"L'épitaphe de Scipion le Barbu semble le résumé d'une oraison funèbre; elle s'adresse aux spectateurs: 'Cornélius Scipion Barbatus, né d'un père vaillant, homme courageux et prudent, dont la beauté égalait la vertu. Il a été parmi vous consul, censeur, édile; il a pris Taurasia, Cisauna, le Samnium. Ayant soumis toute la Lucanie, il en a emmené des otages.'
"Y a-t-il rien de plus grand? Il a pris le Samnium et la Lucanie. Voilà tout.
"Ce sarcophage est un des plus curieux monuments de Rome. Par la matière, par la forme des lettres et le style de l'inscription, il vous représente la rudesse des Romains au sixième siècle. Le goût très-pur de l'architecture et des ornements vous montre l'avènement de l'art grec tombant, pour ainsi dire, en pleine sauvagerie romaine. Le tombeau de Scipion le Barbu est en pépérin, ce tuf rugueux, grisâtre, semé de taches noires. Les caractères sont irréguliers, les lignes sont loin d'être droites, le latin est antique et barbare, mais la forme et les ornements du tombeau sont grecs. Il y a là des volutes, des triglyphes, des denticules; on ne saurait rien imaginer qui fasse mieux voir la culture grecque venant surprendre et saisir la rudesse latine."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 132.
The Round Vestibule contains a fine vase of pavonazzetto.
The adjoining balcony contains a curious Wind Indicator, found (1779) near the Coliseum. Hence there is a lovely view over the city. In the garden beneath is a fountain with a curious bronze ship floating in its bason (see Vatican Gardens).
At the end of the 3rd Vestibule stands the *Statue of Meleager, with a boar's head and a dog, supposed to have been begun in Greece by some famous sculptor, and finished in Rome (the dog, &c.) by an inferior workman.
"Meleager is represented in a position of repose, leaning on his spear, the mark of the junction of which, with the plinth, is still to be seen. The want of the spear gives the statue the appearance of leaning too much to one side, but if you can imagine it replaced, you will see that the pose is perfectly and truthfully rendered. This statue was found at the commencement of the sixteenth century, outside the Porta Portese, in a vineyard close to the Tiber."—Shakspere Wood.
"Ce Méléagre du Vatican respire une grâce tranquille, et, placé entre le sublime Torse et les merveilles du Belvédère, semble être là pour attendre et pour accueillir de son air aimable et un peu mélancolique, où l'on a cru voir le signe d'une destinée qui devait être courte, l'enthousiasme du voyageur."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 515.
From the central vestibule we enter the Cortile del Belvidere, an octagonal court built by Bramante, having a fountain in the centre, and decorated with fine sarcophagi and vases, &c. From this opens, beginning from the right, the—
First Cabinet, containing the Perseus, and the two Boxers—Kreugas and Damoxenus, by Canova.
The Second Cabinet, containing *the Antinous (now called Mercury), perhaps the most beautiful statue in the world. It was found on the Esquiline near S. Martino al Monte. It has never been injured by restoration, but was broken across the ankles when found, and has been unskilfully put together.
"Je suis bien tenté de rapporter à un original de Polyclète, qui aimait les formes carrées, le Mercure du Belvédère, qui n'est pas très-svelte pour un Mercure. On a cru reconnaître que les proportions de cette statue se rapprochaient beaucoup des proportions préscrites par Polyclète. Poussin, comme Polyclète, ami des formes carrées, déclarait le Mercure, qu'on appelait alors sans motif un Antinoüs, le modèle le plus parfait des proportions du corps humain; il pourrait à ce titre remplacer jusqu'à un certain point la statue de Polyclète, appelée la règle, parcequ'elle passait pour offrir ce modèle parfait, et faisait règle à cet égard. De plus, on sait qu'un Mercure de Polyclète avait été apporté à Rome."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 267.
Third Cabinet, of *the Laocoon. This wonderful group was discovered near the Sette Sale on the Esquiline in 1506, while Michael-Angelo was at Rome. The right arm of the father is a terra-cotta restoration, and is said by Winckelmann to be the work of Bernini; the arms of the sons are additions by Agostino Cornacchini of Pistoia. There is now no doubt that the Laocoon is the group described by Pliny.
"The fame of many sculptors is less diffused, because the number employed upon great works prevented their celebrity; for there is no one artist to receive the honour of the work, and where there are more than one they cannot all obtain an equal fame. Of this the Laocoon is an example, which stands in the palace of the emperor Titus,—a work which may be considered superior to all others both in painting and statuary. The whole group,—the father, the boys, and the awful folds of the serpents,—were formed out of a single block, in accordance with a vote of the senate, by Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, Rhodian sculptors of the highest merit."—Pliny, lib. xxxvi. c. 4.
