critical ex¬ amination of a statue requires great atten¬ tion, with a general knowledge of the art of sculpture, and above all, taste. It is parti¬ cularly necessary to decide with certainty, whether it be a new discovery, or already known by any description or engraving. In 265 order thoroughly to understand and accu- ^ rately to describe a statue, we should begin ^ by examining of what kind of marble it is v- composed, and this inquiry will, in most in¬ stances, serve to determine the epoch, in which it was probably executed. So that if it prove to be of the marble of Luna, it may be evidently pronounced not to be anterior to the age of Augustus, because in his reign those quarries were first discovered and work¬ ed. The exact measure should then be given, the attitude correctly described, the light de¬ termined on, in which it may be best placed and seen, the restorations minutely pointed out, for the extremities of very few statues have escaped mutilation; and lastly, it should be defined with accuracy, whether the style be grand, severe, or delicate. We should judge by the ideal form given by the an¬ tique sculptors, whether the work under examination, were intended to represent a deity, a hero, or were simply a portrait; whether that of Jupiter, Apollo, or Bacchus; and observe whether the hair flow in ring¬ lets, like that of Apollo, be turned up in tresses, like Diana, curly and elastic as that of Hercules, or gracefully uniting with the beard, as in the heads of Jupiter. Re- 266 Restora- gard should be especially had to the existence Statues. or absence of the beard, to the vestments ; an d attributes, whether they are those really used by the ancients, in any sera, and, more than all, what limbs or parts have been re¬ stored. If the statue have an inscription, we should be assured that it is authentic, and that the base, or where it occurs, has not been a modern addition, or an antique fragment so applied. The shape and charac¬ ter of the letters, and their sera, should be scrutinized. In order to ascertain the sub¬ ject of a statue, it should be compared with works of art already known, confirmed by passages in the classic authors, with bas re¬ liefs, medals, and engraved gems. These last are often extremely useful in fixing the real subject, because it is more difficult to recognise a single or isolated figure; when in seeing a group of many, the composition obviates all doubt. The history of the art should be consulted to verify the date of the work under consideration, at least, the age of the statue it copies, and whether that were of marble or bronze. We should know its literary history, the time of its discovery, the authors who have noticed, and their judgement concerning it, in point of art 267 or erudition, the engravings which have Resto.ra- been given, through what collections it Sues, may have passed, and where it may be now seen/” Modern sculptors have copied the antique statues with imperfect success at least, if we do not allow, with Le Noir, that they have totally failed. lie informs us, q “ that Louis XIV. had several of the most famous copied in marble, for the royal gardens, none of which were excellent, with the single excep¬ tion of a Mnemosyne, by Le Gros, in the Thuilleries, which is still very unequal to the original. These artists have discovered this inferiority, says this able French critic, be¬ cause they have been led by false principles into too great a facility of working, while they consequently give up all to the labour of the hand, and thus diffuse over their works a sameness of outlines and forms, by which the art is degraded. Thus forgetting, or per¬ haps ignorant of, ideal beauty, and the free¬ dom of composition which true genius in¬ spires, too many students degenerate into the class of mere workmen.” But there can be no doubt entertained that, if the British q Le Noir Monumens. T. v. p. 27 . 268 ''5 Uestora- school of sculpture were nationally encou- Statues. raged to the extent which it has already me- rited, this censure would remain applicable only to French artists. ANTIOPA. AM PIII ON. ZETHVS. SECTION V. The Gallery at Florence was founded Florence by the Grand Duke Francis I. in the year 3 581, and has been infinitely increased by his successors. 3 Previously to the late re- a The contents of this Gallery, before the dismantling in 1800, were accurately and critically described, in a work entitled |,- s coun try retreat at Albury, in Surry, were resorted to by men of talents, who were in¬ structed by his consummate judgment, and supported by his munificence. He maintained Franciscus deYongli or Junius, and Oughtred the mathematician; he patronized Inigo Jones and Vandyke; he brought over Wenccslaus Hollar, an engraver of superior merit, and encouraged him in England ; and lie em¬ ployed Nicholas Slone, LeSoeur, and Fanelli, who successfully practised their art of sculp¬ ture in this kingdom. It was from the ex¬ ample and recommendation of Lord Arundel, and a very inferior cause, the envy of the favorite Villiers, that Charles I. was original-. ]y induced to study and encourage the arts. His taste was refined and elegant, and doubt- s The improvement of the buildings in Westminster was com¬ mitted to Lord A. and Inigo Jones, (Rymer’s Fo?dera, v. xviii. p. 97 ,) and in 1 (318 other peers were included with him in a commission to reduce to uniformity Lincoln’s Inn Fields, &c, Inigo Jones’s design of Covent Garden, and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, are now in Lord Pembroke’s possession, at Wilton. “ John Charle- wood appears to have been printer to the family of Howard, and was probably retained as a domestic, for that liberal purpose, in Arundel house, the seat of elegance and literature, till Cromwell’s usurpation.” Warton’s Hist. Eng. Poet. v. iii. p. 421. Walpole’s Royal and Nob. Auth. v. i. p.1/7. 