Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (beautiful books to read .txt) 📖

Signifies Cruel Eye, As We Are Given To Understand By

The Ingenious Editor Of Fingal, Who Seems To Think That Caracalla

Is No Other Than The Celtic Word, Adapted To The Pronunciation Of

The Romans: But The Truth Is, Caracalla Was The Name Of A Gaulish

Vestment, Which This Prince Affected To Wear; And Hence He

Derived That Surname. The Caracuyl Of The Britons, Is The Same As

The Upodra Idon Of The Greeks, Which Homer Has So Often Applied

To His Scolding Heroes. I Like The Bacchanalian, Chiefly For The

Fine Drapery. The Wind, Occasioned By Her Motion, Seems To Have

Swelled And Raised It From The Parts Of The Body Which It Covers.

There Is Another Gay Bacchanalian, In The Attitude Of Dancing,

Crowned With Ivy, Holding In Her Right Hand A Bunch Of Grapes,

And In Her Left The Thyrsus. The Head Of The Celebrated Flora Is

Very Beautiful: The Groupe Of Cupid And Psyche, However, Did Not

Give Me All The Pleasure I Expected From It.

 

 

 

Of All The Marbles That Appear In The Open Gallery, The Following

Are Those I Most Admire. Leda With The Swan; As For Jupiter, In

This Transformation, He Has Much The Appearance Of A Goose. I

Have Not Seen Any Thing Tamer; But The Sculptor Has Admirably

Shewn His Art In Representing Leda's Hand Partly Hid Among The

Feathers, Which Are So Lightly Touched Off, That The Very Shape

Of The Fingers Are Seen Underneath. The Statue Of A Youth,

Supposed To Be Ganymede, Is Compared By The Connoisseurs To The

Celebrated Venus, And As Far As I Can Judge, Not Without Reason:

It Is However, Rather Agreeable Than Striking, And Will Please A

Connoisseur Much More Than A Common Spectator. I Know Not Whether

It Is My Regard To The Faculty That Inhances The Value Of The 

Part 7 Letter 28 ( Nice, February 5, 1765.) Pg 230

Noted Esculapius, Who Appears With A Venerable Beard Of Delicate

Workmanship. He Is Larger Than The Life, Cloathed In A

Magnificent Pallium, His Left Arm Resting On A Knotted Staff,

Round Which The Snake Is Twined According To Ovid.

 

 

 

Hunc Modo Serpentem Baculum Qui Nexibus Ambit

Perspice--

 

 

 

Behold The Snake His Mystic Rod Intwine.

 

 

 

He Has In His Hand The Fascia Herbarum, And The Crepidae On His

Feet. There Is A Wild-Boar Represented Lying On One Side, Which I

Admire As A Master-Piece. The Savageness Of His Appearance Is

Finely Contrasted With The Case And Indolence Of The Attitude.