"Les trois sculpteurs rhodiens qui travaillèrent ensemble au Laocoon étaient probablement un père et ses deux fils, qui exécutèrent l'un la statue du père, et les autres celles des deux fils, touchante analogie entre les auteurs et l'ouvrage.
"Les auteurs du Laocoon étaient Rhodiens, ce peuple auquel, dit Pindare, Minerve a donné de l'emporter sur tous les mortels par le travail habile de leurs mains, et dont les rues étaient garnies de figures vivantes qui semblaient marcher. Or, le grand éclat, la grande puissance de Rhodes, appartiennent surtout à l'époque qui suivit la mort d'Alexandre. Après qu'elle se fût délivrée du joug macédonien, presque toujours alliée de Rome, Rhodes fut florissante par le commerce, les armes et la liberté, jusqu'au jour on elle eut embrassé le parti de César; Cassius prit d'assaut la capitale de l'île et dépouilla ses temples de tous leurs ornements. Le coup fut mortel à la république de Rhodes, qui depuis ne s'en releva plus.
"C'est avant cette fatale époque, dans l'époque de la prospérité rhodienne, entre Alexandre et César, que se place le grand développement de l'art comme de la puissance des Rhodiens, et qu'on est conduit naturellement à placer la création d'un chef-d'œuvre tel que le Laocoon.
"Pline dit que les trois statues dont se compose le groupe étaient d'un seul morceau, et ce groupe est formé de plusieurs, on en a compté jusqu'à six. Ceci semblerait faire croire que nous n'avons qu'une copie, mais j'avoue ne pas attacher une grande importance à cette indication de Pline, compilateur plus érudit qu'observateur attentif. Michel-Ange, dit-on, remarqua le premier que le Laocoon n'était pas d'un seul morceau; Pline a très-bien pu ne pas s'en apercevoir plus que nous et répéter de confiance une assertion inexacte."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 382, 385, 387.
"The circumstance of the two sons being so much smaller than the father, has been criticised by some, but this seems to have been necessary to the harmony of the composition. The same apparent disproportion exists between Niobe and her children, in the celebrated group at Florence, supposed to be by Scopas. The raised arms of the three figures are all restorations, as are some portions of the serpents. Originally, the raised hands of the old man rested on his head, and the traces of the junction are clearly discernible. For this we have also the evidence of an antique gem, on which it is thus engraved. This work was found in the baths (?) of Titus, in the reign of Julius II., by a certain Felix de Fredis, who received half the revenue of the gabella of the Porta San Giovanni as a reward, and whose epitaph, in the church of Ara Cœli, records the fact."—Shakspere Wood.
"Il y avait dans la vie, au seizième siècle, je ne sais qu'elle excitation fébrile, quelle aspiration vers le beau, vers l'inconnu, qui disposait les esprits à l'enthousiasme.... Félix de Frédis fut gratifié d'une part dans les revenus de la porte de Saint Jean de Latran, pour avoir trouvé le groupe du Laocoon, et, lorsque l'ordre fut donné de transporter au Belvédère le Laocoon, l'Apollon, la Vénus, Rome entière s'émut, on jetait des fleurs au marbre, on battait des mains; depuis les thermes de Titus jusqu'au Vatican, le Laocoon fut porté en triomphe; et Sadolet chantait sur le mode virgilien que durent reconnaître les échos de l'Esquilin et du palais d'Auguste."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.
"I felt the Laocoon very powerfully, though very quietly; an immortal agony, with a strange calmness diffused through it, so that it resembles the vast rage of the sea, calm on account of its immensity; or the tumult of Niagara, which does not seem to be tumult, because it keeps pouring on for ever and ever."
"It is a type of human beings, struggling with an inexplicable trouble, and entangled in a complication which they cannot free themselves from by their own efforts, and out of which Heaven alone can help them."—Hawthorne, Notes on Italy.
The Fourth Cabinet contains *the Apollo Belvedere, found in the sixteenth century at Porto d'Anzio (Antium), and purchased by Julius II. for the Belvedere Palace, which was at that time a garden pavilion separated from the rest of the Vatican, and used as a museum of sculpture. It is now decided that this statue, beautiful as it is, is not the original work of a Greek sculptor, but a copy, probably from the bronze of Calamides, which represented Apollo, as the defender of the city, and which was erected at Athens after the cessation of a great plague. Four famous statues of Apollo are mentioned by Pliny as existing at Rome in his time, but this is not one of them.