277 Jess, he found his propensity to follow them perfectly natural. But such were his primary inducements. When Lord Arundel determined to col¬ lect a gallery of sculpture he retained two men of letters for that purpose. The inge¬ nious John Evelyn was sent to Rome, and William Petty h undertook a hazardous jour¬ ney to the Greek islands and the Morea. In the islands of Paros and Delos, his inde¬ fatigable researches had been rewarded with ample success, when on his voyage to Smyrna he was shipwrecked on the coast of Asia, opposite Samos, and escaped only with his life. 1 At Smyrna he acquired many marbles The Arun¬ del collec¬ tion. ♦ h In one of Lord Arundel’s letters to secretary Windebank, published in Clarendon’s State Papers, v. ii. p. 5Q7, he is thus noticed. “ Honest little Harvey is going a little start into Italy, and I give him some employment about pictures, to Mr. Petty.” He was educated at Cambridge. See Cole’s Athenae. Cantab, MSS. Brit. Mus. and Colmeriana, v. i. p. 55. Journals of the House of Commons, vol. v. p. 481. A. D. 1647, March 6th. An ordinance for granting to Air. W. Petty the benefit of the invention of double and single writing, for fourteen years. ' Sir T. Roe gives very honourable testimony of Air. Petty’s perseverance and ability, p. 495 . “ He hath visited Pergamo, Samos, Ephesus, and other places; and hath raked together twc hundred pieces, all broken and none entyre.” Acct. of Will'ntK Petty, Arch. v. ix. 1/8, 182. 2?8 The Arun¬ del collec¬ tion. Of Charles the First at White¬ hall. of extreme rarity and value, particularly the celebrated Parian chronicle. Still the jealousy of Villiers was active to interrupt Lord Arundel’s pursuit, and the delight of his retired hours. Sir Thomas Roe, then embassador at the Porte, and consequently obedient to the minister, was directed to pur¬ chase beyond Petty’s power of competition ; and to withhold from him every assistance in his diplomatic capacity, which he dared not openly to refuse. At that time the Duke of Buckingham was very ambitious of furnish¬ ing his palace of York House with statuary. The king had commanded Sir Kenelm Dig- by, previously, in 1628, when admiral of a fleet in the Levant, to procure statues from that country ; how many, or of what subjects they were, the catalogue of his collection does not inform us. k Peacham says, that k Abraham Vander-Dort was the keeper of King Charles I.’s cabinet at Whitehall. He compiled a catalogue of the pictures and statues, the MS. of which is in the Ashmolaean Museum at Oxford. Vertue copied it, and from that copy it was published by Bathoe, 4to. 1 757- It appears that the royal collection was numerous and valuable, but nothing can be more vague and un¬ defined than the descriptions, as “ an emperor’s head—a woman’s head—a Venus’s body, &c.” In the gallery at Somerset House, 120 pieces of statuary, appraised at 232/1 3s. In the garden 20 , appraised at 11651. 14s. In the palace at Greenwich, 230 279 they were chiefly brought from the ruins of Arumje- lian colie the Temple of Apollo at Delos. 1 tion. Lord Arundel having assembled in his gallery his various acquisitions from Greece and Rome, a period to his gratification ar¬ rived, and he was driven from his elegant retirement by the civil commotions, which were bursting into a flame of avowed hosti¬ lity. He had adopted the following arrange¬ ment of his marbles. The statues and busts were placed in the gallery, the inscribed marbles were inserted in the wall of the garden of Arundel House, and the inferior at 137801. 13s. 6 d. and at St. James's 29 , at 656 1. Among the statues, the copy of the Borghese Gladiator (now at Houghton) sold for 3001. Apollo 1201. One of the Muses 2001. Dejanira 2001. Sec. These prices, great as they may appear for the time, were given by foreign agents employed by Cardinal Mazarine, for his palace at Paris. Don Alonzo de Cardenas, embassador to Cromwell, bought pictures and statues, which when landed at Corunna, were conveyed to Madrid upon eighteen mules. Chris¬ tina, of Sweden, and the Arch-dukc Leopold, governor of Flan¬ ders, were considerable purchasers. Not one of these princes offered to give up these acquisitions to Charles II. who perhaps did not regret it, as he did not inherit the taste of his father. Christina’s purchases, with the Odeschalchi collection of statues. Sec. were resold to Philip V. of Spain, for the palace of St. II- defonso. 1 Complete Gentleman, p. 107 . 280 Arunde- and mutilated statues decorated a summer li.in collec- , which the Earl had made at Lam¬ beth. We learn from catalogues,™ that the Arundelian collection, when entire, con¬ tained 37 statues, 128 busts, and 250 in¬ scribed marbles, exclusive of sarcophagi, altars, and fragments, and the inestimable gems. In 1642 Lord Arundel left England never to return, and died at Padua in 1646. It is said that he took his collection with him, but it is more probable, that his gems, cabinet pictures, and curiosities only suffered removal to Antwerp. Of the fate of this collection, in the high¬ est degree venerable to the English connois- seur, I have no apology to offer for a very minute account. m In Mr. Brand’s catalogue, I 8 O 7 , was MS. No. 103. Wil¬ liam Hawiey’ catalogue of pictures, statues, bronzes, tapestry, &c. of King Charles I. disposed of during the civil wars, but re¬ covered for King Charles II. after the restoration, 160 O. MSS. Harl. Brit. Mus. No. 4/18. Inventory of the pictures, medals, agates, and other rarities o King Charles I. in the Privy Gallery, Whitehall. No. 48Q8, Inventory of ditto, sold by order of the Council of State, from l64g to 1052. No. G344, Account of paintings, &c. in York House. 