1841.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



259 



the ancients, also parts of the fountain.* At the temple of Diana are to 

 be seen many fragments of richly ornamented double mouldings, which 

 decorated the lower part of the great pedestal or stylobate in the cen- 

 tre of the Baths. They are beautifully executed. Neither must we 

 omit the long marble frieze of the stylobate of the fountain preserved 

 in the Maison Carroa. 



The temple of Nimes, known by the vulgar name of the Maison 

 Carri'P, and built in honour of the grandsons of Augustus, was executed 

 by skilful artists; the capitals, in the Roman manner are broadly 

 modelled, but we car. see here, as well as on the frieze, abundant 

 proofs of a ditference in the skill of the several workmen employed. 

 The raodillions of this temple, as we have already mentioned, exhibit 

 the same peculiarity as those on the Triumphal Arch at Orange, but 

 being deeper cut, they are evidently imitations. The great gallery or 

 colonnade around the temple, forming the sacred bounaarv, shows the 

 same style of sculpture as the temple itself, but with less luxuriancy 

 in the details : the frieze was formed of garlands, fruits and flowers, 

 bound with floating ribands. 



Antoninus, who was a native of Nimes, adorned that city with many 

 important buildings. To him are attributed a temple and a basilica 

 dedicated to Plautina; and the fragments of sculpture collected in the 

 Museum, apparently belonging to this goUlen age of art, fully bear out 

 their claims. Among these may be remarked the eagles supporting 

 the olive garlands ; and a frieze composed of ox sculls, supporting gar- 

 lands of fruit. 



Vienne, the rich Museum of which is formed' in the temple of 

 Augustus and Livia, possesses more than one fragment of the best ages 

 of Roman art.'l' Here are to be seen the cornice, frieze and architrave 

 of a beautiful entablatiu-e, on the frieze of which is particularly to be 

 remarked the rosette which serves to unite the bends of the foliage. 

 The cornice is less remarkable, showing as it does in its niodillions 

 evident symptoms of the decline of the arts, first, because their form 

 is that of a console en talon, little in harmony with the richness of the 

 other members ; second, because these modillions are all decorated 

 ditferently, which is contrary to the strict rules of the best periods of 

 art. It is singular that among all the remains of ancient art those of 

 France alone should be found to present these departures from the 

 general rule, an exception which we shall have occasion to remark 

 both during the history of the Roman period, and of the middle ages, 

 in which this variety of form became the parent of riches to a new 

 stj'le. In the Museum is also to be seen a beautiful piece of monu- 

 mental sculpture, forming a frieze, and consisting principally of an 

 eagle attacking a serpent, (t seems to belong to the time of Septimus 

 Severus. 



Aries, a city of little importance before the time of Constantine, 

 rapidly increased under the reign of that prince, and became to a cer- 

 tain extent, the Gallic Rome. Extensive buildings, still in existence, 

 serv-e to show its splendour, but art was no longer what it was under 

 the Antonines, the theatre, capitol, amphitheatre, and great ceme- 

 tery or elyseum, show by the bad taste of their details, and the trans- 

 position of the principal members of the styles, how complete was 

 the decadence. The capitol, of which a part is still to be seen in the 

 Men's Square, consists of a ruin composed of two columns, crowned 

 with an entablature and the fragment of a pediment; the ornamental 

 sculpture is neglected, the frieze being composed of scrolls without 

 character, while in the capitals, the bad proportions of the leaves indi- 

 cate the period of ignorance at which the monument was erected. The 

 theatre exhibits greater signs of decadence than even the capitol, the 

 entablature of the lower story presenting the greatest anomaies, the 

 sculptors have placed a frieze decorated with triglyphs and rosettes 

 immediately above the capitals, where the architrave ought to be ; 

 then come a frieze in bad taste, and a badly proportioned cornice. 

 In the Museum at Aries is preserved part of a marble entablature, 

 which appears also to belong to the time of Constantine ; the modil- 

 lions varying every two and two in their decoration, which we have 

 already pointed out as contrary to the principles of classic antiquity. 



The walls of the city of Sens, of which the destruction, going on 

 even now, presents numerous details of ancient architecture, placed by 

 the Romans themselves on hasty foundations made in the time of the 

 Emperor Julian, have afforded several cases analogous to those we 

 have mentioned under the head of Aries. 