In the second portico, between Canova's statues and the Antinous, is (No. 43) a Venus and Cupid,—interesting because the Venus is a portrait of Sallustia Barbia Orbiana, wife of Alexander Severus. It was discovered in the fifteenth century, in the ruin near Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, to which it has given a name. In the third portico, between the Antinous and the Laocoon, are two beautiful dogs. Between these we enter:
The Sala degli Animali, containing a number of representations of animals in marble and alabaster. Perhaps the best is No. 116—two greyhounds playing. The statue of Commodus on horseback (No. 139) served as a model to Bernini for his figure of Constantine in the portico of St. Peter's.
"La Salle des Animaux au Vatican est comme un musée de l'école de Myron; le naturel parfait qu'il donna à ses représentations d'animaux y éclate partout. C'est une sorte de ménagerie de l'art, et elle mérite de s'appeler, comme celle du Jardin des Plantes, une ménagerie d'animaux vivants.
"Ces animaux sont pourtant d'un mérite inégal: parmi les meilleurs morceaux on compte des chiens qui jouent ensemble avec beaucoup de vérité, un cygne dont le duvet, un mouton tué dont la toison sont très-bien rendus, une tête d'âne très-vraie et portant une couronne de lierre, allusion au rôle de l'âne de Silène dans les mystères bacchiques."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 276.
On the right we enter:
The Galleria delle Statue, once a summer-house of Innocent VIII., but arranged as a statue-gallery under Pius VI. In its lunettes are remains of frescoes by Pinturicchio. Beginning on the right, are:
248. An armed statue of Claudius Albinus standing on a cippus which marked the spot where the body of Caius Cæsar was burnt, inscribed C. CÆSAR GERMANICI CÆSARIS HIC CREMATUS EST.
250. The *Statue called "The Genius of the Vatican," supposed to be a copy from a Cupid of Praxiteles which existed in the Portico of Octavia in the time of Pliny. On the back are the holes for the metal pins which supported the wings.
251. Athlete.
253. Triton, from Tivoli.
255. Paris.
Le Vatican possède une statue de Pâris jugeant les déesses. Cette statue est-elle, comme on le pense généralement, une copie du Pâris d'Euphranor?
"Euphranor avait-il choisi le moment où Pâris juge les déesses? Les expressions de Pline pourraient en faire douter: il ne l'affirme point; il dit que dans la statue d'Euphranor on eût pu reconnaître le juge des trois déesses, l'amant d'Hélène et le vainqueur d'Achille.
* * * * * * * *
"La statue du Vatican est de beaucoup la plus remarquable des statues de Pâris. On y sent, malgré ses imperfections, la présence d'un original fameux; de plus, son attitude est celle de Pâris sur plusieurs vases peints et sur plusieurs bas-reliefs, et nous verrons que les bas-reliefs reproduisaient très-souvent une statue célèbre. Il m'est impossible, il est vrai, de voir dans le Pâris du Vatican tout ce que Pline dit du Pâris d'Euphranor. Je ne puis y voir que le juge des déesses. L'expression de son visage montre qu'il a contemplé la beauté de Vénus, et que le prix va être donné. Rien n'annonce l'amant d'Hélène, ni surtout le vainqueur d'Achille; mais ce qui était dans l'original aurait pu disparaître de la copie."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 300.
256. Young Hercules.
259. Figure probably intended for Apollo, restored as Minerva.
260. A Greek relief, from a tomb.
261. Penelope, on a pedestal, with a relief of Bacchus and Ariadne.
"L'attente de Pénélope nous est présente, et, pour ainsi dire, dure encore pour nous dans cette expressive Pénélope, dont le torse nous a montré un spécimen de l'art grec sous la forme la plus ancienne."—Ampère, Hist. Rome, iii. p. 452.
264. *Apollo Sauroctonos (killing a lizard), found on the Palatine in 1777—a copy of a work of Praxiteles. Several other copies are in existence, one in bronze, in the Villa Albani, inferior to this. The right arm and the legs above the knees are restorations, well executed.
"Apollon presque enfant épie un lézard qui se glisse le long d'un arbre. On sait, à n'en pouvoir douter, d'après la description de Pline et de Martial, que cet Apollon, souvent répété, est une imitation de celui de Praxitèle, et quand on ne le saurait pas, on l'eût deviné."—Ampère, iii. 313.
