[Few or none of the most famous masterpieces of the great
classical artists have come down to us with absolute certainty.
The plastic works which we actually possess are for the most
part those which have been casually preserved by accidental
circumstances. Almost all the greatest productions of the
greatest sculptors have either been destroyed or else defaced
beyond recognition. We therefore depend for our knowledge of
ancient sculpture either upon those works which were situated on
comparatively inaccessible portions of huge buildings like the
Parthenon and other temples, and which have consequently
survived more or less completely the ravages of time, the
mischief of the barbarian, and the blind fury of early Christian
and Mahommedan fanatics; or else upon those which have been
preserved for us in the earth, under the débris of burnt and
ruined villas and gardens, or in the ashes of buried cities like
Pompeii. Under these circumstances, the wonder is that so much
of beautiful and noble should still remain to us. This is mainly
owing to the fact that in antiquity =a fine model=, once
produced, was repeated and varied _ad infinitum_,—much as we
have seen at Cluny and in the paintings upstairs each principal
scene from the Gospels or the legends of the saints, once
crystallized by custom, was reproduced over and over again with
slight alterations by many subsequent artists. The consequence
is that most of the statues in this department fall into
well-marked groups with other examples here or elsewhere. We
have not the originals, in most cases, but we have =many
copies=; and few of these copies are servile reproductions: more
often, they show some touch of the individual sculptor. The best
antiques are therefore generally those which happen most nearly
to approach in spirit and execution a great and famous original.
(See later, for example, the Apollo Sauroctonus.) You must
compare these works one with another, in this collection and
elsewhere, in this spirit, recollecting that often even an
inferior variant represents in certain parts the feeling of the
original far better than another and generally finer example may
happen to do. Nay, such splendid works as the so-called Venus of
Milo itself must thus be regarded rather as fortunate copies or
modifications of an accepted type by some gifted originator than
as necessarily originals by the best masters. With the exception
of the few fragments from the Parthenon by Pheidias and his
pupils, hardly anything in this gallery can be set down with
certainty to any first-class name of the very best periods. But
many statues can be assigned to groups which took their origin
from certain particular famous sculptors: we know the _school_,
though not the _artist_. And several are judged by the
descriptions of ancient writers to be copies or variants of
works assigned to sculptors of the first eminence.
Many of the statues found in the Renaissance period, and up to
the close of the eighteenth century, have been freely and often
injudiciously restored: others have really antique heads, which
do not however in every case belong to them. Not a few have been
considerably altered and hacked about in the course of
restoration, or of arbitrarily supplying them with independent
faces. This reprehensible practice has _not_ been followed in
more recent additions such as the “Venus of Milo” and the
Samothracian Nikè.]
* * * * *
Enter by the same door as for the paintings. Proceed along the corridor
(Galerie Denon) and dive, right or left, under the great staircase.
(Good new room to the R, containing excellent Roman mosaics from French
North Africa.) Pass some good sarcophagi and other objects, and enter
the =Rotonde=, which contains for the most part works of a relatively
late period. In the centre, the =*=Borghese Mars (or, in Greek, Ares), a
celebrated statue, less virile than is usual in figures of this god.
Round the room are grouped many fairly good statues, not a few of them
almost duplicates. Among them should be noticed (beginning from the
door) on the R a fine Melpomène; then, the Lycian Apollo, with harmless
serpent gliding from a tree-trunk; and especially the famous =*=Silenus
nursing the Infant Bacchus, of the School of the great sculptor
Praxiteles—perhaps the most pleasing of the many representations of
Faun and Satyr life which antiquity has bequeathed to us. This work
should be studied as showing that later stage of easy Greek culture when
sculpture was not wholly religious and monumental, but when the desire
to please by direct arts and graces was distinctly present. Close by are
two or three good draped female figures; and another Lycian Apollo,
which should be closely compared with the one opposite it, as indicating
the nature of the numerous copies or replicas commonly made of famous
works of antiquity. Beside this, a couple of Hermæ, or heads on rough
bases, in later imitation of the archaic Greek style, with its curious
stiff simper: the type was doubtless too sacred to be varied from: a
portrait-statue of a lady with the attributes of Ceres; a charming
Nymph, carrying an amphora; excellent figures of athletes, etc. Many of
the statues in this and succeeding rooms are much restored, and in some
cases with heads that do not belong to them. They are interesting as
showing the general high level of plastic art among nameless artists of
the classical period.