The city of Autun, celebrated in Gaulish history and the capital of 

 a province, has preserved some remarkable monuments. Those in 

 the best condition are two gates attributed to Constantine, who was a 

 great patron of the town. These two military constructions are in 

 good style, both as regards the architecture and the ornamental sculp- 

 ture, notwithstanding the well known general decadence of art 



* Antiquites de Nimes, by Cleiisseau. 

 t Antiyuites de Vienne, by Eeg. 



which prevailed under the first Christian emperor. In the same city 

 an ancient entablature of the Gallo-Roraan epoch, which affords an 

 example unique in France, of modillions sculptured on the angle of 

 the corona. The ornamental details of this fragment show one of the 

 last periods of Roman art in Gaul ; we can however recognize the fer- 

 tile imagination of the native artists, in the variety of motives in the 

 sculpture, which change the form and character of each modillion. 



A triumphal arch of large proportions is formed in the walls of the 

 city of Rheiras, and is now known as the Gate of Mars. The construc- 

 tion has been attributed to Cesar by some modern writers, although 

 there is nothing to give any foundation to this notion. An examina- 

 tion of the sculptural details of this edifice is enough to prevent its 

 being assigned to any period anterior to the Lower Empire, and per- 

 haps it ought rightly to be placed in the time of the emperor Julian, 

 who fought often enough in the East of Gaul to obtain triumphal 

 honours in a provincial city. In this monument the sculpture is of 

 most uncommon barbarism, the foliage being scarcely of a recognizable 

 form ; the capitals out of proportion surmount heavy and badly chiselled 

 columns, and the monldings of disagreeable figure are made heavier 

 by ornaments of which the model is a large hole in the midst of a 

 shapeless leaf. 



mSTORICAL SKETCH ON THE USE OF BRONZE IN 



WORKS OF ART. 



By Cesar Daly, Architect. 



( Translated for the Civil Engineer ayid Architect's Journal, from the 

 Revue Generate de I' Architecture.) 



( Continued/rom page 2 19. J 



The exertions of the Italian artists excited general emulation 

 throughout Europe ; and in a very short time every country used 

 bronze for the decoration of its public edifices, and to transmit to pos- 

 terity the deeds of its kings and great captains. Italy erected statues 

 to the Medici and the Farnese, Spain to Philip HI, Russia to Peter 

 the Great, Sweden to Gustavus Adolphus, and England to Charles 1st. 

 Much might be said with regard to the progress of this art, but we 

 consider ourselves obliged on account of the extent of the subject to 

 limit it to the history ot bronze in France. 



It was under Louis 14th, that this art made rapid progress through 

 the enlightened endeavours of the two brothers Keller, whose princi- 

 pal master pieces are yet to be seen adorning the royal palaces of 

 Versailles and the Tuileries. In IG'.IO, Balthazar Keller cast in one 

 piece the equestrian statue of Louis 14th, modeled by Girardon. This 

 colossal mass was more than seven yards high, and yet weighed only 

 26,072 kil. (57,50 16.) It seemed however as if the art of founding 

 had only attained this state of perfection soon to fall into decadence ; 

 the equestrian statue of Louis 15th, cast by Gor in one piece, from the 

 model of Bouchardon, and afterwards raised on the Place de la Con- 

 corde, was only 5-40 m. (17 ft. in.) in height, while its weight was 

 29,370 kil. (CA,775 ib.) During the revolutionary crisis, the only bronze 

 work was limited to cannon; but under the Empire, bronze was again 

 appealed to, to take its place among the other arts in representing the 

 military triumphs of the French. Unfortunately the art had been too 

 long neglected to allow of success, and some of the first essays were 

 not prosperous, the statue of Desaix was a complete failure, and the 

 Column of the Place Vendome is far from being a master-piece of 

 founding. 



According to M. Payen, to whom we are indebted for the following 

 details, the execution of the Desaix statue was put up to contract, and 

 it was undertaken for 100,000f. (£4,000), a price in which the bronze 

 was not included. The contractor gave up his bargain to a bell- 

 founder, and he knowing nothing of the fashioning of such great works, 

 and calcdlating upon the basis of his ordinary limited operations, en- 

 gaged to do it for 20,000f. (£S00) ; but in order to economize as much 

 as possible, he required that the sculptor should be forbidden from 

 superintending the moulding. The most difficult hollows were filled 

 up, in order to avoid the trouble they would occasion ; an attempt was 

 made to mould in sand with frames, furnaces were erected, and an ill- 

 constructed scaffolding, and after many useless arrangements and ex- 

 penses, the bronze was let out, and having burst the moulds, ran about. 

 Thus the operation completely failed, a good deal of the bronze was 

 lost, and it was necessary to begin again. The founder then tried to 

 cast the monument in pieces, but not arranging his moulds well, nor 

 securing a uniform mixture of the metal, the pieces produced were 

 dissimilar. He managed however to fit them together, but all the 

 proportions of the figiu-e were altered, and as these defects could not 

 be remedied by the chisel, a most wretched monument was produced. 



2 N 2 



