3. The caryatides that support one of the octagonal compartments
towards the quay, at the foot of which are seen two children; the one
armed with a sickle, the other leaning on a lion.
4. The group of caryatides that supports the great compartment where
_Summer_ is represented, and below which is a child holding a
balance.
5. The two grouped figures of Tragedy and Comedy, which rest on the
great cornice.
In the GALLERY OF APOLLO will be exhibited in succession, about
twelve thousand original drawings of the Italian, Flemish, and French
schools, the greater part of which formerly belonged to the crown.
This valuable collection had been successively enriched by the choice
of those of JABAK, LANQUE, MONTARSIS, LE BRUN, CROZAT, MARIETTE, &c.
yet never rendered public. Private and partial admission to it had,
indeed, been granted; but artists and amateurs, in general, were
precluded from so rich a source of study. By inconceivable neglect,
it seemed almost to have escaped the attention of the old government,
having been for a hundred years shut up in a confined place, instead
of being exhibited to public view.
The variety of the forms and dimensions of these drawings having
opposed the more preferable mode of arranging them by schools, and in
chronological order, the most capital drawings of each master have
been selected (for, in so extensive a collection, it could not be
supposed that they were all equally interesting); and these even are
sufficiently numerous to furnish several successive exhibitions.
The present exhibition consists of upwards of two hundred drawings by
the most distinguished masters of the Italian school, about one
hundred by those of the Flemish, and as many, or rather more, by
those of the French. They are placed in glazed frames, so contrived
as to admit of the subjects being changed at pleasure. Among the
drawings by RAPHAEL, is the great cartoon of the Athenian School, a
valuable fragment which served for the execution of the grand
_fresco_ painting in the Vatican, the largest and finest of all his
productions. It was brought from the Ambrosian library at Milan, and
is one of the most instructive works extant for a study.
Besides the drawings, is a frame containing a series of portraits of
illustrious personages who made a figure in the reign of Lewis XIV.
They are miniatures in enamel, painted chiefly by the celebrated
PETITOT of Geneva.
Here are also to be seen some busts and antique vases. The most
remarkable of the latter is one of Parian marble, about twenty-one
inches in height by twelve in diameter. It is of an oval form; the
handles, cut out of the solid stone, are ornamented with four swans'
heads, and the neck with branches of ivy. On the swell is a
bas-relief, sculptured in the old Greek style, and in the centre
is an altar on which these words may be decyphered.
[Greek: SOSIBIOS ATÆNAIOS EPOIEI.]
_Sosibios of Athens fecit._
This beautiful vase[2] is placed on a table of violet African
breccia, remarkable for its size, being twelve feet in length, three
feet ten inches in breadth, and upwards of three inches in thickness.
It might, at first, be supposed that the indiscriminate admission of
persons of all ranks to a Museum, which presents so many attractive
objects, would create confusion, and occasion breaches of decorum.
But this is by no means the case. _Savoyards_, _poissardes_, and the
whole motley assemblage of the lower classes of both sexes in Paris,
behave themselves with as much propriety as the more refined
visiters; though their remarks, perhaps, may be expressed in language
less polished. In conspicuous places of the various apartments,
boards are affixed, on which is inscribed the following significant
appeal to the uncultivated mind, "_Citoyens, ne touchez à rien; mais
respectez la Propriété Nationale_." Proper persons are stationed here
and there to caution such as, through thoughtlessness or ignorance,
might not attend to the admonition.
On the days appropriated to the accommodation of students, great
numbers are to be seen in different parts of the Museum, some mounted
on little stages, others standing or sitting, all sedulously employed
in copying the favourite object of their studies. Indeed, the epithet
CENTRAL has been applied to this establishment, in order to designate
a MUSEUM, which is to contain the choicest productions of art, and,
of course, become the _centre_ of study. Here, nothing has been
neglected that could render such an institution useful, either in a
political light, or in regard to public instruction. Its magnificence
and splendour speak to every eye, and are calculated to attract the
attention of foreigners from the four quarters of the globe; while,
as a source of improvement, it presents to students the finest models
that the arts and sciences could assemble. In a philosophical point
of view, such a Museum may be compared to a torch, whose light will
not only dispel the remnant of that bad taste which, for a century,
has predominated in the arts dependent on design, but also serve to
guide the future progress of the rising generation.
[Footnote 1: In the great _Gallery_ of the _Louvre_ are suspended
about nine hundred and fifty pictures; which, with ninety in the
_Saloon_, extend the number of the present exhibition to one thousand
and forty.]
[Footnote 2: Whatever may be the beauty of this vase, two others are
to be seen in Paris, which surpass it, according to the opinion of
one of the most celebrated antiquaries of the age, M. VISCONTI. They
are now in the possession of M. AUBRI, doctor of Physic, residing at
N°. 272, _Rue St. Thomas du Louvre_, but they formerly graced the
cabinet of the _Villa-Albani_ at Rome. In this apartment, Cardinal
Alessandro had assembled some of the most valuable ornaments of
antiquity. Here were to be seen the Apollo _Sauroctonos_ in bronze,
the Diana in alabaster, and the _unique_ bas-relief of the apothesis
of Hercules. By the side of such rare objects of art, these vases
attracted no less attention. To describe them as they deserve, would
lead me too far; they need only to be seen to be admired. Although
their form is antique, the execution of them is modern, and ascribed
to the celebrated sculptor, SILVIO DA VELETRI, who lived in the
beginning of the seventeenth century. Indeed, M. VISCONTI affirms
that antiquity affords not their equal; assigning as a reason that
porphyry was introduced into Rome at a period when the fine arts were
tending to their decline. Notwithstanding the hardness of the
substance, they are executed with such taste and perfection, that the
porphyry is reduced to the thinness of china.]