265. Amazon, found in thé Villa Mattei, the finest of the three Amazons in the Vatican, which are all supposed to be copies from the fifty statues of Amazons, which decorated the temple of Diana at Ephesus.
268. Juno, from Otricoli.
271, 390. Posidippus and Menander, very fine statues, perfectly preserved, owing to their having been kept through the middle ages in the church of S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna, where they were worshipped under the belief that they were statues of saints, a belief which arose from their having metal discs over their heads, a practice which prevailed with many Greek statues intended for the open air. The marks of the metal pins for these discs may still be seen, as well as those for a bronze protection for the feet, to prevent their being worn away by the kisses of the faithful,—as on the statue of St. Peter at St Peter's.
Between these statues we enter:
The Hall of Busts. Perhaps the best are:
278. Augustus, with a wreath of corn.
289. Julia Mammæa, mother of Alexander Severus.
299. Jupiter-Serapis, in basalt.
325. Jupiter.
357. Antinous.
388. *Roman Senator and his wife, from a tomb. (These busts, having been much admired by the great historian, were copied for the monument of Niebuhr at Bonn, erected, by his former pupil the King of Prussia, to his memory—with that of his loving wife Gretchen, who only survived him nine days.)
"Les têtes de deux époux, représentés au devant de leur tombeau d'où ils semblent sortir à mi-corps et se tenant par le main, sont surtout d'une simplicité et d'une vérité inexprimable. La femme est assez jeune et assez belle, l'époux est vieux et très-laid; mais ce groupe a un air honnête et digne qui répond pour tous deux d'une vie de sérénité et de vertu. Nul récit ne pourrait aussi bien que ces deux figures transporter au sein des mœurs domestiques de Rome; en leur présence on se sent pénétré soi-même d'honnêteté, de pudeur et de respect, comme si on était assis au chaste foyer de Lucrèce."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 103.
Re-entering the Gallery of Statues, and following the left wall, are:
392. Septimius Severus.
394. Neptune.
395. Apollo Citharœdus.
396. Wounded Adonis.
397. Bacchus, from Hadrian's Villa.
398. Macrinus (Imp. 217).
399. Æsculapius and Hygeia, from Palestrina.
400. Euterpe.
401. Mutilated group from the Niobides, found near Porta San Paolo.
405. Danaide.
406. Copy of the Faun of Praxiteles, very beautiful, but inferior to that at the Capitol.
422. Head of a fountain, with Bacchanalian Procession.
(Here is the entrance of the Gabinetto delle Maschere, which contains works of small importance. It is named from the mosaic upon the floor, of masks from Hadrian's Villa. It is seldom shown, probably because it contains a chair of rosso-antico, called "Sedia forata," found near the Lateran, and supposed to be the famous "Sella Stercoraria" used at the installation of the mediæval popes, and associated with the legend of Pope Joan.
"Le Pape élu (Célestine III. 1191) se prosterne devant l'autel pendant que l'on chante le Te Deum: puis les Cardinaux Evêques le conduisent à son siége derrière l'autel: là ils viennent à ses pieds, et il leur donne le baiser de paix. On le mène ensuite à une chaise posée devant la portique de la Basilique du Sauveur de Latran. Cette chaise était nommée dès lors 'Stercoraria,' parceque elle est percée au fond: mais l'ouverture est petite, et les antiquaires jugent que c'étoit pour égouter l'eau, et que cette chaise servait à quelque bain."—Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, xv. p. 525.)
462. Cinerary Urn of Alabaster.
414. *Sleeping Ariadne, found c. 1503—formerly supposed to represent Cleopatra.
"The effect of sleep, so remarkable in this statue, and which could not have been rendered by merely closing the lids over the eyes, is produced by giving positive form to the eyelashes; a distinct ridge, being raised at right angles to the surface of the lids, with a slight indented line along the edge to show the division."—Shakspere Wood.
"La figure est certainement idéale et n'est point un portrait; mais ce qui ne laisse aucun doute sur le nom à lui donner, c'est un bas-relief, un peu refait, il est vrai, qu'on a eu la très-heureuse idée de placer auprès d'elle.
"On y voit une femme endormie dont l'attitude est tout à fait pareille à celle de la statue, Thésée qui va s'embarquer pendant le sommeil d'Ariane, et Bacchus qui arrive pour la consoler. C'est exactement ce que l'on voyait peint dans le temple de Bacchus à Athènes.