Were I To Meet With A Living Boar Lying With The Same Expression,

I Should Be Tempted To Stroke His Bristles. Here Is An Elegant

Bust Of Antinous, The Favourite Of Adrian; And A Beautiful Head

Of Alexander The Great, Turned On One Side, With An Expression Of

Languishment And Anxiety In His Countenance. The Virtuosi Are Not

Agreed About The Circumstance In Which He Is Represented; Whether

Fainting With The Loss Of Blood Which He Suffered In His

Adventure At Oxydrace; Or Languishing With The Fever Contracted

By Bathing In The Cydnus; Or Finally Complaining To His Father

Jove, That There Were No Other Worlds For Him To Conquer. The

Kneeling Narcissus Is A Striking Figure, And The Expression

Admirable. The Two Bacchi Are Perfectly Well Executed; But (To My

Shame Be It Spoken) I Prefer To The Antique That Which Is The

Work Of Michael Angelo Buonaroti, Concerning Which The Story Is

Told Which You Well Know. The Artist Having Been Blamed By Some

Pretended Connoisseurs, For Not Imitating The Manner Of The

Ancients, Is Said To Have Privately Finished This Bacchus, And

Buried It, After Having Broke Off An Arm, Which He Kept As A

Voucher. The Statue, Being Dug Up By Accident, Was Allowed By The

Best Judges, To Be A Perfect Antique; Upon Which Buonaroti

Produced The Arm, And Claimed His Own Work. Bianchi Looks Upon

This As A Fable; But Owns That Vasari Tells Such Another Of A

Child Cut In Marble By The Same Artist, Which Being Carried To

Rome, And Kept For Some Time Under Ground, Was Dug Up As An

Antique, And Sold For A Great Deal Of Money. I Was Likewise

Attracted By The Morpheus In Touchstone, Which Is Described By

Addison, Who, By The Bye, Notwithstanding All His Taste, Has Been

Convicted By Bianchi Of Several Gross Blunders In His Account Of

This Gallery.

 

 

 

With Respect To The Famous Venus Pontia, Commonly Called De

Medicis, Which Was Found At Tivoli, And Is Kept In A Separate 

Part 7 Letter 28 ( Nice, February 5, 1765.) Pg 231

Apartment Called The Tribuna, I Believe I Ought To Be Intirely

Silent, Or At Least Conceal My Real Sentiments, Which Will

Otherwise Appear Equally Absurd And Presumptuous. It Must Be Want

Of Taste That Prevents My Feeling That Enthusiastic Admiration

With Which Others Are Inspired At Sight Of This Statue: A Statue

Which In Reputation Equals That Of Cupid By Praxiteles, Which

Brought Such A Concourse Of Strangers Of Old To The Little Town

Of Thespiae. I Cannot Help Thinking That There Is No Beauty In

The Features Of Venus; And That The Attitude Is Aukward And Out

Of Character. It Is A Bad Plea To Urge That The Antients And We

Differ In The Ideas Of Beauty. We Know The Contrary, From Their

Medals, Busts, And Historians. Without All Doubt, The Limbs And

Proportions Of This Statue Are Elegantly Formed, And Accurately

Designed, According To The Nicest Rules Of Symmetry And

Proportion; And The Back Parts Especially Are Executed So

Happily, As To Excite The Admiration Of The Most Indifferent

Spectator. One Cannot Help Thinking It Is The Very Venus Of

Cnidos By Praxiteles, Which Lucian Describes. "Hercle Quanta

Dorsi Concinnitas! Ut Exuberantes Lumbi Amplexantes Manus

Implent! Quam Scite Circumductae Clunium Pulpae In Se

Rotundantur, Neque Tenues Nimis Ipsis Ossibus Adstrictae, Neque

In Immensam Effusae Pinguedinem!" That The Statue Thus Described

Was Not The Venus De Medicis, Would Appear From The Greek

Inscription On The Base, Kleomenis Appollodoroi Athinaios

Epoesei. Cleomenes Filius Apollodori Fecit; Did We Not Know That

This Inscription Is Counted Spurious, And That Instead Of

Epoesei, It Should Be Epoiese. This, However, Is But A Frivolous

Objection, As We Have Seen Many Inscriptions Undoubtedly Antique,

In Which The Orthography Is False, Either From The Ignorance Or

Carelessness Of The Sculptor. Others Suppose, Not Without Reason,

That This Statue Is A Representation Of The Famous Phryne, The

Courtesan Of Athens, Who At The Celebration Of The Eleusinian

Games, Exhibited Herself Coming Out Of The Bath, Naked, To The

Eyes Of The Whole Athenian People. I Was Much Pleased With The

Dancing Faun; And Still Better With The Lotti, Or Wrestlers, The

Attitudes Of Which Are Beautifully Contrived To Shew The

Different Turns Of The Limbs, And The Swelling Of The Muscles:

