218 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[July, 



for bis (laiiglilpr, and as there is still to be seen at Sparta the temple 

 of Minerva Cbalciaecos. lie goes on further to say, "at Rome, the 

 place ill which justice is admii.istered excites surprise by its grandeur 

 and inagiiifiecnce : but what is most admired is a bronze ceiling, wliicli 

 extends from one side to the other. The same author, who attributes 

 to Theodosius and Racos of .Samos the discovery of founding statues 

 in bronze,* informs us that it was alwut the year COU before our era 

 that this art was first practised. This, like all the other arts, made 

 great progress in the time of Pericles, but did not reach its full 

 height until the age of Alexander, v/hrn each of the prineipal cities 

 of Greece possessed several thousand ligures of bron^^e, among which 

 were some enormous colossi. This is what Pliny siiys in liis 24th 

 book, sec. IS, "There arc numberless instances of boldness in this art, 

 for we sec that enormous colossal masses have been executed as large 

 as towers. Such is the Apollo of the Capitol, brought from Apollonia, 

 a city of Pontiis, by M. Lucullus ; this is thirty cubits high, and cost 

 fifty talents. Such is the Jupiter of the Campus Martins, consecrated 

 bv the Emperor Claudius, and called Pompeian, because it is near 

 Pompey's Theatre ; such is that of Tarentum, executed by Lysippus, 

 and which is forty cubits in height. What is most remarkable as to 

 this figure is, that it is so well balanced that it may be moved by the 

 hand, although it could not be upset by a whirlwind. The mcst ad- 

 mired of these colossi was that of the .Sun at Rhodes, made by Chares 

 of Lindus, a pupil of Lysippus. This figure was seventy cubits high, 

 was overturned JG years after its completion by an earthcpiake ; but 

 cast down as it is, it still excites admiration. Very few men can put 

 their arms round the thumb, the fingers are bigger than most statues, 

 and tlie hollows in the broken limbs are like tlie yawning mouths of 

 caves ; inside are seen stones of large size, which were used to settle 

 it on its base. It is said to have been finished in twelve years, and to 

 have cost three hundred talents, a sum produced by the warlike en- 

 gines of King Demetrius, when he raised the siege of Rhodes. In the 

 city are a hundred other smaller colossi, each of which would be 

 worthy of bestowing distinction on the town in which it might be 

 placed ; besides these are five colossi of gods by Biyaxis. Italy has 

 also produced colossi, for we see in the library of the temple of Au- 

 gustus, the Tuscan Apollo, which is fifty feet higli from the toe, and 

 in wliicii it is diilicult to tell which to admire most, the bronze or the 

 beauty of the workmanship. Spurius Carvilius had a Jupiter made 

 for the Capitol out of the helmets, cuirasses and greaves of the con- 



?[uered Sanmites. The size of this statue is such that it may be seen 

 rom the place in which is the Latial Jupiter. But in our times, 

 Zenodorus has surpassed all the figures of this kind in height, in the 

 Mercury which he made for a city of the Gauls in Auvergne. This 

 was ten years in execution, and cost four hundred thousand sisterces." 

 It is ))rubab!e that these colossi were formed of a number of pieces 

 secured with nails, like so much brazier's work, for it is thus that the 

 ancients made their metal -statues before they had acquired the art of 

 founding. At Lillebonne in Normandy, a few years ago, in the course 

 of the excavations for uncovering tlie Roman theatre, a bronze Mer- 

 cury was found made in this manner. In reading the travels of Pau- 

 sanias in Greece, we cannot but feel surprised at the immense number 

 of bronze works in sculpture which lie meets with at e-. ery step, par- 

 ticularly when we recollect that this country has been in tlie possession 

 of the Romans for three centuries, and that they liad already, on seve- 

 ral occasions, carried away thousands of bronze figures. Of 33colossi 

 described by the tourist, 3U were of bronze, the three others of wood ; 

 he also describes 32 equestrian statues of bronze and 24 chariots, at 

 least of natural size, sometimes with two, and oftener with four horses, 

 and lioldingone or two figures. Some were accompanied by runners 

 or grouped with men on font who led them ; in fine, he mentions more 

 than 4i> animals of considerable size, also of bronze. And yet Pau- 

 sanias only visited a part of Greece. It was of bronze that the Athe- 

 nians, after the death of Pisistratus, formed the first quadriga, in 

 memory of their fellow countrymen who died while lighting for their 

 native land Of bronze also is constructed, in cur days, the Monument 

 of July. Bronze is, in truth, the symbol of strength, "and it is interest- 

 ing to observe how the same metal has been chosen, at two perioils so 

 remote, to consecrate the remembrance of facts having so much re- 

 semblance. 



The Romans, as we iiave seen from extracts before given, made 

 frequent use of bronze, and like the Greeks, employed it in the form 

 of candelabra, lamps, furniture, triclinia, altars, tripods, tools, fasten- 

 ings, letters for monumental inscriptions, window fastenings, &c. The 

 doors were sometimes plated witli bronze, secured with nails of the 

 same inctal ; such as tliose of the Pantheon. Pliny (B. 34, ^ 7,) says 

 that the ancients were accustomed to make the threshold and gates of 

 temples of bronze. Ancient gates entirely formed of bronze are still 



■ \i.Je B. 8, ch. 14 ; li. "j ; B. 10, also Pliny B. 24. ch. t. 



to be seen in the church of St. Cosmo and St. Dimiua in the Forum at 

 Rome, formerly the temple of Romulus and Remus, and this hixiuy 

 was not exclusively confined to temples, for, 3S0 years before our era, 

 the ornaments were of bronze on the doors of the house of Camillus. 

