Travels Through France And Italy - Tobias Smollett (diy ebook reader .TXT) 📗

For Them In Vain

Amidst The Groves Of Italy. In The Garden Of The Villa Pinciana,

There Is A Plantation Of Four Hundred Pines, Which The Italians

View With Rapture And Admiration: There Is Likewise A Long Walk,

Of Trees Extending From The Garden-Gate To The Palace; And Plenty

Of Shade, With Alleys And Hedges In Different Parts Of The

Ground: But The Groves Are Neglected; The Walks Are Laid With 

Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 252

Nothing But Common Mould Or Sand, Black And Dusty; The Hedges Are

Tall, Thin And Shabby; The Trees Stunted; The Open Ground, Brown

And Parched, Has Scarce Any Appearance Of Verdure. The Flat,

Regular Alleys Of Evergreens Are Cut Into Fantastic Figures; The

Flower Gardens Embellished With Thin Cyphers And Flourished

Figures In Box, While The Flowers Grow In Rows Of Earthen-Pots,

And The Ground Appears As Dusky As If It Was Covered With The

Cinders Of A Blacksmith's Forge. The Water, Of Which There Is

Great Plenty, Instead Of Being Collected In Large Pieces, Or

Conveyed In Little Rivulets And Streams To Refresh The Thirsty

Soil, Or Managed So As To Form Agreeable Cascades, Is Squirted

From Fountains In Different Parts Of The Garden, Through Tubes

Little Bigger Than Common Glyster-Pipes. It Must Be Owned Indeed

That The Fountains Have Their Merit In The Way Of Sculpture And

Architecture; And That Here Is A Great Number Of Statues Which

Merit Attention: But They Serve Only To Encumber The Ground, And

Destroy That Effect Of Rural Simplicity, Which Our Gardens Are

Designed To Produce. In A Word, Here We See A Variety Of Walks

And Groves And Fountains, A Wood Of Four Hundred Pines, A Paddock

With A Few Meagre Deer, A Flower-Garden, An Aviary, A Grotto, And

A Fish-Pond; And In Spite Of All These Particulars, It Is, In My

Opinion, A Very Contemptible Garden, When Compared To That Of

Stowe In Buckinghamshire, Or Even To Those Of Kensington And

Richmond. The Italians Understand, Because They Study, The

Excellencies Of Art; But They Have No Idea Of The Beauties Of

Nature. This Villa Pinciana, Which Belongs To The Borghese

Family, Would Make A Complete Academy For Painting And Sculpture,

Especially For The Study Of Antient Marbles; For, Exclusive Of

The Statues And Busts In The Garden, And The Vast Collection In

The Different Apartments, Almost The Whole Outside Of The House

Is Covered With Curious Pieces In Basso And Alto Relievo. The

Most Masterly Is That Of Curtius On Horseback, Leaping Into The

Gulph Or Opening Of The Earth, Which Is Said To Have Closed On

Receiving This Sacrifice. Among The Exhibitions Of Art Within The

House, I Was Much Struck With A Bacchus, And The Death Of

Meleager, Represented On An Antient Sepulchre. There Is Also An

Admirable Statue Of Silenus, With The Infant Bacchus In His Arms;

A Most Beautiful Gladiator; A Curious Moor Of Black Marble, With

A Shirt Of White Alabaster; A Finely Proportioned Bull Of Black

Marble Also, Standing Upon A Table Of Alabaster; A Black Gipsey

With A Head, Hands, And Feet Of Brass; And The Famous

Hermaphrodite, Which Vies With That Of Florence: Though The Most

Curious Circumstance Of This Article, Is The Mattrass Executed

And Placed By Bernini, With Such Art And Dexterity, That To The

View, It Rivals The Softness Of Wool, And Seems To Retain The

Marks Of Pressure, According To The Figure Of The Superincumbent

Statue. Let Us Likewise Own, For The Honour Of The Moderns, That

The Same Artist Has Produced Two Fine Statues, Which We Find

Among The Ornaments Of This Villa, Namely, A David With His Sling

In The Attitude Of Throwing The Stone At The Giant Goliah; And A

Daphne Changing Into Laurel At The Approach Of Apollo. On The

Base Of This Figure, Are The Two Following Elegant Lines, Written

By Pope Urban Viii. In His Younger Years.

 

Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 253

 

 

Quisquis Amans Sequitur Fugitivae Gaudia Formae,

Fronde Manus Implet, Baccas Vel Carpit Amaras.

 

 

 

Who Pants For Fleeting Beauty, Vain Pursuit!

Shall Barren Leaves Obtain, Or Bitter Fruit.

 

 

 

I Ought Not To Forget Two Exquisite Antique Statues Of Venus, The

Weeping Slave, And The Youth Pulling A Thorn Out Of His Foot.

 

 

 

I Do Not Pretend To Give A Methodical Detail Of The Curiosities

Of Rome: They Have Been Already Described By Different Authors,

Who Were Much Better Qualified Than I Am For The Talk: But You

Shall Have What Observations I Made On The Most Remarkable

Objects, Without Method, Just As They Occur To My Remembrance;

And I Protest The Remarks Are All My Own: So That If They Deserve

Any Commendation, I Claim All The Merit; And If They Are

Impertinent, I Must Be Contented To Bear All The Blame.

