Travels Through France And Italy, Tobias Smollett [love novels in english .TXT] 📗
- Author: Tobias Smollett
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Amidst The Groves Of Italy. In The Garden Of The Villa Pinciana,
There Is A Plantation Of Four Hundred Pines, Which The Italians
View With Rapture And Admiration: There Is Likewise A Long Walk,
Of Trees Extending From The Garden-Gate To The Palace; And Plenty
Of Shade, With Alleys And Hedges In Different Parts Of The
Ground: But The Groves Are Neglected; The Walks Are Laid With
Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 252Nothing But Common Mould Or Sand, Black And Dusty; The Hedges Are
Tall, Thin And Shabby; The Trees Stunted; The Open Ground, Brown
And Parched, Has Scarce Any Appearance Of Verdure. The Flat,
Regular Alleys Of Evergreens Are Cut Into Fantastic Figures; The
Flower Gardens Embellished With Thin Cyphers And Flourished
Figures In Box, While The Flowers Grow In Rows Of Earthen-Pots,
And The Ground Appears As Dusky As If It Was Covered With The
Cinders Of A Blacksmith's Forge. The Water, Of Which There Is
Great Plenty, Instead Of Being Collected In Large Pieces, Or
Conveyed In Little Rivulets And Streams To Refresh The Thirsty
Soil, Or Managed So As To Form Agreeable Cascades, Is Squirted
From Fountains In Different Parts Of The Garden, Through Tubes
Little Bigger Than Common Glyster-Pipes. 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.
Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 253
Quisquis Amans Sequitur Fugitivae Gaudia Formae,
Fronde Manus Implet, Baccas Vel Carpit Amaras.
Who Pants For Fleeting Beauty, Vain Pursuit!
Shall Barren Leaves Obtain, Or Bitter Fruit.
I Ought Not To Forget Two Exquisite Antique Statues Of Venus, The
Weeping Slave, And The Youth Pulling A Thorn Out Of His Foot.
I Do Not Pretend To Give A Methodical Detail Of The Curiosities
Of Rome: 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
Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 254Woman. 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. The Glassyness (If I May Be Allowed
The Expression) Of The Surface, Throws, In My Opinion, A False
Light On Some Parts Of The Picture; And When You Approach It, The
Joinings Of The Pieces Look Like So Many Cracks On Painted
Canvas. Besides, This Method Is Extremely Tedious And Expensive.
I Went To See The Artists At Work, In A House That Stands Near
The Church, Where I Was Much Pleased With The Ingenuity Of The
Process; And Not A Little Surprized At The Great Number Of
Different Colours And Tints, Which Are Kept In Separate Drawers,
Marked With Numbers As Far As Seventeen Thousand. For A Single
Head Done In Mosaic, They Asked Me Fifty Zequines. But To Return
To The Church. The Altar Of St. Peter's Choir, Notwithstanding
All The Ornaments Which Have Been Lavished Upon It, Is No More
Than A Heap Of Puerile Finery, Better Adapted To An Indian Pagod,
Than To A Temple Built Upon The Principles Of The Greek
Architecture. The Four Colossal Figures That Support The Chair,
Are Both Clumsy And Disproportioned. The Drapery Of Statues,
Whether In Brass Or Stone, When Thrown Into Large Masses, Appears
Hard And Unpleasant To The Eye And For That Reason The Antients
Always Imitated Wet Linen, Which Exhibiting The Shape Of The
Limbs Underneath, And Hanging In A Multiplicity Of Wet Folds,
Gives An Air Of Lightness, Softness, And Ductility To The Whole.
These Two Statues Weigh 116,257 Pounds, And As They Sustain
Nothing But A Chair, Are Out Of All Proportion, Inasmuch As The
Supporters Ought To Be Suitable To The Things Supported. Here Are
Four Giants Holding Up The Old Wooden Chair Of The Apostle Peter,
If We May Believe The Book De Identitate Cathedrae Romanae, Of
The Identity Of The Roman Chair. The Implements Of Popish
Superstition; Such As Relicks Of Pretended Saints, Ill-Proportioned
Spires And Bellfreys, And The Nauseous Repetition Of
The Figure Of The Cross, Which Is In Itself A Very Mean And
Disagreeable Object, Only Fit For The Prisons Of Condemned
Criminals, Have Contributed To Introduce A Vitious Taste Into The
External Architecture, As Well As In The Internal Ornaments Of
Our Temples. All Churches Are Built In The Figure Of A Cross,
Part 7 Letter 31 ( Nice, March 5, 1765) Pg 255
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