But, What Pleased Me Best Of All The Statues In The Tribuna Was

The Arrotino, Commonly Called The Whetter, And Generally Supposed

To Represent A Slave, Who In The Act Of Whetting A Knife,

Overhears The Conspiracy Of Catiline. You Know He Is Represented

On One Knee; And Certain It Is, I Never Saw Such An Expression Of

Anxious Attention, As Appears In His Countenance.  But It Is Not

Mingled With Any Marks Of Surprise, Such As Could Not Fail To Lay

Hold On A Man Who Overhears By Accident A Conspiracy Against The

State. The Marquis De Maffei Has Justly Observed That Sallust, In

His Very Circumstantial Detail Of That Conspiracy, Makes No

Mention Of Any Such Discovery. Neither Does It Appear That The

Figure Is In The Act Of Whetting, The Stone Which He Holds In One

Hand Being Rough And Unequal No Ways Resembling A Whetstone.

Others Alledge It Represents Milico, The Freedman Of Scaevinus,

Who Conspired Against The Life Of Nero, And Gave His Poignard To

Be Whetted To Milico, Who Presented It To The Emperor, With An

Account Of The Conspiracy: But The Attitude And Expression Will 

Part 7 Letter 28 ( Nice, February 5, 1765.) Pg 232

No Means Admit Of This Interpretation. Bianchi, [This

Antiquarian Is Now Imprisoned For Life, For Having Robbed The

Gallery And Then Set It On Fire.] Who Shows The Gallery, Thinks

The Statue Represents The Augur Attius Navius, Who Cut A Stone

With A Knife, At The Command Of Tarquinius Priscus. This

Conjecture Seems To Be Confirmed By A Medallion Of Antoninus

Pius, Inserted By Vaillant Among His Numismata Prestantiora, On

Which Is Delineated Nearly Such A Figure As This In Question,

With The Following Legend. "Attius Navius Genuflexus Ante

Tarquinium Priscum Cotem Cultro Discidit." He Owns Indeed That In

The Statue, The Augur Is Not Distinguished Either By His Habit Or

Emblems; And He Might Have Added, Neither Is The Stone A Cotes.

For My Own Part, I Think Neither Of These Three Opinions Is

Satisfactory, Though The Last Is Very Ingenious. Perhaps The

Figure Allude To A Private Incident, Which Never Was Recorded In

Any History. Among The Great Number Of Pictures In This Tribuna,

I Was Most Charmed With The Venus By Titian, Which Has A

Sweetness Of Expression And Tenderness Of Colouring, Not To Be

Described. In This Apartment, They Reckon Three Hundred Pieces,

The Greatest Part By The Best Masters, Particularly By Raphael,

In The Three Manners By Which He Distinguished Himself At

Different Periods Of His Life. As For The Celebrated Statue Of

The Hermaphrodite, Which We Find In Another Room, I Give The

Sculptor Credit For His Ingenuity In Mingling The Sexes In The

Composition; But It Is, At Best, No Other Than A Monster In

Nature, Which I Never Had Any Pleasure In Viewing: Nor, Indeed,

Do I Think There Was Much Talent Required In Representing A

Figure With The Head And Breasts Of A Woman, And All The Other

Parts Of The Body Masculine. There Is Such A Profusion Of

Curiosities In This Celebrated Musaeum; Statues, Busts, Pictures,

Medals, Tables Inlaid In The Way Of Marquetry, Cabinets Adorned

With Precious Stones, Jewels Of All Sorts, Mathematical

Instruments, Antient Arms And Military Machines, That The

Imagination Is Bewildered, And A Stranger Of A Visionary Turn,

Would Be Apt To Fancy Himself In A Palace Of The Fairies, Raised

And Adorned By The Power Of Inchantment.

 

 

 

In One Of The Detached Apartments, I Saw The Antependium Of The

Altar, Designed For The Famous Chapel Of St. Lorenzo. It Is A

Curious Piece Of Architecture, Inlaid With Coloured Marble And

Precious Stones, So As To Represent An Infinite Variety Of

Natural Objects. It Is Adorned With Some Crystal Pillars, With

Capitals Of Beaten Gold. The Second Story Of The Building Is

Occupied By A Great Number Of Artists Employed In This Very

Curious