The next room, =**=the =Salle Grecque=, or =Salle de Phidias=, is
interesting as containing a few works of the great artist after whom it
is called, as well as many specimens of =archaic= Greek art, before it
had yet attained to the freedom and grace of the age of Pheidias. In the
=centre= are fragments of the early half-prehistoric figures (6th
century B.C.) commonly known as Apollos, but more probably serving in
many cases merely as funereal monuments—a man in the abstract, to
represent the deceased, like a headstone. They exhibit well the
constrained attitudes and want of freedom in the position of the arms
and legs, which are characteristic of the earliest epoch. These very old
features are still more markedly seen in the mutilated draped Herè in
the centre; it well illustrates the =starting-point= of Hellenic art.
The admirable =*=bas-reliefs from Thasos on the entrance wall, on the
other hand—removed from a votive monument to Apollo, the Nymphs and the
Graces, and still retaining the dedicatory inscription graven over their
portal,—exemplify the gradual increase in freedom and power of
modelling during the early part of the 5th century B.C. This improvement
is very noticeable in the Hermes with one of the Graces on the first of
these reliefs. Still somewhat angular in movement, they herald the
approach of the Pheidian period. From this time forward the advance
becomes incredibly rapid.
Next, examine the work of the =perfect period=. Above is a mutilated
fragment of Athenian girls ascending the Acropolis to present the holy
robe to Athenè, from the =frieze of the Parthenon=, of the great age of
Pheidias (not a century later than these archaic attempts): with
portions of a Metope of the same temple. The first may be possibly by
Pheidias himself: the second by his pupil Alcamenes. Close by, =Metope
of the= =temple of Zeus at Olympia= (about 450 B.C.), whose subjects are
sufficiently indicated on the labels: almost equal in power to the
Athenian examples. The fine bas-relief of Orpheus and Eurydice, of the
best period (falsely named above, later) should also be observed. (But
the works of the archaic and transitional periods are far better
exemplified at Munich and in London; while the fragments of Pheidias
cannot of course compare with the magnificent series in the British
Museum. See the copies of both in the École des Beaux Arts.) By the next
window, lion and bull, somewhat recalling remote Assyrian influence;
with numerous small reliefs of the best age, which should be carefully
studied. These, for the most part of the finest early workmanship,
admirably illustrate the extraordinary outburst of artistic spirit
during the age which succeeded the wars with Persia. The reliefs on the
=end wall=, chiefly from Athens and the Piræus, as well as those by the
last window, belong in most instances to this splendid age of awakening
and culminating art-faculty. I do not enumerate, as the labels suffice;
but every one of the works in this room should be closely followed. Do
not miss the charming, half-archaic, funereal relief of Philis, daughter
of Cleomedes, from Thasos.
Continue on through the Long Gallery, flanked by inferior works—but
what splendid inferiority!—to the room of the =Medea sarcophagus=, a
fine stone tomb, containing scenes from the legend of Medea and the
children of Jason. Round the room are grouped several small statues,
much restored, indeed, and not of the best period, but extremely
charming. The most noticeable is the dainty little group of the Three
Graces, characteristic and pleasing, though with modern heads. The next
compartment—that of the =Hermaphrodite=—includes one of the best and
purest of the many versions of this favourite subject, from Velletri,
couched, by the window. (Another in the Salle des Caryatides, for
comparison.) The Farnese Eros is a pretty work of a late period. The
room also possesses several works of the Satyr class, two of which,
close by, are useful as instances of repetition. The four statues of
Venus (Aphroditè), at the four corners (in two closely similar pairs)
are also very interesting in the same manner, being variants based upon
one original model, closely resembling one another in their general
features, but much altered in the accessories and details. The same may
be said of the good figures of Athenè by the far wall.
