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

Relievos, Inscriptions, Urns, Busts,

And Statues, Which Are Placed In The Upper Apartments Of This

Edifice. I Saw Them But Once, And Then I Was Struck With The

Following Particulars. A Bacchanalian Drunk; A Jupiter And Leda,

At Least Equal To That In The Gallery At Florence; An Old

Praesica, Or Hired Mourner, Very Much Resembling Those Wrinkled

Hags Still Employed In Ireland, And In The Highlands Of Scotland,

To Sing The Coronach At Funerals, In Praise Of The Deceased; The

Famous Antinous, An Elegant Figure, Which Pousin Studied As Canon

Or Rule Of Symmetry; The Two Fauns; And Above All The Mirmillone,

Or Dying Gladiator; The Attitude Of The Body, The Expression Of

The Countenance, The Elegance Of The Limbs, And The Swelling Of

The Muscles, In This Statue, Are Universally Admired; But The

Execution Of The Back Is Incredibly Delicate. The Course Of The

Muscles Called Longissimi Dorsi, Are So Naturally Marked And

Tenderly Executed, That The Marble Actually Emulates The Softness

Of The Flesh; And You May Count All The Spines Of The Vertebrae,

Raising Up The Skin As In The Living Body; Yet This Statue, With

All Its Merit, Seems Inferior To The Celebrated Dying Gladiator

Of Ctesilas, As Described By Pliny, Who Says The Expression Of It

Was Such, As Appears Altogether Incredible. In The Court, On The

Opposite Side Of The Capitol, There Is An Admirable Statue Of A

Lion Devouring An Horse, Which Was Found By The Gate Of Ostia,

Near The Pyramid Of Caius Cestius; And Here On The Left Hand,

Under A Colonade, Is What They Call The Columna Rostrata, Erected

In Honour Of Caius Duilius, Who First Triumphed Over The

Carthaginians By Sea. But This Is A Modern Pillar, With The Old 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 271

Inscription, Which Is So Defaced As Not To Be Legible. Among The

Pictures In The Gallery And Saloon Above, What Pleased Me Most

Was The Bacchus And Ariadne Of Guido Rheni; And The Wolf Suckling

Romulus And Remus, By Rubens. The Court Of The Palazzo Farnese Is

Surrounded With Antique Statues, Among Which The Most Celebrated

Are, The Flora, With A Most Delicate Drapery; The Gladiator, With

A Dead Boy Over His Shoulder; The Hercules, With The Spoils Of

The Nemean Lion, But That Which The Connoisseurs Justly Esteem

Above All The Rest Is Hercules, By Glycon, Which You Know As Well

As I Do, By The Great Reputation It Has Acquired. This Admirable

Statue Having Been Found Without The Legs, These Were Supplied By

Gulielmo De La Porta So Happily, That When Afterwards The

Original Limbs Were Discovered, Michael Angelo Preferred Those Of

The Modern Artist, Both In Grace And Proportion; And They Have

Been Retained Accordingly. In A Little House, Or Shed, Behind The

Court, Is Preserved The Wonderful Group Of Dirce, Commonly Called

The Toro Farnese, Which Was Brought Hither From The Thermae

Caracallae. There Is Such Spirit, Ferocity, And Indignant

Resistance Expressed In The Bull, To Whose Horns Dirce Is Tied By

The Hair, That I Have Never Seen Anything Like It, Either Upon

Canvass, Or In Stone. The Statues Of The Two Brothers

Endeavouring To Throw Him Into The Sea Are Beautiful Figures,

Finely Contrasted; And The Rope, Which One Of Them Holds In A

Sort Of Loose Coil, Is So Surprisingly Chizzelled, That One Can

Hardly Believe It Is Of Stone. As For Dirce Herself, She Seems To

Be But A Subaltern Character; There Is A Dog Upon His Hind Legs

Barking At The Bull, Which Is Much Admired. This Amazing Groupe

Was Cut Out Of One Stone, By Appollonius And Tauriscus, Two

Sculptors Of Rhodes; And Is Mentioned By Pliny In The Thirty-

Sixth Book Of His Natural History. All The Precious Monuments Of

Art, Which Have Come Down To Us From Antiquity, Are The

Productions Of Greek Artists. The Romans Had Taste Enough To

Admire The Arts Of Greece, As Plainly Appears By The Great

Collections They Made Of Their Statues And Pictures, As Well As

By Adopting Their Architecture And Musick: But I Do Not Remember

To Have Read Of Any Roman Who Made A Great Figure Either As A

Painter Or A Statuary. It Is Not Enough To Say Those Professions

Were Not Honourable In Rome, Because Painting, Sculpture, And

Musick, Even Rhetoric, Physic, And Philosophy Were Practised And

Taught By Slaves. The Arts Were Always Honoured And Revered At

Rome, Even When The Professors Of Them Happened To Be Slaves By

The Accidents And Iniquity Of Fortune. The Business Of Painting

And Statuary Was So Profitable, That In A Free Republic, Like

That Of Rome, They Must Have Been Greedily Embraced By A Great

Number Of Individuals: But, In All Probability, The Roman Soil

Produced No Extraordinary Genius For Those Arts. Like The English

Of This Day, They Made A Figure In Poetry, History, And Ethics;

But The Excellence Of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, And

Music, They Never Could Attain. In The Palazzo Picchini I Saw

Three Beautiful Figures, The Celebrated Statues Of Meleager, The

Boar, And Dog; Together With A Wolf, Of Excellent Workmanship.

