It represented the battle of the river God Scamander
with Achilles. The subjects of most of the paintings I saw here were taken
from the mythology or from ancient and modern history; and this is perhaps
the reason that they pleased me more than those of the ancient masters. Why
in the name of the [Greek: to kalon] did these painters confine
themselves so much to Madonnas, Crucifixions, and Martyrdoms, when their
own poets, Ariosto and Tasso, present so many subjects infinitely more
pleasing? Then, again, in many of these crucifixions and martyrdoms, the
gross anachronisms, such as introducing monks and soldiers with match-locks
and women in Gothic costume at the crucifixion, totally destroy the
seriousness and interest of the subject by annihilating all illusion and
exciting risibility.
Parma will ever be renowned in history as the birthplace of Caius Cassius,
the Mend and colleague of Brutus.
The Empress Maria Louisa lives here in the Ducal Palace, which is a
spacious but ornamental edifice. She lives, 'tis said, without any
ostentation. Out of her own states, her presence in Italy would be attended
with unpleasant consequences to the powers that be, on account of the
attachment borne to Napoleon by all classes of society; and it is on this
account that on her last visit to Bologna she received an intimation from
the papal authorities to quit the Roman territory in twenty-four hours. We
next passed thro' St Hilario and Reggio and brought to the evening at the
village of Rubbiera. At St Hilario is the entrance into the Duke of
Modena's territory, and here we underwent again &n examination of trunks,
as we did both on entering and leaving the territory of Maria Louisa.
Reggio is a large walled city, but I had only time to visit the Cathedral
and to remark therein a fine picture of the Virgin and the Chapel called
"Capella della Morte." Reggio pretends to the honour of having given birth
to the Divine Ariosto:
Quel grande che canto l'armi e gli amorl,
as Guarini describes him, I believe. The face of the country from Parma to
Reggio is exactly the same as what we have passed thro' already.
The next day (20 August) we passed thro' Modena, where we stopped to
breakfast and refresh horses. It is a large and handsome city, the Ducal
Palace is striking and in the Cathedral is presented the famous bucket
which gave rise to the poem of Tassoni called La Secchia rapita. An air
of opulence and grandeur seems to prevail in Modena.
At Samoggia we entered the Papal territory and again underwent a search of
trunks. Within three miles of Bologna a number of villas and several
tanneries, which send forth a most intolerable odour, announce the approach
to that celebrated and venerable city.