The Hall of the =Sarcophagus of Adonis= contains several excellent
sarcophagi, the reliefs on which well illustrate the character of the
class; among them, one to the L has interesting reclining figures of its
occupant and his wife, an early motive, late repeated. The relief from
which the room takes its name, on the wall to the right, represents, in
three scenes, the departure of Adonis for the chase; his wounding by a
wild boar; and Aphroditè mourning over the body of her lover. Such
reliefs afforded important hints in mediæval times to the sculptors who
first started the Renaissance movement. As we pass into the next
compartment, notice another variant of the Aphroditè.
The =Salle de Psyché= contains, opposite the window, the famous figure
from which it takes its name (too much restored to be freely judged):
together with two characteristic dancing Satyrs, after models of the
school of Praxiteles. The fine sculptured chairs of office by the window
should also be noticed.
We now come to the Hall of the so-called =Venus of Milo=—an absurd
mistranslation of the French name: the idiomatic English would be either
“the Melos Venus,” “the Melian Venus,” or, better still, “the Melian
Aphroditè.” This is undoubtedly the finest plastic work in the whole of
the Louvre. Its beauty is self-evident. It was found in 1820 in the
island of Melos in the Greek Archipelago. The statue is usually held to
represent the Greek goddess of love, and is a very noble work, yet _not_
one by a recognised master, nor even mentioned by ancient writers among
the well-known statues of antiquity. Nothing could better show the
incredible wealth of Greek plastic art, indeed, than the fact that this
exquisite Aphroditè was produced by a nameless sculptor, and seems to
have been far surpassed by many other works of its own period. In type,
it belongs to a school which forms a transition between the perfect
early grace and purity of Pheidias, with his pupils, and the later, more
self-conscious and deliberate style of Praxiteles and his
contemporaries. Not quite so pure as the former, it is free from the
obvious striving after effect in the latter, and from the slightly
affected prettinesses well illustrated here in the group of Silenus with
the infant Bacchus. The famous series of Niobe and her Children, in the
Uffizi at Florence (duplicates of some elsewhere), exhibits much the
same set of characteristics. Those works have been attributed on
reasonable grounds to Scopas, a contemporary of Demosthenes: and this
statue has therefore been ascribed with little hesitation to one of his
pupils. It is, however, purer in form than the Niobe series, and
exhibits the perfect ideal, artistic and anatomical, of the beautiful,
healthy nude female form for the white race. Its proportions are famous.
As regards the missing portions, which have happily _not_ been
conjecturally restored, it was originally believed that the left hand
held an apple (the symbol of Melos), while the right supported the
drapery. It is more probable, however, that the figure was really a Nikè
(or Victory) and that she grasped a shield and possibly also a winged
figure on an orb. Comparison with the other similar half-draped nude
statues described as Venuses in the adjoining rooms is very instructive:
their resemblances and differences show the nature of the modifications
from previous types, while the immense superiority of this to all the
rest is immediately apparent. Notice in particular the exquisite texture
of the skin; the perfect moderation of the form, which is well developed
and amply covered, without the faintest tinge of voluptuous excess, such
as one gets in late work; and the intellectual and moral nobility of the
features. No object in the Louvre deserves longer study. It is one of
the finest classical works that survive in Europe.
Pass to the R into the next suite of rooms, the first of which contains
the colossal figure of =Melpomène=, the tragic muse—a splendid example
of this imposing type of antique sculpture, so well represented in the
Vatican. Round the room are ranged several minor works, including a
charming Flute-Player, doubtfully restored, and some excellent busts.
