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.
