1847.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



277 



wilb a masque of Bacchus on each side, from which a festoon falls, amid 

 which are otlier ravens. 



No. 17 is dedicated to Cossulia Prima, and was found, in 1788, in 

 the grounds belonging to the Villa iMaroni, near Rome. It is a cube and a 

 half without a top. At each corner is a pilaster, filled in wilh foliage. 

 Within is a large tablet, surrounded at the top and sides by rich foliage, 

 or what is called arabesque. Below is a Cupid in a car driving four 

 horses, perhaps those of the Sun. The whole is very pleasing. The sides 

 of the urn are ornamented with pine-trees. 



No. 32 is a vase of a broad oval form. On the front is a small tablet. 

 On each side is a siork, between which, twining around their beaks, is a 

 serpent. On the back are two storks drinking out of a vase. There are 

 other enrichnieuts. The urn was discovered in what is called the Ager 

 Rotnanus, in the neighbourhood of Rome. It is remarkable as being dedi- 

 cated to Ponipey Locusto, aged 05, Attilla Clodia, his wife, aged GO, and 

 Ponipey Locusto, their son, aged 21, who all died of poison in one day. 



The introduction of the stork in this monument suggests how frequently 

 and appropriately it might be used in our tombs, as ihe emblem of filial 

 piety, while the fabled pelican may be made to represent maternal piety. 



While speaking of the urns, we cannot but regret the destruction of the 

 No. V. Room of the Towoley Gallery, which was fitted up with niches 

 like a Roman family vault. The niche was called a columbarium. One 

 sepulchre near Rome, that of the dependents of Livia, the wife of Augus- 

 tus, broken open in 1726, contained at least 2 00 urns, Fabricius asserts 

 that the freedmen formed themselves into guilds for building these tombs 

 at a joint expense, the niches being appropriated by lot, or otherwise. 

 Perhaps there were speculators among the Romans who sold niches to the 

 lower classes, in the manner of grave-yard trading in London, 



No, G is a specimen of an olla or rouud urn of earthenware. One is 

 dedicated to Anniolena Servilia, The ollae were used for persons of the 

 lower elasses, freedmen, and slaves, and were sunk in the wall, within an 

 arch, the lids only being visible. An inscription was put in front. 



On the urn No, 13, a family are represented mourning over a dead 

 female. Under the couch are her sandals and a dog. 



No, 14 is an urn formed as a round temple. The cornice is upheld by 

 three Termini and by six Ionic pilasters. The whole decorated wilh fes- 

 toons. It is dedicated to Serullia Zosimenes, 



No. 15 is not remarkable for its subject, but as having been engraved so 

 long back as 1598 in Boissard's " Autiqnitates Romauae." 



No. 21 is not Roman, but Etruscan. It is of baked clay, with a bas- 

 relief representing, it is said, Echetlus fighting for the Greeks with a 

 ploughshare at the battle of Marathon, The lop has a leaning female 

 figure, lying on a pillow. This is rudely executed, and has an Etruscan 

 inscription undeciphered. 



No, 25, a plain urn or vase, dedicated to Flavia Valentina, still contains 

 the ashes of the female to whom it is inscribed, and was found, in 1772, on 

 the Latin Wny, two miles from the Gale of Ihe Lateran at Rome, 



Many of the urns are brought from the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Rome, and are, therefore, specimens of the metropolitan workmanship. 

 They are, however, chiefly of late date. The locality of No, 4 is not 

 stated, but from its being dedicated to Ihe wife of a Scriba Cubicularis, it 

 is most probably Roman, In Gruler's time it was in a collection at Rome, 

 There has been some discussion, by the bye, as to the letters F, A. P, on 

 this monument. They are, perhaps, the carver's initials. No, 17 was 

 found, as already staled, near Rome, Nos, 20, 31, and 38, were found in 

 the Villa Pelluchi, near Ihe Pincian Gate at Rome. No. 2G was found at 

 Rome. No. 30 seems to be Roman, No. 32 is already described as Ro. 

 man. 



Some of the urns are Neapolitan, as Nos. 12 and 29, from Sir William 

 Hamilton's collection. 



Besides the urns are Roman cippi, in the form of a low square or round 

 column, or rather portion of a column. They resemble altars in form, and 

 were used for olher purposes besides monuments. There are many in 

 scribed sepulchral cippi in Ihe British Museum, the designs of which are 

 equally worthy of attention wilh Ihe urns. 



Though we have alluded to Etruscan tombs, we shall not here give any 

 description. The collections of funeral monuments in the Museum are 

 large. The Roman have been already extensively described ; Ihe Etrus- 

 can are no less interesting. The Lycian tombs in the new rooms are on a 

 large scale. Many of the Egyptian relics are of a monumental character; 

 and the Etruscan paintings in the upper rooms are likewise from tombs. 

 There are various specimens of Greek monuments. 