The long series of rooms which follows this one contains in many cases
Græco-Roman works, imitated from the great Greek models, and often
showing more or less decadent spirit. Among them, however, are some of
the finest specimens of ancient sculpture, Greek included: and indeed it
must be admitted that the grounds upon which such Greek works are
distinguished by experts from later copies are often sufficiently
delicate and inferential. Centre, a beautiful Genius of Sleep. Behind
it, good figures of Eros (Love) drawing his bow, again indicating the
nature of the replicas and variations of established models which were
so familiar to antique sculptors. The little mutilated fragment by their
side, well placed here for comparison, excellently illustrates the
nature of the evidence on which such works are frequently restored.
Further on—a Venus, which is a variant (probably Roman) of the type of
the Venus of Arles, just beyond it. Behind this, a little in front in
the room, the noble =*=Pallas from Velletri—the finest and most typical
representation of the goddess: a good Roman copy of a Greek work of the
best period. Then the famous =*=Venus of Arles itself, a Greek original,
which may be instructively compared with the replica or variant close to
it. (The labels well indicate to the student who cares to proceed
further in this study the extent of the restorations in every case.)
This figure, after the Melian Aphroditè, is probably the most beautiful
female form in the entire collection. Behind it, the graceful and
exquisitely-draped Polyhymnia (replica of a well-known type), a model of
perfect repose and culture, but largely modern. Then, good bust of
Homer. Next, the =*=Apollo Sauroctonus or Lizard-Slayer, a copy in
marble of a famous work in bronze by Praxiteles. This is once more one
of the many reproductions (not necessarily always actual copies) of
types which are mentioned by classical authors. By the archway, Euterpe,
and a Votary. Among the sarcophagi, one of Actæon torn by his dogs:
another representing the Nine Muses. Most of the figures in this room
are marked by a calm and classical repose; while those in the next
compartment,
The =Salle du Héros Combatant=, indicate in many cases a later tendency
to rapidity of motion and violent action, which is alien to the highest
plastic ideal. Among the most successful works of this group is the
light and airy Atalanta, under the archway,—a beautiful figure of a
young girl, running, caught at the most exquisite statuesque moment.
Near it, a fine Venus Genetrix. By the window, admirable figure of a
wounded Amazon. Next window, the celebrated Borghese Centaur and
Bacchus, a charming realization of this mythological conception. Note
the playfulness of developed Greek fancy. The centre of the room is
occupied by a powerful and anatomically admirable figure of a Fighting
Hero (formerly called a Gladiator), by Agasias of Ephesus,—one of the
few statues here on which the sculptor has inscribed his name. It is a
triumph of its own “active” type of art (where movement and life are
aimed at), but wholly lacking in beauty or ideality. It belongs to the
age of Augustus or a little earlier. Behind it, Marsyas flayed alive, a
repetition of a frequent but unpleasant subject. Centre again, the Faun
of Vienne, a young satyr, retaining traces of colour, vigorous and
clever. Then, =**=exquisite ideal statue of a young girl fastening her
cloak, commonly but incorrectly known as the Diana of Gabii; for simple
domestic grace this dainty work is unrivalled. It is probably of the age
of Alexander the Great: and is well worth study. It almost suggests the
Italian Renaissance. By the archways, a Hermes known as the Richelieu
Mercury, with a closely similar replica. Under the archway leading to
the next room, fine portrait statue of the age of Hadrian, representing
Antinous, the Emperor’s favourite, in the guise of Aristæus, the
mythical hero of agriculture: the features are much less beautiful than
in most other instances of this well-known face, several examples of
which occur later. Such representations of historical characters in the
form of gods or mythical heroes were common at Rome: probably in most
cases the sitter’s head and figure were accommodated or adapted to a
well-known model.
