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. The Mosaic work, though
brought to a wonderful degree of improvement, and admirably
calculated for churches, the dampness of which is pernicious to
the colours of the pallet, I will not yet compare to the
productions of the pencil.
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