281 When Lord Arundel died, he made an Dispersion of the equal partition between his elder son and Arunde- successor, and Sir William Howard, the un- lection, fortunate Viscount Stafford. Henry, Earl of Norwich, (the restored Duke of Norfolk) succeeded to the elder share, and being much under the influence of the learned Selden (who had been honour¬ ed by the friendship of Earl Thomas) was persuaded to give the inscribed marbles to the University of Oxford. Evelyn, who had been instrumental to the original collection, added his suffrage. The same nobleman presented part of the library of the Kings of Hungary to the Royal Society ; and many very valuable MSS. to the library of the College of Arms. In the general confiscation made by the parliament, the pictures and statues remain¬ ing at Arundel House were in some measure included. Many were obtained by Don Alonzo de Cardenas, the Spanish ambassador to Cromwell, and sent into Spain with the wrecks of the royal collection. Arundel House and gardens were con¬ verted into streets, about the year 1678, when it was determined to dispose of the 282 Dispersion statues by sale. It was proposed by the Amnde- agents to sell the whole collectively, but no lection. purchaser could be found. A division into three lots was accepted. 1. Of those in the house; 2. of those in the garden ; and Sdly, of those at Lambeth. The first, principally consisting of busts, was purchased by Lord Pembroke, and are at Wilton. The second was bought by Lord Lemster, (the father of the first Earl of Pom- fret,) who removed them to his seat at Easton Neston, in Northamptonshire. The price was only 3001. For the last lot in Cuper’s Gardens, near Lambeth, no purchaser ap¬ peared till 1717; when Mr. Waller, of the poet’s family, gave 751. and conveyed them to Beaconsfield, in Buckinghamshire. Mr. Freeman Cook had afterward half of them, which are at Fawley Court, in that county." Guelfi, a scholar of Camillo Rusconi, upon the recommendation of Lord Burling¬ ton, who had invited him from Italy, was n Some fragments since discovered in digging foundations for houses in the Strand, were sent to Worsop Manor. Dr. Ducarel procured etchings to be made from them. The marbles placed in Cuper’s Gardens were drawn and engraved for the last edition of Aubrey’s Antiquities of Surrey. 283 employed by Lord Pomfret to restore the im- Dispersion r 1 tt of perfect statues and torsos. His simply de- Aruntle- signed, but ill-executed figure on the monu- lection, ment of Secretary Craggs, in Westminster V “*~ v ^ w> Abbey, is a certain proof how little qualified he was, as an artist, tor so important a task. He misconceived the character and altitude of almost every statue he attempted to make perfect; and ruined the greater number of those he was permitted to touch. Mere workmanship is a very insufficient qualification in him who would regain the perfection of any antique fragment. Yet even this Guelfi did not possess. In the year 1755, Henrietta Louisa, Countess Dowager of Pomfret, presented the whole of them to the University of Ox¬ ford, 0 whose gratitude was expressed in an ° Dr. Francis Randolph bequeathed 10001. towards a fund for erecting some building for their reception; and the late Sir Roger Newdegate, in 180G, proposed to give 20001. the interest in the first instance to be applied to the restoration of the best of the Arundel Statues, which might be placed in the Radcliffe Library. The plan was either ill arranged or misconceived, for in 1808 it was determined in the convocation, that the benefac¬ tion should not be accepted. They are therefore doomed to remain in their present oblivious situation, alienated from the noble family to which they belonged, and by whom they would have been justly appreciated. 284 3X rsion oratlon by Mr. T. Warton, ihen professor of a runde- poetry. They were consigned to an unoc- lection. cupied room of the schools, where they re¬ main, in a state very unworthy of them. It is said, that the late Lord Litchfield once intended to rescue them from their present oblivious station, and to build a receptacle in which they might be displayed to advantage. May it be a future destination of the fund bequeathed, for the embellishment of the University, by the celebrated Dr. Ratcliffe ! By the auction at Tarthail, Dr. Mead became possessed of Lord Arundel’s favou¬ rite bronze head, long called Homer, which is introduced into his portrait by Vandyke. * 1 ’ At Dr. Mead’s sale it was purchased by Brownlow, Earl of Exeter, who gave it to the British Museum. q D’Hankerville does This is a circumstance to be lamented by everv lover of an- tient art, and the younger students of the University might have been encouraged, by frequent inspection, to cultivate the arts in theory and practice; and those who would visit foreign Museums would be no longer conspicuous only for their ignorance of the subjects they profess to admire. We might have had a better claim to assert “ Nos etiam habemus eruditos oculos.” p It is engraved in the quarto edition of Pope’s Odyssey. 1 At Worksop Manor are two portraits of the Earl and Lady Alathea Talbot, his Countess, by Paul Vansomer, jf)18. Lord A. is represented sitting, dressed in black, with the order of the 285 not allow it to be even an ideal representa- Dispersion tion of the great poet. Arunde- The Cameos and Intaglios, among which lection, is the celebrated marriage of Cupid and Psyche, were retained by a divorced Duchess of Norfolk, and bequeathed by her to her second husband, Sir John Germaine. His widow, Lady Elizabeth Germaine, gave them to her niece Miss Beauclerk, upon her mar¬ riage with Lord Charles Spencer, from whom they have passed to the present Duke of Marlborough. 11 is grace has done them ample justice, in having them drawn and en- Garter hanging from his neck. Ke points with his Marshal’s baton to several statues near him. Lord Orford, (vol. ii. p. 5. gvo.) omits these portraits. Among Vertue’s limnings of the Howard family at Norfolk House, are copies of them. Sir William Howard, when afterwards Lord Stafford, suc¬ ceeded to a house built for his mother, the Countess of Arundel, by Nicholas Stone, in lG38. It stood near Buckingham Gate, and was called Tarthall. The second share of Lord Arundel’s curiosities was deposited there, and was so valuable as to produce at a sale, in 1/20, 8S521. 