It U much to be regretted that the collection of Roman busts is Lot 



larger, for a series of this kind is very interesting from its practical and 

 individual character. Such an assemblage as that in the Louvre, the 

 Vatican, and other continental galleries, awakens very agreeable emo- 

 tions. The couutenances are truthful and life-like, while there is an inde- 

 pendent interest in the historical associations Ihey suggest. Thus 

 there is a double influence of art and liberal study, which is well worthy 

 of cultivation. Whoever compares the two, will find far less attraction in 

 the most beautiful busts of the ideal— even in the' Apollo, Venus, or 

 Diana — than in the company of a few plain Romans. There is generally 

 a steadiness and solidity in Roman features, which is agreeable to a" 

 English spectator ; he seems at home among a people who have been 

 dead for fourteen hundred years, and under the influence of the conforma- 

 bility of character he recognises little dilTeience of race. Strange as it may 

 seem, a gallery of Romans is not un-English, and is much less strange 

 than a gallery of ancient Greeks or modern Frenchmen. We should, 

 therefore, much like to see the series of heads and busts in the Museum 

 extended, even by the addition of copies, which can be readily obtained, 

 as so many busts of Roman emperors and public characters have been 

 found. 



When put in comparison wilh portrait heads, the ideal busts of gods 

 and heroes are lame, and they suggest strong doubts as to Ihe soundness of 

 idealization in art. This is to be accounted for on simple principles : in 

 nature there is nothing without its beauty, so there is nothing without its 

 defect ; still less is there to be found the unalloyed preponderance of any 

 quality, for the balance is always kept up. It may be said that the ideali- 

 zation of 1 Jupiter or a Venus in which imperfection is not to be found, is 

 therefore beyond humanity and godlike ; but as the mind of man has a 

 greater sympathy for manly attributes than for godlike qualities, of which 

 it knows nothing, so whatever praise may be awarded to Ihe ideal, it is 

 disenchanted by reference to the natural, and a higher idea is communi- 

 cated by the latter than by the former. 



In the Museum, Ihe busts are, for Ihe present, arranged in groups on 

 shelves. Thus we have a group of gods, of heroes, of emperors, and of, 

 empresses. We recommend the visitor lo compare Minerva, Bacchus, 

 Apollo, Diana, and Juno wilh Julius Csesar, Hadrian, Nero, and Severus, 

 or even wilh Otacilla, Sabiua, Faustina, Domiiia, and Olynipia, 



We believe a greater development of the department of portrait busts 

 would be found useful in its influence on the public mind, being congenial 

 wilh the English character. It is much to be regretted that in the metro- 

 polis there is not as yet any large coMeclion of ancient or modern busts, 

 though the Palace at M'eslminster promises in some degree to supply the 

 loss of the latter. This Palace will give us the example of an historical 

 gallery, of which the French have a specimen at Versailles, and the Bava- 

 rians at Munich, A zealous chief commissioner of Ihe Woods and Forests 

 might cheaply distinguish himself by collecting together the portraits and 

 historical pictures in the royal palaces and national museums, and laying 

 the foundation of an historical gallery. It is true we have fragmentary 

 collections now, as that of portraits in Ihe British Museum in the Natural 

 History Rooms, and of marine pictures at Greenwich, It might, perhaps, 

 be worth the while of the British Institution, or some olher artistic body 

 to get up an exhibition of historical works of art. The Society of British 

 Artists is ambitious of distinction — it may take advantage of Ihe hint. 



The British Museum collection of heads, although small, has many of 

 interest. In the Greek series are two attributed lo Homer and Pindar. 

 No. 42 is Periander, a tyrant of Corinth, one of the seven sages, who lived 

 about 2470 years ago. It may be questioned whether this is a likeness. 

 No. 20 is the tragedian Sophocles, the contemporary of Pericles, Thu- 

 cydides, Phidias, Eschylus, and Euripides. No. 32 is Pericles, and these 

 two busts bring us in association wilh the illustrious men of twenty-three 

 centuries ago. it is to be noted that Pericles wears a helmet, which 

 Plutarch says was adopted by Ihe sculptors lo conceal the bad proportions 

 of his head, which was likened in shape to that of an onion. No. 20 is 

 thought to be Hippocrates, the physician. It is from Albano, from what 

 are thought to be the remains of the collection of M. Varro, who says 

 Pliny collected seven hundred portraits of eminent men. No. 28 gives us 

 Diogenes, the cynic, the contemporary of Alexander the Great; and 

 No. 38 is another, the great orator Demosthenes. No. 34 is Ihe philoso- 

 pher Epicurus, the head of a sect. No. 3, Room XII., is the head of 

 Aralus, a poet and philosopher, and bears the name of Eraclite. Sopho. 

 cles, Pericles, Demosthenes, and Epicurus are Athenians. Whoever 

 views this collection cannot but regret that it is not larger, that we might 

 become more familiar with the countenances of the favoured heroes of our 

 boyhood. We think it would be no unfitting compliment to the memory oC 