The =Salle du Tibre=, which we next enter, contains in its centre the
celebrated figure of =*=Artemis (Diana) known as “Diane à la Biche” or
the “Diane de Versailles,” one of the antique statues acquired by
François I^{er}, the influence of which on later art will be very
distinctly felt when we come to examine the French sculpture of the
Renaissance. It is a charming, graceful, and delicate figure of the age
of declining art, exactly adapted to take the French fancy of that
awakening period. It was probably executed at Rome by a Greek sculptor
about the time of Julius Cæsar. At the end of the room, colossal
recumbent figure of the Tiber, represented as the benignant Father Tiber
of Rome, bearing the oar which symbolizes the navigable river, and the
cornucopia denoting the agricultural and commercial wealth of the Tiber
valley: by its side nestles the wolf, with Romulus and Remus; a pretty
allegorical conception of Rome and the stream which made it: itself
doubtless a pendant to the similar recumbent figure of the Nile in the
Vatican. Close by, two Satyrs, imitated from Praxiteles. Behind, four
Satyrs as Caryatides, from the theatre of Dionysus, Athens, 3rd cent.
B.C. Round the wall, good draped figures of goddesses. Walk through
these rooms often, in order to gain an idea of the astonishing wealth
and purity of Hellenic sculpture.
Now, return through the Salle Grecque and the Rotonde, and turn to the L
into the =Roman Galleries=, which contain for the most part statues and
busts of the imperial epoch.
In the first room are reliefs of sacrifices, and fronts of sarcophagi,
together with a fine portrait-statue of Sulla. By the second window, the
famous and noble head of Mæcenas, the great Etruscan statesman and
minister of Augustus, who practically organised the Roman Empire. The
astute features, very Tuscan in type, which in some degree recall those
both of Bismarck and Möltke, are full of practical vigour and the wisdom
of statecraft. A more characteristic or finer head has not been
bequeathed to us by antiquity. Contrast this magnificent and thoughtful
bust of the best Roman age, instinct with meaning, with the coarse and
coarsely-executed colossal head of Caracalla, the cruel and sensuous
Emperor of the decadence, in the next window,—as crude as a coarse
lithograph. In the corner, a Mithra stabbing a bull, of a class to be
noted again in greater detail later. By the passage into the next room,
masks of Medusa with the snaky hair.
Walk straight through the following rooms, without stopping, till you
arrive at the =Salle d’Auguste= on the right, at the end, so as to take
the works in historical sequence. This hall is the first in
chronological order of the =Roman period=. It contains portrait-statues
and busts of the Julian Emperors and their families, and of the Flavian
dynasty. Begin down the centre. =*=Bust of Julius Cæsar, indicating well
the intellectual character and relentless will of the man: a speaking
likeness. Next to it, the famous =**=Antinous (eyes removed; once
jewels), a much idealised colossal portrait-bust of the beautiful young
favourite of the Emperor Hadrian, who drowned himself in the Nile in
order to become a protecting genius for his patron; he is here
represented in a grave and rigid style somewhat faintly reminiscent of
Egyptian art, and with the attributes of Bacchus or (more correctly)
Osiris; Hadrian deified him and erected a temple in his honour in a town
in Egypt which he named after him. Observe the lotus entwined in the
hair. Fine portrait-statue of a Roman orator, probably Julius Cæsar, one
of the best works of its class of the best period of revived Greek art
under the early Roman Empire: signed by Cleomenes. The figure is that
conventionally attributed to Hermes or Mercury. Near it, Agrippa, the
son-in-law of Augustus and builder of the Panthéon; full of the
statesmanlike characteristics of the early empire. Ideal bust of Rome,
cold but beautiful; Romulus and Remus on the helmet. Under the tribune,
famous =*=portrait-statue of Augustus, a very noble representation. It
is flanked by two good portrait-statues of the Emperor himself, and of
his successor, Tiberius. In front of it are Roman boys of the imperial
family, the one to the L admirable in execution. They wear the golden
bulla round their necks, which marked lads of noble family; the faces
and figures are thoroughly patrician. Windowless wall, members of the
imperial (Julian and Claudian) family,—Agrippina, Tiberius, Drusus and
Germanicus, etc.; Caligula, showing incipient traces of Cæsarian
madness; Octavia, Antonia, and others. Study these carefully. Then, a
most malignant Nero, with less unpleasant ones further: a Messalina,
whose gentleness of face belies her reputation; a grandiose Claudius;
and a selfish Galba, in whom we begin to see traces of the traits
produced by ruthless struggle for empire. Near him, a vain-glorious
Otho, still fine and classical. Notice the dainty profiles of the women.