11s. and the house was soon after¬ wards levelled with the ground. The principal lots were sold to the agents of Lord Oxford, and the celebrated physician and vir¬ tuoso, Dr. Mead, which have since suffered a further dispersion by the same means. One part of the catalogue of the late Duchess of Portland, was called “ The Arundelian.” An ebony Cabinet, painted by Polenburg and Van Bassan, was purchased by the Earl of Oxford for 3101. This single article is mentioned only to convey an idea of the general value of the col¬ lection. Dispersion graved by Cipriani and Bartolozzi, in the Arunde- first style of those excellent artists/ lian col- tection^ ^ 'piie “ Marmora Oxoniensa, 8 ” a very ex¬ pensive work, was published in 17^3 by Dr. Chandler, the learned and ingenious tra¬ veller into Greece and Asia Minor. He professes to have been greatly assisted in his account of the statues and their characters, by Mr. Wood, the celebrated traveller to Balbec and Palmyra. It appears, that Mr. Wood was better versed in architecture than in ancient sculp¬ ture. The drawing of the statues is, in r “ Gemmarum antiquarum delectus ex praestantioribus de- sumptus, in dactylotheca Ducis Marleburiensis, 1/83.” 2 vol. Fol. cura Jac. Bryant. Printed at the private expense of the Duke of Marlborough, and never published. A copy was sold at an auction, in 1798, for 861. VideDibdin's Bibliomania for the high prices of many single proof prints, before the books were made up, which were given at Mr. Woodhouse’s sale, 1801, p. 591. Part of this collection had been published, by Apollinn, at Rome, 1627 , and afterwards by Licetus, of Genoa. The Duke of Devonshire’s collection of gems, drawn by Sieur Gosmond, and engraved on 101 plates, (never published, but a copy is in the British Museum,) and the Dactylotheca Smithiana, purchased of Joseph Smith, Esq. Consul at Venice, with some pictures, for 20,0001. by his present Majesty, and published in two volumes *1 to. in 1767 * by Gori, beside gems of various proprietors in England, engraven and described by Ogle, (4 to. 1737,) and by Worledge, (4to. 2 vols. 1768 ,) place this country on a level with others, for rare specimens of that branch of Sculpture. 287 some instances, extremely faulty and incor- Dispersion rect, and will bear no comparison with simi- Arunde- lar works by Italian engravers. Mr. Hayley, lection, in his copious and excellent notes to his ele- gant poetical essay on sculpture, makes this observation of striking truth and propriety: “ It is much to be lamented, that almost all the prints designed to illustrate the many voluminous and costly books upon sculp¬ ture, are rather caricatures of ancient art, than a faithful copy of its perfections.” From this general censure, however, many modern works, in Italy and France, will claim an exception. The method of tracing the out¬ line only, now adopted by Visconti and Landon, and as it is practised by Piroli, is more frequently successful in giving a true idea, than by shaded engravings, which are ever liable to falsify the true effect. It would be much more satisfactory if those who pub¬ lish engravings of antique sculpture, would be scrupulous in marking out the restora¬ tions in them, or, at least, notice them in their written account. Certain it is that this 1 Quarto, 1800, p. 251. Visconti. Monum. Gabini, et Ann. de Mus. Nat. In Beckers “ Augustreum ou Gallerie de Dresde,” and in Levezow’s “ La pretendue famille de Lycomede,’' the restorations are marked by dotted lines. 288 Dispersion of the Arunde- lian col¬ lection. Pembroke Collection atWilton. plan is attended with considerable difficulty, especially in ascertaining the restored parts with a sufficient degree of precision. A me¬ thod of etching the outline, and dotting the restored parts, where known, is preferable, because the explications may be given in a language not understood by the artist of another nation. The Arundelian collection should not be inspected merely with a view of comparison with other marbles, subsequently brought into England. The consideration that some pieces of sculpture may be comparatively neither excellent nor interesting, should not deprive the whole collection of the merit due to the priority of its formation, and the ex¬ treme difficulty with which these marbles were then procured. When these statues were first brought to England, it is not improbable that they were repaired by Fanelli, who was patronized by Lord Arundel, and excelled in copying the antique in small bronze. Still, with an unphilosophical ignorance of our cli¬ mate, many were placed in gardens, and are thereby extremely injured. Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, began his collection of statues at Wilton House, about the close of the seventeenth century. He 289 purchased such of Lord Arundel’s as had Dispersion been placed in the house, and conse- Arunde- quently had escaped the injuries of this cli- lection, mate, so conspicuous in those at Oxford. They were principally busts. Lord Pem¬ broke was particularly partial to that de¬ scription of sculpture, as no less than 141 are seen at Wilton on marble pedestals. u The scrutinizing eye of the connoisseur will not allow many of this great number to be either antique or genuine portraits, as now deno¬ minated. But the Wilton collection was not formed solely from the Arundelian. When the Giustiniani marbles were dispersed, (a- mong which were 10(3 busts,) they were bought chiefly by Cardinal Albani and Lord Pembroke. Cardinal Richlieu in forming; his collection of busts, was assisted by Lord Arundel, with intelligence respecting many in Italy, which he afterwards procured. These were incorporated with Cardinal Ma¬ zarine’s marbles, many of which had been bought when Charles the First’s statues and u A catalogue of this collection, which includes 44 statues, 141 busts, 50 bas-reliefs, &c. has been repeatedly printed in the “ iEdes Pembrochianae,” particularly in a recent edition, with many classical references, and judicious observations on the arts. U 290 Dispersion pictures were exposed to public auction, by Arunde- an ordinance of parliament. When the Ma- iection* zarine collection was likewise sold, Lord Pembroke was a principal purchaser, to which were added some fine busts