15S Cursory Strictures on Mddern Art. 



tvas In sepulchral nionuments, which, during the r?igtls €>f 

 James the First and his son Chavlcs, were chiefly executed 

 bv Frer.cir.nen or Flemings, scholars of John Goujon, stiH 

 regulated hy the principles their master had acquired from 

 jPrimaliccio, the pupil of Raffaelle. Some of these work» 

 have great merit, particularly the tomb^ of sir John Norris, 

 and sir Francis Vere, in the same chapel with Roubiliac's 

 monument of lady E. Nightingale in Westminster abbey. 



The rebuilding of London, in the reign of Charles the 

 Second, gave some employment to sculpture. Gibber's 

 works are the most conspicuous of that period : his mad 

 figures on the Bethlehem gates have a natural sentiment, 

 but a:e ill drawn; his bas-relief on the pedestal of London 

 uionuaient is not ill conceived, but stiff and clumsy in the 

 execution ; his clothed figures in the Royal Exchange strut 

 like dancing-masters, and have the importance of coxcombs. 

 But with all his faults, what he left is far preferable to the 

 succeeding works. The figures in St. Paul's church, and 

 the conversion of the saint nv the pediment, partake strongly 

 of Bernini's affectation; and from that time to the establish- 

 ment of the Royal Acadensy we must expect to see every 

 piece of sculpture more or less tinctured with the same bad 

 taste, especiallv the sepulchral monuments, to which, after 

 the statues and basso-relievos last noticed, we nuist chiefly 

 look for the progress of sculpture amongst us. 



It will be proper here to rem;irk that all the Grecian sculp- 

 ture was arranged in three clashes : the group of figures ; the 

 sinale statue; and alto or basso relievo. The first two 

 classes were suited to all insulated situations, and the latter 

 to fill pannels in walls. These classes not only serve all 

 architectural purposes, but adorn, harmonise, and finish its 

 forms : every attempt to make other combinations between 

 sculpture and architecture will be found unreasonable, and 

 degrading to one as well as the other; but Bernini, whose 

 character and works we have already noticed, seems to have 

 jlhought that he had the privilege of equally subverting art 

 and nature in his works. I shall mention the following in- 

 stances, although I am afraid their extreme absurdities will 

 prevent suiU. of those from believing the descriptions as have 



not 