The Celebrated Statue Of Moses, By Michael Angelo, In The Church

Of St. Peter In Vincula, I Beheld With Pleasure; As Well As That

Of Christ, By The Same Hand, In The Church Of S. Maria Sopra 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 272

Minerva. The Right Foot, Covered With Bronze, Gilt, Is Much

Kissed By The Devotees. I Suppose It Is Looked Upon As A Specific

For The Toothache; For, I Saw A Cavalier, In Years, And An Old

Woman Successively Rub Their Gums Upon It, With The Appearance Of

The Most Painful Perseverance.

 

 

 

You Need Not Doubt But That I Went To The Church Of St. Peter In

Montorio, To View The Celebrated Transfiguration, By Raphael,

Which, If It Was Mine, I Would Cut In Two Parts. The Three

Figures In The Air Attract The Eye So Strongly, That Little Or No

Attention Is Payed To Those Below On The Mountain. I Apprehend

That The Nature Of The Subject Does Not Admit Of That Keeping And

Dependence, Which Ought To Be Maintained In The Disposition Of

The Lights And Shadows In A Picture. The Groupes Seem To Be

Intirely Independent Of Each Other. The Extraordinary Merit Of

This Piece, I Imagine, Consists, Not Only In The Expression Of

Divinity On The Face Of Christ; But Also In The Surprising

Lightness Of The Figure, That Hovers Like A Beautiful Exhalation

In The Air. In The Church Of St. Luke, I Was Not At All Struck By

The Picture Of That Saint, Drawing The Portrait Of The Virgin

Mary, Although It Is Admired As One Of The Best Pieces Of

Raphael. Indeed It Made So Little Impression Upon Me, That I Do

Not Even Remember The Disposition Of The Figures. The Altar-Piece,

By Andrea Sacchi, In The Church Of St. Romauldus, Would

Have More Merit, If The Figure Of The Saint Himself Had More

Consequence, And Was Represented In A Stronger Light. In The

Palazzo Borghese, I Chiefly Admired The Following Pieces: A Venus

With Two Nymphs; And Another With Cupid, Both By Titian: An

Excellent Roman Piety, By Leonardo Da Vinci; And The Celebrated

Muse, By Dominechino, Which Is A Fine, Jolly, Buxom Figure. At

The Palace Of Colorina Connestabile, I Was Charmed With The

Herodias, By Guido Rheni; A Young Christ; And A Madonna, By

Raphael; And Four Landscapes, Two By Claude Lorraine, And The

Other Two, By Salvator Rosa. In The Palazetto, Or Summerhouse

Belonging To The Palazzo Rospigliosi, I Had The Satisfaction Of

Contemplating The Aurora Of Guido, The Colours Of Which Still

Remain In High Perfection, Notwithstanding The Common Report That

The Piece Is Spoiled By The Dampness Of The Apartment. The Print

Of This Picture, By Freij, With All Its Merit, Conveys But An

Imperfect Idea Of The Beauty Of The Original. In The Palazzo

Barberini, There Is A Great Collection Of Marbles And Pictures:

Among The First, I Was Attracted By A Beautiful Statue Of Venus;

A Sleeping Faun, Of Curious Workmanship; A Charming Bacchus,

Lying On An Antient Sculpture, And The Famous Narcissus. Of The

Pictures, What Gave Me Most Pleasure Was The Magdalen Of Guido,

Infinitely Superior To That By Le Brun In The Church Of The

Carmelites At Paris; The Virgin, By Titian; A Madonna, By

Raphael, But Not Comparable To That Which Is In The Palazzo De

Pitti, At Florence; And The Death Of Germanicus, By Poussin,

Which I Take To Be One Of The Best Pieces In This Great

Collection. In The Palazzo Falconeri There Is A Beautiful St.

Cecilia, By Guercino; A Holy Family, By Raphael; And A Fine 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, March 10, 1765.) Pg 273

Expressive Figure Of St. Peter Weeping, By Dominechino. In The

Palazzo Altieri, I Admired A Picture, By Carlo Maratti,

Representing A Saint Calling Down Lightning From Heaven To

Destroy Blasphemers. It Was The Figure Of The Saint I Admired,

Merely As A Portrait. The Execution Of The Other Parts Was Tame

Enough: Perhaps They Were Purposely Kept Down, In Order To

Preserve The Importance Of The Principal Figure. I Imagine

Salvator Rosa Would Have Made A Different Disposition On The Same

Subject: That Amidst The Darkness Of A Tempest, He Would Have

Illuminated The Blasphemer With The Flash Of Lightning By Which

He Was Destroyed: This Would Have Thrown A Dismal Gleam Upon His

Countenance, Distorted By The Horror Of His Situation As Well As

By The Effects Of The Fire; And Rendered The Whole Scene

Dreadfully Picturesque. In The Same Palace, I Saw The Famous Holy

Family, By Corregio, Which He Left Unfinished, And No Other

Artist Would Undertake To Supply; For What Reason I Know Not.

Here Too Is A Judgment Of Paris, By Titian, Which Is Reckoned A

Very Valuable Piece. In The Palazzo Odescalchi, There Is A Holy

Family, By Buonaroti, And Another By Raphael, Both Counted

Excellent, Though In Very Different Stiles, Extremely

Characteristic Of Those Two Great Rival Artists.

 

 

 

If I Was Silly Enough To Make A Parade, I Might Mention Some

Hundreds More Of Marbles And Pictures, Which I Really Saw At

Rome; And Even Eke Out That Number With A Huge List Of Those I

Did Not See: But Whatever Vanity I May Have, It Has Not Taken

This Turn; And I Assure You, Upon My Word And Honour, I Have

Described Nothing But What Actually Fell Under My Own

Observation. As For My Critical Remarks, I Am Afraid You Will

Think Them Too Superficial And Capricious To Belong To Any Other

Person