from the gallery ofValetta, at Naples; a complete collection of all these constitutes the present magnificent and extensive assemblage at Wilton. In surveying these splendid remains of ancient art, each visitant will form his own selection of the more admirable, indepen¬ dently of the opinions of connoisseurs, which are certainly unfavourable to many of them, with respect to originality and workmanship. During a great part, even of the lastcen- turv, the Arundel and Pembroke collections stood alone and unrivalled. A few excellent copies of the antique, in bronze or plaster, were admired as single embellishments of the palaces of our nobility. But, the more frequent ornament of libraries and saloons were busts, copied from the antique, or por¬ traits, by modern sculptors. Our national taste in gardening, borrowed from the French, and introduced by Le Notre, afforded con¬ stant employment to the mere “ carvers of images,” which seemed to take the air, in every garden, in the prevailing mode of the 291 age. Fashion universally superseded judg¬ ment or taslc. v Dr. Richard Mead had a collection in which were many excellent marbles, that were, at his death, dispersed by sale. In¬ cidental mention occurs at p. 164, of the earliest and most perfect collection of small bronzes then made in England by Mr. Kemp, w hich were sold in 1720. It contained sixty- three statues, few of which were six inches high; beside seven heads upon a similar scale, and of equal excellence. It had likewise eleven small statues, and thirty busts and heads of marble. w About the same time, Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, completed his sumptuous Dispersion of the Arunde- lian col¬ lection. v In the beginning of the last century, these magazines of images were in Piccadilly, and excited a constant topic of ridicule from all foreigners of taste. The imitations of the antique were wretched beyond all description. I remember an anecdote which belongs to that day, and will venture to give it: A gentleman had purchased two capital antique statues in marble, at Rome, had brought them to England, and placed them in his garden. His son and successor, who was not a virtuoso, had married a city lady, addicted to fashionable improvements. She directed these ill-fated marbles to be painted, in order, as she observed to her friends, that they might look like lead. w See “ Monumenta vetustatis Kempiana et vetustis scrip- toribus illustrata eosque vicissim illustrantia.” 8 vo, 1720 . “ Musaei Meadiani Pars altera quae veteri 3 aevi monumenta ac gemmascomplectitur.” 8 vo. 1^51. 292 English collections made at Rome. mansion at Holkham, in Norfolk, and fur¬ nished a gallery with statues. In 1755, the younger Brettingham, son of the architect, was commissioned by Lord Leicester to pro¬ cure antiques in Italy. 11 Their example has been partially follow¬ ed, as opportunities have occurred, either by sale of collections at Rome, or by recent discoveries. In the second volume of this work these marbles, or at least the more re¬ markable of them, shall be distinctly enu¬ merated. Within the last fifty years, three gentle¬ men established themselves at Rome, who exerted much address and knowledge of the subject, to promote a growing inclination for antique sculpture in several Englishmen of rank and opulence, who were then on their travels in Italy. Mr. James Byres, an architect, Mr. Gavin Hamilton, (who painted some subjects from the Iliad with truly clas¬ sical correctness,) and Mr. Thomas Jenkins, the English banker at Rome,* were actively u \y e c;ulll ot take leave of the Petworth Collection, without bearing testimony of unqualified approbation to the zeal, skill, and fidelity of Brettingham, who collected them, as he did all that are good, at Holkham.” Dilett. Selec. x £c Catalogo di monumenti scritti del Museo del Sig. Tom- maso Jenkins, 4to. 1787.” c 293 instrumental in recovering from oblivion or Statues re neglect, many a reliqueof antique sculpture, covered, which may vie with the choicest specimens in the galleries of the Italian Princes/ It occurred to the gentleman above mentioned, incited by the success of the sculptors, Cava- ceppf and Pacilli, that “ the campagna” had been imperfectly examined, whilst the site of Imperial Rome was become an exhausted mine. The late Popes, Gan- ganelli and Braschi, then intent upon form¬ ing the Pio-Clementine Museum, gave their permission for such searches upon the following conditions. When an excava¬ tion was made, the antiquities discovered were divided into four shares. The first was claimed by the Pope, the second by the “ camera,” or officers of state, the third by the lessees of the soil, and the last was the right of the adventurer. The Popes sometimes agreed for the pre-emption of the whole, at others, all the shares were bought by the contractors, before the ground was opened. In consequence of these r “ Callidus huic signo ponebam millia centum— Hortos, egregiasque domos mercarier unus. Cum lucro noram.” Hor. Sat. L ii. 3. v. 23 z Cavaceppi published “ Statue, &c. restaurati, 5 tom. folio. 294 Kestora- searches, the villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, the tues. city of Gabii, z and many other places in the vicinity of Rome, have amply repaid the la¬ bour of examination, and the public curiosity. The Popes and Cardinals of the Barba- rini, Borghese and Giustiani families, when they formed their collections from discove¬ ries in their territories near Rome, exhibited only the more perfect statues, or such as were capable of restoration. The fragments and torsos were then consigned to cellars, from whence they have been extracted, from time to time, by the Roman sculptors, as studies in their art. Cavaceppi, Cardelli, Bacilli, and Albacini, have restored many of them, with astonishing intelligence and skill. The elder Piranesi was equally inge¬ nious in composing vases and candelabra from small fragments of more excellent work¬ manship. These artists have found in seve¬ ral of the English nobility and gentry, a