"Cette statue, belle sans doute, mais peut-être trop vantée, doit être postérieure à l'époque d'Alexandre. Sa pose gracieuse est presque maniérée: on dirait qu'elle se regarde dormir. La disposition de la draperie est compliquée et un peu embrouillée, à tel point que les uns prennent pour une couverture ce que d'autres regardent comme un manteau."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 534.
Beneath this figure is a fine sarcophagus, representing the Battle of the Giants.
412, 413. "The Barberini Candelabra" from Hadrian's Villa.
416. Ariadne.
417. Mercury.
420. Lucius Verus—on a pedestal which supported the ashes of Drusus in the Mausoleum of Augustus.
From the centre of the Sala degli Animali we now enter:
The Sala delle Muse, adorned with sixteen Corinthian columns from Hadrian's Villa. It is chiefly filled with statues and busts from the villa of Cassius at Tivoli. The statues of the Muses and that called Apollo Musagetes (No. 516) are generally attributed to the time of the Antonines.
"Nous savons que l'Apollon Citharède de Scopas était dans le temple d'Apollon Palatin, élevé par Auguste; les médailles, Properce et Tibulle, nous apprennent que le dieu s'y voyait revêtu d'une longue robe.
"Nous ne pouvons donc hésiter à admettre que l'Apollon de la salle des Muses au Vatican a eu pour premier original l'Apollon de Scopas.
"Nous savons aussi qu'un Apollon de Philiscus et un Apollon de Timarchide (celui-ci tenant la lyre), sculpteurs grecs moins anciens que Scopas, étaient dans un autre temple d'Apollon, près du portique d'Octavie, en compagnie des Muses, comme l'Apollon Citharède du Vatican a été trouvé avec celles qui l'entourent aujourd'hui dans la salle des Muses. Il est donc vraisemblable que cet Apollon est d'après Philiscus ou Timarchide, qui eux-mêmes avaient sans doute copié l'Apollon à la lyre de Scopas et l'avaient placé au milieu des Muses.
"Apollon est là, ainsi que plus anciennement il avait été représenté sur le coffre de Cypsélus, avec cette inscription qui conviendrait à la statue du Vatican: 'Alentour est le chœur gracieux des Muses, auquel il préside;' et, comme dit Pindare, 'au milieu du beau chœur des Muses, Apollon frappe du plectrum d'or la lyre aux sept voix."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 292.
Here we reach the Sala Rotonda, built by Pius VI., paved with a mosaic found in 1780 in the baths of Otricoli, and containing in its centre a grand porphyry vase from the baths of Titus. On either side of the entrance are colossal heads of Tragedy and Comedy, from Hadrian's Villa. Beginning from the right are:
539. *Bust of Jupiter from Otricoli—the finest extant.
540. Antinous, from Hadrian's Villa. All the drapery (probably once of bronze) is a restoration.
"Antinous was drowned in the Nile, A.D. 131. Some accounts assert that he drowned himself in obedience to an oracle, which demanded for the life of the emperor Hadrian the sacrifice of the object dearest to him. However this may be, Hadrian lamented his death with extravagant weakness, proclaimed his divinity to the jeering Egyptians, and consecrated a temple in his honour. He gave the name of Besantinopolis to a city in which he was worshipped in conjunction with an obscure divinity named Besa."—Merivale, lxvi.
541. Faustina the elder, wife of Antoninus Pius.
542. Augustus, veiled.
543. *Hadrian, found in his mausoleum.
544. *Colossal Hercules, in gilt bronze, found (1864) near the Theatre of Pompey. The feet and ankles are restorations by Tenerani.
546. *Bust of Antinous.
547. Sea-god, from Pozzuoli.
548. *Nerva.
"Among the treasures of antiquity preserved in modern Rome, none surpasses,—none perhaps equals,—in force and dignity, the sitting statue of Nerva, which draws all eyes in the rotunda of the Vatican, embodying the highest ideal of the Roman magnate, the finished warrior, statesman, and gentleman of an age of varied training and wide practical experience."—Merivale, ch. xliii.
549. Jupiter Serapis.
550. *The Barberini Juno.
551. Claudius.
552. Juno Sospita, from Lanuvium. This is the only statue in the Vatican of which we can be certain that it was a worshipped idol; the sandals of the Tyrrhenian Juno turn up at the end,—no other Juno wears these sandals.
553. Plotina, wife of Trajan.
554. Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus.
556. Pertinax.
The Sala a Croce Greca contains:
On the right.—The porphyry sarcophagus of Sta. Constantia, daughter of Constantine the Great, adorned with sculptures of a vintage, brought hither most inappropriately, from her church near St'Agnese.
