OESNER, JOHN MATTHIAS. 



GHIBERTI, LORENZO. 



90 



connoted. Thus it was copied iu many parts, almost literally, by 

 Aldrovandus; and Jonston's Historia Naturalis' is little more than 

 an abridgment of it. 



Gesner's ' Historise ' were compressed and appeared under the 

 titles of ' Icones Aniuialium,' &c. This book is much more common 

 than the original. 



Passing by the various learned treatises that flowed from Gesner's 

 prolific pen, we moat notice the complete translation of the works of 

 Lilian (1556). Gesner's notes also appear in the edition of Gronovius 

 (London, 1744), 4c. 



This extraordinary man is next presented to us in another point of 

 view ; for he is said to have designed and painted more than 1500 

 pluut.1. A large share of the 1500 figures prepared by Gesner for 

 his ' History of Plants,' and left at his death, passed into the ' Epitome 

 Matthioli,' published by Cauierarius in 1580; and in the same year, 

 as also in a second edition in 1590, they were used as illustrations of 

 an abridged translation of Matthiolus, bearing the name of the 

 ' German Herbal.' The same blocks were used by Uffenbach (1609) 

 for the ' Herbal of Castor Durantes,' printed at Frankfurt, and com- 

 prising 948 of Gesner's. After the death of Cainerarias, Goerlin, a 

 bookseller of Ulm, purchased the blocks, and they embellished the 

 ' Parnassus Medicinalis lllustratus' of Becker (Ulm, 1633). In 1678 

 they found a place in Bernard Verzacha's ' German Herbal ; ' and they 

 appeared again in the ' Theatrum Botanicum ' (Basel, 1696), and in an 

 edition of that work so late as 1744. 



Besides the above, Gesner is said to have left five volumes, con- 

 sisting entirely of figures, which, together with his botanical works iu 

 manuscript, became at last the property of Trew of Nurnberg, and 

 were published under the caro of Dr. Schmiedel, physician to the 

 margrave of Anspach (Nurnberg, 2 vuls. folio, 1754-70). 



In closing our notice of this amiable, learned, and industrious man, 

 it may not be uninteresting to state that, according to Haller, it u 

 probable that Conrad Gesner waa the first chert-sighted person who 

 aided the defect of his eye with concave glasses. 1'lumier dedicated 

 to him a genus of plants of the family ' Campanulace;e,' under the 

 name of ' Gesnera.' 



GKsNKli, JOHN MATTHIAS, born near Anspach in 1691, became 

 rector of the school of Weimar, and was afterwards professor of 

 eloquence and poetry at Gottingen. He distinguished himself as a 

 classical scholar. His principal works are : 1, ' Novua lingua; et 

 erudition!* Romanic Thesaurus,' 4 vols. fol., Leipzig, 1749, a useful 

 compilation ; 2, ' Primo> liueio laagoges in Eruditionem uuiversalein, 

 nouiiuatiui Philologiatn, Historiani et Philosophiam, in usum pitcleo- 

 tionum ducttc,' 2 vols. Svo, Leipzig, 1775 ; 3, 'Biographia Acadeuiica 

 Gottingeusis,' 3 vols. Svo, 1769; 4, A good and handsome edition of 

 the ancient Roman writer < on agriculture : ' .Scripture a Rei Kuaticic 

 veterea Latin i, Cato, Varro, Columella, I'alladius, quibus accedit Vege- 

 tius de Mulo-Medicina, et Gargilii MurtialU Fragmeutum,' 2 vols. 4to, 

 Leipzig, 1735, with Notes variorum, and an Index, or Lexicon 

 Rusticum. lie published also editions of Horace, Quintilian, Claudian, 

 &c., and of I'hilupatria ' Dialogns Lucianeus,' with a dissertation on 

 the authority and age of the sime. Gesner died at Guttingen in 

 1761. 



GESSNKR, SOLOMON, born at Zurich in 1730, and a painter by 

 profession, distinguished himself both as a painter and a poet. His 

 fint publication waa some pastoral poems, ' Idy Hen,' which had a con- 

 siderable success at the time, but they are rather tame, and have tho 

 fault of all compositions of the same kind, that of representing a 

 state of society which does not exist His ' Tod Abels,' ' The Death 

 of Abel,' written in prose, has ensured to its author a more lasting 

 reputation. In his narrative he has given full scope to his poetical 

 fancy, without however overstepping the boundaries of probability, or 

 laying himself open to the charge of profauene&s. But the genuine 

 pathos of the sentiments and the sketch of the patriarchal manners 

 constitute the great charm of the work. The character of Mehala, 

 Cain's wife, is peculiarly interesting. His ' Fint Navigator ' is also a 

 pleasing fiction. Uessner enjoyed much popularity in his lifetime, 

 both among his countrymen and among strangers, and his works were 

 translated into various languages. His habits were simple and 

 domestic. Madame de Genlis gives a curious account of a visit that 

 she paid to Gesaner at his country-house near Zurich, and of tho 

 interior of his family. C'ondorcet has written his biography. Gessner 

 died at Zurich in 17-7. His correspondence and miscellaneous poems 

 were published after liii death. Gesaner engraved several of his own 

 landscapes, which are much esteemed. 