very liberal patronage. Some of those fine speci¬ mens which are now the boast of our nation have been obtained from them. Other op¬ portunities have not been wanting. The z Monument! Gabini della Villa Pinciana descritti da Ennio Quirino Visconti. in Roma, 1797* 295 well-known collections of the Barbarini, Mat- Gems, tei, and Negroni palaces and villas, have been nearly transferred by open sale, and in others, the necessities of individuals among their possessors were often secretly relieved by the occasional disappearance of a famous marble long before the distress occasioned by the French invasion/ The plan I have proposed to myself, in this little work, will not allow me, nor am I competent, from a deficiency of information, to give a detailed account 1 of Gems. Yet those exquisitely beautiful subjects of ancient art, must not be passed over in silence. A few general observations respecting the ori¬ ginal artists, and the collections of them made in England, may not be irrelevant, in this stage of our inquiry/ The study of an¬ tique Gems is that of a very pleasing and instructive branch of the art of sculpture. We find engraven on them the portraits of princes, heroes, and celebrated men, which are in general more accurately given, and with truer resemblance, than in marble or bronze, or even on medals, and are liable y Hac arte Pallas, et vagus Hercules Eductus, arces attulit Angliee .— * Watelet Diet, article. “ Pierres Gravees. to less injury from time or decay. They re¬ peat in miniature the subjects of the finest single statues, groups, or bas-reliefs ; and those not only of known marbles, but of others, of which the written descriptions only remain. They serve more especially to elucidate new discoveries of statuary, and to explain the mythology and customs of an¬ cient nations, and they exhibit symbols and literal characters, of which no other speci¬ mens are presented to us. They compress into the narrowest limits accurate represen¬ tations of beauty, strength, and grace, and add to the riches of nature, the consummate perfection of art. An accurate observer will discover as much in their smallest in¬ taglios, as their colossal figures, those uner¬ ring principles which directed the best works of the anlients. Gems consist of two kinds, Cammeos, (CammeiJ which are raised from the sur¬ face, and Intaglios, flntagli,) which are indented or carved below it. Being; more frequently engraven on hard stones, they are called gems with reference to the material, not to the workmanship/ * Coral, ivory, and mother of pearl, were sometimes used by 297 Cammeos are generally wrought in agate Wateiet. and onyx, and Intaglios in carnelion. b Pierres ‘ t gravees. The remotest origin of this elegant art v — v — has been referred to iEgypt, where the ar¬ tists, from superstition, gave the gems an oval form, which are now distinguished as “ Scarabaei.” It would not be easy to fix the aera of this invention in Greece. Pliny presumes that gem-rings were not known in the Trojan war, Plutarch advances the con¬ trary opinion. Theodorus of Samos, is the first artist upon record, about 740 years before Christ, who made the celebrated ring which the tyrant Polycrates threw into the sea. In every period of the Grecian cele¬ brity the art of intaglio has been cultivated, as a branch of sculpture, and with concomi¬ tant success. It was customary with the artists 1 ' to mark their works with their names, a chronological list of which is subjoined. c the ancients. Agate, sardonix, onyx, and jasper, were the gems usually selected by engravers. The onyx, frequently consisting of two or more laminae of different shades, was preferred for that effect. b The Collection of Baron Stosch described by Winckelmann, consisted chiefly of Intagli. h “ AiQoyXvtpoi.” We have no compound word of the precise meaning. c Artists in intaglio, anterior to the age of Alexander, were So numerous were the discoveries of these exquisite remains of ancient art, that there was scarcely a great collection of sculpture in Italy, to which a cabinet of gems was not appendant, and necessary for the mutual Theodorus of Samos, Mnesearclms, Eios, Phrygillus, Thamyrus; from Alexander to Augustus, Admon, Nisus Apollonides,Polycletus of Sicyon, Tryphon, Chronius; in the Augustan age, Acmon, Quintus Alexa, Agathopus, Aulos, Epitynchanus, Eutyches, One- sidimus. The names of the following are affixed to gems of the portraits of the Emperours, under whom they flourished : in the reign of Tiberius, iElius; of Caligula, Alpheus, and Arethon ; of Titus, Evodius and Nieander ; of Hadrian, Antiochus, Anteros, and Hellenus; of Marcus Aurelius, CEpoleon. Gori notizie Is- torichedegli intagliatori, 3 T. 8vo. 17/1 • Many other artists have designated their works to whom no particular sera can be ascribed. The Roman intagliatori are very few ; we know only of Aquilas, Felix, Quintillus, and Rufus, as being, in any degree, celebrated in their day. They wrote their names in the Greek character. Pichler, of Rome, imitated that practice, upon his excellent performances ; and Natter, by en¬ graving “ TAPOS,” or “ Adder,” which his name signifies, de¬ ceived both Winkelmann and Busching, who decided his works to be those of a Greek artist. See article “ Glyptique,” in Mil- lin’s Diet, des Beaux Arts, where this subject is very satisfactorily treated; and “ Traite de la methode antique de graver en pierres fines par L. Natter,” 1 / 60 . This work in English printed in 1/54, is extremely scarce. Natter published it at two guineas, but finding few purchasers, in a fit of spleen he burnt all the copies that remained unsold. There are many works on the general subject or particular collections, but the best are those of Winkelmann on Stosch's, Eckhel on the Vienna, and Marriette, on the Orleans Gems. 299 illustration of subiects represented. Several Collection J 1 t of Gems m cf these have passed into other countries, as England, that of the Medici to Paris, and of the Duke of Orleans to Petersburg!); but 1 shall enu- merale those