"Le fatal courroux des Dieux The contour of the principal figure exhibits a tender mother trying to shelter from destruction her offspring, totally regardless of her own safety. By the judicious disposition of the drapery, which is sparing, the beauty of her form, and character, are displayed to admirable advantage. Her children are represented on the right and left, in writhing attitudes of torture, transfixed with arrows. Opposite the mother stands Amphion, in a distressed and imploring attitude. Hogarth has observed, in his Analysis of Beauty, that the authors of the group of Laacoon have chosen to be guilty of the absurdity of making the sons half the father's size, though they have every other mark of being designed for men, rather than not bring their composition within the boundary of a pyramid. Equally true is it, that. the children of Niobé seem to have been designed for men and women also; yet they bear but a small proportion to the size of either their father or mother: nor are they so placed as to form a pyramid, being all distinct figures; and in this respect they differ from the Laacoon. I am, however, inclined to think, with all due deference to so great an opinion, that a more sentimental réason might be urged as the cause of this disproportion. Suppose that the sons of Laacoon had been made as large as the father himself, by varying I their attitudes and locality, there would have been no difficulty in preserving that figure which Hogarth thought so essential to beauty. Each group ought to be considered as a figurative memento of unjust and cruel vengeance. Niobé lost all her children, only because she spoke too highly in their praise; and Laacoon, with his two sons, perished, because he wisely objected to the wooden horse being admitted into the gates of Troy. For this rashness the gods, enemies to that city, had resolved to punish him: thus, when he was sacrificing to Neptune, as the priest of Apollo, two immense serpents came out of the sea, entwined themselves round the bodies of him and his two children, and fastened upon them till they died. Hard as it may appear that Laacoon should become a victim for doing what he thought most conducive to his country's welfare, it was much more so that the two children, who were perfectly innocent of their father's conduct, should be condemned to the same sufferings and punishment. This the ancient sculptors who composed the group, and who studied mind more than matter, were aware of: and as they had determined on one hand to record in marble the injustice of the decree, so on the other they were by no means inattentive to give as much force as they could to the representation of the tragical event; for which purpose they have introduced the sons of Laacoon as two helpless unoffending boys, tortured by serpents, that they might in the first instance produce a stronger effect by the aggravation of the father's anguish and solicitude, and in the second excite more pity and commiseration than they could have done without the use of such an auxiliary: nor would the story have found so ready an admittance to the heart, nor have applied so forcibly to the particular feelings of parents, or to the passions in general, had they been executed to the full stature of men. Interest and compassion are generally felt in proportion to the strength or impotence of their objects: the slaughter of an ox does not affect our humanity so much as the bleeding of a lamb; nor is the assassination of a man half so shocking to our nature, as the murder of a child destitute of all means of defence. The same arguments may be used in regard to the family of Niobé: and there is every reason to suppose her children were represented by the sculptors of small stature as an emblem of juvenile innocency, and as objects more suitable to our protection, sympathy, and love, as well as with an intent of imparting a more powerful effect to the afflictions of the mother, and raising the tragedy at once to the highest pitch of human calamity. The subject of these two sad stories from heathen mythology is somewhat similar to the one already related, which had reality for its foundation, and was attended by circumstances infinitely more horrible and inhuman-I mean the fate of Ugolino and his family at Pisa; but the representation of which I believe has never been attempted in sculpture. Leaving this temple of the fine arts, and crossing the Arno, you come in a few minutes to the Palazzo di Pitti, which is the town residence of the grand-dukes. This building was begun upon the designs of Brunellescho, by Lucca Pitti a Florentine gentleman, who ruined himself by the expense; and it was afterwards purchased by Cosmó I. as a suitable habitation for the dukes of Tuscany. In length it is 458 feet, or thereabouts, and three stories in height; but the top story does not extend so long as the lower, having only thirteen windows, which are four less than those below. All the windows have square heads, and are recessed in semicircular arches. The lowest story has but ten windows, five on each side of the entrance, exclusive of small square windows in the piers; and the whole of the front is covered with rústic stone-work (as it is called in England), which has a bold and durable appearance. An open arcade at each end projects at right angles from the front of the building, and terminates the elevation. The palace is entered through a large archway in the centre, which leads to a court behind, with an open side toward the gardens. The other three sides consist of three orders of architecture, one over the other, forming loggie or colonnades: the first is of the Doric, the second of the Ionic, and the third of the Corinthian, with appropriate entablatures. This part of the building is quite dif ferent in its style from the façade, of a much later date, and was designed by Ammanato. Facing the archway is a grotto, and a basin within of an oval form, with various jets d'eau, that throw water up to a great height. Moses is here represented by a colossal statue of porphyry. Two other fountains, fancifully executed, embellish the sides on the right and the left: one has two statues of marble---Pasquino supporting Alexander; and the other, Hercules and Antæus; both after the Greek manner. On the right hand is a handsome staircase leading up to the state apartments, which are square and oblong in their forms. Some of them are rather dark, owing to the paucity of windows; but superbly fitted up, and richly gilt. The ceilings are either coved or domed, beautifully painted with fabulous subjects, by Pietroda Cortona, and other capital masters of Italy. The walls are hung with rich tapestry, manufactured at Florence: and some of the floors are laid with ornamental wood, imitating black and white marble squares; others are of composition, highly polished, to imitate marble, as is the fashion at Venice; and there is one wholly of porcelain china, which is very elegant in its appearance, but slippery to walk on. The dado part of the rooms is painted in fresco, expressing pannels, fruits, and flowers. The architraves round the doors are of Tuscan marble. The doors are of the wood of the country, painted white, and glazed, with mouldings richly gilt; and in the several chambers are fine slabs and tables of mosaic, mother-of-pearl, porphyry, verde-antique, and other rich marbles. The climate being very mild, there are no fire-places, except in the private rooms, and they are seldom used. These state apartments were heretofore adorned with a superb collection of paintings; but when the French visited this agreeable city, |