CHIARAMONTI CHILE. 



179 



CHIARAMONTI ; the family name of pope Pius 

 VII. (q. v.). Like his predecessors, Clement XIV. 

 and Pius VI., from whom the museum Pio-Clemen- 

 tinum is called, he augmented the treasures of art in 

 the Vatican. The museums established there by him 

 and during his government are called after him ; but 

 this name is particularly applied to that collection of 

 ancient statues and reliefs, which are placed in the 

 hall adjoining the museum Pio-Clementinum. The 

 selection and arrangement of these were committed 

 to Canova. The description of this museum (II Mu- 

 teo Chiaramonti descrttto ed illustrate da Filippo Au- 

 relio Fiscontie Gius. Ant. Guattani,&.c.,Rome, 1818, 

 fol.) forms a supplement to the work on the museo 

 Pio-Clementino, published by Giamb. and Ennio Quir. 

 Visconti. The entrance into the museo Chiaramonti, 

 as well as into the library of the Vatican, is by the 

 museo (Chiaramonti) delle inscrizioni, the museum of 

 Greek and Roman inscriptions, which are inserted in 

 the walls of a long corridor a collection which has 

 not its equal in Europe. The pope caused it to be 

 arranged by Gaet. Marini. The entrance to it is 

 through the loggie of the Vatican. There is also a 

 Biblioteca Chiaramonti, containing the whole library 

 of cardinal Zelada, which has been added to the 

 Vatican. 



CHIARI, PIETRO; a prolific writer of comedies 

 and novels ; born at Brescia, towards the beginning 

 of the 18th century. After having completed his 

 studies, he entered the order of Jesuits, but soon 

 changed the monastic for the secular life, and, thus 

 becoming free from all official duties, devoted himself 

 solely to letters. He resided at Venice, with the 

 title of poet to the duke of Modern, and, in the 

 space of ten or twelve years, brought more than 

 sixty comedies on the stage. Chiari and Goldoni 

 were rivals, but the public adjudged the palm to the 

 latter. Chiari's dramas in verse fill 10 vols. ; those 

 in prose, 4. He is not destitute of invention nor of 

 art in the management of Ids subjects, but his works 

 are deficient in animation, vigour, and humour. He 

 died at Brescia, at a very advanced age, in 1787 or 

 1788. 



CHIARO SCURO (an Italian phrase/meaning 

 clear-obscure ; in French, clair-obscur), in painting, is 

 the art of judiciously distributing the lights and 

 shadows in a picture. A composition, however per- 

 fect in other respects, becomes a picture only by 

 means of the chiaro scuro, which gives faithful- 

 ness to the representation, and therefore is of the 

 highest importance for the painter; at the same 

 time, it is one of the most difficult branches of an 

 artist's study, because of the want of precise rules 

 for its execution. Every art has a point where 

 rules fail, and genius only can direct. This point, 

 in the art of painting, is the chiaro scuro. The 

 drawing of a piece may be perfectly correct, the col- 

 ouring may be brilliant and true, and yet the whole 

 picture remain cold and hard. This we find often 

 the case with the ancient painters before Raphael ; 

 and it is one of the great merits of this sublime 

 artist, that he left his masters far behind him in 

 chiaro scuro, though he is considered not so perfect 

 in this branch as Corregio and Titian, who were in- 

 ferior to him in many other respects. The mode in 

 which the light and shade are distributed on any 

 single object is easily shown by lines supposed to be 

 drawn from the source of the light which is shed 

 over the figure ; but chiaro scuro comprehends, be- 

 sides this, aerial perspective, and the proportional 

 force of colours, by which objects are made to ad- 

 vance or recede from the eye, produce a mutual 

 effect, and form a united and beautiful whole. Chiaro 

 scuro requires great delicacy of conception and skill 

 of execution ; and excellence in this branch of art is 



to be attained only by the study of nature and of the 

 best masters. Chiaro scuro is also understood in 

 another sense, paintings in chiaro scuro being such 

 as are painted in light and shade and reflexes only, 

 without any other colour than the local one of the 

 object, as representations of sculpture in stone or 

 marble. There are some fine pieces of <his sort in 

 the Vatican at Rome, by Polidoro da Caravaggio, 

 and on the walls of the staircase of the royal aca- 

 demy of London, by Cipriani and Rigaud. 