only which now belong to our own, to which a great part of the Barbarini collection had been transferred by private sale, before the French had invaded Rome. Of the Arundel Gems an account has been already given. The Devonshire collection, IN]. Marchant published, in 1792 , impressions from 100 gems, executed by him during sixteen years residence at Rome, with a printed catalogue raison nee, “ Mtxpa. y.ev spya. to. zyy\ 97, and 9 8 - Milo of Croto- 313 INDEX na, 81. Enthymas the pu. gilist, 83. Ladas Apoxyome- nos, 97 , n. 98 , 101 . Disco¬ bolus in repose, 102 . Mo- riens 108. Augustus Caesar, 45, 147. Aulanius Evander, 153. BACCHUS, 48. Group with Erectheus, 85. With Tyr¬ rhenian Pirates, n. 100 . Bust of, 122 . Bas-relief, 52. Bacchante, 103. Batrachus, 159 . Bezaleel, Jewish sculptor, n. 4. Bellerophon, Group of, 31. Beauty, Definition of, 34. Bronze. ^Es of the ancients, 249 . Composition of, and art of casting, 249 . Corin¬ thian brass, 250. Copper called “ TEs,” 250. Statues most ancient, 251. Hiram, Phaenician, oldest caster in, 125. Molds for, 252, 255 ; last solid, 253. Etruscan, 253, 255. Art declined under Au¬ gustus, 22 6 . Bhyaxis, 105. Brutus Junius, 176 . Bupalus, 1/6. Busts, Account of, 59 . Of Ceres, n. high finish of, in the age of Antonines, 180. Baths of Constantine, 198 . Barbarini or Portland Vase, Ac¬ count of, 301. Bull Farnese, 128. CAMMEOS and Intaglios, 57 , 296 , 297 , 298 , 299 , 300 . Caligula, 157, n. Canachus, 79 . Candelabra, 185, n. Canephora, 106, n. Calamis, 80, 131. Calon, 131. Callimachus, 80. Chares, 123. Colon, 256. Ceres Eleusinian at Cambridge, 259 . Caracalla, 151, 152. Bust, n. 181. Claudius, deportation by, 171 ,n. Casts and models, 271 , 272 . Centaurs and Lapithae, Grou p of, b. r. Vatican, of black marble, 179 . Christie, on Etruscan Vases, treatise by, 21 to 27 . Cleopatra, 157 , &c. n. Clearchus of Rhegium, n. 62. Cleomenes 117 , 17 s. Chceraebus,statue, near Megara, n. 1 . Ctesilaus, 107 , 108. Constantine, Arch of, 182, 183. Cupid and the Graces, 67 and Psyche, 39 . INDEX. 313 Cupid, n. 6g; at Thespis, 100 , 171 , 112. Bending his bow, 115, n. Winged, 168 . With a Centaur, 173. Cypsilus, Chest of, 53, n. 73. Collections of Statues. Medici, 236. Farnese, 2 Borghese, 236 . Barbarini, 237- Al- bani, 238. Capitoline, 238. Giustiniani, 241, n. Lodovisi, 241. Odeschalchi, 241, n. Pamphili, 241, n. Negroni, Villa D’Este, 241, 11 . Pio- Clementine, 23 9 . Vatican. Colossus of Nero, 256, 161 . Constantinople, Collection of Grecian statues of, 192 . Costume, Essays on, by Lens, 21 , n. D7EDALUS, 74 , 119 . Da me as of Crotona, 81. Design, Arts of, in Greece, 32, D’Hankerville, Etruscan vases, n. 18, 122 . Diana Mouth of, 46. British Mus. 4g. Dilettanti Specimens, 20 , 35, 44, S4, 103, 104, 105, 110, 114, 120, 133, 151, 160, 174,200, 207 , 209 . Collectors, Eng¬ lish, at Rome, 292 . Dii. Manes, l64, n. Diogenes of Athens, 159 . Dione, Townleian, 104. Dibutades, 7 *L 129. Dirce, 127. Discoboli, 84,231, or Athletae in different attitudes, 232, 233. Dioscuri, 95 , n. DiopoENusand Scyllis, 78. Domitian, Head of, 173. Doryphorus, Canon of Polycle- tus, n. 98 . EGYPTIAN sculpture, ./Eras of, n. 8 , 9 . modern, 16 . Eleusinian Mysteries, Account of, and extracts from, 22, 27 . Endymion, n. 85. Etruscan sculpture in vases, 17 . Etruscan Paterae, 29 . Mr. Hawkins’s bronze Patera, n. 29 . Second manner, 30. Euphranor, 188, n, Eupompus, 61. FANELLI, 272 . Faunus, 48, 49 , 112 . Of the Capitol, 115, n. Barbarini, Florentine, 113, n. with Cu¬ pid, 115. Florentine gallery. Account of, 269 , 271 . Ganymedes, 107 . Germanicus, Statue of, 79 . Genii, 168 . Bronze, 253. 314 INDEX. Gems, Marlborough, 286, 2Q5. Study of, 296. Collections of, 299. Gladiator Moriens, 108, 228. Borghese, 170 , 227. Glaucus of Chios, first statuary in iron, n. 2. 77, Glycon, 178 . The Graces, 52. In gold, 79 , 97 , in bas-relief. Greek artists first brought to Rome by Pompey, 146. HADRIAN, 176. Hamilton, Sir William, Etrus¬ can vases, 18. Haruspex Etruscan, 31. Hebe, 128. Hegias or Hegesias, n. 95,131. Heads as fragments, 60 . Hercules, 48, 67 , 7 5 , 123. Farnese, 128. Torso of, 128, 139, n. 146, 165 , 206 . At Aubergne in France, l/l. Or Commodus, 187- With Telephus, 218. Farnese, 219 . Herraaphroditus, 39, 117, sleep¬ ing ; repetitions of, n. four, in marble. Hesperides at Olympia, 251, 79 . Hope’s Essay on Costume, n. 21 . Homer, Bronze head of, 284. Hygeia with JEsculapins, 240. Horses, four bronze, of Chios, p. 21 . Horses in Rome, and equestrian statues, p. 256, Holkham, Collection at, 291 , ICONOCLASTS, 195 . Instructions for the restoration of statues, 264. Intagliatori. Greek, Roman, and modern, 298 . Isis Florentine, 42. Janus, 59 . Julius Caesar, 140, 158. Juno, 42. Of Argos, 97 . Of Samos removed to Constan¬ tinople, 192 . Jupiter, 7- Ammon, bronze 14. Jupiter Homeri, 47 , Jupiter, n. 47 . n. 48, 52’ Colossal, 66 . At Elis, 88 . 93. Verospi and Marbrook hall, n. 88 . 89 . Olympic, 91 , 129 . Of Phidias, 97 . Colossal, at Tarentum, 120 . Laches, 123. Lanzi, on Etruscan vases, 18. Laocoon, 38, 50, 125, n, 126 , n. 127 , 129, 174 , 208 Lares or Penates, Account of, 67 , 163. Lararium, 165 . Usage among the Romans, 166 , n. Learchus of Rhegium, n. 77* Le Soeur, 272. Leochares, 105,107, n. Lions, Capitol, and Aqua Felice, 15. Lysippus, n. 32, 6l, IO9, 113> 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123; n. 129; 130. n. 152. INDEX. 