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.
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
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.
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