 By means of cramps large masses of bronze ornaments and carvings 

 were fastened on monuments by way of decoration. On bronze tablets 

 were engraved laws, treaties of peace, and public acts intended to be 

 made known to posterity, Three tiiousand of these tablets were 

 destroyed in the tire of the Capitol, in the time of Vespasian. Capi- 

 tals were also made of bronze, which were secured on cores of stone. 

 Pliny relates that "C. CJctavius, who conquered Perseus in a naval 

 action, erectf d, in honour of his triumph, a double portico, which was 

 called Corinthian because the capitals of the columns were of bronze; 

 this portico was near the Plamiuian Circus; the capitals of the Pan- 

 theon, placed there by Agrippa, are of the same metal." The Ro- 

 mans further applied bronze in the execution of works on alarge scale; 

 the framing of the Pantheon was constructed of bronze, and, according 

 to Serlio, who had examined it in its place, the. different pieces were 

 hollow; they were put together in the same way as woodwork. The 

 caissons of the vault of this monument were also of bronze, and the 

 circle which frames the opening by which the Rotunda is lighted still 

 remains. In the baths of Caracalla the ceiling of the immense hall 

 known as the Cella Soleai is was formed of a network of bronze ; a 

 fact of which ^I. Blouet did not seem to be aware when he published 

 his restoration of that monument. The ancients also constructed 

 roofing of bronze, for at Rome, 212 years before the Christian era, the 

 temple of Vesta, at-Rome, was covered with tiles of bronze, and so, 

 at a later period, was the Pantheon. As to bronze statues, there was 

 at Rome a number truly prodigious, brought from all the great cities 

 of Etruria, Greece, Sicily, and Asia Minor. Scaurus having erected a 

 temporary theatre at Rome, towards the end of the republic, decorated 

 it with three thousand of these statues. 



The art of the founder naturally underwent all the vicissitudes of 

 the other arts ; in the time of Nero the decadence had already com- 

 menced, it not being possible to cast the colossal statue of that em- 

 peror, modelled by Zenodorus, and which was to have been lit) .feet 

 high,* although a century afterwards the beautiful equestrian statue 

 of Marcus Aurelius was cast. Falconnet, in comparing these two 

 facts, endeavours to make out a case for an attack on Pliny ; but it 

 seems to us that the circumstances may be reconciled by supposing 

 that casting in bronze had been momentarily neglected before the 

 time of Zenodorus, '.uid that they had been more suecessfuily culti- 

 vated in the time of Marcus Aurelius, for a similar circumstance hap- 

 pened in our own days. The brothers Keller, under Louis XIV., 

 carried the art of casting in bronze to a high degree of perfection ; but 

 under Louis XV. the founders were not so good ; and in the early 

 part of the empire, great difliculties were met with in executing works 

 of this kind, whilst now tlie art of casting in bronze has made greater 

 progress than ever. Besides, it may be said that whenever a process 

 is not carried on scientifically, while the reason of the dirt'erent phe- 

 nomena has not been discovered, and the artist consequently is reduced 

 to take the bare results of experience for his guide, the neglect of the 

 art for some time is enough to cause tlie facts to be forgotten, and 

 the guides are consequently lost. This, however, cannot happen when 

 the theory of an art is firmly based on scientific principles, and the 

 reason of the phenomena is consequently understood ; drawing our 

 conclusions, from which we may say that the art of casting in bronze 

 will henceforward never be lost, even should it be neglected for cen- 

 turies ; a few trials would be enough to bring it b.ick to the point at 

 which it had been left. 



In the Middle Ages. 



During the Lower Empire, nothing remarkable was executed ex- 

 cept some bronze gates, ami the process of casting seems to have been 

 quite lost at Constantinople. The gates of the Basilica of St. Paul, 

 at Rome, were cast in the 1 1th century by Staurachios Tychitos of the 

 isle of Chios. In the 1 1th century were cast those of the basilica of 

 St. Zeno, at Verona, on which are represented passages of the Old 

 Testament and the miracles of the saint. The bronze gates of St. 

 Mark, at Venice, were also brought from Constantinople in the I3th 

 century. 



Germany possesses some bronze gates of the 1 1th century, such as 

 those of Mentz and Augsburg. In 1330, Andrea Ugolino executed 

 two panels for gates in bronze, from the designs of Giotto, for the 

 Baptistry of Florence. Ghiberti finished his chef d'a'uvre in 1424. 

 In the 15th and IGth centuries several gates of bronze were cast at 

 Venice, Padua, Bologna, Florence, Pisa, Loretto, &c,; but these works 

 were not sufficient to prevent the art of casting in bronze from falling 



' Pliny, E. 34, § 7. Suetonius says 120 feet. 