115 Lysistratus, n. 58. Lycomedes, Daughters of, 273, □. MALAS of Chios, 62 , 77 . Marmora Oxoniensia, 286. Macrinus, bust, 152. Mausolus, Tomb of, 105. Maximin, 189- Mercury or Antinous, 45, 213 > n.47, 49 . Group, 50. Her¬ mes of wood, 58, 59 , 165. By Ingenuus, sculptor, 181, n. Meleager, 230. Menecrates, 128. Minerva at Platea, n. 7- Minerva, 38—42; n. 47, 49, 52. Colossal, 66 , 68 . Pantheon, 94 . Mithridates, 181. Monte Cavallo, 63. Muses, 117 . Three collections of, n. Myron, 83, 85,86, 87 , 96 , 131. Mys, 53. Marble. Basalt, 242. In Asia Minor, 244. White, 244. White and Blue, 242. From Mount Pentelicus, Hymettus and Prion, 244. Attic mar¬ bles, 245. Pentelic modern Cipollino, 245. Lychnites from Mount Marpessus, 247 . Parian and Luna, 247- Va¬ riegated marbles, 248. Les¬ bian, Lybian, Obsidian, and Pelinean, 248. Corinthian, 248. Phrygian, 249 . Medici Family, 202 , 203. Musaeum, Meadianum, and Kempianum, 164, 291 . NAUCIDES, 101. Nemesis, Q2, 100 . Neptune, n.47, 251. Nero, age of, 172 . Nerva, 173. Ninus, Bronze statue of, 4. Niobe, Florentine, 33, 38, 44. Sons of, 50, 102 , 125. Head of, 103. Group of, at Flo¬ rence, 221 . OLYMPIC games. Five, De¬ scription of, n. 81. Osiris, Mr. P. Knight’s collect tion of small bronzes, n. 11 . PALLADIUM of Troy, 8 Pamphilus, 61. Panathenseon, n. 55, QQ . Papias, 179. Parthenon, relics of, 55, 99 . Pasiteles, 149, 152. Pausidippus, 240. Pausanias, n. 7 3. Paterae, Etruscan, 29 . Peace, Temple of, 173 . 316 INDEX. Pericles, 6l, 86, Q3, Q3, 109, 109, 133 > 154. Phidias, 7> 47, 52, 61, 62, 66 , 80, 86, 87, 88, 91, 93, 94, 96, 99 , 100, 102, 107, 108, 199, 122, 130. Philippus sen. bust 152, n. Philiscus, Four Muses by, 159. Phryne, 112, 114, 115. Plinius Secundus, n. 72. Polydorus, 142. Polycles, 39, 51, 77, U7. Porphyry, 243. Varieties of, 244. Polycletus, 52, 63, 68, 83, 87> 95, 96, 102, 106, n. 107, 121 . Pompey in the Spada palace, 155. Portraits, Roman, 169, 172, Praxiteles, 46, 51, n.68. n.69, 86, 103, 105, 108, 109, 111, 113, 114, II9, 122, 129, 130. Priapus, 7- Prometheus, 73. Psolus, Bronze statue of, 4. Pupienus, I89. PYTHARAGASofRhegium, 36, n. 6'2, 33. RELIEVO, Three kinds of, 53. 1. High or full. 2. Half or middle, 3. Low relief. Restoration of statues, 257, 2 94. Rhaecus, 75, 77- SATYRS, 48. 49. Group with a nymph, 89, n. 112. Sauroctonos, n. 110, 112. n. Scarabaei Pelasgo Greek, n. 17. Septimius Severus, 152, 188. Scopas, 102, 105, n. 106. Sculpture, Origin of, 1. ./Egyp¬ tian 8. Etruscan, 30. Schools of, in Greece, 71. At iEgyna, Corinth and Sicyon, 7 3 , at Chios, 78. More antient than painting, 10. Semiramis, bronze Statue of, 4. Severus Alexander, Colossal sta¬ tue of, 190. Septimius, Arch of, 188. Smillis, 75. Seneca, 173 Sphynx, great Borghese, 15. Statues, Kinds of, 65. Colossal, 6. In wood, 74. At Argos, 78. Two by Scopas, in Eng¬ land, 104. Of Horatius, Codes, Clelia, and Curtius, 140. Deportation of Grecian statues to Rome, 144. n. List of equestrian, 181. Few de¬ stroyed by the Goths and Lombards, 198, 264. Cri¬ tical examination of, recom¬ mended, 271. Royal Collec¬ tions in Europe, 272, 275, 276 . INDEX. 317 Sculptors, modern, Failure of in copying the antique, p. 267, 275. Statuaries and sculptors in Greece, Series of, 82. Greek, Pliny's list of, 15g. Statues, design and size of, 65. Heads of, removed by Cali¬ gula, I89. Discovery of, 26']. Discovery of, at TEgina, 196. Destroyed by Sabinus, 199. Deportations by Au- relian and Constantine, 199. Heroic, or Achilleae, 263 . Of silver, 194. Stkongylion, 95. Styles, Four, assigned by Win- kelmann to the Greeks, 130. TAURICUS, 127. Telecx es, 76 . Terminal, or Hermoean statues, 58. Terra Cotta, -1(5, 169. Terminus, 7. Temples, Richest in Greece, 137. Theocles of Laconia, 78. Theodosius, 184. Timotheus, 105. Titus, Arch of, 182. Toreurna, 53, 97, 153. Toro, or Farnese bull, 127. Trajan, 175. Arches, 182. Column, Description of, 183. Trebonianus, Bust of, I89. Tuscanica Signa, 6. VASA Necro-Corinthia, n. 19. Vasa Thericlea, n. 19. Vases at Herculaneum, Pom¬ peii, and Stabiae, 28. 29. E- truscan, 17, 28. Celebrated collections of, 28, n. Me- dician, Vatican, Neapolitan, p. 27. St. Ildephonso, Ha¬ milton, B. Museum, Impe¬ rial Museum, at Paris. Mr* T. Hope, n. 28. Bacchic, Lord Warwick’s and Lord Cawdor's, 186, 187. Town- leian, 187. Venus at Paphos, 6. Venus de Medici, 40, 214, 42, 50,52. Caelestis, n. 43, 44. Dimensions of, 46 and n. Urania, 67, n. 68. Crouching, n. 80, of the gardens, 99, 103. With Pothos and Phaeton, 104, 106. Of Gnidus, 111. Coan, 112. Genetrix, 147, 156. Of the Capitol, 229. Urbs Roma, 168. Verres, Gallery of, 136, n. Villa of Hadrian, 185, 186. Lanti, I87. WORKMANS PI IP and polish of statues, 60. Wilton Collection, 288. Ac¬ count of, 289. Wrestlers at Florence, 221. ZENO, 179. Zenooorus, 171, 172. Zethus, 127, 12S, n. Zeuxippus, Baths of, 193. T. Bensley, Printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London, PROSPECTUS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. Section 6.— Historical Introduction respect¬ ing collections of Statues now in England. A series of Catalogues raisonnees of English Collections, with copious Notes and Illustrations, formed on a comparison with similar Marbles at Paris, Rome, Sec. and extracted from the published descriptions of them, and the Letters of the late Gavin Hamilton to the late Charles Townley, Esq. relalive to discoveries among the ruins of Hadrian’s Villa, near Tivoli. Section 7- —On the revival of the art of Statuary and Sculpture in Italy and France. A general view of its progress in those countries, with a chronological account of the artists of whom the Italian and French schools con¬ sisted. Critical observations on their more celebrated works. The modern French school of Sculpture. Section 8.—The History of Sculpture, from the earliest usage in England. Originally architectural, or applied to sepulchral effigies. Borrowed from France, but eminently practised by Englishmen, before the introduc¬ tion of Italian artists, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. Fashion of Sepulchral Monuments peculiar to the age of Elizabeth, James and Charles the First. English Artists’ Names, with their principal Works, as in the preceding section. The style of Rysbrack and Roubiliac compared with that then prevalent on the Continent. Concerning Sculpture in England, since the establishment of the Royal Academy, and the residence of our artists in Italy. Ac¬ count of National Monuments in St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, See. Sec. \ ' - • ui V4 ? WMiwMi Wmm§- ^8/S / /•> Ml / Mp|fe IPip^ ~*^N:. N.S 1/ X (r :- '■ V~ -V Vt*- ' -V. teST^f*