! A, ANTuNI'NUS, younger son of the emperor Septimius 

 Severus, born about A.D. 190, wag made Cicsar and colleague with his 

 father an 1 broth r in 208. The most remarkable circumstance recorded 

 of him is the dissimilarity of his disposition from that of his father 

 and brother, who were both cruel, while Geta was distinguished by 

 his mildness and aflability. He is said to have several times reproved 

 his brother for his proneness to shed blood, in consequence of which 

 he incurred his mortal hatred. When Severus died at Eboracum (York) 

 in 211, he named both bis sous as his joint-successors in the empire. 

 The soldiers, who were much attached to Geta, withstood all the iu- 

 ions of C'aracalla, who wished to reign alone, and they insisted 

 -wearing allegiance to both emperors together. After a thort 

 aiid uuiucccvwful campaign agaiutt the Caledonians, the two brothers, 



with their mother Julia, proceeded to Rome, where, after performing 

 the funeral rites of their father, they divided the imperial palace 

 between them, and at one timo thought of dividing the empire like- 

 wise. Geta, who was fond of tranquillity, proposed to take Asia and 

 Egypt, and to reside at Antioch or Alexandria; but the empress 

 Julia, with tears, deprecated the partition, saying that she could not 

 bear to part from either of her sous. After repeated attempts of 

 C'aracalla to murder Geta, he feigned a wish to be reconciled to his 

 brother, and invited him to a conference in their mother's apartment. 

 Geta unsuspectingly went, and was stabbed by some centurions whom 



Coin of Geta. 



British Museum. Actual size. Copper. Weight 312 grain?. 



Reverses of Coins of Geta. 



Caracal la had concealed for the purpose. His mother Julia tried to 

 screen him, but they murdered him in her arms, and she was stained 

 by his blood and wounded in one of her hands. This happened in 

 212, under the consulship of two brothers of the name of Asper. 

 After the murder Cnracalla began a fearful proscription of all tho 

 friends of Geta, and also of those who lamented his death on public 

 grounds. [CARACALLA.] (Spartianus, in Historic*, Auguita ; Herodianus, 

 book iv. ; Dion, book Ixxvii.) 



QHIBELINS, or GUIBELINES. [QuKLFS and GUIBELINES 

 DANTE.] 



GHIBERTI, LORENZO. Of this sculptor, who makes an epoch 

 in the history of Italian and modern art generally, tho precise year of 

 his birth is not known ; for though Vasari states it to have been 1380, 

 it is more probable that it was rather earlier ; and accordingly some of 

 his later biographers have presumed it to be 1378. He was born at 

 Florence, where he received his first instructions in drawing from his 

 stepfather Bartoluccio, who practised ' oreficeria,' a branch of art at 

 that time in high repute, and extending to designing all kinds of 

 ornamental work iu metals. He also acquired some practice of paint- 

 ing in his youth, and executed a fresco in the palace of Pandolfo Mala- 

 testa at Rimini, in 1401, the year following that in which he left 

 Florence, on account (as he himself informs us in the memoir relative 

 to the competition for the bronze gates of the Baptistery) of a pesti- 

 lence in the city, and the distressed state of affairs. We learn from 

 the same source that ho applied himself with great diligence and 

 ardour to this task, his mind being almost entirely engrossed by paint- 

 ing ; but hardly had he completed it when a circumstance took place 

 which proved tho means of his signalising himself, not only as tho 

 greatest sculptor of his own times, but as one whose works have 

 excited the admiration of after-ages. This was no other than tho 

 competition for a second pair of bronze doors for the Baptistery at 

 Florence, worthy to accompany those executed by Andrea Pisano about 

 1340. This memorable competition attracted all artists of any eminence, 

 and from among their number, seven, including Donatello, Brunelleschi, 

 and Ghiberti, were chosen to make trial of their skill, the subject given 

 them being the Sacrifice of Isaac, to bo executed in bas-relief as a 

 model for one of the panels. Of the designs produced on this occa- 

 sion only two have been preserved, namely those of Ghiberti and 

 Brunelleschi, both of which are engraved in Cicognara's 'Storia dulla 

 Scultura.' Neither of them is free from a certain stiffness in the 

 attitudes, but Ghiberti's exhibits greater elegance in the forms and 

 more judicious composition: Brunelleschi himself not only felt the 

 superiority of his rival, but generously avowed it, and refusing tot ake any 

 share in the work, solicited that all tha sculptures might bo entruste I 