All the statues and busts in this room, indeed, are conceived in the
fine classical spirit, with no trace of the coming decadence. Most of
them have the old close-shaven, clear-cut Roman features, contrasting
strongly with the weaker, bearded types we shall see later. By the
window wall, statues, not so good, of the coarse bull-necked Vitellius;
hard, practical, business-like Vespasian; capable Titus, and one or two
less satisfactory busts or statues of Julius Cæsar. Observe even already
how both types and art begin to show less perfect finish. The men are
more vulgar: the artists less able.
The =Salle des Antonins=, next, contains a fine series of busts and
statues of this second prosperous epoch of the empire. Facing the river,
a very noble seated portrait-statue of Trajan, contrasting well with the
other more decadent emperors at the further end. We have here still the
old Roman severity, and the close-shaven type, admirably opposed to the
more sensuous degenerate faces further on, which herald the decadence.
These are the builders-up, the others the destroyers, of a great empire.
In the corner close by, two erect Trajans. Notice how clear an idea of
the personalities of the emperors comparison of these statues and busts
affords one. Close to the archway, a beautiful Faustina Junior, one of
the loveliest portrait-busts of the second Roman period. Further on,
bearded and weaker emperors of the Antonine age; among them, a capital
Lucius Verus, holding the orb of empire. Near it, a fine statue of the
philosophic emperor, Marcus Aurelius, seen here rather as the soldier
than as the sage. In the centre—the same emperor nude—or rather, a
nude figure, on which his head has been placed by a modern restorer. By
the middle window, colossal busts of Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius,
and a very big head of Lucilla, wife of the former. These all deserve
study, by comparison with the simpler and nobler types of the Julian
period.
The =Salle de Sevère=—age of the early decadence—contains in the
centre a fine statue of the Emperor’s mother, Julia Mammæa, figured
after the common fashion as Ceres—a half deification. Near it, another
(less pleasing) bust of Antinous. Excellent statue of Pertinax. Round
the walls, portrait-busts of the Antonine family and their successors,
in sufficient numbers to enable one to form clear conceptions of their
personality. This is especially the case with Caracalla and Plautilla by
the last window; Septimius Severus himself—a weak face, gaining
somewhat with age; and Lucius Verus, selfishly vicious, with a distinct
tinge of conscious cruelty. Near the last, a fine portrait-statue of
Faustina Senior. Beside it, pleasing bust of the boy Commodus; his
subsequent development may be traced round the rest of the window. All
these busts, again, should be viewed by the light of their dates; they
are identified by means of coins, where the same faces occur with their
names—most interesting for comparison.
The =Salle de la Paix= contains mixed works, some of them of the extreme
decadence. Among them, a good figure of Minerva in red porphyry, the
flesh portions of which have been restored in gilt bronze as Rome. By
the window, the Emperor Titus as Mars. A half-length of Gordianus Pius
near the archway is an unusually fine and classical example for its age.
Fine figure of Tranquillina, his wife, and nude of Pupianus, less
successful. In many of these works the decadence triumphs.
The =Salle des Saisons= contains busts, mostly of the extreme
=decadence=, and works with a =semi-barbaric= tinge. The bust of
Honorius, by the far door, shows the last traces of classical work
rapidly passing into =Byzantine= stiffness and lifelessness. Note the
feebleness of the eyes and general ineffectiveness of plastic treatment.