CHICKEN, MOTHER CAREY'S. See Pttrel. 



CHIHUAHUA ; a state or province of Mexico, 

 bounded E. by Coaghuila, S. by Durango, and W. by 

 Cinaloa and Sonora. It is an elevated district, and 

 suffers for want of water. 



CHIHUAHUA; a town of Mexico, and capital or 

 the province of the same name, on a small branch 

 of the Conchos; 180 miles N. W. of Mexico; 

 Ion. 104 3tf W. ; lat. 28' 50 1 N. ; population, 11,600. 

 It is surrounded by rich silver mines. 



CHILBLAINS are painful inflammatory swell- 

 ings, of a deep purple or leaden colour, to which the 

 fingers, toes, heels, and other extreme parts of the 

 body are subject, on being exposed to a severe de- 

 gree of cold. The pain is not constant, but rather 

 pungent and shooting at particular times, and an in- 

 supportable itching attends it. In some instances, 

 the skin remains entire ; but in others, it breaks, and 

 discharges a thin fluid. When the degree of cold 

 has been very great, or the application long con- 

 tinued, the parts affected are apt to mortify, and 

 slough off, leaving a foul, ill-conditioned ulcer be- 

 hind. Children and old people are more apt to be 

 troubled with chilblains than persons of middle age ; 

 and such as are of a scrofulous habit are remarked 

 to suffer severely from them. 



CHILDERMAS DAY ; a festival celebrated by 

 the church of Rome on the 28th of December, in 

 commemoration of the massacre of the Innocents. 

 Bourne, in his Antiquitates Vulgares, mentions a 

 popular superstition, that " it is very unlucky to be- 

 gin any work upon Childermas day." Revels, how- 

 ever, were held on this day. 



CHILE ; a country of South America, bounded 

 N. by Buenos Ayres, E. by Buenos Ayres and Pata- 

 gonia, from which it is separated by the Andes, 

 S. by Patagonia, and W. by the Pacific ocean; 

 Ion. 69 to 74 W. ; lat. 24 to 45 S. ; about 1400 

 miles long, and from 100 to 200 broad; square 

 miles about 200,000. Population stated, in 1806, at 

 720,000 by Malte-Brun, in 1820, and a Spanish 

 journal, at 900,000. Another statement, said to be 

 founded on a census, makes it 1,200,000, exclusive 

 of independent Indians. It is divided into two in- 

 tendencies, St Jago and Conception, which are 

 subdivided into thirteen provinces, viz. Copiapo, 

 Coquimbo, Quillota, Aconcagua, Melippa, St Jago, 

 Rancagua, Colchagua, Maule, Itata, Chilian, Pu- 

 chacay, and Huilquilemu. The islands are Coquim- 

 banes, Mugillan, Tortoral, Pajaro, Masapiero, Juan 

 Fernandez, Mocha, and the archipelago of Chiloe. 

 The chief towns are Santiago or St Jago (the capi- 

 tal), Conception, Valparaiso, Valdivia, Chilian, Co- 

 quimbo, St Fernando, and Petorca. The rivers are 

 numerous, but small, and have generally rapid cur- 

 rents. Some of the principal ones are the Maule, 

 Biobio, Cauten, Tolten, Valdivia, Chaivin, Bueno, 

 and Sinfondo. Chile presents a plain, gradually 

 rising in elevation as it recedes from the coast and 

 approaches the Andes. From this sloping confor- 

 mation, it is fertilized' and beautified by numerous 

 rivers flowing from the Andes ; and of these, fifty- 

 three communicate directly with the Pacific ocean. 

 The country, intercepted between the foot of the 

 Andes and the Pacific ocean, is divided into two 

 ii 2 