On the left.—The porphyry sarcophagus of Sta. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, carried off from her tomb (now called Torre Pignatarra) by Anastasius IV., and placed in the Lateran, whence it was brought hither by Pius VI. The restoration of its reliefs, representing battle scenes of the time of Constantine, cost £20,000.
At the end of the hall on the right is a recumbent river-god, said to have been restored by Michael Angelo. The stairs, adorned with twenty ancient columns from Palestrina, lead to:
The Sala della Biga, so called from a white marble chariot, drawn by two horses. Only the body of the chariot (which long served as an episcopal throne in the church of S. Marco) and part of the horse on the right, are ancient; the remainder is restoration. Among the sculptures here, are:
608. Bearded Bacchus.
609. An interesting sarcophagus representing a chariot-race. The chariots are driven by Amorini, who are not attending to what they are about, and drive over one another. The eggs and dolphins on the winning-posts indicated the number of times they had gone round; each time they passed another egg and dolphin were put up.
610. Bacchus, as a woman.
611. Alcibiades?
612. Veiled priest, from the Giustiniani collection.
614. Apollo Citharædus.
615. Discobolus, copy of a bronze statue by Naubides.
616. *Phocion, very remarkable and beautiful from the extreme simplicity of the drapery.
618. Discobolus, copy of the bronze statue of Myron—inferior to that at the Palazzo Massimo.
"Il n'y a pas une statue dont l'original soit connu avec plus de certitude que le Discobole. Cet original fut l'athlète lançant le disque de Myron.
"C'est bien la statue se contournant avec effort dont parle Quintilien; en effet, la statue, penchée en avant et dans l'attitude du jet, porte le corps sur une jambe, tandis que l'autre est traînante derrière lui. Ce n'est pas la main, c'est la personne tout entière qui va lancer le disque."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 270.
619. Charioteer.
Proceeding in a straight line from the top of the stairs, we enter:
The Galleria dei Candelabri, 300 feet long, filled with small pieces of sculpture. Among these we may notice in the centre, on the right, Bacchus and Silenus, found near the Sancta-Sanctorum, also:
194. Boy with a goose.
'Une petite statue da Vatican rappelle une curieuse anecdote dont le héros est Agoracrite. Alcamène et lui avaient fait chacun une statue de Vénus. Celle d'Alcamène fut jugée la meilleure par les Athéniens. Agoracrite, indigné de ce qui lui semblait une injustice, transforma la sienne en Némésis, déesse vengeresse de l'équité violée, et le rendit aux habitants du bourg de Rhamnus, à condition qu'elle ne serait jamais exposée à Athènes. Ceci montre combien sa Vénus avait gardé la sévérité du type primitif. Ce n'est pas de la Vénus du Capitole ou de la Vénus de Médicis, qu'on aurait pu faire une Némésis. Némésis avait pour emblème la coudée, signe de la mesure que Némésis ne permet point de dépasser, et l'avant-bras était la figure de la coudée, par suite, de la mesure. C'est pourquoi quand on représentait Némésis on plaçait toujours l'avant-bras de manière d'attirer sur lui l'attention. Dans la Némésis du Vatican la donnée sévère est devenue un motif aimable. Cet avant-bras, qu'il fallait montrer pour rappeller une loi terrible, Némésis le montre en effet, mais elle s'en sert avec grâce pour rattacher son vêtement."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 260.
253. Statuette of Ceres, the head from some other statue.
Hence we enter:
The Galleria degli Arazzi (open gratis on Mondays), hung with tapestries from the New Testament History, executed for the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel, in 1515—16, for Leo X., from the cartoons of Raphael, of which seven were purchased in Flanders by Charles I., and are now at Hampton Court. The tapestries are ill arranged. According to their present order, beginning on the left wall, they are:
1. St. Peter receiving the keys. (On the border, the flight of Cardinal de' Medici from Florence in 1494, disguised as a Franciscan Monk.)
2. The Miraculous draught of Fishes.
3. The Sacrifice at Lystra.
4. St. Paul preaching at Athens.
5. The Saviour and Mary Magdalene.
6. The Supper at Emmaus.
7. The Presentation in the Temple.
8. The Adoration of the Shepherds.
9. The Ascension.
10. The Adoration of the Magi.
11. The Resurrection.
12. The Day of Pentecost.
Returning, on the right wall, are:
1. An Allegorical Composition of the Triumph of Religion (by Van Orley and other pupils of Raphael).
2. The Stoning of Stephen (on the border the return of the Cardinal de' Medici to Florence as Legate).
3. Elymas the Sorcerer (?—removed 1869—70).
4, 5, 6. Massacre of the Innocents.