Eugenius, opposite him, equally displays decadence in a somewhat
different direction, provincial and Gaulish, foreshadowing barbaric
Romanesque workmanship. A fine Muse, however, stands next to Honorius.
There are also several very decent reliefs from sarcophagi. The figure
of Tiridates, wearing the barbaric trousers, is a fine example of
Greco-Roman art applied to a member of an alien civilisation. Close to
it, the famous =Mithra= of the Capitol, stabbing a bull, with other
representations of the same subject beneath and beside it. These reliefs
are extremely illustrative of a most interesting phase of the later
Empire. Rome was then a cosmopolitan city, crowded with Syrians, Jews,
Egyptians, Asiatic Greeks, and other Orientals. Many of these people
introduced into Italy and the Provinces the worship of their own local
deities: the cult of Isis, of Serapis, and of other Eastern gods
competed with Christianity for the mastery of the Empire. Among these
intrusive religions, one of the most successful was the worship of
Mithra, which came to Rome indirectly from Persia, and directly from the
southern shores of the Black Sea. The mystic deity himself is always
represented in an underground cave, stabbing a bull; he was regarded as
a personification or avatar of the Sun God. His worship spread rapidly
to every part of the Roman world, and was immensely popular: similar
reliefs have been found in all Romanized regions from Britain to North
Africa. The best of those in this room comes from the cave of Mithra in
the Capitol at Rome itself, where the eastern god was permitted even to
invade the precincts of the Capitoline Jupiter. Notice the barbaric
Oriental dress and the voluptuous, soft Oriental treatment; also, the
action in the cave, and the personages on the upper earth above it.
Compare all these reliefs with one another, and notice their origin as
given on the labels. Observe also the close similarity and religious
fixity of the representations. They should be studied with care, as
illustrative of the conflict of new religions with old in the Roman
Empire, out of which Christianity at last emerged triumphant. Their
number and costliness shows the strength of this strange faith; their
inferior art betokens both eastern influence and the approach of the
decadence. Compare the Oriental tinge in the Mithra reliefs with that of
some Early Christian works in the small Christian room of the
Renaissance Sculpture.
In the centre, Roman husband and wife, in the characters of Mars and
Venus, an excellent and characteristic group of the age of Hadrian;
contrast the somewhat debased proportions with those we have seen in the
best Greek period. Round the wall and by the windows, many inferior
portrait-busts of emperors of the decadence; observe their dates, and
note the gradual decrease in art and truth, and the slow return to
something resembling archaic stiffness. We have thus followed out the
rise and culmination of antique art, and watched its return to primitive
barbarity. Conspicuous among the works of the better age here are the
charming features of Julia Mammæa, wife of Alexander Severus, especially
as shown in the bust nearest to the first window. The fine Germanicus,
holding the orb of empire, is also an excellent example of the portrait
nude of the best period.
Leave this portion of the Museum by the =Salle des Caryatides= beyond,
so called from the famous Caryatides by Jean Goujon (French Renaissance;
see later), which support the balcony at its further end—very noble
examples of the revived antique of the age of François I^{er}—majestic
in their serenity. Above them is a cast from Cellini’s Nymph of
Fontainebleau, to be noticed later. The room contains good Greek and
Roman work of the culminating periods. In the =vestibule= to the L, by
the window, the =*=Borghese Hermaphrodite, a variant on the Velletri
type, voluptuous and rounded, belonging to the latest Greek period; the
mattress was added (with disastrous effect) by Bernini. In the =body of
the hall= colossal Jupiter of Versailles, an impressive Hermes-figure.
To the L, noble and characteristic =*=Demosthenes. In the centre, Hermes
and Apollo of the School of Praxiteles: boy fastening his sandals.
Dionysus, known as the Richelieu Bacchus. By the right wall, Aphroditè
at the bath, in a crouching attitude; a nymph is supposed to be pouring
water over her. All the works in this room deserve examination; they are
sufficiently described, however, by the labels.