The GALLERY OF APOLLO now making part of the CENTRAL MUSEUM, it would
be worthy of the government to cause its ceiling to be completed, by
having the three vacant compartments painted by skillful French
artists.
Under the compartments, and immediately above the cornice, are twelve
medallions, which were to represent the _twelve months of the year_,
characterized by the different occupations peculiar to them: eight
only are executed, and these are the months of summer, autumn, and
winter.
The rich borders in gilt stucco, which serve as frames to all these
paintings, the caryatides which support them, as well as the groups
of Muses, Rivers, and Children, that are distributed over the great
cornice, are worthy of remark. Not only were the most celebrated
sculptors then in France, GASPAR and BALTHAZAR MARSY, REGNAUDIN, and
GIRARDON, chosen to execute them; but their emulation was also
excited by a premium of three hundred louis, which was promised to
him who should excel. GIRARDON obtained it by the execution of the
following pieces of sculpture:
1. The figure representing a river which is under the _Waking of the
Waters_; at the south extremity of the gallery.