7. (Smaller than the others.) Christ falling under the Cross.
8. Christ appearing to his disciples on the shore of the Lake of Galilee.
9. Peter and John healing the lame man.
10. The Conversion of St. Paul.
The Arazzi were long used as church decorations on high festivals.
"On Corpus-Christi Day I learnt the true destination of the Tapestries, when they transformed colonnades and open spaces into handsome halls and corridors: and while they placed before us the power of the most gifted of men, they gave us at the same time the happiest example of art and handicraft, each in its highest perfection, meeting for mutual completion."—Goethe.
The Library of the Vatican is shown from 12 to 3, except on Sundays and festivals, but the visitor is hurried through in a crowd by a custode, and there is no time for examination of the individual objects. The entrance is by a door on the left at the end of the Galleria Lapidaria, which leads to the museum of statues. The Papal Library was founded by the early popes at the Lateran. The Public Library was begun by Nicholas V., and greatly increased under Sixtus IV. (1475) and Sixtus V. (1588), who built the present halls for the collection. In 1623 the library was increased by the gift of the "Bibliotheca Palatina" of Heidelberg, captured by Tilly from Maximilian of Bavaria; in 1657 by the "Bibliotheca Urbinas," founded by Federigo da Montefeltro; in 1690 by the "Bibliotheca Reginensis," or "Alexandrina," which belonged to Christina of Sweden; in 1746 by the Bibliotheca Ottoboniana, purchased by the Ottobuoni pope, Alexander VIII. The number of Greek, Latin, and Oriental MSS. in the collection has been reckoned at 23,580.
The ante-chambers are hung with portraits of the Librarians;—among them, in the first room, is that of Cardinal Mezzofanti. In this room are facsimiles of the columns found in the Triopium of Herodes Atticus (see the account of the Valle Caffarelli), of which the originals are at Naples. From the second ante-chamber we enter the Great Hall, 220 feet long, decorated with frescoes by Scipione Gaetani, Cesare Nebbia, and others,—unimportant in themselves, but producing a rich general effect of colour. No books or MSS. are visible; they are all enclosed in painted cupboards, so that of a library there is no appearance whatever, and it is only disappointing to be told that in one cupboard are the MSS. of the Greek Testament of the fifth century, Virgil of the fifth, and Terence of the fourth centuries, and that another contains a Dante, with miniatures by Giulio Clovio,[348] &c. Ranged along the middle of the hall are some of the handsome presents made to Pius IX. by different foreign potentates, including the Sèvres font, in which the Prince Imperial was baptized, presented by Napoleon III., and some candelabra given by Napoleon I. to Pius VII. At the end of the hall, long corridors open out on either side. Turning to the left, the second room has two interesting frescoes—one representing St. Peter's as designed by Michael Angelo, the other the erection of the obelisk in the Piazza S. Pietro under Fontana. At the end of the third room are two ancient statues, said to represent Aristides, and Hippolytus Bishop of Porto. The fourth room is a museum of Christian antiquities, and contains, on the left, a collection of lamps and other small objects from the Catacombs; on the right, some fine ivories by Guido da Spoleto, and a Deposition from the Cross attributed to Michael Angelo. The room beyond this, painted by Raphael Mengs, is called the Stanza dei Papiri, and is adorned with papyri of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries. The next room has an interesting collection of pictures, by early masters of the schools of Giotto, Giottino, Cimabue, and Fra Angelico. Here is a Prie Dieu, of carved oak and ivory, presented to Pius IX. by the four bishops of the province of Tours.
At the end of this room, not generally shown, is the Chapel of St. Pius V.
The Appartamenti Borgia, which are reached from hence, are only shown by a special permission, difficult to obtain. They consist of four rooms, which were built by Alexander VI., though their beautiful decorations were chiefly added by Leo X. The first room is painted by Giovanni da Udine and Pierino del Vaga, and represents the course of the planets,—Jupiter drawn by eagles, Venus by doves, Diana (the moon) by nymphs, Mars by wolves, Mercury by cocks, Apollo (the sun) by horses, Saturn by dragons. These frescoes, executed at the time Michael Angelo was painting the Last Judgment, are interesting as the last revival under Clement VII. of the pagan art so popular in the papal palace under Leo X.
