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

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 267

The Pontifex Maximus, And The Flaminisdiales In The Capitol, To

Avenge The Impiety Of My Children; And The Priests Of Sylvanus

Shall Engage To Bring My Remains To Rome And See Them Decently

Deposited In My Own Sepulchre. It Is Also My Will That All My

Domestic Slaves Shall Be Declared Free By The City Praetor, And

Dismissed With Their Mothers, After Having Received Each, A Suit

Of Cloaths, And A Pound Weight Of Pure Silver From My Heirs And

Executors.--At My Farm In Lusitania, July 25. During The Viriatin

War.

 

 

 

My Paper Scarce Affords Room To Assure You That I Am Ever,--Dear

Sir, Your Faithful, Etc.

 

 

 

Letter Xxxiii

 

 

 

Nice, March 30, 1765.

 

 

 

Dear Sir,--You Must Not Imagine I Saw One Half Of The Valuable

Pictures And Statues Of Rome; There Is Such A Vast Number Of Both

In This Capital, That I Might Have Spent A Whole Year In Taking

Even A Transient View Of Them; And, After All, Some Of Them Would

Have Been Overlooked. The Most Celebrated Pieces, However, I Have

Seen; And Therefore My Curiosity Is Satisfied. Perhaps, If I Had

The Nice Discernment And Delicate Sensibility Of A True

Connoisseur, This Superficial Glimpse Would Have Served Only To

Whet My Appetite, And To Detain Me The Whole Winter At Rome. In

My Progress Through The Vatican, I Was Much Pleased With The

School Of Athens, By Raphael, A Piece Which Hath Suffered From

The Dampness Of The Air. The Four Boys Attending To The

Demonstration Of The Mathematician Are Admirably Varied In The

Expression. Mr. Webb's Criticism On This Artist Is Certainly

Just. He Was Perhaps The Best Ethic Painter That Ever The World

Produced. No Man Ever Expressed The Sentiments So Happily, In

Visage, Attitude, And Gesture: But He Seems To Have Had Too Much

Phlegm To Strike Off The Grand Passions, Or Reach The Sublime

Parts Of Painting. He Has The Serenity Of Virgil, But Wants The

Fire Of Homer. There Is Nothing In His Parnassus Which Struck Me,

But The Ludicrous Impropriety Of Apollo's Playing Upon A Fiddle,

For The Entertainment Of The Nine Muses. [Upon Better Information

I Must Retract This Censure; In As Much, As I Find There Was

Really A Musical Instrument Among The Antients Of This Figure, As

Appears By A Small Statue In Bronze, To Be Still Seen In The

Florentine Collection.]

 

 

 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 268

The Last Judgment, By Buonaroti, In The Chapel Of Sixtus Iv.

Produced To My Eye The Same Sort Of Confusion, That Perplexes My

Ear At A Grand Concert, Consisting Of A Great Variety Of

Instruments: Or Rather, When A Number Of People Are Talking All

At Once. I Was Pleased With The Strength Of Expression, Exhibited

In Single Figures, And Separate Groupes: But, The Whole Together

Is A Mere Mob, Without Subordination, Keeping, Or Repose. A

Painter Ought To Avoid All Subjects That Require A Multiplicity

Of Groupes And Figures; Because It Is Not In The Power Of That

Art To Unite A Great Number In One Point Of View, So As To

Maintain That Dependence Which They Ought To Have Upon One

Another. Michael Angelo, With All His Skill In Anatomy, His

Correctness Of Design, His Grand Composition, His Fire, And Force

Of Expression, Seems To Have Had Very Little Idea Of Grace. One

Would Imagine He Had Chosen His Kings, Heroes, Cardinals, And

Prelates, From Among The Facchini Of Rome: That He Really Drew

His Jesus On The Cross, From The Agonies Of Some Vulgar Assassin

Expiring On The Wheel; And That The Originals Of His Bambini,

With Their Mothers, Were Literally Found In A Stable. In The Sala

Regia, From Whence The Sistian Chapel Is Detached, We See, Among

Other Exploits Of Catholic Heroes, A Representation Of The

Massacre Of The Protestants In Paris, Tholouse, And Other Parts

Of France, On The Eve Of St. Bartholomew, Thus Described In The

Descrizione Di Roma, "Nella Prima Pittura, Esprime Georgio Vasari

L'istoria Del Coligni, Grand' Amiraglio, Di Francia, Che Come

Capo De Ribelli, E Degl'ugonotti, Fu Ucciso; E Nell'altra Vicina,

La Strage Fatta In Parigi, E Nel Regno, De Rebelli, E

Degl'ugonotti." "In The First Picture, George Vasari Represents

The History Of Coligni, High Admiral Of France, Who Was Slain As

Head Of The Rebels And Huegonots; And In Another Near It, The

Slaughter That Was Made Of The Rebels And Huegonots In Paris And

Other Parts Of The Kingdom." Thus The Court Of Rome Hath Employed

Their Artists To Celebrate And Perpetuate, As A Meritorious

Action, The Most Perfidious, Cruel, And Infamous Massacre, That

Ever Disgraced The Annals Of Any Nation.

 

 

 

I Need Not Mention The Two Equestrian Statues Of Constantine The

Great, And Charlemagne, Which Stand At Opposite Ends Of The Great

Portico Of St. Peter's Church; Because There Is Nothing In Them

Which Particularly Engaged My Attention. The Sleeping Cleopatra,

As You Enter The Court Of The Belvedere, In The Vatican, Is Much

Admired; But I Was Better Pleased With The Apollo, Which I Take

To Be The Most Beautiful Statue That Ever Was Formed. The Nile,

Which Lies In The Open Court, Surmounted With The Little

Children, Has Infinite Merit; But Is Much Damaged, And Altogether

Neglected. Whether It Is The Same Described In Pliny, As Having

Been Placed By Vespasian In The Temple Of Peace, I Do Not Know.