 

 

 

The Piazza Of St. Peter's Church Is Altogether Sublime. The

Double Colonnade On Each Side Extending In A Semi-Circular Sweep,

The Stupendous Aegyptian Obelisk, The Two Fountains, The Portico,

And The Admirable Facade Of The Church, Form Such An Assemblage

Of Magnificent Objects, As Cannot Fail To Impress The Mind With

Awe And Admiration: But The Church Would Have Produced A Still

Greater Effect, Had It Been Detached Entirely From The Buildings

Of The Vatican, It Would Then Have Been A Master-Piece Of

Architecture, Complete In All Its Parts, Intire And Perfect:

Whereas, At Present, It Is No More Than A Beautiful Member

Attached To A Vast Undigested And Irregular Pile Of Building. As

To The Architecture Of This Famous Temple, I Shall Say Nothing;

Neither Do I Pretend To Describe The Internal Ornaments. The

Great Picture Of Mosaic Work, And That Of St. Peter's Bark Tossed

By The Tempest, Which Appear Over The Gate Of The Church, Though

Rude In Comparison With Modern Pieces, Are Nevertheless Great

Curiosities, When Considered As The Work Of Giotto, Who

Flourished In The Beginning Of The Fourteenth Century. His Master

Was Cimabue, Who Learned Painting And Architecture Of The Grecian

Artists, Who Came From Constantinople, And First Revived These

Arts In Italy. But, To Return To St. Peter's, I Was Not At All

Pleased With The Famous Statue Of The Dead Christ In His Mother's

Lap, By Michael Angelo. The Figure Of Christ Is As Much

Emaciated, As If He Had Died Of A Consumption: Besides, There Is

Something Indelicate, Not To Say Indecent, In The Attitude And

Design Of A Man's Body, Stark Naked, Lying Upon The Knees Of A 

Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 254

Woman. Here Are Some Good Pictures, I Should Rather Say Copies Of

Good Pictures, Done In Mosaic To Great Perfection; Particularly A

St. Sebastian By Domenichino, And Michael The Archangel, From A,

Painting Of Guido Rheni. I Am Extremely Fond Of All This Artist's

Pieces. There Is A Tenderness And Delicacy In His Manner; And His

Figures Are All Exquisitely Beautiful, Though His Expression Is

Often Erroneous, And His Attitudes Are Always Affected And

Unnatural. In This Very Piece The Archangel Has All The Air Of A

French Dancing-Master; And I Have Seen A Madonna By The Same

Hand, I Think It Is In The Palazzo Di Barberini, In Which, Though

The Figures Are Enchanting, The Virgin Is Represented Holding Up

The Drapery Of The Infant, With The Ridiculous Affectation Of A

Singer On The Stage Of Our Italian Opera. The Mosaic Work, Though

Brought To A Wonderful Degree Of Improvement, And Admirably

Calculated For Churches, The Dampness Of Which Is Pernicious To

The Colours Of The Pallet, I Will Not Yet Compare To The

Productions Of The Pencil. The Glassyness (If I May Be Allowed

The Expression) Of The Surface, Throws, In My Opinion, A False

Light On Some Parts Of The Picture; And When You Approach It, The

Joinings Of The Pieces Look Like So Many Cracks On Painted

Canvas. Besides, This Method Is Extremely Tedious And Expensive.

I Went To See The Artists At Work, In A House That Stands Near

The Church, Where I Was Much Pleased With The Ingenuity Of The

Process; And Not A Little Surprized At The Great Number Of

Different Colours And Tints, Which Are Kept In Separate Drawers,

Marked With Numbers As Far As Seventeen Thousand. For A Single

Head Done In Mosaic, They Asked Me Fifty Zequines. But To Return

To The Church. The Altar Of St. Peter's Choir, Notwithstanding

All The Ornaments Which Have Been Lavished Upon It, Is No More

Than A Heap Of Puerile Finery, Better Adapted To An Indian Pagod,

Than To A Temple Built Upon The Principles Of The Greek

Architecture. The Four Colossal Figures That Support The Chair,

Are Both Clumsy And Disproportioned. The Drapery Of Statues,

Whether In Brass Or Stone, When Thrown Into Large Masses, Appears

Hard And Unpleasant To The Eye And For That Reason The Antients

Always Imitated Wet Linen, Which Exhibiting The Shape Of The

Limbs Underneath, And Hanging In A Multiplicity Of Wet Folds,

Gives An Air Of Lightness, Softness, And Ductility To The Whole.

 

 

 

These Two Statues Weigh 116,257 Pounds, And As They Sustain

Nothing But A Chair, Are Out Of All Proportion, Inasmuch As The

Supporters Ought To Be Suitable To The Things Supported. Here Are

Four Giants Holding Up The Old Wooden Chair Of The Apostle Peter,

If We May Believe The Book De Identitate Cathedrae Romanae, Of

The Identity Of The Roman Chair. The Implements Of Popish

Superstition; Such As Relicks Of Pretended Saints, Ill-Proportioned

Spires And Bellfreys, And The Nauseous Repetition Of

The Figure Of The Cross, Which Is In Itself A Very Mean And

Disagreeable Object, Only Fit For The Prisons Of Condemned

Criminals, Have Contributed To Introduce A Vitious Taste Into The

External Architecture, As Well As In The Internal Ornaments Of

Our Temples. All Churches Are Built In The Figure Of A Cross, 

Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 255