The second room, painted by Pinturicchio, has beautiful lunettes of the Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi, Resurrection, Ascension, Descent of the Holy Ghost, and Assumption of the Virgin. The ceiling of the third room has paintings by Pinturicchio of the Martyrdom of St Sebastian; the Visitation of St Elizabeth; the Meeting of St Anthony with St. Paul, the first hermit; St. Catherine before Maximian; the Flight of St. Barbara; St. Julian of Nicomedia; and, over the door, the Virgin and Child. This last picture is of curious historical interest, as a relic of the libertinism of the court of Alexander VI. (Rodrigo Borgia), the "figure of the Virgin being a faithful representation of Giulia Farnese, the too celebrated Vanozza," mistress of the pope, and mother of his children, Cæsar and Lucrezia. "She held upon her knees the infant Jesus, and Alexander knelt at her feet."
The fourth room, also painted by Pinturicchio, is adorned with allegorical figures of the Arts and Sciences, and of the Cardinal Virtues.
"On the accession of the infamous Alexander VI., Pinturicchio was employed by him to paint the Appartamento Borgia, and a great number of rooms, both in the castle of S. Angelo and in the pontifical palace. The patronage of this pope was still more fatal to the arts than that of the Medici at Florence. The subjects represented in the castle of S. Angelo were drawn from the life of Alexander himself, and the portraits of his relations and friends were introduced there,—amongst others, those of his brothers, sisters, and that of the infamous Cæsar Borgia. To all acquainted with the scandalous history of this family, this representation appeared a commemoration of their various crimes, and it was impossible to regard it in any other light, when, in addition to the publicity they affected to give to these scandalous excesses, they appeared desirous of making art itself their accomplice; and by an excess of profanation hitherto unexampled in the Catholic world, Alexander VI. caused himself to be represented, in a room in the Vatican, in the costume of one of the Magi, kneeling before the holy Virgin, whose head was no other than the portrait of the beautiful Giulia Farnese ('Vanozza'), whose adventures are unfortunately too well known. We may indeed say that the walls have in this case made up for the silence of the courtiers: for on them was traced, for the benefit of contemporaries and posterity, an undeniable proof of the depravity of the age.
"At the sight of that Appartamento Borgia, which is entirely painted by Pinturicchio, we shall experience a sort of satisfaction in discovering the inferiority of this purely mercenary work, as compared with the other productions of the same artist, and we cannot but rejoice that it is so unworthy of him. Such an ignoble task was not adapted to an artist of the Umbrian school, and there is good reason to believe that, after this act of servility, Pinturicchio became disgusted with Rome, and returned to the mountains of Umbria, in search of nobler inspirations."—Rio. Poetry of Christian Art.
A door on the right of the room with the old pictures opens into a room containing a very interesting collection of ancient frescoes. On the right wall is the celebrated "Nozze Aldobrandini," found in 1606[349] in some ruins belonging to the baths of Titus near the arch of Gallienus on the Esquiline, and considered to be the finest specimen of ancient pictorial art in Rome. It was purchased at first by the Aldobrandini family, whence its name. It represents an ancient Greek ceremony, possibly the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis. There is a fine copy by Nicholas Poussin in the Doria Palace.
"S'il fait allusion à un sujet mythologique, le réel y est à côté de l'idéal, et la mythologie y est appliquée à la représentation d'un mariage ordinaire. Tout porte à y voir une peinture romaine, mais l'auteur s'était inspiré des Grecs, comme on s'en inspirait presque toujours à Rome. La nouvelle mariée, assise sur le lit nuptial et attendant son époux, a cette expression de pudeur virginale, d'embarras modeste, qui avait rendu célèbre un tableau dont le sujet était le mariage de Roxane et l'auteur Ætion, peintre grec."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 127.
Opposite to this is a Race of the Cupids, from Ostia. The other frescoes in this room were found in the ruins on the Esquiline and at the Torre di Marancia.
The Etruscan Museum can be visited on application to the custode, every day except Monday, from 10 to 2. It is reached by the staircase which passes the entrance to the Gallery of Candelabra: after which one must ring at a closed door on the right.
"This magnificent collection is principally the fruit of the excavating partnership established, some twelve or fifteen years since, between the Papal government and the Campanari of Toscanella; and will render the memory of Gregory XVI., who forwarded its formation with more zeal than he ordinarily displayed, ever honoured by all interested in antiquarian science. As the excavations were made in the neighbourhood of Vulci, most of the articles are from that necropolis; yet the collection has been considerably enlarged by the addition of others previously in the possession of the government, and still more by recent acquisitions from the Etruscan cemeteries of Cervetri, Corneto, Bomarzo, Orte, Toscanella, and other sites within the Papal dominions."—Dennis.
The 1st Room—