The Sixteen Children Playing About It, Denoted The Swelling Of

The Nile, Which Never Rose Above Sixteen Cubits. As For The

Famous Groupe Of Laocoon, It Surpassed My Expectation. It Was Not

Without Reason That Buonaroti Called It A Portentous Work; And

Pliny Has Done It No More Than Justice In Saying It Is The Most 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 269

Excellent Piece That Ever Was Cut In Marble; And Yet The Famous

Fulvius Ursini Is Of Opinion That This Is Not The Same Statue

Which Pliny Described. His Reasons, Mentioned By Montfaucon, Are

These. The Statues Described By Pliny Were Of One Stone; But

These Are Not. Antonioli, The Antiquary, Has In His Possession,

Pieces Of Laocoon's Snakes, Which Were Found In The Ground, Where

The Baths Of Titus Actually Stood, Agreeable To Pliny, Who Says

These Statues Were Placed In The Buildings Of Titus. Be That As

It May, The Work Which We Now See Does Honour To Antiquity. As

You Have Seen Innumerable Copies And Casts Of It, In Marble,

Plaister, Copper, Lead, Drawings, And Prints, And Read The

Description Of It In Keysler, And Twenty Other Books Of Travels,

I Shall Say Nothing More On The Subject; But That Neither They

Nor I, Nor Any Other Person, Could Say Too Much In Its Praise. It

Is Not Of One Piece Indeed. In That Particular Pliny Himself

Might Be Mistaken. "Opus Omnibus Et Picturae, Et Statuariae Artis

Praeponendum. Ex Uno Lapide Eum Et Liberos Draconumque Mirabiles

Nexus De Consilii Sententia Fecere Succubi Artifices." "A Work

Preferable To All The Other Efforts Of Painting And Statuary. The

Most Excellent Artists Joined Their Talents In Making The Father

And His Sons, Together With The Admirable Twinings Of The

Serpents, Of One Block." Buonaroti Discovered The Joinings,

Though They Were So Artfully Concealed As To Be Before Invisible.

This Amazing Groupe Is The Work Of Three Rhodian Sculptors,

Called Agesander, Polydore, And Athenodorus, And Was Found In The

Thermae Of Titus Vespasian, Still Supposing It To Be The True

Antique. As For The Torso, Or Mutilated Trunk Of A Statue, Which

Is Called The School Of Michael Angelo, I Had Not Time To

Consider It Attentively; Nor Taste Enough To Perceive Its

Beauties At First Sight. The Famous Horses On Monte Cavallo,

Before The Pope's Palace, Which Are Said To Have Been Made In

Emulation, By Phidias And Praxiteles, I Have Seen, And Likewise

Those In The Front Of The Capitol, With The Statues Of Castor And

Pollux; But What Pleased Me Infinitely More Than All Of Them

Together, Is The Equestrian Statue Of Corinthian Brass, Standing

In The Middle Of This Piazza (I Mean At The Capitol) Said To

Represent The Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Others Suppose It Was

Intended For Lucius Verus; A Third Set Of Antiquaries Contend For

Lucius Septimius Severus; And A Fourth, For Constantine, Because

It Stood In The Piazza Of The Lateran Palace, Built By That

Emperor, From Whence Pope Paul Iii. Caused It To Be Removed To

The Capitol. I Considered The Trophy Of Marius As A Very Curious

Piece Of Sculpture, And Admired The Two Sphinxes At The Bottom Of

The Stairs Leading To This Piazza, As The Only Good Specimens Of

Design I Have Ever Seen From Aegypt: For The Two Idols Of That

Country, Which Stand In The Ground Floor Of The Musaeum Of The

Capitol, And Indeed All The Aegyptian Statues In The Camera

Aegyptiaca Of This Very Building, Are Such Monstrous

Misrepresentations Of Nature, That They Never Could Have Obtained

A Place Among The Statues Of Rome, Except As Curiosities Of

Foreign Superstition, Or On Account Of The Materials, As They Are

Generally Of Basaltes, Porphyry, Or Oriental Granite.

 

 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 270

 

At The Farther End Of The Court Of This Musaeum, Fronting The

Entrance, Is A Handsome Fountain, With The Statue Of A River-God

Reclining On His Urn; This Is No Other Than The Famous Marforio,

So Called From Its Having Been Found In Martis Fore. It Is

Remarkable Only As Being The Conveyance Of The Answers To The

Satires Which Are Found Pasted Upon Pasquin, Another Mutilated

Statue, Standing At The Corner Of A Street.

 

 

 

The Marble Coffin, Supposed To Have Contained The Ashes Of

Alexander Severus, Which We Find In One Of These Apartments, Is A

Curious Antique, Valuable For Its Sculpture In Basso Relievo,

Especially For The Figures On The Cover, Representilig That

Emperor And His Mother Julia Mammea.

 

 

 

I Was Sorry I Had Not Time To Consider The Antient Plan Of Rome,

Disposed In Six Classes, On The Stair-Case Of This Musaeum, Which

Was Brought Hither From A Temple That Stood In The Forum Boarium,

Now Called Campo Vaccine.

 

 

 

It Would Be Ridiculous In Me To Enter Into A Detail Of The Vast

Collection Of Marbles, Basso