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expense. Thus, had there been a vertical light in the centre of the ceiling, a collection like this must have presented a sight almost beyond a parallel. The rays of light would then have been conducted obliquely, both on the paintings and sculpture: an effulgence of light first striking on the forehead of a statue---on all the prominent features of the face---and by sweet gradations running down the whole body, mingled with shade, imparts a seeming reality to the imitation, which is the end and perfection of art.

Quitting the vestibule, which contains a few animals and figures, you come immediately into the great gallery itself. The ceiling is ornamented with paintings of the Florentine school, representing subjects taken from mythology, and adorned with arabesque ornaments in fresco. Near the ceiling are painted in a line round the walls about 500 portraits of the most illustrious men in arts and arms who have lived since the fourteenth century. They are arranged in chronological order, and make one of the greatest curiosities in this famous emporium. This method of commemorating renowned characters was begun by Paul Giovio, bishop of Nocera, who, upon the revival of letters, undertook to collect together the por traits of great and public men in his country villa near the city of Como. Afterwards the grand-duke Cosmo I. sent an eminent painter to his house to make copies of them; and since that time 400 others have been added, either from nature or after original paintings, which make up the number at the present day. From time to

time copies have been made from them, either for different purposes of literature or for presents to foreign countries. The paintings which hang against the walls are principally by the Florentine school, and their subjects from holy writ.

The statues, antique and modern, are about sixty in number. Among them is an exquisite copy of the group of Laacoon by Bandinelli; Hercules killing the Centaur (but this is reckoned not so excellent in expression and anatomy as that by John di Bologna at the end of the old bridge); a Bacchus and a faune, antique; a Bacchus and a faune by Michael Angelo; a Bacchus and a Venus half-clothed; and many others. Intermixed with the groups and statues are about 100 busts, representing the Roman emperors, philosophers, and various great personages of antiquity, both male and female. The busts of the emperors are credited to be strong resemblances; added to which, the sculptors have certainly taken care to delineate the vices and vir tues for which they were individually hated or beloved. The Romans were remarkable for the use of emblems; and in all probability, when the vices and virtues of each character were not visible in the countenance itself, they have nevertheless made them appear in the busts from motives of morality, without destroying the likeness of the original: otherwise it would be somewhat puzzling to assign a cause, without the aid of superstition, why the Roman emperors any more than other men should never fail to have stamped on their faces by the hand of nature such distinguishing and unerring impressions as publicly proclaim the bad and good

actions of their lives. Thus, in the bust of Caligula we see that cruelty and baseness which made him a curse to Rome and a scorpion to mankind. So, on the other hand, in that of Titus are delineated the goodness and beneficence by which he became the delight of the world, and precious to the heart of every subject who lived under his sceptre. Again, the bust of Cæsar neither denotes the shocking depravity of the one nor the exalted virtue of the other, but may be selected as a middle example between the two extremes. In it we discern too much courage to be cruel; too much magnanimity to be villainous; and too much genius for artifice: at the same time it as strongly demonstrates pride, glory, and ambition, to have formed so great a part of his character, that honour, public faith, and justice, he could sacrifice without remorse whenever they stood in the way of his aggrandisement, interest, and power. milar observations might be made with equal truth and propriety on almost every bust in the collection; which is a proof that the ancient sculptors generally endeavoured to unite the portrait of the mind with that of the man.

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Adjoining the great gallery are different chambers, which contain such works as could not be conveniently deposited among the principal collection. In the first are some statues, busts, and bassreliefs. In the second the walls are adorned by paintings from the history of the New Testament. In the third chamber are paintings by Tuscan artists, chiefly Florentines. The next chamber is the celebrated octagon tribune, twenty feet in dia

meter, lighted from a cupola above. The dome within is covered with shells of pearl, and the floor is of variegated marble. This room, before the French sacked Florence, boasted the wellknown antiques of the Venus de' Medici, the little Apollo, the Wrestlers, the Arrotino, and the Faune; and, owing to the good distribution of the light, they must have been seen in the highest perfection. The wooden pedestals on which they stood are still remaining.

In other chambers are paintings, many from the Dutch school; and other works of art, particularly the fine antique hermaphrodite, of white marble, reposing upon a lion's skin. The face and the neck resemble a woman's, and the masculine parts are naturally expressed. A similar statue to this is in the Villa Borghese at Rome. There is also a beautiful group of Cupid and Psyche, brought from Rome the two figures embracing each other are finely executed.

In the cabinet of bronzes are capital copies from those antiques which used to stand in the tribune. The celebrated Mercury, by John di Bologna, springing into the air from the head of a zephyr, displays all the beauties of art.

The thirteenth and fourteenth chambers contain that unique and extraordinary collection, consisting of 422 portraits of renowned masters, painted by themselves, and the statue of cardinal Leopold, who was the first projector of this method of assembling the likenesses of distinguished artists. Among them I discovered the head of

Sir Joshua Reynolds, which I thought reflected great honour on the English school. The portrait of Northcote is evidently an early performance of that master. A full-length portrait of Moore, whò died at Rome, is a tame but correct performance; and the profile of Mr. Prince Hoare, made up all that I saw from the pencil of British painters.

In the fifteenth chamber is a variety of Greek and Latin inscriptions, sepulchral ornaments, bassreliefs, busts of philosophers and famous men, hieroglyphic fragments, and Egyptian idols. This was the ancient vestibule to the great gallery before the present stairs were made.

Passing by a few other things of less importance, the traveller is immediately ushered into the new grand saloon, called the theatre of Niobé, which contains the famous group (mentioned by Pliny) of her unhappy family. It now consists of sixteen Greek statues, and was brought from Rome by Leopold. The figure of the mother, without doubt, is the most to be admired. Niobé is fabled to have been the wife of Amphion, daughter of Tantalus, and mother of many children, who were all handsome and, what is very natural to women, she gloried in them, and imprudently despised Latona, because she had but two. Latona, enraged at the insult, commanded her own children to kill those of Niobé with arrows; and, in obedience to their mother, Apollo destroyed the boys, and Diana the girls. After this Niobé, according to Homer, was changed into a stone. The following lines were intended to shew the merit of the statue:

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