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
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
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.
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